MR small's biographical SKETCH OF PROF. ADAM FERGUSON. 611 



Gray, in reply to Beattie, thus refers to the Essay of Ferguson : — " I have 

 read over (but too hastily) Mr Ferguson's book. There ai3 uncommon strains 

 of eloquence in it ; and I was surprised to find not one single idiom of his country 

 (I think) in the whole work. He has not the fault you mention ; his application 

 to the heart is frequent, and often successful. His love of Montesquieu and 

 Tacitus has led him into a manner of writing too short winded and too senten- 

 tious, which those great men, had they lived in better times and under a better 

 government, would have avoided."* 



Besides the interesting letters relating to the publication of this valuable 

 work, which are to be found in the lives of Hume and Lord Kames, the following 

 letter from the Baron D'Holbach to Ferguson is very characteristic : — 



" Sir, — I receiv'd with the deepest sense of gratitude the undeserv'd favour of 

 your kind letter dated the 3d of March ; tho', your valuable work is not yet come 

 to my hands according to the orders you were so good to give your Bookseller in 

 London, I shall expect the favour you intended with thankfulness, and even with 

 patience ; having had the good fortune of getting the perusal of a copy belonging 

 to an acquaintance of mine. I found it answering completely to the high opinion 

 I had conceived of your great abilities and ingenuity, by the testimonies given of 

 you by Mr Andrew Stewart, Colonel Clerk, and several other gentlemen from 

 your country, with whom I have had the pleasure of conversing in this place. Tho' 

 you don't seem to set a high value on theory, it must necessarily precede practice, 

 and I think that given in your grand performance, by enlightening the human 

 mind, may contribute to render their practice better ; for I don't despair of the 

 perfectibility of mankind : I believe they have been mere children in matters the 

 most important for them. I am of opinion that the greatest part of our distresses 

 arise from our ignorance, and give me leave, Sir, to tell you sincerely, that I am 

 persuaded that your valuable work is, and will be, very able to dispel the foggs 

 that hang over our understandings. We are always indebted to great men for 

 useful inventions, that are the fruits of their invention and theory. What they 

 have found out with a great deal of trouble, becomes by and by popular ; and by 

 degrees truth, when become general, influences the general p»actice, even in 

 spite of those who think it their interest to keep mankind in the dark. As to the 

 virtues that preserve nations, or at least put off long their decline, I believe they 

 must be the effects of learning ; when morality shall be clear'd, or rescued from 

 the hands of those who have made it their study to render it obscure. I think 

 every individual will be more virtuous, and even the powerful movers of men will 

 find it their own interest in governing according to the rules of reason. I have 

 the honour to be, with the highest consideration, Sir, yours, &c., 



" Paris, 15th of June, 1 767-1 " D'Holbach." 



* Gray's Works, vol. ii. p. 295. f MSS. University of Edinburgh. 



VOL. XXIII. PART III. 8 C 



