C 35 1 



mine. Had you conlidered what I have 

 written, with the attention which every 

 man ought to give to what he means to 

 criticife, and candidly taken the fpirit of 

 it, you muft have felt that I never could 

 propofe fo prepofterous a plan as you ap- 

 pear to have formed for me ; that I never 

 could mean that the improver mould aban- 

 don all defign, and leave every thing to 

 chance (the idea you clearly intend to 

 convey by " the new fyftem of improving 

 " by neglect and accident/') but that by 

 ftudying the effects which had been pro- 

 duced by them, he mould learn hozv to 

 defign; that is, how to produce fimilar 

 effe6ts, with as great a degree of certainty 

 as the cafe will admit of, for (till a great deal 

 muft, and ought to be, left to accident.* 



This 



* I was {truck with a paffage I read lately in Hclvetius, 

 which illuftrates this idea, by fhewing its application to a 

 higher purpofe. " Le hazard a, et il aura done toujours part 

 S noire education, et furtout a celle des homines de genie. 



Eh 



D 2 



