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always be attended to, accident signifies 

 what falls, or befals, from the effect of some 

 unknown cause ; the use therefore which 

 you seem inclined to make of it, appears 

 to me (con rispetto parlando) rather unphi- 

 losophical ; ydu may say, perhaps that one 

 need not be so very strict in conversation ; 

 but the history of our sensations, and what- 

 ever relates to it, is a subject so truly phi- 

 losophical, that even in common discourse 

 I had rather consider it as such, and hot 

 get into a habit of turning effects into 

 causes." 



" And yet," replied Mr. Hamilton, 

 " from our very limited knowledge, how 

 often are we obliged to consider effects as 

 causes ! I really think, as we make Fortune 

 a goddess, and place her in heave* n, Acci- 

 dent may be allowed to become an agent 

 npon earth. Perhaps, too, if we were to 

 examine into the rights of the universally 

 acknowledged agent Nature, she might 

 possibly be degraded from a cause into an 

 effect : in short, I have been so much ac- 

 customed, however unphilosophiCally, to 



