224 



and should still by many be called in 

 question ; when a number of others, which, 

 as I have asserted, are separated by very 

 thin partitions, have for ages been univer- 

 sally acknowledged. This may easily be 

 accounted for, and the causes of accurate 

 distinction, and of general agreement in 

 the one case, will lead to those of inaccu- 

 racy and doubt in the other. 



All that concerns our speculative ideas 

 and amusements, all objects of taste, and 

 the principles belonging to them, arc 

 thought of by a small part of mankind ; 

 the great mass never think of them at all. 

 They are studied in one age, neglected in 

 another, sometimes totally lost ; but the 

 variety of human passions and affections, 

 all their most general and manifest effects, 

 and their minutest discriminations, have 

 never ceased to be the involuntary study 

 of all nations and ages. These last have, 

 indeed, at various times been particularly 

 investigated by speculative minds ; but 

 every man has occasion to feel but too 

 strongly the truth of their separate causes 



