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LETTER VIII. 
OBSERVING the various fortunes of 
young men, iffuing from the fame 
fchool, with the fame advantages, and ap- 
parently of equal capacity, fome philofo- 
phers have been induced to afcribe the ex- 
altation or depreflion of individuals, to a 
power which they call an irrefiftible deftiny. 
The confequence of this Calviniftical tenet 
is abfurd, becaufe it is incompatible with 
every principle of morality: the difficulty of 
a logical proof of this abfurdity, arifes from 
the impoffibility of tracing effects to their 
caufes. 
You are probably not unacquainted with 
the amufement on a bowling-green. Every 
competitor aims his bowl at ihejack, and 
the courfe of his bowl is determined partly 
by the conftitutional bias of the bowl, and 
partly by the direction communicated in the 
moment of bowling. This conftitutional 
bias is given to the bowl by a certain quan- 
tity of lead, and its indirect, curvilineal pro- 
penfity is greater, and confequently more 
difficult to counteract, in proportion to the 
quantity 
