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made fuch a proficiency in literature, as might be ex¬ 
pected from uncommon talents. When he had completed 
liis philofophical courfe, he for fome years devoted him- 
felf to the ltudy of divinity, which he chofe for his parti¬ 
cular profelTion. After fpending fix years in the univer- 
fity of Glafgow, lord Molefworth took great pleafure in 
his converfation, and aflifted him with his criticilins and 
obfervations upon his Enquiry into the Ideas of Beauty 
and Virtue, before it was fent to the prefs ; as did like- 
wife Dr. Synge, bifhop of Elphin. The firft edition of 
this work was publilhed without his name, in 1725, 8vo ; 
but the great merit of it would not luffer the author to 
remain long concealed. In the year 1728, he publilhed 
A Treatife of the Pafiions, &c. 8vo. which, as well as 
his former work, has been often reprinted, and always 
admired for the fentiments and language, even by thofe 
who have not entirely aflented to the author’s philofo- 
phy. In 1729, he was defied to fill the chair of profeffor 
of philofophy in the univerfityof Glafgow. At this time 
he was admitted to the degree of doftor of laws. 
After liis fettlement at Glafgow, the province afligned 
to Dr. Hutchefon was the profefiion of moral philofophy, 
which called his chief attention to his favourite ftudy, 
that of human nature ; and his abilities, difpofition, and 
ftores of knowledge, accompanied with a happy talent of 
fpeaking with eale, rendered him a molt mafterly and 
engaging teacher. Regarding the culture of the heart as 
a principal end of all moral inftruftion, he kept this con- 
ftantly in view ; and his uncommon vivacity of thought, 
and fenfibility of temper, rendering him quickly fufeepti- 
ble of the warmeft emotions upon the great fubjecls of 
morality and religion, the llrain of his difeourfes com¬ 
manded the attention of the ftudents, and at the fame 
time left Itrong impreflions on their minds. A naturally 
good conftitution, and an uniform mode of living, feemed 
to promife a long enjoyment of his life ; but he did not 
furvive the fifty-third year of his age, as he died in 1747. 
His Syftem of Moral Philofophy, was publilhed from his 
manuscripts, by his fon Dr. Francis Hutchefon, a phyfi- 
cian, 1775, in 2 vols. 4to. 
HUTCH'INS (John), born in 1698, at Bradford-Pe- 
verell, in Dorfetlhire. He was educated at Baliol col¬ 
lege, Oxford, and, taking orders, was prefented to the rec¬ 
tory of the church of the Holy Trinity at Wareham, 
where he died in 1773. He began early to collect mate¬ 
rials for a hiltory of his native county, and fpent many 
years in the diligent collection of the ufual materials of 
fuch a work, drawn from records public and private, in- 
quifitior.s, charters, See. He lived to fee his talk com¬ 
pleted and put to the prefs; but it did not appear till the 
year after his death, when it was publilhed for the benefit" 
cf the author’s widow and children. It is entitled, The 
Hiftory and Antiquities of the County of Dorlet, 2 vols. 
folio, adorned with many plates contributed by the pa¬ 
trons of the work, and enriched with articles of natural 
hiftory, communicated by Dr. Pulteney and others. 
HUTCHTNSON (John), founder of the Hutchinfonian 
philofophy, born at Spennythorn, in Yorkfhire, in 1674. 
His father, intending him for the profefiion of a furveyor, 
or fteward to fome gentleman or nobleman, gave him 
fuch fchool-learning as thefe avocations required. At 
the age of nineteen, he became fteward to Mr Bathurft, of 
Skutterlkelf in Yorkfhire ; and afterwards he filled the 
fame poft under the earl of Scarborough, who was defi- 
rous of retaining him in his fervice. Mr. Hutchinfon’s 
ambition, however, was to ferve the duke of Somerfet 5 
and, having foon afterwards received an appointment from 
his grace, he entered on his new fituation, in which he 
diftinguilhed himfelf in fuch a manner as to obtain the 
principal ftewardfhip, and the particular favour, of that 
nobleman. About the year 1700, Mr. Hutchinfon’s of¬ 
fice called him to London, to conduct a law-fuit of great 
importance between the duke and lord Wharton ; and 
during this attendance in town he appears to have con¬ 
tracted an acquaintance with Dr. Woodward, who was tire 
duke’s phyfician. From this time, his bufinefs carrying 
him into leveral parts of England and Wales, he began 
to make obfervations during his journeys, fome of 
which he publifhed in a fmall traCl, entitled, Obferva¬ 
tions made by J. H. moftly in the year 1706. 
In the courfe of his travels alfo, Mr. Hutchinfon em¬ 
ployed himfelf in collecting foflils, which he put into the 
hands of Dr. Woodward, who encouraged him in this 
purfuit, and kept up a correfpondence with him for fome 
years. It feems that the doctor had promifed to arrange 
thefe foflils in a fyftematic order, and to digeft into a re¬ 
gular method the author’s fcattered obfervations. They 
were defigned as materials for a work to prove the truth 
of the Molaic account of the firft formation of the earth, 
at the Creation, and the re-formation of it after the De¬ 
luge, to ocular demonftration ; which work Dr. Wood¬ 
ward had engaged to draw up, and publifh with fome ad¬ 
ditional obfervations of his own. But, the doCtor delay¬ 
ing to perform this promife, Mr. Hutchinfon refolved to 
wait no longer, but to truft to his own pen for the com¬ 
pletion of his intended work. Having taken this refolu- 
tion, in 1724, he prelented to the world the firft fruits of 
his ftudies, in a work entitled, Mofes’s Priacipia, Part I. 
8vo. in which he threw out fome hints concerning what 
had palled between Dr. Woodward and himfelf, inlinuat- 
ing, that the doCtor intended to deprive him of his col¬ 
lection of folfils in a dilhonourable manner, and to keep 
them in his own poflefflon. Dr. Woodward’s death, 
however, in 1728, put an end to the controverfy. 
In 1727, Mr. Hutchinfon publifhed the l'econd part of 
Mofes’s Principia ; which contains the fum and fubftance,, 
or the principles, of the feripture philofophy. As fir 
Ifaac Newton made a vacuum and air the principles of, 
his philofophy, our author on the contrary afl'erts, that a 
plenum and the air are the principles of the feripture 
philofophy. The air he fuppofes to exift in three condi¬ 
tions; fire, light, and fpirit. The light and fpirit are the 
finer and grofler parts of the air in motion: from the 
earth to the fun, the air is finer and finer, till it becomes 
pure light near the confines of the fun, and fire in the 
orb of the fun, or folar focus. From the earth towards 
the circumference of this fyftem, in which he includes 
the fixed liars, the air becomes grofler and grofler, until 
it becomes torpid and ftagnate, in which condition it is 
at the utmoft verge of this fyftem ; from whence the idea 
or expreflion of outer darknefs and blacknefs of darknefs, 
ufed in the New Teftament, feems to be taken. The fun, 
which he places in the centre, is the active vivifying 
agent, which by melting the fpirit or grofler part of the 
air into atoms, or finer parts, or xther, and ifl'uing them 
out in light, lets the machine forward, and keeps it go¬ 
ing ; for the light is prefled but by the influx of the ipi- 
rit, and the fpirit is prefled in by the efflux of light; and 
fo the whole matter of the heavens or air is perpetually 
changing conditions, and circulating. In the introduc¬ 
tion to this fecond part, Mr. Hutchinfon hinted, that the 
idea of the Trinity was to be taken from the three grand 
agents above-mentioned,, fire, light, and fpirit; thefe 
three conditions of one and the fame fubftance anfwering 
wonderfully in a typical or fymbolical manner, to the 
three perfons of one and the fame elfence. It is laid, that, 
when the celebrated Dr. Samuel Clarke read this perform¬ 
ance, he fent to the author, and defired a conference with, 
him on that propofition in particular; which, however,. 
Mr. Hutchinfon, after repeated folicitations, thought fit. 
to refule. From this time the author continued publilh- 
ing a volume almoft every year, till his death. In 1737,. 
he was attacked by a bilious fever, to which he fell a l'a- 
crifice in the fixty-thinl year of his age. 
Mr. Hutchinfon was a perfon of a very lingular call of 
mind, as his writings fufficiently Ihow. His leading, no¬ 
tion was, that all knowledge, natural as well as theolo¬ 
gical, is contained in the Hebrew Scriptures. In ordep 
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