’ a ¢ircumftance of il} omen. 
2 66 
(of which feér there are few eminent 
writers in England, but feveral in Ger- 
many, as Mr. —-* the adverfary of 
Mofes Mendel fohn) be anfwer to that 
guefiton lies beyond the boundary oft eajon, 
and is to be fought exclufively in revela- 
tion. . 
4. * According to the dogmatic theif, 
the being of a God may be demonffrated. 
The, cont cadictory propofitions are 
thefe : 
ifteuce Ve God is not to bé anfwered nega- 
ire vely: maintained againfi tke atheift by 
the three other fects. 
2. This queftion may be anfwered fatif- 
fodterily : maintained againtt the {ceptic 
Ce the reft. 
3~ This queflion cannot be aafwered from 
revelation : maintained againft the fuper- 
naturalift by the others. 
4. The affirmative anfwer to the qucftion 
concerning the exifience of a De ely’, does not 
admit of den! IL : maintained by the 
reft acainft the dogmatic theift. 
Tl owe this thort illuftr ration fo Mr. 
Reinhold, of Jena, who is, f believe, the 
moft perfpicuo: us expojitor of the phi- 
lofophy of Kant. - I thail fubjoin to it a 
tranflated fpecimen from the ‘Kritik des 
Urtheilfkratts—the Examination of the 
Judgment. But I will firft obferve, that 
nothing can be conceived more nae 
ob{cure, and involved, than Mr. Kar 
ftyle. Oliver Cromwell is aa i 
his fpeeches, compared to him ; and he 
inclofes parenthefhs within. paren athefis, 
as Pilpay fable within fable. This is 
“It is not 
reafoner 
And 
t’s 
TY 
ny 
aly, however, for an original 
Ps be as per{picuous as a narrator. 
the difciy ne of Mr. Kant obferve, 
Newton's phiiot ational contemporaries, 
with equal deviation from former fyftems, 
and the fimple furmifes of common fenfe, 
found no lefs contradiétion in’ the prin- 
erples, and cb{curity in the proofs. 
Space and tinze, which have been the 
fubjedt of fo much meétaphyfical difqui- 
fition, are faid, by. Mr.,Kant, to be 
forms or shapes of intuition, wwherent in 
the intelle€&t. And this is qo efiential a 
dofirine, that if they be merely looie, 
transferable terms, fuch as I have ue. 
where endeavoured to fhow necepfity to 
be, his fyftem could fcarce be maintain- 
ed. He faw clearly enough that the 
various attempts of 1 inaey pious men to fa 
ideas upon thefe terms, had been 
feétiy vain. But I know not whether 
the manner of confidering words which 
it is to be hoped that one of our coun- 
that 
per- 
Dr. Beddoes on Kant’s Philofophy. 
. The quefiton concerning the ex-— 
“Yan's heir 
[ May 
trymen will foon farther illuftrate, had 
“ever occured to him. 
What follows, will hardly give an idea 
of the fubjeéts generally treated by the © 
philofopher of Koenigfburg, nor of his 
manner of treating them. I have been — 
obliged to break and unfheath his fens 
tences ; and fo muf the tranflator of his 
works; and this without mutilating or 
changing the fenfe, 
“‘ In every thing capable of exciting 
hearty laughter, there mut be abfurdity. 
Laughter is an afjeciion from the fudden 
change of a Strained imagination mio n= 
thing me, This change, which certainly 1s 
by no means grateful to the underftand- 
ing, indireétly, and for a moment, pro- 
There very lively gratification. The 
caufe muft therefore confift in an influ- 
ence, exerted upon the body, and in the 
re-action a this upon the mind: The 
idea relent dis not, in Rete an objeét 
of pleafure, as it isin the cafe of a perfon 
who receives tidings of a fuecefsful 
ftroke in trade. as in faét, can-mer 
baulked expedta ition be pleafing? Buta 
play of ideas takes place, ‘and this ex- 
cites a play of the powers of lite. 
** An Indian, at table with an Englifh- 
man, at Surat? xpreffed his furprize by 
loud exclamations, on fecing a vat 
quantity of froth ooze out of a bottle of 
porter, as foon as the cork was drawn. 
a afked, What furprizcd him fo? 
Nay, fad he, don't Juppofe I wonder it 
comes out; but bow did you ever conirive 
to fauecxe it in? We do not laugh at 
this ftory, becaufe we find ourfelves 
wifer that the peer Indi ian, OF becaufe 
the undexitanding. finds im it any thing 
fatistactory, but our expectation was 
{train and fuddenly vanithes.. A. rich 
is defirous. ta celebrate his 
funcral with all folemnity, but he com- 
plains that he cannet accomplifh h's pur- 
pole: Yer, days he, the more I give my 
monrners to look forrowtul, the more cheer- 
ful dle be fellows apprare The reafon 
whv we laugh aloud at this, is the fudden 
anifhing of expectation. “Obferve that 
the expected objeét is not changed to 
its contrary (which muft always be fome- 
thing, and often may give pain) but ab- 
folutely difappears. At the conclufion ef 
a ‘tory, which has raifed our expectations, 
if its faliéhood appears.evident, we feel 
difpleaied. This will the cafe, if we be 
told of one whole hair was turned grey 
eo 
ied, 

*® This is literal, and not, I believe, harfher 
than in the German, 


with 
