136 
propriety of making war—of indulging 
pious frauds and unfocial paffions againit 
thofe who differ from us, &c. What were 
the principles that fharpened the dagger 
on the eve of St. Baitholemew, that 
lighted up the fires in Smithficld, that 
have produced in times ancient and mo- 
dern, innumerable crufades ?”’ If,” fays 
the examiner, ‘we would find examples of 
ferocity exceeding that of wild beafts, we 
muft turn, net to the fpeculations of 
{ceptics in their clofets (f quote the fenle 
rather than the words), but to the bloody 
annals of the church?” And yet it is af 
firmed, that in the change of faith the 
morals of a nation will remain uoalctered,. 
May not the duties of religion and mora- 
lity become {fo clofely combined, or rather 
incorporated in the mind, as to be ren- 
dered of difficult feparation? In what does 
the frength of fanaricifm differ from that of 
heroifm ? Surely not always either in inten- 
firy or duration. Ifit be true, as it feems 
to be, that ithe fan&tions of morality, in this 
life, prets equally upon the atheiit, the theif, 
and the chriitian, and that {ceptici{m (all 
I prefume meant by atheifm: no thinking 
man will afirm a negation) ‘ends litile to 
alter the {(n‘iments formed by our necel- 
fary and intant connexion with our {pe- 
cics ; 18 this equally true of religion, that 
teaches, and not elways without effect, 
the facrifice of a “ght arm or aright eye? 
May not the charge of a {pecies of fuper- 
tition be retorted upon Mr. R. when he 
talks of felf-reproach accompanying, in- 
variably and intuitively, inhumanity of 
conduct, —flowing unavoidably, unlefs fi- 
Jenced by fophiftry, from the conftirution 
of man. Does facet warrant this aflertion, 
in our obfervations upon children, upon 
youth, upon the uncultivaced, and the 
ba: bareus? Does this principle a; pear to 
exit zaturally between beings of a com- 
mon animal nature and adifferent {pecies ? 
If the refult of /ympathy, are not tympa- 
thies often taught and acquired, or rather, 
‘can they be truly learned without fim:lar 
fuffering ? Does the deipot, impatieat and 
irritable under every check to his own de- 
fires, revolt from the pangs, or enter into 
the mifery, he infliéts on the being moving 
in a fphere below him, from whole for- 
rows and oppreffions he feeems by his own 
fituation to be exempted? Cosimoa and 
vaiverfal fympathies are few; man, in all 
fiates, is the creature of fociety 3 it is aif- 
ficult to conceive of him in an infulated 
and unfocial condition. 
Thefe queitions are by the writer pro- 
poied to the public in a ipirit of inquiry, 
SubjeEis of Moral Inquiry fuggefted. 
[ Sept. 1, 
and tothe fagacious, acute, and manly 
author of the Examination, with refpect 
and candour, and not entireiy without the 
hope that he may confider them as de- 
ferving his attention. ‘* Improvement is 
the effect of reafoning, thought, freedom. 
Try, prove, ail things, is the language of 
our oracles.” 
Fuly, 1, 1800. M. H. 
ES 
To the Editor of the Monthiy Magazine. 
SIR, 
N the “ Works of Robert Burns,” 4. 
vol. 8vo. edited by Dr. Currie, the 
f. lowing flanzas of an old favourite Seot- 
tifh fong are introduced in a note, vol. i. 
P: 319- 
** On Etrick banks, on a fummer’s night, 
“* At gloaming, when the fheep drove 
home, 
‘© T met my laffie, braw and tight, 
‘© Come wading barefoot a” her lane: 
‘¢ My heart grew light, I ran, I flang 
¢© My arms about her lily neck, 
*¢ And kiis’d and claiped there fu’ lang, 
** My woras they were na” mony, feck !” 
With this gloffary, 
‘* Feck—in faith! a ruftic oath.” 
Tn his next edition (for my opinion of the 
work will vot allow me to doubt thatano- 
ther will {oon be wanting), I recommend, 
through your medium, to the editer, to 
omit the comma in the laft line, and the 
gloffary. Thofe acquainted with the Low- 
land Scottith ianguage will immediately 
perceive the propriety of thefe omiffions. 
To others it may appear trifling, but the 
admirers of a fong which has io often 
thriiled and foothed the feeling breaft, and 
which wtil e-ntinue to excite the tendereit 
emotions while Etrick ** winds its banks 
among,” wi.l thank me for having refcued 
a paflage, fo fimply and beautifully ex- 
preflive, from a quaint and yulgar exple- 
tive. " 
Feck, in the Lowland Scottifh, is fyno- 
nimous with quanti/y: 
: What peek have you ?—what quantry 
have yeu? 
Not any feck, or, nae great feck—no great 
quantity : 
The tenfe of the bine, therefore, is fim- 
ply, My words were few ! 
Who is there, whom the fates ever 
bleffed with fo rap urous an interview as 
the poet defcribes, that does not ackncow- 
ledge all its force and fentiment ? 
Iam, &c, 
Fuly 8, 1800, ALBION. 
To 
