| 
1800.] . 
the greatet impreffion at the prefent day ; 
yet it has been found no difficult matter to 
excite relisious zeal in thofe, who in no 
one aétion of their lives have fhewn the 
leat regard to the precepts of religion. 
A Birmingham mob will be as hearty in 
the caufe of demolifhing meeting-houfes, 
as the moft venerable council of prelates 
in anathematifing herefy ; and it would be 
eafy to point out a character whole ove to 
the’ gofpel is very equivocal, though his 
hatred of {chifmatics and free-thinkers is 
not at all fo. 
What we have been fo long and fo fu- 
rioufly fighting for, has never been fully 
fettled ; and at different periods of the war 
different opinicns about it have prevailed. 
At prefent, we may be fighting for trade, 
for dominion, for the credit of minilters ; 
but I conceive it can inno true fenfe be 
faid, that we are fighting for religion. 
; MiIsocaNrT. 
—=aee 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
hae is afked by your correfpondent M. H. 
in the words of Mr. Robinfon, ** How 
often will a man during fifty years of ma- 
turity and reafon, act upon a-fair mathe- 
matical calculation of his interefts, weigh- 
ing exactly and at once their importance 
and duration?”’ To inftitute a fair mathe- 
snatical calculation of interefts,, and to 
weigh exactly and at once their impor- 
tance and duration, certainly belongs not 
toevery one; but I affirm, without fear of 
contradi&tion, that whenever prefent plea- 
fure and future good appear to be at vari- 
ance, it the future benefit be apprehended 
greatly to outweigh the immediate grati- 
fication, a wife man will prefer the latter. 
Letter from Mr. Cogan. 
223 
And thoughtlefs and inconfiderate as man 
undoubtedly is, the facrifice of prefent in- 
dulgence to- future advantage is by no 
means uncommon ; nay, it is a facrifice 
which is made every day and every hour, 
And this fimple faét fhews at once the 
operation and value of religious opinion, 
by which I mean the expectation of an 
hereafter. For, whether the future good, 
to whiclr prefent pleafure is facrificed, be — 
expected in this world or another, fignifies 
nothing. In fact, the plain queftion is, 
can opinion generate feeling, and a€tuaet 
conduct ? A queftion that needs no reply- 
When it is afked, ** What arethe ufes of 
religious opinion ?”’ I anfwer, that the ules 
of religious opinicn are, by enlarging the 
comprehenfion* of the mind, to diminifh 
the temptation of prefent pleafure ; to fave 
the trouble of minute calculation by evi- 
dently making the moft exalted virtue in 
all cafes and circumflances our interett ; to 
fupply the link which unites felf-love and 
focial, perfonal and public good. 
As I was reading the following line of 
Virgil, a few weeks ago, with one of my 
pupils, Ain. vi. 242. 
Unde locum Graii dixerunt nomine Aornon, 
it occurred tome, that it might perhaps 
be admitted as genuine, if a little fpirie 
were given to it by the following altera- 
tion ; . 
Unde locum Graio dixerunt nomine Aornon, 
Vide Ain. vi. 440. 
Lugentes campi 3 fic illos nomine dicunt. 
And /®n, iii. 210. 
Strophades Graio ftant nomine dite. 
Chefbunt, 
Sept. 73 1800. 
Iam, Yours, &c. 
E. CocGAn. 

* See Dr. Prieftley on the Analogy of the 
Divine Difpenfations, in his Inftitutes. 



ANECDOTES OF EMINENT PERSONS. 
ao 
For the. Mcnibly Magazine. 
FRAGMENTS 0f @ MEMOIR of D’ALEM- 
BERT, written by himfelf, Tranflated 
rom his CUVRES POSTHUMES, Wol.I. 
(lately publifhed). ae 
OHN Le Ronn D’ALEMBERT, Mem- 
J ber of the French Academy, of, the 
Academies of Sciences of Paris, Berlin, 
and Peterfburg, of the Royal Society of 
London, of the’ Infitute of Bologna, ‘of 
the Royal Academy of Belles Lettres in 
Sweden, and of the Royal Societies of 
Sciences of Turin and of Norway, was: 
Monruty Mac. No. 64. 
born at Paris on the 16th of November, 
L7Ge 
Having finifhed his courfe of philofophy 
at the Mazarin College, he received the 
degree of Mafter of Arts about the end of. 
the year 1735. Hethen applied himfelf 
to the ftudy of the law, and was admitted 
as an advocate in the year_ 1738; but, as 
he did not much relifh jurifprudence, he 
refolved to ftudy medicine, as being-a pro- 
feffion from the praétice of which he was 
likely to derive thofe pecuniary fupplies 
which his low fortune rendered neceflary. 
To this new fiudy, however, he had ap- 
Hh plied 
