. 
33606=——- Reply to Mr. Wakefield on the Style of Hume, continued, [Nov. 
fuppofe that talents are of that aéral 
guality as to reft upon no foundation ? 
When Mr. W. can obferve no natural 
conneétion between her command over 
herfelf, and ber afcendency over the peo- 
ple, he feems not to confider, that by her 
felf-government, fhe kept, the paifions 
within proper bounds, and concealed, 
from popular animadverfion, many un- 
amiable parts of her conduét; while, by 
her virtues, whether real or affeéied, the 
engaged the affections, and gained. the 
prailes of her fubjects. 
The words ‘ fuccefs and felicity,” do 
not appeat to be fysonymous. Cromwell 
conducted the government with great 
faccefs ; yet who can affert, that it pro- 
duced felicity either to himfelf or to the 
eople ? 
“« The queen,’’ fays Hume, with equal 
truth and propriety, * was unacquainted 
with the pra¢tice of toleration, the true 
me‘ hod of maneging theological factions.” 
It was by her great political prudence, 
and her fuperior abilities, that fhe re- 
ftrained the fury of hcitile fects. Sove- 
reigns had yet to learn, that it is beyoad 
the power of perfecution to produce fet- 
tied conviction, though it may effec a 
hypocritical and temporary acquicfcence 
in the do¢irines which it endeavours to 
enforce. The mind of an individual is 
facred to God and to himfelf; and it is 
as difficult for human power tonew mo- 
de! its original conflitution, as to alter its 
religious or political opinions. ‘ 
The phrafe, “ /eaft rupulous,”’ Mr. W. 
cenfures, as not iumiciently explicit ; 
and afks in what the princes were leaft 
fcrupulous? He might as well have 
afked, in what they were moft adtive ? 
For the latter expreflion is equaliy as 
unintelligible as the former, and conveys 
an’ idea equally as abfolute and indeter- 
minate. A fcrupulous perfon, accord- 
ing to Johnfon, is one who is hard to 
fatisfy in determinations of con{cience. 
«The wife minifters and brave ad- 
mirals,’ fays Hume, ‘* who flourithed 
under the reign of Elizabeth, thare the 
praife of her fuccefs; but, inftead of 
leffening the applaufe due to her, they 
make great addition to it.” Nae 
In the phrafeology of this fentence, 
Mr. W. finds fomething § uncommonly bald 
_and pitiful,” and attempts to give it 
more fullnef$ and rotundity, by the fu- 
perinduétion of the word, “ reputation 5” 
a word, in its common acceptation, as 
little qualified for the poft he has affign- 
ed it, as any name in the vocabulary of 
i 
1r€ 
‘ 
our language. He furely meant to write 
’ § elevation or exaliation.” 
The word “ /agacity,” which Mr. W. 
propofes to place before “ céaice,” adds 
fomething, indeed, to the pomp of the 
period. but nothing to its perfpicuity.. 
That Elizabeth’s choice was /agacious no 
one will doubt, when he is told, that fhe 
feleéted wife miniliers and brave admi- 
rals. The phrafe, *dzgotry and faction,” 
to which the word ‘* prejud.ce” ought to 
have a feparate and an individual appli- 
cation, conveys two diftinét ideas, which 
Mr. ‘W. confounds, under the term 
“* religious factions.’ He thould have faid, 
civil end-religuous faliions. 
“ To furvey according towew,” in the 
opinion of Mr. W. is neither Englith 
phrafeology nor fenfe. It may be fo: 
but Hume's words are, “ according to the 
diferent views in which we furvey her,” 
an expreffion no lets clear than correét. 
This 1s not the firft time Mr. W. has 
endeayoured to pervert the meaning of 
pafiages, by alceriag the original pofition 
of the words. 
“< To exalt the Infire of acharacter beyond 
measure,’ yr. W. confiders as an im- 
propriety. * A peer of moonfbine,” “is, 
indeed, rather an uncommon expreflion ; 
fo is a peck of woe; yet who feruples to 
fay, of the “ Man of SonRow, {that the 
meafure of his woe is full, Mr. W. 
arranges the fentence in the following 
manner, with a view, 1 fuppofe, to help 
the perfpicuity ;—** either of exalting or 
, 
_diminifhing, beyond meafure, the luftre 
of her character.’ ‘To exalt athing be- 
yond meafure, is praéticable to human 
powers ; but to diminifh it beyond mea- 
{ure, requires an art equal, at ieaft,, ta 
thac of magic. 
There does not feem to be a redund- 
aficy in the phrafe, ‘* great qualities and 
extenfive capacity.” Mr. W. miftakes the 
effect for the caufe. An extenlive ca- 
pacity gives birth to great qualities, The 
word ‘ ome,’ which immediately pre- 
cedes “‘ more,” gives more emphafis to the 
expreilion, and more limitation to the 
idea. ~* Stricken,”” which Mr. W. withes 
to fubftituce for ** fruck,” is the old pal- 
five participle, and is ufed by no modern - 
author who has any pretenfion to ele- 
gance. Dr. Johnfon, in both his Gram-- 
mar and Dictionary, confiders ruck as 
the proper participle of the verb zo /rige. 
_ Hume fays, and, fays rightly, % that 
in eftimatng the merit of queen Eliza- 
beth, we ought to lay afide the confider - 
ation of her fex.’ She certainly pof- - 
feiled 
