r 
‘1801.4 
have neither leifure nor apparatus, but I 
am affured by a learned friend, brought up 
under the new chemiftry, that con{cience 
has been found foluble in agua regia, and 
particularly in auro potabilr, Georgi: pidtu- 
va adornato. ‘This is at leait proof-pre- 
fumptive. Let thofe who have kill, in 
fuch matters pufh on towards a more per- 
fe conclufion, | i 
Another queftion arifes,, after we have 
afcertained the feat and fubftance, the 
where and what of confcieace, which I 
~ confider as of great importance; and that 
is, whether all confciences are. alike? 
Here too, I can only offer furmifes and 
vague opinions; as far as thefe.are, worth 
tranferibing, I muft fay, that I deny the 
homogeneity of con{cience. A, priori, I 
fee no reafon why one man fhould refem- 
ble another in his, confcience, any .more 
than in his ftature or his face:.and a poflert- 
ori, know that con{ciences are not only dif- 
ferent in different men, but different in 
the fame manat diferent times. ‘That 
they are different in different, men is ob- 
vious from a fuperficial view of what is 
palling around us; in fome we. obferve 
them quick, lively, always on the watch; 
in others, dull, heavy, and their opera- 
tions almoft invifible. And that they 
differ in the fame men at different times 
will {carcely be doubted, when I appealjta 
the familiar inftance of a man in place and 
put of place; a buyerand feller; a patron 
and a dependent, cum multis clis, quos 
nunc defcribere longum eff. A.friend of 
mine, who feems to have. fludied this 
branch fo accurately and minutely as to 
become, perhaps, a little whimfical (no 
uncommon thing with the Sir Ifaacs of the 
prefent day), contends, that men’s con- 
f{ciences are always different according to 
the places they are in; andhe has very 
ingenioufly drawn up a ground-plan of 
London confciences, upon thefcale of an 
inch to a fcruple. In it I find that the 
- fame confcience which would anfwer very 
well in the city, will not do in the court- 
end of the town: what is good and fufh- 
cient in one ftreet is nothing in another 5 
and a curious diftinétion is made between 
what will do in Weltminfter-Hall, and 
what will ¢e// in the buildings near it, 
There are alfo fome dotted lines over, the 
inns of court, and fome afterifks at the 
end of Pall-Mall, which mark certain pe- 
culiarities. But i mention this rather as 
the amufement of a man of leifure, with 
fomewhat of an antiquary turn. Upon 
the whole, however, our pofition, [hope, 
will not be thought prefumptuous—that 
confciences are different in different 
MieNe ¥ 
On Conference. Vik 
h 
Another queftion is, whether all men 
have a conicience? I am aware that to 
fart {uch a queftion will give offence—~ 
That be far from me. I deprecate every 
imputation of the kind. dfpeak as a 
philofopher, and not as a politician, a 
lawyer, or a divine. I propofe the quef- 
tion becaufe i have my doubts; and £ 
have my doubts, becaufe, upon an atten- 
tive. obfervation of the whole lives and 
conduct of fome men, I have never been 
able to.trace as much con{cience as would 
tax a bill of cofts, or even fairly divide a 
pound of tea; and.[ yet deliver this in the 
form, of a doubt, becaufe I knew the im- 
perfection of all human oblervation: 
J know the faults of the naked eye, and of 
the Herfchell telefcope, and I do not ad- 
mit either as mathematical demanfration, 
As, to our eyes, it is well known that 
they have lately become fo defective, that: 
many very worthy gentlemen have been 
obliged to fee with thofe of other people. 
Iam difpofed, therefore, farther to con- 
cede that a con(cience may exift, although 
I cannot perceive it ; and I am aflured by 
fome men in pretty high ftations, that 
they have found it convenient to fufpend 
the operations of con{cience for years to- 
gether, winding up only occationally, ac- 
cording to exifting circumftances. I am 
told likewite, that it is very apt to wear 
out in fome, not from frequent ufe, but 
abfolute neglect, as they fay that an unin- 
habited houte, ce/eris paribus, much fooner 
decays than one which is kept in order, 
{wept,, and garnifhed. From all thefe 
confiderations, and from that excellent 
maxim, De nom apparentibus ef non ex- 
irentibus eadem eff ratio, 1 think myfelf 
warranted in propofing this queftion for the 
inveftigation of the curious, particularly 
of all men in authority over us; all perfoas 
concerned in large fpeculations in trade; 
all men engaged in queftions of politics 
or law ; all perfons who have contracted ta 
ferve government with neceffaries, and 
themfelves with fuperfluities; all writers of 
modern hiftory and travels; a few divines; 
fome phyficians and apothecaries; all 
growers of corn, and fome fhopkeepers. 
But as I have fhewn fo much candour 
and difidence in propofing the queftion, 
TL hope they will fhow no lefs in difcuffing 
it, and, thould they give it entirely againtt 
me, at leaft have the goodnefs to prove that 
what they cail confcience is bo” fide cone 
fcience, and not fomething which they 
have miftaken for it. 
I am convinced that whenever this fub-. 
ject thall becomea ferious difcuffion with the 
Jearned world, they will find it neceflarily 
protra¢ted toa confiderable Jength: and 
3 perhaps 
