ticularly to notice, and that is, the close alliance which subsists between the intellectual and the moral part of our nature. Without some acquaintance with the structure and operations of the human understanding, we cannot investigate with success the source and complex nature of the different emotions and passions in which our actions originate, nor the influence of those moral causes and motives by which the character of individuals is invariably framed. The paramount importance of the knowledge to be derived from the study of ethics will, in the present age, scarcely be disputed; and though no one in a country where the Christian faith is professed, can be entirely ignorant of the practical precepts which are to regulate his conduct, yet the theoretic part also, comprising the origin, the criterion, and the obligation of virtue, merits the diligent examination of

all those whose circumstances enable them to receive a more finished education. It is obvious therefore, that he will come best prepared for studying this branch of the subject, whose mind has been previously imbued with the principles of intellectual philosophy.

Whatever defects may be discovered in the execution, the design of the following pages is to vindicate a theory of morals which has not only been misapprehended by those who have viewed it superficially, but has even been condemned by men of undisputed sagacity, who have unfortunately been too much absorbed in the contemplation of its weaker points, to be able to estimate the solidity of the basis on which it rests. I trust, however, that in this attempt to answer the arguments of Dr. Paley's opponents, I have not violated the rules of candour and courtesy, nor been

deficient in avowing that deference which must at all times be due to those who have

enlightened and adorned society by their talents and virtues.

Though I cannot be supposed to regard with any high degree of approbation the great aim of Mr. Stewart in his metaphysical writings, which was to defend and illustrate the doctrines of Dr. Reid, I still conceive that his works have been productive of no small advantage in subduing, by the beauties and the eloquence of his composition, the prejudices of many of those who had before felt an almost insuperable aversion to approach any subject of abstract speculation. But, independently of all theoretic peculiarities, there are many parts of his writings which, while they display the happy facility of the author, in divesting recondite questions of their repulsive form, are replete with observations of the highest

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practical utility. His chapters on the association of ideas, on the faculties of memory and imagination, together with his discussions relative to the process of inductive reasoning, might be pointed out as abundantly sufficient to verify this remark ; and the extensive information which he possessed in the various departments of science and literature has communicated to the topics of his inquiry a degree of interest, of which the generality of students would have thought them to be altogether unsusceptible.

The majority of Mr. Gisborne's works are too well known to the public, to require any allusion, and the wide circulation which some of them have obtained, is at once an indication of the esteem in which they are held, and of their tendency to improve the manners of society. But I cannot help thinking that his treatise on the "Prin

ciples of Moral Philosophy" but little corresponds with the character which it received from Mr. Stewart, and may be deemed as the least successful in establishing his conclusions, of any of his publications, with perhaps one exception.-Dr. Pearson was, I believe, better known as an author in that illustrious University where he held a conspicuous station, than to the world at large; and distinguished as he was, by his sound understanding, and his rational and candid manner of examining ethical questions, we can only regret that incidental circumstances should have rendered his works less extensively beneficial than they otherwise would have been, if we may be allowed to judge from the intrinsic merit which they undoubtedly possess.

Of Dr. Brown it is impossible not to speak in terms of high admiration. His