Essays, moral, political, and literary

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T. Cadell in the Strand ; and A. Kincaid, and A. Donaldson, at Edinburgh, 1817 - Philosophy
 

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Page 521 - I am apt to suspect the negroes, and in general all the other species of men (for there are four or five different kinds) to be naturally inferior to the whites. There never was a civilized nation of any other complexion than white, nor even any individual eminent either in action or speculation. No ingenious manufactures amongst them, no arts, no sciences...
Page 310 - What nation could then dispute with us in any foreign market, or pretend to navigate or to sell manufactures at the same price, which to us would afford sufficient profit? In how little time, therefore, must this bring back the money which we had lost, and raise us to the level of all the neighbouring nations?
Page 171 - Who knows but He, whose hand the lightning forms, Who heaves old ocean, and who wings the storms, Pours fierce ambition in a Caesar's mind...
Page 238 - ... strong sense, united to delicate sentiment, improved by practice, perfected by comparison, and cleared of all prejudice, can alone entitle critics to this valuable character ; and the joint verdict of such, wherever they are to be found, is the true standard of taste and beauty.
Page 27 - NOTHING appears more surprising, to those who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few, and the implicit submission with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers.
Page 32 - Man, born in a family, is compelled to maintain society from necessity, from natural inclination, and from habit. The same creature, in his further progress, is engaged to establish political society, in order to administer justice, without which there can be no peace among them, nor safety, nor mutual intercourse. We are therefore to look upon all the vast apparatus of our government, as having ultimately no other object or purpose but...
Page 326 - In opposition to this narrow and malignant opinion, I will venture to assert, that the increase of riches and commerce in any one nation, instead of hurting, commonly promotes the riches and commerce of all its neighbours...
Page 211 - The whole art of the poet is employed in rousing and supporting the compassion and indignation, the anxiety and resentment, of his audience. They are pleased in proportion as they are afflicted, and never are so happy as when they employ tears, sobs, and cries, to give vent to their sorrow, and relieve their heart, swoln with the tenderest sympathy and compassion.
Page 226 - It is evident that none of the rules of composition are fixed by reasonings a priori, or can be esteemed abstract conclusions of the understanding, from comparing those habitudes and relations of ideas, which are eternal and immutable. Their foundation is the same with that of all the practical sciences, experience ; nor are they any thing but general observations, concerning what has been universally found to please in all countries and in all ages.
Page 155 - There is one mistake, to which they seem liable, almost without exception; they confine too much their principles, and make.no account of that vast variety .which nature has so much ' affected in all her operations. When a philosopher 'has, once, laid hold of a favourite principle, which perhaps, accounts for many natural effects, he extends the same principle over , the whole creation, and reduces to it every phenomenon, though by the most violent and absurd reasoning.

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