BOOK I

Mr Home's attention turned to Metaphysics.

memorial in after-ages, are sources of consolation of which every ingenuous mind must fully feel the value. How melancholy was the reflection uttered on deathbed, by one of the ablest lawyers and judges of the last age, but whose mental stores were wholly limited to the ideas connected with his profession," My life has been a chaos of nothing!"

The man to whom these Memoirs relate, was in every period of his progress secure against the miserable feeling of such a retrospect. Independently of the discharge of his professional duties, and the most active concern which he took in numberless schemes for the public good, and the improvement of his country, his various writings bear evidence of a mind perpetually employed, and which seems to have known no other relaxation than a change of labour.

Before putting on the gown of an advocate, Mr Home's attention seems to have been considerably turned to metaphysical investigation; and for that study, to which his intellectual powers were peculiarly adapted, he entertained, through the whole course of his life, a strong predilection. It is not necessary here to enter deeply into the question, in what degree of importance such researches truly stand in the scale of human pursuits. Allowing them to be conversant about the noblest part of our frame, the nature and powers of the human soul; and granting that they give the most vigorous exercise to the understanding, by training the

mind to an earnest and patient attention to its own operations; still I fear, it must be admitted, that, as those abstract studies are beyond the limits of the faculties of the bulk of mankind, no conclusion thence derived can have much influence upon human conduct *. Even the anxiety shewn

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*The following passage, containing an estimate of the comparative importance and utility of the metaphysical mode of inquiry, when contrasted with the more ordinary manner of treating the study of human nature, is well deserving of attention, as proceeding from the pen of one of the ablest of the metaphysical writers, and who therefore cannot be supposed to have underrated the value of his favourite species of research. "Moral philosophy," (says Mr Hume)," or the science of human nature, may be treated after two "different manners; each of which has its peculiar merit, and may contri"bute to the entertainment, instruction and reformation of mankind. The 66 one considers man chiefly as born for action; and as influenced, in his measures, by taste and sentiment; pursuing one object and avoiding another, according to the value which these objects seem to possess, and according to "the light in which they present themselves. As virtue, of all objects, is "allowed to be the most valuable, this species of philosophers paint her in "the most amiable colours; borrowing all helps from poetry and eloquence, "and treating their subject in an easy and obvious manner, and such as is "best fitted to please the imagination and engage the affections. They se"lect the most striking observations and instances from common life; place " opposite characters in a proper contrast; and, alluring us into the paths of "virtue, by the views of glory and happiness, direct our steps in these paths "by the soundest precepts and most illustrious examples. They make us “feel the difference between vice and virtue; they excite and regulate our "sentiments; and so they can but bend our hearts to the love of probity and "true honour, they think that they have fully attained the end of all their "labours. The other species of philosophers consider man in the light of a "reasonable

CHAP. I.

BOOK I.

shewn by metaphysical writers to apologize for their fa vourite pursuits, by endeavouring, with great ingenuity, to deduce from them a few practical consequences with respect

to

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"reasonable, rather than an active being, and endeavour to form his understanding more than cultivate his manners. They regard human nature as. "a subject of speculation; and, with a narrow scrutiny, examine it, in order "to find those principles, which regulate our understanding, excite our senti66 ments, and make us approve or blame any particular object, action or be"haviour. They think it a reproach to all literature, that philosophy should "not yet have fixed beyond controversy, the foundation of morals, reasoning, "and criticism; and should for ever talk of truth and falsehood, vice and "virtue, beauty and deformity, without being able to determine the source "of these distinctions. While they attempt this arduous task, they are de"terred by no difficulties; but, proceeding from particular instances to gene"ral principles, they still push on their inquiries to principles more general; "and rest not satisfied, till they arrive at those original principles, by which "in every science all human curiosity must be bounded. Though their spe"culations seem abstract, and even unintelligible to common readers, they "aim at the approbation of the learned and the wise; and think themselves "sufficiently compensated for the labour of their whole lives, if they can discover some hidden truths, which may contribute to the instruction of po sterity. It is certain that the easy and obvious philosophy will always, "with the generality of mankind, have the preference above the accurate and "abstruse; and by many will be recommended, not only as more agreeable, "but more useful than the other. It enters more into common life; moulds "the heart and affections; and, by touching those principles which actuate 66 men, reforms their conduct, and brings them nearer to that model of per"fection which it describes. On the contrary, the abstruse philosophy, be"ing founded on a turn of mind which cannot enter into business and action, "vanishes when the philosopher leaves the shade and comes into open day;

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to life and manners, is strong proof of the native infertility of the soil, on which so much labour is bestowed to produce so small a return. It is not much to the praise of this science, that the most subtile and ingenious spirits have, for above two thousand years, assiduously exercised themselves in its various subjects of discussion, and have not yet arrived at a set of fundamental principles on which the thinking world is agreed *. Neither have the uses to which this

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CHAP. I.

66 nor can its principles easily retain any influence over our conduct and beha"viour. The feelings of our heart, the agitation of our passions, the vehe"mence of our affections, dissipate all its conclusions, and reduce the pro"found philosopher to a mere plebeian. This also must be confessed, that "the most durable, as well as the justest reputation, has been acquired by the easy philosophy; and that abstract reasoners seem hitherto to have enjoy❝ed only a momentary reputation from the caprice or ignorance of their own 66 age, but have not been able to support their renown with more equitable "posterity," &c.; D. HUME's Inquiry concerning the Human Understanding,

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sect. 1.

"The number of ingenious theorists," (says an acute metaphysician), "has in every age been great; that of sound philosophers has been wonder"fully small, or rather, they are only beginning now to have a glimpse of "their way, in consequence of the combined lights furnished by their predecessors. The last observation holds more strictly with respect to the phi"losophy of the human mind, than any other branch of science; for there is no subject whatever on which it is so easy to form theories calculated to "impose on the multitude; and none, where the discovery of truth is attend"ed with so many difficulties." Account of the Life and Writings of Thomas Reid, D. D. by Mr DUGALD STEWART, p. 83.-But happily for man there is

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BOOK I.

sort of reasoning has sometimes been applied, tended to enhance its estimation. The attempts that have been made to found morality on metaphysical principles, have, for certain, been prejudicial, on the whole, to the cause of virtue. The acutest of the sceptical writers, availing themselves of Mr Locke's doctrine of the origin of ideas, and the consequences he has thence drawn respecting morals, have done much more harm, by weakening our belief in the reality of moral distinctions, than the ablest of their opponents, combating them on the same ground, and with the same weapons, have found it possible to repair. The baneful industry of the former has, it is true, made the labours of the latter in some degree necessary, and therefore useful: and it is in this point of view, that the writings of those metaphysicians, who are antagonists of the sceptical philosophy, are entitled to

attention

no truth which is of serious importance to him, that falls under this description. Quicquid nos vel meliores, vel beatiores facturum est, aut in aperto, aut in proximo posuit Natura. There is much sound sense in the following observations of a writer well entitled, from the singular variety of his own talents, to estimate the comparative value of scientific and intellectual researches: "Les "notions sur lesquelles les hommes different si prodigieusement ne sont point "nécessaires aux hommes : il est même impossible qu'elles nous soient néces"saires, par cette seule raison qu'elles nous sont cachées. Il a été indispen"sable que tous les pères et mères aimassent leurs enfans; ainsi les aiment"ils. Il étoit nécessaire qu'il y eut quelques principes généraux de morale,

pour que la société pût subsister: aussi ces principes sont-ils les mêmes "chez toutes les nations policées. Tout ce qui est un éternel sujet de dis"pute, est d'une inutilité éternelle."-Lettre de VOLTAIRE à Madame la MARQUISE DU DEFFANT.