standing, and quicknefs of penetration, were no lefs confpicuous than his total want of virtue and of principle, might, with more propriety than almost any man, as the whole tenor of his conduct demonstrates, adopt the declaration of the unhappy MEDEA:

"Video meliora proboq. deteriora fequor.”

ESSAY XVII.

On the CHARACTER and WRITINGS of
ST. EVREMOND.

56

R

ENOUNCE St. Evremond, and read St. Paul," fays a celebrated Chriftian Divine and Poet; but I am of opinion that St. Paul may be read to very good purpose, without renouncing St. Evremond. There are many authors who, without directly intending, or perhaps without being even conscious of it, delineate in their writings the features of their own character in colours fo lively, that it is impoffible not to regard them with the fame fentiments of partiality or dislike, as ufually refult from a perfonal and intimate acquaintance. The character of St. Evremond, viewed through this medium, has always appeared to me in a light peculiarly interefting and amiable; and the favourable impreffion made by a perufal of his Works, is confirmed by all the traditional and biographical accounts remaining of this accomplished Frenchman. He appears to have been a man of excellent capacity, intimately acquainted with the

world, and perfectly converfant with the fecret springs of human conduct, and the genuine movements of the human heart. He was the man of fashion, the man of wit, and the man of pleasure; but as his love of pleafure was regulated by a refined taste and cultivated understanding, it never betrayed him into any difgraceful exceffes; and he preferved his gaiety of heart and his vigour of intellect unimpaired to the age of ninety; pafling his days in a delightful kind of philofophic indolence, not lefs beloved for the virtues of his heart than admired for the charms of his wit and converfation. His libertine principles refpecting religion are well known. Educated in the bofom of the Romish Church, his fuperior difcernment enabled him, with little effort, to emancipate himself from vulgar prejudices, and to reject without hesitation that enormous mass of abfurdity and fuperftition which affumes the appellation of the catholic faith. Unhappily he appears, like the majority of infidels in Romish countries, to have taken it for granted that the doctrines of Popery were the genuine doctrines of Christianity, or, at leaft, they prefume that Chriftianity must be in part chargeable with thofe abfurdities, which fo juftly excite their ridicule and contempt, and therefore they think it fuperfluous. to examine into the evidences of it.

With refpect to the principles of natural religion, St. Evremond is far from denying their reality and importance; but he doubts, as every philofopher

who

who is ingenuous and impartial must be conftrained to do, of the ftrength and fufficiency of the evidence by which they are fupported. "Ja"mais homme," fays he, " n'a été bien perfuadé

66

par fa raifon ou que l'ame fut certainement im"mortelle, ou qu'elle s'anéantit effectivement avec "le corps.-On ne doute point que Socrate n'ait "crû l'Immortalité de l'Ame; fon hiftoire le dit, & "les fentiments que Platon attribuë femble nous 66 en affûrer. Mais Socrate ne nous en affûre pas "lui-meme; car quand il eft devant fes juges, il "en parle comme un homme qui la fouhaite, & "traite l'Anéantiflement comme un philofophe qui ne le craint point.-Qu'a fait Defcartes par fa demonftration prètendue d'une fubftance purement fpirituelle, d'une fubftance qui doit "penfer éternellement? Qu'a-t'il fait par des Spé"culations fi épurées? Il a fait croire que la Reli

66

66

gion ne le perfuadoit pas, fans pouvoir perfuader "ni lui ni les autres par les Raifons."

St. Evremond has been frequently filed a fuper ficial writer, and his biographers, Sylveftre and Des Maizeaux have given some countenance to the accufation by their own acknowledgment.-" Il "n'avoit pas," say they, "un grand favoir-En ❝lifant il s'attachoit plus a etudier le genie, & le "caractere d'un Auteur qu'a charger fa memoire "d'une erudition faftueufe & fouvent inutile." I do not think there are any words by which mankind are more frequently deceived, than by the

terms fuperficial and profound. Nothing can properly be ftiled fuperficial, which discovers just and comprehenfive views of a fubject, though it may not fuit the writer's purpofe or inclination to compofe an elaborate differtation, or to enter much into detail. On the other hand, many very volu minous, and what the world calls very profound treatifes, have been written on various fubjects, which to intelligent readers exhibit nothing more than the profound ignorance or abfurdity of the authors. Thus we abound in profound fyftems of ancient Mythology, profound criticisms on ancient Poetry, profound researches into ancient Hiftory, and profound commentaries upon ancient Metaphyfics. But writers of the clafs to which St. Evremond belongs, are not fuperficial, though neceffarily concife, from that fuperiority of judg ment and understanding, which will not fuffer them to introduce what is foreign and inapplicable to the fubject; and that juftness of taste and happy skill in the art of compofition, which enables them to exprefs every sentiment in the fimpleft and most perfpicuous language. His "Reflexions fur les divers "genies du peuple Romains dans les divers tems "de la Republique," are written in the true fpirit of philofophy; they are bold, fagacious, and juft. I cannot but extremely regret, that through an unfortunate accident we are deprived of the feven chapters which comprized the important period, commencing at the Jugurthine war, and termi

nating