And yet, said EUGENIUS, he is a Philosopher of great name.

Philosopher as much as you please, said LEANDER; I respect the name as indicating the substance; but if it be a name and nothing else, I despise and laugh at it. Besides, it is not unusual to meet with persons of talent, who, on certain matters, are excellent Philosophers; but, on others, display much frivolity, speaking rather to confound than to enlighten reason; Philosophers, who reject in words (for in their hearts it is impossible they should do so) notions and principles, the most firmly rooted in our understandings, in order to form an understanding after their own fashion: this they call Metaphysics; but all mankind, besides, call it folly. True Metaphysics seek not to destroy the nature of things, but, to consider them as they are, and in their different aspects. Now it is a principle in the Nature of Man, which makes itself felt, in spite of the most subtile arguments and is a complete answer to all false reasonings, or rather, is evi

dently superior to all reasoning, namely: That every one of us exists in such a manner that other men and other beings exist with him. Whoever asserts the contrary, can do so only in jest, and must be answered after the same sort; but if he pretends to speak seriously, then in all sober sadness he must have lost his senses. Besides, if he, or any of us, is the only Being in the world, it is vain to think of conversing with him; for, to maintain a conversation, there must be at least two Beings in the World.

Into what palpable contradictions do we fall whenever we attempt to pass the limits of common sense! exclaimed EUGENIUS; I wish it were the fashion to compel Philosophers, and those who give themselves out as such, to acknowledge, in explicit terms, Common Sense as the first and universal principle of Philosophy.

You would greatly embarrass certain people, said LEANDER, and with more reason than they have embarrassed you. I am however, very much of your opinion, and before any one undertakes to philo

sophize, he should be asked: first, Is there any Common Sense among men? Secondly, What is Common Sense?

I believe, said EUGENIUS, that our Philosophers would have no scruple in replying in the affirmative to the first question, but, would they be ready to answer the second?

Not to answer the second is to destroy the first, said LEANDER; if there be any Common Sense, it must be something real; and, if there be something real, it is possible for Philosophers to point it out; but, many seem to dread a solution of the question, lest they may be drawn into a conclusion they would avoid, and driven to the confession that all their profound meditations terminate at last in empty ideas.

But, said EUGENIUS, laughing, since their rights against Common Sense are not established on very good authority, perhaps you will perform the task which they decline, and give me a precise notion of what we may call Common Sense in relation

I

to the First Truths, with which we are now chiefly engaged.

This notion, as appears to me, replied LEANDER, may be discovered in the very term, Common Sense; and, I would willingly define it, a sentiment common to men of all times, and of all countries, as soon as they attain the use of reason. I am persuaded that by the careful application of this rule to First Truths, we shall discover those which we must lay down, in respect of objects existing out of us.

While he was thus speaking, LEANDER perceived a party of his acquaintance enter the Garden; this, of course, put an end to the conversation.

ELEMENTS OF METAPHYSICS.

DIALOGUE VI.

You have given me quite a taste for Metaphysics, said EUGENIUS to LEANDER, when they next met; and yet this disposition which I have acquired of considering things closely, and under all their various aspects, almost makes me repent of having engaged in the study. Why so? asked LEANDER.

Because, answered EUGENIUS, when I meet with so many people of a different taste, and see how little discrimination they evince in their judgment of things, I am tempted to think them not very rational. This is bad; but what is still