Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essays On Subjects Connected With History And Classical Learning.
ESSAYS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH HISTORY AND CLASSICAL LEARNING .
No . II . . ON THE CHARACTER OF KING WILLIAM THE THIRD .
| N endeavouring to form an accurate and just judgment of the eha-- racters of men , we must necessarily encounter many real and ser ous difficulties . The prejudices of the human mind can seldom be accounted for ; and often escape even without observation . Beginning with the ideas in infancy , they increase and strengthen with the advancement of the understanding , and become inveterate with its maturity . The obstacles to a just investigation of character are often
equally numerous and equally formidable to cotemporaries , and to those who live at a more distant period . If the judgment of a contemporary be warped by prejudice , or partiality , posterity labour under an equal disadvantage , in being supplied with but fewer facts , and those deprived of their original and native strength of colouring . Happily for us , we live at a period which affords us every
opportunity of forming a just judgment on the character of King William the Third : for many documents have been latel y disclosed , which were formerly imcommunicated and , unknown to tlie world . We behold the scene from a distance ; placed on an eminence , we overlook , the intervening objects which obstruct the prospect from the lower ground . The mist hovering on the surface obscures not the eye that is' elevated above it . The fair form of Truth is unveiled , her'beaming eye commands silence , her native beauty engages attention , and
her tongue will speak persuasion . Should we fairly establish the generosity and rectitude of William ' s intentions from one free and unconstrained act , his prudence from another , his bravery from a third;—should we prove from wellfounded probabilities , and a concatenation of circumstances , which cannot lie , that he possessed those great qualifications for which his name has beenand will continue to beextolled we are confident
, , ; , that the petty objections to his character will be imputed to the invention of malice or ingenuity . Reviewing the state of the nation under James the Second , every honest man will see ample reason for the measures that were adopted at the Revolution . The Popish reli gion at that time peculiarly tended to contract the understanding , arid enfeeble the feelings of
sensibility and benevolence . The intellects of James were weak and narrow ; and education had in him weakened or destroyed the generosity natural to the human heart . The bloody spirit of Popery displayed itself in the persecutions of . Louis , and the more sanguinary massacres of the Spanish inquisition ; and from the . conduct of James , both before and after he mounted the throne , there was VOL , vii , 3 C
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essays On Subjects Connected With History And Classical Learning.
ESSAYS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH HISTORY AND CLASSICAL LEARNING .
No . II . . ON THE CHARACTER OF KING WILLIAM THE THIRD .
| N endeavouring to form an accurate and just judgment of the eha-- racters of men , we must necessarily encounter many real and ser ous difficulties . The prejudices of the human mind can seldom be accounted for ; and often escape even without observation . Beginning with the ideas in infancy , they increase and strengthen with the advancement of the understanding , and become inveterate with its maturity . The obstacles to a just investigation of character are often
equally numerous and equally formidable to cotemporaries , and to those who live at a more distant period . If the judgment of a contemporary be warped by prejudice , or partiality , posterity labour under an equal disadvantage , in being supplied with but fewer facts , and those deprived of their original and native strength of colouring . Happily for us , we live at a period which affords us every
opportunity of forming a just judgment on the character of King William the Third : for many documents have been latel y disclosed , which were formerly imcommunicated and , unknown to tlie world . We behold the scene from a distance ; placed on an eminence , we overlook , the intervening objects which obstruct the prospect from the lower ground . The mist hovering on the surface obscures not the eye that is' elevated above it . The fair form of Truth is unveiled , her'beaming eye commands silence , her native beauty engages attention , and
her tongue will speak persuasion . Should we fairly establish the generosity and rectitude of William ' s intentions from one free and unconstrained act , his prudence from another , his bravery from a third;—should we prove from wellfounded probabilities , and a concatenation of circumstances , which cannot lie , that he possessed those great qualifications for which his name has beenand will continue to beextolled we are confident
, , ; , that the petty objections to his character will be imputed to the invention of malice or ingenuity . Reviewing the state of the nation under James the Second , every honest man will see ample reason for the measures that were adopted at the Revolution . The Popish reli gion at that time peculiarly tended to contract the understanding , arid enfeeble the feelings of
sensibility and benevolence . The intellects of James were weak and narrow ; and education had in him weakened or destroyed the generosity natural to the human heart . The bloody spirit of Popery displayed itself in the persecutions of . Louis , and the more sanguinary massacres of the Spanish inquisition ; and from the . conduct of James , both before and after he mounted the throne , there was VOL , vii , 3 C