A slight sketch of the controversy between Dr. Priestley and his opponents on the subject of his Disquisitions on matter and spirit / [Anon].

  • Badcock, Samuel, 1747-1788
Date:
[1780]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A slight sketch of the controversy between Dr. Priestley and his opponents on the subject of his Disquisitions on matter and spirit / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    14/64 (page 6)
    J [ 6 3 It hath been confidently afierted, that Mr. Hume was flung to the heart with the poignancy of Dr. Beattie’s ridicule, and that he retired fmarting with the wounds which he had received from his antago- nift. I fufpedl,—indeed, I more than fufpect the truth of this afiertion, I believe it to be entirely ground- lefs : Its authority was never attefled, and it would need fomething more than anonymous report to au¬ thenticate a flory which bears every mark of impro¬ bability in the face of it. If Mr. Hume was cha¬ grined, his mortification arofe from the tafte of the public, not from the flrength of his opponent; He had held contention with a heavier arm, and in the confcioufnefs of fuperior powers wifhed for a more important antagonift; but I have digreffed too far from the principal objedl of this letter. To return to Dr. Prieflley.-1 have been pretty converfant at my leifure hours with the controverfy # which this fingular and enterprifing writer hath drawn from the darknefs of the fchools, juft to amufe the idly-learned for a while, till it goes to reft with the forgotten fhades of Acquinas and Bradwardine. I have traced out,—I am afraid you will call me idly curious,—the progrefs of this gentleman’s opinions, from modeft doubt to a bold difbelief of the natural immortality of the human foul. I find r