inseparably interwoven. The duties of men, of subjects, of princes, of lawgivers, of magistrates, and of states, are all of them parts of one consistent system of universal morality. Between the most abstract and elementary maxim of moral philosophy, and the most complicated controversies of civil or public law, there subsists a connection, which it will be the main object of these lectures to trace. The principle of justice, deeply rooted in the nature and interest of man, pervades the whole system, and is discoverable in every part of it, even to its minutest ramification in a legal formality, or in the construction of an article in a treaty.

"I know not whether a philosopher ought to confess, that in his inquiries after truth, he is biassed by any consideration, even by the love of virtue; but I, who conceive that a real philosopher ought to regard truth itself, chiefly on account of its subserviency to the happiness of mankind, am not ashamed to confess, that I shall feel a great consolation at the conclusion of these lectures, if, by a wide survey and an exact examination of the conditions and relations of human nature, I shall have confirmed but one individual in the conviction that justice is the permanent interest of all men, and of all commonwealths. To discover one new link of that eternal chain, by which the Author of the universe has bound together the happiness and the duty of his creatures, and indissolubly fastened their interests to each other, would fill my heart with more pleasure than all the fame with which the most ingenious paradox ever crowned the most ingenious sophist."

No sooner did the pamphlet issue from the press, than commendations of the undertaking poured in upon him from every quarter. Mr. Pitt's opinion was highly flattering: [January 3rd, 1799.] "I cannot refuse myself the satisfaction of assuring you, that the plan that you have marked out appears to me to promise more useful instruction and just reasoning on the principles of government, than I have ever met with in any treatise on that subject. The manner in which that preliminary part is executed, leaves me no doubt that the whole work

will prove an equally valuable acquisition in literature and politics."

"A lecture in the spirit of that discourse," writes Lord Loughborough, "would at all times be of great utility, and of much ornament to the profession of the law. In times like the present, it is capable of rendering great service to the cause of religion, morality, and civil policy."

A copy of the discourse had probably been sent to Dr. Parr, whose reply, at once amusing and characteristic, shows the degree of familiarity which had sprung out of mutual tastes and pursuits.

*

"DEAR JEMMY.-On Thursday morning a learned and sensible man called upon me, and, with raptures, I put the pamphlet into his hand. Now comes a secret. A most abominable imputation of Jacobinism lately induced me to prepare for the press a most animated letter. I defy you, and I defy Burke and Johnson, with all the advantages they have gained in another life, to go beyond one passage which I have written; and before I write so well again, the darkness of death will overshadow me. Oh, Jemmy! how would you puff over your two hands, and pull down your waistcoat, and forget all the meanness and all the malignity of rivalry, and say, as I myself say, of what I myself have written in this one passage that it seldom has been equalled, and never has been surpassed. Mackintosh, if there is upon earth a man who is anxious for your fame, I am that man—not exclusively, but equal with all other men, and even myself. Oh, Scotchman! can I do more than this? Jemmy, I will look at my old musty folios in the library; I will look out the passage in Aristotle, and will do any thing you wish, you dog. I have something to tell you about the simplification of principles, or rather the simpleton

jargon about R-r-r-eason, and let us do the business well. I don't mean us, but you; and, you dog, nobody can do it better; nobody, I say-not Hume, not Adam Smith, not Burke, not Dugald Stuart; and the only exception I can think of is Lord Bacon. Yet, you dog, I hate you, for you want decision. Oh, Jemmy! feel your own powers; assert your dignity: out upon vanity, and cherish pride. I shall return to eat a good dinner, with good company; and, you dog, I wish you were here to quaff my good port, and scent my good tobacco.

"Farewell!

"S. PARR.

"What do you mean by talking about petty critics? Jemmy, don't affect this nonsense.

"The favourite passages of one, certainly not a petty critic, were, the Critiques on Grotius and Montesquieu,' and the whole of the third division, on the relation of citizen and magistrate. The last is a very masterly piece of exposition."

But, to pass from individual opinion, the almost universal estimate of the merit of this "Discourse," and of the powers of mind which displayed themselves in parts, would appear amply to justify the vivid illustration of Campbell." If Mackintosh had published nothing else than his Discourse on the Law of Nature and Nations,' he would have left a perfect monument of his intellectual strength and symmetry; and even supposing that that essay had been recovered, only imperfect and mutilated; if but a score of its consecutive sentences could be shown, they would bear a testimony to his genius, as decided as the bust of Theseus bears to Grecian art among the Elgin marbles."

This course, which began in February, and continued

till June 24th, 1799, occupied thirty-nine lectures, and was repeated, with some variations, the following year, part of the intervening autumn being spent at Cambridge, for the purpose of consulting, in the course of further researches, some works in the noble libraries of that place.

The novelty of the undertaking, the acknowledged abilities of the author, and his early fame, acquired by the powerful support of opinions, which it was known that the course of public events had induced him to modify, threw an interest over the execution of the design, which daily filled the hall of Lincoln's Inn with an auditory such as never before was seen on a similar occasion. classes were there represented-lawyers, members of Parliament, men of letters, and country gentlemen, crowded to hear him.

All

On looking abroad over the Continent, the moment seemed to be well-timed for a public appeal in behalf of laws which regulate the rights and intercourse of nations, in the only country where the voice of reason could be heard amid the storm of conquest, which, after the hollow peace of Campo Formio, was again too successfully to be directed against all recognised rights by him, who had fitly succeeded to the "iron crown." The practical nature of much of the knowledge conveyed, and the mode in which the stores of the great continental jurists were made available for more superficial politicians to apply to the present posture of the country, accounted for the presence of many who were able, in different spheres of public exertion, to carry into practice the dictates of justice and freedom, which they there heard so eloquently explained, and ardently enforced; while all seemed to recognise, as the lecturer was tracing out through their mighty maze the minutest paths of

private duty, the affectionate earnestness of a domestic instructor.

His own account of the composition of his audience, and of some of the difficulties which he experienced in the execution of his plan, is contained in a letter to his friend, G. Moore, Esq. of Moore Hall, in the County Mayo, Ireland, April 25th, 1799. The following is an extract. "When I confess that indolence has been the cause of my late silence, it is not because I want other pretexts: my lectures might serve me well for that purpose. I trusted more than I ought to have done to my general habits of reflection on the subject. When I came to the execution of my plan, I found it more toilsome than I imagined. I have, however, on the whole, been more successful than I had any right to expect. The number of my pupils amounted to about one hundred and fifty, among whom are six peers, a dozen members of the House of Commons, not one of either sort from my own friends in opposition, except Lord Holland and Brogden. I own this piqued me not a little; but I owe duties to my own character, which their ingratitude shall not provoke me to violate. The other party have shown great patronage of the undertaking. Grant, Lord Minto, S. Douglas, Canning, &c. have attended most of them regularly. I was obliged to suspend the lectures by the assizes and quarter sessions: before that interruption, I had gone through, in six lectures, the general philosophy of human nature and morality. On Monday, the 8th April, I resume the lectures on the

* One day, when hurrying to the Hall, he was detained by rendering assistance to a man who had fallen down in a fit in the street. Upon arriving in the room, he found that the audience had been kept waiting some time for him. He apologised to them, and mentioned the cause of his delay, adding, "After all, gentlemen, practice is better than precept."