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GODWIN'S THOUGHTS ON MAN.*
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JULY , 1831 .
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Nothing that a philosopher writes of the subjects of his own philosophy can be uninteresting . Nothing that Godwin can say of Man can foil to excite our sympathy and curiosity , however his present sayings may fall short of the value of his former ones , or of those which we well know he would offer , if , with the rejuveniscence of his own St . Leon , he could issue forth once more into society with a newly-invigorated intellect and an unsated experience . This work contains sketches of man in his individuality as
striking , perhaps , as any ever xlrawn by the same hand ; but they are not , as formerly , fixed in their right place as illustrations of some principle . We have faithful interpretations of some mysteries of human emotion ; but they are not , as formerly , brought * home as lessons of social virtue . These ** Thoughts on Man"" are not so arranged as to afford any reciprocal elucidation , or to tend , individually or collectively , to any perceivable end . There is not only a want of arrangement in the plan of the whole and of all
its parts , but a want of unity in the philosophy . There is a great charm in variety of development , as long as there is a uniformity in the principles of the philosophy ; but a mere assemblage of facts and observations , whether they relate to human nature or any thing else , leaves but an unsatisfactory impression . Whatever may be the pleasures of a coasting excursion where we see the same shore under all its varieties of aspect , —the pebbly beach ,
the reedy margin , the rocky promontory , the pastures , the glades , the creeks , successively presented , but finally blending themselves into one landscape , — it is a very different thing to be led through the mazes of an archipelago where we are swept past now a volcano , and then a vine garden , here an abode of civilized men , and there a haunt of goats and monkeys . In the one case we can return to our starting point , rich with the results of our
• Thoughts on Man ,, his Nature , Production * , and Discoveries . By William Godwin . Elfinghain Wilson . 1831 .
Godwin's Thoughts On Man.*
GODWIN ' S THOUGHTS ON MAN . *
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VOL . V . 2 I
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THE MONTHLY REPOSITORY AND REVIEW . NEW SERIES , No . LV .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1831, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2599/page/1/
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