THE FIRST EDITION. XX111 honour, the prosperity, the character of this Queen of Islands, she yet believes that there are to be found worse preju- dices than those national attachments, which in her are irreclaimable. * It is not, however, to beconceded, that the termprejudice, so frequently applied to these attachments, is, by this applica- tion, legitimately used. If prejudice, in its true definition, signifies prepossession, judgment formed beforehand, fondness adopted previously to knowledge, notions cherished without inquiry, opinions taken up, and acted upon without examination, - if these be its real significations, and what lexicographer will deny that they are ? then how can this term be applied to the more enlightened Britons ? 11.6w can it be applied to men who, inde- pendently of the natural fondness for the * These prefatory apologies for the offences of a subsequent chapter, will, it is to be feared, remind the reader of the prudent sinner mentioned by Lu- ther, who in going to purchase indulgences for the faults he had already committed, purchased another for a fault he intended to commit.
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