CHAPTER XX. 169 wish that he had spent much more time in reading the best au- thors of this kind, and employed much fewer hours in writing. But it must be confessed, or supposed at least, that there may be seasons, when it is hardly possible for a poetic soul to restrain the fancy or quench the flame, when it is hard to suppress the exuberant flow of lofty sentiments, and prevent the imagination from this sort of style or language: and that is the only season I think, wherein this inclination should be indulged ; especially by persons who have devoted themselves to professions of a dif- ferent kind ; and one reason is because what they write in that hour, ismore likely tocarry in it some appearances above nature, some happy imitation of the dictates of the muse*. XXXVIII. There are other things besides history, gram- mar and languages, rhetoric and poesy, which have been included under the name of philological knowledge; such as, an ac- quaintance with the notions, customs, manners, tempers, polity, Scc, of the various nations of the earth, or the distinct sects and tribes of mankind. This is necessary, in order to under.. stand history the better ; and every man who is a lawyer Or a gentleman, ought to obtain some acquaintance with these things, without which he can never read history to any great advantage, nor can he maintain his own station and character in life with honour and dignity, without sonic insight into them. XXXIX. Students in divinity ought to seek a larger ac- quaintance with the Jewish laws, polity, customs, Sic. in order to understand many passages of the Old Testament and the New, and to vindicate the sacred writers from the reproachesof infidels. An acquaintance also with }nany of the Roman and Grecian atFairs is needful to explain several texts of scripture in the New Testament, to lead sincere enquirers into the true and genuine sense of the evangelists and apostles, and to guard their writings from the unreasonablecavils of men. XL. The art of criticism is reckoned by some as a distinct part of philology ; but it is in truth nothing else, than a more exact and accurate knowledge or skill in the other parts of it, and a readiness to apply that knowledge upon all occasions, in order to judge well of what relates to these subjects, to explain what is obscure in the authors which we read, to supply what is defective, and amend what is erroneous in manuscripts or an- cient copies, to correct the mistakes of authors and editors in the sense or the words, to reconcile the controversies of the learned, and by this means to spread a juster knowledge of these things among the inquisitivepart of mankind. Every man who pretends to the learned professions, if he * The muse in the ancient heathen sense is supposed to be a goddess, bnt in the philosophic sense it can mean no more, than a bright genius with a warm and strong imaoivar:ou, elevated to as uncommon degree.
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