0 F THE
S T U D Y of HlSTÓRY.L E T T E R I.
My Lord,
J Hâve considered formerly, with agood deal ofattention, theíubjecton vvhich you com man d meto communicate my thoughts to you : and I pracìis-ed in those days, as much as business andpleasureallowed me time to do , the ruîes that seemed to mënecefîary to be observed in the study of history.They weré very diffèrent from those which writerson the famé fubject hâve recommended , and whichare commonly pradìifed. But I confefs to youílordfliip, that this neither gave me then, nor hasgiven me si n ce, any distrust of them. I do notaffect singularity. On the contrary, I think that adue deíerence is to be paid to received opinions,and that a due compliance with received cuíloms isto be held ; though both the one and the other sliouldbe, what they often are, absurd or ridiculous. Butthis servitude is outward only, and abridges in nofort the liberty of private judgment. The obliga-tions of fubmitting toit likewife, even, outwardly,
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