Four Dissertations

First published 1757 · the first edition (1757), with its errata

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contents

It was the practice of the antients to address their compositions only to friends and equals, and to render their dedications monuments of…

The Natural History of Religion

As every enquiry, which regards Religion, is of the utmost importance, there are two questions in particular, which challenge our principal…

Of the Passions

Some objects produce immediately an agreeable sensation, by the original structure of our organs, and are thence denominated Good; as…

It seems an unaccountable pleasure, which the spectators of a well-wrote tragedy receive from sorrow, terror, anxiety, and other passions,…

Of the Standard of Taste

The great variety of Tastes, as well as of opinions, which prevail in the world, is too obvious not to have fallen under every one’s…