He traced this spirit of boundless change from its first origin, in that superstition and despotism which genius discovered; but observed, that in avoiding great evils it ran into much greater. He reviewed the efforts of Rousseau, Voltaire, and Helvetius, and the various concurring causes of the French revolution, and marked the progress in other parts of Europe, but especially in England, of the innovating spirit which it was now calling into action, and attended peculiarly to the literature which it excited. He admired the genius of Priestly and Price; and though he disapproved of their enmity to the establishment, yet he revered their high spirit of liberty; and if he questioned their prudence, he gave them full credit for sincerity. Though a friend to the church his regard to it was rather political than religious; if he venerated
Page:Modern Literature Volume 3 (1804).djvu/152
This page needs to be proofread.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Modern_Literature_Volume_3_%281804%29.djvu/page152-1024px-Modern_Literature_Volume_3_%281804%29.djvu.jpg)