sible Appearance: Yet I am perswaded, the noble Author would have looked grave, had he been put in Mind of the Remark which Fabricius made on the Epicurean Sect, "that he wished such Principles to all the Enemies of Rome.[1]" Or had he recollected, that when the irreligious System of Epicurus prevailed in Greece and Rome, these unprincipled and profligate States were on the Eve of their Destruction.
Soon after the Author of the Characteristics, another more dissolute Writer appeared on the public Stage. I mean, the Author of "The Fable of the Bees." This Gentleman, as hath been observed above, leveled his Artillery on the whole Fabric of Morals and Religion. His System was diametrically opposite to that of Lord Shaftesbury: The one was founded on the unaided Excellence, the other on the incurable Depravity of human Nature. But now the vagrant Spirit of Irreligion
- ↑ See above, p. 76.
