The reader expects to find an attempt to draw his own picture in "The
Sceptic;" but it is not to be found there. The sceptic of the essays is
not a man analyzing the principles of knowledge, to find wherein they
consist, but one who is dissatisfied with rules of morality, and who,
examining the current codes one after another, tosses them aside as
unsatisfactory. It is into "The Stoic" that the writer has thrown most
of his heart and sympathy; and it is in that sketch that, though
probably without intention, some of the features of his own character
are portrayed. There are passages which have considerable unison of tone
with those autobiographical documents already quoted, in which he
describes himself as having laboured to subdue the rebellious passions,
to reduce the mind to a regulated system, to drive from it the influence
of petty impressions,--to hold one great object of life in view, and to
sacrifice before that object whatever stood in the way of his firmly
settled purpose.
Of the success of these essays, and the method in which he occupied
himself after their publication, he thus speaks in his "own life:"--"The
work was favourably received, and soon made me entirely forget my former
disappointment. I continued with my mother and brother in the country,
and in that time recovered the knowledge of the Greek language, which I
had too much neglected in my early youth." On 13th June, 1742, he says
to Henry Home:--"The _Essays_ are all sold in London, as I am informed
by two letters from English gentlemen of my acquaintance. There is a
demand for them; and, as one of them tells me, Innys, the great
bookseller in Paul's Churchyard, wonders there is not a new edition, for
that he cannot find copies for his customers. I am also told that Dr.
Butler has every where recommended them; so that I hope they will have
some success. They may prove like dung with marl, and bring forward the
rest of my Philosophy, which is of a more durable, though of a harder
and more stubborn nature. You see I can talk to you in your own style."
In consequence of this favourable reception, a second edition appeared
in 1742.
The communication of which the above is a part, contains the following
short essay on the Orations of Cicero:--