The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-05-16


return to his native country had carried to ar
| improved society. or whom the same spirit
had drawn from a state of civilization to a sa
wage country. 1t WAS in such anage as this
and before the benefits Of W writing had spread
frcm ore distant place to another. that the
philosophers Of Greece formerly studied il
the schools of Egypr and the East, those doc
-rines which were unknown TO their own
countrymen.
The art of writing at last arose. Com
merce introduced the people of one country
10 those ofanother. A new method was now
given to one man and to one society of Law
ing before other men and other countries the
means of improvement A durable record
was kept of the transactions of past apes;
and man seemed to nave been suddenly in
dued with a now power of extending mis-
knowledge TO characters and to events. which
had disappeared so long. New difficulties,
however, exposed the ifnperfection of this
art. The copying of 4 lengthy. manuscript
was found 70 occupy much time, and tedious
lobour. Like all other commodities, a yalu.
able manuscript began 70 bear a mercantile
price proport;oned to this time and trouble.
augmented too by the curious ingenuity of
the production. Hence no man could obtain
a copy of any celebrated composition, which
he did not copy with his own hand, or en-
plov some. other person 70 tfanscribe, or
which he did not purchase at an immense
price. Rich men found an interes st in keen
ing slaves for the mere purpose of copyinp
these works. which they either preserved
(as many of our very rich men do) from the
qualification of a frivolous vanity, or sold 70
more inquisitive men at 4 price, which, in
the present dav, would appear most exorbi-
tant. Mr. Watson, in his History of Print
ing, has mentioned an Epistle of one Anto-
Mus Bononia TO Alphonsus King of Naples
and Sicily (see Luckombe's History and Art
of Printing! in which he promise to give the
King 100 crowns of gold for each volume of
Iivv. Antiquarians nave assured us. that a
deed of conveyance was formerly made bv n
Notary for a manuscript, as we CONVEY lands.
Between l440 and 1850, a discovery be-
yond all others the most simple in it's ma
ture and the most extensive in i-s c r,cts, ap-
peared to assist the progress of Science, Lii
%terature and social happiness. 1t was The
Prcss. With almost the same ease with
which one mauuscrip. copy can be compliant
ed, it has taught man to create q thousand
impressions in nearly the same sine. SO
long.as civilized nations shall Withstand the
embarrassing ravages of a savage horde so
long as the. institutions of the State shall
! Spcw IT. sseu+st~.-A .heas..
may act; theprogress of science seems to be
Enoionger uncertain. The advantages which
II holds out to 1t may admits simple emu
rneration.
1st. 1t dissepinatce n the. truSls which
are actually discovered on every subject.
whether it relates to the science of calculate
on, to the Philosophy of the cxtcynal universe.
or the knowledge of Man. Doubtless it diff,
fuses'errors in the same proportion. But
experience has never failed to present us with
+" monuments OF the safety with which err,
rcr NAV be tolerated, where reason ia free to
combat ito .
I'd. IT increases the number Of truths, bv
disseminating the spirit of enquiry. Every
theory, hint or individual fact, is submitted
TO the investigation of several minds, whose
curiosity is awakened to the ardour of disco
very. >
3d.71tnot only extends these truths to ma
ny minds, bu. it presents them to the same
mind in much greater perfection and GER
-taiRty. The methods of information, are
few in number, bu- very different in the de-
grees of Certainty which they give TO any opi..
on, which is not demonstrative. We cannos1
be more cer'ain of any thing: than when we
perceive it by our o5pn senses The -ueybay
communications of others, on what they
themselves have perceived, fill up the next
degree ofcertainty, When we FAVE been in.
formed of any thing not by the man who
perceived it himself, but by others who
heard it from hun, the confidence which
we repose in the opinion, is greater mr.
less in proportion to the source thro,
which it omes 1t is always much prea-
ter when we acquire any information
thro' writing or printing. II is then re
gistered in. black and white. The ~letters'
cannot change their arrangement so as
to produce a different statement. But when
we trust the oral information of others. we