[1] My copy is the folio volume of the first edition, 1678; but they
have recently reprinted Cudworth at Oxford in four volumes.
[2] A remarkable expression, which we supposed was peculiar to the
more enlarged views of our own age. But who can affix precise notions
to general terms? Cudworth'a notion of "the philosophy of religion"
was probably restricted to the history of the ancient philosophies of
religion.
[3] In the first edition, the _references_ of its numerous quotations
were few and imperfect; Dr. Birch, in the edition of 1743, supplied
those that were wanting from Mosheim's Latin translation of the work.
Warburton observed that "all the translations from the Greek are
wonderfully exact."
[4] It may be regretted that this valuable mass of curious erudition
is not furnished with an ordinary index. A singular clue to the
labyrinth the author has offered, by a running head on every single
one of the thousand pages; and a minutely analytical table of the
contents is appended to the mighty tome. This indeed impresses us
with a full conception of the sublimity of the work itself; but our
intimacy with this multitude of matters is greatly interrupted by the
want of a ready reference to particulars which an ordinary index
would have afforded.
[5] Continuation des Pensees Diverses, iii. 90.
[6] This volume, still read and valued, was fortunately saved amidst
the wreck of the author's manuscripts, and was published from his own
autograph copy which he had prepared for the press, so late as 1781,
8vo.