ABSTRACT
He told me that facts gave birth to, and were the absolute ground of principles; to which I said, that unless he had a principle of selection, he would not have taken notice of those facts upon which he grounded his principle. You must have a lantern in your hand to give light, otherwise all the materials in the world are useless, for you cannot find them; and if you could, you could not arrange them. ‘But then’, said Mr –, ‘that principle of selection came from facts!’ – ‘To be sure!’ I replied; ‘but there must have been again an antecedent light to see those antecedent facts. The relapse may be carried in imagination backwards for ever – but go back as far as you may, you cannot come to a man without a previous aim or principle.’
