Proyr. de riï&p. Hum., 9 e époque

36. Pol. Just. 2* éd. Book VIII, chap. vin ; vol. II, pp. 506-7.

37. Priestley développe longuement la théorie du progrès indéfini au début de YEssay de 1768 : Man dérives two capital advantages from the superiority of bis intcllectual powers. The fir>t is, that, as an individual, he possesses a certain compréhension of mind, whereby he contemplâtes and enjoys tlie past and tin* future, as well as the présent. This compréhension is enlarged witli tin* cxpericnre of every day; and by this means the happiness of man, as he advances in intellect, is eontinually less dépendent on teinporary circumstances and sensations. — The neat advantage rcsulting from the saine prineiple, and which is, in many res|)ects, botb the cause and effect of the former, is, that the human species itself is capable of a similar and unbounded improvement; whereby mankind is in

(Pp. 132-133) NOTES. 327

a la ter âge greatly superior to mankind in a former âge, the individuals being takcn at the saine time of life... — Knowledge, as lord Bacon observes, being power, the liuman powers will in faet, be enlarged ; nature, ineluding bot h ils materials and its laws, will lx* more at oui* l'oinmaiid ; men will makc their situation in this world abundantly more easy and comfortable; they will prol>ably proloug their existence in it, and will grow daily more happy, each in bimself, and inore ablefand, I belicxe, mure disposed) to comiminieate happiness to others. Thus, whatever was the begiiining of this world, the end will be glorious and paradisiaeal, beyond what our imaginations can now conceive. Extravagant as some inay suppose thèse views to be, I think 1 could show tliem to be fairly suggested by the true theory of huinan nature, and to arise from the natural course of liuman a flairs. — (Paradisiaeal. Cf. Hartley, Part I, Prop. XIV, Cor. 9). — Priestley reconnaît expressément avoir emprunté à Hartley la théorie du progrès, dans The conclusion of the late Dr Hartley's Obsermtions on the nature, pcncers and expectations of man, strikingly verified in the events of the présent timeSj with notes and illustrations by the Editor, London (1194), note A. — Leslie Stephen lEnglish Thoutjht, etc., vol. II, p. 256» ne semble pas voir que Priestley copie presque Hartley.

38. Manual of Polilical Economy, Bowring, vol. III, pp. 38-39.