The PREFACE.

SOME strange love of simplicity
in the structure of human nature,
or attachment to some favorite
hypothesis, has engaged many writ-
ers to pass over a great many simple
perceptions which we may find in
ourselves. We have the num-
ber five fixed for our external sen-
ses, though seven or ten might as ea-
sily be defended. We have multi-
tudes of perceptions which have no
relation to any external sensation,
if by it we mean perceptions oc-
casioned by motions or impressions
made on our bodies; such as the
ideas of number, duration, pro-
portion, virtue, vice, pleasures of
honor, of congratulation; the
pains of remorse, shame, sympa-
thy, and many others. It would be
wished that those who take
such pains to prove a beloved max-
im—that "all ideas arise from sen-
sation and reflection"—had so ex-