Page:An Account of Corsica (1769).djvu/97



LTHOUGH many distinguished authours have, in conformity with the taste of the age, rejected every inquiry into the origin of nations, and presented their readers with nothing but what can be clearly attested; I confess, I am not for humouring an inordinate avidity for positive evidence. By being accustomed to demonstration, or what approaches near to it, and at no time giving any credit to what we do not fully comprehend, we are apt to form a pride and insolence of understanding; the mind acquires a hardness and obstinacy, inconsistent with the true intention of our faculties in this imperfect state, and is rendered unfit for the reception of many important truths.

But not to deviate into metaphysical speculation, I have always thought, that even the dark and fabulous periods are worthy of some attention. The founded heads among the ancients thought