Page:The Hunterian oration, for the year 1819.djvu/70

66 rence of the dreadful consequences of superstition and bigotry, and of those of tyrannical restriction and oppression. Yet in recoiling from one kind of error, the party seem to me to have run into an opposite one, and to have equally deviated from the mid-way path, which is trodden only by the unprejudiced and considerate. With respect to the subject of nationality, however, I wish to submit a sentence, which I remember to have heard in Mr. Coleridge’s lectures, to Mr. Lawrence’s consideration. There can be no sincere cosmopolitan, who is not also a patriot. Is it becoming likewise in Mr. Lawrence to point out what he considers as the weak parts of my lectures to general observation? Fortunately for me, indeed, he is not to be my judge; for he is strongly prejudiced, and evidently angry: the members of our profession in general are to determine the value of my humble endeavours to promote our professional knowledge and character, and in their decision I am ready respectfully to acquiesce.