The collection now exhibited to the world is, says Dr. Birch, and we entirely agree with him, so incontestable a proof of the superiority of our author’s genius, as in a manner supersedes every thing that can be said upon that head.  But her abilities as a writer, and the merit of her works, will not have full justice done them, without a due attention to the peculiar circumstances, in which they were produced:  her early youth, when she wrote some, her very advanced age, and ill state of health, when she drew up others; the uneasy situation of her fortune, during the whole course of her life; and an interval of near twenty years in the vigour of it, spent in the cares of a family, without the least leisure for reading or contemplation:  after which, with a mind so long diverted and incumbered, resuming her studies, she instantly recovered its intire powers, and in the hours of relaxation from her domestic employments, pursued, to their utmost limits, some of the deepest enquiries of which the human mind is capable!

CONTENTS of the First Volume of Mrs. COCKBURN’S Works.

I. A Discourse concerning a Guide in Controversy.  First published in 1707, with a preface by bishop Burnet.

II.  A Defence of Mr. Lock’s Essay of Human Understanding.  First published in 1702.

III.  A Letter to Dr. Holdsworth, concerning the Resurrection of the same Body.  First published in 1726.

IV.  A Vindication of Mr. Lock’s Christian Principles, from the injurious Imputations of Dr. Holdsworth.  Now first published.

V. Remarks upon some Writers in the Controversy, concerning the Foundation of Moral Virtue, and Moral Obligation.  With some Thoughts concerning Necessary Existence; the Reality and Infinity of Space; the Extension and Place of Spirits; and on Dr. Watts’s Notion of Substance.  First published in 1743.

CONTENTS of the Second Volume.

I. Remarks upon Dr. Rutherforth’s Essay on the Nature and Obligations of Virtue.  First published in the year 1747.

II.  Miscellaneous Pieces.  Now first printed.  Containing a Letter of Advice to her Son.—­Sunday’s Journal.—­On the Usefulness of Schools and Universities.—­On the Credibility of the Historical Parts of Scripture.  —­On Moral Virtue.—­Notes on Christianity as old as the Creation.—­On the Infallibility of the Church of Rome.—­Answer to a Question concerning the Jurisdiction of the Magistrate over the Life of the Subject.—­Remarks on Mr. Seed’s Sermon on Moral Virtue.—­Remarks upon an Enquiry into the Origin of Human Appetites and Affections.

III.  Letters between Mrs. Cockburn and several of her Friends.  These take up the greatest part of the volume.

IV.  Letters between the Rev. Dr. Sharp, Archdeacon of Northumberland and Mrs. Cockburn concerning the Foundation of Moral Virtue.

V. Fatal Friendship, a Tragedy.