Page:Ferrier's Works Volume 3 "Philosophical Remains" (1883 ed.).djvu/361

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MR BAILEY'S REPLY TO AN ARTICLE IN

BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE




We have just been favoured with a pamphlet from Mr Bailey, entitled 'A Letter to a Philosopher, in Reply to some Recent Attempts to Vindicate Berkeley's Theory of Vision, and in further Elucidation of its Unsoundness.' Our article on Mr Bailey's review of Berkeley's theory, which appeared in 'Blackwood's Magazine' of June 1842, was one of these attempts. Had the author merely attacked or controverted our animadversions on his book, we should probably have left the question to its fate, and not have reverted to a subject, the discussion of which, even in the first instance, may have been deemed out of place in a journal not expressly philosophical. There is, in general, little to be gained by protracting such controversies. But, as Mr Bailey accuses us, in the present instance, of having misrepresented his views, we must be allowed to exculpate ourselves from the charge of having dealt, even with