HARTLEY, DAVID, was born on the 30th of August 1705. He was the son of a respectable clergyman, vicar of Armley, in the county of York, where he died, leaving be hind him eight children. The subject of this article was brought up by a Mrs Brooksbank, who lived near Halifax. He received the first rudiments of his education at a -pri vate school, and his academical education at Cambridge. He was admitted at Jesus College at the age of fifteen years, and was afterwards elected a fellow of that society, and took the degree of M. A. He was originally designed for the church, and proceeded for some time in his thoughts and studies towards that object ; but he was restrained by some scruples, which made him reluctant to subscribe the thirty nine articles. He continued, nevertheless, a member of the church of England, conforming to its public worship. This lie did upon the principle, that the church of England maintains, in substance, the practical doctrines of Christi anity, and that it was not incumbent to separate himself from its communion on account of some articles, which he regarded as speculative and abstruse. Having, it would appear, from conscientious scruples, relinquished the pro fession of his first choice, he applied his talents to the me dical profession, in which he arrived at considerable emi nence for skill and industry, hut still more for philanthropy. He exercised the healing art with equal attention and fideli ty to the poor and the rich. He visited the humblest re cesses of poverty and sickness. He was not unmindful that bodily sickness renders the mind more impressible with moral and religious truths, and embraced opportuni ties, in the course of his medical practice, of exercising mental charities to afflicted minds, as well as of employing his knowledge of the healing art to the restoration of bodily health.
He was industrious in acquiring all collateral branches of knowledge, and lived in personal intimacy with the learn ed men of his age. Dr Law, Dr Butler, Dr Warburton, afterwards Bishops of Carlisle, Durham, and Gloucester, and Dr Jortin, were his intimate friends. lie was much attached to Dr Hoadlcy, Bishop of Winchester, whose opi nions on religion and politics seem to have been very simi lar to his own. Dr Hales, and Dr Smith, master of Trini ty College in Cambridge, with other members of the Royal Society, were his companions in the sciences of optics, and other branches of natural philosophy. Mr Hawkins Browne, the author of an elegant Latin poem, De 4nimi Immortalitate, and Dr Young, the moral poet, stood high in his esteem. Dr Byrom, the inventor of a scientific short hand writing, was much respected by him for useful and accurate judgment in philology. Mr Hooke, the Roman historian and disciple of the Newtonian chronology, was amongst his literary intimates. The celebrated poet Pope was likewise admired by him as a man of genius, and a true poet ; yet he regarded the celebrated Essay on Man as tending to insinuate, that the divine revelation of the Chris tian religion was superfluous, in a case where human phi losophy was adequate. He suspected the secret influence of Lord Bolingbroke, as guiding the poetical pen of his un suspecting friend, to deck out in borrowed plumes the pla giarisms of modern ethics from Christian doctrines. From his earliest youth he was devoted to the sciences, particu larly to logic and mathematics, which last he studied under the celebrated Professor Saunderson. He published, 1. A View of the present Evidence for and against Stevens's Medicines as a solvent for the Stone, London 1739, 204 pages 8vo. dedicated to the President and Fellows of the Royal College, London. His own case is the 123d in the book ; yet he is said, after all, to have died of the stone, after having taken above two hundred pounds weight of soap ; and it must be acknowledged, though with regret, that that celebrated medicine has no power of dissolving stones in the kidneys or bladder. 2. Dr Hartley is said to have written in defence of inoculation against Dr Warren of St Edmund's Bury ; and some letters of his are to be met with in the Phil Trans. 3. But his most celebrated work is entitled, Observations on Man, his Frame, his Duty, and his Expectations, in two parts ; part the first, containing ob servations on the frame of the human body and mind, and on their mutual connections and influences ; part the se cond, containing observations on the duty and expectations of mankind ; London, 1749. The author gives the follow ing account of the origin and progress of the work. " About eighteen years ago, I was informed that the Rev. Mr Gay, then living, asserted the possibility of deducing all our in tellectual pleasures and pains from association. This put me upon considering the power of association. Mr Gay published his sentiments on this matter, about the same time, in a dissertation on the fundamental Principle of Vir tue, prefixed to Mr Archdeacon Law's translation of Arch bishop King's Origin of Evil. From inquiring into the power of association, I was led to examine both its conse quences, in respect of morality and religion, and its physical cause. By degrees, many disquisitions, foreign to the doc trine of association, or at least not immediately connected with it, intermixed themselves. I have here put together all my separate papers on these subjects, digesting them in such order as they seemed naturally to suggest, and adding such things as were necessary to make the whole appear more complete and systematical." The author, aware that he had thus laid himself open to the charge of having first adopted a theory, and afterwards accommodated his obser vations in subserviency to it, adds, that " he did not first form a system, and then suit the facts to it ; but was carried on by a train of thoughts from one thing to another, fre quently without any express design, or even any previous suspicion of the consequences that might arise ; and that this was most remarkably the case in respect of the doe trine of Necessity ; for I was not at all aware, that it follow ed from that of association, for several years after I had be gun my inquiries ; nor did I admit it at last without the greatest reluctance."
In regard to the doctrine of necessity, justice to the au thor requires that his note of explanation should be here given, viz. " that he no where denies practical free will, or that voluntary power over our affections and actions, by which we deliberate, suspend, and choose, and which makes an essential part of our ideas of virtue and vice, reward and punishment." To the doctrine of associations he has added vibrations, and endeavoured to establish a connection between these, and to spew the general use of these in explaining the nature of sensa tions. In the introductory remarks to the second part of the work, " On the Duty and Expectations of Man," he says, that " the contemplation of our frame and constitu tion appeared to him to have a peculiar tendency to lessen the difficulties attending natural and revealed religion, and to improve their evidences, as well as to concur with them in their determination of man's duty and expectations ; with which view he drew up the foregoing observations on the frame and connexion of the body and mind : And in pro secution of the same design, he goes on in this part, from this foundation, and upon the other phenomena of nature, to deduce the truths of natural religion ; laying down all these as a new foundation whereon to build the evidences for revealed religion, to inquire into the rule of life re sulting from the frame of our natures, the dictates of na tural religion, and the precepts of Scripture. And, lastly, to inquire into the genuine doctrines of natural and re vealed religion, thus illustrated, concerning the expecta tions of mankind here and hereafter." The intentions of the author seem to have been upright and pions ; and considerable ingenuity, as well as acquaint ance with the human frame, are displayed throughout the work. Yet few, it is believed, will be found to assert that his system throws any light on the mysterious union of matter and inind, or that his reduction of all the ope rations of the human mind to association of ideas, has tend ed in any degree to simplify the subject. " The philoso phy of mind (observes Professor Stuart) has its alchemists ; men, whose studies are directed to the pursuit of one sin gle principle, into which the whole science may be resolv ed ; and they flatter themselves with the hope of disco vering the grand secret by which the pure gold of truth may be produced at pleasure. Of such metaphysical al chemists, Hartley is clearly entitled to the first place. But all the generalizations of his system are verbal only, and it succeeds in bringing all our mental operations under the head of associations, only by using the term in such an un precedented latitude, as to make it comprehend all sorts of mental operations, and every kind of connection of ideas. Every thing, according to Hartley, of which we are con scious, excepting only our sensations, may be called ideas; and every kind of relation between them he terms au asso ciation, so that the connection betwixt twice two and four, is merely an association of ideas, and that all mathematical relations are of the same denomination. This, it is evi dent, is not a discovery in philosophy, but an innovation in language." (Philosoph. Essays.) It is said that he did not expect that his work would meet with any general or im mediate reception in the philosophical world, or even that i` would be much read or understood ; but that at some dis tant period it would become the adopted system of future philosophers. There seems no probability of this expect ation being realized. The prevailing systems of Reid, Stewart, Stc. the inductive philosophy of mind, seems to hid much fairer for general adoption. Although Hartley cannot he recommended as a guide, either in philosophy or in religion, his private and personal character seems to have been amiable and exemplary. His thoughts were not immersed in worldly pursuits or contentions, and therefore his life was not eventful or turbulent, but placid and un disturbed by passion or violent ambition. From his ear liest youth, his mental ambition was pre-occupied by the pursuits of science. His hours of amusement were like wise bestowed upon objects of taste and sentiment. Music, poetry, and history, were his favourite recreations. His natural temper was cheerful and social. He was addicted to no vice in any part of his life. The virtuous principles arc instilled in his works, were exemplified in his conduct. His person was of the middle size, and well pro portioned ; his complexion fair, his features regular and handsome. His countenance open, ingenuous, and ani mated. He was peculiarly neat in his person and attire. He was an early riser, and punctual in the employments of the day ; methodical in the disposition of his library, pa pers, and writings, as the companions of his thoughts, but without any pedantry, either in these habits, or in any other part of his character. His behaviour was polite, easy, and graceful, flowing from benevolence of heart. His whole character was eminently marked by simplicity of manners, and uprightness of conduct. The dispositions of his heart shine very evidently through his works, and the conclusion of the work on Man, in which he addresses various classes of the community, and exposes prevailing vices, does much honour to his moral and religious character, and evince an affectionate concern for the best interests of his country, and of mankind. He died at Bath on the 28th of August, 1757, at the age of fifty-two years. He was twice married, and left issue by both marriages, two sons, and a daughter. His eldest son got a travelling fellowship, and his younger son was entered at Oxford in Michaelmas term, 1757. See a Sketch of the Life and Character of Dr Hart ley, prefixed to ;Votes and Additions to the work on Plan. By Herman A. Pistorius, rector of Poseritz in the island of Rugen, London, 1791 ; and Dodsley's Ann. Register, vol. xviii.