Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T23:35:52.287Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - The opportunities of dialogue

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2009

Get access

Summary

In Dublin, late in the spring of 1710, Jeremy Pepyat published the first edition of the Principles. By July, a shipment of the book was under way to London, there to be sold at the Churchills' shop in Paternoster Row. Berkeley felt he had managed, in conversation, to convince many of his Dublin friends, but he knew that London remained the test of his difficult thesis, and so took all practical steps to ease its reception. He arranged for two copies of his book to be sent to Percival, with the request that he present one of these to the Earl of Pembroke, the book's dedicatee. Berkeley also urged Percival to pass his own copy amongst his ‘ingenious acquaintances’ in London (VIII.35). Percival complied, but had to report to Dublin that the capital remained unperturbedly materialist:

‘Tis incredible what prejudices can work on the best geniuses, nay and even on the lovers of novelty, for I did but name the subject matter of your book to some ingenious friends of mine and they immediately treated it with ridicule, at the same time refusing to read it, which I have not yet got one to do, and indeed I have not yet been able to discourse myself on it because I had it so lately, neither when I set about it may I be able to understand it thoroughly for want of having studied philosophy more. A physician of my acquaintance undertook to describe your person, and argued you must needs be mad, and that you ought to take remedies. […]

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×