SECT. II.
_Arguments of the Quakers examined--three cases made out for the
determination of a moral philosopher--case the first--case the
second--case the third._
I purpose to look into these arguments of the Quakers, and to see how far
they can be supported. I will suppose therefore a few cases to be made
out, and to be handed, one by one, to some moral philosopher for his
decision. I will suppose this philosopher (that all prejudice of
education may be excluded) to have been ignorant of the nature of
dancing, but that he had been made acquainted with it, in order that he
might be enabled to decide the point in question.
Suppose then it was reported to this philosopher that, on a certain day,
a number of young persons of both sexes, who had casually met at a
friends house, instead of confining themselves to the room on a summers
afternoon, had walked out upon the green; that a person present had
invited them suddenly to dance; that they had danced to the sound of
musical vibrations for an hour, and that after this they had returned to
the room, or that they had returned home. Would the philosopher be able
to say in this case, that there was any thing in it, that incurred any
of the culpable imputations, fixed upon dancing by the Quakers?
He could hardly; I think, make it out, that there could have been, in
any part of the business, any opening for the charges in question.
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