XVI.

The public

that arose from the

restoration

CENT. VI. It is, at the same time, evident, that, in SECT. II, this century, the arts and sciences were carried to a degree of perfection unknown to preceding ages; advantages and from this happy renovation of learning, the European churches derived the most signal and inestimable advantages, which they also transof letters. mitted to the most remote and distant nations. The benign influence of true science, and its tendency to improve both the form of religion and the institutions of civil policy, were perceived by many of the states and princes of Europe. Hence large sums were expended, and great zeal and industry employed, in promoting the progress of knowledge, by sounding and encouraging literary societies, by protecting and exciting a spirit of emulation among men of genius, and by annexing distinguished honours and advantages to the culture of the sciences. And it is particularly worthy of observation, that this was the period, when the wise and salutary law, which excludes ignorant and illiterate persons from the sacred functions of the Christian ministry, acquired, at length, that force which it still retains in the greatest part of the Christian world. There still remained, however, some seeds of that ancient discord between religion and philosophy, that had been sown and fomented by ignorance and fanaticism; and there were found, both among the friends and enemies of the Reformation, several well meaning, but inconsiderate men, who, in spite of common sense, maintained with more vehemence and animosity than ever, that vital religion and piety could never flourish until it was totally separated from learning and science, and nourished by the holy simplicity that reigned in the primitive ages of the church.

The flou

VII. The first rank in the literary world was rishing state now held by those, who consecrated their studious of philosophy- hours, and their critical sagacity to the publica

XVI.

tion, correction, and illustration of the most fa- CENT. mous Greek and Latin authors of ancient times, SECT. II. to the study of antiquity and the languages, and to the culture of eloquence and poetry. We see by the productions of this age (that yet remain, and continue to excite the admiration of the learned), that in all the provinces of Europe these branches of literature were cultivated with a kind of enthusiasm, by such as were most distinguished by their taste and genius; nay, what is still more extraordinary (and perhaps not a little extravagant), the welfare of the church, and the prosperity of the state, was supposed to depend upon the improvement of these branches of erudition, which were considered as the very essence of true and solid knowledge. If such encomiums were swelled beyond the bounds of truth and wisdom by enthusiastical philologists, it is, nevertheless, certain, that the species of learning, here under consideration, was of the highest importance, as it opened the way that led to the treasures of solid wisdom, to the improvement of genius, and thus undoubtedly contributed, in a great measure, to deliver both reason and religion from the prepossessions of ignorance, and the servitude of superstition [m]. And, therefore, we ought not to

M

be

[m] Many vehement debates have been carried on concerning the respective merit of Literature and Philosophy. But these debates are almost as absurd as a comparison that should be made between the means and the end, the instrument and its effect. Literature is the key by which we often open the treasures of wisdom, both human and divine. But as the sordid miser converts absurdly the means into an end, and acquires a passion for the shining metal, considered abstractedly from the purposes it was designed to serve, so the pedantic philologist erects literature into an independent science, and contemns the divine treasures of philosophy, which it was designed both to discover and to illustrate. Hence that wretched tribe of "word-catchers that live on syllables" (as Pope, I think, happily expresses their tasteless VOL. IV. pursuits),

M

XVI.

CENT.be surprised, when we meet with persons who SECT. Hexaggerate the merit and dwell beyond measure on the praises of those who were our first guides

philosophy.

from the regions of darkness and error, into the luminous paths of evidence and truth. The state of VIII. Though the lovers of philology and Belles Lettres were much superior in number to those who turned their principal views to the study of philosophy, yet the latter were far from being contemptible either in point of number or capacity. The philosophers were divided into two classes, of which the one was wholly absorbed in contemplation, while the other was employed in the investigation of truth, and endeavoured by experience, as well as by reasoning, to trace out the laws and operations of Nature. The former were subdivided into two sects, of which the onefollowed certain leaders, while the other, unre strained by the dictates of authority, struck out a new way for themselves, following freely their own inventions. Those who submitted to the direction of certain philosophical guides, enlisted themselves under the standards of Aristotle, or those of Piato, who continued still to have many admirers, especially in Italy. Nor were the followers of Aristotle agreed among themselves; they all acknowledged the Stagirite as their chief, but they followed him through very different paths. Some were for retaining the ancient method of proceeding in philosophical pursuits, which their doctors falsely called the Peripatetic system. Others pleaded for the pure and unmixed philosophy of Aristotle, and recommended the writings of that Grecian sage as

the

pursuits), who make the republic of letters groan under their commentaries, annotations, various readings, &c. and forget that the knowledge of words and languages was intended to lead us to the improvement of the mind, and to the knowledge of things.

XVI.

the source of wisdom, and as the system which CEN T. was most adapted, when properly illustrated and scr. II. explained, to the instruction of youth. A third sort of Aristotelian, who differed equally from these now mentioned, and of whom the celebrated Melancthon was the chief, pursued another method. They extracted the marrow out of the lucubrations of Aristotle, illustrated it by the aids of genuine literature and the rules of good criticism, and corrected it by the dictates of right reason and the doctrines and principles of true religion.

Of those who struck out a path to themselves in the regions of philosophy, without any regard to that which had been opened by ancient sages, and pursued by their followers, Cardan [n], Telesius [0], and Campa

[7] Cardan was a man of a bold, irregular, enterprizing genius, who, by a wild imagination, was led into the study of astrology and magic, by which he excited the astonishment, and attracted the veneration of the multitude, while his real merit as a philosopher was little known. He was accused of atheism, but seems much rather chargeable with superstition. His life and character was an amazing mixture of wisdom and folly, and nothing can give a more unfavourable idea of his temper and principles than the hideous portrait he has drawn of himself in his book De genituris. His knowledge of physic and mathematics was considerable, and his notions of natural philosophy may be seen in his famous book De subtilitate et veritate rerum, in which some important truths and discoveries are mixed with the most fanatical visions, and the most extravagant and delirious effusions of mystical folly. See the ample and judicious account that has been given of the character and philosophy of this writer (whose voyage to England and Scotland is well known) by the learned Brucker, in his Historia Critica Philosophie, tom. iv. part II. lib. i. cap. iii.

[o] This philosopher, less known than the former, was born A. D. 1508, at Cosensa, in the kingdom of Naples, and was the restorer of the philosophy formerly taught by Parmenides, upon whose principles he built a new system, or, at least, a system which appeared new, by the elegant connection

M 2

which

CENT. Campanella [p], hold, deservedly, the first SECT. 11. rank, as they were undoubtedly men of superior genius;

XVI.

which Telesius gave to its various parts, and the arguments used to maintain and support it against the philosophy of Aristotle. It was the vague and uncertain method of reasoning which the Stagirite had introduced into natural philosophy, that engaged Telesius to compose his famous book De principiis rerum naturalium. In this work, after having refuted the visionary principles of the Aristotelian philosophy, he substitutes in their place such as are immediately derived from the testimony of the senses, even heat and cold, from which, like Parmenides, ne deduces the nature, origin, qualities, and changes of all material beings. To these two principles he adds a third, viz. matter, and on these three builds, with dexterity enough, his physical system; for a part of which he seems also to have been indebted to a book of Plutarch, De primo frigido. It will be entertaining to the philo sophical reader, to compare this work of Telesius, with Lord Bacon's physical account of the story of Cupid and Coelus, in his book De principiis et originibus, &c.

[p] Campanella, a native of Calabria, made a great noise in the seventeenth century, by his innovations in philo. sophy. Shocked at the atheism and absurdities of the Aristotelian system, he acquired early a contempt of it, and turned his pursuits towards something more solid, perusing the writings of all the ancient sages, and comparing them with the great volume of nature, to see whether the pretended copies resembled the original. The sufferings that this man endured are almost incredible; but they were said to be inflicted on him in consequence of the treasonable practices that were imputed to him, partly against the court of Spain, and partly against the kingdom of Naples, which he had formed the design of delivering into the hands of the Turks. He was freed from his prison and tortures by the interposition of Pope Urban VIII. who gave him particular marks of his favour and esteem; and, finding that he was not safe at Rome, had him conveyed to Paris, where he was honoured with the protection of Lewis XIII, and cardinal Richlieu, and ended his days in peace. As to the writings and philosophy of this great man, they are tinged, indeed, with the colour of the times, and bear, in many places, the marks of a chimerical and undisciplined imagination; but, among a few visionary notions, they contain a great number of important truths. He undertook an entire reformation of philosophy, but was unequal to the task. For an account of his principles of logic, ethics, and natural philosophy, see Brucker's Hist. Critica Philosophie,

tom.