used this kind of style profusely, but Tacitus and Pliny with greater moderation. It has also begun to render itself acceptable in our time. But to say the truth, its admirers are only the men of a middle genius, who think it adds a dignity to learning; whilst those of solid judgment justly reject it as a certain disease of learning, since it is no more than a jingle, or peculiar quaint affectation of words. And so much for the first disease of learning.

The second disease is worse in its nature than the former; for as the dignity of matter exceeds the beauty of words, so vanity in matter is worse than vanity in words; whence the precept of St. Paul is at all times seasonable: "Avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called."i He assigns two marks of suspected and falsified science the one, novelty and strangeness of terms; the other, strictness of positions; which necessarily induces oppositions, and thence questions and altercations. And indeed, as many solid substances putrefy, and turn into worms, so does sound knowledge often putrefy into a number of subtle, idle, and vermicula questions, that have a certain quickness of life, and spirit, but no strength of matter, or excellence of quality. This kind of degenerate learning chiefly reigned among the schoolmen; who, having subtle and strong capacities, abundance of leisure, and but small variety of reading, their minds being shut up in a few authors, as their bodies were in the cells of their monasteries, and thus kept ignorant both of the history of nature and times; they, with infinite agitation of wit, spun out of a small quantity of matter, those laborious webs of learning which are extant in their books. For the human mind, if it

acts upon matter, and contemplates the nature of things, and the works of God, operates according to the stuff, and is limited thereby ; but if it works upon itself, as the spider does, then it has no end; but produces cobwebs of learning, admirable indeed for the fineness of the thread, but of no substance or profit.k

b Since the establishment of the French Academy, a studied plainness and simplicity of style begins to prevail in that nation.

i 1 Tim. vi. 20.

For the literary history of the schoolmen, see Morhof's "Polyhist." tom. ii. lib. i. cap. 14; and Camden's "Remains."

This unprofitable subtilty is of two kinds, and appears either in the subject, when that is fruitless speculation or controversy, or in the manner of treating it, which amongst them was this: Upon every particular position they framed objections, and to those objections solutions; which solutions were generally not confutations, but distinctions; whereas the strength of all sciences is like the strength of a fagot bound. For the harmony of science, when each part supports the other, is the true and short confutation of all the smaller objections; on the contrary, to take out every axiom, as the sticks of the fagot, one by one, you may quarrel with them, and bend them, and break them at pleasure whence, as it was said of Seneca, that he weakened the weight of things by trivial expression,' we may truly say of the schoolmen, "That they broke the solidity of the sciences by the minuteness of their questions." For, were it not better to set up one large light in a noble room, that to go about with a small one, to illuminate every corner thereof? Yet such is the method of schoolmen, that rests not so much upon the evidence of truth from arguments, authorities, and examples, as upon particular confutations and solutions of every scruple and objection; which breeds one question, as fast as it solves another; just as in the above example, when the light is carried into one corner, it darkens the rest. Whence the fable of Scylla seems a lively image of this kind of philosophy, who was transformed into a beautiful virgin upwards, whilst barking monsters surrounded her below,

"Candida succinctam latrantibus inguina monstris." Virg. Ecl. vi. 75. So the generalities of the schoolmen are for a while fair and proportionable; but to descend into their distinctions and decisions, they end in monstrous altercations and barking questions. Whence this kind of knowledge must necessarily fall under popular contempt; for the people are ever apt to contemn truth, upon account of the controversies raised about it; and so think those all in the wrong way, who never meet. And when they see such quarrels about subtilties and matters of no use, they usually give into the

1 Quinctilian, lib. x. cap. 1, § 130.

judgment of Dionysius, "That it is old men's idle talk."m But if those schoolmen, to their great thirst of truth, and unwearied exercise of wit, had joined variety of reading and contemplation, they would have proved excellent lights to the great advancement of all kinds of arts and sciences. And thus much for the second disease of learning.

The third disease, which regards deceit or falsehood, is the foulest; as destroying the essential form of knowledge, which is nothing but a representation of truth; for the truth of existence and the truth of knowledge are the same thing, or differ no more than the direct and reflected ray. This vice, therefore, branches into two; viz., delight in deceiving and aptness to be deceived; imposture and credulity, which, though apparently different, the one seeming to proceed from cunning, and the other from simplicity, yet they generally concur. For, as in the verse,

"Percontatorem fugito; nam garrulus idem est,"

Hor. lib. i. epis. xviii. v. 69.

an inquisitive man is a prattler; so a credulous man is a deceiver; for he who so easily believes rumours, will as easily increase them. Tacitus has wisely expressed this law of our nature in these words, "Fingunt simul creduntque."n

This easiness of belief, and admitting things upon weak authority, is of two kinds, according to the subject; being either a belief of history and matter of fact, or else matter of art and opinion. We see the inconvenience of the former in ecclesiastical history, which has too easily received and registered relations of miracles wrought by martyrs, hermits, monks, and their relics, shrines, chapels, and images. So in natural history, there has not been much judgment employed, as appears from the writings of Pliny, Carban, Albertus, and many of the Arabians; which are full of fabulous matters: many of them not only untried, but notoriously false, to the great discredit of natural philosophy with grave and sober minds. But the produce and integrity of Aristotle is here worthy our observation, who, having compiled an exact history of animals, dashed it very sparingly with fable or fiction, throwing all strange reports which he

=

Diog. Laert. iii. 18, Life of Plato.

n Tacit. Hist. b. i. 51.

thought worth recording in a book by themselves, thus wisely intimating, that matter of truth which is the basis of solid experience, philosophy, and the sciences, should not be mixed with matter of doubtful credit; and yet that curiosities or prodigies, though seemingly incredible, are not to be suppressed or denied the registering.

Credulity in arts and opinions, is likewise of two kinds; viz., when men give too much belief to arts themselves, or to certain authors in any art. The sciences that sway the imagination more than the reason, are principally three; viz., astrology, natural magic, and alchemy; the ends or pretensions whereof are however noble. For astrology pretends to discover the influence of the superior upon the inferior bodies; natural magic pretends to reduce natural philosophy from speculation to works; and chemistry pretends to separate the dissimilar parts, incorporated in natural mixtures, and to cleanse such bodies as are impure, throw out the heterogeneous parts, and perfect such as are immature. But the means supposed to produce these effects are, both in theory and practice, full of error and vanity, and besides, are seldom delivered with candour, but generally concealed by artifice and enigmatical expressions, referring to tradition, and using other devices to cloak imposture. Yet alchemy may be compared to the man who told his sons, he had left them gold buried somewhere in his vineyard; where they, by digging, found no gold, but by turning up the mould about the roots of the vines, procured a plentiful vintage. So the search and endeavours to make gold have brought many useful inventions and instructive experiments to light.P

Credulity in respect of certain authors, and making them

Θαυμάσια ̓Ακούσματα.

PAs among the Egyptians, the Chinese, and the Arabians, if their histories are to be credited. In later times, they make copper out of iron, at Newsohl, in Germany. See Agricola "De Re Metallica," Morhof, Fr. Hoffman, &c. Whilst Brand of Hamburgh was working upon urine, in order to find the philosopher's stone, he stumbled upon that called Kunckel's burning phosphorus, in the year 1669. See Mém. de l'Acad. Royal. des Sciences, an 1692. And M. Homberg operating upon human excrement, for an oil to convert quicksilver into silver, accidentally produced what we now call the black phosphorus, a powder which readily takes fire and burns like a coal in the open air. See Mém. de l'Acad. an 1711. To give all the instances of this kind were almost endless. Ed.

dictators instead of consuls, is a principal cause that the sciences are no farther advanced. For hence, though in mechanical arts, the first inventor falls short, time adds perfection; whilst in the sciences, the first author goes farthest, and time only abates or corrupts. Thus artillery, sailing, and printing, were grossly managed at the first, but received. improvement by time; whilst the philosophy and the sciences of Aristotle, Plato, Democritus, Hippocrates, Euclid, and Archimedes, flourished most in the original authors, and degenerated with time. The reason is, that in the mechanic arts, the capacities and industry of many are collected together; whereas in sciences, the capacities and industry of many have been spent upon the invention of some one man, who has commonly been thereby rather obscured than illustrated. For as water ascends no higher than the level of the first spring, so knowledge derived from Aristotle will at most rise no higher again than the knowledge of Aristotle. And therefore, though a scholar must have faith in his master, yet a man well instructed must judge for himself; for learners owe to their masters only a temporary belief, and a suspension of their own judgment till they are fully instructed, and not an absolute resignation or perpetual captivity. Let great authors, therefore, have their due, but so as not to defraud time, which is the author of authors, and the parent of truth.

Besides the three diseases of learning above treated, there are some other peccant humours, which, falling under popular observation and reprehension, require to be particularly mentioned. The first is the affecting of two extremes; antiquity and novelty: wherein the children of time seem to imitate their father; for as he devours his children, so they endeavour to devour each other; whilst antiquity envies new improvements, and novelty is not content to add without defacing. The advice of the prophet is just in this case: "Stand upon the old ways, and see which is the good way, and walk therein." For antiquity deserves that men should stand awhile upon it, to view around which is the best way; but when the discovery is well made, they should stand no longer, but proceed with cheerfulness. And to speak the

"Jeremiah vi. 16.