Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX

TILDEN FOUNDATIONS

MEM AOKK

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

ART. I.-FRIAR BACON AND LORD BACON.

1. Lord Bacon's Essays, Apophthegms, Wisdom of the Ancients, New Atlantis, and Henry VII; with Introductory Dissertations and Notes, by J. DEVEY, M. A. London: H. G. Bohn. 1 vol. 12mo.

2. The Entire Works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, and Lord High Chancellor of England. A new Edition, revised and elucidated; and enlarged by the addition of many pieces not printed before. Collected and edited by ROBERT LESLIE ELLIS, M. A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge: JAMES SPEDDING, M. A., of Trinity College, Cambridge; and DOUGLAS DENON HEATH, Esq., Barrister at Law, and late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans. [Announced in Oct., 1848.]

IN the opening chapter of his acrimonious and unfair tirade against the Baconian Philosophy, which is always amusing and sometimes witty, De Maistre remarks, that "Bacon spoke slightingly enough of the only monk who had borne his name, but who had, nevertheless, inserted in his writings more truths than the Chancellor of England was acquainted with, and more than he could even have comprehended had he attempted to study them." The same criticism is repeated in another place: "Without leaving his own island, two cotemporaries, I mean the illustrious friar of his own name, and Joannes De Sacro Bosco, might have sufficed to teach Bacon that in the thirteenth century others had made a thousand times further advances in the science than himself, and that he was himself incompetent to understand what those two men had known."†

Count Joseph De Maistre, notwithstanding the extravagance of his opinions, was unquestionably endowed with a very vigorous and De Maistre, Examen de la Philosophie de Bacon, chap. i.

† De Maistre, Examen, chap. x.

FOURTH SERIES, VOL. X.-1

profound intellect, and is justly regarded as one of the great names which adorn the earlier part of the current century. But the flippancy of the language in the above quotations is utterly unbefitting both the author and the object of his censure. Unfortunately for the influence of De Maistre's malicious assault on the fame of Lord Bacon, he has in this instance, as in many others, displayed the insufficiency of his own knowledge, while reprehending the ignorance of the philosopher attacked. Had he known or suspected that Lord Bacon was acquainted with the writings of his celebrated namesake, he could scarcely have written the former of the above passages; but he might have imparted to his censure even greater severity, with a more scrupulous observance of justice, and he might have fixed his fangs in the flesh, where his venom was certain to mingle with the blood.

The knowledge which was denied to De Maistre, and the suspicion which did not visit even his suspicious mind, have been possessed and entertained to a very limited extent by others. Loose and incidental intimations of the obligations of the chancellor to the works of the friar, occasionally meet us in the literature of science and philosophy. No one, however, so far as we are aware, has yet attempted the task, which might have proved so serviceable to De Maistre, of exhibiting carefully and methodically the character and degree of that indebtedness, or of determining how far the merits and claims of the later reformer of philosophy are affected by the unacknowledged assistance derived from his memorable precursor. We have had no opportunity of consulting Humboldt's Critical Examination of the History of Geography, in which he has collected all the passages (of the Opus Majus) "relating to Roger Bacon's physical knowledge, and to his proposals for various inventions;"* and, therefore, we cannot venture to assert that he has neglected to exhibit the relation between the earlier and the latter Bacon. But no intimations of any close connection between them are contained in the Cosmos, though the citations in that work from the Opus Majus might have supplied a suitable occasion, for the mention of any suspicions, had they existed. So far as our knowledge extends, little more than hurried conjectures and rare testimonies have been applied to the determination of this interesting question.

From our past experience of the slovenly manner and imperfect learning with which recondite problems of philosophy are ordinarily treated by the scholars of England, and especially by those who have been hatched under the wing of Professor Whewell, and have chipped the egg in Trinity College, Cambridge, we have little reason to an"Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. ii, p. 619, note. Ed. Bohn.

« PoprzedniaDalej »