how unlike the rich and fervid genius of Bacon, whose solemn and weighty teachings derive half their effect from the play of imagination and brilliancy of wit, in which they are enveloped !

Before the system of Kant can become generally known, or rightly appreciated, out of the small circle of scholars, who, in France and Germany, have resolutely grappled with its difficulties, the same service must be performed for him, which the generous and clear-headed Dumont afforded to his English contemporary, Bentham. It is not enough merely to translate; the order of subjects must be changed, the course of argument and illustration arranged anew, and the whole work rewritten. The success of previous attempts at a close interpretation has not been such as to tempt further endeavor. The Latin version of Born, though executed under the eye of Kant himself, is not half so intelligible as the original. Indeed, the limited vocabulary of the Latin language formed an insuperable obstacle to the undertaking, though a vigorous attempt was made to conquer the difficulty by the introduction of barbarisms, that would have made “ Quintilian stare and gasp.” Should another scholar meditate a version into one of the ancient languages, we recommend to him to try the Greek, feeling quite confident, that, in such a case, he will at least equal in perspicuity some of the renowned fathers of Grecian philosophy. Futile as was this attempt to give universal reputation to the writings of Kant by translating them into the language of the learned world, the few writers, who, in France and England, have endeavored to make the same works known in their vernacular tongue, have met, if possible, with still less success.

In the latter country, indeed, little has been tried, and nothing effected. Among the countrymen of Locke, Hume, and Reid, the taste for metaphysical speculations has gradually died out; while they

could not foster a philosophy of native growth, there was little chance of obtaining favor for an importation from Germany. Willich, a respectable German scholar, published a volume, entitled “ Elements of the Critical Philosophy”; but it hardly deserved the name of an introduction to these elements. A few pages of the work on Pure Reason” are literally translated, and an unsuccessful effort is made to explain a few of the most difficult terms in the Kantian vocabulary. Wirgman, in some essays published in the Encyclopædia Londinensis," made greater pretensions, but supported them with far less ability. The introductory portion of the “ Critique ” is rendered into English with tolerable fidelity ; but the original matter in the “ Essays” only shows, that the writer was a weak and vain man, wholly unfitted for the task of comment and exposition. Before printing his work, he submitted it to Dugald Stewart, with the amiable intention of preventing that phi. losopher from wasting further labor on his inquiry into the faculties of the human mind, after he had been entirely forestalled by his German rival. When the Scottish sage returned the manuscript, with a coldly polite refusal of the proffered assistance, Wirgman, as if eager with Dogberry to write himself down an ass, had the folly to publish the correspondence. His lamentations upon such blind perversity on the part of Stewart and others make up the larger portion of the trash, with which he has enveloped his im. perfect and jejune translation.

“They order these matters better in France.” Of all living writers, perhaps, Cousin is best qualified for the task of interpreting and making available to common minds the dark sayings of the philosopher of Königsberg. His thorough acquaintance with the subject, attested by a copious infusion of Kantianism into his own philosophical system, - the learning and general ability, with which he has

reviewed the labors of others, - and the admirable clear. ness of his style, are qualities, that would insure him a great measure of success in the undertaking. He has long since promised to the world an exposition of Kant, and we would gladly see the pledge redeemed, though at the expense of sacrificing some of the fruits of his original speculations. The necessity for such a work is not removed by the labors of some of his countrymen, who have preceded him in the same field, though they have done much to elucidate the subject, and to give a new direction to their own philosophical inquiries. The publication of Villers is the most important, in which, giving up all attempts at a literal version, he goes over the ground in his own way with great distinctness, though he sometimes unwittingly engrafts his own opinions upon those which he seeks to interpret. In an admirable sketch, published in the " Biographie Universelle," Stapfer has given a lucid and succinct account of the Kantian system, leaving nothing

to be desired by those, who wish only for a general view of e its scope and leading peculiarities.

Those, who think the difficulties of the German language are the only obstacle to the right comprehension of Kant, may satisfy themselves by examining the volume, of which the title stands at the head of our article. The great work, containing the whole system of the Critical Philosophy, is here faithfully translated, sentence for sentence, and, -as far as the different nature of the two languages would permit, - word for word. The writer of it has thus ably executed the only task that he proposed to himself. The violations of English idiom are frequent, it is true, but no more so than was absolutely necessary in order to preserve the strictness of the original plan. And, while the object was merely to translate, not to rewrite and interpret, we are not sure, but that the wisest course was to follow this

method in all its severity. A freer version might give false notions of the original, while the only fault of the present volume must be, that, for the most part, it gives no notions at all. A false light is worse than utter darkness. A dreary task must the translator have had of it; though we would rather engage in an undertaking like his, than in that of the student, who, without further aid than this work affords, should attempt to master the thorny system of Kantian metaphysics. The book presents a more accurate image of its prototype, than it would do, if executed on a more liberal plan, and with greater attention to rhetorical embellishment. The English style, harsh, awkward, and involved as it appears, is a fair picture of the original diction; though the former is necessarily the more obscure, because, in German, far more frequently than in English, the composition of the technical terms indicates the precise shade of meaning attached to them. We have noticed a few wrong translations; but they are unimportant, and do not lessen the credit due to the translator for having executed a most repulsive work with remarkable care, patience, and fidelity.

But the question will surely be asked, Why spend so much labor on the interpretation of opinions, which the author himself has not cared, or has not been able, to make intelligible, and of which no practical application is possible? What hidden wisdom is there in the writings of Kant, to extract which the learned world must toil as painfully, as they have done in deciphering the hieroglyphics of Egypt, and perhaps to as little purpose? Why not leave his system in that obscurity, in which his uncouth style and barbarous nomenclature first enveloped it? We cannot be satisfied with the answer of the men who maintain, that the difficulties of this metaphysical theory do not arise from any defects in the exposition of it, but are fairly attributable

a

a

to the ignorance, the want of acuteness, or the defective power of abstraction of those, who have tried in vain to comprehend it. The reproach is an infrequent one in the history of the higher philosophy. Why have not other writers on the same subject been exposed to it in an equal degree? The difficulty of reading a work on the higher mathematics is a different thing, for we know precisely in what it consists. No one complains of the obscurity of the "Mécanique Céleste,” though very few would attempt to peruse it in its primitive form with much chance of success. None but a mathematician of very respectable attainments would ever dream of such a task. It is well known, that La Place, addressing himself to a small circle of scientific men, wrote with the conciseness, which the comprehensiveness of his subject demanded, and that the difficulty of understanding his work proceeds mainly from this cause, and

may be in great part removed by such a commentary as that furnished by our distinguished countryman. But there is no intrinsic difficulty in the subject of metaphysics, to be removed only by a regular course of previous training and information. Except the recent German metaphysicians, who have wilfully “ walked in darkness” by borrowing the phraseology of Kant, and we are acquainted with no work in the whole round of the science, which a person of ordinary capacity may not understand, if he chooses. He will meet with many abstract and wearisome discussions, with very unattractive reading; but with little or nothing, that cannot easily be understood. This fact is stated in the most unequivocal terms by D'Alembert. " Every thing we learn from a good book on mental science is only a sort of reminiscence of what the mind previously knew. Accordingly, we may apply to good authors in this department what has been said of those who excel in the art of writing; that, in reading them, every