Page images
PDF
EPUB

reason why he left no will. None ever showed greater contempt for his own wealth, or more frugality for that of the state. He refused pensions and great offices which were proposed to him. Through every reign in which he lived, and under all administrations, he was honoured and respected.

Although distinguished for the sweetness and gentleness of his language and address, he never failed to reprove immorality and impiety wherever they appeared. Doctor Johnson, with his usual felicity of expression, has remarked Newton's perfect freedom from all singularity :-" He stood alone, not by deviating from the common track, but by leaving all the rest of mankind behind him." Such was his disregard of fame, that he made no effort to secure the reputation of his mighty discoveries which others had endeavoured to appropriate to themselves. And such was his humble estimate of his own extraordinary genius, that a little before his death, when reminded by one of his friends of the benefits he had conferred upon science, he replied, "Alas! I know not what I may have appeared to the world, but as to myself I seem to have been only like a child playing with pebbles on the sea shore, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

After a long and happy life, protracted to an unusual length by temperance and constant occupation, this great man was seized with that terrible malady, the stone, which, after a short struggle, terminated his existence, in London, March 20, 1727, at the age of 84. Besides numberless valuable works on a great variety of subjects, published during his life, which Bishop Horsley has since collected into five volumes quarto, Sir Isaac left behind him a large collection of papers in his own hand-writing, which the writer of this article has often had the privilege of inspecting. This valuable collection, besides his philosophical manuscripts, comprises many highly curious dissertations on religious subjects, which shew his earnest piety, and intimate acquaintance with the sacred writings. In honour of so great

a man, his funeral was celebrated at the public expense, and a magnificent monument erected over his remains in Westminster Abbey.

To convey to our readers some notion of the high estimation in which Sir Isaac Newton has been held by those most competent to judge, it may be enough to state that the learned Doctor Keill declared, that if all philosophy and mathematics were considered as ten parts, nine of them would be found entirely of his discovery and invention.

"Does Mr. Newton eat, drink, or sleep, like other men?" asked the Marquis de L'Hôpital, who was one of the greatest mathematicians of that age; “I represent him to myself as a celestial genius, entirely disengaged from matter." And our own Johnson once observed, "if Sir Isaac Newton had flourished in the times of ancient Greece, he would have been worshipped as a divinity."

L.

LOCKE.

"Knowledge and Wisdom, far from being one,
Have oft'times no connexion. Knowledge dwells
In heads replete with thoughts of other men;
Wisdom in minds attentive to their own.
Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass,

The mere materials with which Wisdom builds;
Till smooth'd, and squar'd, and fitted to its place,
Does but encumber whom it seems t'enrich.
Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much;-
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.'

[ocr errors]

COWPER'S TASK, BOOK 6.

THE pride of knowledge receives a severe and just rebuke from the beautiful lines which we have taken for the motto of this paper. None are so sensible of the imperfection of human knowledge as those who have reached that high eminence in wisdom, which has afforded them a prospect of the boundless expanse which still lies unexplored before them; but in observing the amazing extent to which these great men have carried their inquiries, we are

struck with admiration of those faculties which the Creator has thus bestowed upon mankind.

If we were to take a negro fresh from the wilds of Africa, and set him by the side of a philosopher, who would not be struck with the contrast ?-Though the time is happily past since the poor negro was supposed to be doomed by nature to invincible stupidity, the wide difference between the ignorance of the one and the intelligence of the other would still appear almost immeasurable. We are sometimes tempted to consider the space which separates the savage and the sage equal to that between the savage and the brute.

What obligations then do we not owe to those who have taught us the inestimable value of the faculties so freely bestowed on us by the Creator! While these gifts lie buried in the minds of millions, who pass to the grave unconscious of the powers they possess, how highly ought we to esteem the blessing of an enlightened understanding! Those poor benighted beings whom we now contemplate with pity, nay possibly with contempt, are equally endowed as ourselves by nature; nor, perhaps, are they a whit more stupid and barbarous than were the people of England previous to the Roman conquest.

We have already had occasion to remark that those who are not familiar with philosophy have no great veneration for its professors. They are sometimes heard to say, that " common sense is worth all the philosophy in the world." It is proper to inform such persons, that the word philosophy literally signifies the love of wisdom, whereas it conveys to them an indistinct notion of something profound and unintelligible, which they have no disposition to explore. Now, by common sense we understand judgment— the power of distinguishing right from wrong,-and he that can readily do this and delight in the exercise of it, has certainly strong claims to be considered a philosopher. But though sense is undoubtedly the gift of God, the power of using it is derived from education, which reduces into order and method,

those materials for judging which exercise our reasoning faculties. The philosopher carefully observes every movement of his own thoughts, and watches the workings of his own heart, to enable him to learn what passes in the breasts of others. He compares their principles with their conduct, and thus supplies himself with certain maxims for the guidance of his judgment, which serve him as landmarks to direct him further in the investigation of truth.

The knowledge of ourselves is the great object of all education. Arts, sciences, literature, all derive their origin from the exercise of those faculties which are never awakened in an ignorant mind, and necessarily require cultivation before they can be rendered profitable to the possessor. The study of the human mind enables the preacher to enforce the doctrines of Christianity, and to instruct and enlighten his hearers with the knowledge of their duties to God and man. It supplies the lawyer with that sagacity by which statutes are framed, laws expounded, evidence weighed, and judgment equitably pronounced. It is the foundation of the whole system of moral and political government; for without a distinct view of the principles, passions, and prejudices, which actuate men as individuals, it would be utterly impracticable to govern them as a nation.

Though the faculties are implanted by the Deity, the process by which they are developed will greatly quicken their activity, and strengthen their force, in proportion as they are properly directed. The skill with which they are brought into action gives the possessor the greatest advantage, and is sufficiently proved by the greater or less degree of dexterity with which men of equal natural ability exercise their talents. As a strong man may be furnished with excellent instruments, which are useless in his hands until he learn how to employ them, so a vigorous mind, endowed by nature with strong powers of understanding, cannot direct them to any considerable purpose, until he be properly guided in the acquirement of knowledge.

In calling the attention of our readers to the value of philosophical Inquiry to which they, in common with the rest of mankind,-are indebted for those fixed principles which direct our judgment in the most common and important affairs (for those which are common are therefore the most important), we by no means desire to withdraw them from practical knowledge to abstract speculation. All we wish is that they should feel their obligations to those great men, especially among their own countrymen, who have passed their lives in profound investigations, which have so largely extended the boundaries of human knowledge, and introduced order and intelligence where confusion and ignorance reigned before. Among these illustrious names, that of Mr. Locke deserves a distinguished station. His great work," On the Human Understanding," reduced the study of moral philosophy in this country to an intelligible form; he applied his principles to the practical benefit of his readers. Instead of engaging in the useless controversies which had perplexed the minds of his predecessors, he applied philosophical inquiries to their real object, viz. the investigation of truth; he introduced a simplicity and clearness into the terms and arguments employed in the discussion of the most difficult subjects, which rendered them popular and interesting to those who had hitherto turned away from such questions as too abstruse for their comprehension.

John Locke was born in 1632, at Pensford, in the parish of Wrington, Somersetshire. His father had been a clerk to a justice of peace; his mother was the daughter of a tanner. During the great rebellion his father was advanced by Colonel Popham, an officer in the Parliament service, to be a captain in the rebel army; and he seems to have shared in the general pardon which was granted by King Charles II. upon his restoration, as we find he practised after that period as an attorney in his own county. Colonel Popham appears to have been the patron also of his illustrious son, who through his interest was admitted

« PreviousContinue »