and passions of all other men, upon the like occasions. I say the similitude of passions, which are the same in all men, desire, feare, hope, &c., not the similitude of the objects of the passions, which are the things desired, feared, hoped, &c.: for these the constitution individuall, and particular education do so vary, and they are so easie to be kept from our knowledge, that the characters of man's heart, blotted and confounded as they are, with dissembling, lying, counterfeit. ing, and erroneous doctrines, are legible onely to him that searcheth hearts. And though by men's actions wee do discover their designe sometimes; yet to do it without comparing them with our own, and distinguishing all circumstances, by which the case may come to be altered, is to decypher without a key, and be for the most part deceived, by too much trust, or by too much diffidence; as he that reads, is himself a good or evill

man.

"But let one man read another by his actions never so perfectly, it serves him onely with his acquaintance, which are but few. He that is to

in himself, not

but man-kind :

govern a whole nation, must read this, or that particular man; which though it be hard to do, harder than to learn any language, or science; yet, when I shall have set down my own reading orderly, and perspicuously, the pains left another, will be onely to consider, if he also find not the same in

himself. For this kind of doctrine admitteth no other demonstration."

It is not easy to find the genuine spirit of philosophical inquiry, which is the reverse of dogmatism, more truly expressed than in these words. And no man acquainted with the writings of Hobbes will affirm that they are not throughout in character with what is here professed.

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Sir James's descant on the subject of Hobbes's dogmatism, is instructive. To attempt any great improvement in the region of thought, commonly requires," says Sir James, "an overweening conceit of the superiority of a man's own judgment." This is a reproach cast upon the pursuit of knowledge. It was in a very different spirit that Bacon and Locke urged on the human mind, to break the shackles of authority, and to trust to its native strength. This is in the taste of Oxford and Cambridge; who dread inquiry, and do all that in them lies, to crush the spirit of it. A man, like Sir James, who never knew the ground of an opinion in his life, and never held one but upon trust, may well think it arrogant to espouse, as Sir James expresses it, "very singular notions; " that is, to differ from the common herd. But the man who looks at opinions through the reasons of them; when he arrives at a truth which he sees to be founded on evidence, and publishes because he

believes it important; is not for that reason arrogant; he is only public spirited and brave. An attack upon such a spirit, of which, unfortunately for mankind, the specimens are yet but few, is as low in the intellectual point of view, as it is in the moral.

Sir James goes on; "The dogmatism of Hobbes has indeed one quality more offensive than that of most others. Propositions the most adverse to the opinions of mankind, and the most abhorrent from their feelings, are introduced into the course of his argument with mathematical. coldness. He presents them as demonstrated conclusions, without deigning to explain to his fellow creatures how they all happened to believe the opposite absurdities."

Sir James was utterly incapable of conceiving the state of mind of such a man as Hobbes. Hobbes had no other object than to set down distinctly the thoughts which had been suggested to him by his study of human nature, with as much of the evidence of each as was compatible with the great compression of his plan; " to set down," as he himself expresses it," his own reading of human nature, orderly and perspicuously;" after which he considered that his task was done: "For this kind of doctrine,” says he, "admitteth no other demonstration."

The very perfection of the philosophical style, the utmost degree of simplicity, compactness, and

perspicuity, combined, the purest transcript of thought, which words seem capable of being rendered, is stigmatised by Sir James, as "cold ;' a word of great reproach with Sir James. And the spirit of simplicity and sincerity, with which a great mind delivers its thoughts to others in the very shape in which it holds them, without the affectation of a thousand apologies for the impudence of differing a hair's-breadth from those who had never thought upon the subject, is charged upon Hobbes, as the arrogance of one who despises mankind. It is clear and conclusive evidence of the contrary.

It is worth while to remark, in connection with "Sir James on Dogmatism," what Hobbes says of it. "There be two sorts of men that commonly be called learned. One is that sort that proceedeth evidently from humble principles, as is described in the last section, and these men are called Mathematici. The other are they that take up maxims, from their education, and from the authority of men, or of custom; and take the habitual discourse of the tongue for ratiocination: and these are called Dogmatici. Now seeing those we call Mathematici are absolved of the crime of breeding controversy; and they that pretend not to learning cannot be accused; the fault lieth altogether in the Dogmatici, that is to say, those that are imperfectly earned, and with passion press to have their

D

opinions pass every where for truth, without any evident demonstration, either from experience, or from places of Scripture of uncontradicted interpretation."-Human Nature, ch. 13.

So much for two out of the three causes of the Sir James tells us that his

success of Hobbes.

style was the third. And then he pronounces a panegyric upon his style which it well de

serves.

But the style of Hobbes, though admirable for its purpose, was the very reverse of a popular style. It has a charm for the man who is looking out for thoughts; because it gives them to him at once, and effectually; but it is repulsive to the common-place reader; and can have done nothing towards gaining admirers from the throng. No; if there had not been other causes of the success of Hobbes, his manner as a writer would have confined his works to the closets of the few.

II. We next receive the account of Hobbes's philosophy.

This ought to be sufficient, at the least, to remind us accurately of the doctrines maintained by Hobbes; the grounds on which he maintained them; the mode in which he connected them together, so as to compose a whole; and the point of view in which the subject must have been presented to him, in order to draw his thoughts into that peculiar train which his writings present to us.