and extension of Judgment able to survey a great number of things at the same time Men of mean parts with all their vivacity and all their delicacy are too short sighted to see what is necessary for the Composing of a System they stoop at some little difficulties that discourage them or at some glimmerings that dazle them They have not a fight sharp enough to survey the whole Body of a large subject all at a time But let the Extent and Penetration of the Mind be never so great if it be not withal exempt from Passion and Prejudice there is little to be expected from it Prejudices possess one part of the Mind and infect the rest Passions confound the Idea's a thousand ways and represent to us in Objects whatever we desire to find there That Passion also which we have for Truth it self sometimes deceives us when it is too vehement but the desire of appearing Learned is that which drives us farthest off from attaining true Knowledge There is nothing more rate than to meet with Persons capable of making new Systems but it is not so rare a thing to meet with such as have compos'd Systems after their own Fancies There are few People that Study much who argue according to Common Notions there is always some Irregulariâ—y in their Idea's and this sufficiently shews that they rely upon some particular Systems which is not known to us 'T is true that all the Books which they Compose do not make it manifest for when we settle our selves to Write any Book which we design to Publish we take heed as near as is possible of what is to be said and this Attention alone is oft-times sufficient to convince us of our Error Nevertheless we see from time to time some Books which prove sufficiently what we have said for there are Authors who pride themselves in observing at the beginning of their Book that they have invented some new System The Number of Inventors of New Systems is also very much augmented by Prejudices conceiv'd against some Authors for it often happens that because they have not met with any thing true or solid in the Opinions of those Authors which they have read they fall in the first place into a great dislike and scorn of all sorts of Books and afterwards imagine a new Opinion that carries some Probability which they greedily embrace and which becomes more deeply rooted in them in such manner as we have set forth But when this extraordinary Zeal which they have for their Opinion grows cool or the design of transmitting it to the Publick has oblig'd them to examine it more exactly and seriously they discover and quit the falshood but with this condition that they will never embrace any others and will condemn all those who pretend to have discover'd any Truth Therefore the last II. A consiâ—◠〈◊〉 Error of Stadions Persons and most dangerous Error of Studious Persons is this that they believe there is nothing can be certainly known They have read many Books both Ancient and Modern wherein they could not meet with Truth they have had several curious Thoughts which upon a more strict Examination they have found false From whence they conclude that all Men are like them and that if they who believe they have consider'd some Truths would but a little more seriously consider them they would be convinc'd of their Errors as well as themselves This to them is sufficient to condemn 'em without entring into any farther particular Examination since if they did not condemn 'em it would in some measure be an acknowledgment that they had more Wit than themselves which they are not apt to think very probable Therefore they esteem as obstinate all those that hold any thing for certain nor will they by any means hear talk of the Sciences as Evident Truths which are beyond all contradiction but only as Opinions of which it is not convenient to be ignorant However these Persons ought to consider that though they have read a great number of Books yet they have not read all or at least with that attention which is requisite for the right understanding 'em or if they had many curious thoughts which they sound false in the conclusion it does not follow they had all the thoughts they might have had and so it 's possible that others have done better than they For all this it is not necessary that the others should have more Sense than they if that be the business that offends 'em for it 's enough that they were only more Fortunate Nor is there any wrong done 'em by those who profess to know evidently what they are ignorant of since they say at the same time that several Ages have been ignorant of the same Truths not for want of good Wits but because these good Wits did not first light upon them Let 'em not then be offended if others see more clearly than they and speak as they see Let 'em apply their Minds to what is propos'd to 'em if their Wit be more capable of Application after all their Wandrings and let 'em then judge there 's no body will hinder 'em but let 'em be patient and hold their Tongues if they resolve to examine nothing Let 'em consider a little whether the Answer which they usually give to most Questions that are ask'd 'em they know nothing of the maâ—â—â—â— no Body has hithertâ— attain'd it be a Judicious Answerâ— since that when they make that Answer they must believe they know all that other Men know or all that other Men can know For if they had not these thoughts of themselves their Answer were still more impertinent And why do they think it so difficult a thing to confess they know nothing of it when upon certain Occasions they grant that they knew nothing at all And wherefore must they conclude that all other Men are ignorant because they are inwardly convinc'd that they themselves are ignorant There are these three sorts of Persons who apply themselves to Study The first doat to little purpose upon some Author or some false unuseful Science The second are prepossest in their own Fancies The last which partake of the Qualifications of both the former are they who imagine they know all that can be known and who being persuaded that they know nothing of certainty conclude in general that nothing can be evidently known and look upon all things that are propos'd to 'em as meer Opinions 'T is easie to see that all the Defects of these three sorts of Persons depend upon the Properties of the Imagination which we have explain'd in the Tenth and Eleventh Chapters but chiefly in the First that all this befalls 'em only through Prejudices in Opinions that blind their Minds and will not permit 'em to apprehend any other Objects than those of their Prepossessions It may be said that their Prejudices act their Minds as the Ministers of Princes do in reference to
or other Objects it is true that we see them altho' at the same time we shou'd be Mad for there is nothing more certain than that all the Visionaries see what they think they do and their Error consists only in this that they Judge what they see to exist truly without them because they see it so It is this Judgment that includes a Consent of our Liberty and by consequence that which is subject to Error and we ought always to hinder our selves from making it according to the Rule we have laid down in the beginning of this Book that we ought never to Judge of any thing when we can hinder our selves from it and where Evidence and Certainty does not constrain us thereto as it happens here for altho' we feel our selves extreamly inclined by a strong Habit to Judge that our Sensations are in the Objects as that Heat is in the Fire and Colours in Pictures yet we see not that certain Evidence and Reason which presses and obliges us to believe it and thus we voluntarily submit to Error by the ill use that we make of our Liberty when we freely form such Judgments CHAP. XV. An Explanation of the particular Errors of Sight which may serve us as an Example of the General Errors of our Senses THE Way I believe is now made plain for the discovery of the Errors of our Senses in general as they have any Relation to Sensible Qualities which have been treated on upon the occasion of Light and Colours which in order ought to be first explained It seems necessary now to come to particulars and to examine severally the Errors into which every one of our Senses betray us but we shall not now enlarge upon these things because from what has been already said a little attention will easily supply a long Discourse which we should be oblig'd to make We shall produce only the general Errors into which our Sight betrays us in reference to Light and Colours and we doubt not but this Example alone will be sufficient to inform us of the Errors of all the other Senses When we have look'd some time upon the Sun this is what passes in our Eyes and Soul and these are the Errors we fall into Those who know the first Elements of Dioptrics and any thing of the admirable Structure of our Eyes are not ignorant that the Rays of the Sun are refracted in the Chrystaline and other Humours and that they meet afterwards upon the Retina or Optic Nerve which as it were furnishes with Hangings all the bottom of the Eye even as the Rays of the Sun which pass through a Convex Glass meet together in the focus at two three or four Fingers breadth distant in proportion to its Convexity Now Experience shows that if one put at the focus of the Convex-Glass a little piece of Stuff or black Paper * Black Paper easily burns but there must be a greater Convexity to burn White Paper in the same time the Rays of the Sun make so great an impression upon this Stuff or Paper and agitate the small Particles thereof with so great a violence that they break and separate them from one another In a word they burn them or reduce them into Smoak and Ashes Thus we must conclude from this Experience that if the Pupil through which the Light passes were so dilated that it would permit an easie passage for the Rays of the Sun or on the contrary was so contracted as to obstruct them our Retina would suffer the same thing as the piece of Stuff or black Paper and the Fibres would be so very much agitated that they would soon be broken and burnt It is for this reason that most Men are sensible of a Pain if they look upon the Sun but for one moment because they cannot so well close up the Orifice of the Pupil but that there will enter sufficient Rays to agitate the Strings of the Optic Nerve with much violence and not without danger of breaking them The Soul has no knowledge of what we have spoke and when it looks upon the Sun it neither perceives its Optic Nerve nor any Motion in it but that 's not the Error 't is only a simple Ignorance The first Error it falls into is that it Judges the Pain it feels is in its Eye If immediately after looking upon the Sun we go into a dark place with our Eyes open the Motion of the Fibres of the Optic Nerve caus'd by the Rays of the Sun diminishes and changes by little and little This is all the Change that can be perceived in the Eyes however 't is not what the Soul perceives there but only a White and Yellow Light Its second Error is it Judges that the Light it sees is in the Eyes or upon the next Wall In fine the agitation of the Fibres of the Retina always diminishes and ceases by little and little for when a Body has been shaken nothing can be perceived in it but a diminution of its Motion but 't is not that which the Soul perceives in its Eyes it sees the White become an Orange colour afterwards Red and then Blue And the reason of this Error is that we Judge there are changes in our Eyes or upon the next Wall that differ much as to the more or less because the Blue Orange and Red Colours which we see differ much otherwise among themselves besides in the more and less These are some Errors which we are subject to in reference to Light and Colours and these Errors beget many others which shall be explain'd in the following Chapters CHAP. XVI I. That the Errors of our Senses are the most general and fruitful Principles whence we draw all the false conclusions which in their turns also serve us for Principles II. The Origine of Essential Differences III. Of substantial Forms IV. Of some other Errors in the Philosophy of the Schools I Suppose I have sufficiently explain'd I. The Errors of our Senses serve us for the most useful and fruitful Principles to draw false Consequences which in their turns also serve for Principles to unprejudic'd Persons and such as are capable of any attention of Mind in what our Sensations consist and the general Errors which are found in them It rests now to show that Men use these general Errors as incontestable Principles by which they will explain all things that they draw an Infinity of false Consequences from them which also in their turns serve for Principles to draw other Consequences and that thus by little and little they have compos'd Imaginary Sciences that have nothing of substance or reality in them and which they follow with a blind impetuosity but which like Phantasms exhibit to those that embrace them only confusion and the shame of being seduc'd or that Character of Folly which makes us take pleasure in feeding upon Illusions and Chimera's But this must be particulariz'd in some Examples It has been already
Thousand sides or a Circular or Ecliptick Figure which may be consider'd as made up of an Infinity of Angles and Sides There is an infinite number of different Species of each of these Figures an infinite number of Triangles of different kinds besides other Figures of four six ten or Ten Thousand sides and infinite Poligons For the Circle the Ellipsis and generally every regular or irregular curve-lin'd Figure may be consider'd as an infinite Poligone The Ellipsis for example as an infinite Poligone but whose Angles or sides are unequal being greater towards the lesser Diameter than the other And thus of infinite other Poligones more compounded and irregular A simple piece of Wax is capable of infinite or rather infinitely infinite different Modifications which no Mind can comprehend What reason then is there to imagine that the Soul which is more noble than the Body is not capable of more Modifications besides those which it has yet receiv'd If we had never felt Pain nor Pleasure if we had never seen Colour or Light or if we had been as Blind or Deaf in relation to Colours and Sounds ought we thence to conclude that we were incapable of all the Sensations which we now have of Objects since these Sensations are only Modifications of our Soul as we have proved in the Treatise of the Senses We must then grant that the Capacity which the Soul has of receiving different Modifications is probably greater than the Capacity which it has of conceiving I mean as the Mind cannot draw out or conceive all the Figures whereof Matter is capable so it cannot comprehend all the different Modifications which the powerful Hand of God can produce in the Soul even though we should as distinctly know the Capacity of the Soul as that of Matter Which is Absurd from the Reasons brought in the Seventh Chapter of the Second Part of this Book Our Soul therefore receives very few Modifications here because it is united to the Body upon which it depends All its Sensations carry it to its Body and whereas it cannot enjoy God it can have no other Modifications besides what the other Enjoyments produce Matter which our Body is composed of is capable of very few Modifications in this Life this Matter cannot be resolv'd into Earth and Vapour till after Death it cannot now become Air Fire Diamond Metal it cannot be Square Round Triangular it must be Flesh and have the Figure of Man that the Soul may be united to it It is even so with our Soul it is necessary that it have Sensations of Heat Cold Colour Light Sounds Odours Sapors and many other Modifications that it may be united to its Body All these Sensations engage it to the Preservation of its Machine they agitate it and terrifie it so soon as the least Spring is loosed or broken And thus the Soul must be subject thereto as long as the Body shall be subject to Corruption but as soon as it shall be invested with Immortality and there shall be no farther Fear of a Dissolution of its Parts it 's reasonable to believe that it will no longer be affected with these Incommodious Sensations which we unwillingly feel but with an Infinity of all other different Things of which we have now no Idea which shall surpass all our Thoughts and be worthy of the Greatness and Goodness of God whom we shall enjoy 'T is therefore against all Reason that Men imagine to penetrate so into the Nature of the Soul as to be well assur'd that it 's only capable of Knowing and Loving This indeed might be maintain'd by those who attribute their Sensations to External Objects or to their own Body or who pretend that their Passions are in their Heart For indeed if we retrench from the Soul all its Passions and Sensations whatever can be known in that which is left behind is only a Chain of Knowledge and Love But I cannot apprehend how those who have taken their leave of the Illusions of their Senses can be perswaded that all our Sensations and Passions are only Knowledge and Love I mean the confused kinds of Judgments which the Soul draws from Objects relating to the Body which it Animates I do not apprehend how it may be said That Light Colours Odours c. are Judgments of the Soul for on the contrary it seems to me that Colours Odours and other Sensations are Modifications very different from Judgments Let us choose some of the quickest Sensations which most affect the Mind and let us see what these Men can say of Colour or of Pleasure They think according to many very Famous * St. Aug. Book 6. De Musica Descartes dans son homme c. Authors that these Sensations are only Consequences of the Faculty which we have of Knowing and Willing and that Pain for Example is nothing else but a certain Sollicitude Repugnancy and Aversion of the Will against things which it knows to be Hurtful to its Dear Body But it 's evident to me that this is to confound Pain with Sadness and make Pain a Consequence of the Knowledge and Action of the Will whereas on the contrary it precedes both For Example If a hot Coal was put into the Hand of a Person that was asleep or should hold his Hands behind his Back no one I believe with any probability of Truth would affirm that this Person would forthwith know that there were some Motions in his Hands contrary to a good Constitution of Body that afterwards his Will would oppose it and that this Pain would be a Consequence of this Knowledge of his Mind and this Opposition of his Will But rather on the contrary the first thing that this Person would conceive when the Coal touch'd his Hand would be Pain and this Knowledge of the Mind and Opposition of the Will would be only Consequences of Pain though indeed they were the Cause of Sadness which followed the Pains But there is much difference between the Pain and the Sadness which it produces Pain is the first thing which the Soul feels it precedes Knowledge and can never be agreeable in it self But on the contrary Sadness is the last thing which the Soul feels Knowledge always precedes it and it is always pleasant in it self This is evident from the Pleasure we perceive at the Lamentable Representations of Tragedies for this Pleasure increases with the Sadness but Pleasure never increases with Pain Comedians who study the Art of Pleasing know well that the Stage is not to be imbru'd with Slaughter because the Image of a Murder is rather Terrible than Pleasant But they are not afraid to affect the Spectators with too great a Sadness because indeed Sadness is always agreeable when there is a proper Subject of Sadness there is then an Essential Difference betwixt Sadness and Pain and one cannot say that Pain is only a Knowledge of the Mind joyn'd to an Opposition of the Will As for other Sensations such as
by some violent passion for then as we have already explain'd this communication charges the conformation of the body of the Child and the Mother is so much the more apt to miscarry of the the Foetus as it has more resemblance to the desired Fruits and as the Spirits find less resistance in the Fibres of the Infants body Now it cannot be deny'd but that God without this Communication was able to have disposed all things in so exact and regular a manner as would have been necesary for the Propagation of the Species for insinite Ages that Mothers should never have Miscarried and even that they should always have had Children of the same bigness of the same Colour and that would have resembled in all things For we must not measure the power of God by our weak Imagination and we know not the Reasons he had in the construction of his work We see every day that without the help of this Communication Plants and Trees produce their kinds regularly enough and that Fowls and many other Animals have no need of it to cherish and bring forth other Animals when they sit upon Eggs of different kinds as when a Hen sits on a Partridges Eggs. For although we may reasonably conclude that the Seeds and Eggs contain in themselves the Plants and Birds which proceeds from 'em and that they may produce the little bodies of these Birds having received their Conformation by the Communication we have spoke of and the Plants theirs by another Equivocal Communication yet we cannot be certain of it But although we cannot discover the reasons why God has made every thing as it is we must not conclude from thence that he could make 'em no otherwise If we consider further that Plants who receive their growth by the action of the Female Plant resemble her much more than those which come from the seed as Tuleps for instance which come from the Root are of the same Colour as the Tulep it self and yet those that proceed from the Seed thereof are almost very different we cannot doubt that if the Communication of the Female Plant with the Fruit is not absolutely necessary to form the same kind yet it is always requisite to make the Fruit intirely like her So that although God foresaw that this Communication of the Mothers Brain with that of the Infants would sometimes destroy the Foetus and produce Monsters because of the Irregularity of the Mothers imagination yet this Communication is so admirable and so necessary for the Reasons before-mentioned and for many others that I could yet add that this knowledge that God had of these inconvencies ought not to have hindred him from executing his design We may say in one sense that God never had a design to make Monsters for it appears evident to me that if God should create one Animal only it would not be Monstrous But designing to produce an admirable work by the most simple ways and unite all these Creatures one to another he foresaw certain effects that would necessarily follow from the Order and Nature of things and this hath not diverted him from his design For although a Monster simply considered be an imperfect work yet when it is joyn'd with the rest of the creatures it does not render the World imperfect We have sufficiently explain'd what power the Imagination of a Mother has over the body of her Child let us now examine the power it hath over its Mind and that way discover the first Irregularities of the Mind and Will of Men in his Original For this is our chief design It is evident that the traces of the Brain are accompanied with Sentiments and Ideas of the Soul IV. An Explanation of some irregularities of the Mind and of the inclinations of the Will and that the emotion of the Animal Spirits have no effect in the Body but what the Motions in the Soul answer to and in a word it is certain that all the Sensations and Passions of the Body are accompany'd with true Sentiments and Passions in the Soul Now according to our first supposition Mothers first communicate the traces of their Brain to their Children and afterwards the Motions of their Animal Spirits and so produce the same passion in the mind of their Children with which they themselves are affected and by consequence they cortupt both their affections and reason in several respects If so many Children are observed to bear upon their Faces the Marks and Traces of the Idea that affected their Mother although the Fibres of the skin make much more resistance against the course of the Spirits than the soft parts of the Brain and thô the Spirits are much more agitated in the Brain than towards the Skin we cannot reasonably doubt but that the Animal Spirits of the Mother produce in the Brain of the Infant many traces by their irregular emotions Now the great traces of the Brain and the emotion of the Spirits which answer to them continuing a long time and sometimes all the life it is certain that as there are few Women who have not some weaknesses and who have not been moved with some Passion during their being with Child it cannot be expected but that there will be very few Children who are not ill inclined to something and who have not some predominant passion We have only too much experience of these things and all the World is sensible that there are whole Families who are afflicted with great weakness of Imagination which they have drawn from their Parents but it is not necessary here to give any particular Examples thereof On the contrary 't is more proper for the consolation of some Persons to assure 'em that those weaknesses of the Parents not being Natural or proper to the Nature of Man the traces and impressions of the Brain which are the cause of them may be effaced by time We may yet add here the Example of King James I. of England of whom Sir Kenelm Digby speaks in his Book which he writ of the Sympathetic Powder He tells us that Mary Stuart being with Child of King James some Scotch Lords entred her Chamber and in her presence killed her Secretary who was an Italian altho' she cast her self before him to hinder them that this Princess received some slight hurts by them and the frights she had made so great an impression in her Imagination that she communicated it to the Child in her Womb So that King James cou'd never endure to see a Naked Sword He says that he himself was a witness of it for when he was Knighted this Prince coming to lay the Sword upon his Shoulder run it strait at his Face and had wounded him if some body had not directed it aright where it ought to be There are so many instances of the like Nature that 't would be needless to search Authors for them I believe there is no body that will dispute these things for we see a
and by means of our Body to all things visible by a Hand so powerful that it is impossible for us to break that Union 'T is impossible to prick our Body but the whole Individuum must be prick'd and hurt Because we are in that condition that this mutual Harmony between us and the Body is absolutely necessary In like manner it is impossible for us to be attack'd with Injuries and Contumelies but we must be offended at ' em For that God who has made us to maintain Society with other Men has endu'd us with a Propensity to all that can join us together which can never be vanquish'd by our selves 'T is meerly chimerical to say that Pain does not hurt us that Words of Scorn and Contempt do not offend us because we are above all this No Mortal Man was ever above Nature unless by an accession of Grace and never any Stoic despis'd Honour and the Esteem of Men by the Strength and Constancy of his Mind only Men may overcome their Passions by contrary Possions They may vanquish Fear or Pain by â—â—â—ity that is they may scorn to fly or to complain when perceiving the Eyes of many People upon 'em desire of Honour supports 'em and stops those Corporeal Motions that would induce 'em to fly This is their Victory if it may be call'd a Victory but this is no delivering themselves from Servitude it may perhaps be said that they have only chang'd their Master for some time or rather enlarg'd their Bondage Such Men are only wise happy and free in outward appearance but in reality undergo a most severe and cruel Servitude We may resist our Natural Union with our Body by the help of our Union with Men. We may resist Nature by the Strength of Nature We may resist God by the Strength that he has given us But no Man can resist God by the Strength of his own Wit nor can Nature be overcome but by Grace because God cannot be overcome if I may be permitted to say so without the special Assistance of God Thus that Magnificent Division of all things into those things that have no dependence upon us and upon which we ought not to depend seems to be consentaneous to Reason but not conformable to that disorderly condition to which Sin has reduc'd us We are united to all Creatures by the Appointment of God but we absolutely depend upon 'em through the Disorder of Sin So that since Felicity cannot subsist with Pain and Anxiety we can never hope to be happy in this Life by imagining with our selves that we do not depend upon those Things to which we are naturally enslav'd All our Felicity in this Life is grounded upon a Lively Faith and a Strong Hope which afford us some sort of Enjoyment of our future Bliss by way of Anticipation and we may live according to the Precepts of Vertue and vanquish Nature if supported by that Grace which Jesus Christ has merited for us CHAP. V. Of Montagne 's Book MOntagne's Essays may serve for another Proof of the Power which some Imaginations have over others For that Author has a certain Free Air and gives such a natural and so lively a Turn to his Thoughts that it is a difficult thing to read him without being entangled in his Snares The Carelesness which he affects becomes him so well that it renders him belov'd of all Men but despis'd of none and his Haughtiness is the Haughtiness of a worthy Good Man that procures him all Veneration but no Hatred The Genteel and Free Air supported by some Learning works so prodigious effects upon Mens Minds that they often admire him and surrender to his Decisions without daring to examine him and sometimes before they understand him His Reasons never convince because he never produces any but what are weak and without any solidity And indeed he has no Principles upon which to ground his Arguments nor does he observe any Order in drawing his Conclusions from Principles For a Passage out of some History proves nothing a short Fable demonstrates nothing two Verses out of Horace an Apothegme out of Cleomenes's or Caesars are not sufficient to convince any Rational Man Nevertheless his Essays are no more than a Rapsody of Histories Fables Sentences Elegant Words Disticks and Apothegms 'T is true that Montagne is not to be look'd upon in his Essays as a Man that argues but only writes to divert himself he indulges his Genius and makes it his Business to please but not to instruct so that if all his Readers read him only to divertise themselves his Book would not be so dangerous But 't is almost as impossible not to have that which delights us as to refram from Meats that please our Taste The Mind can take no delight in reading an Author without imbibing his Sentiments or at least without receiving some Tincture which intermixing with his Idea's render 'em confus'd and obscure 'T is not only dangerous to read Montagne for diversion sake because the pleasure Men take in reading him engages them insensibly in his Opinions but because that Pleasure is more capital than it is vulgarly thought to be For certain it is that Pleasure arising principally from an eager Appetite does but ferment and fortifie the Passions and the Style of that Author therefore pleases us because it actects us and awakens our Passions after an imperceptible manner It would be much to the purpose to prove what we have said in particular of Montagne's Essays and generally that the delight we take in all the variety of Styles proceeds only from a secret Corruption of the Heart but it is not here our design it would carry us too far from our subject Nevertheless if we would but reflect upon the Connexion of the Idea's and the Passions already mention'd and upon what passes in our selves at the same time we read a Piece that is well writ we shall easily discover our selves to be most delighted with that Author that is most accommodated to our Affections and Dispositions if we are delighted with a sublime noble and free Style it is because Vanity aspires to Rule and Empire if with a Soft and Effeminate Style 't is because we are prone to Softness and Pleasure In a word 't is a certain Perception of Sensible Things and not from any Perception of Truth that we are even in spight of our Wills cherish'd and affected with certain Authors But to return to Montagne I am of Opinion his chiefest Votaries give this reason for their admiring him because he is an Author judicious and free from Pedantry and for that after a diligent Scrutiny he in a wonderful manner detected the Nature and Infitmities of Mans Reason If I then make it out that Montagne as much a Gentleman as he was yet for all that was as much a Pedant as many others and that he had a very mean knowledge of Human Reason certainly I shall then make it evident that his Admirers
were not compell'd into an Admiration of him by Convincing Reasons but by the Strength of that Authors Imagination The Word Pedant is very Equivocal but in my Opinion Custom and Reason require that we should call those Pedants who to make a fair shew of their false Learning quote at random all sorts of Authors who to gain a Popular Applause talk only for talking's sake and to make themselves admir'd by Fools who rake together without Judgment or Discretion Apothegms and Passages of History to prove or make a shew of proving Things that cannot be prov'd but by Reasons Pedants are oppos'd to Men that make use of their Reason and that which renders 'em odious to Men of Worth and Sense is this that Pedants are Enemies to Reason For Men of true Ingenuity love naturally sound Arguments nor can they endure the Conversation of Men that will not admit of the use of Reason Now those Persons whom we have describ'd can never argue truly because their Brains are very shallow and stuff'd with false Learning besides Nor will they argue because they find that some Men admire 'em more when they cite any unknown Author or any Sentence of an ancient Writer than when they pretend to Reasoning So that their Vanity Congratulating it self for the Veneration that is paid 'em causes 'em to apply themselves to the Study of all those Obsolete and unusual Sciences that procure the gaping astonishment of the Vulgar Pedants then are Vain and Arrogant Men of great Memories but of little Judgment quick and abounding in Quotations unfortunate and weak in their Arguments endu'd with a vigorous and spacious Imagination but volatile irregular and no ways able to contain it self within the bounds of Exactness After all this it will be no difficult thing to prove that Montagne was as much a Pedant as several others according to the Notion of the Word Pedant which seems most conformable to Reason and Custom I speak not here of Gown'd Pedants or Schoolmasters 't is not the Gown that makes a Pedant Montagne who had such an aversion for Pedantry might never wear a long Gown but he could not so easily discharge himself of his peculiar Vices He has labour'd to acquire a Genteel Air but he never studied how to be Master of a Just Mind or at least his Studies prov'd ineffectual And therefore he adorn'd his Wit with a sort of Learning that did not taste of the School but was empty vain and trivial while he neglected to cultivate his Reason to corroborate his Judgment and acquire to himself the Vertues of a Worthy Man Montagne's Book is stuff'd with so many Proofs of the Pride and Vanity of the Author that it would be a needless thing perhaps to spend time in the particular enumeration of ' em For he must be a Man extreamly conceited to believe that People would read such a large Book on purpose to understand the Genius and Humour of the Author Certainly he must think himself separated from the Vulgar and look upon himself as some extraordinary Person All Men are essentially oblig'd to turn the Mind of those that are prone to reverence 'em towards him who alone deserves to be ador'd And Religion teaches that the Mind and Heart of Man which were only made for God should never be taken up with our selves nor step at self-admiration and self-love When St. John fell prostrate at the Feet of the Angel of God the Angel bid him rise Apoc. 19.10 Conservus tuus sum adora deum I am thy Fellow-servant said he and of thy Brethren worship God Only the Devils and those that partake of their Impious Pride aspire to Adoration But to exact that other Men should employ themselves in meditating upon our Affections and Cogitations What is this but to seek after not only an External but an Internal and Real Adoration and ardently to desire the same Worship which God requires to be paid to himself in Spirit and Truth Montagne wrote his Essays to no other end but to paint forth his own Humours and Inclinations he himself confesses as much in his Advertisement to the Reader inserted in all the Editions 'T is my self that I paint forth 't is I that am the Subject of my own Book And this is apparent enough to them that read it For there are very few Chapters wherein he does not make some Digression or other to speak of himself And there are some whole Chapters which he consumes in talking of no body else but himself Wherefore though he compos'd his Book to make the Portraiture of himself yet he publish'd it for others to read 'T was therefore his design to turn the Gazing Eyes and Attentions of all Men upon himself though he says he knew not any reason he had to imploy his Leisure upon a Subject so vain and frivolous Thus his own words condemn him For if he thought there was no reason why Men should employ themselves in reading his Book certainly he acted against Common Sense in causing his Essays to be publish'd Whence we are oblig'd to believe that either he spoke one thing and thought another or that he did amiss to Print his Book 'T is also a very pleasant Excuse of his Vanity to say that he had never written but for the sake of his Friends and Relations For if that were true wherefore did he suffer three Impressions Would not one have been enough for his Friends and Relation How came it to pass that he enlarg'd his Book in the last Impressions and never expung'd any thing out of it unless it were because Fortune favour'd his Intentions I add says he but I never correct for he that has once mortgag'd his Work to the Publick in my Opinion has no farther right to it Let him say better if he can in another Book But let him not corrupt the work that he has sold At this rate nothing is to be purchas'd from such Men till after they are dead Let Men consider well before they appear in publick Who bids 'em make such haste My Book is always one and the same And therefore he mortgag'd and publish'd his Book as well to pleasure other Men as his Relations and Friends But though he had endeavour'd to oblige his Friends and Relations only and to have turn'd their Minds and Hearts upon his Picture made by himself all the time that was to be spent in reading his Book certainly his Vanity was ne're the more to be excus'd If it be a fault for a Man to speak often of himself certainly 't is a piece of Impudence or rather a kind of Madness for a Man to be always making Panegyries upon himself as Montagne does for it is not only a Sin against Christian Humility but against Right Reason Men were made to live together and to form Civil Bodies and Societies but it is to be observ'd that the Private Members which compose those Societies would not take it well to be accounted
Philosophers who are obliged by all manner of reasons to enquire into and to defend Truth to speak without knowing what they say and to be satisfy'd with what they do not understand CHAP. III. I. Curiosity is natural and necessary II. Three Rules to moderate it III. Explanation of the first of these Rules AS long as Men have an Inclination for a Good which surpasses their Power I. Curiosity is natural and necessary and do not possess it they will have a secret propension for whatever looks new and extraordinary They will ever run after such things as they have not as yet considered in hopes of finding what they enquire after and their Mind not being able to satisfie it self wholly without the enjoyment of that Good for which they are made they will ever remain uneasie and in a continual Agitation until it appears to them in its Glory This disposition of Human Minds is certainly very suitable to their Condition for it is infinitely better to be uneasie and in search of the Happiness one does not possess than to remain in a false Repose and to be pleas'd with falshood and a delusive Happiness wherewith Men are commonly deluded We ought to have a sense of Truth and of our Happiness Therefore those Things that are new and extraordinary must excite us There is a certain kind of Curiosity which is not only allowable but absolutely necessary for whereas common and ordinary things can never afford true Felicity and the ancient Opinions of Philosophers are very uncertain It is necessary we should be curious for New Discoveries and always uneasie in the Enjoyment of common Felicities Should a Geometrician give us New Propositions contrary to those of Euclide Should he undertake to prove that that Science is full of Errors as Hobbs endeavour'd to do in a Book written against the Pride of Geometricians I own that there would be no reason to complain of that kind of Novelty because that when we have found out the Truth we ought to stick to it since we are only endu'd with Curiosity in order to find it out Neither are Geometricians often guilty of being Curious of New Opinions of Geometry They would soon be tir'd with a Book containing nothing but Propositions contrary to those of Euclide for being fully convinc'd of the Truth of those Propositions by unanswerable Demonstrations our Curiosity ceases in that Point Which is an infallible Argument that the only reason of the Inclination of Men after Novelty is because they do not evidently see the Truth of those things they naturally desire to know nor possess Infinite Felicity which they are naturally desirous to possess Therefore it is necessary that Novelty should Excite Men and that they should Love it But however II. Three Rules to moderate Curiosity there are Exceptions to be made and they must observe certain Rules which it is easie to infer from what we have been saying that the Inclination we have for Novelty is only given us in order to seek out Truth and our real Felicity There are Three the first of which is That Men must not be fond of Novelty in things relating to Faith which are not submitted to Reason The Second That Novelty is not a sufficient Reason to induce us to believe that things are Good or True That is We must not fancy that Opinions are true because they are new nor that any thing can be capable to content us because it is new or extraordinary or because we have not possess'd it before The Third That when we are satisfy'd that Truths are so conceal'd that it is morally impossible to discover them and that Benefits are so little and so inconsiderable that they cannot satisfie us we must not suffer our selves to be excited by the Novelty of them nor to be seduc'd by false hopes But it is necessary to explain these Rules more at large and shew how by a neglect of 'em we fall into an infinite number of Errors We often meet with Minds of very different Humours II. Particular explanation of the first of those Rules Some believe every thing blindly Others will never believe without seeing evidently The first having hardly ever made any use of their Understanding do without considering believe whatever is said to them the others who will trust to nothing but their Understanding indifferently condemn all sorts of Authorities The first are commonly stupid and weak Persons like Children and Women the others are proud and profane Dispositions like Hereticks and Philosophers It is very difficult to find Persons who keep a Medium between those two Extreams and who never look for Evidence in matters relating to Faith through a vain Agitation of Mind or who sometimes believe false Opinions without Evidence in things relating to Nature through an indiscreet Deference and low Submission of Mind If they are Persons of Piety who submit to the Authority of the Church in all things their Faith extends sometimes if I may use the Expression even to Opinions that are meerly Philosophical and they often look upon them with the same Respect as is only due to the Truths of Religion A false Zeal makes them too easily condemn those that are not of their Opinion They harbour injurious Suspicions against those that make New Discoveries It is sufficient to be esteem'd by them as Libertines to deny that there are substantial Forms that Animals are sensible of Pain and Pleasure and other Philosophical Opinions which they look upon as Truth without any evident Reason only because they imagin there are necessary Relations between those Opinions and the Truths of Faith But if they are Persons that are too bold their Pride induces them to despise the Authority of the Church they never submit willingly to it They delight in difficult rash Opinions They affect to pass for mighty Wits and upon that account they speak of Divine Mysteries without Respect and with a kind of Haughtiness They despise all as Credulous who speak modestly of certain receiv'd Opinions Finally they are very much inclin'd to doubt of every thing and are directly oppos'd to those who are too easily inclin'd to submit to the Authority of Men. It is obvious that these two Extreams are bad and those who will not admit Evidence in Natural Questions are blameable as well as those who would have Evidence in Mysteries of Faith But yet those who Expose themselves to be mistaken in Philosophical Questions in being too Credulous are without doubt more excusable than the others who run the hazard of falling into some Heresie or other in doubting Rashly For it is less dangerous to fall into a World of Errors in Philosophy for want of examining them than to fall into one Heresie for want of submitting with Humility to the Authority of the Church The Mind is at quiet when it meets Evidence and is in continual Agitation when it finds none Because Evidence is the Character of Truth Thus the Error of
same Subject I. Explanation of the Second Rule of Curiosity II. Explanation of the Third THE Second Rule that must be observ'd is I. Second Rule of Curlosity That Novelty must never serve as a Reason to believe that things are True We have already said several times that Men must not rest in Error and in the False Felicities they enjoy That it is necessary they should Search after the Evidence of Truth and the real Felicity they do not possess and consequently that they should look after such things as are New and Extraordinary But therefore it does not follow that they should always stick to them nor believe without reason that Opinions are True because they are New and that those are real Felicities which they have not as yet enjoy'd Novelty should only induce them to examine new things with care they must not despise them because they do not know them nor rashly believe that they contain what they wish and hope for But this often comes to pass Men after having examin'd the Ancient and Common Opinions have not discover'd the Light of Truth in them After having had a Taste of the usual Felicities of the World they have not found that Solid Satisfaction in them which should accompany the Possession of a real Good So that their Desires and their Eagerness are not allay'd by the usual Opinions and common Felicities For which reason when they hear any thing that is New and Extraordinary the Idea of Novelty puts them in hopes at first That it is the thing they are in Search of And whereas it is Natural to Flatter our selves and to believe that Things are as we wish they might be their Hopes increase proportionably to their Desires And in fine they Insensibly change into Imaginary Assurances In the next place They joyn the Idea of Novelty and the Idea of Truth so close together that the one never offers it self without the other and that which is most New appears to them to be more True and better than that which is more Usual and Common in which they are very different from those who out of Aversion to Heresie have joyn'd the Idea of Novelty to that of Falseness imagining that all New Opinions are False and Dangerous Therefore we may say that this usual Disposition of the Mind and of the Heart of Men in relation to that which bears the Character of Novelty is one of the most general Causes of Errors for it seldom leads them to Truth whenever it does it is by Chance and good Luck And finally It always directs them from their real Happiness by engaging them in that Multiplicity of Divertisements and False Felicities that the World abounds with And this is the most Dangerous Error into which they can fall The Third Rule against the Excessive Desires of Novelty is II. Third Rule of Curiosity That when we are certain that some Truths are so Mysterious that it is Morally Impossible to discover them and that some Felicities are so Inconsiderable that they can never make us Happy we ought not to suffer our selves to be Excited by the Novelty of them Every body may know by Faith by Reason and Experience that created Goods can never fill the Insinite Capacity of the Will Faith teaches us That all the Things of this World are only Vanity and that our Happiness neither consists in Honours or Riches Reason assures us That since it is not in our Power to bound our Desires and that we are Naturally inclin'd to Love all Felicities we can never be Happy without Possessing that which Includes them all Our own Experience makes us Sensible that we are not Happy in the Possession of those Goods which we do enjoy since we still wish for more Finally We daily see that the Great Felicities which the most Powerful Princes and Kings enjoy on Earth are not capable to satisfie their Desires that they are even more Uneasie and more Unhappy than others and that being Seated on the highest Spoke of the Wheel of Fortune they are the more liable to be precipitated and shook by its Motion than those that are underneath them or nearer to the Center For they never fall but from on high their Wounds are always great and all the Grandeur they are attended with and which they annex to their own Being serves only to Swell and Aggrandize them to make them more Sensible of a greater number of Wounds and expose them the more to the Strokes of Fortune So that Faith Reason and Experience convincing us that the Delights and Pleasures of the Earth which we have not as yet tasted could not make us Happy though we should enjoy them We must be very careful according to that Third Rule not to suffer our selves to be Foolishly Flatter'd with vain Hopes of Happiness which increasing by degrees proportionably to our Passion and to our Desires would change at last into a False Assurance For when we have a Violent Passion for any Good we always look upon it to be very great and we perswade our selves Insensibly that the Possession of it will make us Happy Therefore we must resist those Vain Desires since our Endeavours to satisfie them would be in vain But particularly because that by abandoning our selves to our Passions and by employing our time to gratifie them we lose God and all things with him We only wander from one False Felicity to another We always live in False Hopes We dissipate our Spirits and are agitated a Thousand different ways We meet Oppositions every where because the Advantages we seek for are desired by many and cannot be possessed by many For as St. Paul teaches us Chap. 6. to Tim. Those that have a mind to grow Rich fall into Temptations and into a Snare of the Devil and into divers useless pernicious Desires which precipitate Men into the Abyss of Perdition and Damnation for Covetousness is the Root of all Evil. And as we ought not to seek after the Goods of the World which are new because we are assur'd that we shall not find the Happiness we look for neither ought we to have the least Desire of knowing new Opinions upon a great number of difficult Questions because we are inform'd that the Mind of Man is not capable of discovering the Truth of them Most of the Questions that are treated of in Morality and particularly in Natural Philosophy are of that kind and therefore it behoves us to be very diffident of many Books that are daily written upon those Obscure Intricate Matters For though absolutely speaking the Questions they contain may be resolv'd there are still so few Truths discover'd and so many others to know before we can come to those the said Books treat of that we cannot read them without adventuring to lose considerably Yet Men do not regulate themselves thus they do quite the contrary They do not examine whether what is said to them is possible Do but promise them
they have read in Books written by the Enemies of his Person and of his Religion The Book written by that Heretick intitled Desperata causa Papatus sufficiently shews his Impudence his Ignorance and his Passion and his desire to appear Zealous in order thereby to acquire some Reputation among those of his Party Therefore he is not a Man to be credited upon his Word For as there is no reason to believe all the Fables he has Collected in that Book against our Religion so neither is there any to Credit the Injurious Accusations he has invented against his Enemy Rational Men will not suffer themselves to be perswaded that Monsieur Descartes is a dangerous Man because they have read 〈◊〉 in some Book or other or because they have been 〈◊〉 so by Persons whose Piety they have a Respect for It is not lawful to believe Men upon their bâ—re Word when they accuse others of the most Enormous Crimes It is not a sufficient proof to believe a thing because we hear it affirm'd by a Man who speaks with Zeal and Gravity For it is impossible for any Person to relate Falsities and Foolish Stories in the same manner as he would relate good things particularly if he has suffer'd himself to be impos'd upon out of Simplicity and Weakness It is easie to discover the Truth or Falsity of the Accusations that are form'd against Descartes his Writings are Extant and easie to be understood by those that are capable of Attention Therefore I would advise People to Read his Works in order to get better Proofs against him than bare Report and I do not question but after they have read and examin'd them they will no longer Accuse him of Atheism and that on the contrary they will pay him the Respect that is due to a Man who has plainly and evidently demonstrated not only the Existence of a God and the Immortality of the Soul but also a World of other Truths which were unknown until his time CHAP. VII Of the desire of Science and of the Judgments of pretenders to Learning THe Mind of Man has without doubt very little Capacity and Extent and yet he desires to know every thing All Human Sciences cannot satifie his Desires and yet his Capacity is so confin'd that he cannot perfectly apprehend any one particular Science He is in a continual Agitation and desires always to know whether he be in hopes of finding what he looks for as we have said in the preceding Chapter or whether he perswades himself that his Soul and Mind are extended by the vain possession of some extraordinary Knowledge The unruly desire of Happiness and Grandeur makes him study all manner of Sciences hoping to find his Felicity in the Science of Morality and looking for this false Greatness in speculative Sciences What is the reason that some Persons spend all their Life in reading of Rabbi's and other Books Written in Foreign Obscure and Corrupted Languages and by Authors without Judgment and Knowledge But that they perswade themselves that when they are skill'd in the Oriental Languages they are greater and higher than those who are Ignorant of them And what is it that can encourage them in their ingrateful painful useless Labour unless it be the Hope of some Preferment and the Prospect of some new Grandeur Indeed they are look'd upon as extraordinary Men they are Complimented upon their profound Learning People are better pleas'd to hear them than others And though it may be said that they are commonly the least Judicious if it were only for employing all their Life in a very useless Study which can neither make them Wiser nor Happier Nevertheless most People fancy that they have a great deal more Sense and Judgment than others And as they are more Larn'd in the Etymology of Words they also fancy that they are Learn'd in the Nature of Things The same reason induces Astronomers to spend all their Time and Estate to get an exact Knowledge of Things which are not only useless but also impossible to know They endeavour to find an exact Regularity in the Course of the Planets which is not in Nature and to Form Astronomical Schemes to foretel Effects of which they do not know the Causes They have made the Selenography or Geography of the Moon as if People design'd to Travel thither They have already divided it among those that are Famous in Astronomy There are few of them that have not already some Province or other in that Country as a Recompence for their great Labour and I question whether they are not Proud of having been in Favour with him that has so magnificently distributed those Kingdoms among them What is the reason that Rational Men apply themselves so much to this Science and yet remain in gross Errors in respect to Truths which they ought to know unless they Fancy thas it is a great thing to know what passes in the Heavens The knowledge of the Vast Things that passes above seems to them more Noble Greater and more worthy of their great Wit than the knowledge of Vile Abjects Corruptible Things as Sublunary Bodies are in their Opinion The Nobleness of a Science is deriv'd from the Nobleness of its Objects It is a great Principle Therefore the knowledge of the Motion of unalterable and incorruptible Bodies is the highest and most sublime of all Sciences And for that reason it appears to them worthy of the Greatness and Excellency of their Mind Thus Men suffer themselves to be blinded by a false Idea of Grandeur which pleases and moves them As soon as their Imagination is struck by it they fall down before that Phantasm they Reverence it it destroys and blinds their Reason which should be the Judge of it Men seem to Dream when they Judge of the Objects of their Passions to have no Eyes and to want Common Sense For in fine where lies the Excellency of the knowledge of the Motions of the Planets and have we not a sufficient knowledge of it already since we know how to regulate our Months and our Years What does it concern us to know whether Saturn is surrounded by a Ring or by a great number of little Moons and why should we Dispute about it Why should any one be proud of having foretold the greatness of an Eclipse which perhaps he has hit better upon than another because he has had more Luck There are persons appointed by the King's Order to observe the Stars let us rely upon their Observations They may reasonably apply themselves to it for they do it out of Duty It is their business They do it with Success for they employ all their Time about it with Art Application and all the Exactness imaginable They want nothing in order to succeed in it Therefore we ought to be fully satisfy'd upon a matter which concerns us so little when they impart their Discoveries to us Anatomy is a very good Study since it is a thing of
Science which I have now mention'd CHAP. VIII I. Of the Desire of being thought Learned II. Of the Conversation of Pretenders to Learning III. Of their Works IF the irregular Desire of becoming Learned I. Of the Desire of being thought Learned often renders Men more Ignorant then the Desire of being thought Learned does not only increase their Ignorance but it seems to turn their Brains Many Men stray from Common Sense by endeavouring to surpass it and talk at random being only delighted with Paradoxes They keep at such a distance from Common Thoughts in order to be thought extraordinary Persons that they really succeed in it and that no Body looks upon them without Admiration or without Contempt They are look'd upon sometimes with Admiration when being preferr'd to some Dignity which conceals their Ignorance they are thought to be as much above others by their Genius and Learning as they are by their Rank or by their Birth But for the most part they are look'd upon with Contempt and sometimes as Mad Men when they are more strictly examin'd and that their Greatness does not conceal them from the Eyes of others The pretenders to Learning evidently discover what they are in the Books they Write and in their usual Conversations Perhaps it will be proper to say something about it As it is only Vanity II. Of the Conversations of pretenders to Learning and the desire of appearing more than others which ingages them to Study as soon as they are ingag'd in Conversation the Passion and Desire of Greatness awakens them anew and Transports them They take their Flight so high of a sudden that we lose sight of them and very often they know not where they are themselves They are so much afraid of not being above those that hear them that they are offended if they think they follow others They are startled as soon as any body desires the least Explanation and fly into a Passion upon the least Opposition In fine They say things that are so New and so Extraordinary but so far from common Sense that the most Prudent have much ado to forbear Laughing while the rest are Amaz'd Their first Heat being over if any Man that has so much Constancy and Firmness of Mind as not to have been confounded by them shows them that they are mistaken they nevertheless persist obstinately in their Errors The Air of those they have Confounded Confounds them The Sight of so many Approvers whom they have convinc'd by Impression Convinces them by a rebound Or if that Sight does not Convince them yet it Influences them to that degree that they still maintain their False Sentiments Vanity does not allow them to Retract They always seek out some Reason to defend themselves Moreover they never speak with so much Heat and Eagerness as when they have nothing to say They imagine that People design to Affront them and to make them Despicable whenever they urge any Reasons against them and the more Convincing and Judicious they are the more they Exasperate their Pride and Aversion The best way to Vindicate Truth against them is not to Dispute since it is better both for them and for us to leave them in their Errors than to gain their Aversion We must not wound their Heart in order to cure their Mind since the Wounds of the Heart are more Dangerous than those of the Mind Besides It happens sometimes that we have to do with Men of true Learning which we might despise for want of conceiving their Thoughts Therefore the best way is to desire those who speak in a decisive manner to Explain themselves as distinctly as they can without allowing them to change the Subject or to use obscure equivocal Terms and if they are Persons of Sence and Learning something will be learn'd by them but if they are only Pretenders to Learning they will soon Confound themselves by their own Words and have no reason to blame any body besides themselves Perhaps it may instruct us in some Respects and may also serve to divert us if we may be allow'd to divert our selves with the Weakness of others when we endeavour to remedy it But that which is most considerable is That thereby we may hinder the Weak who hearken'd to them with Admiration from submitting to Error in following their Decisions For it is observable That the Number of Fools or of those that suffer themselves to be guided like Machines and by the Impression of the Senses being Infinitely greater than that of those who have an Intelligible Mind and who are perswaded by Reason When one of those Learned Men speaks of and decides any thing there are always a greater Number of those that Believe him upon his Word than of those that Suspect him But whereas those Pretenders to Learning remove themselves as far as they can from common Thoughts both out of a Desire to meet some Opposers to Impose upon in order to be cry'd up and to appear Learned and out of a Spirit of Contradiction their Decisions are commonly False and Obscure and it is difficult to hearken to them without falling into some Error Now this Method of discovering the Errors of others or the Solidity of their Sentiments is pretty Difficult to be put in Practice The Reason of it is this That Pretenders to Learning are not the only Persons who would seem to be Ignorant of nothing most Men have that Defect particularly those that have some Reading and that have Studied which is the reason that they will always speak and explain their Sentiments without giving a sufficient Attention to others The most Complaisant and most Reasonable among them despising the Sentiments of others in their Hearts only seem to be Attentive while People may easily discern in their Eyes that they do not observe what is said and that their Mind is wholly taken up with what they design to prove to us without thinking of answering us This is what often makes Conversations very dull for as nothing is more Pleasing and because the greatest Honour People can do us is to consider our Reasons and approve our Opinions so nothing can be more Offensive than to see that People do not apprehend them nor so much as take the least care that they may do it For in fine There is no Pleasure in speaking to and conversing with Statues and who are only Statues in relation to us because they have no value for us and who have no thoughts to please us but only to please themselves in endeavouring to show their Parts But if Men knew how to give a handsom Attention and answer well Conversation would not only be very Agreeable but also very Useful whereas every body striving to be thought Learned they only hear one another they act sometimes Uncharitably and seldom or never discover Truth But the Blunders that are committed by the said Pretenders to Learning in Conversation are excusable in some Respects It may be urg'd
in Favour of them That Men are but little attentive to what is spoken at that time That the most Exact are sometimes guilty of it and that they do not desire their Words should be collected like those of Scaliger and of Cardinal du Perron There is some Reason in these Excuses and we are willing to believe that such kind of Faults deserve some Indulgence People are desirous to speak in Conversation but there are unhappy days in which they do not hit things right We are not always in a Humour to think and to express our selves well and Time is so short on certain Occasions that the least Cloud and the least absence of Mind makes those which have the greatest Interest and Penetration of Min stumble unluckily into Extravagant Absurdities But if the Faults which the Pretenders to Learning commit in Conversation are excusable the Faults they are guilty of in their Books after mature Deliberation are by no means pardonable especially if they are frequent and are not aton'd by some good thing For those who write an ill Book make abundance of People lose their time in reading of it besides their falling into the same Errors they are guilty of and this occasions many more which is a thing of very ill Consequence But though it be a greater Fault than People imagine to compose an ill Book or only an useless one it is a Fault that sooner meets with Reward than Punishment For there are Crimes which Men do not punish whether it be that they are in Fashion or because their Reason is not commonly so steady to condemn as Criminals whom they look upon to be Men of better Sense than they are themselves Authors are commonly look'd upon as Extraordinary Men who soar much above others and so they are respected instead of being punish'd Therefore there is no likelihood that Men should ever erect a Tribunal to Examine and Condemn all such Books as only serve to Corrupt Reason So that we must never expect to see the Republick of Letters better regulated than other Republicks are since both are compos'd by Men. Moreover it is very necessary in order to remove Error to allow the Republick of Letters more Liberty than others in which Novelty is always very Dangerous For should the World Incroach upon the Liberty of Learned Men and Condemn all Novelties without Discernment it would confirm us in our Errors Therefore there is no reason to find fault with my speaking against the Government of the Republick of Letters and with â—my endeavouring to show that often those great Men which are admir'd by others for their Profound Learning are at the bottom only Vain Proud Men without Judgment and without any true Science I am oblig'd to speak thus of them least People should blindly submit to their Decisions and follow their Errors The Proofs of their Vanity III. Of the Books of Pretenders to Learning of their Want of Judgment and of their Ignorance are apparent in their own Works Those who will give themselves the Trouble to examine them with an Intent to Judge of them by the Rule of Common Sense and without Prejudice of Esteem for those Authors will find that most of the Designs of their Study are grounded upon an unjudicious Vanity and that their principal End is not to perfect their Reason and much less to regulate the Motions of their Heart but only to Confound others in order to appear more Learned than they This is the Reason as we have already observed that they always fix upon odd extraordinary Subjects and that they only use odd and extraordinary Expressions to explain themselves and quote none but odd and extraordinary Authors They seldom explain themselves in their own Language it is too common nor yet with a clear plain easie Latin they do not speak to be understood but to be admir'd They seldom apply themselves to Subjects which are useful for the Conduct of Life that seems too common to them They neither endeavour to be useful to others nor to themselves but only to be thought Learned They give no Reasons for what they say or else they are such Mysterious and Incomprehensible ones as neither themselves nor any body else conceives with Evidence They have no clear Reasons and if they had they would not use them Those Reasons do not surprise the Mind they look too plain and too common every body is capable of them They rather chuse to relate Authorities to prove or to seem to prove their Thoughts for often the Authorities they alledge prove nothing by the Sense they contain they only prove because they are Greek or Arabick But it will not be amiss to speak of their Quotations it will in some respect discover the Disposition of their Minds It is very evident in my Opinion that nothing but False Learning and the Spirit of Polimathy could make Quotations so much in vogue as they have been hitherto and as they are still among some of the Learned for it is not very difficult to find Authors who quote large Passages every Moment without any reason for it either because the things they advance are so clear that no body doubts them or because they are so Obscure that the Authority of their Authors cannot prove them Or lastly Because the Quotations they alledge can add no Ornament to what they say It is repugnant to Common Sense to introduce a large Greek Passage to prove that the Air is Transparent because it is a thing that is known by every body To use the Authority of Aristotle to persuade us that there are Intelligences which move the Heavens because it is evident that Aristotle could know nothing of it Or to mix Forteign Languages Arabick and Persian Proverbs in French and Latin Books compos'd for every bodies use because those Quotations can add no Ornaments to them or else they are Fanrastical Ornaments which disoblige a great many People and can oblige but very few Nevertheless most of those that would be thought Learned take so much delight in those kind of Quotations that they are not asham'd sometimes to introduce them in Languages they do not understand and they strain hard to force an Arabick Passage into their Books which perhaps they cannot read Thus they puzzle themselves to compass a thing which is contrary to Common Sense yet pleases their Vanity and makes them cry'd up by Fools They have also another Defect which is very considerable and that is They take little care to show they have read with Choice and Judgment they only desire to appear to have read much and particularly Obscure Books in order to be thought great Scholars Books that are Scarce and Dear least People should think they want any thing Wicked and Impious Books which Honest Men dare not read Just like those that brag of Crimes which others dare not commit Therefore they will rather quote you very Dear very Scarce very Ancient and very Obscure Books than such as