642 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



[DEC. 



cenic empire, and the consequent dis- 

 persion of the Alexandrine school, he 

 adds 



There were also many more remote or collat ral 

 causes contributing to the same event, some of 

 which preceded, and others were cotemporary 

 with the preceding. Such were the disorganized 

 state of society, and general corruption of man- 

 ners, in the later periods of Roman history the 

 prejudices entertained by many of the fathers of 

 the Christian church against heathen literature 

 the progress of superstition the rise of monastic 

 institutions the ambition, ignorance, and vices of 

 the clergy the imprisonment of the works of the 

 ancients in monastic libraries, whence they were 

 seldom permitted to emerge, and where they were 

 disregarded and forgotten [this is put in too un- 

 qualified a manner] the exclusion of the laity, 

 however exalted their rank and station in society, 

 from the advantages of education, and all other 

 means of intellectual improvement the disuse of 

 the Latin and Greek languages, as the medium of 

 communication between men of letters the despo- 

 tism of a few names, such as those of Aristotle and 

 Augustine, whose works alone were sanctioned by 

 the ecclesiastical rulers, &c. 



And the same may be said of his account 

 of the revival of literature 



- Among the political causes of this intellectual 

 phenomenon may be enumerated the fall of the 

 eastern empire, and the conquest of Greece by the 

 Turks; the effect of which was to disperse the 

 men of learning, who resided in those provinces, 

 through the continent of Europe, but more espe- 

 cially to enlighten those countries which lay con- 

 tiguous to the Ottoman Empire the gradual de- 

 molition of the feudal system, and consequent ele- 

 vation of the lower orders of society to wealth and 

 importance the study and practice of jurispru- 

 dence, by which the administration of justice was 

 secured, and civilization promoted [this is loosely 

 said, and without due discrimination] the into- 

 lerable oppression of the papal hierarchy, which, 

 though tamely submitted to during many ages, at 

 length became so galling a yoke, that both princes 

 and their subjects stood prepared to shake it off 

 and finally, the consolidation of the civil govern- 

 ments of Europe, under the administration of more 

 enlightened princes, who became the zealous pa- 

 trons of learning and science. 



The literary -and moral causes are equal- 

 ly well stated. 



Notes to Assist the Memory in various 

 Sciences ; 1827. The author in his pre- 

 face says " The following 1 notes were 

 originally collected to assist a most stub- 

 born and capricious memory, which re- 

 tained nothing if studied systematically, 

 or by any tedious process, yet could readi- 

 ly apprehend distinct facts and principles, 

 if disencumbered of all superfluous words, 

 and subsequently, by a sort of mental re- 

 action, connect and digest them." 



" Had the author," he continues, '* in pre- 

 paring them for publication, adopted the 

 method which he practically found most 

 beneficial, he would have arranged them 

 at cross purposes, making each successive 



note a perfect contrast to its predecessor. 

 On each note the reader will of course 

 pause, draw his own inferences, and ac- 

 quiesce or dissent, according to the de- 

 gree of conviction they impress on his 

 judgment. Some have been inserted more 

 to stimulate curiosity and promote discus- 

 sion than as established truths ; for a 

 valuable hint may be thrown by one in- 

 capable of forming a regular system." 



This, therefore, is not a school-book 

 professedly, though perhaps not the less 

 calculated on that account to operate as a 

 useful stimulant to the mind of young 

 people, by a process nearer to nature than 

 the usual systematic ascent up the hill of 

 learning. We love detached truths we 

 grasp them with all our mind and we 

 grasp them unsuspiciously. Some betake 

 themselves to one kind of truth some to 

 another; but the veriest system-mongers 

 that exist, are devotedly attached to cer- 

 tain species of fact on which they build 

 their theories. Certainly it must be felt 

 by most persons who have passed over 

 their first youth, that facts are the only 

 really substantial mental possessions that 

 exist the only possessions which we can 

 be sure are not deluding us with false 

 colours, nor prompting us to wear out our 

 thoughts in erroneous courses, which we 

 may painfully have to retrace. 



But it may be said, people possess quite 

 as strong a propensity to frame and fol- 

 low systems as for individual facts. So 

 they may ; but we still contend, that to 

 every disposition indiscriminately, that is 

 the safest and the most sterling pursuit, 

 and one of which we can never repent. 

 The general lover of fact cannot do better 

 than run away from systems which de- 

 mand a process of reasoning above his 

 powers; the lover of classification cannot 

 do better than fly from the seduction of 

 premature conclusions to those inquiries 

 which will more and more fit and prepare 

 him for arriving at just ones; and whether 

 he succeed or not in obtaining any results, 

 his collection of facts will ever preserve 

 a certain and independent value for busi- 

 ness or communication. But wherever 

 we have lent our minds to systems, for a 

 while believed and then exploded, we 

 have lent them in pure waste. 



The book contains a large mass of mis- 

 cellaneous information on every science 

 and subject, couched in the briefest and 

 clearest language. The moral and meta- 

 physical portion exhibits a complete free- 

 dom from prejudice presenting no state- 

 ment, which a sane understanding can 

 resist. The volume is not intended, or 

 recommended, as of a nature by any means 

 to supersede regular or systematic study ; 

 but for persons of a certain degree of in- 

 formation, who are grown up, and desire 

 to keep their minds on a par with the 



