236 PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 



and works which are referable to the art of law. This branch of an 

 art of criticism has not assumed that name, it has been styled the 

 art of jurisprudence. Now, if it can be shown that an art of juris- 

 prudence is but a branch of an art of criticism, then, as the necessi- 

 ties of society have led to the discovery of the art of jurisprudence, 

 and have made its precepts familiar, we may hope, by an extension 

 of them to discover the art of Criticism. 



^ Criticism has been already defined, Jurisprudence may be defined 

 as the invention of rules to assist the mind in judoring of such works 

 and actions as are referable to the art of law ; the latter definition is 

 contained in the former, and is therefore a species of that of which 

 the other is a genus ; and this leads to a consideration of the art of 

 Jurisprudence. 



The Lecturer considered that the only possible motive to action 

 was a real or supposed good, this he subdivided into specific mo- 

 tives, and analysed the effect of these motives on society, stating in 

 conclusion that a consideration of the operation of these motives 

 must have led societies to the invention of arts of government, the 

 end of which was the regulation of men's actions for the common 

 good ; hence originated published laws and the application of re- 

 wards and punishments ; as well as the necessity of individuals 

 regulating their conduct by these laws, becoming thereby — as 

 members of any civil society — professors of Law. 



In dwelling upon the importance of the Judicial art from its in- 

 fluence on the lives and property of individuals, Mr. Barnes traced 

 out its leading rules and proved that they were contained under the 

 art of criticism ; proceeding then to enquire whether anything could 

 be learned of the art of criticism generally, from the natural history 

 of a particular branch of it — ^jurisprudence. In the commencement 

 of this enquiry he stated, and proved by illustrating cases, that the 

 different motives by which men are actuated would often lead them 

 to the perpetration of works of every kind injurious to society, but 

 yet not of a nature to be regulated by the arts of government, to 

 which he had referred and which he would call " arts of civil go- 

 vernment ; " attempts however had been made to counteract the 

 perpetration of such works by the invention of what has been mis- 

 called criticism but what he would call " arts of artificial govern- 

 ment," by which were invented applicable rewards and punishments, 

 such as attaching contempt or praise to certain acts and works and 

 publishing such attachment in canons : the means applied by civil 

 government were physical — those used by artificial government 

 were moral, and the great distinction between the mode of legisla- 



