585 Professor St€ioart\'( History of 



Fontenelie has f^iven a lively picture of 

 ttie enthusiastic nidourwith wiiich Male- 

 tranche first rf !t(l this pertorn-.aiice, and 

 describes its effects on his nervous sys« 

 fern as sumetitnes so f^reai, that he was 

 forced to lay aside the hool; till the pal- 

 pitation of hi-i heart had subsided. 



It was iinly ten ypars after thii occur- 

 rence when he puhlished " The Search 

 after Truth;" a work which, whatever 

 judgment may now be passed on its pbi- 

 Josophical merits, will always form an 

 interesting study to readers of taste, and 

 a ubcful one to students of liunmn na- 

 ture. Few books can he mentioned, 

 cotnbining, in so great a degree, the ut- 

 most depth and abstraction of ihooiiht, 

 with the most pleasing sallies of imagi- 

 nation and elo'iuence; and none wliere 

 they who delislhl in the observation of 

 intelieciual character may hud more 

 ample illustrations, both of the strength 

 nnd weakness of the human underscand- 

 ing. It is a singular feature in the l>is- 

 tory of Malebranche, that, notwithstnnd- 

 jng the poetical colouring whicli adds so 

 much animation and grace to his style, 

 he never could read, without disgust, a 

 page of the finest verses ; and that, al- 

 though Imagination was manifestly the 

 pretioininant ingredient in the ctmiposi- 

 cion of his own genius, the most elaborate 

 passage's in hi> woiks are those where he 

 inveighs against this treacherous faculty, 

 as tlie prolific parent of our most fatal 

 delusions. 



When Malebranche touches on ques- 

 tions not positively decided by the 

 church, he exhibits a remarkable fiold- 

 ness and freedom of inquiry ; setting at 

 nought those human authorities which 

 have so much weight with iiu'ii of unen- 

 lightened erudition, and sturdily oppos- 

 ing his own reason to thepiost inveterate 

 prejudices of his age. liis disbelief in 

 the reality of sorcery, which, altlioui;h 

 cautiously expressed, seems to have been 

 complete, affords a decisive proot of the 

 soundness of his judgment, where he coiu 

 ceived himself to have any latitude in 

 exercising it. 



Another feature in the intellectual 

 character of Malebranche, presenting an 

 unexpected contrast to his powers of 

 abstract meditation, is the aiteniive and 

 discriminating eye with wiiich he appears 

 to have surveyed the hiibits and manners 

 ofthe comparatively little circle around 

 him; and the delicate yet expressive 

 touches with ivhieh he has marked and 

 defined some of the nicest stiades and 

 varieties of genius. To this branch of 

 the Philosophy of Mind, not certainly 



the Progress of Philosophy, 



the least important and iii(ereatin|;, he 

 has contributed a greater number of ori- 

 ginal remarks ilian Locke himself,— 

 since whose time, with the single excep- 

 tion of IJelvetiin), hardly any attention 

 lias been paid to it, cither by French or 

 Fiiglish metaphysician!!. The same prac- 

 tical knowled<ie of the human onder- 

 standing, modified and diversitred, as we 

 every where see it, by education and 

 external circuiusiances, is occasionally 

 discovered by his very able antngotvisC 

 Arnauld; affording, in both cases, a sa. 

 tisfactory proof that the narrowest field 

 of experience may disclose to a superior 

 mind ihu^e refiiiet! and comprehensive 

 results, which common observers are 

 forced to collect from an exteiiiiive and 

 varied commerce with the worW. 



Tliat we are completely ignorant of 

 the manner in uhich physical causes and 

 tffecis are connected, and that all our 

 knowledge concerning them amounts 

 merely to a perception of constant coit' 

 junction, had been before ixinarked by 

 Iiobbes, and more fully stioMrn by Glaiia : 

 vilie in ht9 " Scepsis Scieniifica." Male>^ i 

 branche, however, has treated the ssui>4ti' 

 argument much more profoundly »n4,. 

 ably than any of his predecessors, and -, 

 has, indeed, anticipated ilume in soai« . 

 ofthe most ingenious reasonings cunoi; 

 tamed in his Essay on A'ecessury Co»»t- ■ 

 neiion. From these datn, it was not,: 

 unnatural fi/r his pious mind to conclode 

 that vvhat are- commonly called SKOni 

 Causes have no existence ; and that the 

 Divine power, incessantly and univey*- 

 sally exerted, is, in truth, the cunnectini; . 

 link of all the phenomena of nature. It _ 

 is obvious that, in this conclusion, ha 

 went further than his premises warrant*; 

 cd; fur, although no necessary coimec- 

 tions among physical events can l>e 

 traced by our tacultie-, it does not there- 

 tore follow that such conuections are 

 impossil^le. The only sound nifsrenca 

 wa.i, ihut the laws of nature are to be 

 discovered, not, as tlie ancients supposed, 

 by a priori reasonings from causes to 

 ellects, hut by experience and observa- 

 tion. It is lint justice to Malebranche 

 to own, that he tvasone of the first who 

 placed in a just and strong light this 

 fiindainental principle of the iuductiv* 

 logic. 



From tlie theory of occasional causet, 

 it is ea»y to trace the process which led 

 i\lalebranche to conclude, that tee set 

 all things in GvcL The same argument* 

 which convinced him that the Deity car- 

 ries info execution every volition of the 

 mind, in the uiovements of the body, 



ct}uid 



