Ki'wanian Society of Dublin. 467 



were cultivated with a wtll known success ; but those 

 which depended upon experience were not attainable. 

 Here then is one of the many advantages of the moderns; 

 hert the use, nay the necessity, of thi>se associations where 

 jnen of karnmg accumulate an invaluable store of know- 

 ledge, of the materials from which the most exquisite 

 systems are afterwards to he constructed. 



The oiiiiin of these associations is not to be placed at 

 that remote epoch in which Ptolemy Soter or Theodosius 

 the younaer founded literary institutions; not even when 

 Charlematrne had established one, nor for long succeeding 

 ages. Feudal tvranny was daily extending its dominion, 

 and strencthening its power, under the successors to th« 

 vast einpire but not to the genius of Charlemagne. Igno- 

 . ranee was then the prerogative of nohiliiy ; learning moul- 

 dered in the recesses of monasteries ; even imagmation, that 

 everlasting source of exquisite delight^ was paralysed in the 

 general torpor. In such a manner were passed six long 

 centuries : little ehe had been cultivated than the art of 

 disputation, or of perplexing every question by an inter- 

 minable controversy. 



But from this period opens an illustrious sera ; the mists 

 of ignorance begin to dissipate, and the cheering dawn 

 prepares us for the splendour of the approaching day.- 

 The art of printing produced a new appearance on every 

 thine, and the long neglected works of great men began 

 to be disseminated. The venerable shades of the i!lusiri~. 

 ous writers of antiquity seemed to rise from their ancient 

 monuments, and to be revivified for ever. From this 

 happv period a long line of great names tnay be enume- 

 rated ; their labours have perpetuated their glory, and ihey 

 will ever be remembered with gratitude and veneration. 

 It is too true that in these ages the opinions of great 

 )nen were sometimes wild and extravagant, although in- 

 genious, bold, nay sublime. Of this an extraordinary in- 

 stance occurs in the philosophical rumances of Descartes, 

 which will ever be remembered with interest and amaze- 

 ment. This great man overthrew the chima?ras of the 

 Peripatetics, even by means of other chimaeras 'I'he two 

 })hHutoms fought, they both fell, and after their destruction 

 Keason reigned triumphant. 



At lengih the period arrives in which literary associations 

 begin to be fornud ; the memorable Academy at Rome, 

 founded in 1 601, was the first: amongst its members are 

 found Gahlto aivj Columna. It died with its lounder in 

 H)30, and in l6iO Was succeeded by tho Academy Natura 

 Curiuioruui. 



G g 2 In 



