DISCOURSE ON METHOD. 7 



I esteemed Eloquence highly, and was in raptures 

 with Poesy ; but I thought that both were gifts of 

 nature rather than fruits of study^. Those in whom 

 the faculty of Reason is predominant, and who 

 most skilfully dispose their thoughts with a view to 

 render them clear and intelligible, are always the 

 best able to persuade others of the truth of what 

 they lay down, though they should speak only in the : 

 language of Lower Brittany, and be wholly ignorant - 

 of the rules of Rhetoric; and those whose minds are 

 stored with the most agreeable fancies, and who can 

 give expression to them with the greatest embellish- 

 ment and harmony, are still the best poets, though 

 unacquainted with the Art of Poetry. 



was especially delighted with the Mathematics, 

 on account of the certitude and evidence of their 

 reasonings: but I had not as yet a precise knowl- 

 edge of their true use ; and thinking that they but 

 contributed to the advancement of the mechanical 

 arts, I was astonished that foundations, so strong 

 and solid, should have had no loftier superstructure 

 reared on themy^tDn the other hand, I compared 

 the disquisitions of the ancient Moralists to very 

 towering and magnificent palaces with no better 

 foundation than sand and mud :/ they laud the 

 virtues very highly, and exhibit tnem as estimable 

 far above anything on earth ; but they give us no 

 adequate criterion of virtue, and frequently that 

 which they designate with so fine a name is but 

 apathy, or pride, or despair, or parricide./ 

 1 1 I revered our Theology, and aspired as much as 

 any one to reach heaven : but being given assuredly 



