Chap. VII. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 129 



art ever could have been invented, or have given any pleafure after 

 it was invented, neither can there be art or fcience without fxft^m. 

 Now, I have ihown "^-j that it is f^f^tm which makes beauty ; and 

 even our ideas, which are the foundation of our knowledge of every 

 thing, are all, as I have obferved in more than one place, fo many 

 fyflems. Even the idea of a particular objedl of fenfe is a fyftem. 

 That objeO: the fenfe perceives altogether, and as it were in a lump, 

 and without difcriminating its parts: Whereas the intelledt makes 

 that difcrimination, and perceives that fome part or parts of it are 

 principal, and diftind: from other parts of it, which are common to 

 other objeds; and of that part or parts the idea of this particu- 

 lar objedt of fenfe is formed. The intelled proceeds, and difcovers 

 that, what thus diftinguifhes this particular objed, is to be found in 

 other objeds of fenfe 3 and thus it forms a general idea of all the 

 objeds, which have this diftinguifhing quality. And thus is form- 

 ed a greater fyftem, which is called a fpecies; then a greater ftill 

 called a genus ; then we proceed to a greater fyftem ftill, that is a 

 higher genus ; and fo we go on till we come to the higheft of all 

 genufes, that is the categories. Thefe form the greateft, and, at the 

 fame time, the moft beautiful of all fyftems, I mean xht f)Jlcm of the 

 univerfe^ of which I (hall fay a great deal in the next volume of this 

 work ; and I hope I Ihall ftiow, that it is not only the greateft, but 

 one of the moft orderly and regular that can be conceived : So that 

 it anfwers perfedly to Ariftotle's definition of Beauty, which he 

 makes to confift in order, or regularity, and greatnefsf. But at pre- 

 fent it is fufficient to obferve, that the fenfe of the Beautiful is necef- 

 farily conneded with all arts and fciences, and with fyfiems of every 

 kind, even with the fyftem of the univerfe and with its rreat au- 

 thor; the contemplation of which fyftem makes the beatific vificn 

 and is the higheft felicity that human nature can attain ; and as v\e 

 Vol. IV. R 



* Anticnt INIetaphyfics, vol. 2. p. 107. 

 f Page 121. of this vol. 



