PALEY, WILLIAM. 



FALEY, WILLIAM. 



exceedingly numerous, chiefly ecclesiastical ; but including also many 

 madiigals, now rarely performed, except in societies devoted to tbis 

 species of music. Clever as these are, their dryncsa is undeniable, and 

 they are perhaps more praised than admired. Three of his motets 

 are in use in our cathedrals, adapted by Dean Aldrich to the English 

 version of the 44th, GCrd, and 115th Psalms. Of these the first, We 

 have heard with our cars,' and third, ' Not unto us,' are printed in 

 Dr. Arnold's ' Collection of Cathedral Music :' the second appears in 

 its original state in Hawkins's ' History,' iii. 175. Of bis madrigals but 

 one is found in Yonge's ' MusicaTransilpina' (1588), a work containing 

 twenty madrigals by Italian masters ; and this is the only composition 

 of Palestrina noticed in 'La Musa Madrigalesca ' (1837); an elegant, 

 interesting volume, comprising tho words of 395 compositions, chiefly 

 madrigals, " of the Elizabethan age," together with many translations 

 from the Italian, and much curious matter. The Padre.Martmi, in his 

 'Saggio di Contrappuuto,' has given two madrigals, and several extracts, 

 from the works of this celebrated master, all of them evincing his deep 

 knowledge of the art, as understood and practised in his time, but all 

 exclusively confined to that style now distinguished by his cognomen 

 by the term ' alia Palestrina.' 



PALEY, WILLIAM, was born at Peterborough in the year 1743. 

 He was descended from an old aud respectable family in Craven, in 

 the West Hiding of Yorkshire. During his infancy his father removed 

 to Qiggleswick in Yorkshire, near the family property, having been 

 appointed head-master of King Edward's School in that place. He 

 was educated under his paternal roof, and speedily distinguished 

 himself by great abilities, a studious disposition, and a ripeness and 

 discrimination of intellect. In his seventeenth year he was entered a 

 sizar of Christ's College, Cambridge; on which occasion his father 

 declared that he would turn out a ' very great man," for he had by 

 far the clearest bead be had ever met with in his life. He graduated 

 in January 1763, and was senior wrangler. Having taken orders, he 

 was elected fellow of his college in 1760, and soon after became one of 

 the tutors. In 1775 his friend Dr. Law, bishop of Carlisle, presented 

 him to the rectory of Musgrove in Westmorland. Shortly afterwards 

 be married, left the university, and retired to his living. He passed 

 through a succession of preferments, of trifliug value, in the diocese 

 of Carlisle; aud in the year 1794 Dr. Porteus, bishop of London, 

 made him % prebendary of St. Paul's, aud Dr. Prettyuiau promoted 

 him to the subdeonery of Lincoln cathedral. The year following the 

 Bishop of Durham, Dr. Harrington, gave him the valuable rectory 

 of Biahop-Wearmouth. His time was now spent between his sub- 

 deanery and his living, with occasional visits to Craven and Cumber- 

 land ; and his life, imchequered by any events of importance, was 

 occupied in the quiet performance of his duties, the society of his 

 friends, and in completing that series of works which will perpetuate 

 his name. The latter part of his existence was painfully subject to 

 attacks of disease, which terminated in his death in Isu5. 



In matters of opinion, Pole; was liberal-minded and charitable ; he 

 was a friend to free inquiry, and an able supporter of the principles of 

 civil and religious liberty ; and when Wilberforce and Clarkson com- 

 menced their labours for the abolition of the slave-trade, he strenuously 

 exerted himself to suppress that disgraceful traffic. 



As a writer, he is distinguished not so much for originality as for 

 that power of intellect by which he grasps a subject in all its bearings, 

 and handles it in a manner entirely his own ; for tho consummate 

 skill with which he disposes and follows out bis argument, and for a 

 style peculiarly suited to philosophical investigations strong, exact, 

 an 1 clear, and abounding in words and phrases which, though some- 

 times homely, express and illustrate his meaning most forcibly aud 

 most di-tiuctly. 



The greatest and most important of his works, ' The Principles of 

 Moral and Political Philosophy,' was published in the year 1785. The 

 general outlines of it had been delivered as lectures to his pupils when 

 he was a tutor in the university. Though in many respects faulty, 

 the work is a valuable addition to the literature of our country. His 

 desire of introducing into the foundation of his system too much of 

 the exactness of demonstrative science, has occasionally led him to 

 define things which in their nature are indeterminate which cannot 

 be brought within the limit* of a precise and formal definition. His 

 account of tho lav of honour and of virtue is of this character. He is 

 alto too fond of putting forward disjunctive propositions, and reasoning 

 upon them as though they were exhaustive, as in the instance of the 

 *ullnjdt of adminuteritig justice. Hence his applications are sometimes 

 fettered and his conclusions defective, lioth iu his metaphysical and 

 ethical views, Paley was a follower of Locke. Locke, iu excluding 

 innate idea*, overlooks innate capacities ; and Paley denies the exist- 

 ence of a tuor.il sense of any faculty by which tho mind is enabled to 

 discriminate right and wrong. 



This work is divided into two parts, Moral Philosophy, and Political 

 Philosophy. In the first part, after giving some account of tho law of 

 honour, the law of the land, aud the Scriptures, as rules of action ; 

 rejecting the notion of a moral sense, or an innate capacity of moral 

 judgment; and defining what he means by human happiness and 

 virtue, Paley proceeds to explain tho principles and lay down the 

 foundation of his system. This ho does in book ii., ' On Moral Obliga- 

 tion.' A man is said to be obliged when he is urged by a violent 

 motive resulting from the command of another. In moral matters. 



the motive is the expectation of future reward or punishment, and the 

 command is from God. Henoe private happiness is tho motive, and 

 tho will of Qod the rule, But how is the will of Qod known ! 

 two sources the declarations of Scripture, and the light of nature ; 

 and tho method of coming at the divine will concerning any action, 

 by the light of nature, is to inquire into the tendency of the action to 

 promote or diminish the general happiness. Here then 1'aloy arrive* 

 at his principle, that " whatever is expedient is right. It is tho utility 

 of any moral rule alone which constitutes the obligation of it." I: - 

 utility is to be determined by a consideration of general consequences; 

 it must be expedient upon the whole, in tho long run, in all its effects 

 collateral and remote, as well as in those which are immediate and 

 direct. Having settled his principle, he proceeds to apply it to the 

 determination of moral duties. He takes a three-fold division of 

 duties : namely, those which a man owes to his neighbour, or r 

 duties; those which he owes to himself; and those which he owes to 

 Qod. The first set are determinate or indeterminate : determinate, 

 such as promises, contracts, oaths. The obligation to keep a promise, 

 according to the principle of expediency, arises from the circumstance 

 that ''confidence iu promises is essential to the intercourse of human 

 life ;" and the sense iu which a promise is to be interpreted is that 

 which the promisor knowingly and willingly conveys to the min 1 of 

 the person to whom it is made. Contracts are mutual promises, aud 

 therefore governed by the same principles; consequently, whatever is 

 expected by one side, and known to be so expected by the other, is to 

 be deemed a port or condition of the contract Oaths are to be inter- 

 preted according to the ' animus iinponeutia,' that is, in the genre 

 which the iuipoeer intends by them. Indeterminate duties arc charity, 

 gratitude, and the like. They are called indeterminate because no 

 precise and formal limits can be assigned to their exercise. Another 

 class belonging to this first set of duties originate from the constitution 

 of the sexes. The second set of duties are those which a man owes to 

 himself. As there are few duties or crimes whose effects are confined 

 to the individual, little is said about them. A man's duty to 1. 

 consists in the care of his faculties and the preservation of his person, 

 and the guarding against those practices which tend to injure the one 

 or the other. The third division of duties are those which are due to 

 God. In one sense, every duty is a duty to God ; but there are some 

 of which God is the object as well as the author : these are worship 

 and reverence. 



The second part of this work is devoted to the elements of political 

 knowledge. In determining the grounds of civil government and the 

 reasons of obedience to it, Paley is guided by the same principle ox 

 that which constitutes tho foundation of his' moral system ' Utility.' 

 The controversies on the origin of government have been many aud 

 bitter. Sir liobcrt Filuier and his followers, among whom the Oxf'mxl 

 Tractators are the most prominent of the present day, hold the notion 

 of a divine and inalienable right in kings to govern, aud tho corres- 

 ponding obligation of passive obedience in their subjects. They 

 contend that God vested in Adam, the father of mankind, an absolute 

 power over his posterity, and that this power descends without dimi- 

 nution to kings, the representatives of Adam. Locke, on tho other 

 hand, supposes a Social Compact, a compact between the citizen and the 

 state, as the ground of the relation iu which they stand to each other; 

 a mutual agreement as to the terms of then* connection, and the con- 

 dition on which one undertakes to govern aud the other to obey. 

 Paley rejects both theories. He puts the divine right of kings on the 

 same footing as the divine right of constables, the law of the land. 

 Against the Social Compact he urges that it is false in fact and preg- 

 nant with dangerous conclusions. The principles he assigns as tho 

 only reason of the subject's obligation to civil obedience, is the " Will 

 of God, as collected from expediency." Public utility is the founda- 

 tion of all government. Hence, whatever irregularity, or violations 

 of equity, or fraud and violence may have been perpetrated in the 

 acquisition of supreme power, when the state is once peaceably settled, 

 and the good of its subjects promoted, obedience to it becomes a duty. 

 On the other hand, whatever may have been the original legitimacy of 

 the ruling authority, if it become corrupt, negligent of the public 

 welfare, and cease to satisfy the expectations of the governed, it is 

 right to put it down and establish another iu its place. After defining 

 and giving some account of civil liberty, iu which, as in every other 

 part of his work, ho adheres strictly to his principle 'utility, which 

 he follows out to its consequences, he proceeds to speak of the diffe- 

 rent forms of government, especially the British constitution, their 

 advantages, and disadvantages, the nature of crimes and punishments, 

 and the administration of justice. 



With respect to religious establishments also, ' expediency ' governs 

 all his views aud conclusions. As no form of church-government is 

 laid down in the New Testament, a religious establishment is no part 

 of Christianity ; it is only the means of inculcating it. But the means 

 must be judged of according to their efficiency; this is the only 

 standard ; consequently the authority of a church establishment is 

 founded in its utility. For the same reason tests and subscriptions 

 ought to 1 e made as simple and easy as possible ; but when no present 

 necessity requires unusual strictness confes.-ions of faith ought to be 

 converted into articles of pence. In establishing a religion, where 

 immunity cannot be maintained, tho will of the majority should be 

 consulted, because less evil and inconvenience must attend this than any 



