KANT. 



297 



\vlio, indeed, had never been able to afford him much 

 pecuniary assistance ; but lie was fortunate enough 

 to meet some relations, whose aid, together with his 

 awn industry and economy, enabled him to continue 

 Ins studies. His application was uncommonly great, 

 as is proved by his bold and successful attacks on 

 the doctrines of Leibnitz and Wolf, and his skilful 

 use of the weapons of dialectics against the authority 

 of the most eminent metaphysicians of the day, when 

 lie was but twenty-two years of age. After a resi- 

 dence of about three years at the university, he acted 

 in the capacity of a private tutor in several families, 

 ami lived about nine years with count Hullesen, at 

 Arnsdorf. Kant read much in this retirement, and 

 traced the outlines of several of those philosophical 

 treatises, which were soon afterwards published in 

 rapid succession. In 1755, he returned to Konigs- 

 berg, took the degree of M.A., and produced on this 

 occasion, in the form of an inaugural dissertation, 

 his treatise, entitled Principiorum primorum Cogni- 

 tionis metaphysicee nova Dilucidatio. In the same 

 year, he published his celebrated work on the Uni- 

 versal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens, 

 or an Essay on the Constitution and Mechanical 

 Structure of the whole Globe, according to the New- 

 tonian System. In this treatise, he anticipated sev. 

 eral of the subsequent discoveries of the astronomer 

 Herschel, particularly the planet called after his 

 name. Kant began to lecture, as doctor docens, on 

 logic, metaphysics, mathematics, and natural phi- 

 losophy, to which, at subsequent periods, he added 

 natural law, moral philosophy, natural theology, and 

 physical geography. He soon became popular with 

 the students ; but it was long before he obtained a 

 professorship. He had no ambition beyond that of 

 being useful in the sphere which he had chosen, nor 

 could his noble and strictly upright character resort 

 to any kind of art to promote his worldly interest. 

 In 1756, the professor extraordinarius of philosophy, 

 Mr Knutzen died ; but Kant solicited in vain the 

 vacant chair. In 1758, the professor ordinarius of 

 philosophy died ; but Kant was not appointed in his 

 stead, though zealously aided by doctor Schultz. In 

 1766, he accepted the unsolicited situation of second 

 keeper of the royal library, to which a small salary 

 was attached ; and, at the same time, he undertook 

 the management of a private cabinet of curiosities. 

 But these offices he resigned in 1772, on account of 

 the interruptions to which he was exposed by the 

 necessity of showing the books and rarities to stran- 

 gers. In 1770, he was at length advanced to the 

 ordinary professorship of logic and metaphysics in 

 the university, to the lustre of which he had already 

 so long contributed. He was now placed above the 

 fear of want, and could employ his talents in a man- 

 ner satisfactory to himself. Upon this occasion, he 

 produced his celebrated inaugural dissertation, De 

 Alundi sensibilis atque intelligibilis Forma et Princi- 

 piis. In 1787, Kant was made a member of the 

 royal academy of sciences at Berlin. Having once 

 attained independence, his wish to improve his 

 worldly concerns seems to have aspired no higher. 

 He declined various advantageous proposals to trans- 

 fer his talents to other universities, and, at length, 

 died by a gradual decay, Feb. 12, 1804, in the eight- 

 ieth year of his age, having witnessed the great sen- 

 sation which his philosophy produced among his 

 countrymen, though his patience was exposed in this 

 particular also to severe trials. Six years elapsed 

 before much notice was taken of his great work, the 

 Critique of Pure Reason ; and it is even said, that 

 the publisher of it was about to use the numerous 

 copies of the work which remained on hand as waste 

 paper, when the demand suddenly increased, and 

 three editions were disposed of in quick succession. 



Kant never went farther from Konigsberg than to 

 Pillau, seven German miles (about thirty-two Eng- 

 lish) distant. In the earlier part of his life, he used 

 to dine at the ordinary of the principal tavern ; to 

 which custom he was undoubtedly indebted in part 

 for his knowledge of mankind. Reichardt, in the 

 Urania (a German souvenir) of 1812, describes Kant 

 as an extraordinary lean, small man. " Leaner, nay, 

 drier," he says, than his small body, none probably 

 ever existed, and no sage probably ever passed his 

 life in a more tranquil and self-absorbed manner. A 

 high, serene forehead, a fine nose, and clear bright 

 eyes, distinguished his face advantageously. 15ut 

 the lower part of his countenance was marked with 

 a strong expression of sensuality, which was conspi- 

 cuous in his habits at table. He loved a mirthful 

 company at a good dinner, and was himself an agree- 

 able companion, who never failed to entertain and 

 enliven the company by his extensive knowledge, 

 and an inexhaustible store of pleasing anecdotes, 

 which he used to tell in the driest way, without ever 

 laughing himself ; and by the humour of his repar- 

 tees and observations. Kant's company was sought 

 for by the first families of Konigsberg, the more so as 

 he stood in the greatest esteem for his virtue and a 

 noble pride, which well became the most distin- 

 guished man of the city, and one of the deepest phi- 

 losophers who have ever lived. He was, in his 

 exterior, always neat, and even highly dressed. 

 Kant was also fond of playing at cards, and he did 

 not like to spend an evening without a game at 

 ombre. He considered it as the only certain means 

 of withdrawing his mind from deep thought, and 

 tranquillizing it. He possessed a boundless memory, 

 which added much to the interest of his lectures, as 

 he interspersed them with many illustrations, with 

 which his immense reading in history, biography, 

 travels, and novels, in fact, all works which could 

 add to the stores of his knowledge, amply supplied 

 him. Though he had his notes before him, he sel- 

 dom looked at them, and often quoted whole lines of 

 names and dates from memory. His library was 

 very small, but he had made a contract witli a book- 

 seller, who sent him all new publications, which, 

 after reading, he sent back. He lectured the 

 greater part of the forenoon, allowing himself twenty 

 minutes' rest between each lecture. In the after- 

 noon, he lectured seldom. He rose early, and stud- 

 ied then most ardently. His lectures on abstract 

 philosophy were much easier to be understood than 

 his works, because, in the former, he added many 

 elucidations, examples, and explanations, which he 

 thought unnecessary in his printed works. Besides 

 the great merits of Kant in regard to intellectual 

 philosophy, we owe him much for his virtue and 

 inflexible morality, which he placed again on their 

 true elevated basis, after they had -been referred 

 exclusively to interest by Helvetius and others. 



As to the philosophy of this profound thinker, a 

 full account cannot be expected in a work of this sort; 

 a glance at it will be all which we can give. The 

 inquirer into Kant's philosophy should be careful not 

 to reject immediately what he cannot understand, and 

 ought not to expect to understand, without deep study 

 and strict mental discipline. To form an opinion of 

 a whole philosophical system from the pages of a 

 review, is more easy than satisfactory or profitable. 

 In fact, a man can hardly hope to acquire a good 

 idea of Kant's philosophy without reading him in the 

 original. When Kant appeared, two philosophical 

 systems were most in vogue that of Locke and his 

 followers, and that of Leibnitz, Wolf, &c. Kant saw 

 that little aid was rendered to the cause of truth by 

 a dogmatic philosophy, whether founded on sensual- 

 ism or idealism. He wished for certainty in the field 



