Chap. XII.] Philosophy of the Human Miml 165 



gress through defiles of errour has been made, as 

 to render tlie last ao-e one of the most distino-uished 

 'periods in the annals of the human mind. 



It is, however, a curious fact, that while a much 

 more simple and intelligible philosophy of mind 

 has, in the course of the last age, taken the place 

 of former perplexed and abstruse systems, yet the 

 study of metaphysics, through the whole of that 

 age, has been almost uniformly declining in popu- 

 larity. That taste for light and superficial read- 

 ing which so remarkably characterises modern 

 times, cannot endure the accurate, the profound, 

 and the patient thinking, so indispensably neces- 

 sary for pursuing investigations into the laws, 

 powers, and progress of our intellectual faculties. 

 Hence the word metaphysics is seldom, pronounced 

 but with contempt, as signifying something use- 

 less, unintelligible, or absurd*. But the profun- 

 dity and difficulty of the subject do not form the 

 only reason of that general neglect, and want of 

 popularity attending studies of this kind, at a 

 period when they might be expected to command 

 more esteem and attention. The dreams and 

 mystical nonsense of the schoolmen, which scarce- 

 ly began to be rejected till the time of des Car- 

 tes -^, and were not generally thrown aside till 



* See AJililionnI notes— -(JIH.) 



t Renes des Cartes was born at la Haye, in France, in 

 1596, and educated among the Jesuits. His doctrines concern- 

 ing the human mind were first published about the year 1033, 

 and soon began to excite much attention among the learned. 

 For a number of years before his death hejl^i^idcd chiefly in Hol- 

 land. Removing to Stockholni, in consequence of an invitation 

 given to him bv the queen of Sweden, in Id 10, he died tliere in 



