PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS OF LORD BACON. 375 



In order to clear the way for this inquiry, I shall begin with 

 a few remarks on a late estimate of Bacon's Philosophy, evi- 

 dently intended, not merely to depreciate, but to vilify it ; in- 

 somuch, that it stands remarkably at variance with almost all 

 that has been hitherto published on that subject. The esti- 

 mate alluded to is the more worthy of notice, that it has ob- 

 tained a place in a Literary Journal of great respectability, and 

 which is supposed by many to speak the sentiments of the 

 English Universities in matters of philosophy. 



It is pretty well known, I presume, that Bacon's writings have 

 been recently commented upon by two of our most eminent 

 philosophers ; by the one, in reference to their connection with 

 the Philosophy of the Mind * ; and by the other, in reference 

 to their more apparent object, the explaining the method by 

 which to extend our knowledge of the Material World f . 

 Both of them represent Bacon as the first who clearly and fully 

 pointed out the legitimate rules and ends of philosophical in- 

 quiry ; 



mentioned. " Si Bacon a eu tant de part aux decouvertes qui se sont faites 

 apres lui dans les sciences, qu'on nous montre done un seul fait, un seul resul- 

 tat de son invention, qui soit de quelque utilite aujourd'hui : ou, si ses prin- 

 cipes generaux sont tellement feconds, qu'ils aient pu, comme on l'assure, lui faire 

 pressentir un grand nombre de decouvertes modernes, il est presumable qu'on 

 n' a pas encore epuise tout ce que contient son Livre ; et dans ce cas, ceux qui 

 disent que nous lui devons tant de choses, devraient essayer d'en tirer d'avance 

 quelques unes des decouvertes dont la methode de Galilee nous enrichit tous 

 les jours.*" — Biog. Universelle, in loc. cit. 



* See Mr Stewart's Dissertation on the Progress of Metapltysical, Ethical, and 

 Political Philosophy, prefixed to the Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica. 



+ See Professor Play fair's Dissertation on the Progress of Mathematical and 

 Physical Science^ prefixed to the same work. 



