44 
Meuflel, in Germany: He was aware that 
a work of this kind, capable of reprefent- 
ing In one point of view the intellectual 
purfuits of feveral nations, and of an in- 
finite number of individuals in every age 
to connect the f{cientific annals of each ge- 
neration with their proper links ; to notice 
in their due times, place and gradation, ’ 
all the names who have gradually contri- 
buted to the improvement of the human 
mind, and to defcribe every publication, 
with the circumftances by which it was 
attended, would be utterly impoffible for 
any one man to execute — impoffible, 
even if the writer fhould poffefs all the 
mental powers in the higheft degree of 
perfection. ‘The learning of Selden, and 
the genius of Bacon, combined together, 
would prove unequal to the tafk. And 
he was wont to repeat on the fubje& the 
proverbial expreffion of Struvius, that 
“* it would be eafier to remove the moun- 
tain Atlas than to compofe an univerfal 
literary hiftory.” The impoffibility how- 
ever of performing a complete work of 
this kind was not with ‘him a reafon why 
nothing fhould be undertaken towards ef- 
fe€ting the purpofe, if not by one man, 
at leaft by a fociety of men. Any partial 
and inadeqtate performance was, in his 
opinion, better than an utter deftitution ! 
Next to this defideratum of univerfal 
bibliography, he regretted that not even 
an hiftorical fyftem of national literature 
had ever been exhibited in the moft fcien- 
tific countries of Europe. He made, in- 
deed, a rational exception in favour of 
‘Firabofchi; but he ftill cbferved that this 
truly ingenious and well-defeiving writer 
ought to have given, in each of the con- 
cluding chapters of the feveral ages of the 
Italian literature, a parallel view of the 
gradual improvements which, in thofe re- 
ipective periods, were taking place in 
the neighbouring nations, and to have 
thus enabled his readers to judge, on 
which fide the fcientific fcale might inci- 
dentally have turned. He did not think 
that the Literary Tliftory of France, 
begun by Dom, Rivet, and continued by 
Dom. Clement, of the illuftrious congre- 
gation of St. Maur, would immediately 
anfwer the purpo‘e, although it might 
fupply a fublequent hiftorian with the bef 
materials; and with refpect to England, 
he fincerely hoped that fome eminent livin 
writer might do Jjuitice to this’ fubjeé,. 
by enlarging and improving the fhort and 
partial effays, already given by the late 
Dr. Kippis. He himieli had alfo fupplied 
fome -important materials for erecting 
this new Jyltem of national literature, in 
Memoirs of Mr. Paterfoni 
(Feb: 2, 
his yaluable catalogue entitled ‘* Biblio- 
theca Anglica Curiofa,” publifhed in 
ype as 
Although thefe obfervations evident! 
prove, -how deeply Mr. Paterfon was 
learned in the theoretical part of his 
profeffion ; they would, perhaps, be infufh- 
cient to entitle him to that eminent degree’ 
of fame which he juftly poffeffed, if he 
had not produced other proofs of his ex- 
traordinary abilities in the praétical de- 
partment — in the art of digefting ca- 
talogues. It is no compliment to him to 
fay, that he ftands hitherto’ unrivalled, 
and moft likely he will not have many 
equal fucceffors, in this line. He is per= 
haps the only. man who has duly under- 
ftood, and praétifed, the important truth 
that booksand libraries are not fufceptible 
of a permanent method of claffification, 
and that the claffics themfelves are inca- 
pable of a regular fubdivifion. As this 
really is an interefting truth, and intirely 
depending on the primitive operations of 
the human mind, and on the natural for- 
mation of our ideas, it may be proper to 
accompany it with a fhort commentary. ~ 
In a work to be fhortly publifhed*, the 
writer of this article will endeavour to 
evince, that the power of analyfis, or, in 
other words, the {pirit of obfervation, 
which leads the human underftanding to 
the claffification of the feveral objects of 
knowledge, being the effe€t of the natu« 
ral impulfion of our wants, muft uniform- 
ly aft, in every individual, with regard 
to the immediate purpofe of our preferva- 
tion, or of univerfal improvement ; and 
that in refpeét to the fecondary object of 
intellectual pleafures, muft. unavoidably 
vary, according to the infinite diverging of 
the conftituent elements of the human 
mind. It will recall to the recollection 
of the readers, what daily experience 
muft have fhewn to them, that either ex- 
ternal things, or our ideas, are analyzed 
and claffified by feveral individuals, in 
as many different ways as may be fug- 
getted by their refpeétive purfuits or paf- 
fions. And he will alfo ftart fome doubts, 
whether thofe artificial fyftems of claffifi- 
cation, fo generally adopted in natural- 
hiftory ever fince the writings of Lin- 
nzus, are really favourable to the progrefs 
of our underftanding, Mr. Paterfon, by the 
natural impulfion of his genius, and by a 
diligent pra€tice of his profeffion; had ~ 
perceived this truth and the ideas of 
the fenfible bibliographer ftood only in 
*-An Effay on the Mechanifm of the 
Human Underftanding, by Mr. Damiani. 
need 
