1803.) 
tetus, by this fingle trait; the earthen 
lamp which he had made ufe of, was fold, 
after his death, at g@00 drachmas. It is 
Lucian who relates this circumftance, in 
a fatire on a certain ignoramus who was 
colleéting a library.* 
We have but a fingle work of Epiéte- 
tus, his Exchiridion, or Manual ; but fome 
fragments of his difcourfes have been pre- 
{cerved unto us by Arrian, and many of his 
fentences are found in the collection of 
Stobeus. Cit. Bouchaud has colleéted, 
from all that remains to us of Epictetus, 
the opinions of that philofopher, on per- 
fonal morality, on focial morality, and on 
religion. He has compared them with 
thofe of Seneca and of Marcus Aurelius. 
We thal) confine ourfelves here to the no- 
tice of this part of the memoir of Citizen 
Bouchaud, as it was read in the public 
fitting of the 21ft nivofe. 
While he highly extolls the philofophy 
of Epiétetus, Citizen Bouchaud fails not 
to point out the errors which tarnifh it. 
For example, Epictetus thinks that 
every man has naturally an idea of good 
and evil, of juft and unjuff. ‘If that 
were the cafe,” fays Citizen Bouchaud, 
© we fhould have innate ideas, and this is 
what cannot be admitted, after mature 
deliberation. The ancients themfelves 
did not believe in them. The wilet 
among them have uniformly fupporied 
the doétrine of acquired ideas. It is an 
ancient, perpetual, and unerring rule, that 
‘there is nothing in the underftanding, 
which was not before in the fenfe : xibil 
eff, Ge. This doétrine, however well- 
founded, was controverted in the 17th 
century, by the celebrated Defcartes, a 
philofopher, who, in other refpeéts, does 
honour to France ; but we muft reckon 
his opinion of innate ideas among his re- 
veries. At firlt, this new dogma was 
pretty generally received; out of com- 
plaifance to the impofing authority of its 
author, it upheld his credit for fome time. 
No lefs a charafter thanLocke was required 
to recall modern philofophers out’ of this 
error, and to re eltablifh the ancient fyf- 
tem in this refpect. Epictetus might have 
been very eafily convinced of the non-ex- 
iitence of innate ideas. Long before him, 
Democritus had formally maintained that 
cs Lt eV ey Bla a ee, on 
* §* Have we not feen in our days, a certain 
individual, perhaps yet alive, purchafe the 
earthen lampof Epictetus for 30c0 drachmas ? 
He, doubtlefs, imagined, that by reading at 
nights, by the light of this lamp, the wif- 
dom of the philofopher would be inipired into 
him, when afleep, &c. &c.” 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. 
561 
the human underftanding was nothing but 
a carte-blanche, or a fheet of white pa. 
per. But Epictetus was a Stoic, and it 
was one of the doétrines of the Portico, 
that the human foul isa portion of the 
divinity ; notwithftanding which he was 
under the neceffity of maintaining that 
the thinking faculty within us has innate 
ideas, as it would have bee abfurd to be- 
lieve that the divinity has no ideas that 
are proper to him! 
Among the errors which compofe fo 
great a part of the hiftory of ages, perhaps 
none has contributed more than the doc~ 
trine of innate ideas to retard the progrefs 
of real knowledge. Whenever it has 
been introduced by the imagination of 
poets, or by that of philofophers, ufeful 
inveiiigations were interrupted, experi- 
mental effays renounced, fyftems that 
were not the fruits of any analyfis adopted, 
and fpeculation fubitituted for obfervation, 
Convinced of the dangerous tendency of 
this doctrine, Citizen Bouchaud laboured 
firenuoufly to oppofe it; he wifhes it to 
have no part in the homage which he 
would render to Epictetus and to his mo- 
rality. 
i — 
TRANSACTIONS of the SOCIETY inflituted 
at LONDON for the ENCOURAGE- 
MENT of ARTS; MANUFACTURES, 
and COMMERCE. 
N Tuefday the 31ft ult. a moft bril- 
liant and numerous company af- 
fembled at the: Society’s rooms in the 
Adelphi, to witnefs the diftribution of 
the premiums awarded to the feveral fuc- 
cefsful candidates in the various branches 
of fcience. The great room, which is 
adorned with the magnificent paintings by _ 
Barry, was comple'cly filled at an early 
hour. About-12 o’clock his Grace the 
Duke of Norfelk took the chair; and 
Mr. Taylor, the Secretary, proceeded to 
deliver an excellent and 2nimaied dilfcourfe 
on the formation and inftitution of the 
Society, paying a handfome tribute of 
refpect to Mr. Shipley, the founder, and to 
feveral other great and diftinguifhed cha- 
racters who have, from time to time, 
greaily contributed by perfona! exertions, 
as well as by pecuniary affiltance, to the 
efablifhment, and profperity of the belt 
interefts of the Sociery. 
Mr. Taylor next proceeded to announce 
the names of the tuccefsful candidates, 
giving at the fame'time a fhort account of 
what each perfon had done to merit the 
reward about to be conferred on him. 
; A 
~ 
