1804.] 
fine arts ; that he gave public lectures on 
anthropology, and the hiftory of man in 
different parts of the globe; that he en- 
deavoured to attach fubtle and fometimes 
- fublime allegories to the principal dogmas 
of the Chriftian religion ; that the higher 
departments of politics, the perfectibility 
of man, and the philanthropic projeét of 
a perpetual peace, frequently occupied his 
pen. It may be afferted, that his works 
on fpeculative philofopby are a mixture of 
{cepticiim and dogmatifm, clouded with 
great obfcurity, and containing many in- 
confiftencies and even contradiétions, as 
has lately been proved by M. Jacobi, one 
of the mot ingenious German writers, of 
whom I fhall pretently have occafion to 
fpeak. But he moft frequenily envelopes, 
as Virgil fays*, important truths in his 
obfcure language; his very defects have 
for many years ferved to exercile the minds 
of his coniemporaries, and to fow the feeds 
of reformation in the different fy%ems fur- 
rounding his own, and to which he alter- 
nately approached. 
His works on morality I confider the 
moft ufeful as well as the moft honourable 
to himfelf. It was a fublime fpectacle in 
an age debafed by mater aiifm and im- 
morality, to behold a moral fyftem eftab- 
lifhed upon a bafis placed by the Creator 
in every mind, and acknowledged by the 
moft diftinguifhed philefophers of anti- 
quity, on a profound and powerful fenti- 
ment which admits of no comparifon with 
any other, of no accommodation with bafe 
and material interefts. 
It was worthy of Kant to difcover that 
fentiment in his heart, not as a vague, ob- 
feure inftinét, but as an abfolute and in- 
vincible command}. In like manner, in a 
more barbarous age, the royal bard ex- 
claimed: ** Within my bofom there exifts 
a voice which commands Offian to affift 
the unfortunate in the hour of their afflic- 
tion.”” This inward voice has been heard 
in every age: it created thofe heroes who 
were the benefactors of humanity, and we 
have all beheld diitinguithed characters be- 
come glorious martyrs to its dictates. 
It is therefore this part of Kant’s doc- 
trine which has excited in Geimany the 
mott ardent enthufiafm. Every one after 
perufinge the works of this great man, is 
perfuaded, that to a pure heart anda vigo- 
yous mind, virtue, in the midft of torments 
* Obfcuris vera involvens. Zn. VI. 99. 
+ It is thus that the Words imperative, cate= 
gory, by which the German philofopher has 
defignated that fentiment, ought to be ren- 
dered. 
On the prefent State of Philsfophy in Germany. 
205 
(even without refle@ing on the rewards of 
another life) muft be a more fublime and 
impreffive fpectacle than perhaps the fame 
virtue in the bofom of profperity. Un- 
fortunately even this part of Kant’s works 
contains fome obicurities, and is embar- 
rafled with too fubtle difquifitions, which 
deltroy a portion of the enthufiafm infpired 
by his principles, and appear capable of 
being reduced to formule which men of 
inferior talents have actually fubftituted in 
their minds, inftead of the fentiments with 
which this doétrine ought to inflame their 
hearts. 
Kant’s works had an aftonifhing influ- 
ence on German literature, and on the 
manner of treating the f{ciences ; every one 
was defirous of inveftigating more clofely 
the branch which he cultivated ; of con- 
fidering it in a new point of view ; of pre- 
fenting it in a more rational manner and 
under a more accurate form. Thefe ef- 
forts were frequently crowned with fuccels, 
but fometimes empty formule ufurped 
the place of experience and obfervation ; 
and, incredible as it may appear, thofe two 
«guides of human reafon fell, in confequence, 
into a kind of difcredit, which has conti- 
nued to increafe ever fince. Poetry, feiz- 
ing fome beautiful ideas of Kant on mo- 
rality and the arts, clothed them in the moft 
brilliant colours ; but the fpeculative na- 
ture of the impulfe given to the mind, led, 
in particular, to the invefligation of the 
principles of the fine arts, principles on 
which Kant had faid many excellent things, 
but a too minute analyfis of which is per= 
haps more prejudicial than advantageous 
to the flights of genius. 
Ti is even tobe feared that this extrava- 
gantly philofophical turn of mind may 
produce a complete and fpeedy ftevility in 
the belles lettres of Germany. ~ 
Kant pafied his life at Konigfberg, in 
Pruffia : his writings were commented up- 
on, explained and atiacked in the different 
univerfities and other literary inftitutions 
of Germany, and for a long time he reign- 
ed triumphant over that nation of philofo- 
phers. At length a man 2ppeared at Jena, 
whom fame, even during Kant’s lile, 
proclaimed his fucceffor in the vaft {chool 
that began to be concentrated in that part 
of Germany, of which the avove univerfity 
was then the literary metropolis. Fichte, 
that {crutinizing and eminently {peculative 
genius, was not content with the refearches 
which Kant had made into the profundi- 
ties of the human underfanding; he 
juftly conceived that the great queftion on 
the manner in which the ideas of obje&ts 
come 
