et Mondi,* "Of Infinity, the Universe, and World," Spaccio della Bestia triomfante,5 "Dispatches from the Tri-umphant Beast;" Oratio valedictoria habita in Academia Wittebergensi, « A farewell Oration delivered in the University of Wittemburg;" De Monade, Numero, et Figura,7 "Of Monad, Number, and Figure;" Summa Terminorum Metaphysicorum,8" Summary of Metaphysical Terms." Of these the satirical work, "Dispatches from the Beast triumphant," is the most celebrated.9

The extreme scarceness of the writings of this philoso pher, and the invincible obscurity of those which have come under our notice, render it impossible for us to give a full and accurate view of his doctrine, or to decide with certainty concerning the kind or degree of impiety which it involved. Thus much, however, may on satisfactory grounds be asserted, that the doctrine of Bruno was not, as Bayle and La Croze maintain, founded on the principles of Spinozism, but on the ancient doctrine of emanation. For, though he acknowledges only one substance in nature, yet it appears from many passages in his writings to have been his opinion, that all things have from eternity flowed from one immense and infinite fountain, an emanative principle, essential to the Divine Nature. From this source he derives his Minima, or atoms, of which the visible world is formed. To these he ascribes perception, life, and motion. Besides these, he supposes a distinct principle of combination and union, or a soul of the world, derived from the same fountain, by which the forms of nature are produced and preserved. This intermediate agent, which connects all the other emanations from the eternal fountain, is, in the system of Bruno, Nature. By means of which, out of infinite emanations from the eter

• Ven. 1584.

7 Francf. 1591.

$ Par. 1584.

⚫ Tig. 1595.

Witteb. 1588.

Addison gives a brief account of this work in the Spectator, No. 389, and speaks of the writer as a professed atheist. But, as the plan of the work, given by Addison, is not atheistical, and as it is not probable that he had seen those treatises from which our author drew his abstract of this philosopher's opinions, more regard is due to Brucker's elaborate inquiry into the character and doctrine of Bruno, than to Addison's cursory judg ment. Thay

nal fountain, infinite and eternal worlds are produced; whilst, in truth, only one being exists, which is infinite, immutable, indivisible, good, the uncreated light which pervades all space, and which has within itself one substantial form of all things. This doctrine appears to have been the result of an absurd attempt to unite the Atomic and Emanative systems, in which mathematics, physics, and metaphysics, are injudiciously confounded, and which, on the whole, rather served to perplex than to improve philosophy.10

SECT. II.

Of Jerom Cardan.

In the class of modern Eclectic philosophers, however eccentric and unsuccessful in his attempts to reform philosophy, we must reckon Jerom Cardan, an Italian physician, born at Pavia, in the year 1501. His father, who was a lawyer by profession, and a man well skilled in secret arts, instructed him very early in the mysteries of numbers, and the precepts of astrology. He also taught him the elements of geometry, and was désirous to have engaged him in the study of jurisprudence. But his inclination strongly prompting him to the medical profession, he entered upon the study of medicine, and obtained the degree of doctor of physic at Padua. To escape the public tumults he retired into the country, where he formed a matrimonial connexion, of which he bitterly complains as the cause of all his subsequent misfortunes. His friends made repeated efforts to obtain him an advantageous establishment, but he was too supercilious and peevish to profit by their kindness. An offer was made him of the honourable post of physician to the king of Denmark, with an annual salary of eight hundred crowns, and a free table, but he refused it, on account of the climate, and the religion of the country. In the year 1552, he was invited into Scotland by the archbishop of St. An

10 Vidend. Heumann. Act. Phil. v. iii. p. 432. Leibnitz. Ep. v. iv. p. 37. Huet. Cens. Phil. Cart, c. 8. Morhoff. Polyh. t. îi. l. i. c. 15. §.6. Vogt. Cat. Lib. rar. p. 139,

drew's, and received a large gratuity for his medical services. In the course of this journey he visited England, and was earnestly entreated by Edward, whose nativity he calculated, to remain in his court; but he could not be prevailed upon to stay longer than a few months. On his return into Italy, after residing some years in the academy at Bologna, he removed to Rome, where he was admitted into the college of physicians, with a pension from the pope. Thuanus relates, that he saw Cardan at Rome, a few years before his death, and was surprised to find nothing in him which answered to the high reputation he had obtained. In the year 1576, he finished his days, more like a maniac than a philosopher.11

Cardan was a wonderful compound of wisdom and folly. Through his whole life he practised the art of astrology, and wrote an account of his own fate, under the title of Explicatio Genituræ, “ A Calculation of Nativity," in which he confidently hazards many predictions, and marks innumerable contradictions in his own character, which he ascribes to the malign influence of the stars. He had so much confidence in this art, that he maintained, that the position of the stars at the birth of our Saviour was such as indicated a wonderful character. His numerous predictions, and, the cures which he undertook to perform by secret charms, or by the assistance of invisible spirits, made him pass for a magician with the vulgar, but were in fact only proofs of a mind infatuated by superstition. In the midst of all this weakness, Cardan is universally acknowledged to have been a man, of great erudition, and fertile invention, and is celebrated as the author of many new and singular observations in philosophy and medicine. His treatise De Methodo Medendi, "On the Practice of Medicine," discovers a mind capable of detecting and renouncing established errors. His book De Subtilitati et Varietate Rerum, " On the Subtlety and Variety of Things," shews, that if he could have preserved his judgment free from the influence of a disordered imagination, he was able to have contributed to the improvement

" Card. de Vita propria. Bayle. Tomassin. Elog, p. 55. Naudæi Judic. de Card. Sevin. Hist. Acad. Reg. Inscript. t. xiii. art. 2. Thuan, Hist. 1. xlii. ann. 1576.`

of natural philosophy. Of the dogmas of this philosopher, the following are a specimen.

Primary matter, which remains immutably the same, fills every place; whence, without the annihilation of matter, there can be no vacuum. Three principles subsist every where; matter, form, and mind. There are in matter three kinds of motion; the first, from form to element; the second, the reverse of this; the third, the descent of heavy bodies. The elements or passive principles are three; water, earth, and air, for naturally all things are cold, that is, destitute of heat. The agent in nature is celestial heat; the air, being exposed to the action of the solar rays, is perpetually in motion. The moon and all the other heavenly bodies are luminous from themselves. The heavens are animated by an ever active principle, and are therefore never quiescent. Man, having mind as well as soul, is not an animal. The dispositions of men are produced, and all moral affairs are directed, by the influence of the stars. Mind is universally diffused, and though it appears multiplied, is but one; it is extrinsically, and for a time, attached to human bodies, but never perishes.

Innumerable other singular metaphysical and physical notions are to be found in the works of Cardan; and they are accompanied with many experiments and observations on natural phenomena. But the whole is thrown together in such a confused mass, as plainly proves, that, though the author's head was replete with ideas, he wanted that sound understanding and cool judgment, without which the most ingenious and original conceptions must prove abortive. He was too fond of mysticism, too credulous, too superstitious, and, in a word, too much of an astrologer, to be a true philosopher. Cardan, therefore, notwithstanding all the variety and apparent originality of his writings, must be ranked among the unsuccessful adventurers in philosophy. His works, which treat of metaphysics, logic, natural philosophy, medicine, mathematics, and morals, were collected by Spon, and published 12 in ten volumes. He was attacked with much acrimony by several

12 Lugd. 1663.

writers, particularly by J. C. Scaliger, who envied his philosophical reputation and medical success.13

SECT. III.

Of Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam.

THAT reformation in philosophy, which had been unsuccessfully attempted by Bruno, Cardan, and others, was happily accomplished by that illustrious English philosopher, Lord Bacon, who did more to detect the sources of former errors and prejudices, and to discover and establish the true method of philosophizing, than the whole body of philosophers which many preceding ages had produced.

Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, and Viscount of St. Alban's, was born in London in the year 1560. His fa ther was Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord keeper of the great seal, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was the good fortune of Lord Bacon, that he appeared at a time when learning was commonly admired and cultivated among men of rank and fortune, and was even fashionable at court. The singular talents with which nature had endued him, and his early proficiency in learning, recommended him, whilst a boy, to the particular attention of several of the nobility, and introduced him to the notice of the queen, Fond of school learning, that princess more than once amused herself with endeavouring to puzzle the young scholar with difficult questions: but his replies discovered such sound judgment, and were expressed in such manly language, that the Queen was exceedingly delighted with him, and used to call him her young Lord Keeper. At twelve years of age he was entered a student at Cambridge, and placed under the tuition of Dr. Whitgift, the master of Trinity College, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury. Here he applied with great ardour to the study

Schmidii Diss. de Vogt. in Cat. Lib. Parker de Deo Disp.* Voss. de Theol.

13 Vidend. Sanchez de Arte nihil sciendi. p. 193. Themata Christi natal. Scalegeriana prima, p. 48. rar. p. 167. Reiman. Hist. Ath. S. iii. c. 4. § 11. p. 72. 210. Arnold. Hist. Ec. p. ii. l. xvii. p. 324. Gent. 1. iii, c. 8.