TWELFTH MEETING.

ROYAL INSTITUTION.-April 3, 1854.

ROBERT M'ANDREW, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S., &c., VICE-PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

Mr. CHARLES GREY MOTT was ballotted for, and duly elected an Ordinary Member.

Resignations were received from Mr. R. LOWNDES and Mr. C. C. CHAMBERS.

Mr. J. P. G. SMITH exhibited specimens of Lapis Lazuli, from South America; also Photographs of Snow Crystals.

Mr. R. M'ANDREW, F.R.S., called attention to the works of several Spanish poets of the 16th century, and alluded to the construction of their productions.

Mr. F. W. BLOXHAM exhibited a copy of the 5th edition of Milton's Paradise Lost, which was published by Jacob Tonson.

Mr. THOMAS SANSOM exhibited a manuscript copy of the "Queen's Matrimonial Ladder," being a series of caricatures of George the Fourth.

Mr. FRANCIS ARCHER exhibited specimens of Corundum, from Carrick Fell, Cumberland.

Mr. J. JONES exhibited several ancient coins, some of Greek origin, recently dug up in the Punjaub.

The Rev. ABRAHAM HUME, D.C.L., LL.D., F.S.A., &c. communicated a Paper on "Heraldry," which, in the absence of the author, was read by Mr. Bloxham.

THIRTEENTH MEETING.

ROYAL INSTITUTION.-May 1, 1854.

JOSEPH DICKINSON, M.D., F.L.S., &c., PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

Mr. G. W. BAHR and Mr. JOHN B. ASPINALL were ballotted for, and duly elected Ordinary Members.

Mr. J. B. YATES communicated a Paper, entitled "The Attraction of Ellipsoids considered Geometrically," by Matthew Collins, B.A.

The Rev. J. B. Moss read a Paper on the Chemical Properties of the Torbane Hill Mineral.

The Rev. ARTHUR RAMSAY, M.A., read a Paper on the

LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HOBBES.

I AM about to occupy your time, and, I would fain hope, your attention this evening, with a few remarks on the Life, Character, and Philosophy of a man remarkable indeed in his generation,-a man whose views a Warburton, a Clarendon, a Butler, a Cudworth, a Bramhall, and a Tenison thought it worth their while to controvert,- -a man whose system and opinions not only exercised a wide-spread and deep-seated influence on his own contemporaries, but have also extensively moulded and coloured the tone of thought of subsequent generations; I mean the philosopher (if so we may call him) of Malmesbury-Thomas Hobbes.

Hobbes has been the subject of many fulminatory denunciations, and much moral horror, both in his own and in our times. We shall, however, on the present occasion, be acting in a far wiser, a more manly, and more christian-like spirit, if, instead of loading him with obloquy, or regarding him with a kind of superstitious dread, we strive to understand him-to understand the influences under which he acted the mistakes into which he fell-the work which he did in his own generation, and the lesson which, even in his errors, he may teach to ours.

Before we proceed to consider Hobbes in his most prominent and best known character, as the reproducer and reviver, in a very peculiar and original form,-and, as far as England is concerned, the founder of a most pernicious system of metaphysical philosophy, let us first take a glance at the man, ever bearing in mind that "errors in the head by no means universally imply a corresponding want of rectitude in the

heart," and showing all toleration to the individual, though none for those principles of his which we conceive to be erroneous or hurtful. And, however we may reprobate the views of the philosopher, I think we cannot but accord a high degree of admiration to the man, to the independence of his spirit, the individuality of his character, the versatility of his talents, the depth and accuracy of his knowledge, the variety and extent of his acquirements.* In this latter point especially, he may well excite our astonishment, when we cast an eye over a catalogue of his works, and observe the diversity of subjects that engaged his attention. Treatises on Law and Jurisprudence, on Moral, Metaphysical, Natural, and Mathematical Philosophy, were for ever flowing from his pen. Nor was this all; to him we owe one of the first, and what still continues to be the best translation of the most difficult and instructive of the Greek Historians.† Undaunted by previous inexperience, at the age of eighty-seven, he betook himself to the composition of Poetry, writing his autobiography in latin verse, and even publishing a translation of the Iliad and the Odyssey, an enterprise in which he has indeed compassed a great achievement, having succeeded in effectually eliminating all traces of poetry even from Homer. All this is the more remarkable, as he was self-taught, did

* In his early life Hobbes had been secretary to Lord Bacon, and Bacon is reported to have said of him, that he was the only one of his amanuenses who would understand what he wrote, and anticipate the end of his sentences.

+ This translation was undertaken, he assures us, with the purpose of pointing ont to the nation the evils of a civil war, such as that in which he was apprehensive the country would be involved, by showing in the history of the Peloponnesiau war the fatal conse quences of intestine troubles. It was published A.D. 1628, and is said to have been revised by the celebrated Ben Jonson.

✦ Of Hobbes's poetry, Pope truly says, "It is too mean for criticism." As a specimen of his mode of rendering Homer, we may instance some of the opening lines:

"Whilst the two princes of the army strove,

King Agamemnon and Achilles stout,
That so it should be was the will of Jove;

But who was it that made them first fall out?"

Almost the only lines which have found any admirers are those descriptive of the infant Astyanax in the scene of the parting of Hector and Audromache :

"Now Hector met her with her little boy,

That in the nurse's arms was carried;

And like a star upon her bosom lay

His beautiful and shining golden head;"

and those describing the descent of Apollo at the prayer of Chryses :—

"His prayer was granted by the Deity,

Who, with his silver bow and arrows keen,

Descended from Olympus silently,

In likeness of the sable night unseen;"

though, as Professor Wilson remarks, there seems something meanly suspicious in this

not commence authorship till past his fortieth year, and prided himself pre-eminently upon being "homo unius libri," making a boast of having read so little-for, as he arrogantly remarked, "Had he read as much as other men, he should have been as ignorant."*

Closely allied to this arrogant self-confidence was that other salient point in his character, already noticed-his independence. Though from his earliest years an inmate of noble houses, though the tutor and friend of princes and peers, he never hesitated to express his opinions, however obnoxious they might be, even at the risk of losing, nay with, as it proved, the actual loss of royal and courtly favour. All these his independence, his arrogance, his self-confidence, his cold and passionless temperament, his waut of human sympathies, and his calm and regular moral habits, which enabled him to attain the wouderful age of ninety-two—-are so many traits and marks of the man's peculiar idiosyncracy; and in all these points he most curiously resembles that other and more modern advocate of the philosophy of self-love, Jeremy Bentham, who, as well as Hobbes, exemplified, as far as possible, his system in his life.

So much for the character of the man, and now let us proceed to examine his philosophy. Here it will be necessary to confine ourselves principally to a consideration of Hobbes's worth and influence as a metaphysical philosopher; and yet, in taking this course, we shall perhaps be hardly dealing fairly with IIobbes, as he professes to be especially a writer on the science of government, and his Metaphysical Theory is but the necessary foundation on which to build his Political System. Still, if we are to come to a clear understanding of the origin, the basis, and the consequences of Hobbes's errors, we must view him as a psychologist. There are, however, but two of his works which bear directly on the subject of moral and metaphysical philosophy,

stealthiness of the god; and following immediately in the wake of these lines, as if to show that his success was as accidental as it is momentary, we have

"His bow and quiver both behind him hang,

The arrows chink as often as he jogs,
And as he shot, his bow was heard to twaug,

And first his arrows flew at mules and dogs."

* Another of his arrogant boasts was, that "though Fhysics were a new science, yet Civil Philosophy was still newer, since it could not be styled older than his book 'De Cive.'"

+ Hobbes was private tutor in the family of the Earl of Devonshire, to whose son he dedicated his "Thucydides:" and in 1647, he was appointed mathematical tutor to Charles II. then Prince of Wales, whose esteem and regard he so won, that Charles always spoke of him with kindness and affection, kept his old tutor's portrait in his study, and after the Restoration, presented him, unasked, with a pension of £100.

namely, his "Treatise on Human Nature," published in 1650, and his "Leviathan," published in 1651. Every thing of importance in the former treatise is repeated in the "Leviathan," where his views are re-stated with greater fulness, precision, and clearness. To this work, therefore, we will principally confine ourselves.

Before entering upon an examination of the doctrines of the "Leviathan," it may be useful to give a short account of its history. Hobbes, as I have already had occasion to observe, had been mathematical tutor to Charles II.; and from his consequent connection with the Royalists, he found himself at the commencement of the Protectorate an exile in France. It was during his residence there that he wrote the "Leviathan," which was printed and published in England, the sheets being sent to him at Paris to correct. With respect to the secondary motives, which may, in part at least, have influenced him. in promulgating the political opinions advanced in that book, precisely at this time, Clarendon, in one of his smaller and less known treatises,* tells a curious story. After relating a conversation held with Hobbes in Paris, when both were exiles, he says, "Upon which I asked him why he would publish such doctrine; to which, after a discourse between jest and earnest upon the subject, he said, 'The truth is, I have a mind to go home.'" And although (as I have before observed) many of the fundamental principles of the “Leviathan” had been already published in his work on "Human Nature;" yet there seems little reason to doubt that this home-sickness of Hobbes had its share in leading him to the conclusion he there arrives at-that whoever could best protect him had the strongest claim to his allegiance. His wish to return to his country was soon gratified, for he was compelled to fly from Paris, and escaped to England, where Cromwell, pleased to have such an able vindicator of his usurpation, suffered him to remain undisturbed.

Thus we see that that system of Materialism which has already produced the Sensualism of Locke,; the Scepticism of Hume and Voltaire,

*The title of this pamphlet is "A brief View and Survey of the dangerous and pernicious Errors to Church and State in Mr. Hobbes's Book entitled 'Leviathan."" Its object is to show that Hobbes's principles are in direct opposition to the doctrines of the church.

+ Clarendon tells us, in the same little treatise, that Hobbes "Presented his book, engrossed in vellum in a marvellous fair hand, to the king." Charles, however, being persuaded that it contained principles subversive of both religion and loyalty, withdrew his favour from the philosopher and forbade him his presence. Clarendon also gives us the history of the "Dedication to Francis Godolphin," which was in consequence of Sidney Godolphin, in admiration of his great parts, having left Hobbes a legacy of £200.

By Sensualism here I mean the system which reduces all Knowledge and Truth to the perceptions of Sense, i.e. to Observation and Experience.