ESSAYS,
OR
DISCOURSES,
SELECTED FROM
THE WORKS OF FEYJOO,
AND
TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH,
BY
JOHN BRETT, ESQ.
VOLUME THE FIRST.
LONDON,
Printed for the Translator:
Sold by H. PAYNE, Pall-Mall; C. DILLY, in the Poultry; and T. EVANS, in the Strand.
MDCCLXXX.
CONTENTS
OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
| The Voice of the People. | [Page 1] |
| Virtue and Vice. | [p. 27] |
| Exalted and Humble Fortune. | [p. 61] |
| The most Refined Policy. | [p. 107] |
| The Machiavelianism of the Ancients. | [p. 161] |
| Ambition in Sovereigns. | [p. 221] |
| The Value or Superior Excellence of Nobility. With some Remarks on the Power or Influence of High Blood. | [p. 257] |
| The Semblance of Virtue; or, Virtue in Appearance. | [p. 291] |
THE
TRANSLATOR’s PREFACE.
The Author of the following Discourses was a Spaniard, and a dignified clergyman of the Church of Rome, high in rank, and much respected as an ecclesiastic; but was not less esteemed for his candour and liberality of sentiment, than admired for his almost universal learning and extensive knowledge. The Translator has it not in his power to give so particular and satisfactory an account of this eminent man as he could wish; but the Reader will find in the Fourth Essay of the Second Volume, a summary one given of himself, in which he tells us where he was born, how he was educated, and where he passed the greatest part of his life; how he passed it, is pretty clear from his Writings, which manifest, that he must have employed a very large portion of it in study. When I first entered upon this undertaking, I had no thoughts of translating so many of the Author’s Essays as I was afterwards tempted to do; the subject matter of them, in which I found great pleasure, exciting me to proceed; and indeed, I was also flattered and encouraged to go on, by the expectation, that my labours in this respect, would afford agreeable amusement, and furnish useful instruction to many of my countrymen. After I had translated as many Essays, as I conjectured would make Four Volumes in Octavo, I thought it would be necessary to prefix to them, a more enlarged Preface, than that which appeared at the head of the first four; and as I have taken the liberty to omit some parts of those Essays which I have translated, I thought it would be right to say something, by way of assigning my reasons and motives for so doing; which are briefly these: That the parts left out, appeared to me, to be either confined, or applicable only to the affairs and prejudices of Spain; or else, that they were points of speculation, which the world at large, might not consider as matters of importance. I have also ventured to omit such things, as were relative only to religious controversy, as in this species of disputation, men are apt to lose that candour and temper, which they have been remarkable for preserving in all other cases, and upon all other occasions. A strong example of the truth of this remark, would have been manifested in father Feyjoo, had I translated that part of the First Essay, where he speaks of the Protestant Writers; whom he mentions in such language, and with a degree of warmth and acrimony, which he afterwards in many places of his Works, reprehends as improper, and illiberal. I have likewise taken the liberty to curtail here and there a description which appeared to me rather superfluous, or too redundant; and in the Apology for Persons who have been famous in History, I have omitted the characters, of the queens Brunequilda and Fredegunda, of both whom, I imagined the Reader would find as much said as he would be desirous of knowing, in some of the other Essays of these Volumes. Nor have I translated from this Discourse, what is said of the empress Maria of Arragon, the marquis of Villena, and William le Croix de Gevres. The accusation which had been brought against the first of these three, appearing to me, only interesting to the subjects of Spain: those of Magic against the second, to savour of spite and bigotry; and those against the last, to be the effect of pique and resentment, on account that he, although not a native of Spain, had been promoted to the archbishopric of Toledo. In the Translation of the Physical Paradoxes, I have likewise omitted some articles; for instance, such, as whether heavy bodies, if they could be forced in a perpendicular direction to a great distance from the earth, would ever revert back to it again; and also that, of whether gold is produced by the sun; and another, which treats of the possibility of restoring by natural means, sight to a blind person; as all these appeared to me, things rather speculative than interesting. In the Translation of the Moral and Political Paradoxes, I have also omitted the following articles: that which charges the Spanish laws with being too favourable to persons of tender years; that which censures the great number of holidays which are observed in Spain; that which treats of whether the offspring of a human father and a brute mother, should be baptized under certain conditions and restrictions; and that, which questions whether Christian burial should be allowed to a person who is guilty of suicide. The first of these appeared to me applicable to the Spanish laws only; and the second, calculated to correct the abuse that is made of the numbers of festivals in most Roman Catholic countries, and particularly in Spain, and which seems intended to point out the great loss they occasion to a state. The other two I considered as rather abstruse points, and such as would afford very little amusement or instruction to those who may peruse this work. Thus much for the omissions; but if the reader, who understands Spanish, was to turn to the Essays in their original language, he would find something added to them; I therefore thought it would be proper to mention, that all those additions, except the one that is made to the comparison between ancient and modern music, are taken from the ninth, or supplemental volume to the Teatro Critico, and are added in such places as the author there directs. The addition to the comparison between antient and modern music, is taken from the Essay on the Resurrection of the Arts; and all that is said on music in that Essay, is interwoven into this discourse, it having appeared to me to be very apposite to, and indeed, what one might not improperly call a part of the subject of it. There is nothing more that occurs to me as necessary to add to this preface, except it is, that I have selected these Essays from nearly all the volumes of the author’s works, and that, to the best of my judgment, those I have chosen are some of the most interesting of them; and such, as I thought would be the most entertaining, and the most instructive to the generality of mankind. How judiciously I have made this choice, and how well I have executed the translation, must be left to others to determine; and shall only observe further, that I have done both the one and the other, to the best of my discernment and abilities; and although the translation is by no means a literal one, I will venture to declare, that it contains the true sense and sentiment of the author, which, as well as my learning and talents would enable me to imitate so eminent a man as Feyjoo, I have endeavoured to express in nearly the same language, I imagine he would have made use of, if he had been a native of this country, and had written his works originally in English. For the rest, the nature, scope, and design of the author’s writings, will be best explained by his own prologue, which follows next in order.
PROLOGUE.
TO THE READER.
My good reader, whoever you are, I have little expectation that you will be very propitious to this my undertaking, from a supposition, that you probably are already preoccupied in favour of many of the opinions which I combat; and I ought not to have such confidence, either in my persuasive powers, or in your docility, as to promise myself an early conquest of your prejudices, or a sudden attachment of your approbation. From hence it may follow, that stiff in your old opinions, you will condemn my sentiments, as false and injurious. Father Malebranche said justly, that those authors who write with an intention to banish common pre-possessions, should always conclude, that the public will receive their works with disgust. Whenever it happens that truth becomes triumphant, the victory advances by such slow paces, that the author while he lives, only enjoys the vain expectation, that his tomb will one day be crown’d with laurels. A striking example of this truth, was seen in the famous William Hervey, against whom, on account of his noble discovery respecting the circulation of the blood, the physicians of that time declaimed furiously, though all the professors of the science at present, venerate him as an oracle. In his life-time they loaded him with injuries; now he is dead they would place his image on the altars.
I should here endeavour to win your mind to an admission of my maxims, and take the opportunity of shewing by various examples, how involv’d in error, are many of the most established opinions; but this being the intire object of my first discourse, I must refer you thither, for the perusal of my arguments on this head, I having plac’d that discourse in the front, as a necessary preliminary to this volume; but if you are not to be persuaded, and are obstinately bent on remaining a constant partizan of the Voice of the People, in the name of goodness pursue your course. If you are wise, I shall treat you liberally, and we shall not become angry with each other; for liberality will reprehend the sentiment, without ill using the author; but if you are simple, you, together with that infirmity, will not fail to possess the quality of inexorable also. I know very well, there is not a more rigid censurer of a book, than a man who is incapable of dictating a letter. Such people may say what they please of me, and treat my opinions as excentric, because they are out of the common road; but let us agree in a preliminary, to wit, that if they are to take the liberty of calling me extravagant, I may be allowed to say they are ignorant.
I ought, however, to remove some objections, that will naturally occur in reading this volume. The first is, the discourses not being distributed in determin’d classes, and not following in a regular progression, the faculties or matters to which they belong. To this I answer, that though I at first design’d such an arrangement, I soon discover’d the pursuing it to be impracticable; for having proposed to myself so vast a field in the Teatro Critico, I saw that many of the matters which would be touch’d upon in it, were incomprehensible under a determin’d faculty; either because they do not belong to any one in particular, or because, they participate equally of many. Besides, there are a number, every one of which, treats solely of some particular faculty, without any other having to do with the subject matter. On physical subjects only, within which walk the errors of the vulgar are infinite, you may write as many discourses as are capable of making a separate volume; but I am more disposed to divide them in the different volumes, because by so doing, each will afford a more agreeable variety. By this means, although every volume with respect to the matter, will appear strictly speaking, a miscellany, the design of attacking common errors will be uniformly preserved. The formal object will always be the same, the materials must necessarily be composed of great variety, and should be distributed.
I may perhaps be blamed, for giving the name of errors to all the opinions I controvert. The complaint would be just, if I did not remove the odium of the term by an explanation. I say then, that error in the sense I here take and use it, signifies no more than an opinion that I look upon as false, abstracted from, and without my determining upon the probability or improbability of it.
Neither by the term common errors, do I mean to signify, that those I encounter are incident to all mankind, it is sufficient to apply this term to them, if they are admitted by the generality of the vulgar, or lead in their train, a more than ordinary number of the literati. This must be understood with a reservation, that I don’t mean to introduce myself as a judge in those questions, which are mooted in various schools, especially such as regard Theological points: for what advances can I make on those subjects, which have been studied and considered with the most intense reflection, by so many men of eminence? or who am I, to have such confidence in my own strength, as to fancy that I am capable of entering the lists, where so many giants engage? In matters purely physical, this objection need not detain me; for those of this species which are treated of in other schools are very few, and those few with little or no reflection.
I may be also blamed, when I am to touch upon many things which are mere matters of faculty, for having wrote in the Castilian Idiom: as an answer to this, it will be sufficient to reply, that no other reason is necessary to be given for so doing, than that I know of no reason against it. I do not deny, that there are truths, which should be hid from the vulgar, whose weakness exposes them to more danger by being informed, than they would be exposed to by remaining in ignorance; but this argument would militate with equal strength, against those truths going forth to the world in Latin, there being a great number of vulgar, among those who understand that language, and it passes easily from them, to those who understand no other than their mother tongue.
I am so far from having the least intention to communicate pernicious matter to the public, that the principal design of this work, is to undeceive them in many points, which by being admitted as true, would be very prejudicial to them; nor is it reasonable, that a benefit which can be made universal, should not be enjoyed by every one.
But do not from what I have advanced, conclude, that I have great confidence this work will be of eminent utility; for although my sole object is to propose the truth, it is possible, that in some instances I may want penetration to discern it, and in others, powers to persuade it; but I can with confidence assure you, that I write nothing, but what is conformable to my real sentiments. I look upon proposing, or attempting to prove singular opinions, only with a view of displaying a person’s ingenuity, as puerile and pedantic, and consider it as an employment, unworthy of every honest man. In conversation, these things may be tolerated by way of amusement, but the introducing them into writings, is an abuse, and a deceit upon the public. The noble use of reason, is to penetrate and enforce truths; the knack of puzzling others with sophistries, is the meanest faculty of the human understanding. Spiders, which in the brute creation are looked upon as vile, fabricate fine, but trifling threads; among mankind, none fabricate fine and firm ones, but excellent artists; the first, are emblems of subtle and sophistical works, the others of ingenious and solid ones.
The common errors which I attack, do not always occupy the whole of the discourse in which I treat of them, and sometimes, many are comprehended in one and the same; either because they relate immediately to the matter of it, or because in pursuing the thread of the principal subject, they are found in the way, or fall in as it were by incidence. This method appeared to me the most convenient, as by writing a separate discourse upon every opinion I encounter, there being much to be said on some heads, and but little on others, there would result a compound or mass of parts extremely unequal.
I expect many attacks, especially with relation to two or three of the discourses in this book, and when some of my friends apprize me, that I shall be loaded with injuries and abuse; I reply, that such treatment will only serve to convince me more firmly, of the truth of what I have written; it being certain, that he is doubtful of his own strength, who attacks with unfair weapons. If they oppose me with arguments, I will reply to them; if with sneers and scurrility, I shall instantly allow myself vanquish’d, as that is a mode of engaging, in which I never exercised myself. Adieu.
THE
VOICE of the PEOPLE.
That ill-understood maxim, that God explains himself in the Voice of the People, authorizes the commonalty to triumph over sound judgment, and erect to themselves a tribunitial authority, capable of oppressing, and bearing down the dignity of literature. This is an error that is pregnant with an infinity of others, because, by establishing the position, that the voice of the multitude is the rule of truth, all the extravagances of the vulgar, would be venerated as inspirations of heaven. This consideration excites me to attack this error the first, upon a supposition, that by exploding this, I shall subdue many enemies in one, or at least, that it will be more easy to expunge other errors, by removing the patronage, which they receive from the common voice in the estimation of unwary men.