BISHOPS AS PARADOXERS.
The mathematical and philosophical works of the Right Rev. John Wilkins[[502]].... In two volumes. London, 1802, 8vo.
This work, or at least part of the edition—all for aught I know—is printed on wood; that is, on paper made from wood-pulp. It has a rough surface; and when held before a candle is of very unequal transparency. There is in it a reprint of the works on the earth and moon. The discourse on the possibility of going to the moon, in this and the edition of 1640, is incorporated: but from the account in the
life prefixed, and a mention by D'Israeli, I should suppose that it had originally a separate title-page, and some circulation as a separate tract. Wilkins treats this subject half seriously, half jocosely; he has evidently not quite made up his mind. He is clear that "arts are not yet come to their solstice," and that posterity will bring hidden things to light. As to the difficulty of carrying food, he thinks, scoffing Puritan that he is, the Papists may be trained to fast the voyage, or may find the bread of their Eucharist "serve well enough for their viaticum."[[503]] He also puts the case that the story of Domingo Gonsales may be realized, namely, that wild geese find their way to the moon. It will be remembered—to use the usual substitute for, It has been forgotten—that the posthumous work of Bishop Francis Godwin[[504]] of Llandaff was published in 1638, the very year of Wilkins's first edition, in time for him to mention it at the end. Godwin makes Domingo Gonsales get to the moon in a chariot drawn by wild geese, and, as old books would say, discourses fully on that head. It is not a little amusing that Wilkins should have been seriously accused of plagiarizing Godwin, Wilkins writing in earnest, or nearly so, and Godwin writing fiction. It may serve to show philosophers how very near pure speculation comes to fable. From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step: which is the sublime, and which the ridiculous, every one must settle for himself. With me, good fiction is the sublime, and bad speculation the ridiculous. The number of bishops in my list is small. I might, had I possessed the book, have opened the list of quadrators with an Archbishop of Canterbury, or at least with a divine who was not wholly not archbishop. Thomas Bradwardine[[505]] (Bragvardinus, Bragadinus) was elected in
1348; the Pope put in another, who died unconsecrated; and Bradwardine was again elected in 1349, and lived five weeks longer, dying, I suppose, unconfirmed and unconsecrated.[[506]] Leland says he held the see a year, unus tantum annulus,[[507]] which seems to be a confusion: the whole business, from the first election, took about a year. He squared the circle, and his performance was printed at Paris in 1494. I have never seen it, nor any work of the author, except a tract on proportion.
As Bradwardine's works are very scarce indeed, I give two titles from one of the Libri catalogues.
"Arithmetic. Brauardini (Thomæ) Arithmetica speculativa revisa et correcta a Petro Sanchez Ciruelo Aragonesi, black letter, elegant woodcut title-page, VERY RARE, folio. Parisiis, per Thomam Anguelast (pro Olivier Senant), s. a. circa 1510.[[508]]
"This book, by Thomas Bradwardine, Archbishop of Canterbury must be exceedingly scarce as it has escaped the notice of Professor De Morgan, who, in his Arithmetical Books, speaks of a treatise of the same author on proportions,[[509]] printed at Vienna in 1515, but does not mention the present work.
"Bradwardine (Archbp. T.). Brauardini (Thomæ) Geometria speculativa, com Tractato de Quadratura Circuli bene revisa a Petro Sanchez Ciruelo, SCARCE, folio. Parisiis, J. Petit, 1511.[[510]]