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.