"Prodromus Philosophiæ Instaurandæ, id est, Dissertationis de Natura rerum Compendium, secundum sera principia, ex scriptis Thomæ Campanellæ præmissum, cum præfatione ad philosophos Germaniæ. Francofurt. 1617."
Prodromus, of course, means the avant-courier of a new philosophy; and this, I might think, was intended for Adami himself. But, on looking again at the preface, I perceive that it refers to the Compendium, which was to lead the way to ulterior publications.
"Præmittere autem hoc saltem opusculum visum nobis est, quo brevis ἀνακεφαλαίωσις physicorum philosophematum conjecta est, ut judicia doctorum ex eo in Germania experiremur, exercitaremusque. Cui si operæ pretium videbitur, subjungemus posthac autoris pleniorem et concinniorem Epilogismum Philosophiæ Naturalis, Moralis et Politicæ, addito opusculo Civitatis Solis, quo idea ingeniosissima reipublicæ philosophiæ secundum naturam instituendæ proponitur."
I had at one time a doubt, suggested by the language of the title-page, whether the Compendium de Rerum Naturâ were not an abridgment of Campanella, by Adami himself. But the style has too much vigour and terseness to warrant this supposition. And the following passage in the preface leads us to a different conclusion:
"De stylo, si tam delicatæ, ut nostratium nonnullæ sunt, aures reperiantur, quibus non ubique ita accuratus, et ex scriptis mendosis interdum depravatus videatur, supervacuum puto excusare, cum philosophus non loquatur, ut loquatur, sed ut intelligi velit."
Your correspondent observes also: "What Mr. Hallam calls an 'edition,' was the first publication." Is not this rather hyper-critical? "First edition" is a familiar phrase, and Adam was surely an editor.
In Vol. iii., p. 241., it is said that "in 1811 these MSS. (viz. of Wilkes) were, I presume, in the possession of Peter Elmsley, Principal of St. Alban's Hall, as he submitted the Junius Correspondence, through Mr. Hallam, to Serjeant Rough, who returned the letters to Mr. Hallam." And it is asked, "Where now are the original Junius letters, and where the other MSS.?"
I have to answer to this, that I returned the Junius letters (I never had any others of Wilkes) to Mr. Elmsley some years before his death in 1825. They are, in all probability, in the possession of his representatives.
HENRY HALLAM.