IV. — 1. The whole Booke of Psalmes, with their wonted Tunes, as they are sang in Churches, composed into Foure Parts. 1592. Reprinted for the Members of the Musical Antiquarian Society, and edited by E. F. Rimbault, LL. D. F. S. A. 2. The whole Booke of Psalmes, with the Hymnes Evangelical and Songs Spiritual, composed into Four Parts by sundry Authors, &c. Edited by the Rev. W. H. Havergal, M. A. London: 1845. 3. The People's Music Book, Part I., consisting of a Selection of Psalm Tunes, in Four Parts, with an arrangement for the Organ or Piano Forte. Edited by James Turle, Organist of Westminster Abbey, relatif à une Convention litéraire entre la France et la Grande-Bretagne, précédé de l'exposé des motifs présenté par M. Turgot, Ministre des Affaires VII.-I. Report from the Select Committee on the Ord- nance Survey (Scotland); together with the Pro- ceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, &c. Printed by Order of the House of Commons. 2. Trigonometrical Survey, Great Britain. Memorial of the British Association for the Advancement of ART. I.-Nouvelles Causes Célèbres. Recueillis et mis en ordre par M. le Comte de Marcourt. Paris: 1846, II.— 1. Draft of a Bill to promote Education in the Muni- 2. The Scheme of Secular Education proposed by the National Public Schools' Association, compared with the Manchester and Salford Borough Bill. 3. The Educational Almanac for 1852. 4. Hints on an Improved and Self-paying System of 2. The Roman State from 1815 to 1850. By Luigi Carlo Farini. Translated by the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P. Vols. I. and II. London: 1851. 3. Memoire Storiche sull' Intervento Francese in Roma nel 1849. Di Federico Torre. Vol. I. 4. Histoire de la Révolution d'Italie en 1848. Par An Investigation of the Principles of Athenian Archi- tecture; or the results of a recent Survey, conducted chiefly with reference to the Optical Refinements exhibited in the Construction of the Ancient Build- ings of Athens. By Francis Cranmer Penrose, Architect, M.A., &c. Illustrated by numerous En- gravings. Published by the Society of Dilettanti. for the Savings of the Middle and Working Classes. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 2. Report of Select Committee on the Law of Partner- ship. Ordered by the House of Commons to be 1. The Liturgy of the Church of Scotland, or Jolin Knox's Book of Common Order. Edited and care- fully revised by the Rev. John Cumming, M.A., Minister of the Scotch Church, Crown Court, Little Russel Street, Covent Garden. London: 1840. 2. Calvin's Tracts. Containing Treatises on the Sacra- ments, Catechism of the Church of Geneva, Forms of Prayer, and Confessions of Faith. Printed for the Calvin Translation Society. Edinburgh: 1849. 3. La Liturgie, ou la Manière de célébrer le Service divin dans l'Eglise de Genève. Genève : 1828. 4. Lateinische und Griechische Messen, aus dem zweiten bis sechsten Jahrhundert. Herausgegeben von Franz Mémoires et Correspondance de Mallet du Pan, pour servir à l'histoire de la Révolution Française. Re- cueillis et mis en ordre par A. Sayous. 2 vols. 8vo. IX.-Nicaragua: its People, Scenery, Monuments, and the proposed Inter-oceanic Canal. By E. G. Squier, late Chargé d'Affaires of the United States to the Republics of Central America. 2 vols. 8vo. London: 1852, X. 1. Lord George Bentinck: a Political Biography. By B. Disraeli, Member of Parliament for the County of Buckingham. 1 vol. 8vo. pp. 588. 1852. 2. The Finances and Trade of the United Kingdom 553 THE EDINBURGH REVIEW, JANUARY, 1852. No. CXCIII. ART. I.-1. Œuvres Complètes de Descartes. Publiées par Victor Cousin. 8vo. 11 vols. Paris: 1824-1826. 2. Fragments de Philosophie Cartésienne. Par Victor ousia. Paris: 12mo. Pp. 470. 1845. 3. Euvres de Descartes. Nouvelle Edition, collationnée sur les meilleurs textes et précédée d'une introduction. Par M. Jules Simon. Paris: 1850. 12mo. Pp. 618. (Discours sur la Méthode, Méditations, Traité des Passions.) 4. Discourse on the Method of rightly conducting the Reason, and seeking Truth in the Sciences. By DESCARTES. Translated from the French, with an introduction. Edinburgh: 12mo. Pp. 118. 1850. IF F we except Bacon, there is no greater name connected with the revival of philosophy than that of Descartes; some would, perhaps, murmur even at this exception. But, at all events, there is no other; and, as has been justly said, the two, directly or indirectly, almost divide the philosophical history of 'the seventeenth century between them.'* To these men, more than to any other, is the world indebted for the demolition of venerable error-the emancipation from ancient prejudices — the breaking-up of those stereotyped forms of thought in which philosophy had so long been cast, and which, while it was confined to them, rendered all progress impossible. Both originated new 'Methods,' which, however unequal in their influence on *Speaking of the philosophy of this century, M. Cousin says, Deux hommes l'ouvrent et la constituent, Bacon et Descartes. (Cour de Philosophie.) VOL. XCV. NO. CXCIII. B the progress of science, have contributed immensely to stimulate the activity of the human mind, as well as to determine the direction of that activity. The chief glory of Descartes consists not so much in the positive additions he made to human knowledge,—the fragments of truth which, tested by time, still remain undissolved amidst the ruins of his general system; nor even in his Method,' if we mean by that a system of rules for the prosecution of all science; but in the vast influence he exerted in the origination and development of modern philosophy, and indirectly on all its subsequent history; in the important degree in which he contributed to emancipate the human mind from the yoke of authority; in the effects of his method as applied to one branch of science, that of the mind, in which he justly earned the title conferred upon him by Stewart; and in the perpetual corrective reaction, supplied in the tendencies of his philosophy, to the excesses of the sensational schools. The enormous space he occupies in the annals of subsequent speculation may be estimated by the fact (almost literally true) stated by M. Cousin, that from the era of the publication of the Meditations' (1637) to the end of the century, no philosophical work of any mark appeared that was not for Descartes or against him, or at least about him. Nor, lastly, amongst his merits, must we forget the beneficial influence he has exerted as a most robust thinker and a most admirable writer. This, after all, constitutes not the least of his claims to the admiration of mankind, and it is one he will never cease to possess. Since, probably, the most signal benefit conferred by metaphysics, is the tonic influence they exert in the discipline and development of the mind,—as a strenuous gymnastic for the faculties, an important instrument of education, the value of philosophical writings (paradoxical as it may sound) is not always to be measured by the amount of truth they embody. There are authors who, in spite of some enormous errors (supposing those errors to be either morally innocuous, or completely exploded,) are so imbued with vigorous thought, and distinguished by such mastery of expression, that they will do more to stimulate and invigorate the young than writings which attain a far nearer approximation to uniform truth, but which are unaccompanied by any of the vis vivida of genius. Among these will ever be reckoned Descartes; and the same * He was born in the year 1596 and died in 1650; he therefore lived at the critical period when, the ancient philosophy was dying and the modern not yet born. Bacon and Descartes were made for the age, and the age for them. |