T— — I IlliiHH nHHHi N ,0 q, -S \' ii 5?" .<£ ^ /• * *V ,00^ . f. * c*** -S - ^ $ ^ *«*. ,#'■ V °o o c , v * - x V ^ c^ ^ ^ © 0^ > ^ o> XP \ r Thomas Hobbes THE PHILOSOPHY OF HOBBES EXTRACTS AND NOTES COLLATED FROM HIS WRITINGS SELECTED AND ARRANGED BY FREDERICK J. E. WOODBRIDGE PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MINNEAPOLIS THE H. W. WILSON COMPANY 1903 LIBRARY of CONGRESS Two Copies Received APR 8 1904 Copyright Entry CLASS ^ XXc. No. COPY B / Copyright, 1903 by Thh H. W. Wilson Company PREFACE The text of the following selections from the writ- ings of Thomas Hobbes is that of the Molesworth edi- tion, London, 1841. The portrait of Hobbes is repro- duced from the same edition, and the title-page to the Leviathan is reproduced from a copy of the first edition in the possession of the Library of the University of Minnesota. Aubrey's Life of Hobbes has been reprint- ed without change, except for the omission of several notes, from the London edition, 1813, of his Lives oj Emifient Men. The book has originated in my conviction of the great historical importance of Hobbes as a thinker on philosophical and psychological problems, and in my appreciation of the value of his work in stimulating re- flection. The plan of the book has been determined by my experience in reading the works of philosoph- ers with classes in the history of philosophy. I have found critical introductions to be more of an evil than a good, because they are naturally read first, and thus make an immediate and uncolored impression by the author impossible. The same is true of notes added as a commentary to the text. I have therefore omitted both the introduction and notes customary in books of this kind. In their place, I have collated passages from the writings of Hobbes, which serve to supplement and clarify the text. By this means the book has been made to present practically all that Hobbes has con- tributed to the main questions of philosophy and psychology. I have omitted in the selections the de- iv PREFACE tails of his mathematical, physical, and political theo- ries. The list of his writings, which follows Aubrey's account of his life, shows the extent and variety of his literary activity. For critical discussions of Hobbes, the reader is referred to G. C. Robertson's Hobbes and his article on Hobbes in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and to the bibliography in E. H. Sneath's Ethics of Hobbes. I wish to express here my thanks to Professor Nor- man Wilde of the University of Minnesota for the many valuable suggestions he made while the book was in preparation, and to Miss Ethel C. Brill for the help she has given me in reading the proof and in indexing the selections from the Elements of Philosophy. Frederick J. E. Woodbridge. Columbia University, January, 1903. CONTENTS Preface Hi Life of Thomas Hobbes by John Aubrey ... vii List of the Writings of Thomas Hobbes .... xxxv Selections from the Elements of Philosophy concerning Body I~76 Chapter I. Of Philosophy 1 II. Of Name9 . 13 III. Of Propositions 26 IV. Of Syllogism 36 V. Of Erring, Falsity, and Captions ... 39 VI. Ot Method '. 46 Selections from Leviathan . . . . . 77-379 The Epistle Dedicatory 79 The Introduction 81 Chapter I. Of Sense 84 1. Supplement from Elements of Philosophy, Chapter XXV 86 II. Supplement from Human Nature, Chap- ter II, 95 II. Of Imagination 101 III. Of the Consequence or Train of Imaginations 113 IV. Of Speech 120 V. Of Reason and Science .... 131 VI. Of the Interior Beginnings of Voluntary Mo- tions, commonly called the Passions; and the Speeches by which they are expressed 143 Supplement from Liberty and Necessity . 165 VII. Of the Ends, or Resolutions of Discourse . 172 VIII. Of the Virtues commonly called Intellectual; and their contrary Defects . . . 178 IX. Of the Several Subjects of Knowledge . 193 X. Of Power, Worth, Dignity, Honour, and Worth- iness ....... 196 XI. Of the Difference of Manners ... 208 XII. Of Religion 217 XIII. Of the Natural Condition of Mankind as con- cerning their Felicity and Misery . . 232 CONTENTS Parallel Chapter from Philosophical Rudiments, Chapter I ..... 239 Of the First and Second Natural Laws, and of Contract 251 Parallel Chapter from Philosophical Rudiments, Chapter II 265 Of other Laws of Nature .... 278 Parallel Chapter from Philosophical Rudiments, Chapter III 294 Of Persons, Authors, and Things Personated 313 Of the Causes, Generation, and Definition of a Commonwealth ..... 319 Of the Rights of Sovereigns by Institution . 325 Of the Kindom of God by Nature . . 342 Of what is Necessary for a Man's Reception into the Kingdom of Heaven . . . 356 Review and Conclusion 368 . .380 XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XXXI. XLIII. Index LIFE OF MR. THOMAS HOBBES OF MALMSBURIE. BY JOHN AUBREY. LECTORI. Tis religion to performe the will of the dead. I therefore dischardge my promise, performing the last of- fice to my hon'rd friend Mr. T. H. Since nobody knew so many particulars of his life as myselfe, he desired that if I survived him, it should be handed to posterity by my hands, w'ch I declare and avow to doe ingenuously and impartially. One sayes that when a learned man dyes, a great deal of learning dyes with him. He was Humeri ingenii, never dry. Amongst innumerable ob- servations which deserved to be sett downe, these few that have not escaped my memory, I humbly offer to the present age and posterity, tanquam tabulam naufragii; as plankes and lighter things swimme, and are preserved, whereas the more weighty sinke and are lost. And as with the light after sun-sett, at which time it is clear, by and by comes the crepuscule, then totall darkness; in like manner is it with matters of antiquitie. Men thinke, because everybody remembers a memorable accident shortly after it is done, 'twill never be forgotten, w'ch for want of entering, at last is drowned in oblivion. This reflection has been a hint, that by my meanes many an- tiquities have been rescued from oblivion and preserved, I myselfe now inclining to be ancient. viii LECTORI For that I am so minute, I declare I never intended it, but setting downe in my rude draught every thing, with purpose, upon review, to retrench what was superfluous and triviall, I shewed it to some friends of mine (who also were of Mr. Hobbes's acquaintance) whose judg- ments I much value ; who gave their opinion, and 'twas clearly their judgement, to let all stand; for though to some at present it might appeare too triviall ; yet here- after 'twould not be slighted, but passe for antiquity. And besides I have precedents of reverend writers to plead, who have in some lives veiled things as triviall, nay, the sayings and actions of good woemen. I am also to beg pardon of the Reader, for a long digression, viz. Malmesbury and Gorambery, but this also was advised, as the only way to preserve them. I hope its novelty and pleasantness will make compensation for its length. Yours, J. A. It was usual with the writers of the lives of the an- cient philosophers, in the first place, to speake of their lineage ; and they tell us that in processe of time severall illustrious families accounted it their glory to be derived from such or such a Sapiens. Why now should that method be omitted in this Historiola of our Malmesbury Philosopher, who though but of plebeian extraction, his renowne has and will give brightnesse to his name and familie, which hereafter may arise and flourish in riches, and may justly take it an honour to be of kin to this worthy person, so famous for his learning, both at home and abroad. Thomas Hobbes, whose life I write, was second son of Mr. Thomas Hobbes, vicar of Charlton and Westport, juxta Malmesbury. — Thomas, the father, was one of the LIFE OF HOBBES ix ignorant Sr. Johns of Q. Elizabeth's time, could only read the prayers of the church, and the homilies ; and valued not learning, as not knowing the sweetness of it. He had an elder brother whose name was Francis, a wealthy man. and alderman of the borough ; by profession a glover, which is a great trade here, and in times past much greater. Having no child, he contributed much to, or rather altogether maintained, his nephew Thomas, at Magdalen-hall, in Oxon ; and when he dyed gave him agellum, a pasture, called Gasten-ground, lying neer to the horse-faire, worth 16 or 18 poundes per annum; the rest of his landes he gave to his nephew Edmund. Thomas, the vicar of Westport, maried . . . Middleton, of Brackenborough, (of a yeomanly family) by whom he had two sonnes, and one daughter. Ed- mund, his eldest, was bred up to his uncle's profession of a glover. Edmund was about two yeares elder than his brother Thomas (philosopher), whose life I now w r rite, and something resembled him in face, but fell much short of him in his intellect, though he was a good plain under- standing countryman. He had been bred at schoole with his brother; could have made theme, and verse, and un- derstood a little Greek to his dyeing day. He dyed about 13 yeares since, aetat. circiter 80. This Edmund had only one son named Francis, and two daughters maried to countrymen (renters) in the neighbourhood. Francis pretty well resembled his uncle Thomas, especially about the eie; and probably had he had a good education might have been ingeniose ; but he drowned his witt in ale. He was left by his father and uncle Thomas, 8olib. or better per annum, but he was an ill husband. He dyed about two yeares after his father, and left five children. Westport is the parish without the west-gate, w'ch is x LIFE OF HOBBES now demolished ; which gate stood on the neck of land that joines Malmesbury to Westport. Here was, before the late warres, a very pretty church, consisting of a nave and aisles, which took up the whole area, dedicated to St. Mary ; and a fair spire-steeple, with five tuneable bells, which, when the towne was taken (about 1644) by Sir W. Waller, were melted (converted into ordinance), and the church pulled downe to the ground, that the enemie might not shelter themselves against the garrison. The steeple was higher than that now standing in the borough, which much adorned the prospect. The windowes were well painted, and in them were inscriptions that declared much antiquitie ; now is here rebuilt a church like a stable. Thomas Hobbes, Malmesburiensis Philosophus, was borne at his father's house in Westport, being that ex- treme house that pointes into, or faces the horse-fayre ; the farthest house on the left hand as you goe to Tedbury, leaving the church on the right. To prevent mistakes, and that hereafter may rise no doubt what house was famous for this famous man's birth; I doe here testifie that in April, 1659, his brother Edmund went with me into this house, and into the chamber where he was borne. Now things begin to be antiquated, and I have heard some guesse it might be at the house where his brother Edmund lived and dyed ; but this is so, as I here deliver it. This house was given by Thomas, the vicar, to his daughter . . . whose daughter or grand-daughter possessed it, when I was there. It is a firme house, stone-built, and tiled, of one roome, with a buttery (or the like) below, and two chambers above. It was the inner- most where he first drew breath. The day of his birth was April the fifth, A'o. D'ni. 1588, on a Fryday morning, w'ch that year was Good Fryday. His mother fell in labour with him upon the LIFE OF HOBBES xi fright of the invasion of the Spaniards ; he told me him- self between the hours of four and six ; but by rectifica- tion his nativity is found to be at . . . His horoscope is tf having in it a satellitium of 5 of the 7 planets. It is a maxime in astrology that a native that hath a satellitium in his ascendent proves more eminent in his life than ordinary. At four yeares old he went to schoole in Westport church, till eight; at that time he could read well, and number four figures. Afterwards he went to schoole to Malmesbury, to Mr. Evans, the minister of the towne, and afterwards to Mr. Robert Latimer, a young man of about nineteen or twenty, newly come from the Univer- sity, who then kept a private schoole in Westport, where the broad place is, next door north from the smyth's shop, opposite to the Three Cuppes, (as I take it.) He was a batchelor and delighted in his scholar, T. H.'s company, and used to instruct him, and two or three ingeniose youths more, in the evening till nine o'clock. Here T. H. so well profited in his learning, that at fourteen years of age, he went away a good school-scholar to Magdalen- hall, in Oxford. It is not to be forgotten, that before he went to the University, he had turned Euripidis Medea out of Greeke into Latin Iambiques, which he presented to his master. Mr. H. told me that he would fain have had them, to have seen how he did grow in . . . ; twenty odde yeares agoe I isearcht all Mr. Latimer's pa- pers, but could not find them; the good houswives had sacrificed them, the oven (pies) had devoured them. I have heard that when he was a boy he was playsome enough, but withall he had then a contemplative melan- cholinesse ; he would gett him into a corner, and learn his lesson by heart presently. His haire was black, and the boys, his schoolfellows, were wont to call him Crowe. xii LIFE OF HOBBES This Mr. Latimer was a good Grecian, and the first that came into our parts since the Reformation. He was af- terwards minister of Malmesbury, and from thence pre- ferred to a better living of iool. per ann. or more, at Leigh-de-la-mere within this hundred. At Oxford he used, in the summer time especially, to rise very early in the morning, and would tye the leaden- counters (w'ch they used in those dayes at Christmas at post and pay re) with strings, which he did draw through birdlime, and bayte them with parings of cheese, and the jack-da wes would spye them a vast distance up in the aire, as far as Osney-abbey, and strike at the bayte, and so be ... in the string, w'ch the wayte of the counter would make cling about their wings. He did not much care for logick, yet he learned it, and thought himself a good disputant. He tooke great delight there to go to the book-binders' and stationers' shops, and lye gaping on mappes, of which he takes notice in his life written by himself, in verse : Ergo ad amoena magis me verto, librosque revolvo, Ouos prius edoctus, non bene doctus eram. Pascebamque animum chartis imitantibus orbem, Telluris faciem, et sidera picta videns, Gaudebam soli comes ire, et cernere cunctis Terricolis justos qua facit arte dies. After he had taken his Batchelor of Arts' degree, the then Principall of Magdalen-hall recommended him to his young lord when he left Oxon, who did believe that he should profitt more in his learning, if he had a scholar of his owne age to wayte on him, than if he had the in- formation of a grave doctor ; he was his lordship's page, and rode a hunting and hawking with him, and kept his privy-purse. By this way of life he had almost forgott his Latin. He then bought him bookes of an Amsterdam LIFE OF HOBBES xiii print, that he might carry in his pocket (particularly Caesar's Commentaries) w'ch he did read in the lobbey, or ante-chamber, whilst his lord was making his visits. The Lord Chancellor Bacon loved to converse with him. He assisted his Lordship in translating severall of his essayes into Latin, one I well remember is that, Of the Greatness of Cities : the rest I have forgott. His Lordship was a very contemplative person, and was wont to con- template in his delicious walkes at Gorambery, and dic- tate to Mr. Bushell, or some other of his gentlemen, that attended him with ink and paper ready to sett downe presently his thoughts. His Lordship would often say that he better liked Mr. Hobbes's taking his thoughts, than any of the others, because he understood what he wrote, which the others not understanding, my Lord would many times have a hard task to make sense of what they writt. It is to be remembered that about these times, Mr. T. H. was much addicted to musique, and practised on the bass-viol. This summer [1634] Mr. T. H. came into his native country to visitt his friends, and amongst others he came to see his old schoolmaster, Mr. Rob. Latimer, at Leigh- de-la-mere, when I was then a little youth at school, in the church, newly entered into my grammar by him. Here was the first place and time that ever I had the honour to see this worthy, learned man, who was then pleased to take notice of me, and the next day came and visited my relations. He was a proper man, briske, and in very good equipage ; his ha^re was then quite black. He stayed at Malmesbury, and in the neighbourhood, a weeke or better ; 'twas the last time that ever he was in Wiltshire. He was forty yeares old before he looked on geom- xiv LIFE OF HOBBES etry, w'ch happened accidentally; being in a gentleman's library in . . . Euclid's Elements lay open, and it was the 47 Prop. Lib. I. So he reads the proposition, "By G — ," says he, "this is impossible !" So he reads the demonstration of it, w'ch referred him back to another, w'ch he also read, et sic deinceps, that at last he was demonstratively convinced of that truth. This made him in love with geometry. I have heard Sr. Jonas Moore (and others) say that 'twas a great pity he had not begun the study of the mathem. sooner; for such a working head and curious witt would have made great advancement in it. Had he done so, he would not have layn so open to his learned mathematicall antagonists. But one may say of him, as one sayes of Jos. Scaliger, that where he erres, he erres so ingeniosely, that one had rather erre with him, than hitt the marke with Clavius. I have heard Mr. Hobbes say, that he was wont to draw lines on his thigh, and on the sheetes abed, as also mul- tiply and divide. He would often complain, that algebra (though of great use) was too much admired, and so fol- lowed after that it made men not contemplate and con- sider so much the nature and power of lines, w'ch was a great hinderance to the growth of geometrie; for that though algebra did rarely well and quickly, and easily in right lines, yet 'twould not bite in solid geometrie. After he began to reflect on the interest of the King of England, as touching his affaires between him and the Parliament, for ten yeares together his thoughts were much, or almost altogether unhinged from the mathe- matiques; but chiefly intent on his "De Cive", and after that on his "Leviathan", w'ch was a great putt-back to his mathematicall improvement: quod N. B. for in ten yeares' (or better) discontinuance of that study (espe- cially) one's mathcmatiques will become very rusty. LIFE OF HOBBES xv "When the Parliament sate that began in April, 1640, and was dissolved in May following, and in which many pointes of the regall power, which were necessary for the peace of the kingdome and safety of his Majestie's per- son, were disputed and denied, Mr. Hobbes wrote a little treatise in English, wherein he did sett forth and demon- strate, that the sayd power and rights were inseparably annexed to the sovereignty, which sovereignty they did not then deny to be in the King ; but it seems understood not, or would not understand, that inseparability. Of this treatise, though not printed, many gentlemen had copies, which occasioned much talk of the author; and had not his Majestie dissolved the Parliament, it had brought him in danger of his life."* Mem. he told me that Bp. Manwaring (of St. David's) preached his doctrine; for which, among others, he was sent prisoner to the Tower. Then thought Mr. Hobbes, it is time now for me to shift for myselfe, and so went into France, and resided at Paris. As I re- member, there were others likewise did preach his doc- trine. This little MS. treatise became his book "De Cive", and at last grew to be so formidable, and . Leviathan ; the manner of writing of which booke was thus. He walked much and contemplated, and he had in the head of his cane a pen and ink-horne, carried always a note-booke in his pocket, and as soon as a thought darted, he presently entered it into his booke, or otherwise might have lost it. He had drawne the designe of the booke into chapters, &c. he knew whereabout it would come in. Thus that booke was made. "He wrote and published the Leviathan far from the *Mr. Hobbes Considered, p. 4. printed 1662, since reprinted. 1680, by W. Crooke. [The subsequent quotations by Aubrey are from the same source.! xvi LIFE OF HOBBES intention either of disadvantage to his Majestie, or to flatter Oliver (who was not made Protector till three or four yeares after) on purpose to facilitate his returne ; for there is scarce a page in it that he does not upraid him. ' 'Twas written in the behalfe of the faithfull sub- jects of his Majestie, that had taken his part in the war, or otherwise done their utmost endeavour to defend his Majestie's right and person against the rebells : whereby, having no other meanes of protection, nor (for the most part) of subsistence, were forced to compound with your masters, and to promise obedience for the saving of their lives and fortunes, which in his booke he hath affirmed, they might lawfully doe, and consequently not bear arms against the victors. They had done their utmost en- deavour to performe their obligation to the King, had done all they could be obliged unto; and were conse- quently at liberty to seeke the safety of their lives and livelihood wheresoever, and without treachery. "His Majestie was displeased with him (at Paris) for a while, but not very long, by means of some complayn- ing of, and misconstruing his writing. But his Majestie had a good opinion of him, and sayd openly, that he thought Mr. Hobbes never meant him hurt. "Before his booke 'De Homine' came forth, nothing of the optiques writt intelligibly. As for the Optiques of Vitellio, and severall others, he accounts them rather geometry than optiques. "So also of all other arts ; not every one that brings from beyond seas a new gin, or other janty devise, is therefore a philosopher. For if you reckon that way, not only apothecaries and gardeners, but many other sorts of workmen will put in for, and get the prize. "Then, when I see the gentlemen of Gresham College LIFE OF HOBBES xvii apply themselves to the doctrine of motion (as Mr. Hobbes has done, and will be ready to helpe them in it, it they please, and so long as they use him civilly), I will looke to know some causes of naturall events from them, and their register, and not before ; for nature does noth- ing but by motion. "The reason given by him, why the drop of glass so much wondered at, shivers into so many pieces, by break- ing only one small part of it, is approved for probable, and registered in their colledge : but he has no reason to take it for a favour, because hereafter the invention may be taken, by that means, not for his, but theirs. "As for his self-praise, they can have very little skill in morality, who cannot see the justice of commending a man's selfe. as well as of anything else, in his own de- fence. "Then for his morosity and peevishnesse, with which some asperse him, all that know him familiarly, know the contrary. It is true, that when vain and ignorant young scholars, unknown to him before, come to him on purpose to argue with him, and fall into indiscrete and uncivill expressions, and he then appeare not well contented, it was not his morosity, but their vanity, which should be blamed." Anno 1650 or 1651, he returned into England and lived most part in London, in Fetter-lane, where he writ, or finished his booke "De Corpore", which came out Anno ... in Latin, and then in English, and writt his lessons against the Savilian Professors at Oxon. About this time (1655 or 1656) he settled the piece of land, given to him by his uncle, upon his nephew Francis for life, the remainder to his nephew's eldest son, Thomas Hobbes ; he also not long after discharged a mortgage of two hundred pounds, besides the interest thereof, with xviii LIFE OF HOBBES which his nephew Francis (a careless husband) had in- cumbered his estate. He was much in London till the restauration of his Majesty, having here convenience not only of bookes, but of learned conversation, as Mr. J. Selden, Dr. Wm. Harvey, J. Vaughan, &c. whereof anon in the catalogue of his acquaintance. I have heard him say, that in my Lord's house, in Derbyshire, there was a good library, and bookes enough for him, and his Lordship stored the library with what bookes he thought fitt to be bought ; but he sayd, the want of good conversation was a very great inconvenience, and that though he conceived he could order his thinking as well perhaps as another, yet he found a great defect : methinkes in the country, in long time, for want of good conversation, one's under- standing and invention grow mouldy. Amongst other of his acquaintance, I must not forget our common friend, Mr. Samuel Cowper, the prince of limners of this last age, who drew his picture as like as art could afford, and one of the best pieces that ever he did; which his Majesty, at his returne, bought of him, and conserves as one of his greatest rarities in his closet, at Whitehall. The winter-time of 1659 he spent in Derbyshire; in March following was the dawning of the coming in of our gracious sovereign, and in April the Aurora. It happened about two or three dayes after his Majesty's happy returne, that as he was passing in his coach through the Strand, Mr. Hobbes was standing at Little Salisbury-house gate, (where his Lord then lived,) the King espied him, putt off his hatt very kindly to him, and asked him how he did. About a week after he had oral conference with his Majesty and Mr. S. Cowper, where, as he sat for his picture, he was diverted by Mr. LIFE OF HOBBES xix Hobbes's pleasant discourse. Here his Majesty's favours were redintegrated to him, and order was given that he should have free accesse to his Majesty, who was always much delighted in his witt and smart repartees. The witts at Court were wont to bayte him ; but he would make his part good, and feared none of them. The King would call him the Beare : Here comes the Beare to be bayted. He was marvellous happy and ready in his re- plies, and that without rancour, (except provoked) ; but now I speake of his readiness in replies as to witt and drollery. He would say, that he did not care to give, neither was he adroit at, a present answer to a serious quaere ; he had as lieve they should have expected an ex- temporary solution to an arithmeticall probleme, for he turned, and winded, and compounded in philosophy, politiques, &c. as if he had been at mathematicall worke ; he always avoided, as much as he could, to conclude hastily. In 1659, and some yeares before, his lord was at Lit- tle Salisbury-house (now turned into the Middle-Ex- change), where he wrote, among other things, a poeme in Latin hexameter and pentameter, on the Encroach- ment of the Clergie (both Roman and Reformed) on the Civil Power. I remember I saw there five hundred verses and more. He did read Cluverius's Historia Uni- versalis, and made up his poeme from thence. His place of meditation was then in the portico in the garden. He sayd that he sometimes would sett his thoughts upon re- searching and contemplating, always with this proviso, that he very much and deeply considered one thing at a time, — sc. a weeke or sometimes a fortnight. There was a report (and surely true) that in Parliament, not long after the King was settled, some of the Bishops made a motion, to have the good old gentleman burned for a xx LIFE OF HOBBES heretique ; which he hearing, feared that his papers might be searched by their order, and he told me that he had burned part of them. I have received word from his amanuensis and executor, that he remembers there were such verses, for he wrote them out, but knowes not what became of them, unless he presented them to Judge Vaughan, or burned them, as I did seeme to intimate. (But I understand since by W. Crooke, that he can re- trieve a great many of them.) From 1660, till the time he last went into Derbyshire, he spent most part of his time in London, at his Lord's, viz. at Little Salisbury-house, then Queen-street, lastly Newport-house ; following his contemplation and study. He contemplated and invented in the morning, but penned in the afternoon. In 1664, I sayd to him, "Methinkes 'tis pity, that you that have such a cleare reason and inventive head did never take into consideration, the learning of the lawes," and I endeavoured to persuade him to it ; but he answered that he was not like to have life enough left, to goe through with such a long and difficult task. I then pre- sented him, in order thereunto, and to draw him on, the Lord Ch. Bacon's Elements of the Lawe (a thin 4to.) which he was pleased to accept, and the next time I came to him he shewed me therein, two cleare paralogisms, which I am heartily sorry are now out of my remem- brance. I desponded that he should make any attempt (tenta- men) towards this designe. But afterwards, it seemes, in the country, he writt this treatise "De Legibus", fun- printed) of which Sir J. Vaughan, Ld. Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, had a transcript, and I doe affirm that he much admired it. 1665. This yeare he told me that he was willing to doe LIFE OF HOBBES xxi some good to the towne where he was borne ; that his Majestic loved him well, and if I could find out some- thing in our country that was in his gift, he did believe he could beg it of his Majestie, and since he was bred a scholar, he thought it most proper to found a free-school there, which is wanting now; for before the Reformation. all monasteries had great schooles appendant to them. After inquiry I found out a piece of land in Braden-for- est, that was in his Majestie's possession, of about 25I. per annum value, which he hoped to have obtained of his Majestie, for a salary for a schoolmaster; but the Queen's priests, smelling out the designe, and being his enemies, prevented this public and charitable intention. A'o. D'ni. 1674, Mr. Anthony a Wood sett forth an elaborate worke of eleven yeares' study, intituled the "History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford/' wherein, in every respective Colledge and Hall, he men- tions the writers there educated, and what books they wrote. The Deane of Christ Church, having the ab- solute power of the presse there, perused every sheet be- fore it was sent to the presse, and after, and maugre the author, and to his great grief and sore displeasure, ex- punged and inserted, what he thought fitt. Among other authors, he made divers alterations in Mr. Wood's copie, in the account he gives of Mr. T. Hobbes of Malmes- bury's Life, in p. 376, 377, Lib. II. "Vir sane de quo ( inter tot prosperae et adversae f amae qui de eo spargun- tur hominum sermones) hoc verissime pronuntiare fas est. animum ipsi obtigisse, uti omnis scientiae capacis- simum et infertum, ita divitiarum, saeculi, et invidiae negligentissimum ; erga cognatos et alios pium et bene- ficum. Inter eos quibuscum vixit, hilarem et apertum, et sermone libero. Apud exteros summa semper venera- tione habitum," &c. This and much more was quite dashed out of the author's copie by the sayd Deane. xxii LIFE OF HOBBES These additions and expunctions being made by the sayd Deane of Christ Church, without the advice, and quite contrary to the mind of the author, he told him, it was fitt Mr. Hobbes should know what he had done, be- cause that his name being- set to the booke, and all people knowing it to be his, he should be liable to an answer, and so consequently be in perpetual controversie. To this the Deane replied, "Yea in God's name, and great reason it was that he should know what he had done, and what he had done he would answer for," &c. Hereupon, in the beginning of 1674, the author ac- quaints J. W. Mr. Hobbes's correspondent, with all that had passed. J. W. acquaints Mr. Hobbes. Mr. Hobbes taking it ill was resolved to vindicate himself in an Epistle to the author, accordingly an epistle, dated Apr. 20, 1674, was sent to the author in MS. with an intention to publish it, when the History of Oxford was to be pub- lished. Upon the receipt of Mr. Hobbes's Epistle by An- thony a Wood, he forthwith repaired, very honestly and without any guile, to the Deane of Christ Church, to communicate it to him, and to let him see that he would do nothing under-hand against him. The Deane read it over carelessly, and not without scorne, and when he had done, bid Mr. Wood tell Mr. Hobbes, "that he was an old man, had one foote in the grave, that he should mind his latter end, and not trouble the world any more with his papers," &c. or to that effect. In the meane time Mr. Hobbes meetes with the King in the Pall-mall, in St. James's parke; tells him how he had been served by the Deane of Christ Church, in a booke then in presse, intituled the "History and Antiqui- ties of the Universitie of Oxon," and withall desires his Majestie to be pleased to give him leave to vindicate himself. The King seeming to be troubled at the deal- LIFE OF HOBBES xxiii ing of the Deane, gave Mr. Hobbes leave, conditionally, that he touch nobody but him who had abused him, neither that he should reflect upon the Universitie. Mr. Hobbes understanding that this History would be published at the Common Act, at Oxon, about n July, the said year, 1674, prints his Epistle at London, and sends downe divers copies to Oxon, which being dis- persed at Coffee-houses and Stationers' shops, a copy forthwith came to the Deane's hands, who upon the read- ing of it fretted and fumed at it as a most famous libell, and soon after meeting with the author of the History chid him, telling him that he had corresponded with his enemie (Hobbes). The author replied, that surely he had forgot what he had donne, for he had communicated to him before what Mr. Hobbes had sayd and written ; whereupon the Deane recollecting himselfe, told him, that Hobbes should suddenly heare more of him, and that he would have the printer called to an account for print- ing such a notorious libell. 1675. He left London, cum animo nunquam rever- tendi, and spent the remainder of his dayes in Derby- shire, with the E. of Devon, at Chatsworth and Hard- wyck, in contemplation and study. 'Tis of custom, in the Lives of wise men to putt downe their sayings; now if trueth (uncommon) deliv- ered clearly and wittily goes for a saying, his common discourse was full of them, which for the most part were sharp and significant. In his youth he was unhealthy, and of an ill com- plexion, (yellowish). His Lord, who was a waster, sent him up and downe to borrow money, and to get gent, to be bound for him, being ashamed to speake himselfe ; he took cold, being wett in his feet, and trod both his shoes aside the same way. Notwithstanding he was xxiv LIFE OF HOBBES well-beloved, they loved his company for his pleasant facetiousness and suavity. From forty he grew healthier, and then he had a fresh ruddy complexion ; he was san- guineo-melancholicus, which the physiologers say is the most ingeniose complexion. He would say, that there might be good witts of all complexions ; but good na- tured, impossible. In his old age he was very bald, yet within dore he used to study, and sitt bare-headed, and sayd he never tooke cold in his head, but that the greatest trouble was to keepe off the flies from pitching on the baldness. His head was of a mallet forme, approved by the physiologers. His face not very great, ample forehead, yellowish reddish whiskers, which naturally turned up ; belowe he was shaved close, except a little tip under his lip ; not but that nature would have afforded him a venerable beard, but being mostly of a cheerful and pleasant humour, he affected not at all austerity and gravity, and to look se- vere. He considered gravity and heavinesse of counten- ance not so good marks of assurance of God's favour, as a cheerful, charitable, and upright behaviour, which are better signes of religion than the zealous maintaining of controverted doctrines. He had a good eie, and that of a hazel colour, which was full of life and spirit, even to his last ; when he was in discourse, there shone (as it were) a bright live coale within it. He had two kinds of looks ; when he laught, was witty, and in a merry humour, one could scarce see his eies : by and by when he was serious and earnest, he opened his eies round his eie-lids ; he had midling eies, not very big, nor very little. He was six foote high, and something better, and went indifferently erect, or rather, considering his great age, very erect. LIFE OF HOBBES xxv His sight and witt continued to his last. He had a curious sharp sight, as he had a sharp witt : which was also so sure and steady, that I have heard him often- times say, that in multiplying and dividing he never mis- took a figure, and so in other things. He thought much, and with excellent method and readiness, which made him seldom make a false step. He had read much, if one considers his long life, but his contemplation was much more than his reading. He was wont to say, that if he had read as much as other men, he should have continued still as ignorant as other men. He seldom used any physique. He was wont to say that he had rather have the advice, or take physique from an experienced old woman, that had been at many sick people's bed-sides, than from the most learned but unexperienced physitian. It is not consistent with an harmonicall soule to be a woman-hater, neither had he an abhorrence to good wine, but he was even in his youth (generally) temperate, both as to wine and women (et tamen hacc omnia mediocriter. Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.) I have heard him say that he has been drunke in his life, a hun- dred times, which considering his great age, did not amount to above once a year ; when he did drinke, he would drinke to excesse to have the benefit of vomiting, which he did easily, by which benefit neither his witt was disturbed nor his stomach oppressed ; but he never was, nor could endure to be, habitually a good fellow, i. e. to drink every day wine with company, which though not to drunkennesse, spoiles the braine. For his last thirty yeares, or more, his diet, &c. was very moderate, and regular : after sixty he dranke no wine, his stomach grew weak, and he did eate mostly fish, especially whitings ; for he sayd he digested fish xxvi LIFE OF HOBBES better than flesh. He rose about seaven, had his break- fast of bread and butter, and tooke his walke, meditating till ten, then he did putt downe the minutes of his thoughts. His dinner was provided for him exactly by eleaven, for he could not now stay till his Lord's houre, — sc. about two. After dinner he tooke a pipe of to- bacco, and then threw himself immediately on his bed, with his band off, and slept about halfe an houre ; in the afternoon he penned his morning thoughts. Besides his dayly walking, he did twice or thrice a yeare play at tennis, (at about seventy-five he did it) then went to bed and was well-rubbed. This he did be- lieve would make him live two or three yeares the longer. He gave to James Wheldon, his amanuensis, (who writes a delicate hand) his pension at Leicester, yearly, to wayte on him, and take care of him, which he did per- forme to him living and dying, with great respect and diligence: for which consideration he made him his exe- cutor. In cold weather he commonly wore a black velvet coate, lined with furre ; if not, some other coate so lined ; but all the yeare he wore a kind of bootes (buskins) of Spanish leather, laced or tyed along the sides with black ribbons. He had always bookes of prick-song lying on his table: — e. g. of H. Lawes, &c. songs, — which at night, when he was abed, and the dores made fast, and was sure nobody heard him, he sang aloud, (not that he had a good voice) but for his health's sake; he did believe it did his lunges good, and conduced much to prolong his life. He had the shaking palsy in his hands; which began in France before the year 1650, and has growne upon him by degrees ever since ; so that he has not been able to LIFE OF HOBBES xxvii write legibly since 1665 or 1666, as I find by some of his letters to me that he honoured me withall. His love to his kindred hath already been spoken of. He was very charitable (e suo modulo) to those that were true objects of his bounty. One time, I remember, goeing in the Strand, a poor and infirme old man begged his almes ; he beholding him with eies of pitty and compassion, putt his hand in his pocket, and gave him 6d. ; Sayd a divine (sc. Dr. Jasper Mayne) that stood by, "Would you have done this, if it had not been Christ's command ?" "Yea," sayd he ; "Why?" quoth the other; "Because," sayd he, "I was in paine to consider the miserable condition of the old man ; and now my almes, giving him some relief, doth also ease me." His work was attended with envy, which threw sev- erall aspersions and false reports on him ; for instance, one was, that he was afrayd to lye alone at night in his chamber. I have often heard him say, that he was not afrayd of sprights, but afrayd of being knockt on the head for five or ten pounds, which rogues might thinke he had in his chamber ; and severall other tales, as un- true. I have heard some positivelv affirme, that he had a yearly pension from the King of France ; possibly for having asserted such a monarchic as the King of France exercises ; but for what other grounds I know not ; un- less it be for that the present King of France is reputed an encourager of choice and able men in all faculties, who can attribute to his greatness. I never heard him speake of any such thing ; since his death I have inquired of his most intimate friends in Derbyshire, who wrote to me, they never heard of any such thing. Had it been so, [neither] he, nor they, ought to have been ashamed of it. xxviii LIFE OF HOBBES and it had been becoming the munificence of so great a prince to have donne it. For his being branded with atheisme, his writings and virtuous life testify against it. And that he was a Christian is clear, for he received the sacrament; and in his confession to Dr. Cosins, at . . .on his (as he thought) death-bed, declared that he liked the religion of the Church of England best of all other. He would have the worship of God performed with musique. Catalogue of his Learned Familiar Friends and Ac- quaintance, besides those already mentioned, that I remember him to have spoken of. Mr. Benjamin Jonson, Poet-Laureate, was his loving and familiar friend and acquaintance. . . . Ayton, Scoto-Britannus, a good poet and critique. He was needy related to his Lord's lady, and he desired Ben Jonson, and this gent, to give their judg- ment on his style of his translation of Thucydides. Sydney Godolphin, Esq. was his great friend. He left him, in his will, a legacy of an hundred pounds ; and Mr. Hobbes hath left him an eternal monument in lib. ... of his Leviathan. Lucius Carey, Lord Falkland, was his great friend and admirer ; and so was Sir William Petty ; both which I had here enrolled amongst those friends I have heard him speake of, but Dr. Blackburne left them out (to mv admiration). I asked him why he had donne so? Fie answered, because they were both ignote to foreigners. Mr. Henry Gellibrand, Astronomy Professor at Gres- ham College. When he was at Florence, he contracted a friendship with the famous Galileo Galilei, whom he extremely ven- LIFE OF HOBBES xxix erated and magnified ; not only as he was a prodigious witt, but for his sweetness of nature and manners. They pretty well resembled one another. They were not much unlike in the countenance, as by their pictures may ap- pear. They were both cheerfull and melancholique- sanguine ; and had both a consimilitie of fate, to be hated and persecuted by the ecclesiastiques. Petrus Gassendus, S. Th. Doctor et Regius Professor Parisiis, whom he never mentions but with great honour and respect. Doctissimus, hiimanissimus. They laud each other entirely, as also the like love and friendship was betwixt him, and Marinus Mersennus, Mons'r Renatus Des Cartes, . . . Niceron, Samuel Sorbier, M. D. . Verdusius, to whom he dedicates his Dialogi. Sr. William Petty (of Ireland) Reg. Soc. Socius, a person of a great stupendous invention, and of as great prudence and humanity, had a high esteem of him. His acquaintance began at Paris, at which time Mr. H. studied Vesalius (Anatomy), and Sr. W. with him. He then assisted Mr. H. in drawing his schemes for his booke of optiques, for he had a very fine hand in those dayes for drawing, which draughts Mr. Hobbes did much com- mend. His facultie in this kind conciliated them the sooner to the familiarity of our common friend, Mr. S. Cowper, at whose house they often met. (He drew his picture twice, the first the K. has, the other is yet in the custody of his widowe ; but he gave it, indeed, to me, and I promised I would give it to the archives at Oxon.) but 1, like a fool, did not take possession of it, for something of the garment was not quite finished, and he dyed, I being then in the country. xxx LIFE OF HOBBES Mr. Abraham Cowley, the Poet, who hath bestowed on him an immortal Pindarique Ode, which is in his Poems. Wm. Harvey, Dr. of Physic and Chirurgery, inven- tor of the Circulation of the Blood, who left him in his will ten poundes, as his brother told me at his funerall. (Obiit A'o. 1657, aetat. 80, sepult, at Hempsted, in Es- sex.) When his "Leviathan" came out, he sent by Andr. Crooke, his stationer's man, a copie of it, well-bound, to Mr. John Selden, in Aedibus Carmeliticis; Mr. Selden told the servant, he did not know Mr. Hobbes, but had heard much of his worth, and that he should be very glad to be acquainted with him ; whereupon Mr. Hobbes wayted on him ; from which time there was a strickt friendship between them to his dyeing day. He left to Mr. Hobbes, by his will, a legacy of ten pounds. Sr. John Vaughan, Lord Chiefe Justice of the Com- mon Pleas, was his great acquaintance, to whom he made visits, three times or more in a weeke; out of terme in the morning; in terme-time, in the afternoon. Sr. Charles Scarborough, M. D. Physitian to his Royal Highnesse the Duke of Yorke, much loved his con- versation, and hath a very good and like picture of him (drawne about 1655), under which is this distich, by Sir C. Scarborough. Si quaeris de me, mores inquire, sed ille Qui quaerit de me, forsitan alter erit. Sr. Jonas Moore, (Mathematicus) Surveyor of his Majesty's Ordinance, who had a great veneration for Mr. Hobbes, and was wont much to lament he fell to the study of mathematiques so late. .Mr. Richard White, who writt "Hemispherium Dis- sectum." LIFE OF HOBBES xxxi Edward Lord Herbert, of Cherbury and Castle Island. Sir W. Davenant, Poet-Laureate after B. Jonson, and Generall of Ordinance to the Duke of Newcastle. William Chillingworth, D. D. He would commend this Doctor for a very great witt ; "but by G — ," said he, "he is like some lusty fighters, that will give a damnable back-blow now and then on their own party." George Aglionby, D. D. and Deane of Canterbury, was also his great acquaintance. He died at Oxford, 1643, °f tne epidemique disease then raging. Jasper Mayne, D. D. Chaplain to Wm. Marquisse of Newcastle, was an old acquaintance of his. Mr. Francis Osburne, author of "Advice to a Son," and several other treatises, was his great acquaintance. John Pell, D. D. Mathematicus, quondam Professor . . . at Breda, who quotes him in his . . . contra Longomantanum de Quadratura Circuli, for one of his Jury (of 12). Mr. Henry Stubbes, physitian, whom he much es- teemed for his great learning and parts, but at the latter end he (Mr. H.) differed with him, for that he wrote against the Lord Chancellor Bacon, and the Royall So- cietie. Walter Charleton, M. D. Physitian to his Majestie, and one of the Colledge of Physitians in London, a high admirer of him. Mr. Samuel Butler, the author of Hudibras. In his . . . Dialogi he hath a noble elogie of Sr. Christopher Wren, then a young scholar in Oxon, but I thinke they were not acquainted. Mr. Hooke loved him, but was never but once in his company. Now as he had these ingeniose and learned friends, and many more, no question, that I know not, or now xxxii LIFE OF HOBBES escape my memory; so he had many enemies, (though undeserved) for he would not provoke, but if provoked, he was sharp and bitter, and as a prophet is not esteemed in his owne country, so he was more esteemed by for- eigners, than by his countrymen. He had very few bookes, I never sawe (nor Sir Wil- liam Petty) above halfe a dozen about him in his cham- ber. Homer and Virgil were commonly on his table ; sometimes Xenophon. or some probable Historic Greek Test, or so. I have heard him say, that Aristotle was the worst teacher that ever was, the worst politician and ethick : a country fellow that could live in the world, as good ; but his Rhetorique and his Discourse of Animals was rare. When Mr. Hobbes was sick in France, the divines came to him, and tormented him (both Cathol. Ch. of England, and Geneva), sayd he to them, "Let me alone, or else I will detect all your cheates from Aaron to your- selves." I thinke I have heard him speake something to this purpose. Mr. Edm. Waller sayd to me, when I desired him to write some verses in praise of him, that he was afrayd of the churchmen ; he quoted Horace — "Incedo per ignes Suppositos cineri doloso." — That which was chiefly to be taken notice of in his Elogie was, that he being, but one, and a private person, pulled down all the churches, dis- pelled the mists of ignorance, and layd open their priest- craft. In May, 1688, his "Ecclesiastica Historia Carmine Elegiaco conscripta'', was printed at Augusta Trinoban- tum, sc. London. The preface was writt by Mr. Thomas Rymer, of Gray's Inn; but a»Mut).wq I remember he was wont to say, that "old men were drowned inwardly, by their own moysture; — e.g. first the feet swell ; then the legges ; then belly," &c. LIFE OF HOBBES xxxiii He dyed worth neer ioool. which (considering his charity) was more than I expected. To conclude, he had a high esteeme for the Royal Societie, having sayd "that Natural Philosophy was re- moved from the Universities to Gresham Colledge" (meaning the Royal Societie that meets there), and the Royal Societie (generally) had the like for him : and he would long since have been ascribed a member there, but for the sake of one or two persons, whom he tooke to be his enemies. In their meeting at Gresham Colledge is his picture, drawne by the life, 1663, by a good hand, which they much esteeme, and severall copies have been taken of it. The following account of his death is taken from a letter of James Wheldon to John Aubrey printed in con- nection with Aubrey's Life of Hobbes. "He fell sick about the middle of October last. His disease was the stranguary, and the physitians judged it incurable by reason of his great age and naturall decay. About the 20th of November, my Lord being to remove from Chatsworth to Hardwick, Mr. Hobbes would not be left behind ; and therefore with a feather-bed laid into the coach, upon which he lay warme clad, he was con- veyed safely, and was in appearance as well after that little journey as before it. But seven or eight days after, his whole right side was taken with the dead palsy, and at the same time he was made speechlesse. He lived after this seven days, taking very little nourishment, slept well, and by intervalls endeavoured to speak, but could not. In the whole time of his sicknesse he was free from fever. He seemed therefore to dye rather for want of the fuell of life, (which was spent in him) and meer weak- nesse and decay, than by the power of his disease, which xxxiv LIFE OF HOBBES was thought to be only an effect of his age and weak- nesse. He was born the 5th of Aprill, in the yeare 1588, and died the 4th of December, 1679. He was put into a woollen shroud and coffin, which was covered with a white sheet, and upon that a black herse cloth, and so carryed upon men's shoulders, a little mile to the church. The company, consisting of the family and neighbours that came to his funerall, and attended him to his grave, were very handsomely entertained with wine, burned and raw, cake, biscuit, &c. He was buried in the parish church of Hault Hucknall, close adjoining to the raile of the monument of the grand-mother of the present Earle of Devonshire, with the service of the Church of Eng- land by the minister of the parish. It is intended to cover his grave with a stone of black marble as soon as it can be got ready, with a plain inscription of his name, the place of his birth, and the time of that and of his death." LIST OF THE WRITINGS OF Thomas Hobbes 1628 The History of the Grecian War written by Thucydides. London. 1636 De Mirabilibus Pecci. London. 1641 Objectiones in Cartesii de Prima Philosophia Meditationes. Paris, about 1641. 1644 Tractatus Opticus. Paris. 1647 Elementa Philosophica de Cive. Amsterdam. A few- copies were privately printed in Paris, 1642, with the title, Elementorum Philosophiae Sectio Tertia, De Cive. In English; Philosophical Rudiments concerning Gov- ernment and Society. London, 165 1. 1650 Human Nature. London. De Corpore Politico, or Elements of Law. London. Answer to Davenant's Preface before Gondibert. Paris. 165 1 Leviathan. London. 1654 Of Liberty and Necessity. London. 1655 Elementa Philosophiae Sectio Prima de Corpore. London. Published in English, London, 1656. 1656 Six Lessons to the Professors of the Mathematics. London. Questions concerning Liberty, Necessity, and Chance. London. 1657 De Homine, sive Elementorum Philosophise Sectio Secun- da. London. Marks of the Absurd Geometry &c. of John Wallis. London. 1660 Examinatio et Emendatio Mathematicae Hodiernae. Lon- don. 1661 Dialogus Physicus, sive de Natura Aeris. London. De Duplicatione Cubi. London. 1662 Problemata Physica. London. Considerations on the Reputation &c. of Thomas Hobbes. London. xxxvi LIST OF THE WRITINGS OF HOBBES 1666 De Principiis et Ratiocinatione Geometrarum. London. 1668 Appendix ad Leviathan. Amsterdam. 1669 Quadratum Circuli, Cubatio Sphaerae, duplicatio Cubi. London. Letter to the Right Honourable "Edward Howard. 167 1 Rosetum Geometricum. London. Three Papers Presented to the Royal Society. London. 1672 Principia et Problemata aliquot Geometrica. London. Lux Mathematica. London. 1673 The Travels of Ulysses. London. 1674 Epistola ad Anthony a Wood. London. 1675 The Iliads and Odysses of Homer. London. 1676 Letter to the Duke of Newcastle, on the Controversy about Liberty and Necessity. London. 1678 Decameron Physiologicum. London. 1679 T. Hobbes Malmesburiensis Vita Carmine Expressa. Lon- don. PUBLISHED POSTHUMOUSLY 1680 An Historical Narration concerning Heresy. Behemoth: the History of the Causes of the Civil Wars of England. London. An edition from a defective manu- script was published without the authority of Hobbes in 1679 shortly before his death. 1681 T. Hobbes Malmesburiensis Vita. London. The Whole Art of Rhetoric. London. The Art of Rhetoric. London. The Art of Sophistry. London. A Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England. London. 1682 Answer to Bishop Bramhall's Book called "The Catching of Leviathan." London. Seven Philosophical Problems. London. 1688 Historia Ecclesiastica. London. A few letters have been published by Molesworth in Vol. V of the Latin Works and Vol. VII of the English Works. SELECTIONS FROM ELEMENTS OF PHILOSOPHY. THE FIRST SECTION CONCERNING BODY. PART FIRST. ELEMENTS OF PHILOSOPHY PART FIRST COMPUTATION OR LOGIC CHAPTER I. OF PHILOSOPHY. i. The Introduction. — 2. The Definition of Philosophy explained. — 3. Ratiocination of the Mind. — 4. Properties, what they are. — 5. How Properties are known by Generation, and contrarily. — 6. The Scope of Philosophy.— 7. The Utility of it.— 8. The Subject. — 9. The Parts of it. — 10. The Epilogue. Philosophy seems to me to be amongst men now, in the same manner as corn and wine are said to have been in the world in ancient time. For from the beginning there were vines and ears of corn growing here and there in the fields; but no care was taken for the planting and sowing of them. Men lived therefore upon acorns ; or if any were so bold as to venture upon the eating of those unknown and doubtful fruits, they did it with danger of their health. In like manner, every man brought Philos- ophy, that is, Natural Reason, into the world with him ; for all men can reason to some degree, and concerning some things : but where there is need of a long series of reasons, there most men wander out of the way, and fall 2 ELEMENTS OF PHILOSOPHY into error for want of method, as it were for want of sowing and planting, that is, of improving their reason. And from hence it comes to pass, that they who content themselves with daily experience, which may be likened to feeding upon acorns, and either reject, or not much regard philosophy, are commonly esteemed, and are, in- deed, men of sounder judgment than those who, from opinions, though not vulgar, yet full of uncertainty, and carelessly received, do nothing but dispute and wrangle, like men that are not well in their wits. I confess, in- deed, that that part of philosophy by which magnitudes and figures are computed, is highly improved. But be- cause I have not observed the like advancement in the other parts of it, my purpose is, as far forth as I am able, to lay open the few and first Elements of Philos- ophy in general, as so many seeds from which pure and true Philosophy may hereafter spring up by little and little. I am not ignorant how hard a thing it is to weed out of men's minds such inveterate opinions as have taken root there, and been confirmed in them by the author- ity of most eloquent writers; especially seeing true (that is, accurate) Philosophy professedly rejects not only the paint and false colours of language, but even the very ornaments and graces of the same ; and the first grounds of all science are not only not beautiful, but poor, arid, and, in appearance, deformed. Nevertheless, there being certainly some men, though but few, who are delighted with truth and strength of reason in all things, I thought I might do well to take this pains for the sake even of those few. I proceed therefore to the matter, and take my beginning from the very definition of philosophy, which is this. 2. Philosophy is such knowledge of effects or op- OF PHILOSOPHY 3 pearances. as we acquire by true ratiocination from the knozvledge we have first of their causes or generation : And again, of such causes or generations as may be from knowing first their effects. 1 For the better understanding of which definition, we must consider, first, that although Sense and Memory of things, which are common to man and all living crea- tures, be knowledge, yet because they are given us im- mediately by nature, and not gotten by ratiocination, they are not philosophy. Secondly, seeing Experience is nothing but memory; and Prudence, or prospect into the future time, nothing but expectation of such things as we have already had experience of, Prudence also is not to be esteemed phil- osophy. 2 1 Compare below Ch. VI, Sec. I, also the following from Ch. XXV of the Elements of Philosophy (M. I. 387-389). "There are, therefore, two methods of philosophy; one, from the gen- eration of things to their possible effects; and the other, from their effects or appearances to some possible generation of the same. In the former of these the truth of the first principles of our ratiocination, namely definitions, is made and constituted by ourselves, whilst we consent and agree about the appellations of things. * * * The other part * * * is the finding out by the appearances or effects of nature, which we know by sense, some ways and means by which they may be, I do not say they are, generated. The principles, therefore, upon which [this part] depends, are not such as we ourselves make and pronounce in general terms, as definitions ; tut such, as being placed in the things themselves by the Author of Nature, are by us observed in them ; and we make use of them in single and particular, not universal propositions. Nor do they impose upon us any necessity of constituting theorems ; their use being only, though not without such general propositions as have been already demonstrated, to show us the possibility of some production or generation. Seeing, therefore, the science, which is here taught, hath its principles in the appearances of nature, and endeth in the attaining of some knowledge of natural causes, I have given to this part the title of Physics, or the Phenomena of Nature. Now such things ts appear, or are shown to us by nature, we call phenomena or appearances." Compare also the Leviathan, Ch. IX. * Compare the following from the Leviathan, (M. Ill, 664). "By which definition [of philosophy] it is evident, that we are 4 ELEMENTS OF PHILOSOPHY By ratiocination, I mean computation. Now to compute, is either to collect the sum of many things that are added together, or to know what remains when one diing is taken out of another. Ratiocination, therefore, is the same with addition and substraction; and if any man add multiplication and division, I will not be against it, seeing multiplication is nothing but addition of equals one to another, and division nothing but a substraction of equals one from another, as often as is possible. So that all ratiocination is comprehended in these two operations of the mind, addition and substraction. 3. But how by the ratiocination of our mind, we add and substract in our silent thoughts, without the use of words, it will be necessary for me to make intelligible by an example or two. If therefore a man see something afar off and obscurely, although no appellation haa yet been given to anything, he will, notwithstanding, have the same idea of that thing for which now, by impos- ing a name on it, we call it body. Again, when, by com- ing nearer, he sees the same thing thus and thus, now in one place and now in another, he will have a new idea thereof, namely, that for which we mow call such a thing animated. Thirdly, when standing nearer, he perceives the not to account as any part thereof, that original knowledge called experience, in which consisteth prudence : because it is not at- tained by reasoning, but found as well in brute beasts, as in man ; and is but a memory of successions of events in times past, wherein the omission of every little circumstance altering the effect, frustrateth the expectation of the most prudent: whereas nothing is produced by reasoning aright, but general, eternal, and immutable truth. Nor are we therefore to give that name^to any false conclusions : for he that reasoneth aright in words he un- derstandeth, can never conclude an error: Nor to that which any man knows by supernatural revelation ; because it is not ac- quired by reasoning : Nor that which is gotten by reasoning from the authority of books ; because it is not by reasoning from the cause to the effect, nor from the effect to the cause; and is not knowledge but faith." OF PHILOSOPHY 5 figure, hears the voice, and sees other things which are signs of a rational mind, he has a third idea, though it have yet no appellation, namely, that for which we now call anything rational. Lastly, when, by looking fully and distinctly upon it, he conceives all that he has seen as one thing, the idea he has now is compounded of his former ideas, which are put together in the mind in the same order in which these three single names, body, an- imated, rational, are in speech compounded into this one name, body-animated-rational, or man. In like manner, of the several conceptions of four sides, equality of sides, and right angles, is compounded the conception of a square. For the mind may conceive a figure of four sides without any conception of their equality, and of that equality without conceiving a right angle; and may join together all these single conceptions into one conception or one idea of a square. And thus we see how the con- ceptions of the mind are compounded. Again, whoso- ever sees a man standing near him, conceives the whole idea of that man ; and if, as he goes away, he follow him with his eyes only, he will lose the idea of those things Which were signs of his being rational, whilst, neverthe- less, the idea of a body-animated remains still before his eyes, so that the idea of rational is substracted from the whole idea of man, that is to say, of body-animated- rational, and there remains that of body-animated; and a while after, at a greater distance, the idea of animated will be lost, and that of body only will remain; so that at last, when nothing at all can be seen, the whole idea will winish out of sight. By which examples, I think, it is manifest enough what is the internal ratiocination of the mind without words. We must not therefore think that computation, tliat is, ratiocination, has place only in numbers, as if man 6 ELEMENTS OF PHILOSOPHY were distinguished from other living creatures (which is said to have beer the opinion of Pythagoras) by noth- ing but the faculty of numbering; for magnitude, body, motion, time, degrees of quality, action, conception, pro- portion, speech and names (in which all the kinds of phil- osophy consist) are capable of addition and substraction. Now such things as we add or substract, that is, which we put into an account, we are said to consider, in Greek AortZe