THE LITERATI AND LITERATURE OF GERMANY.

LETTER II.

To the Editor of the Anti-Jacobin Review.

Din Upper Saxony, April 28, 1800, A HARPE (in his Lycée ou cours de Litterature ancienne et

with excellive leverity, but he does England ample justice with re fpect to other more important branches of knowledge, confidering her as the legiflatrix of the world in the accurate fciences (fciences exactes) and in found metaphyfics; and he speaks almost with the enthusiasm of an Englishman of the illuftrious Bacon, who first taught to philofophy the important leffon not to advance a fingle ftep without the aid of experience, by which means, continues he, phyfics or natural fcience has become what it could and ought to be the icience of facts, the only science within the capacity of man, who had been to long condemned by his pride to reason ab furdly on the caules of things, from not knowing that these were placed by nature beyond his reach.

I have long been of opinion that it would be happy for the world if a fimilar fyftem were univerfally adopted in moral, meta phyfical, and political fcience, as has hitherto been fo fuccessfully followed in phyfics; if all thofe airy fpeculations and chimeric hypothefes, with which the world is inundated, were finally banished; and if men would candidly employ themselves on moral, metaphyfical, and political fu jects, to collect and arrange those facts, which divine revelation, which the established order of nature, which experience and the candid examination of our own minds present, I am fully periuaded that we should have as few fubjects of difpute on thele fciences as in phyfic, and as few pre tentions to new and dafhing difcoveries. It is in this way, indeed, as it appears to me, that our English moralifts, metaphyficians, and politicians have proceeded, and it is to this that they owe their ac knowledged fuperiority. Wherever Locke, one of the most illuf trious of them, has thus followed nature, experience and revela tion he is excellent; wherever he has loft fight of these steady.guides he is vifionary and dangerous. If we grant that even in fuch cases his theories are ever subtle and ingenious, we fhall be compelled to add, at the fame time, that, having no foundation in nature, and no aid from experience, they can never be fafely reduced to practice, and that they ferve only to bewilder the mind in useless and often dangerous fpeculation. The British conftitution, the nobleft mo nument of civil government which ever exifted, is not the work of a few vifionary fpeculifts, or of any one particular period. It is the gradual refult of long and repeated experience. Its feveral. parts have been formed and moulded not at once but by degrees, and have been added at various periods as experience demonftrated their neceflity. That the fpeculift may or may not form in his own

mind, or put upon paper what may be called in theory, a more beautiful or perfect fyftem, I mean not at present to determine but I will, without hefitation, affert that he must be either a fool or a knave, who, after the experience which the last ten years have afforded us, should feek to exchange a fyftem founded on the prac tice and experience, and fostered by the care and attachment, of our ancestors, for any fyftem, however apparently perfect, derived from the fpeculative reveries of modern philofophifm.

In phyfics the neglect of experience leads to falfe and abfurd conclufions, which, when applied to the arts of life, may even produce bad confequences. But thefe muft neceffarily be partial and eafily and quickly remedied; whereas the neglect of experience, and the indulgence of idle and airy fpeculations, which are neither warranted by nature nor deducible from experience, on the fubject of morals and government, are productive of confequences the most fatal to the human race. It feems as if in phyfics extravagance muft naturally and quickly correct itself. In morals, it goes on increasing at every ftep, drawing all into its horrible vortex either by force or feduction, and proceeding rapidly and inevitably to univerfal deftruction, unless fome external or phyfical caufe of fu perior force arreft its progrefs, and grant to fallen and degraded humanity a respite from the infupportable tyranny of false principles.

I fhould be extremely forry, Mr. Editor, if, from what I have faid in my last, or have now added, any of your candid readers fhould fuppofe me an enemy to the progress of science. On the contrary, by removing what is falfe, dangerous, or improper, I wish to fee it rendered more valuable and more extenfively ufeful, being fully convinced that true learning and virtue will by no means lofe ground even if that violent love of paradox, of novelty, and of extrava gant pofitions which fo ftrangely predominates in Europe, fhould be deftroyed-as I moft heartily with it may be-I know nothing more injurious to true learning, more ridiculous in itself, or more hurtful to fociety than that undiftinguifhing admiration of genius (a word at prefent applied to every mental extravagance) which we at present observe in the world; and I am firmly convinced, from long and attentive observation, that this fpirit tends directly to the deftruction of all morals, tafte, and found knowledge. Thofe, therefore, who ftill remain unattacked by the reigning contagion cannot be too often warned against its danger. There are, indeed, many men in the world who look upon all opinions as indifferent, and the philofophifts of the day take ample advantage of this blindness, and thereby rivet their principles deeper and deeper. Let fuch men as are apt to confider the war of opinions as of little confequence feriously look at their effects in every cafe where they have acquired any practical influence, when they will probably find that there are opinions more dangerous and deftructive than war, famine, or peftilence. Let us receive with caution, and examine with care, all pretenfions to new discoveries before we give our af fent to them; à refpect for those principles, which long experience

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and the labour of the learned, of every age, have confecrated; and a candid distrust, and calm examination of all thofe hafty fyftems which tend to overturn them, certainly ought to direct the conduct and form the character of a modern philofopher. New and important difcoveries in morals, politics, and metaphyfics are certainly not naturally to be expected in our days; and it is, therefore, the duty, even of our moft illuftrious philofophers, liberally to follow the footsteps of our forefathers, and, by adding our experience to theirs, to elucidate what is obfcure, and to extend the utility, and, in fome measure, the bounds of science, by new combinations, and by placing things in a new light. Such seems to be the line marked out for us by nature and right reason. It may be poffible (though it does not seem to be within the bounds of probability) for a mighty genius to break through the limits to which we are confined, and to present to us a new road; but even him we are to judge by the rules of our ancient experience, and to receive or reject his principles as that shall direct. But let us not imagine that every vain fcribbler, every idle fpeculatift who can fupport a paradox, or defend a fceptical opinion, is therefore a philofopher of first rate powers. There is no qualification more easily acquired, more infignificant in itfelf, or more hurtful in its confequences. He is in my eftimation, amidst all his felf-exaltation, infinitely beneath the moft ignorant peafant; because the knowledge of which he is fo proud, tends only. to mislead himself, and those who are fubmitted to his influence, whereas the ignorant peafant is directed by the knowledge of others to be useful to himself and his neighbour. In remote and well regulated parishes in the country, L have often met with pealants (whom in common language we denominate ignorant) entirely unacquainted with fpeculative fcience, indeed; but perfect mafters of religion in all its practical branches, and as matter of fact; and confcientiously directing their conduct by the purest and most perfect rules of morality, and thereby exhibiting by the best of all criterions, practice, more true wisdom than the most illuftrious of the ancient philofophers, and beyond comparison superior to thofe modern fpeculatifts, whofe idle reveries frequently plunge them into every excess of vice and depravation.

In what I have already said, therefore, Mr. Editor, or have still to add, I muft again repeat, that I am no enemy to science in general, and to German science in particular; but I am, and ever fhall remain, the determined enemy of that herd of vain and ignorant fcribblers, who, in their reveries, confound right and wrong, truth and falfehood, and who, by letting loose the corrupt paffions of the human heart, pave the way for univerfal depravation. In Germany. it appears to me, that this vile fcribbling fpirit exifts to a greater extent than in any other country in the world; and that it has produced moft fatal confequences with refpect to the principles and morals of the people is too obvious to be called in queftion. There exift, however, in Germany, I am most ready to allow, many individuals equally illuftrious for the

propriety

propriety of their conduct, the goodness of their hearts, and the exent of their mental acquirements. Far be it from me to involve the innocent with the guilty: all my remarks on this fubject refer to those who have taken up the pen without being qualified to wield it, and who diffeminate vice and folly among their fellow citizens; and, unfortunately, these are but too numerous. Germany in her literary progrefs comes very far behind Italy, France, and England, and can be placed only in the commencement of that progrefs: D'Alembert Difcours Preliminaire de l'Encyclopedie) obferves, that after the Reviews of Letters, erudition commenced, the Belles Lettres continued, and Philosophy finished the progrefs. The fort of philofophy which gained fuch faft ground in France and in Europe, from about the middle of the prefent century, till the Revolution, and the progress which D'Alembert contributed fo much to extend, is well known by its fruits. I am fully perfuaded that this philofophy, as it is called, having found its way into Germany before it had naturally attained any eminence in philofophical fubjects, in morals, or in government; and when it was only beginning to cultivate the imagination, is the grand caufe of the abfurd chimeras and dangerous principles with which the papers of Germany have been loaded for fo many years. The Germans had not yet been accustomed to accurate thinking, to moral and metaphyfical reafoning, but they were delighted with the dashing systems of France; and began immediately to feed their own vanity, by retailing the principles of D'Alembert, Rouffeau, Voltaire, and Diderot, &c. and even to divulge new excentricities of their own. In this respect they were led and protected by Frederick the Great, as he is moft unjustly ftiled, a philofophical monarch, the most defpotic, perhaps, who ever exifted; but who has contributed more to the diffolution of fociety, by corrupting the principles and the morals of all within the fphere of his influence, than any individual of his time. After hearing fo much of philosophy from these men, it is natural to enquire into their morals. D'Alembert (in his Eloge de M. l'Abbé Terraffon) fays, it is neceffary to draw a veil over the vices which have fometimes tarnished the luftre of genius. The purpose of literary eulogies is to render letters refpectable, and not to render them contemptible.' In his Memoirs of Chriftine de Suede, he fays, that the philofophers only ought to have the right of drawing the characters of men as of governing them; hiftory and man would be the better for it. These two principles, ftretched to their utmost length, have certainly not loft ground fince the death of D'Alembert; they form the creed of all the philofophifts of the age; according to the old fyftem of morality, which these enlighteners of mankind have exploded, the vices even of genius accurately but delicately exposed, would have been turned into a valuable leffon of virtue. There is no leffon more interesting or more useful, when juftly handled and properly applied, than that which may be derived from the faults or the vices of great characters on the other hand, there is nothing more injurious to virtue and to human happiness, than the indifcriminate and undistinguishing

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diftinguishing admiration of what is brilliant. There is nothing more injurious to fociety, than that Alexander and Auguftus Cæfar, Cromwell and Bonaparte, because they have poffeffed great qualities, or been peculiarly fuccefsful, fhould have their enormous crimes concealed, and that they fhould be exalted, on all occafions, by a fervile herd of fycophants, as if they had been spotlefs and irreproachable. To draw weakneffes or even crimes into light after death, which never before attracted public notice, nor occafioned public fcandal, may be imprudent; but to draw a veil over thofe which are enormous in their nature, and univerfally known, is unjuft, as it is depriving poflerity of a moft valuable leffon on the infignificance of all earthly grandeur and fame, which are not founded on virtue and a fenfe of duty. Nothing is more eafy than to appear well in the opinion of the world, external circumstances being favourable, without one fpark of real virtue or found principle; and fuch a pofition as this of D'Alembert's being once generally received, virtue would become indeed, what Brutus denominated it, an empty name. There perhaps never was an age when this paffion for glory, if it may be fo called, exifted to fuch an extent as at prefent; and when men fo avowedly fought after public estimation, by exhibiting themselves to the world under an attractive form, whilst they avowedly neglect the cultivation of all thofe qualities of the mind and heart which are alone worthy of real esteem. It is of infinite importance to mankind, to be upon their guard againft this common but dangerous mode of feduction. It is by fuch means that men, like Cromwell and Bonaparte, fucceeded in establishing their own pre-eminence on the ruin of the liberties and honour of their country. It is by fuch means that men, like Voltaire, D'Alembert, Diderot, &c. under the amiable names of philofophy, moderation, progrefs of letters, and perfectionment of human nature, conceal the darkeft defigns against the peace and interefts of mankind, and, under the resemblance of virtue, indulge in themselves, and intice others into, every vice.

I have had the most unquestionable proof of every obfervation which I have had in my power to make in Germany, that the common herd of fcribblers have completely adopted this mode of conduct, and that they neither fearch for truth nor aim at virtue, but feek, on the contrary, to excite attention and raise a name, by flattering and feducing the paffions of the multitude; thus allowing the paffion for temporary and ill-merited praise to occupy the place, allotted by our nature, for the love of power and fame, and leaving the pursuit of truth and virtue for the wonder excited by paradox, and for the attention too often paid in the world to bold and fuccefsful vice.

In Germany, the places for the learned are by no means proportioned to the number of candidates, and the greater part of those places are fo fcantily endowed, as fcarcely to afford the neceffaries" of life; thefe, however, are here as elfewhere, the objects of ambition and emulation; and the ordinary mode of difplaying the latter is by writing. A German writer is, in general, a man that is dif

ctented