breakfast table by our retainer as before; he afterwards sent a domestic for a large bunch of keys, and obligingly offered to show us whatever else was attractive in the house. The library contains a collection of valuable and rare books; many of them, however, seemed to be in manuscript and somewhat venerable. There is also another cabinet of natural curiosities up stairs, having besides an excellent electrical machine, and several valuable miscellanies, presented, I was told, by American travellers.

E. GUHRAUER. Zwei Bände. Breslau, 1842.

THESE books are the productions of a species of thinking that is very rare in this country, but of which, in Germany, France, and America, the Press is giving forth some original and many republished specimens.* Containing as they do the results, and in many respects splendid results, of purely abstract thinking, the philosophical works of Leibnitz are singularly fitted for contribWhen we had thus seen all, the principal uting to imbue the mind of an ardent stuof the convent took leave of us kindly; for dent with comprehensive and lofty specuit is expected, of course, should the weath-lation. While his writings abound in darer permit, that you proceed on your jour-ing hypotheses, they have yet greatly adney, and make way for new guests. Such, vanced metaphysical science, by rendering then, is this valuable institution-the Hos-current a multitude of new ideas; and the pice of St. Bernard-a spot not only inte- fact of the circulation of an amount of abresting from historical associations, but stract thought so great, so peculiar in its which all who have visited can hardly fail kind, and so fitted to set other minds to to think better and nobler of their species. work, as these books contain, can never be unworthy of the consideration of those who would observe and study literature in its most solemn relation. Besides their intrinsic value, they are connected with an important epoch in the history of speculation. This philosopher looms vast even in the distance, at the entrance of the labyrinth of the recent German philosophy. Though a 1. God. Gul. Leibnitii Opera Philosoph-curious combination of circumstances has ica quae extant Latina, Gallica, Ger- hitherto preserved the surface of the Britmanica omnia. Edita recognovit e tem-ish mind almost unruffled by an influence porum rationibus disposita pluribus auxit powerful enough to create so much comIntroductione Critica atque indicibus in-motion on the continent of Europe, there struxit JOANNES EDUARDUS ERDMANN, Phil. Doct. et Prof. Publ. Ord. in Univers. Halens. Pars Prior. Pars Altera. Berlin, 1839-1840.

From the North British Review.

LIFE AND SPECULATIONS OF LEIBNITZ.

are signs in the literary horizon which betoken a change, for which society in this country would do well to be prepared. By the well-regulated study of these unwonted 2. Oeuvres de Leibnitz, Nouvelle Edition, topics, we might not merely disarm the eneCollationée sur les meilleurs textes, et pré-mies of religion, of what in other times has cédée d'une introduction. Par M. AMEDEE JACQUES, Professeur de Philosophie au College Royal de Versailles. Paris, 1842.

been, and will continue to be, a favorite weapon of assault, but we might even convert that weapon into an instrument of use in the Christian service. We therefore willingly take occasion, from the interest

Leibnitz, and indicated among other means

3. Oruvres de Locke et Leibnitz, contenant l'Essai sur l'Entendement Humain, re-revived elsewhere in the life and labors of vu, corregé, et accompagné de Notes, Eloge de Leibnitz, par Fontenelle, le Discours sur la Conformité de la Foi et de *The amount of republished metaphysical litla Raison, l' Essai sur la Bonté de Dieu, erature of the higher kind which has appeared in la Liberté de l'Homme, et l'Origine du those countries within the last twenty years, is mal, la controverse reduite à des argued from any common catalogue of books recently worthy of remark. Some idea of it may be form. mens en forme. Par M. F. Thurot, Pro-issued from the Press of Leipsic, Berlin, Paris or fesseur de Philosophie au Collège de Boston. The labors of M. Cousin in this departFrance, et à la Faculté des Lettres. Pa- ment are well known. The works, in whole or in ris, 1839. par, of Plato, Proclus, Abelard, Des Cartes, An4. Gottfried Wilhelm Freiherr von Leib-dré, Pascal, &c., have re-appeared under the superintendence of this eloquent founder of the nitz-Eine Biographie. Von Dr. G. modern eclectic school of France.

by these recent publications, to pass short-thematical demonstration represented Chrisly in review the leading events recorded in tianity in the pulpits and halls of the counhis biography, accompanied with a few his- try of the Reformation, where in the seventorical and a few speculative notices, as an teenth century the icy orthodoxy of Calixintroduction to that great theme on which tus took the place of the fervid sermons of his labors were especially bestowed-Me- Luther. taphysical Philosophy.

We must not omit a special allusion to the eventful epoch of the philosopher's birth. Just a hundred years before, Luther had rested from his earthly labors, during the excitement of the greatest and most happy religious and social change which the world has witnessed since the introduction of Christianity. But soon after the Reformer's death, Christian doctrine, owing in a great measure to the want of Christian organization in the Church, became, espe-pathy in the world, and which in France, cially in Germany, gradually separated more and more from the hearts of nominally Christian men. The coldness of ma

quietism which the monastic genius of the Romish Church tends to foster, it is encouraging to find even this imperfect illustration of the manner in which Christianity may be allied to general speculation.

acter of his very extraordinary parts. His powers of mind were directed, in turn, to almost every object of knowledge. He eagerly studied history and the ancient classics, in which his reading extended far out of the beaten track in which the ill-judged ex

But Germany was thenceforward to be the focus of Idealism, and of abstract think-ertions of his narrow-minded teachers would ing of every kind. In that country, previ- fain have restrained him. It was, however, ously to the rise of the Leibnitzian philoso- when he was introduced to logic and phiphy, there had been no manifestation of the losophy, that the strength of his genius, new spirit of reform. The labors of Leib- and the special direction of his mind, were nitz mark the commencement of the very fully shown. He read Aristotle, Plato, and singular course which metaphysical phi- Plotinus, and revelled in the subtilties of losophy has since run in the native country the scholastic metaphysics-that stimulant of that celebrated thinker. Since then, the of the human intellect for so many hundred original distinction between the schools of years. In his father's richly-stored library, Locke and Leibnitz has modified the cur- he read, almost during the years of childrents of thought in Britain and Germany, hood, Scotus, and Fonseca, and Rubius, and is thus connected with many of those and Suarez, and Zabarella, and other characteristics by which the British is sig- schoolmen, with special delight. To the nally distinguished from the Continental literature of theology he was no stranger, mind. Since then, too, Germany has been even at this early period. His thoughts the centre of European speculation, and were directed to the deep controversies has exhibited some of the most extraordi- about election and grace, by the works of nary phenomena in the history of human St. Austin and Luther, the reformed thethought. There, amid the successive revo-ology, and the writings of Anthony Arlutions of more than a hundred years, every nauld. The amount of learning thus acabstract question has been debated that the cumulated by this precocious student, be mind of man can entertain; and there has fore he entered the University, appears to been added to preceding ones perhaps the have been prodigious. Soon after that most remarkable and instructive of all the epoch in his life, Des Cartes fell into his records of the clouded wanderings of hu- hands. His tendency towards eclecticism, man reason. The discussions raised by afterwards more fully displayed, was shown Leibnitz have given birth to the philosophi- in endeavors to harmonize Plato and Ariscal systems of Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and totle, Des Cartes and the schoolmen. The Hegel, and so to the now enormously accu- scholastic logic and philosophy was then mulated materials of the Teutonic meta- dominant in Leipsic, as it was in most of physics. the other universities of Germany. The spirit, as well as the manner of teaching then generally prevalent in Germany, ill harmonized with the fire of speculation that was already kindled in the bosom of the youthful Leibnitz. A thousand chimeras of speculation floated through his brain. He started a thousand difficulties to his teachers and associates. Even Bacon, and Des Cartes, and the later philosophy, served to awaken rather than to convince him. His mind was too independent to be moulded by others. His intellect revolted from the authority of his teachers. solitude, he cherished the most ardent views of the advancement of knowledge and the progress of man.

the

The father of Leibnitz was Professor of Morals in the ancient University of Leipsic. He died during the childhood of his son. By his pious mother, the thoughts of young Gottfried Wilhelm were much directed to religion; and this guidance no doubt gave to his subsequent speculations much of that theological cast by which they are distinguished. Both his parents were Lutherans. Leipsic was nearly the only scene of the first twenty years of his life.* In the Nicolai School of that city, and also in the University, which he entered in 1661, he gave early evidence of the peculiar char

"An interesting account of the remarkable self educating process which the mind of Leibnitz underwent during these years, nearly related as that is to the subsequent development of his philosophy, is given by himself in the "Pacidii Introductio Historica." See Erdmann's Edition, p. 91, and see also p. 162.

In

The whole history of the early years of Leibnitz forms a precious record of what we might call speculative experience; it reveals the self-educating genius of the really original mind, and shows a singular de

velopment of abstract thought at an age alted nature, and for which he was still when the attention is usually engrossed more gifted; and that man was Leibnitz. with the objects of sense.* In his record- He passed onwards to reap the golden hared experience, at the age of sixteen, are to vests of other fields." be found the dim forms of those problems which agitated his thoughts during the most active years of his life. For days together, as he tells us, he was wont to pursue his walks alone in the woods of Rosenthal, near Leipsic, revolving in his soul the first principles of that mysterious life, to a consciousness of which he was become awake. Before he had studied mathematics, physics, or morals, he was led to the conception of the higher philosophy. He felt, what can be felt only by the true metaphysician, a need for that scheme of eternal first principles on which all knowledge must depend. This was the theme of his earliest writings. His speculations on a universal language, grounded on what he calls the alphabet of thought, and his treatise de principio individui, published when under twenty, display the metaphysician capable of going back to first principles, and of following consequences intrepidly to their issues. In these labors of this early period, we receive a fair specimen of the whole intellectual life of Leibnitz. They are, moreover, eminently characteristic of the national philosophy which he originated. We shall have occasion to return to the subject in the sequel.

Owing to a difference with the University authorities, Leibnitz left Leipsic, and his native country of Saxony, and in 1666 went to the University of Altdorf. There he received his degree in law the same year. He thus belongs to that class of distinguished philosophers who have been bred to the legal profession. The philosophy of law naturally attracted his thoughts. At the age of twenty-one, he published a tract on jurisprudence, which forms an epoch in that science. "There was only one man in the world," says Hallam, "who could have left so noble a science as philosophical jurisprudence for pursuits of a still more ex

After leaving the University, he led a somewhat desultory life for several years. During the interval between 1666 and 1676, he visited several of the German universities, which must have served to confirm his academical tendencies. A professorial chair was soon within his reach, but was declined by one whose projects of reform in philosophy were too comprehensive to be confined within the narrow limits of a University. In 1667 he removed to Frankfort, where he became Secretary to the Baron von Boineburg, and was patronized and employed by the Elector of Mentz. During his residence in the Electorate, he was much engaged in public, legal, and diplomatic labors, as well as in literary pursuits. Yet his mind was all the while pervaded by the great idea of his life. He found time to edit the Antibarbarus of the Italian Nizolius, and, besides, was active in theological controversy. The baron, who was born in the Lutheran Church, had joined the communion of Rome, and was much interested in a scheme for the union of the Romish and Lutheran Churches. This eclectic scheme was afterwards the great theme of the public life of Leibnitz.

His speculations about this time are marked by the vagueness naturally characteristic of one who had cast off the authority of others, and had not resolved a system for himself. It was the transition-period in his life, during which his recorded thoughts teem with the germs of those ideas that are found in a matured form, and in such profuse variety, in the Nouveaux Essais, and the Théodicée.

These years are still more distinguished as the period of the commencement of that literary intercourse which afterwards accumulated so enormously, and in which Leibnitz always appears in the centre of the thinking spirits of his age. It commenced, and was maintained, among others, with the kindred minds in the Cartesian school

*It would be interesting to collect illustrations of such experience out of the biographies of think--with Malebranche, the recluse author of ing men. A solemn moral regard is due to the cases of those especially (as Pascal) in whom a personal religious sentiment is found to mingle with the operations of a mind engaged in the processes of reflection, and which finds in the consciousness of sin and guilt a new element of diffi culty and distress. Such instances suggest the whole subject of the higher religious experience, of which the phenomena are extremely important to the student of Scripture and of the human spirit.

the Recherche de la Vérité, of whom we have the interesting records that his genius was altogether dormant, till kindled by contact with the speculations of Des Cartes, and that his controversy about Idealism with Berkely, on the only occasion they ever met, so roused the ardor of the then aged philosopher, that his death is recorded

a few days after-and with Arnauld, the spectacle, if we could have these changes pious, contemplative Jansenist of Port-Roy- in the current of the soul represented to the al, the theological and philosophical antag- senses. History, languages, geology, mathonist of Malebranche. Leibnitz visited ematics, chemistry, medicine, politics, and Arnauld at Paris in 1672, and remained in theology, in turn secured his attention, and that brilliant metropolis during the greater his busy spirit collected the various learnpart of the few following years. In 1673, ing of each department. His almost superhe went for a short time to London, and human versatility of mind secured for Leibcame in contact with many of the English nitz the highest distinction in most of the savans-among others, with Collins and sciences which come within the range of Sir Isaac Newton.* Shortly before his human thought. In history he labored for death, for the first and last time, Spinoza, years on the antiquities of the house of that type of the demonstrative metaphysi- Brunswick, and the early annals of Gercians, received a visit at the Hague from many. An experience of the extreme diffithe now rising Saxon philosopher. From culty of historical researches suggested the the extraordinary logical concatenation of comparative anatomy of languages as an inthe system of Spinoza, his mind must have strument for facilitating these efforts. To received a powerful impression. From the study of languages he accordingly apHe laid about 1674, his intercourse with Hobbes plied himself with incredible zeal. may be dated. The skeptical Bayle seems ambassadors and Jesuit missionaries under to have been the useful instrument of the contribution for facts. On account of this more full development of his ideas-an in- single department he maintained a vast cordirect benefit which the cause of truth has respondence. Facts gathered from China often received from the labors of skepti- and the Eastern tongues served to stimulate cism.† his exertions, and added new materials for speculation. Not content with records and memorials of the past, gathered from the words and works of man, he interrogated the globe itself. In his speculations on the physical vestiges of its early history, we find very remarkable anticipations of the hypotheses of British geologists of our own day. These may be seen in his curious tract entitled Protogea.*

The year 1676 is an era in the life of our philosopher. Death had taken away his patrons the Elector of Mentz and Von Boineburg. He was himself in Paris. But his fame was become illustrious all over Germany, and he now accepted an offer, tendered for the third time, to reside at the brilliant literary court of Hanover. Thus commenced a connexion which lasted during the remaining forty years of his life, Leibnitz was able, in an extraordinary and in which he held a succession of legal degree, to combine the active and the aband literary offices, under the Duke John stracted life. A great part of his time was Frederic and his successors, the Electors busied with the conduct of civil and eccleErnest Augustus, and George Louis, the siastical negotiations. The details of his latter of whom became George I. of Eng-services in the department of secular poliland, two years before the death of Leib- tics are of less use for illustrating those feanitz. The additional means enjoyed by tures of his mind which we are most anxhim at Hanover for gratifying the peculiar-ious to impress, and may therefore be passed ities of his genius, were used with his char- by. His correspondence upon the unity of acteristic ardor. The multiplicity of his the Church, with the Landgrave of Hesseaims during these forty years is marvellous. The development of his speculative genius continued to advance, and his thoughts, stirred from their lowest depths by the cycle of the sciences during that whole period, would present an exceedingly curious

* Did it consist with our design to make length

ened allusion to the mathematical contributions

of our philosopher, we should find him holding the first rank in these pursuits, and "sharing with Sir Isaac Newton himself the glory of his immorytal discoveries."

+ Leibnitz numbered among his confidential correspondents a Scotchman-Burnet of Kemney. See Dutens' Edition, vol. vi.

Rheinfels, with Arnauld, with Spinola, and
with Bossuet, which occupied more or less
of his time during twenty years, demands a
The reunion of the
more distinct notice.
Protestants with Rome was then placed by
Leibnitz in the first rank of those questions
on a settlement of which his heart was set.

By his philosophic mind this adjustment
was felt to be nearly related to his pre-
viously ascertained speculative doctrines of
the theocracy, and of a universal hierarchy.
His veneration for the Romish theory of a

See Dutens' Edition, vol. v.