No More Learning

Sometimes the results
were better, sometimes worse. We may hope that Comenius spoke
of the schools at their worst estate when he said that they were
"the terror of boys and the slaughter-houses of minds," — " places
where hatred of literature and books was contracted, "_" where what
ought to be poured in gently was forced in violently," and "where
what ought to be put clearly was presented in a confused and intri-
cate manner, as if it were a collection of puzzles. " "Ten years,” he
said, "are given to the study of the Latin tongue, and after all the
result is disappointing. Boyhood is distracted for years with pre-
cepts of grammar, infinitely prolix, perplexed, and obscure, and for
the most part useless. Boys are stuffed with vocabularies without
associating the words with things, or indeed with one another. " For
the time it was impossible, even if desirable, to overturn the estab-
lished system; and Comenius, while still at Prerau, addressed himself
to the problem of simplifying the teaching of Latin. His first book,
'Grammaticæ Facilioris Præcepta,' written for his own pupils, was
published at Prague in 1616. The great impression that the 'Janua'
produced, shows how ready men were to welcome anything that
promised to mitigate the evils of the prevailing methods of teaching.
But deeply interested as he was in teaching languages, Comenius
still saw that this was by no means the great educational question of
the time. Early in life he had become a disciple of the new induct-
ive philosophy; and of all the titles that have been conferred upon
him, that of "the Bacon of education" is the most significant. The
impression that he received from Bacon was most profound. Several
of his titles, as Didactica Magna,' 'Pansophiæ Prodromus,' and
'Silva,' suggest titles before used by his master. Looking at edu-
cation from the Baconian point of view, Comenius proposed to make
it an inductive science. He found in nature the great storehouse of
education material. "Do we not dwell in the Garden of Eden,” he
demanded, « as well as our predecessors? Why should not we use


## p. 3912 (#278) ###########################################

3912
JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS
our eyes and ears and noses as well as they? and why need we other
teachers than these in learning to know the works of nature? Why
should we not, instead of these dead books, open to the children the
living book of nature? Why not open their understandings to the
things themselves, so that from them, as from living springs, many
streamlets may flow? " Holding these views and putting them effect-
ively before the world, he became the founder of the pedagogical
school known as the Sense-Realists. But much more than this, he
had the rare merit of seeing that modern education must be built
on the basis of the modern languages; and so he proposed to call
the elementary school the "vernacular school," things before words,
and vernacular words before foreign words.
<<
Comenius's best known books are the Didactica Magna' and the
'Orbis Sensualium Pictus. ' The first was written in Czech, the
author's vernacular, one of the best of the Slavonic dialects, during
his first residence in Lissa; but was not published until a later day,
and then in Latin. It is a general treatise on method.
« After many
workings and tossings of my thoughts," he says, "by setting every-
thing to the immovable laws of nature," he lighted upon this trea-
tise, which shows the art of readily and solidly teaching all things. "
The Orbis Pictus,' which was only a modification of the Janua,'
first appeared in 1657. Hoole, the English translator, renders the
Latin title thus: Visible World; or a Nomenclature and Pictures of
all the Chief Things that are in the World, and of Men's Employ-
ments Therein. ' The Orbis Pictus' has been called Children's
First Picture-Book,' and it obtained much the widest circulation and
use of all the reformer's works. It was written to illustrate his ideas
of teaching things and words together. Its keynote is struck by
the legend, "There is nothing in the intellect that is not first in the
sense. »
The lessons, of which there are one hundred and ninety-
four words, are given in Latin and German, and are each illustrated
with a copper cut. While the book is wholly unsuited to our use, it
is still an interesting pedagogical memorial, archaic and quaint.
But Bacon's influence on Comenius was far greater than has yet
appeared. The philosopher had large conceptions of the kingdom of
knowledge, and the disciple accepted these conceptions in their most
exaggerated form. He became the founder of 'Pansophia': men could
attain to universal knowledge if they were rightly taught and guided.
When his eye had once caught this vision, it never wandered from it
to the day of his death. He projected a Pansophic school, and spent
half a lifetime in seeking a patron who would help him to realize
his dream. Save some of the first ones, his didactic treatises were
written as means to a Pansophic end. The books that have made
him immortal he counted but as dust in the balance, compared with


## p. 3913 (#279) ###########################################

JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS
3913
the piles of manuscripts that he produced devoted to all knowledge.
In fact, he almost despised himself because, partly persuaded by his
patrons and advisers and partly compelled by the necessities of
livelihood, he gave so much time to things didactic. Thus Comenius
was like Bacon, in that his real service to the world was something
quite different from what he proposed for its benefit. He was like
Bacon also in this, that he put forth the same work - practically
so in more than one form.
-
The mistakes of Comenius lie upon the surface. He entertained
exaggerated views of the results to flow to mankind from the en-
largement of knowledge, he greatly overestimated the value of
method, and so, very naturally, greatly magnified what the human
mind is able to accomplish in the field of learning. He carried much
too far his sensational principles, and seriously underestimated the
ancient learning and letters. But these mistakes, and even Pan-
sophism itself, may be not only excused but welcomed; since they
undoubtedly contributed at the time, and since, to educational pro-
gress.
It must not be supposed that Comenius had no precursors. Bacon
had disclosed to men his vision of the kingdom of knowledge. Rabelais
had published his realistic views of education and his vast scheme
of studies. Montaigne had delivered his criticisms on current teach-
ing and submitted his suggestions for reform. Mulcaster had given to
the world his far-reaching anticipations of the future. Ratich, the
John the Baptist of the new movement, to whom Comenius was
probably most indebted next to Bacon, had gone far in revolt from
the existing régime. But it was left to Comenius to give the new
pedagogy a shaping and an impulse that well entitle him to be
called its founder.
Comenius has still other credentials to permanent fame. He
advocated popular education, contended for the union of knowledge
with morals and piety, proposed the higher education of women,
propounded the existing tripartite division of education, and devised
a system of graded instruction for schools of a decidedly modern
character. His place in the educational pantheon is secure; but not
so much by reason of his didactics, which are now largely antiquated,
as by reason of his spirit. As Mr. Quick has said:-"He saw that
every human creature should be trained up to become a reasonable
being, and that the training should be such as to draw out the God-
given faculties. Thus he struck the keynote of the science of
education. "
B. Altinsdale


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3914
JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS
AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE ORBIS PICTUS›
I
NSTRUCTION is the means to expel rudeness, with which young
wits ought to be well furnished in Schools: but so as that
the teaching be-1, True; 2, Full; 3, Clear; and 4, Solid.
I. It will be true, if nothing be taught but such as is bene-
ficial to one's life; lest there be a cause of complaining after-
wards. We know not necessary things, because we have not
learned things necessary.
2. It will be full, if the mind be polished for wisdom, the
tongue for eloquence, and the hands for a neat way of living.
This will be that grace of one's life: to be wise, to act, to
speak.
3, 4. It will be clear, and by that, firm and solid, if what-
ever is taught and learned be not obscure or confused, but
apparent, distinct, and articulate as the fingers on the hands.
The ground of this business is, that sensual objects may be
rightly presented to the senses, for fear they may not be re-
ceived. I say, and say it again aloud, that this last is the
foundation of all the rest: because we can neither act nor speak
wisely, unless we first rightly understand all the things which
are to be done, and whereof we are to speak. Now there is
nothing in the understanding which was not before in the sense.
And therefore to exercise the senses well about the right per-
ceiving the differences of things, will be to lay the grounds for
all wisdom, and all wise discourse, and all discreet actions in
one's course of life. Which, because it is commonly neglected
in our schools, and the things which are to be learned are
offered to scholars without being understood or being rightly
presented to the senses, it cometh to pass that the work of
teaching and learning goeth heavily onward, and affordeth little
benefit.
See here then a new help for schools, a Picture and Nomen-
clature of all the chief things in the world, and of men's actions
in their way of living: which that you, good masters, may not
be loath to run over with your scholars, I tell you, in short,
what good you may expect from it.
It is a little book, as you see, of no great bulk, yet a brief
of the whole world, and a whole language; full of Pictures,
Nomenclatures, and Descriptions of things.


## p. 3915 (#281) ###########################################

JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS
3915
I. The Pictures are the representations of all visible things
(to which also things invisible are reduced after their fashion) of
the whole world. And that in that very order of things in
which they are described in the 'Janua Latinæ Linguæ'; and
with that fullness, that nothing very necessary or of great con-
cernment is omitted.
II. The Nomenclatures are the Inscriptions, or Titles, set
every one over their own Pictures, expressing the whole thing
by its own general term.
III. The Descriptions are the explications of the parts of the
Picture, so expressed by their own proper terms; as the same
figure which is added to every piece of the Picture, and the term
of it, always showeth what things belongeth one to another.
Which such book, and in such a dress, may (I hope) serve.
I. To entice witty children to it, that they may not conceit
it a torment to be in school, but dainty fare. For it is apparent
that children (even from their infancy almost) are delighted with
pictures, and willingly please their eyes with these lights; and it
will be very well worth the pains to have once brought it to
pass, that scarecrows may be taken away out of wisdom's gar-
dens.
II. This same little book will serve to stir up the attention,
which is to be fastened upon things, and even to be sharpened
more and more; which is also a great matter. For the senses
(being the main guides of childhood, because therein the mind
doth not as yet raise up itself to an abstracted contemplation of
things) evermore seek their own objects, and if they may be
away, they grow dull, and wry themselves hither and thither out
of a weariness of themselves; but when their objects are present,
they grow merry, wax lively, and willingly suffer themselves to
be fastened upon them, till the thing be sufficiently discerned.
This book then will do a good piece of service in taking espe
cially flickering wits, and preparing them for deeper studies.
III. Whence a third good will follow: that children being
won thereunto, and drawn over with this way of heeding, may be
furnished with the knowledge of the prime things that are in
the world, by sport and merry pastime. In a word, this Book
will serve for the more pleasing using of the 'Vestibulum' and
'Janua Linguarum,' for which end it was even at the first chiefly
intended. Yet if it like any that it be bound up in their native
tongues also, it promiseth three good things of itself.


## p. 3916 (#282) ###########################################

3916
JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS
I. First, it will afford a device for learning to read more
easily than hitherto, especially having a symbolical alphabet set
before it; to wit, the characters of the several letters, with the
image of that creature whose voice that letter goeth about to
imitate, pictured by it. For the young A B C scholar will easily
remember the force of every character by the very looking upon
the creature, till the imagination, being strengthened by use, can
readily afford all things; and then having looked over a table of
the chief syllables also (which yet was not thought necessary to
be added to this book), he may proceed to the viewing of the
pictures and the inscriptions set over them. Where again, the
very looking upon the thing pictured suggesting the name of the
thing, will tell him how the title of the picture is to be read.
And thus the whole book being gone over by the bare titles of
the pictures, reading cannot but be learned; and indeed too,
which thing is to be noted, without using any ordinary tedious
spelling, that most troublesome torture of wits, which may wholly
be avoided by this method. For the often reading over the book,
by those larger descriptions of things, and which are set after the
pictures, will be able perfectly to beget a habit of reading.
II. The same book being used in English, in English schools,
will serve for the perfect learning of the whole English tongue,
and that from the bottom; because by the aforesaid descriptions
of things, the words and phrases of the whole language are
found set orderly in their proper places. And a short English
Grammar might be added at the end, clearly resolving the speech
already understood into its parts; showing the declining of the
several words, and reducing those that are joined together under
certain rules.
III. Thence a new benefit cometh, that that very English
Translation may serve for the more ready and pleasant learning
of the Latin tongue: as one may see in this edition, the whole
book being so translated that everywhere one word answereth to
the word over against it, and the book is in all things the same,
only in two idioms, as a man clad in a double garment. And
there might be also some observations and advertisements added
at the end, touching those things only wherein the use of the
Latin tongue differeth from the English. For where there is no
difference, there needeth no advertisements to be given. But
because the first tasks of the learner ought to be little and
single, we have filled this first book of training one up to see a


## p. 3917 (#283) ###########################################

JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS
3917
thing of himself, with nothing but rudiments; that is, with the
chief of things and words, or with the grounds of the whole
world, and the whole language, and of all our understanding
about things. If a more perfect description of things, and a
fuller knowledge of a language, and a clearer light of the under-
standing, be sought after (as they ought to be), they are to be
found somewhere whither there will now be an easy passage by
this our little Encyclopædia of things subject to the senses.
Something remaineth to be said touching the more cheerful use
of this book.
I. Let it be given to children into their hands to delight
themselves withal as they please with the sight of the pictures,
and making them as familiar to themselves as may be, and that
even at home before they are put to school.
II. Then let them be examined ever and anon (especially
now in the school) what this thing or that thing is, and is
called, so that they may see nothing which they know not how
to name, and that they can name nothing which they cannot
show.
III. And let the things named them be showed, not only in
the picture, but also in themselves; for example, the parts of
the body, clothes, books, the house, utensils, etc.
IV. Let them be suffered also to imitate the pictures by
hand, if they will; nay, rather let them be encouraged that they
may be willing: first, thus to quicken the attention also towards
the things, and to observe the proportion of the parts one
towards the other; and lastly, to practice the nimbleness of the
hand, which is good for many things.
V. If anything here mentioned cannot be presented to the
eye, it will be to no purpose at all to offer them by themselves
to the scholars; as colors, relishes, etc. , which cannot here be
pictured out with ink. For which reason it were to be wished
that things rare and not easy to be met withal at home might
be kept ready in every great school, that they may be showed
also, as often as any words are to be made by them, to the
scholars.


## p. 3918 (#284) ###########################################

3918
JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS
SCHOOL OF INFANCY
CLAIMS OF CHILDHOOD
HAT children are an inestimable treasure, the Spirit of God
David testifies, saying,
are the heritages of the Lord; the fruit of the womb his
reward; as arrows in the hand, so are children. Blessed is the
man who has filled his quiver with them; he shall not be con-
founded. " David declares those to be happy on whom God
confers children.
The same is also evident from this: that God, purposing to
testify his love towards us, calls us children, as if there were no
more excellent name by which to commend us.
Moreover, he is very greatly incensed against those who
deliver their children to Moloch. It is also worthy our most
serious consideration that God, in respect of the children of even
idolatrous parents, calls them children born to him; thus indi-
cating that they are born not for ourselves but for God, and
as God's offspring they claim our most profound respect.
Hence in Malachi children are called the seed of God, whence
arises the offspring of God.
For this reason the eternal Son of God, when manifested in
the flesh, not only willed to become the participator of the flesh
of children, but likewise deemed children a pleasure and a
delight. Taking them in his arms, as little brothers and sisters,
he carried them about, and kissed them and blessed them.
Not only this: he likewise uttered a severe threat against any
one who should offend them even in the least degree, command-
ing them to be respected as himself, and condemning even
with severe penalties any who offend even the smallest of them.
Should any one wish to inquire why he so delighted in little
children, and so strictly enjoined upon us such respectful atten-
tion to them, many reasons may be ascertained. And first, if
the little ones seem unimportant to you, regard them not as
they now are, but as in accordance with the intention of God
they may and ought to be. You will see them not only as the
future inhabitants of the world and possessors of the earth, and
God's vicars amongst his creatures when we depart from this
life, but also equally participators with us in the heritage of


## p. 3919 (#285) ###########################################

JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS
3919
Christ, a royal priesthood, a chosen people, associates of angels,
judges of devils, the delight of heaven, the terror of hell-heirs
of the most excellent dignities throughout all the ages of eter-
nity. What can be imagined more excellent than this?
Philip Melanchthon of pious memory, having upon one occa-
sion entered a common school, looked upon the pupils therein
assembled, and began his address to them in these words: -
"Hail, reverend pastors, doctors, licentiates, superintendents!
Hail! most noble, most prudent, most learned lords, consuls,
prætors, judges, prefects, chancellors, secretaries, magistrates,
professors, etc. " When some of the bystanders received these
words with a smile, he replied: "I am not jesting; my speech
is serious; for I look on these little boys, not as they are now,
but with a view to the purpose of the Divine mind, on account
of which they are delivered to us for instruction. For assuredly
some such will come forth from among the number, although
there may be an intermixture of chaff among them as there is
among wheat. " Such was the animated address of this most
prudent man. But why should not we with equal confidence
declare, in respect of all children of Christian parents, those
glorious things which have been mentioned above? since Christ,
the promulgator of the eternal secrets of God, has pronounced
that "of such is the kingdom of Heaven. "
But if we consider only their present state, it will at once be
obvious why children are of inestimable value in the sight of
God, and ought to be so to their parents.
In the first place, they are valuable to God because, being
innocent with the sole exception of original sin, they are not yet
the defaced image of God by having polluted themselves with
actual guilt, and are "unable to discern between good and evil,
between the right hand and the left. " That God has respect to
this is abundantly manifest from the above words addressed to
John, and from other passages of the Sacred Writ.
Secondly, they are the pure and dearly purchased possession
of Christ; since Christ, who came to seek the lost, is said to be
the Savior of all, except those who by incredulity and impeni-
tence shut themselves out from being participators in his
merits. These are the purchased from among men, that they
may be the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb; having not yet
defiled themselves with the allurements of sin; but they follow
the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. And that they may continue


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3920
JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS
so to follow, they ought to be led as it were with the hand by
a pious education.
Finally, God so embraces children with abounding love that
they are a peculiar instrument of divine glory; as the Scriptures
testify, "From the lips of infants and sucklings thou hast per-
fected praise, because of mine enemies; that thou mayest destroy
the enemy and avenger. " How it comes to pass that God's
glory should receive increase from children, is certainly not at
once obvious to our understanding; but God, the discerner of all
things, knows and understands, and declares it to be so.
That children ought to be dearer and more precious to parents
than gold and silver, than pearls and gems, may be discovered
from a comparison between both of these gifts from God: for
first, gold, silver, and such other things, are inanimate, being
only somewhat harder and purer than the clay which we tread
beneath our feet; whereas children are the lively image of the
living God.
Secondly, gold and silver are rudimentary objects produced
by the command of God; whereas children are creatures in the
production of which the all-sacred Trinity instituted special coun-
cil, and formed them with his own fingers.
Thirdly, gold and silver are fleeting and transitory things;
children are an immortal inheritance. For although they yield
to death, yet they neither return to nothing, nor become extinct;
they only pass out of a mortal tabernacle into immortal regions.
Hence, when God restored to Job all his riches and possessions,
even to the double of what he had previously taken away, he
gave him no more children than he had before; namely, seven
sons and three daughters. This, however, was the precise double;
inasmuch as the former sons and daughters had not perished, but
had gone before to God.
Fourthly, gold and silver come forth from the earth, children
come from our own substance; being a part of ourselves, they
consequently deserve to be loved by us, certainly not less than
we love ourselves: therefore God has implanted in the nature of
all living things so strong an affection towards their young that
they occasionally prefer the safety of their offspring to their own.
If any one transfer such affections to gold or silver, he is, in
the judgment of God, condemned as guilty of idolatry.
Fifthly, gold and silver pass away from one to another as
though they were the property of none, but common to all:


## p. 3921 (#287) ###########################################

JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS
3921
whereas children are a peculiar possession, divinely assigned to
their parents; so that there is not a man in the orld who can
deprive them of this right or dispossess them of this inheritance,
because it is a portion descended from heaven and not a trans-
ferable possession.
Sixthly, although gold and silver are gifts of God, yet they
are not such gifts as those to which he has promised an angelic
guardianship from heaven; nay, Satan mostly intermingles him-
self with gold and silver so as to use them as nets and snares to
entangle the unwary, drawing them as it were with thongs, to
avarice, haughtiness, and prodigality: whereas the care of little
children is always committed to angelic guardianship, as the
Lord himself testifies. Hence he who has children within his
house may be certain that he has therein the presence of angels;
he who takes little children in his arms may be assured that he
takes angels; whosoever, surrounded with midnight darkness,
rests beside an infant, may enjoy the certain consolation that
with it he is so protected that the spirit of darkness cannot have
access. How great the importance of these things!
Seventhly, gold, silver, and other external things do not pro-
cure for us the love of God, nor as children do, defend us from
his anger; for God so loved children that for their sake he
occasionally pardons parents; Nineveh affords an example: inas-
much as there were many children therein, God spared the
parents from being swallowed up by the threatened judgment.
Eighthly, human life does not consist in abundance of wealth,
as our Lord says, since without God's blessings neither food
nourishes, nor plaster heals, nor clothing warms; but his blessing
is always present with us for the sake of children, in order that
they may be sustained. For if God liberally bestows food on
the young ravens calling on him, how much more should he not
care for children, his own image? Therefore Luther has wisely.
said: "We do not nourish our children, but they nourish us;
for because of these innocents God supplies necessaries, and we
aged sinners partake of them. "
Finally, silver, gold, and gems afford us no further instruction
than other created things do, namely, in the wisdom, power, and
beneficence of God; whereas children are given to us as a mirror,
in which we may behold modesty, courteousness, benignity,
harmony, and other Christian virtues, the Lord himself declaring,
"Unless ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall
VII-246


## p. 3922 (#288) ###########################################

3922
JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS
not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. " Since then God has
willed that children should be unto us in the place of preceptors,
we judge that we owe to them the most diligent attention.
Thus at last this school would become a school of things
obvious to the senses, and an entrance to the school intellectual.
But enough. Let us come to the thing itself.
By permission of D. C. Heath & Co.


## p. 3923 (#289) ###########################################

3923
PHILIPPE DE COMINES
(1445-1510)
HE last in date among the great French chroniclers of the
Middle Ages was Philippe de Comines (also written Com-
mines or Comynes). He was the scion of an old and
wealthy family that attained to nobility by marrying into the house
of the barons of Comines, the privilege being a reward for faithful
allegiance in the times of trouble and warfare. The approximate
date of his birth is the year 1445; his birthplace is not known with
certainty, though it may be assumed to have been either on the
estate of Comines, near Lille in northern France, or at the Château de
Renescure, near Saint-Omer. He lost his mother in 1447, and his
father died in 1453, leaving an entangled inheritance that netted a
sum of about two thousand five hundred livres, which in those days
sufficed to defray the child's current expenses and provide for his
education. Under the guardianship of one of his relatives, Jean de
Comines, the young orphan was brought up in the true spirit of the
feudal times to which he belonged, and was taught the profession of
arms. Reading and writing he also acquired, but whatever intellect-
ual training he received beyond this point was owing altogether to
his own efforts and exertions.
It was a matter of sincere regret to him that his education never
included the study of Latin. He became skilled with the pen, but
used it for his own amusement, not with a thought of leaving any-
thing more than notes that might serve others as a basis for fuller
historical descriptions. His style is terse, and not devoid of charm;
for he was not lacking in imagination, and by quaint simile or other
rhetorical effect enlivened many a page of his Chronicles. His
vocabulary, without being very rich, is carefully selected, but his
syntactical constructions are often abstruse and obscure.
On the
whole, however, this justice must be done to Philippe de Comines:
that what he may lose for want of natural ease of expression is
compensated for by his virility of speech and true eloquence. His
chief merit lies in his pithy remarks, replete with suggestion. But
literary pursuits were not his proper field. In his days such occupa-
tions were left almost exclusively to the clergy, in whom alone was
supposed to be vested the need and uses of book learning.
He sought, as he grew up, to remedy the shortcomings of his
training, and acquired through contact with the numerous foreigners


## p. 3924 (#290) ###########################################

PHILIPPE DE COMINES
3924
he was in a position to meet, a fair knowledge of Italian, Spanish,
and German.
"On coming forth from childhood," he writes, "and being old
enough to ride horseback, I was led to Lille before Duke Charles of
Burgundy, then Count of Charolais, who took me in his service; and
this was in the year 1464. " Philippe de Comines was then in his
twentieth year, a youth polished in manners, refined in tastes, and
above all, a most acute observer,- and these qualities stamped him
as a coming diplomat of rare natural ability, in touch with his time,
and understanding himself and others sufficiently well to moralize
and philosophize about men and things, to reach many a sound con-
clusion, and to utter many a true and wise saying. He is among
the first thinking men of France who committed to paper the results
of his labors as a moral philosopher, as a statesman, and as a trusted
adviser to royalty.
For eight full years Philippe de Comines remained in the confi-
dential service of the Duke of Burgundy, by whom he was sent,
young as he was, on various diplomatic missions of the greatest im-
portance, first to London, then to Brittany, finally to Orange and
Castile. In the course of these expeditions he came in contact with
Louis XI. , King of France, and knew how to ingratiate himself into
his favor. Whatever the reasons for his rupture with the Duke of
Burgundy, whatever the special inducements offered by Louis XI. ,
the fact remains that he suddenly left his former master; and pos-
sessed of knowledge of the utmost political importance to the King
of France, he entered the royal service and remained there until the
King's death in August, 1483. His work was generously recognized
by Louis XI. , and even after his noble patron's death Comines
retained his court position for a time. He gradually fell away, how-
ever, from his allegiance to the royal cause, and threw himself heart
and soul into a movement, set on foot by a number of the feudal
lords and directed by the Duke of Orleans himself, against the person
of the young King Charles VIII. Arrested on a charge of conspiracy,
he spent over two years in various prisons (1486-1489), with ample
time to think over the vicissitudes of human happiness. A light
sentence was finally passed upon him, and having regained his lib-
erty he was so far restored to favor as to be sent on diplomatic
missions, first to Venice and then to Milan.
Though he lived in honor under Louis XII. , he retired shortly to
private life on his estate of Argenton, where he died in 1510.
It was in the solitude of his prison that Philippe de Comines be-
gan to write his reminiscences. The 'Chronique et Hystoire Faicte
et Composée par Messire Philippe de Comines' (Paris, 1524) was
written between the years 1488 and 1493. It deals with the history


## p. 3925 (#291) ###########################################

PHILIPPE DE COMINES
3925
of France from 1464 (when Comines went to the court of Charles the
Bold) to the death of Louis XI. in 1483. The sequel, 'Chroniques
du Roy Charles Huytiesme' (Paris, 1528), written subsequently to
1497, relates the story of the famous expedition to Italy undertaken
by Charles VIII. In the pages of Quentin Durward,' where Walter
Scott has given a graphic portrayal of the great men of that turbu-
lent time, Philippe de Comines stands out beside the crafty and
superstitious Louis XI. and the martial Charles of Burgundy as one
of the most striking figures of a picturesque age.
THE VIRTUES AND VICES OF KING LOUIS XI.
From the Memoirs of Philippe de Comines'
HE chief reason that has induced me to enter upon this sub-
is because I have seen many deceptions in this world,
especially in servants toward their masters; and I have
always found that proud and stately princes who will hear but
few, are more liable to be imposed upon than those who are
open and accessible: but of all the princes that I ever knew, the
wisest and most dexterous to extricate himself out of any dan-
ger or difficulty in time of adversity was our master King
Louis XI. He was the humblest in his conversation and habit,
and the most painful and indefatigable to win over any man to
his side that he thought capable of doing him either mischief or
service: though he was often refused, he would never give over
a man that he wished to gain, but still pressed and continued
his insinuations, promising him largely, and presenting him with
such sums and honors as he knew would gratify his ambition;
and for such as he had discarded in time of peace and pros-
perity, he paid dear (when he had occasion for them) to recover
them again; but when he had once reconciled them, he retained
no enmity towards them for what had passed, but employed
them freely for the future. He was naturally kind and indul-
gent to persons of mean estate, and hostile to all great men
who had no need of him. Never prince was so conversable nor
so inquisitive as he, for his desire was to know everybody he
could; and indeed he knew all persons of any authority or
worth in England, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, in the territories
of the Dukes of Burgundy and Bretagne, and among his own.
subjects: and by those qualities he preserved the crown upon his


## p. 3926 (#292) ###########################################

3926
PHILIPPE DE COMINES
head, which was in much danger by the enemies he had created
to himself upon his accession to the throne.
But above all, his great bounty and liberality did him the
greatest service: and yet, as he behaved himself wisely in time
of distress, so when he thought himself a little out of danger,
though it were but by a truce, he would disoblige the servants
and officers of his court by mean and petty ways which were
little to his advantage; and as for peace, he could hardly endure
the thoughts of it. He spoke slightingly of most people, and
rather before their faces than behind their backs; unless he was
afraid of them, and of that sort there were a great many, for he
was naturally somewhat timorous. When he had done himself
any prejudice by his talk, or was apprehensive he should do so,
and wished to make amends, he would say to the person whom
he had disobliged, "I am sensible my tongue has done me a
good deal of mischief; but on the other hand, it has sometimes.
done me much good: however, it is but reason I should make
some reparation for the injury. " And he never used this kind
of apologies to any person but he granted some favor to the
person to whom he made it, and it was always of considerable
amount.
It is certainly a great blessing from God upon any prince to
have experienced adversity as well as prosperity, good as well as
evil, and especially if the good outweighs the evil, as it did in
the King our master. I am of opinion that the troubles he was
involved in in his youth, when he fled from his father and re-
sided six years together with Philip, Duke of Burgundy, were of
great service to him; for there he learned to be complaisant to
such as he had occasion to use, which was no slight advantage
of adversity. As soon as he found himself a powerful and
crowned king, his mind was wholly bent upon revenge; but he
quickly found the inconvenience of this, repented by degrees of
his indiscretion, and made sufficient reparation for his folly and
error by regaining those he had injured. Besides, I am very
confident that if his education had not been different from the
usual education of such nobles as I have seen in France, he
could not so easily have worked himself out of his troubles: for
they are brought up to nothing but to make themselves ridicu-
lous, both in their clothes and discourse; they have no knowl-
edge of letters; no wise man is suffered to come near them, to
improve their understandings; they have governors who manage


## p. 3927 (#293) ###########################################

PHILIPPE DE COMINES
3927
their business, but they do nothing themselves: nay, there are
some nobles who though they have an income of thirteen livres,
will take pride to bid you "Go to my servants and let them
answer you, thinking by such speeches to imitate the state and
grandeur of a prince; and I have seen their servants take great
advantage of them, giving them to understand they were fools;
and if afterwards they came to apply their minds to business
and attempted to manage their own affairs, they began so late
they could make nothing of it. And it is certain that all those
who have performed any great or memorable action worthy to
be recorded in history, began always in their youth; and this is
to be attributed to the method of their education, or some par-
ticular blessing of God.
THE VIRTUES OF THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE
TIME OF HIS HOUSE'S PROSPERITY
I
SAW a seal-ring of his after his death at Milan, with his arms
cut curiously upon a sardonyx, that I have often seen him
wear in a riband at his breast; which was sold at Milan for
two ducats, and had been stolen from him by a varlet that waited
on him in his chamber. I have often seen the duke dressed and
undressed in great state and formality, and by very great per-
sons; but at his last hour all this pomp and magnificence ceased,
and both he and his family perished on the very spot where he
had delivered up the Constable not long before, out of a base and
avaricious motive. But may God forgive him! I have known
him a powerful and honorable prince, in as great esteem and as
much courted by his neighbors (when his affairs were in a pros-
perous condition) as any prince in Europe, and perhaps more
so; and I cannot conceive what should have provoked God
Almighty's displeasure so highly against him unless it was his
self-love and arrogance, in attributing all the success of his en-
terprises and all the renown he ever acquired to his own wis-
dom and conduct, without ascribing anything to God: yet, to
speak truth, he was endowed with many good qualities. No
prince ever had a greater desire to entertain young noblemen
than he, or was more careful of their education. His presents
and bounty were never profuse and extravagant, because he gave
to many, and wished everybody should taste of his generosity.


## p. 3928 (#294) ###########################################

3928
PHILIPPE DE COMINES
No prince was ever more easy of access to his servants and
subjects. Whilst I was in his service he was never cruel, but
a little before his death he became so, which was an infallible
sign of the shortness of his life. He was very splendid and
pompous in his dress and in everything else, and indeed a little
too much. He paid great honors to all ambassadors and for-
eigners, and entertained them nobly. His ambitious desire of
glory was insatiable, and it was that which more than any other
motive induced him to engage eternally in wars. He earnestly
desired to imitate the old kings and heroes of antiquity, who are
still so much talked of in the world, and his courage was equal
to that of any prince of his time.
I am partly of the opinion of those who maintain that God
gives princes, as he in his wisdom thinks fit, to punish or chas-
tise their subjects; and he disposes the affections of subjects to
their princes as he has determined to exalt or depress them.
Just so it has pleased him to deal with the house of Burgundy;
for after a long series of riches and prosperity, and sixscore
years' peace under three illustrious princes, predecessors to Duke
Charles (all of them of great prudence and discretion), it pleased
God to send this Duke Charles, who continually involved them
in bloody wars, winter as well as summer, to their great afflic-
tion and expense, in which most of their richest and stoutest
men were either killed or taken prisoners. Their misfortunes
began at the siege of Nuz, and continued for three or four bat-
tles successively, to the very hour of his death; so much so that
at the last the whole strength of the country was destroyed, and
all were killed or taken prisoners who had any zeal or affection
for the house of Burgundy, or power to defend the state and
dignity of that family; so that in a manner their losses equaled
if they did not overbalance their former prosperity: for as I
have seen these princes puissant, rich, and honorable, so it fared
with their subjects; for I think I have seen and known the
greatest part of Europe, yet I never knew any province of
country, though of a larger extent, so abounding in money, so
extravagantly fine in their furniture, so sumptuous in their
buildings, so profuse in their expenses, so luxurious in their
feasts and entertainments, and so prodigal in all respects, as the
subjects of these princes in my time; and if any think I have
exaggerated, others who lived in my time will be of opinion
that I have rather said too little.


## p. 3929 (#295) ###########################################

PHILIPPE DE COMINES
3929
But it pleased God at one blow to subvert this great and
sumptuous edifice and ruin this powerful and illustrious family,
which had maintained and bred up so many brave men, and had
acquired such mighty honor and renown far and near, by so
many victories and successful enterprises as none of all its
neighboring States could pretend to boast of. A hundred and
twenty years it continued in this flourishing condition, by the
grace of God; all its neighbors having in the mean time been.
involved in troubles and commotions, and all of them applying
to it for succor or protection,- to wit, France, England, and
Spain, as you have seen by experience of our master the King
of France, who in his minority, and during the reign of Charles
VII. his father, retired to this court, where he lived six years
and was nobly entertained all that time by Duke Philip the
Good. Out of England I saw there also two of King Edward's
brothers, the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester (the last of
whom was afterwards called King Richard III. ); and of the
house of Lancaster, the whole family or very near, with all their
party. In short, I have seen this family in all respects the
most flourishing and celebrated of any in Christendom; and then
in a short space of time it was quite ruined and turned upside
down, and left the most desolate and miserable of any house in
Europe, as regards both princes and subjects. Such changes
and revolutions of States and kingdoms, God in his providence
has wrought before we were born and will do again when we
are dead; for this is a certain maxim, that the prosperity or
adversity of princes depends wholly on his divine disposal.
-
THE LAST DAYS OF LOUIS XI.
THE
HE King towards the latter end of his days caused his
castle of Plessis-les-Tours to be encompassed with great
bars of iron in the form of thick grating, and at the four
corners of the house four sparrow-nests of iron, strong, massy,
and thick, were built. The grates were without the wall on
the other side of the ditch, and sank to the bottom. Several
spikes of iron were fastened into the wall, set as thick by one
another as was possible, and each furnished with three or four
points. He likewise placed ten bowmen in the ditches, to
shoot at any man that durst approach the castle before the


## p. 3930 (#296) ###########################################

3930
PHILIPPE DE COMINES
opening of the gates; and he ordered they should lie in the
ditches, but retire to the sparrow-nests upon occasion. He was
sensible enough that this fortification was too weak to keep out
an army or any great body of men, but he had no fear of
such an attack: his great apprehension was that some of the
nobility of his kingdom, having intelligence within, might
attempt to make themselves masters of the castle by night, and
having possessed themselves of it partly by favor and partly by
force, might deprive him of the regal authority and take upon
themselves the administration of public affairs; upon pretense
that he was incapable of business and no longer fit to govern.
The gate of the Plessis was never opened nor the draw.
bridge let down before eight o'clock in the morning, at which
time the officers were let in; and the captains ordered their
guards to their several posts, with pickets of archers in the
middle of the court, as in a town upon the frontiers that is
closely guarded; nor was any person admitted to enter except
by the wicket and with the King's knowledge, unless it were
the steward of his household, and such persons as were not
admitted into the royal presence.
Is it possible then to keep a prince (with any regard to his
quality) in a closer prison than he kept himself?
The cages
which were made for other people were about eight feet square;
and he (though so great a monarch) had but a small court of
the castle to walk in, and seldom made use of that, but gener-
ally kept himself in the gallery, out of which he went into
the chambers on his way to mass, but never passed through
the court. Who can deny that he was a sufferer as well as
his neighbors? considering how he was locked up and guarded,
afraid of his own children and relations, and changing every day
those very servants whom he had brought up and advanced; and
though they owed all their preferment to him, yet he durst not
trust any of them, but shut himself up in those strange chains
and inclosures. If the place where he confined himself was
larger than a common prison, he also was much greater than
common prisoners.
It may be urged that other princes have been more given
to suspicion than he, but it was not in our time; and perhaps
their wisdom was not so eminent, nor were their subjects so
good. They might too, probably, have been tyrants and bloody-
minded; but our King never did any person a mischief who had


## p. 3931 (#297) ###########################################

PHILIPPE DE COMINES
3931
not offended him first, though I do not say all who offended him
deserved death. I have not recorded these things merely to
represent our master as a suspicious and mistrustful prince, but
to show that by the patience which he expressed in his suffer-
ings (like those which he inflicted on other people) they may be
looked upon, in my judgment, as a punishment which Our Lord
inflicted upon him in this world in order to deal more merci-
fully with him in the next; .
and likewise, that those
princes who may be his successors may learn by his example
to be more tender and indulgent to their subjects, and less
severe in their punishments than our master had been: although
I will not censure him, or say I ever saw a better prince;
for though he oppressed his subjects himself, he would never
see them injured by anybody else.
After so many fears, sorrows, and suspicions, God by a kind
of miracle restored him both in body and mind, as is his
divine method in such kind of wonders: for he took him out
of this miserable world in perfect health of mind and under-
standing and memory; after having received the sacraments
himself, discoursing without the least twinge or expression of
pain, and repeating his paternosters to the very last moment of
his life. He gave directions for his own burial, appointed who
should attend his corpse to the grave, and declared that he
desired to die on a Saturday of all days in the week; and
that he hoped Our Lady would procure him that favor, for in
her he had always placed great trust, and served her very
devoutly. And so it happened; for he died on Saturday, the
30th of August, 1433, at about eight in the evening, in the
castle of Plessis, where his illness seized him on the Monday
before. May Our Lord receive his soul, and admit it into his
kingdom of Paradise!
•


## p. 3932 (#298) ###########################################

3932
PHILIPPE DE COMINES
CHARACTER OF LOUIS XI.
SMA
MALL hopes and comfort ought poor and inferior people to
have in this world, considering what so great a king suf-
fered and underwent, and how he was at last forced to
leave all, and could not, with all his care and diligence, protract
his life one single hour. I knew him and was entertained in
his service in the flower of his age and at the height of his
prosperity, yet I never saw him free from labor and care. Of
all diversions he loved hunting and hawking in their seasons;
but his chief delight was in dogs.
In hunting, his
eagerness and pain were equal to his pleasure, for his chase was
the stag, which he always ran down. He rose very early in the
morning, rode sometimes a great distance, and would not leave
his sport, let the weather be never so bad; and when he came
home at night he was often very weary, and generally in a vio-
lent passion with some of his courtiers or huntsmen; for hunting
is a sport not always to be managed according to the master's
direction; yet in the opinion of most people, he understood it
as well as any prince of his time. He was continually at these
sports, lodging in the country villages to which his recreations
led him, till he was interrupted by business; for during the
most part of the summer there was constantly war between him
and Charles, Duke of Burgundy, and in the winter they made
truces;
so that he had but a little time during the
whole year to spend in pleasure, and even then the fatigues he
underwent were excessive. When his body was at rest his mind
was at work, for he had affairs in several places at once, and
would concern himself as much in those of his neighbors as in
his own; putting officers of his own over all the great families,
and endeavoring to divide their authority as much as possible.
When he was at war he labored for a peace or a truce, and
when he had obtained it he was impatient for war again. He
troubled himself with many trifles in his government which he
had better have left alone: but it was his temper, and he could
not help it; besides, he had a prodigious memory, and he forgot
nothing, but knew everybody, as well in other countries as in
his own.
And in truth he seemed better fitted to rule a world than
to govern a single kingdom. I speak not of his minority, for


## p. 3933 (#299) ###########################################

PHILIPPE DE COMINES
3933
then I was not with him; but when he was eleven years he
was, by the advice of some of the nobility and others of his
kingdom, embroiled in a war with his father, Charles VII. ,
which lasted not long, and was called the Praguerie. When he
was arrived at man's estate he was married, much against his
inclination, to the King of Scotland's daughter; and he regretted
her existence during the whole course of her life. Afterwards,
by reason of the broils and factions in his father's court, he
retired into Dauphiny (which was his own), whither many per-
sons of quality followed him, and indeed more than he could
entertain. During his residence in Dauphiny he married the
Duke of Savoy's daughter, and not long after he had great dis-
putes with his father-in-law, and a terrible war was begun
between them. His father, King Charles VII. , seeing his son
attended by so many good officers and raising men at his
pleasure, resolved to go in person against him with a consider-
able body of forces, in order to disperse them. While he was
upon his march he put out proclamations, requiring them all as
his subjects, under great penalties, to repair to him; and many
obeyed, to the great displeasure of the Dauphin, who finding
his father incensed, though he was strong enough to resist,
resolved to retire and leave that country to him; and accord-
ingly he removed with but a slender retinue into Burgundy to
Duke Philip's court, who received him honorably, furnished him
nobly, and maintained him and his principal servants by way
of pensions; and to the rest he gave presents as he saw occasion
during the whole time of their residence there. However, the
Dauphin entertained. SO many at his own expense that his
money often failed, to his great disgust and mortification; for
he was forced to borrow, or his people would have forsaken
him; which is certainly a great affliction to a prince who was
utterly unaccustomed to those straits. So that during his resi-
dence at the court of Burgundy he had his anxieties, for he was
constrained to cajole the duke and his ministers, lest they should
think he was too burdensome and had laid too long upon their
hands; for he had been with them six years, and his father,
King Charles, was constantly pressing and soliciting the Duke
of Burgundy, by his ambassadors, either to deliver him up to
him or to banish him out of his dominions.
And this, you
may believe, gave the Dauphin some uneasy thoughts and
would not suffer him to be idle. In which season of his life,


## p. 3934 (#300) ###########################################

PHILIPPE DE COMINES
3934
then, was it that he may be said to have enjoyed himself? I
believe from his infancy and innocence to his death, his whole
life was nothing but one continued scene of troubles and
fatigues; and I am of opinion that if all the days of his life
were computed in which his joys and pleasures outweighed his
pain and trouble, they would be found so few that there would
be twenty mournful ones to one pleasant.


## p. 3935 (#301) ###########################################

3935
AUGUSTE COMTE
(1798-1857)
HE name of Auguste Comte is associated with two such utterly
conflicting systems, the "Positive Philosophy" and the
"Positive Polity," that the impression conveyed by his
name is apt to be a rather confused one. Littré, Comte's most
distinguished disciple, takes no notice of his later speculations, attrib-
uting them to a nervous malady complicated by a violent passion for
Madame de Vaux; while Carid, on the other hand, considers Comte's
return to metaphysical ideas the saving grace in his career. His
conception of human knowledge, as defined
in the Positive Philosophy, is in a measure
the general property of the age. He devel-
oped the germs latent in the works of
Turgot, Condorcet, and Kant, his immedi-
ate predecessors in the world of thought.
Universality was the essential characteristic
of his intellect, enabling him to penetrate
profoundly into the domain of abstract
science from mathematics to sociology.

AUGUSTE COMTE
Auguste Comte was born at Montpellier
on the 19th of January, 1798, and entered
college at the age of nine years. Before
attaining his fourteenth year he had already
felt the need of fundamental reconstruction in politics and philosophy.
This maturity is all the more remarkable that philosophical minds
mature slowly. In 1814 he entered the Polytechnic School. When
Louis XVIII. suppressed it, Comte, not having graduated, found him-
self without a career. At the age of twenty he came in contact
with Saint-Simon, whose devoted disciple he became. The attraction
mutually felt by them was due to their common conviction of the
need of a complete social reform, based on a widespread mental
renovation.
There was now no place in the national system of education for
free-thinkers, and Comte, cut off from all hope of employment in
that direction, turned to private instruction for support. At the age
of twenty-two, in a pamphlet entitled 'System of Positive Polity,'
he announced his discovery of the laws of sociology. The work
had no success, and Comte bent his energies during a meditation of


## p. 3936 (#302) ###########################################

3936
AUGUSTE COMTE
twenty-four hours to the conception of a system which would force
conviction on his readers. This he so far elaborated that in 1826
he published a plan of the work,-a plan requiring twelve years for
its execution.
As his ideas were being appropriated by other people, he now
began a dogmatic exposition of Positivism in a course of lectures
delivered in his own home. These lectures opened under encouraging
auspices, but after the third, Comte's mind gave way. The deter-
mining cause of this collapse lay in the excessive strain of his
method of work, aided by a bad digestion and mental irritability
growing out of the violent attacks made upon him by Saint-Simon's
followers. In 1827 he was sufficiently recovered to take up intel-
lectual work again, and the following year he resumed his lectures
at the point of their interruption. After the accession of Louis
Philippe, Comte was appointed assistant teacher of mathematics at
the Polytechnic, and later, examiner of candidates, while he taught
in a private school.
Unshakable firmness in philosophical matters and great disinter-
estedness were characteristic of this social critic, who cared nothing
for the money his books might bring. His early sympathies were
with the Revolution; he defended the socialist Marrast, though his
position in a government school might have been compromised
thereby. When in 1830 the Committee of the Polytechnic undertook
to give free lectures to the people, he assumed the department of
astronomy and lectured on that subject weekly for sixteen years.
The second and great period of Comte's life extends from his
recovery in 1828 to the completion of his Positive Philosophy' in
1848; though what he calls his "second life" began after that. The
intense satisfaction which he felt on the completion of that work
became infatuation. He was no longer capable of judging his
position sanely, and by his attacks antagonized the scientists.
In 1842 John Stuart Mill gave his adherence to Positivism. When
Comte lost his tutorship in the Polytechnic, and shortly after, his
position as examiner, Mill raised a small sum for him in England.
Afterward Littré organized a subscription, and this formed hence-
forth Comte's sole resource. He now threw himself more completely
than before into the problems of social life, elucidating them in his
'Positive Polity,' whose really scientific elements are almost crowded
out of sight by a mass of extravagant theories.
The Positive Calendar, in which the names of great men replace
the saints of the Catholic Church, was adopted by Comte in his cor-
respondence. He consecrated an altar to his friend Madame de
Vaux, entitled himself High Priest of Humanity, married people,
called his letters his briefs, administered the sacraments of his cult


## p. 3937 (#303) ###########################################

AUGUSTE COMTE
3937
in commemoration of birth, the choice of a profession, marriage, etc.
He subordinated the intellect to the feelings, wished to suppress
independent thought, to center a dictatorship in a triumvirate of
bankers, and to concentrate the entire spiritual power of the world
in the hands of a single pontiff. He acquired a hatred of scientific
and purely literary pursuits, and considered that men reasoned more
than was good for them. Comte's absolute faith in himself passes
belief. He lauds the moral superiority of fetishism, pronounces the
æsthetic civilization of the Greeks inferior to the military civilization
of the Romans; is indifferent to proof, provided he attains theoretic
coherency; and pushes his spiritual dictatorship to the length of
selecting one hundred books to 'constitute the library of every Posi-
tivist, recommending the destruction of all other books, as also that
of all plants and animals useless to man. He associates science with
sentiment, endows the planets with feeling and will, calls the Earth
"le grand fétiche," includes all concrete existence in our adoration
along with "le grand fétiche," and names space "le grand milieu,»
endowing the latter with feeling as the representative of fatality in
general. Many of these conceits can be attributed to his ardor for
regulating things in accordance with his peculiar conception of
unity. He died in Paris at the age of fifty-nine years, on September
5th, 1857.
Throughout life, Comte's method of work was unprecedented. He
thought out his subject in its entirety before writing down a word,
proceeding from general facts to secondary matters, and thence to
details. The general and detailed sketch outlined, he considered the
work done. When he began to write, he took up his ideas in their
respective order. His memory was wonderful; he did all his read-
ing in his early youth, and the provision then amassed sufficed to
elaborate a work for which he had to bear in mind an unusual num-
ber of scientific and historical facts. In consequence of his absten-
tion from contemporary literature he became less and less in touch
with the age, and missed the corrective force of friction with other
minds.
The word "religion," when applied to Comte's later speculations,
must not be taken in its ordinary sense. His attitude towards the-
ology was and continued to be purely negative. The obligation of
duty was towards the human race as a continuous whole, to whose
providence we owe all the benefits conferred by previous generations.
If he has not succeeded in suppressing the Absolute, he has co-ordi-
nated all the abstract sciences into one consistent system. Some of
them he found ready to hand, and merely revised and rearranged in
their philosophical relation, eliminating all non-positive elements.
The first three volumes of the Positive Philosophy' are devoted to
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3938
AUGUSTE COMTE
this task. The other three volumes, as well as the last two of the
'Positive Polity,' are dedicated to the solution of the problems of
sociology unattempted until then. While they may not have solved
these, they have a scientific value independent of any absolute
results.
The distinctive characteristic of Positivism is that it subjects all
phenomena to invariable laws. It does not pretend to know any-
thing about a future life, but believes that our ideas and intelligence
will go to swell the sum total of spirituality, just as our bodies go
to fertilize matter.
The complaint has been made that there has been very little seri-
ous criticism of the 'Positive Polity,' which Comte regarded as the
most original and important of his works. If the form in which he
reproduces metaphysics and theology has any value, it is because he
has come to see that they are based on perennial wants in man's
nature. In the 'Positive Philosophy' he excludes the Absolute; in
the 'Positive Polity' he substitutes Humanity in lieu thereof; but his
moral intention, however misguided at times, is passionately sincere,
and his conviction that his mission was to exalt humanity through
all time, sustained him during the course of a long life devoted to
a generous ideal, fraught with disappointment, saddened by want of
recognition and by persecution and neglect.
THE EVOLUTION OF BELIEF
From the Positive Philosophy>
E
ACH of our leading conceptions passes through three different
theoretical conditions: the Theological, or fictitious; the
Metaphysical, or abstract; and the Scientific, or positive.
Hence arise three philosophies, or general systems of conceptions
on the aggregate of phenomena, each of which excludes the
others. The first is the necessary point of departure of the
human understanding, and the third is its fixed and definite
The second is merely a state of transition.
state.
In the theological state, the human mind, seeking the essen-
tial nature of beings, the first and final causes of all effects,—
in short, absolute knowledge,- supposes all phenomena to be
produced by the immediate action of supernatural beings.
In the metaphysical state, which is only a modification of the
first, the mind supposes, instead of supernatural beings, abstract
forces, veritable entities (that is, personified abstractions) inherent


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AUGUSTE COMTE
3939
in all beings, and capable of producing all phenomena. What is
called the explanation of phenomena is, in this stage, a mere
reference of each to its proper entity.
In the final, the positive state, the mind has given over the
vain search after absolute notions, the origin and destination of
the universe, and the causes of phenomena, and applies itself
to the study of their laws,- that is, their invariable relations of
succession and resemblance. Reasoning and observation, duly
combined, are the means of this knowledge. What is now
understood when we speak of an explanation of facts, is simply
the establishment of a connection between single phenomena and
some general facts, the number of which continually diminishes
with the progress of science.
The Theological system arrived at the highest perfection of
which it is capable, when it substituted the providential action of
a single Being for the varied operations of numerous divinities
which had been before imagined. In the same way, in the last
stage of the Metaphysical system, men substitute one great
entity (Nature) as the cause of all phenomena, instead of the
multitude of entities at first supposed. In the same way, again,
the ultimate perfection of the Positive system would be (if such
perfection could be hoped for) to represent all phenomena as
particular aspects of a single general fact,—such as gravitation,
for instance.