Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learning/Chapter 29
CHAP. XXIX.
Reflections upon the Reasons of the Decay of Modern Learning, assigned by Sir William Temple.
HAving therefore, as I hope, sufficiently proved that there has not been such a Fall in Modern Learning, as Sir William Temple supposes; nay, even that comparatively speaking the Extent of Knowlege, is at this Time, vastly greater than it was in former Ages, it may seem, perhaps, a needless Thing to examine those Reasons which he alledges, of the Decrease of that which in the gross has suffered no Decay. Something however, I shall say to them, because if they do not prove what Sir William Temple designs, yet they will prove at least, what a perfect thing Learning might have been, if it had not met with such Impediments.
The first Blow which he says (l)(l) Pag. 64, 65., that Learning received, was by the Disputes which arose about Religion in Europe, soon after the Revival of Learning in these parts of the World. There is no doubt, but the Thoughts of many very able Men were taken up with those Controversies; who, if they had turned them with the same Application to natural or civil Knowledge, would therein have done very extraordinary things. Yet, considering all things, it may be justly questioned, whether Learning may not by these very Disputes, have received either immediately, or occasionally, a very great Improvement, or at least, suffered no very considerable Diminution. For, (1.) it is certain, That whatsoever relates to Divinity as a Science, has hereby been better scanned, and more accurately understood and explained than otherwise it would ever have been; and, I suppose, this will be readily owned to be one of the most excellent Parts of Knowledge. (2.) It is a Question, whether very many of the greatest Promoters of any Part of this Theological Knowledge, would, or could have done so great things, upon any other Subject. Opposition in general, whets Mens Parts extremely, and that inward Satisfaction which a good Man takes, in thinking that he is employed upon Arguments of greatest Concern to the Souls of Men, inspires him with an Ardour that adds Wings to his native Alacrity; and makes him in all such Cases, even out-do himself. (3.) When different Parties are once formed, and great Numbers of Youths are constantly trained up to succeed the older Champions of their respective Sides; as they shall drop off, all of them will not apply their Minds to Studies, immediately relating to their own Professions, but here and there one, as his Genius shall lead him, will try to excel in different Ways for the Glory of his own Party; especially if he sees any of his Adversaries eminently famous before him, in those things. Thus Petavius set himself to contradict Joseph Scaliger's Books De Emendatione Temporum, and Scioppius fell upon his other Critical Writings: Whilst Isaac Casaubon concerned himself only with publishing and Commenting upon Athenæus, Polybius, and Theophrastus: He was complemented by all Sides, but when once he wrote against the Annals of Cardinal Baronius, he met with numerous Adversaries; and there was scarce a Critick of the Church of Rome that wrote for some Time afterwards, that did not peck at something or other in his other Writings. This Emulation eminently appeared in the Order of the Jesuits, the main Design of whose Institution seems to have been to engross all Learning, as well as all Politicks, to themselves; and therefore, we see so many extraordinary Men amongst them for all sorts of things, thereby to give the World Occasion to think, that there must certainly be something more than ordinary in the Constitution of a Body, which every Day produced such excellent Persons. So that if one considers how far this Emulation went, which even yet is not wholly extinct, it is hard to say, whether Disputes in Religion have not rather helped to encrease the Stock of Learning than otherwise; at least, one may venture to say that they have not diminished it.
It is most certain, that the different Political Interests in Europe, have done it a mighty Kindness. During the Establishment of the Roman Empire, one common Interest guided that vast Body, and these Western Kingdoms amongst the rest. Rome was the Center of their Learning of the West, as well as of their Hopes, and thither the Provinces of this Part of the World had always Resort: Whereas now every Kingdom standing upon its own Bottom, they are all mutually jealous of each others Glory, and in nothing more than in Matters of Learning in those Countries, where they have Opportunities to pursue it. About an Hundred and Fifty, or Two Hundred Years since, it was esteemed a very honourable Thing to write a true Ciceronian Style: This the Italians pretended to keep to themselves, and they would scarce allow that any Man beyond the Alpes, unless perhaps, Longolius and Cardinal Pole, wrote pure Roman Latin: This made other Nations strive to equal them, and one rarely meets with a Book written at that Time upon a Subject that would bear the Elegancies of Stile in bad Latin: When Critical Learning was in Fashion, every Nation had some few great Men at the same Time, or very near it, to set against those of another. Italy boasted of Robertus Titius, and Petrus Victorius; France had Joseph Scaliger, Isaac Casaubon, Cujacius, Pithaeus, Brissonius, and several more. Switzerland produced Gesner, for that and almost every thing else; Germany had Leopardus, Gruter, Putschius, and others; the Low Countries had Justus Lipsius; England had Sir Henry Savile, every Country had some great Men to keep up its Glory in those things which then were in greatest request. In this last Age Mathematical and Physical Sciences seem to have been the Darling Studies of the Learned Men of Europe; there also the same Emulation has been equally visible. When Great Britain could shew such Men as my Lord Bacon, my Lord Napier, the Inventor of Logarithms, Mr. Harriot, Mr. Oughtred, and Mr. Horrox; Holland had Stevinus, who first found out Decimal Arithmetick, and Snellius; France could reckon up Des Cartes, Mersennus, Fermat, and Gassendi; Italy had Galileo, Torricellius, and Cavallerius; Germany, Kepler; and Denmark, not long before, Tycho Brahe. When afterwards the Philosophers of England grew numerous, and united their Strength, France also took the Hint, and its King set up a Royal Society, to Rival ours. The Duke of Tuscany had set up already at Florence the Academy del Cimento, whose Members employed themselves in pursuing the same Methods. In Germany, an Academy of the same Nature has been raised. Even Ireland has had its Philosophical Society. From all which, such Swarms of Great Men in every Part of Natural and Mathematical Knowledge have within these few Years appeared, that it may, perhaps, without Vanity, be believed, that if this Humour lasts much longer, and learned Men do not divert their Thoughts to Speculations of another Kind, the next Age will not find very much Work of this Kind to do: For this sort of Learning has spread where-ever Letters have had any Encouragement in Europe so successfully, that even the Northern Kingdoms have had their Bartholin's, their Borrichius's, their Rudbeck's, their Wormius's, and their Hevelius's, who have put in for that Prize which the Inhabitants of warmer Climates seemed already in possession of. This has occasioned the Writing of Abundance of Books, to vindicate the Glory of every great Invention to some eminent Man of that Country that the Authors of those Books belonged to. Which Disputes, though many Times very pedantically managed, and with an Heat mis-becoming Learned Men, yet has had this good Effect, that while some were zealous to secure the Glory of the Invention of Things already discovered, to their own Countries; others were equally sollicitous to add a more undisputed Honour to them, by new Inventions, which they were sure no Man could possibly challenge.
Another Reason of the Decay of Learning, according to Sir William Temple (m)Pag. 67-71., is, the Want of Protection from Great Men, and an unsatiable Thirst after Gain, now grown the Humour of the Age. That Princes do not now delight to talk of Matters of Learning in their publick Conversations, as they did about an Hundred and Fifty Years ago, is very evident. When Learning first came up, Men fansied that every Thing could be done by it, and they were charmed with the Eloquence of its Professors, who did not fail to set forth all its Advantages in the most engaging Dress. It was so very modish, that the fair Sex seemed to believe that Greek and Latin added to their Charms; and Plato and Aristotle untranslated, were frequent Ornaments of their Closets. One would think by the Effects, that it was a proper Way of Educating of them, since there are no Accounts in History of so many very great Women in any one Age, as are to be found between the Years 15 and 1600. This Humour in both Sexes abated by Degrees; and the Great Men being either disgusted with the Labour that was requisite to become thoroughly Learned, or with the frequent Repetitions of the same Things, Business and Diversions took up their Thoughts, as they had done formerly. But yet, in the main, the Learned Men of this Age have not so very much Reason to think themselves ill used, as it is commonly thought. What by Fellowships of Colleges, and Ecclesiastical Preferments, here in England; and by the same sort of Preferments, added to the Allowances in several Monastical Orders, in Popish Countries, there are very fair Settlements for Men of Studious and Sedentary Lives; and innumerable Instances can be given in these two last Ages, of the excellent Uses which very many Men have made of them: So that every such Preferment bestowed upon any learned Man, upon the Score of his Merit, by Princes, or Great Men, in whose Gift they were, is an Instance of their Beneficence to Men of Letters: And whether a Man is considered by a Pension out of a Prince's Exchequer, or by the Collation of a Preferment in that Prince's Gift, it is to the Man who enjoys it the self-same Thing. Neither have Examples been wanting in the present Age, of Sovereign Princes who have made it as much their Business to encourage Learned Men, as, perhaps, in any of the former, that are so much commended for that very Reason. Christina Queen of Sweden, who in other Respects, was by no Means the Glory of her Sex, did, whilst she lived at Stockholm, send for the learnedest Men of Europe to come to her, that she might converse with them about those Things wherein they were most excellent. Des Cartes, Salmasius, Bochart, Nich. Heinsius, Isaac Vossius, were of that Number: And her Profuseness, which knew no Bounds, was never more visible, than in her Marks of Respect to Men of Letters. Afterwards, when she setled at Rome, her Palace was always an Academy of the Virtuosi of that City. The present French King, whilst Monsieur Colbert lived, took a singular Pride in sending Presents to the most celebrated Scholars of Europe; without regarding whether they were his own Subjects, or of his own Religion, or no. This he did purely for his Glory, the Principle which Sir William Temple (n)(n) Pag. 68. so very much applauds. His own Protestant Subjects, before he involved them in one common Ruin, tasted of his Liberality of that Kind upon Occasion: And whatsoever his other Actions are, and have been; yet his extraordinary Care to breed up his Son to Learning, his erecting of Academies for Arts and Sciences at Paris, and his frequent Bounties to Men of Letters, justly require that, upon this Account, he should be mentioned with Honour. Cardinal de Richelieu, Cardinal Mazarini, Monsieur Fouquet, and Monsieur Colbert, though no Sovereign Princes, yet had Purses greater than many of them. Cardinal de Richelieu was himself a Scholar; and all of them were eminently Favourers of Learned Men. I have mentioned my own Country last, that I might once more observe, that it was a Prince of our own, who founded the ROYAL SOCIETY, (o)(o) Pag. 57. whose Studies, Writings and Productions, though they have not out-shined or eclipsed the Lycæum of Plato, the Academy of Aristotle, the Stoa of Zeno, or the Garden of Epicurus, because they were neither written at the same Time, nor, for the most part, upon the same Subjects; yet will always help to keep alive the Memory of that Prince, who incorporated them into a Body, that so they might the easier do that by their Joint-Labours, which singly would have been, in a manner, impossible to be effected.
The last of Sir William Temple's Reasons of the great Decay of Modern Learning (p)(p) Pag. 71. is Pedantry; the urging of which is an evident Argument, that his Discourse is levelled against Learning, not as it stands now, but as it was Fifty or Sixty Years ago. For the new Philosophy has introduced so great a Correspondence between Men of Learning and Men of Business; which has also been encreased by other Accidents amongst the Masters of other learned Professions, that that Pedantry which formerly was almost universal, is now in a great Measure dis-used; especially, amongst the young Men, who are taught in the Universities to laugh at that frequent Citation of Scraps of Latin, in common Discourse, or upon Arguments that do not require it; and that nauseous Ostentation of Reading, and Scholarship in publick Companies, which formerly was so much in Fashion. Affecting to write politely in Modern Languages, especially the French and ours, has also helped very much to lessen it, because it has enabled Abundance of Men who want Academical Education to talk plausibly, and some exactly, upon very many learned Subjects. This also, has made Writers habitually careful to avoid those Impertinences which they know would be taken notice of and ridiculed; and it is probable, that a careful perusal of the fine new French Books, which of late Years have been greedily sought after by the politer sort of Gentlemen and Scholars, may in this particular, have done Abundance of good. By this means, and by the Help also of some other concurrent Causes, those who were not learned themselves being able to maintain Disputes with those that were, forced them to talk more warily, and brought them by little and little to be out of Countenance at that vain thrusting of their Learning into every thing, which before had been but too visible.