The University Commission.

"For not to know at large of things remote
From use, obscure and subtle; but to know
That which before us lies in daily use,

Is the prime wisdom."

MILTON.

“ Δεῖ δ' ελευθερον εἶναι τὸν μέλλοντα φιλοσοφεῖν.”—PTOLEMY.

A voice came o'er the sea that thou wert loth,
Oxford, to bear thee to the coming search :
Lessen thy proud sails ere thy vessel lurch ;
Her hull is of much-venerable growth.
Thine hope to fetter progress, by my troth,
Is feeble as the Bull of Romish Church
Hurl'd at old Galileo, to unperch

Earth from its axis, and decree its sloth.*

Stretch out thine Eson arms to the kind leech :
Open thy veins : let forth thy time-dull'd blood:
Infuse the fresh invigorating flood

Drawn from the fathom'd wells of living Truth;

Flourish again in renovated youth ;

And mingle modern things with ancient speech.†

*The Roman Editors of Newton thought it necessary to say in their Preface, 'latis a summo Pontifice contra telluris motus Decretis, nos obsequi profitemur.'

† See Note 2.

The Baconian Philosophy.

"Homo, naturæ minister et interpres."-Novum Organon.

His the true aim of Learning, who first sought
No couch luxurious for the mind's repose;
No stately tower for pomp and idle shows;
No terrace whence a fair view might be caught;
No vantage-ground for battle to be fought;
No shop wherein his trinkets to expose;

But a rich storehouse all things to enclose
Thither for Man's good or God's glory brought;
Who left those heights where all were wont to err,
For Science' lowliest places; thence to rise,
Step after step, to heights of loftier scan ;*
Who scorned the wisdom of the ancient wise;

Tried Truth by practice; humbly looked on Man
As Nature's servant and interpreter.

* Neque enim iu plano via sita est, sed ascendendo et descendendo; ascendendo primo ad axiomata, descendendo ad opera."-Novum Organon.

[It is perhaps superfluous to observe that this Sonnet is little more than a paraphrase of a well-known passage in Bacon.]

XIV.

Bacon.

Ego buccinator tantum sum, pugnam non ineo."-BACON.

"He has displayed a reach of thought and a justness of anticipation which, when compared with the discoveries of the two succeeding centuries, seem frequently to partake of the nature of prophecy.-DUGALD STEWART.

દ

« Της Φυσέως γραμματεις ην, τόν καλαμον αποβρέχων ἐισ νοῦν.”

Bacon! between two worlds thy wondrous stand,
The dark Past and bright Future, like the star
That heralds in the morning! Thou from far,
As with a prophet's glance, didst view the land
Of promise, rais'd by thine Ithuriel wand;
Like Israel's dying leader from his car
On Pisgah, crying, yonder, children, are
The milk-and-honey-flowing plains at hand.
Thou too, when loud the murmuring nations cried,
Fainting in Error's wilderness for thirst,

Didst smite the rock with barrenness long curst;
Then forth gushed streams that ever flow more wide
On to Eternal Wisdom's Ocean-shore,

Where finite Reason stops, her wanderings o'er.

On the Study of Plato.

"They enjoyed no succession of prophets, passing the torch of truth from hand to hand; no apostolic illumination, to be a light to their feet and an illumination to their paths. Nature, alone, was their teacher."-THEODORET.

All Truth is from the sempiternal source

Of Light divine. But Egypt, Greece, and Rome
Drew from the stream below. More favoured, we
Drink when we choose it at the fountain-head.
To them it flowed much mingled and defiled,
With hurtful error, prejudice, and dreams,
Illusions of Philosophy so called,
But falsely."-COWPER.

Not to The Book alone should we confine
Our knowledge and our search for moral rules;
But with the Gospel for our lamp, the tools
Of Thought may safely dig in Plato's mine;
For there bright veins of natural riches shine.
True that the labourers of the heathen Schools
Toiled on in darkness, simple babes and fools,
By Nature's feeble light and Reason's line;
For not for them, as us, the Prophet-band
Was station'd in dark crypt and deep recess,
To pass the torch of Truth from hand to hand;
Yet, lit by Bible beams, their labyrinths show
They struck with useful, if uncertain, blow,
The wisdom of the Greeks, not foolishness.

On the Study of Plato—(continued.)

"For they are like those birds of song which imitate the voice of man, but know not the meaning of the words they utter."-THEODORET.

In the nice bee what sense so subtly true

From poisonous herbs extracts the honey dew."-POPE.

"As flowers furnish enjoyment to others so far only as to their scent and colour, but bees are capable of extracting honey from them; such is the case in these studies those who are content to look not merely for what is pleasant and beautiful in them, may derive from them and lay up in store some profit for the good of the soul. Exactly then after the model of the bees, should you apply yourselves to such reading. For they settle not on all flowers alike, nor attempt to carry off everything from those on which they alight, but, taking as much as is serviceable for their work, they leave the rest. Let us in like manner, if we are wise, having derived from such studies so much as belongs and is related to the Truth, pass by what remains. As in culling a rose we avoid the thorns, so in such discourses let us enjoy the good and be on our guard against that which is hurtful."-ST. BASIL. de leg. lib. Gen.

As birds which imitate the voice of man,

Know not the meaning of the words they speak,
So of the things of God argued the Greek,
Darkly, as through a glass, viewing His plan;
And often thence the words in error ran:
Therefore, as in a garden, where we seek

Fair flowers with spangled eyes and velvet cheek,
Weeds not unfrequent mingle; so we scan
Error and Truth in Plato side by side;
But we may leave the one, the other pluck :
Or rather, with the wisdom of the bee,
Honey alike from weed and flowret suck;
Like skilful leeches who with care divide
The balm and venom of the poisonous tree.*

* I believe a long list might be given of plants which yield both nutritious and deleterious products. Among the more common is the Potato, of which the tuber is eaten, while the seed is poisonous. The root of Rhubarb is medicinal, while we inake tarts of the stalks and leaves. The common lettuce yields an extract resembling opium. The seeds of the Poppy are eaten, and yield oil; opium is the juice of the capsule. Tea, Coffee, and Tobacco, are all narcotics and poisonous. The juice of the Tapioca contains hydrocyanic acid, easily removed by washing. Strychnos nux romica is used to impart a bitter flavor to beer. Strychnine is a valuable medicine, and the most deadly poison. The Nerium Oleander produces a delicious perfume; some of our soldiers in the Peninsular war were poisoned by using the wood for skewers. Eycas cirimalis yields a sago from: the seed; the juice of the tree is acrid and poisonous. Cerbera odallum gives a medicine; though the fruit and seeds are narcotic and poisonous. Euphorbia gives gum elastic; its juice is acrid and poisonous.