Having vindicated the name from the charge of a spurious origin, we fear that we shall have still greater difficulty in rescuing the science itself from the oppro brium and ridicule into which it has fallen in the esti mation of the present superficial generation We gr .nt that the ancient nomenclature of the science is suffi ciently repulsive ; and we are not surprized that the readers of reviews, magazines, and novels, should shrink with horror at the following enumeration of heads into which the schoolmen divided the subject : I. Ontology ; 2 Cosmolo,.y ; 3. Anthroposophy ; 4. Psy chology ; 5. Pneumatology ; 6. Metaphysical Theolo gy. This division was unnecessary and useless; it, for the most part, only tended to create distinctions where there was no real difference, and to render a science, which ought to have heel% explanatory of every other, tht most intricate, perplexing, and uncertain ; and we should have hailed with pleasure that independence of thinking, which. despising antiquated names, and un authorised divisions, endeavoured to extend the boun daries of genuine science.
But the spirit of the ancient metaphysicians has not been expelled by such means as these ; it has not, like the demonology of the dark ages, yielded to the light of superior knowledge ; it has been driven out by fiends more fell and more foul than itself, by igno rance, indolence, and aversion to solid knowledge. Me taphysics are not the only science proscribed by the reigning taste in Great Britain ; every thing that has the appearance of profound discussion, if it be connect ed with mind or with morals, is thrown aside with dis gust ; and nothing can obtain so much as an examina tion, if it is not connected with palpable science, or with that vitiated taste which feeds for ever, without being satisfied, on the fungous productions of superfi cial knowledge. What Johnston said sarcastically of the literature of Scotland. seems to be in a fair way of being realized as to the whole of Great Britain : it will soon be like a city in a siege, where every man has a ration of food, but no one gets a bellyful.
In such circumstances, we cannot expect much at tention to be paid to metaphysics, when the subject both labours under a had name, and requires too much ex pence of thought for the present frivolous taste of the age. " It is curious to remark," says an eloquent de fender of metaphysical science,' " the strange notions which men, are quite ignorant of its nature, have formed of the first philosophy." There are sonic who seem seriously to believe, that this science serves only to darken and bewilder the understanding ; while others suppose, that it consists in the babbling of a pedantic jargon, which constituted the barbarous language of the scholastic learning. If a perplexed reasoner puzzle
himself and his audience, we are almost sure to hear his metaphysical subtlety reproved or lamented ; and he, upon his part, seldom fails to ascribe the confusion of his ideas to the obscure nature of all speculative doc trines. If a pert rhetorician get entangled in his own sophistries, he is ever ready to accuse himself of having too much of the very logic which he wants. There is not a mere tyro in literature, who has blundered round the meaning of a chapter in Plato, but is content to mistake himself for a philosopher. A sciolist cannot set up for an Atheist, without first hailing himself a metaphysician ; while an ignorant dogmatist no sooner finds himself embarrassed with a doubt, than he seeks to avenge his offended vanity, by representing all me taphysical inquiries as idle or mischievous. Thus the noblest of the sciences is mistaken and vilified by the folly of some, and by the prejudices of others ; by the impertinent pretensions of a few, who could never un derstand it, and by the unjustifiable censures of many, who have never given it a fair and candid examination. He, however, who has been accustomed to meditate on the principles of things, the springs of action, the foun dations of political government, the sources of moral law, the nature of the passions, the influence of habit and association, the formation of character and temper, the faculties of the soul, and the philosophy of mind, will not be persuaded that these things arc unworthy of his patient attention, because presumptuous writers have abused the liberty of investigation, or because dull ones have found it to be unavailing. He knows that metaphysics do not exclude other learning ; that, on the contrary, they blend themselves with all the sciences. He feels the love of truth to grow strong with the search of it. lie confesses the very bounded powers of the human understanding, while he contemplates the im m•tsity of nature. and the male sty of God ; but he thinks that his researches may contribute to enlarge and correct his notions, that they may teach him how to reason with precision, and that they may instruct him in the knowledge of himself. His time, he believes, is seldom employed to greater advantage, than when he considers what may he the nature of his intellectual belt g. examines the extent of his moral duties, investi gates the sources of happiness• and demonstrates the means by which it twiy be more generally (housed.