28。Police,p。310。
29。Police,p。105。
30。Ibid。,p。13。
31。Ibid。,p。211。
32。Ibid。,p。136。
33。Police,p。523。
34。Ibid。,p。397。
35。Police,p。60。
36。Ibid。,p。481。
37。Ibid。,p。7。
38。Ibid。,p。298。
39。Police,p。99。
40。Bentham’sWorks,x,329seq。
41。Ibid。,v。335。
42。Bentham’sWorks,iv,3,121。
43。Cobbet’sStateTrials,xvii,297-626。
44。Police,p。340。
45。Wilberforcestartedonthisplana’societyforenforcingtheking’sproclamation’in1786,whichwassupplementedbythesocietyfor’theSuppresionofVice’in1802。Idon’tsupposethatvicewasmuchsuppressed。SydneySmithridiculeditsperformanceintheEdinburghfor1809。Thearticleisinhisworks。Amoreinterestingsocietywasthatfor’betteringtheconditionofthepoor,’startedbySirThomasBernardandWilberforcein1796。
46。BiographiaLiteraria1847,ii。327。
47。HistoryoftheRise,ProgressandAccomplishmentoftheAbolitionoftheSlave-tradebytheBritishParliament1808。Secondenlargededition1839。ThechartwasonecauseoftheoffencetakenbyWilberforce’ssons。
48。Cf。SirJ。Stephen’sEcclesiasticalBiographyTheEvanglicalSuccession。
49。SeepassagescollectedinBirkbeckHill’sBoswell,ii,478-80,andcf。iii,200-204。BoswellwasattractedbyClarkson,butfinallymadeuphismindthattheabolitionoftheslave-tradewould’shutthegatesofmercyonmankind。’
50。SeetheaccountofG。SharpinSirJ。Stephen’sEcclesiasticalBiographyChaphamSect。
51。Cobbett’sStateTrials,xx,1-82。
52。TheSocietydeterminedin1760’todisown’anyFriendconcernedintheslave-trade。
53。MrConway,inhisLifeofPaine,attributes,Ithink,alittlemoretohisherothanisconsistentwithdueregardtohispredecessors;but,inanycase,hetookanearlypartinthemovement。
54。SeeuponthissubjectMrJephson’sinterestingbookonThePlatform。
55。France,p。20620thJuly1789。
56。SeetheLifeofHorneTooke,byAlexanderStephens2vols。8vo。1813。
JohnHorneaddedthenameTookein1782。
57。Parl。Hist。xxi。751
58。Thehistoryofthesesocietiesmaybefoundinthetrialsreportedinthetwenty-third,twenty-fourth,andtwenty-fifthvolumesofCobbett’sStateTrials,andinthereportsofthesecretcommitteesinthethirty-firstandthirty-fourthvolumesoftheParl。History。TherearematerialsinPlace’spapersintheBritishMuseumwhichhavebeenusedinE。Smith’sEnglishJacobins。
59。Parl。Hist。xxix,130001341。
60。Parl。Hist。xxiv,574-655。
61。MrWallas’sLifeofPlace,p。25n。
62。StateTrials,xxiv,575。
63。Ibid。xxv。330。
64。Ibid。xxv。390。
65。Paul’sGodwin,i,147。
66。Stephen,li,48,477。
67。Ibid。ii,34-41,323,478-481。
68。Ibid。ii。483。
69。Bentham’sWorks,x,404。
70。HewasmemberforOldSarum,180102;buthiscareerendedbyadeclaratoryactdisqualifyingforaseatmenwhohadreceivedholyorders。
71。Bentham’sWorks,x。404;LiveofMackintosh,i,52;Paul’sGodwin,i,71;Coleridge’sTableTalk,8thMay1830and16thAugust1833。
72。Stephens,ii,316,334,438。
CHAPTERIV
PHILOSOPHY
I。JohnHorneTookeIhavesofardweltuponthesocialandpoliticalenvironmentoftheearlyUtilitarianmovement;andhavetriedalsotopointoutsomeofthespeculativetendenciesfosteredbytheposition。Ifitbeaskedwhatphilosophicaldoctrineswereexplicitlytaught,theanswermustbeaveryshortone。Englishphilosophybarelyexisted。Parrwassupposedtoknowsomethingaboutmetaphysics——
apparentlybecausehecouldwritegoodLatin。Buttheinferencewashasty。
Ofonebook,however,whichhadarealinfluence,Imustsaysomething,forthoughitcontainedlittledefinitephilosophy,itshowedwhatkindofphilosophywascongenialtothecommon-senseofthetime。Thesturdyradical,HorneTooke,hadbeenledtothestudyofphilologybyacharacteristicincident。
Thelegalquestionhadarisenwhetherthewords,’She,knowingthatCrookehadbeenindictedforforgery,’didsoandso,containedanavermentthatCrookehadbeenindicted。TookearguedinalettertoDunning1*thattheydid;becausetheywereequivalenttothephrase,’Crookehadbeenindictedforforgery:she,knowingthat,’didsoandso。Thisraisesthequestion。
Whatisthemeaningof’that’?Tooketookupthestudy,thinking,ashesays,thatitwouldthrowlightuponsomephilosophicalquestions。HelearnedsomeAnglo-SaxonandGothictotesthistheoryand,ofcourse,confirmedit。2*
Thebookshowsingenuity,shrewdness,andindustry,andTookedeservescreditforseeingthenecessityofapplyingareallyhistoricalmethodtohisproblem,thoughhisresultswerenecessarilycrudeintheprescientificstageofphilology。
Thebookismainlyalongstringofetymologies,whichreadersofdifferenttasteshavefoundintolerablydulloranamusingcollectionofcuriosities。
Tookeheld,andsurelywithreason,thataninvestigationoflanguage,thegreatinstrumentofthought,mayhelptothrowlightupontheprocessofthinking。HeprofessestobeadiscipleofLockeinphilosophyasinpolitics。
Locke,hesaid,3*madealuckymistakeincallinghisbookanessayuponhumanunderstanding;forhethusattractedmanywhowouldhavebeenrepelledhadhecalleditwhatitreallywas,’atreatiseuponwordsandlanguage。’
AccordingtoTooke,infact,4*whatwecall’operationsofmind’areonly’operationsoflanguage。’Themindcontemplatesnothingbut’impressions,’
thatis,’sensationsorfeelings,’whichLockecalled’ideas。’Lockemistookcompositionoftermsforcompositionofideas。Tocompoundideasisimpossible。
Wecanonlyuseonetermasasignofmanyideas。Locke,again,supposedthataffirminganddenyingwereoperationsofthemind,whereastheyareonlyartificesoflanguage。5*
Themind,then,canonlycontemplate,separatelyortogether,aggregatesof’ideas,’ultimateatoms,incapableofbeingpartedordissolved。Thereare,therefore,onlytwoclassesofwords,nounsandverbs;allothers,prepositions,conjunctions,andsoforth,beingabbreviations,akindofmentalshorthandtosavethetroubleofenumeratingtheseparateitems。Tooke,inshort,isathorough-goingnominalist。Therealities,accordingtohim,aresticks,stones,andmaterialobjects,orthe’ideas’which’represent’them。Theycanbestucktogetherortakenapart,butallthewordswhichexpressrelations,categories,andthelike,areinthemselvesmeaningless。Thespecialobjectsofhisscornare’Hermes’Harris,andMonboddo,whohadtriedtodefendAristotleagainstLocke。Monboddohadassertedthat’everykindofrelation’isapure’ideaoftheintellect’nottobeapprehendedbysense。6*Ifso,accordingtoTooke,itwouldbeanonentity。
Thisdoctrinegivesashortcuttotheabolitionofmetaphysics。Theword’metaphysics,’saysTooke,7*isnonsense。Allmetaphysicalcontroversiesare’foundedonthegrossestignoranceofwordsandthenatureofspeech。’
Thegreatestpartofhissecondvolumeisconcernedwithetymologiesintendedtoprovethatan’abstractidea’isamereword。Abstractwords,hesays,8*
aregenerally’participleswithoutasubstantiveandthereforeinconstructionusedassubstantives。’Fromamisunderstandingofthishasarisen’metaphysicaljargon’and’falsemorality。’Inillustrationhegivesasingularlistofwords,including’fate,chance,heaven,hell,providence,prudence,innocence,substance,fiend,angel,apostle,spirit,true,false,desert,merit,faith,etc。,allofwhicharemereparticiplespoeticallyembodiedandsubstantiatedbythosewhousethem。’Acoupleofspecificapplications,oftenquotedbylaterwriters,willsufficientlyindicatehisdrift。
Suchwords,heremarks,9*as’right’and’just’meansimplythatwhichisorderedorcommanded。Thechapterisheaded’rightsofman,’andTooke’sinterlocutornaturallyobservesthatthisisasingularresultforademocrat。
Man,itwouldseem,hasnorightsexcepttherightscreatedbythelaw。Tookeadmitstheinferencetobecorrect,butrepliesthatthedemocratindisobeyinghumanlawmaybeobeyingthelawofGod,andisobeyingthelawofGodwhenheobeysthelawofnature。TheinterlocutordoesnotinquirewhatTookecouldmeanbythe’lawofnature。’WecanguesswhatTookewouldhavesaidtoPaineintheWimbledongarden。Infact,however,Tookeishere,aselsewhere,followingHobbes,though,itseems,unconsciously。Anotherfamousetymologyisthatof’truth’from’troweth。’10*Truthiswhateachmanthinks。Thereisnosuchthing,therefore,as’eternal,immutable,everlastingtruth,unlessmankind,suchastheyareatpresent,beeternal,immutable,everlasting。’
Twopersonsmaycontradicteachotherandyeteachmaybespeakingwhatistrueforhim。Truthmaybeaviceaswellasavirtue;foronmanyoccasionsitiswrongtospeakthetruth。
第19章