HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND.

BY

HENRY THOMAS BUCKLE.


IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. III.


NEW EDITION.


TORONTO:
ROSE-BELFORD PUBLISHING COMPANY,
60 YORK STREET.
1878.

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ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. CONDITION OF SCOTLAND TO THE END OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.   PAGE Scotland and Spain are very dissimilar in regard to loyalty 1 But are very similar in regard to superstition 4 The Scotch unite liberality in politics with illiberality in religion. This is the largest and most important fact in their history; and the rest of the Volume will be occupied in investigating its causes 5 Influence of physical geography 5–7 Roman invasion of Scotland 7–9 Irish invasion of Scotland 9 Norwegian invasion of Scotland 11–12 English invasion of Scotland 12–17 The injury which these invasions inflicted upon Scotland stopped the growth of towns, and thereby favoured the power of the nobles 18 The power of the nobles was still further favoured by the physical structure of the country 19–20 And by the weakness of the Crown 20–21 Hence their authority had, before the close of the fourteenth century, become enormous. The Crown, completely overshadowed by them, could derive no aid from the citizens, because, owing to the circumstances just mentioned, there were no cities 21–23 For, industry was impossible, and the commonest arts were unknown 23–26 Evidence of the scanty population of the Scotch towns 26–30 They were too feeble and insignificant to elect their own magistrates 32–33 The municipal element being thus imperfect, the only ally, which the Crown could possibly find, was the Church 34–35 Hence, a coalition between the kings and the clergy against the nobles 34 The clergy were the only body who could withstand the nobles. Causes of the great influence of the clergy 35–44 CHAPTER II. CONDITION OF SCOTLAND IN THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES. Early in the fifteenth century, the alliance between the Crown and the Church against the nobles, became obvious 45 James I. attacked the nobles, and favoured the Church; hoping thereby to establish the supremacy of the throne 46–47 But his policy failed, because it was opposed by the operation of general causes 47–48 Besides failing, it produced his own destruction 49 Power of the Douglases, who were at the head of the southern nobility

class="page" valign="bottom">49–50 James II. murdered the chiefs of that family 51–52 The Crown, in its efforts against the nobles, was encouraged by the clergy; and before the middle of the fifteenth century, the Church and the aristocracy were completely estranged from each other 52–54 James III., like James II. and James I., allied himself with the clergy against the nobles 55–56 Their power, however, was too deeply rooted to be shaken; and in 1488, they put the king to death 55 Still, and notwithstanding these successive failures, James IV. followed the same policy as his predecessors 56 So did James V. Consequently the nobles imprisoned him, and ejected the clergy from all offices in the state 57 In 1528, James V. escaped; the Crown and the Church regained the ascendant, and the principal nobles were banished 58 From this moment, the nobles hated the Church more than ever. Their hatred brought about the Reformation 58–59 Active measures of the government against the nobles 60–61 The nobles revenged themselves by becoming Reformers 62 James V., on the other hand, threw himself entirely into the arms of the Church 62–63 As the nobles took the opposite side, and as the people had no influence, the success or failure of the Reformation in Scotland was simply a question of the success or failure of the aristocratic power 65–68 In 1542, the nobles openly refused obedience to James V.; and their treatment of him at this critical period of his life, broke his heart 68–69 Directly he died, they regained authority. The clergy were displaced, and measures favourable to Protestantism were adopted 69–72 In 1546, Cardinal Beaton was assassinated, and Knox began his career 74–75 Subsequent proceedings of Knox 76–77 While Knox was abroad, the nobles established the Reformation 78 He returned to Scotland in 1559, by which time the struggle was nearly over 79 In 1559, the queen regent was deposed; the nobles became supreme; and, in 1560, the Church was destroyed 80–84 Immediately this revolution was completed, the nobles and the preachers began to quarrel about the wealth of the Church 84 The nobles, thinking that they ought to have it, took it into their own hands 85–88 Thereupon, the Protestant preachers said that the nobles were instigated by the devil 88–90 Morton, who was at the head of the nobility, became enraged at the proceedings of the new clergy, and persecuted them 91–92 A complete rupture between the two classes 93 The clergy, finding themselves despised by the

governing class, united themselves heartily with the people, and advocated democratic principles 93 In 1574, Melville became their leader. Under his auspices, that great struggle began, which never stopped until, sixty years later, it produced the rebellion against Charles I. 94 The first manifestations of this rebellious spirit was the attack on the bishops 94 In 1575, the attack began. In 1580, episcopacy was abolished 96–97 But the nobles upheld that institution, because they loved inequality for the same reasons which made the clergy love equality 97–100 Struggle between the upper classes and the clergy respecting episcopacy 100–103 In 1582, James VI. was imprisoned; and his captivity was justified by the clergy, whose democratic principles were now openly proclaimed 103–104 Violent language used by the clergy against the king and against the nobles 104–109 Their leader, Melville, personally insulted the king, and they were probably privy to the Gowrie conspiracy in 1600 110 Still, the clergy, notwithstanding the indecency of their conduct, conferred the greatest of all boons upon Scotland, by keeping alive and nurturing the spirit of liberty 111–114 CHAPTER III. CONDITION OF SCOTLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. In 1603, the King of Scotland became also King of England, and determined to use his new resources in curbing and chastising the Scotch clergy 115–122 His cruel treatment of them 122–124 In 1610, James, backed by the power of England, forced episcopacy upon Scotland. Courts of High Commission were also set up 125–127 Tyrannical conduct of the bishops 127–129 Meanwhile, a reaction was preparing 129–132 In 1637, the reaction declared itself, and, in 1638, the bishops were overthrown 132–133 The movement being essentially democratic, could not stop there, but quickly spread from the Church to the State. In 1639, war was made upon Charles I. by the Scotch, who, having defeated the king, sold him to the English, who executed him 134–136 The Scotch, before they would crown Charles II., compelled him to humble himself, and to confess his own errors and the errors of his family 136–137 But, after Charles II. mounted the throne of England, he became powerful enough to triumph over the Scotch. He availed himself of that power to oppress Scotland even more grievously than his two predecessors had done 137–140 Happily, however, the spirit of liberty was strong enough to baffle his attempts to establish a permanent despotism 140 Still, the crisis was terrible, and the people and their clergy were exposed to every sort of outrage 141–146 Now, as before, the bishops aided the government in its efforts to enslave Scotland. Being hated by the people, they allied themselves with the Crown, and displayed the warmest affection towards James II., during whose reign cruelties were perpetrated worse than any previously known 147–150 In 1688, another reaction, in which the Scotch again freed themselves from their

oppressors 151 The only powerful friends of this bad government were the Highlanders 151 Reasons which induced the Highlanders to rebel in favour of the Stuarts 151–153 The Highland rebellions of 1715 and 1745 were not the result of loyalty 153–159 After 1745, the Highlanders sank into complete insignificance, and the progress of Scotland was uninterrupted 159 Beginning of the trading spirit 160–161 Connexion between the rising of the trading spirit and the abolition, in 1748, of hereditary jurisdictions 161–162 The abolition of these jurisdictions was a symptom of the declining power of the Scotch nobles, but not a cause of it 161 One cause of the decline of their power was the union with England, in 1707 162–167 Another cause was the failure of the Rebellion of 1745 167 The nobles being thus weakened, were, in 1748, easily deprived of their right of jurisdiction. In this way, they lost the last emblem of their old authority 169–170 This great democratic and liberating movement was aided by the growth of the mercantile and manufacturing classes 171–172 And their growth was itself assisted by the Union with England 172 Evidence of the rapid progress of the industrious classes in the first half of the eighteenth century 173–183 During the same period, a new and splendid literature arose in Scotland 183–184 But, unfortunately, this literature, notwithstanding its bold and inquisitive spirit, was unable to diminish national superstition 184–186 It is the business of the historian to ascertain the causes of its failure. If he cannot do this, he cannot understand the history of Scotland 186 The first and most essential quality of an historian, is a clear perception of the great scientific doctrine of Law. But whoever seeks to apply this doctrine to the whole course of history, and to elucidate, by its aid, the march and theory of affairs, is met by obstacles which no single mind can remove 186–190 CHAPTER IV. AN EXAMINATION OF THE SCOTCH INTELLECT DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. The rest of the Volume will be occupied with a still closer investigation of the double paradox presented by the history of Scotland; namely, 1st, that the same people should be liberal in politics, and illiberal in religion; and, 2nd, that the free and sceptical literature which they produced in the eighteenth century, should have been unable to lessen their religious illiberality 191 Their religious illiberality was the result of the immense power possessed by their clergy in the seventeenth century. The causes of that power will be examined in the present chapter 192 The failure of their literature in diminishing this illiberality during the eighteenth century, was the result of the peculiar method of the inquiry adopted by the Scotch philosophers. The causes of the universal diffusion of that method, the nature of the method, and the consequences of it, will be examined in the next chapter, which will conclude the Volume 192–193 Circumstances in the seventeenth century favourable to the influence of the Scotch clergy

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@44495@[email protected]#Page_193" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">193–197 While the English war against Charles I. was essentially political, the Scotch war against him was essentially religious 197–200 Though this was the effect of Scotch superstition, it was also a cause of its further progress 201–202 Hence, in the seventeenth century, secular interests were neglected, and theological ones became supreme. Illustration of this, from the zeal of the people to hear sermons of inordinate frequency and of terrible length; so that they passed the greater part of their lives in what were erroneously termed religious exercises 203–206 The clergy availed themselves of these habits to extend and consolidate their own authority 205–206 Their great engine of power was the Kirk-Session. Tyranny of the Kirk-Sessions 206–210 Monstrous pretensions of the clergy 210–212 Cases in which it was believed that these pretensions were upheld and vindicated by miracles 212–220 The clergy, becoming elated, indulge in language of extraordinary arrogance 221–227 They asserted that miracles were wrought in their behalf, and often on their persons 228–229 Effect of these proceedings upon the Scotch mind 230–232 The clergy, to intimidate the people, and bring them completely under control, advocated horrible notions concerning evil spirits and future punishments 232–243 With the same object they propounded notions more horrible still, respecting the Deity, whom they represented as a cruel, passionate, and sanguinary Being 245–252 They moreover declared that harmless and even praiseworthy actions were sinful, and would provoke the Divine wrath 251–262 To prevent such imaginary sins, the clergy made arbitrary regulations, and punished those who disobeyed them, sometimes by flogging, and sometimes by branding with hot irons, and sometimes in other ways 262–263 Specimens of the sins which the clergy invented 264–268 The result was, that all mirth, all innocent gaiety, all demonstrations of happiness, and nearly all physical enjoyments, were destroyed in Scotland 268–269 Hence, the national character was mutilated. For, the pleasures of the body are, in our actual condition, as essential a part of the great scheme of life, and are as necessary to human affairs, as are the pleasures of the mind 269–271 But the clergy, by denouncing these pleasures of the senses, do what they can, in every country, to diminish the total amount of happiness of which humanity is susceptible, and which it has a right to enjoy 271–275 In no Protestant country have the clergy pushed these narrow and unsocial tenets so far as in Scotland 275–276 Indeed, in some respects, the Scotch clergy were more ascetic than those of any branch of the Catholic Church, except the Spanish; since they attempted to destroy the affections, and to sever the holiest ties of domestic love 276–279 CHAPTER V. AN EXAMINATION OF THE SCOTCH INTELLECT DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. The Scotch philosophical literature of the eighteenth century, was a reaction against the theological spirit of the seventeenth 281

But the peculiarity of the philosophy which now arose, is that, instead of being an inductive philosophy, it was a deductive one 281–282 This is well worthy of notice; because the inductive method being essentially anti-theological, it might have been expected that the opponents of the theological spirit would have followed that method 282–284 The truth, however, was, that the theological spirit had taken such hold of the Scotch mind, that it was impossible for the inductive method to gain a hearing 284–289 Hence, the secular philosophy of the eighteenth century, though new in its results, was not new in the method by which those results were obtained 289 In this respect, Scotland is similar to Germany, but dissimilar to England 289–290 Summary of the most important distinctions between induction and deduction 291 The whole of the Scotch philosophy, physical as well as metaphysical, is deductive 291 Hutcheson's philosophy 292–304 Its results and tendency 292–299 Its method 299–304 Adam Smith's philosophy 304–330 His Theory of Moral Sentiments and his Wealth of Nations are different parts of one subject. To understand either, we must study both 304–305 His deductive method depended upon a suppression of premisses 304–309 Account of his Theory of Moral Sentiments 309–314 Account of his Wealth of Nations 314–330 Hume's philosophy 331–349 His want of imagination 331–332 Importance and novelty of his doctrines 333–337 His method was eminently deductive; and he, like Adam Smith, cared little for experience 337–341 Hence, his injustice to Bacon, whose method was diametrically opposed to his own 338–339 His Natural History of Religion 342–348 Comparison between the method of this work, and the method employed by Cudworth 348 Reid's philosophy 349–361 His timidity made him look at the practical tendency of speculative doctrines, instead of confining himself to the question of their truth or falsehood 349–354 But a philosopher should deem it his business to ascertain new truths, without regard to their consequences 349–350 Reid attacked Hume's method, because he disliked the results to which that method had led 354–355

class="chaptitle">And yet, in raising his own philosophy, he followed the very same method himself 355–359 Estimate of the value of what Reid effected 359–360 Opposition between the method of Reid and that of Bacon 360–361 In physical philosophy, the deductive method was equally prevalent in Scotland 361–seq. The laws of heat 362 Indestructibility of force. Interchange of forces 362–365 Black's philosophy 367–377 His theory of latent heat prepared the way for subsequent discoveries 367–371 His method was deductive, and does not come under any of the rules of the Baconian philosophy 371–372 He reasoned from his principles speculatively, instead of occupying himself with a long course of experiments 372–377 To do this was to indulge the imagination, which is deemed dangerous by the inductive school of English physicists. But, in the pursuit of truth, we need all our powers; and the advance of physical science is retarded by our neglect of the imaginative and emotional faculties 377–382 Black, therefore, did immense service by giving free scope, to the imagination. The same plan was pursued by his successor, Leslie 383 Leslie's philosophy of heat 383–388 He derived great aid from poetry 385 And was unjust to Bacon, whose inductive views he disliked 388 Fire and water are the two causes which have altered, and are still altering, the crust of the earth. The supposition that volcanic action was formerly more powerful than at present, is quite consistent with the doctrines of an unbroken sequence of events, and of the uniformity of natural laws 388–390 The action of fire and water on the crust of the earth, may be studied deductively, by computing separately the probable operation of each. Or they maybe studied inductively, by observing their united effects, and rising from the effects to the causes; while the deductive plan is to descend from the causes to the effects 390–391 Of these two methods, the English followed the inductive; the Scotch and Germans followed the deductive 391 English geology founded by William Smith 391–393 German geology founded by Werner 393–395 Scotch geology founded by Hutton 396 The English observed effects in order to ascertain causes. The Germans, assuming water to be the cause, reasoned from it to the effects. The Scotch, assuming heat to be the cause, made its principles the first step in their argument 391–396 Reasons which made the Scotch geologists argue from the principles of heat, instead of, like the German geologists, arguing from the principles of water 396 Though Hutton founded the theory of metamorphic rocks, and ascribed such immense importance to heat, he would not take the trouble of examining a single region of active volcanos, where he might have seen those very operations of nature, respecting which he speculated

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@44495@[email protected]#Page_398" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">398 But, by a deductive application of the principles unfolded by Black, he arrived at a conclusion concerning the consolidation of strata by heat 399–400 That conclusion was entirely speculative, and unsupported by experience 399 Though experiment might perhaps verify it, no one had yet made the trial; and Hutton was too averse to the inductive method to undertake the investigation himself 400–401 Sir James Hall afterwards took the matter up, and empirically verified the great idea which Hutton had propounded 401–402 Watt's invention of the steam-engine, and discovery of the composition of water 402–406 Contrast between the method by which he, as a Scotchman, discovered the composition of water, and the opposite method by which the Englishman, Cavendish, made the same discovery at the same time 404–406 Nature of the evidence of the supposed difference between the organic and inorganic world. Life is probably a property of all matter 406–410 Assuming, however, for the purposes of classification, that the organic world is fundamentally different from the inorganic, we may divide organic science into physiology and pathology 410–412 The two great Scotch pathologists are Cullen and John Hunter. Hunter, having a larger mind than Cullen, was also a physiologist 412 Account of Cullen's philosophy 413–427 His love of theory 413 Theory, though necessary in science, is dangerous in practice 414–416 Difference between the science of pathology and the art of therapeutics 417–418 Comparison between the method of Cullen's pathology and the method employed by Adam Smith 417–419 Cullen's theory of the solids 420–seq. He refused to inquire into the truth of the principles from which he argued 421–422 His conclusions, like his premisses, represent only a part of the truth, and were extremely one-sided. Still, their value is unquestionable, forming, as they did, a necessary part of the general progress 423–424 His theory of fever 424–426 His nosology 426–427 The philosophy of John Hunter 428–458 His grandeur, and, unfortunately, his obscurity of language 428–430 In his mind, the inductive and deductive methods struggled for mastery. Their conflict oppressed him. This is one of the causes of the darkness of his thoughts and consequently of his style 429–432 His natural disposition was towards deduction 432 But circumstances made him inductive, and he collected facts with untiring industry 432–434 By this means he made a large number

of curious physiological discoveries 434–436 He traced the history of the red globules of the blood, and arrived at the conclusion that their function is to strengthen the system rather than to repair it 436–437 Long after his death, this inference was corroborated by the progress of miscroscopical and chemical researches. It was especially corroborated by Lecanu's comparison of the blood in different sexes, and in different temperaments. 439 Hunter's inquiries concerning the movements of animals and vegetables 439–441 He recognized the great truth that the sciences of the inorganic world must be the foundation of those of the organic 443 His object was, to unite all the physical sciences, in order to show that, the operations of nature being always uniform, regularity prevails even amidst the greatest apparent irregularity 443–444 Hence, aiming chiefly at a generalization of irregularities, his favourite study was pathology 444 In his pathological inquiries, he took into account the malformations of crystals 445 As a physiologist, he was equalled or excelled by Aristotle; but as a pathologist, he is unrivalled for the grandeur of his views 446–447 In pathology, his love of deduction was more obvious than in physiology 447 His pathological speculations respecting the principles of action and the principles of sympathy 448–452 But his English contemporaries, being eminently inductive, so disliked his method, that he exercised scarcely any influence over them 453 This is the more observable, because his discoveries respecting disease have caused him to be recognized as the founder of modern surgery, and the principal author of the doctrines now taught in the medical profession 454–457 Such were the great results achieved by Scotchmen in the eighteenth century. Difference between this splendid literature and the wretched productions of the Scotch mind in the seventeenth century. 458–460 Notwithstanding this difference, the deductive method was supreme in both centuries 461 The deductive method strikes the senses less than the inductive. Hence, induction being more accessible to average understandings, is more popular than deduction. Hence, too, the teachings of an inductive philosophy are more likely to affect national character than the teaching of a deductive philosophy 461–464 Theology forms the only exception to this rule 464–465 The Scotch literature of the eighteenth century, being essentially deductive, was, on that account, unable to affect the nation. It was, therefore, unable to weaken national superstition 465–469 Superstition and religious illiberality still existing in Scotland 469–471 The notions countenanced there respecting the origin of epidemics. Correspondence which, in consequence of those notions, took place, in 1853, between the Scotch Church and the English Government 471–476 These superstitions are eminently irreligious, and are everywhere becoming effaced, as physical science advances. Nothing else can touch them. Hence the gradual liberation of the human mind from the slavish and unmanly fears by which it has long been oppressed 476–482

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HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND.