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.

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	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	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
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	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

The Project Gutenberg eBook of History of Civilization in England, Vol. 3 of 3

HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND.

ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.