No. 60. THOMAS HOBBES. From a Picture by himself, in the Collection of the Dutchess of Dorset. HOBBES was an extraordinary man-not as a poet, but as a philosopher. We give up (as we have repeatedly given up in despair) his Iliad and his Odyssey; but we cannot consent to yield up his pretensions as a strong and original thinker. Milton was secretary to Cromwell, and Hobbes to Lord Bacon-What a pair of masters and servants! The former (the republican twain) fought their way through the world in arms, overturning despotism, and planting independence on the soil of a free land; the others broke down the strong hold of folly, and dissipated the cloudy superstitions of science, letting in the illuminations of their great intellects upon the world, for the benefit of the times to come. The portrait of Hobbes has a knit brow and steadfast piercing eye, like that which should belong to an inquirer; and his white hair and plain garments are in unison with the unaffected wisdom ascribed to the "philosopher of Malmesbury." Hobbes was more of a metaphysician, as his master (Bacon) was more of a scientific man; but they were both eminent philosophers. The one has deservedly obtained fame; and the other has earned it. |