Edward, Earl of Clarendon
A Survey of Mr Hobbes His Leviathan
I have alwaies thought it a great excess in those who take
upon them to answer other Mens Writings, to hold themselves
oblig'd to find fault with every thing that they say, and to
answer every clause, period, and proposition which he, to whom
they have made themselves an adversary, hath laid down; by which,
besides the voluminousness that it produces, which in it self is
grievous to any Reader, they cannot but be guilty of many
impertinences, and expose themselves to the just censures of
others, and to the advantage of their Antagonists; since there
are few Books which do not contain many things which are true,
and cannot, or need not be contradicted. And considering withall,
that those Books have in all times don most mischief, and
scatter'd abroad the most pernicious errors, in which the
Authors, by the Ornament of their Style, and the pleasantness of
their method, and subtlety of their Wit, have from specious
premises, drawn their unskilful and unwary Readers into
unwarrantable opinions and conclusions, being intoxicated with
terms and Allegorical expressions, which puzzel their
understandings, and lead them into perplexities, from whence they
cannot disentangle themselves; I have proposed to my self, to
make some Animadversions upon such particulars, as may in my
judgment produce much mischief in the World, in a Book of great
Name, and which is entertain'd and celebrated (at least enough)
in the World; a Book which contains in it good learning of all
kinds, politely extracted, and very wittily and cunningly
disgested, in a very commendable method, and in a vigorous and
pleasant Style: which hath prevailed over too many, to swallow
many new tenets as maximes without chewing; which manner of diet
for the indigestion Mr Hobbes himself doth much dislike. The
thorough novelty (to which the present age, if ever any, is too
much inclin'd) of the work receives great credit and authority
from the known Name of the Author, a Man of excellent parts, of
great wit, some reading, and somewhat more thinking; One who has
spent many years in foreign parts and observation, understands
the Learned as well as modern Languages, hath long had the
reputation of a great Philosopher and Mathematician, and in his
age hath had conversation with very many worthy and extraordinary
Men to which, it may be, ifhe had bin more indulgent in the more
vigorous part of his life, it might have had a greater influence
upon the temper of his mind, whereas age seldom submits to those
questions, enquiries, and contradictions, which the Laws and
liberty of conversation require: and it hath bin alwaies a
lamentation amongst Mr Hobbes his Friends, that he spent too much
time in thinking, and too little in exercising those thoughts in
the company of other Men of the same, or of as good faculties;
for want whereof his natural constitution, with age, contracted
such a morosity, that doubting and contradicting Men were never
grateful to him. In a word, Mr Hobbes is one of the most antient
acquaintance I have in the World, and of whom I have alwaies had
a great esteem, as a Man who besides his eminent parts of
Learning and knowledg, hath bin alwaies looked upon as a Man of
Probity, and a life free from scandal; and it may be there are
few Men now alive, who have bin longer known to him then I have
bin in a fair and friendly conversation and sociableness; and I
had the honor to introduce those, in whose perfections he seemed
to take much delight, and whose memory he seems most to extol,
first into his acquaintance. In all which respects, both of the
Author and the work, it cannot reasonably be imagined, that any
vanity hath transported me, who know my self so incompetent for
the full disquisition of this whole work, which contains in it
many parts of knowledg and Learning in which I am not conversant;
and also the disadvantage, that so many years have passed since
the publication of this Book, without any thing like an answer to
the most mischievous parts of it as to Civil Government; at least
I had seen none such, till after I had finished this discourse,
what was at Montpelier in the moneth of April One thousand six
hundred and seventy, where I wanted many of those Books which had
bin necessary to have bin carefully consulted and perused, if I
had propos'd to my self to have answer'd many of those Scholastic
points, which seem to me enough expos'd to just censure and
reproch, and which I did suppose some University Men would have
taken occasion from, to have vindicated those venerable Nurseries
from that vice and ignorance, his superciliousness hath thought
fit to asperse them with. I do confess since that time I have
read several answers and reflexions, made by Learned Men of both
the Universities, in English and in Latine upon his Leviathan, or
his other works published before and after; which several answers
(though they have very pregnantly discover'd many gross errors,
and grosser oversights in those parts of Science in which Mr
Hobbes would be thought to excel, which are like to put him more
out of countenance then any thing I can urge against him, by how
much he values himself more upon being thought a good
Philosopher, and a good Geometrician, then a modest Man, or a
good Christian) have not so far discouraged me, as to cause me,
either to beleive what I had thought of and prepared before, to
be the less pertinent to be communicated, or at all to inlarge,
or contract my former conceptions (though probably many things
which I offer are more vigorously urg'd, and expressed in some of
the other answers.) Notwithstanding all which, his Person is by
many received with respect, and his Books continue still to be
esteem'd, as well abroad as at home: which might very well have
prevail'd, with those before mention'd arguments, to have
diverted me from pretending to see farther into them then other
Men had don, and to discover a malignity undiscerned that should
make them odious. But then how prevalent soever these motives
were with me; when I reflected upon the most mischievous
Principles, and most destructive to the Peace both of Church and
State, which are scatter'd throughout that Book of his Leviathan,
(which I only take upon me to discover) and the unhappy
impression they have made in the minds of too many; I thought my
self the more oblig'd, and not the less competent for those
animadversions, by the part I had acted for many years in the
public administration of Justice, and in the Policy of the
Kingdom. And the leasure to which God hath condemn'd me, seems an
invitation, and obligation upon me, to give a testimony to the
World, that my duty and affection for my King and Country, is not
less then it hath ever bin, when it was better interpreted, by
giving warning to both, of the danger they are in by the
seditious Principles of this Book, that they may in time provide
for their Security by their abolishing and extirpating those, and
the like excesses. And as it could not reasonably be expected,
that such a Book would be answer'd in the time when it was
publish'd, which had bin to have disputed with a Man that
commanded thirty Legions, (for Cromwel had bin oblig'd to have
supported him, who defended his Usurpation;) so afterwards Men
thought it would be too much ill nature to call Men in question
for what they had said in ill times, and for saying which they
had a plenary Indulgence and Absolution. And I am still of
opinion, that even of those who have read his Book, and not
frequented his Company, there are many, who being delighted with
some new notions, and the pleasant and clear Style throughout the
Book, have not taken notice of those down-right Conclusions,
which overthrow or undermine all those Principles of Government,
which have preserv'd the Peace of this Kingdom through so many
ages, even from the time of its first Institution; or restor'd it
to Peace, when it had at some times bin interrupted: and much
less of those odious insinuations, and perverting some texts of
Scripture, which do dishonour, and would destroy the very Essence
of the Religion of Christ. And when I called to mind the good
acquaintance that had bin between us, and what I had said to many
who I knew had inform'd him of it, and which indeed I had sent to
himself upon the first publishing of his Leviathan, I thought my
self even bound to give him some satisfacrion why I had
entertained so evil ...
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