Welsh Journals

Reviews. DE VERITATE." By Lord Herbert of Cherbury 1583/1648; translated with an Introduction by Meyrick H. Carre, M.A. Published Arrowsmith 12/6. 334pp. The most significant thing about this extraordinary work is the imperative, Think! which is at once its raison d'etre and the point of its undoubted import- ance for the general reader. The idea that the Individual must work out his own philosophy overwhelms all other considerations, including that of the historical background (sketched in the Introduction) which, through Lord Herbert's words, seems so startlingly modern. "The conclusions arrived at in former ages have now come to weigh so heavily upon our reflections, that there is scarcely anyone in the world who is content to pursue an independent path in search of truth. "Where can an anxious and divided mind turn to find security and peace? The multitude of sects, divisions, sub-divisions and cross-divisions hopelessly distract the wits of the learned and the consciences of the unlettered." The reference to sub-divisions might well be applied to De Veritate itself. It is difficult to conceive a work in which so many great questions are dealt with in such an exasperating way. This from the point of view of the general reader; to the specialist no doubt both the method and the terminology are one of the book's chief attractions. In any case it is evident that Mr. Carre has carried out an exceedingly difficult task with greater success than the reader has any right to expect. For once, it is possible to surmise that a work may more clearly represent the author's original intention when translated. There are times, how- ever, when Lord Herbert is clearly content to play with words as happily as any traditional scholastic with "angels on a pin." "Does the quality (of a thing) exist?" "What is the essence of the quality?" "What is the quality of the essence?" And this comes from the man who has announced at the outset, I have had less opportunity for the pursuit of letters than for any other occupation," a circumstance which in no way prevents his evident assumption that he has beaten the men of letters on their own ground. He goes even further, for on page 242 we find "I have defined the exact limits of human knowledge." Nevertheless, the work is well worth reading several times, dealing as it does with many vital questions in a way which, if it does sometimes induce a mental fog, often inspires conviction notwithstanding. How this may be done the book itself explains. Some of the argument is most ingenious, notably that concerned with memory and sense perceptions; all of it is interesting in view of the avowed intention of the author to blaze his own trail and let the rest of the intellect in the world go hang. There is nothing second-hand, each point has clearly been hammered out in an honest endeavour to treat these matters only in the light of his independent judgement,"