is more regular and elegant than true histories are, and is made so as to be agreeable." Barrow, having this in his mind, goes on to say: "And though Cartesius has dressed up the stage of his theatre more prettily than any other person, and made his drama more like history, still he is not exempt from the like censure." And he then refers to Cartesius's own declaration, that he did not learn his system from things themselves, but tried to impose his own laws upon things; thus inverting the order of true philosophy. Other parts of Bacon's work to which Barrow refers are those where he speaks of the Form, or Formal Cause of a body, and says that in comparison with that, the Efficient Cause and the Material Cause are things unimportant and superficial, and contribute little to true and active science[215]. And again, his classification of the various kinds of motions[216],--the motus libertatis, motus nexus, motus continuitatis, motus ad lucrum, fugæ, unionis, congregationis; and the explanation of electrical attraction (about which Gilbert and others had written) as _motus ad lucrum_. These passages show that Barrow had read the _Novum Organon_ in a careful and intelligent manner, and presumed his Cambridge hearers to be acquainted with the work. Nor is his judgment of Descartes less wise and philosophical. He rejects, as we have seen, his system as a true scheme of the universe, and condemns altogether his _à priori_ mode of philosophizing; but this does not prevent his accepting Descartes' real discoveries, and admiring the boldness and vigour of his attempts to reform philosophy. There is, in Barrow's works, academic verse, as well as prose, on the subject of the Cartesian hypothesis. In this, Descartes himself is highly praised, though his doctrines are very partially accepted. The writer says: "Pardon us, great Cartesius, if the Muse resists you. Pardon! We follow you, Inquiring Spirit that you are, while we reject your system. As you have taught us free thought, and broken down the rule of tyranny, we undauntedly speculate, even in opposition to you." Descartes is even yet spoken of, especially by French writers, as the person who first asserted and established the freedom of inquiry which is the boast of modern philosophy; but this is said with reference to metaphysics, not to physics. In physical philosophy, though he caught hold of some of the discoveries which were then coming into view, the method in which he reasoned or professed to reason was altogether vicious; and was, as I have already said, an attempt to undo what the reformers, both theoretical and practical, had been doing:--to discredit the philosophy of experience, and to restore the reign of _à priori_ systems. It was, however, now, too late to make any such attempt; and nothing came of it to interrupt the progress of a better philosophy of discovery. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 200: _Anatomical Exercitations concerning the Generation of Living Creatures_, 1653. Preface.]