nion may perhaps be considered as more plausible than the other. No writer whom I have consulted, has however assigned any reason for supposing him to have belonged to either of the two countries. He is reported to have studied under the Subtle Doctor; and, in the year 1315, to have instituted what was termed the Sorbonic Act in the University of Paris". His works, consisting of commentaries on Lombard, quodlibets, formalities, and other productions of the same nature, have been transmitted to posterity. John Bassol, another of the very eminent scholars of Duns, flourished in the year 1322. He is honourably distinguished among the schoolmen by the designation of Doctor Ordinatissimus, or the most Methodical Doctor. His Lectura in quatuor libros Sententiarum was printed at Paris in 1517. John Suisset, commonly denominated the Calculator, flourished about the middle of the fourteenth century. He is considered as a Scotishman by Vossius", Quenstedt, and other foreign critics. That Leland, Bale, and Pitts should entertain a different opinion, is a necessary consequence of their voracious system. Twyne, who represents him as a distinguished ornament of the Mirai Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica, p. 267. z Vossius de Scientiis Mathematicis, p. 78. 2 Quenstedt de Patriis Illustrium Virorum, p. 101.. University of Oxford, does not however venture to claim him as his countryman". Scaliger and Cardan, who have bestowed such high encomiums on his genius, are silent with regard to the rival claims of Scotland and England. The testimony of his editor Trincavellus, who styles him an Englishman, is apparently of little moment : for in the title-page of the volume he names him Richard, and in the colophon, Raymund; though the Christian name assigned to Suisset by more critical writers is neither Richard nor Raymund, but John. He is however named Roger by Vives. and Gesner. These two authors, it must not be dissembled, have ascribed the honour of his birth to England: but as the plan of their respective works did not require any critical investigation of the subject, their decision is of trivial consequence. Joannes Ludovicus Vives, a learned Spaniard, professed rhetoric in the College of Corpus Christi at Oxford; and, from the English scholars, might easily receive a false impression with respect to the history of Suisset, an author in whose productions he appears to have been little interested. The passage in Gesner is professedly a mere transcript of that which occurs in b Twyni Antiquitat. Acad. Oxon. Apologia, p. 342. "Invectæ sunt cavillationes stultarum subtilitatum, quas ipsi calculationes vocant, quibus maximum dedit incrementum Rugerus Suicetus Anglus." VIVES. de Causis Corruptarum Artium, p. 171. Vives. That Suisset was a native of Scotland, I do not however decisively affirm. His Calculationes were formerly viewed with such admiration, that, in the opinion of Julius Cæsar Scaliger, the author almost exceeded the limits of human genius. It was from an acquaintance with the speculations of Duns and Suisset, that Cardan was led to consider the Britons as not inferior in intellectual endowments to his countrymen the Italians'. These are the principal Scotish philosophers d Gesneri Bibliotheca Universalis, f. 588. a. e " Qui Aristoteli fabrum antetulisti, non minus illis ipsis artibus erudito; et Joanni Duns Scoto, qui fuit lima veritatis; et Joanni Suisset calculatori, qui penè modum excessit ingenii humani." SCALIGER de Subtilitate ad Cardanum, f. 434. b. f" Ejusdem insula accola fuit Joannes, ut dixi, Suisset cognomento Calculator: in cujus solius unius argumenti solutione, quod contra experimentum est, de actione mutua, tota laboravit posteritas: quem senem admodum, nec inventa sua dum legeret intelligentem, flevisse' referunt. Ex quo haud dubium esse reor, quod etiam in libro de animi immortalitate scripsi, barbaros ingenio nobis haud esse inferiores; quandoquidem sub Bruma coelo divisa toto orbe Britannia duos tam clari ingenii viros emiserit." CARDANUS de Subtilitate, p. 470. Naudé has remarked, that notwithstanding the encomiums which had been pronounced on Suisset, his works were not to be found in any of the famous libraries. (Avis pour dresser une Bibliotheque, p. 86.) In the British Museum however I have seen a beautiful old volume with the following title: "Calculator. Subtilissimi Ricardi Suiseth Anglici Calculationes noviter emendate atque revise. Questio insuper de Reactione juxta Aristotelis Sententiam, et Commentatoris." Venet. 1520, fol. Suisset's calculations have this colophon: "Explicit Calculationum opus aureum Magistri Raymundi Suiseth Anglici viri in hac facultate eminentissimi atque acutissimi: nuper diligenti examine emendatum ab excellenti Doctore Domino Victore Trinchavello Veneto." and theologians who preceded John Mair, an illustrious doctor who flourished during the earlier part of the sixteenth century. Of all the theologians, says Du Pin, who had hitherto written commentaries on the Book of Sentences, no one will be found to have equalled the copiousness and erudition of Mair". Scotland undoubtedly produced her full proportion of scholastic philosophers: and many other names, not indeed of equal celebrity, might easily be added to the preceding catalogue. Although the schoolmen cannot be enrolled among those who have extended the boundaries of true science, it is yet of importance to have ascertained, with some degree of precision, the rank which our lettered countrymen anciently maintained among other competitors in the same field. The schoolmen, says Lord Bacon, " having sharpe and strong wits, and aboundance of leasure, and small variety of reading; but their wits being shut up in the cels of a few authors (chiefly Aristotle, their dictator) as their persons were shut up in the cels of monasteries and colledges, and knowing little history, either of nature or time; did out of no great quantity of matter, and infinite agitation of wit, spin out unto us those laborious webs of Du Pin, Bibliotheque des Auteurs Ecclesiastiques, tom. xiii. p. 160.Mair is also mentioned by Launoi, another learned writer, in terms of high commendation: "In philosophia et in scholastica theologia maximus apud Parisienses doctor fuit." (Regii Navarra Gymnasii Parisiensis Historia, tom. ii. p. 652.) learning which are extant in their bookes. For the wit and mind of man, if it worke upon matter, which is the contemplation of the creatures of God, worketh according to the stuffe, and is li- ́ mited thereby; but if it worke upon it selfe, as the spider worketh his webbe, then it is endlesse, and brings forth indeed cobwebs of learning, admirable for the finenesse of thread and worke, but of no substance or profit"." Or the scholastic productions of these ancient Scotish authors, no very adequate notion could perhaps be formed by the inspection of detached specimens. In order to exemplify the literary taste of our ancestors, I shall therefore have recourse to the poetical department. The following ode is said to have been compo-. sed soon after the death of WALLACE, the first of Scotish heroes: Invida Mors tristi Gulielmum funere Vallam, Et tanto pro cive, cinis; pro finibus urna est ; Ille quidem terras, loca se inferiora, reliquit : Parte sui meliore solum cœlumque pererrat, ʼn Bacon of the Advancement of Learning, p. 38. |