but the one is distinguished by the eloquence of his composition and the felicity of his illustrations; the other, by the accuracy and expressiveness of his, at times, harsh nomenclature.Cousin is, undoubtedly, the man of finest genius and most refined taste; the other appears to me to have been the man of coolest and most penetrating intellect.The one makes every subject of which he treats irridescent by the play of his fancy; the other bands it into a structure of great solidity by the rigidity of his logic.Both were admirers of the German as well as the Scottish schools of philosophy; but Cousin's predilections were at one time more towards the {428} former, and of a later date he became more attached to the latter; whereas Hamilton started more in the Scottish spirit, and swung latterly towards the German method.The two came into collision when the Scotchman reviewed the Frenchman in the "Edinburgh Review." But when Hamilton became a candidate for the chair of moral philosophy in Edinburgh he received powerful and generous aid from his rival; and when Hamilton published his edition of Reid, he dedicated it to M.Victor Cousin.
The writer of this article has a very vivid recollection of Sir William in happening to pass into his class-room a year or two after his appointment.There was an evident manliness in his person and his whole manner and address.His features were marked, he had an eye of a very deep lustre, and his expression was eminently intellectual.
He read his lecture in a clear, emphatic manner, without show, pretension, or affectation of any kind.His nomenclature sounded harsh and uncouth to one unacquainted with it, but his enunciations were all perspicuous and explicit.The class was a large one, numbering I should suppose 150.At the opening there was a furious scribbling, visible and audible, by all the students in their notebooks;but I observed that, as the lecture proceeded, one after another was left behind, and, when it was half through, at least one-third had ceased to take notes, and had evidently lost their interest in, or comprehension of, the subject.
Unfortunately for the Scottish colleges, unfortunately for the youth attending them, students enter the logic class in the second year of their course, when the majority are not ripe for it.A course of lectures, like that given by Jardine of Glasgow, might be fit for such a class, but not a rigid course like that of Hamilton, who did, indeed, make his thoughts as clear as such profound thoughts could be made, but could not bring them down to the comprehension of a promiscuous class, of which many are under seventeen, and some under sixteen, or even fifteen years of age.But even among second year students there were every year a larger or less number who rejoiced to find that he first awakened independent thought within them, and who were ready to acknowledge ever afterwards that they owed more to him than to any other professor, or to all the other professors under whom they studied.{429}
In his examinations be expected a sort of recitation of his lectures from the students.He also encouraged his pupils to submit to voluntary examinations on private studies undertaken by them.He prescribed essays on subjects lectured on, and in these essays he allowed great latitude in the expression of opinions, and some of his students, out of a spirit of independence or contradiction, would at times take up the defence of Dr.Brown, and were not discouraged.
All students of high intellectual power, and especially those of a metaphysical taste, received a stimulus of a very lofty kind from his lectures, and these examinations and essays.I suspect that some of the duller and idler passed through the class without getting much benefit.In his whole intercourse with young men there was great courtesy and kindness, and a readiness to appreciate talent and independent thinking wherever he found it.For a number of years before his death, Sir William was oppressed with infirmities, and had to employ an assistant; and it was characteristic of him that he was in the habit of selecting for the office some one of those who had been his more distinguished students.We may now look at his metaphysics and his logic.
<Metaphysics>.The first of the volumes is on philosophy generally and on mental philosophy in particular.