Robert Adamson

“ Amongst others who appeared was Roger Bacon, who, condemned 'propter quasdam novitates suspectas,' and prevented from writing to the pope (Gregory X) for defence and aid, passed into a prolonged confinement. Tradition at this point of his career becomes most confused; there exists, however, the manuscript of part of a work in which a date is explicitly recorded. The work is entitled 'Compendium Studii Theologiæ;' the date is 1292. In 1292, then, Bacon was alive, and moreover in freedom. ”

“ Later investigations have succeeded in disclosing various interesting and important fragments of the detailed work to which Bacon seems to have applied himself on the completion of the 'Opus Majus.' It is not possible to give an exhaustive enumeration of the extant manuscripts. Those known to exist, and partially examined, are very numerous and in every variety of condition; there are doubtless others not yet brought to light. ”

“ ALCUIN, or ALBINUS (735–804) , celebrated as a theologian, man of letters, and more especially as the coadjutor of Charlemagne in his great educational reforms, was born at York in the year 735. His English name was Ealhwine. He was educated at the cloister school in his native city, and under the archbishop Egbert, and Ethelbert, the master of the school, a man apparently of wide attainments, acquired a training as many-sided as was possible for the time and with more of a literary tendency than was then usual, except in the Northumbrian and Irish schools. ”

“ An interesting but incomplete summary of the older material is furnished by Anthony à Wood; a more enlightened survey by Jebb in the preface to his edition of the 'Opus Majus' (1733) ; the latest researches have borne good fruit in the works of Brewer and Charles (cited under) . Doubtless some obscure points may yet be cleared up by more thorough study of the manuscripts than has yet been undertaken, but it is not probable that there can ever be given more than a scanty outline of the life and labours of a very eminent English thinker. ”

“ Apart from quaintness of form, the work is remarkable as stating one of the many solutions offered by mediæval thinkers to the pressing difficulty of reconciling the real existence of the individual with the equally real existence of the species or genus. Adelard, defining the individual as the only existent, at the same time finds in the said individual, when regarded in various fashions, the species and the genus. Species and genus are, therefore, indifferent to the peculiarities of the individual, identical amid diversity ”

“ This little work expounds, with much that is fantastic, the doctrine that in the heart is to be found the seat of the soul—a doctrine that is repeated in Neckham's ‘De Naturis Rerum’ (ed. by Brewer in Rolls Series) . ”

“ Ecclesiastical and theological his interests were, but only because in the church alone was there any intellectual life, and on no point of theological controversy does Alcuin show the temper or training of the theologian by profession.
The writings of Alcuin may be arranged in two groups, prose and verse, and the prose writings may again be distributed into (1) elementary scholastic works, including those on philosophical and scientific subjects, (2) theological works, (3) historical works, (4) letters. ”

“ It is much to be desired that a more thorough and detailed study of the known manuscripts and a more extensive search for others which doubtless exist should be undertaken. Some portions are in a condition suitable for publication, and it is wellnigh an obligation resting on English scholars to continue the good work begun by the late Professor Brewer. Bacon's works possess much historical value, for his vigorous thinking and pronounced scientific inclinations are not to be regarded as abnormal and isolated phenomena. ”

“ He took especial pleasure to help fellow-students in natural science. Though a firm opponent of the Darwinian theory, his friendship with its author continued to his death; but he was much chagrined at finding some of his own observations on the habits of pigeons used by Darwin in support of the hypothesis of natural selection. ”

“ He represents one current of thought and work in the middle ages which must have run strongly though obscurely, and without a thorough comprehension of his position our conceptions of an important century are incomplete and erroneous. ”

“ Rather we may conjecture that he began and carried out his plan of detailed treatment, so as to form a complete body of scientific exposition, and that the several portions were indifferently connected with the 'Opus Tertium' and with the later work, the 'Compendium Philosophiæ,' of which the introduction dates from 1271. For the indications point to a substantial identity of content in the two supposed systematic works. Under the one, the so-called 'Opus Tertium,' there appear to fall (1) grammar and logic, (2) mathematics, (3) physics, (4) metaphysics and moral philosophy ”

“ Although the mendicant friars were, from principle and from accidental circumstances, averse to philosophical training, they could not forego the opportunity afforded by the presence of a distinguished teacher among them. Alexander assumed the place of lecturer among the Franciscans, and it was largely owing to his ability that the order was enabled to establish its existence as a teaching body in opposition to the secular professors of the university. ”

“ Jebb, who had carefully consulted the manuscripts in the British Museum, came upon traces of two writings, called 'Opus Minus' and 'Opus Tertium, but did not succeed in obtaining clear insight into their nature and scope. In 1848, however, Cousin discovered in the public library at Douai an important manuscript, of which he gave a full abstract in the 'Journal des Savants' of the same year. ”

“ Like many other Englishmen at the time, he resigned his career in his native country in order to prosecute his studies in Paris, the great school of theology and metaphysics. At Paris he occupied a chair, and lectured with much success. ”

“ The matter was the scanty remnant of the older culture that survived in the writings of Augustine and Boethius, in the compendia of Isidore, Capella, Cassiodorus, and in the grammatical writings of Priscian and Donatus. The form was generally the familiar scholastic device of dialogue, in which the master and pupil converse or catechise one another. ”

“ Eyton died 25 Oct. 1880. He married, 13 May 1835, Elizabeth Frances, daughter and coheiress of Robert Aglionby Slaney, long M.P. for Shrewsbury, by whom he had seven children. A daughter, Miss Charlotte Eyton, was author of several works on scientific subjects, such as ‘The Rocks of the Wrekin,’ and ‘By Fell and Flood.’
[Art. by present writer in Shropshire Standard for October 1880; private information.] ”

“ Imp. at Paris, No. 7440. A more detailed treatment of physics, by its link-expressions designed to form part of the 'Compendium Philosophiæ,' is contained in the Brit. Mus. Addit. MSS. 8786. Of the latest work of Bacon, the 'Compendium Studii Theologiæ,' date 1292, some few fragments, from which the plan of the whole may be gathered, are contained in the British Mus. 7 F. vii. fo. 153, and 7 F. viii. fo. 2, and in the library of Univ. Coll. Oxford (see Charles, pp. 409-16) . ”

“ V. of 'Opus Majus') . 6. 'Specula Mathematica in quibus de specierum multiplicatione earundemque in inferioribus virtute agitur, Combachii st. et op.,' ibid. 1614 ( = Pt. IV. of 'Opus Majus') . 7. 'Opus Majus ad Clementem Papam,' ed. S. Jebb, London, fo., 1733: reprint, Venice, 1750. 8. 'Fr. Rogeri Bacon Opera quaedam hactenus inedita, Vol. I. containing: 1. Opus Tertium; 2. Opus Minus; 3. Compendium Philosophiæ,' ed. J. S. Brewer, London, Rolls Series, 1859. 9. 'R. B. de Morali Philosophia,' Dublin, 1860 ( = Pt. VII. of the 'Opus Majus,' not contained in Jebb's edition) . ”