BOOKS.

MORLEY'S LIFE OF EROME CARDA.N.s As far as literary execution goes, Mr. Morley's life of Carden, a celebrity of the sixteenth century, is superior to Palissy the Potter. The style is less forced ; the views of men and the times are less narrow.. The subject is more closely adhered to ; for although there is a notice of almost every man of any mark with whom Carden came in contact, and attention is thus diverted from the main narrative, the notices are brief, and not without interest. The subject itself is less attractive. Cardan's difficulties were nearly as great as those which Palissy had to contend with in the pursuit of fame, but they were not so much incurred by a yearning for distinction as by poverty, brought on to some degree by his own irregularities and imprudence. Carden is scarcely so well known as Palissy, and he was not so respectable. The struggles of the potter were resolute, devoted, and even terrible, yet so mingled with the comic that their leading features are familiar; and we always desire to know more of men with whom we have associations. The art of the potter, too, has in a certain degree preserved his name. Of the European reputation of Jerome Car&n, so great in his own day as astrologer, natural and moral philosopher, man of learning, physician, and mathematician, his discoveries or improvements in algebra alone remain, of necessity embalmed in the history of mathe- matics. And this mutation of fame, if not pleasing, is inevitable. Men are famous in proportion to their permanent influence; and beyond his algebraic improvements, Carden did little or nothing for the advancement of mankind. As a scholar or philosopher, he dealt in compilation rather than original observation or thought. As a physician, though an able and a safe practitioner, he did not ad- vance beyond the absurd theories of his day, and must have been indebted for his success to his judicious system of treatment in nursing and diet; for his prescriptions, if they had any operation, were likely to be mischievous. Had he been more learned than he was in astrology, palmistry, and what he called metaposcopy,—a sort of physiognomy,—it was only building on sand. In the other superstitions of the times he was as credulous as the age, if he did not go beyond it ; and though he was charged with irreligion and even atheism, the charge arose from enmity or misconceptien. Cordon was a true son of the Papal Church in all that concerned its prac- tices or superstitions, though the daringly speculative nature of his mind drove him on inquiries from which persons more inclined even to Rationalism might shrink : for example, he cast the horo- scope of Christ. Yet amid all his superstitions and weaknesses, passing perhaps into mania, Carden had great native sagacity or mother-wit. It was this doubtless, which made him a successful practitioner, teaching him to rely upon simples and simple treat- ment. It was this, too, which gave him his value as a moral or rather a social philosopher of the Chesterfield or Franklin stamp. However irregular might be his conduct, or wilful his behaviour, he had looked upon life with discerning eyes, and could digest his experience for the guidance of others. It might be possible to se- lect from his works, in ten folio volumes, a body of maxims that would, like Mr. Trench's Proverbs, be illustrative of the age, as well as a collection of practical wisdom. The following are from a book he drew up primarily for his sons. Mr. Morley has prefixed asterisks to those sayings which he considers most illus- trative either of the life of Carden or his times.

"Chapter the First.—ON TIIE Womsnir or GOD.

"Give thanks to God daily, if you can. You will become better by doing so. Speak of Him seldom, using His name only in reverence. "* Never swear to keep a secret, if, being free, you would not become slaves.

"When human efforts are of no avail, seek help from God. "It is temerity to beg that God will do for us what we can do ourselves.

"Chapter the Second.—ON THE OBSERVANCE DEE TO PRINCES.

"Next to God, you must take thought of princes, that you give them no offence.

":Be gentle before them, or be silent.

"Passionate or jealous princes do not serve, and do not live within their reach. Power joined to anger or suspicion begets lightning.

"* Do not resist princes, or men in great power, or the populace, even though TOR are on the side of justice. "* Never do what will diplease a prince. If you have done it, never fancy that you are forgiven.

"4. Time governs princes, princes govern men. Look for the end to time."

Some of the following show the physician of the time ; and some the dangers of the age, when a man could not always eat in safety among friends or incautiously venture himself among strangers.

"Sleep should precede labour, labour should precede food, food should pre- cede drink and exceed it.

"Be content with food of one kind at a time, lest you become gluttonous. "Prefer water to wine ; and among wines prefer the white. "Avoid war, plague, and famine, for they spare few and slay many.

"Do not eat mushrooms, snakes, or frogs, or anything that grates upon the

teeth ; and do not drink two kinds of wine. "Eat only twice a day, and only once of meat. "* Never take choice morsels from strangers, or without knowing whence

they come. "* When you are invited to a feast, if you must go, take heed of the faith

of those who bring the cup to you.

"Never sleep on feathers.

"Dismiss all careful thoughts when you retire to bed. "* Never leave the public road except of necessity, for safety or for any useful purpose. "* Never spend much time in a lonely inn, or ride into it at night.

"* Avoid travelling alone, or walking through a town ; for many things

may happen to you.

• The Life of Girohuno Carden°, of Milan, Physician. By Henry Model. Anal°, of "Palissy the Potter," Ike. In two volumes. Published by Chapman and Kali.

", When you are on the road, think of the road and nothing else. "* Never walk under the eaves of houses acting upon this rule, I have twice escaped being killed by falling tiles. "• Do not cross unexplored water on horseback, or stormy water in a boat.

"* Do not run your horse into deep water unless you are obliged. "• Never associate with a stranger on the public road.

"Know that a good humour in an ill event bears half the weight of ill. "Live joyously when you are able, men are worn down by cares. "What cannot be altered trouble yourself not about. "Be firm always ; obstinate never. "• It is more prudent to spend money usefully than to lay it by; for more results come of the use of money, which is action, than of the preser- vation of it, which is rest.

"When the mind is perturbed, never deliberate.

"Say little ; among many words some are imprudent. "You will know wise men by their works, not by their words ; you may know fools by both.

" • When you talk with a bad or dishonest man, look at his hand, not at his face."

These few maxims smack of the cynicism of Rochefoucauld, but they have more earnestness than the Frenchman showed.

"Know how to be mastered and to lose ; sometimes that is profitable.

"* If necessary, slip out of the tie of friendship, never break it. "Never desert a friend at the bidding of a relative or flatterer.

"Speak only on compulsion of a friend's crime, never of an enemy's mis- fortune.

"Never talk about your enemies. "Speak fairly to enemies who hide their designs, even though you may intend to be revenged upon them.

"If you hate a man, though only in secret, never trust him, because hate is hardly to be hidden."

Jerome Cardan was born in 1501, and died in 1576. He was a natural son ; his father was a lawyer and mathematician of Milan. Old Card= was a man of some eminence both as a scholar and practitioner, but peculiar, probably with a touch of madness, which seems to have run in the blood both of son and grandsons. The mother of Jerome had quarrelled with old Cardan ; and of this quarrel the boy reaped the bitter fruits, having been aban- doned during infancy to the care of strangers, and neglected till his seventh year, when father and mother lodged together appa- rently on some Platonic understanding. For any purpose of re- spectable training or sound education Jerome reaped little advantage from this paternal notice. Severely treated, after the manner of the age, sometimes left to run wild, sometimes em- ployed in servile occupation' occasionally taught by his father and friends, and ever dissatisfied with himself and his position, Jerome Cardan reached nineteen before he was sent to the University of Pavia by dint of his own and his mother's solicitations. Here, animated by a thirst for fame which early characterized him, he distinguished himself, spite of interruptions from the wars by which Italy was distracted, irregular habits acquired in his ill- regulated home, and a wilful disposition ; but he was a long way from professional eminence or public celebrity. The death of his father, leaving little but a house and some claims that became in- terminable lawsuits, cut off his supplies. The College of Physi- cians at Milan refused to grant him a degree ; alleging the bar- sinister of his birth. A natural love of music led him among loose companions. Be had early turned his mathematical genius to ac- count in calculating "chances"; and the gaming-table with its excitements and disrepute formed another obstacle to his ad- vancement. For many years as well after as before his marriage, which took place when he was about thirty, he struggled as a poor physician in various places ; sometimes wanting bread, yet reading, and writing without means to print, or re- putation to procure a publisher. It was not till 1536 that he got anything in type : then his friend Scoto, who had succeeded to his father's printing-office at Venice undertook to run the risk of publishing a work of Carden on the "bad practice" of his con- temporary physicians. So far as Scoto was concerned, the specu- lation answered, for the book sold ; but it brought a storm of in- dignation about the author's ears, whose birth, mode of life, habits, and position, all offered salient points of attack for enemies. How- ever, it probably did him no real harm. According to Smollet in Ferdinand Count Fathom, a physician should get talked about to get practice. And henceforth Carden began to advance in the world. It is true that for some years yet he had to eke out his medical fees by almanack-making, fortune-telling, and the chances of the die, ere the tide of fortune began to flow. He could command publishers ; some cures of persons above the vulgar made him friends and extended his medical reputation ; and after minor but popular publications came his algebraic discoveries, which gave him an European fame, not merely as a pithy, shrewd, and ani- mated compiler, but as a scientific discoverer. Till sixty the world went smoothly with Jerome Cardan, except that he lost his wife when prosperity began to dawn upon him. He was sent for to Scotland to attend John Hamilton, Archbishop of St. Andrews, and eared him, evidently by regimen. On his return through Eng- land, he saw Edward the Sixth ; whom he ever after greatly ad- mired. The experience of the physician seems to have seen death written on the face of the youthful King ; but the astrologer pre- dicted life, dangers, escapes, and what not. Cardan declined the office of physician to the Emperor Charles the Fifth, as well as to the King of France, and returned from "the barbarians" to his native Italy.

There, in 1560, the great misfortune overtook him which over- shadowed his life and shook his reason, or developed a predispo- aition to insanity. Both himself and his father were ungainly in person, and apparently of bad blood. His eldest son, Gianbatista, resembled his grandfather minus abilities. Carden himself was not well qualified to train children. For years his house was not a place where the best of educators could have done much: as for- tune favoured the physician, neither his frequent visitors—singers and dicers—nor his own example could be particularly edifying ; and in short, both his sons turned out badly. The youngest he disinherited. The eldest married a woman of loose character and bad family, continually quarrelled with her, and at last poisoned her. For this crime he was condemned, and, notwithstanding all the efforts of his father, executed.

Henceforth Cardan's life was one of gloom, except when he was engaged in writing or in his profession. Charges were officially brought against him, about which there is much obscurity ; but Mr. Morley infers that they were connected with religion. So far as submission to any and everything the Church might bold as re- ligious, Cardan was orthodox enough; but his superstitions, his speculations, his freedom of tongue and pen, and a misappreciation of the man, inclined many to think him, in De Thou's words, "a madman of impious audacity." However, he had grateful patients among the Cardinals ; his scientific reputation was very high; and, by a singular foresight, before the prosecution began, he had taken the precaution to write to Rome submitting himself and writings entirely to the judgment of the Church, "anything to the contrary notwithstanding." Learned or lay corporations might forbid him to lecture or to print, but the Holy Father called him to Rome, allowed him a pension, and under an appearance of sur- veillance kept him out of harm's way. There he remained till his death, with means sufficient to live in comfort—that is, he kept a carriage.

About so celebrated a man, and one who had made a good many enemies, much was written in his own time or soon afterwards ; but the fullest and most intimate account is to be found in his own writings, sometimes in form directly biographical, but more fre- quently incidental. From these sources Mr. Morley has compiled the work before us ; which, though running into trivial minute- ness, and not reflecting in the narrative so lifelike a picture of the times as we expected, may be recommended as a readable and ani- mated notice of a remarkable character, accompanied by as full an account of his works as the public at large will care to know anything about.