so is his crowning merit, and is one that can hardly be overestimated.
At the same time it must be borne in mind that he was a loyal son of the
Church, and never dreamed of opposing or undermining her. His greatest
originality is in 'Ethics,' in which, by placing the essence of morality
in the intent and not in the action, he anticipated Kant and much modern
speculation. Here he did admirable work. Abélard founded no school,
strictly speaking; nevertheless, he determined the method and aim of
Scholasticism, and exercised a boundless influence, which is not dead.
Descartes and Kant are his children. Among his immediate disciples were
a pope, twenty-nine cardinals, and more than fifty bishops. His two
greatest pupils were Peter the Lombard, bishop of Paris, and author of
the 'Sentences,' the theological text-book of the schools for hundreds
of years; and Arnold of Brescia, one of the noblest champions of human
liberty, though condemned and banished by the second Council of
the Lateran.

The best biography of Abélard is that by Charles de Rémusat (2 vols.,
8vo, Paris, 1845). See also, in English, Wight's 'Abelard and Eloise'
(New York, 1853).

Thomas Davidson

* * * * *

HÉLOÏSE TO ABÉLARD

A letter of yours sent to a friend, best beloved, to console him in
affliction, was lately, almost by a chance, put into my hands. Seeing
the superscription, guess how eagerly I seized it! I had lost the
reality; I hoped to draw some comfort from this faint image of you. But