9 Gcl98E00 I1OLI ¢€
il
merce eel, aT wae aed
a eS sae Pre We cag ah ie)
i ~ wy LE VEE rar wit ae? i
ike ‘1 ‘5 my 1% os is ae 5% attr. me A
http://www.archive.org/details/ed2advancementof00bacouoft
ah
ST REE
Cav Clarendon Press Series
BACON «uae.
France , Utacourt | >
THE
ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING
EDITED BY
WILLIAM ALDIS WRIGHT, M.A.
SECOND EDITION 52
io) \
-S %
a
re
Oxford
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
M DCCC LXXVI
[Ai rights reserved |
&
Jeg
5
an
5:
a w
ee ip
y 3
i
, ed ay
eats +3
PREFACE.
FRANCIS BACON was born on the 22nd of January, 1560-1,
at York House in the Strand, the residence. of his father
Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. Sixty
years later, Ben Jonson sang of him as
‘England’s high Chancellor; the destined heir,
In his soft cradle, to his father’s chair,’
His mother, Anne Cooke, whose eldest sister was married to
Lord Burleigh, was his father’s second wife, and had borne
_him two children. Anthony, the friend and correspondent of
Essex, was two years older than Francis. Of their childhood
nothing is known. In April, 1573, when Francis was little
more than twelve years old, the two brothers were entered
as fellow-commoners at Trinity College, Cambridge, and ma-
triculated between the roth and 13th of June in the same year.
They were placed under the care of Dr. Whitgift, Master of the
College, who found this distinguished position not inconsistent
with holding the Deanery of Lincoln, a Canonry at Ely, and the
Rectory of Teversham; having, however, previously resigned
the Regius Professorship of Divinity. From an account-book
which he kept, and which was published by the late Dr. Mait-
land in the British Magazine (vols. xxxii. xxxiii), we glean
the meagre facts of Francis Bacon’s University career. We
learn, for instance, that during the period of his residence in
College, from April 5, 1573, to Christmas 1575, the Master’s
parental care supplied him with so many pairs of shoes, a bow
and quiver of arrows, that there was oil bought for his neck,
and certain money paid to the ‘ potigarie’ when he was sick,
and for meat probably as he was recovering, that he had a
vi PREFACE,
desk put up in his study, that his stockings were dyed at
a cost of 12d., that his laundress’s bill from Midsummer to
Michaelmas was 3 shillings, that his hose were mended, his
windows glazed, two dozen silk points, a pair of pantofles and
pumps bought for him, and a dozen new buttons set on his
doublet. Some books the brothers brought with them from
London. With others they were furnished by the Master, as
Livy, Cicero, Demosthenes’ Olynthiacs, Homer’s Iliad, Cesar,
Aristotle, Plato, Xenophon, Sallust, and Hermogenes. “There
is an interval in the accounts from the latter part of August,
1574, to the 21st of March following; during which time the
plague raged in Cambridge, and the members of the Uni-
versity were dispersed. The only record of Bacon’s residence
at Trinity is a reminiscence of his own preserved in the Sylva
Sylvarum (cent. ii. 151), which shows that at this early period
he had begun to observe natural phenomena. ‘I remember,’
he says, ‘in Trinity College in Cambridge, there was an upper
chamber, which being thought weak in the roof of it, was
supported by a pillar of iron, of the bigness of one’s arm, in
the midst of the chamber; which if you had struck, it would
make a little flat noise in the room where it was struck, but it
would make a great bomb in the chamber beneath.’ We may
possibly have here a description of the rooms occupied by the
two brothers, but if so they must have been in the buildings
of King’s Hall, removed by Dr. Nevill in constructing the pre-
sent Old Court. No tradition of their whereabouts remains.
If we add to these fragments an anecdote related by Dr. Raw-
ley, his chaplain and earliest biographer, we are in possession
of all that is known of Francis Bacon up to the time that he
completed his fifteenth year. Rawley’s story introduces us to
a child of singular gravity and adroitness, the future Chan-
cellor and courtier. The Queen ‘delighted much then to
confer with him, and to prove him with questions; unto
whom he delivered himself with that gravity and maturity
above his years, that Her Majesty would often term him
“The young Lord Keeper.” Being asked by the Queen how
. old he was, he answered with much discretion, being then
PREFACE. i“ vii
but a boy, “That he was two years younger than Her Ma-
jesty’s happy reign ;” with which answer the Queen was much
taken.’ Another anecdote from the same source, of which
more than enough has been made, belongs to this period.
‘Whilst he was commorant in the University, about ‘sixteen
years of age (as his lordship hath been pleased to impart unto
myself), he first fell into the dislike of the philosophy of
Aristotle; not for the worthlessness of the author, to whom
he would ever ascribe all high attributes, but for the unfruit-
fulness of the way; being a philosophy (as his lordship used to
say) only strong for disputations and contentions, but barren
of the production of works for the benefit of the life of man;
in which mind he continued to his dying day.’
The story which has been told above of the iron pillar in
the chamber at Trinity shows that Bacon’s attention had
been very early directed to the observation of sounds, and
lends a probability to the supposition that it may have been
at this time that he tried the experiment recorded in the
Sylva Sylvarum (cent. ii. 140). ‘There is in St. James’s Fields
a conduit of brick, unto which joineth a low vault; and at the
end of that a round house of stone; and in the brick conduit
there is a window; and in the round-house a slit or rift of
some little breadth; if you cry out in the rift, it will make a
fearful roaring at the window.’ In all this there is a certain
ring of boyishness. To this time also belongs the story of the
conjuror (Sylva, cent. x. 946), who must have exhibited his
tricks at Sir Nicholas Bacon’s house before Francis left
England.
But his father had in view for him a public career as states-
man or diplomatist, and after he had spent nearly three years
over his books at Cambridge, sent him to France to read men.
On the 25th of September, 1576, we learn from Burghley’s
diary, ‘Sir Amyas Paulet landed at Calliss going to be Amb.
at France in Place of Dr. Dale.’ It was not till the February
following that he succeeded to the post. Bacon apparently
joined him after his arrival in Paris, for on Nov. 21, 1576, he
was admitted of the grand company at Gray’s Inn, having
Vill PREFACE.
entered the Society on the 27th of June previous. He was sub-
sequently ‘entrusted with some message or advertisement to
the Queen; which having performed with great approbation,
he returned back into France again, with intention to continue
for some years there.’ (Rawley.) Here we find him still keen
in his observation of natural phenomena, sounds as before
occupying a great share of his attention. Let him describe
what he heard in his own words written nearly fifty years
later. ‘ For echoes upon echoes, there is a rare instance thereof
in a place which I will now exactly describe. It is some three
or four miles from Paris, near a town called Pont-Charenton ;
and some bird-bolt shot or more from the river of Seine.
The room is a chapel or small church. The walls all stand-
ing, both at the sides and at the ends. Two rows of pillars,
after the manner of aisles of churches, also standing; the roof
all open, not so much as any embowment near any of the walls
left. There was against every pillar a stack of billets above a
man’s height; which the watermen that bring wood down the
Seine in stacks, and not in boats, laid there (as it seemeth) for
their ease. Speaking at the one end, I did hear it return the
voice thirteen several times: and I have heard of others, that
it would return sixteen times: for I was there about three of
the clock in the afternoon; and it is best (as all other echoes
are) in the evening. .... I remember well, that when I went to
the echo at Pont-Charenton, there was an old Parisian, who
took it to be the work of spirits, and of good spirits. For
(said he) call Satan, and the echo will not deliver back the
devil’s name; but will say, va #’en ; which is as much in French
as apage or avoid. And thereby I did hap to find that an
echo would not return S, being but a hissing and an interior
sound.’ (Sylva Sylvarum, cent. iii. 249, 251.) Another story
which he tells of himself belongs to this period of his life. ‘TI
had, from my childhood, a wart upon one of my fingers: after-
wards, when I was about sixteen years old, being then at Paris,
there grew upon both my hands a number of warts (at the
least an hundred) in a month’s space. The English ambassador’s
lady, who was a woman far from superstition, told me one day,
ae ee
PREFACE. ix
she would help me away with my warts: whereupon she got
a piece of lard, with the skin on, and rubbed the warts all
' over with the fat side; and amongst the rest, that wart which
I had had from my childhood: then she nailed the piece of
lard, with the fat towards the sun, upon a post of her chamber
window, which was to the south. The success was, that
within five weeks’ space all the warts went quite away: and
_ that wart which I had so long endured, for company.’ (Sylva
Sylvarum, cent. x. 997.) The questions of sounds and mys-
terious sympathies did not, however, occupy the whole of his
active mind. It was while at Paris learning diplomacy that
he invented the cypher which he describes at the end of the
sixth book of the De Augmentis, and here too he probably
saw that strange visionary, Guillaume Postell, in his retreat
at the monastery of St. Martin des Champs. In the summer
of 1577, the French Court was at Poitiers. Sir Amias Paulet,
with Bacon probably in his suite, remained there from the end
of July to the latter end of October. That Bacon was at
Poitiers at some time during his residence in France we
know from his own account of a conversation with a cynical
young Frenchman, perhaps a student, who afterwards became
a man of considerable distinction. (Hist. Vite et Mortis,
Works, ii. 211.) There is no evidence however that he him-
self studied at the University there.
But now an event occurred which changed the whole cur-
rent of his life. On the 2oth of February, 1578-9, Sir Nicholas
Bacon died, after an illness of only a few days. His death, by
a strange coincidence, was foreshadowed by a dream, which
his son upon after reflection appears to have regarded almost
as a sign of the coming disaster. ‘I myself remember,’ he
says, ‘that being in Paris, and my father dying in London,
two or three days before my father’s death I had a dream,
which I told to divers English gentlemen, that my father’s
house in the country was plastered all over with black mortar.’
(Sylva, cent. x. 986.) A month later, on the 2oth of March,
1578-9, Bacon left Paris, bearing with him a despatch and
commendations from Sir Amias Paulet to the Queen. His
x PREFACE.
father, according to Rawley, had accumulated a considerable
sum of money for the purpose of purchasing an estate for his
youngest son, but his sudden death prevented its accomplish-
ment, and Francis was left with only a fifth part of his father’s
personal property. Diplomacy was now abandoned as a career,
his prospects of a studious leisure became more distant than
ever, and for one who would willingly have lived only to study,
there was nothing left but to study how to live®. Soon after
his return to England he appears to have entered upon a
course of law at Gray’s Inn, and on the 27th of June, 1582,
we find him admitted as an utter barrister. The next year
he is seen abroad in the city in his barrister’s dress, and pro-
mises to do well. Meanwhile he has made a beginning of
the great work on which his fame was to rest, the first sketch
of which he called, as he told Father Fulgentio forty years
later, by the ambitious title of Temporis Partus Maximus.
In 1584 Bacon appeared upon a new stage, which he never
jeft for thirty years and upwards, and on which some of his
greatest triumphs were achieved. On the 23rd of November
he took his seat in the House of Commons as member for
Melcombe Regis, in Dorsetshire. In D’Ewes’s Journal (p. 337),
his name appears on the Committee appointed on the gth of
December to consider the ‘ Bill for redress of Disorders in
Common Informers.’ In the next Parliament, which met
Oct. 29, 1586, he sat for Taunton, and on the 4th of No-
vember made a speech on ‘the great cause’ of Mary, Queen
of Scots, but no report of it has been preserved. With other
members of both Houses he attended (Nov. 12) upon the
@ Of his personal appearance at this time we can form an idea from
the interesting picture painted by Hilliard in 1578, with the significant
motto, showing that his intellectual pre-eminence was already becoming
conspicuous, Si tabula daretur digna, animum mallem. ‘The artist is he
of whom Donne says :—
‘A hand or eye
By Hilliard drawn, is worth a history
By a worse painter made,’
PREFACE. xi
Queen, to present a petition for the speedy execution of Mary.
In the previous February he had been admitted to the high
table at Gray’s Inn, and in due course became a bencher.
Beyond the fact that he was on the ‘Committees appointed
for conference touching a loan or benevolence to be offered
to Her Majesty,’ and of the Bill for Attainder, and that he was
one of those sent up to confer with the Lords about the Bill
for continuance of Statutes, we hear no more of Bacon during
the present Parliament. The next finds him member for
Liverpool, busy on frequent committees, and reporting their
proceedings to the House. The Marprelate controversy was
now at its height, and Bacon delivered his judgement, full of
wisdom and moderation, on the points in dispute, in a paper
which remained unprinted during ‘his lifetime, called ‘An
Advertisement touching the Controversies of the Church of
England.’ It contains the germs of his essay ‘Of Unity in
Religion.’
In 1589 he received his first piece of preferment in the
_form of the reversion of an office, which however did not fall
in for nearly twenty years. Under the date of Oct. in this year
we find the entry in Burghley’s printed diary, ‘A Graunt of
the Office of Clerk of the Counsell in the Starr Chamber to
Francis Bacon.’ The office was worth 1600/. or 2000/. a year,
and was executed by deputy, but Bacon had to exercise the
patience of hope till July 16, 1608; and meanwhile, as he said
himself, ‘it was like another man’s ground buttalling upon his
house, which might mend his prospect, but it did not fill his
barn.’ (Rawley.) He was a poor man in purse for many years
to come, toiling in a profession in which his heart was not;
but, as he writes to Burghley, with as vast contemplative ends
as he had moderate civil ends, for he had taken all knowledge
to be his province. His highest ambition at this time was to
be put in an office which should place him above the reach of
want and leave him leisure to prosecute his intellectual con-
quests. This was the career he longed for at thirty-one, and
it is important to bear it in mind as helping in some degree to
vindicate his motives in later life.
xii PREFACE.
In February, 1591-2, his brother Anthony came to live in
Gray’s Inn, and from the motherly solicitude of Lady Bacon
for her eldest son’s religious welfare, we learn that Francis
was negligent in the use of family prayers, and was not to be
held up as a pattern to his brother, or resorted to for counsel
in such matters.
To the autumn of 1592 Mr. Spedding with great probability
assigns the speeches in praise of Knowledge and of the Queen,
which were apparently written for some Court device, perhaps
that contrived by the Earl of Essex for the Queen’s day. In
close connexion with the latter of these is the treatise entitled
‘Certain observations upon a libel published this present year,
1592,’ which Bacon wrote in reply to the Responsio ad edictum
Regine Anglia of Father Parsons.
In the Parliament which met on February 19, 1592-3, Bacon,
who had hitherto been returned only by boroughs, now sat as
member for Middlesex. It was in the course of this session
that, according to. Macaulay, ‘he indulged in a burst of patriot-
_ism, which cost him a long and bitter remorse, and which he
never ventured torepeat.’ In this sounding sentence there is
hardly a word of truth. What really happened may be briefly
told. On the 26th of February Bacon, with Sir Robert Cecil
and other leading members of the House, moved that a com-
mittee of supply be appointed to provide against the dangers
with which the country was threatened both by Rome and
Spain, and other confederates of the Holy League. A few
fragments of his speech in support of the motion have been
preserved, and he himself was one of the committee appointed,
Another committee was formed by the Lords, the two com-
mittees consulted together, and the result of their conference
was communicated to the House of Commons by Sir Robert
Cecil. The Lords demanded at least a treble subsidy, payable
in three years by two instalments each year. Bacon spoke
next, ‘and yielded to the subsidy, but misliked that this House
should join with the Upper House in the granting of it.’
(D’Ewes, Journal of the House of Commons, p. 483.) His
opposition was solely in defence of the privilege of the House
PREFACE, . Xili
of Commons, and to preserve this he moved, ‘that now they
might proceed herein by themselves apart from their Lord-
ships.’ After considerable discussion the question was ultim-
ately put to the House, that no such conference should be
had with the Lords, and was carried by a majority of 217 to
128. The point of privilege was yielded, and a motion of Sir
Walter Ralegh’s for a general conference with the Lords
carried unanimously. As thé result of this, the original pro-
position was so far modified that four years instead of three
were to be allowed for the payment of the subsidies. Bacon
‘assented to three subsidies, but not to the payment under six
years,’ but he was outvoted and made no further difficulty.
Such was the solitary act of patriotism of which Macaulay
says Bacon was guilty. And even for this, he adds, he made
the most abject apologies. Two letters of Bacon’s on this
subject have been preserved, one to Lord Burghley, the other
probably, as Mr. Spedding conjectures, to Essex. The tone
of both is that of manly justification of his conduct ; in neither
is there one syllable of apology or regret for what he had
done. He is evidently surprised at being misunderstood. The
Queen was angry at his speeches, and Bacon expresses his
grief that she ‘ should retain an hard conceit’ of them. What
follows is very instructive. ‘It. mought please her sacred
Majesty to think what my end should be in those speeches,
if it were not duty, and duty alone. Iam not so simple but I
know the common beaten way to please. And whereas popul-
arity hath been objected, I muse what care I should take to
please many, that taketh a course of life to deal with few.’
At this juncture the Attorney-Generalship was vacant, and
whatever chance Bacon might have had, through the influence
of Essex, of being appointed to the post, was entirely nullified
by the Queen’s displeasure. For himself he was not anxious
for the honour, but he assured Elizabeth, in a letter which was
intended to appease her, that he was ready to do that for her
service which he would not do for his own gain. ‘My mind,’
he says, ‘turneth upon other wheels than those of profit.” Had
it not been for this chance, however, he would probably have
xiv PREFACE,
relieved himself from the embarrassment of his debts by selling
the reversion of his property and purchasing an annuity, and
would then have abandoned a profession for which he had no
love, and lived the life of a student. But he was kept in sus-
pense during the summer of 1593, and the delay decided his
future career.
In March, 1593-4, he drew up a report, not printed in his
lifetime, ‘ of the detestable treason, intended by Dr. Roderigo
Lopez, a physician attending upon the person of the Queen’s
Majesty,’ which had been traced out with great skill by Essex.
The latter meanwhile was urging Bacon’s claims upon the
Queen with a pertinacity and petulance which rather injured
than furthered his cause, MHeartsick with hope deferred,
Bacon writes to his friend, ‘I will, by God’s assistance .....
retire myself with a couple of men to Cambridge, and there
spend my life in my studies and contemplations, without look-
ing back.’ On the roth of April Coke’s patent as Attorney-
General was made out and delivered. By this appointment
the Solicitorship became vacant, and Essex renewed his im-
portunities with the Queen, who disparaged Bacon in his legal
capacity as one who was not deep, but rather showed to the
utmost of his knowledge, while she admitted he had ‘a great
wit and an excellent gift of speech, and much other good
learning.’ On the 27th of July, 1594, being detained by illness
at Huntingdon on his way north, he paid a visit to Cambridge,
and received the honorary degree of Master of Arts. The
Queen was still relentless, but had given way so far as to
employ him on the 13th of June in the examination of two
persons in the Tower, who were implicated in a conspiracy.
In August and September he is again at work upon business
of the same kind. Still the long hoped-for promotion did not
come. In the Christmas vacation of this year he amused him-
self with beginning his ‘Promus of Formularies and Elegan-
cies,’ and in writing speeches for an entertainment at Gray’s
Inn. The suspense of more than a year and half was brought
to an end by the appointment of Serjeant Fleming to the
Solicitorship on the 5th of November, 1595. Essex was mor-
PREFACE, XV
tified at the ill success of his suit, the failure of which had
perhaps in some measure been due to his own want of judge-
ment in pressing it. Lady Bacon said truly, ‘though the Earl
showed great affection, he marred all with violent courses.’
But he generously resolved that his friend should not be alto-
_ gether a loser by his friendship. The relation between them _
at this juncture is excellently expressed by Mr. Spedding.
‘In the account between him and Bacon the obligation was
not all on one side. Bacon owed him much for his friendship,
trust, and eager endeavours to serve him. He owed Bacon
much, not only for affection and zeal, but for time and pains
gratuitously spent in his affairs. ‘These he had done his best
to requite in the best way—namely by advancing him in his
profession; but having failed, he (not unnaturally) desired to
make him some reparation.’ ‘ You shall not deny,’ said Essex,
‘to accept a piece of land which I will bestow upon you.’
Bacon declined, but the Earl insisted, and what followed
must be told in Bacon’s own words, because it shows in what
light he viewed the respective duties of citizenship and friend-
ship, and how fixed a principle it was with him that, like
Pericles, he could only be a friend usque ad aras, so far, that
is, as was consistent with higher obligations. After in vain
endeavouring to persuade Essex not to imitate the Duke of
Guise and turn his estate into obligations, he said, ‘My Lord,
I see I must be your homager and hold land of your gift: but
do you know the manner of doing homage in law? Always it
is with a saving of his faith to the King and his other lords:
and therefore, my Lord’ (said I), ‘I can be no more yours
than I was, and it must be with the ancient savings.’ It looks
as if Bacon already foresaw that the impetuous rashness of
Essex might at some time place him in such a position that
the lower duty would have to give way before the higher.
How strongly he felt this is shown by the closing sentence of
a letter to the Earl, which is very properly assigned to this
period of his life, and carries with it a warning sound, ‘1
reckon myself as a common (not popular, but common); and as
much as is lawful to be enclosed of a common, so much your
+
Xvi PREFACE,
Lordship shall be sure to have.’ Five years later he reiterated
in the same tone, ‘I humbly pray you to believe that I aspire
to the conscience and commendation first of onus civis, which
with us is a good and true servant to the Queen, and next of
bonus vir, that is, an honest man.’ But of this anon. The
result of the present negotiation was that Essex presented
Bacon with a piece of land, which he afterwards sold to Rey-
nold Nicholas for 180o/,
At what precise time Bacon was appointed by the Queen
one of her counsel learned in the law, is not quite certain. It
has been supposed that the appointment was made as early as
the beginning of 1592, and he is certainly described by this
title in a lease of sixty acres of land in Zelwood Forest, Somer-
setshire, which was granted him by the Crown, July 14, 1596.
From the fact that he is not so described in the grant of the
reversion of the lease of Twickenham Park, dated Noy. 17,
1595, it would seem that he had been made Queen’s counsel
in the interval. Meanwhile he consoled himself for his pro-
fessional disappointments by increased devotion to his favourite
studies, and early in 1597 published, in a small volume, the first
instalment of his Essays, which had been written some time
before, and were already circulated in manuscript. From an
expression in the dedication to his brother Anthony, he evid-
ently regarded the publication as premature. ‘I doe nowe,’
he says, ‘like some that have an orcharde ill neighbored,
that gather their fruit before it is ripe, to prevent stealing.’
The same volume contained the Colours of Good and Evil, and
the Meditationes Sacre. Traces of his hand are also to be
found in the ‘ Advice to the Earl of Rutland on his Travels,’
and to‘ Sir Fulke Greville on his Studies,’ which appear in the .
name of Essex, and belong to the beginning of 1596.
On the 30th of April, 1596, the Mastership of the Rolls
became vacant by the death of Lord Keeper Puckering, and
the promotion of Egerton to his place. For this post Bacon
was again a candidate, Essex as before supported his claim, and
with the same result, suspense and ultimate disappointment.
Burghley’s influence was exerted with no better success. He
‘
— =
PREFACE. - Xvii
had endeavoured to procure the Solicitorship for his nephew,
and, failing that, ‘the place of the Wards;’ probably, as -
Mr. Spedding conjectures, the office of Attorney of the
Wards. But all came to nothing, as did another suit of a
more private nature, which Bacon contemplated if he did not
prosecute, and in which Essex again stood his friend. It is
not certain that he ever actually proposed for the hand of
Lady Hatton, the young and wealthy widow of Sir William
Hatton, and granddaughter of Burghley. From an expression
in one of his letters to Essex it is probable that he saw no
opportunity of urging his suit with success, and on the 7th of
November, 1598, the lady became the wife of his determined
enemy, Sir Edward Coke.
It was during the autumn of 1597 that an estrangement
took place between Bacon and Essex. Warnings on the one
side, which were unheeded on the other, ‘bred in process of
time,’ says Bacon in his Apology, ‘a discontinuance of private-
ness. . . . between his Lordship and myself; so as I was
not called nor advised with, for some year and half before his
Lordship’s going into Ireland, as in former time.’ After the
brilliant success of the Cadiz expedition, Bacon wrote a letter
of advice to the Earl touching his conduct; a letter full of the
soundest wisdom, showing the clear apprehension which the
writer had of the weak points of Essex’s character. The
difference between the policy he recommended and the
course which Essex adopted cannot be more strikingly. put
than in Bacon’s own words in his Apology: ‘I ever set this
down, that the only course to be held with the Queen, was by
obsequiousness and observance. . . My Lord on the other
hand had a settled opinion that the Queen could be brought
to nothing but by a kind of necessity and authority.’ How
true this was no man knew better by experience than Bacon
himself, who ever in season and out of season gave him ‘the
counsel of a wise and then a prophetical friend.’ (Sir H.
Wotton.) But it was all in vain. Essex’s nature was too
impatient to follow a course which involyed so much self-
restraint. He went his own way, and in a few brief years
b
XVIII PREFACE,
followed the partial failure of the Island voyage, the total
failure of the Irish expedition, his hasty return, the Queen’s
displeasure, and then the final catastrophe.
But we must go back for a while to see in what matters
Bacon was occupied. In 1595 the question of Star-Chamber
Fees was undergoing investigation, and in consequence, cer-
=a
tain fees hitherto claimed by the Clerk had been restrained __
by the Lord Keeper. Bacon, who was immediately interested,
addressed a paper to Egerton on the subject in July 1597.
His estate at this time, as he confesses in another letter, was
‘weak and indebted,’ a condition which he attributed in part
to the slender provision made for him by his father, and
greatly also to the plan of his own life, in which he ‘rather
referred and aspired to virtue than to gain.’ Want was steal-
ing upon him. But he was not disheartened. There were
three means of preventing it: his practice, in which he was
conscious of not playing his best; the prospect of a place
under government; and the reversion of the clerkship of the
Star-Chamber. The last of these he proposed to give up to
the Lord Keeper’s son, if Egerton would obtain the Master-
ship of the Rolls for him; but once more he failed, and the
office was not filled up till the next reign.
The ninth Parliament of Elizabeth met on the 24th of
October, 1597, and Bacon sat as member for Ipswich. His
first speech was. on a motion which he brought forward
‘against depopulation of towns and houses of husbandry, and
for the maintenance of husbandry and tillage,’ a question
which in after years possessed his mind, and was discussed in
his Essay ‘ Of the true Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates,’
first published in 1612, and again in his History of Henry VII.
in 1622. An examination of D’Ewes’s Journal of the House
of Commons shows that his name is to be found on com-
mittees for the consideration of every question of import-
ance during this session, and that though the Queen had not
yet forgiven his conduct on a former occasion, his position in
the House was as high as ever.
But if his reputation was increasing his debts were in-
PREFACE, >:
creasing too, and in September 1598 he was arrested on his
way from the Tower, where he had been engaged in the in-
vestigation of a plot for the murder of the Queen. He com-
plained of the indignity thus offered him to Sir Robert Cecil
and the Lord Keeper Egerton, but how he was relieved from ~
it we have no information. A history of the conspiracy from
his pen appeared in the following year.
In the spring of 1599 Essex set out on his disastrous exped-
ition to Ireland. Bacon had already so far renewed his
intercourse with the Earl as to write him two letters of
advice. A third Cassandra-like note of warning was sounded
just before his departure, containing two maxims which Essex
was only too apt to forget, ‘that merit is worthier than
fame,’ and ‘that obedience is better than sacrifice.’ He
landed in Dublin on the 15th of April, and on the 28th of
September he startled the Queen at Nonsuch, by rushing
travel-stained into her chamber while she was dressing, ‘her
hair about her face,’ as a letter-writer of the time tells us.
And what had he done meanwhile? Practically, as Mr. Sped-
ding puts it, ‘whatever might be said in justification of this
or that item of the account, the totals must stand thus:—
Expended, 300,000/. and ten or twelve thousand men; re-
ceived, a suspension of hostilities for six weeks, with promise
of a fortnight’s notice before recommencing them, and a
verbal communication from Tyrone of the conditions upon °
which he was willing to make peace.’ Between ten and
eleven o’clock the same night he was ordered to keep his
room. His first plan of bringing over with him a part of
the army to enable him to make conditions with the govern-
ment, had been abandoned by the advice of his stepfather
Blount, and his friend Southampton. But he took with him
a strong body-guard of trusty men, ‘who might have secured
him against any commitment.’ On the 1st of October he
was placed in the custody of the Lord Keeper at York
House. Bacon, who at this time had constant access to the
Queen, was charged by popular rumour with irritating her
against Essex. ‘According to the ordinary charities of
b2
XxX : PREFACE,
Court,’ he says with quiet irony, ‘it was given out that I
was one of them that incensed the Queen against my Lord
of Essex.’ To Elizabeth’s plan of having ‘somewhat pub-
lished in the Star-Chamber, for the satisfaction of the world
touching my Lord of Essex his restraint,’ Bacon was firmly
opposed, and his opposition gave her great offence. She
charged him with being absent from the Star-Chamber when
the declaration was made on the 29th of November. That
he was absent we have his own evidence to prove, and he
pleaded indisposition as the cause. An unjust suspicion fell
upon him of having given the Queen an opinion in the cause
of Essex in opposition to that of the Lord Chief Justice and
the Attorney-General. His life was even threatened; but he
had ‘the privy coat of a good conscience,’ and felt that these
falsehoods would recoil upon their authors. Essex still re-
mained in the custody of the Lord Keeper, and for some
months not a word passed between the Queen and Bacon
about him. But neither of them at this time knew the depth
of Essex’s guilt. They knew nothing of his first design of
landing in England with two or three thousand men, to make
good his position till he could gain support. They knew
nothing of the treasonable intention with which Montjoy
succeeded to Essex’s command in Ireland; an intention
_which had no less a scope than with half his army to join the
King of Scots in an armed demonstration to support his
right to the succession, the party headed by Essex in England
working to the same end. James was too timid or too wary
to listen to such a proposal, and the plot was for the time
abandoned. Before it was revived Montjoy had come to his
senses, and then ‘utterly rejected it as a thing which he could
no way think honest.’
In the meantime Essex was released from custody and
allowed to retire to his own house, still however remaining
under surveillance. Towards the end of the Easter term the
Queen admitted to Bacon that the former ‘ proceeding in the
Star-Chamber had done no good, but rather kindled factious
bruits (as she termed them) than quenched them.’ She now
=" rote:
PREFACE. “xxi
proposed to proceed by public information against Essex.
But for this, Bacon urged, it was far too late; at which the
Queen was offended. At the beginning of the next term the
subject was again discussed between them, Bacon as before
dissuading any public process. The Queen finally resolved
that the matter should be heard before a commission at York
House. Her counsel had their parts assigned to them. At
first it was doubtful whether Bacon, in consideration of his
relations with Essex, and the way in which he had consist-
ently pleaded his cause, would be allowed any share in the
proceedings. He begged to be excused, but held himself
ready to obey the Queen’s commands, thinking that by so
far yielding to her he might be in a better position to serve
Essex. Up to this time it must be remembered he knew
nothing of the Earl’s treasonous designs, and regarded his
quarrel with the Queen as a storm which would soon blow
over. In the distribution to the counsel of their several
parts, Bacon was allotted one which seemed insignificant, and
was given him as least calculated to do harm to Essex. The
Privy Council with their assessors met at York House on the
5th of June. Essex was acquitted of disloyalty, but censured
for contempt and disobedience in neglecting his instructions
and deserting his command. Bacon, by the Queen’s order,
drew up a narrative of what had passed, in which he touched
upon Essex’s faults with so tender a hand, that Elizabeth was
moved and said, ‘she perceived old love would not easily be
forgotten.’ Bacon with great adroitness took advantage of
the expression. ‘Whereunto I answered suddenly, that I
hoped she meant that by herself.’ In a short time Essex was
released from the slight restraint which had been placed upon
him, but forbidden to come to the Court. His fate was again
_in his own hands,
So far it was proved that Bacon’s policy was the true one,
and that by keeping on good terms with the Queen he could
better serve Essex than by placing himself in opposition to
her. His principles however remained the same as before.
‘For my Lord of Essex,’ he writes to Lord Henry Howard,
Xxii PREFACE.
*I am not servile to him, having regard to my superior duty.
I have been much bound unto him. And on the other side, I
have spent more time and more thoughts about his well-
doing than ever I did about mine own.’ Still he had no
suspicion of the dangerous secrets of which Essex was con-
scious. His counsel was as ever patience, and for a time the
Earl, to the outer world at least, seemed heedful of his advice.
To his intimates he presented another aspect. ‘In my laste
discourse,’ says Sir John Harington, ‘he uttered strange
wordes, borderynge on suche strange desygns that made me
hastene forthe, and leave his presence; thank heaven I am
safe at home, and if I go in suche troubles againe, I deserve
the gallowes for a meddlynge foole : His speeches of the Queene
becomethe no man who hathe mens sana in corpore sano.
(Nugae Antiquae, ii, 225, ed. 1779.) His patent for the
monopoly of sweet wines was to expire at Michaelmas, and
he petitioned for a renewal of the lease. His petition was
_ refused and his patience at an end. From this time the
Queen, who evidently was better informed than Bacon as to
what Essex had really done, and supposed that Bacon knew
as much as herself, was so angry at his importunity for his
friend that she would no longer see him. For three months
this estrangement lasted. It was not till after New Year’s
Day, 1600-1, that Bacon was admitted to her presence, and
then boldly and ‘with some passion’ spoke his mind, ‘Madam,
I see you withdraw your favour from me, and now that I have
lost many friends for your sake, I shall leese youtoo. . . .
A great many love me not, because they think I have been
against my Lord of Essex; and you love me not, because you
know I have been for him: yet will I never repent me, that
I have dealt in simplicity of heart towards you both, without
respect of cautions to myself, and therefore vivus vidensque
pereo.” The Queen was moved by the earnestness of his
protestations, and spoke kindly to him as of old; but of Essex
never a word. Henceforth Bacon determined to meddle no
more in the matter, and never saw the Queen again till the
Earl had put himself beyond the reach of intercession. He
~ i
2) on bel oe
PREFACE. — Xxili
now devoted his energies to his own affairs, which were still
embarrassed, and to the business of his profession, in which
he was gradually but surely rising. On the 24th of October,
1600, he had been made Double Reader at Gray’s Inn, and
had his lectures for the Lent term to prepare on the Statute
of Uses.
Up to the 8th of February, 1600-1, it is abundantly evident
that Bacon had done his utmost to restore Essex to the
Queen’s favour. His efforts were vain, but they were made,
and were made, moreover, not only at the risk but with the
result of bringing the Queen’s displeasure upon himself. And
now came the crisis in which his worst forebodings were
more than realised. Essex, left to his own deyices and the
company and counsel of men who used him as an instrument
for their own ends, plunged deeper and deeper in guilt. As
long ago as the previous August he had again sounded
Montjoy on the subject of an armed demonstration in con-
junction with the King of Scotland, But Montjoy turned
adeaf ear. Still there were hopes from James. Meanwhile
the secret which had hitherto been confined to a few was
in danger of being divulged. The discontented spirits of all
parties were encouraged to rally round Essex, though without
knowing the full extent of the conspiracy they were intended
to support. Before Christmas, Essex had determined to se-
cure his access to the Queen in such sort as might not be
resisted. Bythe end of January the plot had assumed a defin-
ite form. He was ‘resolved not to hazard any more com-
mandments and restraints.’ On the 3rd of February the
plan for attacking the Court was made and the parts assigned
to the conspirators. Sir Christopher Blount was to seize the
utter gate, Sir Charles Davers the presence, and Sir John
Davies the hall and water-gate. The guard being over-
powered and the Queen’s person secured, the Earl and his
company were to enter from the Mews, and make their own
terms. Cecil, Ralegh, and Cobham were to be removed.
They had no intention of injuring the Queen; but, as Blount
confessed on the scaffold, they were prepared, rather than
xxiv - PREFACE.
fail in their ends, to have even ‘drawn blood from herself.’
The gatherings at Essex House had attracted the attention
of the Court, and on Saturday the 7th of February Essex was
summoned before the Privy Council. He refused to go; and
in the evening, fearing that the Lords knew more than they
did, proposed to make the attack. But the guards were
doubled at Whitehall, and next morning Charing Cross and
Westminster were barricaded. There was nothing now left
but to raise the City. At ten o’clock on Sunday morning,
the Lord Keeper, the Earl of Worcester, Sir William Knollys,
and the Lord Chief Justice repaired to Essex House. Essex’s
men had been running hither and thither all night to summon
his friends, and by this time wellnigh three hundred were
assembled. The arrival of the Lord Keeper precipitated
their action. Essex cried out that he should be murdered
in his bed, that his enemies had forged his name, and that
he was armed in self-defence. The Lord Keeper promised
that he should have justice done, but it was now too late.
Essex left him and his companions prisoners, and rushed out
with some two hundred followers on foot, crying hysterically
that plots were laid against his life, and that the country was
sold to the Spaniard. Not a man stirred in his defence. The
conspirators marched through the City as far as Fenchurch
Street to the house of Sheriff Smith, and there Essex showed
signs that his nerve had forsaken him, Making their way
back to Ludgate Hill, they found the street closed against
them. A fight ensued, in which one or two were slain on
either side, Essex was shot through the hat, Blount wounded
and taken prisoner. The Earl, with some fifty followers, es-
caped by water to Essex House, and by ten o’clock in the
evening surrendered. And so ended this miserable and ‘ fatal
impatience.’ But there was evidently a mystery which the
Court had not penetrated, and to unravel it Bacon with others
of her Majesty’s counsel was employed. They soon dis-
covered the true nature of the plot. Judgement followed
swiftly upon the offenders. On the 19th of February Essex
and Southampton were arraigned. The evidence against
PREFACE, ; XXV
them was overwhelming. Bacon took his place among the
counsel, The office he had to perform was none of his
seeking: it was laid upon him with the rest of his fellows.
The time had come when he was obliged to choose between
his Queen and one to whom he had tried his utmost to be
a friend. Essex’s defence was, as before, that his life was in
danger, that he took up arms for his own protection, and
that the kingdom was betrayed to Spain. Bacon spoke twice,
on both occasions recalling the attention of the Court to the
true nature of the case, and showing that the private quarrel
which had been alleged was a mere pretext. The defence
broke down on all points, and the two Earls were condemned.
Even those who blame Bacon for taking any part in the trial
have nothing to urge against the manner in which he acquit-
ted himself. Birch (Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth,
ii. 499) says, ‘Mr. Francis Bacon’s behaviour towards the Earl
at his trial was perhaps less exceptionable than his submitting
to any share in it.’ Essex himself uttered no word of re-
proach. He was too conscious that Bacon had stood by him
in evil report and in good report, and how wise all his counsels
had been. After a careful review of this strange eventful
history, the whole course of which must have been inexpress-
ibly painful to Bacon, it is difficult to see how, as a good
citizen, whose first duty was to his country, he could have
acted otherwise. His contemporaries passed no censure upon
him. Essex, who laid the blame of his own treasort upon
his personal enemies, did not reckon Bacon among them,
And these things being so, we may confidently expect at the
hands of posterity a verdict not only of ‘not proven,’ but of
‘not guilty.’
So much misapprehension has existed as to the real nature
of the offence of Essex, and of Bacon’s share in his trial and
condemnation, that it has been necessary to discuss it some-
what in detail. With the Earl’s execution, however, Bacon’s
part in the transaction did not terminate. Though the evid-
’ ence was crushing and irresistible, the conduct of the trial had
been slovenly, and the impression left by it confused, It was
XXvV1 PREFACE.
desirable that an authoritative statement should be drawn up,
setting forth with all clearness the real nature of the offence,
and the evidence on which judgement had been pronounced,
and the task of drawing up such a statement was entrusted
to the skilful pen of Bacon. The result was 4 Declaration of
the Practises and Treasons attempted and committed by Robert
late Earle of Essex and his Complices, against her Maiestie and
her Kingdoms, &c., which was published in 1601. His in-
structions as to the writing were very precise, and after
.a first draft had been made, it was submitted to ‘certain
principal counsellors,’ who ‘made almost a new writing,’ so
that Bacon himself ‘gave only words and form of style,’ and
in this he nothing extenuated or set aught down in malice.
The principal offenders being punished, he exerted himself
to save the inferior actors, and with such good success that
six out of nine were stayed from being attainted.
In the course of the spring of 1601 he lost his brother
Anthony, to whom he had always been greatly attached.
His circumstances were by this somewhat improved, and with -
the 1200/. which he received from the fine of Catesby, one
of the accomplices of Essex, he was enabled to get rid of
some obligations which had pressed heavily upon him.
In the last Parliament of Elizabeth, which met on the 27th
of October, 1601, Bacon was returned both by Ipswich and
St. Alban’s, a conspicuous proof that his conduct in the Essex
conspiracy had not brought upon him the censure of the
country. His voice, as of old, was heard, and his pen was still
busy, on all important questions.
With the death of Elizabeth on the 24th of March, 1602-3,
and the accession of James, no great change took place in
Bacon’s prospects. He was still allowed to continue one of
the learned counsel. On the 3rd of July he writes to Cecil
that he is forced to sell the skirts of his living in Hertford-
shire to preserve the body, thereby leaving himself free from
debt and with a little money in hand, ‘300/. land per annum,
with a fair house, and the ground well timbered.’ He wishes ~
to be made a knight because of some disgrace which had
PREFACE. xxvii
been passed upon him, and because there were three new
knights in his mess at Gray’s Inn. The most important
reason for seeking this honour he keeps to the last—‘ because
I have found out an alderman’s daughter, an handsome
maiden, to my liking.’ But he desired especially that the
honour should be conferred as a real distinction, and that he
‘might not be merely gregarious in a troop.’ On the 23rd
of July he gained his wish, but in the company of three
hundred others. His ambition for professional advancement
was quenched under the new sovereign. In the letter to Cecil
which has already been referred to, he says, ‘My ambition
now I shall only put upon my pen, whereby I shall be able
to maintain memory and merit of the times succeeding.’
James, if not wise, was undoubtedly learned, and in his
advent to the throne Bacon saw hopes of at last realizing
his magnificent dreams of the regeneration of learning and
the extension of the kingdom of man. And it may be that
during this year (1603) he wrote the first book of The
Proficience and Advancement of Learning. His other literary
productions of this period are 4 Brief Discourse touching the
Happy Union of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland, and
Certain Considerations touching the better Pacification and Edific-
ation of the Church of England. The latter of these may be
regarded as the sequel to a tract on the same subject which
he had written in 1589. It was partly printed in 1604, but
not published, and was evidently composed with direct refer-
ence to the subjects discussed at the Hampton Court con-
ference. His Apology for his conduct in the Essex trial,
which was addressed to Montjoy, now Earl of Devonshire,
belongs to the same year.
The first Parliament of the new reign met on the roth of
March, 1603-4, and Bacon was again returned both by
Ipswich and St. Alban’s, still taking the same prominent part
in the proceedings of the House. His office as one of the
learned counsel was confirmed to him by patent on the 18th.
of August, coupled with the grant of a pension of 60/, a year
for life. His vacation was employed in drawing up Certain
XXVi11 PREFACE,
Articles or Considerations touching the Union of the Kingdoms of
England and Scotland, in view of the Commission appointed
to meet in October for the discussion of the question. A
draft of a proposed proclamation touching his Majesty’s style
was also prepared at the same time, but not used. Just as
the Commission had commenced its sittings, the Solicitorship
became vacant; but Bacon was again passed over, and Dode-
ridge appointed.
Still his professional occupations allowed him less leisure
than ever, and when on the 24th of December the next
meeting of Parliament was postponed till October, 1605,
Bacon foresaw that, if he intended to finish his work on the
Advancement of Learning, he must make good use of the
interval. Mr. Spedding has pointed out that the first book
was printed in all probability before the second was ready
for the press, and that the second book shows marks of haste
both in printing and composition. The entries in the books
of the Stationers’ Company” indicate that his first intention
was to have issued the work both in Latin and English.
Under the date of Aug. 19, 1605, we find, ‘Mr. Richard
Ockould. Entred for his Copies vnder the handes of the B:
of London & Mr. Feild warden, The firste parte of the Twoo
bookes of St Frauncis Bacon, Of the proficience & advauncemt
of Learninge divine and Humane to be printed bothe in
Englishe & Lattin. xij4.’ And again, Sept. 19: ‘Mr. Ockold.
Entred for his copie vnder the handes of my Lo, Bysshoop of
Londofi. and the wardens. A booke aswell in Latyn as in
Englishe called The second book of frauncis Bacof. of the
proficience and Advauncement of learninge Divine and
humane. xij4.’ We might almost infer from these two en-
tries that Bacon in the course of the summer had resolved
to issue the first book separately, either from inability to
finish the second, or for some other reason, and that he
afterwards changed his mind and printed the second very
> For an opportunity of consulting these I am indebted to the kind-
ness of Mr. Greenhill,
eae
——=—- - -
=
PREFACE. XXiX
hastily. Dr. Playfer, Margaret Professor of Divinity at Cam-
bridge, who had expressed the good liking he had conceived
of the book, was applied to by Bacon to translate it into
Latin, but the specimen of his version was too ornate for
Bacon’s taste, and it was never completed. The two parts,
in English only, were published together in quarto.some time
about the end of October, and then not by Richard Ockould
but by Henry Tomes, with the following title: ‘The Twoo
Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the proficience and aduaunce-
ment of Learning, diuine and humane. To the King. At
London, Printed for Henrie Tomes, and are to be sould at his
shop at Graies Inne Gate in Holborne. 1605.’ Ina letter from
Chamberlain to Carleton on the 7th of November, the appear-
* ance of Sir Francis Bacon’s new work on Learning is duly
chronicled®. Any attention it might otherwise have attracted
was no doubt greatly diminished by the event which then
filled men’s minds, the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot. In
the investigations which followed this discovery, Bacon was
only slightly concerned. A prospect of a vacancy occurs in
the Solicitorship in March, 1606-7, and Bacon urges Cecil to
press his claims. But he had again to wait.
In the hurry and business of this session, the gossip of
Carleton gives us a glimpse of Bacon, the statesman and
. philosopher, in a new aspect. On the r1th of May, 1606,
he writes to Chamberlain, ‘Sir Francis Bacon was married
yesterday to his young wench in Maribone Chapel. He was
clad from top to toe in purple, and hath made himself and His
wife such store of fine raiments of cloth of silver and gold
that it draws deep into her portion. The dinner was kept at
his father-in-law Sir John Packington’s lodging over against
¢In the present edition the text has been taken from that of 1605,
corrected where necessary by the Errata and by the subsequent editions
of 1629 and 1633. ‘The spelling has been modernized throughout. In
tracing the quotations I have been materially assisted by Wats’ trans-
lation of the De Augmentis, and the recent editions of the Advancement
by Mr, Markby and Mr, Kitchin,
XXX PREFACE,
the Savoy, where his chief guests were the three knights,
Cope, Hicks, and Beeston; and upon this conceit (as he said
himself) that since he could not have my L. of Salisbury in
person, which he wished, he would have him at least in his
representative body.’ Alice Barnham, who thus became the
wife of Francis Bacon, was no doubt the same ‘handsome
maiden’ whom he mentioned three years before to his cousin
Cecil. She was the daughter of Benedict Barnham, a London
merchant, whose widow took for her second husband Sir John
Packington, a knight of Worcestershire. Lady Bacon brought
with her a fortune of 220/. a year, which was settled upon
herself, with an additional 500/. a year from her husband,
a fact which at once disproves Lord Campbell’s charge that
the match was a mercenary one. But how much of romance
or even sentiment there was in it we have no means of know-
ing. Bacon was now in his forty-sixth year, and his language
three months later breathes not so much the tone of ecstasy
as of tranquil satisfaction. ‘I thank God I have not taken a
thorn out of my foot to put it into my side.’ No letter of
their correspondence has been preserved, and from this time
we hear nothing more of the lady which could tell us whether
her influence over her husband was great or small. The
gossip of fifteen years later credited her with a forward
tongue, and from a sentence in Bacon’s will we learn
that she had given him grievous cause of offence. She
survived him many years, and married her gentleman
usher.
The subject of the Union with Scotland and the Natural-
isation of the Scotch was still the prominent one before the
House. On the former question we have a fragment of Bacon’s
speech delivered on 25th Nov., 1606. On the latter he replied
to Nicholas Fuller, 17th Feb., 1606-7. He spoke against the
motion for the Union of Laws on the 28th of March, and on
the 17th of June he reported to the House the speeches of
Salisbury and Northampton at the conference concerning the
petition of the merchants upon the Spanish grievances. The
reward which he had so well earned came at last. Doderidge
PREFACE, Xxxi
was made King’s Serjeant, and Bacon became Solicitor General
‘in his stead on the 25th of June, 1607.
He had now no longer to fear that want would either steal
upon him as a wayfaring man or assault him as an armed man,
and in the greater tranquillity of mind which resulted he gave
himself up to the developement of his plan for enlarging the
borders of human knowledge. The Great Instauration seems
now to have taken a definite form, and as a means of clearing
the way for its reception he wrote the treatise called Cogitata
et Visa, which must have been the product of the latter half
of the year 1607. His professional work of the same period
is represented by ‘A view of the differences in question
betwixt the King’s Bench and the Council in the Marches,’
and by two proclamations, the one touching the Marches, the
other concerning Jurors.
The next year (1608) is marked by the falling in of the
clerkship of the Star-Chamber, by the death of William Mill
on the 16th of July. Bacon had waited patiently for it nearly
twenty years. In the summer vacation, and possibly during
the unwilling leisure caused by an outbreak of the plague, he
wrote his treatise In felicem memoriam Elizabethae, and towards
the end of the year his discourse on the Plantation in Ireland,
which will even now be read with interest. Letters to his
friend Toby Matthew show that during the following year
(1609) the Instauration was not laid aside. ‘My Instauration
I reserve for our conference; it sleeps not.’ He sent him ‘a
leaf or two of the Preface, carrying some figure of the whole
work.’ Shortly after he forwarded another portion, which
may have been the Redargutio Philosophiarum. In the course
of this year, also, he wrote and submitted to the judgement of
the same friend, a little work of his recreation, as he calls it,
the treatise De Sapientia Veterum, on the interpretation of the
ancient fables of Greece and Rome. The Cogitata et Visa had
undergone revision and elaboration at the same time, and a
copy was sent in MS. to Bishop Andrewes, who had been
translated from Chichester to Ely.
The session of 1609-10 was occupied with disputes between
-
Xxxii PREFACE.
the King and the Commons, on the subject of the King’s
debts. Bacon spoke in favour of supply, and in defence of the
King’s right of imposition. Towards the end of August this
year his mother died, and to the summer vacation Mr. Sped-
ding refers ‘The beginning of the History of Great Britain.’
What were his occupations in 1611 we have no certain inform-
ation, Perhaps he amused himself with elaborating his
Essays, of which he published a much enlarged edition in the
following year. His letter to the King touching Sutton’s
Estate, a report on the scarcity of silver at the Mint, and a
charge on opening the Court of the Verge, show that his pro-
fessional duties were not neglected. Salisbury’s death in 1612
left an opening for the appointment of a Secretary of State,
and Bacon offered his services to the King. The office was
not filled up immediately, and soon after the Mastership of
the Wards, vacant from the same cause, was given to Sir
George Carey, though popular rumour assigned it to Bacon, who
had drawn up a frame of declaration and instructions for the
new Master. In the trial of Lord Sanquhar for murder (June
27, 1612), Bacon appeared in his capacity of Solicitor General
as counsel for the prosecution. Three days later he made
a speech before the Council and Judges, on the refusal of the
Countess of Shrewsbury to be examined for aiding the Lady
Arabella Stewart in her attempt to escape.
The proposed marriage of the Princess Elizabeth to the
Elector Palatine in 1612, gave Bacon additional employment
in drawing up Instructions to the Commissioners for collect-
ing the Aid which was levied on the occasion. Probably
towards the end of November he published the second edition
of his Essays. It was his intention to have dedicated them to
Prince Henry; but the Prince’s unexpected death on the 6th
of November prevented him from carrying this intention into
effect, and the Essays were addressed to Sir John Constable,
who had married Lady Bacon’s sister. They must have ap-
peared in the interval between the death of the Prince and
the 17th of December, when they are referred to in one of
Chamberlain’s letters.
ua
PREFACE. Xxxiii
_ The marriage of the Princess, which had’been postponed
in consequence of her brother’s death, took place on the r4th
of February, 1612-13, and a masque was given as an enter-
tainment in honour of the event by the gentlemen of Gray’s
Inn and the Inner Temple. Bacon was the contriver of the
device, which represented the marriage of the Thames and
the Rhine. It was a work to which he was not new, and his
Essay ‘ Of Masques and Triumphs’ shows that he took interest
in it,
The Mastership of the Wards had again been vacant by the
death of Sir George Carey, 13th November, 1612, and ‘Sir
Francis Bacon certainly expecting the place, had put most of
his men into new cloaks. Afterward when Sir Walter Cope
carried the place, one said merrily that Sir Walter was Master
of the Wards and Sir Francis Bacon of the Liveries.’ (Rawley.)
As before, he might say sic nos non nobis. But the promotion
for which he had almost served an apprenticeship was not
long in coming. The death of Sir Thomas Fleming, Chief
Justice of the King’s Bench, on the 7th of August, 1613,
brought about'a change. Sir Edward Coke, who had hitherto
been Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, became Chief
Justice of England and a Privy Councillor; Hobart was put in
his place, and Bacon succeeded Hobart as Attorney General
on thé 26th of October. For effecting this change, though
Bacon himself attributed it to the King, the Court favourite,
Somerset, wished to appropriate some credit, and it was ap-
parently with the view of releasing himself from the implied
obligation, that Bacon took the whole charge of preparing a
masque, which was given by Gray’s Inn in honour of the
marriage of Somerset to the divorced Countess of Essex,
The first professional work in which he was engaged after
his appointment, was the delivery of a charge in the Star-
Chamber concerning duels, on the 26th January, 1613-4. But
there were two cases with which his name has been associated,
and upon the telling of which much of the impression in
modern times with regard to his character depends, These
were the cases of St, John and Peacham, The charge against
c
XXXiv PREFACE.
him with regard to the former, is that he employed the laws,
which he was engaged in reducing and re-compiling, to the
vilest purposes of tyranny, by appearing as counsel for the
prosecution of Oliver St. John, who maintained that the King
had no right to levy benevolences. As Bacon acted in this
matter in a purely official capacity, it is scarcely necessary to
inquire whether the charge against St. John was justified
or not, and whether his conduct was so ‘manly and constitu-
tional’ as Macaulay represents it. The circumstances were
these. In June, 1614, the Parliament, to which Bacon had
been returned by three constituencies, Cambridge University,
Ipswich, and St. Alban’s, was dissolved without voting any
supplies. As a means of meeting the King’s wants, it was
proposed that a voluntary contribution should be raised, to
which all who would should give as they were disposed. No
compulsion was to be employed and no tax levied, but it was
to be a benevolence in the strict sense of the word. On the
11th of October, Oliver St. John, a gentleman of Marlborough
(not the St. John of the Long Parliament), addressed a letter
to the Mayor of that town, denouncing this kind of benevol-
ence as contrary to law, reason, and religion, and charging
the King with a violation of his coronation oath. For this he
was tried on the r5th of April, 1615, in the Star-Chamber.
The judges were unanimous, Coke leading the way, in sup-
porting the legality of the benevolence, and St. John was
condemned to a fine of 5000/., and to be imprisoned during
the King’s pleasure. In this Bacon acted simply by the direc-
tion of the Council, and even if he recommended the prose-
cution, of which there is no evidence, he would have been
fortified by the unanimous opinion of the judges.
Peacham’s case was of a different nature, and the charge
against Bacon founded upon it is even more serious. There
were difficulties both of fact and law to be met, and Bacon,
according to Macaulay, ‘was employed to settle the question
of law by tampering with the judges, and the question of fact
by torturing the prisoner.’ Edmund Peacham, a Somerset-
shire clergyman, having brought libellous accusations against
PREFACE.. XXXV
his diocesan, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, was sent up to
Lambeth to be tried before the High Commission, and sen-
tenced to be deprived of his orders on the 19th of December,
1614. Before the sentence his house was searched, and a
finished sermon was discovered, the contents of which were
decided by the Council to be of a treasonable nature, It was
thought, moreover, to indicate a state of disaffection in the
part of the country to which Peacham belonged, and as he
refused to criminate any accomplices, the Council resolved
that he should be put to the torture. In this there is no
evidence that Bacon had any hand whatever, further than that
he, as Attorney General, was one of the Commission appointed
by the Council to attend the examination of the prisoner,
It is clear that by the common law the use of torture for
extracting evidence was regarded as illegal, but it is equally
clear that it was employed by the Council for discovery, and
not for evidence; that is, not to make a prisoner criminate
himself, but to get from him other information which it was
desirable to obtain. Bad as we may think this to be, it is not
Bacon who was to blame for it. There is proof in his own
letters that he engaged in the proceeding with reluctance,
and that the step was taken against his advice. How far he
can be justified against the other charge, of tampering with
the judges, depends upon a clear knowledge of what his inter-
ference really amounted to, and this is not easy to arrive at,
As the torture had utterly failed to extort from Peacham any
proof of the existence of a conspiracy, it became a question
whether he himself could be proceeded against for treason,
On this point of law the King was anxious to obtain the
opinion ot the judges of the King’s Bench. It is not denied
that the Crown had a right to consult the judges on points of
this kind, but it does not appear to have been the custom to
consult them separately, as was done in this case. There was
no question with regard to Peacham’s authorship of the
sermon, which was in his handwriting. The points for the
judges’ consideration were, first, whether the sermon, had it
been published, would have supported an indictment for
C2
XXXvVi PREFACE.
treason; and secondly, whether it was possible to establish a
treasonable charge on the mere fact of composition, The
idea of consulting the judges separately originated with the
King. Whether he thought by this means to get a more
genuine opinion from the others when they were not influenced
by the presence and authority of Coke, or what was his
motive, we have no means of knowing. That Bacon had
anything to do with suggesting such a course, there is no
evidence to show. What he did was to carry out the King’s
instructions, and to lay the case before the Lord Chief Justice
for his opinion. Coke’s opposition was not exerted against
the consultation of the judges, but against their being con-
sulted separately. None of the judges of the King’s Bench
had to try the case, and therefore it is hard to see with what
truth Bacon’s conduct can be described as tampering with
the judges in order to procure a capital conviction, Peacham
was ultimately tried at the assizes at Taunton, on the 7th of
August, 4615, and convicted of high treason, but the capital
sentence was never carried into effect, because, as the report
of his trial says of his offence, ‘many of the judges were of
opinion that it was not treason.’ That his case excited any
indignation in the country, is a simple invention of Lord
Campbell’s,
On the 24th and 25th of May, 1616, Bacon took part as
Attorney General in the trial of the Earl and Countess of
Somerset for the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. With
the prosecution of the inferior agents in this mysterious crime
he had nothing to do. During the early part of this year the
health of the Lord Chancellor (Ellesmere) had been giving
way, and Bacon was a suitor to the King for the office which
seemed likely to be vacant. On the 9th of June he became a
Privy Councillor, an appointment upon which he was formally
congratulated by the University of Cambridge, which he
represented in Parliament4, He had held the office of
4 He now gave up his practice, though he retained his office of At-
torney General, and employed his first leisure in addressing to the King a
proposition for the compiling and amendment of the laws of England,
PREFACE. eX xXvii
University Counsel since the roth of November, 1613, and had
been retained in the same capacity by Trinity College during
the years 1614-16. It was not known till the 3rd of March,
1616-7, that the Lord Chancellor resigned the Great Seal,
which on the 7th of the same month was delivered by the
King into the hands of Bacon. ‘Our new Lord-Keeper,’ says
Chamberlain, ‘ goes with great state, having a world of follow-
ers put upon him, though he had more than enough before.’
On the first day of Term (May 7) he rode in pomp to West-
minster, with a train of two hundred gallants, and delivered
his inaugural speech in Chancery, in which he published the
charge which the King gave him when he received the Seal,
and the rules he had laid down for his own conduct. Such
was his marvellous energy in his new office, that in the
course of a month he had cleared off all arrears, and on the
8th of June he reports to Buckingham that there is not one
cause unheard. A week after his appointment the King took
his departure for Scotland, leaving Bacon at the head of the
Council to manage affairs in his absence. In the same year
we find him using his influence with the King to dissuade him
from the Spanish match, and with Buckingham to prevent the
marriage of his brother, Sir John Villiers, with the daughter
of Sir Edward Coke. The issue of both showed that his
counsel was wise, but the King and Buckingham alike re-
sented his interference. Coke’s animosity was of course not
lessened by it. But for the present the career of Bacon’s
prosperity was unchecked. On the 4th of January, 1617-8, he
became Lord Chancellor, and on the r1th of July in the same
year he was created Baron Verulam. In his inaugural speech
as Lord-Keeper, he had announced his intention of reserving
‘the depth of the three long vacations’ for the studies, arts,
and sciences, to which in his own nature he was most in-
clined. How well he had employed these moments of retire-
ment from the business of his office became evident when, in
October, 1620, he presented the King with the great work of
his life, the Novum Organum, the object of which, he says,
is to ‘enlarge the bounds of reason, and to endow man’s estate
Xxxviii PREFACE,
with new value.’ He confesses that it is a fragment, and yet
not written in haste, for he has been about it near thirty
years. But he feels that his own life is hastening to its close,
and he wishes that a portion of his work at least should be
saved. The end was now very near. On the 27th of
January, 1620-1, he became Viscount St. Alban. His for-
tune, which for nearly four years had borne him smoothly
on, now raised him to his greatest height, as if to make
the final catastrophe more dramatic’ and appalling. Parlia-
ment met on the 30th. ‘Fhe Chancellor, in addressing
the new Speaker, gave expression to a sentiment which,
read in the light of subsequent events, seems prophetic,
—‘It is certain that the best governments,. yea, and the
best of men, are like the best precious stones, wherein every
flaw or icicle or grain are seen and noted more than in
those that are generally foul and corrupted.’ Coke, who had
not been in the House for many years, was returned as
member for Liskeard. On the 5th of February he moved fora
Committee to inquire into public grievances. A Committee
was appointed to report concerning the Courts of Justice.
Bacon, unsuspecting any malice, acted like a man who was
certainly not conscious of any great delinquency. On the
17th of February Sir E. Sackville reported to the House that
the Chancellor willingly consented that any man might speak
anything freely concerning his Court. On the 15th of March
Sir Robert Phillips laid before the Lower House the report
of the Committee on Courts of Justice. It came like a
thunderclap. The Lord Chancellor was accused of corrup-
tion in the exercise of his functions, and two instances were
given as proofs. On the rgth the Lords received a message
from the Commons requesting a conference concerning abuses
in certain eminent persons. Bacon was absent through ill-
ness. He sat in the House of Lords for the last time on
Saturday, the 17th of March. Next day, Sir James Ley,
Lord Chief Justice, was empowered by the King’s commis-
sion to act as his substitute. On the Monday the con-
ference for which the Lower House applied was granted,
PREFACE. XXxXix
and on the z2oth the Lord Treasurer reported to the
Lords that the Lord Chancellor was accused of bribery
and corruption, and that the charge was supported by two
cases alleged. Bacon, sick to death as he thought himself,
and tortured by his hereditary malady, felt that his enemies
had closed upon him. He knew of ‘the courses that had
been taken for hunting out complaints’ against him, and
begged only a fair hearing, that -he might give them an
ingenuous answer. He wrote to Buckingham: ‘I know I
have clean hands and a clean heart, and I hope a clean house
for friends or servants. But Job himself, or whosoever was
the justest judge, by such hunting for matters against him, as
hath been used against me, may for a time seem foul, espe-
cially in a time when greatness is the mark, and accusation
the game.’ And again, to the same: ‘I praise God for it,
I never took penny for any benefice or ecclesiastical living ;
I never took penny for releasing anything I stopped at the
Seal; I never took penny for any commission, or things of
that nature; I never shared with any servant for any second
or inferior profit.’ To the King he said: ‘For the bri-
beries and gifts wherewith I am charged, when the books
of hearts shall be opened, I hope I shall not be found to have
the troubled fountain of a corrupt heart, in a depraved habit
of taking rewards to prevent justice ; howsoever I may be frail,
and partake of the abuses of the times.’ We must take into
account these protestations when we come to consider his
subsequent confession. The Houses adjourned on the 27th
of March till the 17th of April. The day before they met,
Bacon had an interview with the King. On the following
day the Lord Treasurer reported to the Lords that the
Chancellor desired two things of his Majesty :—1. That where
his answers should be fair and clear to those things objected
against him, his Lordship might stand upon his innocency.
2. Where his answers should not be so fair and clear, there
his Lordship might be admitted to the extenuation of the
charge; and where the proofs were full and undeniable, his
Lordship would ingenuously confess them, and put himself
xl PREFACE,
upon the mercy of the Lords. A few days later (April 22),
Bacon, who had ascertained privately the particulars of the
charge, wrote to the Lords: ‘I find matter sufficient and
full, both to move me to desert my defence, and to move
your Lordships to condemn and censure me.’ Why he thus
avoided the trial is a mystery which has never yet been
solved. He wished to resign the Seal, urging as a motive
for clemency, ‘ Neither will your Lordships forget, that there
are vitia temporis as well as vitia hominis; and the beginning
of reformation hath the contrary power to the pool of
Bethesda; for that had strength to cure him only that was
first cast in, and this hath strength to hurt him only that is
first cast in; and, for my part, I wish it may stay there and
go no farther.’ His confession was regarded as insufficient,
and it was ordered that the articles of the charge, now in-
creased in number to twenty-three, should be laid before
‘him. On the 30th of April his full confession, with the
answers to the articles in detail, was read before the Lords.
‘I do plainly and ingenuously confess,’ he says, ‘that I am
guilty of corruption, and do renounce all defence.’ As after
the severe self-examination which he underwent, he did not
find himself blameless, it would be doing an ill service to his
memory to excuse him. But, in confessing himself guilty of
corruption, we must have regard to his own language. That
Bacon took bribes for the perversion of justice no one has
ventured to assert. Not one of the thousands of decrees
which he made as Chancellor was ever set aside. None of
his judgements were reversed. Even those who first charged
him with accepting money admitted that he decided against
them. What his own opinions were concerning judicial
bribery we know from many passages in his writings, and
it would argue him a hypocrite of the deepest dye to suppose
that he openly practised what he as openly denounced.
In his speech in the Common Pleas (May 3, 1617) to Justice
Hutton, he admonishes him: ‘That your hands, and the
hands of your hands (I mean those about you) be clean,
and uncorrupt from gifts, from meddling in titles, and from
PREFACE. xii
serving of turns, be they of great ones or small ones.’ In
his Essay ‘Of Great Place,’ first published in 1612, and re-
' issued in 1625, he says: ‘For corruption: Do not only bind
thine own hands, or thy servants’ hands, from taking, but
bind the hands of suitors also from offering.’ In confessing
himself guilty of corruption, therefore, does he admit that
the whole practice of his life had been a falsification of his
principles? Let us see. Of the twenty-two cases of bribery
with which he was charged, and which we may safely assume
were all that the malice of his enemies could discover against
him, there are but four in which he allows that he had in
any way received presents before the causes were ended}
and even in these, though technically the presents were made
pendente lite, there is no hint that they affected his decision.
During the four years of his Chancellorship he had made
orders and decrees to the number of two thousand a year,
as he himself wrote to the Lords, and of the charges
brought against him there was scarcely one that was not two
years old. The witnesses to some of the most important
were Churchill, a registrar of the Court of Chancery, who
had been discharged for fraud; and Hastings, who contra-
dicted himself so much that his testimony is worthless. But
we are more concerned with Bacon’s confession of guilt than
with the evidence by which the charge was supported. Ina
paper of memoranda which he drew up at the time, and
which has been printed by Mr. Montagu (Bacon’s Works, xvi.
pt 1. p. cccxlv), he writes: ‘There be three degrees or cases,
as I conceive, of gifts or rewards given to a judge. The first
is of bargain, contract, or promise of reward, pendente lite.
And of this my heart tells me I am innocent; that I had no
bribe or reward in my eye or thought when I pronounced
any sentence or order. The second is a neglect in the
judge to inform himself whether the cause be fully at an
end, or no, what time he receives the gift; but takes it upon
the credit of the party that all is done, or otherwise omits
to inquire. And the third is, when it is received sine fraude,
after the cause ended; which it seems, by the opinions of
xiii PREFACE.
the civilians, is no offence.’ In another draft he adds this
comment: ‘For the first, I take myself to be as innocent
as any born on St. Innocents’ day in my heart. For the
second, I doubt in some particulars I may be faulty. And
for the last, I conceived it to be no fault.’
Such is Bacon’s own interpretation of his confession, and
we are bound to accept it, for it is borne out by twenty-two
of the articles of the charge. To the twenty-third article,
that he had given way to great exactions by his servants, ‘he
confessed it to be a great fault that he had looked no better
to his servants.’ With this confession, we may leave his
name and memory, as he left it in his will, ‘to men’s charit-
able speeches, and to foreign nations, and the next ages.’
The verdict can hardly be other than that he pronounced
himself: ‘I was the justest judge that was in England these
fifty years; but it was the justest censure in Parliament that
was these two hundred years.’ This censure, pronounced on
the 3rd of May by the Lords, was that he should pay a fine of
40,000/, and be imprisoned in the Tower during the King’s
pleasure; that he should thenceforth be incapable of holding
any office in the State, or of sitting in Parliament; and that he
should not come within the verge of the Court. He had
resigned the Seal to the King on the 1st of May. It had
been decided by a majority of two that his titles were not to
be taken from him, But the sentence of imprisonment was
partially carried out, evidently to his great astonishment. On
the 31st of May he was taken to the Tower, and instantly
wrote a passionate letter to Buckingham, ‘Good my Lord,
procure the warrant for my discharge this day.’ The order
must have been given atonce. On the 4th of June he wrote to
thank the King and Buckingham for his release. On the 7th® he
dated a letter to the Prince of Wales from Sir John Vaughan’s
house at Parson’s Green, whither he had been allowed to
retire. On the 9th, Chamberlain writes to Carleton that the
© The date usually given to this letter, ‘ June 1,’ is obviously incorrect.
Mr. Spedding informs me that it should be ‘ June 7,’
PREFACE. xliii
Lord Chancellor had obtained leave to go to his own home,
and is talked of as President of the Council. On the 23rd, he
reports that the Chancellor has removed from Fulham to his
house at Gorhambury. Here he remained till the end of the
year. From his retirement he writes to Buckingham (Sep-
tember 5), ‘I am much fallen in love with a private life; but
yet I shall so spend my time as shall not decay my abilities
for use.” The occupation of his enforced leisure was the
History of Henry VII, which was completed in manuscript
by October. The fine inflicted by the sentence in Parliament
was released by the King’s warrant on the 21st of September,
but was assigned to trustees, that Bacon might be protected
from the importunity of his creditors. He had nothing now
but the pension of 1200/. a year which the King had recently
given him, and his own private fortune. On being made Lord
Keeper he had resigned not only the lucrative post of At-
torney General, but the clerkship of the Star-Chamber. By
his fall he had lost 6000/, a year. A pardon was issued under
the Privy Seal on the 17th of October, but it appears to have
been stayed by the new Lord-Keeper. The prohibition which
prevented him from coming within twelve miles of the Court
was relaxed in the following March, and he was allowed to
approach as near as Highgate. Buckingham was annoyed at
his refusal to give up York House, and opposed his return to
London. In the course of the year, however, the restriction
was removed, and he took up his residence at Bedford House,
his own mansion meanwhile having been surrendered. The
publication of the History of Henry the Seventh in the
spring, and the translation into Latin of the Advancement
of Learning, kept him fully employed. In the latter work he
is said to have been assisted by George Herbert. Writing to
Bishop Andrewes the dedication to his Dialogue touching a
Holy War, which was also the work of this year, he says:
‘And again, for that my book of Advancement of Learning
may be some preparation, or key, for the better opening of
the Instauration; because it exhibits a mixture of new con-
ceits and old; whereas the Instauration gives the new un-
ee re er reg eee ae ee ag ge ee Se
xliv PREFACE,
mixed, otherwise than with some little aspersion of the old
‘for taste’s sake; I have thought good to procure a translation
of that book into the general language, not without great and
ample additions and enrichment thereof, especially in the
second book, which handleth the Partition of Sciences; in
such sort, as I hold it may serve in lieu of the first part of the
Instauration, and acquit my promise in that part.’
The provostship of Eton fell vacant in April 1623, and
Bacon sought the appointment as ‘a retreat to a place of
study so near London,’ but without success. The Advance-
ment of Learning in its Latin form was issued this year under
the title of De Augmentis Scientiarum, in nine books, the first
closely corresponding with the English. The last two or
three years of his life were occupied with dictating his Sylva
Sylvarum, putting the last touches to his Essays, which were
published in their final form in March 1625, and superintend-
ing their translation into Latin with other works to be entitled
Opera Moralia. The Apophthegms were the occupation of a
morning. It does not appear that the sentence of Parliament
was ever entirely revoked. The name of Lord St. Alban’s, it
is true, is among those of the Peers summoned to the first
Parliament of Charles, but for some reason he did not take
his seat in the House. On New Year’s Day, 1625-6, he
wrote to Sir Humphry May: ‘The present occasion doth
invite me to desire that his grace (i. e. Buckingham) would
procure me a pardon of the King of the whole sentence. My
writ for Parliament I have now had twice before the-time,;
and that without any express restraint not to use it.’ His
health, long feeble, wouid not have allowed him to attend, but
he could have appointed a proxy. At length came death, the
friend, whom for five years he had looked steadily in the face,
and released him from all his troubles. A cold, caught in the
process of an experiment to test the preserving qualities_of
snow, terminated in a gentle fever, and after lingering a week
he passed quietly away in the early morning of Easter-day,
April 9, 1626. He died at the Earl of Arundel’s house at
Highgate, and was buried in the church of St. Michael, at
__ will in all probability last as long as the world lasteth’ And —
with this anticipation we leave Francis Bacon to the judge- — LF
ment of all time. »
W. A. W.
- This Second Edition has been revised and corrected
throughout, and some additions have been made to the
Notes and Glossary,
if .
Those pieces of which the date is altogether uncertain are placed at the end.
CALENDAR OF LIFE AND WORKS.
1597. Oct. 24. Sat as member for
Ipswich.
160s. Oct. 24. Double Reader at
Gray’s Inn.
1600-1. Feb. 19. Trial of Essex and
Southampton,
1601. A Declaration of the Practises
and Treasons attempted and
committed by Robert late
Earl of Essex, &c., drawn
up by Bacon,
Oct. 27. Returned to parlia-
ment as member for Ipswich
and St. Alban’s.
1602. Letter to Cecil with Consider-
ations touching the Queen’s
service in Ireland (1648).
1602-3. Mar. 24. Death of Elizabeth.
1603. July 23. Bacon knighted by
James I.
A Brief Discourse touching the
Happy Union of the King-
doms of England and Scot-
land.
+1603. Valerius Terminus of the Inter-
pretation of Nature (1734).
De Interpretatione Nature Pro-
emium (1653).
1603-4. Mar. 19. Returned again by
Ipswich and St. Alban’s,
1604. Certain Considerations touching
the better Pacification and
Edification of the Church of
England (1640).
Apology in certain imputations
concerning the late Earl of
Essex.
Aug. 18.
Counsel.
Certain Articles or Consider-
ations touching the Union of
the Kingdoms of England
and Scotland (1657).
1605. Advancement of Learning.
_ +1605. Cogitationes de Natura Rerum
(1653).
1606. May 10. Francis Bacon mar-
ried Alice Barnham.
”
”
Appointed King’s
”
”
xivii
+1606. Partis Instaurationis Secunde
Delineatio et Argumentum
(1653). .
1607. June 25. Made Solicitor Gen-
eral,
» Cogitata et Visa (1653).
+1607. Filum Labyrinthi (1734).
1608. Inquisitio Legitima de Motu
(1653).
Calor et Frigus (1734).
Historia Soni et Auditus (1658).
In felicem memoriam Eliza-
bethee (1658).
A fragment Of the true great-
ness of Britain (1734).
July 16. The Clerkship of
the Star-Chamber falls to
him.
+1608. Temporis
(1653).
»» Aphorismi et Consilia (1653).
1608-9. Jan. 1. Discourse of the
Plantation in Ireland
(1657).
1609. De Sapientia Veterum.
1610. Death of his mother, Lady
Anne Bacon,
The beginning of the History of
Great Britain (1657).
1611-12. Advice to the King, touch-
ing Sutton’s Estate (1648).
1612. Second edition of the Essays.
+1612. Descriptio Globi Intellectualis
(1653).
1, Thema Celi (1653).
1613. Oct. 26. Appointed Attorney
General,
1614. Returned to parliament by
Ipswich, St. Alban’s, and
Cambridge University.
1616. June g. Made a Privy Coun-
cillor.
Proposition to His Majesty
touching the Compiling and
Amendment of the Laws of
England.
+1616. De Fluxu et Refluxu Maris
Partus Masculus
”
(1653).
. ._
xl viii
+1616. De Principiis atque Originibus
(1653).
1616-7. Mar. 7. Made Lord Keeper.
1617-8. Jan. 4. Made Lord Chan-
cellor,
1618, July 9. Created Baron Veru-
lam.
1620. Oct. Novum Organum pub-
lished with Parasceve ad
Historiam Naturalem et Ex-
perimentalem.
1620-1. Jan. 27. Created Viscount
St. Alban.
1621. May 3. Sentenced by the
House of Lords.
1621-6, In this interval were com-
posed Abecedarium Naturce
(lost except a fragment pub-
lished by Tenison, 1679);
Inquisitiode Magnete(1658);
Topica inquisitionis de luce
et lumine (1653); Sylva
Sylvarum (1627); Offer of
a Digest to be made of the
Laws of England (1629).
1622. History of Henry VII; Historia
Naturalis et Experimentalis;
Advertisement touching an
Holy War (1629).
1623. De Augmentis Scientiarum libri
ix; Historia Vite et Mortis ;
History of the reign of Henry
VIII (1629).
CALENDAR OF LIFE AND WORKS.
A a
Lt
F
+
1624. Considerations touching a War
with Spain (1629). ‘
» New Ailantis (1627).
» Magnalia Nature (1627).
» Dec, Apophthegms.
» Translation ofthe Psalms,
Third edition of the Essays.
Apr. 9. Bacon died at High-
gate.
1625.
1626.
Of the following works the date of
composition is doubtful :—
Phenomena Universi (1653); Scala
Intellectus and Prodromi (1653);
Cogitationes de Scientia Humana
(1653); De Interpretatione Nature
Sententie@ xii (1653); Short Notes
for Civil Conversation (1648);
Confession of Faith (1641); Prayers
(1648, 1679) ; Imago Civilis Fulii
Cesaris (1658); Imago Civilis
‘ Augusti Casaris (1658); Addi-
tions to Camden’s Annales (1717);
In Henricum Principem Wallia
Elogium (1763); Physiological
and Medical Remains (1679).
Between 1596 and 1604 Bacon
wrote the Letter and Discourse to
Sir Henry Savill, touching Helps
Jor the Intellectual Powers (1657) ;
and, after July 1608, Redargutio
Philosophiarum (1653).
FIRST BOOK OF FRANCIS BACON;
a
OF THE PROFICIENCE AND
ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING,
DIVINE AND HUMAN.
To the King.
I. HERE were under the law, excellent King, both
daily sacrifices and freewill offerings; the one
proceeding upon ordinary observance, the other upon a
devout cheerfulness: in like manner there belongeth to
kings from their servants both tribute of duty and presents
of affection. In the former of these I hope I shall not live
to be wanting, according to my most humble duty, and
the good pleasure of your Majesty’s employments: for the
latter, I thought it more respective to make choice of
» some oblation, which might rather refer to the propriety
| d excellency of, your individual person, than to the
| ‘bynes of your crown and state.
2. Wherefore, representing your Majesty many times
unto my mind, and beholding you not with the inquisitive
eye of presumption, to discover that which the Scripture
telleth me is inscrutable, but with the observant eye of
duty and admiration; leaving aside the other parts of
your virtue and fortune, I have been touched, yea, and
possessed with an extreme wonder at those your virtues
B
ries
—_
_the best instance to make a man of Plato’s opinion, —
and faculties, which the Philosop al;
the largeness of your capacity, the faithfulness of your —
tration of your judgement, and the facility and order of 3
your elocution: and I have often thought, that of all the _
persons living that I have known, your Majesty were
that all knowledge is but remembrance, and that the
mind of man by nature knoweth all things, and hath ©
but her own native and original notions (which by the
strangeness and darkness of this tabernacle of the body —
are sequestered) again revived and restored: such a light —
of nature I have observed in your Majesty, and such a ?
readiness to take flame and blaze from the least occasion —
presented, or the least spark of another’s knowledge de- —
livered. And as the Scripture saith of the wisest king, ©
That his heart was as the sands of the sea; which though {
it be one of the largest bodies, yet it consisteth of the —
smallest and finest portions; so hath God given your :
Majesty a composition of understanding admirable, being
able to compass and comprehend the greatest matters,
and nevertheless to touch and apprehend the least; —
whereas it should seem an impossibility in nature, for —
the same instrument to make itself fit for great and —
small works. And for your gift of speech, I call to mind
what Cornelius Tacitus saith of Augustus Czesar: Ame
profluens, ef que principem deceret, eloquentia fuit. For if
we note it well, speech that is uttered with labour and —
difficulty, or speech that savoureth of the affectation of '
art and precepts, or speech that is framed after the imita-
tion of some pattern of eloquence, though never so ex- —
cellent; all this hath somewhat servile, and holding of —
‘the subject. But your Majesty’s manner of speech is _
‘ 5, ae .
— t4
ee
ee |). ee a aud SS ee
2.) © THE FIRST BOOK. 30
indeed prince-like, flowing as from a fountain, and yet
streaming and branching itself into nature’s order, full of
facility and felicity, imitating none, and inimitable by any.
And as in your civil estate there appeareth to be an emul-
ation and contention of your Majesty’s virtue with your
fortune ; a virtuous disposition with a fortunate regiment;
a virtuous expectation (when time was) of your greater
fortune, with a prosperous possession thereof in the due
time ; a virtuous observation of the laws of marriage, with
most blessed and happy fruit of marriage; a virtuous and
most Christian desire of peace, with a fortunate inclination
in your neighbour princes thereunto: so likewise in these
intellectual matters, there seemeth to be no less con-
tention between the excellency of your Majesty’s gifts of
nature and the universality and perfection of your learn-
ing. For I am well assured that this which I shall say is
no amplification at all, but a positive and measured truth;
which is, that there hath not been since Christ’s time any ~—
king or temporal monarch, which hath been so learned in
all literature and erudition, divine and human. For let a
man seriously and diligently revolve and peruse the suc- »*
cession of the emperors of Rome, of which Cesar the
Dictator, who lived some years before Christ, and Marcus
Antoninus were the best learned; and so descend to the
emperors of Grecia, or of the West, and then to the
lines of France, Spain, England, Scotland, and the rest,
and he shall find this judgement is truly made. For it
seemeth much in a king, if, by the compendious ex-
tractions of other men’s wits and labours, he can take
hold of any superficial ornaments and shows of learning ;
or if he countenance and prefer learning and learned
men: but to drink indeed of the true fountains of learn-
ing, nay, to have such a fountain of learning in himself,
B2
, dass] ‘ . ' <
4 _ OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING.
in a king, and in a king born, is almost a miracle. hha : %
the more, because there is met in your Majesty a rare
conjunction, as well of divine and sacred literature, as of —
profane and human; so as your Majesty standeth in-
vested of that triplicity, which in great veneration was
ascribed to the ancient Hermes; the power and fortune
of a king, the knowledge and illumination of a priest, and
the learning and universality of a philosopher. This
propriety inherent and individual attribute in your Majesty
deserveth to be expressed not only in the fame and ad-
miration of the present time, nor in the history or tradition
of the ages succeeding, but also in some solid work, fixed
memorial, and immortal monument, bearing a character
or signature both of the power of a king and the differ-
ence and perfection of such a king. =
3. Therefore I did conclude with myself, that I could
not make unto your Majesty a better oblation than of
some treatise tending to that end, whereof the sym will
consist of these two parts ;(the former concerning the
excellency of learning and. knowledge, and the excel-
Z lency of the merit and true glory in the augmentation and
propagation thereof :}the latter, what the particular acts
and works are, which have been embraced and under-
taken for the advancement of learning ; and again, what
defects and undervalues I find in such particular acts: to
the end that though I cannot positively or affirmatively
advise your Majesty, or propound unto you framed par-
ticulars, yet 1 may excite your princely cogitations to
visit the excellent treasure of your own mind, and thence
to extract particulars for this purpose, agreeable to your
magnanimity and wisdom.
{
CRS
cary.
GSR ey eer ean Oe ma
Pi le THE FIRST BOOK. 5
IL 4. Te the entrance to the former of these, to clear
the way, and as it were to make silence, to have
the true testimonies concerning the dignity of learning to
be better heard, without the interruption of tacit objec-
tions ; I think good to deliver it from the discredits and
disgraces which if hath received, all trom ignorance; but
ignorance severally disguised; appearing. sometimes in
\) the zeal and jealousy of divines; sometimes in the severity 2)
and arrogancy of politiques ; and sometimes in the errors
and ind imperfections of leafned men themselves. ie?
2. 1 hear the former sort” say, that knowledge is of
those things which are to be accepted of with great limita-
tion and caution: that the aspiring to overmuch know-
ledge was the original temptation and sin whereupon
Zaued Hea OF easy hat WROWSALE MATE TN some=
what of the™ serpent, and therefore where it entereth into
a man it makes him swell; Scceniia inflat: that Salomon” ¥?
gives a censure, That there ts no end of making books, and
that much reading ts weariness of the flesh; and again in
another place, Zhat in spacious knowledge there ts much * ©
contristation, and that he that increaseth knowledge increaseth
anxtely ; that Saint Paul gives a caveat, That we be not * «
spotled through vain philosophy : that experience demon-
strates how learned men have been arch-heretics, how
learned times have been inclined to atheism, and how the
contemplation of second causes doth derogate from our
dependence upon God, who is the first cause.
3. To discover then the ignorance and error of this
opinion, and the misunderstanding in the grounds thereof,
it may well appear these men do not observe or consider
that it was not the pure knowledge of nature and uni-
versality, a knowledge by the light whereof man did give
names unto other creatures in Paradise, as they were % ~
>
6 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [1.3.
brought before him, according unto their proprieties, which
gave the occasion to the fall: but it was the proud know-
ledge of good and evil, with an intent in man to give law
unto himself, and to depend no more upon God’s com-
mandments, which was the form of the temptation.
Neither is it any quantity of knowledge, how great soever,
that can make the mind of man to swell; for nothing can
fill, much less extend the soul of man, but God and the
contemplation of God; and therefore Salomon, speaking
of the two principal senses of inquisition, the eye and the
| ear, affirmeth that she eye zs never satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear with hearing ; and if there be no fulness, then
is the continent greater than the content: so of knowledge
itself, and the mind of man, whereto the senses are but
reporters, he defineth likewise in these words, placed after
that Kalendar or Ephemerides which he maketh of the
diversities of times and seasons for all actions and pur-
poses; and concludeth thus: God hath made all things
beautiful, or decent, in the true return of their seasons: Also
he hath placed the world in man’s heart, yet cannot man find
oul the work which God worketh from the beginning to the
end: declaring not obscurely, that God hath framed the
mind of man as a mirror or glass, capable of the image of
the universal world, and joyful to receive the impression
thereof, as the eye joyeth to receive light; and not only
delighted in beholding the variety of things and vicissitude
of times, but raised also to find out and discern the ordin-
ances and decrees, which throughout all those changes
are infallibly observed. And although he doth insinuate
that the supreme or summary law of nature, which he
calleth Zhe work which God worketh from the beginning to
the end, is not possible to be found out by man; yet that —
doth not derogate from the capacity of the mind, but may ae )
1.3] ~~ +HE FIRST BOOK. ”
be referred to the impediments, as of shortness of life, ill
conjunction of labours, ill tradition of knowledge“ over
from hand to hand, and many other inconveniences,
whereunto the condition of man is subject. For that
nothing parcel of the world is denied to man’s inquiry
and invention, he doth in another place rule over, when
he saith, Zhe spirzt of man ts as the lamp of God, where- ut
with he searcheth the inwardness of ali secrets. If then
such be the capacity and receipt of the mind of man, it
is manifest that there is no danger-at all in the proportion
or quantity of knowledge, how large soever, lest it should
make it swell or out-compass itself; no, but it is merely
the quality of knowledge, which, be it in quantity more or
less, if it be taken without the true corrective thereof, hath
in it some nature of venom or malignity, and some effects
of that venom, which is ventosity or swelling. This cor-
rective spice, the mixture whereof maketh knowledge so
sovereign, is charity, which the Apostle immediately
addeth to the former clause: for so he saith, Knowledge
bloweth up, but charit ty buildeth up ; not unlike unto that
which he delivereth in another place : J/ J spake, saith he, «|
with the tongues of men and angels, and had not charity, it
were but as a tinkling cymbal; not but that it is an
excellent thing to speak with the tongues of men and
angels, but because, if it be severed from charity, and not
referred to the good of men and mankind, it hath rather
a ‘sounding ‘and unworthy glory, than a “meriting and
substantial virtue. And as for that censure of Salomon,
concerning the excess of writing and reading books, and
the anxiety of spirit which redoundeth from knowledge; _
and that admonition of Saint Paul, Zhat we be not seduced *|
_ by vain philosophy ; \et those places be rightly understood,
and they do indeed excellently set forth the true bounds
See ee ee ee
7 a ie fo
eS eee
8 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [I.3.
and limitations, whereby human knowledge is confined
and circumscribed ; and yet without any such contracting
or coarctation, but that it may comprehend all the uni-
versal nature of things; for these limitations are three :
the first, Zhat we do not so place our felicity in knowledge,
as we forget our mortality: the second, Zhat we make
application of our knowledge, to give ourselves repose and
contentment, and not distaste or repining: the third, That
we do not presume by the contemplation.of naiure.to.. atlain- io
the-mysteries of. God. For as touching the first of these,
“Salomon doth excellently expound himself in another
yy. Place of the same book, where he saith: J saw well that
knowledge recedeth as far from ignorance as light doth from
darkness and that the wise man’s eyes keep watch in his
head, whereas the fool roundeth about in darkness: but
withal I learned, thal the same mortality involveth them both.
And for the second, certain it is, there is no vexation or
anxiety of mind which resulteth from knowledge other-
wise than merely by accident; for all knowledge and
wonder (which is the seed of knowledge) is an impression
of pleasure in itself: but when men fall to framing con-
clusions out of their knowledge, applying it to their par-
ticular, and ministering to themselves thereby weak fears
or vast desires, there groweth that carefulness and trouble
of mind which is spoken of: for then knowledge is no
more Lumen siccum, whereof Heraclitus the profound
= said, Lumen siccum optima anima ; but it becometh Lumen
‘madtdum, or maceratum, being steeped and infused in the
humours of the affections. And as for the third point, it
deserveth to be a little stood upon, and not to be lightly
passed over: for if any man shall think by view and
inquiry into these sensible and material things to attain
that light, whereby he may reveal unto himself the nature.
Igo] THE FIRST BOOK. — 9
or will of God, then indeed is he spoiled by vain philo-
—_—" . ‘
sophy: for the contemplation of God’s creatures and
works produceth (having regard to the works and crea-
tures themselves) knowledge, but having regard to God,
no perfect knowledge, but wonder, which is broken know-
ledge. And therefore it was most aptly said by one of
Plato’s school, Zhat the sense of man carrieth a resem-
blance with the sun, which (as we see) openeth and revealeth
all the terrestrial globe; but then again tt obscureth and
concealeth the stars and celestial globe: so doth the sense
discover natural things, but it darkeneth and shutteth up
divine. And hence it is true that it hath proceeded, that
divers great learned men have been heretical, whilst they
have sought to fly up to the secrets of the Deity by the
waxen wings of the senses. And as for the conceit that.
too much knowledge should incline a man to atheism,
and that the ignorance of second causes should make a
more devout dependence upon God, which is the first
cause; first, it is good to ask the question which Job
asked of his friends: Wl you lie for God, as one man will
a
do for another, to gratify him? For certain it is that God =
worketh nothing in nature but by second causes: and
if they would have it otherwise believed, it is mere im-
posture, as it were in favour towards God; and nothing
else but to offer to the author of truth the unclean
sacrifice of alie. But further, it is an assured truth, and
a conclusion of experience, that a little or superficial
knowledge of philosophy may incline the mind of man to
atheism, but a further proceeding therein doth bring the
mind back again _ to teligion. For in the entrance of
philosophy, when the second causes, which are next unto
the senses, do offer themselves to the mind of man, if it
dwell and stay there it may induce some oblivion of the
pall ee ee Pe, eee ee ne a
v i , f ;
- .
IO OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [1.3.9
highest cause; but when a man passeth on further, and
seeth the dependence of causes, and the works of Pro-
vidence, then, according to the allegory of the poets, he
will easily believe that the highest link of nature’s chain
must needs be tied to the foot of Jupiter’s chair. To
conclude therefore, let no man upon a weak conceit of
sobriety or an ill-applied moderation think or maintain,
that a man can search too far, or be too well studied in
the book of God’s word, or in the book of God’s works,
divinity or philosophy; but rather let men endeavour an
endless progress or proficience in both; only let men
beware that they apply both to charity, and not to
swelling; to use, and not to ostentation; and again,
that they do not unwisely mingle or confound these
learnings together.
IJ."1. And as for the disgraces which learning re-
ceiveth from politiques, they be of this nature; that
‘learning doth soften men’s minds, and makes them
more unapt for the honour-and-exercise of arms; that it
doth mar and pervert men’s dispositions for matter of
government and policy, in making them too curious and
@ irresolute. by. variety of reading,\ or too peremptory or
' (s)positive by strictness of rules and axioms,| or too im-
@ moderate and overweening by reason of the greatness
of examples, or too incompatible and differing from the
()times by reason of the dissimilitude of examples; or at
least, that it doth divert men’s travails from action and -
-£ business, and bringeth them to a love of leisure and
privateness; and that it doth bring into states a relaxa-.
tion of discipline, whilst every man is more ready to
argue than to obey and execute. Out of this conceit,
Cato, surnamed the Censor, one of the wisest men
indeed that ever lived, when Carneades the philosopher
>
Il. 1.] THE FIRST BOOK. IL
came in embassage to Rome, and that the young men
of Rome began to flock about him, being allured with
the sweetness and majesty of his eloquence and learn-
ing, gave counsel in open senate that they should give
him his dispatch with all speed, lest he should infect
and enchant the minds and affections of the youth, and
at unawares bring in an alteration of the manners and
customs of the state. Out of the same conceit or
humour did Virgil, turning his pen to the advantage of
his country, and the disadvantage of his own profession,
make a kind of separation between policy and govern-
ment, and between arts and sciences, in the verses so
much renowned, attributing and challenging the one to
the Romans, and leaving and yielding the other to the
Grecians: Zu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento,
He tibi erunt artes, &c. So likewise we see that Anytus,
the accuser of Socrates, laid it as an article of charge and
accusation against him, that he did, with the variety and
power of his discourses and disputations, withdraw young
men from due reverence to the laws and customs of their
country, and that he did profess a dangerous and per-
nicious science, which was, to make the worse matter
seem the better, and to suppress truth by force of elo-
quence and speech.
‘2. But these and the like imputations have rather a
countenance of gravity than any ground of justice: for
experience doth warrant, that both in persons and in
times there hath been a meeting and concurrence in |
learning and arms, flourishing and excelling in the same
men and the same ages. For as for men, ‘there cannot
be a better nor the like instance, as of that pair, Alexander
the Great and Julius Cesar the Dictator; whereof the one
was Aristotle’s scholar in philosophy, and the other was
7
12 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [Il.2.
Cicero’s rival in eloquence: or if any man had rather call
for scholars that were great generals, than generals that
were great scholars, let him take Epaminondas the
.Theban, or Xenophon the Athenian; whereof the one
was the first that.abated the power of Sparta, and the
other was the first that made way to the overthrow of the
monarchy of Persia. And this concurrence is yet more
_visible in times than in persons, by how much an age
is [a] greater object than a man. For both in Egypt,
Assyria, Persia, Grecia, and Rome, the same times that
are most renowned for arms, are likewise most admired
for learning; so that the greatest authors and philosophers
and the greatest captains and governors have lived in the
same ages. Neither can it otherwise be: for as in man
the ripeness of strength of the body and mind cometh
much about an age, save that the strength of the body
cometh somewhat the more early, so in states, arms and
learning, whereof the one correspondeth to the body, the
other to the soul of man, have a concurrence or near
sequence in times.
3. And for matter of policy and government, that
learning should rather hurt, than enable thereunto, is a
thing very improbable: we see it is accounted an error
to commit a natural body to empiric physicians, which
commonly have a few pleasing receipts whereupon they
are confident and adventurous, but know neither the
causes of diseases, nor the complexions of patients, nor
peril of accidents, nor the true method of cures: we see
it is a like error to rely upon advocates or lawyers, which
are only men of practice and not grounded in their books,
who are many times easily surprised when matter falleth
out besides their experience, to the prejudice of the
causes they handle: so by like reason it cannot be but a
matter of doubtful consequence if states be managed by
empiric statesmen, not well mingled with men grounded
in learning. But contrariwise, it is almost without instance
_ contradictory that ever any government was disastrous that PY
was in the hands of learned governors. For howsoever
it hath been ordinary with politique men to extenuate and
disable learned men by the names of pedantes ; yet in the
records of time it appeareth in many particulars that the
governments of princes in minority (notwithstanding the
infinite disadvantage of that kind of state) have never-
| theless excelled the government of princes of mature age,
even for that reason which they seek to traduce, which is,
that by that occasion the state hath been in the hands of
| pedantes : for so was the state of Rome for the first five
years, which are so much magnified, during the minority
of Nero, in the hands of Seneca a pedanii': so it was again,
for ten years’ space or more, during the minority of Gor-
dianus the younger, with great applause and contentation
in the hands of Misitheus a pedanti' : so was it before that,
in the minority of Alexander Severus, in like happiness, in
hands not much unlike, by reason of the rule of the
women, who were aided by the teachers and preceptors.
Nay, let a man look into the government of the bishops
of Rome, as by name, into the government of Pius
Quintus and Sextus Quintus in our times, who were both
at their entrance esteemed but as pedantical friars, and he
shall find that such popes do greater things, and proceed
upon truer principles of estate, than those which have
ascended to the papacy from an education and breeding
in affairs of estate and courts of princes; for although
men bred in learning are perhaps to seek in points of
convenience and accommodating for the present, which
the Italians call ragiont di sta/o, whereof the same Pius
=e”
“=
ANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [Ik
Quintus could nof* hear spoken with patience, terming
them inventions against religion and the moral virtues ;
yet on the other side, to recompense that, they are perfect
in those same plain grounds of religion, justice, honour,
and moral virtue, which if they be well and watchfully
pursued, there will be seldom.use of those other, no more
than of physic in a sound or well-dieted body. Neither
can the experience of one man’s life furnish examples and
precedents for the events of one man’s life. For as it
happeneth sometimes that the grandchild, or other de-
scendant, resembleth the ancestor more than the son; so
many times occurrences of present times may sort better
with ancient examples than with those of the later or
immediate times: and lastly, the wit of one man can no
more countervail learning than one man’s means can hold
way with a common purse.
4. And as for those particular seducements or indis-
positions of the mind for policy and government, which
learning is pretended to insinuate; if it be-granted that
any such thing be, it must be remembered withal, that
learning ministereth in/ every of them greater strength
of medicine or re than it offereth cause of indis-
position or infirmity. “For if by a secret operation it make
men perplexed and irresolute, on the other side by plain
precept it teacheth them when and upon what ground to
resolve ; yea, and how to carry things in suspense without
prejudice, till they resolve. If it make men positive and
regular, it teacheth them what things are in their nature
demonstrative, and what are conjectural, and as well the
use of distinctions and exceptions, as the latitude of
principles and rules. If it mislead by disproportion or
dissimilitude of examples, it teacheth men the force of
circumstances, the errors of comparisons, and all the
1. 4.] THE FIRST BOOK. 15
cautions of application; so that in all these it doth rectify
more effectually than it can pervert. And these medicines
it conveyeth into men’s minds much more forcibly by the
quickness and penetration of examples. For let a man
look into the errors of Clement the seventh, so lively
described by Guicciardine, who served under him, or into
the errors of Cicero, painted out by his own pencil in his
Epistles to Atticus, and he will fly apace from being
irresolute. Let him look into the errors of Phocion, and
he will beware how he be obstinate or inflexible. Let
him but read the fable of Ixion, and it will hold him
from being vaporous or imaginative. Let him look into
the errors of Cato the second, and he will never be one
of the Antipodes, to tread opposite to the present world.
5. And for the conceit that learning should dispose
men to leisure and privateness, and make men slothful ;
it were a strange thing if that which accustometh the mind
to a perpetual motion and agitation should induce sloth-
fulness: whereas contrariwise it may be truly affirmed,
that no kind of men love business for itself but those that
are learned; for other persons love it for profit, as an
hireling, that loves the work for the wages; or for honour,
as because it beareth them up in the eyes of men, and
refresheth their reputation, which otherwise would wear;
or because it putteth. them in mind of their fortune, and
giveth them occasion to pleasure and displeasure; or
because it exerciseth some faculty wherein they take
pride, and so entertaineth them in good humour and
pleasing conceits toward themselves; or because it
advanceth any other their ends. So that as it is said
of untrue valours, that some men’s valours are in the
eyes of them that look on; so such men’s industries
are in the eyes of others, or at least in regard of their
a bel
*
. » ya" 7 ds tz
: oS aa ame
16 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [l. 5.
own designments: only learned men love business as
an action according to nature, as agreeable to health of
mind as exercise is to health of body, taking pleasure in
the action itself, and not in the purchase: so that of all
men they are the most indefatigable, if it be towards any
business which can hold or detain their mind. _
_ 6, And if any man be laborious in reading and study
and yet idle in business and action, it groweth from some
weakness of body or softness of spirit; such as Seneca
speaketh of: Qucdam tam sunt umbratiles, ut pultent in
turbido esse quicquid in luce est; and not of learning: well
may it be that such a point of a man’s nature may make
him give himself to learning, but it is not learning that
breedeth any such point in his nature.
7. And that learning should take up too much time or
leisure; I answer, the most active or busy man that hath
been or can be, hath (no question) many vacant times of
leisure, while he expecteth the tides and returns of busi-
ness (except he be either tedious and of no dispatch,
or lightly and unworthily ambitious to meddle in things
that may be better done by others), and then the question
is but how those spaces and times of leisure shall be filled
and spent; whether in pleasures or in studies; as was
well answered by Demosthenes to his adversary Aischines,
that was a man given to pleasure and told him Zhat his
orations did smell of the lamp ; Indeed (said Demosthenes)
there ts a great difference between the things that you and I
do by lamp-light. So as no man need doubt that learning
will expulse business, but rather it will keep and defend
the possession of the mind against idleness and pleasure,
which otherwise at unawares may enter to the prejudice
of both.
8. Again, for that other conceit that learning should
1.8.) ~~‘ THE FIRST BOOK. 17
undermine the reverence of laws and government, it is
assuredly a mere depravation and calumny, without all
shadow of truth. For to say that a blind custom of
obedience should be a surer obligation than duty taught
and understood, it is to affirm, that a blind man may
tread surer by a guide than a seeing man can by a light.
And it is without all controversy, that learning doth make
the minds of men gentle, generous, maniable, and pliant
to government; whereas ignorance makes them churlish,
thwart, and-mutinous? and the evidence of time doth
——
rude, and unleamed times have been most subject to”
tumults, seditions, and changes.
g. And as to the judgement of Cato the Censor, he
was well punished for his blasphemy against learning, in
the same kind wherein he offended; for when he was
past threescore years old, he was taken with an extreme
desire to go to school again, and to learn the Greek
tongue, to the end to peruse the Greek authors ; which
doth well demonstrate that his former censure of the
Grecian learning was rather an affected gravity, than
according to the inward sense of his own opinion, And
as for Virgil’s verses, though it pleased him to brave the
world in taking to the Romans the art of empire, and
leaving to others the arts of subjects ; yet so much is
manifest that the Romans never ascended to that height
of empire, till the time they had ascended to the height of
other arts. For in the time of the two first Ceesars, which
had the art of government in greatest perfection, there
lived the best poet, Virgilius Maro; the best historio-
grapher, Titus Livius; the best antiquary, Marcus Varro;
and the best, or second orator, Marcus Cicero, that to
the memory of man are known. As for the accusation
Cc
18 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. *[1. 9.
of Socrates, the time must be remembered when it was
prosecuted ; which was under the Thirty Tyrants, the
most base, bloody, and envious persons that have go-
verned ; which revolution of state was no sooner over,
but Socrates, whom they had made a person criminal,
was made a person heroical, and his memory accumulate
with honours divine and human; and those discourses of
his which were then termed corrupting of manners, were
after acknowledged for sovereign medicines of the mind
and manners, and so have been received ever since till
this day. Let this therefore serve for answer to
politiques, which in their humorous severity, or in their
feigned gravity, have presumed to throw imputations
upon learning; which redargution nevertheless (save that
we know not whether our labours may extend to other
ages) were not needful for the present, in regard of the
love and reverence towards learning, which the example
and countenance of two so learned princes, Queen
Elizabeth and your Majesty, being as Castor and Pollux,
lucida sidera, stars of excellent light and most benign
influence, hath wrought in all men of place and authority
in our nation. “cite
III. 1. Now therefore we come to that third sort of
discredit or diminution of credit that groweth unto
learning from learned..men__themselves,..which~ com-
monly cleaveth fastest: it is either from their fortune,
or from their manners, ‘or_ fromthe “nattire of their
studies. For the first, it is not in theif power and the
second is accidental; the third only is proper to be
handled: but because we are not in hand with true
measure, but with popular estimation and conceit, it is
not amiss to speak somewhat of the two former. The
derogations therefore which grow to learning from the
ma] ‘THE FIRST BOOK. 19
fortune or condition of learned men, are either in respect
of scarcity of means, or in respect of ae aac of life
and meanness of employments.
2. Concerning want, and that it is the case of learned
men usually to begin with little, and not to grow rich so
fast as other men, by reason they convert not their labours
chiefly to lucre and increase, it were good to leave the
common place in commendation of poverty to some friar
to handle, to whom much was attributed by Machiavel in
this point ; when he said, Zhat the kingdom of the clergy had
been long before at an end, tf the reputation and reverence
towards the poverty of friars had not borne out the scandal
of the superfiuities and excesses of bishops and prelates. So
a man might say that the felicity and delicacy of princes
and great persons had long since turned to rudeness
and barbarism, if the poverty of learning had not kept up
civility and honour of life: but without any such advan-
tages, it is worthy the observation what a reverent and
honoured thing poverty of fortune was for some ages in
the Roman state, which nevertheless was a state without
paradoxes. For we see what Titus Livius saith in his
introduction: Cwlerum aut me amor negotit suscepti fallit,
aut nulla unquam respublica nec major, nec sanctior, nec
bonis exemplis ditior futt; nec in quam fam sere avaritia
luxurtaque immigraverint ; nec ubt tantus ac tam diu pau-
pertatt ac parsimonie honos fuerit. We see likewise, after —
that the state of Rome was not itself, but did degenerate,
how that person that took upon him to be counsellor to
Julius Cesar after his victory where to begin his restora-
tion of the state, maketh it of all points the most sum-
mary to take away the estimation of wealth: Verum hec
el omnia mala pariter cum honore pecunie desinent; sit neque
magistratus, neque alia vulgo cupienda, venalia erunt. To
C2
ee ee ee we nt n oe =, er
20 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, |lIIl.2. — a
conclude this point, as it was truly said, that Rubor es#
virtutis color, though sometime it come from vice; so it
may be fitly said that Pauperias est virtutis fortuna, though
sometimes it may proceed from misgovernment and ac-
cident. Surely Salomon hath pronounced it both in
& censure, Qui festinal ad divitias non erit insons ; and in
precept; Puy the truth, and sell tt not ; and so of wisdom
and knowledge ; judging that means were to be spent
upon learning, and not learning to be applied to means.
And as for the privateness or obscureness (as it may be
in vulgar estimation accounted) of life of contemplative
men ; it is a theme so common to extol a private life, not .
taxed with sensuality and sloth, in comparison and to the
disadvantage of a civil life, for safety, liberty, pleasure,
and dignity, or at least freedom from indignity, as no
man handleth it but handleth it well; such a consonancy
it hath to men’s conceits in the expressing, and to men’s
consents in the allowing. “This only I will add, that
learned men forgotten in states and not living in the eyes
of men, are like the images of Cassius and Brutus in the
funeral of Junia ; of which not being represented, as many
others were, Tacitus saith, Lo zpso prefulgebant, quod non.
visebaniur.
3. And for meanness of employment, that which is
most traduced to contempt is that the government of
youth is commonly allotted to them; which age, because
it is the age of least authority, it is transferred to the
disesteeming of those employments wherein youth is con-
versant, and which are conversant about youth. But how
unjust this traducement is (if you will reduce things from
popularity of opinion to measure of reason) may appear
in that we see men are more curious what they put into a
new vessel than into a vessel seasoned ; and what mould
eS
tay THE FIRST BOOK. 21
they lay about a young plant than about a plant cor-
roborate; so as the weakest terms and times of all things
use to have the best applications and helps. And will.
you hearken to the Hebrew rabbins? Your young men “
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams ; say
they youth is the worthier age, for that visions are nearer
apparitions of God than dreams? And let it be noted,
that howsoever the condition of life of pedantes hath been
scorned upon theatres, as the ape of tyranny ; and that
the modern looseness or negligence hath taken no due
regard to the choice of schoolmasters and tutors; yet the
ancient wisdom of the best times did always make a just
complaint, that states were too busy with their laws and
too negligent in point of education: which excellent part
of ancient discipline hath been in some sort revived of
late times by the colleges of the Jesuits; of whom, al-
though in regard of their superstition I may say, Quo
meliores, eo detertores; yet in regard to this, and some
other points concerning human learning and moral mat-
ters, I may say, as Agesilaus said to his enemy Pharna-
bazus, Zalis qguum sis, utinam noster esses, And thus
much touching the discredits drawn from the fortunes of
learned men. a
4. As touching the manners of learned men, it is a
thing personal and individual: and no doubt there be
amongst them, as in other professions, of all tempera-
tures: but yet so as it is not without truth which is said,
that Adbeunt studia in mores, studies have an influence and
operation upon the maniiers of those that are conversant
in them.
5. But upon an attentive and indifferent review, I for
my part cannot find any disgrace to learning can pro-
ceed from the manners of learned men; not inherent
|
Y
——
aX
2 om 7 at? ees
_
22 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [its
to them as they are learned; except it be a fault (which
was the supposed fault of Demosthenes, Cicero, Cato the
second, Seneca, and many more) that because the times .
they read of are commonly better than the times they live
in, and the duties taught better than the duties practised,
they contend sometimes too far to bring things to per-
fection, and to reduce the corruption of manners to
honesty of precepts or examples of too great height.
And yet hereof they have’ caveats enough in their own
walks. For Solon, when he was asked whether he had
given his citizens the best laws, answered wisely, Yea of
such as they would receive : and Plato, finding that his own
heart could not agree with the corrupt manners of his
country, refused to bear place or office; saying, Zhat a@
man’s country was to be used as his parents were, that ts,
with humble persuasions, and not with contestations. And
Ceesar’s counsellor put in the same caveat, Von ad vetera
tnstitula revocans que jampridem corruptis moribus ludibrio
sunt: and Cicero noteth this error directly in Cato the
second, when he writes to his friend Atticus ; Cav/o opiime
senttt, sed nocet interdum retpublice ; loguitur enim lanquam
in republicd Platonis, non tanquam in fece Romuli. And
the same Cicero doth excuse and expound the philo-
sophers for going too far and being too exact in their
prescripts, when he saith, Js/¢ spsz preceplores virtues et
magistri videntur fines officiorum paulo longius quam natura
vellet proiulisse, ut cum ad ultimum animo contendissemus, tbt
tamen, ubt oportet, consisteremus: and yet himself might
have said, Monzit’s sum minor ipse meis ; for it was his
own fault, though not in so extreme a degree.
6. Another fault likewise much of this kind hath been
incident to learned men; which is, that_they-have™ es-
teemed the preservation, good, and honour of their
— a
AS ee ee oS pg a ee ne es eee oh GIy,
1.6] -—-s« THE FIRST BOOK. =i (tst*«G
countries or masters before their own fortunes or safeties.
For so saith Demosthenes unto the Athenians; Jf
please you to note tt, my counsels unto you are not such
whereby I should grow great amongst you, and you become
little amongst the Grecians ; but they be of that nature, as
they are sometimes not good for me to give, but are always
good for you to follow. And so Seneca, after he had con-
secrated that Quznguennium Neronis to the eternal glory
of learned governors, held on his honest and loyal course
of good and free counsel, after his master grew extremely
corrupt in his government. Neither can this point other-
wise be; for learning endueth men’s minds with a true
sense of the frailty of their persons, the casualty of their
fortunes, and the dignity of their soul and vocation: so
that it is impossible for them to esteem that any greatness
of their own fortune can be a true or worthy end of their
being and ordainment ; and therefore are desirous to give
their account to God, and so likewise to their masters
under God (as kings and the states that they serve) in these
words; Lece tb lucrefect, and not Ecce mihi lucrefect :
whereas the corrupter sort of mere politiques, that have
not their thoughts established by learning inthe love and
apprehension of duty, nor never look abroad into univers-
ality, do refer all things to themselves, and thrust them-
selves into the centre of the world, as if all lines should
meet in them and their fortunes; never caring in all
tempests what becomes of the ship of estates, so they .
may save themselves in the cockboat of their own for-
tune : whereas men that feel the weight of duty and
know the limits of self-love, use to make good their
places and duties, though with peril; and if they stand in
seditious and violent alterations, it is rather the reverence
which many times both adverse parts do give to honesty,
24 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. {IIl.6.
than any versatile advantage of their own carriage. But.
for this point of tender sense and fast obligation of duty
which learning doth endue the mind withal, howsoever
fortune may tax it, and many in the depth of their corrupt
principles may despise it, yet it will receive an open
allowance, and therefore needs the less disproof or ex-
cusation. *
4. Another fault incident commonly to learned: men,
which may be more probably defended than truly denied,
is, that they fail sometimes in applying themselves to
particular persons : : which want —ofexact application
ariseth from two causes ; ; the one, because the largeness
of their-mind can hardly confine itself to dwell in the
exquisite observation or examination of the nature and
customs of one person: for it is a speech for a lover, and
not for a wise man, Sa/zs magnum alter altert theatrum
sumus. Nevertheless I shall yield, that he that cannot
contract the sight of his mind as well as disperse and
dilate it, wanteth a great faculty. But there is a second
cause, which is no inability, but a rejection upon choice
and judgement. For the honest and just bounds of ob-
servation by one person upon another, extend no further
but to understand him sufficiently, whereby not to give
him offence, or whereby to be able to give him faithful
counsel, or whereby to stand upon reasonable guard and
caution in respect of a man’s self. But to be speculative
into another man to the end to know how to work him, or
wind him, or govern him, proceedeth from a heart that is
double and cloven and not entire and ingenuous; which
as in friendship it is want of integrity, so towards princes
or superiors is want of duty. For the custom of the
Levant, which is that subjects do forbear to gaze or
fix their eyes upon princes, is in the outward ceremony
weEN fa
II. 7.] THE FIRST BOOK. re 25.
barbarous, but the moral is good: for men ought not by
2 \ sate | a= tele ae reper pane and_penetrate
|fSto Hie Heats sot Sings, which the. scripture hath de-
\clared tobe inscrutable...
| "8. There is yet another fault (with which I will con-
clude this part) which is often noted in learned | men, | that
they do: many times fail to observe observe decency 3 and discre-
tion in their_behaviour _and_carriagé, and commit. errors
in small and ordinary points of action, so as the vulgar
sort of f capacities do make a judgement ¢ of them in greater
matters by that which they find wanting in them in
smaller. But this consequence doth oft deceive men,
for which I do refer them over to that which was said by
Themistocles, arrogantly and uncivilly being applied to
himself out of his own mouth, but, being applied to the
general state of this question, pertinently and justly;
when being invited to touch a lute he said He could
not fiddle, but he could make a small town a great state.
So no doubt many may be well seen in the passages of
government and policy, which are to seek in little and
punctual occasions. I refer them also to that which
Plato said of his master Socrates, whom he compared
to the gallipots of apothecaries, which on the outside had
apes and owls and antiques but contained within so-
vereign and precious liquors and confections ; acknow-
ledging that to an external report he was not without
superficial levities and deformities, but was inwardly re-
plenished with excellent virtues and powers. And so
~_—Much-touching the point of manners of learned men.
g. But in the mean time I have no purpose to give
allowance to some conditions and courses base and
unworthy, wherein divers professors of learning have
wronged themselves and gone too far; such as were
26 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [lll 9.
those trencher philosophers which in the later age of
the Roman state were usually in the houses of great
persons, being little better than solemn parasites; of
which kind, Lucian maketh a merry description of the
philosopher that the great lady took to ride with her in
her coach, and would needs have him carry her little
dog, which he doing officiously and yet uncomely, the
page scoffed and said, Zhat he doubted the philosopher
of a Store would turn to be a Cynic. But above all the
rest, the gross and palpable flattery, whereunto many
not unlearned have abased and abused their wits and
pens, turning (as Du Bartas saith) Hecuba into Helena,
and Faustina into Lucretia, hath most diminished the
price and estimation of learning. Neither is the_modern
dedication of _books and writings, — as to patrons, t to | be
commended : forth ‘that books (such as-are worthy the name
of books) ought to have no patrons but ttuth-and reason.
And the ancient custom was to dedicate them only"to”
private and equal friends, or to entitle the books with
their names: or if to kings and great persons, it was to
some such as the argument of the book was fit and pro-
per for: but these and the like courses may deserve
rather reprehension than defence.
10. Not that I can tax or condemn the morigeration
or application of learned men to men in fortune. For
the answer was good that Diogenes made to one that
asked him in mockery, How zt came to pass that philo-
sophers were the followers of rich men, and not rich men
of philosophers P “He answered soberly, and yet sharply,
Because the one sort knew what they had need of, and the
other did not. And of the like nature was the answer
which Aristippus made, when having a petition to Dio-
nysius, and no ear given to him, he fell down at his feet;
a
2, Oe a ie » 4 er}
i
Ne r
Ill. 10] | THE FIRST BOOK. 27
whereupon Dionysius stayed and gave him the hearing,
and granted it; and afterward some person, tender on
the behalf of philosophy, reproved Aristippus that he
would offer the profession of philosophy such an indig-
nity as for a private suit to fall at a tyrant’s feet: but he
answered, J¢ was not his fault, but tt was the fault of
Dionysius, that had his ears tn his feet. Neither was it
accounted weakness but discretion in him that would not
dispute his best with Adrianus Cesar; excusing himself,
That tt was reason to yield to him that commanded thirty
legions. These and the like applications and stooping to
points of necessity and convenience cannot be disallow-
ed; for though they may have some outward baseness,
yet in a judgement truly made they are to be accounted
coment
~~ |TV) 1. Now I proceed to itl errors and vanities ‘Ngee
which have intervened amongst the studies themselves 7 -
of the learned, which is that which is principal and
proper to the present argument ; wherein my ly purpose is
not to inake-w justification” of the” errors, but by a_censure
that which is good and sound, and to deliver that from
ea . or we see that it 1s the
manner of men to scandalize and deprave that which
retaineth the state and virtue, by taking advantage upon
that which is corrupt and degenerate: as the heathens
in the primitive church used to blemish and taint the
Christians with the faults and corruptions of heretics.
But nevertheless I have no meaning at this time to make
any exact animadversion of the errors and impediments
in matters of learning, which are more secret and remote
from vulgar opinion, but only to speak unto such as do
fall under or near unto a popular observation.
a ye " ‘ al el a 4 :
> 5 - ae ris en -
a = J ek | a ee
>
ia
28 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. |IV.2
A 2. There be therefore chiefly three vanities in studies,
whereby learning hath been most traduced. For those
things we do esteem vain, which are either false or fri-
volous, those which either have no truth or no use: and
those persons we esteem vain, which are either credulous
or curious; and curiosity is either in matter or words:
so that in reason as well as in experience there fall out
to be these three distempers (as I may term them) of
‘learning : the ne Sst Mepiastica fantastical | Jearning ; the the second, con-
— cascanee .
tentious learning ; and the J and the last, delicate ate learnin, lelicate_ learning ; vain
imaginations, vain ‘altercations, and vain affectat in a i affectations ; “and —
with the last I will begin. Martin Luther, ‘conducted (no
« doubt) by an higher providence, but in discourse of rea-
son, finding what a province he had undertaken against
the bishop of Rome and the degenerate traditions of the
church, and finding his own solitude, being no ways
aided by the opinions of his own time, was enforced to
awake all antiquity, and to call former times to his suc-
cours to make a party against the present time: so that
the ancient_authors, both in divinity and in humanity,
which had long time ‘slept in in libraries, began “generally
to be read and | revolved. This by consequence did draw
ora hecessity of a more exquisite travail in the lan-
guages original, wherein those authors did write, for the
better understanding of those authors, and the better
advantage of pressing and applying their words. And
thereof grew again a delight in their manner of style and
phrase, and an admiration of that kind of writing; which
was much furthered and precipitated by the enmity and
opposition that the propounders of those primitive but
seeming new opinions had against the schoolmen; who
were generally of the contrary part, and whose writings ,
were altogether in a differing style and form; taking
ea Saree THE FIRST BOOK. 29
liberty to coin and frame new terms of art to express
their own sense, and to avoid circuit of speech, without
regard to the pureness, pleasantness, and (as I may call
it) lawfulness of the phrase or word. And again, because _
the great labour then was with the people (of whom the
Pharisees were wont to say, Lxecrabilis ista turba, que.
non novit legem), for the winning and persuading of them,
there grew of necessity in chief price and request elo-
quence and variety of discourse, as the fittest and forci-
blest access into the capacity of the vulgar sort: so that ©
these four causes concurring Mhe admiration of ancient,
authors{jthe hate of the schoolmen,-the exac of
languages, andthe efficacy of preaching, did bring in an
affectionate study of eloquence and copie | ‘of speech, which”
then began to flourish. This grew speedily to an excess;
for men began to hunt more after words than matter;
more after the choiceness of the phrase, and the round
and clean composition of the sentence, and the sweet
falling of the clauses, and the varying and illustration of
their works with tropes and figures, than after the weight
of matter, worth of subject, soundness of argument, life |
of invention, or depth of judgement. Then grew the
flowing and watery vein of Osorius, the Portugal bishop,
to be in price. Then did Sturmius spend such infinite
and curious pains upon Cicero the Orator, and Hermo-
genes the Rhetorician, besides his own books of Periods
and Imitation, and the like. Then did Car of Cam-
bridge and Ascham with their lectures and writings
almost deify Cicero and Demosthenes, and allure all
young men that were studious unto that delicate and
polished kind of learning. Then did Erasmus take oc-
casion to make the scoffing echo, Decem annos consumpst
in legendo Cicerone; and the echo answered in Greek
3 44 a
-> _- x
30 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. De ca
One, Asine. Then grew the learning of the schoaee
to be utterly despised as barbarous. In sum, the whole
inclination and bent of those times was rather towards
copie than weight.
3- Here therefore is the first distemper of learning,
1 when men study..words and not matter; whereof, though
I have r represented an example ‘of Taino times, yet it hath
been and will be secundum majus e¢ minus in all time.
And how is it possible but this should have an operation
-—to discredit learning, even with vulgar capacities, when
they see learned men’s works like the first letter of a
patent, or limned book ; which though it hath large flou-
rishes, yet it is but a letter? It seems to me that Pygma-
lion’s frenzy is a good emblem or portraiture of this
—vanity : for words are but the images of matter; and
except they have life of reason and invention, to fall in
love with them is all one as to fall in love with a picture.
4. But yet notwithstanding it is a thing not hastily to
be condemned, to clothe and adorn the obscurity even
, —of philosophy itself with sensible and plausible elocution.
For hereof we have great examples in Xenophon, Cicero,
Seneca, Plutarch, and of Plato also in some degree; and
hereof likewise there is great use : for surely, to the
severe inquisition of truth and the deep progress into
philosophy, it is some hindrance ; because it is too early
satisfactory to the mind of man, and quencheth the de-
sire of further search, before we come to a just period.
But then if a man be to have any use of such knowledge
in civil occasions, of conference, counsel, persuasion, dis-
_.-course, or the like, then shall he find it prepared to his
hands in those authors which write in that manner, But
the excess of this is so justly contemptible, that as Her-
cules, when he saw the image of Adonis, Venus’ minion,
_—
————
re ieee Pan es ye . >>
Iv. a 4 THE FIRST BOOK, 31
in a temple, said in disdain, Vil sacrz es; so there is none |
of Hercules’ followers in learning, that is, the more severe
and laborious sort of inquirers into truth, but will despise
those delicacies and affectations, as indeed capable of no
divineness. And thus much of the first disease or dis-
temper of learning. * A
5. The second which followetled is in nature worse than
the former : for_as_substance of-matter-is. better than a
beauty of words, so contrariwise vain matter is worse
than vain words : wherein it seemeth the reprehension of
Saint Paul was not only proper for those times, but pro-
phetical for the times following ; and not only respective
to divinity, but extensive to all knowledge: Devéla pro-|2
Janas vocum novitates, et oppositiones falst nominis sctentia.
For he assigneth two marks and badges of suspected
and falsified science : the one, the novelty and strange-
ness of terms; the other, the strictness of positions,
which of necessity doth induce oppositions, and so ques-
tions and altercations. Surely, like as many substances
in nature which are solid do putrify and corrupt into
worms; so it is the property of good and sound know-
ledge to putrify “and dissolve i “number-ofsubtle,
idle Se aeinItOne BE Ges nay term them) vermiculate
questions, w which have indeed a kindof" quickness “and
life of spirit, but no soundness of matter or goodness of ©
quality. “'Phis*kirid-of~degenerate learning "did chiefly
Teign amongst the schoolmen : :_who having sharp and "4
“strong wits, and abundance of leisure, and small variety
of reading;*but their wits being shut up in the cells of a
few authors (chiefly Aristotle*their~dietator)-as their per-
sons were shut up in the cells of monasteries and col-
leges, and knowing little history, either of nature or
time, did out of no great quantity of matter and infinite
32 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [IV.5.
agitation of wit spin out unto us those laborious webs of
learning which are extant in their books. For the wit
d mind of man, if it work upon matter, which is the
ntemplation of the creatures of God, worketh accord-
ng to the stuff and is limited thereby; but if it work
upon itself, as the spider worketh his web, then it. is
endless, and brings forth indeed cobwebs $f learning,
admirable for the fineness.of thread and and work, but of
o substance or profit.
‘6. This same unprofitable subtility or curiosity is of
’ two sorts; either in the subject itself that they handle,
when it is a fruitless speculation or controversy (whereof
there are no small number both in divinity and philo-
sophy), or in the manner or method of handling of a
knowledge, whictf amongst them was this ; upotevery
particular position or assertion to frame objections, and
to those objections, solutions; which solutions were for
the most part not confutations, but distinctions: whereas
indeed the smength of all scienges is, as the strength of
the old man’s faggot, in the Bétid For the harmony ofa
science, supporting each part the other, is and ought to
be the true and brief confutation and suppression of all
the smaller sort of objections, But, on the other side, if
you take out every axiom, as the sticks of the faggot, one
by one, you may quarrel with them and bend them and
break them at your pleasure: so that as was said of
Seneca, Verborum minutiis rerum frangit pondera, so a
man may truly say of the schoolmen, Questionum minutits
setentiarum franguni soliditatem., For were it not better
for a man in a fair room to set up one great light, or
branching candlestick of lights, than to go about with
a small watch candle into every corner? | And such is
their method, that rests not so much upon evidence of
Iv.6.] — THE FIRST BOOK. 33
truth proved by arguments, authorities, similitudes, ex-
amples, as upon particular confutations and solutions of
every scruple, cavillation, and objection; breeding for the
most part one question as fast as it solveth another; even
as in the former resemblance, when you carry the light
into one corner, you darken the rest; so that the fable
and fiction of Scylla seemeth to be a lively image of this
kind of philosophy or knowledge; which was trans-
formed into a comely virgin for the upper parts ; but
then Candida succinclam latrantibus inguina monstris : so
the generalities of the schoolmen are for a while good
and proportionable ; but then when you descend into
their distinctions and decisions, instead of a fruitful
womb for the use and benefit of man’s life, they end
in monstrous altercations and barking questions, So
as it is not possible but this quality of knowledge must
fall under popular contempt, the people being apt to
contemn truth upon occasion of controversies and alter-:
cations, and to think they are all out of their way which
never meet; and when they see such digladiation about
subtilties, and matter of no use or moment, they easily
fall upon that judgement of Dionysius of Syracusa, Verda
tsta sunt senum oliosorum.
7. Notwithstanding, certain it is that if those -school-
men_to their great thirst of truth and unwearied travail
of wit had joined variety and“ “universality “of reading
and contemplation, they had proved excellent lights, . to
the great. advancement of all learning and knowledge ;
but as they are, they are great undertakers. indeed, "and
fierce remy ga oe as in the inquiry “of the
divine truth, their pride inclined to leave the oracle~of
God’s ° word, and to vanish in the mixture of their own
inventions ; ; so in the inquisition of nature, they ever left
, D Q
GArsr fam pa
Ray Gu De domo, c= iN
Kao
wy es 9s a i
34 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [I1V.7._
the oracle of God’s works, and adored the deceiving and
deformed images which the unequal mirror of their own
minds, or a few received authors or principles, did re-
present unto them. And thus much for the second
disease of learning.
8. For the third vice or disease of learning, which
concerneth deceit or untruth, it is of all the rest the
foulest ; as that which doth destroy the essential form
of knowledge, which is nothing but a representation of
truth: for the truth of being and the truth of knowing
are one, differing no more than the direct beam and the
beam reflected. ‘This vice therefore brancheth itself into
two sorts ; delight in-deeeivingand aptness to _be.de-.
ceived; imposture and credulity; which, although they
“appear to be of a diverse nature, the Ofie"Séémiing~ to
proceed of cunning and the other of simplicity, yet
certainly they do for the most part concur: for, as the
verse noteth,
Percontatorem fugito, nam garrulus idem est,
an inquisitive man is a prattler; so upon the like reason
a credulous man is a deceiver: as we see it in fame, that
he that will easily believe rumours, will as easily augment
rumours and add somewhat to them of his own; which
Tacitus wisely noteth, when he saith, /imgunt simul cre-
dunique : so great an affinity hath fiction and belief.
g. This facility of credit and accepting or admitting
things weakly authorized or warranted, is of two kinds
according to the subject: for it is either a belief of
history, or, as the lawyers speak, matter of fact; or else
of matter of art and opinion. As to the former, we
see the experience and inconvenience of this error in
ecclesiastical history; which hath too easily received and
registered reports and narrations of miracles wrought by
1.9] ~—s THE FIRST BOOK. i 3%
martyrs, hermits, or monks of the desert, and other holy «
men, and their relics, shrines, chapels, and images:
which though they had a passage for a time by the
ignorance of the people, the superstitious simplicity of
some, and the politic toleration of others, holding them
but as divine poesies; yet after a period of time, when
the mist began to clear up, they grew to be esteemed but
as old wives’ fables, impostures of the clergy, illusions of
een
spirits, and badges of An Hichrist tofthe great scandal and
detriment of religion, * IL Re ei ¢
ef SAP REE : Avy ex .
10. So in natural history, we see there ‘hath not been
that choice and judgement used as ought to have,been ;
as may appear in the writings of Plinius, Cardanus,
Albertus, and divers of the Arabians, being» fraught with
much fabulous matter, a great part not only untried,
but notoriously untrue, to the great derogation of the
credit of natural philosophy with the grave and sober
kind of wits: wherein the wisdom and integrity of
Aristotle is worthy to be observed; that, having made
so diligent and exquisite a history of living creatures,
hath mingled it sparingly with any vain or feigned
matter: and yet on the other side hath cast all pro-
digious narrations, which he thought worthy the record-),
ing, into one book: excellently discerning that matter
of manifest truth, such whereupon observation and rule
was to be built, was not to be mingled or weakened
with matter of doubtful credit; and yet again, that
rarities and reports that seem uncredible are not to be
suppressed or denied to the memory of men.
11. And as for the facility of credit which is yielded to
arts and opinions, it is likewise of two kinds; either when
too much belief is attributed to the arts themselves, or
to certain authors in any art. The sciences themselves,
D2
36 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. a ae
which have had better intelligence and confederacy with —
the imagination of man than with his reason, are three
in number; astrology, natural magic, and alchemy:
of which sciences, nevertheless, the ends or pretences
are noble. For astrology pretendeth to discover that
correspondence or concatenation which is between the
superior globe and the inferior: natural magic pretendeth
to call and reduce natural philosophy from variety of
speculations to the magnitude of works: and alchemy
._pretendeth to make separation of all the unlike parts
of bodies which in mixtures of nature are incorporate.
But the derivations and prosecutions to these ends, both
in the theories and in the practices, are full of error
and vanity; which the great professors themselves have
sought to veil over and conceal by enigmatical writings,
and referring themselves to auricular traditions and such
other devices, to save the credit of impostures. And yet
surely to alchemy this right is due, that it may be
compared to the husbandman whereof Alsop makes
the fable; that, when he died, told his sons that he
had left unto them gold buried under ground in his
vineyard ; and they digged over all the ground, and
gold they found none; but by reason of their stirring
and digging the mould about the roots of their vines,
they had a great vintage the year following: so assuredly
the search and stir to make gold hath brought to light a
great number of good and fruitful inventions and ex-
periments, as well for the disclosing of nature as for the
use of man’s life.
12. And as for the overmuch credit that hath been
given unto authors in sciences, in making them dictators,
that their words should stand, and not consuls to give
advice; the damage is infinite that sciences have’ received
as bce ee
i , Pa ad
Iv.12.] | THE FIRST BOOK. i
thereby, as the principal cause that hath kept them low
at a stay without growth or advancement. For hence
it hath comen, that in arts mechanical the first deviser
comes shortest, and time addeth and perfecteth; but in
sciences the first author goeth furthest, and time leeseth
and corrupteth. So we see, artillery, sailing, printing, and
- the like, were grossly managed at the first, and by time
accommodated’ and refined: but contrariwise, the philo-
sophies and sciences of Aristotle, Plato, Democritus,
Hippocrates, Euclides, Archimedes, of most vigour at
the first and by time degenerate and imbased ; whereof
the reason is no other, but that in the former many wits
and industries have contributed in one; and in the latter
many wits and industries have been spent about the wit
of some one, whom many times they have rather de-
praved than illustrated.” For as water will not ascend
higher than the level of the first springhead from whence
it descendeth, so knowledge derived from Aristotle, and
exempted from liberty of examination, will not rise again
higher than the knowledge of Aristotle. And therefore
although the position be good, Ofortet discentem credere,
yet it must be coupled with this, Oportet edoctum judicare ;
for disciples do owe unto masters only a temporary belief
and a suspension of their own judgement till they be
fully instructed, and not an absolute resignation or per-
petual captivity: and therefore, to conclude this point,
I will say no more, but so let great authors have their
due, as time, which is the author of authors, be not
deprived of his due, which is, further and further to
discover truth. Thus have I gone over these three
diseases of learning; besides the which there are some
other rather peccant humours than formed diseases,
which nevertheless are not so secret and intrinsic but
> ~ * a ~— ioe
Re oe 20 ee
38 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [IV.12. —
¢
that they fall under a popular observation and traduce- —
erie nie of t not to be passed over.
re 1. The first of these is the extreme affecting of
two extremities: the one antiquity, the other novelty;
wherein it seemeth the children of time do take after the
nature and malice of the father. For as he devoureth
his children, so one of them seeketh to devour and
suppress the other; while antiquity envieth there should
be new additions, and novelty cannot be content to add
but it must deface: surely the advice of the prophet is
_ the true direction in this matter, S/a/e super vias antiquas,
et videte quenam sit via recta et bona et ambulate in ea.
y — Antiquity deserveth that reverence, that men should make
a stand thereupon and discover what is the best way;
but when the discovery is well taken, then to make pro-
gression. And to speak truly, Anfguitas seculi juventus
mundi. These times are the ancient times, when the
world is ancient, and not those which we account ancient
ordine relrogrado, by a computation backward from our-~
selves.
v 2. Another error induced by the former is a distrust
that anything should be now to be found out, which
* the world should have missed and passed over so long .
time ; as if the same objection were to be made to time,
that Lucian maketh to Jupiter and other the heathen
gods; of which he wondereth that they begot so. many
children in old time, and begot none in his time; and
asketh whether they were become septuagenary, or
whether the law Pafra, made against old men’s mar-
riages, had restrained them. So it seemeth men doubt
lest time is become past children and generation;
wherein contrariwise we see commonly the levity and
unconstancy of men’s judgements, which till a matter
v. 2] | THE FIRST BOOK. 39
be done, wonder that it can be done; and as soon as
it is done, wonder again that it was no sooner done:
as we see in the expedition of Alexander into Asia,
which at first was prejudged as a vast and impossible
enterprise ; and yet afterwards it pleaseth Livy to make
no more of it than this, 1V27 aliud quam bene ausus vana
contemnere. And the same happened to Columbus in the
western navigation. But in intellectual matters it is
much more common; as may be seen in most of the
propositions of Euclid; which till they be demonstrate,
they seem strange to our assent; but being demonstrate,
our mind accepteth of them by a kind of relation (as the
lawyers speak) as if we had known them before.
3. Another error, that hath also some affinity with the
former, is a conceit that of former opinions or sects after
variety and examination the best hath still prevailed and
suppressed the rest; so as if a man should begin the
labour of a new search, he were but like to light upon
somewhat formerly rejected, and by rejection brought into
oblivion: as if the multitude, or the wisest for the mult-
itude’s sake, were not ready to give passage rather to that
which is popular and superficial, than to that which is
substantial and profound; for the truth is, that time
seemeth to be of the nature of a river or stream, whic
carrieth down to us that which is light and blown up, an
sinketh and drowneth that which is weighty and solid.
4. Another error, of a diverse nature from all the
former, is the over-early and peremptory reduction of
knowledge into arts and methods ; from which time
commonly sciences receive small or no augmentation.
But as young men, when they knit and shape perfectly,
do seldom grow to a further stature; so knowledge, while
it is in aphorisms and observations, it is in growth: but
we eae ng
40 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF * LEARNING. “fv. Pete
when it once is comprehended in exact methods, it may
perchance be further polished and illustrate and accom-
modated for use and practice; but it increaseth no more
in bulk and substance.
5. Another error which ‘doth succeed that which we
Jast mentioned, is, that after the distribution of particular
arts and sciences, men have abandoned universality, or
philosophia prima ails cannot but cease and stop all
progression. For no perfect discovery can be made upon
a flat or a level: neither is it possible to discover the
more remote and deeper parts of any science, if you
stand but upon the level of the same science, and ascend
not to a higher science.
6. Another error hath proceeded from too great a
reverence, and a kind of adoration of the mind and
understanding of man; by means whereof, men have
withdrawn themselves too much from the contemplation
of nature, and the observations of experience, and have
tumbled up and down in their own reason and conceits.
Upon these intellectualists, which are notwithstanding
commonly taken for the most sublime and divine philo- |
sophers, Heraclitus gave a just censure, saying, Jen :
sought truth in their own little worlds, and not in the great
and common world ; for they disdain to spell, and so by
degrees to read in the volume of God's works: and
contrariwise by continual meditation and agitation of wit
do urge and as it were invocate their own spirits to
divine and give oracles unto them, whereby they are
deservedly deluded.
4. Another error that hath some connexion with this
latter is, that men have used to infect their meditations,
opinions, and doctrines, with some conceits which they
have most admired, or some sciences which they have
vir] ——s—i*s«STHE- FIRST’ BOOK. cA at
most applied ; and given all things else a tincture accord-
ing to them, utterly untrue and unproper. So hath Plato
intermingled his philosophy with theology, and Aristotle
with logic; and the second es Proclus and
the rest, with the mathematics.“ For these were the arts
which had a kind of primogeniture with them severally.
So have the alchemists made a philosophy out of a few
experiments of the furnace ; and Gilbertus our country-
man hath made a philosophy out of the observations of a
loadstone. So Cicero, when, reciting the several opinions
of the nature of the soul, he found a musician that held
the soul was but a harmony, saith pleasantly, Ae ab arte
sua non recesstt, &c. But of these conceits Aristotle speak-
eth seriously and wisely when he saith, Qu¢ respiciunt
ad pauca de facili pronunciant.
8. Another error is an impatience of doubt, and haste
to assertion without due and mature suspension of judge-
ment. For the two ways of contemplation are not unlike
the two ways of action commonly spoken of by the
ancients: the one plain and smooth in the beginning,
and in the end impassable; the other rough and trouble-
some in the entrance, but after a while fair and even : so
it is in contemplation ; if a man will begin with certain-
ties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to
begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.
g. Another error is in the manner of the tradition and
delivery of knowledge, which is for the most part magis-
tral and peremptory, and not ingenuous and _ faithful ;
in a sort as may be soonest believed, and not easiliest
examined. It is true that in compendious treatises for
practice that form is not to be disallowed: but in the
true handling of knowledge, men ought not to fall either
on the one side into the vein of Velleius the Epicurean,
42 OF THE ADVANCEMEN’ LE.
Nil tam metuens, quam ne dubitare aliqua de re videretur :
nor on the other side into Socrates his ironical doubting
of all things ; but to propound things sincerely with more —
or less asseveration, as they stand in a man’s own judge-
ment proved more or less.
1o. Other errors there are in the scope that men
propound to themselves, whereunto they bend their en-
deavours ; for whereas the more constant and devote
kind of professors of any science ought to propound to
themselves to make some additions to their science, they
. convert their labours to aspire to certain second prizes:
as to be a profound interpreter or commenter, to be a
sharp champion or defender, to be a methodical com-
pounder or abridger, and so the patrimony of knowledge
cometh to be sometimes improved, but seldom aug-
mented.
tr. But the greatest error of all the rest is the mis-
taking or _misplacing 0 of the last or furthest end of know-
ledge. For men have entered into a desiré of learning
and knowledgé, Sometimes upon a natural curiosity and
inquisitive appetite; sometimes to entertain their minds
with variety and delight ; sometimes for ornament and
reputation ; and sometimes to enable them to victory of
wit and contradiction ; and most times for lucre and
profession ; and seldom sincerely to give a true account .
of their gift of reason, to the benefit and use ‘of men: as |
if there were sought in knowledge a couch whereupon to!
rest a searching and restless spirit ; or a terrace for al
wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with
a fair prospect ; or a tower of state for a proud mind to
raise itself upon; or a fort or commanding ground for!
strife and contention; or a shop for profit or sale; and)
not a rich storehouse-for the glory of the Creator and the —
ko OO a eee ee a
{ .
¥. 18) . THE FIRST BOOK. 43
relief of man’s estate. But this is that which will indeed
dignify and exalt knowledge, if contemplation and action a
may be more nearly and straitly conjoined and united
together than they have been; a conjunction like unto
that of the two highest planets, Saturn, the planet of rest
and contemplation, and Jupiter, the -planet of civil society
and action. Howbeit, Ido not mean, when I speak of use
and action, that end before-mentioned of the applying of
knowledge to lucre and profession ; for I am not ignorant
how much that diverteth and interrupteth the prosecution
and advancement of knowledge, like unto the golden ball
thrown before Atalanta, which while she goeth aside and
stoopeth to take up, the race is hindered,
Declinat cursus, aurumque volubile tollit.
Neither is my meaning, as was spoken of Socrates, to
call philosophy down from heaven to converse upon
the earth; that is, to leave natural philosophy aside, and
to apply knowledge only to manners and policy. But as v
both heaven and earth do conspire and contribute to the
use and benefit of man; so the end ought tobe, from
both philosophies to separate and reject vain speculations,
and whatsoever is empty and void, and to preserve and
augment whatsoever is solid and fruitful: that knowledge ~—
may not be as a courtesan, for pleasure and vanity only,
or as a bond-woman, to acquire and gain to her master’s
use; but asa spouse, for generation, fruit, and comfort.
12. Thus have I described and opened, as by a kind
of dissection, those peccant humours (the principal of
them) which have not only given impediment to the
proficience of learning, but have given also occasion to
the traducement thereof: wherein if I have been too plain,
it must be remembered, fidelia vulnera amantis, sed dolosa?
oscula malignantis. This I think I have gained, that I
iv _
3 eel aa ent
44 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, Iv. 12
ought to be the better believed in that which I shall say
pertaining to commendation ; because I have proceeded
so freely in that which concerneth censure. And yet I
have no purpose to enter into a laudative of learning, or
to make a hymn to the Muses (though I am of opinion
that it is long since their rites were duly celebrated), but
my intent is, without varnish or amplification justly to
weigh the dignity of knowledge in the balance with other
things, and to take the true value thereof by testimonies
and arguments divine and human.
VI. 1. First theref eek the digni ow-
ledge in the arch-type or first platform, which is in the
attributes an "as _they are Téevealed to
man and may be observed with sobriety ; wherein we may :
not, seek it by ‘the name of learning; for all all learning is
knowledge acqu acquired, and all knowledge in God i is original :
cfs therefore we. > must. look for it b another name, that
‘L Of
wisdom ot or “sapience, as, the. scriptures res_call 1 it.
2, Ii is so then, that in the work a the creation we see
a double emanation of virtue from God; the one referring
more properly to power, the other to wisdom; the one f
expressed in making the subsistence of the matter, and’ /
the other in disposing the beauty of the form. This being
supposed, it is to be observed that for arlything which
appeareth in the history of the creation, thé confused mass
and matter of heaven and earth was made in a moment;
and the order and disposition of that chaos or mass was
the work of six days; such a note of difference it pleased
God to put upon the works of power, and the works of
wisdom; wherewith concurreth, that in the former it is
not set down that God said, Le/ there be heaven and earth,
as it is set down of the works following; but actually, that
1, God made heaven and earth: the one carrying the style
ES oh ae
VI.2.] ~~ ‘THE FIRST BOOK. ae Some *
of a manufacture, and the other of a law, decree, or
counsel.
3. To proceed to that which is next in order from God
Des spirits; we find, as far as credit is to be given to the
“ celestial hierarchy of that supposed Dionysius the senator
of Athens, the first place or degree'is given to the angels
of love,-which are termed seraphim; the second to the
angels of light, which are termed cherubim; and the
third, and so following places, to thrones, principalities,
and the rest, which are all angels of power and ministry;
so as the angels of knowledge and illumination are placed
before the angels of office and domination.
4. To descend from spirits and intellectual forms to
_sensible and material forms, we read the first form that
was created was light, which hath a relation and cor-
respondence in nature and corporal things to knowledge
in spirits and incorporal things.
5. So in the distribution of days we see the day
wherein God did rest and contemplate his own works,
was blessed above all the days wherein he did effect and
accomplish them.
6. After the creation was finished, it is set down unto
us that man was placed in the garden to work therein;
which work, so appointed to him, could be no ofher than
work of contemplation ; that is, when the end of work is
but’ for exercise and experiment, not for necessity; for
there being then’ no reluctation of the creature, nor sweat
of the brow, man’s employment must of consequence
have been matter of delight in the experiment, and not
matter of labour for the use. Again, the first acts which
man performed in Paradise consisted of the two summary +
parts: of knowledge; the view of creatures, and the im-~*
position of names. As for the knowledge which induced ”
—
4
73
9)
pu
ee ew eee a ee
46 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [VI.6. — 4
the fall, it was, as was touched before, not the natural
knowledge of creatures, but the moral knowledge of good
and evil; wherein the supposition was, that God’s com-
mandments or prohibitions were not the originals of good
and evil, but that they had other beginnings, which man
aspired to know; to the end to make a total defection
from God and to depend wholly upon himself.
4. To pass on: in the first event or occurrence after
the fall of man, we. see (as the scriptures have infinite
mysteries, not violating at all the truth of the story or
letter) an image of the two estates, the contemplative/—
state and the active state, figured in the two persons
\* of Abel and Cain, and in the twossimplest and most
primitive trades of life; that of the shepherd (who, by
__/ reason of his leisure, rest in a place, and living in view of
heayen, is a lively image. of a contemplative life), and that
.of the husbandman: Where we see again the favour and
election of God went to the shepherd, and not to the tiller
of the ground.
8. So in the age before the flood, the holy records .
within those few memorials which are there entered and
registered, have vouchsafed to mention and honour the
* name of the inventors and authors of. music and works in
metal. In the age after the flood, the first great judge-
} > ment of God upon tHe ambition of man was the confu-
sion of tongues ; whereby the open trade and intercourse
of learning and knowledge was chiefly imbarred.
9. To descend to Moyses the lawgiver, and God’s first
pen: he is adorned by the scriptures with this addition
v4 ‘and commendation, That he was seen in all the learning of
the Egyptians ; which nation we know Was one of the
most ancient schools of the world: for so Plato brings in
the Egyptian priest saying unto Solon, You Grecians are
~
~e
es THE FIRST BOOK. 47
ever children; you have no ‘knowledge of antiquity, nor
antiquity of knowledge. ‘Take a view of the ceremonial
law of Moyses; you shall find, besides the prefiguration
of Christ, the badge or difference of the people, of God,
the exercise and impression of *débedience, and other
divine uses and fruits thereof, that some of the most
learned Rabbins have travailed profitably and profoundly
to observe, some of them a natural, some of them a moral,
sense or reduction of many of the ceremonies and or-
dinances. As in the law of the leprosy, where it is said,
Lf the whiteness have overspread the flesh, the patient may
pass abroad for clean ; but of there be any whole flesh
remaining, he ts to be shut up for unclean; one of them
noteth a principle of nature, that putrefaction is more
contagious before maturity than after: and another noteth
a position of moral philosophy;that men abandoned to
vice do not so much corrupt manners, as those that are
half good and half evil. So in this and very many other
places in that law, there is to be found, besides the theo-
logical sense, much aspersion of philosophy.
10. So likewise in that excellent book of Job, if it be
revolved with diligence, it will be found pregnant and
swelling with natural philosophy ; as for example, cos-
mography, and the Tomudaeke of the world, Qui extendit
aquilonem super vacuum, et appendit terram super nihilum ;
wherein the pensileness of the earth, the pole of the north,
and the finiteness or convexity of heaven are manifestly
touched. So again, matter of astronomy; Spirifus ejus
’ ornavit ca@los, et obstetricante manu ejus eductus est Coluber
tortuosus. And in another place, Munguid conjungere ©
valebis micantes stellas Pletadas, aut gyrum Arcturt poterts
dissipare ? Where the fixing of the stars, ever standing
at equal distance, is with great elegancy noted. And in
7
AT
48 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [VI. 10.
\ another place, Qui factt Arcturum, et Oriona, et Hyadas, et
intertora Austri ; where again he takes knowledge of the
depression of the southern pole, calling it the secrets of
the south, because the southern stars were in that climate
~ unseen. Matter of generation; Axnon-sicut lac mulsist
me, et stcut caseum coagulasti me P &c. Matter of minerals ;
Habet argentum venarum suarum principia: et auro locus
est in quo conflatur, ferrum de terra tollitur, et lapis solutus
calore in es vertitur : and so forwards in that chapter.
PAs So likewise in the person of Salomon the king, we
Vv f ce the gift or endowment of wisdom and learning, both
2 in Salomon’s petition and in God’s assent thereunto,
preferred before all other terrene and temporal felicity.
By virtue of which grant or donative of God prise
became enabled not only to write those excellent parable
or aphorisms concerning divine and moral philosophy ;
but also to compile a natural history of all verdure, from
(4 the cedar upon the mountain to the moss upon the wall
(which is but a rudiment between putrefaction and an
herb), and also of all things that breathe or move. Nay,
the same Salomon the king, although he excelled in the
glory of treasure and magnificent buildings, of shipping
and navigation, of service and attendance, of fame and
renown, and the like, yet he maketh no claim to any of
those glories, but only to the glory of inquisition of truth;
i, for so he saith expressly, Zhe glory of God ts to conceal a
thing, but the glory of the king ts to find tt out ; as if, accord-
ing to the innocent play of children, the Divine Majesty
took delight to hide his works, to the end to have them
found out; and as if kings could not obtain a greater
honour than to be God’s playfellows in that game; con-
sidering the great commandment of wits and means,
whereby nothing needeth to be hidden from them.
VI. 12.] ‘THE FIRST BOOK. 49
12. Neither did the dispensation of God vary in the
times after our Saviour came into the world; for our
Saviour himself did first show his power to subdue
ignorance, by his conference with the priests and doctors ‘4
of the law, before he showed his power to subdue nature
by his miracles. And the coming of the Holy Spirit was
chiefly figured and expressed in the similitude and gift ey
tongues, which are but vehicula scientie.
/ 13. So in the election of those instruments, which it
/ pleased God to use for the plantation of the faith, not-
withstanding that at the first he did employ persons
altogether unlearned, otherwise than by inspiration, more
evidently to declare his immediate working, and to abase
all human wisdom or knowledge; yet nevertheless that
counsel of his was no sooner performed, but in the next
vicissitude and succession he did send his divine truth into
the world, waited on with other learnings, as with servants
or handmaids; for so we see. Saint..Paul,.who. was_only
learned amongst the Apostles, had his-pen most used in
the scriptures of the New Testament.
14. So again we find that many of the ancient bishops
and fathers of the Church were excellently read and
studied in all the learning of the heathen; insomuch
that the edict of the Emperor Julianus (whereby it was
interdicted unto Christians to be admitted into schools,
lectures, or exercises of learning) was esteemed and ac-
counted a more pernicious engine and machination
against the Christian Faith, than were all the sanguinary
prosecutions of his predecessors; neither could the
emulation and jealousy of Gregory the first of that name,
bishop of Rome, ever obtain the opinion of piety or de-
votion; but contrariwise received the censure of humour,
malignity and pusillanimity, even amongst holy men; in
E
im
50 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. aie i.
that he designed to obliterate and extingtidk the memory
of heathen antiquity and authors. But contrariwise it was
the Christian church, which, amidst the inundations of the
Scythians on the one side from the north-west, and the
Saracens from the east, did preserve in the sacred lap and
bosom thereof the precious relics even of heathen learn-
ing, which otherwise had been extinguished as if no’such
thing hadever been.
15. And we see before our eyes, that in the age of
ourselves and our fathers, when it pleased God to call
the Church of Rome to account for their degenerate
manners and ceremonies, and sundry doctrines obnoxious,
and framed to uphold the same abuses; at one and the
same time it was ordained by the Divine Providence, that
there should attend withal a renovation and new spring
/of all other knowledges. And, on the other side we see
V the Jesuits, who partly in themselves and partly by the
emulation and provocation of their example, have much
quickened and strengthened the state of learning, we see
(I say) what notable service and reparation they have done
to the Roman see.
16. Wherefore to conclude this part, let it be observed,
that there be two principal duties and services, besides
ornament and illustration, which philosophy an and _ human _
pian do perform to faith and religion. The one,
Because they are an~effectual inducement to the. exalt-
aM ation_of, of the glory of God. For as the Psalms and other
scriptures do often invite us to consider and magnify the
great and wonderful works of God, so if we should rest
only in the contemplation of the exterior of them as they
first offer themselves to our senses, we should do a like
injury unto the majesty of God, as if we should judge
or construe of the store of some excellent jeweller, by
VI.16.] | THE FIRST BOOK. Sf
For our Saviour
Vou
of God ; cin before us two books or volumes. to study,
if we will be secured from error; first the- es,
eX-
pressing his power ; “whereof the Jatin te ik dee nies the
former: not only opening our understanding to conceive
Reemnsnsnitasaambeoes
the true sense of the scriptures, by the general notions
of reason and rules of speech; but chiefly opening our
belief, in drawing us into a due meditation of the- omni-
“potency of God, which is chiefly signed and engrave
upon his works. Thus much t :
mony and evidence concerning t the ‘true. dignity.and-valu
of learning.
VII. 1...As_ for human_proofs, it is so large a field, as
in a discourse of this nature.and-brevity_it is fit rather to
use choice of those things which we shall produce, than
to embrace the variety of them. First therefore, in the
degrees of human honour amongst the heathen, it was
the highest to obtain to a veneration and adoration as a
tres, nor the power “t
| aw
“\
Lay
God. This unto the Christians is as the forbidden fruit..»~
But we speak now separately of human testimony: ac-
cording to which, that which the Grecians call apotheosis,
and the Latins re/atio inter divos, was the supreme honour
which man could attribute unto man: specially when it
was given, not by a formal decree or act of state, as it
was used among the Roman Emperors, but by an inward
assent and belief. Which honour, being so high, had
also a degree or middle term: for there were reckoned
above human honours, honours heroical and divine: in
the attribution and distribution of which honours we see
E 2
ee
antiquity made this difference: that whereas founders
and uniters of states and cities, lawgivers, extirpers of
tyrants, fathers of the people, and other eminent persons
in civil merit, were honoured but with the titles of worthies
or demi-gods; such as were Hercules, Theseus, Minos,
Romulus, and the like: on the other side, such as were
inventors and authors of new arts, endowments, and
commodities towards man’s life, were ever consecrated
amongst the gods themselves; as was Ceres, Bacchus,
Mercurius, Apollo, and others; and justly ; for the merit
of the former is confined within the circle of an age or a
nation ; and is like fruitful showers, which though they be
profitable and good, yet serve but for that season, and for —
a latitude of ground where they fall; but the other is
indeed like the benefits of heaven, which are permanent
and universal. The former again is mixed with strife
and perturbation; but the latter hath the true character of
Divine Presence, coming in aura lent, without noise or
agitation.
2, Neither is certainly that other merit of learning, in re-
pressing the inconveniences which grow from man to man,
much inferior to the former, of relieving the necessities
which arise from nature; which merit was lively set forth
. <_ by the ancients in that feigned relation of Orpheus’ theatre,
Y where all beasts and birds assembled ; and forgetting their
| several appetites, some of prey, some of game, some of
quarrel, stood all sociably together listening unto the airs
' and accords of the harp; the sound whereof no sooner
| ceased, or was drowned by some louder noise, but every
| beast returned to his own nature: wherein is aptly de-
scribed the nature and condition of men, who are full of
_ savage and unreclaimed desires, of profit, of lust, of re-
venge; which as long as they give ear to precepts, to laws,
;
Viz] THE FIRST BOOK. — 53
to religion, sweetly touched with eloquence and persuasion
of books, of sermons, of harangues, so long is society and
peace maintained; but if these instruments be silent, or
that sedition and tumult make them not audible, all thing
dissolve into anarchy and confusion.
3. But this appeareth more manifestly, when kings
themselves, or persons of authority under them, or other
governors in commonwealths and popular. estates, are en-
dued with learning. For although he might be thought
partial to his” own profession, that said Zhen should people
and estates be happy, when either kings were philosophers, or
hilosophers kings ; yet so much is verified by experience, ,
that under learned princes and governors there have been |
ever the best times: for howsoever kings may have their /)
imperfections in their passions and customs; yet if they be
illuminate by learning, they have those notions of religion,
policy, and morality, which do preserve them and refrain
them from all ruinous and peremptory errors and ex-
cesses; whispering evermore in their ears, when coun-
sellors and servants stand mute and silent. And senators
or counsellors likewise, which be learned, do proceed upon
more safe and substantial principles, than counsellors
which are only men of experience: the one sort keeping
dangers afar off, whereas the other discover them not till
they come near hand, and then trust to the agility of
their wit to ward or avoid them.
4. Which felicity of times under learned princes (to |
keep still the law of brevity, by using the most eminent
and selected examples) doth best appear in the age which
passed from the death of Domitianus the emperor until the |
reign of Commodus; comprehending a succession of six
princes, all learned, or singular favourers and advancers of
learning, which age for temporal respects was the most
Ri
«
4+
lt ae " oS Pe ee ey
54 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [VIt. 4.
happy and flourishing that ever the Roman empire (which
then was a model of the world) enjoyed; a matter revealed
and prefigured unto Domitian in a dream the night before
he was slain; for he thought there was grown behind
upon his shoulders a neck and a head of gold: which
came accordingly to pass in those golden times which
succeeded: of which princes we will make some com-
memoration ; wherein although the matter will be vulgar,
and may be thought fitter for a declamation than agreeable
to a treatise infolded as this is, yet because it is pertinent
to the point in hand, Wegue semper arcum tendit Apollo,
and to name them only were too naked and cursory, I will
not omit it altogether. The first was Nerya; the excellent
temper of whose government is by a glance in Cornelius
Tacitus touched to the life: Postguam divus Nerva res
olim insoctabiles miscutsset, imperium et liberialem. And in
token of his learning, the last act of his short reign left
to memory was a missive to his adopted son Trajan, pro-
ceeding upon some inward discontent at the ingratitude of
the times, comprehended in a verse of Homer’s:
Telis, Phoebe, tuis lacrymas ulciscere nostras.
5. Trajan, who succeeded, was for his person not
learned: but if we will hearken to the speech of our
Saviour, that saith, He that recetveth a prophet in the name
of a prophet shall have a prophet’s reward, he deserveth to
be placed amongst the most learned princes: for there
was not a greater admirer of learning or benefactor of
learning ; a founder of famous libraries, a perpetual ad-
vancer of learned men to office, and a familiar converser
with learned professors and preceptors, who were noted
to have then most credit in court. On the other side,
how much Trajan’s virtue and government was admired
and renowned, surely no testimony of grave and faithful
vit. 5.] ‘THE FIRST BOOK. 55
history doth more lively set forth, than that legend tale
of Gregorius Magnus, bishop of Rome, who was noted
for the extreme envy he bare towards all heathen excel-
lency: and yet he is reported, out of the love and estim-
ation of Trajan’s moral virtues, to have made unto God
passionate and fervent prayers for the delivery of his soul
out of hell: and to have obtained it, with a caveat that
he should make no more such petitions. In this prince’s
time also the persecutions against the Christians received
intermission, upon the certificate of Plinius Secundus, a
man of excellent learning and by Trajan advanced.
6. Adrian, his successor, was the most curious man
that lived, and the most universal inquirer; insomuch as
it was noted for an error in his mind, that he desired to
comprehend all things, and not to reserve himself for the
worthiest things: falling into the like humour that was
long before noted in Philip of Macedon; who, when he
would needs over-rule and put down an excellent musician
in an argument touching music, was well answered by
him again, God forbid, sir (saith he), that your fortune
should be so bad, as to know these things better than J,
It pleased God likewise to use the curiosity of this em-
peror as an inducement to the peace of his Church in
those days. For having Christ in veneration, not as a
God or Saviour but as a wonder or novelty, and having
his picture in his gallery, matched with Apollonius (with
whom in his vain imagination he thought he had some
conformity), yet it served the turn to allay the bitter
hatred of those times against the Christian name, so as
the Church had peace during his time. And for his
government civil, although he did not attain to that of
Trajan’s in glory of arms or perfection of justice, yet
in deserving of the weal of the subject he did exceed
a a nS
50 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [vi.6.
him. For Trajan erected many famous monelieeT and
buildings; insomuch as Constantine the Great in emul-
ation was wont to call him Parze/aria, wall-flower, because
his name was upon so many walls: but his buildings-and ;
works were more of glory and triumph than use and
necessity. But Adrian spent his whole reign, which was
peaceable, in a perambulation or survey of the Roman
empire; giving order and making assignation where he
went, for re-edifying of cities, towns, and forts decayed;
and for cutting of rivers and streams, and for making
bridges and passages, and for policing of cities and com-
monalties with new ordinances and constitutions, and
granting new franchises and incorporations ; so that his
whole time was a very restoration of all the lapses and
decays of former times.
7. Antoninus-Pius, who succeeded him, was a prince:
excellently learned, and had the patient and subtle wit
of a schoolman; insomuch as in common speech
(which leaves no virtue untaxed) he was called Cymini
Sector, a carver or a divider of cummin seed, which is
one of the least seeds; such a patience he had and
settled spirit, to enter into the least and most exact
differences of causes; a fruit no doubt of the exceeding
tranquillity and serenity of his mind; which being no
ways charged or incumbered, either with fears, remorses,
or scruples, but having been noted for a man of the
purest goodness, without all fiction or affectation, that
hath reigned or lived, made his mind continually present
and entire. He likewise approdched a degree nearer
unto Christianity, and became, as Agrippa said unto
S. Paul, half a Christian ; holding their religion and
law in good opinion, and not only ceasing persecution,
but giving way to the advancement of Christians.
See
Cn ee ee eat
Vil. 8.] | ‘THE FIRST BOOK. — *
chosen judge between Apollo, president of the Muses,*'
and Pan, god of the flocks, judged for plenty; or of
Paris, that judged for beauty and love against wisdom>\ _
and power; or of Agrippina, occtdat matrem, modo im- ot
peret, that preferred empire with affy condition never so”
detestable ; or of Ulysses, gud: vetulam pratulit immort-»”
alitati, being a figure of those which *prefer custom and”
m
eee
*) \o Ree 2
Dedication to the King (215) defining
7% Defects of 1
- 1, History (i 2—iii. 5) J
: ae
. it
Human learning N
Ye fax | 1, Poesy (ir. x=){ Reps
into ive.
r (a)
@
a Philosophy (¥—2tiill)
Of be!
The matter revealed
Divine learning
i (xxiv, xxv) has
two parts
The nature of the revelation,
(Use and limits of reason in
Conclusion.
Acts of met
Of sery
THE
SECOND BOOK OF FRANCIS BACON;
OF THE PROFICIENCE OR
ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING,
DIVINE AND HUMAN.
To the King.
t. Te might seem to have more convenience, though it
come often otherwise to pass (excellent king), that
those which are fruitful in their generations, and have in
themselves the foresight of immortality in their descend-
ants, should likewise be more careful of the good estate
of future times, unto which they know they must transmit
and commend over their dearest pledges. Queen Eliza-
beth was a sojourner in the world in respect of her un-
married life, and was a blessing to her own times; and
yet so as the impression of her good government, besides
her happy memory, is not without some effect which doth
- survive her. But to your Majesty, whom God hath already
blessed with so much royal issue, worthy to continue and
represent you for ever, and whose youthful and fruitful
bed doth yet promise many the like renovations, it is
proper and agreeable to be conversant not only in the
transitory parts of good government, but in those acts
also which are in their nature permanent and perpetual.
Amongst the which (if affection do not transport me) there
76 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [1. _
is not any more worthy than the further endowment of
the world with sound and fruitful knowledge. For why
should a few received authors stand up like Hercules’
columns, beyond which there should be no sailing or dis-
covering, since we have so bright and benign a star as
your Majesty to conduct and prosper us? To return
therefore where we left, it remaineth to consider of what
kind those acts are which have been undertaken and per-
formed by kings and others for the increase and advance-
ment of learning: wherein I purpose to speak: actively
without digressing or dilating.
2. Let this ground therefore be laid, that all works are
overcommen by amplitude of reward, by soundness of
direction, and by the conjunction of labours. The first
multiplieth endeavour, the second preventeth error, and
the third supplieth the frailty of man. But the principal
of these is direction: for claudus in via antevertil cursorem
extra viam; and Salomon excellently setteth it down,
Lf the tron be not sharp, tt requireth-more strength ; but
wisdom is that which prevaileth; signifying that the
invention or election of the mean is more effectual than
any inforcement or accumulation of endeavours. This
I am induced to speak, for that (not derogating from the
noble intention of any that have been deservers towards
the state of learning) I do observe nevertheless that
their works and acts are rather matters of magnificence
and memory, than of progression and proficience, and
tend rather to augment the mass of learning in the mult-
itude of learned men, than to rectify or raise the sciences
themselves.
3. The works or acts of merit towards learning are
conversant about three objects; the places of learning,
the books of learning, and the persons of the learned.
Ne
3.) THE SECOND BOOK. "4
For as water, whether it be the dew of heaven, or the
springs of the earth, doth scatter and leese itself in the
ground, except it be collected into some receptacle, where
it may by union comfort and sustain, itself: and for tha
cause the industry of man hath made and framed spring-
heads, conduits, cisterns, and pools, which men have
accustomed likewise to beautify and adorn with accom-
plishments of magnificence and state, as well as of use
and necessity: so this excellent liquor of knowledge,
whether it descend from divine inspiration, or spring
from human sense, would soon perish and vanish to
oblivion, if it were not preserved in books, traditions,
conferences, and places appointed, as universities, col-
leges, and schools, for the receipt and comforting of
the same.
4. The works which concern the seats and places of
learning are four; foundations and buildings, endowments
with revenues, endowments with franchises and privileges,
institutions and ordinances for government; all tending
to quietness and privateness of life, and discharge of
cares and troubles; much like the stations which Virgil
prescribeth for the hiving of bees :
Principio sedes apibus statioque petenda,
Quo neque sit ventis aditus, &c,
5. The works touching books are two: first, libraries
which are as the shrines where all the relics of the an-
cient saints, full of true virtue, and that witheut delusion
or imposture, are preserved and reposed; secondly, new
editions of authors, with more correct impressions, more
faithful translations, more profitable glosses, more diligent
annotations, and the like.
6. The works pertaining to the persons of learned men
(besides the advancement and countenancing of them in
= 7 . ae a \e ee
78 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [6:
general) are two: the reward and designation of readers
in sciences already extant and invented; and the reward
and designation of writers and inquirers concerning any
parts of learning not sufficiently laboured and prosecuted,
4. These are summarily the works and acts, wherein
the merits of many excellent princes and other worthy
personages have been conversant. As for any particular
commemorations, I call to mind what Cicero said, when
he gave general thanks; Difictle non aliquem, ingratum
quenquam preterire. Let us rather, according to the
scriptures, look unto that part of the race which is before
us, than look back to that which is already attained.
8. First therefore, amongst so many great foundations
of colleges in Europe, I find strange that they are all
dedicated _tocprofessions, and none left free to: ‘arts.and_
sciénces‘at large. For if men judge that learning ‘should
be referred to action, they judge well; but in this they
fall into the error described in the ancient fable, in which
the other parts of the body did suppose the stomach had
been idle, because it neither performed the office of mo-
tion, as the limbs do, nor of sense, as the head doth:
but yet notwithstanding it is the stomach that digesteth
and distributeth to all the rest. So if any man think phi-
losophy and universality to be idle studies, he doth not
consider that all professions are from thence served and
supplied. And this I take to be a great cause that hath
hindered the progression of learning, because these
fundamental knowledges have been studied but in pas-
sage. For if you will have a tree bear more fruit than
it hath used to do, it is not anything you can do to the
boughs, but it is the stirring of the earth and putting
new mould about the roots that must work it. Neither
is it to be forgotten, that this dedicating of foundations
8. ] | THE SECOND BOOK. 79
and dotations to professory learning hath not only had a
malign aspect and influence upon the growth of sciences,
but hath also been prejudicial to states and governments.
For hence it proceedeth that princes find a solitude in
regard of able men to serve them in causes of estate,
because there is no education collegiate which is free;
where such as were so disposed mought give themselves
to histories, modern languages, books of policy and civil
discourse, and other the like enablements unto service
of estate.
g. And because founders of colleges do plant, and
founders of lectures do water, it followeth well in order
to speak of the defect which is in public lectures; namely,
in the smallness and meanness of the salary or reward
which in most places is assigned unto them; whether
they be lectures of arts, or of professions. For it is
necessary to. the progression of sciences that readers be
of the most able and sufficient men; as those which are
ordained for generating and propagating of sciences, and
not for transitory use. This cannot be, except their con-
dition and endowment be such as may content the ablest
man to appropriate his whole labour and continue his
whole age in that function and attendance; and therefore
must have a proportion answerable to that mediocrity or
competency of advancement, which may be expected
from a profession or the practice of a profession. So
as, if you will have sciences flourish, you must observe
David’s military law, which was, Zhat those which staid
with the carriage should have equal part with those which
were in the action ; else will the carriages be ill attended.
So readers in sciences are indeed the guardians of the
stores and provisions of sciences, whence men in’ active
courses are furnished, and therefore ought to haye equal
a
80 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING... [9. —
entertainment with them; otherwise if the fathers in
sciences be of the weakest sort or be ill maintained,
Et patrum invalidi referent jejunia nati.
1o. Another defect I note, wherein I shall need some
alchemist to help me, who call upon men to sell their
books, and to build furnaces; quitting and forsaking
Minerva and the Muses as barren virgins, and relying
upon Vulcan. But certain it is, that unto the deep,
fruitful, and operative studyof many sciences, specially
atural philosophy and ‘physic, books ‘be not only the
instrumentals; wherein also the beneficence of men hath
not been altogether wanting. For we see spheres, globes,
astrolabes, maps, and the like, have been provided as
appurtenances to astronomy and cosmography, as well
as books. We see likewise that some places instituted for
physic have annexed the commodity of gardens for
simples of all sorts, and do likewise command the use
of dead bodies for anatomies, But these do respect but
a few things. In general, there will hardly be any main
proficience in the disclosing of nature, except there be
some allowance for expenses about experiments; whe-
ther they be experiments appertaining to Vulcanus or
Deedalus, furnace or engine, or any other kind. And
therefore as secretaries and spials of princes and states
bring in bills for intelligence, so you must allow the
spials and intelligencers of nature to bring in their bills;
or else you shall be ill advertised.
rx. And if Alexander made such a liberal assignation to
Aristotle of treasure for the allowance of hunters, fowlers,
fishers, and the like, that he mought compile an history
of nature, much better do they deserve it that travail in
arts of nature.
12. Another defect which I note, is an intermission or
rr en “THE SECOND BOOK. Sr
neglect, in those which are governors in universities,
of consultation, and in princes or superior persons, of
«visitation : to enter into account and consideration, whe-
ther the readings, exercises, and other customs apper-
taining unto learning, anciently begun and since conti-
nued, be well instituted or no; and thereupon to ground
an amendment or reformation in that which shall be
found inconvenient. For it is one of your Majesty’s
own most wise and princely maxims, Zhaf in all usages
and precedents, the times be considered wherein they first
began ; which tf they were weak or ignorant, it derogateth
from the authority of the usage, and leaveth it for suspect.
And therefore inasmuch as most of the usages and orders
of the universities were derived from more obscure times,
it is the more requisite they be re-examined. In this
kind I will give an instance or two, for example sake,
of things that are the most obvious and familiar. The
one is a matter, which though it be ancient and general,
yet I hold to be an error; which is, that scholars in
universities come too soon and too unripe to logic
and rhetoric, arts fitter for graduates than children and
novices. For these two, rightly taken, are the gravest of
sciences, being the arts of arts; the one for judgement,
the other for ornament. And they be the rules and
directions how to set forth and dispose matter: and
therefore for minds empty and unfraught with matter,
and which have not gathered that which Cicero calleth
sylva and supellex, stuff and variety, to begin with those
arts (as if one should learn to weigh, or to measure, or to
paint the wind) doth work but this effect, that the wisdom
of those arts, which is great and universal, is almost made
contemptible, and is degenerate into childish sophistry
and ridiculous affectation. And further, the untimely
G
Pe OR
82 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [12
learning of them hath drawn on by consequence the
superficial and unprofitable teaching and writing of them,
as fitteth indeed to the capacity of children. Another is,
a lack I find in the exercises used in the universities,
which do make too great a divorce between invention
and memory. For their speeches are either premeditate,
in verbis concepits, where nothing is left to invention; or
merely extemporal, where little is left to memory. Whereas
in life and action there is least use of either of these, but
rather of intermixtures of premeditation and invention,
notes and memory. So as the exercise fitteth not the
practice, nor the image the life; and it is ever a true rule
in exercises, that they be framed as near as may be to
the life of practice; for otherwise they do pervert the
motions and faculties of the mind, and not prepare them.
The truth whereof is not obscure, when scholars come
to the practices of professions, or other actions of civil
life; which when they set into, this want is soon found
by themselves, and sooner by others. But this part,
touching the amendment of the institutions and orders of
universities, I will conclude with the clause of Czsar’s
letter to Oppius and Balbus, Hoc quemadmodum fiert
posstt, nonnulla miht in mentem veniunt, et multa reperirt
possunt: de its rebus rogo vos ut cogitationem suscipiatis.
13. Another defect which I note, ascendeth a little
higher than the precedent. For as the proficience of
learning consisteth much in the orders and institutions
of universities in the same states and kingdoms, so it
would be yet more advanced, if there were more intel-
_ ligence mutual between the universities of Europe than
now there is. We see there be many, orders and found-
ations, which though they be divided under several
sovereignties and territories, yet they take themselves to
‘
13] ~~~ THE SECOND BOOK. 83
have a kind of contract, fraternity, and correspondence
one with the other, insomuch as: they have provincials
and generals. And surely as nature createth brotherhood
in families, and arts mechanical contract brotherhoods
in communalties, and the anointment of God super-
induceth a brotherhood in kings and bishops, so in
- like manner there cannot but be a fraternity in learning
and illumination, relating to that paternity which is attri-
buted to God, who is called the Father of illuminations
or lights.
14. The last defect which I will note is, that there hath
not been, or very rarely been, any public designation of
writers or inquirers, concerning such parts of knowledge
as may appear not to have been already sufficiently
laboured or undertaken; unto which point it is an
inducement to enter into a view and examination what
parts of learning have been prosecuted and what omitted.
For the opinion of plenty is amongst the causes of want,
and the great quantity of books maketh a show rather
of superfluity than lack; which surcharge nevertheless is
not to be remedied by making no more books, but by
making more good books, which, as the serpent of Moses,
mought devour the serpents of the enchanters.
15. The removing of all the defects formerly enu-
merate, except the last, and of the active part also of
the last (which is the designation of writers), are opera
basilica; towards which the endeavours of a private man
may be but as an image in a crossway, that may point
at the way, but cannot go it, But the inducing part
of the latter (which is the survey of learning) may be
set forward by private travail. Wherefore I will now
attempt to make a general and faithful perambulation
of learning, with an inquiry what parts thereof lie fresh
G2
ts ae hee
84 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [15.
and waste, and not improved and converted by the
industry of man; to the end that such a plot made and
recorded to memory, may both minister light to any
public designation, and also serve to excite voluntary
endeavours. Wherein nevertheless my purpose is at this
time to note only omissions and deficiences, and not to
make any redargution of errors or incomplete prosecu-
tions. For it is one thing to set forth what ground lieth
unmanured, and another thing to correct ill husbandry in
that which is manured.
In the handling and undertaking of which work I am
not ignorant what it is that I do now move and attempt,
nor insensible of mine own weakness to sustain my pur-
pose. But my hope is, that if my extreme love to learning
carry me too far, I may obtain the excuse of affection;
for that Z¢ zs not granted to man to love and to be wise.
But I know well I can use no other liberty of judgement
than I must leave to others; and I for my part shall be
indifferently glad either to perform myself, or accept from
another, that duty of humanity; JVam gui errant’ comiter
monstrat viam, &c. 1 do foresee likewise that of those
things which I shall enter and register as deficiences and
omissions, many will conceive and censure that some
of them are already done and extant; others to be but
curiosities, and things of no great use; and others to be
of too great difficulty, and almost impossibility to be com-
passed and effected. But for the two first, I refer myself
to the particulars. For the last, touching impossibility, I
take it those things are to be heldypossible which may be
done by some person, though not by every one; and
which may be done by many, though not by any one;
and which may be done in succession of ages, though
not within the hourglass of one man’s life; and which
34 oe THE SECOND BOOK. 85
may be done by public designation, though not by private
endeavour. But notwithstanding, if any man will take to
himself rather that of Salomon, Dic¢t piger, Leo est in via,
than that of Virgil, Possunt guia posse videntur, I shall be
content that my labours be esteemed but as the better
sort of wishes: for as it asketh some knowledge to de-
mand a question not impertinent, so it requireth some
sense to make a wish not absurd.
beat “THE parts of human learning have reference
to the three parts of man’s understanding,
which is the seat- of learning: history to his memory,
oesy to his imagination, and philosophy to his reason,
Divine learning receiveth the same distribution; for the
spirit of man is the same, though the revelation of oracle
and sense be diverse. So as theology consisteth also. of
history of the church ; of parables, which is divine poesy ;
and_of holy-doctrine or precept. For as for that part
which seemeth supernumerary, which is prophecy, it is
but divine history ; which hath that prerogative over
human, as the narration may be before the fact as well
as after.
2. History is natural, civil, ecclesiastical, and literary ;
whereof the three first I allow as extant, the 5. .0,i4
fourth I note as deficient. For no man hath Ziserarum,
propounded to himself the general state of
learning to be described and represented from age to
age, as many have done the works of nature, and the
state civil and ecclesiastical ; without which the history
of the world seemeth to me to be as the statua of
Polyphemus with his eye out; that part being wanting
which doth most show the spirit and life of the person.
And yet I am not ignorant that in divers particular
86 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [l. 2.
sciences, as of the jurisconsults, the mathematicians, the
rhetoricians, the philosophers, there are set down some
small memorials of the schools, authors, and books; and
so likewise some barren relations touching the invention
of arts or usages. But a just story of learning, containing
the antiquities and originals of knowledges and their sects,
their inventions, their traditions, their diverse administra-
tions and managings, their flourishings, their oppositions,
decays, depressions, oblivions, removes, with the causes
and occasions of them, and all other events concerning
learning, throughout the ages of the world, I may truly
affirm to be wanting. The use and end of which work
I do not so much design for curiosity or satisfaction
of those that are the.lovers of learning, but chiefly for
a more serious and grave purpose, which is this in few
words, that it will make learned men wise in the use and
administration of learning. For it is not Saint Augustine’s
nor Saint Ambrose’ works that will make so wise a divine,
as ecclesiastical history, throughly read and observed ;
and the same reason is of learning.
3. History of nature is of three sorts: of nature in
course; of nature erring or varying; and of nature altered
or wrought; that is, history of creatures, history of mar-
vels, and history of arts. The first of these no doubt is
extant, and that in good perfection: the two latter are
handled so weakly and unprofitably, as lam moved to
note them as deficient. For I find no suffi-
Historia : :
cient or competent collection of the works of
Naturae : , 3 :
. nature which have a digression and deflexion
Errantis.
from the ordinary course of generations, pro-
ductions, and motions; whether they be singularities
of place and region, or the strange events of time and
chance, or the effects of yet unknown proprieties, or the
-_. « eS.” _
Fs Om THE SECOND BOOK. 87
instances of exception to general kinds. It is true, I
find a number of books of fabulous experiments and
secrets, and frivolous impostures for pleasure and strange-
ness; but a substantial and severe collection of the
heteroclites or irregulars of nature, well examined and
described, I find not: specially not with due rejection of
fables and popular errors. For as things now are, if an
untruth in nature be once on foot, what by reason of the
neglect of examination, and countenance of antiquity, and
what by reason of the use of the opinion in similitudes
and ornaments of speech, it is never called down.
4. The use of this work, honoured with a precedent
in Aristotle, is nothing less than to give contentment to
the appetite of curious and vain wits, as the manner of
Mirabilaries is to do; but for two reasons, both of great
weight; the one to correct the partiality of axioms and
opinions, which are commonly framed only upon com-
mon and familiar examples; the other because from the
wonders of nature is the nearest intelligence and passage
towards the wonders of art: for it is no more but by
following, and as it were hounding nature in her wander-
ings, to be able to lead her afterwards to the same place
again. Neither am I of opinion, in this history of mar-
vels, that superstitious narrations of sorceries, witchcrafts,
dreams, divinations, and the like, where there is an
assurance and clear evidence of the fact, be altogether
excluded. For it is not yet known in what cases and
how far effects attributed to superstition do participate
of natural causes: and therefore howsoever the practice
of such things is to be condemned, yet from the specu-
lation and consideration of them light may be taken, not
only for the discerning of the offences, but for the further
disclosing of nature. Neither ought a man to make
eye oe
va
88 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. | [1. ay
scruple of entering into these things for inquisition of
truth, as your Majesty hath showed in your own example ;
who with the two clear eyes of religion and natural philo-
sophy have looked deeply and wisely into these shadows,
and yet proved yourself to be of the nature of the sun,
which passeth through pollutions and itself remains as
pure as before. But this I hold fit, that these narrations,
-which have mixture with superstition, be sorted by them-
selves, and not to be mingled with the narrations which
are merely and sincerely natural. But as for the nar-
rations touching the prodigies and miracles of religions,
they are either not true, or not natural; and therefore
impertinent for the story of nature.
5. For history of nature wrought or mechanical, I
find some collections made of agriculture,
and likewise of manual arts; but commonly
with a rejection of experiments familiar and
vulgar. For it is esteemed a kind of dishonour unto
learning to descend to inquiry or meditation upon
matters mechanical, except they be such as may be
thought secrets, rarities, and special subtilties ; which
humour of vain and supercilious arrogancy is justly
cerided in Plato; where he brings in Hippias, a vaunting
sophist, disputing with Socrates, a true and unfeigned
Historia
Mechanica,
inquisitor of truth; where the subject being touching -
beauty, Socrates, after his wandering manner of induc-
tions, put first an example of a fair virgin, and then of a
fair horse, and then of a fair pot well glazed, whereat
Hippias was offended, and said, More than for courtesy’s
sake, he did think much to dispute with any that did allege
such base and sordid ins/ances. Whereunto Socrates an-
swereth, Vou have reason, and it becomes you well, being a
man so trim tn your vestimenis, &c., and so goeth on in an
fh a te THE SECOND BOOK. 89
irony. But the truth is, they be not the highest instances
that give the securest information; as may be well ex-
pressed in the tale so common ft the philosopher, that
while he gazed upwards to the stars fell into the water;
for if he had looked down he might have seen the stars
in the water, but looking aloft he could not see the water
in the stars. So it cometh often to pass, that mean and
small things discover great, better than great can discover
the small: and therefore Aristotle noteth well, Zhat the
nature of everything ts best seen in his smallest portons.
And for that cause he inquireth the nature of a common-
wealth, first in a family, and the simple conjugations of
man and wife, parent and child, master and servant, which
are in every cottage. Even so likewise the nature of this
great city of the world, and the policy thereof, must be
first sought in mean concordances and small portions.
So we see how that secret of nature, of the turning of
iron touched with the loadstone towards the north, was
found out in needles of iron, not in bars of iron.
6. But if my judgement be of any weight, the use of
history mechanical is of all others the most radical and
fundamental towards natural philosophy; such natural
philosophy as shall not vanish in the fume of subtile,
sublime, or delectable speculation, but such as shall be
operative to the endowment and benefit of man’s life.
For it will not only minister and suggest for the present
many ingenious practices in all trades, by a connexion
and transferring of the observations of one art to the use
of another, when the experiences of several mysteries
shall fall under the consideration of one man’s mind;
but further, it will give a more true and real illumination
concerning causes and axioms than is hitherto attained.
For like as a man’s disposition is never well known till
g0 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [I. 6.
he be crossed, nor Proteus ever changed shapes till he
was straitened and held fast; so the passages and vari-
ations of nature cannot appear so fully in the liberty of
nature as in the trials and vexations of art.
Il. x. For civil history, it is of three kinds; not un-
fitly to be compared with the three kinds of pictures
or images. For of pictures or images, we see some are
unfinished, some are perfect, and some are defaced. So
of histories we may find three kinds, memorials, perfect
histories, and antiquities ; for memorials are history un-
finished, or the first or rough draughts of history ; and
antiquities are history defaced, or some remnants of his-
tory which have casually escaped the shipwreck of time.
2. Memorials, or preparatory history, are of two sorts ;
whereof the one may be termed commentaries, and the
other registers. Commentaries are they which set down
a continuance of the naked events and actions, without
the motives or designs, the counsels, the speeches, the
pretexts, the occasions and other passages of action: for
this is the true nature of a commentary (though Cesar,
in modesty mixed with greatness, did for his pleasure
apply the name of a commentary to the best history of
the world). Registers are collections of public acts, as
decrees of council, judicial proceedings, declarations and
letters of estate, orations and the like, without a perfect
continuance or contexture of the thread of the narration.
3. Antiquities, or remnants of history, are, as was said,
tanquam tabula naufragi : when industrious persons, by
an exact and scrupulous diligence and observation, out of
monuments, names, words, proverbs, traditions, private
records and evidences, fragments of stories, passages of
books that concern not story, and the like, do save and
recover somewhat from the deluge of time.
ee an a
a] THE SECOND BOOK, ~ 9
4. In these kinds ‘of unperfect histories I do assign
no deficience, for they are /anquam imperfecte mista; and
therefore any deficience in them is but their nature.
As for the corruptions and moths of history, which are
epitomes, the use of them deserveth to be banished, as
all men of sound judgement have confessed, as those
that have fretted and corroded the sound bodies of many
excellent histories, and wrought them into base and
unprofitable dregs.
5. History, which may be called just and perfect his-
tory, is of three kinds, according to the object which
it propoundeth, or pretendeth to represent: for it either
representeth a time, or a person, or an action. The first
we call chronicles, the second lives, and the third narra-
tions or relations, Of these, although the first be the
most complete and absolute kind of history, and hath
most estimation and glory, yet the second excelleth it in
profit and use, and the third in verity and sincerity. For
history of times representeth the magnitude of actions,
and the public faces and deportments of persons, and
passeth over in silence the smaller passages and motions
of men and matters. But such being the workmanship
of God, as he doth hang the greatest weight upon the
smallest wires, maxima é minimis suspendens, it comes
therefore to pass, that such histories do rather set forth
the pomp of business than the true and inward resorts
thereof. But lives, if they be well written, propounding to
themselves a person to represent, in whom actions both
greater and smaller, public and private, have a commix-
ture, must of necessity contain a more true, native, and
lively representation. So again narrations and relations
of actions, as the war of Peloponnesus, the expedition of
Cyrus Minor, the conspiracy of Catiline, cannot but be
92 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [Il.5.
more purely and exactly true than histories of times,
because they may choose an argument comprehensible
within the notice and instructions of the writer: whereas
he that undertaketh the story of a time, specially of any
length, cannot but meet with many blanks and spaces
which he must be forced to fill up out of his own wit:
and conjecture.
6. For the history of times (I mean of civil history),
the providence of God hath made the distribution. For
it hath pleased God to ordain and illustrate two exemplar
states of the world for arms, learning, moral virtue, policy,
and laws; the state of Grecia and the state of Rome;
the histories whereof, occupying the middle part of time,
have more ancient to them histories which may by one
common name be termed the antiquities of the world:
and after them, histories which may be likewise called by
the name of modern history.
4. Now to speak of the deficiences. As to the hea-
then antiquities of the world, it is in vain to note them
for deficient. Deficient they are no doubt, consisting
most of fables and fragments; but the deficience cannot
be holpen ; for antiquity is like fame, caput infer nubila
condit, her head is muffled from our sight. For the his-
tory of the exemplar states it is extant in good perfection.
Not but I could wish there were a perfect course of
history for Grecia from Theseus to Philopoemen (what
time the affairs of Grecia drowned and extinguished
in the affairs of Rome), and for Rome from Romulus
to Justinianus, who may be truly said to be uwlimus
Romanorum. In which sequences of story the text of
Thucydides and Xenophon in the one, and the texts
of Livius, Polybius, Sallustius, Cesar, Appianus, Tacitus,
Herodianus in the other, to be kept entire without any
of
It. 7] Ne _THE SECOND BOOK. 93
diminution at all, and only to be supplied and continued.
But this is matter of magnificence, rather to be com-
mended than required: and we speak now of parts of
learning supplemental and not of supererogation.
8. But for modern histories, whereof there are some
few very worthy, but the greater part beneath mediocrity,
leaving the care of foreign stories to foreign states, be«
cause I will not be curzosus in aliena republica, I cannot
fail to represent to your Majesty the unworthiness of the
history of England in the main continuance thereof, and
the partiality and obliquity of that of Scotland in the
latest and largest author that I have seen: supposing that
it would be honour for your Majesty, and a work very
memorable, if this island of Great Brittany, as it is now
joined in monarchy for the ages to come, so were joined
in one history for the times passed; after the manner of
the sacred history, which draweth down the story of the
ten tribes and of the two tribes as twins together. And
if it shall seem that the greatness of this work may make
it less exactly performed, there is an excellent period
of a much smaller compass of time, as to the story of
England; that is to say, from the uniting of the Roses to
the uniting of the kingdoms; a portion of time wherein,
to my understanding, there hath been the rarest varieties
that in like number of successions of any hereditary
monarchy hath been known. For it beginneth with the
mixed adeption of a crown by arms and title; an entry
by battle, an establishment by marriage; and therefore
times answerable, like waters after a tempest, full of
working and swelling, though without extremity of storm ;
but well passed through by the wisdom of the pilot,
being one of the most sufficient kings of all the number.
Then followeth the reign of a king, whose actions, howso-
94 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [1.8.
ever conducted, had much intermixture with the affairs of
Europe, balancing and inclining them variably; in whose
time also began that great alteration in the state eccle-
siastical, an action which seldom cometh upon the stage.
Then the reign of a minor: then an offer of an usurpation
(though it was but as febrzs ephemera). Then the reign of
a queen matched with a foreigner: then of a queen that
lived solitary and unmarried, and yet her government so
masculine, as it had greater impression and operation
upon the states abroad than it any ways received from
thence. And now last, this most happy and glorious
event, that this island of Brittany, divided from all the
world, should be united in itself: and that oracle of rest
given to Aineas, anfiguam exquirite matrem, should now
be performed and fulfilled upon the nations of England
and Scotland, being now reunited in the ancient mother
name of Brittany, as a full period of all instability and
peregrinations. So that as it cometh to pass in massive
bodies, that they have certain trepidations and waverings
before they fix and settle, so it seemeth that by the pro-
vidence of God this monarchy, before it was to settle in
your majesty and your generations (in which I hope it is
now established for ever), it had these prelusive changes
and varieties,
g. For lives, I do find strange that these times have so
little esteemed the virtues of the times, as that the writings
of lives should be no more frequent. For although there
be not many sovereign princes or absolute commanders,
and that states are most collected into monarchies, yet
are there many worthy personages that deserve better
than dispersed report or barren elogies. For herein
the invention of one of the late poets is proper, and
doth well enrich the ancient fiction. For he feigneth
M9.) THE SECOND BOOK. 95
that at the end of thé thread or web of every man’s life
there was a little medal containing the person’s name,
and that Time waited upon the shears, and as soon as
the thread was cut, caught the medals, and carried them
to the river of Lethe; and about the bank there were
many birds flying up and down, that would get the
medals and carry them in their beak a little while, and
then let them fall into the river. Only there were, a few
swans, which if they got a name would carry it to a
temple where it was consecrate. And although many
men, more mortal in their affections than in their bodies,
do esteem desire of name and memory but as a vanity
and ventosity,
Animi nil magnz laudis egentes ;
which opinion cometh from that root, Von prius laudes
contempsimus, quam laudanda facere desivimus: yet that
will not alter Salomon’s judgement, Memoria justi cum
laudibus, at impiorum nomen putrescet : the one flourisheth,
the other either consumeth to present oblivion, or turneth
to an ill odour. And therefore in that style or addition,
which is and hath been long well received and brought
in use, felicis memoria, pie memoria, bone memoria, we
do *acknowledge that which Cicero saith, borrowing it
from Demosthenes, that bona fama propria possessio de-
JSunctorum ; which possession I cannot but note that in
our times it lieth much waste, and that therein there is a
deficience.
ro. For narrations and relations of particular actions,
there were also to be wished a greater diligence therein ;
for there is no great action but hath some good pen
which attends it. And because it is an ability not com-
mon to write a good history, as may well appear by the
small number of them; yet if particularity of actions
’ TS es eae fe ern eee
Me J > ¥ ®,
A io’
‘ ll
g6 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [Il. 10,
memorable were but tolerably reported as they pass, the
compiling of a complete history of times mought be the
better expected, when a writer should arise that were fit
for it: for the collection of such relations mought be
as a nursery garden, whereby to plant a fair and stately
garden, when time should serve.
11. There is yet another partition of history which
Cornelius Tacitus maketh, which is not to be forgotten,
specially with that application which he accoupleth it
withal, annals and journals: appropriating to the former
matters of estate, and to the latter acts and accidents of a
meaner nature. For giving but a touch of certain mag-
nificent buildings, he addeth, Cum ex dignitate populi Ro-
mani repertum sit, res wlustres annalibus, talia diurnis urbis
actis mandare. So as there is a kind of contemplative
heraldry, as well as civil. And as nothing doth derogate
from the dignity of a state more than confusion of de-
grees, so it doth not a little imbase the authority of an
history, to intermingle matters of triumph, or matters of
ceremony, or matters of novelty, with matters of state.
But the use of a journal hath not only been in the history
of time, but likewise in the history of persons, and chiefly
of actions; for princes in ancient time had, upon point
of honour and policy both, journals kept, what passed
day by day. For we see the chronicle which was read
before Ahasuerus, when he could not take rest, contained
matter of affairs indeed, but such as had passed in his
own time and very lately before. But the journal of
Alexander’s house expressed every small particularity,
even concerning his person and court; and it is yet
an use well received in enterprises memorable, as expe-
ditions of war, navigations, and the like, to keep diaries
of that which passeth continually.
~ bid Pe ah cs
M1. 12.) THE SECOND BOOK. ee
12. I cannot likewise be ignorant of a form of writing
which some grave and wise men have used, containing a
scattered history of those actions which they have thought
worthy of memory, with politic discourse and observation
thereupon: not incorporate into the history, but separ-
ately, and as the more principal in their intention; which
kind of ruminated history I thing more fit to place amongst
books of policy, whereof we shall hereafter speak, than
amongst books of history. For it is the true office of his-
tory to represent the events themselves together with the
counsels, and to leave the observations and conclusions
thereupon to the liberty and faculty of every man’s judge-
ment. But mixtures are things irregular, whereof no man
can define.
13. So also is there another kind of history manifoldly
mixed, and that is history of cosmography: being com-
pounded of natural history, in respect of the regions
themselves ; of history civil, in respect of the habitations, —
regiments, and manners of the people; and the mathe-
matics, in respect of the climates and configurations to-
wards the heavens: which part of learning of all others
in this latter time hath obtained most proficience. For
it may be truly affirmed to the honour of these times,
and in a virtuous emulation with antiquity, that this great
building of the world had never through-lights made in it,
till the age of us and our fathers. For although they had
knowledge of the antipodes,
Nosque ubi primus equis Oriens afflavit anhelis,
Illic sera rubens accendit lumina Vesper,
yet that mought be by demonstration, and not in fact;
and if by travel, it requireth the voyage but of half the
globe. But to circle the earth, as the heavenly bodies do,
was not done nor enterprised till these later times: and
H
therefore these times may justly bear in their word, not
only plus ultra, in precedence of the ancient non ultra,
and imztabile fulmen, in precedence of the ancient mon
imitabile fulmen,
Demens qui nimbos et non imitabile fulmen, &c,
but likewise zmfabile celum,; in respect of the many
memorable voyages after the manner of heaven about
the globe of the earth.
14. And this proficience in navigation and discoveries
may plant also an expectation of the further proficience
and augmentation of all sciences; because it may seem
they are ordained by God to be coevals, that is, to meet
in one age. For so the prophet Daniel speaking of the
latter times foretelleth, Plurzm? pertranstbunt, et multiplex
erit scientia : as if the openness and through-passage of
the world and the increase of knowledge were appointed
to be in the same ages; as we see it is already performed
in great part: the learning of these later times not much
giving place to the former two periods or returns of learn-
ing, the one of the Grecians, the other of the Romans.
III. 1. History ecclesiastical receiveth the same divi-
sions with history civil: but further in the propriety
thereof may be divided into the history of the church,
by a general name; history of prophecy; and history of
providence. The first describeth the times of the milit-
ant church, whether it be fluctuant, as the ark of Noah,
or moveable, as the ark in the wilderness, or at rest, as
the ark in the temple: that is, the state of the church in
persecution, in remove, and in peace. This part I ought
in no sort to note as deficient; only I would the virtue
and sincerity of it were according to the mass and
quantity. But I am not now in hand with censures, but
with omissions.
ye toe |
ee abi at ook wea
a re x, ton
>. c
98 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [11.13
Ill. 2.] : THE SECOND Book. 99
,
2. The second, which is history of prophecy, consi&teth
of two relatives, the prophecy, and the accomplishment ;
and therefore the nature of such a work ought to be, that
every prophecy of the scripture be sorted with the event
fulfilling the same, throughout the ages of the world ; both
for the better confirmation of faith, and for the better
illumination of the Church touching those parts of pro-
phecies which are yet unfulfilled : allowing nevertheless
that latitude which is agreeable and familiar unto divine
prophecies ; being of the nature of their author, with
whom a thousand years are but as one day; and there- >
fore are not fulfilled punctually at once, but have
Springing and germinant accomplishment == __
throughout many ages; though the height em se
Prophetica.
or fulness of them may refer to some one
age. This is a work which I find deficient; but is to
be done with wisdom, sobriety, and reverence, or not
at all.
3: The third, which is history of providence, con-
taineth that excellent correspondence which is between
God's revealed will and his secret will: which though
it be so obscure, as for the most part it is not legible
to the natural man; no, nor many times to those that —
behold it from the tabernacle; yet at some times it
pleaseth God, for our better establishment and the con-
futing of those which are as without God in the world,
to write it in such text and capital letters, that, as the
prophet saith, He that runnet), by may read it; that is,~
mere sensual persons, which hasten by God’s judge-
ments, and never bend or fix their cogitations upon
them, are nevertheless in their passage and race urged
to discern it. Such are the notable events and examples
of God’s judgements, chastisements, deliverances, and
H 2
5 ee
a r 4
100 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [ill. 3
blessings: and this is a work which hath passed through
the labour of many, and therefore I cannot present as
omitted.
4. There are also other parts of learning which are
appendices to history. For all the exterior proceedings
of man consist of words and deeds; whereof history
doth properly receive and retain in memory the deeds,
and if words, yet but as inducements and passages to
deeds; so are there other books and writings, which are
appropriate_to the custody and receipt of words only;
which likewise are of three sorts; orations, letters, and
brief speeches or sayings. Orations are pleadings,
speeches of counsel, laudatives, invectives, apologies,
reprehensions, orations of formality or ceremony, and
the like. Letters are according to all the variety of oc-
casions, advertisements, advices, directions, propositions,
petitions, commendatory, expostulatory, satisfactory, of
compliment, of pleasure, of discourse, and all other pas-
sages of action. And such as are written from wise men
are of all the words of man, in my judgement, the best ;
for they are more natural than orations, and public
speeches, and more advised than conferences or present
speeches.. So again letters of affairs from such as.
manage them, or are privy to them, are of all others the
best instructions for history, and to a diligent reader the
best histories in themselves. For apophthegms, it is a
great loss of that book of Czsar’s; for as his history, and
those few letters of his which we have, and those apo-
phthegms which were of his own, excel all men’s else, so I
suppose would his collection of apophthegms have done.
For as for those which are collected by others, either I
have no taste in such matters, or else their choice hath
not been happy. But upon these three kinds of writings
-.
:é.-
eg
a
oa dea
mt. 4.) THE SECOND BOOK, 101
I do not insist, because I have no deficiences to propound
concerning them.
5. Thus much therefore concerning history, which is
that part of learning which answereth to one of the cells,
domiciles, or offices of the mind of man; which is that
of the memory.
IV. 1. Poesy is a part of learning in measure of words
for the most part restrained, but in all other points ex-
tremely licensed, and doth truly refer to the imagination ;
which, being not tied to the laws of matter, may at plea-
sure join that which nature hath severed, and sever that
which nature hath joined; and so make unlawful matches
and divorces of things; Prctorzbus atque poetis, dc. It
is taken in two senses in respect of words or matter.
In the first sense it is but a character_of style, and be-
longeth to arts of speech, and is not pertinent for the
present. In the latter it is (as hath been said) one of the
principal portions of learning, and is nothing else but
feigned history, which may be styled as well in prose as
in verse.
2. The use of this feigned history hath been to give
some shadow of satisfaction to the mind of man in those
points wherein the nature of things doth deny it, the
world being in proportion inferior to the soul; by reason
whereof there is, agreeable to the spirit of man, a more
ample greatness, a more exact goodness, and a more
absolute variety, than can be found in the nature of
things. Therefore, because the acts or events of true
history have not that magnitude which satisfieth the mind |
of man, poesy feigneth acts and events greater and more
heroical. Because true history propoundeth the successes
‘and issues of actions not so agreeable to the merits of
virtue and vice, therefore poesy feigns them more just in
102 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [Iv.2.
retribution, and more according to revealed providence.
Because true history representeth actions and events more
ordinary and less interchanged, therefore poesy endueth
them with more rareness, and more unexpected and
alternative variations. So as it appeareth that poesy
serveth and conferreth to magnanimity, morality, and to
delectation. And therefore it was ever thought to have
some participation of divineness, because it doth raise
and erect the mind,.by submitting the shows of things
to the desires of the mind; whereas reason doth buckle
and bow the mind unto the nature of things. And we
see that by these insinuations and congruities with man’s
nature and pleasure, joined also with the agreement and
consort it hath with music, it hath had access and estim-
ation in rude times and barbarous regions, where other
learning stood excluded.
3. The division of poesy which is aptest in the pro-
priety thereof (besides those divisions which are common
unto it with history, as feigned chronicles, feigned lives,
and the appendices of history, as feigned epistles, feigned
orations, and the rest) is into poesy narrative, represent-
ative, and allusive. The narrative is a mere imitation of
history, with the excesses before remembered ; choosing
for subject commonly wars and love, rarely state, and
sometimes pleasure or mirth. Representative is as a
visible history; and is an image of actions as if they were
present, as history is of actions in nature as they are, (that
is) past. Allusive or parabolical is a narration applied
only to express some special purpose or conceit, Which
latter kind of parabolical wisdom was much more in use
in the ancient times, as by the fables of sop, and the
brief sentences of the seven, and the use of hieroglyphics
may appear. And the cause was, for that it was then of
Iv.3.] ~—-s« THE SECOND BOOK.’ 103
necessity to express any point of reason which was more
.pharp or subtile than the vulgar in that manner, because
en in those times wanted both variety of examples and
ubtilty of conceit. And as hieroglyphics were before
letters, so parables were before arguments: and never-
theless now and at all times they do retain much life
and vigour, because reason cannot be so sensible, nor
examples so fit.
4. But there remaineth yet another use of poesy para-
bolical, opposite to that which we last mentioned: for
that tendeth to demonstrate and illustrate that which is
taught or delivered, and this other to retire and obscure
it: that is, when the secrets and mysteries of religion,
policy, or philosophy, are involved in fables or parables,
Of this in divine poesy we see the use is authorised. In
heathen poesy we see the exposition of fables doth fall
out sometimes with great felicity; as in the fable that the
giants being overthrown in their war against the gods,
the earth their mother in revenge thereof brought forth
Fame :
Illam terra parens, ira irritata Deorum,
Extremam, ut perhibent, Coco Enceladoque sororem
Progenuit.
Expounded that when princes and monarchs have sup-
pressed actual and open rebels, then the malignity of
people (which is the mother of rebellion) doth bring forth
libels and slanders, and taxations of the states, which is
of the same kind with rebellion, but more feminine. So
in the fable that the rest of the gods having conspired
to bind Jupiter, Pallas called Briareus with his hundred
hands to his aid: expounded that monarchies need not
fear any curbing of their absoluteness by mighty sub-
jects, as long as by wisdom they keep the hearts of the
104. OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [IV. 4.
people, who will be sure to come in on their side, So in
the fable that Achilles was brought up under Chiron the.
centaur, who was part a man and part a beast, expounded
ingeniously but corruptly by Machiavel, that it belongeth
to the education and discipline of princes to know as
well how to play the part of the lion in violence, and the
fox in guile, as of the man in virtue and justice. Never-
theless, in many the like encounters, I do rather think
that the fable was first, and the exposition devised, than
that the moral was first, and thereupon the fable framed.
For I find it was an ancient vanity in Chrysippus, that
troubled himself with great contention to fasten the
assertions of the Stoics upon the fictions of the ancient
poets; but yet that all the fables and fictions of the poets
were but pleasure and not figure, I interpose no opinion.
Surely of those poets which are now extant, even Homer
himself (notwithstanding he was made a kind of scrip-
ture by the later schools of the Grecians), yet I should
without any difficulty pronounce that his fables had
no such inwardness in his own meaning. But what
they might have upon a more original tradition, is not
easy to affirm; for he was not the inventor of many of
them.
5. In this third part of learning, which is poesy, I can
report no deficience. For being as a plant that cometh
of the lust of the earth, without a formal seed, it hath
sprung up and spread abroad more than any other kind.
But to ascribe unto it that which is due, for the expressing
/of affections, passions, corruptions, and customs, we are
' beholding to poets more than to the philosophers’ works;
' and for wit and eloquence, not much less than to orators’
' harangues. But it is not good to stay too long in the
theatre. Let us now pass on to the judicial place or palace
’
~
Ty.'5.] THE SECOND BOOK. 105
’
of the mind, which we are to approach and view with
more reverence and attention.
V. 1. The knowledge of man is as the waters, some
descending from above, and some springing from be-
neath; the one informed by the light of nature, the other
\/| inspired by divine revelation. The light of nature con-
“seth in the notions of the mind and the reports of the
senses: for as for knowledge which man receiveth by
teaching, it is cumulative and not original; as in a water
that besides his own spring-head is fed with other springs
and streams. So then, according to these two differing
illuminations or originals, knowledge is first of all divided
into divinity and philosophy. .
2. In philosophy, the contemplations of man do either
penetrate unto God, or are circumferred to nature, or are
reflected or reverted upon himself. Out of which several |
inquiries there do arise three knowledges; divine philo-
sophy, natural philosophy, and human philosophy or
humanity. For all things are marked and stamped with
this triple character, of the power of God, the difference
of nature, and the use’ of man. But because the distribu-
tions and partitions of knowledge are not like several
lines that meet in one angle, and so touch but in a point;
but are like branches of a tree, that meet in a stem, which
hath a dimension and quantity of entireness and con-
tinuance, before it come to discontinue and break itself
into arms and boughs: therefore it is good, before we
enter into the former distribution, to erect and constitute
one universal science, by the name of phzlosophia prima,
primitive or summary philosophy, as the main and com-
mon way, before we come where the ways part and divide
themselves; which science whether I should report as
deficient or no, I stand doubtful, For I find a certain
106 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [V. 2.
rhapsody of natural theology, and of divers parts of logic;
and of that part of natural philosophy which concerneth
the principles, and of that other part of natural philo-
sophy which concerneth the soul or spirit; all these
strangely commixed and confused; but being examined,
it seemeth to me rather a depredation of other sciences,
advanced and exalted unto some height of terms, than
anything solid or substantive of itself. Nevertheless I
cannot be ignorant of the distinction which is current,
that the same things are handled but in several respects.
As for example, that logic considereth of many things as
they are in notion, and this philosophy as they are in
nature; the one in appearance, the other in existence;
but I find this difference better made than pursued. For
if they had considered quantity, similitude, diversity, and
the rest of those extern characters of things, as _philo-
sophers, and in nature, their inquiries must of force have
been of a far other kind than they are. For doth any
of them, in handling quantity, speak of the force of union,
how and how far it multiplieth virtue? Doth any give
the reason, why some things in nature are so common,
and in so great mass, and others so rare, and in so small
quantity? Doth any, in handling similitude and divers-
ity, assign the cause why iron should not move to iron,
which is more like, but move to the load-stone, which is
less like? Why in all diversities of things there should
be certain participles in nature, which are almost am-
biguous to which kind they should be referred? But
there is a mere and deep silence touching the nature and
operation of those common adjuncts of things, as in
nature: and only a resuming and repeating of the force
and use of them in speech or argument. Therefore,
because in a writing of this nature I avoid all subtility,
ee ee ee ee
Pot
va] ‘THE SECOND BOOK. 107
dl
my meaning touching this original or universal philo-
sophy is thus, in a plain and gross description by nega-
tive: That it be a receptacle for all such profitable observ-
ations and axioms as fall not within the compass of any
of the spectal parts of philosophy or sctences, but are more
common and of a higher stage.
3. Now that there are many of that kind need not be
doubted, For example: is not the rule, Si zrequalibus
aqualia addas, omnia erunt inequalia, an axiom as well of
justice as of the mathematics? and is there not a true
coincidence between commutative and distributive justice,
and arithmetical and geometrical proportion? Is not
that other rule, Que im eodem terito conventunt, et inter se
conveniuni, a rule taken from the mathematics, but so
potent in logic as all syllogisms are built upon it? Is
not the observation, Omnia mutantur, nil interit, a con-
templation in philosophy thus, that the guan/um of nature
is eternal? in natural theology thus, that it requireth the
same omnipotency to make somewhat nothing, which at
the first made nothing somewhat? according to the scrip-
ture, Drdict quod omnia opera, que fectt Deus, perseverent
in perpeluum ; non possumus eis quicquam addere nec au-
Jerre. Is not the ground, which Machiavel wisely and
largely discourseth concerning governments, that the way
to establish and preserve them, is to reduce them ad
principia, a rule in religion and nature, as well as in civil
administration? Was not the Persian magic a reduction
or correspondence of the principles and architectures of
nature to the rules and policy of governments? Is not
the precept of a musician, to fall from a discord or harsh
accord upon a concord or sweet accord, alike true in
affection? Is not the trope of music, to avoid or slide
from the close or cadence, common with the trope of
)a
108 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [V. 3-
rhetoric of deceiving expectation? Is not the delight of
the quavering upon a stop in music the same with the
playing of light upon the water?
Splendet tremulo sub lumine pontus.
Are not the organs of the senses of one kind with the
organs of reflection, the eye with a glass, the ear with a
cave or strait, determined and bounded? Neither are
these only similitudes, as men of narrow observation may
conceive them to be, but the same footsteps of nature,
treading or printing upon several subjects or matters.
This science therefore (as I understand it) I may justly
report as deficient: for I see sometimes the profounder
sort of wits, in handling some particular
Philosophia aroument, will now and then draw a bucket
- yaa of water out of this well for their present
scientiarum. US “but-the spring-head thereof seemeth to
me not to have been visited; being of so
excellent use both for the disclosing of nature and the
abridgement of art.
VI. x. This science being therefore first placed as a
common parent like unto Berecynthia, which had so
much heavenly issue, omnes celicolas, omnes supera alia
tenentes ; we may return to the former distribution of the
three philosophies, divine, natural, and human. And as
concerning divine philosophy or natural theology, it is
that knowledge or rudiment of knowledge concerning
God, which may be obtained by the contemplation of
his creatures; which knowledge may be truly termed
divine in respect of the object, and natural in respect of
the light. The bounds of this knowledge are, that it
sufficeth to convince atheism, but not to inform religion:
and therefore there was never miracle wrought by God
to convert an atheist, because the light of nature might
a
Vier] ‘THE SECOND BOOK, 109
have led him to pontess a God: but miracles have been
wrought to convert idolaters and the superstitious, be-
cause no light of nature extendeth to declare the will and
true worship of God. For as all works do show forth
the power and skill of the workman, and not his image,
so it is of the works of God, which do show the omni-
potency and wisdom of the maker, but not his image.
And therefore therein the heathen opinion differeth from
the sacred truth; for they supposed the world to be the
image of God, and man to be an extract or compendious
image of the world; but the scriptures never vouchsafe
to attribute to the world that honour, as to be the image
of God, but only the work of his hands ; neither do they
speak of any other image of God, but man. Wherefore
by the contemplation of nature to induce and enforce
the acknowledgement of God, and to demonstrate his
power, providence, and goodness, is an excellent argu-
ment, and hath been excellently handled by divers. But
on the other side, out of the contemplation of nature, or
ground of human knowledges, to induce any verity or
persuasion concerning the points of faith, is in my judge-
ment not safe: Da fider que fider sunt. For the heathen
themselves conclude as much in that excellent and divine
fable of the golden chain: Zhat men and gods were not
able to draw Jupiter down to the earth; but contrariwise
Jupiter was able to draw them up to heaven. So as we
ought not to attempt to draw down or to submit the
mysteries of God to our reason; but contrariwise to raise
and advance our reason to the divine truth. So as in
this part of knowledge, touching divine philosophy, I am
so far from noting any deficience, as I rather note an
excess: whereunto I have digressed because of the ex-
treme prejudice which both religion and philosophy hath
received and may receive by being commixed together ;
as that which undoubtedly will make an heretical religion,
and an imaginary and fabulous philosophy.
2. Otherwise it is of the nature of angels and spirits,
which is an appendix of theology, both divine and natural,
and is neither inscrutable nor interdicted. For although
the scripture saith, Zef no man deceive you in sublime dis-
course touching the worship of angels, pressing into that he
knoweth not, &c., yet notwithstanding if you observe well
that precept, it may appear thereby that there be two
things only forbidden, adoration of them, and opinion
fantastical of them, either to extol them further than
appertaineth to the degree of a creature, or to extol a
man’s knowledge of them further than he hath ground.
But the sober and grounded inquiry, which may arise out
of the passages of holy scriptures, or out of the grada-
tions of nature, is not restrained. So of degenerate and
revolted spirits, the conversing with them or the employ-
ment of them is prohibited, much more any veneration
towards them; but the contemplation or science of their
nature, their power, their illusions, either by scripture or
reason, is a part of spiritual wisdom. For so the apostle
saith, We are not ignorant of his stratagems. And it is no
more unlawful to inquire the nature of evil spirits, than to
inquire the force of poisons in nature, or the nature of
sin and vice in morality. But this part touching angels
and spirits I cannot note as deficient, for many have
occupied themselves in it; I may rather challenge it, in
many of the writers thereof, as fabulous and fantastical.
VIL 1. Leaving therefore divine philosophy or natural
theology (not divinity or inspired theology, which we re-
serve for the last of all as the haven and sabbath of all
man’s contemplations) we will now proceed to natural
*))
Oe ee Oe | +!
110 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [V1.1.
a ey ee ang
a - — ee 7_
a ea acl cha
0 SEALY) ;
VII. 1.) THE SECOND BOOK. — 1II
;
philosophy. If then it be true that Democritus said,
that the truth of nature lieth hid in certain deep mines and
caves ; and if it be true likewise that the alchemists do so
much inculcate, that Vulcan is a second nature, and im-
itateth that dexterously and compendiously which nature
worketh by ambages and length of time; it were good to
divide natural philosophy into the mine and the furnace,
and to make two professions or occupations of natural
philosophers, some to be pioneers and some smiths;
some to dig, and some to refine and hammer. And surely
I do best allow of a division of that kind, though in more
familiar and scholastical terms; namely, that these be the
two parts of natural philosophy, the inquisition of causes,
and the production of effects; speculative, and operative ;
natural science, and natural prudence. For as in civil
matters there is a wisdom of discourse, and a wisdom of
direction; so is it in natural. And here I will make a
request, that for the latter (or at least for a part thereof)
I may revive and reintegrate the misapplied and abused
name of natural magic; which in the true sense is but
natural wisdom, or natural prudence; taken according to
the ancient acception, purged from vanity and super-
stition. Now although it be true, and I know it well,
that there is an intercourse between causes and effects,
so as both these knowledges, speculative and operative,
have a great connexion between themselves; yet because
all true and fruitful natural philosophy hath a double
scale or ladder, ascendent and descendent, ascending
from experiments to the invention of causes, and de-
scending from causes to the invention of new experi-
ments; therefore I judge it most requisite that these two
parts be severally considered and handled.
2. Natural science or theory is divided into physic and
112 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [VII 2.
metaphysic: wherein I desire it may be conceived that I
use the word metaphysic in a differing sense from that
that is received. And in like manner, I doubt not but
it will easily appear to men of judgement, that in this
and other particulars, wheresoever my conception and
notion may differ from the ancient, yet I am studious to
keep the ancient terms. For hoping well to deliver
myself from mistaking, by the order and perspicuous
expressing of that I do propound; I am otherwise
zealous and affectionate to recede as little from antiquity,
either in terms or opinions, as may stand with truth and
the proficience of knowledge. And herein I cannot a
little marvel at the philosopher Aristotle, that did proceed
in such a spirit of difference and contradiction towards
all antiquity: undertaking not only to frame new words
of science at pleasure, but to confound and extinguish all
ancient wisdom : insomuch as he never nameth or men-
tioneth an ancient author or opinion, but to confute and
reprove ; wherein for glory, and drawing followers and
disciples, he took the right course. For certainly there
cometh to pass, and hath place in human truth, that
which was noted and pronounced in the highest truth:
Veni in nomine patris, nec recipitis me; st quis venertt in
nomine suo eum recipies. But in this divine aphorism
(considering to whom it was applied, namely to anti-
christ, the highest deceiver) we may discern well that
the coming in a man’s own name, without regard of
antiquity or paternity, is no good sign of truth, although
it be joined with the fortune and success of an eum
recipielis. But for this excellent person Aristotle, I will
think of him that he learned that humour of his scholar,
with whom it seemeth he did emulate; the one to con-
quer all opinions, as the other to conquer all nations.
Caos ob
5
VII. 2.) THE SECOND BOOK. 113
s
Wherein nevertheless, it may be, he may at some men’s
hands, that are of a bitter disposition, get a like title as
his scholar did:
Felix terrarum predo, non utile mundo
Editus exemplum, &c.
So,
Felix doctrine predo,
But to me on the other side that do desire as much as
lieth in my pen to ground a sociable intercourse between
antiquity and proficience, it seemeth best to keep way
with antiquity usgue ad aras ; and therefore to retain the
ancient terms, though I sometimes alter the uses and
definitions, according to the moderate proceeding in civil
government; where although there be some alteration,
yet that holdeth which Tacitus wisely noteth, eadem ma-
gistratuum vocabula.
3. To return therefore to the use and acception of the
term metaphysic, as I do now understand the word; it
appeareth, by that which hath been already said, that i
intend philosophia prima, summary philosophy and meta-
physic, which heretofore have been confounded as one,
to be two distinct things. For the one I have made as
a parent or common ancestor to all knowledge; and the
other I have now brought in as a branch or descendant
of natural science. It appeareth likewise that I have
assigned to summary philosophy the common principles
and axioms which are promiscuous and indifferent to
several sciences: I have assigned unto it likewise the
inquiry touching the operation of the relative and ad-
ventive characters of essences, as quantity, similitude,
diversity, possibility, and the rest: with this distinction
and provision ; that they be handled as they have efficacy
in nature, and not logically. It appeareth likewise that
I
==) 2 iy ee pathy
114 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [VII. 3.
natural theology, which heretofore hath been handled
confusedly with metaphysic, I have inclosed and bounded
by itself. It is therefore now a question what is left
remaining for metaphysic; wherein I may without pre-
judice preserve thus much of the conceit of antiquity,
that physic should contemplate that which is inherent in
matter, and therefore transitory ;’ and metaphysic that
which is abstracted and fixed. And again, that physic
should handle that which supposeth in nature only a
being and moving; and metaphysic should handle that
which supposeth further in nature a reason, understand-
ing, and platform. But the difference, perspicuously ex-
pressed, is most familiar and sensible. For as we divided
natural philosophy in general into the inquiry of causes,
and productions of effects: so that part which concerneth
the inquiry of causes we do subdivide according to the
received and sound division of causes. The one part,
which is physic, inquireth and handleth the material and
efficient causes; and the other, which is metaphysic,
handleth the formal and final causes.
4. Physic (taking it according to the derivation, and
not according to our idiom for medicine) is situate in a
middle term or distance between natural history and
metaphysic. For natural history describeth the variety
of things; physic the causes, but variable or respective
causes; and metaphysic the fixed and constant causes.
Limus ut hic durescit, et hac ut cera liquescit,
Uno eodemque igni,
. Fire is the cause of induration, but respective to clay ;
fire is the cause of colliquation, but respective to wax.
But fire is no constant cause either of induration or colli-
quation: so then the physical causes are but the efficient
and the matter. Physic hath three parts, whereof two
ie
=
-,
NE
——-
ee
~~
THE SECOND BOOK. “115
Ff
respect nature united or collected, the third contemplateth
nature diffused or distributed. Nature is collected either
into one entire total, or else into the same principles or
seeds. So as the first doctrine is touching the contexture
or configuration of things, as de mundo, de universttale
rerum. ‘The second is the doctrine concerning the prin-
ciples or originals of things. The third is the doctrine
concerning all variety and particularity of things; whether
it be of the differing substances, or their differing qualities
and natures ; whereof there needeth no enumeration, this
part being but as a gloss or paraphrase that attendeth
upon the text of natural history. Of these three I
cannot report any as deficient. In what truth or per-
fection they are handled, I make not now any judge- .
ment; but they are parts of knowledge not deserted by
the labour of man.
5. For metaphysic, we have assigned unto it the in-
quiry of formal and final causes; which assignation, as
to the former of them, may seem to be nugatory and
void, because of the received and inveterate opinion,
that the inquisition of man is not competent to find out
essential forms or true differences: of which opinion we
will take this hold, that the invention of forms is of all
other parts of knowledge the worthiest to be sought, if it
be possible to be found. As for the possibility, they are
ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can
see nothing but sea. But it is manifest that Plato, in his
opinion of ideas, as one that had a wit of elevation
situate as upon a cliff, did descry that forms were the
true olject of knowledge; but lost the real fruit of his
opinion, by considering of forms as absolutely abstracted
from matter, and not confined and determined by matter;
and so turning his opinion upon theology, wherewith all
12
ot
ag Wee ae ae
116 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [VIL.5.
‘his natural philosophy is infected. But if any man shall
keep a continual watchful and severe eye upon action,
‘operation, and the use of knowledge, he may advise and
take notice what are the forms, the disclosures whereof
are fruitful and important to the state of man. For as
to the forms of substances (man only except, of whom it
fis said, Formavit hominem de limo terre, et spiravit in
faciem ejus spiraculum vite, and not as of all other crea-
‘tures, Producant aque, producat terra), the forms of sub-
Raiiices I say (as they are now by compounding and
‘transplanting multiplied) are so perplexed, as they are not
keto be inquired; no more than it were either possible or
(to purpose to seek in gross the forms of those sounds
“which make words, which by composition and trans-
‘position of letters are infinite. But on the other side
\to inquire the form of those sounds or voices which make
/ simple letters is easily comprehensible; and being known
\induceth and manifesteth the forms of all words, which
hee and are compounded of them. In the same man-
ner to inquire the form of a lion, of an oak, of gold; nay,
fof water, of air, is a vain pursuit: but to inquire the forms
of sense, of voluntary motion, of vegetation, of colours,
‘of gravity and levity, of density, of tenuity, of heat, of
( cold, and all other natures and qualities, which, like an
“alphabet, are not many, and of which the essences (up-
¢ held by matter) of all creatures do consist; to inquire, I
say, the true forms of these, is that part of metaphysic
which we now define of. Not but that physic doth make
rinquiry and take consideration of the same natures: but
‘how? Only as to the material and efficient causes of
-them, and not as to the forms. For example, if the
| cate of whiteness in snow or froth be inquired, and it
‘be rendered thus, that the subtile intermixture of air and
y
rf
«a
4
’
a
Ss lihas n tai ad oi .
Fey Via ’
VII. 5.] _ THE SECOND BOOK. 117
inte
water is the cause, it is well rendered; but nevertheless
is this the form of whiteness? No; but it is the efficient,
which is ever but vehiculum forme. ‘This
part of metaphysic I do not find laboured Méaphysica
and performed: whereat I marvel not: be- a va
cause I hold it not possible to be invented gy. rerum.
by that course of invention which hath been
used ; in regard that men (which is the root of all error)
have made too untimely a departure and too remote a
recess from particulars.
6. But the use of this part of metaphysic, which I re- ~
port as deficient, is of the rest the most excellent in two
respects: the one, because it is the duty and virtue of all
knowledge to abridge the infinity of individual experience,
as much as the conception of truth will permit, and to
remedy the complaint of w/a brevis, ars longa; which is
performed by uniting the notions and conceptions of
sciences. For knowledges areas pyramides, whereof
history is the basis. So of natural philosophy, the basis is
natural history; the stage next the basis is physic; the
stage next the vertical point is metaphysic. As for the
vertical point, opus quod operatur Deus & principio usque ad~
jfinem, the summary law of nature, we know not whether
man’s inquiry can attain unto it. But these three be -the
true stages of knowledge, and are to them that are de-
praved no better than the giants’ hills :
Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam,
Scilicet, atque Osse frondosum involvere Olympum.
But to those which refer all things to the glory of God,
they are as the three acclamations, Sancte, sancte, sancte !
holy in the description or dilatation of his works; holy
in the connexion or concatenation of them; and holy in, ,
the union of them in a perpetual and uniform law. And
therefore the speculation was excellent in Parmenides and
Plato, although but a speculation in them, that all things
by scale did ascend to unity. So then always that know-
ledge is worthiest which is charged with least multiplicity,
which appeareth to be metaphysic; as that which con-
sidereth the simple forms or differences of things, which
are few in number, and the degrees and co-ordinations
whereof make all this variety. The second respect, which
valueth and commendeth this part of metaphysic, is that
- it doth enfranchise the power of man unto the greatest
liberty and possibility of works and effects. For physic
carrieth men in narrow and restrained ways, subject to
many accidents of impediments, imitating the ordinary
flexuous courses of nature. But /a/e undique sunt sapienti-
bus vie: to sapience (which was anciently defined to be
rerum divinarum et humanarum sctentia) there is ever
choice of means. For physical causes give light to new
invention in s¢mili materia. But whosoever knoweth any
form, knoweth the utmost possibility of superinducing that
nature upon any variety of matter; and so is less re-
strained in operation, either to the basis of the matter,
or the condition of the efficient ; which kind of knowledge
Salomon likewise, though in a more divine sense, elegantly
describeth ; on arctabuntur gressus tut, ef currens non
habebis offendiculum. The ways of sapience are not much
liable either to particularity or chance.
7. The second part of metaphysic is the inquiry of
final causes, which I am moved to report not as omitted
but as misplaced. And yet if it were but a fault in order,
I would not speak of it: for order is matter of illustration,
but pertaineth not to the substance of sciences. But this
misplacing hath caused a deficience, or at least a great
.
118 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [VIL 6.
—— a
ea
,
ee a
_
* Phgayer THE SECOND BOOK. 119
improficience in the sciences themselves. For the hand-
ling of final causes, mixed with the rest in physical in-
quiries, hath intercepted the severe and diligent inquiry .
of all real and physical causes, and given men the occa-
sion to stay upon these satisfactory and specious causes,
to the great arrest and prejudice of further discovery.
For this I find done not only by Plato, who ever anchor-
eth upon that shore, but by Aristotle, Galen, and others
which do usually likewise fall upon these flats of discours-
ing causes. For to say that she hairs of the eye-lids are for
a quicksel and fence about the sight ; or that the firmness of
the skins and hides of living creatures is to defend them from
the extremities of heat or cold ; or that the bones are for the
columns or beams, whereupon the frames of the bodies of living
creatures are built: or that the leaves of trees are for pro-
tecling of the fruit; or that the clouds are for watering of
the earth ; or that the solidness of the earth ts for the station
and mansion of living creatures, and the like, is well in-
quired and collected in metaphysic, but in physic they
are impertinent. Nay, they are indeed but remoraes and
hindrances to stay and slug the ship from further sailing ;
and have brought this to pass, that the search of the
physical causes hath been neglected and passed in silence.
And therefore the natural philosophy of Democritus and
some others, who did not suppose a mind or reason in
the frame of things, but attributed the form thereof able
to maintain itself to infinite essays or proofs of nature,
which they term fortune, seemeth to me (as far as I can
judge by the recital and fragments which remain unto us)
in particularities of physical causes more real and better
inquired than that of Aristotle and Plato; whereof both
’ intermingled final causes, the one as a part of theology,
and the other as a part of logic, which were the favourite
— oa
ir.
ia eee alll 7 y y . 4) a eee
r
120 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [VU.7
studies respectively of both those persons. Not because
those final causes are not true, and worthy to be inquired,
being kept within their own province; but because their
excursions into the limits of physical causes hath bred a
vastness and solitude in that tract. For otherwise, keep-
ing their precincts and borders, men are extremely de-_
ceived if they think there is an enmity or repugnancy at
all between them. For the cause rendered, that s/he hairs
about the eye-lids are for the safeguard of the sight, doth
not impugn the cause rendered, that prloszty is incident to
orifices of moisture ; muscost fontes, &c. Nor the cause
rendered, that the firmness of hides ts for the armour of the —
body against extremities of heat or cold, doth not impugn
the cause rendered, that contraction of pores is incident to
the outwardest parts, in regard of their adjacence to foreign
or unlike bodies: and so of the rest: both causes being
true and compatible, the one declaring an intention, the
other a consequence only. Neither doth this call in ques-
tion, or derogate from divine providence, but highly con-
firm and exalt it. For as in civil actions he is the greater
and deeper politique, that can make other men the instru-
ments of his will and ends, and yet never acquaint them
with his purpose, so as they shall do it and yet not know
what they do, than he that imparteth his meaning to those
he employeth ; so is the wisdom of God more admirable,
when nature intendeth one thing, and providence draweth
forth another, than if he had communicated to particular
creatures and motions the characters and impressions of
his providence. And thus much for metaphysic: the
latter part whereof I allow as extant, but wish it confined
to his proper place.
VIII. 1. Nevertheless there remaineth yet another
part of natural philosophy, which is commonly made a
a
Se
acne Te ee ee eee
VIII. 1.] THE SECOND BOOK. eta £2
principal part, and holdeth rank with physic special and
metaphysic, which is mathematic; but I think it more
agreeable to the nature of things, and to the light of order,
to place it as a branch of metaphysic. For the subject of
it being quantity, not quantity indefinite, which is but a
relative, and belongeth to phzlosophia prima (as hath been
said), but quantity determined or proportionable, it appear-
eth to be one of the essential forms of things, as that that
is causative in nature of a number of effects ; insomuch as
we see in the schools both of Democritus and of Pytha-
goras, that the one did ascribe figure to the first seeds of
things, and the other did suppose numbers to be the
principles and originals of things. And it is true also that
of all other forms (as we understand forms) it is the most
abstracted and separable from matter, and therefore most
proper to metaphysic; which hath likewise been the cause
why it hath been better laboured and inquired than any
of the other forms, which are more immersed into matter.
For it being the nature of the mind of man (to the extreme
prejudice of knowledge) to delight in the spacious liberty
of generalities, as in a champain region, and not in the
inclosures of particularity, the mathematics of all other
knowledge were the goodliest fields to satisfy that appetite.
But for the placing of this science, it is not much ma-
terial: only we have endeavoured in these our partitions
to observe a kind of perspective, that one part may cast
light upon another.
2. The mathematics are either pure or mixed. To the
puremathematics are those sciences belonging which handle
quantity determinate, merely severed from any axioms of
natural philosophy; and these are two, geometry and
arithmetic; the one handling quantity continued, and the
other dissevered. Mixed hath for subject some axioms
ae = me
122 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [V1.2
or parts of natural philosophy, and considereth quantity
determined, as it is auxiliary and incident unto them.
For many parts of nature can neither be invented with
sufficient subtilty, nor demonstrated with sufficient per- q
spicuity, nor accommodated unto use with sufficient dex- :
terity, without the aid and intervening of the mathematics ;
of which sort are perspective, music, astronomy, cosmo-
graphy, architecture, enginery, and divers others. In the
mathematics I can report no deficience, except it be that
men do not sufficiently understand the excellent use of the
pure mathematics, in that they do remedy and cure many
defects in the wit and faculties intellectual. For if the
wit be too dull, they sharpen it; if too wandering, they
fix it; if too inherent in the sense, they abstract it. So
that as tennis is a game of no use in itself, but of great
use in respect it maketh a quick eye and a body ready to
put itself into all postures; so in the mathematics, that
use which is collateral and intervenient is no less worthy
than that which is principal and intended. And as for the
mixed mathematics, I may only make this prediction,
that there cannot fail tosbe more kinds of them, as nature
grows further disclosed. Thus much of natural science,
or the part of nature speculative.
3. For natural prudence, or the part operative of na-
tural philosophy, we will divide it into three parts, experi-
mental, philosophical, and magical: which three parts
active have a correspondence and analogy with the three
parts speculative, natural history, physic, and metaphysic.
For many operations have been invented, sometime by
a casual incidence and occurrence, sometimes by a pur-
posed experiment: and of those which have been found
by an intentional experiment, some have been found out
by varying or extending the same experiment, some by
‘ed
-
Vilvsq TEE SECOND BOOK. | 123
transferring and compounding divers experiments the one
into the other, which kind of invention an empiric may
manage. Again by the knowledge of physical causes
there cannot fail to follow many indications and designa-
tions of new particulars, if men in their speculation will
keep one eye upon use and practice. But these are but
coastings along the shore premendo littus tniquum: for
it seemeth to me there can hardly be discovered any
radical or fundamental alterations and innovations in
nature, either by the fortune and essays of experiments,
or by the light and direction of physical causes. If
therefore we have reported metaphysic defi- yas.
cient, it must follow that we do the like of jyagia sive
natural magic, which hath relation thereunto. Physica
For as for the natural magic whereof now Operativa
there is mention in books, containing certain ™¥
credulous and superstitious conceits and observations of
sympathies and antipathies, and hidden proprieties, and
some frivolous experiments, strange rather by disguise- '
ment than in themselves, it is as far differing in truth of
nature from such a knowledge as we require, as the story
of King Arthur of Britain, or Hugh of Bourdeaux, differs
from Czesar’s Commentaries in truth of story. For it is
manifest that Cesar did greater things de vero than those
imaginary heroes were feigned to do. But he did them
not in that fabulous manner. Of this kind of learning
the fable of Ixion was a figure, who designed to enjoy
Juno, the goddess of power; and instead of her had
copulation with a cloud, of which mixture were begotten
centaurs and chimeras. So whosoever shall entertain
high and vaporous imaginations, instead of a laborious
and sober inquiry of truth, shall beget hopes and beliefs
of strange and impossible shapes. And therefore we may
oe
EY =~) pe B
a, i a
124 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [Vill 3.
note in these sciences which hold so much of imagination
and belief, as this degenerate natural magic, alchemy,
astrology, and the like, that in their propositions the de-
scription of the means is ever more monstrous than the
pretence or end. For it is a thing more probable, that
he that knoweth well the natures of weight, of colour, of
pliant and fragile in respect of the hammer, of volatile and
fixed in respect of the fire, and the rest, may superinduce
upon some metal the nature and form of gold by such
mechanique as longeth to the production of the natures
afore rehearsed, than that some grains of the medicine
projected should in a few moments of time turn a sea
of quicksilver or other material into gold. So it is more
probable that he that knoweth the nature of arefaction,
the nature of assimilation of nourishment to the thing
nourished, the manner of increase and clearing of spirits,
the manner of the depredations which spirits make upon
the humours and solid parts, shall by ambages of diets,
bathings, anointings, medicines, motions, and the like,
prolong life, or restore some degree of youth or vivacity,
than that it can be done with the use of a few drops or
scruples of a liquor or receipt. To conclude therefore,
the true natural magic, which is that great liberty and
latitude of operation which dependeth upon the know-
ledge of forms, I may report deficient, as the relative
thereof is. ‘To which part, if we be serious and incline
not to vanities and plausible discourse, besides the deriv-
ing and deducing the operations themselves from meta-
physic, there are pertinent two points of much purpose,
Inventarium the one by way of preparation, the other by
opum hum- way of caution. The first is, that there be
anarum. made a kalendar, resembling an inventory of
the estate of man, containing all the inventions (being
Ce ee
vitt. 3]. THE SECOND BOOK. 125
the works or fruits of nature or art) which are now
extant, and whereof man is already possessed; out of
which doth naturally result a note, what things are yet
held impossible, or not invented: which kalendar will
be the more artificial and serviceable, if to every reputed
impossibility you add what thing is extant which cometh
the nearest in degree to that impossibility; to the end
that by these optatives and potentials man’s inquiry may
be the more awake in deducing direction of works from
the’ speculation of causes. And secondly, that those ex-
periments be not only esteemed which have an immediate
and present use, but those principally which are of most
universal consequence for invention of other experiments,
and those which give most light to the invention of causes.
For the invention of the mariner’s needle, which giveth
the direction, is of no less benefit for navigation than the
invention of the sails which give the motion.
4. Thus have I passed through natural philosophy
and the deficiences thereof; wherein if I have differed
from the ancient and received doctrines, and thereby
shall move contradiction, for my part, as I affect not
to dissent, so I purpose not to contend. If it be
truth,
Non canimus surdis, respondent omnia sylvz ;
the voice of nature will consent, whether the voice of
man do or no. Andas Alexander Borgia was wont to
say of the expedition of the French for Naples, that
they came with chalk in their hands to mark up their
lodgings, and not with weapons to fight; so I like better
that entry of truth which cometh peaceably with chalk
to mark up those minds which are capable to lodge
and harbour it, than that which cometh with pugnacity
and contention.
126 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [VII 5.
__g. But there remaineth a division of natural philosophy
according to the report of the inquiry, and nothing con-
cerning the matter or subject: and that is positive and
considerative; when the inquiry reporteth either an asser-
tion or a doubt: These doubts or won liquets are of two
sorts, particular and total. For the first, we see a good
example thereof in Aristotle’s Problems, which deserved
to have had a better continuance; but so nevertheless
as there is one point whereof warning is to be given and
taken. The registering of doubts hath two excellent
uses: the one, that it saveth philosophy from errors and
falsehoods; when that which is not fully appearing is not
collected into assertion, whereby error might draw error,
but reserved in doubt: the other, that the entry of doubts
are as so many suckers or sponges to draw use of know-
ledze; insomuch as that which, if doubts had not pre-
ceded, a man should never have advised, but passed it
over without note, by the suggestion and solicitation of
doubts is made to be attended and applied. But both
these commodities do scarcely countervail an inconveni-
ence, which will intrude itself if it be not debarred ; which
is, that when a doubt is once received, men labour rather
how to keep it a doubt still, than how to solve it; and
accordingly bend their wits. Of this we see the familiar
example in lawyers and scholars, both which, if they have
once admitted a doubt, it goeth ever after authorised for
a doubt. But that use of wit and knowledge is to be
allowed, which laboureth to make doubtful things certain,
and not those which labour to make certain things doubt-
ful. Therefore these kalendars of doubts I commend
as excellent things; so that there be this caution used,
that when they be throughly sifted and brought to resolu-
tion, they be from thenceforth omitted, decarded, and not
es eS
co
Ys
oe.
ros
OO ge Pm
or ”
aa eo it iss eee ee cs
pe
oh ef .
VIfl. 8. THE SECOND BOOK. 127
,
continued to cherish and encourage men in doubting.
To which kalendar of doubts or problems, I = ale
advise be annexed another kalendar, as much raigoriaes
: : c roblema-
or more material, which is a kalendar of 4), in na-
popular errors: I mean chiefly in natural ‘ra,
history, such as pass in speech and conceit, Catalogus
and are nevertheless apparently detected and /#/sitatum
convicted of untruth; that man’s knowledge or a
be not weakened nor imbased by such dross jayure,
and vanity. As for the doubts or mon ligquets
general or in total, I understand those differences of
opinions touching the principles of nature, and the funda-
mental points of the same, which have caused the diversity
of sects, schools, and philosophies, as that of Empedocles,
Pythagoras, Democritus, Parmenides, and the rest. For
although Aristotle, as though he had been of the race of
the Ottomans, thought he could not reign except the
first thing he did he killed all his brethren; yet to those
that seek truth and not magistrality, it cannot but seem
a matter of great profit, to see before them the several
opinions touching the foundations of nature. Not for any
exact truth that can be expected in those theories ; for as
the same phenomeng in astronomy are satisfied by the
received astronomy of the diurnal motion, and the proper
motions of the planets, with their eccentrics and epicycles,
and likewise by the theory of Copernicus, who supposed
the earth to move, and the calculations are indifferently
agreeable to both, so the ordinary face and view of expe-
rience is many times satisfied by several theories and
philosophies; whereas to find the real truth requireth
another manner of severity and attention. For as Aris-
totle saith, that children at the first will call every wo-
man mother, but afterward they come to distinguish
on
di ee SMA
128 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [VII 5.
according to truth; so experience, if it be in childhood,
will call every philosophy mother, but when it cometh
to ripeness it will discern the true mother. So as in
.., the mean time it is good to see the several
De antiquis ae
philosophiis, 10Sses and opinions upon nature, whereof
it may be every one in some one point hath
seen clearer than his fellows, therefore I wish some ,col-
lection to be made painfully and understandingly de
_antiquts philosophits, out of all the possible light which
remaineth to us of them: which kind of work I find
deficient. But here I must give warning, that it be done
distinctly and severedly; the philosophies of every one
throughout by themselves, and not by titles packed and
faggoted up together, as hath been done by Plutarch.
For it is the harmony of a philosophy in itself which
giveth it light and credence; whereas if it be singled
and broken, it will seem more foreign and dissonant.
For as when I read in Tacitus the actions of Nero or
Claudius, with circumstances of times, inducements, and
occasions, I find them not so strange; but when I read
them in Suetonius Tranquillus, gathered into titles and
bundles and not in order of time, they seem more mon-
strous and incredible: so is it of any philosophy reported
entire, and dismembered by articles. Neither do I ex-
clude opinions of latter times to be likewise represented
in this kalendar of sects of philosophy, as that of Theo-
phrastus Paracelsus, eloquently reduced into an harmony
by the pen of Severinus the Dane; and that of Tilesius,
and his scholar Donius, being as a pastoral philosophy,
“full of sense, but of no great depth; and that of Fracas-
torius, who, though he pretended not to make any new
philosophy, yet did use the absoluteness of his own sense
upon the old; and that of Gilbertus our countryman, who
VUE 5.) THE SECOND BOOK. 129
revived, with some alterations and demonstrations, the
opinions of Xenophanes; and any other worthy to be
admitted,
6. Thus have we now dealt with two of the three
beams of man’s knowledge; that is radius direcius, which
is referred to nature, radius refractus, which is referred to
God, and cannot report truly because of the inequality of
the medium. There resteth radius reflexus, whereby man
beholdeth and contemplateth himself.
IX. 1. We come therefore now to that knowledge
whereunto the ancient oracle directeth us, which is the
knowledge of ourselves; which deserveth the more ac-
curate handling, by how much it toucheth us more nearly.
This knowledge, as it is the end and term of natural phi-
losophy in the intention of man, so notwithstanding it is
but a portion of natural philosophy in the continent of
nature, And generally let this be a rule, that all partitions
of knowledges be accepted rather for lines and veins than
for sections and separations; and that the continuance
and entireness of knowledge be preserved. For the
contrary hereof hath made particular sciences to become
barren, shallow, and erroneous, while they have not been
nourished and maintained from the common fountain.
So we see Cicero the orator complained of Socrates and
his school, that he was the first that separated philosophy
and rhetoric; whereupon rhetoric became an empty and
verbal art. So we may see that the opinion of Copernicus
touching the rotation of the earth, which astronomy itself
cannot correct, because it is not repugnant to any of the
phatnomena, yet natural philosophy may correct. So we
see also that the science of medicine if it be destituted
and forsaken by natural philosophy, it is not much better
than an empirical practice. With this reservation therefore
K
130 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [ 1x. I,
we proceed to human philosophy or humanity, which
hath two parts: the one considereth man segregate or
distributively ; the other congregate, or in society. So as
human philosophy is either simple and particular, or con-
jugate and civil. Humanity particular consisteth of the
same parts whereof man consisteth; that is, of know-
ledges which respect the body, and of knowledges that
respect the mind. But before we distribute so far, it is
good to constitute. For I do take the consideration in
general, and at large, of human nature to be fit to be
emancipate and made a knowledge by itself: not so much
in regard of those delightful and elegant discourses which
have been made of the dignity of man, of his miseries, of
his state and life, and the like adjuncts of his common
and undivided nature; but chiefly in regard of the know-
ledge concerning the sympathies and concordances be-
tween the mind and body, which being mixed cannot be
properly assigned to the sciences of either.
2. This knowledge hath two branches: for as all
leagues and amities consist of mutual intelligence and
mutual offices, so this league of mind and body hath
these two parts; how the one discloseth the other, and
how the one worketh upon the other; discovery and
impression. The former of these hath begotten two
arts, both of prediction or prenotion; whereof the one
is honoured with the inquiry of Aristotle, and the other
of Hippocrates. And although they have of later time
been used to be coupled with superstitious and fantastical
arts, yet being purged and restored to their true state,
they have both of them a solid ground in nature, and a
profitable use in life. The first is physiognomy, which
_ discovereth the disposition of the mind by the lineaments
of the body. The second is the exposition of natural
;
4
aa
a
'
1X2] THE SECOND BOOK. 131
,
dreams, which discovereth the state of the body by the
imaginations of the mind. In the former of these I note
a deficience. For Aristotle hath very ingeni- Park Phan
ously and diligently handled the factures of gnomia,
the body, but not the gestures of the body, de gestu sive
which are no less comprehensible by art, and ™0#™ cor-
of greater use and advantage. For the linea- ?°*
ments of the body do disclose the disposition and inclina-
tion of the mind in general; but the motions of the coun-
tenance and parts do not only so, but do further disclose
the present humour and state of the mind and will. For
as your majesty saith most aptly and elegantly, As she
tongue speaketh to the ear so the gesture speaketh to the eye.
And therefore a number of subtile persons, whose eyes
‘ do dwell upon the faces and fashions of men, do well
know the advantage of this observation, as being most
part of their ability; neither can it be denied, but that
it is a great discovery of dissimulations, and a great direc-
tion in business.
3. The latter branch, touching impression, hath not
been collected into art, but hath been handled dispers-
edly; and it hath the same relation or antistrophe that
the former hath. For the consideration is double: either,
how and how far the humours and affects of the body do
alter or work upon the mind; or again, how and how far
the passions or apprehensions of the mind do alter or
work upon the body. The former of these hath been
inquired and considered as a part and appendix of medi-
cine, but much more as a part of religion or superstition.
For the physician prescribeth cures of the mind in phren-
sies and melancholy passions; and pretendeth also to
exhibit medicines to exhilarate the mind, to confirm the
courage, to clarify the wits, to corroborate the memory,
K 2
132 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [IX. x.
om, a
and the like: but the scruples and superstitions of diet
and other regiment of the body in the sect of the Pytha-
goreans, in the heresy of the Manichees, and in the law
of Mahomet, do exceed. So likewise the ordinances in
the ceremonial law, interdicting the eating of the blood
and the fat, distinguishing. between beasts clean and
unclean for meat, are many and strict. Nay the faith
itself being clear and serene from all clouds of ceremony,
yet retaineth the use of fastings, abstinences, and other
macerations and humiliations of the body, as things real,
and not figurative. The root and life of all which pre-
scripts is (besides the ceremony) the consideration of that
dependency which the affections of the mind are submit-
ted unto upon the state and disposition of the body. And
if any man of weak judgement do conceive that this suffer-
ing of the mind from the body doth either question the
immortality, or derogate from the sovereignty of the soul,
he may be taught in easy instances, that the infant in the
mother’s womb is compatible with the mother and yet
separable; and the most absolute monarch is sometimes
led by his servants and yet without subjection. As for
the reciprocal knowledge, which is the operation of the
conceits and passions of the mind upon the body, we see
all wise physicians, in the prescriptions of their regiments
to their patients, do ever consider acctdentia animi as of
great force to further or hinder remedies or recoveries:
and more specially it is an inquiry of great depth and
worth concerning imagination, how and how far it altereth
the body proper of the imaginant. For although it hath
a manifest power to hurt, it followeth not it hath the same
degree of power to help. No more than a man can con-
clude, that because there be pestilent airs, able suddenly to
kill a man in health, therefore there should be sovereign
Vee
a
”
«
mr, FY
a
Sa ee
1xX.3.] -~—s THE, SECOND BQOK. — 133
‘airs, able suddenly to cure a man in sickness. But the
inquisition of this part is of great use, though it needeth,
as Socrates said, a Delian diver, being difficult and pro-
found. But unto all this knowledge de communi vinculo,
of the concordances between the mind and the body,
that part of inquiry is most necessary, which considereth
of the seats and domiciles which the several faculties of
the mind do take and occupate in the organs of the body;
which knowledge hath been attempted, and is contro-
verted, and deserveth to be much better inquired. For
the opinion of Plato, who placed the understanding in
the brain, animosity (which he did unfitly call anger,
having a greater mixture with pride) in the heart, and
concupiscence or sensuality in the liver, deserveth not to
be despised; but much less to be allowed. So then we
have constituted (as in our own wish and advice) the
inquiry touching human nature entire, as a just portion
' of knowledge to be handled apart.
X. 1. The knowledge that concerneth man’s body is
divided as the good of man’s body is divided, unto which
it referreth. The good of man’s body is of four kinds,
health, beauty, strength and pleasure: so the knowledges
are medicine, or art of cure: art of decoration, which is
called cosmetic; art of activity, which is called athletic ;
and art voluptuary, which Tacitus truly calleth eruditus
luxus. This subject of man’s body is of all other things
in nature most susceptible of remedy; but then that
remedy is most susceptible of error. For the same sub-
tility of the subject doth cause large possibility and easy
failing; and therefore the inquiry ought to be the more
exact.
2. To speak therefore of medicine, and to resume
that we have said, ascending a little higher: the ancient
‘y =
134 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [X. 2.
opinion that man was mzcrocosmus, an abstract or model
of the world, hath been fantastically strained by Paracelsus
and the alchemists, as if there were to be found in man’s
body certain correspondences and parallels, which should
have respect to all varieties of things, as stars, planets,
minerals, which are extant in the great world. But thus
much is evidently true, that of all substances which nature
hath produced, man’s body is the most extremely com-
pounded. For we see herbs and plants are nourished
by earth and water; beasts for the most part by herbs
and fruits; man by the flesh of beasts, birds, fishes, herbs,
grains, fruits, water, and the manifold alterations, dress-
ings and preparations of these several bodies, before they
come to be his food and aliment. Add hereunto that
beasts have a more simple order of life, and less change
of affections to work upon their bodies; whereas man in
his mansion, sleep, exercise, passions, hath infinite varia-.
tions: and it cannot be denied but that the body of man
of all other things is of the most compounded mass. The
soul on the other side is the simplest of substances, as is
well expressed:
Purumque reliquit
fEthereum sensum atque aurai simplicis ignem.
So that it is no marvel though the soul so placed enjoy
no rest, if that principle be true, that J/o/us rerum est
rapidus extra locum, placidus in loco, But to the purpose:
this variable composition of man’s body hath made it as
an instrument easy to distemper ; and therefore the poets
did well to conjoin music and medicine in Apollo, be-
cause the office of medicine is but to tune this curious
harp of man’s body and to reduce it to harmony. So
then the subject being so variable, hath mdde the art
by consequent more conjectural; and the art being
X. 2] THE, SECOND BOOK. + 135
conjectural hath made so much the more place to be left
for imposture. For almost all other arts and sciences
are judged by acts or masterpieces, as I may term them,
and not by the successes and events. The lawyer is
judged by the virtue of his pleading, and not by the issue
of the cause. The master in the ship is judged by the
directing his course aright, and not by the fortune of the
voyage. But the physician, and perhaps the politique,
hath no particular acts demonstrative of his ability, but
is judged most by the event; which is ever but as it is
taken: for who can tell, if a patient die or recover, or if a
state be preserved or ruined, whether it be art or accident?
And therefore many times the impostor is prized, and
the man of virtue taxed. Nay, we see [the] weakness
and credulity of men is such, as they will often prefer a
mountebank or witch before a learned physician. And
therefore the poets were clear-sighted in discerning this
extreme folly, when they made Ausculapius and Circe bro-
ther and sister, both children of the sun, as in the verses,
=A : . 6
Ipse repertorem medicine talis et artis *
Fulmine Phoebigenam Stygias detrusit ad undas:
And again, nl
Dives inaccessos ubi Solis filia lucos, 8c. ,?
For in all times, in the opinion of the multitude, witches
and old women and impostors have had a competition
with physicians. And what followeth? Even this, that
physicians say to themselves, as Salomon expresseth it
upon an higher occasion, J/ zt defal fo me as befalleth to
the fools, why should I labour to be more wise? And there-
fore I cannot much blame physicians, that they use
commonly to intend some other art or practice, which
they fancy, more than their profession. For you shall
have of them antiquaries, poets, humanists, statesmen,
&
136 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [X. 2.
merchants, divines, and in every of these better seen than
in their profession; and no doubt upon this ground, that
they find that mediocrity and excellency in their art
maketh no difference in profit or reputation towards their
fortune; for the weakness of patients, and sweetness
of life, and nature of hope, maketh men depend upon
physicians with all their defects. But nevertheless these
things which we have spoken of are courses begotten
between a little occasion, and a great deal of sloth and
default; for if we will excite and awake our observation,
we shall see in familiar instances what a predominant
faculty the subtilty of spirit hath over the variety of
matter or form. Nothing more variable than faces and
countenances: yet men can bear in memory the infinite
distinctions of them ; nay, a painter with a few shells of
colours, and the benefit of his eye, and habit of his
imagination, can imitate them all that ever have been,
are, or may be, if they were brought before him. No-
thing more variable than voices; yet men can likewise
discern them personally: nay, you shall have a Juffon
or pantomimus, will express as many as he pleaseth.
Nothing more variable than the differing sounds of words;
yet men have found the way to reduce them to a few
simple letters. So that it is not the insufficiency or in-
capacity of man’s mind, but it is the remote standing or
placing thereof, that breedeth these mazes and incom-
prehensions. For as the sense afar off is full of mistaking,
but is exact at hand, so is it of the understanding: the
remedy whereof is, not to quicken or strengthen the
organ, but to go nearer to the object; and therefore there
is no doubt but if the physicians will learn and use the
true approaches and avenues of nature, they may assume
as much as the poet saith:
ae
Kiar THE SECOND BOOK. Dn . -Aagy
LU :
Et quoniam_ variant morbi, variabimus “artes ;
Mille mali species, mille salutis erunt.
Which that they should do, the nobleness of their art
doth deserve; well shadowed by he poets, in that they
made Alsculapius to be the son of [the] sun, the one being
the fountain of life, the other as the second stream: but
infinitely more honoured by the example of our Saviour,
who made the body of man the object of his miracles, as
the soul was the object of his doctrine. For we read not
that ever he vouchsafed to do any miracle about honour
or money (except that one for giving tribute to Cesar),
but only about the preserving, sustaining, and healing
the body ‘of man.
3. Medicine is a science which hath been (as we have
said) more professed than laboured, and yet more la-
boured than advanced; the labour having been, in my
judgement, rather in circle than in progression. For I
find much iteration, but small addition. It considereth
causes of diseases, with the occasions or impulsions ; the
diseases themselves, with the accidents; and the cures,
with the preservations. The deficiences which I think
good to note, being a few of many, and those such as
are of a more open and manifest nature, I will enumerate
and not place.
4. The first is the discontinuance of the ancient and
serious diligence of Hippocrates, which used
to set down a narrative of the special cases
of his patients, and how they proceeded, and
how they were judged by recovery or death. ‘Therefore
having an example proper in the father of the art, I shall
not need to allege an example foreign, of the wisdom
of the lawyers, who are careful to report new cases and
decisions, for the direction of future judgements. This
Narrationes
medicinales,
= fee eh | eens
- a
138 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [X.4.
continuance of medicinal history I find deficient; which
I understand neither to be so infinite as to extend to
every common case, nor so reserved as to admit
none but wonders: for many things are new in the
manner, which are not new in the kind; and if men
will intend to observe, they shall find much worthy to
observe.
5. In the inquiry which is made by anatomy, I find
much deficience: for they inquire of the
parts, and their substances, figures, and col-
locations ; but they inquire not of the diver-
sities of the parts, the secrecies of the passages, and the
seats or nestling of the humours, nor much of the foot-
steps and impressions of diseases. The reason of which
omission I suppose to be, because the first inquiry may
be satisfied in the view of one or a few anatomies: but
the latter, being comparative and casual, must arise from
the view of many. And as to the diversity of parts, there
is no doubt but the facture or framing of the inward parts
is as full of difference as the outward, and in that is the
cause continent of many diseases; which not being ob-
served, they quarrel many times with the humours, which
are not in fault; the fault being in the very frame and
mechanique of the part, which cannot be removed by
medicine alterative, but must be accommodate and pal-
liate by diets and medicines familiar. And for the pas-
sages and pores, it is true which was anciently noted,
that the more subtile of them appear not in anatomies,
because they are shut and latent in dead bodies, though
they be open and manifest in live: which being supposed,
though the inhumanity of axatomia vivorum was by Celsus
justly reproved, yet in regard of the great use of this
observation, the inquiry needed not by him so slightly
Anatomia
comparata,
eh Somer
alin ——
a abe ae Pru i
ir
Pay ita
B28 | ; THE SECOND BOOK. 139
to have been relinquished altogether, or referred to the
casual practices of surgery; but mought have been well
diverted upon the dissection of beasts alive, which not-
withstanding the dissimilitude of their parts may suffi-
ciently satisfy this inquiry. And for the humours, they
are commonly passed over in anatomies as purgaments ;
whereas it is most necessary to observe, what cavities,
nests, and receptacles the humours do find in the parts,
with the differing kind of the humour so lodged and
received. And as for the footsteps of diseases, and their
devastations of the inward parts, impostumations, exul-
cerations, discontinuations, putrefactions, consumptions,
contractions, extensions, convulsions, dislocations, ob-
structions, repletions, together with all preternatural sub-
stances, as stones, carnosities, excrescences, worms and
the like; they ought to have been exactly observed by
multitude of anatomies, and the contribution of men’s
several experiences, and carefully set down both histo-
rically according to the appearances, and artificially with
a reference to the diseases and symptoms which resulted
from them, in case where the anatomy is of a defunct
patient; whereas now upon opening of bodies they are
- passed over slightly and in silence.
6. In the inquiry of diseases, they do abandon the
cures of many, some as in their nature in- Inquisitio
curable, and others as passed the period of ulterior de
cure; so that Sylla and the Triumvirs never morbis in-
proscribed so many men to die, as they do by sanabilibus.
their ignorant edicts: whereof numbers do escape with
less difficulty than they did in the Roman proscriptions.
Therefore I will not doubt to note as a deficience, that
they inquire not the perfect cures of many diseases, or
extremities of diseases; but pronouncing them incurable
140 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [X. 6.
do enact a law of neglect, and exempt ignorance from
discredit.
7. Nay further, I esteem it the office of a physician
not only to restore health, but to mitigate pain and
dolors ; and not only when such mitigation may conduce
ee te recovery, but when it may Serve to make
hy ee fair and easy passage. For it is no small
felicity which Augustus Czesar was wont to
wish to himself, that same Euthanasia; and
which was specially noted in the death of Antoninus Pius,
whose death was after the fashion and semblance of a
kindly and pleasant sleep. So it is written of Epicurus,
that after his disease was judged desperate, he drowned
his stomach and senses with a large draught and in-
gurgitation of wine ; whereupon the epigram was made,
Hine Stygias ebrius haustt aquas ; he was not sober
enough to taste any bitterness of the Stygian water. But
the physicians contrariwise do make a kind of scruple
and religion to stay with the patient after the disease is
deplored; whereas in my judgement they ought both to
inquire the skill, and to give the attendances, for the facil-
itating and assuaging of the pains and agonies of death.
8. In the consideration of the cures of diseases, I find
a deficience in the receipts of propriety, re-
specting the particular cures. of diseases: for
the physicians have frustrated the fruit of
tradition and experience by their magistral-
ities, in adding and taking out and changing guid pro
quo in their receipts, at their pleasures; commanding so
over the medicine, as the medicine cannot command
over the disease. For except it be treacle and mithri-
datum, and of late diascordium, and a few more, they tie
themselves to no receipts severely and religiously. For as
ore.
Medicine
experi-
mentales.
X. 8.] | THE SECOND BOOK. 141
’
to the confections of sale which are in the shops, they
are for readiness and not for propriety. For they are
upon general intentions of purging, opening, comforting,
altering, and not much appropriate to particular diseases.
And this is the cause why empirics and old women are
more happy many times in their cures than learned phy-
sicians, because they are more religious in holding their
medicines. ‘Therefore here is the deficience which I find,
that physicians have not, partly out of their own practice,
partly out of the constant probations reported in books,
and partly out of the traditions of empirics, set down and
delivered over certain experimental medicines for the cure
of particular diseases, besides their own conjectural and
magistral descriptions. For as they were the men of the
best composition in the state of Rome, which either being
consuls inclined to the people, or being tribunes inclined
to the senate; so in the matter we now handle, they be
the best physicians, which being learned incline to the
traditions of experience, or being empirics incline to the
methods of learning.
g. In preparation of medicines I do find strange,
specially considering how mineral medicines pias
have been extolled, and that they are safer nature in
for the outward than inward parts, that no balneis, et
man hath sought to make an imitation by art 7s ™edi-
of natural baths and medicinable fountains: “"@“2™*
which nevertheless are confessed to receive their virtues
from minerals: and not so only, but discerned and dis-
tinguished from what particular mineral they receive tinc-
ture, as sulphur, vitriol, steel, or the like: which nature,
if it may be reduced to compositions of art, both the
variety of them will be increased, and the temper of them
will be more commanded,
142 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [X. 10.
10. But lest I grow to be more particular than is agree-
Filum me- - 2ble either to my intention or to proportion,
dicinale, sive 1 will conclude this part with the note of one —
de vicibus deficience more, which seemeth to me ‘of
seaiemnar greatest consequence ; which is, that the pre-
rum,
scripts in use are too compendious to attain
their end: for, to my understanding, it is a vain and flat-
tering opinion to think any medicine can be so sovereign
or so happy, as that the receipt or use of it can work any-
great effect upon the body of man. It were a strange
speech which spoken, or spoken oft, should reclaim a
man from a vice to which he were by nature subject. It
is order, pursuit, sequence, and interchange of applica-
tion, which is mighty in nature; which although it re-
quire more exact knowledge in prescribing, and more
precise obedience in observing, yet is recompensed with
the magnitude of effects. And although a man would ©
think, by the daily visitations of the physicians, that there
were a pursuance in the cure: yet let a man look into
their prescripts and ministrations, and he shall find them
but inconstancies and every day’s devices, without any
settled providence or project. Not that every scrupulous
or superstitious prescript is effectual, no more than every
straight way is the way to heaven; but the truth of the
direction must precede severity of observance.
11. For cosmetic, it hath parts civil, and parts effemin-
ate: for cleanness of body was ever esteemed to pro-
ceed from a due reverence to God, to society, and to
ourselves. As for artificial decoration, it is well worthy
of the deficiences which it hath; being neither fine
enough to deceive, nor handsome to use, nor wholesome
to please.
12. For athletic, I take the subject of it largely, that
ae ae
eg
X. 12.] THE SECOND BOOK. 143
: :
is to say, for any point of ability whereunto the body of
man may be brought, whether it be of activity, or of
patience ; whereof activity hath two parts, strength and
swiftness ; and patience likewise hath two parts, hardness
against wants and extremities, and endurance of pain or
torment; whereof we see the practices in tumblers, “in
savages, and in those that suffer punishment. Nay, if
there be any other faculty which falls not within any of
the former divisions, as in those that dive, that obtain a
strange power of containing respiration, and the like, I
refer it to this part. Of these things the practices are
known, but the philosophy which concerneth them is not
much inquired; the rather, I think, because they are sup-
posed to be obtained, either by an aptness of nature,
which cannot be taught, or only by continual. custom,
which is soon prescribed: which though it be not true,
yet I forbear to note any deficiences: for the Olympian
games are down long since, and the mediocrity of these
things is for use ; as for the excellency of them it serveth
for the most part but for mercenary ostentation.
13. For arts of pleasure sensual, the chief deficience in
them is of laws to repress them. For as it hath been
well observed, that the arts which flourish in times while
virtue is in growth, are military ; and while virtue is in
state, are liberal; and while virtue is in declination, are
voluptuary: so I doubt that this age of the world is some-
what upon the descent of the wheel. With arts voluptuary
I couple practices joculary; for the deceiving of the
senses is one of the pleasures of the senses. As for
games of recreation, I hold them to belong to civil life
and education. And thus much of that particular human
philosophy which concerns the body, which is but the
tabernacle of the mind.
{i ~e
144 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XI. 1.
XI. 1.. For human knowledge which concerns the
mind, it hath two parts; the one that inquireth of the
substance or nature of the soul or mind, the other that
inquireth of the faculties or functions thereof. Unto the
first of these, the considerations of the original of the
soul, whether it be native or adventive, and how far it
is exempted from laws of matter, and of the immortality
thereof, and many other points, do appertain: which
have been not more laboriously inquired than variously
reported ; so as the travail therein taken seemeth to have
been rather in a maze than in a way. But although I am
of opinion that this knowledge may be more really and
soundly inquired, even in nature, than it hath been; yet
I hold that in the end it must be bounded by religion, ‘or
else it will be subject to deceit and delusion. For as the
substance of the soul in the creation was not extracted
out of the mass of heaven and earth by the benediction
of a producat, but was immediately inspired from God, so
it is not possible that it should be (otherwise than by
accident) subject to the laws of heaven and earth, which
are the subject of philosophy; and therefore the true
knowledge of the nature and state of the soul must come
by the same inspiration that gave the substance. Unto
this part of knowledge touching the soul there be two
appendices; which, as they have been handled, have
rather vapoured forth fables than kindled truth; divin-
ation and fascination.
2. Divination hath been anciently and fitly divided
into artificial and natural; whereof artificial is, when the
mind maketh a prediction by argument, concluding upon
signs and tokens; natural is, when the mind hath a pre-
sention. by an internal power, without the inducement
of a sign. Artificial is of two sorts; either when the
~
Ee ——————— OT eee
a ee ee ee SS
———
ee ee
i,
en ae
XI. 2] "THE SECOND BOOK. 145
argument is coupled with a derivation of causes, which is
rational; or when it is only grounded upon a coincidence
of the effect, which is experimental: whereof the latter
for the most part is superstitious; such as were the hea-
then observations upon the inspection of sacrifices, the
flights of birds, the swarming of bees; and such as was ,
the Chaldean astrology, and the like. For artificial divin-
ation, the several kinds thereof are distributed amongst
particular knowledges, The astronomer hath his predic-
tions, as of conjunctions, aspects, eclipses, and the like.
The physician hath his predictions, of death, of recovery,
of the accidents and issues of diseases. The politique
hath his predictions; O urbem venalem, et ctto perituram,
st emplorem invenerit! which stayed not long to be per-
formed, in Sylla first, and after in Cesar. So as these
predictions are now impertinent, and to be referred over.
But the divination which springeth from the internal
nature of the soul, is that which we now speak of; which
hath been made to be of two sorts, primitive and by
influxion. Primitive is grounded upon the supposition,
that the mind, when it is withdrawn and collected into
itself, and not diffused into the organs of the body, hath
some extent and latitude of prenotion; which therefore
appeareth most in sleep, in ecstasies, and near death, and.
more rarely in waking apprehensions; and is induced and
furthered by those abstinences and observances which
make the mind most to consist in itself. By influxion, is
grounded upon the conceit that the mind, as a mirror or
glass, should take illumination from the foreknowledge of
God and spirits: unto which the same regiment doth like-
wise conduce. For the retiring of the mind within itself
is the state which is most susceptible of divine influxions ;
save that it is accompanied in this case with a fervency
L
>. "rae a
~
146 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [X1.2
and elevation (which the ancients noted by fury), and not
with a repose and quiet, as it is in the other.
3. Fascination is the power and act of imagination
intensive upon other bodies than the body of the imagin-
ant, for of that we spake in the proper place. Wherein
the school of Paracelsus, and the disciples of pretended
natural magic have been so intemperate, as they have
exalted the power of the imagination to be much one
with the power of miracle-working faith. Others, that
draw nearer to probability, calling to their view the secret
passages of things, and specially of the contagion that
passeth from body to body, do conceive it should like-
wise be agreeable to nature, that there should be some
transmissions and operations from spirit to spirit without
the mediation of the senses; whence the conceits have
grown (now almost made civil) of the mastering spirit,
and the force of confidence and the like. Incident unto
this is the inquiry how to raise and fortify the imagin-
ation: for if the imagination fortified have power, then
it is material to know how to fortify and exalt it. And
herein comes in crookedly and dangerously a palliation
of a great part of ceremonial magic. For it may be
pretended that ceremonies, characters, and charms do
work, not by any tacit or sacramental contract with evil
spirits, but serve only to strengthen the imagination of him
that useth it; as images are said by the Roman church
to fix the cogitations and raise the devotions of them that
pray before them. But for mine own judgement, if it
be admitted that imagination hath power, and that cere-
monies fortify imagination, and that they be used sin-
cerely and intentionally for that purpose; yet I should
hold them unlawful, as opposing to that first edict which
God gave unto man, Jn sudore vullus comedes panem tuum.
XI. 3.| THE SECOND BOOK. — 147
Ld
For they propound those noble effects, which God hath
set forth unto man to be bought at the price of labour, to
be attained by a few easy and slothful observances. De-
ficiences in these knowledges I will report none, other
than the general deficience, that it is not known how
much of them is verity, and how much vanity. _
XII. 1. The knowledge which respecteth the faculties
of the mind of man is of two kinds; the one respecting
his understanding and reason, and the other his will,
appetite, and affection; whereof the former produceth
position or ,decree, the latter action or execution. It is
true that the imagination is an agent or muncius, in both
provinces, both the judicial and the ministerial. For
sense sendeth over to imagination before reason have
judged: and reason sendeth over to imagination before
the decree can be acted. For imagination ever precedeth
voluntary motion. Saving that this Janus of imagination
hath differing faces: for the face towards reason hath the
print of truth, but the face towards action hath the print
of good; which nevertheless are faces,
Quales decet esse sororum,
Neither is the imagination simply and only a messenger;
but is invested with, or at least wise usurpeth no small
authority in itself, besides the duty of the message. For
it was well said by Aristotle, That the mind hath over the
body that commandment, which the lord hath over a bond-
man ; but that reason hath over the imagination that com-
mandment which a magistrate hath over a free citizen ; who
may come also to rule in his turn. For we see that, in
matters of faith and religion, we raise our imagination
above our reason; which is the cause why religion sought
ever access to the mind by similitudes, types, parables,
visions, dreams. And again, in all persuasions that are
La
ra on
148 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XI.1.
wrought by eloquence, and other impressions of like
nature, which do paint and disguise the true appearance
of things, the chief recommendation unto reason is from
the imagination. Nevertheless, because I find not any
science that doth properly or fitly pertain to the imagin-
ation, I see no cause to alter the former division. For
as for poesy, it is rather a pleasure or play of imagination,
than a work or duty thereof. And if it be a work, we
speak not now of such parts of learning as the imagin-
ation produceth, but of such sciences as handle and con-
sider of the imagination. No more than we shall speak
now of such knowledges as reason produceth (for that
extendeth to all philosophy), but of such knowledges as
do handle and inquire of the faculty of reason: so as
poesy had his true place. As for the power of the
imagination in nature, and the manner of fortifying the
same, we have mentioned it in the doctrine De Anima,
whereunto most fitly it belongeth. And lastly, for imagin-
ative or insinuative reason, which is the subject of rhetoric,
we think it best to refer it to the arts of reason. So there-
fore we content ourselves with the former division, that
human philosophy, which respecteth the faculties of the
mind of man, hath two parts, rational and moral.
2. The part of human philosophy which is rational, is
of all knowledges, to the most wits, the least delightful,
and seemeth but a net of subtility and spinosity. For as
it was truly said, that knowledge is pabulum anim? ; so in
the nature of men’s appetite to this food, most men are
of the taste and stomach of the Israelites in the desert,
that would fain have returned ad ollas carnium, and were
weary of manna; which, though it were celestial, yet
seemed less nutritive and comfortable. So generally men
taste well knowledges that are drenched in flesh and blood,
Hehe ?
xu. 2] THE SECOND BOOK. — 149
civil history, morality, policy, about the which men’s affec-
tions, praises, fortunes do turn and are conversant. But
this same /umen siccum doth parch and offend most men’s
watery and soft natures. But to speak truly of things as
they are in worth, rational knowledges are the keys of
all other arts: for as Aristotle saith aptly and elegantly,
That the hand ts the instrument of instruments, and the mind
ts the form of forms ; so these be truly said to be the art
of arts. Neither do they only direct, but likewise confirm
and strengthen: even as the habit of shooting doth not
only enable to shoot a nearer shoot, but also to draw
a stronger bow.
3. The arts intellectual are four in number; divided
according. to the ends whereunto they are referred: for
man’s labour is to invent that which is sought or pro-
pounded; or to judge that which is invented; or to
retain that which is judged; or to deliver over that
which is retained. So as the arts must be four: art
of inquiry or invention: art of examination or judge-
ment: art of custody or memory: and art of elocution
or tradition.
XIII. 1. Invention is of two kinds much differing: the
one of arts and sciences, and the other of speech and
arguments. The former of these I do report deficient;
which seemeth to me to be such a deficience as if, in the
making of an inventory touching the state of a defunct, it
should be set down that there is no ready money. For
as money will fetch all other commodities, so this know-
ledge is that which should purchase all the rest. And like
as the West Indies had never been discovered if the use
of the mariner’s needle had not been first discovered,
though the one be vast regions, and the other a small
motion; so it cannot be found strange if sciences be no
“Yee
150 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [XIIL. 1.
further discovered, if the art itself of invention and dis-
covery hath been passed over.
2. That this part of knowledge is wanting, to my
judgement standeth plainly confessed; for first, logic
doth not pretend to invent sciences, or the axioms of
sciences, but passeth it over with a cuzque in sua arte
credendum. And Celsus acknowledgeth it gravely, speak-
ing of the empirical and dogmatical sects of physicians,
That medicines and cures were first found out, and then after
the reasons and causes were discoursed ; and not the causes
Jirst found out, and by light from them the medicines and
cures discovered. And Plato in his Theaetetus noteth well,
That particulars are infinite, and the higher generalites give
no sufficient direction: and that the pith of all sciences, which
maketh the artsman differ from the tnexpert, ts in the middle
propositions, which in every particular knowledge are taken
Jrom tradition and experience. And therefore we see, that
they which discourse of the inventions and originals of
things refer them rather to chance than to art, and rather
to beasts, birds, fishes, serpents, than to men.
Dictamnum genetrix Cretza carpit ab Ida,
Puberibus caulem foliis et flore comantem
Purpureo; non illa feris incognita capris
Gramina, cum tergo volucres hesere sagitte.
So that it was no marvel (the manner of antiquity being
to consecrate inventors) that the Egyptians had so few
human idols in their temples, but almost all brute:
Omnigenumque Deum monstra, et latrator Anubis,
Contra Neptunum, et Venerem, contraque Minervam, &c,
And if you like better the tradition of the Grecians, and
ascribe the first inventions to men, yet you will rather
believe that Prometheus first stroke the flints, and mar-
velled at the spark, than that when he first stroke the
@
XIII. 2. ‘THE SECOND BOOK. 151
’
flints he expected the spark: and therefore we see the
West Indian Prometheus had no intelligence with the
European, because of the rareness with them of flint,
that gave the first occasion. So as it should seem, that
hitherto men are rather beholden to a wild goat for sur-
gery, or to a nightingale for music, or to the ibis for some
part of physic, or to the pot-lid that flew open for artillery,
or generally to chance or anything else than to logic for
the invention of arts and sciences. Neither is the form
of invention which Virgil describeth much other :
Ut varias usus meditando extunderet artes
Paulatim.
For if you observe the words well, it is no other method
than that which brute beasts are capable of, and do put
in ure; which is a perpetual intending or practising some
one thing, urged and imposed by an absolute necessity
of conservation of being. For so Cicero saith very truly,
Usus unt ret deditus et naturam et artem se@pe vincit. And
therefore if it be said of men,
Labor omnia vincit
Improbus, et duris urgens in rebus egestas,
it is likewise said of beasts, Quzs pstttaco docuit suum
xaipe? Who taught the raven in a drowth to throw
pebbles into an hollow tree, where she spied water, that
the water might rise so as she might come to it? Who
taught the bee to sail through such a vast sea of air, and
to find the way from a field in flower a great way off to
her hive? Who taught the ant to bite every grain of
corn that she burieth in her hill, lest it should take root
and grow? Add then the word ex/undere, which im-
porteth the extreme difficulty, and the word paulatim,
which importeth the extreme slowness, and we are where
152 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [Xu 2.
we were, even amongst the Egyptians’ gods; there being
little left to the faculty of reason, and nothing to the duty
of art, for matter of invention.
3. Secondly, the induction which the logicians speak
of, and which seemeth familiar with Plato, whereby the
principles of sciences may be pretended to be invented,
and so the middle propositions by derivation from the
principles; their form of induction, I say, is utterly
vicious and incompetent: wherein their error is the
fouler, because it is the duty of art to perfect and exalt
nature; but they contrariwise have wronged, abused, and
traduced nature. For he that shall attentively observe
how the mind doth gather this excellent dew of know-
ledge, like unto that which the poet speaketh of, Aére7
mellis celestia dona, distilling and contriving it out of
particulars natural and artificial, as the flowers of the
field and garden, shall find that the mind of herself by
nature doth manage and act an induction much better
than they describe it. For to conclude upon an enumer-
ation of particulars, without instance contradictory, is
no conclusion, but a conjecture; for who can assure
(in many subjects) upon those particulars which appear
of a side, that there are not other on the contrary side
which appear not? As if Samuel should have rested
upon those sons of Issay which were brought before
him, and failed of David which was in the field. And
this form (to say truth) is so gross, as it had not been
possible for wits so subtile as have managed these things
to have offered it to the world, but that they hasted to
their theories and dogmaticals, and were imperious and
scornful toward particulars; which their manner was to
use but as Zcfores and vzatores, for sergeants and whifflers,
ad summovendam turbam, to make way and make room for
oe een a ee ee
i ae ar I oor
art
XII. 3.] THE SECOND BOOK. 153
their opinions, rather than in their true use and service.
Certainly it is a thing may touch a man with a religious ~
wonder, to see how the footsteps of seducement are the
very same in divine and human truth: for as in divine
truth man cannot endure to become as a child; so in
human, they reputed the attending the inductions (whereof
we speak) as if it were a second infancy or childhood.
4. Thirdly, allow some principles or axioms were rightly
induced, yet nevertheless certain it is that middle propos-
itions cannot be deduced from them in subject of nature
by syllogism, that is, by touch and reduction of them to
principles in a middle term. It is true that in sciences,
popular, as moralities, laws, and the like, yea, and divinity |
(because it pleaseth God to apply himself to the capacity of |
the simplest), that form may have use; and in natural phi-|
losophy likewise, by way of argument or satisfactory reason, |
Que assensum partt, operts effeta est: but the subtilty of
nature and operations will not be enchained in those bonds. |
For arguments consist of propositions, and propositions of
words, and words are but the current tokens or marks
of popular notions of things; which notions, if they be
grossly and variably collected out of particulars, it is not
the laborious examination either of consequences or argu-
ments, or of the truth of propositions, that can ever cor-
rect that error, being (as the physicians speak) in the first
digestion. And therefore it was not without cause, that so
many excellent philosophers became Sceptics and Aca-
demics, and denied any certainty of knowledge or com-
prehension; and held opinion that the knowledge of man
extended only to appearances and probabilities. It is true
that in Socrates it was supposed to be but a form of irony,
Sctenttam dissimulando simulavit: for he used to disable
his knowledge, to the end to enhance his knowledge: like
154 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XH 4
the humour of Tiberius in his beginnings, that would
reign, but would not acknowledge so much. And in the
later Academy, which Cicero embraced, this opinion also
of acafalepsia (I doubt) was not held sincerely: for that
all those which excelled in copie of speech seem to have
chosen that sect, as that which was fittest to give glory to
their eloquence and variable discourses ; being rather like
progresses of pleasure, than journeys to an end. But
assuredly many scattered in both Academies did hold it
(in subtilty and integrity. But here was their chief error;
| they charged the deceit upon the senses; which in my
|judgement (notwithstanding all their cavillations) are very
\sufficient to certify and report truth, though not always
immediately, yet by comparison, by help of instrument,
-and by producing and urging such things as are too
" subtile for the sense to some effect comprehensible by
the sense, and other like assistance. But they ought to
have charged the deceit upon the weakness of the intel-
lectual powers, and upon the manner of collecting and
concluding upon the reports of the senses. This I speak,
not to disable the mind of man, but to stir it up to seek
help: for no man, be he never so cunning or practised,
can make a straight line or perfect circle by steadiness of
hand, which may be easily done by help of a ruler or
compass.
5. This part of invention, concerning the invention of
Experientia . sciences, I purpose (if God give me leave)
literata, and hereafter to propound, having digested it into
interpretatio two parts; whereof the one I term exjerien-
oye: tia literata, and the other zx/erpretato nature:
the former being but a degree and rudiment of the latter.
But I will not dwell too long, nor speak too great upon a
promise.
ae ee
\
XII. 6.] THE SECOND BOOK. 155
6. The invention of speech or argument is not properly
an invention: for to invent is to discover that we know
not, and not to recover or resummon that which we
already know: and the use of this invention is no other
but, out of the knowledge whereof our mind is already
possessed, to draw forth or call before us that which may
be pertinent to the purpose which we take into our con-
sideration.. So as to speak truly, it is no invention, but a
remembrance or suggestion, with an application; which
is the cause why the schools do place it after judgement, \/
as subsequent and not precedent. Nevertheless, because
we do account it a chase as well of deer in an inclosed
park as in a forest at large, and that it hath already
obtained the name, let it be called invention: so as it
be perceived and discerned, that the scope and end of
this invention is readiness and present use of our know-
ledge, and not addition or amplification thereof.
4. To procure this ready use of knowledge there are
two courses, preparation and suggestion. The former of
these seemeth scarcely a part of knowledge, consisting
rather of diligence than of any artificial erudition. And
herein Aristotle wittily, but hurtfully, doth deride the
Sophists near his time, saying, Zhey did as tf one that
professed the art of shoe-making should not leach how to
make up a shoe, but only exhibit ina readiness a number of
shoes of all fashions and sizes. But yet a man might reply,
that if a shoemaker should have no shoes in his shop,
but only work as he is bespoken, he should be weakly
customed. But our Saviour, speaking of divine know-
ledge, saith, Zhat the kingdom of heaven is like a good house-
holder, that bringeth forth both new and old store: and we
see the ancient writers of rhetoric do give it in precept,
that pleaders should have the places, whereof they have
ee eal Maa 1s | de ee
e ‘ De ee 2
156 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [X11.7.
most continual use, ready handled in all the variety that
may be; as that, to speak for the literal interpretation of
the law against equity, and contrary; and to speak for
presumptions and inferences against testimony, and con-
trary. And Cicero himself, being broken unto it by great
experience, delivereth it plainly, that whatsoever a man
shall have occasion to speak of (if he will take the pains),
he may have it in effect premeditate and handled
thest. So that when he cometh to a particular he shall
have nothing to do, but to put to names, and times, and
places, and such other circumstances of individuals. We
see likewise the exact diligence of Demosthenes; who,
in regard of the great force that the entrance and access
into causes hath to make a good impression, had ready
framed a number of prefaces for orations and speeches.
All which authorities and precedents may overweigh
Aristotle’s opinion, that would have us change a rich
wardrobe for a pair of shears.
8. But the nature of the collection of this provision or
preparatory store, though it be common both to logic and
rhetoric, yet having made an entry of it here, where it
came first to be spoken of, I think fit to refer over the
further handling of it to rhetoric,
9. The other part of invention, which I term sugges-
tion, doth assign and direct us to certain marks, or places,
which may excite our mind to return and produce such
knowledge as it hath formerly collected, to the end we
may make use thereof. Neither is this use (truly taken)
only to furnish argument to dispute probably with others,
but likewise to minister unto our judgement to conclude
aright within ourselves. Neither may these places serve
only to apprompt our invention, but also to direct our
inquiry. For a faculty of wise interrogating is half a
a e
wis
eee he ee
woes =
Mos
*
XIll. 9.] THE SECOND BOOK. 157
knowledge. For as Plato saith, Whosoever seeketh, knoweth
that which he seeketh for in a general notion: else how shail
he know it when he hath found it? And therefore the larger
your anticipation is, the more direct and. compendious is
your search. But the same places which will help us
what to produce of that which we know already, will also
help us, if a man of experience were before us, what ques-
tions to ask; or, if we have books and authors to instruct
us, what points to search and revolve; so as I cannot
report that this part of invention, which is that which the
schools call topics, is deficient.
to. Nevertheless, topics are of two sorts, general and
special. ‘The general we have spoken to; but the par-
ticular hath been touched by some, but rejected generally
as inartificial and variable. But leaving the humour which
hath reigned too much in the schools (which is, to be
vainly subtile in a few things which are within their com-
mand, and to reject the rest), I do receive particular
topics, that is, places or directions of invention and
inquiry in every particular knowledge, as things of great
use, being mixtures of logic with the matter of sciences.
For in these it holdeth, ars znveniendi adolescit cum inventis ;
for as in going of a way, we do not only gain that part of
the way which is passed, but we gain the better sight of
that part of the way which remaineth: so every degree of
proceeding in a science giveth a light to that which fol-
loweth; which light if we strengthen by drawing it forth
into questions or places of inquiry, we do greatly advance
our pursuit.
XIV. 1. Now we pass unto the arts of judgement,
which handle the natures of proofs and demonstrations ;
which as to induction hath a coincidence with invention.
For in all inductions, whether in good or vicious form, the
7)
y awe
a 4 “Py
158 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XIV.1.
same action of the mind which inventeth, judgeth; all |
one as in thé sense. But otherwise it is in proof by syl-
logism ; for the proof being not immediate, but by mean,
the invention of the mean is one thing, and the judge-
ment of the consequence is another; the one exciting
_ only, the other examining. Therefore, for the real and
exact form of judgement, we refer ourselves to that which
_we have spoken of interpretation of nature.
2. For the other judgement by syllogism, as it is a
thing most agreeable to the mind of man, so it hath been
‘vehemently and excellently laboured. For the nature of
‘man doth extremely covet to have somewhat in his under-
\ standing fixed and unmoveable, and as a rest and support
of the mind. And therefore as Aristotle endeavoureth to
‘prove, that in all motion there is some point quiescent ;
and as he elegantly expoundeth the ancient fable of Atlas
(that stood fixed, and bare up the heaven from falling) to
be meant of the poles or axle-tree of heaven, whereupon
the conversion is accomplished: so assuredly men have a
desire to have an Atlas or axle-tree within to keep them
from fluctuation, which is like to a perpetual peril of
falling. ‘Therefore men did hasten to set down some
principles about which the variety of their disputations
might turn.
3. So then this art of judgement is but the reduction of
propositions to principles in a middle term. The prin-
ciples to be agreed by all and exempted from argument ;
the middle term to be elected at the liberty of every man’s
invention ; the reduction to be of two kinds, direct and
inverted; the one when the proposition is reduced to
the principle, which they term a probation ostensive; the
other, when the contradictory of the proposition is re-
duced to the contradictory of the principle, which is
XIV. 3.] THE SECOND BOOK. 159
that which they call per zncommodum, or pressing an ab-
surdity; the number of middle terms to be as the pro-
position standeth degrees more or less removed from
the principle.
4. But this art hath two several methods of doctrine,
the one by way of direction, the other by way of caution ;
the former frameth and setteth down a true form of con-
sequence, by the variations and deflections from which
errors and inconsequences may be exactly judged. To-
ward the composition and structure of which form, it is
incident to handle the parts thereof, which are propos-
itions, and the parts of propositions, which are simple
words. And this is that part of logic which is compre-
hended in the Analytics.
5. The second method of doctrine was introduced for
expedite use and assurance sake; discovering the more
subtile forms of sophisms and illaqueations with their
redargutions, which is that which is termed edenches. For
although in the more gross sorts of fallacies it happeneth
(as Seneca maketh the comparison well) as in juggling
feats, which, though we know not how they are done,
yet we know well it is not as it seemeth to be; yet the
more subtile sort of them doth not only put a man besides
his answer, but doth many times abuse his judgement.
6. This part concerning e/enches is excellently handled
by Aristotle in precept, but more excellently by Plato in
example; not only in the persons of the Sophists, but even
in Socrates himself, who, professing to affirm nothing,
but to infirm that which was affirmed by another, hath
exactly expressed all the forms of objection, fallace, and
redargution. And although we have said that the use of
this doctrine is for redargution, yet it is manifest the de-
generate and corrupt use is for caption and contradiction,
>
160 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XIV. 6.
which passeth for a great faculty, and no doubt is of
very great advantage: though the difference be good
which was made between orators and sophisters, that the
one is as the greyhound, which hath his advantage in the
race, and the other as the hare, which hath her advantage in
the turn, so as it is the advantage of the weaker creature.
7. But yet further, this doctrine of edenches hath a more
ample latitude and extent than is perceived; namely, unto
divers parts of. knowledge ; whereof some are laboured
and other omitted. For first, I conceive (though it may
seem at first somewhat strange) that that part which is
variably referred, sometimes to logic, sometimes to meta-
physic, touching the common adjuncts of essences, is but
an elenche. For the great sophism of all sophisms being
equivocation or ambiguity of words and phrase, specially
of such words as are most general and intervene in every
inquiry, it seemeth to me that the true and fruitful use
(leaving vain subtilities and speculations) of the inquiry of
majority, minority, priority, posteriority, identity, diversity,
possibility, act, totality, parts, existence, privation, and the
like, are but wise cautions against ambiguities of speech,
So again the distribution of things into certain tribes,
which we call categories or predicaments, are but cau-
tions against the confusion of definitions and divisions.
8. Secondly, there is a seducement that worketh by
the strength ,of the impression, and not by the subtilty
of the illaqueation; not so much perplexing the reason,
as overruling it by power of the imagination. But this
part I think more proper to handle when I shall speak
of rhetoric.
9. But lastly, there is yet a much more important and
profound kind of fallacies in the mind of man, which I
find not observed or inquired at all, and think good to
:
‘ye ae
XIv.9.] THE SECOND BOOK. » 161
place here, as that which of all others appertaineth most
to rectify judgement: the force whereof is such, as it
doth not dazzle or snare the understanding in some par-
ticulars, but doth more generally and inwardly infect and
corrupt the state thereof. For the mind of man is far
from the nature of a clear and equal glass, wherein the
beams of things should reflect according to their true
incidence; nay, it is rather like an enchanted glass, full
of superstition and imposture, if it be not delivered and
reduced. For this purpose, let us consider the false ap-
pearances that are imposed upon us by the general nature
of the mind, beholding them in an example or two; as
first, in that instance which is the root of all superstition,
namely, that to the nature of the mind of all men it is
consonant for the affirmative or active to affect more than
the negative or privative. So that a few times hitting or
presence, countervails oft-times failing or absence; as was
well answered by Diagoras to him that showed him in
Neptune’s temple the great number of pictures of such as
had scaped shipwreck, and had paid their vows to Nep-
tune, saying, Advise now, you that think it folly to invocate
Nepiune in tempest. Fea, but (saith Diagoras) where are
they painted that are drowned? Let us behold it in another
instance, namely, that the spirit of man, being of an equal
and uniform substance, doth usually suppose and feign in
nature a greater equality and uniformity than is in truth,
Hence it cometh, that the mathematicians cannot satisfy
themselves except they reduce the motions of the celestial
bodies to perfect circles, rejecting spiral lines, and labour-
ing to be discharged of eccentrics, Hence it cometh, that
whereas there are many things in nature, as it were
monodica, sui juris; yet the cogitations of man do feign
unto them relatives, parallels, and conjugates, whereas no
Pe ;
162 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XIV.9.
such thing is; as they have feigned an element of fire, to
keep square with earth, water, and air, and the like. Nay,
it is not credible, till it be opened, what a number of
fictions and fantasies the similitude of human actions and
arts, together with the making of man communis mensura,
have brought into natural philosophy; not much better
than the heresy of the Anthropomorphites, bred in the
cells of gross and solitary monks, and the opinion of Epi-
curus, answerable to the same in heathenism, who sup-
posed the gods to be of human shape. And therefore
Velleius the Epicurean needed not to have asked, why
God should have adorned the heavens with stars, as if he
had been an edits, one that should have set forth some
magnificent shows or plays. For if that great work-
master had been of an human disposition, he would have
cast the stars into some pleasant and beautiful works and
orders, like the frets in the roofs of houses; whereas one
can scarce find a posture in square, or triangle, or straight
line, amongst such an infinite number; so differing an
harmony there is between the spirit of man and the spirit
of nature.
10. Let us consider again the false appearances im-
posed upon us by every man’s own individual nature
and custom, in that feigned supposition that Plato maketh
of the cave: for certainly if a child were continued in a
grot or cave under the earth until maturity of age, and
came suddenly abroad, he would have strange and absurd
imaginations. So in like manner, although our persons
live in the view of heaven, yet our spirits are included in
the caves of our own complexions and customs, which
minister unto us infinite errors and vain opinions, if
they be not recalled to examination. But hereof we
have given many examples in one of the errors, or
eA
XIV. 10] ‘THE SECOND BOOK. 163
peccant humours, which we ran briefly over in our first
book.
11. And lastly, let us consider the false appearances
that are imposed upon us by words, which are framed
and applied according to the conceit and capacities of
the vulgar sort: and although we think we govern our
words, and prescribe it well loguendum ut vulgus senti-
endum ut sapientes; yet certain it is that words, as a
Tartar’s bow, do shoot back upon the understanding of
the wisest, and mightily entangle and pervert the judge-
ment. So as it is almost necessary, in all controversies and
disputations, to imitate the wisdom of the mathematicians,
in setting down in the very beginning the definitions
of our words and terms, that others may know how
we accept and understand them, and whether they con-
cur with us or no. For it cometh to pass, for want
of this, that we are sure to end there where we ought to
have begun, which is, in questions and differences about
words. To conclude therefore, it must be confessed that
it is not possible to divorce ourselves from these fallacies
and false appearances, because they are inseparable from
our nature and condition of life; so yet nevertheless the
caution of them (for all edenches, as was said, Elenchi
are but cautions) doth extremely import the jpavni, sive
true conduct of human judgement. The de idolis ani-
particular e/enches or cautions against these i bumani
three false appearances, I find altogether “vs #
deficient, adventitiis.
12. There remaineth one part of judgement of great
excellency, which to mine understanding is so slightly
touched, as I may report that also deficient; which is the
application of the differing kinds of proofs to the differing
kinds of subjects. For there being but four kinds of
M 2
164 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING.[XIV.12.
demonstrations, that is, by the immediate consent of the
mind or sense, by induction, by syllogism, and by con-
gruity, which is that which Aristotle calleth demonstration
in orb or circle, and not a@ nofiortbus, every of these hath
certain subjects in the matter of sciences, in which re-
spectively they have chiefest use; and certain others,
from which respectively they ‘ought to be excluded; and
the rigour and curiosity in requiring the more severe
proofs in some things, and chiefly the facility in con-
tenting ourselves with the more remiss proofs in others,
hath been amongst the greatest causes of
pemeae's detriment and hindrance to knowledge. The
eee distributions and assignations of demonstra-
tions, according to the analogy of sciences,
I note as deficient.
XV. 1. The custody or retaining of knowledge is either
in writing or memory; whereof writing hath two parts,
the nature of the character, and the order of the entry.
For the art of characters, or other visible notes of words
or things, it hath nearest conjugation with grammar; and
therefore I refer it to the due place. For the disposition
and collocation of that knowledge which we preserve in
writing, it consisteth in a good digest of common-places ;
wherein I am not ignorant of the prejudice imputed to
the use of common-place books, as causing a retardation
of reading, and some sloth or relaxation of memory.
But because it is but a counterfeit thing in knowledges
to be forward and pregnant, except a man be deep and
full, I hold the entry of common-places to be a matter of
great use and essence in studying, as that which assur-
eth copie of invention, and contracteth judgement to a
strength. But this is true, that of the methods of common-
places that I have seen, there is none of any sufficient
a "eis a
og PY hs | ae ~ ee sk) eal
4
err] THE SECOND BOOK. 165
worth: all of them carrying merely the face of a school,
and not of a world; and referring to vulgar matters and
pedantical divisions, without all life or respect to action.
2. For the other principal part of the custody of know-
ledge, which is memory, I find that faculty in my judge-
ment weakly inquired of. An art there is extant of it;
but it seemeth to me that there are better precepts than
that art, and better practices of that art than those re-
ceived, It is certain the art (as it is) may be raised to
points of ostentation prodigious: but in use (as it is now
managed) it is barren, not burdensome, nor dangerous to
natural memory, as is imagined, but barren, that is, not
dexterous to be applied to the serious use of business
and occasions. And therefore I make no more estima-
tion of repeating a great number of names or words
upon once hearing, or the pouring forth of a number of
verses or rhymes ex “empore, or the making of a satirical
simile of everything, or the turning of everything to a
jest, or the falsifying or contradicting of everything by
cavil, or the like (whereof in the faculties of the mind
there is great copie, and such as by device and practice
may be exalted to an extreme degree of wonder), than
I do of the tricks of tumblers, funambuloes, baladines ;
the one being the same in the mind that the other is in
the body, matters of strangeness without worthiness.
3. This art of memory is but built upon two intentions ;
the one prenotion, the other emblem. Prenotion dis-
chargeth the indefinite seeking of that we would re-
member, and directeth us to seek in a narrow compass,
that is, somewhat that hath congruity with our place of
memory. Emblem reduceth conceits intellectual to images
sensible, which strike the memory more; out of which
axioms may be drawn much better practique than that
a
166 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XV.3.
in use; and besides which axioms, there are divers moe
touching help of memory, not inferior to them. But I did
in the beginning distinguish, not to report those things
deficient, which are but only ill managed.
XVI. 1. There remaineth the fourth kind of rational
knowledge, which is transitive, concerning the expressing
or transferring our knowledge to others; which I will
term by the general name of tradition or delivery. Tra-
dition hath three parts; the first concerning the organ of
tradition ; the second concerning the method of tradition ;
and the third concerning the illustration of tradition,
2. For the organ of tradition, it is either speech or
writing: for Aristotle saith well, Words are the images of
cogitations, and letters are the images of words. But yet
it is not of necessity that cogitations be expressed by
the medium of words. For whatsoever is capable of
sufficient differences, and those perceptible by the sense,
is in nature competent to express cogitations. And there-
fore we see in the commerce of barbarous people, that
understand not one another’s language, and in the prac-
tice of divers that are dumb and deaf, that men’s minds
are expressed in gestures, though not exactly, yet to
serve the turn. And we understand further, that it is
the use of China, and the kingdoms of the High Levant,
to write in characters real, which express neither letters
nor words in gross, but things or notions; insomuch as
countries and provinces, which understand not one an-
other’s language, can nevertheless read one another’s
writings, because the characters are accepted more gener-
ally than the languages do extend; and therefore they
have a vast multitude of characters, as many (I suppose)
as radical words. |
3. These notes of cogitations are of two sorts ; the one
Xvi; 3. THE SECOND BOOK. 167
’ ;
when the note hath some similitude or congruity with the .
notion: the other ad placifum, having force only by con-
tract or acceptation. Of the former sort are hieroglyphics
and gestures. For as to hieroglyphics (things of ancient
"use, and embraced chiefly by the Egyptians, one of the
most ancient nations), they are but as continued impreses
and emblems. And as for gestures, they are as transitory
hieroglyphics, and are to hieroglyphics as words spoken |
are to words written, in that they abide not; but they
have evermore, as well as the other, an affinity with the
things signified. As Periander, being consulted with how
to preserve a tyranny newly usurped, bid the messenger
attend and report what he saw him do; and went into
his garden and topped all the highest flowers: signifying,
that it consisted in the cutting off and keeping low of the
nobility and grandees. Ad placi/um, are the characters
real before mentioned, and words: although some have
been willing by curious inquiry, or rather by apt feigning,
to have derived imposition of names from reason and
intendment; a speculation elegant, and, by reason it
searcheth into antiquity, reverent; but sparingly mixed
with truth, and of small fruit. This por-
tion of knowledge, touching the notes of
things, and cogitations in general, I find not
inquired, but deficient. And although it may seem of no
great use, considering that words and writings by letters
do far excel all the other ways ; yet because this part con-
cerneth as it were the mint of knowledge (for words are
the tokens current and accepted for conceits, as moneys
are for values, and that it is fit men be not ignorant that
moneys may be of another kind than gold and silver),
I thought good to propound it to better inquiry. —
4. Concerning speech and words, the consideration of
De notis
rerum,
iret amin cise ah
Rn gin! Maat)
erry
168 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [xvi ‘
them hath produced the science of grammar. For man
still striveth to reintegrate himself in those benedictions,
from which by his fault he hath been deprived; and as
he hath striven against the first general curse by the in-
vention of all other arts, so hath he sought to come forth
of the second general curse (which was the confusion of
tongues) by the art of grammar; whereof the use in a
. mother tongue is small, in a foreign tongue more; but
most in such foreign tongues as have ceased to be vulgar
tongues, and are turned only to learned tongues. The
duty of it is of two natures : the one popular, which is for
the speedy and perfect attaining languages, as well for
intercourse of. speech as for understanding of authors;
the other philosophical, examining the power and nature
of words, as they are the footsteps and prints of reason:
which kind of analogy between words and reason is
handled sparsim, brokenly though not entirely; and there-
fore I cannot report it deficient, though I think it very
worthy to be reduced into a science by itself.
5. Unto grammar also belongeth, as an appendix, the
consideration of the accidents of words; which are mea-
sure, sound, and elevation or accent, and the sweetness
and harshness of them ; whence hath issued some curious
observations in rhetoric, but chiefly poesy, as we consider
it, in respect of the verse and not of the argument.
Wherein though men in learned tongues do tie themselves
to the ancient measures, yet in modern languages it
seemeth to me as free to make new measures of verses
as of dances : for a dance is a measured pace, as a verse
is a measured speech. In these things the sense is better
judge than the art;
Coenz fercula nostre
Mallem convivis quam placuisse cocis,
i
|
BVI"5:] 7" THE SECOND BOOK, 169
And of the servile expressing antiquity in an unlike and
an unfit subject, it is well said, Quod tempore antiquum
videtur, td incongruitate est maxime novum.
6. For ciphers, they are commonly in letters, or alpha-
bets, but may be in words. The kinds of ciphers (besides
the simple ciphers, with changes, and intermixtures of
nulls and non-significants) are many, according to the
nature or rule of the infolding, wheel-ciphers, key-ciphers,
doubles, &c. But the virtues of them, whereby they are
to be preferred, are three; that they be not laborious to
write and read; that they be impossible to decipher;
and, in some cases, that they be without suspicion. The
highest degree whereof is to write omnia per omnia ; which
is undoubtedly possible, with a proportion quintuple at
most of the writing infolding to the writing infolded, and
no other restraint whatsoever. This art of ciphering hath
for relative an art of deciphering, by supposition unpro-
fitable, but, as things are, of great use. For suppose that
ciphers were well managed, there be multitudes of them
which exclude the decipherer. But in regard of the raw-
ness and unskilfulness of the hands through which they
pass, the greatest matters are many times carried in the
weakest ciphers. '
7. In the enumeration of these private and retired arts,
it may be thought I seek to make a great muster-roll of
sciences, naming them for show and ostentation, and to
little other purpose. But let those which are skilful in
them judge whether I bring them in only for appearance,
or whether in that which I speak of them (though in few
words) there be not some seed of proficience. And this
must be remembered, that as there be many of great
account in their countries and provinces, which, when they
come up to the seat of the estate, are but of mean rank
170 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XvI. 7
and scarcely regarded; so these arts, being here placed
with the principal and supreme sciences, seem petty
things; yet to such as have chosen them to spend their
_ labours and studies in them, they seem great matters.
XVII. 1. For the method of tradition, I see it hath
moved a controversy in our time. But as in civil busi-
ness, if there be a meeting, and men fall at words, there
is commonly an end of the matter for that time, and no
proceeding at all; so in learning, where there is much
controversy, there is many times little inquiry. For this
part of knowledge of method seemeth to me so weakly
inquired as I shall report it deficient.
2. Method hath been placed and that not amiss, in
logic, as a part of judgement. For as the doctrine of
syllogisms comprehendeth the rules of judgement upon
that which is invented, so the doctrine of method con-
taineth the rules of judgement upon that which is to be
delivered ; for judgement precedeth delivery, as it follow-
eth invention. Neither is the method or the nature of
the tradition material only to the use of knowledge, but
likewise to the progression of knowledge : for since the
labour and life of one man cannot attain to perfection of
knowledge, the wisdom of the tradition is that which in-
spireth the felicity of continuance and proceeding. And
therefore the most real diversity of method is of method
referred to use, and method referred to progression:
whereof the one may be termed magistral, and the other
of probation.
3. The latter whereof seemeth to be wza deserta et inter-
clusa. For as knowledges are now delivered, there is a
kind of contract of error between the deliverer and the
receiver. For he that delivereth knowledge, desireth to
deliver it in such form as may be best believed, and not
Ta TE ea ee ee
Ar Sw y ed te :
XVII. 3.] ‘THE SECOND BOOK. 171
,
as may be best examined; and he that receiveth know-
ledge, desireth rather present satisfaction, than expectant
inquiry; and so rather not to doubt, than not to err:
glory making the author not to lay open his weakness,
and sloth making the disciple not to know his strength.
4. But knowledge that is delivered as a thread to be
spun on, ought to be delivered and intimated, if it were
possible, in the same method wherein it was invented: and
so is it possible of knowledge induced. But in this same
anticipated and prevented knowledge, no man knoweth
how he came to the knowledge which he hath obtained.
But yet nevertheless, secundum majus ef minus, a man may
revisit and descend unto the foundations of his know-
ledge and consent; and so transplant it into another, as
it grew in his own mind. For it is in knowledges as it
is in plants: if you mean to use the plant, it is no matter
for the roots ; but if you mean to remove it to grow, then
it is more assured to rest upon roots than slips: so the
delivery of knowledges (as: it is now used) is as of fair
bodies of trees without the roots ; good for the carpenter,
but not for the planter. But if you will have sciences
grow, it is less matter for the shaft or body of the tree, so
you look well to the taking up of the roots. p¢ metodo
Of which kind of delivery the method of the sincera, sive
mathematics, in that subject, hath some 4 jilios
shadow: but generally I see it neither put ‘%“#” ‘rum.
in ure nor put in inquisition, and therefore note it for
deficient.
5. Another diversity of method there is, which hath
some affinity with the former, used in some cases by
the discretion of the ancients, but disgraced since by
the impostures of many vain persons, who have made it
as a false light for their counterfeit merchandises; and
ee eee
172 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING [XVII. 5.
that is, enigmatical and disclosed. The pretence whereof
is, to remove the vulgar capacities from being admitted
to the secrets of knowledges, and to reserve them to
selected auditors, or wits of such sharpness as can pierce
the veil.
6. Another diversity of method, whereof the conse-
quence is great, is the delivery of knowledge in aphor-
isms, or in methods; wherein we may observe that it
hath been too much taken into custom, out of a few
axioms or observations upon any subject, to make a
solemn and formal art, filling it with some discourses,
and illustrating it with examples, and digesting it into
a sensible method. But the writing in aphorisms hath
many excellent virtues, whereto the writing in method
doth not approach.
7. For first, it trieth the writer, whether he be superficial
or solid: for aphorisms, except they should be ridiculous,
cannot be made but of the pith and heart of sciences;
for discourse of illustration is cut off; recitals of exam-
ples are cut off; discourse of connexion and order is
cut off; descriptions of practice are cut off. So there
remaineth nothing to fill the aphorisms but some good
quantity of observation: and therefore no man can suffice,
nor in reason will attempt, to write aphorisms, but he that
is sound and grounded. But in methods,
Tantum series juncturaque pollet,
Tantum dé medio sumptis accedit honoris,
as a man shall make a great show of an art, which, if it
were disjointed, would come to little. Secondly, methods
are more fit to win consent or belief, but less fit to
point to action; for they carry a kind of demonstration
in orb or circle, one part illuminating another, and there-
fore satisfy. But particulars being dispersed do best
XVII. 7.] THE SECOND BOOK. 278
agree with dispersed directions, And lastly, aphorisms,
representing a knowledge broken, do invite men to in-
quire further; whereas methods, carrying the show of
a total, do secure men, as if they were at furthest.
8. Another diversity of method, which is likewise of
great weight, is the handling of knowledge by assertions
and their proofs, or by questions and their deter-
minations. The latter kind whereof, if it be immoderately
followed, is as prejudicial to the proceeding of learning,
as it is to the proceeding of an army to go about to
besiege every little fort or hold. For if the field be kept,
and the sum of the enterprise pursued, those smaller
things will come in of themselves; indeed a man would
not leave some important piece enemy at his back. In
like manner, the use of confutation in the delivery of
sciences ought to be very sparing; and to serve to re-
move strong preoccupations and prejudgements, and not
to minister and excite disputations and doubts.
g. Another diversity of methods is, according to the
subject or matter which is handled. For there is a great
difference in delivery of the mathematics, which are the
most abstracted of knowledges, and policy, which is the
most immersed. And howsoever contention hath been
moved, touching an uniformity of method in multiformity
of matter, yet we see how that opinion, besides the weak-
ness of it, hath been of ill desert towards learning, as
that which taketh the way to reduce learning to cer-
tain empty and barren generalities; being but the very
husks and shells of sciences, all the kernel being forced
out and expulsed with the torture and press of the method.
And therefore as I did allow well of particular topics for
invention, so I do allow likewise of particular methods of
tradition.
a
174 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XVII. 10.
ro. Another diversity of judgement in the delivery and
teaching of knowledge is, according unto the light and
presuppositions of that which is delivered. For that know-
ledge which is new, and foreign from opinions received,
is to be delivered in another form than that that is agree-
able and familiar ; and therefore Aristotle, when he thinks
to tax Democritus, doth in truth commend him, where he
saith, Jf we shall indeed dispute, and not follow after simili-
tudes, &c. For those whose conceits are seated in popular
opinions, need only but to prove or dispute; but those
whose conceits are beyond popular opinions, have a
double labour; the one to make themselves conceived,
and the other to prove and demonstrate. So that it is
of necessity with them to have recourse to similitudes and
translations to express themselves. And therefore in the
infancy of learning, and in rude times, when those con-
ceits which are now trivial were then new, the world was
full of parables and similitudes ; for else would men either
have passed over without mark, or else rejected for para-
doxes that which was offered, before they had understood
or judged. So in divine learning, we see how frequent
parables and tropes are: for it is a rule, that whatsoever
science is not consonant to presuppositions, must pray in
aid of similitudes.
11. There be also other diversities of methods vulgar
and received: as that of resolution or analysis, of con-
stitution or systasis, of concealment or cryptic &c., which
I do allow well of, though I have stood upon those which
De pruden- ate least handled and observed. All which
tia tradi- I have remembered to this purpose, because
nonis. I would erect and constitute one general in-
quiry (which seems to me deficient) touching the wisdom
of tradition.
eee ee et ee re ey
XVIL.12.] ‘THE SECOND BOOK. 198
’ ’
12. But unto this part of knowledge, concerning method,
doth further belong not only the architecture of the whole
frame of a work, but also the several beams and columns
thereof; not as to their stuff, but as to their quantity and
figure. And therefore method considereth not only the
disposition of the argument or subject, but likewise the
propositions: not as to their truth or matter, but as to
their limitation and manner. For herein Ramus merited
better a great deal in reviving the good rules of proposi-
tions, Ka6dXov mp@rov, kara mavrés &c., than he did in intro-
ducing the canker of epitomes; and yet (as it is the
condition of human things that, according to the ancient
fables, the most precious things have the most pernicious
keepers) it was so, that the attempt of the one made him
fall upon the other. For he had need be well conducted
that should design to make axioms convertible, if he
make them not withal circular, and non-promovent, or
incurring into themselves; but yet the intention was
excellent. Ea
13. The other considerations of¢method) concerning
ropositions, are chiefly touching the utmost proposi-
tions, which limit the dimensions of sciences: for every
knowledge) may be fitly said, besides the profundity
(which is the truth and substance of it, that makes it
solid), to have a longitude and a latitude; accounting
the latitude towards other sciences, and. the longitude
towards action; that is, from the greatest generality to
the most particular precept. The one giveth rule how
r one knowledge ought to intermeddle within the pro-_
vince of another, which is the rule they call KaOauré ; the
other giveth Tulé unto what degree of particularity a
knowledge should descend: which latter I find passed
over in silence, being in my judgement the more material.
176 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XVII 13.
For certainly there must be somewhat left to practice ;
but how much is worthy the inquiry. We see remote
and superficial generalities do but offer knowledge to
scorn of practical,men; and are no more aiding to
practice, than an Ortelius’ universal map is to direct the
way between London and York. The better sort of
ee ek edb ity oommrased, to glasses of steel
unpolished, where you may see the images of things,
but first they must be filed: so the rules will help, if they
De produc- be laboured and polished by practice. But
tione axio- how crystalline they may be made at the
matin. first, and how far forth they may be polished
aforehand is the question; the inquiry whereof seemeth
to me deficient.
14. There hath been also laboured and put in prac-
tice a method, which is not a awful» ‘method, but a
method of imp mposture; which is, to deliver knowledges in_
such manner, as men may speedily come to make a show.
of learning who have it not. Such was the travail of
“Raymundus_ Lullius, in making that art which bears his
name: not unlike to some books of typocosmy, which
have been made since; being nothing but a mass of
_ words of all arts, to give men countenance, that those
which use the terms might be thought to understand the
art; which collections are much like a fripper’s or broker’s
shop, that hath ends of everything, but nothing of worth.
XVIII. 1. Now we descend to that part which con-
cerneth the illustration of tradition, comprehended in that
science which we call rhetoric, or art of eloquence; a
science. excellent, and excellently well laboured. For
although in true value it is inferior to wisdom, as it is
said by God to Moses, when he disabled himself for
want of this faculty, Aaron shall be thy speaker, and thou
XVIII. 1.] _ THE SECOND BOOK. cae >
| bes
shalt be to him as God » yet with people it is the more
mighty: for so Salomon saith, Sapzens corde appellabitur
prudens, sed dulcis eloquio majora repervet ; signifying that
profoundness of wisdom will help a man to a name or
admiration, but that it is eloquence that prevaileth in an
active life. And as to the labouring of it, the emulation
of Aristotle with the rhetoricians of his time, and the
experience of Cicero, hath made them in their works of
rhetorics. exceed themselves. Again, the excellency of
examples of eloquence in the orations of Demosthenes
and Cicero, added to the perfection of the precepts of
eloquence, hath doubled the, » progression dn this. art; and
therefore the deficignces which I shall_note will rather be
some) collections, which_may as handmaids attend the aj
art, than in the-fules or fuse of the art itself. i
2. Notwithstanding, to stir the earth a little about the
08, of this science, as we have done of the rest; the yy
uty and office of rhetoric is_to.apply reason to imagina-_ |
tion for the better moving of the will. For we see reason
is disturbed i in the administration thereof by three. means ;
imagination or impression, a, which pertains to suman an
by passion or affection, which pertains to morality. And
as in negotiation with others, men are wrought by cun-
ning, by importunity, and by vehemency; so in this
negotiation within ourselves, men are undermined by in-
consequences, solicited and importuned by impressions
or observations, and transported by passions. Neither is
the nature of man so unfortunately built, as that t those
powers and arts should have force to disturb reason, and \
not to establish and advance it. For the end of logic is to.
teach a form of argument to s secure reason, and not to en- yy
trap it. The end of morality is to procure the affections\to 2
N
a a
‘ a Le ae re ee v=
wr me ”
1, oe
178 OF = ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [xvita.
wt lo é obey-reason, and not to invade it. The end d of yatenigs to
B
fill the i to second reason, and 1 not to oppress it:
- for these abuses of arts come in but ex oddiguo, for caution,
3. And therefore it was great injustice in Plato, though
springing out of a just hatred to the thetoricians of his
time, to esteem of rhetoric but as a voluptuary art, re-
sembling it to cookery, that did mar wholesome. meats,
and help unwholesome by variety of sauces to the plea-
sure of the taste. For we see that speech is much more
conversant in adorning that which is good, than in
colouring that which is evil; for there is no man but
speaketh more honestly than he can do or think: and
it was excellently noted by Thucydides in Cleon, that
because he used to hold on the bad side in causes of
estate, therefore he was ever inveighing against elo-
quence and good speech; knowing that no man can
speak fair of courses sordid and base. And therefore
os Us as Plato said elegantly, Zhat wirtue, if she could be seen,
4 would move £ great love and affection ; so seeing that she \|
£ =. cannot be showed to the sense by corporal shape, the V
a» next degree is to show her to the imagination in lively
..{ Yepresentation: for to show her to reason only in sub- R
ad _ tility of argument was a thing ever derided in Chrysip-
- “| Sypus and many of the Stoics, who thought to thrust
a virtue upon men by sharp disputations and conclusions,
which have no sympathy with the\will of man.
4. Again, if the affections in themselves were pliant and
\ / obedient to reason, it were true there should be no great
use of persuasions and insinuations to the will, more than
of naked proposition and proofs; but in regard of the
continual mutinies and seditions of the affections,
Video meliora, proboque,
Deteriora sequor,
se a nts ie
‘XVIII. 4.] THE SECOND BOOK. 179
reason would become captive and servile, if eloquence
of persuasions did not practise and win the imagination
from the affections’ part, and contract_a confederacy be- | ~—
tween the'zesson and imagination against the affections ;/”
for the affections themselves carry ever an appetite to
good, as reason doth. The difference is, that the affection
beholdeth merely the present ; reason-beholdeth the future
and sum of time. And therefore the present filling the
imagination more, reason is commonly vanquished; but
after that force of eloquence and persuasion hath made
: nn |
things future and remote appear as present, t then _ upon 2
the revol€“Of the imagination reason prevaileth. : Ue
5. We conclude therefore that rhetoric can be no
more charged with the colouring of the worse part, than
logic with sophistry, or morality with vice. For we know
the doctrines of contraries are the same, though the use
be opposite. It appeareth also that logic differeth from
rhetoric, not only as the fist from the palm, the one close,
the other at large; but much more in this, that Togic)
handleth reason exact and in truth, and Ghetoric handleth \
it as it is planted in in popular opinions and manners. And
therefore Aristotle doth wisely place thetoric as between <-
logic on the one side, and moral or civil knowledge on ‘Ye
the other, as participating of both: for the proofs and |
demonstrations of logic are toward all men indifferent
and the same; but the proofs and persuasions of rhetoric )
ought to differ according to the auditors : /}
a
Orpheus in sylvis, inter delphinas Arion.
Which application, in perfection of idea, ought to_extend
so far, that if a man should speak of the same thing to
several persons, he should speak to them all respectively
and several ways: though this politic part of eloquence
N 2
180 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XVII. 5.
in private speech it is easy for the greatest orators to
* want: whilst, by the observing their well-
De prudentia oraced forms of speech, they leese the volu-
privat, Dility of application: and therefore it shall
not be amiss to recommend this to better
inquiry, not being curious whether we place it here, or in
that part which concerneth policy.
6. Now therefore will I descend to the deficiences,
Colores boni Which (as I said) are but attendances: and
et mali, first, I do not find the wisdom and diligence |
simplicis et — of Aristotle well pursued, who began to make
comparati, 4 collection of _the popular signs and colours _ oe
f good and eyil,.both simple and comparative, which are.
as the sophisms of rhetoric (as I touched before). For
example:
Sophisma.
Quod laudatur, bonum: quod -vituperatur, malum,
Redargutio.
Laudat venales qui vult extrudere merces.
Malum est, malum est (inqutt emptor) ; sed cum recesserit,
tum gloriabitur! ‘The defects in the labour of Aristotle
are three: one, that there be but a few of many ; another,
that their elenches are not annexed; and the third, that
he conceived but a part of the use of them: for their use
is not only in probation, but much more in impression.
For many forms are equal in signification which are dif-
fering in impression; as the difference is great in the
piercing of that which is sharp and that which is flat,
though the strength of the percussion be the same. For
there is no man but will be a little more raised by hearing
it said, Your enemies will be glad of this,
Hoe Ithacus velit, et magno mercentur Atridaz,
than by hearing it said only, Zhzs 7s evil for you.
22 Pee ‘ -)
XVIII. 7.] THE SECOND BOOK. 181.
7. Secondly, I do resume also that which I mentioned
before, touching provision or preparatory store for the
furniture of speech and readiness of invention, which ap-
peareth to be of two sorts; the one in resemblance to a
shop of pieces unmade up, the other to a shop of things
ready made up; both to be applied to that which is fre-
quent and most in request. The former of these I will
call antitheta, and the latter formule.
8. Antitheta are theses argued pro ef contra; wherein
men may be more large and laborious: but
(in such as are able to do it) to avoid prolixity
of entry, I wish the seeds of the several argu-
ments to be cast up into some brief and acute sentences,
not to be cited, but to be as skeins or bottoms of thread,
to be unwinded at large when they come to be used;
supplying authorities and examples by reference.
Pro verbis legis,
Non est interpretatio, sed divinatio, quz recedit a litera :
Cum receditur a litera, judex transit in legislatorem,
Antitheta
érum,
Pro sententia legis.
Ex omnibus verbis est eliciendus sensus qui interpretatur singula.
9. Formule are but decent and apt passages or con-
veyances of speech, which may serve indifferently for
differing subjects; as of preface, conclusion, digression,
transition, excusation, &c. For as in buildings there is
great pleasure and use in the well casting of the stair-
cases, entries, doors, windows, and the like; so in speech,
the conveyances and passages are of special ornament
and effect.
A conclusion in a deliberative.
So may we redeem the faults passed, and prevent the inconveniences
future,
XIX. 1. There remain two appendices touching the
182 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XIX.1._
tradition of knowledge, the one critical, the other pedant-
‘ ical. For vall_knowledge is cither delivered by teachers,
YY or attained by men’s proper endeavours: and therefore
‘as the principal part of tradition of knowledge | concerneth
chiefly ‘writing of books, so 30 the relative > part thereof f con-
cerneth reading of books ; whereunto appertain incidently
ard these considerations. The first is concerning the true
4 correction and edition of authors; wherein nevertheless
rash diligence hath done great prejudice. For these ,
critics have often presumed that that which they under-
stand not is false set down: as the priest that, where
he found it written of S. Paul Demzssus est per sportam,
mended his book, and made it Demzssus est per portam ;
because sfor/a was an hard word, and out of his reading:
and surely their errors, though they be not so palpable
and ridiculous, yet are of the same kind. And therefore,
as it hath been wisely noted, the most corrected copies
are commonly the least correct.
The second is concerning the exposition and explic-
ation of authors, which resteth in annotations and com-
mentaries: wherein it is over usual to blanch the obscure
places and discourse upon the plain.
The third is concerning the times, which in many cases
qd give great light to true’ interpretations.
The fourth is concerning some brief censure and judge-
ment of the authors; that men thereby may make some
election unto themselves what books to read.
And the fifth is concerning the syntax and disposition
of studies; that men may know in what order or pursuit
to read.
2. For pedantical knowledge, it containeth that differ-
ence of tradition which is proper for youth; whereunto
appertain divers considerations of great fruit.
i ggie4 ao | Finca i ele e- ’ == | eal
t
XI4.2.] ‘THE SECOND BOOK. ~ 183
As first, the timing and seasoning of knowledges; as
with what to initiate them, and from what for a time to
refrain them.
Secondly, the consideration where to begin with the
easiest, and so proceed to the more difficult; and in what
courses to press the more difficult, and then to turn them
to the more easy : for it is one method to practise swim-
ming with bladders, and another to practise dancing with
heavy shoes.
A third is the application of learning according unto
the propriety of the wits; for there is no defect in the
faculties intellectual, but seemeth to have a proper cure
contained in some studies: as, for example, if a child be
bird-witted, that is, hath not the faculty of attention, the
mathematics giveth a remedy thereunto; for in them, if
the wit be caught away but a moment, one is new to
begin. And as sciences have a propriety towards faculties
for cure and help, so faculties or powers have a sympathy
towards sciences for excellency or speedy profiting: and
therefore it is an inquiry of great wisdom, what kinds of
wits and natures are most apt and proper for what sciences.
Fourthly, the ordering of exercises is matter of great
consequence to hurt or help: for, as is well observed by
Cicero, men in exercising their faculties, if they be not
well advised, do exercise their faults and get ill habits as
well as good; so as there is a great judgement to be had
in the continuance and intermission of exercises. It were
too long to particularise a number of other considerations
of this nature, things but of mean appearance, but of
singular efficacy. For as the wronging or cherishing of
seeds or young plants is that that is most important
to their thriving, and as it was noted that the first six
kings being in truth as tutors of the state of Rome in the
184 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [XIX. 2.
infancy thereof was the principal cause of the immense
greatness of that state which followed, so the culture
and manurance of minds in youth hath such a forcible
(though unseen) operation, as hardly any length of time
or contention of labour can countervail it afterwards.
And it is not amiss to observe also how small and mean
faculties gotten by education, yet when they fall into great
men’ or great matters, do work great and important
effects: whereof we see a notable example in Tacitus
of two stage players, Percennius and Vibulenus, who by
their faculty of playing put the Pannonian armies into
an extreme tumult and combustion. For there arising a
mutiny amongst them upon the death of Augustus Cesar,
Blesus the lieutenant had committed some of the mutin-
ers, which were suddenly rescued; whereupon Vibulenus
got to be heard speak, which he did in this manner:
These poor tnnocent wretches appointed to cruel death, you
have restored to behold the light ; but who shall restore my
brother to me, or life unto my brother, that was sent hither
in message from the legions of Germany, to treat of the
common cause P and he hath murdered him this last night
by some of his fencers and ruffians, that he hath about him
for his executioners upon soldiers. Answer, Blaesus, what
ts done with his body ? The mortalest enemies do not deny
burial. When I have performed my last duties to the corpse
with kisses, with tears, command me to be slain besides him ;
so that these my fellows, for our good meaning and our true
hearts to the legions, may have leave to bury us. With which
speech he put the army into an infinite fury and uproar:
whereas truth was he had no brother, neither was there
any such matter; but he played it merely as if he had
been upon the stage.
3. But to return: we are now come to a period of
ae fee eee ee
XIX. de THE ste BOOK.. 18 85
ational) knowledges ; : siiotehi if I have made the divi- } d
Ck
sions ete than tho those that are re received, yet 1 would I not
be_thought to disallow all those divisions which I do nc not
use. For there is a double necessity imposed. upon me
of altering the divisions. The one, because it differeth
in / vend | and purpose, to sort together those things which
are next in nature, and those things which are next in_
use. For if a secretary of estate should sort his papers,
it is like in his study or general cabinet he would sort
together things of a nature, as treaties, instructions, &c.
But in his boxes or particular cabinet he would sort
together those that he were like to use together, though A.
of several natures. So in this general rie disions of
ledge it was necessary for me to follow-the divisions of
the (nature of things; whereas if myself had been_to
-handlé any particular knowledge, I would have respected
the divisions fittest for use. The other, because the
bringing in of the he deficiences did by consequence alter
e partitions of the the rest. For let the knowledge extant
(for demonstration sake) be fifteen. Let the knowledge
with the deficiences be twenty; the parts of fifteen are
not the parts of twenty; for the parts of fifteen are three
and five ; the parts of twenty are two, four, five, and ten.
So as these things. are without contradiction, and could b
not otherwise be,
XX. 1. WE proceed now to that knowledge which
considereth of the appetite and will of
man: whereof Salomon saith, Anée omnia, fil’, custodi-cor
tuum ; nam inde procedunt actiones vite. In the handling
of this science, thosé which have written seem to me to
have done as if a man, that professed to teach to write,
did only exhibit fair copies of alphabets and letters
"_: el ®
A eh
. oe
186 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XX.1.
joined, without giving any precepts or directions for the
carriage of the hand and framing of the letters. So have
they made good and fair exemplars and copies, carrying
the draughts and portraitures of good, virtue, duty, felicity;
propounding them well described as the true objects and
scopes of man’s will and desires. But how to attain
these excellent marks, and how to frame and subdue the
will of man to become true and conformable to these
pursuits, they pass it over altogether, or slightly and un-
profitably. For it is not the disputing, that moral virtues
are in the mind of man by habit habit and not by nature ; or
_ /{the distinguishing, that generous Tous spirits are won by doc-
trines and persuasions, and the vulgar sort by reward and
punishment ; ; and ‘the like scattered glances and touches,
that can excuse the absence of this part.
2. The reason of this omission I suppose to be that
hidden rock whereupon both this and many other barks
of knowledge have been cast away; which is, that men
have despised to be conversant in ordinary and common
matters, the judicious direction whereof nevertheless is
the wisest doctrine (for life consisteth not in novelties
nor subtilities), but contrariwise they have compounded
sciences chiefly of a certain resplendent or lustrous mass
of matter, chosen to give glory either to the subtility of
disputations, or to the eloquence of discourses. But
Seneca giveth an excellent check to eloquence, JVocet
tllis eloguentia, quibus non rerum cupiditatem factt, sed sut.
Doctrine should be such as should make men in love
with the lesson, and not with the teacher; being directed
to the auditor’s benefit, and not to the author’s com-
mendation. And therefore those are of the right kind
which may be concluded as Demosthenes concludes his
counsel, Que st feceritis, non o atorem duntaxat in pre-
XX,2,] THE SECOND BOOK. 187
sentia laudabitis, sed vosmetipsos etiam non ita multo post
Staiu rerum vestraram melvore.
3. Neither needed men of so excellent parts to have
despaired of a fortune, which the poet Virgil promised
himself, and indeed obtained, who got as much glory of
eloquence, wit, and learning in the expressing of the
observations of husbandry, as of the heroical acts of
fineas :
Nec sum animi dubius, verbis ea vincere magnum
Quam sit, et angustis his addere rebus honorem.
And surely, if the purpose be in good earnest, not to
write at leisure that which men may read at leisure, but
really to instruct and suborn action and active life, these
Georgics of the mind, concerning the husbandry and
tillage thereof, are no less worthy than the heroical de-
scriptions of virtue, duty, and felicity. Wherefore the
main and primitive division of moral knowledge seemeth
to be into the exemplar or platform of good, and the
regiment or culture of the mind: the one describing the
nature of good, the other prescribing rules how to subdue,
apply, and accommodate the will of man thereunto,
4. The doctrine touching the platform or nature of
good considereth it either simple or compared; either
the kinds of good, or the degrees of good; in the latter
whereof those infinite disputations which were touching
the supreme degree thereof, which they term felicity,
beatitude, or the highest good, the doctrines concerning
which were as the heathen divinity, are by the Christian
faith discharged. And as Aristotle saith, Zhat_young men
may be happy, but not otherwise but by hope ; so we must
all acknowledge our minority, and embrace the felicity
which is by hopé of the future world.
Freed therefore and delivered from this doctrine of
188 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XX. 5.
the philosopher’s heaven, whereby they feigned an higher
elevation of man’s nature than was (for we see in what
height of style Seneca writeth, Vere magnum, habere fra-
gilitatem hominis, securitatem Det), we may with more
sobriety and truth receive the rest of their inquiries and
labours. Wherein for the nature of good positive or
simple, they have set it down excellently in describing
the forms of virtue and duty, with their situations and
postures; in distributing them into their kinds, parts,
provinces, actions, and administrations, and the like: nay
further, they have commended them to man’s nature and
spirit with great quickness of argument and beauty of
persuasions; yea, and fortified and entrenched them (as
much as discourse can do) against corrupt and popular
opinions. Again, for the degrees and comparative nature
of good, they have also excellently handled it in their
triplicity of good, in the comparisons between a contem-
plative and an active life, in the distinction between virtue
with reluctation and virtue secured, in their encounters
between honesty and profit, in their balancing of virtue
with virtue, and the like; so as this part deserveth to be
reported for excellently laboured.
6. Notwithstanding, if before they had comen to the
popular and received notions of virtue and vice, pleasure
and pain, and the rest, they had stayed a little longer
upon the inquiry concerning the roots of good and evil,
and the strings of those roots, they had given, in my
opinion, a great light to that which followed; and spe-
cially if they had consulted with nature, they had made
their doctrines less prolix and more profound: which
being by them in part omitted and in part handled with
much confusion, we will endeavour to resume and open
in a more clear manner.
XX. 7] THE SECOND BOOK. 189
7. There is formed in every thing a double naturé of
good: the one, as every thing is a total or substantive in
itself; the other, as it is a part or member of a greater
body: whereof the latter is in degree the greater and
the worthier, because it tendeth to the conservation of a
‘more general form. ‘Therefore we see the iron in par-
ticular sympathy moveth to the loadstone; but yet if it
exceed a certain quantity, it forsaketh the affection to the
loadstone, and like a good patriot moveth to the earth,
which is the region and country of massy bodies : so may
we go forward, and see that water and massy bodies
move to the centre of the earth; but rather than to suffer
a divulsion in the continuance of nature, they will move
upwards from the centre of the earth, forsaking their duty
to the earth in regard of their duty to the world. This
double nature of good, and the comparative thereof, is
much more engraven upon man, if he degenerate not :
unto whom the conservation of duty to the public ought
to be much more precious than the conservation of life
and being: according to that memorable speech of Pom-
peius Magnus, when being in commission of purveyance
for a famine at Rome, and being dissuaded with great
vehemency and instance by his friends about him, that
he should not hazard himself to sea in an extremity of
weather, he said only to them, JVecesse est ut eam, non ut
vivam. But it may be truly affirmed that there was never
any philosophy, religion, or other discipline, which did
so plainly and highly exalt the good which is commun-
icative, and depress the good which is private and par-
ticular, as the Holy Faith ; well declaring that it was the
same God that gave the Christian law to men, who gave
those laws of nature to inanimate creatures that we spake
of before; for we read that the elected saints of God have
190 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, |XX.7.__
wished themselves anathematized and razed out of the
book of life, in an ecstasy of charity and infinite feeling
of communion.
8. This being set down and strongly planted, doth
judge and determine most of the controversies wherein
moral philosophy is conversant. For first, it decideth the
question touching the preferment of the contemplative or
active life, and decideth it against Aristotle. For all the
reasons which he bringeth for the contemplative are pri-
vate, and respecting the pleasure and dignity of a man’s
self (in which respects no question the contemplative life
hath the pre-eminence), not much unlike to that com-
parison, which Pythagoras made for the gracing and
magnifying of philosophy and contemplation: who being
asked what he was, answered, Zhat 7f Hiero were ever at
the Olympian games, he knew the manner, that some came
to try their fortune for the prizes, and some came as mer-
chants fo utter their commodites, and some came to make
good cheer and meet thetr friends, and some came to look
on; and that he was one of them that came to look on.
But men must know, that in this theatre of man’s life it is
reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on. Neither
could the like question ever have been received in the
church, notwithstanding their Pretosa in oculis Domini
mors sanclorum ejus, by which place they would exalt
their civil death and regular professions, but upon this
defence, that the monastical life is not simple contem-
plative, but performeth the duty either of incessant prayers
and supplications, which hath been truly esteemed as an
office in the church, or else of writing or taking instruc-
tions for writing concerning the law of God, as Moses
did when he abode so long in the mount. And so
we see Henoch the seventh from Adam, who was the first
A
teu thee. ae
XX. 8.] THE SECOND BOOK. 191
contemplative and walked with God, yet did also endow
the church with prophecy, which Saint Jude citeth. But
for contemplation which should be finished in itself, with-
out casting beams upon society, assuredly divinity knoweth
it not. |
g. It decideth also the controversies between Zeno and
Socrates, and their schools and successions, on the one
side, who placed felicity in virtue simply or attended, the
actions and exercises whereof do chiefly embrace and
concern society; and on the other side, the Cyrenaics and
Epicureans, who placed it in pleasure, and made virtue
(as it is used in some comedies of errors, wherein the
mistress and the maid change habits) to be but as a
' servant, without which pleasure cannot be served and
attended; and the reformed school of the Epicureans,
which placed it in serenity of mind and freedom from
perturbation; as if they would have deposed Jupiter
again, and restored Saturn and the first age, when there
was no summer nor winter, spring nor autumn, but all
after one air and season; and Herillus, which placed
felicity in extinguishment of the disputes of the mind,
making no fixed nature of good and evil, esteeming things
according to the clearness of the desires, or the reluct-
ation; which opinion was revived in the heresy of the
Anabaptists, measuring things according to the motions
of the spirit, and the constancy or wavering of belief: all
which are manifest to tend to private repose and con-
tentment, and not to point of society.
ro. It censureth also the philosophy of Epictetus, which
presupposeth that felicity must be placed in those things
which are in our power, lest we be liable to fortune and
disturbance : as if it were not a thing much more happy
to fail in good and virtuous ends for the public, than to
a
192 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [XX. 10.
obtain all that we can wish to ourselves in our proper
fortune; as Consalvo said to his soldiers, showing them
Naples, and protesting he had rather die one foot for-
wards, than to have his life secured for long by one foot
of retreat. Whereunto the wisdom of that heavenly leader
hath signed, who hath affirmed that @ good conscience is a
continual feast; showing plainly that the conscience of
good intentions, howsoever succeeding, is a more con-
tinual joy to nature, than all the provision which can be
made for security and repose.
11. It censureth likewise that abuse of philosophy,
which grew general about the time of Epictetus, in con-
verting it into an occupation or profession; as if the
purpose had been, not to resist and extinguish perturb-
ations, but to fly and avoid the causes of them, and to
shape a particular kind and course of life to that end;
introducing such an health of mind, as was that health of
body of which Aristotle speaketh of Herodicus, who did
nothing all his life long but intend his health: whereas if
men refer themselves to duties of society, as that health
of body is best, which is ablest to endure all alterations
and extremities; so likewise that health of mind is most
proper, v sich can go through the greatest temptations
and perturbations. So as Diogenes’ opinion is to be
accepted, who commended not them which abstained,
but them which sustained, and could refrain their mind
in precipitio, and could give unto the mind (as is used in
horsemanship) the shortest stop or turn.
12. Lastly, it censureth the tenderness and want of
application in some of the most ancient and reverend
philosophers and philosophical men, that did retire too
easily from civil business, for avoiding of indignities and
perturbations: whereas the resolution of men truly moral
_ arr 2
XX, 12.] | THE SECOND BOOK. 193
ought to be such as the same Consalvo said the honour
of a soldier should be, e “/d crassiore, and not so fine as
that every thing should catch in it and endanger it.
XXI. 1. To resume private or particular good, it
falleth into the division of good active and passive: for
this difference of good (not unlike to that which amongst
the Romans was expressed in the familiar or household
terms of ~romus and condus) is formed also in all things,
and is best disclosed in the two several appetites in crea-
tures; the one to preserve or continue themselves, and
the other to dilate or multiply themselves; whereof the
latter seemeth to be the worthier: for in nature the
heavens, which are the more worthy, are the agent; and
the earth, which is the less worthy, is the patient. In the
pleasures of living creatures, that of generation is greater
than that of food. In divine doctrine, deatus est dare
quam accipere. And in life, there is no man’s spirit so
soft, but esteemeth the effecting of somewhat that he hath
fixed in his desire, more than sensuality; which priority
of the active good, is much upheld by the consideration
of our estate to be mortal and exposed to fortune. For
if we mought have a perpetuity and certainty in our plea-
sures, the state of them would advance their price. But
when we see it is but magni estimamus mort tardius, and
ne glorieris de crastino, nescis partum diet, it maketh us to’.¥
desire to have somewhat secured and exempted from
time, which are only our deeds and works: as it is said,
Opera eorum sequuntur eos, ‘The preeminence likewise of
this active good is upheld by the affection which is natural
in man towards variety and proceeding; which in the
pleasures of the sense, which is the principal part of
passive good, can have no great latitude. Cogz/a guam-
diu eadem feceris; cibus, somnus, ludus; per hune circulum
)
ee hy oe
194 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XX1. 1.
curritur ; mort velle non tantum fortis, aut miser, aut prudens,
sed etiam fashdiosus potest. But in enterprises, pursuits,
and purposes of life, there is much variety; whereof men
are sensible with pleasure in their inceptions, progres-
sions, recoils, reintegrations, approaches and attainings
to their ends. So as it was well said, Vita szne proposiio
languida et vaga est. Neither hath this active good any
identity with the good of society, though in some case it
hath an incidence into it. For although it do many times
bring forth acts of beneficence, yet it is with a respect
private to a man’s own power, glory, amplification, con-
tinuance ; as appeareth plainly, when it findeth a contrary
subject. For that gigantine state of mind which pos-
sesseth the troublers of the world, such as was Lucius
Sylla and infinite other in smaller model, who would
have all men happy or unhappy as they were their friends
or enemies, and would give form to the world, according
to their own humours (which is the true theomachy),
pretendeth and aspireth to active good, though it recedeth
furthest from good of society, which we have determined
to be the greater.
2. To resume passive good, it receiveth a subdivision of
conservative and perfective. For let us take a brief review
of that which we have said: we have spoken first of the
good of society, the intention whereof embraceth the
form of human nature, whereof we are members and
portions, and not our own proper and individual form:
we have spoken of active good, and supposed it as a
part of private and particular good. And rightly, for there
is impressed upon all things a triple desire or appetite
proceeding from love to themselves; one of preserving
and continuing their form; another of advancing and
perfecting their form; and a third of multiplying and
eine
wy 8
L- ,
W ,
XXI. 2.] "THE SECOND BOOK. — 195
extending their form upon other things: whereof the
multiplying, or signature of it upon other things, is that
which we handled by the name of active good. So as
there remaineth the conserving of it, and perfecting or
raising of it; which latter is the highest degree of
passive good. For to preserve in state is the less,
to preserve with advancement is the greater. So in
man,
Igneus est ollis vigor, et czlestis origo.
His approach or assumption to divine or angelica] na-
ture is the perfection of his form; the error or false
imitation of which good is that which is the tempest of
human life; while man, upon the instinct of an advance-
ment formal and essential, is carried to seek an ad-
vancement local. For as those which are sick, and find
no remedy, do tumble up and down and change place,
as if by a remove local they could obtain a remove in-
ternal; so is it with men in ambition, when failing of
the mean to exalt their nature, they are in a perpetual
estuation to exalt their place. So then passive good is,
as was said, either conservative or perfective.
3. To resume the good of conservation or comfort,
which consisteth in the fruition of that which is agree-
able to our natures; it seemeth to be the most pure
and natural of pleasures, but yet the softest and the
lowest. And this also receiveth a difference, which hath
neither been well judged of, nor well inquired: for the
_good of fruition or contentment is placed either in the
sincereness of the fruition, or in the quickness and
vigour of it; the one superinduced by equality, the
other by vicissitude; the one having less mixture of evil,
the other more impression of good. Whether of these is
the greater good is a question controverted; but whether
02
_ = ee ae, ve! See
196 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XXI. 3. _
man’s nature may not be capable of both, is a question
not inquired.
4. The former question being debated between Socrates
and a sophist, Socrates placing felicity in an equal and
constant peace of mind, and the sophist in much de-
siring and much enjoying, they fell from argument to ill
words: the sophist saying that Socrates’ felicity was the
felicity of a block or stone; and Socrates saying that
the sophist’s felicity was the felicity of one that had the
itch, who did nothing but itch and scratch. And both
these opinions do not want their supports. For the
opinion of Socrates is much upheld by the general con-
sent even of the Epicures themselves, that virtue bear-
eth a great part in felicity; and if so, certain it is, that
virtue hath more use in clearing perturbations than
in compassing desires. The sophist’s opinion is much
favoured by the assertion we last spake of, that good of
advancement is greater than good of simple preservation ;
because every obtaining a desire hath a show of advance-
ment, as motion though in a circle hath a show of pro-
gression.
5. But the second question, decided the true way,
maketh the former superfluous. For can it be doubted,
but that there are some who take more pleasure in en-
joying pleasures than some other, and yet, nevertheless,
are less troubled with the loss or leaving of them? So
as this same, JVon uit ut non appetas, non appetere ut non
metuas, sunt animi pusilli et diffidentis. And it seemeth
to me, that most of the doctrines of the philosophers are
more fearful and cautionary than the nature of things
requireth. So have they increased the fear of death in
offering to cure it. For when they would have a man’s
whole life to be but a discipline or preparation to die,
\
er
i \,
fee,
ec
XXI. 5.] THE SECOND BOOK. 197
they must needs make men think that it is\a terrible
enemy, against whom there is no end of preparing.
Better saith the poet :
- Qui finem vite extremum inter munera ponat
Nature.
So have they sought to make men’s minds too uniform
and harmonical, by not breaking them sufficiently to con-
trary motions: the reason whereof I suppose to be, be-
cause they themselves were men dedicated to a private,
free, and unapplied course of life. For as we see, upon
the lute or like instrument, a ground, though it be sweet
and have show of many changes, yet breaketh not the
hand to such strange and hard stops and passages, as
a set song or voluntary; much after the same ‘manner
was the diversity between a philosophical and a civil
life. And therefore men are to imitate the wisdom of ©
jewellers ; who, if there be a grain, or a cloud, or an ice
which may be ground forth without taking too much of
the stone, they help it; but if it should lessen and abate
the stone too much, they will not meddle with it: so
ought men so to procure serenity as they destroy not
magnanimity.
6. Having therefore deduced the good of man which
is private and particular, as far as seemeth fit, we will
now return to that good of man which respecteth and
beholdeth society, which we may term duty; because the
term of duty is more proper to a mind well framed and
disposed towards others, as the term of virtue is applied
to a mind well formed and composed in itself: though
neither can a man understand virtue without some re-
lation to society, nor duty without an inward disposition.
This part may seem at first to pertain to science civil
and politic: but not if it be well observed. For it
i
, tne,
re 1
concerneth the regiment and government of every man
over himself, and not over others. And as in architecture
the direction of framing the posts, beams, and other parts
of building, is not the same with the manner of joining
them and erecting the building; and in mechanicals,
the direction how to frame an instrument or engine, is
not the same with the manner of setting it on work and
employing it; and yet nevertheless in expressing of the
one you incidently express the aptness towards the other;
so the doctrine of conjugation of men in society differeth
from that of their conformity thereunto.
47. This part of duty is subdivided into two parts:
the common duty of every man, as a man or member
of a state; the other, the respective or special duty of
every man, in his profession, vocation, and place. The
first of these is extant and well laboured, as hath been
said. The second likewise I may report rather dispersed
than deficient; which manner of dispersed writing in
this kind of argument I acknowledge to be best. For
who can take upon him to write of the proper duty,
virtue, challenge, and right of every several vocation, pro-
fession, and place? For although sometimes a looker on
may see more than a gamester, and there be a proverb
more arrogant than sound, Zhat the vale best discovereth
the hill; yet there is small doubt but that men can write
best and most really and materially in their own profes-
sions; and that the writing of speculative men of active
matter for the most part doth seem to men of experience,
as Phormio’s argument of the wars seemed to Hannibal,
to be but dreams and dotage. Only there is one vice
which accompanicth them that write in their own pro-
fessions, that they magnify them in excess. But gener-
ally it were to be wished (as that which would make
Pa
198 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XxI. 6.
7
XXxI. 7.] THE SECOND BOOK. 199
learning indeed solid and fruitful) that active men would
or could become writers.
8. In which kind I cannot but mention, honoris causa,
your Majesty’s excellent book touching the duty of a king:
a work richly compounded of divinity, morality, and policy,
with great aspersion of all other arts; and being in mine
opinion one of the most sound and healthful writings that
I have read; not distempered in the heat of invention,
nor in the coldness of negligence; not sick of dizzi-
ness, as those are who leese themselves in their order,
nor of convulsions, as those which cramp in matters
impertinent; not savouring of perfumes and paintings,
as those do who seek to please the reader more than
nature beareth; and chiefly well disposed in the spirits
thereof, being agreeable to truth and apt for action;
and far removed from that natural infirmity, whereunto
I noted those that write in their own professions to be
subject, which is, that they exalt it above measure. For
your Majesty hath truly described, not a king of Assyria
or Persia in their extern glory, but a Moses or a David,
pastors of their people. Neither can I ever leese out
of my remembrance what I heard your Majesty in the .
same sacred spirit of government deliver in a great
cause of judicature, which was, Zhat kings ruled by their
laws, as God did by the laws of nature; and ought as
rarely to put in use their supreme prerogative, as God doth
his power of working miracles. And yet notwithstanding,
in your book of a free monarchy, you do well give men
to understand, that you know the plenitude of the power
and right of a king, as well as the circle of his office and
duty. Thus have I presumed to allege this excellent
writing of your Majesty, as a prime or eminent example
of tractates concerning special and respective duties:
200 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XXI. 8.
wherein I should have said as much, if it had been written
a thousand years since. Neither am I moved with certain
courtly decencies, which esteem it flattery to praise in
presence. No, it is flattery to praise in absence; that is,
when either the virtue is absent, or the occasion is ab-
sent; and so the praise is not natural, but forced, either in
truth or in time. But let Cicero be read in his oration
pro Marcello, which is nothing but an excellent table of
Ceesar’s virtue, and made to his face; besides the example
of many other excellent persons, wiser a great deal than
such observers ; and we will never doubt, upon a full
occasion, to give just praises to present or absent.
g. But to return: there belongeth further to the hand-
ling of this part, touching the duties of professions and
vocations, a relative or opposite, touching the frauds,
cautels, impostures, and vices of every profession, which
hath been likewise handled: but how? rather in a satire
and cynically, than seriously and wisely: for men have
rather sought by wit to deride and traduce much of that
which is good in professions, than with judgement to
discover and sever that which is corrupt. For, as Salomon
saith, he that cometh to seek after knowledge with a
mind to scorn and censure, shall be sure to find matter
for his humour,-but no matter for his instruction: Que-
rentt derisort scitentam ipsa se abscondit; -sed
De cautelis j 2 :
ages) ize studioso fit obviam. But the managing of
artibus. this argument with integrity and truth, which
I note as deficient, seemeth to me to be one of the best
fortifications for honesty and virtue that can be planted.
For, as the fable goeth of the basilisk, that if he see you
first, you die for it; but if you see him first, he dieth: so is
it with deceits and evil arts; which, if they be first espied
they leese their life ; but if they prevent, they endanger. So
ve
te A PEL ye —
XXI. 9.] THE SECOND BOOK. 201
that we are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that
write what men do, and not what they ought to do. For
it is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with the
columbine innocency, except men know exactly all the
conditions of the serpent; his baseness and going upon
his belly, his volubility and lubricity, his envy and sting,
and the rest; that is, all forms and natures of evil. For
without this, virtue lieth open and unfenced. Nay, an
honest man can do no good upon those that are wicked,
to reclaim them, without the help of the knowledge of
evil. For men of corrupted minds presuppose that
honesty groweth out of simplicity of manners, and _be-
lieving of preachers, schoolmasters, and men’s exterior
language. So as, except you can make them perceive
that you know the utmost reaches of their own corrupt
opinions, they despise all morality. Mon recipit stultus
verba prudentia, nist ea dixerts que versantur in corde ejus.
10. Unto this part, touching respective duty, doth also
appertain the duties between husband and wife, parent
and child, master and servant. So likewise the laws of
friendship and gratitude, the civil bond of companies,
colleges, and politic bodies, of neighbourhood, and all
other proportionate duties; not as they are parts of
government and society, but as to the framing of the
mind of particular persons.
11. The knowledge concerning good respecting society
doth handle it also, not simply alone, but comparatively;
whereunto belongeth the weighing of duties between per-
son and person, case and case, particular and public. As
we see in the proceeding of Lucius Brutus against his
own sons, which was so much extolled; yet what was
said?
Infelix, utcunque ferent ea fata minores.
=o ee
202 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. ([XxI. IIe
So the case was doubtful, and had opinion on both sides.
Again, we see when M. Brutus and Cassius invited to
a supper certain whose opinions they meant to feel,
whether they were fit to be made their associates, and
cast forth the question touching the killing of a tyrant
being an usurper, they were divided in opinion; some
holding that servitude was the extreme of evils, and others
that tyranny was better than a civil war: and a number of
the like cases there are of comparative duty. Amongst
which that of all others is the most frequent, where the
question is of a great deal of good to ensue of a small
injustice. Which Jason of Thessalia determined against
the truth: Aliqgua sunt injuste facienda, ut multa juste fiert
possint, But the reply is good, Auctorem presentis jus-
titie habes, sponsorem future non habes. Men must pursue
things which are just in present, and leave the future to
the divine Providence. So then we pass on from this
general part touching the exemplar and description of
good.
XXII. 1. Now therefore that we have spoken of this
fruit of life, it remaineth to speak of the hus-
De cultura andry that belongeth thereunto; without
5 ik which part the former seemeth to be no better
than a fair image, or statua, which is beautiful to contem-
plate, but is without life and motion; whereunto Aristotle
himself subscribeth in these words: JVecesse est scilicet de
viriute dicere, et quid sit, et ex quibus gignatur. Inutile
enim fere fuerit virtuiem quidem nosse, acquirenda autem ejus
modos et vias tgnorare. Non enim de virtule tantum, qua
specie sit, querendum est, sed et quomodo sut copiam factat:
utrumque enim volumus, et rem ipsam nosse, et ejus compotes
fiert: hoc autem ex voto non succedet, nist scramus et ex qui-
bus et quomodo. In such full words and with such iteration
ae ene 2 eee
XXIL 1.] THE SECOND BOOK. 203
doth he inculcate this part. So saith Cicero in great com-
mendation of Cato the second, that he had applied himself
to philosophy, Von zta disputandi causa, sed tta vivendt.
And although the neglect of our times, wherein few men
do hold any consultations touching the reformation of
their life (as Seneca excellently saith, De paribus vite
guisque deliberat, de summa nemo), may make this part
‘seem superfluous; yet I must conclude with that aphor-
ism of Hippocrates, Qui gravi morbo correptt dolores non
sentiunt, tis mens egrotat. ‘They need medicine, not only
to assuage the disease, but to awake the sense. And if
it be said, that the cure of men’s minds belongeth to
sacred divinity, it is most true: but.yet moral philosophy
may be preferred unto her as a wise servant and humble
handmaid. For as the Psalm saith, Zhat the eyes of the
handmaid look perpetually towards the mistress, and yet no
doubt many things are left to the discretion of the hand-
maid, to discern of the mistress’ will; so ought moral
philosophy to give a constant attention to the doctrines
of divinity, and yet so as it may yield of herself (within
due limits) many sound and profitable directions.
2. This part therefore, because of the excellency thereof,
I cannot but find exceeding strange that it is not reduced
to written inquiry: the rather, because it consisteth of
much matter, wherein both speech and action is often
conversant; and such wherein the common talk of men
(which is rare, but yet cometh sometimes to pass) is
wiser than their books. It is reasonable therefore that
we propound it in the more particularity, both for the
worthiness, and because we may acquit ourselves for
reporting it deficient; which seemeth almost incredible,
and is otherwise conceived and presupposed by those them-
selves that have written. We will therefore enumerate
204 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. ([XxI1. 2.
some heads or points thereof, that it may appear the
better what it is, and whether it be extant.
3. First therefore in this, as in all things which are
practical, we ought to cast up our account, what is in
our power, and what not; for the one may be dealt with
by way of alteration, but the other by way of application
only. The husbandman cannot command, neither the
nature of the earth, nor the seasons of the weather; no
more can the physician the constitution of the patient, nor
the variety of accidents. So in the culture and cure of
the mind of man, two things are without our command;
points of nature, and points of fortune. For to the basis
of the one, and the conditions of the other, our work is
limited and tied. In these things therefore it is left unto
us to proceed by application:
- Vincenda est omnis fortuna ferendo:
and so likewise,
Vincenda est omnis Natura ferendo,
But when that we speak of suffering, we do not speak of
a dull and neglected suffering, but of a wise and indus-
trious suffering, which draweth and contriveth use and ad-
vantage out of that which seemeth adverse and contrary;
which is that properly which we call accommodating
or applying. Now the wisdom of application resteth
principally in the exact and distinct knowledge of the
precedent state or disposition, unto which we do apply:
for we cannot fit a garment, except we first take mea-
sure of the body.
4. 50 then the first article of this knowledge is, to set
down sound and true distributions and descriptions of the
several characters and tempers of men’s natures and dis-
positions; specially having regard to those differences
which are most radical in being the fountains and causes
XXII. 4.] THE SECOND BOOK. 205
of the rest, or most frequent in concurrence or com-
mixture ; wherein it is not the handling of a few of them in
passage, the better to describe the mediocrities of virtues,
that can satisfy this intention. For if it deserve to be
considered, that there are minds which are proportioned
to great matters, and others to small (which “Aristotle
handleth or ought to have handled by the name of
magnanimity), doth it not deserve as well to be con-
sidered, that there are minds proportioned to intend many
matters, and others to few? So that some can divide
themselves: others can perchance do exactly well, but it
must be but in few things at once: and so there cometh
to be a narrowness of mind, as well as a pusillanimity.
And again, that some minds are proportioned to that
which may be dispatched at once, or within a short
return of time; others to that which begins afar off, and
is to be won with length of pursuit :
Jam tum tenditque fovetque, \)
So that there may be fitly said to be a longanimity, which
is commonly also ascribed to God as a magnanimity. So
further deserved it to be considered by Aristotle, Zhaz
there is a disposition in conversation (supposing it in things
which do in no sort touch or concern a man’s self) to soothe
and please; and a disposition contrary to contradict and
cross: and deserveth it not much better to be considered,
That there ts a disposition, not in conversation or talk, but
in matter of more serious nature (and supposing it still in
things merely indifferent), to take pleasure in the good of
another: and a disposition contrariwise, to take distaste at
the good of another? which is that properly which we call
good nature or ill nature, benignity or malignity: and
therefore I cannot sufficiently marvel that this part of
knowledge, touching the several characters of natures
0
i eee
206 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XXI. 4
and dispositions, should be omitted both in morality and
policy; considering it is of so great ministry and sup-
peditation to them both. A man shall find in the trad-
itions of astrology some pretty and apt divisions of men’s
natures, according to the predominances of the planets;
lovers of quiet, lovers of action, lovers of victory, lovers
of honour, lovers of pleasure, lovers of arts, lovers of
change, and so forth. A man shall find in the wisest sort
of these relations which the Italians make touching con-
claves, the natures of the several cardinals handsomely
and lively painted forth, A man shall meet with in
every day’s conference the denominations of sensitive,
dry, formal, real, humorous, certain, huomo di prima im-
pressione, huomo dt ultima impressione, and the like: and
yet nevertheless this kind of observations wandereth in
words, but is not fixed in inquiry. For the distinctions
are found (many of them), but we conclude no precepts
upon them: wherein our fault is the greater; because
both history, poesy, and daily experience are as goodly
fields where these observations grow; whereof we make
a few posies to hold in our hands, but no man bringeth
them to the confectionary, that receipts mought be made
of them for use of life.
5. Of much like kind are those impressions of nature,
which are imposed upon the mind by the sex, by the age,
by the region, by health. and sickness, by beauty and
deformity, and the like, which are inherent and not
extern; and again, those which are caused by extern
fortune; as sovereignty, nobility, obscure birth, riches,
want, magistracy, privateness, prosperity, adversity, con-
stant fortune, variable fortune, rising per sal/um, per
gradus, and the like. And therefore we see that Plautus
maketh it a wonder to see an old man_ beneficent,
XXIL. 5.] | THE SECOND BOOK. 207
benignitas hujus ul adolescentuli est. Saint Paul concludeth
that severity of discipline was to be used to the Cretans,
increpa eos dure, upon the disposition of their country,
Cretenses semper mendaces, male bestia, ventres pigri.
Sallust noteth: that it is usual with kings to desire con-
tradictories: Sed plerumque regie voluntates, ut vehementes
sunt, stc mobiles, sepeque ipse sibt adverse. ‘Tacitus ob-
serveth how rarely raising of the fortune mendeth the
disposition: solus Vespasianus mutatus in melius, Pin-
darus maketh an observation, that great and sudden
fortune for the most part defeateth men gui magnam feh-
citatem concoquere non possunt, So the Psalm showeth it
is more easy to keep a measure in the enjoying of for-
’ tune, than in the increase of fortune: Drvitie st affuant,
nolite cor apponere. ‘These observations and the like I
deny not but are touched a little by Aristotle as in
passage in his Rhetorics, and are handled in some
scattered discourses: but they were never incorporate
into moral philosophy, to which they do essentially apper-
tain; as the knowledge of the diversity of grounds and
moulds doth to agriculture, and the knowledge of the
diversity of complexions and constitutions doth to the
physician ; except we mean to follow the indiscretion
of empirics, which minister the same medicines to all
patients.
6. Another article of this knowledge is the inquiry
touching the affections; for as in medicining of the body,
it is in order first to know the divers complexions and
constitutions; secondly, the diseases; and lastly, the
cures: so in medicining of the mind, after knowledge of
the divers characters of men’s natures, it followeth in
order to know the diseases and infirmities of the mind,
which are no other than the perturbations and distempers
208 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XXU. 6.
of the affections. For as the ancient politiques in
popular estates were wont to compare the people to the
sea, and the orators to the winds; because as the sea
would of itself be calm and quiet, if the winds did not
move and trouble it; so the people would be peaceable
and tractable, if the seditious orators did not set them in
working and agitation: so it may be fitly said, that the -
mind in the nature thereof would be temperate and
stayed, if the affections, as winds, did not put it into tumult
and perturbation. And here again I find strange, as
before, that Aristotle should have written divers volumes
of Ethics, and never handled the affections, which is the
principal subject thereof; and yet in his Rhetorics, where
they are considered but collaterally and in a second *
degree (as they may be moved by speech), he findeth
place for them, and handleth them well for the quantity ;
but where their true place is, he pretermitteth them. For
it is not his disputations about pleasure and pain that can
satisfy this inquiry, no more than he that should generally
handle the nature of light can be said to handle the nature
of colours; for pleasure and pain are to the particular
affections, as light is to particular colours. Better tra-
vails, I suppose, had the Stoics taken in this argument, as
far as I can gather by that which we have at second hand.
But yet it is like it was after their manner, rather in
subtilty of definitions (which in a subject of this nature
are but curiosities), than in active and ample descriptions
and observations. So likewise I find some particular
writings of an elegant nature, touching some of the af-
fections; as of anger, of comfort upon adverse accidents,
of tenderness of countenance, and other. But the poets
and writers of histories are the best doctors of this know-
ledge; where we may find painted forth with great life,
eee a
XXIL 6.] THE SECOND BOOK. 209
how affections are kindled and incited; and how pacified
and refrained; and how again contained from act and
further degree; how they disclose themselves ; how they
work; how they vary; how they gather and fortify; how
they are enwrapped one within another; and how they
do fight and encounter one with another; and other the
like particularities. Amongst the which this last is of
special use in moral and civil matters; how, I say, to set
affection against affection, and to master one by another;
even as we use to hunt beast with beast, and fly bird
with bird, which otherwise percase we could not so easily
recover: upon which foundation is erected that excellent
use of premium and pana, whereby civil states consist:
employing the predominant affections of fear and hope,
for the suppressing and bridling the rest. For as in the
government of states it is sometimes necessary to bridle
one faction with another, so it is in the government
within.
4. Now come we to those points which are within our
own command, and have force and operation upon the
mind, to affect the will and appetite, and to alter man-
ners: wherein they ought to have handled custom,
exercise, habit, education, example, imitation, emulation,
company, friends, praise, reproof, exhortation, fame, laws,
books, studies: these as they have determinate use in
moralities, from these the mind suffereth; and of these
are such receipts and regiments compounded and de-
scribed, as may serve to recover or preserve the health
and good estate of the mind, as far as pertaineth to
human medicine: of which number we will insist upon
some one or two, as an example of the rest, because it
were too long to prosecute all; and therefore we do
resume custom and habit to speak of.
P
210 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XXI.8
8. The opinion of Aristotle seemeth to me a negligent
opinion, that of those things which consist by nature,
nothing can be changed by custom; using for example,
that if a stone be thrown ten thousand times up, it will
not learn to ascend; and that by often seeing or hearing,
we do not learn to see or hear the better. For though
this principle be true in things wherein nature is per-
emptory (the reason whereof we cannot now stand to
discuss), yet it is otherwise in things wherein nature
admitteth a latitude. For he mought see that a strait
glove will come more easily on with use; and that a
wand will by use bend otherwise than it grew; and that —
by. use of the voice we speak louder and stronger; and
that by use of enduring heat or cold, we endure it the
better, and the like: which latter sort have a nearer re-
semblance unto that subject of manners he handleth,
than those instances which he allegeth. But allowing
his conclusion, that virtues and vices consist in habit, he
ought so much the more to have taught the manner of
superinducing that habit: for there be many precepts
of the wise ordering the exercises of the mind, as there
is of ordering the exercises of the body; whereof we will
recite a few.
g. The first shall be, that we beware we take not at
the first, either too high a strain, or too weak: for if
too high, in a diffident nature you discourage, in a con-
fident nature you breed an opinion of facility, and so a
sloth; and in all natures you breed a further expectation
than can hold out, and so an insatisfaction in the end: if
too weak, of the other side, you may not look to perform
and overcome any great task.
ro. Another precept is, to practise all things chiefly at
two several times, the one when the mind is best dis-
i
a) Se
XXII.10.] ‘TEE SECOND BOOK. 211
posed, the other when it is worst disposed; that by the
one you may gain a great step, by the other you may
work out the knots and stonds of the mind, and make
the middle times the more easy and pleasant.
11. Another precept is, that which Aristotle men-
tioneth by the way, which is to bear ever towards the
contrary extreme of that whereunto we are by nature
inclined; like unto the rowing against the stream, or
making a wand straight by bending him contrary to his
natural crookedness.
12. Another precept is, that the mind is brought to
anything better, and with more sweetness and happiness,
if that whereunto you pretend be not first in the intention,
but Zanquam aliud agendo, because of the natural hatred of
the mind against necessity and constraint. Many other
axioms there are touching the managing of exercise and
custom; which being so conducted, doth prove indeed
another nature; but being governed by chance, doth
commonly prove but an ape of nature, and bringeth forth
that which is lame and counterfeit.
13. So if we should handle books and studies, and
what influence and operation they have upon manners,
are there not divers precepts of great caution and direc-
tion appertaining thereunto? Did not one of the fathers
in great indignation call poesy wnum demonum, because
it increaseth temptations, perturbations, and vain opinions?
Is not the opinion of Aristotle worthy to be regarded,
wherein he saith, That young men are no fit auditors of
moral philosophy, because they are not settled from the
boiling heat of their affections, nor attempered with time
and experience? And doth it not hereof come, that those
excellent books and discourses of the ancient writers
(whereby they have persuaded unto virtue most effectually,
P2
— - are, _ — ae 2S _ m_ . oS
212 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XXIl.13.
by representing her in state and majesty, and popular
opinions against virtue in their parasites’ coats fit to be
scorned and derided), are of so little effect towards honesty -
of life, because they are not read and revolved by men in
their mature and settled years, but confined almost to
boys and beginners? But is it not true also, that much
less young men are fit auditors of matters of policy,
till they have been throughly seasoned in religion and
morality; lest their judgements be corrupted, and made
apt to think that there are no true differences of things,
but according to utility and fortune, as the verse de-
scribes it, Prosperum et felix scelus virtus vocatur; and
again, J//le crucem pretium sceleris tulit, htc diadema: which
the poets do speak satirically, and in indignation on
virtue’s behalf; but books of policy do speak it seriously
and positively; for so it pleaseth Machiavel to say, Zhat
if Casar had been overthrown, he would have been more
odious than ever was Caiiline; as if there had been no
difference, but in fortune, between a very fury of lust and
blood, and the most excellent spirit (his ambition reserved)
of the world? Again, is there not a caution likewise to
be given of the doctrines of moralities themselves (some
kinds of them), lest they make men too precise, arrogant,
incompatible; as Cicero saith of Cato, Jx Marco Catone
hec bona que videmus divina et egregia, ipsius scttole esse
propria; que nonnunquam requtirimus, ea sunt omnia non
a natura, sed a magistro? Many other axioms and advices
there are touching those proprieties and effects, which
studies do infuse and instil into manners. And so like-
wise is there touching the use of all those other points,
of company, fame, laws, and the rest, which we recited in
the beginning in the doctrine of morality.
14. But there is a kind of culture of the mind that
XXII. 14-] THE SECOND BOOK. 213
seemeth yet more accurate and elaborate than the rest,
and is built upon this ground; that the minds of all men
are at some times in a state more perfect, and at other
times in a state more depraved. The purpose therefore
of this practice is to fix and cherish the good hours of
the mind, and to obliterate and take forth the evil. The ~
fixing of the good hath been practised by two means,
vows or constant resolutions, and observances or ex-
ercises; which are not to be regarded so much in
themselves, as because they keep the mind in continual
obedience. The obliteration of the evil hath been prac-
tised by two means, some kind of redemption or expiation
of that which is past, and an inception or account de novo
for the time to come. But this part seemeth sacred and
religious, and justly; for all good moral philosophy (as
was said) is but an handmaid to religion.
15. Wherefore we will conclude with that last point,
which is of all other means the most compendious and
summary, and again, the most noble and effectual to the
reducing of the mind unto virtue and good estate; which
is, the electing and propounding unto a man’s self good
and virtuous ends of his life, such as may be in a reason-
able sort within his compass to attain. For if these two
things be supposed, that a man set before him honest
and good ends, and again, that he be resolute, constant,
and true unto them; it will follow that he shall mould
himself into all virtue at once. And this is indeed like
the work of nature; whereas the other course is like the
work of the hand. For as when a carver makes an
image, he shapes only that part whereupon he worketh;
as if he be upon the face, that part which shall be the
body is but a rude stone still, till such times as he comes
to it. But contrariwise when nature makes a flower or
living creature, she formeth rudiments of all the parts at
one time. So in obtaining virtue by habit, while a man
practiseth temperance, he doth not profit much to forti-
tude, nor the like: but when he dedicateth and applieth
—himself to good ends, look, what virtue soever the pur-
suit and passage towards those ends doth commend unto
him, he is invested of a precedent disposition to conform
himself thereunto. Which state of mind Aristotle doth
excellently express himself, that it ought not to be called
\o —-virtuous, but divine: his words are these: Jmmanitatt
autem consentaneum est opponere eam, que supra humanita-
tem est, heroicam sive divinam viriulem: and a little after,
Nam ut fere neque vitium neque virtus est, ste neque Det:
sed hic quidem status altius quiddam virtute est, tlle aliud
_quiddam a vitio. And therefore we may see what celsi-
tude of honour Plinius Secundus attributeth to Trajan in
his funeral oration; where he said, Zhat men needed to
make no other prayers to the gods, but that they would con-
tinue as good lords to them as Trajan had been; as if he
had not been only an imitation of divine nature, but a
pattern of it. But these be heathen and profane passages,
having but a shadow of that divine state of mind, which
religion and the holy faith doth conduct men unto, by
imprinting upon their souls charity, which is excellently
called the bond of perfection, because it comprehendeth
and fasteneth all virtues together. And as it is elegantly
said by Menander of vain love, which is but a false
imitation of divine love, Amor melior Sophista levo ad
humanam vitam, that love teacheth a man to carry himself
better than the sophist or preceptor, which he calleth
left-handed, because, with all his rules and preceptions,
he cannot form a man so dexteriously, nor with that
facility to prize himself and govern himself, as love can
mY 4
214 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XXII 15. _
Se ee eee kee
XXIL. 15.] THE SECOND BOOK. 215
do: so certainly, if a man’s mind be truly inflamed with
charity, it doth work him suddenly into greater perfection
than all the doctrine of morality can do, which is but a
sophist in comparison of the other. ‘Nay further, as
Xenophon observed truly, that all other affections, though—
they raise the mind, yet they do it by distorting and
uncomeliness of ecstasies or excesses; but only love doth
exalt the mind, and nevertheless at the same instant doth
settle and compose it: so in all other excellencies, though
they advance nature, yet they are subject to excess. Only~ !”
charity admitteth no excess. For so we see, aspiring to
be, like God in power, the angels transgressed and fell ;
Ascendam, et ero similis altissimo: by aspiring to be like
God in knowledge, man transgressed and fell; LZ7rztis
stcut Dit, sctentes bonum et malum: but by aspiring to a~
similitude of God in goodness or love, neither man nor
angel ever transgressed, or shall transgress. For unto
that imitation we are called: Dzligtle inimicos vestros,
benefactte ets qui oderunt vos, et orale pro persequentibus et
calumniantibus vos, ut silts filid Patris vesirt qui in celis~
est, quit solem suum ortri facit super bonos et malos, et pluit
super justos et injustos. So in the first platform of the
divine nature itself, the heathen religion speaketh thus,
Optimus Maximus: and the sacred scriptures thus, J/zserd-
cordia ejus super omnia opera ejus. i
16. Wherefore I do conclude this part of moral know-
ledge, concerning the culture and regiment of the mind;
wherein if any man, considering the parts thereof which
I have enumerated, do judge that my labour is but
to collect into an art or science that which hath been
pretermitted by others, as matter of common sense and
experience, he judgeth well. But as Philocrates sported
with Demosthenes, You may not marvel (Athenians) that
-
0
216 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [xxu. 16.
Demosthenes and I do differ; for he drinketh water, and I
drink wine; and like as we read of an ancient parable of —
the two gates of sleep,
Sunt geminz somni porte: quarum altera fertur
Cornea, qua veris facilis datur exitus umbris:
Altera candenti perfecta nitens elephanto,
Sed falsa ad ccelum mittunt insomnia manes:
so if we put on sobriety and attention, we shall find it a
sure maxim in knowledge, that the more pleasant liquor
(of wine) is the more vaporous, and the braver gate (of
zvory) sendeth forth the falser dreams.
17. But we have now concluded that general part of
human philosophy, which contemplateth man segregate,
and as he consisteth of body and spirit. Wherein we may
further note, that there seemeth to be a relation or con-
formity between the good of the mind and the good of
the body. For as we divided the good of the body into
health, beauty, strength, and pleasure; so the good of
the mind, inquired in rational and moral knowledges,
tendeth to this, to make the mind sound, and without
perturbation; beautiful, and graced with decency; and
strong and agile for all duties of life. These three, as in
the body, so in the mind, seldom meet, and commonly
sever. For it is easy to observe, that many have strength
of wit and courage, but have neither health from per-
turbations, nor any beauty or decency in their doings:
some again have an elegancy and fineness of carriage,
which have neither soundness of honesty, nor substance
of sufficiency: and some again have honest and reformed
minds, that can neither become themselves nor manage
business: and sometimes two of them meet, and rarely
all three. As for pleasure, we have likewise determined
that the mind ought not to be reduced to stupid, but to
st Bly a i eee as aa OM lia lc
(XXIL 17.) THE SECOND BOOK. es
retain pleasure; confined rather in the subject of it, than
in the strength and vigour of it.
XXIII. 1. oo knowledge is conversant about a
subject which of all others is most
immersed in matter, and hardliest reduced. to axiom.
Nevertheless, as Cato the Censor said, Zhat the Romans
were like sheep, for that a man were better drive a flock of
them, than one of them; for in a flock, if you could get but
some few go right, the rest would follow: so in that respect
moral philosophy is more difficile than policy. Again,
moral philosophy propoundeth to itself the framing of
internal goodness ; but civil knowledge requireth only an
external goodness; for that as to society sufficeth. And
therefore it cometh oft to pass that there be evil times
in good governments: for so we find in the holy story,
when the kings were good, yet it is added, Sed adhuc
populus non direxerat cor suum ad Dominum Deum patrum
suorum. Again, states, as great engines, moye slowly,
- and are not so soon put out of frame: for as in Egypt
the seven good years sustained the seven bad, so govern-
ments for a time well grounded, do bear out errors fol-
lowing ; but the resolution of particular persons is more
suddenly subverted, These respects do somewhat qualify
the extreme difficulty of civil knowledge.
2. This knowledge hath three parts, according to
the three summary actions of society; which are con-
versation, negotiation, and government. For man seeketh
in society comfort, use, and protection: and they be three
wisdoms of divers natures, which do often sever: wisdom
of the behayiour,.wisdom of-business, and wisdom of
state.
3. The wisdom of conversation ought not to be over
oe. ties
218 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. (xx. 3.
much affected, but much less despised; for it hath not
only an honour in itself, but an influence also into busi-
ness and government. The poet saith, Wec vultu destrue
verba tuo: a man may destroy the force of his words
with his countenance: so may he of his deeds, saith
Cicero, recommending to his brother affability and easy
access; lVil interest habere ostium apertum, vullum clausum ;
it is nothing won to admit men with an open door, and
to receive them with a shut and reserved countenance.
So we see Atticus, before the first interview between
Cesar and Cicero, the war depending, did seriously
advise Cicero touching the composing and ordering of
his countenance and gesture. And if the government of
the countenance be of such effect, much more is that
of the speech, and other carriage appertaining to con-
versation ; the true model whereof seemeth to me well ex-
pressed by Livy, thought not meant for this purpose: We
aut arrogans videar, aut obnoxtus; quorum alterum est
aliene libertatis oblitt, alterum sue: the sum of behaviour
is to retain a man’s own dignity, without intruding upon
the liberty of others. On the other side, if behaviour
and outward carriage be intended too much, first it may
pass into affectation, and then Qucd deformius quam
scenam in vitam transferre, to act a man’s life? But
although it proceed not to that extreme, yet it consumeth
time, and employeth the mind too much. And therefore
as we use to advise young students from company
keeping, by saying, Amzcz fures temporis: so certainly the
intending of the discretion of behaviour is a great thief
of meditation. Again, such as are accomplished in that
form of urbanity please themselves in it, and seldom
aspire to higher virtue; whereas those that have defect in
it do seek comeliness by reputation; for where reputation
af Brg
a~ae a
Caer ef
XXIII, 3. THE SECOND BOOK. 21
9
is, almost everything becometh; but where that is
not, it must be supplied by punfos and compliments.
Again, there is no greater impediment of action than an
over-curious observance of decency, and the guide of
decency, which is time and season. For as Salomon
saith, Que respicit ad ventos, non seminat; et qui respictt
ad nubes, non metet: a man must make his opportunity,
as oft as find it. To conclude, behaviour seemeth to me
as a garment of the mind, and to have the conditions of
a garment. For it ought to be made in fashion; it ©
ought not to be too curious; it ought to be shaped so as
to set forth any good making of the mind and hide any
deformity; and above all, it ought not to be too strait or
restrained for exercise or motion. But this part of civil
knowledge hath been elegantly handled, and therefore I
cannot report it for deficient.
4. The wisdom touching negotiation or business hath
not been hitherto collected into writing, to” De negotiis
the great derogation of learning, and the s¢rendis.
professors of learning. For from this root springeth
chiefly that note or opinion, which by us is expressed in
adage to this effect, that there is no great concurrence
between learning and wisdom. For of the three wisdoms
which we have set down to pertain to civil life, for wisdom
of behaviour, it is by learned men for the most part de-
spised, as an inferior to virtue and an enemy to meditation;
for wisdom of government, they acquit themselves well
when they are called to it, but that happeneth to few;
but for the wisdom of business, wherein man’s life is most
conversant, there be no books of it, except some tew
scattered advertisements, that have ne proportion to the
magnitude of this subject. For if books were written of
this as the other, I doubt not but learned men with mean
Deri
wes
se
220 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [ xxi. 4:
experience, would far excel men of long experience with-
out learning, and outshoot them in their own bow.
5. Neither needeth it at all to be doubted, that this
knowledge should be so variable as it falleth not under
precept; for it is much less infinite than science of govern-
ment, which we see is laboured and in some part re-
duced. Of this wisdom it seemeth some of the ancient
Romans in the saddest and wisest times were professors ;
for Cicero reporteth, that it was then in use for senators
that had name and opinion for general wise men, as
Coruncanius, Curius, Lelius, and many others, to walk
at certain hours in the Place, and to give audience to
those that would use their advice; and that the particular
citizens would resort unto them, and consult with them of
the marriage of a daughter, or of the employing of a son,
or of a purchase or bargain, or of an accusation, and
every other occasion incident to man’s life. So as there
is a wisdom of counsel and advice even in private causes,
arising out of an universal insight into the affairs of the
world; which is used indeed upon particular cases pro-
pounded, but is gathered by general observation of cases
of like nature. For so we see in the book which Q. Cicero
writeth to his brother, De petitione consulatus (being the
only book of business that I know written by the ancients),
although it concerned a particular action then on foot,
yet the substance thereof consisteth of many wise and
politic axioms, which contain not a temporary, but a
perpetual direction in the case of popular elections. But
chiefly we may see in those aphorisms which have place
amongst divine writings, composed by Salomon the king,
of whom the scriptures testify that his heart was as the
sands of the sea, encompassing the world and all worldly
matters, we see, I say, not a few profound and excellent
XXIIL 5.] © THE SECOND BOOK. 2X
cautions, precepts, positions, extending to much variety
of occasions; whereupon we will stay a while, offering to
consideration some number of examples.
6. Sed ef cunctis sermonibus qui dicuntur ne accommodes
aurem tuam, ne forte audias servum tuum maledicentem tibt.
Here is commended the provident stay of inquiry of that
which we would be loth to find: as it was judged great
wisdom in Pompeius Magnus that he burned Sertorius’
papers unperused, ,
Vir sapiens, st cum stulto contendertt, sive trascatur,~
_stve rideat, non tnveniet requiem. Tere is described the
great disadvantage which a wise man hath in undertaking
a lighter person than himself; which is such an engage-
ment as, whether a man turn the matter to jest, or turn it
to heat, or howsoever he change copy, he can no ways
quit himself well of it.
Quit delicate a pueritia nutrit servum suum, postea sentiet=
eum contumacem. Here is signified, that if a man begin
too high a pitch in his favours, it doth commonly end in
unkindness and unthankfulness.
Vidisti virum velocem in opere suo? coram regibus stabit, ~
nec erit inter ignobiles. Here is observed, that of all virtues
for rising to honour, quickness of despatch is the best;
‘ . for superiors many times love not to have those they
employ too deep or too sufficient, but ready and diligent.
Vidi cunctos viventes qui ambulant sub sole, cum adoles-
cente secundo gui consurgit pro eo. Tere is expressed that
which was noted by Sylla first, and after him by Tiberius;
Plures adorant solem ortentem quam occidentem vel meri~
dianum.
St sptritus potestatem habentis ascenderit super te, locum
tuum ne dimtseris; quia curatio factet cessare peccata
maxima. "ere caution is given, that upon displeasure,
io
a
222 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XXII. 6.
retiring is of all courses the unfittest; for a man leaveth
things at worst, and depriveth himself of means to make
them better.
Erat civitas parva, ef pauct in ea virt: venit contra eam
rex magnus, et vallavit eam, instruxitque munitiones per
gyrum, et perfecia est obsidio; inventusque est in ea vir
pauper et sapiens, et liberavit eam per sapientiam suam; et
nullus deinceps recordatus est hominis illus pauperis. Were
the corruption of states is set forth, that esteem not virtue
or merit longer than they have use of it.
\\ Mollis responsio frangit tram. Here is noted that
ne
silence or rough answer exasperateth; but an answer
present and temperate pacifieth.
\\ Ltr pigrorum quasi sepes spinarum. Here is lively
represented how laborious sloth proveth in the end: for
when things are deferred till the last instant, and nothing
prepared beforehand, every step findeth a brier or im-
pediment, which catcheth or stoppeth.
Melior est finis orationis quam principium. Here is
taxed the vanity of formal speakers, that study more about
_ prefaces and inducements, than upon the conclusions and
issues of speech,
Qui cognoscit in judicio faciem, non bene facits iste et pro
buccella panis deseret veritatem. Tere is noted, that a
judge were better be a briber than a respecter of per-
sons; for a corrupt judge offendeth not so lightly as a
facile. .
Vir pauper calumnians pauperes similis est imbrt vehem-
enit, in quo paratur fames. Here is expressed the ex-
tremity of necessitous extortions, figured in the ancient
fable of the full and the hungry horseleech.
Fons turbatus pede, et vena corrupta, est justus cadens
coram impio. Were is noted, that one judicial and
XXIII. 6.] THE SECOND BOOK. 223
exemplar iniquity in the face of the world doth trouble
the fountains of justice more than many particular injuries
passed over by connivance.
Qui subtrahit aliquid a patre e¢ a matre, et dicit hoc non
esse peccatum, particeps est homicidiz. Tere is noted, that
whereas men in wronging their best friends use to ex-
tenuate their fault, as if they mought presume or be bold
upon them, it doth contrariwise indeed aggravate their
fault, and turneth it from injury to impiety.
Noli esse amicus homint tracundo, nec ambulato cum
homine furioso. Were caution is given, that in the election
of our friends we do principally avoid those which are
impatient, as those that will espouse us to many factions
and quarrels.
Qui conturbat domum suam, possidebit ventum. Tere | *
is noted, that in domestical separations and breaches men
do promise to themselves quieting of their mind and con-
tentment; but still they are deceived of their expectation,
and it turneth to wind.
Filius sapiens letifical patrem: filius vero stultus mestitia * ‘
est mairt sue. Here is distinguished, that fathers have
most comfort of the good proof of their sons; but
mothers have most discomfort of their ill proof, because
women have little discerning of virtue, but of fortune.
Qui celat delictum, quertt amtcitiam; sed qui altero ser- °
mone repettt, separat federaios. Here caution is given, that
reconcilement is better managed by an amnesty, and
passing over that which is past, than by apologies and
excusations.
In omni opere bono erit abundantia; ubi autem verba
sunt plurima, tbi frequenter egesias. Were is noted, that
words and discourse aboundeth most where there is
idleness and want,
224 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [XXII.6. _
Primus in sua causa justus ; sed venit altera pars, et
tnguiret in eum. Here is observed, that in all causes —
the first tale possesseth much; in sort, that the pre-
judice thereby wrought will be hardly removed, except
some abuse or falsity in the information be detected.
© Verba bilinguis quasi simplicia, et ipsa perveniunt ad
intertora veniris. Here is distinguished, that flattery
and insinuation, which seemeth set and artificial, sink-
- eth not far; but that entereth deep which hath show of
nature, liberty, and simplicity.
Qui erudit derisorem, tpse stbt injuriam facit ; et qui
arguit impium, sibt maculam generat. Tere caution is
given how we tender reprehension to arrogant and scorn-
ful natures, whose manner is to esteem it for contumely,
and accordingly to return it. :
Da sapient? occastonem, et addetur et sapientia, Tere is ~*
distinguished the wisdom brought into habit, and that
which is but verbal and swimming only ‘in conceit ; for
the one upon the occasion presented is quickened and
redoubled, the other is amazed and confused.
Quomodo in aquts resplendent vultus prospicientium, sic
corda hominum manifesta sunt prudentibus, Here the mind
of a wise man is compared to a glass, wherein the images
of all diversity of natures and customs are represented;
from which representation proceedeth that application,
Qui sapit, innumeris moribus aptus erit.
4. Thus have I stayed somewhat longer upon these
sentences politic of Salomon than is agreeable to the
proportion of an example; led with a desire to give
authority to this part of knowledge, which I noted as
deficient, by so excellent a precedent; and have also
attended them with brief observations, such as to my
understanding offer no violence to the sense, though I
XXIII. 7.) ” THE SECOND BOOK. .— 225
know they may be applied to a more divine use: but
it is allowed, even in divinity, that some interpretations,
yea, and some writings, have more of the eagle than
others; but taking them as instructions for life, they
mought have received large discourse, if I would have
broken them and illustrated them by deducements and
examples.
8. Neither was this in use only with the Hebrews, but
it is generally to be found in the wisdom of the more
ancient times; that as men found out any observation
that they thought was good for life, they would gather
it and express it in parable or aphorism or fable. But
for fables, they were vicegerents and supplies where
examples failed: now that the times abound with his-
tory, the aim is better when the mark is alive. And
therefore the form of writing which of all others is fittest
for this variable argument of negotiation and occasions
is that which Machiavel chose wisely and aptly for govern-
ment; namely, discourse upon histories or examples. For
knowledge drawn freshly and in our view out of particu-
lars, knoweth the way best to particulars again. And it
hath much greater life for practice when the discourse
attendeth upon the example, than when the example
_attendeth upon the discourse. For this is no point of
order, as it seemeth at first, but of substance. For
when the example is the ground, being set down in an
history at large, it is set down with all circumstances,
which may sometimes control the discourse thereupon
made, and sometimes supply it, as a very pattern for
action; whereas the examples alleged for the discourse’s
sake are cited succinctly, and without particularity, and
carry a servile aspect towards the discourse which they
are brought in to make good.
Q
226 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XXII1. 9.
g. But. this difference is not amiss to be remembered,
that as history of times is the best ground for discourse
of government, such as Machiavel handleth, so histories
of lives is the most proper for discourse of business,
because it is more conversant in private actions. Nay,
there is a ground of discourse for this purpose fitter
than them both, which is discourse upon letters, such
as are wise and weighty, as many are of Cicero ad
Atticum, and others. For letters have a great and more
jo Te eae
Sa
particular representation of business than either chronicles -
or lives. Thus have we spoken both of the matter and
form of this part of civil knowledge, touching mens ©
which we note to be deficient.
ro. But yet there is another part of this part, which
differeth as much from that whereof we have spoken
as sapere and szbi sapere, the one moving as it were to
the circumference, the other to the centre. For there
is a wisdom of counsel, and again there is a wisdom
of pressing a man’s own fortune; and they do some-
times meet, and often sever. For many are wise in
their own ways that are weak for government or coun-
sels; like ants, which is a wise creature for itself, but
very hurtful for the garden. This wisdom the Romans
did take much knowledge of: am fol sapiens (saith the
comical poet) fingit for/unam sibi; and it grew to an
adage, Faber quisque fortune proprie; and Livy attri-
buted it to Cato the first, Zz hoc viro tanta vis animi
et ingenit inerat, ut quocunque loco natus esset sibi ipse
Jortunam facturus videretur.
11. This conceit or position, if it be too much declared
and professed, hath been thought a thing impolitic and
unlucky, as was observed in Timotheus the Athenian,
who, having done many great services to the estate in
——
‘XXII 11.] THE SECOND BOOK. | 227
his government, and giving an account thereof to the
people as the manner was, did conclude every particu-
lar with this clause, And im this fortune had no part.
And it came so to pass, that he never prospered in any
thing he took in hand afterward. For this is too high and
too arrogant, savouring of that which Ezekiel saith of
Pharaoh, Dicz's, Fluvius est meus et ego fect memet tpsum :
or of that which another prophet speaketh, that men offer
sacrifices to their nets and snares; and that which the
poet expresseth, :
Dextra mihi Deus, et telum quod missile libro,
Nunc adsint!
For these confidences were ever unhallowed, and un-
blessed: and therefore those that were great politiques
indeed ever ascribed their successes to their felicity, and
not to their skill or virtue. For so Sylla surnamed him-
self Felix, not Magnus. So Cesar said to the master of
the ship, Cesarem portas et fortunam ejus.
12. But yet nevertheless these positions, aber quis-
que fortune sue: Sapiens dominabitur astris: Invia virtuti
nulla est via, and the like, being taken and used as spurs
to industry, and not as stirrups to insolency, rather for
resolution than for the presumption or outward de-
claration, have been ever thought sound and good; and
are no question imprinted in the greatest minds, who
are so sensible of this opinion, as they can scarce con-
tain it within. As we see in Augustus Czesar (who was
rather diverse from his uncle than inferior-in virtue), how
when he died he desired his friends about him to give
him a plaudite, as if he were conscient to himself that he
had played his part well upon the stage. This part of
knowledge we do report also as deficient: not but that it
is practised too much, but it hath not been reduced to
Q2
writing. And therefore lest it should seem to any that
Faber fore it is not comprehensible by axiom, it is re-
tune, sivede quisite, as we did in the former, that we
ambitu vite. set down some heads or passages of it.
13. Wherein it may appear at the first a new and un-
wonted argument to teach men how to raise and make
their fortune; a doctrine wherein every man perchance
will be ready to yield himself a disciple, till he see the
difficulty: for fortune layeth as heavy impositions as
‘virtue; and it is as hard and severe a thing to be a
true politique, as to be truly moral. But the handling
hereof concerneth learning greatly, both in honour and
in substance. In honour, because pragmatical men may
not go away with an opinion that learning is like a lark,
that can mount, and sing, and please herself, and nothing |
else; but may know that she holdeth as well of the hawk,
that can soar aloft, and can also descend and strike upon
the prey. In substance, because it is the perfect law of
inquiry of truth, that nothing be in the globe of matter,
which should not be likewise in the globe of crystal, or
form; that is, that there be not any thing in being and
action, which should not be drawn and collected into con-
templation and doctrine. Neither doth learning admire
or esteem of this architecture of fortune, otherwise than
as of an inferior work: for no man’s fortune can be
‘an end worthy of his being; and many times the worthi-
est men do abandon their fortune willingly for better
respects: but nevertheless fortune as an organ of virtue
and merit deserveth the consideration.
14. First therefore the precept which I conceive to
be most summary towards the prevailing in fortune, is to
obtain that window which Momus did require: who see-
ing in the frame of man’s heart such angles and recesses,
Se i a ee
"5
XXIII. 14. ] FHE SECOND BOOK. Pec See
found fault there was not a window to look into them;
that is, to procure good informations of particulars
touching persons, their natures, their desires and ends,
their customs and fashions, their helps and advantages,
and whereby they chiefly stand: so again their weak-
nesses and disadvantages, and where they lie most
open and obnoxious; their friends, factions, depend-
ences; and again their opposites, enviers, competitors,
their moods and times, Sola virt molles aditus et tempora
noras; their principles, rules, and observations, and the
like: and this not only of persons, but of actions; what
are on foot from time to time, and how they are con-
ducted, favoured, opposed, and how they import, and the
like. For the knowledge of present actions is not only
material in itself, but without it also the knowledge of
persons is very erroneous: for men change with the
actions; and whiles they are in pursuit they are one, and
when they return to their nature they are another. These
informations of particulars, touching persons and actions,
are as the minor propositions in every active syllogism;
for no excellency of observations (which are as the major
propositions) can suffice to ground a conclusion, if there
_ be error and mistaking in the minors.
15. That this knowledge is possible, Salomon is our
surety, who saith, Consclium in corde virt tanquam aqua
profunda; sed vir prudens exhauriet tllud, And although
the knowledge itself falleth not under precept, because it
is of individuals, yet the instructions for the obtaining of
it may.
16. We will begin therefore with this precept, accord-
ing to the ancient opinion, that the sinews of wisdom
are slowness of belief and disttust; that.more trust be
given to countenances and deeds than to words; and in
230 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [ XXIII. 16.
words rather to sudden passages and surprised words
than to set and purposed words, Neither let that be
feared which is said, Front nulla fides, which is meant of
a general outward behaviour, and not of the private and
subtile motions and labours of the countenance and
gesture; which, as Q. Cicero elegantly saith, is Amm?
jJanua, the gate of the mind. None more close than
Tiberius, and yet Tacitus saith of Gallus, Lienim vultu
offensionem conjectaverat. So again, noting the differing
character and manner of his commending Germanicus
and Drusus in the senate, he saith, touching his fashion
wherein he carried his speech of Germanicus, thus;
Magis in spectem adornatis verbis, quam ut penitus sentire
crederetur: but of Drusus thus; Pauciorzbus sed intentior,
et fida oratione: and in another place, speaking of his
character of speech, when he did any thing that was
gracious and popular, he saith, that in other things he .
was velut eluctantium verborum; but then again, solutus
loquebatur quando subveniret.. So that there is no such
artificer of dissimulation, nor no such commanded coun-
tenance (vulius jussus), that can sever from a feigned
tale some of these fashions, either a more slight and
careless fashion, or more set and formal, or more tedious
and wandering, or coming from a man more drily and
hardly.
17. Neither are deeds such assured pledges, as that
they may be trusted without a judicious consideration of
their magnitude and nature: /raus sibi in parvis fidem
prestruit ut majore emolumento fallat; and the Italian
thinketh himself upon the point to be bought and sold,
when he is better used than he was wont to be without
manifest cause. For small favours, they do but lull men
asleep, both as to caution and as to industry; and are, as
XXII. 17.] THE SECOND BOOK. 231
Demosthenes calleth them, Alimen/a socordie. So again
we see how false the nature of some deeds are, in that
particular which Mutianus practised upon Antonius Pri-
mus, upon that hollow and unfaithful reconcilement which
was made between them; whereupon Mutianus advanced
many of the friends of Antonius, Simul amicis gus pre-
Jecturas et tribunatus largitur: wherein, under pretence to
strengthen him, he did desolate him, and won from him
his dependences.
18. As for words, though they be like waters to phy-
sicians, full of flattery and uncertainty, yet they are not to
be despised, specially with the advantage of passion and
affection. For so we see Tiberius, upon a stinging and
incensing speech of Agrippina, came a step forth of his
dissimulation, when he said, You are hurt because you do
not reign; of which Tacitus saith, Audifa hec raram
occultt pectoris vocem elicuere; correplamque Graco versu
admonutt, ideo ledi quia non regnaret. And therefore the
poet doth elegantly call passions tortures, that urge men
to confess their secrets:
Vino tortus et ira.
And experience showeth, there are few men so true to
themselves and so settled, but that, sometimes upon heat,
sometimes upon bravery, sometimes upon kindness, some-
times upon trouble of mind and weakness, they open
themselves; specially if they be put to it with a counter-
dissimulation, according to the proverb of Spain, Dz men-
tira, y sacaras verdad: Tell a lie and find a truth.
19. As for the knowing of men which is at second
hand from reports ; men’s weaknesses and faults are best
known from their enemies, their virtues and abilities from
their friends, their customs and times from their servants,
their conceits and opinions from their familiar friends,
232 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, | XXIII. 19. —
with whom they discourse most. General fame is light,
and the opinions conceived by superiors or equals are
deceitful; for to such men are more masked: Verzor
Jama e domesticis emanat.
20. But the soundest disclosing and expounding of
men is by their natures and ends, wherein the weakest
sort of men are best interpreted by their natures, and the
wisest by their ends. For it was both pleasantly and
wisely said (though I think very untruly) by a nuncio
of the pope, returning from a certain nation where he
served as lidger; whose opinion being asked touching
the appointment of one to go in his place, he wished
that in any case they did not send one that was too wise; ~
because no very wise man would ever imagine what they
in that country were like to do. And certainly it is an
error frequent for men to shoot over, and to suppose
deeper ends, and more compass reaches than are: the
Italian proverb being elegant, and for the most part true:
Di danari, di senno, e di fede,
C’e ne manco che non credi:
There is commonly less money, less wisdom, and less
good faith than men do account upon.
21. But princes, upon a far other reason, are best
interpreted by their natures, and private persons by their
ends. For princes being at the top of human desires,
they have for the most part no particular ends whereto
they aspire, by distance from which a man mought take
measure and scale of the rest of their actions and desires;
which is one of the causes that maketh their hearts more
inscrutable. Neither is it sufficient to inform ourselves
in men’s ends and natures of the variety of them only,
but also of the predominancy, what humour reigneth
XXII. 21] THE SECOND BOOK. * 983
most, and what end is principally sought. For so we
see, when Tigellinus saw himself outstripped by Petronius
Turpilianus in Nero’s humours of pleasures, me/us gus
rimatur, he wrought upon Nero’s fears, whereby he brake
the other’s neck.
22. But to all this part of inquiry the most com-
pendious way resteth in three things: the first, to have
general acquaintance and inwardness with those which
have general acquaintance and look most into the world;
and specially according to the diversity of business, and
the diversity of persons, to have privacy and conversation
with some one friend at least which is perfect and well
intelligenced in every several kind. The second is to
keep a good mediocrity in liberty of speech and secrecy ;
. in most things liberty: secrecy where it importeth; for
liberty of speech inviteth and provoketh liberty to be
used again, and so bringeth much to a man’s knowledge;
and secrecy on the other side induceth trust and inward-
ness.. The last is the reducing of a man’s self to this
watchful and serene habit, as to make account and
purpose, in every conference and action, as well to
observe as to act. For as Epictetus would have a phi-
losopher in every particular action to say to himself, Z7
hoc volo, et etiam tustitutum servare; so a politic man in
everything should say to himself, Z¥¢ hoc volo, ac etiam
aliquid addiscere. 1 have stayed the longer upon this
precept of obtaining good information, because it is a
main part by itself, which answereth to all the rest. But,
above all things, caution must be taken that men have
a good stay and hold of themselves, and that this much
knowing do not draw on much meddling; for nothing is
more unfortunate than light and rash intermeddling in
many matters. So that this variety of knowledge tendeth
234 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XXIII. 22.
in conclusion but only to this, to make a better and freer
choice of those actions which may concern us, and
to conduct them with the less error and the more
dexterity.
23. The second precept concerning this knowledge is,
for men to take good information touching their own
person, and well to understand themselves: knowing
that, as S. James saith, though men look oft in a glass,
yet they do suddenly forget themselves; wherein as
the divine glass is the word of God, so the politic glass
is the state of the world, or times wherein we live, in the
which we are to behold ourselves.
24. For men ought to take an unpartial view of their
own abilities and virtues; and again of their wants and
impediments; accounting these with the most, and those
other with the least; and from this view and examination
to frame the considerations following.
25. First, to consider how the constitution of their
nature sorteth with the general state of the times; which
if they find agreeable and fit, then in all things to give
themselves more scope and liberty; but if differing and
dissonant, then in the whole course of their life to be
more close retired, and reserved: as we see in Tiberius,
who was never seen at a play, and came not into the
Senate in twelve of his last years; whereas Augustus
Cesar lived ever in men’s eyes, which Tacitus observeth,
alia Tiberio morum via.
26. Secondly, to consider how their nature sorteth with
professions and courses of life, and accordingly to make
election, if they be free; and, if engaged, to make the
departure at the first opportunity: as we see was done
by Duke Valentine, that was designed by his father to a
sacerdotal profession, but quitted it soon after in regard
,
XXIII. 26.] THE SECOND BOOK. 235
of his parts and inclination; being such, nevertheless,
as a man cannot tell well whether they were worse for
a prince or for a priest.
24. Thirdly, to consider how they sort with those whom
they are like to have competitors and concurrents; and to
take that course wherein there is most solitude, and them-
selves like to be most eminent: as Cesar Julius did, who
at first was an orator or pleader; but when he saw the
excellency of Cicero, Hortensius, Catulus, and others,
for eloquence, and saw there was no man of reputation
for the wars but Pompeius, upon whom the state was
forced to rely, he forsook his course begun toward a
civil and popular greatness, and transferred his designs
to a martial greatness.
28. Fourthly, in the choice of their friends and de-
pendences, to proceed according to the composition of
their own nature: as we may see in Cesar, all whose
friends and followers were men active and effectual, but
not solemn, or of reputation.
29. Fifthly, to take special heed how they guide them-
selves by examples, in thinking they can do as they see
others do; whereas perhaps their natures and carriages
are far differing. In which error it seemeth Pompey was,
of whom Cicero saith, that he was wont often to say,
Sylla potuit, ego non poteroP Wherein he was much
abused, the natures and proceedings of himself and his
example being the unlikest in the world; the one being
fierce, violent, and pressing the fact; the other solemn,
and full of majesty and circumstance, and therefore the
less effectual.
But this precept touching the politic knowledge of our-
selves hath many other branches, whereupon we cannot
insist.
236 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [XXIII. 30.
30. Next to the well understanding and discerning of
a man’s self, there followeth the well opening and re-
vealing a man’s self; wherein we see nothing more
usual than for the more able man to make the less
show. For there is a great advantage in the well set-
ting forth of a man’s virtues, fortunes, merits; and
again, in the artificial covering of a man’s weaknesses,
defects, disgraces; staying upon the one, sliding from
the other; cherishing the one by circumstances, gracing
the other by exposition, and the like. Wherein we see
what Tacitus saith of Mutianus, who was the greatest
politique of his time, Omnium que dixerat feceratque arte
guadam ostentator: which requireth indeed some art, lest
it turn tedious and arrogant; but yet so, as ostentation
(though it be to the first degree of vanity) seemeth to me
rather a vice in manners than in policy: for as it is said,
Audacter calumniare, semper aliquid heret: so, except it
be in a ridiculous degree of deformity, Audacter te vendita,
semper aliquid here’, For it will stick with the more
ignorant and inferior sort of men, though men of wisdom
and rank do smile at it and despise it; and yet the
authority won with many doth countervail the disdain
ofafew. But if it be carried with decency and govern-
ment, as with a natural, pleasant, and ingenious fashion;
or at times when it is mixed with some peril and unsafety
(as in military persons); or at times when others are most
envied ; or with easy and careless passage to it and from
it, without dwelling too long, or being too serious; or
with an equal freedom of taxing a man’s self, as well
as gracing himself; or by occasion of repelling or put-
ting down others’ injury or insolency; it doth greatly
add to reputation: and surely not a few solid natures,
that want this ventosity and cannot sail in the height
j
XXII. 30.] THE SECOND BOOK. — 237
of the winds, are not without some prejudice and disad-
vantage by their moderation.
31. But for these flourishes and enhancements of virtue,
as they are not perchance unnecessary, so it is at least
necessary that virtue be not disvalued and imbased under
the just price; which is done in three manners: by of-
fering and obtruding a man’s self; wherein men think he
is rewarded, when he is accepted; by doing too much,
which will not give that which is well done leave to settle,
and in the end induceth satiety; and by finding too soon
the fruit of a man’s virtue, in commendation, applause,
honour, favour ; wherein if a man be pleased with a little,
let him hear what is truly said; Cave ne cnsuetus rebus
majortbus videarts, st hee te res parva sicuti magna delectat.
32. But the covering of defects is of no less importance
than the valuing of good parts; which may be done like-
wise in three manners, by caution, by colour, and by con-
fidence. Caution is when men do ingeniously and dis-
creetly avoid to be put into those things for which they
are not proper: whereas contrariwise bold and unquiet
spirits will thrust themselves into matters without differ-
ence, and so publish and proclaim all their wants. Colour
is when men make a way for themselves to have a con-
struction made of their faults or wants, as proceeding
from a better cause or intended for some other purpose.
For of the one it is well said,
Sxpe latet vitium:proximitate boni,
and therefore whatsoever want a man hath, he must see
that he pretend the virtue that shadoweth it; as if he
be dull, he must affect gravity; if a coward, mildness;
and so the rest. For the second, a man must frame some
probable cause why he should not do his best, and why
he should dissemble his abilities; and for that purpose
238 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XXIIL. 32.
must use to dissemble those abilities which are notorious
in him, to give colour that his true wants are but in-
dustries and dissimulations. For confidence, it is the last
but the surest remedy; namely, to depress and seem to
despise whatsoever a man cannot attain; observing the
good principle of the merchants, who endeavour to raise
the price of their own commodities, and to beat down the
price of others. But there is a confidence that passeth
this other; which is to face out a man’s own defects,
in seeming to conceive that he is best in those things
wherein he is failing; and, to help that again, to seem on
the other side that he hath least opinion of himself in
those things wherein he is best: like as we shall see it
commonly in poets, that if they show their verses, and you
except to any, they will say Zhat thai line cost them more
labour than any of the rest; and presently will seem to
disable and suspect rather some other line, which they
know well enough to be the best in the number. But above
all, in this righting and helping of a man’s self in his own
carriage, he must take heed he show not himself dis-
mantled and exposed to scorn and injury, by too much
dulceness, goodness, and facility of nature; but show
some sparkles of liberty, spirit, and edge. Which kind
of fortified carriage, with a ready rescussing of a man’s
self from scorns, is sometimes of necessity imposed upon
men by somewhat in their person or fortune; but it ever
succeedeth with good felicity,
33- Another precept of this knowledge is by all possible
endeavour to frame the mind to be pliant and obedient
to occasion; for nothing hindereth men’s fortunes so
much as this: /dem manebat, neque idem decebat, men are
where they were, when occasions turn: and therefore
to Cato, whom Livy maketh such an architect of fortune,
v he
u
XXIII. 33.) THE SECOND BOOK. 239
he addeth that he had versatile ingenium. And thereof
it cometh that these grave solemn wits, which must be
like themselves and cannot make departures, have more
dignity than felicity. But in some it is nature to be
somewhat viscous and inwrapped, and not easy to turn.
In some it is a conceit that is almost a nature, which is,
that men can hardly make themselves believe that they
ought to change their course, when they have found good
by it in former experience. For Machiavel noted wisely,
how Fabius Maximus would have been temporizing still,
according to his old bias, when the nature of the war
was altered and required hot pursuit. In some other
it is want of point and penetration in their judgement,
that they do not discern when things have a period, but
come in too late after the occasion; as Demosthenes
compareth the people of Athens to country fellows, when
they play in a fence school, that if they have a blow, then
they remove their weapon to that ward, and not before.
In some other it is a lothness to leese labours passed, and
a conceit that they can bring about occasions to their ply;
and yet in the end, when they see no other remedy, then
they come to it with disadvantage; as Tarquinius, that
gave for the third part of Sibylla’s books the treble price,
when he mought at first have had all three for the simple.
But from whatsoever root or cause this restiveness of
mind proceedeth, it is a thing most prejudicial; and
nothing is more politic than to make the wheels of our
mind concentric and voluble with the wheels of fortune.
34. Another precept of this knowledge, which hath
some affinity with that we last spake of, but with differ-
ence, is that which is well expressed, ats accede deisque,
that men do not only turn with the occasions, but also
run with the occasions, and not strain their credit or
ay
s
240 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [ XXIII. 34._
strength to over-hard or extreme points; but choose in
their actions that which is most passable: for this will
preserve men from foil, not occupy them too much about
one matter, win opinion of moderation, please the most,
and make a show of a perpetual felicity in all they under-
take; which cannot but mightily increase reputation.
35. Another part of this knowledge seemeth to have
some repugnancy with the former two, but not as I
understand it; and it is that which Demosthenes uttereth
in high terms; £7 guemadmodum receptum est, ul exercitum
ducal imperator, sic e¢ a cordatis virts res ipse ducend@ ;
ut que ipsts videntur, ea gerantur, et non ipst eventus per-
segut coganiur. For if we observe we shall find two
differing kinds of sufficiency in managing of business:
some can make use of occasions aptly and dexterously,
but plot little ; some can urge and pursue their own plots
well, but cannot accommodate nor take in; either of
which is very unperfect without the other. -
36. Another part of this knowledge is the observing a
good mediocrity in the declaring, or not declaring a man’s
self: for although depth of secrecy, and making way
(gualis est via navis in mart, which the French calleth
sourdes menées, when men set things in work without
opening themselves at all), be sometimes both prosperous
and admirable; yet many times dssimulatio errores parit,
gui dissimulatorem ipsum illaqueant. And therefore we
see the greatest politiques have in a natural and free
manner professed their desires, rather than been reserved
and disguised in them. For so we see that Lucius Sylla
made a kind of profession, shat he wished all men happy or
unhappy, as they stood his friends or enemies. So Cesar,
when he went first into Gaul, made no scruple to profess
That he had rather be first in a village than second at Rome.
XXIII. 36.] THE SECOND BOOK, 241
So again, as soon as he had begun the war, we see what
Cicero saith of him, A/#r (meaning of Czesar) non recusat,
sed guodammodo postulat, ut (ut est) ste appelletur tyrannus,
So we may see in a letter of Cicero to Atticus, that
Augustus Czesar, in his very entrance into affairs, when
he was a darling of the senate, yet in his harangues to
the people would swear, Jia parentis honores consequi liceat
(which was no less than the tyranny), save that, to help
it, he would stretch forth his hand towards a statua of
Czesar’s that was erected in the place: and men laughed,
and wondered, and said, Is it possible? or, Did you ever
hear the like? and yet thought he meant no hurt; he did
it so handsomely and ingenuously. And all these were
prosperous: whereas Pompey, who tended to the same
ends, but in a more dark and dissembling manner, as
Tacitus saith of him, Occulttor non melior, wherein Sal-
lust concurreth, Ore probo, animo inverecundo, made it his
design, by infinite secret engines, to cast the state into
an absolute anarchy and confusion, that the state mought
cast itself into his arms for necessity and protection, and
so the sovereign power be put upon him, and he never
seen in it: and when he had brought it (as he thought)
to that point, when he was chosen consul alone, as never
any was, yet he could make no great matter of it, because
men understood him not; but was fain in the end to go
the beaten track of getting arms into his hands, by colour
of the doubt of Czesar’s designs: so tedious, casual, and
unfortunate are these deep dissimulations: . whereof it
seemeth Tacitus made this judgement, that they were
a cunning of an inferior form in regard of true policy;
attributing the one to Augustus, the other to Tiberius;
where, speaking of Livia, he saith, Z¢ cum aritbus maritd
simulatione filit bene compostta: for surely the continual
R
1 ee ag ae
242 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [XXIII. 36.
habit of dissimulation is but a weak and sluggish cunning,
and not greatly politic.
37- Another precept of this architecture of fortune is
to accustom our minds to judge of the proportion or
value of things, as they conduce and are material to our
particular ends: and that to do substantially, and not
superficially, For we shall find the logical part (as I may
term it) of some men’s minds good, but the mathematical
part erroneous; that is, they can well judge of conse-
quences, but not of proportions and comparison, pre-
ferring things of show and sense before things of sub-
stance and effect. So some fall in love with access to
princes, others with popular fame and applause, sup-
posing they are things of great purchase, when in many
cases they are but matters of envy, peril, and impediment.
So some measure things according to the labour and
difficulty or assiduity which are spent about them; and
think, if they be ever moving, that they must needs
advance and proceed; as Cesar saith in a despising
manner of Cato the second, when he describeth how
laborious and indefatigable he was to no great purpose,
Hee omnia magno studio agebat. So in most things men
are ready to abuse themselves in thinking the greatest
means to be best, when it should be the fittest.
38. As for the true marshalling of men’s pursuits
towards their fortune, as they are more or less material,
I hold them to stand thus. First the amendment of their
own minds. For the remove of the impediments of the
mind will sooner clear the passages of fortune, than the
obtaining fortune will remove the impediments of the
mind. In the second place I set down wealth and
means; which I know most men would have placed first,
because of the general use which it beareth towards all
7
[| ">i >
; $ ry
XXIII. 38. ]. THE SECOND BOOK. 243
variety of occasions. But that opinion I may condemn
with like reason as Machiavel doth that other, that
moneys were the sinews of the wars; whereas (saith he)
the true sinews of the wars are the sinews of men’s arms,
that is, a valiant, populous, and military nation: and he
voucheth aptly the authority of Solon, who, when Croesus
showed him his treasury of gold, said to him, that if
another came that had better iron, he would be master
of his gold. In like manner it may be truly affirmed,
that it is not moneys that are the sinews of fortune, but
it is the sinews and steel of men’s minds, wit, courage,
audacity, resolution, temper, industry, and the like. In
the third place I set down reputation, because of the
peremptory tides and currents it hath; which, if they be
not taken in their due time, are seldom recovered, it
being extreme hard to play an after game of reputation.
And lastly I place honour, which is more easily won by
any of the other three, much more by all, than any of
them can be purchased by honour. To conclude this pre-
cept, as there is order and priority in matter, so is there
in time, the preposterous placing whereof is one of the
commonest errors: while men fly to their ends when they
should intend their beginnings, and do not take things in
order of time as they come on, but marshal them accord-
ing to greatness and not according to instance; not -
observing the good precept, Quod nunc instat agamus.
39. Another precept of this knowledge is not to em-
brace any matters which do occupy too great a quantity
of time, but to have that sounding in a man’s ears, Sed
Jugit interea fugit irreparabile tempus: and ‘that is the
cause why those which take their course of rising by pro-
fessions of burden, ‘as lawyers, orators, painful divines,
and the like, are not commonly so politic for their own
5 R 2
-_ a Lee ae 2 “a
244 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XXIII. 39.
fortune, otherwise than in their ordinary way, because
they want time to learn particulars, to wait occasions, and
to devise plots.
40. Another precept of this knowledge is to imitate
nature which doth nothing in vain; which surely a man
may do if he do well interlace his business, and bend not
his mind too much upon that which he principally in-
tendeth. For a man ought in every particular action
so to carry the motions of his mind, and so to have
one thing under another, as if he cannot have that he
seeketh in the best degree, yet to have it in a second, or
so in a third; and if he can have no part of that which
he purposed, yet to turn the use of it to somewhat else;
and if he cannot make anything of it for the present, yet
to make it as a seed of somewhat in time to come; and
if he can contrive no effect or substance from it, yet to
win some good opinion by it, or the like. So that he
should exact an account of himself of every action, to
reap somewhat, and not to stand amazed and confused
if he fail of that he chiefly meant: for nothing is more
impolitic than to mind actions wholly one by one. For
he that doth so leeseth infinite occasions which intervene,
and are many times more proper and propitious for some-
what that he shall need afterwards, than for that which he
urgeth for the present; and therefore men must be per-
fect in that rule, Hee oportet facere, et illa non omiittere.
41. Another precept of this knowledge is, not to engage
a man’s self peremptorily in any thing, though it seem
not liable to accident; but ever to have a window to fly
out at, or a way to retire: following the wisdom in the
ancient fable of the two frogs, which consulted when their
plash'was dry whither they should go; and the one moved
to go down into a pit, because it was not likely the water
se
‘ ee
XXIII. 41.] THE SECOND BOOK, 245
would dry there ; but the other answered, True, but if it
do, how shall we get out again?
42. Another precept of this knowledge is that ancient
precept of Bias, construed not to any point of perfidious-
ness, but only to caution and moderation, Z¢ ama fan-
quam tnimicus futurus et odi tanquam amaturus. For it
utterly betrayeth all utility for men to embark themselves
too far into unfortunate friendships, troublesome spleens,
and childish and humorous envies or emulations.
43. But I continue this beyond the measure of an
example; led, because I would not have such know-
ledges, which I note as deficient, to be thought things
imaginative or in the air, or an observation or two much
made of, but things of bulk and mass, whereof an end is
hardlier made than a beginning. It must be likewise con-
ceived, that in these points which I mention and set down,
they are far from complete tractates of them, but only as
small pieces for patterns. And lastly, no man I suppose
will think that I mean fortunes are not obtained without
all this ado; for I know they come tumbling into some
men’s laps; and a number obtain good fortunes by dili-
gence in a plain way, little intermeddling, and keeping
themselves from gross errors.
44. But as Cicero, when he setteth down an idea of a
perfect orator, doth not mean that every pleader should
be such; and so likewise, when a prince or a courtier
hath been described by such as have handled those sub-
jects, the mould hath used to be made according to the
perfection of the art, and not according to common prac-
tice: so I understand it, that it ought to be done in the
description of a politic man, I mean politic for his own
fortune.
45. But it must be remembered all this while, that the
> FO
i
246 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [ XXIII. 45.
precepts which we have set down are of that kind which
may be counted and called Bone Aries. As for evil arts,
if a man would set down for himself that principle of
Machiavel, Zhat a man seek not to atlain virtue itself, but
the appearance only thereof ; because the credit of virtue ts
a help, but the use of wt is cumber: or that other of his.
principles, Zhat he presuppose, that men are not fitly to be
wrought otherwise but by fear; and therefore that he seek
to have every man obnoxious, low, and in strait, which
the Italians call seminar spine, to sow thorns: or that
other principle, contained in the verse which Cicero citeth,
Cadant amici, dummodo inimict intercidant, as the triumvirs,
which sold every one to other the lives of their friends:
for the deaths of their enemies: or that other protestation
of L. Catilina, to set on fire and trouble states, to the end
to fish in droumy waters, and to unwrap their. fortunes,
Ego st quid in fortunis mets exctlatum sit incendium, id
non aqua sed ruina reslinguam: or that other principle
of Lysander, Zhat children are to be deceived with comfils,
and men with oaths: and the like evil and corrupt posi-
tions, whereof (as in all things) there are more in number
than of the good: certainly with these dispensations from
the laws of charity and integrity, the pressing of a man’s
fortune may be more hasty and compendious. But it is
in life as it is in ways, the shortest way is commonly the
foulest, and surely the fairer way is not much about.
46. But men, if they be in their own power, and do
bear and sustain themselves, and be not carried away
with a whirlwind or tempest of ambition, ought in the
pursuit of their own fortune to set before their eyes not
only that general map of the world, Thaf all things are
vanity and vexation of spirit, but many other more par-
ticular cards and directions: chiefly that, that being
on
a
XXII. 46] ‘THE SECOND BOOK. — 247
without well-being is a curse, and the greater being the
greater curse; and that all virtue is most rewarded, and
all wickedness most punished in itself: according as the
poet saith excellently:
Que vobis, que digna, viri, pro laudibus istis
Premia posse rear solvi? pulcherrima primum
Dii moresque dabunt vestri,
And so of the contrary. And secondly they ought to
look up to the eternal providence and divine judgement,
which often subverteth the wisdom of evil plots and
imaginations, according to that scripture, He hath con-
ceived mischief, and shall bring forth a vain thing. And
although men should refrain themselves from injury and
evil arts, yet this incessant and Sabbathless pursuit of
a man’s fortune leaveth not tribute which we owe to
God of our time; who (we see) demandeth a tenth of
our substance, and a seventh, which is more strict, of
our time: and it is to small purpose to have an erected
face towards heaven, and a perpetual groveling spirit
upon earth, eating dust as doth the serpent, A/gue affigit
humo divine particulam aure. And if any man flatter
himself that he will employ his fortune well, though he
should obtain it ill, as was said concerning Augustus
Cesar, and after of Septimius Severus, Zhat either they
should never have been born, or else they should never have
died, they did so much mischief in the pursuit and ascent
of their greatness, and so much good when they were
established; yet these compensations and satisfactions
are good to be used, but never good to be purposed.
And lastly, it is not amiss for men in their race toward
their fortune, to cool themselves a little with that conceit
which is elegantly expressed by the Emperor Charles the
Fifth, in his instructions to the king his son, Zhat fortune
. ——-?
or
248 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [ XXIII. 46.
hath somewhat of the nature of a woman, that of she be too
much wooed she ts the farther of. But this last is but a
remedy for those whose tastes are. corrupted: let men
rather build upon that foundation which is as a corner-
stone of divinity and philosophy, wherein they join close,
namely that same Primum querite. For divinity saith,
Primum querite regnum Det, et ista omnia adjicientur vobis :
and philosophy saith, Primum querite bona animi; cetera
aut aderunt, aut non oberunt. And although the human
foundation hath somewhat of the sands, as we see in
M. Brutus, when he brake forth into that speech,
Te colui (Virtus) ut rem; ast tu nomen inane es;
yet the divine foundation is upon the rock. But this may
serve for a taste of that knowledge which I noted as
deficient.
47. Concerning government, it is a part of knowledge
secret and retired in both these respects in which things
are deemed secret; for some things are secret because
they are hard to know, and some because they are not
fit to utter. We see all governments are obscure and
invisible :
Totamque infusa per artus
Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet. ,
Such is the description of governments. We see the
government of God over the world is hidden, insomuch
as it seemeth to participate of much irregularity and con-
fusion. The government of the soul in moving the body
is inward and profound, and the passages thereof hardly
to be reduced to demonstration. Again, the wisdom of
antiquity {the shadows whereof are in the poets) in the
description of torments and pains, next unto the crime of
rebellion, which was the giants’ offence, doth detest the
offence of futility, as.in Sisyphus and Tantalus. But this
Samed
’
XXII. 47. THE SECOND BOOK. 2
47 : 49
was meant of particulars: nevertheless even unto the
general rules and discourses of policy and government
there is due a reverent and reserved handling.
48. But contrariwise in the governors towards the
governed, all things ought as far as the frailty of man
permitteth to be manifest and revealed. For so it is
expressed in the scriptures, touching the government of
God, that this globe, which seemeth to us a dark and
shady body, is in the view of God as crystal: Zi? zn con-
spectu sedis tanquam mare vitreum simile crystallo. So
unto princes and states, and specially towards wise senates
and councils, the natures and dispositions of the people,
their conditions and necessities, their factions and com-
binations, their animosities and discontents, ought to be,
in regard of the variety of their intelligences, the wisdom
of their observations, and the height of their station where
they keep sentinel, in great part clear and transparent.
Wherefore, considering that I write to a king that is a
master of this science, and is so well assisted, I think it
decent to pass over this part in silence, as willing to
‘obtain the certificate which one of the ancient philo-
sophers aspired unto; who being silent, when others
contended to make demonstration of their abilities by
speech, desired it mought be certified for his part, Zhaz
there was one that knew how to hold his peace.
49. Notwithstanding, for the more public part of
government, which is laws, I think good to note only one
deficience ; which is, that all those which have written of
laws, have written either as philosophers or as lawyers,
and none as statesmen. As for the philosophers, they
make imaginary laws for imaginary commonwealths, and
their discourses are as the stars, which give little light
because they are so high. For the lawyers, they write
ol
—
250 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [XXIIt. 49
according to the states where they live what is received
law, and not what ought to be law: for the wisdom of a
lawmaker is one, and of a lawyer is another. For there
are in nature certain fountains of justice, whence all civil
laws are derived but as streams: and like as waters do
take tinctures and tastes from the soils through which
_ they run, so do civil laws vary according to the regions
and governments where they are planted, though they
proceed from the same fountains. Again, the wisdom of
a lawmaker consisteth not only in.a platform of justice,
but in the application thereof; taking into consideration
by what means laws may be made certain, and what are
the causes and remedies of the doubtfulness and incer-
tainty of law; by what means laws may be made apt and
easy to be executed, and what are the impediments and
remedies in the execution of laws; what influence laws
touching private right of meum and /uum have into the
public state, and how they may be made apt and agree-
able ; how laws are to be penned and delivered, whether
in texts or in acts, brief or large, with preambles, or with-
out ; how they are to be pruned and reformed from time
to time, and what is the best means to keep them from
being too vast in volumes, or too full of multiplicity and
crossness; how they are to be expounded, when upon
causes emergent and judicially discussed, and when upon
responses and conferences touching general points or
questions; how they are to be pressed, rigorously or
tenderly; how they are to be mitigated by equity and
good conscience, and whether discretion and strict law
are to be mingled in the same courts, or kept apart in
several courts; again, how the practice, profession, and
erudition of law is to be censured and governed; and
many other points touching the administration, and (as I
ie
XXIII. 49.] ° THE SECOND BOOK. 251
may term it) animation of laws. Upon which I insist the
less, because I purpose (if God give me De pruden-
leave), having begun a work of this nature in ‘tia legislat-
aphorisms, to propound it hereafter, noting °%, sive, de
it in the mean time for deficient. Sontils ore
50. And for your Majesty’s laws of England, I could
say much of their dignity, and somewhat of their defect ;
but they cannot but excel the civil laws in fitness for the
government: for the civil law was om hos quesitum munus
in usus; it was not made for the countries which it
governeth. Hereof I cease to speak, because I will not
intermingle matter of action with matter of general
learning.
XXIV. S thinces have I concluded this portion of
learning touching civil knowledge; and
with civil knowledge have concluded human philosophy ;
and with human philosophy, philosophy in general. And
being now at some pause, looking back into that I have
passed through, this writing seemeth to me (s? munguam
JSallit imago), as far as a man can judge of his own work,
not much better than that noise or sound which musicians
make while they are in tuning their instruments: which
is nothing pleasant to hear, but yet is a cause why the
music is sweeter afterwards. So have I been content to
tune the instruments of the Muses, that they may play
that have better hands. And surely, when I set before
me the condition of these times, in which learning hath
made her third visitation or circuit in all the qualities
thereof; as the excellency and vivacity of the wits of this
age; the noble helps and lights which we have by the
travails of ancient writers; the art of printing, which com-
municateth books to men of all fortunes; the openness
252 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XXIV.
of the world by navigation, which hath disclosed multi-
tudes of experiments, and a mass of natural history; the
leisure wherewith these times abound, not employing men
so generally in civil business, as the states of Grecia did.
in respect of their popularity, and the state of Rome, in
respect of the greatness of their monarchy; the present
disposition of these times at this instant to peace; the
consumption of all that ever can be said in controversies
of religion, which have so much diverted men from other
sciences; the perfection of your Majesty’s learning, which
as a phoenix may call whole vollies of wits to follow you;
and the inseparable propriety of time, which is ever more
and more to disclose truth; I cannot but be raised to this
persuasion that this third period of time will far surpass
that of the Grecian and Roman learning: only if men will
know their own strength, and their own weakness both;
and take, one from the other, light of invention, and not
fire of contradiction; and esteem of the inquisition of
truth as of an enterprise, and not as of a quality or orna-
ment; and employ wit and magnificence to things of
worth and excellency, and not to things vulgar and of
popular estimation. As for my labours, if any man shall
please himself or others in the reprehension of them, they
shall make that ancient and patient request, Verbera, sed
audi; \et men reprehend them, so they observe and
weigh them. For the appeal is lawful (though it may be
it shall not be needful) from the first cogitations of men
to their second, and from the nearer times to the times
further off. Now let us come to that learning, which both
_ the former times were not so blessed as to know, sacred
and inspired divinity, the Sabbath and port of all men’s
labours and peregrinations,
ee! Fee oe
Y |
XXV. 1.] _ THE SECOND BOOK. 253
XXV. 1. i esa prerogative of God extendeth as well
to the reason as to the will of man;
so that as we are to obey his law, though we find a re-
luctation in our will, so we are to believe his word, though
we find a reluctation in our reason. For if we believe
only that which is agreeable to our sense, we give consent
to the matter, and not to the author; which is no more
than we would do towards a suspected and discredited
witness; but that faith which was accounted to Abraham
for righteousness was of such a point as whereat Sarah
laughed, who therein was an image of natural reason.
2. Howbeit (if we will truly consider of it) more worthy
it is to believe than to know as we now know. For in
knowledge man’s mind suffereth from sense ; but in belief
it suffereth from spirit, such one as it holdeth for more
authorised than itself, and so suffereth from the worthier
agent. Otherwise it is of the state of man glorified; for
then faith shall cease, and we shall know as we are 4
known.
3. Wherefore we conclude that sacred theology (which
in our idiom we call divinity) is grounded only upon the
word and oracle of God, and not upon the light of nature:
for it is written, Celi enarrant gloriam Det; but it is not®
written, Cal enarrant voluntatem Det: but of that it is
said, Ad legem et testimonium: si non fecerint secundum?
verbum istud &c. This holdeth not only in those points
of faith which concern the great mysteries of the Deity,
of the creation, of the redemption, but likewise those
which concern the law moral truly interpreted: Zove
your enemies: do good to them that hate you: Be like to your
heavenly Father, that suffereth his rain to fail upon the just
and unjust. To this it ought to be applauded, Mec vox
hominem sonat: it is a voice beyond the light of nature.
he El ~aaeee
254 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [XXV.3.. _
So we see the heathen poets, when they fall upon a
libertine passion, do still expostulate with laws and moral-
ities, as if they were opposite and malignant to nature;
Et quod natura remittit, invida jura negant. So said
Dendamis the Indian unto Alexander’s messengers, that
he had heard somewhat of Pythagoras, and some other
of the wise men of Grecia, and ‘that he held them for
excellent men: but that they had a fault, which was that
they had in too great reverence and veneration a thing
they called law and manners. So it must be confessed,
that a great part of the law moral is of that perfec-
tion, whereunto the light of nature cannot aspire: how
then is it that man is said to have, by the light and law
of nature, some notions and conceits of virtue and vice,
justice and wrong, good and evil? Thus, because the
light of nature is used in two several senses; the one,
that which springeth from. reason, sense, induction, argu-
ment, according to the laws of heaven and earth; the
other, that which is imprinted upon the spirit of man by
an inward instinct, according to the law of conscience,
which is a sparkle of the purity of his first estate; in
which latter sense only he is participant of some light
and discerning touching the perfection of the moral law: |
but how? sufficient to check the vice, but not to inform
the duty. So then the doctrine of religion, as well moral
- as mystical, is not to be attained but by inspiration and
revelation from God.
4. The use notwithstanding of reason in spiritual things,
and the latitude thereof, is very great and general: for it
is not for nothing that’ the apostle calleth religion our
reasonable service of God; insomuch as the very cere-
monies and figures of the old law were full of reason and
signification, much more than the ceremonies of idolatry
Sh pete
XXv. 4] THE SECOND BOOK. — 255
and magic, that are full of non-significants and surd cha-
racters. But most specially the Christian faith, as in all
things so in this, deserveth to be highly magnified; hold-
ing and preserving the golden mediocrity in this point
between the law of the heathen and the law of Mahumet,
which have embraced the two extremes. For the religion
of the heathen had no constant belief or confession, but
left all to the liberty of argument; and the religion of
Mahumet on the other side interdicteth argument alto-
gether: the one having the very face of error, and the '
other of imposture: whereas the Faith doth both admit
‘ and reject disputation with difference.
5. The use of human reason in religion is of two sorts:
\fe former, in the conception and apprehension of the
mysteries of God to us revealed; the other, in the in-
erring and deriving of doctrine and direction thereupon.
The former extendeth to the mysteries themselves ; but
how? by way of illustration, and not by way of argument.
The latter consisteth indeed of probation and argument.
In the former we see God vouchsafeth to descend to our
capacity, in the expressing of his mysteries in sort as may
be sensible unto us; and doth grift his revelations and
holy doctrine upon the notions of our reason, and applieth
his inspirations to open our understanding, as the form of
the key to the ward of the lock. For the latter, there is
allowed us an use of reason and argument, secondary and
respective, although not original and absolute. For after
the articles and principles of religion are placed and ex-
empted from examination of reason, it is then permitted
unto us to make derivations and inferences from and
according to the analogy of them, for our better direction,
In nature this holdeth not; for both the principles are
examinable by induction, though not by a medium or
256 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [XXV. 5.
syllogism ;. and besides, those principles or first positions
have no discordance with that reason which draweth down
and deduceth the inferior positions. But yet it holdeth
not in religion alone, but in many knowledges, both of
greater and smaller nature, namely, wherein there are not
only postfa but placifa; for in such there can be no use
of absolute reason. We see it familiarly in games of wit,
as chess, or the like. The draughts and first laws of the
game are positive, but how? merely ad placifum, and not
examinable by reason; but then how to direct our play
thereupon with best advantage to win the game, is arti-
ficial and rational. So in human laws there be many
grounds and maxims which are p/acz/a juris, positive upon
authority, and not upon reason, and therefore not to be
disputed: but what is most just, not absolutely but rela-
tively, and according to those maxims, that affordeth a
long field of disputation. Such therefore is that second-
ary reason, which hath place in divinity, which is grounded
upon the dlace/s of God.
6. Here therefore I note this deficience, that there hath
De usu legit- NOt been, to my understanding, sufficiently
imo rationis inquired and handled the true limits and use
humane in of reason in spiritual things, as a kind of
divinis, divine dialectic: which for that it is not done,
it seemeth to me a thing usual, by pretext of true con-
ceiving that which is revealed, to search and mine into
that which is not revealed; and by pretext of enucleating
inferences and contradictories, to examine that which is
positive. The one sort falling into the error of Nicodemus,
demanding to have things made more sensible than it
pleaseth God to reveal them, Quomodo posstt homo nasct
cum stt senex ? ‘The other sort into the error of the dis-
ciples, which were scandalized at a show of contradiction,
XXV.6.] ‘THE ‘SECOND BOOK. — 257
Quid est hoc quod dict nobis? Modicum, et non videbitis me ;
et tterum, modicum, et videbitis me, &c.
7. Upon this I have insisted the more, in a of
the great and blessed use thereof; for this point well
laboured and defined of would in my judgement be an
opiate to stay and bridle not only the vanity of curious
speculations, wherewith the schools labour, but the fury
of controversies, wherewith the church laboureth. For it
cannot but open men’s eyes, to see that many contro-
versies do merely pertain to that which is either not re-
vealed or positive; and that many others do grow upon
weak and obscure inferences or derivations: which latter
sort, if men would revive the blessed style of that great
doctor of the Gentiles, would be carried thus, ego, non '’
dominus ; and again, secundum consilium meum, in opinions
and counsels, and not in positions and oppositions.
But men are now over-ready to usurp the style, 2on ego,
sed dominus ; and not so only, but to bind it with the
thunder and denunciation of curses and anathemas, to the
terror of those which have not sufficiently learned out of
Salomon, that Zhe causeless curse shall not come.
8. Divinity hath two principal parts; the matter in-
formed or revealed, and the nature of the information
or revelation: and with the latter we will begin, because
it hath most coherence with that which we have now last
handled. The nature of the information consisteth of
three branches; the limits of the information, the suffici-
ency of the information, and the acquiring or obtaining
the information. Unto the limits of the information be-
long these considerations ; how far forth particular per-
sons continue to be inspired; how far forth the Church is
inspired; and how far forth reason may be used: the
last point whereof I have noted as deficient. Unto the
s
ae i or een
258 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [XXV.8.
sufficiency of the information belong two considerations;
what points of religion are fundamental, and what perfec-
tive, being matter of further building and perfection upon
one and the same foundation; and again, how the grada-
tions of light according to the dispensation of times are
material to the sufficiency of belief.
g. Here again I may rather give it in advice than note
De gradibus it as deficient, that the points fundamental,
unitatisin and the points of further perfection only,
civitate Det. Oyght to be with piety and wisdom distin-
guished: a subject tending to much like end as that I
noted before; for as that other were likely to abate the
number of controversies, so this is like to abate the
heat of many of them. We see Moses when he saw the
Israelite and the Egyptian fight, he did not say, Why strive
youP but drew his sword and slew the Egyptian: but
when he saw the two Israelites fight, he said, Vou are
brethren, why strive you? If the point of doctrine be an
Egyptian, it must be slain by the sword of the spirit, and
not reconciled; but if it be an Israelite, though in the
wrong, then, Why strive you P We see of the fundamental
points, our Saviour penneth the league thus, He shat is
nol with us 1s against us ; but of points not fundamental,
thus, He that zs not against us 1s with us. So we see the
coat of our Saviour was entire without seam, and so is
the doctrine of the scriptures in itself; but the garment
of.the church was of divers colours and yet not divided.
We see the chaff may and ought to be severed from the
corn in the ear, but the tares may not be pulled up from
the corn in the field. So as it is a thing of great use well
to define what, and of what latitude those points are, which
do make men merely aliens and disincorporate from the
Church of God.
XXV. 10.| THE SECOND BOOK. —= = *~— 259
10. For the obtaining of the information, it resteth upon
the true and sound interpretation of the scriptures, which
are the fountains of the water of life. ‘The interpretations
of the scriptures are of two sorts ; methodical, and solute
or at large. For this divine water, which excelleth so
much that of Jacob’s well, is drawn forth much in the
same kind as natural water useth to be out of wells and
fountains; either it is first forced up into a cistern, and
from thence fetched and derived for use; or else it is
drawn and received in buckets and vessels immediately
where it springeth. The former sort whereof, though
it seem to be the more ready, yet in my judgement is
more subject to corrupt. This is that method which
hath exhibited unto us the scholastical divinity; where-
by divinity hath been reduced into an art, as into a
cistern, and the streams of doctrine or positions fetched
and derived from thence.
11. In this men have sought three things, a summary
brevity, a compacted strength, and a complete perfection ;
whereof the two first they fail to find, and the last they
ought not to seek. For as to brevity, we see in all sum-
mary methods, while men purpose to abridge, they give
cause to dilate. For the sum or abridgement by con-
traction becometh obscure; the obscurity requireth ex-
position, and the exposition is deduced into large com-
mentaries, or into common places and titles, which grow
to be more vast than the original writings, whence the
sum was at first extracted. So we see the volumes of the
schoolmen are greater much than the first writings of the
fathers, whence the Master of the Sentences made his
sum or collection. So in like manner the volumes of the
modern doctors of the civil law exceed those of the an-
cient jurisconsults, of which Tribonian compiled the digest.
$2
260 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XXV.11.
So as this course of sums and commentaries is that which
doth infallibly make the body of sciences more immense
in quantity, and more base in substance.
12. And for strength, it is true that knowledges reduced
into exact methods have a show of strength, in that each
part seemeth to support and sustain the other; but this
is more satisfactory than substantial: like unto buildings
which stand by architecture and compaction, which are
more subject to ruin than those that are built more
strong in their several parts, though less compacted. But
it is plain that the more you recede from your grounds,
the weaker do you conclude: and as in nature, the more
you remove yourself from particulars, the greater peril of
error you do incur: so much more in divinity, the more
you recede from the scriptures by inferences and conse-
quences, the more weak and dilute are your positions.
13. And as for perfection or completeness in divinity,
it is not to be sought; which makes this course of arti-
ficial divinity the more suspect. For he that will reduce
a knowledge into an art, will make it round and uniform:
but in divinity many things must be left abrupt, and con-
cluded with this: O alhtudo sapientie et sctentie Det!
quam incomprehenstbilia sunt judicia gus, et non investiga-
biles vie ejus. So again the apostle saith, Hx part sci-
mus: and to have the form of a total, where there is but
matter for a part, cannot be without supplies by sup-
position and presumption. And therefore I conclude, that
the true use of these sums and methods hath place in
institutions or introductions preparatory unto knowledge:
but in them, or by deducement from them, to handle the
main body and substance of a knowledge, is in all sciences
prejudicial, and in divinity dangerous.
14. As to the interpretation of the scriptures solute
XXV. 14.] ‘THE SECOND BOOK. 261
and at large, there have been divers kinds introduced
and devised; some of them rather curious and unsafe
than sober and warranted. Notwithstanding, thus much
must be confessed, that the scriptures, being given by
inspiration and not by human reason, do differ from all
other books in the author: which by consequence doth
draw on some difference to be used by the expositor.
For the inditer of them did know four things which no
man attains to know; which are, the mysteries of the
kingdom of glory, the perfection of the laws of nature,
the secrets of the heart of man, and the future succession
of all ages. For as to the first it is said, He that presseth
into the light, shall be oppressed of the glory, And again,
No man shall see my face and live. To the second, When’.
he prepared the heavens I was present, when by law and
compass he inclosed the deep, To the third, Wetther was it
needful that any should bear witness to him of man, for he
knew well what was in man. And to the last, From the
beginning are known to the Lord all his works.
_ 15. From the former two of these have been drawn
certain senses and expositions of scriptures, which had
need be contained within the bounds of sobriety; the
one anagogical, and the other philosophical. But as to
the former, man is not to prevent his time: Videmus
nunc per speculum in enigmaie, tunc autem facie ad factem:
wherein nevertheless there seemeth to be a liberty granted,
as far forth as the polishing of this glass, or some moder-
-ate explication of this enigma. But to press too far
into it, cannot but cause a dissolution and overthrow
of the spirit of man. For in the body there are three
degrees of that we receive into it, aliment, medicine,
and poison: whereof aliment is that which the nature of
man can perfectly alter and overcome ; medicine is that
262 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [XXV.15.
which is: partly converted by nature, and partly converteth
nature ; and poison is that which worketh wholly upon
nature, without that, that nature can in any part work
upon it. So in the mind, whatsoever knowledge reason
cannot at all work upon and convert is a mere intoxica-
tion, and endangereth a dissolution of the mind and
understanding.
16. But for the latter, it hath been extremely set on
foot of late time by the school of Paracelsus, and some
others, that have pretended to find the truth of all natural
philosophy in the scriptures; scandalizing and traducing
all other philosophy as heathenish and profane. But there
is no such enmity between God's word and his works;
neither do they give honour to the scriptures, as they
suppose, but much imbase them. For to seek heaven
and earth in the word of God, whereof it is said, Heaven.
and earth shall pass, bul my word shall not pass, is to seek
temporary things amongst eternal: and as to seek divi-
nity in philosophy is to seek the living amongst the dead,
so to seek philosophy in divinity is to seek the dead
amongst the living: neither are the pots or lavers, whose
place was in the outward part of the temple, to be sought
in the holiest place of all, where the ark of the testimony
was seated. And again, the scope or purpose of the spirit
of God is not to express matters of nature in the scrip-
tures, otherwise than in passage, and for application to
man’s capacity and to matters moral or divine. And it
is a true rule, Auctoris aliud agents parva auciorifas. For
it were a strange conclusion, if a man should use a simili-
tude for ornament or illustration sake, borrowed from
nature or history according to vulgar conceit, as of a
basilisk, an unicorn, a centaur, a Briareus, an hydra, or
the like, that therefore he must needs be thought to affirm
Md : :
XXV. 16.] THE SECOND BOOK. 263
the matter thereof positively to be true. To conclude
therefore these two interpretations, the one by reduction
or enigmatical, the other philosophical or physical, which
have been received and pursued in imitation of the rab-
‘bins and cabalists, are to be confined with a nolz alfum=
sapere, sed time.
17. But the two latter points, known to God and un-
known to man, touching the secrets of the heart and the
successions of time, doth make a just and sound difference
between the manner of the exposition of the scriptures
and all other books. For it is an excellent observation
which hath been made upon the answers of our Saviour
Christ to many of the questions which were propounded
to him, how that they are impertinent to the state of the
question demanded; the reason whereof is, because not
being like man, which knows man’s thoughts by his words,
but knowing man’s thoughts immediately, he never an-
swered their words, but their thoughts. Much in the like
manner it is with the scriptures, which being written to
the thoughts of men, and to the succession of all ages,
with a foresight of all heresies, contradictions, differing
estates of the church, yea and particularly of the elect,
are not to be interpreted only according to the latitude
of the proper sense of the place, and respectively towards
that present occasion whereupon the words were uttered,
or in precise congruity or contexture with the words
before or after, or in contemplation of the principal scope
of the place; but have in themselves, not only totally or
collectively, but distributively in clauses and words, in-
finite springs and streams of doctrine to water the church
in every part. And therefore as the literal sense is, as it
were, the main stream or river; so the moral sense chiefly,
and sometimes the allegorical. or typical, are they whereof
.
264 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, [XXV. 17.
the church hath most use: not that I wish men to be
bold in allegories, or indulgent or light in allusions ;
but that I do much condemn that interpretation of the
scripture which is only after the manner as men use to
interpret a profane book.
18. In this part touching the exposition of the
scriptures, I can report no deficience; but by way of
remembrance this I will add. In perusing books of
divinity, I find many books of controversies, and many of
commonplaces and treatises, a mass of positive divinity, as
it is made an art: a number of sermons and lectures, and
many prolix commentaries upon the scriptures, with har-
monies and concordances. But that form of writing in
divinity which in my judgement is of all others most rich
and precious, is positive divinity, collected upon particular
* texts of scriptures in brief observations; not dilated into
commonplaces, not chasing after controversies, not re-
duced into method of art; a thing abounding in sermons,
which will vanish, but defective in books which will re-
main, and a thing wherein this age excelleth. For I am
persuaded, and I may speak it with an abstt tnvidia verbo,
and no ways in derogation of antiquity, but as in a good
emulation between the vine and the olive, that if the
choice and best of those observations upon texts of
scriptures, which have been made dispersedly in sermons
within this your Majesty’s island of Brittany by the space
Emanationes ©! these forty years and more (leaving out the
scriptura- largeness of exhortations and applications
rum in doc- thereupon) had been set down in a con-
trinas posit- tinuance, it had been the best work in di-
tas, vinity which had been written since the
Apostles’ times,
19, The matter informed by divinity is of two kinds;
‘
XXV. 19.| _ THE SECOND BOOK. | 965
matter of belief and truth of opinion, and matter of ser-
vice and adoration; which is also judged and directed by
the former: the one being as the internal soul of religion,
and the other as the external body thereof. And there-
fore the heathen religion was not only a worship of idols,
but the whole religion was an idol in itself; for it had no
soul, that is, no certainty of belief or confession: as a
man may well think, considering the chief doctors of their
church were the poets: and the reason was, because the
heathen gods were no jealous gods, but were glad to
be admitted into part, as they had reason. Neither did
they respect the pureness of heart, so they mought have
external honour and rites.
20. But out of these two do result and issue four main
branches of divinity; faith, manners, liturgy, and govern-
ment. Faith containeth the doctrine of the nature of
God, of the attributes of God, and of the works of God.
The nature of God consisteth of three persons in unity of
Godhead. The attributes of God are either common to
the Deity, or respective to the persons. The works of
God summary are two, that of the creation and that of
the redemption; and both these works, as in total they
appertain to the unity of the Godhead, so in their parts
they refer to the three persons: that of the creation, in
the mass of the matter, to the Father; in the disposition
of the form, to the Son; and in the continuance and
conservation of the being, to the Holy Spirit. So that
of the redemption, in the election and counsel, to the
Father; in the whole act and consummation, to the Son;
and in the application, to the Holy Spirit; for by the
Holy Ghost was Christ conceived in flesh, and by the
Holy Ghost are the elect regenerate in spirit. This work
likewise we consider either effectually, in the elect; or
266 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [XXV. 20
privately, in the reprobate; or according to appearance,
in the visible church.
21. For manners, the doctrine thereof is contained in
the law, which discloseth sin. The law itself is divided,
according to the edition thereof, into the law of nature,
the law moral, and the law positive; and according to the
style, into negative and affirmative, prohibitions and com-
mandments. Sin, in the matter and subject thereof, is
divided according to the commandments; in the form
thereof, it referreth to the three persons in Deity: sins of
infirmity against the Father, whose more special attribute
is power; sins of ignorance against the Son, whose attri-
bute is wisdom; and sins of malice against the Holy
Ghost, whose attribute is grace or love. In the motions
of it, it either moveth to the right hand or to the left;
either to blind devotion, or to profane and libertine trans-
gression ; either in imposing restraint where God granteth
liberty, or in taking liberty where God imposeth restraint.
In the degrees and progress of it, it divideth itself into
thought, word, or act. And in this part I commend much
the deducing of the law of God to cases of conscience ; for
that I take indeed to be a breaking, and not exhibiting
whole of the bread of life. But that which quickeneth
both these doctrines of faith and manners, is the elevation
and consent of the heart; whereunto appertain books of
exhortation, holy meditation, Christian resolution, and
the like.
22. For the liturgy or service, it consisteth of the're-
ciprocal acts between God and man; which, on the part
of God, are the preaching of the word, and the sacra-
ments, which are seals to the covenant, or as the visible
word; and on the part of man, invocation of the name
of God; and under the law, sacrifices; which were as
‘
XXV. 22,] _ THE SECOND BOOK. 267
visible prayers or confessions: but now the adoration
being 7 spiritu ef verifale, there remaineth only vzfulz.
labiorum; although the use of holy vows of thankful-
ness and retribution may be accounted also as sealed
petitions. :
23. And for the government of the church, it con-
sisteth of the patrimony of the church, the franchises of
the church, and the offices and jurisdictions of the church,
and the laws of the church directing the whole; all which
have two considerations, the one in themselves, the other
how they stand compatible and agreeable to the civil
estate.
24. This matter of divinity is handled either in form
of instruction of truth, or in form of confutation of false-
hood. The declinations from religion, besides the priva-
tive, which is atheism and the branches thereof, are three;
heresies, idolatry, and witchcraft : heresies, when we serve
the true God with a false worship; idolatry, when we wor-
ship false gods, supposing them to be true; and witch-
craft, when we adore false gods, knowing them to be
wicked and false. For so your Majesty doth excellently
well observe, that witchcraft is the height of idolatry.
And yet we see though these be true degrees, Samuel
teacheth us that they are all of a nature, when there is
once a receding from the word of God; for so he saith,
Quast peccatum artolandi est repugnare, el quasi scelus tdolo-
latrie nolle acquiescere.
25. These things I have passed over so briefly because
I can report no deficience concerning them: for I can
find no space or ground that lieth vacant and unsown in
the matter of divinity: so diligent have men been, either
in sowing of good seed, or in sowing of tares.
268 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING.
“pas have I made as it were a small globe of the
intellectual world, as truly and faithfully as I could
discover; with a note and description of those parts
which seem to me not constantly occupate, or not well
converted by the labour of man. In which, if I have in
any point receded from that which is commonly received,
it hath been with a purpose of proceeding 7 melius, and
not 2” aliud; a mind of amendment and proficience, and
not of change and difference. For I could not be true
and constant to the argument I handle, if I were not
willing to go beyond others; but yet not more willing
than to have others go beyond me again: which may
the better appear by this, that I have propounded my
opinions naked and unarmed, not seeking to preoccupate
the liberty of men’s judgements by confutations. For in
anything which is well set down, I am in good hope, that
if the first reading move an objection, the second reading
will make an answer. And in those things wherein I
have erred, I am sure I have not prejudiced the right by
litigious arguments; which certainly have this contrary
effect and operation, that they add authority to error, and
destroy the authority of that which is well invented. For
question is an honour and preferment to falsehood, as on
the other side it is a repulse to truth. But the errors I
claim and challenge to myself as mine own, The good, if
any be, is due fanguam adeps sacrificti, to be incensed to
the honour, first of the Divine Majesty, and next of your
Majesty, to whom on earth I am most bounden.
NOTES.
BOOK I.
P. 1. [1] See Lev. xxii. 18; Num. xxviii. 2, 3. [3] upon ordinary
observance: ex rituali cultu. [¥7, 8] according ...employments: Omitted
in Lat. [14-17] and... admiration: Omitted in Lat. [15] Prov.
XXV. 3.
P. 2. [8] Plato, Phaedo, i. 72; Meno, ii. 81; Comp. Theeet. i. 166,
191; Arist. de Memor. 2; Anal. Pr. ii. 21; Cicero, Tusc. Disp. i. 24.
57. [10] notions: motions in ed, 1605, but corrected in the Errata
to that edition, [17] 1 Kings iv. 29. [17, 18] For the construction
see note on p. 20, 1. 26. [23] ‘should’ used for ‘would.’ [26] Tac,
Ann. xiii. 3. Augusto prompta ac profluens queque deceret principem
eloquentia fuit. [32,33] all this... subject: Lat. nescio quid servile
olet, nec sui juris est.
P. 3. [15] perfection: profection in ed. 1605; corrected in Errata.
[20-27] Lat. Percurrat qui voluerit imperatorum et regum seriem, et juxta
mecum sentiet, omitting the particular dynasties.
P. 4. [6] Hermes: Hermes Trismegistus, fabled to be an Egyptian
priest, philosopher, and king. The author of the works ascribed to
him was probably a Neoplatonist of the second or third century.
Ficinus (Argum. in Merc. Tris. Pimandr.) says, Trismegistum vero
termaximum nuncuparunt, quoniam et philosophus maximus, et sacerdos
maximus, et ree maximus extitit. [19] the former: the Lat. adds que
levior est, neque tamen ullo modo pretermittenda, In his letter to Toby
Matthew, Bacon speaks of the first part of the Advancement ‘ but as
a page to the latter.’ [22] the latter: Lat. posterior vero pars (quod
caput rei est).
P. 5. [7] ignorance severally disguised: Lat. ignorantia non sub uno
schemate. [17] 1 Cor. viii. 1. [18] Eccl. xii. 12. [20] Eccl. i, 18.
[22] Col. ii. 8. [25] Among the causes of atheism Bacon enumerates,
‘lastly, learned times, specially with peace, and prosperity: for troubles
and adversities doe more bow mens mindes to religion.’ Ess. xvi.
p. 66. [32] Mr. Ellis gives the following note on the corresponding
passage in the De Augmentis: ‘This reference to the imposition of
names in Paradise in illustration of natural knowledge, is common in the
writings of the schoolmen, Thus S, Thomas Aquinas in discussing
270 NOTES.
the question “utrum primus homo habuerit scientiam omnem,” after
stating objections alleged against the affirmative opinion, thus com-
mences his refutation of them. “Sed contra est quod ipse imposuit
nomina animalibus, ut dicitur Gen. 2. Nomina autem debent naturis
rerum congruere ; Ergo Adam scivit naturas omnium animalium, et pari
ratione habuit omnium aliorum scientiam.”’ Comp. also the treatise
Of the Interpretation of Nature (Works, iii. 219, ed. Spedding and
Ellis): ‘For behold it was not that pure light of natural knowledge,
whereby man in paradise was able to give unto every living creature
a name according to his propriety, which gave occasion to the fall;
but it was an aspiring desire to attain to that part of moral knowledge
which defineth of good and evil, whereby to dispute God’s command-
ments and not to depend upon the revelation of his will, which was the
original temptation.’ [33] Gen. ii. 19, 20.
P. 6. [11] Eccl. i. 8. [13 &c.j Comp. Of the Interpretation of
Nature, p. 220. [18, 31] Eccl. iii. 11.
P. 7. [6] he doth in another place rule over: Lat. satis clare alibi
docet, [7] Prov. xx. 27. [12 &c.] Comp. Of the Interpretation of
Nature (Works, vol. iii. p. 222). [19] 1 Cor. viii. 1. [21] 1 Cor. xiii. 1.
[31] Col. ii. 8..
P. 8. [12] Eccl. ii. 13,14. [15] roundeth about: Lat. oberrat. [20]
Comp. Plato, Theeet. i. p. 155 d; Arist. Metaph.i. 2. Hesiod (Theog.
780) makes Iris the daughter of Thaumas. [26] Heraclitus the pro-
found: Lat. Heraclitus ille obscurus. [27] aiyt énph Yuxh copwrary
kara Tov “Hpaxdecrov éowev. Plut. De Esu Carnium, i. 6. 4. Schow
conjectured that ady) énpi) puvxi) copwrdty was a corruption of aby
Yuxt) copwrdrn: ~nph having been in the first instance a gloss upon
avn and afterwards adopted into the text; a change which necessitated
the further alteration of ain to atyn to make sense. Stobceus, ed.
Gaisford, v. 120. The proverb is again quoted by Bacon, Ess. xxvi. p.
112: ‘ Heraclitus saith well, in one of his eenigmaes; Dry light is ever
the best, And certaine it is, that the light, that a man receiveth, by
counsell from another, is drier, and purer, then that which com-
meth from his owne understanding, and iudgement; which is ever
infused and drenched in his affections and customes.’ Comp. Apoph.
268; Adv. of Learning, p. 149, 1. 3. [31]—p. 9. [11] Compare the
corresponding passage Of the Interpretation of Nature, p. 218.
P. 9. [5, 6] broken knowledge: ‘ contemplation broken off, or losing
itself” Of the Interpretation of Nature, p. 218. [6] one of Plato’s
school: Philo Judzeus, De Somniis, p. 577 E. (ed. Turnebus, Franc.
1691). [7] Comp. Apoph. 120. [14] A reference to the fable of
Icarus. [15 &c.] Comp. Of the Interpretation of Nature, p. 219-
[20] Job xiti. 7,9. [26 &c.] Comp. Ess. xvi. p. 64: ‘It is true, that
} a little philosophy inclineth mans minde to Atheisme; but depth in
' BooK 1. 271
philosophy, bringeth mens mindes about to Religion: for while the
minde of man, looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes
rest in them, and goe no further: but when it beholdeth, the chaine
of them, confederate and linked together, it must needs flie to providence,
and deitie,’
P. to. [5] Hom. Il. viii. 19. Comp. also p. 109, 1. 24. Plato,
Theet. i. 153. [25] too incompatible and differing: Lat. nimis
extravagantia. [31] Plutarch, Cato, 22; Pliny, N. H. vii. 31.
P. 11. [15] Virgil, A2n. vi. 852. [16] Plato, Apol. Socr. i. 19,
24 &c. Xenophon, Mem. i. 1. 1. [28] Comp. Ess. lviii. pp. 237,
238: ‘In the youth of a state, armes doe flourish: in the middle age
of a state, learning; and then both of them together for a time:
in the declining age of a state, mechanicall arts and merchandize.’
P. 12. [9] a greater: So ed. 1640; ‘a’ is omitted in edd. 1605, 1629,
1633. [14-20] Comp. Ess. lviii. pp. 237, 238, quoted above. [16]
about an age: i.e. about the same age. According to Aristotle (Rhet.
ii. 14. § 4) the body is strongest from thirty to thirty-five, the mind
at forty-nine. [25] a few pleasing receipts: Lat. pauca guedam medica-
menta que illis videntur panchresta. (27) the complexions of patients:
Lat. egrotorum habitus. [28] peril of accidents: Lat. symptomatum
pericula, See p. 137, 1. 20.
P. 13. [16] Suetonius, Nero, 7; Tac. An. xiii. [17] Gordianus III.
(238-244) married the daughter of Misitheus, of whom Gibbon (c. vii.)
says, ‘ The life of Misitheus had been spent in the profession of letters,
not of arms; yet such was the versatile genius of that great man, that,
when he was appointed Preetorian preefect, he discharged the military
duties of his place with vigour and ability.’ Capitolinus, Gordian. Tert.
c.23. The name Misitheus is supposed to be corrupted from Temesitheus
or Timesitheus. [20] Alexander Severus succeeded after the murder of
his cousin Elagabalus, March io, 222. ‘But as Alexander was a modest
and dutiful youth of only seventeen years of age, the reins of govern-
ment were in the hands of two women, of his mother Mamza, and of
Mesa his grandmother. After the death of the latter, who survived but
a short time the elevation of Alexander, Mamza remained the sole-regent
of her son and of the empire.’ Gibbon, c. vi. [24] Pius V. (Michele
Ghislieri) was a Dominican and had been Grand Inquisitor. He was
Pope from 1565 to 1572. The victory over the Turks off Lepanto was
won in his time. See Bacon, Adv. touching an Holy War (vii. p. 19).
Sixtus V. (Felice Peretti) was appointed by Pius V. vicar-general of the
Franciscans, and afterwards promoted to the College of Cardinals as
Cardinal Montalto. He succeeded Gregory XIII. in 1585, and reigned
till 1590. Gibbon (c. 70) says of him, ‘The genius of Sixtus the Fifth
burst from the gloom of a Franciscan cloister. See Ranke, Hist. of
the Popes, trans. Foster, Books iii, and iv. [26] pedantical: So all the
272 ‘ WOrns,
copies of ed. 1605 which I have seen. Mr. Markby quotes prejudicial as
the reading of others. [33] ragioni di stato: reasons of state, political
considerations.
P. 14. [1] Catena, Vita di Pio V. p. 31 (ed. 1586), reports a saying of
the Pope, something to this effect, with reference to the maxim of Louis
XL of France, ‘Chi non s& simulare non s& regnare.’ See also
Gabutius, Vita Pii V. lib. vi.c. 7 (Acta Sanctorum, 5 Maii, ed. 1866),
and lib. ii. c. 3. [9] Lat. ad regendos eventus vite etiam in uno homine.
Perhaps the reading of the English should be ‘for the events even of
one man’s life.’ [27] positive and regular: Lat. pertinaces et difficiles.
[30] latitude: Lat. constantiam.
P. 15. [5] Guicciardini, Hist. xvi. 5. [8] Cic. ad Att. xvi. 7. [9]
Phocion: see his life by Plutarch. [11] Pindar, Pyth, ii. 21 &c.:
Bacon interprets the fable of Ixion in the present work, p. 123. [13]
Cicero, Ep. ad Att. ii. 1.
P. 16. [2] according to nature: nature consentaneis. [4] and not in
the purchase: i.e. not in that which is acquired by it. [10] Seneca,
Ep. i. 3. Quidam adeo in latebras refugere, ut putent in turbido esse,
quicquid in luce est, from Pomponius. [24] Plutarch, Demosth. viii. 2,
where the story is told of Pytheas, not A’schines. Comp. Apoph. 114.
[32] of both: The Latin adds et negotiorum et literarum.
P. 17. [4] duty taught and understood: officium oculatum. [8] mani-
able: Some copies of ed. 1605 read amiable, [10, 11] Lat. guod ex
historia clarissime patet. [14] Plutarch, Cato, ii.6, Cic. Acad. Queest..
ii. 2. § 5; De Senect. i. § 3.
P. 18. [2] The Thirty Tyrants: After the battle of AUgospotami
(Sept. B.c. 405), which virtually terminated the Peloponnesian War,
a committee of thirty was appointed for the government of Athens,
with Critias and Theramenes among the chief. Their rule lasted
only eight months (.c. 404-403) and was put an end to by Thrasy-
bulus. [9] for sovereign medicines: i.e, to be sovereign medicines.
{20] Hor, Od. i. 3.2. [21] influence: A word derived from the old
astrology. See Eng. vers. of Job xxxviii. 31.
P. 19. [8] Lat. Fratribus mendicantibus (pace eorum dixerim). [8, 8]
to some friar...to whom: Compare for the construction, Book ii.
§ 10. p. 80, ll. 4, 5. [10] Machiavelli, Disc. sopra Liv. iii. 1. Quoted
for a different purpose in the tract On the Controversies of the Church
(Bacon’s Life and Letters, ed. Spedding, i. 80). [31] Epist. 1. ad C.
Czsarem, De Republica Ordinanda, ascribed to Sallust.
P. 20. [1] A saying attributed to Diogenes the Cynic. See Diog.
Laert. vi. 54. [6] Prov. xxviii. 22. [7] Prov. xxiii. 23. [13] For
the construction ‘in comparison of,’ see Judg. viii. 2, 3. [22] Tac.
Ann. iii. 76: Sed prefulgebant Cassius atque Brutus, eo ipso quod effigies
eorum non visebantur. [25] traduced to contempt: i.e. contemptuously
*
ny
BOOK f, 273
paraded. [26, 27] Which age, because it is the age of least authority,
it is transferred &c.: Observe the looseness of construction in the
unnecessary repetition of the pronoun #; the words ‘ which age’ being
placed foremost in the sentence without any government as a kind of
nominativus pendens. Other examples occur in the course of this book;
pp. 2, ll. 17, 18; 39, ll. 10, 11, 32, 33; 48, ll. 20-24. Comp. the
Authorized Version of John xiii. 3, 4; ‘ Jesus knowing... he riseth &c.’
P. 21. [4] Joel: ii. 28. Comp. Ess. xlii. p: 175: ‘ A certaine rabbine,
upon the text; Four young men shall see visions, and your old men shall
dreame dreames; inferreth, that young men are admitted nearer to God
then old; because vision is a clearer revelation, then a dreame.’ The
‘rabbine’ is Abrabanel. [6] they: Some copies of ed. 1605 read the:
[8] condition...hath: In ed. 1605 the reading is conditions... hath;
in ed. 1633, conditions ...have. [9g] Comp. Florio’s Montaigne, p. 60;
ed. 1603: ‘I have-in my youth oftentimes beene' vexed, to see a Pedant
brought in, in most of Italian Comedies, for a vice or sporte-maker.’
[16-21] The whole clause is modified in the De Augmentis to avoid
giving offence to the Roman Catholics. It there stands as follows:
quorum cum intueor industriam solertiamque tam in doctrina excolenda
quam in moribus informandis, illud occurrit Agesilai de Pharnabazo &c.
[17] A saying of Diogenes. See Diog: Laert. vi. 46. Comp. Apoph.
266. [21] Plutarch, Ages. xii. 5. [28] Ovid, Epist. xv. 83. Quoted
again in Ess. l. p. 205. [28-30] Lat. atgue literas, nisi incidant in
ingenia admodum depravata, corrigere prorsus naturam et mutare in melius,
{33] not inherent: The negative is superfluous, or something has been
omitted. The Latin has nullum oecurrit dedecus literis ex literatorum
moribus, quatenus sunt literati, adherens, where ‘inherent’ is taken as
referring to ‘disgrace,’ and not to ‘manners,’ as Mr. Spedding explains
it: ‘not [I mean, from such manners as are] inherent! &c.’
P. 22. [11] Plutarch, Solon, 15; Bacon, Apoph. 93. [14] Plato,
Epist.. vii. p. 331. Mr. Ellis suggested’ that Bacon probably took it
from Cicero, Epist. Fam. i, 9. 18. [17] Epist. i. ad Cazes. De Republica
Ordinanda. [20] Cic. ad Att. ii, 1. 8: optimo animo utens et summa fide,
nocet interdum reipublice; ‘Dicit enim tanquam in Platonis wodtreia, non
tanquam in Romuli face, sententiam, [23] doth excuse and expound:
Lat. molli interpretatione excusat. [25] Cic. pro Murena, 3r: Etenim
isti ipsi mihi videntur vestri preceptores et) virtutis magistri fines officiorum
&c: [29] Ovid, Ars Amat. ii. 548.
P. 23. [2] Demosthenes, De Cherson, p. 106. [8] quinquennium
Neronis: See Aurelius Victor, De Cesar. v2. [10] The Latin adds,
magno suo periculo, ac postremo precipitio.. [13] the casualty of their
fortunes: Lat. instabilitatis fortune. [20] Matt. xxv. 20. [21 &c.]
Compare with this Essay xxiii. ‘Of wisdome for a man’s selfe.’ [23]
nor never ; Observe the double negative, [25] lines: Some copies of ed,
T
274 NOTES.
1605 read times. [27] estates: Perhaps we should read estate; Lat. de
reipublice navi, [31] stand: i.e. stand firm, keep their position; Lat.
incolumes permaneant,
P. 24. [3, 4] howsoever fortune may tax it: Lat. utcunque ee vuinilie
que a fortuna mulctentur,. [10] Lat. quod non facile se.applicent et accom-
modent, (16) Ascribed to Epicurus by Seneca, Ep. i.:7. § 11. Quoted
again in Ess. x. p. 36: ‘It is a poore saying of Epicurus ; Satis magnum
alter alteri theatrum sumus: as if man, made for the contemplation of
heaven, and all noble obiects, should doe nothing, but kneele before a
little idoll, and make himself subiect, though not of the mouth (as beasts
are) yet of the eye; which was given him for higher purposes.’ . [Ib.]
not: Omitted in some copies of ed. 1605. [18] Lat. aciem animi, instar
oculi, [19] Lat. Secunda vero causa est probitas morum et simplicitas,
[27] Lat. ut illum inflectas, verses, et ad libitum circumagas, [31] the
custom of the Levant: Lat. mos Orientis. Comp. Her. i. 99.
P. 25. [3] Prov. xxv. 3. [14] Plutarch, Them. ii. 4; Cimon, ix. 1.
Quoted again in Ess. xxix. p. 118; ‘The speech of Themistocles the
Athenian, which was haughtie and arrogant, in taking so much to
himselfe, had been a grave and wise observation and censure, applied at
large to others. Desired at a feast to touch a lute, he said; He could
not fiddle, but yet he could make a small towne, a great citty.’ [20] Lat.
quibus tamen in communi vita et quotidianis reculis nihil imperitius. [22]
Comp. Apoph. 196; Plato, Symp. iii. p. 215; Xen. Symp. v. 7.
Socrates is compared not to ‘the gallipots of apothecaries’ but to the
images of Silenus, of which Rabelais (Gargantua, prol.) says, ‘ Silenes
estoyent jadiz petites boytes, telles que voyons de present es bouticques
des apothecaires; painctes au dessus de figures joyeuses et frivoles.’
Mr. Spedding, with great probability, conjectures that Bacon may have
had this passage in his mind. [24] Lat. que exterius inducebantur simiis,
ululis, satyrisque.
P. 26. [3] solemn parasites: Lat. barbatos parasitos. [4] Lucian, De
Mercede Conductis, 33, 34. [6] Lat. catulum suum Meliteum. [12] Du
Bartas, Second Jour de la Semaine;
*Tous ces doctes esprits dont la voix flatteresse,
Change Hécube en Héléne, et Faustine en Lucresse,
Qui d’un nain, d’un biatard, d’un archerot sans yeux,
Font, non un dieutelet, ains le maistre des dieux,’ &c.
See also Judith, bk. v. [14] modern: The ed. of 1605 has morall, which
is corrected in the Errata to moderne, the reading of edd. 1629, 1633.
[Ib.] dedication: ed. 1605 has dedications. It is curious that the
translator in the De Augmentis followed the uncorrected copy: neque
vero nimis laudo morem illum receptum libros patronis nuncupandi. [26]
Aristippus, not Diogenes. See Diog. Laert. Aristip. ii, 69. Comp.
Apoph. 161.
BOOK. 245
_ P. 27. [5] Diog. Laert. Aristip. ii. 79; Apoph. 86. [10] Spartianus
(Vita Hadriani, § 15) tells this story of Favorinus. Apoph. 160. [24]
Lat. etiam ea que impolluta et in statu suo manserunt. [25] the state : the
article was not unfrequently employed where we should now use a
possessive pronoun. See Glossary.
P. 28. [6] The Latin adds, guando nimirum aut in rebus inanibus opera
insumitur, aut circa verborum delicias nimium insudatur. [10] Lat.
doctrina fucata et mollis. [12-31] The whole of this passage is much
abridged in the Latin, apparently to avoid offending the Roman
Catholics. See p. 21, ll. 16-21, note. In the De Augmentis the
following is substituted : Intemperies ista, in luxurie guadam orationis sita
(licet olim per vices in pretio habita fuerit), circa Lutheri tempora miris modis
invaluit. In causa precipue fuit, quod fervor et efficacia concionum tune
temporis ad populum demulcendum et alliciendum maxime vigebat ; illa autem
populare genus orationis poscebant. Accedebat odium et contemptus illis
temporibus ortus erga scholasticos, &c.
P. 29. [4-15] And again... flourish: Omitted in the Latin. [5]
then: that then in ed. 1605, corrected in Errata. [6] John vii. 49. [23]
Osorius, bishop of Sylves in Algarve, died 1580; wrote De Rebus
Gestis Emanuelis,.1574. On his redundant style see Ascham, The
Scholemaster, pp. 110, 129-131, ed. Mayor. [24] Sturmius: Joannes
Sturmius, born at Sleida, October 1, 1507, died March 3, 1589, was
called the German Cicero. He was professor at Paris and Strasburg,
and wrote In Partitiones Oratorias Ciceronis Dialogi Quatuor, Scholia
in Hermogenem, De Imitatione Oratoria Libri Tres, and De Periodis
Liber, to all of which Bacon refers, besides many other works. [27]
Car of Cambridge: Nicholas Carr (1523-1568) succeeded Sir John
Cheke as Regius Professor of Greek in 1547. He obtained a great
reputation by his translations into Latin of the Olynthiacs and Philip-
pics of Demosthenes, Plato’s Dialogue on the Laws, and the Oration of
ZEschines against Ctesiphon. Besides. these he wrote prefaces to the
Symposium and other dialogues of Plato, as well as to ZEschines,
Theocritus, Sophocles, and some orations of Demosthenes. [28] Ascham:
Roger Ascham (1515-1568), in his Scholemaster, is constantly sounding
the praises of Cicero, whom he calls his master. [32] Erasmus, Colloq.
* Decem jam annos @tatem trivi in Cicerone.’ Echo. ‘ éve.’
P. 30. [5] is: Omitted in ed. 1605. [8] secundum majus et minus: i.e.
to a greater or less degree. See p.171,].12. [13] Pygmalion: Ovid,
Metam. x. 243. [32] The Scholiast on Theocr. v. 21 attributes this
story of Hercules to Cleander év devrépw trav mapopiov. Bacon inserted
it in his Promus, fol. 16 a. [33] minion: migmon, ed. 1605.
P. 31. [5] In the De Augmentis another kind of style is mentioned as
somewhat more healthy than the last-mentioned, though not altogether
free from vanity. The whole object of this is that the words should be
T2
—— a, 2 “ie edie 25 |
276 NOTES.
pointed, the ‘sentences concise, and the composition rather twisted than
flowing. Instances are found largely in Seneca, less in Tacitus and
Plinius Secundus. [13] Lat. neque theologiam tantum, sed etiam omnes
Scientias respicere videtur, ([Ib.] 1 Tim. vi. 20, Quoted again im Ess. iii.
p- 11. [17] the strictness of positions : Lat. rigor dogmatum. [26]—pi
32 [9] This kind . . . profit: The original of this passage is to be found
in Bacon’s Cogit. de Sci. Hum. Frag. i. cog. ro (Works, iii. 187).
P. 32. [7] cobwebs: ed. 1605, copwebs, the older form of spelling. In
Old English, ‘atter cop’ (A. S. dttor coppa) is a spider. [20] See
ZEsop, Fab. 52. Vis unita fortior: Bacon, Colours of Good and Evil,
p- 255, ed. W. A. Wright. [27] Quintil. x. 1: Si rerum pondera
minutissimis sententiis non fregisset, consensu potius eruditorum quam
puerorum amore comprobaretur. Quoted again in Ess, xxvi. p. 105.
P. 33. [10] Virg. Ecl. vi. 75. Bacon makes use of the same figure in
hjs book Of the Interpretation of Nature (Works, iii. 232, ed. Spedding).
[22] of Adyou cov yepovti@or. Diog. Laert. Plato, iii. 18. Quoted again
in Nov. Org. i. 71. [29]—p. 34. [4] but as they are... unto them:
Omitted in the Latin, for the same reason as before. For the original
form see Of the Interp. of Nat. p. 224. [30] fierce with dark keeping :
that is, as Mr. Ellis explains it, fierce with being kept in the dark, like
animals. He quotes from Bacon’s Cogitationes de Scientia Humana,
1st frag. cog. 10 (Works, iii. 187): ferocitatem autem et confidentiam eam
que illos qui pauca sequi solet (ut animalia in tenebris educata)
acquisivissent,
P. 34. [8] the essential form: Lat. ipsam naturam animamque. [19]
Hor. Epist. i. 18. 69. [24] Tac. Ann. vy. 10; comp. Hist. i. 51. -[25]
‘hath’ for ‘ have’: a loose construction, not uncommon in Bacon. See
p. 35, l. 26: ‘Such whereupon observat’ n, and rule was to be built.’
Also p. 109, L 33» and Ps, xiv. 7, Pr. Bk. “struction and unhappiness
is in their ways.’ [29] or, as: ‘or’ is omitted in od. 1605, but inserted
in Errata and in edd. 1629, 1633.
P. 35. [3-10] which though... religion: Omitted in the Latin as
before, pp. 21, 28, 33. [3] had. a passage for a time: The -d. 160
reads, ‘had a passage for time.’ Perhaps it should be, ‘ had pas
a time,’ that is, ‘were current for a time.’ [13] Plinius: ‘fF
secundus of Verona; a man of great Eloquence, and industry :.
fatigable, as may appear by his writings, especially those now caw.
and which are never like to perish, but even with learning it self; that
is, his natural History. He was the greatest Collector or Rhapso-
dist of the Latines, and as Suetonius observeth, he collected this piece,
out of two thousand Latine.and Greek Authors. Now, what is very
strange, there is scarce a popular error passant in our dayes, which
is not either directly expressed, or diductively contained in this work.’
Sir T. Brown, Vulgar Errors, book i. chap. 8, p. 33 (ed. 1658). [Ib.],
BOOK 1. 7
Cardanus: ‘We had almost forgot Yeronimus Cardanus, that famous
physician of Milan, a great enquirer of truth, but too greedy a receiver
of it. He hath left many excellent discourses, Medical, Natural, and
Astrological ; the most suspicious are those two he wrote by admonition
in a dream, that is, De subtilitate et varietate rerum.’ Ibid. p. 36. [14]
Albertus: * Albertus Bishop of Ratisbone; for his great learning and
latitude of knowledge ‘sirnamed Magnus. Besides Divinity, he hath
written many Tracts in Philosophy; what we are chiefly to receive with
caution, are his natural tractates, more especially those of Minerals,
Vegetables and animals, which are indeed chiefly Collections out of
Aristotle, Hilian, and Pliny, and respectively contain many of our popular
Errors.’ Ibid. p. 35. [22] side: The edd. of 1605, 1629, 1633, read
‘sake.’ The book De Mirabilibus Auscultationibus, to which Bacon
refers, is not Aristotle's. See p. 87. [26] * was’ for ‘were.’ See p. 34, *
1. 25, note.
ee 36. (1] Lat. gue plus habent ex phantasia et fide quam ex ratione et
ibus, [12] the derivations and prosecutions to these ends:
That is, the subsidiary channels leading to these ends and the modes in
which they have been followed. The Latin has, vie atque rationes que
ducere putantur ad hos fines, [19] Esop, Fab. 33; comp. Novy. Org. i.
85. [32] consuls: counsels in ed. 1605, corrected to consulls in Errata.
Mr. Spedding conjectured that Bacon probably wrote counsell”*, and his
‘conjecture is adopted by Mr. Kitchin. The Latin has, dictatoria guadam
potestate munivit ut edicant, non senatoria ut consulant, which again looks
as if the translator had the uncorrected copy before him,
P. 37. [2-20] For hence... Aristotle: The original form of this
passage is seen in the book Of the Interpretation of Nature (Works, iii.
226, 227). [3] deviser: ‘device’ (Interpretation of Nature). [6]
artillery, sailing, printing : ‘ painting, artillery, sailing’ (Interpretation of
Nature). [16-20] For as .,. . Aristotle: ‘For knowledge is like a water
‘that will never rise again higher than the level from which it fell; and
‘therefore to go beyond Aristotle by the light of Aristotle is to think that
a borrowed light can increase the original light from which it is taken’
(Interpretation of Nature). [21] Aristot. Soph. El.i. 2. [28-go] Lat.
ut authori authorum et veritatis parenti, Tempori, non derogetur. [32]
-peccant humours: Lat. vitiosi humores.
P. 38. [6] Alluding to the old fable of Kronos. [11] Jer. vi. 16;
quoted again in Ess. xxiv. p. 100. [16] Comp. Nov. Org. i. 84: Mundt
enim senium et grandevitas pro antiquitate vere habenda sunt; que
temporibus nostris tribui debent, non juniori e@tati mundi, qualis apud
antiquos fuit. Illa enim e@tas, respectu nostri antigua et major, respectu
mundi ipsius nova et minor fuit. The observation is quoted by Fuller in
this chapter on The true Church Antiquary (Holy State, ii. 6). [25]
Not Lucian but Seneca.. See Lactantius, De Falsa Religione, i. 16.
278 ; NOTES,
P. 39. [6] Liv. ix. 17; quoted again in Noy. Org. i. 97, and Of the
True Greatness of Britain (Works, vii. 50). Comp. Of the Interpretation
of Nature, p. 224, for the original of this passage. [10, 11] which till
they be demonstrate, they seem &c.: Observe the looseness of
construction and the unnecessary repetition of the pronoun. Comp. Il.
32, 33- [16] hath still prevailed: Lat. semper obtinuisse. [23-26] Comp.
Nov. Org. i. 71 ; Of the Interpretation of Nature (Works, iii. 227). In
Essay liii. p. 213 Bacon uses the same figure in speaking of Fame:
‘Certainly, Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swolne,
and drownes things waighty and solide.’ [32, 33] So knowledge, while
it is in aphorisms and observations, it is in growth: Another instance of
the same construction as has been noticed before, p. 20, ll. 26, 27; p.
39, ll. 10, 11. See p. 48, ll. 20-24; p. 129, 1. 32.
P. 40. [2] illustrate: ed. 1633 has illustrated. [8] philosophia prima:
See p. 105, 1. 29; p. 113, 1.20. [22] Heraclitus: In Sextus Empiricus,
Ady. Logicos, i. § 133. [25- 29] for they ...deluded: The original
form of this passage is to be found in the treatise Of the Interpretation of
Nature, p. 224.
P. 41. [3] See Nov. Org. i. 63,96. [8] Gilbertus: William Gilbert of
Colchester (1540-1603), Fellow of St. John’s Coll. Cambridge, and
physician to Elizabeth and James I., wrote ‘De Magnete, magneticisque
corporibus, et de magno magnete tellure; Physiologia nova &c, 1600,’
‘His work,’ says Dr. Whewell (Hist. of Ind. Sc. book xii, ch, 1),
‘contains all the fundamental facts of the science, so fully examined
indeed, that even at this day we have little to add to them.’ Comp. with
the whole of this passage Nov. Org. i. 54, 64. [12] Cicero, Tusc. Disp.
i. Lo. 20, Hic ab artificio suo non recessit, speaking of Aristoxenus, [14]
Aristot. De Gener. et Corrup. i. 2, quoted again in the treatise Of the
‘Interpretation of Nature, p. 231. [18] The same comparison is made
use of in the last-mentioned treatise, p. 250. [19] the two ways of
action commonly spoken of by the ancients: Bacon probably refers to
Xenophon (Memorabilia, ii. 1. 20), who quotes Hesiod, Works and Days,
287-292, and introduces Prodicus’s fable of the choice of Hercules.
P. 42. [1] Cicero, De Nat. Deor. i. 8. 18. Comp. Nov. Org. i. 67.
[2] Socrates: See p. 153, 1. 31, [8] devote: So ed. 1605. Ed. 1633
has devoute. [17] Comp. S. Bernard, Serm. 36 in Cant. [28] terrace;
ed. 1605 tarrasse.
P. 43. [5, 6] Comp. Macrob. in Somn. Scip. i.12. [7-14] Comp. Of
the Interpretation of Nature, p. 222: ‘And knowledge that tendeth to
profit or profession or glory is but as the golden ball thrown before Ata-
lanta, which while she goeth aside and stoopeth to take up she hindereth
the race. [14] Ovid, Metam. x. 667. [16] Cicero, Tusc. Disp. v. 4.10.
[23-26] Comp. Of the Interpretation of Nature, p. 222. [29] have;
hath in edd. 1605, 1629, 1633. [32] Prov. xxvii. 6.
é : "
BOOK 1. 279
P. 44. [12] arch-type: Arch-tipe in ed. 1605; Arch-type edd. 1629,
1633. [Ib.] first platform: exemplari. Comp. Ess. xlix. p. 194: ‘So IT
have made a platforme of a princely garden, partly by precept, partly by
drawing, not a modell, but some generall lines of it.” [18] Comp. Prov.
viii. 22-31. [33] Gen.i. 1.
P. 45. [4] Hooker, Eccl. Pol. i. 4. § 1, 2. [5] Dionysius, De Czelesti
Hierarchia, 6, 7, 8,9. A work erroneously ascribed to Dionysius the
Areopagite. The epithet ‘ supposed’ shows that Bacon believed it to be
spurious. The Latin has merely gue Dionysii Areopagite nomine evul-
gatur. Thomas Heywood, in his Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels
(1635), divides them into Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations,
Vertues, Powers, and Principats. See also Milton, Par. Lost, v. 601,
772, 840. [15] Gen. i. 3. [22] Gen. ii. 3. [32] Gen. il. 19.
P. 46. [1] Comp. pp. 5,6. [7] In a note on the corresponding pas-
sage of the De Augmentis Mr. Ellis quotes from S. Thomas Aquinas,
Summ. Theol. Sec. Secund. q. 163. a. 2: Primus homo peccavit princip-
aliter appetendo similitudinem Dei quantum ad scientiam boni et mali, sicut
serpens ei suggessit, ut scilicet per virtutem proprie nature determinaret sibi
quid esset bonum et quid malum ad agendum. [13] Gen. iv.2/ [23] Gen.
iv. 21,22. [25] Gen. xi. [30] Acts vii. 22. Comp. Of the Interpreta-
tion of Nature, p. 219. [32] Plato, Tim. iii. 22. Comp. Nov. Org. i.
71; Apoph. 223.
P. 47. [11] Lev. xiii. 12,13. [14-18] Among the Regales Aphorismi
or maxims of King James I. edited by W. Stratton, 1650, is the follow-
ing, evidently borrowed from this passage: ‘As it is a principle of nature,
that putrifaction is more contagious before maturity than after; so it is
a position of Moral Philosophie, that men abandoned to vice, do not so
much corrupt manners, as those that are half good and half evill’ (p. 165).
In De Augm. iii. 1,'Bacon gives as a rule in physics, Putredo serpens
magis contagiosa est quam matura. [24] Job xxvi. 7. [28] Job xxvi. 13.
[30] Job xxxviii. 31.
P. 48. (1] Jobix.9. [5]Jobx.10. [7] Job xxviii.1,2. [r2]1 Kings
iii. 5, &c. [17] verdure: verdor edd. 1605, 1629, 1633, which Mr.
Spedding retains as another form of the word. It probably only repre-
sents the current pronunciation. The corresponding passage of the
treatise Of the Interpretation of Nature, p. 220, has ‘all that is green.’
[18] the moss upon the wall: The English version of 1 Kings iv. 33
has Ayssop. Bacon followed the rendering of Junius and Tremellius.
[19] Nov. Org. ii. 30. [20-24] Nay, the same Salomon the king,
although he excelled... yet ke maketh &c.: The same loose construction
as before, pp. 20. 1. 27; 39. ll. 11, 32, 33. [26] Prov. xxv. 2.. Comp.
the corresponding passage Of the Interpretation of Nature, p. 220.
P. 49. [4] Luke ii. 46. [8] Acts ii. 1. [18] who was only learned:
i.e. the only learned man among the Apostles. Lat. gui inter Apostolos
280 NOTES,
solus literatus fuit. [22] fathers; Father in ed. 1605. -[24] Amm. Mare.
Xxii, 10. 7; XXV. 4. 19. Comp. Gibbon, ch. 23; Juliani Epist. xlii. The
Lat! adds cetera viri egregii. [30] Paulus Diaconus, iii, par. 33. Comp.
* Iviii. p. 232 ; Gibbon, ch. 45.
P. 50. [4] Scythians: The Scythians or Tartars invaded the Gothic
empire a.D. 375. See Gibbon, ch. 26. [5] Saracens: The Arabs under
Abubeker conquered Syria a.p. 633-639. See.Gibbon, ch. 51. [9-16]
And we see. .. knowledges : Omitted in the Latin, [22 &c.] With this
paragraph compare Of the Interpretation of Nature, p. 221. [27] Pss.
XIX. ClY.
P. 51. [3-8] Comp. Nov. Org. i. 89. [4] Matt. xxii. 29. This text
is made the subject of the section De Heresibus in Bacon’s Medita-
tiones Sacre. [25] See Herodian, Hist. iv. 2, [26] dives in some
copies of ed. 1605. [32] honours heroical: honour heroicall in edd.
1605, 1629, 1633.
P. 52. [1-19] Comp. Of the Interpretation of Nature, p. 223: ‘ The
dignity of this end (of endowment of man’s life with new commodities)
appeareth by the estimation that antiquity made of such as guided there-
unto. For, whereas founders of states, lawgivers, extirpers of tyrants,
fathers ofthe people, were honoured but with the titles.of Worthies or
Demigods, inventors were ever consecrated amongst the Gods them-
selves. And if the ordinary ambitions of men lead them to seek the
amplification of their own power in their countries, and a better ambi-
tion than that hath moved men to seek the amplification of the power of
their own countries amongst other nations, better again and more worthy
must that aspiring be which seeketh the amplification of the power and
kingdom of mankind over the world; the rather because the other two
prosecutions are ever culpable of much perturbation and injustice; but
this is a work truly divine, which cometh ix aura leni without noise or
observation.’ [9] as was: Soin edd. 1605, 1629, 1633. For construc-
tion compare Luke v. 10. [13, 14] for a latitude of ground: Lat. pro
amplitudine tractus terre. [18] coming in: In ed. 1605 this is printed
com- in, the first syllable occurring at the end of a line. It was altered
to commonly in in edd..1629, 1633, but the passage Of the Interpretation
of Nature above quoted, and the Lat. veniuntque in aura leni, show that
‘coming in’ is the true reading, The Vulgate of 1 Kings xix. 12 is post
ignem sibilus aure tenuis, Bacon uses the expression again in a letter to
Sir Toby Matthew (Life and Letters, ed. Spedding, iii. 74). [24] Philo-
strati Junioris Imagines, vii. 'Comp. Discourse on the Plantation in
Treland (Life and Letters, iv. 117), and De Sapientia Veterum, 11.
P. 53. [10] Plato, Repub. v. p. 473. A favourite saying of Antoninus
Pius (Capitolinus, Vit. Ant. P.c.27). Rabelais, Gargant.i.45. [31] six
princes: six sciences in ed. 1605, corrected in Errata. [33] for temporal
respects: We should say ‘ix temporal respects.’
BOOK Dae 281
P. 54. [3] Suetonius, Dom. 23, quoted again in Ess. xxxv. p. 150, and
in a letter from Bacon to King James on a Digest of the Laws of
England. [7-13] of which. .. altogether: de quibus sigillatim sed brevis-
sime verba faciam. ‘The following paragraphs, as far as p. 58, 1. 32, are
much condensed in the Latin. [11] Hor. Od. ii. 10, 19. [15] Tac.
Agric. 3: ef guamquam primo statim beatissimi seculi ortu Nerva Cesar res
olim dissociabiles miscuerit principatum ac libertatem. [21] Hom. Il. i. 42;
ticeay Aavaot éyd Sdxpva cota: BéAeoow. Dio Cass, (Xiphilinus) lxviii.
p- 771. [24] Matt. x. 41.
P. 55. [2] This story is told of Gregory the Great in his life by Paulus
Diaconus, c. 27, and in that by Joannes Diaconus, lib. ii. c. 44; and is
referred to by Joannes Damascenus, De iis qui in Fide Dormierunt, c.
16. See also Dante, Purgatorio, cant. x.'73 &c. Vision of Piers Plough-
man, 6857-6907, ed. T. Wright. [10] Plin. Epist.x. 96. :[12] Adrian:
Dio Cass. Ixix. 3, 11. [17] Philip of Macedon: Some copies of ed.
1605 have ‘and Macedon.’ The story is told ‘by Plutarch, de Adul. et
Amico, 27; Symp. ii. 1. 12; and repeated by Bacon, Of the Interpreta-
tion of Nature, p. 230, Apoph. 159. .[26] It was not Hadrian, but Alex-
ander Severus, who is said, in his life by Lampridius (c. 29), to have
had, in the shrine where his Jares were placed, figures of Apollonius,
Christ, Abraham, Orpheus, and others. And again (c. 43), Christo tem-
plum facere voluit, eumque inter deos recipere. [32] Trajan’s: Mr. Sped-
ding conjectures Trajan, which no doubt is more correct, though Trajan’s
is probably what Bacon wrote.
P. 56. [3] Aurelius Victor, Epit. xli. 13. Quoted again in a Letter
from Bacon to King James, Of a Digest to be made of the Laws of
England (Cabala, p. 75). :[11] policing: the regulating and governing
of a town. Edd. 1605, 1629 have pollicing, ed. 1633 pollishing. ‘He
-gave also multitudes of charters and liberties for the comfort of corpora-
tions and companies in decay.’ Bacon, Offer of a Digest of the Laws of
England. [16] Antoninus: the three old editions have Antonius. [19]
Dio Cassius, Ixx. 3. Comp. Juliani Cesares. ‘If his wit be not apt to
distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoole-men ; for they
are cymini sectores.. Bacon, Ess. 1. p. 206. [31] Acts xxvi. 28.
P. 57. [2] Lucius Ceionius Commodus, son of Elius Ceesar, and
‘Marcus Annius Verus, were adopted by Antoninus Pius, and on his
death in 161 succeeded him with the titles of L. Aurelius Verus and
‘M. Aurelius Antoninus. [4] Spartianus, Vit. Alii Veri, c. 5: idem
Martialem epigrammaticum poetam Virgilium suum dixisse. [6] Lucius
Verus died of apoplexy 4.p. 169: Marcus Aurelius survived till a.p. 180.
[10] Juliani Czesares, xviii. [22] Lampridius, Vita Severi, 5-10. [31]
the world: ‘the’ omitted in ed. 1605.
P. 58. [1-5] Compare Bacon’s Letter to the Lord.Chancellor, touching
the history of Britain, where he speaks of Queen Elizabeth in nearly the
——s
282 NOTES.
same words. [3] lives: Jynes in ed. 1605. [6] rare: grace in some
copies of 1605; others read great. In the Errata it is corrected to rare,
and this is the reading of edd. 1629 and 1633. [12] her: So in some
copies of ed. 1605; others read the. [30] to the purpose: that is, as
regards the purpose &c.
P. 59. [12] Plutarch, Alex. 8.§ 1. [19] Achilles: Plut. Alex. 15. § 3.
[22] Pliny, H. N. vii. 30; Plutarch, Alex. 26.§ 1. [25] Plutarch, Alex.
- $4. é
P. 60. [1-10] And herein... praises: Omitted in the Latin. [14]
Plutarch, Alex. 14. § 2. [17] Seneca, De Benef. v. 4.§ 4. [23] Plutarch,
De Adulatore et Amico, 25; Alex. 22. § 2. [27] The Latin adds, cum
tam indigentia quam redundantia nature, per illa duo designata, mortis
sint tanquam arrhabones. [31] Seneca, Ep. Mor. vi. 7. § 12. Plutarch,
Alex. 28.§ 1. [32] Hom. Il. v. 340; ixa@p olds wép re féer paxdpecot
Oeotat.
P. 61. [2] Plutarch, Alex. 74. § 2. (6, 7] that was the matter: We
should say, that was the point. Lat. hoc ipsum animos eis dedit. [15]
Plutarch, Alex. 53. § 2. Quoted again by Bacon in his Letter to the
King on a Digest of the Laws of England (Cabala, p. 76). [24, 25]
Lat. Callisthenes negotium in se recepit, idque tam acerbe tamque aculeate
prestitit &c. [29] translation: Bacon uses this word as the rendering of
metaphor, borrowing it trom the Lat. trauslatio as employed by Cicero,
30] Plutarch, Apoph. Reg. et Imp. Alex. 17. Mr. Ellis has pointed
out that Bacon, following Erasmus, misunderstood the story. Holland
translates it: ‘ When some there were who much praised unto him the
plainenesse and homelie simplicitie of Antipater, saying that he lived an
austere and hard life, without all superfluities and delicious pleasures
whatsoever: Well (quoth he) Antipater weares in outward shew his
apparell with a plaine white welt or guard, but he is within all purple
(I warrant you) and as red as scarlet (’Avriwarpos Aeveordpudds ear, TA
& éviov édAonéppupos).’
P. 62. [3-9] Plutarch, Alex. 31. § 5. Quoted again in Ess. xxix.
p- 120. [13] Plutarch, Alex. 47. § 3. [19] according to the model of
their own mind: Comp. Hor. Epist. i. 7. 98, Metiri se quemque suo
modulo ac pede verum est. [21] Plutarch, Alex. 29. § 3. [25] Perdiccas,
according to Plutarch, was the only one of Alexander’s friends who
asked the question. Plutarch, Alex. 15. § 2. [30] Plutarch, Ces, 11.
§ 1. Crassus became surety to Czsar’s creditors for 880 talents, before
he was allowed to take the preetorship in Spain. [32] This story of the
Duke of Guise had been heard by Bacon when he was in France in 1576,
In his Apology concerning the Earl of Essex, he says, in reference to
Essex’s offer of a piece of land, ‘My answer, I remember, was, that for
my fortune it was no great matter; but that his lordship’s offer made
me to call to mind what was wont to be said, when I was in France, of
. BOOK 1. 283
the duke of Guise, that he was the greatest usurer in France, because he
had turned all his estate into obligations; meaning that he had left him-
self nothing, but only had bound numbers of persons to him.’
P. 63. [4-8] To conclude... prince: Omitted in the Latin. [14] his
company: that is, his companions, the company he kept. The Latin
has ex familiaribus. [20] the real passages: This expression, which is
omitted in the translation, either means the actual occurrences or the
truthful descriptions of them. [21] lively images: We should say
‘vivid pictures.” [25] Suetonius, Jul. Cees. 56; Quintil. i. 7. § 34. This
work, De Analogia, in two books, is again referred to by Bacon, De
Augm. vi. 1, in which passage he is doubtful whether it treated of what
we should call philosophical Grammar, and not rather of elegance and
purity of language. It is quoted by Cicero (Brutus, 72) under the title
of ‘De ratione Latine loquendi,’ and in the first book Cesar is said to
have laid down as a maxim verborum delectum originem esse eloquentia.
Aulus Gellius (i. 10) quotes another precept from the same book that
an unusual word is to be avoided like a rock (ut tanguam scopulum sic
fugias insolens verbum). Again (ix. 14) he appeals to the Second Book
of the De Analogia as an authority for the forms hujus die and hujus
specie, and to the work generally (xix. 8), without mentioning the book,
for the opinion that harena, celum, triticum could only be used in the ~
singular, and that guadrige could only occur in the plural. Compare
also iv. 16. [28-30] This passage is slightly modified in the Latin
translation, which is thus rendered into English by Wats: ‘ that words,
which are the images of things, might accord with the things them-
selves, and not’stand to the arbitrement of the vulgar.’ [32] Suet. Jul.
Cees. 40.
P. 64. [3] Anti-Cato: According to Suetonius (Jul. Cees. 56) this
was in two books. It was written in answer to Cicero’s panegyric on
Cato, and is quoted by Aulus Gellius (iv. 16). Compare Cicero ad Att.
xii. 40, 41, xiii. 50; Plutarch, Jul. Ces. 54. § 3. [4] victory of wit:
Archbishop Trench in his Select Glossary has given an excellent quota-
tion from Bp. Reynolds, which illustrates the difference between the
present and past usages of the word ‘ wit.” ‘ For I take not wit in that
common acceptation, whereby men understand some sudden flashes of
conceipt, whether in stile or conference, which like rotten wood in the
darke, have more shine then substance; whose use and ornament are
like themselves, swift and vanishing; at once both admired and for-
gotten; but I understand a setled, constant, and habituall sufficiency of
the understanding, whereby it is inabled in any kind of learning, theory,
or practice, both to sharpnesse in search, subtilty in expression, and dis-
patch in execution.’ Reynolds, The Passions and Faculties of the Soul,
c. xxxix. p. 514. [8] These Apophthegms (Cic. ad Fam. ix. 16), or
‘Dicta collectanea as they are called by Suetonius (Jul. Cees. 56), were
284 NOTES.
among the works which Augustus suppressed. [16] Eccl, xii. 11, froin
the Vulgate, though not quite literally. [21] Suetonius, Jul. Czs. 70.
[25] cashiered: cassiered in ed. 1605, a form of spelling which points
to the derivation of the word from Fr. casser. In Wats’s trans. of De
Augm. the Latin is rendered, ‘and seditiously prayed to be cassed.’
[26] by expostulation thereof: Lat. hoc postulato.
P. 65. [6] Suetonius, Jul. Cees. 79. [15)] Rex was a surname with the
Romans: comp. Hor. Sat. i. 7.1; Bacon, Apoph. 186. [17] Plutarch,
Jul. Cees. 35. § 4.
P..66. [1] Suet. Jul. Cees. 77. [15] Xen. Anab. ii. 5. 37. [16] the
great king: of Persia. [25] The saying here ascribed to Xenophon is
in Schneider’s edition of the Anabasis (ii. 1. § 12) given to Theopompus.
Xenophon, who is described as serving merely asa volunteer, and hold-
ing no command in the army, could hardly have taken part in the parley
with Phalinus. Diodorus (xiv. p. 409) attributes the speech to Proxenus.
In Stephens’s edition of 1561, which Bacon may have used, the reading
is Bevopar,
P. 67. [7] Jason the Thessalian (assassinated B.c. 370) was later than
Agesilaus, though Bacon mentions him first. See Smith’s Hist. of
Greece, p. 473. [8] Agesilaus: See Plut. Ages. 15; Smith’s Hist. of
Greece, p. 439, &c. The date of the attempted invasion of Persia by
Agesilaus was B.c. 396-394. Compare Bacon’s treatise, Of the True
Greatness of Britain (Works, vii. §0): ‘And those that are conversant
attentively in the histories of those times, shall find that this purchase
which Alexander made and compassed was offered by fortune twice
before to others, though by accident they went not through with it;
namely, to Agesilaus, and Jason of Thessaly. For Agesilaus, after he
had made himself master.of most of the low provinces of Asia, and had
both design and commission to invade the higher countries, was diverted
and called home upon a war excited against his country by the states of
Athens and Thebes, being incensed by their orators and counsellors,
which were bribed and corrupted from Persia, as Agesilaus himself
avouched pleasantly, when he said That an hundred thousand archers
of the kings of Persia had driven him home: understanding it, because
an archer was the stamp upon the Persian coin of gold. And Jason of
Thessaly, being a man born to no greatness, but one that made a fortune
of himself, and had obtained by his own vivacity of spirit, joined with
the opportunities of time, a great army compounded of voluntaries and
adventurers, to the terror ofall Greecia, that continually expected where
that clond would fall, disclosed himself in the end, that his design was
for an expedition into Persia, (the same which Alexander not many
years after achieved,) wherein he was interrupted by a private conspiracy
against his life, which took effect.’ [14, 15] Ovid, Ep, Pont. ii. 9. 47.
Ovid has Adde quod for scilicet, Mr. Ellis has pointed out that the
BOOK 1. . 285
'
origin of this saying is to be found in a fragment of Theophrastus:
Bonet yap % madela, kal TodTo mavTes Spodroyotat. uepodv Tas Yuyas;
dpaipovoa 7d Onpi@des Kat dyvwpov (Stobzi Florilegium, ed. Gaisford, iv.
App. p. 55, ed. 1822). [23] examined and tried ;: observe the Latinized
construction of the participles. [29] Eccl. i. 9 (‘There is no new
thing under the sun’), quoted from memory. ([30, 31] The Latin
has, qui pone aulea caput inserens organa quibus moventur et filamenta
cernit.
P. 68. [3] for a passage: that is, a pass or ford. The Latin has
propter pontem aliqguem. [4] Plutarch (Ages. 15. § 6) relates that Alex-
ander called the battle between Antipater and Agis a battle of mice. .
The news was brought to him soon after the battle of Arbela. [9]
Compare Seneca, Nat. Queest. i. prol. § 10: Formicarum iste discursus est
in angusto laborantium. [20] See Epictetus, Enchir. 33, and Simplicii in
Epict. Comm. c. 33. The dramatic form of the story is apparently
Bacon’s. own. [24] Virg. Georg. ii. 490. [33] rationem totius: appa-
rently referring to Eccl. xii. 13.
P. 69. [5] Plato, Alcib. Prim. ii. 133. [6] Mr. Spedding’ quotes
another form of this. sentence as Bacon had entered it in the Promus,
‘ Suavissima vita indies meliorem fieri.’ It appears to be derived from
Xenophon, Memor. i. 6. § 8. The same sentiment occurs in Dante,
Parad. xviii, 58, quoted by Mr. Ellis. Comp. also Ady. to the E, of
Rutland (Works, ix. p. 7).
P. 70. [6] Virg, Georg. iv. 561. [9] over the will: The Latin adds
licet liberam et non astrictam, [23] Rev. ii. 24. [24] force: face in edi
1605, corrected in Errata, [31] A saying of Hiero’s, recorded by Plu-
tarch (Reg. et Imp. Apoph.), is perhaps what Bacon was thinking of,
Xenophanes complained that his poverty did not allow him to keep two
servants. ‘ How is that?’ said Hiero: ‘Homer, whom you worry with
abuse, dead as he is, supports more than ten thousand.’
P. 71. [10] exceed. the pleasure of the sense: So in the Errata to ed.
1605. The original editions have ‘exceed the senses,’ The Lat. is
oblectamenta m dent, ‘The true reading is probably ‘ exceed:
the pleasures of the senses.’ [15]. satiety: sacietie,ed. 1605. [16] ver-
dure: In edd. 1605, 1629, 1633, it is verdour, which perhaps shows what
the old pronunciation was, In Cotgrave’s French Dict. and Florio’s
Ital. Dict. of 1611, the spelling of the word is as we have it. See note
on p. 48, 1. 17. [17] deceits of pleasure: that is, deceptive, unreal
pleasures. The Lat. has umbras tantum et fallacias voluptatum. [20];
ambitious princes: Bacon was perhaps thinking of the Emperor Charles
V., who resigned the crown of Spain in favour of his son in 1556, and.
retired to the monastery of San Yuste. See Ess. xix. p. 76. [22] ‘it,
that is, ‘knowledge,’ is omitted as the subject of ‘appeareth.’ The:
whole sentence stands thus in the Lat.: ut necesse sit hujus' delectationis:
286 NOTES.
bonum simplex esse, non ex accidente, ut cum fraude. [27] Lucr. ii, 1-10,
quoted again in Ess. i. p. 3.
P. 72. [11] to this tend: tend is omitted in ed. 1605, but added in the
Errata. [19] infinite: used loosely for ‘innumerable.’ The Lat. has
innumera. It occurs once in the same sense in Shakespeare, Tim. of
Ath. v. 1. 37: ‘a satire against the softness of prosperity, with a dis-
covery of the infinite flatteries that follow youth and opulency.’ [Ib.]
have been decayed: that is, have been brought to decay, fallen into
decay. [21] statuaes: so in ed. 1605. ‘Statua’ was the old form of
the word while still unnaturalized which Bacon adopted. See Glossary
to his Essays. [23, 24] cannot but leese of the life and truth: that is,
cannot but Jose some of the life and truth. ;
P. 73. [4] Bacon here refers to Aristotle and his followers. [11]
affection: The true reading is probably affections, as in 1. 14. [25]
Pheedr. iii. 12. Quoted again in Ess. xiii, p. 48. It was a favourite
fable with Bacon. Comp. Of the True Greatness of Britain (Works,
vii. 57): ‘In which people (i.e. the Swiss) it well appeared what an
authority iron hath over gold at the battle of Granson, at what time one
of the principal jewels of Burgundy was sold for twelve pence by a poor
Swiss, that knew no more a precious stone than did Asop’s cock.’
See Commines, B. v. c. 2, [26] Midas: Ovid, Metam. xi. 153, &c.
[29] Paris: Eurip. Troad. 924, &c. [30] Tac. Ann. xiv. 9, Occidat
dum imperet. [31] any: Omitted in ed, 1605, but added in the Errata.
[32] Hom. Od. v. 218; Plutarch, Gryll. 1; Cic. de Orat. i. 44. Quoted
again in Ess. viii. p. 27.
- P. 74. [2] must: Omitted in ed. 1605, but added in the Errata. [4]
Matt. xi. 19, quoted from the Vulgate.
BOOK II.
P. 75. [1-7] Comp. Ess. viii. p. 26: ‘Yet it were great reason, that
those that have children, should have greatest care of future times; unto
which, they know, they must transmit their dearest pledges.’ [9-12]
and yet so...survive her: Omitted in the Lat., apparently for the reason
mentioned in note on p. 21, ll. 16-21. [19] affection: Lat. studium
meum erga literas.
P. 76. [3] Hercules’ columns: The two rocks Calpe (Gibraltar) and
Abyla (Ximiera, or Febel el Mina) on either side of the Straits of Gibraltar
were so called by the ancients, as being supposed to mark the end of
the western wanderings of Hercules, and so the limits of early geogra-
phical knowledge in that direction (comp. Pindar, Nem. iii. 35; Herod.
iv. 42, 181, 185). Pliny says of the Straits of Gibraltar (Hist. Nat. iii.
proem. trans. Holland, ed. 1601): ‘Of both sides of this gullet, neere
unto it, are two mountaines set as frontiers and rampiers to keepe all in:
namely, Abila for Africke, Calpe for Europe, the utmost end of Hercules’
BOOK Ii, 287
Labours. For which cause, the inhabitants of those parts call them,
The two pillars of that God; and doe verily beleeve, that by certaine
draines and ditches digged within the Continent, the maine Ocean, before
excluded, made way and was let in, to make the Mediteranean seas,
where before was firme land: and so by that meanes the very face of
the whole earth is cleane altered.’ The origin of the legend is probably
to be sought in the fact that the Phoenicians were the great navigators
of the ancient world, and that Melkarth, the Greek Hercules, was their
tutelary deity. In any case ‘the pillars of Hercules,’ which, like the
ultima Thule of a later period, once denoted the extreme limit of geo-
graphical discovery in one direction, are used metaphorically by Bacon
to denote the limit of any investigation whatever. [10] Lat. sermone
quodam activo et masculo. [12] ground: the foundation or basis of an
argument. [16] supplieth: Lat. succurrit. [17] direction: Perhaps we
should read ‘ soundness of direction,’ as before. Lat. consilii prudentia et
sanitas. [Ib.| S. Augustine, Serm. clxix. (vol. v. p. 569, ed. Ant. 1700):
Melior it claudus in via, quam cursor preter viam. See Nov. Org. i. 61.
In the Promus (vii. p. 200) it stands, Melior claudus in via quam cursor
extra viam. Ben Jonson, in his Sylva, quotes it in a different form,
‘ Aegidius cursu superat—A cripple in the way out-travels a footman, or
a post out of the way:’ St. Giles being the patron saint of cripples.
[19] Eccl, x, ro.. Quoted again in a modified form in the treatise Of
the Interpretation of Nature (iii. p. 223): ‘for as Salomon saith excel-
lently, The fool putteth to more strength, but the wise man considereth which
way, signifying the election of the mean to be more material than the
multiplication of endeavour.’
P. 77. [7] accomplishments: Lat. ornamentis, [20] discharge of
cares: Lat. vacationem a curis, [23] Virg. Georg. iv. 8. [27] and that
without delusion or imposture: Omitted in the translation. See note to
p- 21, l. 16.
P. 78. [9] Cic. Orat. post reditum in Senatu, xii. 30: Nam difficile est
non aliquem, nefas quemquam preterire. [11] Phil. iii. 13. [14] I find
strange: Lat. demiror. [18] the ancient fable: The fable of the belly
and the members told by Menenius Agrippa, Livy, ii. 32. See Shake-
speare, Cor, i. 1. 99, &c. [24] universality: the study of es princi-
ples. Lat. contemplationibus universalibus.
P. 79. [1] professory learning: the teaching which has for its object
one special branch of study. [2] malign aspect and influence: This
metaphor is derived from the old astrology, in which the planets were
supposed to exercise control over human destinies. See Trench, English
Past and Present, Lect. iv. p. 180, ed. 4. [15] The Lat. adds presertim
apud nos. [17] Readers: i.e. lecturers. [22, 23] to appropriate his
whole labour, and to continue his whole age in that function and at-
tendance: i.e. to devote his whole energy and to spend his whole life in
288 NOTES.
discharging and attending to the duties of his office. [23-26] and
therefore . .. profession: Omitted in the Lat. [28] 1 Sam. xxx. 22.
P. 80. [3] Virg. Georg. iii. 128. [4, 5] some alchemist. .. who call:
For another example of this loose construction see p. 19, ll. 8, 9, ‘some
friar. ..to whom,’ &c. [10] Physic: Lat: medicina. [17] Lat. nec usu
mortuorum corporum ad observationes anatomicas destitui. [28] Pliny,
Hist. Nat. viii.17. [91] travail: In edd. 1605, 1629, 1633, éravailes.
[31, 32] much better... nature: Lat. certe majus quiddam debetur iis, qui’
non in saltibus nature pererrant, sed in labyrinthis artium viam sibi aperiunt.
Mr. Spedding explains ‘arts’ of nature’ as ‘working upon and altering
nature by art. In p. 86 ‘history: of arts’ is equivalent to “history of
nature altered or wrought.’ But from the expressions in the Latin’
translation it would rather seem that ‘by arts of nature’ Bacon intended
those recondite and intricate operations which are the subjects of inves-
tigation by the experimental philosopher, as the chemist for example, .
and which are contrasted with the more external manifestations with
which the naturalist deals, as the windings of a labyrinth with the open
glades of a forest. See Nov. Org. preef.
-P. 81. [27] Cie. De Orator. iii. 26. [28] Cic. Orator. 24:
P. 82. [22] Cic. Ep. ad Att. ix. 7,
P. 83. [2] Lat. adeo ut habeant prefectos (alios Provinciales, alios Gene-
rales) quibus omnes parent, [9g] James i. 17. [23] Aaron, not Moses.
See Exod. vii. 12. [26] opera basilica, works for a king: Perhaps’
Bacon was thinking of the basilica facinora of Plautus (Trin. iv. 3..23).
[29] the inducing part: the’ introductory part. Lat. speeulativa illa’
pars.
P. 84. [16] Amare et sapere vix Deo conceditur. Publ. Syr. Sent. 15.
Quoted again in Ess. x. p: 37. Comp. Ovid, Met. ii. 846: Non bene’
conveniunt nec in una sede morantur Majestas et amor. [20] Quoted’ from
Ennius by Cicero, De Off. i. 16.
P. 85. [3] Prov. xxii. 13. [4] Virg. Aim. v. 231. [9-21] This
paragraph is much enlarged in the-De Augmentis, ii. 1. [22] De
Aug. ii. 4. In the De Augmentis Bacon makes only two: divisions
of History, natural and civil; including in the latter history ecclesi-
astical and literary.
P. 86. [5] a just story of learning; i.e. an accurate history: [21]
In De Augm. ii. 2 the same division is made but at greater length.
[32] the strange events of time and chance: Lat. casuum (ut ait ille)
ingenia.
P. 87. [11] it is never called down: Lat. nunquam postea exter-
minantur aut retractantur. [13] The treatise De miris. auscultationibus
attributed to Aristotle is now believed. not to be by him. Bacon
again refers to it in p. 35, l. 24. [Ib.] is nothing less than: i.e. is
by uo: means intended, [16] axioms: Mr. Kitchin, in his‘ edition of
BOOK I. 289
the Novum Organum, App. A., has shown that Bacon uses ‘axiom’
to denote any general principle of the lowest degree of generality.
And in this he is followed by Sir Isaac Newton, who gives the title
of ‘ Axiom’ to all ‘ general experimental truths,’ to the ‘laws of motion,’
which are purely inductive and not at all ‘self-evident’ truths, to the
principles of optics, &c.
P. 88. [4] In the treatise ‘Dzemonologie, in forme of a Dialogue,’
in three books, printed among the works of James I., p. 93, ed: 1616.
[5] Comp. Noy. Org. i. 120, sol enim ceque palatia et cloacas ingreditur,
neque tamen polluitur. And Chaucer’s Parson’s Tale, quoted by Mr.
Kitchin: ‘Certes holy writ may not be defouled, no more than the
sonne that schyneth on a dongehul’ (vol. iii. p. 168, Percy Soc. ed.).
{7-9] I hold fit, that these narrations... be sorted by themselves,
and not ¢o be mingled &c.: For other instances of this mixed con-
struction, see Ps. lxxviii. 4, 8 (Pr. Bk.): ‘That we should not hide...
but to shew &c.” ‘That they might put their trust in God, and not
to forget &c.’ [23] Plato, Hippias Major, iii. 291.
P. 89. [3] the philosopher: Thales. See Plato, Theet. i.1743 Diog.
Laert.i. 34. [9] Arist. Polit. i. 3. § 1; Phys. i.
P. 90. [1] Proteus: Virg. Georg. iv. 386, &c. [5] De Augm. ii. 6.
[22] of the world: i.e. in the world. [27] as was said: See above,
1. 13. In this paragraph Bacon perhaps had in his mind Camden’s
Remaines concerning Britaine (1605).
P. gt. [2] In the discourse on the Union of the Kingdoms (Life and
Letters, iii. p. 94) Bacon gives instances in nature of those bodies
which were imperfecte mista, and concludes, ‘So as such imperfect
minglings continue no longer than they are forced, and still in the
end the worthiest gets*above.’ He probably had this in his mind
when he called such histories the salvage of the deluge of time. [5]
epitomes: Bacon elsewhere (p. 175) condemns Ramus for ‘ introducing
the canker of epitomes’ Were he refers probably to the Epitomes of
Florus, Aurelius Victor, and others. [10] De Augm. ii. 7. [26] the
true and inward resorts: Lat. veros fomites et texturas subtiliores. Perhaps
we should read fontes. [27] The Latin adds neque enim de elogiis ex
hujusmodi ec wrationibus jejunis loquimur. [32] Referring to
Thucydides, Xenophon, and Sallust.
P. 92. [4, 5] specially of any length: This refers to the length of the
period contemplated by the history, not to the history itself. The
Latin has a different idea, presertim que etate scriptoris multo antiquior
sit; where the true reading would be quod... antiquius. [5])—p. 93.
[4] Omitted in the Latin. [22] Virg. Ain. iv.177. [29] Justinianus:
Born a.p. 483; reigned from 527 to 565. [Ib.] Ultimus Romanorum:
Used of Cassius by Tacitus (Ann. iv. 34) and of Brutus and Cassius
by Suetonius (Tib. 61). [33] to be kept: ‘are’ is omitted in the
U
290 NOTES.
construction. Comp. p. 94, 1. 8, ‘and yet her government so mascu-
line, where the copula is omitted.
P. 93. [8] Cicero, De Off. i. 34. Comp. Tac. Hist. i. 1. [10] in
the main continuance thereof: Lat. quatenus ad corpus ejus integrum.
{12] George Buchanan, who wrote Rerum Scoticarum Historia. To
this James I. evidently refers in the second book of his Basilicon Doron,
where he reckons among unpardonable crimes ‘the false and vnreverent
writing or speaking of malicious men against your parents and pre-
decessors’ (Works, p. 158). [21] Bacon himself endeavoured to carry
out the plan which he here suggested; but the only part of the work
which was completed was the History of Henry VIL., published in 1622, |
during his retirement. Besides this he left a fragment of the history of
the reign of Henry VIII. In his letter to the Lord Chancellor touching
the history of Britain, to which reference has been made before (p. 58,
note), he speaks in nearly the same words of the defects of previous
histories. [24] hath been: Observe the construction, and see p. 52, l. 9.
[27] By Henry VII. Compare Bacon, Henry VII. p. 3: ‘There were
fallen to his lot, and concurrent in his Person, three seuerall Titles to
the Imperiall Crowne. The first, the Title of the Lady Elizabeth,
with whom, by precedent Pact with the Partie that brought him in,
he was to marry. The second, the ancient and long disputed Title ”
(both by Plea, and Armes) of the House of Lancaster, to which he was
Inheritour in his owne Person. The third, the Title of the Sword or
Conquest, for that he came in by victorie of Battaile, and that the King
in possession was slaine in the Field.’ [33] Henry VIII.
P. 94. [5] Edward VI. and the attempt of the Duke of Northumber-
land to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne. [6] Comp. Ess, xxix.
p- 127: ‘A civill warre, indeed, is like the heat’ of a feaver.’ [7] Mary,
married to Philip of Spain. [Ib.] Elizabeth. [8] and yet her govern-
ment so masculine: The copula is omitted as in p. 92, 1. 33. [8-11]
and yet...thence: Omitted in the Latin. [12] divided from all the
world: Comp. Virg. Ecl. i. 67, Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos.
{14] Virg. Ain. iii. 96. [18] Comp. p. 134, 1. 25, and Ess. xi. p. 43,
‘And as in nature, things move violently to their place, and calmely ©
in their place,’ [23] it: redundant. [32] Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, at
the end of the 34th book and the beginning of the 35th. Mr. Singer,
in Notes and Queries, v. 232, was the first to point out the source of
this reference. [33] the ancient fiction: The fable of the three fates,
Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. The allusion is more distinctly given
in the Latin translation.
P. 95. [14] Virg. Zn. v. 751. [15] Plin. Ep. iii. 21: Nam postquam
desiimus facere laudanda, laudari quoque ineptum putamus. [17] Prov.
x. 7. [24] Cicero. Phil. ix. 5. § 10: Vita enim mortuorum in memoria
vivorum est posita. The sentiment appears to have been borrowed from the
Up ee
‘ BOOK II, 291
law of Solon quoted by Demosthenes ady. Lept. p. 488, pi) A€yew Kaxds
Tov TeOvedra. r
P. 96. [7] De Aug. ii. 9. [Ib.] partition: portion in ed. 1605, cor-
rected in Errata. [12] giving but a touch of certain magnificent build-
ings: that is, but slightly alluding to them. [13] Tac. Ann. xiii. 31.
[15] a kind of contemplative heraldry: that is, as is explained in the
Latin, a heraldry by which the rank of books as well as of persons
may be distinguished. [22] time; Mr. Spedding reads times, [24]
what passed day by day: For the construction compare Hamlet, i.
I. 33: ‘ What we two nights have seen.’ [25] Esth. vi. 1. [28] Plut.
Symp. i. 6. 1; Alex. 23. § 2, 76, &c. 4
P. 97. [1] De Aug. ii. 10. [4] Mr. Ellis, in his note on the corres-
ponding passage of the De Augmentis, remarks that ‘the most cele-
brated work of this kind is one with which Bacon was familiar,—
the Discorsi of Macchiavelli, of which the narrative part is derived
from Livy.’ See what Bacon himself says, p. 225. [22] Comp, Of the
Interpretation of Nature (Works, iii. 225): ‘For at that time the world
was altogether home-bred, every nation looked little beyond their own
confines or territories, and the world had no through lights then, as it
hath had since by commerce and navigation, whereby there could
neither be that contribution of wits one to help another, nor that
variety of particulars for the correcting of customary conceits.’ See
also Noy. Org. i. 84. [27] Virg. Georg. i. 250.
P. 98. [1] in their word: Lat. in symbolo suo, [2] plus ultra: Charles
the Fifth’s motto. [3] imitabile fulmen: referring to the invention of
gunpowder, [5] Virg. Ain. vi. 590. [7] Fernando de Magalhaens (or
Magellan) was the first navigator who sailed round the world, 1519-
1522. Drake’s voyage was in 1577-1579. [14] Dan. xii. 4. The
quotation in the text, which is from the Vulgate, is altered in the Latin
to augebitur scientia, [21] De Aug. ii. 11. [22] in the propriety
thereof: Lat. proprio vero nomine.
P. gg. [11] Ps, xc. 4; 2 Pet. iii. 8. [23] 1 Cor. ii. 14. [26] Eph.
ii. 12, [28] Hab. ii. 2. This very common form of misquotation of
this passage appears to have had its origin in Coverdale’s Version;
‘that who so commeth by, may rede it’ The correct rendering is
that given in the English Bible; ‘that he may run that readeth it.’
P, 100, [4] De Aug. ii. 12. [26] it is a great loss of that book of
Czsar’s: A loose construction equivalent to ‘it is a great loss, viz. the
loss of that book of Czesar’s.’
P. 101. [4-6] one of the cells... which is that of the memory:
Comp. Burton, Anat. of Mel. Part I. Sec. 1. Mem. 2. Subs. 4. ‘The
fourth creek, behind the head, is common to the cerebel or little brain,
and marrow of the back-bone, the least and most solid of all the rest,
which receives the animal spirits from the other ventricles, and conveys
U 2
292 NOTES.
them to the marrow in the back, and is the place where they say the -
memory is seated.’ Vigo defines the brain as ‘a substance full of
'marrowe diuided into three ventricles, of which there is one in the
fore part which is greater then the other three. The second is in
the middest. The third hath his residence in the hinder part. And
therefore after Galens iudgement, it is the foundation of imagination,
and of deuising, and of remembrance’ (Works, fol. 66, Lond. 1586).
Compare Chaucer, Knight’ s Tale, 1378:
4 Engendrud of humour malencolyk,
Byforne in his sedle fantastyk.’
{7] Differently arranged in De Augm. ii. 13, where much new matter
is introduced. [13] Hor. De Art. Poet. 9. [19] may be styled: that
is, may have this title of ‘feigned history,’ whether written in prose or
verse.
P. 102. [16] After this paragraph there is added in the De Aug-
mentis one on Dramatic Poetry. [32] The seven wise men were Solon,
Thales, Pittacus, Bias, Chilon, Cleobulus, and Periander of Corinth,
Instead of the last, Plato (Protag. i. 343) enumerates Myso. Their
maxims have been collected in Orelli’s Opuscula Grecorum veterum
sententiosa et moralia, As other instances of parabolical wisdom the
Latin mentions tessere Pythagore, and enigmata sphingis. The former
of these are associated with AZgyptian hieroglyphics by Plutarch (De
Isid. et Osir. 10) in a passage which Bacon probably had in his
mind.
P. 103. [1 5] Both these fables are quoted by Bacon in his fifteenth
Essay, ‘ Of Seditions and Troubles,’ with substantially the same com-
ments. In the De Augm. is substituted a lengthened discussion of the
fables of Pan, Perseus, and Dionysus. See also Wisdom ut the Ancients,
c. 9. [21] Virg. Hn. iv. 178. [30] Thetis, not Pallas. See Hom.
TL. i. 398, &c.
P, 104. [2] Achilles: Hom. Il. xi. 832; Plutarch (De Musica, xl. 4).
[4] Machiavel: The Prince, c. 18. Mr. Ellis, in his note on this
passage, suggested that ‘As two of the animals are the same it is
possible that Macchiavelli was thinking of what was said of Boniface
VIII. by the predecessor whom he forced to abdicate,—that he came
in like a fox, would reign like a lion, and die like a dog.’ [11] Chry-
sippus: a Stoic philosopher, born 8.c. 280, Bacon here refers to
what Cicero says of him, De Nat. Deor. i. 15, §§ 38-41. [13] the
fictions: ‘the’ is omitted in some copies of ed. 1605. [16-20] Surely
.. meaning: The construction of this sentence is imperfect, though the
sense is clear. [16] Homer: The same remark is made by Rabelais (Gar-
gantua, prol.) of the allegorical interpretations of Homer by Plutarch,
Eustathius, Heraclides Ponticus and Cornutus. [17] ‘To the Greeks
[ROCK H. 293
Homer was in fact a Bible, and guarded with all the care and all the
piety that belong to such a book. Prof. Blackie, Art. on Homer, ©
Encyc. Brit. eighth ed. This is true generally, and not only of ‘the
later schools of the Grecians.’ ‘But what really conveys a more
vivid impression of the influence of Homer in Greek education, than
any anecdotes about schools and schoolmasters, is the very apt and
easy way in which all Greek men are everywhere found quoting Homer
from memory, and applying it for the need of the moment, by a sort
of habitual “accommodation,” just as we see many a devout father of
the Christian Church, and the ancient Jews, constantly quoting the
Old Testament, without any curious inquiry as to the exact critical
propriety of the text so applied.’ Blackie, Homer and the Iliad, i.
308. [24] this third part of learning: It should be ‘this second.’
[27-32] But... harangués: Omitted in De Augm.
P. 105. [3] The third book of the De Augm. begins here. [29] philo-
sophia prima: See p. 40, 1. 8.
P. 106. [1] a certain rhapsody: Lat. farraginem quandam et massam
inconditam. [27] The instances of these ‘ participles in nature’ given by
Bacon in the De Augm. are, moss, which is intermediate between putre-
faction and a plant; fish that adhere and do not change their place and
are between a plant and an animal; mice and other animals which are
between those propagated by putrefaction and those propagated by
impregnation; bats, which are between birds and quadrupeds; flying -
fish, between birds and fish; seals, between fish and quadrupeds, and so
on. See Nov. Org. ii, 30.
P. 107. [8] Euclid, Elem. Book i. Axiom 4. [9, 10] an axiom..
mathematics: In some copies of ed. 1605, and in the edd. of 1629 and
1633, this clause is inserted by mistake after the following sentence.
The error is noted in the Errata at the end of a copy of ed. 1605 in the
Bodleian Library, and the true reading is given, preceded by the follow-
ing remark: ‘In some few Bookes, in Ff: fol. 21, and the beginning of
the second page thereof, there is somewhat misplaced, and to be read
thus.’ The catchword of the previous page is‘ And.’ [10] This ana-
logy between commutative (or corrective) and distributive justice is
derived from Aristotle (Eth. v. 3, 4). Of distributive justice Sir Alex-
ander Grant in his notes on the passage gives the following summary:
‘Justice implies equality, and not only that two things are equal, but
also two persons between whom there may be justice. Thus it is a
geometrical proportion in four terms; if A and B be persons, C and D
lots to be divided, then as A is to B, so must C be to D. And a just
distribution will produce the result that A+C will be to B+D in the
same ratio as A was to B originally. In other words, distributive
justice consists in the distribution of property, honours, &c., in the state,
according to the merits of each citizen.’ And of corrective, or as Bacon
———s
y
BOOK Il, 307
P. 156. [5] being broken unto it by great experience: Lat. longa doctus
experientia, [6] Cic, Orat. xiv. 45, 46. [8] in thesi: ‘in these,’ ed. 1605,
corrected in Errata. [23] See p. 181.
P. 157. [1] Plato, Menon, ii. p. 80. [12] See Aristotle, Rhet. ii. 22.
16,17. [22] See Nov. Org. i. 130. [23] in going of a way: i.e. in
going on or along a road, [29] In the De Augm. is here inserted an
example of a special topic, de gravi et levi. [30] De Augm. v. 4.
[31, 32] which... which: There is a little confusion of construction
here, the first ‘ which’ referring to ‘arts,’ and the second to ‘judgement.’
P, 158. [2] otherwise it is: i.e. it is otherwise. Comp. p. 110, 1. 4,
[14] Aristotle, De Motu Anim. 2, 3. [16] Atlas: See Hom. Od, i.
52-54. [31] principle: Some copies of ed. 1605 read ‘ principles.’ [Ib.]
probation ostensive: or ‘ ostensive reduction, because you prove, in the
first figure, either the very same conclusion as before, or one which implies
it’ Whately, Logic; ii. 3. § 5.
P. 159. [1] ‘ Reductio ad impossibile. By which we prove (in the first
figure) not directly that the original conclusion is true, but that it cannot
be false; i.e. that an absurdity would follow from the supposition of its
being false.’ Whately, Logic, ii, 3, § 6. [2] the number of middle
terms to be; i.e. greater or less, [29] Seneca, Ep. Mor. 45. § 8; sic
ista sine noxa decipiunt, quomodo prestigiatorum acetabula et calculi, in
quibus me fallacia ipsa delectat. [23] doth not only put a man besides
his answer: Lat. non solum id prestant ut non habeat quis quod respondeat,
[27] the Sophists: The Lat. specifies Gorgias, Hippias, Protagoras,
Euthydemus, and the rest. [28] See the beginning of the Thezetetus.
P. 160. [23] categories or predicaments: Of Aristotle’s enumeration
of Existences, as the basis of Logic, Mr. Mill says, ‘The categories, or
predicaments—the former a Greek word, the latter its literal interpreta-
tion in the Latin language—were intended by him and his followers as
an enumeration of all things capable of being named; an enumeration
by the summa genera, i.e. the most extensive classes into which things
could be distributed.’ Logic, i. p. 60. They were ten in number: sub-
stance, quantity, quality, relation, action, passion, time, place, position,
and habit. [31] This section is expanded in the Latin into a discussion
of the ‘idols’ or fallacies of the human mind; the idols of the tribe, the
cave, the marketplace, and the theatre. See Nov. Org. i. 39-68.
P, 161. [10] false appearances: Lat. idola. [16] See Essay xxxv.
p- 152. These are what Bacon elsewhere calls the ‘idols of the tribe’
[18] This story is told of Diagoras by Cicero, De Nat. Deor. iii. 37,
and of Diogenes the Cynic by Diogenes Laertius, vi. 59. See Bacon,
Nov. Org. i. 46. [23] Nov. Org. i. 45. [32] monodica, sui juris: as
if from pdvos and bien. The word Bacon intended to use was mona-
dica, unique, which he then might have rendered sui generis instead of
sui juris,
x2
308 NOTES.
P. 162. [1] is: Compare Macbeth, i. 3. 141:
: ‘And nothing és
But what -is not.’ 3
{Ib.] an element of fire: Empedocles recognised the existence of four
elements, earth, air, fire, and water, and among these gave the most
important place to fire. Heraclitus assumed the elemental principle to
be fire, as the most subtle and active of the elements. See Tennemann,
Manual of the Hist. of Phil. §§ 103, 106, trans. Johnson. [5] Prota-
goras affirmed that man is the measure of all things. Arist. Met. x. 6.
{7] The Anthropomorphites, who were a branch of the Monophysites,
held that God was of human shape, and interpreted literally ‘all the
passages in the Scriptures in which mention is made of his eye, ear, arm,
orhand. See Gibbon, Decline and Fall, c. 47; Nicephorus, Hist. Eccl.
xiii. ro, The monastic sect of Audzans, founded by Audzeus, or Audius,
in Mesopotamia in the fourth century, maintained that the expression,
*God created man in his own image,’ is to be understood in its most
literal sense. A sect of Anthropomorphites was in existence in Italy in
the tenth century. [8] Epicurus: Cic. De Nat. Deor. ii. 17, &c. Comp.
Of the Interp. of Nat. p. 241, for the original form of much in this para-
graph. [11] Cic. De Nat. Deor. i. 9, § 22: Quid autem erat quod concu-
pisceret Deus, mundum signis et luminibus, tanquam edilis, ornare? [Ib.]
Epicurean’ In the ed. of 1605 this is spelt Epicurian, but in p. 191 the
spelling is the same in the old as in the modern editions. The word in
Bacon’s time was pronounced with the accent on the third syllable, as
in Shakespeare, Ant. and Cl. ii. i. 24:
‘ Epictirean cooks
Sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite.’
[13] The curule ediles were at first appointed to take charge of the
ludi Romani, but the Judi scenici, or dramatic representations, and the
ludi megalesii also came under their control. ‘The decoration of the
Argentarie, with the gilded shields of the Samnites, at the triumph of
Papirius, in B. c. 309, is said to have first suggested to the Aediles the
idea of ornamenting the Forum and its vicinity with statues, pictures,
embroidery, and other works of art, during solemn processions and the
celebration of the public games.’ (Ramsay, Rom. Ant. p. 159.) [19]
number : ‘numbers’ in some copies of ed. 1605. [22] Let us consider
again: i.e. Again, let us consider, &c. These false appearances are the
Idols of the Cave. See Nov. Org.i. 42. [24] Plato, Repub. vii. sub init.
P. 163. [1] in our first book: See p. 40. [3] These are the Idols of
the Marketplace : See Nov. Org. i. 43. [7] This is quoted as a saying
of Aristotle by Roger Bacon, Opus Majus, i. 4: Quare Philosophus dicit in
secundo Topicorum, quod sentiendum est ut pauci, licet loguendum sit ut plures,
He was perhaps thinking of Aristotle, Top. ii. 2.5. ‘He that wyll wryte
well in any tongue, must folowe thys councel of Aristotle, to speake as
ti
BOOK I. 309
a
the common people do, to thinke as wise men do.’ Ascham’s Toxophilus,
ed. Arber, p. 18. [9] The Tartars, says Dr Giles Fletcher, in his Russe
Commonwealth, c. 19. p. 67 (ed. 1591), ‘are very expert horsemen,
& vse to shoot as readily backward, as forward.’ And Maundevile
(Voyage, &c., p. 304, ed. 1727): * And 3ee schulle undirstonde, that it is
gret drede for to pursue the Tartarines, 3if thei fleen in Bataylle. For in
fleynge, thei schooten behynden hem, and sleen bothe men and Hors.’
Comp. Speech on the Subsidy Bill (Life and Letters, ii. 89) : ‘Sure I am
it was like a Tartar’s or Parthian’s bow, which shooteth backward.’
[30] so slightly touched: The Lat. has siquidem Aristoteles rem notavit,
modum rei nullibi persecutus est,
P. 164. [2] syllogism: ‘sophisme’ in ed. 1605, corrected in Errata.
{3] Arist. Prior. Anal. ii. 5; Post. Anal. ii. 13. [4-7] The construction
here is loose. We ought correctly to read, ‘ every of these hath certain
subjects ...in which respectively it hath chiefest use ; and certain others,
from which it ought’ &c. But Bacon regarded ‘every of these’ as
equivalent to ‘all these” and finished the sentence accordingly. A
similiar construction is found in Shakespeare, Mid. N.’s Dr. ii, 1. g0-92:
‘Contagious fogs, which falling in the land
’ Have every pelting river made so proud,
That they have overborne their continents.’
[16] De Augm. v. 5. [18, 20] for: i.e. as for. [28] a matter of great
use and essence: Lat. magni prorsus rem esse usus et firmitudinis. [31]
and contracteth judgement to a strength: Lat. et aciem judicii in unum
contrabat.
P. 165. [6] An art there is extant of it: Cornelius Agrippa, in his
Vanitie of the Sciences, has a chapter ‘Of the Arte of Memorie:’
‘Among these Artes, the Arte of Memorie is also accoumpted, whiche
(as Cicero saithe) is nothing els, but a certaine induction and order of
teaching, consisting of places and Images, as it were in a paper, deuised,
firste in Caracters by Simonides Melito, afterwarde broughte to perfection
by Metrodorus Scepticus.... Cicero hath written thereof in his newe
Rhetorike, Quintilian in his Institutions, Seneca, and of the fresher sorte,
Franciscus Petrarcha, Mareolus of Verona, Petrus of Ravenna, and
Hermannus Buschius, and others, but vnworthie of rehersal, men little
knowen ’ (Eng. trans. cap. 10, ed. 1575). Giordano Bruno also wrote an
Ars Memorize. [27] dischargeth : i.e. dismisses, relieves us of,
P. 166, [3] distinguish: i. ¢. assert distinctly, decide. Bacon refers to
what he said on p. 84: ‘my purpose is, at this time, to note only
omissions and deficiencies, and not to make any redargution of errors, or
incomplete prosecutions.” [5] De Augm. vi. 1. [12] the organ of
tradition: The Latin adds que et grammatica dicitur. [13] Arist. De
Interp. i. 1. [15] it: Omitted in editions of 1605, 1629, 1633. [24]
China, and the kingdoms of the High Levant: In Acosto’s Naturall and
310 -. MoTES.
Morall Historie of the East and West Indies, lib. vi. chap. v. (Eng. tr.
1604), is an account ‘Of the fashion of Letters, and Bookes, the Chinois
vsed.’ ‘They have no Alphabet, neither write they any letters, but all
their writing is nothing else but painting and ciphering: and their letters
signifie no partes of distinctions, as ours do, but are figures and
representations of things, as of the Sunne, of fire, of a man, of the sea,
and of other things. The which appears plainely, for that their writings
and Chapas, are vnderstood of them all, although the languages the
Chinois speake, are many and very different ...So as things being of
themselves innumerable, the letters likewise or figures which the Chinois
vse to signifie them by, are in a maner infinite” Of the Japanese, to
whom probably Bacon refers as the people of the High Levant or far
East, Acosta says in the same chapter, ‘I have had some of their
writings shewed me, whereby it seemes that they should have some
kinde of letters, although the greatest part of their writings, be by the
characters and figures, as hath bin saide of the Chinois.’ Acosta is in all
probability the source of Bacon’s information, for, from the expression
« And we understand further,’ which in the Latin is rendered ‘ Quinetiam
notissimum fieri jam ccepit,’ it was clearly but recently acquired, and
there is other evidence that he had read his book.
P. 167. [11] The story of Thrasybulus sending to consult Periander is
told by Aristotle (Polit. iii. 13). In Herodotus (v. 92) it is Periander
who sends to Thrasybulus. Compare with this Livy’s version (i. 54),
where it is applied to Tarquinius Superbus. The form of the tale as it
appears in Herodotus is adopted by Plutarch (Sept. Sap. Conv. 2). [16]
grandees: In ed. 1605 grandes, which probably represents the early
pronunciation of the word, with the accent on the first syllable. In
Burton’s Anat. of Mel. (Democritus to the Reader, p. 34, ed. 1628), it is
found in the form grandy: ‘ For in a great person, Tight worshipfull Sir,
a right honourable Grandy, ’tis not a veniall sine.’ In the first edition
of the Advancement the word is printed in italics, an indication that it
was not yet naturalised, but had been adopted from the Spanish or
Italian. [28] words are the tokens current and accepted for conceits:
See p. 153; ‘words are but the current tokens or marks of popular
notions of things.’ [31] Perhaps Bacon had in his mind the paper money
of the Chinese, of which an account had been given by Rubruquis and
confirmed by Marco Polo (Travels, Bk. ii. c. 18, trans. Marsden; ii. 24,
ed. Yule). Colonel Yule in his edition of Ma:co Polo (i. pp. 380-385)
says it was in use as early as the oth cent.
P. 168. [4] the first general curse: Gen. iii. 16-19. [6] the second
general curse: Gen. xi. 6-8. [7,8] in a mother tongue: ‘in another
tongue’ ed. 1605, corrected to ‘in mother tongue’ in the Errata and in
edd. 1629, 1633. The Latin has linguis quibusque vernaculis. [32] Mart.
ix, 83.
BOOK UW, 311
-P. 169. [11] decipher: ‘discypher’ in ed. 1605. [13] Of this kind of
cipher Bacon gives an example in the De Augm., which he says was
invented by him at Paris. [30] words: some copies of ed. 1605 roe
‘markes,’
P. 170. [4] labours and studies: some copies of ed. 1605 read we Se
studies” and Mr. Spedding, considering that one of these words is a
correction of the other, reads ‘studies’ alone. [5] De Augm. vi. 2.
‘Besides Ramus himself and Carpentier, one of the principal persons in
this controversy was the Cardinal D’Ossat, of whom some. account will
be found in De Thou’s memoirs.’ (Ellis.) [14] The first book of the
Dialectica of Ramus is De Inventione, the second De Judicio, and of the
latter the last four chapters are on Method. [19] invention: ‘inventions’
in ed, 1605, corrected in Errata. [29] Cicero, Pro Czelio xviii. 42: Ergo hae
deserta via et inculta atque interclusa jam frondibus et virgultis relinquatur.
P. 171. [1] be: Omitted in ed. 1605. [7] to be spun on: i. e. to be
spun continuously, without break. ([Ib.] intimated: Mr. Spedding
conjectures ‘ insinuated.” The Latin has insinwanda, But in distinguish-
ing in the De Augmentis the two kinds of Methods, Magistralis and
Initiativa, Bacon says ‘ Magistralis siquidem docet; Initiativa intimat,’
and therefore, as in this passage he is speaking of the latter of these,
‘intimated ’ is probably the true reading. [9] knowledge induced: that
is, derived by induction. Lat. scientia per inductionem acquisita. [12]
‘secundum majus et minus : to a greater or less extent. See p. 30, 1. 8.
P. 172. [1] enigmatical and disclosed: In the De Augm. he dis-
tinguishes them as Acroamatica and Exoterica. In this passage Bacon’s
remarks apply to, the enigmatical method. [16] except they should be
ridiculous: We should now say ‘ unless they would be ridiculous. [26]
Hor. Ars Poet. 242. [31] demonstration in orb or circle: See p. 164.
P. 173. [8] The scholastical method which is condemned previously.
See pp. 32, 33. [13] indeed: Mr. Spedding interprets this as equivalent
to ‘although indeed.’ Rather, perhaps, ‘would’ is used for ‘ should.’
The difficulty is evaded in the Latin translation, which is as follows:
Illud tamen inficias non ierim urbem aliquam magnam et munitam a tergo
relinquere haudquaquam semper tutum esse. The use of the words ‘ piece
enemy ’ seems to shew that Bacon was thinking of chess. He gives this
as an example of what he means by keeping the field and pursuing ‘the
sum of the enterprise.’ A general will not waste his strength in attack-
ing some small fort whepgan important position is held by the enemy in
his rear, and the teacher of a science will only employ confutation ‘to
remove strong preoccupations and prejudgements’ from the minds of
his pupils, and not to refute their minor cayils and doubts. Modern
editions read ‘some important piece with an enemy.’ [29] shells:
‘shales’ in ed. 1605. [31] particular topics for invention: See pp. 156,
157:
312 NOTES. i ae
P. 174. [1] judgement: The Latin has here Sequitur aliud Methodi dis-
crimen, in tradendis scientiis cum judicio adhibendum. Method has been
described (p. 170) as a part of judgement, and here the one word
seems to have been substituted for the other. [5] agreeable: i.e. to
received opinions. Lat. opinionibus jampridem imbibitis et receptis affinis.
[7] Arist. Eth, Nic. vi. 3. The opinion alluded to in this passage is
generally supposed to be that of Plato (Theet. p. 197) and not
Democritus. Mr, Ellis conjectured that Bacon might inadvertently have
substituted one name for the other. [10] need only but: One of these
words is redundant. We should say ‘need only’ or ‘need but.’ [22]
Mr. Ellis quotes Plato, Politic. ii. 277: xadewdv, wr wapadelypacr xpd-
pevov, ixavds évdeixvucbai m1 Tav peCdvev. [27] The Latin adds to
these diversities of methods Diereticam and Homericam.
P. 175. [8] Ramus (Dialect. lib. ii. c. 3) divides the axioms or first
principles of sciences (axiomata artium) as follows: Axioms are either
true or false. Of true axioms, some are true contingently, others
necessarily. A necessary axiom must be true in all cases, and the
predication is then said to be xara mavrés. It must be homogeneous,
that is, its parts must be essentially connected together, as form with the
thing formed, the subject with its proper adjunct, genus with species: in
this case it is said to be xa6’ aird, Thirdly, it must be catholic or
universal, that is, the converse of the proposition must be true as well as
the proposition itself, when it is “a@éAouv mp@rov. To these three rules
Ramus givés the fanciful names of the law of truth (ard mayrés), the law
of justice (na@’ ard), and the law of wisdom (xa0dAov mp@rov). It is the
last law which is referred to in the concluding sentence of this paragraph.
{tr] the canker of epitomes: In p. 91 Bacon calls epitomes ‘the
corruptions and moths of history.” [13] Referring probably to the
dragons which kept the garden of the Hesperides and the golden fleece.
Compare also Shakespeare, As You Like It, ii. 1. 12-14: :
‘Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head,’
[26-28] and the longitude... precept: Lat. longitudo vero sumitur a
summa propositione ad imam in eadem scientia, [30] which is the rule they
call xa8avrd: Omitted in the Latin. See note on p. 175, 1. 8.
P. 176. [5] Ortelius: Abraham Ortel, or Ortelius, born June 9, 1527,
at Antwerp, and called the Ptolemy of his time. He was appointed
geographer to the King of Spain, and died June 26, 1598. Prefixed to
his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is a map of the world called Typus Orbis
Terrarum, to which Bacon probably alludes. [20] Raymundus Lullius:
born at Palma in Majorca in 1235. He was at first steward to King
James of Majorca and High Chamberlain ; or, as others say, a merchant
SBOOKSH. | 313
like his ancestors, His early life was licentious, but he afterwards con-
ceived a disgust for the world, and when forty years of age studied
Latin and Arabic at Paris, While preaching Christianity in Africa he
was stoned by the natives, and carried off by a Genoese vessel, on board
of which he died off the coast of Majorca, March 26, 1315. For an
account of his art, which he said was revealed to him on a mountain, see
Maurice’s Medizeval Philosophy, pp. 244 &c. Cornelius Agrippa sa
of it, ‘herein I wil admonishe you, that this Arte “auaileth more ihe
outwarde shewe of the witte, and to the ostentation of ] Learning, than to
gette knowledge: and hath much more presumptuousnesse, than effi
cacie” Of the Vanitie and Uncertaintie of Artes and Sciences, cap. 9
(Engl. trans. ed. 1575). [27] De Augm. vi. 3. [Ib.] which concerneth
the illustration of tradition: Lat. de illustratione sermonis. [33] Adapted
from Ex. iv. 16. See Ex. vii. 1.
P. 177. [2] Prov. xvi. 21, quoted from the Vulgate from memory.
{8] hath made; Observe the loose construction, the singular being used
for the plural. [18] The Latin adds, Rhetorica certe Phantasie quemad-
modum Dialectica Intellectui subservit: Rhetoric is to the imagination
what logic is to the understanding. [23] morality: Lat. Erhicam, ethics
or moral philosophy. [26] Lat. aut argumentorum fallaciis obruimur.
P. 178, [2] to fill the imagination: Lat. phantasiam implere observa-
tionibus et simulachris. [4] Plato, Gorg. i. p. 462, &c. [13] Thue. iii.
42, [18] Plato, Pheedr. iii. 250; see also Cic. De Off. i. 5. 14; de Fini-
bus, ii. 16. 52; Rabelais, Pantag. ii, 18. For the opposite sentiment
compare Pope, Essay on Man, Ep. ii. 217;
‘Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen,’
[23] The Latin adds, a Cicerone. See Cicero, De Fin. iv. 18, 19; Tusc.
Disp. ii. 18. 42, [26] with the will: Lat. cum phantasia et voluntate.
[32] Ovid, Metam. vii. 20.
P. 179. [16] See Aristotle, Rhet. i. 1.14. [18] The comparison is
attributed to Zeno; Cicero, Orat. xxxii. 113; De Finibus, ii. 6. 17;
Sextus Empiricus, Adv. Mathem. ii. 7. Bacon uses it again, though in
a different context, in his letter to Toby Matthew, upon sending him
part of Instauratio Magna (Life and Letters, iv. 137): ‘And to speak
truth, it is to the other but as palma to pugnus, part of the same thing
more large.’ [19] palm: ‘pawme’ in ed. 1605. [23] Arist. Rhet. i. 2.
7. [29] Virg. Ecl, viii. 56. [32] respectively; i.e. in terms adapted
to the persons addressed.
P. 180. [9] attendances: See p. 177, ‘and therefore the deficiences
which I shall note will rather be in some collections, which may as
handmaids attend the art, than in the rules or use of the art itself.’ The
Latin has gue (ut ante diximus) ejus sunt generis, ut pro appendicibus potius
314 NOTES.
censeri debeant, quam pro portionibus artis ipsius, et pertinent omnia ad
Promptuariam. [11] Aristotle, Rhet. i. 6, 7; Top. i.12,&c. [14] Bacon
refers to the Colours of Good and Evil which he published with the first
edition of his Essays in 1597. In the Latin twelve examples are given
of these sophisms. [19] Hor. Ep. ii. 2.11, [20] Prov. xx. 14. [31]
Arist. Rhet. i. 6. [32] Virg. Ain. ii. 104.
P. 181. [2] See pp. 155, 156. [9] Of these Antitheta forty-seven
examples are given in the De Augmentis, of which the instance on this
page is the last but one. [22] For examples of these formula, see the
*Promus of Formularies and Elegancies’ printed by Mr. Spedding in
the seventh volume of his edition of Bacon. Three others are given
from Cicero in the De Augmentis. [33] De Augm. vi. 4.
P. 182. [1] the other pedantical: Lat. altera pedagogica, [4, 5] con-
cerneth chiefly writing of books; The editions of 1605, 1629, and 1633
read ‘concerneth chiefly in writing of books.’ The true reading is pro-
bably ‘consisteth chiefly in writing &c.’ In the Latin it is in scriptione
librorum consistit. [11] Inthe De Augm. the story of the priest is
omitted and another substituted of a proposed emendation of a passage
in Tacitus, Hist. i. 66. [Ib.] As the priest: I am afraid that this tale
must share the fate of mahy other good stories, when their genuineness
is put to the test. The Vulgate rendering of the passage in question is
in sporta and not per sportam, a reading which leaves no room for the
point of the story as Bacon tells it. Nor, so far as I can ascertain, is
per sportam to be found in any Latin version. [12] Actsix. 25. [17]
as it hath been wisely noted: Lat. guod nonnemo prudenter notavit, [31]
Lat. Ad Pedagogicam quod attinet, brevissimum foret dictu, consule scholas
Fesuitarum : nihil enim, quod in usum venit, his melius. Bacon has already
(p- 21) expressed his appreciation of the services rendered by the Jesuits
to education.
P. 183. [6] courses: Mr. Spedding conjectures ‘cases.’ [7] See Essay
xxxviii. p. 159: ‘Hee that seeketh victory over his nature, let him not
set himselfe too great, nor too small tasks: for the first will make him
deiected by often faylings; and the second will make him a small pro-
ceeder, though by often prevailings. And at the first, let him practise
with helps, as swimmers doe with bladders, or rushes: but after a time,
let him practise with disadvantages, as dancers doe with thick shooes.
For it breeds great perfection, if the practise be harder then the use.
[13] See Essay 1. p. 205: ‘So if a mans wit be wandring, let him study
the mathematicks; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away
never so little, he must begin again.’ [25] Cicero, de Orat. i. 33. Comp.
Essay xxxviii. p. 160; ‘ Let not a man force a habit upon himselfe, with
a perpetuall continuance, but with some intermission. For both the
pause reinforceth the new onset; and if a man, that is not perfect, be
ever in practise, he shall as well practise his errours, as his abilities;
"
~
BOOK II. 315
and induce one habite of both: and there is no meanes to helpe this, but
by seasonable intermissions.’ [33] and as it was noted: by Machiavelli,
Disc. sopra Livio, i. 19.
P. 184. [2] was: Observe the construction, the whole of the previous
clause being the nominative. Or else we have here another instance, of
a common error, by which the verb is made to agree in number with
the last substantive which precedes, [10] Tac. Ann. i, 16-22, quoted
from memory. In the Latin Bacon strongly recommends acting as a
branch of education, for though of ill repute as a profession yet as a
part of training it is one of the best. In this he fortifies himself by the
practice of the Jesuit schools. [15] mutiners, i.e. mutineers, the old
form of spelling in Bacon’s time. Compare pionners for pioneers (p, 111)
in ed. 1605. In Shakespeare’s Temp. iii. 2. 41 the word is spelt muti-
neere in the first folio, but in Coriol. i. 1, 254 it is mutiners as here.
P. 185. [13] that he were like to use: i.e. that he might be likely to
use. [16] had been to handle: We should now use the verb ‘to have’
instead of the verb ‘to be’ in this idiom. But the latter was formerly
common. See Shakespeare, Mer. of Ven. i. 1, 5:
‘But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff ’tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn.’
[27] De Augm. vii. 1. [29] Prov. iv. 23.
P. 186. [10] they pass it over altogether: Another instance of the
redundance of the pronoun, as in p. 20, 1. 27. [12] by habit and not.by
nature: See Aristotle, Eth. Nic. ii. 1. [13] Arist. Eth. Nic. x. 10, [27]
Seneca, Ep. ad Lucil. 52. § 14. [33] Demosthenes, Olyn. ii. 8.
P. 187. [10] Virg. Georg. iii. 289. [29] were as the heathen divinity:
Lat. que ethnicis instar theologie erant. [30] Aristotle, Eth. Nic. i, 10 ;
Rhet. ii. 12.
P. 188. [3] than was: Lat. quam cujus illa esset capax. [4] Seneca,
Ep. ad Lucil. 53. § 12, quoted again in Essay v. p. 16: ‘It is true
greatnesse, to have in one, the frailty of a man, and the security of a
god.’ [18] their triplicity of good: the threefold division of good as it
relates to mind, body, and estate. Aristotle, Eth. Nic. i. 8. 2. The
comparison between a contemplative and an active life: See Arist. Eth.
Nic. x. 6-8. [21] honesty and profit: Arist. Rhet. i. 6, [Ib.] balanc-
ing of virtue with virtue: Arist. Eth. Nic, iii. iv.
P. 189. [12] rather than to suffer: We should say ‘rather than suffer.’
{21] being in commission of purveyance for a famine; i.e. being com-
missioned to make provision for a famine. [25] Plutarch, Pomp. c. 50,
[33] St. Paul in Rom, ix. 3, and Moses in Exod. xxxii. 32. Comp. Ess,
xiii, p. 50; ‘ But above all, if he have St. Pauls perfection, that he would
wish to be an anathema from Christ, for the salvation of his brethren,
>. x
316 - NOTES.
it shewes much of a divine nature, and a kinde of conformity with Christ
himselfe.’
P. 190. [1] anathematized: ‘anathemized’ in ed. 1605, corrected in
Errata. [15] The story is told by Cicero (Tusc. Disp. v. 3) from Hera-
clides Ponticus of Leo tyrant of Phlius, not of Hiero. See Iamblichus,
Vita Pythag. xii. 58. [21] this theatre of man’s life, &c.: the reference
is to Gen. i. where after each of the six days’ work ‘God saw that it
was good.’ Compare Essay xi. p. 40: ‘ For ifa man, can be partaker of
Gods theater, he shall likewise be partaker of Gods rest.’ [24] Ps.
exvi. 15. [27] simple: So ed. 1605; the editions of 1629, 1633 read
‘simply.’ [30] or taking: Some copies of ed. 1605 have ‘ or in taking,’
others ‘and in taking:’ in the Errata to ed. 1605 the reading is ‘or
taking,’ and this is adopted in edd. 1629, 1633. [31] Ex. xxiii.
P. ror. [1] Gen. v. 24. [2] Jude 14. The apocryphal Book of Enoch
was brought from Abyssinia by Bruce, and translated into English by
Abp. Laurence. [4] knoweth it not: Some copies of ed. 1605 read
‘knoweth it, decideth it not.” The Latin has nescit eam certe Theologia.
The compositor’s eye had been caught by the following line. [6] Zeno,
the Stoic, who died 8.c. 263. [10] the Cyrenaics: founded by Aristip-
pus of Cyrene, who flourished 8.c. 366. Their doctrines terminated in
Epicureanism, [15] Lat. nee minus illam alteram Epicuri scholam, quast
reformatam. [19] Comp. Ovid, Met. i, 107:
‘Ver erat eeternum, placidique tepentibus auris
Mulcebant zephyri natos sine semine flores,’
[20] and Herillus: Lat. denique et illam explosam Pyrrhonis et Herilli
scholam, Wierillus of Carthage flourished about 8.c. 264, Cic. de Fin,
iv. 14. [24] revived: Some copies of ed. 1605 read ‘receued.’ [29]
Epictetus, Enchir. 1-7.
P. 192. [2] Consalvo: Fernandez Consalvo, or Gonsalvo, of Cordova,
the Great Captain. This story is told by Guicciardini, Hist. vi. 2.
[3, 4] he had rather die .. than to have: Observe the looseness of the
construction, See p, 189, 1.12. [5] leader: So edd. 1629 and 1633,
and some copies of ed. 1605; others have ‘reader.’ Lat. dux et impera-
tor. [6] hath signed; ‘to sign to’ a document is to attest it by affixing
one’s signature, and hence to attest generally. [Ib.] Prov. xv. 15. [18]
Aristotle, Rhet. i. 5. § 10. [24] Mr. Ellis has shown that this was the
opinion of Aristippus and not of Diogenes. Diog. Laert. Aristip. ii. 75
TO Kpareiv Kal po) yrTGc0a HSovav dproroy, ob 7d ph XpHoOu. [25] dve-
xeu Kal dwéxov was the maxim of Epictetus. [26] refrain: to bridle,
rein in, as it were; a figure from horsemanship. [29] want of applica-
tion: Lat. ineptitudinem ad morigerandum. Mr. Spedding rightly explains
it as ‘ want of compliance or accommodation.’
P. 193. [1] This saying of Consalvo is quoted again in Essay lvii,
dee th pete 8 ro
BOOK 11. 3i7
p- 229; in Apoph. 180; and in the Speech against Duels (pp. 28, 29.
ed. 1614). See note on the Essay. [4] De Augm. vii. 2. [8] Plautus,
Pseud. ii. 2. 14, Condus promus sum procurator peni. Baret (Alvearie)
gives: ‘He that hath the keeping of a storehouse, or drie larder: alsoa
buttler. Promus.’ And ‘A Steward, or he that keepeth the store of
houshold, Condus.’ Bacon in this passage evidently regards condus as
the officer who collected the stores, and promus the one who dispensed
them, so called guia promit quod conditum est. [11, 12] whereof the
latter seemeth to be the worthier: In the Latin this is expanded; Atgue
hic posterior, qui Activus est et veluti Promus, potentior videtur et dignior ;
ille autem prior, qui Passivus est et veluti Condus, inferior censeri potest.
[16] Acts xx. 35. [17] but esteemeth, i.e. but he esteemeth. [23] the
state: Lat. securitas et mora. [24] Seneca, Nat. Queest. ii. 59. § 7.
5] Prov. xxvii. 1. [28] Rev. xiv. 13. [32] Sen. Ep. x. 1. § 6, quoted
also in Essay ii. with slight variations from the original, ‘eadem feceris,’
for jamdiu idem facias,’ and ‘fortis aut miser aut prudens’ for ‘ prudens
et fortis aut miser,’
P. 194. [6] By Seneca, Ep. 95. § 46: Vita sine proposito vaga est.
[7] any: ‘and’ ed. 1605; ‘any’ is the reading of 1629, 1633. [8]
though in some case it hath an incidence into it: Lat. guamquam
nonnunquam ambo coincidant, [13] gigantine: i.e. seditious, rebel-
lious, like the giants who warred against the gods, See p. 103, and
Ess. xv. [16] Sylla’s epitaph, written by himself, was this,—‘ That no
man did euer passe him, neither in doing good to his friends, nor in
doing mischiefe to his enemies,’ North’s Plutarch, p. 488 (ed. 1631).
Compare p. 240, 1. 30, [19] active good: Lat. bonum activum indivi-
duale saltem apparens. [20] See p. 189. [23] For let us take.. and
rightly: Omitted in the Latin, [33] multiplying and extending their
form upon other things: The ed. of 1605 has ‘ multiplying their fourm
and extending upon other things.’
P. 195. [6] in state: Lat. in suo statu. [9] Virg. En. vi. 730. [30]
by equality: ‘by the equality,’ ed. 1605, corrected in the Errata. [31]
evil: ‘ Euils’ in some copies of ed. 1605.
P., 196. [4] See Plato, Gorgias, i. 462, 494. [19-20] Compare what
Bacon says in Essay xix. p. 76; ‘ That the minde of man is more cheared,
and refreshed, by profiting in small things, then by standing at a stay in
great.’ [27] Plutarch, Solon, 7, Again quoted by Bacon in Cogit. de
Sc. Hum. frag. 3 (Works iii. 197). [31] Comp. Essay ii. p. 6: ‘Certainly,
the Stoikes bestowed too much cost upon death, and by their great pre-
parations made it appeare more fearefull.’
P, 197. [4] Juv. Sat. x. 358; quoted again in Ess. ii. p. 7. The true
reading is spatium for finem, [10-16] For as... life: Omitted in the
Latin. t
P, 198, [22] Comp. Ess. xlviii. p. 200: ‘ For lookers on, many times,
318 NOTES. Ai 2 va
see more then gamesters: and the vale best discovereth the hill’? [27]
of active matter: i.e. concerning subjects of active life. [29] The story
is told by Cicero, De Orat. ii. 18. 75.
P. 199. [4] The Basilicon Doron, written by King James for the in-
struction of his eldest son, Prince Henry, and published in 1603. It is
in three books: the first, ‘Of a kings Christian dutie towards God;’
the second, ‘Of a kings dutie in his office;’ and the third, ‘Of a kings
behaviour in indifferent things.’ [9] not sick of dizziness: Lat. non
vertigine aliguando corripitur, The edition of 1605 has ‘ Dusinesse,’
which is corrupted to ‘ Businesse’ in the editions of 1629 and 1633.
’
j
{11] nor of convulsions .. impertinent: Lat. non digressionibus distrahitur, —
ut illa que nihil ad rhombum sunt expatiatione aliqua flexuosa complectatur.
[23] a great cause of judicature: Mr. Spedding says, ‘ Probably in the
case of Sir Francis Goodwin, in 1604, when the question was whether it
belonged to the House of Commons or the Court of Chancery to judge
of the validity of an election. [28] The title of this work of king James
is‘ The True Lawe of Free Monarchies, or the reciprock and mutuall
dutie betwixt a free king, and his naturall subiects.’” It was first
published anonymously in 1603, and was afterwards included in the
collected edition of the king’s works published in 1616.
P. 200. [10] In the De Augm. Bacon quotes the example of Pliny the
younger in his panegyric on Trajan. [14] part: ‘partie’ in ed. 1605,
corrected in Errata. [25] Prov. xiv. 6. [30] Comp. Shakespeare, Cyms
beline, ii. 4. 107%
‘It is a basilisk unto mine eye,
Kills me to look on’t.’
[32] which .. they leese: Another example of the redundance of the
pronoun. See note on p. 21, l. 26.
P. 201. [2-17] Comp. Bacon, Meditationes Sacre, 3. [16] Prov.
xviii. 2, quoted from the Vulgate. [18] for construction, see p. 52, Ll. 9.
[30] Lucius Brutus: See Livy, bk. ii. 5. [33] Virg. n. vi. 823; facta
for fata is the true reading, but the latter is also found in the De Aug-
mentis.
P. 202. [2] This discussion is related by Plutarch, Brutus, xii. 2. [11]
Comp. Shakespeare, Mer. of Ven. iv. 1. 216:
‘To do a great right, do a little wrong.’
{12] Plutarch, De Sanitate Preecepta, 24; Praecepta Gerund. Reip. 24;
Bacon, Apoph. 138. [20] De Augm. vii. 3. [26] Aristotle, Magn.
Mor. i. I.
P. 203. [3] Cicero, Pro Mureena, 30. § 62. [6] Seneca, Ep. 71. § 2.
{9] Hippocrates, Aphorism. ii.6. [13,14] Lat. attamen philosophiam
moralem in famulitium theologie recipi instar ancille prudentis et pedisseque
BOOK Ii, 319
fidelis, que ad omnes ejus nutus presto sit et ministret, quid prohibeat? [15]
Ps. cxxiii. 2. [20]-as it may yield of herself: Observe that the neuter
reflexive pronoun ‘itself’ had not come generally into use. [24]—204.
[2] the rather .. extant: Instead of this the Latin has only, Zam igitur,
ex more nostro, cum inter desiderata collocemus, aliqua ex parte adum-
brabimus.
P. 204. [7] the husbandman cannot command, neither, &c.: Observe
the double negative, as in Shakespeare, Mer. of Ven. iii. 4. 11:
*I never did repent for doing good,
Nor shall not now.’
[11] without our command: i.e. beyond our control. [12-26] For to
the basis..apply: Altered in the Latin. [16] Virg. En. v. 710,
‘Superanda omnis fortuna ferendo est.’ [23] properly: ‘ property’ in
ed, 1605, corrected to ‘ properly’ in the Errata and in ed. 1629,
P. 205. [2-31] wherein .. malignity: Omitted in the Latin. [6] Aris-
totle, Eth. Nic. iv. 7. [10] to few: Mr. Spedding conjectures that we
should read ‘to intend few.’ [18] Virg. Ain. i. 22. [20] See Ex. xxxiv.
5. [21] Aristotle, Eth. Nic. iv. 6. [30] properly: This is the reading
of edd. 1605, 1629, 1633, but Mr. Spedding alters it to ‘ property,’ as in
p- 204, 1. 23.
P. 206, [2] Lat. cum utrique scientie clarissimum luminis jubar affundere
possit. [6] These different dispositions are arranged according to the
planets which are supposed to predominate over them: Saturn, Jupiter,
Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. Comp. p. 43: ‘Saturn,
the planet of rest and contemplation, and Jupiter, the planet of civil
society and action.’ [6] Compare Bacon’s Letter to Lord Burghley
(Life and Letters, i. 108): ‘not as a man born under Sol, that loveth
honour; nor under Jupiter, that loveth business (for the contemplative
planet carrieth me away wholly).’ [8-23] A man shall find .. use of
life: This is entirely omitted in the Latin, and another paragraph sub-
stituted which is partly made up of a sentence previously omitted (p. 203,
ll, 24-28), and of a passage of some length in which Bacon points to
the wiser historians as the source from which to gather materials for
this treatise on the several characters of natures and dispositions. [9]
For some of these ‘relations’ see Ranke’s History of the Popes, App.
§§ 5, 6 (trans. Foster). [16] is: ‘as’ in edd. 1605, 1629, 1633. [21]
posies : ‘ poesies’ is the spelling of ed. 1605, [26] by the region: Lat.
patria, [32] Plautus, Miles Gloriosus, iii, 1. 40.
P. 207. [4] Tit. i. 12, 13, quoting from Epimenides., [6] Sallust,
Bell. Jug. 113. This is quoted again in Essay xix. p. 77, and there
attributed to Tacitus: ‘For it is common with princes, (saith Tacitus)
to will contradictories, Sunt plerumque regum voluntates vehementes,
& inter se contrarie, For it is the solecisme of power, to thinke to
320 | NOTES.
command the end, and yet not to endure the meane.’ [9] Tacitus,
Hist. i. 50; quoted again in Essay xi. p. 42. [11] Pindar, Olym. i. 55.
of Tantalus: xaraméfar péyav odABov ob« eduvdc6y. [14] Ps. Ixii. to.
{17] Arist. Rhet. ii. 12-17. [28] it is in order: i.e. the order is,
P. 208. [1] politiques: ‘in politiques,’ ed. 1605, corrected in Errata
and in edd. 1629, 1633. [2] Solon, Fr. i. 8 (ed. Gaisford), referring to
Pisistratus. See Bacon’s Apoph. 232, and Cicero, Pro Cluentio, 49.
Solon’s lines are :
ES dvéuow 5% Oddacoa Tapdooerm, hy 5 Tis adTiv
M?} xp mavrav earl Sieaordry.
*Avipay & &« peyddow modus OAAUTaL.K. T. A,
[1a] affections, which is, &c.: for ‘which are, &c.’ in modern usage. It
is not necessary to suppose that this is a mistake of Bacon’s. The sub-
stantive verb is frequently found to agree with the subject which follows
it, as in Chaucer (Cant. Tales, 1. 14625), ‘Peter! i¢ am I? See also
p. 226, l. 22, and Shakespeare, Rich. Il. v. 5. 55, 56:
‘ Now sir, the sound that tells what hour it is
Are clamorous groans.’
[13] Aristotle, Rhet. ii. 1-11. Comp. Eth. Nic. ii. 4.1. [19] For the —
repetition of the negative see note on p. 142, 1. 23. [29] Plutarch and
Seneca wrote on Anger, and Plutarch has treatises of comfort upon
adverse accidents (addressed to his wife and to Apollonius), and of
tenderness of countenance (wep! Svowmias) or bashfulness. Seneca too
has a dialogue de Consolatione. [30] of comfort upon adverse accidents :
Omitted in Lat.
P. 209. [2] and how again contained from act and further degree:
i.e. how restrained from leading to actions and reaching a greater
height. [4] how they gather and fortify: Omitted in the Latin. [13]
premium and pena: The doctrine of rewards and punishments is familiar
to the readers of Butler’s Analogy. [25] these as they have determinate
use in moralities: Lat. hee enim sunt illa que regnant in moralibus,
From which Mr. Spedding conjectures we should read ‘these are they
&c.’ (27] described : Perhaps we should read ‘ prescribed.’ [28] serve:
‘seeme’ in ed. 1605, corrected in Errata. [30] insist: ‘visit’ in ed.
1605, corrected in Errata and in edd. 1629, 1633.
P. 210. [1] Aristotle, Eth. Nic. ii, 1.2. [22] as there is: We should
now say, ‘as there are,’ but Bacon uses ‘there is’ like the Fr. dy a.
[26] diffident: ‘different’ in ed. 1605, corrected in Errata and in edd.
1629, 1633. [29] in the end: ‘on the end’ in ed. 1605, corrected in
Errata.
P. 211. [3] the knots and stonds of the wilt Lat. nodos obicesque
animi. [4] the moreveasy: ‘the more easily’ in ed. 1605, corrected in
Errata and edd. of 1629, 1633. Mr. Spedding says, ‘Possibly Bacon
BOOK WU. 321
wrote run more easily. The translation has facile et placide delabentur.’
[5] Aristotle, Eth. Nic. ii. 9. 5. [9] bending: So ed. 1633; ‘ bynding’
ed. 1605; ‘binding’ ed. 1629. [24] St. Augustine (Confess. i. 16) calls
poetry vinum erroris ab ebriis doctoribus propinatum, and Jerome, in one
of his letters to Damasus (Ep. 146), says, Demonum cibus est carmina
poetarum. Both these quotations are combined in one passage by Cor-
nelius Agrippa, De Incert. &c. c. 4, and hence Bacon may have com~
pounded the phrase vinum demonum, which he uses again in Essay i,
p. 2: ‘One of the fathers, in great severity, called poesie vinum demo-
‘num; because it filleth the imagination, and yet it is, but with the
shadow of a lie.’ [28] Aristotle, Eth. Nic. i. 3.5. Mr. Ellis, in his
note on the corresponding passage of the De Augmentis, points out
that ‘ Aristotle, however, speaks not of moral but of political philosophy.
It is interesting to observe that the error of the text, which occurs also
in the Advancement of Learning, has been followed by Shakespeare in
Troilus and Cressida:
* Not much
Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought |
Unfit to hear moral philosophy.”
See Hector’s speech in the second scene of the second act.’ Mr. Sped-
ding has shown that the same error is committed by Virgilio Malvezzi
in his Discorsi sopra Cornelio Tacito,
P. 212, [12] Seneca, Herc. Furens, 251. [13] Juvenal, Sat. xiii. 105.
[16] Machiavelli, Disc. i. 10, [24] incompatible: Lat. insociabiles.
[Ib.] Cicero, Pro Murzena, xxix. 61. [31] See p. 209, 1. 22-25.
P, 213. [15] as was said: See p. 203.
P. 214. [8] Which state of mind: i.e. With regard to, or concerning
which state of mind, [10] Aristotle, Eth. Nic. vii. 1.1. [17] Pliny,
Paneg. c. 74. Pro nobis ipsis quidem hec fuit summa votorum, ut nos sic
amarent dii quomodo tu, This panegyric was not a funeral oration, as
Bacon describes it, but was delivered at the beginning of the reign of
Trajan, who survived Pliny, [25] Col. iii. 14. [26] as: Omitted in ed,
1605, but inserted in the Errata and edd. 1629, 1633. [27] Menander:
‘Not Menander, but Anaxandrides.’ (Ellis.) See Meineke Graec, Com.
Frag. iii, 199:
épus copiorod yiyvera: SiidoKnados
oKauo0d woAd Kpeirrav mpds Tov dvOpwmav Biov.
Compare Dryden’s Cymon and Iphigenia,
P. 215. [5] Xenophon, Symp. i. 10, [11] See Nov. Org. praef. [12]
transgressed: Lat. prevaricati sunt. [13] Is. xiv. 14. [14] Gen. iii. 5.
[18] Matt. v. 44; Luke vi. 27, 28. [24] Ps. cxlv.9. [27] concerning
the culture and regiment of the mind: Lat. de Georgicis animi. [33]
Demosthenes, De Falsa Legatione, p. 355. This story is omitted in the
Y
322 NOTES.
Latin, and is made use of by Bacon (Nov. Org. i. 123) for illustrating
the difference between his own philosophy, which he compares to wine,
and the philosophy which was current in his time.
P. 216. [4] Virg. En. vi. 894. [18] See p. 133, 1. 21. [19] inquired
in rational and moral knowledges: i.e. investigated with reference to
what is known in reason and morals. Lat. si juxta moralis doctrine scita
illud contemplemur, [22] agile: ‘agill’ in edd. 1605, 1629, 1633. The
same spelling is found in the early quartos of Shakespeare, Romeo and
Juliet, iii. 1.162. [24] easy: ‘easilye’ in ed. 1605; ‘easie,’ edd. 1629,
1633. [28, 29] which have neither strength of honesty, nor substance
of sufficiency: Lat. illis tamen non suppetit aut probitas animi ut velint aut
vires ut possint recte agere. ‘Sufficiency’ is here used in the sense of
‘capacity,’ ‘ability,’ as in 2 Cor. iii. 5, ix. 8, and in Bacon, Essay lv.
p- 221; ‘such as have great places under princes, and execute their places
with sufficiency.’ [30] that can neither become themselves: i.e. who
can neither act gracefully. Lat. gui tamen nec sibi ipsis ornamento sunt.
[31] And those in whom this conjunction is found, he adds in the Latin,
are men endued with a kind of stoic gloom and insensibility, who do the
deeds of virtue but enjoy none of its pleasures. [33] reduced to stupid:
i.e. rendered stupid. Compare ‘leaveth it for suspect,’ p. 81,112. Mr.
Kitchin suggests stupidity or stupor,
P. 217. [3] De Augm. viii. 1. [6] Plutarch, Cato, 8. [7] a man
were better: i.e, might better, which is the reading of some modern
editions. [8,9] if you could get but some few go right: i.e, to go
right. See Abbott’s Shakespeare Grammar, § 349. [16] 2 Chron. xx. 33,
of the kingdom of Judah under Jehoshaphat. The early editions have
dixerat for direxerat, but the latter is the correct reading of the De Aug-
mentis. [20] Gen. xl. [23, 24] These respects... knowledge: Instead
of this sentence the Latin has, Hoc denique Ethicam gravat, Politice suc-
currit, [28] comfort, use, and protection; The Latin explains these as
comfort against solitude, assistance in business, and protection against
injuries,
P. 218. [2] In the Latin; the value of conversation is compared to
that of action in oratory. [3] Ovid, De Arte Amat. ii. 312. [6]
Quintus Cicero, in his book De Petitione Consulatus (xi. 44), says:
Curaque ut aditus ad te diurni nocturnique pateant; neque solum foribus
e@dium tuarum sed etiam vultu ac fronte que est animi janua; que si
significat voluntatem abditam esse ac retrusam, parvi refert patere ostium.
[10] Cicero, Ep. ad Att. ix. 12. [11] the war depending: Lat. bello
adhuc fervente, [17] Livy, xxiii. 12: Si reticeam aut superbus aut ob-
noxius videar, &c, [23] affectation: ‘affection’ in ed. 1605; corrected
in Errata and edd. 1629, 1633. ([Ib.] Quid deformius, &c. See An-
titheta, xxxiv. [31] form: ‘howr’ in ed. 1605, corrected to ‘fourme’
in Errata: ‘forme’ is the reading of ed. 1629, ‘hour’ of ed. 1633.
4
F
-
BOOK I 33
Mr. Spedding reads ‘honor.’ If any conjecture were necessary,
‘humour’ might be suggested. ([Ib.] in it: ‘in name’ ed. 1605,
corrected in Errata and ed. 1629. Mr. Spedding conjectures that
the true reading may be ‘in the same, though he prints ‘in name’
doubtfully.
P. 219. [6] Eccl. xi. 4, quoted again in Essay lii., ‘Of Ceremonies
and Respects’ (p. 212): ‘Salomon saith; He that considereth the wind,
shall not sow, and he that looketh to the clouds, shall not reape. A wise
man will make more opportunities then he findes. Mens behaviour
should be like their apparell, not too strait, or point device, but free
for exercise or motion.’ The whole Essay should be read in connection
with this passage. [15] hath been elegantly handled: A MS, note in
the margin of a copy of the Advancement of Learning (ed. 1605) in the
Cambridge Univ. Library is ‘per il Guazzo, that is, Stefano Guazzo,
who wrote La Civil Conversatione in four books, The first three
books were translated into English by George Pettie in 1581. Another
edition, including a translation of the fourth book by B. Young, ap-
peared in 1586. (20, 21] Comp. Advice to the Earl of Rutland on his
travels: ‘An authority of an English proverb, made in despite of
learning, that the greatest clerks are not the wisest men.’ (Spedding’s
Letters and Life of Bacon, ii. 12.) See Montaigne, Ess. i. 24, and
a saying of Heraclitus of Ephesus, moAvpadin vdov od diddoxe (Diog.
Laert. ix. 1). [24] for wisdom of behaviour: i.e. with regard to
wisdom of behaviour. [30] except some few scattered advertisements:
Lat. preter pauca quedam monita civilia in fasciculum unum vel alterum
collecta. [33] as the other: i.e. as of the others, Lat. sicut de ceteris,
[Ib.] with mean (i.e. moderate) experience; Lat. aliguo experientie
manipulo instructi.
P. 220. [2] and outshoot them in their own bow: Lat. et proprio
illorum (quod dicitur) arcu usi magis e longinquo ferirent. Bacon uses
the same expression in Essay lv. p. 220. [9] Cicero, De Orat. iii. 33.
§§ 133,134. [Ib.] it was then in use: i.e. in the times of which he
was writing, a little before his own. Lat. paulo ante sua secula, [12]
in the Place: Lat. in foro, [20] cases: So in ed. 1605; ‘causes’ in
ed, 1629, 1633. Lat. in casibus particularibus. [21] cases: ‘causes’
in edd. 1605, 1629, 1633. Lat. casuum consimilium. Perhaps we
should read ‘cases’ in both instances. [22] Q. Cicero: ‘Q.’ is omitted
in ed. 1605, but added in the Errata, and in edd. 1629, 1633. [24]
Mr. Ellis adds Frontinus’s tract De Agueductibus. [31] 1 Kings
iv. 29.
P. 221. [3] The number of examples in the De Augmentis is in-
creased to thirty-four, which are arranged in a different order and
discussed at much greater length. The 14th and 2ist in the Advance-
ment are omitted altogether in the De Augmentis. The quotations,
¥2
324 NOTES.
except that on p. 224, 1. 1, are from the Vulgate, which will be found
in many cases to differ materially from the English Version. [4]
Eccl. vii. 21. [6] commended: ‘concluded’ in ed. 1605, corrected
in Errata. [8] Plutarch, Pomp. 20; Sert. 27. [10] Prov. xxix. 9.
(17] Prov. xxix. 21. [21] Prov. xxii. 29. [26] Eccl. iv. 15. [28]
Plutarch, Pomp. xiv. 2; Tacitus, Ann. vi. 46. Quoted again in Essay
xxvii. p. 108; ‘For when he had carried the consulship for a frend
of his, against the pursuit of Sylla, and that Sylla did a little resent
thereat, and began to speake great, Pompey turned upon him againe,
and in effect bad him be quiet; For that more men adored the sunne
rising, then the sunne setting’ [31] Eccl. x. 4.
P. 222. [4] Eccl. ix. 14, 15. [Ib.] et pauci: ‘et’ is omitted in ed.
1605. [5] vallavit: the true reading, but vadavit is in the old editions
and in the De Augmentis. [9] corruption: So in edd, 1629, 1633:
‘corruptions’ in ed. 1605. [11] Prov. xv. 1. [14] Prov. xv. 19.
[16] deferred: ‘ differred’ in ed. 1605. [19] Eccl. vii. 8. [20] about
prefaces and inducements: Lat. de sermonum suorum aditu atque in-
gressu. [23] Prov. xxviii. 21. [25] Compare Essay xi. p. 42: ‘As
for facilitie; it is worse then bribery. For bribes come but now
and then; but if importunitie, or idle respects lead a man, he shall
never be without, As Salomon saith; To respect persons, is not good;
for such a man will transgresse for a peece of bread. {26} lightly: so
in ed. 1605; ‘highly’ in edd. 1629, 1633. [28] Prov. xxviii. 3. [32]
Prov. xxv. 26. Comp. Essay lvi. p. 222: ‘One foule sentence doth
more hurt, then many foule examples. For these doe but corrupt
the streame; the other corrupteth the fountaine,’
P. 223. [4] Prov. xxviii. 24. Omitted in the Latin. [10] Prov.
xxii. 24. [15] Prov. xi. 29. [20] Prov. x, 1; quoted again in Essay
vii. p. 24. [25] Prov. xvii.g. [30] Prov. xiv. 23. [32] aboundeth:
So in ed, 1605. Compare Shakespeare, Rich. II. ii, 1. 258:
“*Reproach and dissolution hangeth over him.’
P. 224. [1] Prov. xviii. 17. [3] in sort: So in ed. 1605; ‘in such
sort,’ edd. 1629, 1633. [6] Prov. xviii. 8, Omitted in the Latin. [7]
Here: ‘there’ in edd. 1605, 1629, 1633. [11] Prov. ix. 7, [Ib.]
sibi: ‘tibi’ in some copies of ed, 1605, [12] generat: ‘gerit’ in ed,
1605, corrected in Errata. [16] Prov. ix. 9, [21] Prov. xxvii. 19,
[26] Oyid, De Art. Am, i. 760. [29]—p. 225. [7] led with a desire...
examples: The Latin has only, dignitate et rei ipsius et authoris longius
provecti,
P. 225. [3] more of the eagle: In Mr. Ellis’s copy of Montagu’s ed.
of Bacon I find the following MS. note: ‘More of the eagle—that is,
more of a mystical and recondite character. The allusion is to the
eagle as the symbol of S. John, and to the character of his gospel.
BOOK I. 325,
As is known, the four beasts in Ezechiel are taken by S. Jérome to
typify the 4 evangelists.’ [6] deducements: ‘diducements’ in ed, 1605.
[13] for fables: Lat. quod ad fabulas, [17] of negotiation and
occasions: Lat. de negotiis et occasionibus sparsis. [18] See p. 97.
[28] may: ‘manye’ in ed. 1605, corrected to ‘may’ in the Errata.
Some copies of ed. 1605 have ‘maye.’ [30] action: ‘gaine’ in ed.
1605, corrected in Errata and edd. 1629, 1633. Mr. Spedding con-
jectures aime.
P. 226. [3] histories: So all the old editions. We should probably
read ‘history.’ [5] because it is: The edd. of 1605, 1629, 1633 have
simply ‘is.’ The reading of the text is from the Errata to ed. 1605.
Mr. Markby mends the passage thus: ‘so history of lives is the most
proper for discourse of business, for discourse of business is more con-
versant in private actions.’ Mr. Spedding prints, ‘so histories of Lives
is the most proper for discourse of business, as more conversant in
private actions.’ In the text of ed. 1605 the passage stands thus:
*so Histories of Liues is the moste proper for discourse of businesse
is more conversante in priuate actions.’ [9] great: Mr. Spedding
conjectures ‘nearer.’ - Perhaps ‘greater’ may be the true reading, ed,
1605 having ‘greate” The Latin is, epistole magis in proximo et ad
vivum negotia solent representare. [12] of this part of civil knowledge,
touching negotiation: Lat. portionis prime doctrine de negotiis, que tractat
occasiones sparsas. (14, &c.] Read with this passage Essay xxiii., ‘Of
Wisedome for a Mans Selfe.’ [22] like ants, which is &c.: For the
construction compare 1. 4 above, and p, 208, 1.12. Perhaps we should
read ‘like an ant, which is &c.’ Comp. Ess. xxiii. p. 96: *An ant
is a wise creature for it selfe; but it is a shrewd thing, in an orchard,
or garden,’ [24] Plautus, Trinummus, ii. 2. 82. [26] This proverb
is usually ascribed to Appius Claudius. See the treatise De Republ.
Ordin. i, 1, formerly attributed to Sallust. Both this and the following
quotation are repeated in Essay xl. ‘Of Fortune.’ [27] Livy xxxix. 40.
[30] Read with this paragraph Essay xl.
P, 227. [3] Plutarch, Sylla, vi. 5. [7] Ezek. xxix. 3. [8] Hab. i.
16. [10] The Latin adds de contemptore Deum Mezentio, [11] Virg.
ZEn. x. 773. [Ib.] missile: ‘inutile? in ed. 1605, but corrected in
Errata. [12] The Latin adds another story of Julius Cesar from
his life by Suetonius, c. 77. [16] Plutarch, Sylla, vi. 5. [18] Plutarch,
Cesar, c. 38. [19] positions: Lat. sententia. [20] Sapiens dominabitur
astris: Mr. Ellis says, ‘This sentence is ascribed to Ptolemy by
Cognatus.’” Compare Albumazar, i. 7:
‘Indeed, th’ Agyptian Ptolomy the wise
Pronounc’d it as an oracle of truth, sapiens dominabitur astris.’
{Ib.] Invia virtuti &c,: Ovid, Met, xiv, 113. [29] Suetonius, Octay,
Q9.
326 NOTES, —
P. 228. [13] because pragmatical men, &c.: i.e. in order that, &c.
[20] the globe of crystal: See p. 249,1.9. [32] Lucian, Hermotim.
20. The story is again alluded to in Essay xlv. p. 180.
P. 229. [9] Virg. Ain. iv. 423. [20, 21] For an explanation of the
terms major and minor propositions in a syllogism, see Fowler’s
Deductive Logic, ch, iii, p. 81. [25] Prov. xx. 5. [31] Nae xat
pépvac’ dmoreiv, dpOpa tatra trav ¢ppevdv, a saying of Epicharmus
quoted by Cicero, Epist. ad Att. i. 19. 8, and again by Q. Cicero,
De Petit. Cons. x. 39: ‘quamobrem ’Emyappeioy illud teneto, neryos
atque artus esse sapientiz, non temere credere.’ [32] Comp. Ess. vi.
p. 20: ‘For the discovery, of a mans selfe, by the tracts of his counten-
ance, is a great weaknesse, and betraying: by how much, it is many
times, more marked and beleeved, then a mans words.’
P. 230. [3] Juv. ii. 8. [6] Q. Cicero, De Petit. Consul. xi. 44, [8]
Tacitus, Ann, i, 12,» [13] Tacitus, Ann. i. 52. [18] Tacitus, Ann. iy,
31. [26] This paragraph and the following (‘As for words... truth’)
are transposed in the Latin. [28] Livy, xxviii. 42. [29] Mr. Ellis
quotes the Italian proverb:
‘Chi mi fa pit caresse che non suole
O m’a ingannato, o ingannar mi vuole.’
[32] For small favours, &c.; i.e. As for small favours, &c.
P, 231. [1] Demosthenes, Olynth. iii. 33, Wolf’s Latin translation,
See Ellis's note on De Augm. vi. 3 (vol. i. p. 681). Compare The
Colours of Good and Evil, 10. p. 265 (ed. W. A. Wright): ‘As when
Demosthenes reprehended the people for harkning to the conditions
offered by King Phillip, being not honorable nor equall, he saith they
were but aliments of their sloth and weakenes, which if they were
taken away, necessitie woulde teach them stronger resolutions.” [2]
are; See note on p. 126,1.14. [6] Tacitus, Hist. iv. 39. [10] Lat,
sunt quidem illa (ut de urinis loguuntur medici) meretricia. [16] Tacitus,
Ann. iv, 52. See Suetonius, Tib. 53. [21] Hor. Ep. i. 18. 38. [27]
This proverb is again quoted in Essay vi, ‘Of Simulation and Dis-
simulation,’ p, 21. [29] As for the knowing of men, &c. This
paragraph and the following are transposed in the Latin. [30] weak-
nesses: The reading of ed. 1633; edd. 1605 and 1629 have ‘ weak-
nesse.’
P. 232. [2] or equals:’ Omitted in the translation. [3] Q. Cicero,
De Petit. Consul. v. 17, quoted again in Essay ly. p. 220. [10] Lat.
ubi tanquam ordinarius resederat, [29] Prov. xxv, 3.
P. 233. [3] Tacitus, Ann, xiv. 5%. [4] rimatur: ‘rinacur’ in ed.
1605, corrected in Errata. [23] Epictetus, Enchir.c.9. [25] In the
Latin this is more fully expressed ; E¢ hoc volo, atque etiam aliquid quod
in futurum usui esse possit addiscere,
a
BOOK U1. 327
P. 234. [1] but only: i.e. but, or only. We have an instance of
the same reduplication in p. 174, 1. 10: ‘For those whose conceits
are seated in popular opinions, need only but to prove or dispute.” [7]
James i. 23, 24. [14] these... those: The first referring to the nearer,
the second to the more distant antecedent. [26] Tacitus, Ann. i. 54.
The Latin quotes the instance of Pericles. [31] by Duke Valentine:
Lat. a Valentino Borgia. Cesar Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VL.,
who was made Duke of the Valentinois. Guicciardini, vi. 3. If
Bacon had lived now he might have quoted the instance of Talleyrand,
who began life as an ecclesiastic, and was an Abbé and Bishop of
Autun before he became the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and
the first diplomatist in Europe.
P. 235. [6] Plutarch, Cesar, c. 3. [12] transferred: “transgressed
in edd. 1605, 1629, 1633. ‘The Latin has, transtulit se ad artes militares
et ane. ex quibus summum rerum fastigium conscendit, [16] all
whose friends and followers: The Latin adds, Antonius, Hirtius, Pansa,
Oppius, Balbus, Dolabella, Pollio, reliqui. [24] Cicero, Epist. ad Att.
ix. 10, [27] and pressing the fact: Lat. quigue factum in omnibus
urgeret,
P. 236. [11] Tacitus, Hist. ii. 80; quoted again in Essay liv., ‘Of
Vaine-Glory,’ which may be read in connection with this paragraph.
[16] Mr. Ellis suggests that ‘this precept seems taken from the advice
given by Medius to Alexander’s sycophants.’ See Plutarch, De Adulat.
et Amico, c. 24. [Ib.] calumniare: ‘calumniari’ in ed. 1605, corrected
in Errata. It is attributed to Machiavelli in a letter from the Earl
of Derby to his son (Peck’s Desiderata Curiosa, lib. xi. p. 38, ed.
1735): Fortiter calumniare, aliquid adherebit. See also Bacon, Works,
viii. 148. [25] as in military persons: Comp. Ess. liv. p. 217: ‘In
militar commanders and soldiers, vaine glory is an essentiall point;
for as iron sharpens iron, so by glory one courage sharpneth another.’
[28] taxing, i.e. censuring. [29] gracing, i. e. praising, complimenting.
[31] Comp. Ess. liv. p. 217: ‘And those that are of solide and sober
natures, have more of the ballast, then of the saile.’
P. 237. [8] satiety: Spelt ‘saciety’ in ed. 1605. [11] Rhetor. ad
Heren. iv. 4, quoted by Mr. Ellis: Videte ne insueti rerum majorum
videamini, si vos parva res sicuti magna delectat. [21] their wants,
i.e. their defects. [26] Ovid, Ars Amand. ii. 662.
P. 238. [7] that passeth this other, i.e. in impudence. [23] rescus-
sing: So edd. 1605 and 1629; ed. 1633 has the modern form ‘ rescuing.’
See Glossary. [25] by somewhat in their person or fortune: The
Latin illustrates this by instances of deformed persons, bastards, and
men branded with some mark of disgrace. Comp. Essay xliy., ‘Of
Deformity,’ p. 178: ‘Whosoever hath anything fixed in his person,
that doth enduce contempt, hath also a perpetuall spurre in himselfe,
— ' a
328 NOTES,
to rescue and deliver himself from scorne: therefore all deformed
persons are extreme bold.’ [27] Paragraphs 32-38 are arranged in
the Latin in the following order; 35, 32, 36, 37, 33, 34, 38 [31]
Cicero, Brut. 95; of the ‘fluent and luxuriant speech’ of Hortensius.
See Essay xlii. p. 175. [33] Livy xxxix. 40; quoted again in
Essay xl.
P. 239. [8] Machiavelli, Disc. sopra Livio, iii. 9. [14] Demosthenes,
1 Phil. § 46. [21] See Aulus Gellius, i. 19; Bacon, Essay xxi. p. 89;
Colours of Good and Evil, p. 264. [30] Lucan, viii. 485.
P. 240. [2] from foil: ie. from being foiled or repulsed. Lat. a
repulsa. [3] please the most: i.e. the majority of people. Lat. et
pauciores offendemus. [10] Demosthenes, 1 Phil. § 45. [18] unperfect:
*vnperfite’ in ed. 1605. [22] Prov. xxx. 19. [27] Comp. Essay vi.
p- 19: ‘Certainly the ablest men, that ever were, have had all an
opennesse, and francknesse of dealing; and a name of certainty, and
veracity; but then they were like horses, well mannaged; for they
could tell passing well, when to stop, or turne.’ Sir H. L. Bulwer
(Historical Characters, i. 400) says of Talleyrand: ‘ What struck the
vulgar, and many, indeed, above the vulgar, who did not remember
that the really crafty man disguises his craft, was the plain, open,
and straightforward way in which he spoke of and dealt with all
public matters, without any of those mysterious devices which dis-
tinguish the simpleton who is in the diplomacy from the statesman
who is a diplomatist.’ [30] Plutarch, Sylla, 38. See p. 194. [32]
Plutarch, Cees. xi. 2.
P. 241. [2] Cicero, Ep. ad Att. x. 4.§ 2. [6] darling: Spelt ‘dear-
ling’ in ed. 1605. [7] Cicero, Ep. ad Att. xvi. 15. § 3. [10] Ceesar’s:
See p. 55, 1.32. [Ib.] and men laughed: So in ed. 1605; edd. 1629,
1633 have ‘whereat many men laughed.’ [12] the like: So ed. 1605;
‘the like to this’ edd. 1629, 1633. [Ib.] thought: So edd. 1629, 1633;
‘though’ ed. 1605. [16] Tacitus, Hist. ii. 38. [17] Sallust apud
Sueton. De Claris Gram. c. 15. [27] casual: Lat. casibus obnoxia.
[30] Compare Essay vi. p. 18: ‘Dissimulation is but a faint kind
of policy, or wisdome; for it asketh a strong wit, and a strong heart,
to know when to tell truth, and to doe it. ‘Therfore it is the
weaker sort of politicks, that are the great dissemblers.’ [32] Tacitus,
Ann. v. I.
P. 242. [10] but not of proportions and comparison, i.e. of the
relative values of things. Lat. de pretits vero imperitissime. [22] Cesar,
Bell. Civ. i. 30. Compare Essay xxvi. p. 104: ‘So certainly, there
are in point of wisdome, and sufficiency, that doe nothing or little,
very solemnly; Magno conatu nugas.’ [31] In the second place: ‘the’
is omitted in edd. 1605, 1629, 1633.
P. 243. [2] Compare Essay xxix, p. 121, where Machiavelli is again
:
a ee i Ce gS Ae . ' »
BOOK UW. 329
referred to (Disc. sopra Liv. ii. 10). Nervos belli pecuniam infinitam ;
Cicero, Phil. v. 2. 5. In Diog. Laert. iv. 48, rdv mAodroy vedpa mpayya-
rev is quoted as a saying of Bion’s. See also Plutarch, Cleom. 27.
(6] Lucian, Charon, 10-12. [13] In the third place: ‘the’ is omitted
in edd, 1605, 1629. [14, 15] Compare Shakespeare, Julius Cesar,
iv. 3. 218-221, [16] it being extreme hard to play an after game
of reputation: Lat. Ardua enim res, famam precipitantem retrovertere.
[26] Virgil, Ecl. ix. 66. [29] Virgil, Georg. iii. 284.
P. 244. [1] fortune: So in ed. 1605; ‘fortunes’ in edd. 1629, 1633.
[5] Comp. pp. 211, 213. [6, 7] and bend not...intendeth: Omitted
in the Latin. [17-19] So that he should exact...and not to stand
&c.: This mixed construction is of very common occurrence, It
should be, of course, either ‘So that he should exact...and not stand
&c.,’ or ‘So that he ought to exact...and not to stand &c.’ See note
on p. 88, ll. 7-9. [18] an account: So in ed. 1605; ‘an’ is omitted in
edd. 1629, 1633. [26] Matt. xxiii. 23; Luke xi. 42. [30]—p. 245.
{2] Omitted in the Latin. The story is told again in the Colours
of Good and Eyil, 4.
P. 245. [5] Aristotle, Rhet. ii. 13. § 4; Cicero, De Amic, 16.
Bacon, Apoph. 182, [8] troublesome spleens: Lat. molestis et turbidis
odiis, [26] ‘The allusion is probably to Macchiavelli’s Principe, and
to the Cortigiano of Castiglione.’ (Ellis.)
P. 246, [4] Machiavelli, Il Principe, 17, 18. [12] Cic. Pro Rege
Deiot. ix. 25: Pereant amici, &c. [16] ‘Pope Alexander... was
desirous to trouble the waters in Italy, that he might fish the better.’
Hist. of Hen. VII. (Works, vi. 113). [17] Cic. Pro Mur. xxv. 51.
[19] Plutarch, Lys. 8. [25] Bacon had entered this maxim in his
Promus or Commonplace book, ‘In actions as in wayes the neerest
y® fowlest’ (Works, vii. 209), [31] Eccl. ii. r1.
P. 247. [5] Virg. En, ix. 252. [8] The Latin quotes Cic. Ep. ad
Att. ix. 12, Atque eum ulciscentur mores sui. [11] Job xv. 35. [20]
Hor. Sat. ii. 2. 79. [23] Aurelius Victor, Epit. i. 28. [24] Spartianus,
Vit. Sept. Sev. c. 18; Bacon, Apoph. 98. [33] Charles V., after
raising the siege of Metz, is reported to have said, ‘ Fortune, I now
perceive, resembles other females, and chooses to confer her favours
on young men, while she turns her back on those who are advanced
in years. Robertson, Charles V. ch. ix.
P. 248. [6] Matt. vi. 33. [10] sands: ‘same’ in ed. 1605, corrected
in Errata and edd. 1629, 1633. Mr. Spedding reads ‘sand’ The
reference of course is to Matt. vii. 24, 27. [11] The dying exclamation
of Brutus, according to Dio Cassius, xlvii. 49. The Latin is a trans-
lation of part of two Greek iambics:
@ tAfjpov dper? Adyos dp od’, eyv BE ce
ws Epyov faoKouv, ad 3 dp’ eovdAeves TUX.
330 NOTES.
See Plut. De Superstitione, 1, where part is quoted. [16] In De Augm.
viii. 3 the subject is treated quite differently. The remarks on the
secret part of government are entirely omitted, and the apology to
the king for passing over the subject in silence is transferred to the
beginning of the book. The remainder of the chapter is taken up
with two dissertations, the one, De Proferendis Finibus Imperii, which
corresponds with Essay xxix. ‘Of the True Greatnesse of Kingdomes
and Estates ;’ the other, De Justitia Universali. The former of these
is said to have been translated into Latin by Hobbes of Malmesbury.
[22] Virg. En. vi. 726. [33] futility: ‘facilitie’ in ed. 1605, corrected
to ‘futilitie’ in Errata. The correction is adopted in edd. 1629, 1633.
[Ib.] Sisyphus and Tantalus: See Hom. Od. xi. 582-600; Cic. Tusc.
Disp. i. 5. 10; iv. 16. 35. Sisyphus was punished because he had
betrayed the designs of the gods (Servius on Virg. AEn. vi. 616).
Tantalus divulged the secrets of Zeus.
P. 249. [9] Rev. iv. 6. [18-25] Transferred in the De Augm. to
the beginning of the book. [24] The story is told of Zeno; Plut. De
Garrulitate; Diog. Laert. vii. 24.
P. 250. [16] Comp. Ess. lvi. p. 227: ‘For many times, the things
deduced to judgement, may bee meum and tuum, when the reason and
consequence thereof may trench to point of estate: I call matter of
estate, not onely the parts of soveraigntie, but whatsoever introduceth
any great alteration, or dangerous president; or concerneth manifestly
any great portion of people.’
P. 251. [3, 4] The same in all probability as the dissertation in the
De Augm., ‘De justitia universali’ [9] Virg. An. iv. 647. [14] This
paragraph is omitted in the Latin. [19] Virg. Ecl. ii. 27.
P. 252. [15] only if: i.e. if only. [24] Made by Themistocles to
Eurybiades: Plut. Reg. et Imper. Apoph. [25] so they observe: i.e.
provided that they observe. [31] Sabbath: ‘Sabaoth’ in ed. 1605,
corrected in edd, 1629, 1633. This confusion between Sabaoth (‘hosts’)
and Sabbath (‘rest’) is by no means uncommon, though in p. 110,
1. 32, ‘Sabbath’ is printed correctly in ed, 1605. Even as late as the
middle of the last century Dr. Johnson, in the first edition of his
Dictionary, treated the two words as synonymous. Other examples
are found in Spenser (F. Q. viii. 2):
‘But thenceforth all shall rest eternally
With him that is the God of Sabaoth hight:
OQ! that great Sabaoth God, grant me that Sabaoth’s sight.’
And the second quarto of Shakespeare’s Mer. of Ven. iv. 1. 36, has
*Sabaoth’ for ‘ Sabbath,’ which is the reading of the first quarto and of
the folios.
P. 253. [1] De Augm. ix. 1. [9] Rom. iv. 22. [10] Gen. xviii. 12.
¢
BOOK It. : 331
[12] of: So in ed, 1605; omitted in edd. 1629, 1633. [18] 1 Cor. xiii.
12. [23] Ps. xix. 1. [25] Isa. viii. 20. [29] Matt. v. 44, 45. [32] it
_ ought to be applauded: i.e, this applause ought to be given. [Ib.]
Virg. En. i, 328,
P. 254. [4] Ovid, Met. x. 330. [5] Plutarch (Alex. 65) calls him
Dandamis, Strabo (xv. 64) Mandanis, [28] Comp. with this paragraph
Hooker, Eccl. Pol. i. 8, 9; iii. 8.9. [31] Rom. xii. 1.
P. 255. [1] non-significants and surd characters: See p. 169, in the
paragraph on ciphers. [22] grift: ‘grifte’ in edd. 1605, 1629; ‘graft’
in ed, 1633.
P. 256. [20] This and the three following paragraphs are consider-
ably modified in the Latin. [31] John iii. 4.
P. 257. [1] John xvi. 17. [5,6] an opiate to stay and bridle, &c.:
‘The metaphor is better preserved in the Latin: utpote que futura sit
instar opiate cujusdam medicine, que non modo speculationum quibus
schola interdum laborat inania consopiat, verum etiam controversiarum
furores que in ecclesia tumultus cient nonnihil mitiget. [13] if men: ‘of
men’ in ed, 1605, corrected in Errata. [14] 1 Cor. vii. 12. [15] 1 Cor.
vii. 40. [17] 1 Cor. vii. 10, [21] Prov. xxvi. 2.
P, 258. [3] further: Some copies of ed. 1605 have ‘sounder,’ others
‘furder” [7] With this paragraph compare Ess. iii. ‘Of Unity in
Religion,’ and the notes upon it. [15] Ex. ii. 11, 12. [17] Ex. ii. 13;
Acts vii. 26. [22] Matt. xii. 30. [24] Iuke ix. 50. [25] John
xix. 23. [26] garment; Some copies of ed. 1605 have ‘ garmente,
others ‘gouernment. [27] Ps. xlv. 10 (Prayer Book version). [29]
Matt. xiii. 29.
P. 259. [3] In the Latin Bacon explains that he treats here only of
the method, not of the authority, of interpretation, which is founded
upon the consent of the church. [6] John iv. 13,14. [11-13] The
former... corrupt: Omitted in the Latin. [18] Paragraphs 11-13
are omitted in the Latin, [30] the Master of the Sentences: Peter
Lombard, bishop of Paris; so called from his Sum of Theology,
in four books, entitled ‘The Sentences. [33] ‘Tribonianus, was
successively queestor, consul, and master of the offices to Justinian...
In av. 530 Tribonianus, then quzestor, was commissioned with sixteen
others to compile the Digest or Pandect.’ (Smith’s Dict. of Biog.)
P. 260. [12] the weaker do you conclude: i. e. the weaker are your
conclusions, [22] Rom, xi. 33. [24] 1 Cor. xiii.9. [33] in the Latin
the substance of paragraphs 14 and 15 is much condensed.
P. 261. [2] curious: So some copies of ed. 1605; others have
‘ruinous.’ [14] Ex. xxxiii. 20. [Ib.] Prov. viii. 27. [16] John ii. 25.
[18] Acts xv. 18. [20] two of these: So ed. 1605; ‘of these two’
in edd. 1629, 1633. [24] 1 Cor. xiii. 12.
P, 262. [8] the latter; i.e. the philosophical exposition. [9] The
oe sh
332 NOTES.
Latin adds that it had its beginning with the Rabbins and Cabbalists.
See p. 263. [16] Mark xiii. 31. [19] Comp. Luke xxiv. 5. [28] The
om
authority of one who is treating of a different subject is of small
_ weight, i.e, in regard to those things which he only mentions in-
cidentally,
P. 263. [5] Matt. xxiv. 35. Noli altum sapere was the motto of the
printer Robert Stephens, [12] See, for an example of answers of this
kind, Luke ix. 47, 48. :
P. 264. [20-32] For...times: Omitted in the Latin. In its place
is substituted an application to theology of the illustration he makes
use of in Ess. lvi. p. 223, in reference to the administration of justice:
‘And where the wine-presse is hard wrought, it yeelds a harsh wine,
that tastes of the grape-stone.’ The following is Mr. Spedding’s trans-
lation of the passage in the De Augm.: ‘Certainly as we find it in
wines, that those which flow freely from the first treading of the
grape are sweeter than those which are squeezed out by the wine-
press, because the latter taste somewhat of the stone and the rind;
so are those doctrines most wholesome and sweet which ooze out of
the Scriptures when gently crushed, and are not forced into controversies
and common places.’ [21] Livy ix. 19. [26] island: So edd. 1629,
1633; ‘islands’ in ed. 1605. [Ib.] Brittany: ‘ Brittanie’ in ed. 1605.
[33] Paragraphs 19-25 (The matter... sowing of tares) are omitted in
the Latin.
P. 265. [8] Comp. Ess. iii. p. 8: ‘For you may imagine, what kinde
of faith theirs was, when the chiefe doctors, and fathers of their church,
were the poets. But the true God hath this attribute, that he is a
jealous God; and therefore, his worship and religion will endure no
mixture, nor partner.’
P. 266. [1] privately: So edd. 1605, 1629, 1633. Mr. Spedding, with
great probability, reads ‘privatively.’ [20] thought, word, or act: Comp.
Plato, Protag. i. 348 D. [32] man: So edd. 1629, 1633; ‘mans’ in ed,
1605.
P. 267. [2] John iv. 23, 24. [Ib.] Hosea xiv. 2. [15] privative:
‘ primitive’ in ed. 1605, corrected in Errata and edd. 1629, 1633. [22]
witchcraft is the height of idolatry: See King James’s treatise on
Demonology, iii. 6: ‘it is the highest point of Idolatry.’ [26] 1 Sam.
xv. 23.
P. 268. [23] question: i.e. the raising of doubts, which he describes
just before as ‘litigious arguments,’ [26] See Lev. i. 8, 12, &c,
ef
GLOSSARY,
A redundant. ‘In a readiness:’ p. 155, 1. 25.
Abate, v. 4. To beat down, lower, depress: p. 12, 1. 5. Compare Shake-
speare, Coriolanus, iii, 3. 132:
* Till at ee
Yourignorance . . .
0. -& )- enol SCRE you 3 as most
‘Abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows.’
Abstracted, adj. Abstract: p, 114, 1. 8.
Abuse, v. ¢. To deceive: p. 159, l. 24; p. 242, 1. 23. Compare Shake-
speare, Tempest, v. i. 112:
‘ Whether thou be’st he or no,
Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me,
As late I have been, I not know.’
Abuse, sb. Deception: p. 224, 1. 5.
Abused, p. p. Deceived: p. 66, |. 31; p. 235, 1. 25.
Accent, sb. Emphasis: p.67, 1.17. Compare Shakespeare, Hamlet, ii, 2.
489: ‘Well spoken, with good accent and good discretion,’
Accepted of. Accepted: p. 5,1. 12.
Accept of, v. ¢. To accept, admit: p. 67, lL. 23.
Acception, sb. Acceptation, meaning: p. 111, 1. 22; p. 113, 1. 17.
Accidents, sb. The accidents of a disease are its symptoms: p. 12, I. 28;
p. 137, 1. 20; p. 145, 1.12; p. 204,1. 10, See Cotgrave (Fr. Dict. ed.
5623) ° Symptome : m, A symptome; an affect, passion, or accident
accompanying a disease.’ Bacon, in a letter to his mother, says: ‘ In truth
I heard Sir John Scidmore often complain, after his quartain left him, that
he found such a heaviness and swelling, specially under his ribs, that he
thought he was buried under earth half from the waist, and therefore that
accident is but incident.’ (Works, viii. 300.)
Accommodate, ~.~, Accommodated: p. 138, 1.25. See consecrate.
Accomplishments, sb. Ornaments: p. 77, 1. 7.
Accordingly, adv. In accordance therewith: p. 126, 1. 24; p. 234,
1. 29. Compare the phrase in the Litany: ‘that both by their preaching
and living they may set it forth, and shew it accordingly.’ The word is
by no means obsolete, but the force of it is often missed.
According to, Corresponding to, in harmony with: p. 16, 1. 2.
Accords, sb. Harmonies: p. 52,1. 28
Account, v.i. To count, reckon: p, 232, 1. 22.
Accouple, v. ¢. To couple: p. 96, |
334 GLOSSARY.
Accumulate, f.f. Accumulated; the old form of participles derived from
the Latin: p. 18, 1. 6; p. 65,1. 20. Comp. Accommodate.
Accurate, adj. Worked out with care: p. 213, 1. 1.
Accustom, v.i. To use, be accustomed: p. 58, 1.9; p. 77, 1. 7.
Acquaint, v.t. To accustom, familiarize: p. 67, 1. 21. Compare Shake-
speare, Tempest, ii. 2. 41: ‘ Misery acguaints a man with strange bed-
fellows.’
Addition, sb. Title: p. 95,1. 20. According to Cowel (Law Dict. s. v.)
it signifies “a title given to a man besides his Christian and surname,
shewing his estate, degree, mystery, trade, place of dwelling, &c.” Com-
pare Shakespeare, Coriolanus, i. 9. 66:
* Caius Marcius Coriolanus! Bear
The addition nobly ever!’
And Macbeth, i. 3. 106:
* He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor:
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane !’
See also Lear, ii. 2, 26.
Adeption, sb. An obtaining, acquisition: p. 93, 1. 27.
Adjacence, sb. Contiguity: p. 120, 1. 15.
Adoptive, adj. Adopted: p. 57,1,2. ‘Adoptive brethren’= brothers by
adoption,
Advante, v.¢. To promote: p. 231, I. 5.
Adventive, adj. Coming from without, adventitious: p. 113, 1. 29;
p- 144, 1. 6.
Advertised, p. ~. Informed: p. 68, 1. 4; p. 80, 1. 27.
Advertisement, sb. Information: p. 100, 1. 16. Notice: p. 219, 1. 31.
Advise, v.i. To consider: p. 67,1. 31; p. 161, 1. 21.
Advised, p.~. Deliberate, well considered: p. 100, 1.22. Compare Shake-
speare, Merchant of Venice, i, I. 142:
‘I shot his fellow of the selfsame flight
The selfsame way with more advised watch.’
Affect, sb. Affection, disposition: p. 131, 1. 24. Compare Shakespeare,
Love’s Labour ’s Lost, i. I. 152:
‘For every man with his affects is born,’
Affectionate, adj. Zealous, devoted, attached; p. 29, 1. 14. Eagerly
desirous, studious: p. 112, 1. 10, Compare Bacon, Hist, of Hen. VII,
p. 17 (ed, 1622): ‘So he being truly informed, that the Northerne parts
were not onely affectionate to the House of Yorke, but particularly had
been deuoted to King Richard the third.’
After, adv. Afterwards: p. 18, 1.9; p. 67,1. 7.
Afterward, adv. Afterwards: p. 27, 1.2; p. 127, 1. 33.
Agreed, p.p. Agreed to, admitted: p. 158, |. 27.
All, used where now we should use ‘any’: p. 14, ll. 2, 7: p. 56, 1. 27.
Comp. ‘ without al/ contradiction’ (Heb. vii. 7).
Allege, v.¢. To quote: p. 88, 1. 30; p. 199, 1. 31.
All one. The same: p. 30,1. 17; p. 158, 1. 1.
Allow, v.t. To approve: p. 20, 1.18; p. 111.1. 11, Compare Luke xi.
48: ‘Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers.’
Allowance, sb. Approval: p. 24,1. 6. So Shakespeare, Hen, VIII. iii. 2.
322: ‘ Without the King’s will or the state’s allowance.’
GLOSSARY, 7% 366
Allusive, adj. Figurative: p. 102, 1, 22, 28. Todd quotes from South
(Serm. ii. 276), ‘ The foundation of all parables, is some analogy or simili-
_tude between the tropical or allusive part of the parable, and the thing
couched under it and intended by it
Almost, adv. Apparently in the sense of ‘most of all,’ or ‘ generally’:
p- 163, 1. 11. Bacon uses it in the same way in Essay xliii. p. 176;
‘Neither is it almost seene, that very beautifull persons, are otherwise of
great vertue.’
Aloft, adv. Upwards: p. 89, 1. 6.
Ambages, sb, Circuitous ways or methods: p. 111, 1. 6; p. 124, 1. 18.
Compare Bale, Image of both Churches (p. 260, Parker Soc.) ; ‘Evident’
will these secret mysteries be unto him, which are privily hid unto other
under dark ambages and parables.’
Amplification, sb, Exaggeration: p. 3,1.17. Shakespeare uses ‘ ampli-
fied’ in the sense of ‘ exaggerated’ in Coriolanus, v. 2. 16:
‘His fame unparallel’d, haply, amplified.’
Anatomy, sb. A body used for dissection: p. 80, 1. 18; p. 138, ll. 16, 28;
p-. 139, l. 17.
Animosity, sb. Courage: p. 133, 1. 12. Cotgrave (Fr. Dict.) gives,
‘Animosité: f. Animositie, stoutnesse, courage, metall, boldnesse, resolution,
hardinesse.’
Anointment, sb. Anointing: p. 83, 1. 5.
Answerable, adj. Corresponding: p. 93, 1. 29; p. 162, 1.9. Compare
Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1. 361:
‘Six score fat oxen standing in my stalls,
And all things answerable to this portion.’
Ant (p. 151, 1. 28), a feminine noun, as in Prov. vi. 6.
Antistrophe, sb. Literally, that part of a song sung by a chorus of
dancers when they retraced their steps in the dance. It corresponds to a
previous ‘strophe,’ Bacon uses it of ‘correspondence’ generally: p. 131,
1, 22.
Antiques, sb, Grotesque figures: p. 25, 1. 24. Compare Shakespeare,
Much Ado, iii. 1. 63: \
‘If black, why, Nature, drawing of an antique,
Made a foul blot.’
Apace, adv. Swiftly: p. 15, 1. 8.
Apparently, adv. Openly, manifestly: p. 127, 1. 7. Compare Shake-
speare, Comedy of Errors, iv. 1. 78:
‘I would not spare my brother in this case,
If he should scorn me so apparently.’
Application, sb, Appliance: p. 21, 1. 3. Accommodation, adaptation:
p- 192, 1. 30; p. 204, Il. 6,15, 24. Comp. p. 204, L 23, ‘which is
that properly which we call accommodating or applying.’ See also p. 26,
1, 25.
Apply, v.i. To accommodate, adapt oneself: p. 204, 1. 26. Used re-
flexively, p. 24, 1. 10. ‘To: apply ones selfe to others, is good: so it
be with demonstrations that a man doth it upon regard, and not upon
-facilitie’ Essay lii. p. 211. Used transitively in the sense of, to devote
oneself to: p. 41, 1. 1.
Apprompt, v.¢, To prompt: p. 156, 1. 32.
336 GLOSSARY.
Apt, adj. Fit, suitable: p. 181, 1. 22. Compare Shakespeare, Jul. Cas. .
ii. 2.97: ‘A mock Aft to be render’d.’
Arefaction, sb. Drying, the act or state of growing dry: p. 124, l. 14.
Arrogancy, sb. Arrogance: p. 5, 1.9; p. 88, 1. 22. Compare Shake-
speare, Hen. VIII. ii. 4. 110:
‘But your heart
Is cramm’d with arrogancy, spleen, and pride.’
Artificial, adj. Constructed with art, ingenious, skilfully contrived: p. 125,
1. 5. So in Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, i. 1. 37:
‘ Artificial strife
Lives in these touches, livelier than life.’
Artsman, sb. One skilled in the liberal arts: p. 150, lL. 15.
As=that, in the phrases ‘so as’: p. 4,1. 43 p. 16, 1. 28, &c. ‘insomuch
as’: p. 56,1. 2. ‘Such...as’: p. gt, l. 23.
As. As that: p. 23, 1.5. As for instance: p. 26, I. 15.
Ask, v.t. To require: p, 85, 1.6. Comp. Essay vi. p. 18; ‘It asketh a
strong wit, and a strong heart, to know, when to tell truth, and to doe it.”
Aspect, sb. The appearance of a planet, which varied with its position
among the stars: p. 145, 1. 10. Used metaphorically, p. 79, 1. 2, with a
reference to the old astrological belief in the power exercised by the planets
upon the fate of man. So Shakespeare, Tr. and Cr. i. 3. 92:
‘Whose medicinable eye
Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil.’
So also Essay ix. p. 29.
Aspersion, sb. Sprinkling; and so, intermixture: p. 47,1. 20; p. 199,1. 6.
Assure, v.i. To ensure, guarantee: p. 152, 1, 21. Used transitively by
Shakespeare, 3 Hen. VI. iii. 3. 240: :
‘This shall assure my constant loyalty.’
Assured, ~.p. Safe, secure: p. 171, 1. 18.
As touching. With respect to: p. 8,1. 10. See Matt. xviii. 19.
Astrolabe, sb. An ancient astronomical instrument for taking the height
of the stars &c. Chaucer wrote a treatise upon it for the use of ‘little
Lewis’ his son: p. 80, l. 13.
Athletic, sb. The art of activity: p. 133, 1.24. We now use ‘athletics’
in the same sense.
Attend, used as a transitive verb, p. 153, l. 6.
. Attended, ~.p. Accompanied: p. 224, 1. 32.
Attend upon. To accompany: p. 225, ll. 23, 24.
Authorised, adj. Gifted with authority: p. 253, 1. 16.
Awake, v.t. To awaken, rouse: p. 203, |. 11.
‘We must awake endeavour for defence.”
Shakespeare, K. John, ii. 1, 81.
B.
Backward, adv. Backwards: p, 38, l. 19.
Baladine, sb. A ballet dancer: p. 165,1.22. Cotgrave (Fr. Dict. ed. 1632)
gives, ‘Baladin: m. A common dauncer of galliards, and other stirring,
or liuely Ayres.’
Bare = Bore; past tense of ‘bear’: p. 59, |. 19.
\
GLOSSARY, 337
Basilisk, sb. A fabulous creature described by Pliny (viii. 33, xxix. 19) asa
serpent, of which many marvels are told; p. 200, |. 30, note; p. 262, |. 32.
Battle, sb. A body of troops: p. 71, 1. 30. * They were more ignorant
in ranging and arraying their battailes,’ Essay viii. p. 237.
Be, 3 plu. Are: p. Io, 1. 17; p. 23,1. 53 p. 50, 1. 23. In the phrase
‘had been to handle’; p. 185, 1. 16.
Because, conj. In order that; p. 228, 1.13. See Matt. xx. 31.
Become, used reflexively, p. 216, 1. 30, ‘Can neither become themselves’
=can neither act in a graceful or becoming manner,’
Beholding, part. Beholden, indebted: p. 104, 1. 30. ‘ The stage is more
beholding to love, then the life of man.’ Essay x. p. 36.
Bent, adj. Crooked, twisted; and so, sinister: p. 25, 1. 2.
Besides, prep. Beside: p. 12, 1. 32; p. 159, 1. 23.
Bird-witted, adj. Incapable of fixed attention, volatile: p. 183, lL 14.
Blanch, v.¢. To flinch from, avoid: p. 182, 1. 21. ‘Some are never
without a difference, and commonly by amusing men with a subtilty,
blanch the matter.’ Essay xxvi. p. 105, |, 12.
Blasphemy, sb. In its literal sense of defamation or slander: p, 17, 1. 15.
Compare the use of ‘ blaspheme’ in Shakespeare, Macbeth, iv. 3. 108:
‘Since that the truest issue of thy throne
By his own interdiction stands accursed,
And does blaspheme his breed,’
Blemish, v.z. To stigmatize: p. 27, 1. 28.
Blow up, v.¢. To inflate: p. 7,1. 20.
Blown up, p~.p. Inflated: p. 39, 1. 25.
Bond-woman, sb. A female slave: p. 43, l. 25.
Borne out, ~.~. Compensated for; p. 19, 1. 12.
Bounden, 7.p. Bound, indebted: p. 268, 1. 28.
Braver, adj. Finer, more beautiful: p. 216, 1. ro.
‘The Duke of Milan
And his more braver daughter could control thee?
Shakespeare, Tempest, i. 2. 439,
Break, v.¢. To train: p. 197, 1. 12. Still used of horses.
‘Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute?’
Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1. 148.
Briber, sb. A taker of bribes: p. 222, 1. 25.
Brittany, sb. Britain: p. 93,1.14; p. 94, ll. 12, 17; p. 264, 1. 26. In
the first and last of these passages the word is spelt ‘ Brittanie’ in ed.
1605. On the other hand, what we call ‘ Brittany’ is uniformly, I believe,
called ‘ Britaine’ in Bacon’s Hist. of Hen. VII.
Broken, p.p. Trained: p. 156, 1. 5.
Buckle, v.t. To bend: p. 102, |. 10.
Buffon, sb. The old spelling of ‘buffoon’: p. 136,1. 20. Florio (Ital.
Dict. 1611) has ‘ Buffonare, to ieast or play the buffon.’
But only. This expression is found where we should now use one or
other of the words: p, 234,1. 1. So ‘only but’ is used for ‘but’ or
‘only’: p. 174, 1. 10. Compare Shakespeare, Meas. for Meas. iii. 1. 3:
‘The miserable have no other medicine
But only hope.’
By how much. In the same proportion as: p. 12, 1.8; p. 129, 1, 13.
Z
338 GLOSSARY,
Cc.
Called down, p.p. Cried down, decried; p. 87, 1. rr.
Capable, adj. In the construction ‘ capable to lodge’, instead of ‘ capable
of lodging’: p. 125, 1. 31.
Capable of. Able or apt to receive: p. 6, 1. 23. In a passive sense.
: ‘ Abhorred slave,
Which any print of goodness will not take,
Being capable of all ill.’ Shakespeare, Tempest, i. 2. 353.
Caption, sb. Deception, fallacy, in argument: p. 159, 1. 33. From the
Lat. captio as used by Cicero, De Fato, xiii. 30, &c.
Card, sb. A chart: p. 246, 1. 33. Comp. Essay xviii. p. 72: ‘ Let him carry
with him also some card or booke describing the country, where he travelleth,’
Carefulness, sb, Anxiety: p. 8,1. 24. Comp. Ezek, xii. 18, 19.
Carnosity, sb. A fleshy excrescence: p. 139, 1. 14.
Carriage, sb. Baggage: p. 79, 1.29. See Judg. xviii. a1.
Case, sb. ‘In some case’=in some cases, sometimes: p. 194, 1. 8.
Cast, v.¢. To consider, plan: p. 181,1. 26. Comp. Luke i, 29, and Bacon,
Essay xlv. p. 183: ‘ Cast it also, that you may have roomes, both for
summer, and winter,’
Casual, adj. Uncertain, subject to accident: p. 241, 1. 27. Comp. Colours
of Good and Evil, p, 248: ‘Sometimes because some things are in kinde
very casuall, which if they escape, prove excellent.’ Having reference
to special cases: p.-138, 1. 17.
Casualty, sb. Uncertainty, instability: p. 23, 1.13. See Bacon’s Colours
of Good and Evil, p. 256 (ed. W. A. Wright), ‘this colour will bee
reprehended or incountred by imputing to all excellencies in compositions
a kind of povertie or at least a casualty or ieopardy.’
Cautel, sb. Deceit: p. 200, 1. 16.
‘And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch
The virtue of his will.’ Shakespeare, Hamlet, i. 3. 15.
*Cautelle: f. A wile, cautell, sleight; a craftie reach, or fetch, guilefull
deuise or endeuor; also, craft, subtiltie, trumperie, deceit, cousenage.’
Cotgrave, Fr. Dict.
Cautionary, adj. Full of cautions: p, 196, 1. 30.
Caveat, sb. A caution, warning: p. 22, ll. 9, 17; p. 55, 1. 7.
Cavillation, sb. A cavil, objection: p. 33, 1.3; p. 154, 1.12. ‘Cavil-
lation. A cauill; a wrangling proposition, ouerthwart reason; also, a
cauilling.’ Cotgrave, Fr. Dict.
Cease, v. ¢. To cause to cease: p. 40, 1. 8; p. 56,1. 32.
Celsitude, sb, Loftiness, height: p. 214, 1.15. ‘Celsitude: f, Celsitude,
highnesse, excellencie; (tearmes conferred on Princes),’ Cotgrave, Fr.
Dict.
Censure, v.i. To judge, give an opinion: p. 84, l. 23; p. 250, 1. 32.
‘That I, unworthy body as I am,
Should censure thus on lovely gentlemen.’
Shakespeare, Two Gent. of Ver. i. 2. 19.
GLOSSARY. gees
Censure, sb, An opinion, judgement: p. 5, 1. 18; p. 7, 1. 283 p. 49,
1, 32. ‘The speech of Themistocles the Athenian, which was haughtie
and arrogant, in taking so much to himselfe, had been a grave and
wise observation and censure, applied at large to others,’ Essay xxix.
p. 118.
Ceremonies, sb. Superstitious rites: p. 146, 1. 23.
‘For he is superstitious grown of late,
Quite from the main opinion he held once
Of fantasy, of dreams and ceremonies.’
Shakespeare, Julius Cesar, ii. 1, 197.
Certify, v.t. To give information of: p, 154, |. 13.
Challenge, v.¢. To claim: p. 11, 1.13. Comp. Ex, xxii. g.
Challenge, sb. Claim: p. 198, l. 21.
‘And not of any challenge of desert.’
Shakespeare, 1 Hen, VI, v. 4. 153.
Champain, adj. Level, like a plain: p, 121, |. 21.
Charity, sb. Used in the same sense as in I Cor. xiii. 1, &c., for the
Greek dydmn. p. 214, 1. 24.
Ciphering, sb. Writing in cipher: p. 169, 1, 16.
Circuit of speech. Circumlocution: p. 29, 1. 2, Compare Cotgrave
(Fr. Dict.): ‘ Circuition de paroles. A circumlocution, paraphrase, great
circumstance of words; a going about the bush.’
Circumferred, ~.p~. Carried round: p. 105, |. 15.
Civil, adj. Public, popular: p. 146, 1. 16. The Latin has quasi populares.
Civility, sb. Civilization, refinement: p. 19, 1. 17.. ‘And a man shall
ever see, that when ages grow to civility and elegancie, men come to build
stately, sooner then to garden finely.’ Essay xlvi. p. 186.
Clear, v.¢.. To make clear or manifest: p. 17, 1. 11. This is the sense
in which it is understood in the Latin of the De Augmentis, but it appears
to be used in the present passage in the legal sense ‘ to justify.’
Cleave, v.i. To adhere: p. 18, 1. 26.
Climate, sb. Region: p. 48,1. 4. ‘Climat: m. A clyme, or Clymate; a
diuision in the Skie, or Portion of the world, betweene South and North.’ |
Cotgrave, Fr. Dict.
The ancient geographers ‘ divided the space comprehended between the
equator andthe pole into thirty parts, which they denominated Climates
or Inclinations, viz. twenty-four between the equator and polar circle, and
six between the polar circle and the pole.’ Dict. of Science and Art, ed.
Brande and Cox.
Close, sb. A cadence in music: p. 107, |. 33.
‘The setting sun, and music at the close,
As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last.’
Shakespeare, Richard II, ii. 1. 12.
Close, adj. Secret: p. 230, 1, 7.
‘The close contriver of all harms,’
Shakespeare, Macbeth, iii. 5, 7.
Close, adv. Closely, secretly: p. 234, l. 22.
‘Stand you thus close, to steal the bishop’s deer?’
Shakespeare, 3 Hen. VI, iv. 5. 17.
Coarctation, sb. Restriction: p. 8, 1. 3.
Z 2
340 GLOSSARY.
Cockboat, sb, A small boat: p. 23, 1.28. Called a ‘cock’ by Shake-
speare, Lear iv. 6. 19:
‘Yond tall anchoring bark
Diminish’d to her cock.’
Cogitations, sb. Thoughts: p. 4,1. 28; p. 70,1. 14, &c. Comp. Dan,
vii. 28.
Colliquation, sb. Melting, liquefaction: p. 114, 1. 30. ‘Colliquation: f.
A colliquation; a consumtion of the radicall humor, or substance of
the bodie ; also, a melting, resoluing, dissoluing.’ Cotgrave, Fr. Dict.
Colour, sb. Pretext: p. 24,1. 26. ‘To give colour,’ p. 238, l. 2.
Columbine, adj. Dove-like: p. 201, 1. 4. ‘Colombain: m. ine: f, Doue-~
like; of the nature of Doues; of, or belonging to, Doues,’ Cotgrave,
Fr, Dict.
Combustion, sb. Heat, feverish excitement: p. 184, 1. 13.
Comen, p.~. Come: p. 37, l. 3; p. 60, 1. 25; p. 188, 1. 24. So ‘ be-
comen’ for ‘become,’ ‘Sir Robert Clifford (who was now becomen the
state informer).’ Hist. of Hen. VII. (Works, vi. p. 152). See also
Overcommen.
Comfort, v.¢. To strengthen; p. 77,1.4. ‘Not contented thus to have
comforted and assisted Her Majesty’s rebels in England, he procured a
rebellion in Ireland.’ Bacon, Observ. on a Libel (Works, viii. 194).
Comfortable, adj. Strengthening: p. 148, 1. 32.
Comforting, sb. Strengthening, a verbal noun: p. 77, 1. 14.
Comical, adj. Comic: p. 226, 1. 25.
Commanded, p. p. Controlled: p. 141, 1. 33. See p. 140, Il. 29, 30:
p- 230, |. 20.
Commandment, sb. Command: p. 48, 1. 32; p. 69, Il, 20, 23, 24, &e.
Commenter, sb. Commentator: p. 42,1. 12.
Commixed, ~.p. Mixed: p. 110, |. 1.
‘The smile mocking the sigh, that it would fly
From so divine a temple, to commix
With winds that sailors rail at.’
Shakespeare, Cymb, iv. 2. 55.
Commodity, sb. Convenience, advantage: p. 80, 1. 16.
‘Commodity, the bias of the world.’
Shakespeare, K. John, ii. 1. 574.
Commonalty, sb. A corporation: p. 56,1. 11. Spelt also communalty,
p. 83, lL 5. ‘Communauté: f. The comminaltie, or common people;
.... also, a societie, brotherhood, corporation, or companie incorporate.’
Cotgrave, Fr. Dict.
Common place, sb. The subject of a thesis or discussion: p. 19, l. 8.
‘Some have certaine common places, and theames, wherein they are good,
and want variety.’ Essay xxxii. p. 136.
Commutative, adj. Relating to exchange: p. 107, 1. 11. See note.
Johnson. defines ‘ commutative justice’ as ‘that honesty which is exercised
in traffick ; and which is contrary to fraud in bargains.’ '
Compacted, p.p. Compact, consolidated: p. 259, 1. 19; p. 260, 1. 10.
See Eph. iv. 16.
Compaction, sb, The being fastened together or consolidated: p. 260, |. 8.
Compass, sb. A pair of compasses: p. 154, l. 25, ‘Compas: m. A
GLOSSARY. 341
compasse; a circle, a round; also, a paire of compasses.’ Cotgrave,
Fr. Dict.
Compass, adj. Circuitous: p. 232, 1. 17.
Compatible, adj. Sympathetic: p. 132, 1.19. ‘Compatible: com. Com-
patible, concurrable; which can abide or agree together; or indure, or
beare with, one another.’ Cotgrave, Fr. Dict.
Complexion, sb. The constitution both of mind and body; p. 12, 1. 27;
p. 162, 1. 30. Hence it denotes a natural tendency or inclination,
Comp, Shakespeare, Meas. for Meas. iii, 1. 24:
‘Thou art not certain;
For thy complexion shifts to strange effects,
After the moon.’
Compounded, p. p. Compound: p. 134, 1. 19.
Conceit, sb. Conception: p. 20, 1.17; p. 102, 1. 29; p. 174, 1. 9.
‘Hear me without thine ears, and sohicd reply
Without a tongue, using conceit alone.’
Shakespeare, K. John, iii. 3. 50.
Conclude, v. ¢. To lay down as a conclusion: p. 206, 1. 17.
Concordance, sb. Agreement, harmony: p. 89, 1. 16; p. 130, 1. 16.
Concupiscence, sb. Eager desire, lust: p. 133, 1. 14. See Rom. vii. 8,
Concurrent, sb. A rival: p. 235, 1.4. ‘Concurrent; m. A concurrent,
corriuall, competitor.’ Cotgrave, Fr. Dict.
Confectionary, sb. One who makes confections or conserves: p. 206,
1, 22. See 1 Sam. viii. 13.
‘But myself,
Who had the world as my confectionary.’
Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, iv. 3. 260.
Confer, v.i. To consult: p. 66,1. 24. See Gal. i. 16. To contribute:
p- 102, 1. 6
Confidences, sb, Unusual in the plural: p. 227, 1. 13. See Jer. ii. 37.
Congregate, adj. Collected: p. 130, 1. 3.
Conjugate, adj. United: p. 130, 1. 4.
Conjugates, sb. Things related to, and so resembling each other: p. 161,
1. 33. Johnson defines a conjugate as ‘Agreeing in derivation with
another word, and therefore generally resembling in signification.’ Bacon
uses it in a wider sense,
Conjugation, sb. Relation, connexion, combinstion} p- 89,1. 12; p. 164,
1. 19; p. 198, 1. 10.
Conscient, adj. Conscious; p. 227, I. 30.
Consecrate, ~.~. Consecrated: p, 95, 1. ro.
‘The imperial seat, to virtue consecrate,’
Shakespeare, Tit. And, i. 1. 14.
Compare accommodate, accumulate, alienate, copulate, corroborate, dedic-
ate, excommunicate, degenerate, demonstrate, devote, dilute, enumerate,
illuminate, illustrate, incorporate, palliate, premeditate, &c.
Consequent, sb. ‘By consequent’ =in consequence, consequently; p. 134,
1. 33. ;
Conserve, v.t. To preserve: p. 195, |. 4.
‘Thou art too noble to conserve a life
In base appliances,’ Shakespeare, Meas, for Meas. iii. 1, 88.
342 GLOSSARY, 3 eg
Considerative, adj. Requiring consideration or reflection: p, 126,
1. 4. Compare Demonstrative.
Consist, v.i. To stand firm, subsist, remain settled: p. 145, 1. 27;
p. 209, 1. 13; p. 210, 1.2. Comp. Col. i. 17. ‘Consister. To consist,
be; rest, reside, abide; to settle, stand still, or at a stay.’ Cotgrave,
Fr. Dict.
Consociate, v.t. To associate, unite: p. 72, 1. 32.
Consort, sb. Fellowship: p. 102, 1. 14.
Constitute, v.i. To establish: p. 130, 1. 9.
Construe, v.i. To interpret: p. 50, 1. 33; p. 245, 1. 4.
‘Construe the times to their necessities.’
Shakespeare, 2 Hen, IV, iv. 1. 104.
Contain, v.¢. To hold in, as the breath: p. 143, 1. Io.
Contained, ~.~. Restrained: p. 209, 1. 2; p. 261, 1. 22.
Contemplative, sb. One devoted to contemplation: p. 191, l. I.
Contend, v.i. To strive, endeavour: p. 22, 1. 6.
Content, sb. The thing contained: p. 6, 1. 13.
Contentation, sb. Contentment: p. 13,1. 18.
Contention, sb, Effort, exertion: p. 104, |. 12; p. 184, 1. 6.
Contestation, sb. Strife, debate: p. 22,1. 16. ‘Contestation: f. A con-
testation ; a protestation, taking, or calling to witnesse; also, a contesting,
striving, debating, reasoning, brabling about a matter.’ Cotgrave,
Fr. Dict.
‘Your wife and brother
Made wars upon me; and their contestation
Was theme for you,’ Shakespeare, Ant. and Cl. ii. 2. 43.
Continent, adj. Containing; ‘the cause continent’=the containing
cause; p. 138, 1. 21.
Continent, sb. The thing containing: p. 6, 1. 13.
‘Heart, once be stronger than thy continent,
Crack thy frail case!’ Shakespeare, Ant. and Cl. iv. 14, 40.
Continue, v.t. ‘To continue his whcle age’=to devote his whole life
continuously: p. 79, l. 22.
Continued, ~.p. Kept, caused to remain: p. 162, 1. 25.
Contract, sb. Convention, agreement: p. 167, 1. 2.
Contrariwise, adv. On the contrary: p. 13, 1. 3; p.15, 1.19. See
2 Cor. ii. 7.
Contristation, sb. Sadness: p. 5,1. 21.
Convenient, adj. Suitable: p. 58, 1. 21.
Conversant, adj. ‘ Are conversant about’=have to do with, are con-
cerned with: p. 76, l. 32.
Converse, v.i. To dwell or abide; and so, to associate: p. 43, 1. 16:
‘I have, since I was three year old, conversed with a magician, most
profound in his art.” Shakespeare, As You Like It, v. 2. 66.
Conversion, sb. A turning round, revolving: p. 158, l. 19.
Convince, v.t. To convict, refute: p. 108, 1. 31. See John viii, 46.
Copie, sb. Copiousness: p. 29,1. 145 p. 30,1. 43 p. 154, 1. 5.
Copy. ‘To change copy’=to change, shift about: p. 221,1.15. ‘Then
Callisthenes changing copy, spake boldly many things against the Mace-~
donians.’ North’s Plutarch, Alex. p. 701 (ed. 1631),
GLOSSARY, 343
Corroborate, v.#. To strengthen: p. 131, |. 33.
Corroborate, ~.~. Confirmed in strength, grown strong: p. 21, I. 1.
‘ There is no trusting to the force of nature, nor to the bravery of words ;
except it be corroborate by custome.’ Essay xxxix. p. 162.
Corrupt, v.i. To become corrupt: p. 259, 1. 13. ‘Likewise glorious
gifts and foundations, are like sacrifices without salt; and but the painted
sepulchres of almes, which soone will putrifie, and corrupt inwardly.’ Essay
xxxiv. p. 148.
Cosmetic, sb, The art of decoration: p. 133, 1. 24.
Countenance, sb. Appearance, semblance; p. 11, l. 26. ‘A counte-
nance of gravity’=an appearance of importance.
Countervail, v.¢. To counterbalance, outweigh: p.14,1.15; p. 161,
bt.
*But come what sorrow can,
It cannot countervail the exchange of joy.’
Shakespeare, Rom. and Jul. ii. 6. 4.
Course, ‘ In course’ =in its due order: p. 86, 1. 22.
Cramp in, v.t. To force, press in: p. 199, 1. 11. The modern cram.
Creature, sb. Anything created: p. 110, 1. 13. See Rom. i. 25; viii. 19.
‘The first creature of God, in the workes of the dayes, was the light of
the sense.’ Essay, i. p. 2.
Crossness, sb, Intricacy: p. 250, I. 24.
Cryptic, sb. Concealment: p. 174, 1. 27.
Cumber, sb. Encumbrance: p. 246, 1. 6.
Curiosity, sb. Nicety: p. 32, 1. Io.
‘ Wherefore should I
Stand in the plague of custom, and permit
The curiosity of nations to deprive me.’
Shakespeare, Lear, i. 2. 4.
Curious, adj. Careful to excess, scrupulous, careful, nice: p. 10, 1, 21;
p. 20, l. 32; p. 180, 1.6. Wrought with care: p. 134, l. 30.
‘His body couched in a curious bed.’
Shakespeare, 3 Hen. VI, ii. 5. 53.
Customed, ~.7. Frequented by customers: p. 155, 1. 29.
D.
Decarded, p.p. Discarded: p. 126, 1. 33.
Decayed, ~.p. Brought to decay: p. 72, 1.19. ‘Decay’ is used transi-
tively in Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, i. 5. 82:
‘Infirmity, that decays the wise.’
Decency, sb. Comeliness, propriety: p. 216, ll. 21, 26; p. 219, ll. 4, 5.
‘ Decence: f. Decencie, seemelinesse, comelinesse, handsomenesse,’ Cot-
grave, Fr, Dict. ,
Decent, adj. Becoming, appropriate; p.6,1.19; p. 181, 1.22. ‘In beauty,
that of favour, is more then that of colour, and that of decent and gracious
motion more then that of favour,’ Essay xliii. p. 176.
344 GLOSSARY,
Declination, sb. Decline: p.143, 1.25. ‘And the one of them said, That
to be a secretary, in the declination of a monarchy, was a ticklish me
and that he did not affect it.’ Essay xxii. p. 94.
Deducement, sb. Deduction: p. 225, 1. 6; p. 260, 1. 30.
Defeat, v.¢. To ruin, undo: p. 207,1. 11. ‘ Desfaire. To yndoe; breake,
defeat, discomfit, ouercome; ruine, destroy, ouerthrow.’ Cotgrave, Fr.
Dict.
Deficience, sb. Deficiency: p. 84, ll. 6, 22; p. 118, 1. 33+
Define of. To define: p, He. 1. 28; p. 257, ve
Defunct, sb. A dead man: p. 149, 1. 26.
Degenerate, bp. Degenerated: p. 81,1. 32. ‘ Reduce things, to the
first institution, and observe, wherein, and how, they have degenerate.’
Essay Xi. p. 41.
Degrees, sb. Ranks in society: p. 96, |. 17.
Delectable, adj. Delightful: p es 1.17; p. 89, 1. 24.
‘Making the hard way sweet and delectable.’
Shakespeare, Rich. II. ii. 3. 7.
Delectation, sb. Delight: p. 102, 1. 7. ‘Delectation: f. Delectation,
delight, pleasure, oblectation.’ Cotgrave, Fr. Dict.
Delicacy, sb. Effeminacy: p. 19,1. 14. ‘ Delicatesse: f, Delicacie, dainti-
nesse, tendernesse, nicenesse, wantonnesse, effeminacie; sensualite.’ Cot-
grave, Fr. Dict,
Delicate, adj. Affected, effeminate: p. 28,1. 10.
Deliver, v.¢. To pronounce, communicate, as a message: p. 7, I. 21.
‘The former delivers the precepts of the art; and the latter the perfection,’
Essay xlv. p, 181.
Demand, v.¢. To ask, simply; not as now, to ask with authority or as
aright: p. 85,1. 7. See 2 Sam. xi. 7.
Demonstrate, p.p. Demonstrated: p. 39, ll. 10, II.
Demonstrative, adj. Capable of demonstration, demonstrable: p. 14,
1. 29.
*He sends you this most memorable line,
In every branch truly demonstrative.’
Shakespeare, Hen. V, ii. 4. 89.
Dependences, sb. Dependents: p. 229, l. 7; p. 231, 1. 9; p. 235,
1, 14.
Depeciiae, p.p. Impending: p. 218, 1. 11.
Deplored, p.~. Despaired of: p. 140, 1. 20.
‘Your love, sir, like strong water
To a deplor’d sick man, quicks your feeble limbs
For a poor moment.’
Albumazar, i. 2, (Dodsley’s Old Plays, vii. 115, ed. 1825.)
Depravation, sb. Depreciation, defamation, slander: p. 17, 1. 2
‘Apt, without a theme,
For depravation,’ Shakespeare, ‘Tr, and Cr, v, 2. 132.
Deprave, v.t. To defame, depreciate, disparage: p. 27, 1.25; p. 37,1. 15.
‘If affection lead a man, to favour the lesse worthy in desert, let him
doe it without depraving or disabling the better deserver.’ Essay xlix.
p. 202.
Depredation, sb. A robbing, plundering: p. 106, |. 6,
GLOSSARY, 345
Derivation, sb. Originally, the turning of a stream into another channel:
p. 36, 1. 12, See note.
Derived, p.~. Drawn off, as in channels: p. 259, Il. 9, 17.
Descry, v.t, To observe, discern: p. 71,1. 33; p. 115, 1. 29.
‘Moreover, to desery
The strength o’ the enemy.’ Shakespeare, Lear, iv. 5. 13.
Designation, sb. Appointment: p. 78, ll. 1, 3; p. 83, 1.12; p. 84,1. 4.
Designment, sb. Design: p. 16,1. 1.
‘Served his designments
In mine own person.’ Shakespeare, Coriolanus, v. 6.35. _
Desolate, v.¢. To render desolate: p. 231, 1.8. ‘Desoler. To desolate;
make lonelie, solitary, deavelie, or desart; to deuast, waste extreamely,
tuine vtterly.’ Cotgrave, Fr. Dict. é
Despite, sb. Spite: p. 61, 1. 27.
‘Full of despite, bloody as the hunter.’
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, iii. 4. 243.
Destituted, ~.p. Left destitute, abandoned: p. 129, 1. 31. Bacon uses
‘ destitute’ as a verb in Essay xxxiii. p. 143: ‘It is the sinfullest thing in
the world, to forsake or destitute a plantation, once in forwardnesse.’
- Determinate, adj. Definite: p. 209, 1. 25.
Determination, sb. The solution or decision of a question: p. 173, 1. 7.
It is now used rather in the sense of ‘resolution’ which itself once was
equivalent to ‘solution.’
Devote, adj. Devoted: p. 42, 1. 8.
Dexteriously, adv, Dexterously: p. 214, 1. 32. This is the form of the
word in the editions of 1605, 1629, 1633, and in Shakespeare, Twelfth
Night, i. 5. 66: * Dexteriously, good madonna,’ In p. 240,1. 15, the word
is spelt as usual.
Diascordium, sb. P. 140,1. 32. See note.
Dictature, sb. Office of dictator, dictatorship: p. 65, 1. 33.
Difference, sb, A distinguishing mark, a badge: p. 4,1. 14; p. 47,1. 4.
In heraldry a difference is ‘a figure added to a coat of arms to distinguish
the persons or families who bear the same arms, and to indicate their
nearness to the original bearer.’ (Webster, Dict.) Hence, in Shakespeare,
Hamil. iv. 5. 183; ‘O you must wear your rue with a difference’; and,
Much Ado, i. 1, 69; ‘Let him bear it for a difference between himself
and his horse.
Differing, adj. Different: p. 10, 1. 25; p. 28, 1. 33, &c.
Difficile, adj. Difficult: p. 217, 1. 10. ‘ Difficile: com. Difficile, difficult ;
hard, vneasie, troublesome, intricate, painefull, almost impossible.’ Cot-
grave, Fr. Dict.
Digested, ~.p. Arranged: p. 154, 1. 28. ‘We have cause to be glad
that matters are so well digested.’ Shakespeare, Ant. and Cl. ii. 2. 179.
Digladiation, sb. Literally, a combat with swords; hence, a quarrel or
controversy: p. 33, 1. 20.
Dilatation, sb. Dilation, expanded description: p. 117, 1. 32.
Dilute, adj. Diluted; and so, feeble: p. 260, 1. 16.
Disable, v.¢. Literally, to disqualify; then, to pronounce disqualified, to
disparage: p. 13, l. 7; p. 153, 1. 32; p. 176, 1. 32. Comp. Shakespeare,
As You Like It, v. 4. 80; ‘He disabled my judgement.’
346- GLOSSARY.
Disallowed, p.p. Disapproved: p. 27,1.13; p. 41, 1.31. See 1 Pet.
a 4:7."
Discern, v.¢. To distinguish between, recognize: p. 136, 1. 20. ‘To
discern of’: p. 203, 1. 18. Comp. ‘accept of,’ ‘ define of.’
Discharge, sb. The phrase ‘ discharge of cares’ signifies delivery from the
charge or burden of cares: p. 77, 1. 20.
Discharged, p.p. Dismissed, got rid of: p. 187, 1. 30.
Disclaim in. To disclaim all share in, renounce: p. 73, 1. 15. ‘You
cowardly rascal, nature disclaims in thee: a tailor made thee.’ Shake-
speare, Lear, ii. 2. 59.
Discontents, sb. Causes of disaffection: p. 58, 1. 23.
‘His discontents are unremoveably
Coupled to nature.’ Shakespeare, Tim. of Ath. v. 2, 227. —
Discontinuation, sb. A solution of continuity: p. 139, 1. 11.
Discourse of reason. The power of inferring one thing from another;
the reasoning faculty, as distinguished from reason: p. 28, 1, 13. Com-
pare Shakespeare, Haml. i. 2. 150:
‘A beast, that wants discourse of reason,
Would have mourn’d longer,’
And Troilus and Cressida, ii. 2. 116:
‘Or is your blood
So madly hot that no discourse of reason
Nor fear of bad success in a bad cause,
Can qualify the same?’
Shakespeare uses ‘ discourse’ alone in the same sense, Haml. iv. 4. 36:
‘Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gaye us not
That capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unused.’
Discoursing, adj. Discursive, shifting: p. 119, 1. 9. The figure is
evidently taken from a sandbank, See p, 120, Il. 1-5.
Discover, v.¢. To uncover, lay bare: p. 9, 1.10, Comp. Ps. xxix. 9. .
Disesteem, v.t. To depreciate, undervalue: p. 20, 1. 28. ‘ Disestimer. To
disesteeme, neglect, contemne, set naught by, make no reckoning of.’
Cotgrave, Fr. Dict.
Disguisement, sb. A disguising, disguise: p. 123, I. 19.
Disincorporate, adj. Disincorporated, dissevered: p. 258, I. 32.
Dismantled, p. p. Unmasked, stripped of disguise: p. 238, 1.19, Com-
pare Shakespeare, Lear, i, I. 220:
SD RAG Pee {his ico gl reh bap gie fra oe
. « + « Should in this trice of time
Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle
So many folds of favour.’
Dispose, v.¢. To arrange: p. 44, l. 23; p. 81, 1. 25.
Disposition, sb. Arrangement: p. 44, 1. 27. Of studies, says Bacon,
their chief use ‘for ability, is in the iudgement and disposition of busi-
nesse.”’ Essay 1. p. 204.
Distaste, sb. Disgust: p. 8, 1. 8. ‘ Prosperity is not without many feares
and distastes.’ Essay v. p. 17.
Distemper, v.t. To derange, disorder: p. 134, 1. 28, * The malignancy
GLOSSARY. 347
of my fate might perhaps distemper yours.’ Shakespeare, Twelfth Night,
ae oe
Distinguish, 2.7. To assert distinctly, decide: p. 166, 1. 3.
Disvalued, p.p. Depreciated: p. 237, l. 3.
‘But in chief
For that her reputation was disvalued
In levity” Shakespeare, Meas. for Meas. v. I. 221.
Divers, adj. Different; and so, several: p. 25, 1. 32; p. 85,1. 31. ‘For
indeed, every sect of them, hath a divers posture, or cringe by themselves.’
Essay iii. p. 9.
Diverse, adj. Different: p. 39, 1. 27; p. 85, 1. 15.
Divination, sb. Foretelling of future events: p. 87,1. 25. ‘ Diuination,
or Southsaying, & telling things by coniecture. Mantice.’ Baret,
Alvearie.
Divulsion, sb. A tearing asunder: p. 189, 1. 13. ‘ Divulsion: f. A divul-
sion, or pulling vp; also, a cutting, section, or division.’ Cotgrave,
Fr. Dict.
Dogmatical, sb. Dogmatical statement, dogma: p. 152, l. 30.
Dolor, sb. Grief, suffering: p. 140, 1. 5. ‘A minde fixt, and bent upon
somewhat, that is good, doth avert the dolors of death.’ Essay ii. p. 7.
Domestical, adj. Domestic: p. 223, 1.16. ‘Domestique: com. Domes-
ticall, housall, of our household.’ Cotgrave, Fr. Dict.
Donative, sb. A gift, largess: p. 48, 1.14; p. 71,11. ‘For their men
of warre; it is a dangerous state, where they live and remaine in a body,
and are used to donatives,’ Essay xix, p. 81.
Dotation, sb. Endowment: p. 79, |. 1.
Doubt, v.i. To hesitate through fear, and then, to fear: p, 16,1. 28;
p. 26, 1. 8.
‘I doubt some danger does approach you nearly.’
Shakespeare, Macb. iv. 2. 67.
Droumy, adj. Turbid: p. 246, 1.16. Halliwell (Arch. and Prov. Dict.)
gives the word as a Devonshire provincialism, Chaucer uses ‘ drovy.’
Drown, v.i, To be drowned: p. 92, 1. 27.
Drowth, sb. Drought: p. 151, 1. 23. Compare Pericles, iii, Gower, 8.
Dulceness, sb, Sweetness, p. 238, |. 21.
E.
Easiliest, adv. Most easily: p. 41, l. 29.
Eestasy, sb. A trance: p. 145, 1. 24.
Cicero’s Philippic Orations. With Notes. By J. R. King,
M.A., formerly Fellow and Tutor of Merton College, Oxford. Demy 8vo,
cloth, 10s. 6d.
Cicero. Select Letters. With English Introductions,
Notes, and Appendices. By Albert Watson, M.A., Fellow and Lecturer of
Brasenose College, Oxford. Second Edition. Demy 8vo, céloth, 18s,
Cicero. Select Letters (Text). By the same Editor.
Extra fcap. 8vo, cloth, 45.
Cicero pro Cluentio. With Introduction and Notes. By
W. Ramsay, M.A. Edited et G. G. Ramsay, M,A., Professor of Humanity,
Glasgow. Ext. fcap, 8vo. cloth, 3s. 6d.
Cicero de Oratore. With Introduction and Notes. By
A. S. Wilkins, M.A., Professor of Latin, Owens College, Manchester.
Catulli Veronensis Liber. Recognovit, apparatum criticum
prolegomena appendices addidit, Robinson Ellis, A.M. 1867. 8vo, cloth, 16s.
Catulli Veronensis Carmina Selecta, secundum recog-
nitionem Robinson Ellis, A.M. Extra fcap, 8vo. cloth, 3s. 6d.
Ovid. Selections for the use of Schools. With Introduc-
tions and Notes, and an Appendix on the Roman Calendar. By W. Ramsay,
M.A. Edited by G. G. Ramsay, M.A., Professor of Humanity, Glasgow. Second
Edition, Ext. fcap. 8vo, cloth, 55. 6d,
Horace. With Introductions and Notes. By Edward C.
Wickham, M.A., Head Master of Wellington College,
Vol. I. The Odes, Carmen Seculare, and Epodes. Demy 8vo, cloth, 12s.
Also a small edition for Schools.
Persius. The Satires. With a Translation and Com-
mentary. By John Conington, M.A., late Corpus Professor of Latin in the
University of Oxford, Edited by H. Nettleship, M.A. 8vo. cloth, 75,6.
Selections from the less known Latin Poets. By North
Pinder, M.A. Demy 8vo. cloth, 155.
Clarendon Press Series. | 7
\
Fragments and Specimens of Early Latin. With Intro-
duction and Notes. pa ee) Wordsworth, M.A., Tutor of Brasenose College,
Oxford, Demy 8vo. cloth, 18s.
A Manual of Comparative Philology, as applied to the
Illustration of Greek and Latin Inflections. By T. L. Papillon, M.A., Fellow
of New College. Crown 8vo., cloth, 6s.
The Roman Poets of the Augustan Age. By William
outs Pear M.A., Professor of Humanity in the University of Edinburgh,
nw ESS,
The Roman Poets of the Republic. By the same
Editor. Preparing.
The Ancient Languages of Italy. By Theodore Aufrecht,
Phil. Dect, Preparing.
A Greek Primer, in English, for the use of beginners. By
the Right Rev. Charles Wordsworth, D.C.L., Bishop of St. Andrews. Fourth
Edition. Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 1s. 6d.
Greek Verbs, Irregular and Defective; their forms,
meaning, and quantity ; embracing all the Tenses used y Greek writers, with
reference to the passages in which they are found, By W. Veitch. New
Edition, Crown 6vo, cloth, tos. 6d.
The Elements of Greek Accentuation (for Schools):
abridged from his larger work by H. W. Chandler, M.A., Waynflete Professor
of Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy, Oxford, Ext. fcap, 8vo. cloth, 2s. 6a.
A Series of Graduated Greek Readers. *
First Greek Reader. In Preparation,
Second Greek Reader. In Preparation,
Third Greek Reader. In Preparation.
Fourth Greek Reader; being Specimens of Greek
Dialects. With Introductions and Notes, By W. W. Merry, M.A., Fellow
and Lecturer of Lincoln College. Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 4s. 6d,
Fifth Greek Reader. Part I, Selections from Greek Epic
and Dramatic Poetry, with Introductions and Notes. By Evelyn Abbott, M.A.,
Fellow and Tutor of Balliol College. Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 4s. 6d,
Part II. By the same Editor, Jn Preparation.
Xenophon. Selections (for Schools). With Notes and
Maps. By J.S. Phillpotts, B.C.L., Head Master of Bedford School.
Part I. Second Edition. Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 3s. 6d.
Part II. By the same Editor, and C, S. Jerram, M.A., Trinity College,
Oxford. Nearly ready.
Arrian. Selections (for Schools). With Notes. By J. S.
Phillpotts, B.C.L., Head Master of Bedford School,
8 Clarendon Press Series.
The Golden Treasury of Ancient Greek Poetry; being a
Collection of the finest es in the Greek Classic Poets, with Introducto
| Notices and Notes. By R. € Wright, M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, Ox ‘
Ext. feap. 8vo. cloth, 8s. 6a.
A Golden Treasury of Greek Prose; being a Collection of
the finest passages in the principal Greek Prose Writers, with Introductory
Notices and Notes. By R. S. Wright, M.A., and J. E. L. Shadwell, M.A.
Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 4s. 6d.
Aristotle’s Polities. By W. L. Newman, M.A., Fellow
of Balliol College, Oxford.
Demosthenes and Aeschines. The Orations on the
Crown. With Introductory Essays and Notes. By G..A. Simcox, M.A., and
W. H. Simcox, M.A. Demy 8vo. cloth, 125. .
Theocritus (for Schools). With Notes. By H. Kynaston,
ee Snow,) M.A., Head Master of Cheltenham College. Second Edition,
fcap. 8vo, cloth, 45. 6a.
Homer. Iliad. By D. B. Monro, M.A., Fellow and Tutor
of Oriel College, Oxford.
Also a smaller edition for Schools.
Homer. Odyssey, Book II. With Introduction, Notes,
and Table of Homeric Forms. By W.W.M , M.A., Fellow and Lecturer
of Lincoln College, Oxford. Ext. ficap. 8vo. cloth, 1s. 6d.
Homer. Odyssey, Books I-XII (for Schools). By W. W.
if hog Fellow and Lecturer of Lincoln College, Oxford. Fourth Edition,
Ext. feap. 8vo. cloth, 4s. 6d.
Homer. Odyssey, Books I-XIHI. By W. W. Merry, M.A.,
Fellow and Lecturer of Lincoln College, Oxford; and the late James Riddell
M.A., Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. J the Press.
Homer. Odyssey, Books XIII-XXIV. By Robinson Ellis,
M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford.
Plato. Selections (for Schools). With Notes. By B. Jowett,
M.A., Regius Professor of Greek ; and J. Purves, M.A., Fellow and Lecturer
of Balliol College, Oxford.
Sophocles. The Plays and Fragments. With English Notes
and Introductions. By Lewis Campbell, M.A., Professor of Greek, St. Andrews,
formerly Fellow of Queen’s College, Oxford.
Vol. I. Oedipus Tyrannus. Oedipus Coloneus. Antigone. 8vo. cloth, 14s.
Sophocles. The Text of the Seven Plays. For the use of
Students in the University of Oxford, By the same Editor. Ext. fcap. 8vo.
cloth, 45. 6d.
Sophocles. In Single Plays, with English Notes, &c. By
Lewis Campbell, M.A., Professor of Greek, St, Andrews, and Evelyn Abbott,
M.A., Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. t
Oedipus Tyrannus. Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 1s. 9d.
Oedipus Coloneus. Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 1s. od.
Antigone. Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 1s. 9d.
Ajax, Ext. feap. 8vo. cloth, os.
Sophocles. Oedipus Rex: Dindorf’s Text, with Notes by
the present Bishop of St. David’s. Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth, 1s, 6d.
y
Clarendon Press Series. 9
II. MENTAL AND MORAL PHILOSOPHY.
The Elements of Deductive Logic, designed mainly for
the use of Junior Students in the Universities. By T. Fowler, M.A., Fellow
and Tutor of Lincoln College, Oxford. Fifth Edition, with a Collection of
Examples, Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 35. 6d.
The Elements of Inductive Logic, designed mainly for
the use of Students in the Universities. By the same Author. Second Edition.
Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 6s. .
Selections from Berkeley. With an Introduction and Notes.
For the use of Students in the Universities, By Alexander Campbell Fraser,
LL.D., Professor of Logic and Metaphysids in the University of Edinburgh.
Crown 8vo. cloth, 75. 6d.
A Manual of Political Heonomy, for the use of Schools.
By J. E. Thorold Rogers, M.A., formerly Professor of Political Economy,
Oxford. Second Edition, Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 4s. 6d.
III. MATHEMATICS, &c.
Figures made Easy: a first Arithmetic Book. (Intro-
ductory to ‘The Scholar's Arithmetic.’) By Lewis ery M.A., formerly
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Crown 8vo. cloth, 6d.
Answers to the Examples in Figures made Easy.
By the same Author, Crown 8vo. cloth, 1s,
The Scholar’s Arithmetic. By the same Author. Crown
8vo. cloth, 4s. 6a. :
The Scholar’s Algebra, By the same Author. Crown 8vo.
cloth, 4s. 6d.
Book-keeping. By R. G. C. Hamilton, Financial Assistant
Secretary to the Board of Trade, and John Ball (of the Firm of Quilter, Ball,
& Co.). Co-Examiners in Book-keeping for the Society of Arts. New and
enlarged Edition. Ext. fcap. 8vo. dimep cloth, 2s.
A Course of Lectures on Pure Geometry. By Henry J.
Stephen Smith, M.A., F.R.S., Fellow of Corpus Christi College, and Savilian
Professor of Geometry in the University of Oxford.
Acoustics. By W. F. Donkin, M.A., F.R.S., Savilian Pro-
fessor of Astronomy, Oxford. Crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d.
A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. By J. Clerk
Maxwell, M.A.,F.R.S., Professor of Experimental Physics in the University
of Cambridge. 2vols. Demy 8vo. cloth, 1Z. 118. 6d.
An Elementary Treatise on the same subject. By the
same Author. Preparing.
IV. HISTORY.
Select Charters and other Illustrations of English
Constitutional History from the Earliest Times to the reign of Edward I.-
By W. Stubbs, M.A., a Professor of Modern History, Oxford, Second
Edition. Crown 8yo. cloth, 8s. 6d.
10 Clarendon Press Series.
A Constitutional History of England. By W.Stubbs, M.A.,
Regius Professor of Modern History, Oxford. Vols. I. and If, Crown 8vo.
cloth, each 12s.
Genealogical Tables illustrative of Modern History.
By H. B, George, M.A. New Edition, Revised and Corrected. Small 4to.
cloth, 12s. :
A History of France, down to the year 1453. With
numerous Maps, Plans, and Tables. By G. W. Kitchin, M.A., formerly Censor
of Christ Church. Crown 8vo. cloth, 10s. 6d.
Vols. II and III, From 1453-1789. By the same Author. Jv: the Press.
A Manual of Ancient History. By George Rawlinson,
M.A,, Camden Professor of Ancient History, Oxford. Demy 8vo. cloth, 14s.
A History of Germany and of the Empire, down to the
close of the Middle Ages. By J. Bryce, D.C.L., Regius Professor of Civil
Law, Oxford,
A History of British India, By S. J. Owen, M.A., Tutor
and Reader in Law and Modern History, Christ Church,
A History of Greece. By E, A. Freeman, M.A., formerly
Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford.
Selections from the Wellesley Despatches. Edited by
S. J. Owen, M.A., Tutor and Reader in Law and Modern History, Christ
Church. Jv the Press.
Vv. LAW.
Elements of Law considered with reference to Principles
of General Jurisprudence. By William Markby, M.A., Judge of the High
Court of Judicature, Calcutta. Second Edition, with Supplement. Crown 8vo.
cloth, 75. 6d.
An Introduction to the History of the Law of Real
Property, with Original Authorities. By Kenelm E, Digby, M. A., formerly
Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Crown 8vo. cloth, 75, 6d.
Gaii Institutionum Juris Civilis Commentarii Quatuor;
or, Elements of Roman Law by Gaius. With a Translation and Commentary.
By Edward Poste, M.A., Barrister-at-Law, and Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford,
Second Edition. 8vo. cloth, 18s.
The Institutes of Justinian, edited as a Recension of the
Institutes of Gaius. By Thomas Erskine Holland, B.C.L., Chichele Professor
of International Law and Diplomacy, and formerly Fellow of Exeter College,
Oxford. Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth, 55,
The Elements of Jurisprudence. By the same Editor.
Select Titles from the Digest of Justinian. By T. E.
Holland, B.C.L., Chichele Professor of International Law and Diplomacy, and
formerly Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, and C. L. Shadwell, B.C.L.,
Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. /# Parts.
Part I. Introductory Titles. 8vo. sewed, 2s. 6d.
Part II. Family Law. 8vo. sewed, ts.
Part Ill. Property Law. 8vo. sewed, 2s. 6d.
Clarendon Press Series. II
VI, PHYSICAL SCIENCE,
Descriptive Astronomy. A Handbook for the General
Reader, and also for practical Observatory work. With 2e4 illustrations and
numerous tables, By G. F, Chambers, F.R.A.S., Barrister-at-Law. Demy 8vo.
856 pp., cloth, 12. 18.
Chemistry for Students. By A. W. Williamson, Phil.
Doc., F.R S., Professor of Chemistry, University College, London. 4 new
Edition, with Solutions. Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 8s. 6d.
A Treatise on Heat, with numerous Woodcuts and Dia-
ams. By Balfour Stewart, LL.D., F.R.S., Professor of Physics, Owens
ollege, Manchester. Third Edition, Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 7s. 6d.
Forms of Animal Life. By G. Rolleston, M.D., F.R.S.,
Linacre Professor of Physiology, Oxford. Illustrated by Descriptions and
Drawings of Dissections. Demy 8vo. cloth, 16s.
Exercises in Practical Chemistry. By A. G. Vernon
Harcourt, M.A., F.R.S., Senior Student of Christ Church, and Lee’s Reader
in Chemistry ; and H. G. Madan, M.A., Fellow of Queen’s College, Oxford.
Series I. Qualitative Exercises. Second Edition, Crown 8vo. cloth, 75. 6d.
Series II. Quantitative Exercises,
Geology of Oxford and the Valley of the Thames. .
By John Phillips, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Geology, Oxford. 8vo. cloth, 12. 15.
Crystallography. By M. H. N. Story-Maskelyne, M.A.,
Professor of Mineralogy, Oxford ; and Deputy Keeper in the Department of
Minerals, British Museum, J the Press,
VII. ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.
A First Reading Book. By Marie Eichens of Berlin; and
edited by Anne J. Clough, Ext. fcap. 8vo. stiff covers, 4d.
Oxford Reading Book, Part I. For Little Children.
Ext, fcap. 8vo. sti covers, 6d.
Oxford Reading Book, Part II. For Junior Classes.
Ext. feap. 8vo. stiff covers, 6d. :
On the Principles of Grammar. By E. Thring, M.A.,
Head Master of Uppingham School. Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 4s. 6d.
Grammatical Analysis, designed to serve as an Exercise
and Composition Book in the English Language. By E. Thring, M.A., Head
Master of Uppingham School. Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 3s. 6d.
An English Grammar and Reading Book, for Lower
Forms in Classical Schools, By O. W. Tancock, M.A., Assistant Master of
Sherborne School. Second Edition, Ext, fcap. 8vo. cloth, 3s. 6d.
Specimens of Early English. A New and Revised Edi-
tion. With Introduction, Notes, and Glossarial Index. By R. Morris, LL.D.
and W. W, Skeat, M.A,
PartI. Jn the Press.
Part II. From Robert of Gloucester to Gower (A.D, 1298 to A.D. 1393). Ext.
fcap. 8vo. cloth, 75. 6d.
12. Clarendon Press Series.
Specimens of English Literature, from the ‘ Ploughmans
Crede’ to the foyer Calender’ (A.D. 1394 to A.D. 1579). With Intro-
oe 2 aad and Glossarial Index. By W. W. SKeat,M.A. Ext. fcap. 8vo,
ra 7S.
The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman,
by William Langland. Edited, with Notes, by W. W. Skeat, M.A. Second
dition, Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 4s. 6d,
Chaucer. The Prioresses Tale; Sire Thopas; The
Monkes Tale ; The Clerkes Tale; The Squieres Tale, &c. Edited by W. W.
Skeat, M.A., Editor of Piers the Plowman. Ext, fcap. 8vo. cloth, 4s. 6d.
Chaucer. The Man of Law’s Tale; The Pardoner’s
Tale; The Second Nun’s Tale; Lhe Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale; &c. By the
same Editor. Nearly ready,
Shakespeare. Hamlet. Edited by W. G. Clark, M.A., and
W. Aldis Wright, M.A. Extra fcap. 8vo. stiff covers, 25.
Shakespeare. The Tempest. Edited by W. Aldis Wright,
M.A. Extra fcap. 8vo. stiff covers, 1s. 6d.
Shakespeare. King Lear. By the same Editor. Ext. feap.
8vo. stiff covers, 1s. 6d.
Shakespeare. As You Like It. By the same Editor.
Nearly ready. (For other Plays, see page 15.)
‘Milton. Areopagitica. With Introduction and Notes. By
J. W. Hales, M.A. Extra fcap, 8vo. clot, 35.
Addison. Selections from Papers in the Spectator. With
Notes. By T. Arnold, M.A., University College. Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth, 4s. 6a.
The Philology of the English Tongue. By J. Earle,
M.A., formerly Fellow of Oriel College, and Professor of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford.
Second Edition. Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 7s. 6d.
Typical Selections from the best English Writers, with
Bee oductory Notices. Second Edition, in Two Volumes. Extra fcap. 8vo.
cloth. Sold separately, 3s. 6d. each. ‘
Vol. I. Latimer to Berkeley. Vol. II. Pope to Macaulay.
Specimens of Lowland Scotch and Northern English,
By J. A.H. Murray. Preparing.
See also XII. below for other English Classics.
VIII. FRENCH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE,
Brachet’s Historical Grammar of the French Language.
Translated by G. W. Kitchin, M.A. 7hird Edition. Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 35, 6d.
An Etymological Dictionary of the French Language, with
a Preface on the Principles of French Etymology. By A. Brachet, Translated
by G. W. Kitchin, M.A. Crown 8vo. cloth, tos.
Clarendon Press Series. —
Corneille’s Cinna, and Moliére’s Les Femmes Savantes.
Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by Gustave Masson. Ext. fcap. 8vo.
cloth, 2s. 6d.
Racine’s Andromaque, and Corneille’s Le Menteur. With
Lares Racine’s Life of his Father. By the same Editor. Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth.
2s. 7.
Moliére’s Les Fourberies de Scapin, and Racine’s Athalie.
shea Voltaire’s Life of Molitre, By the same Editor, Ext. fcap, 8vo. cloth,
2s. .
Selections from the Correspondence of Madame de Sévigné
and her chief Contemporaries. Intended more especially for Girls’ Schools.
By the same Editor. Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 3s.
Selections from Modern Writers. By the same Editor.
Ext. feap. 8vo. cloth, 2s, 6d.
Regnard’s Le goucur, and Brueys and Palaprat’s Le
Grondeur. With Notes. By the same Editor, Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 2s. 6d.
Louis XIV and his Contemporaries; as described in
Extracts from the best Memoirs of the Seventeenth Century. With English
Agere Genealogical Tables, etc. By the same Editor, Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth,
2s. 6d,
Ix. GERMAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE,
New German Method. In Four Vols. By Hermann Lange,
Teacher of Modern Languages, Manchester.
Vol. I. The Germans at Home. 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. “Fust Published,
Vols. II, and III. The German Manual. J the Press.
Vol. IV. German Composition, J# Preparation.
Goethe’s Egmont. With a Life of Goethe, &c. By C.A.
Buchheim, Phil. Doc., Professor in King’s College, London; sometime Exa-
miner to the University of London. Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth, 3s.
Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell. With a Life of Schiller; an histo-
rical and critical Introduction, Arguments, and a complete Commentary. By
the same Editor. Second Edition, Ext. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 3s. 6d.
Lessing’s Minna von Barnhelm. A Comedy. With a Life
of Lessing, Critical Analysis, Complete Commentary, &c. By the same Editor,
Ext. feap. 8vo. cloth, 3s. 6d.
Goethe’s Iphigenie auf Tauris. A Drama, With a
Critical Introduction, Arguments to the Acts, and a complete Commentary.
By the same Editor. J Preparation.
Selections from the Poems of Schiller and Goethe. By
the same Editor. J Preparation.
Becker’s (K. F.) Friedrich der Grosse. By the same
Editor. Jn Preparation.
Egmont’s Leben und Tod, and Belagerung von Ant-
werpen by Schiller, By the same Editor. J Preparation,
=
14 Clarendon Press Series,
X. ART, &. 4
A Handbook of Pictorial Art. By R. St. J. Tyrwhitt,
M.A., form: Student and Tutor of Christ Pcie) Oxford. With coloured
Illustrations, poroasapes, and a chapter on Perspective by A. Macdonald,
Second Edition. 8vo. half morocco, 18s.
A Treatise on Harmony. By Sir F. A. Gore Ouseley,
Bart., M.A., Mus. Doc., Professor of Music in the University of Oxford. Second
Edition. 4to. cloth, 10S.
A Treatise on Counterpoint, Canon, and Fugue, based
upon that of Cherubini. By the same Author. 4to. cloth, 16s.
A Treatise on Musical Form, and General Compo-
sition. By the same Author, 4to. cloth, 105,
A Music Primer for Schools. By J. Troutbeck, M.A.,,
and R. F, Dale, M.A., B. Mus. Second Edition, Crown 8vo, cloth, ts, 6d.
The Cultivation of the Speaking Voice. By John Hullah.
Second Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth, 2s. 6d.
XI. MISCELLANEOUS.
Text-Book of Botany, Morphological and Physio-
logical. By Dr. Julius Sachs, Professor of Botany in the University of Wiirzburg.
Translated by A. W. ieee M.A., Lecturer on_ Botany, St. Thomas's
Hospital, assisted by W. T. Thiselton Dyer, M.A., Ch. Ch., Oxford, Royal
8vo. half morocco, 315. 6d.
Dante. Selections from the Inferno, With Introduction
and Notes. By H. B. Cotterill,-B.A., Assistant Master in Haileybury College,
Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth, 4s. 6d.
Tasso. a Gerusalemme Liberata. Cantos I, II. By
the same Editor, Extra fcap. 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d.
A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, By
S. R. Driver, M.A., Fellow of New College. Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth, 6s. 6a.
Outlines of Textual Criticism applied to the New Testa-
ment. By C. E. Hammond, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Exeter College,
Oxford. ‘Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth, 35. 6d,
The Modern Greek Language in its relation to Ancient
Greek, By E, M. Geldart, B.A., formerly Scholar of Balliol College, Oxford,
Extr. fcap. 8vo. cloth, 45. 6d.
A System of Physical Education: Theoretical and Prac-
tical, By Archibald Maclaren, The Gymnasium, Oxford. Extra fcap, 8vo,
cloth, 7s. 6a,
=
+
Clarendon Press Series. 15
XII. A SERIES OF ENGLISH CLASSICS,
Designed to meet the wants of Students in English
Literature: under the superintendence of the Rev. J. S.
B
REWER, M.A., of Queen’s College, Oxford, and Professor
of English Literature at King’s College, London.
It is especially hoped that this Series may prove useful to
Ladies’ Schools and Middle Class Schools ; in which English
Literature must always be a leading subject of instruction.
A General Introduction to the Series. By Professor
Brewer, M.A,
=
°
be
>
Chaucer. The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales; The
Knightes Tale; The Nonne Prestes Tale. Edited by R. Morris Editor for
the Early eogien Text Society, &c., &c. Sixth Edition, Extra fcap. 8vo,
cloth,2s. 6d. See also p, 12.
Spenser’s Faery Queene. Books I and II. Designed
chiefly for the use of Schools. With Introduction, Notes, and Glossary. By
G. W. Kitchin, M.A., formerly Censor of Christ Church,
Book I. LZighth Edition, Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth, 2s. 6d.
Book II, Third Edition, Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth, 2s. 6d.
Hooker. Ecclesiastical Polity, Book I. Edited by R. W.
Church, M.A., Dean of St. Paul's, formerly Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.
Second Edition, Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth, 2s.
Shakespeare. Select Plays. Edited by W. G. Clark,
M.A,, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; and W. Aldis Wright, M.A.,
Trinity College, Cambridge. Extra fcap. 8vo. stiff covers.
I. The Merchant of Venice. 1s.
II. Richard the Second. 1s. 6d.
III. Macbeth. 1s. 6d, (For other Plays, see p. 12.)
Bacon. :
I, Advancement of Learning. Edited by W. Aldig Wright, M.A. Second
Edition, Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth, 4s. 6d.
Il. The Essays. With Introduction and Notes. By J. R. Thursfield, M.A.,
Fellow and Tutor of Jesus College, Oxford.
«26 Clarendon Press Sertes.
6. Milton. Poems. Edited by R. C. Browne, M.A., and
Associate 3! King’s College, London 2 vols. Fourth Edition, Ext. fcap. 8vo, - {
» 6S.
Sold separately, Vol. f. 4s., Vol. Il. 35,
4. Dryden. Stanzas on the Death of Oliver Cromwell;
Astraea Redux; Annus Mirabilis; Absalom and Achitophel ; Trai c Laicl ;
The Hind and the Panther. Edited by W. D. Chris hristic, M.A. ollege,
Cambridge. Second Edition, Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth, 35. 6d.
8. Bunyan. The Pilgrim’s Progress; Grace Abounding.
Edited by E. Venables, M.A., Canon of Lincoln, Jz the Press,
9. Pope. With Introduction and Notes. By Mark Pattison,
B.D., Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford.
I. Essayon Man. Fifth Edition, Extra fcap. 8vo. stiff covers, 1s. 6a,
Il. Satires and Epistles. Second Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. stif/ covers, 2s.
10. Johnson. Rasselas; Lives of Pope and Dryden, Edited
by T. Arnold, M.A. University College. Preparing.
11. Burke. Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by E. J.
Payne, M.A., Fellow of Dniversity College, Oxford.
L age on the Present Discontents; the Two Speeches on America,
Second Editton. Extra fcap. Byo. cloth, 4s. 6d.
IL Sek tces ou the French Revolution, Extra feap. 8vo. cloth, 5s,
12. Cowper. Edited, with Life, Introductions, and Notes,
by H. T. Griffith, B.A., formerly Scholar of Pembroke College, Oxford.
I. The Didactic Poems of 1782, with Selections from the Minor Pieces,
A.D. 1779-1783. Ext. fcap. 8vo, cloth, 35.
Ii. The Task, with Tirocinium, and Selections from the Minor Poems,
A.D. 1784-1799. Ext. fcap., 8vo. cloth, 35.
Published for the University by
MACMILLAN AND CO,, LONDON,
The Detecares oF THE Press invite suggestions and advice
from all persons interested in education; and will be thankful
for hints, d&c., addressed to the SECRETARY TO THE DELEGATES,
Clarendon Press, Oxford.
ey
- a ae
je -s- 73 BAER E we ome om Se
BS shis SS ae SR hee NS ee See Sewer eS Ee a ay
B Bacon, Francis
1191 The advancement of
W7 learning ed ed.
1880
COper
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
Lae as npn ear oe — i
SENT OES AE e =< : eh ee ore c
Slap iebitrg pt yes ~
Pe i Le Ve
a= ae
aan ene fone en
te
eomeeelinnr ee ae te
paneer ere pore
ee rd eae eetaane
ener peta ty OT Oe
ieee i ye ane oan bade
pep ng enn sto
eo" a
ah rthae Reimar, bo aman ee ee —
eg a ae rere ete A
en aan a ape ey ee ee Sd NE
—
i pa aR eS RI fe LT ol esi
ane Re
Sn a eg reer es ie Se VOTRE ROG Oe
~ SS ees ee
ronan oer omen, ohne nN
een poten at le ae Pe CT
=
onan
tn e-
oe bei, 3 — po
Sette ntera dat oe ama Oe ee yee
faba loeere decent meee renee = ph 8
Oe rth ont =P aah \é x ha
ee ~ a caeene : “ arret a
mpc shana PUNT STF OS eee eee 4 r
ee onsite cen Onmeen Mea ae per ens
= a %,
Sas pine pare reiney ToT) :
pT prt serve ois nae Bie ie TIT te prance teeters
$3 os + > ~
pot ae nnn EY = ne an > r
; vn pos Loh +e nh a ow magi mma | : ‘ a
ae iormenpag marae Se yan wn ara = ns ated nig Sante Ihsan aerewinaens oar >
a : er tnenhreereries rene : ma - poet
= wha - eee ed ae 4 a ha marke vine = eae fe wee : oe ee rhs
capone | epee eee ee EN pase = ~ ne nerergr
or Seite palin sacha remee eat tetra ent ; pet heiress cnonnibowedopepes teanaacanien
plete actor umes Peeaeroaeene teen ahee atthe may old TIES Sone
= 5 : :
Faenwe pote ooee re pense Sepia ce teat cde aces es ae
teat a aettmsivep ap msecem
Eaioesre
1 he hm Ns Pte Ay
7 ne Here TA beers er he
ame re ame
ma ize
periricterrtcentiiss
as roe ns a
og cw eke eee
ree -
YO a Se nce etnies SPE CLP cee
See can ee ede, dine a, eee coal ard dade, 20 telat