The two books of Francis, lord Verulam. Of the proficience and advancement of learning, divine and human

Preface

Francis Bacon, the youngest son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, counsellor to Queen Elizabeth, and lord keeper of the great seal, and of Anne, the learned daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, tutor to King Edward the Sixth, was born at York House in the Strand, on the 2 c 2nd day of January, 1560.

H Whilst he was commorant in the univerity," says his faithful secretary*, " 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 worthlesnesse " of the authour, to whom he would ever ascribe " all high attributes, but for the unfruitfulnesse of " the way ; being a philosophy, as his lordship used " to say, onely strong for disputations and con- " tentions, but barren of the production of works " for the benefit of the life of Man." Such were his sentiments when a youth at Cambridgea " As the time of sowing the seed may be known, but " the time of coming up and disclosing is casual or " according to the season," so the time of declaring these opinions was subjected to much uncertainty. In the year 1592, he says, in a letter to his relation, Lord Treasurer Burleigh — " I confess, that I have as * Dr. Rawley, Life of Bacon.

IV PREFACE.

" vast contemplative ends, as I have moderate civil " ends; for I have taken all knowledge to be my " province ; and if I could purge it of two sorts " of rovers, whereof the one with frivolous dispu- " tations, confutations, and verbosities ; the other " with blind experiments, and auricular traditions " and impostures, hath committed so many spoils ; " I hope I should bring in industrious observations, " grounded conclusions, and profitable inventions ". and discoveries, the best state of that province. u This, whether it be. curiosity, or vain glory, or " nature, or (if one take it favourably) Philanthro- " pia, is so fixed in my mind, as it cannot be re- " moved."

After the lapse of twelve more years, the time arrived when a favourable opportunity presented itself to the mind of Lord Bacon for the publication of his Philosophy. A time, indeed, which always existed, but for the desire by which this great man seems to have been too much influenced to accelerate the advancement of knowledge, by reserving its communication to times and circumstances which he supposed favourable for its reception. " I do easily " see," he says, " that place of any reasonable " countenance doth bring commandment of more " wits than a man's own, which is the thing I greatly " affect*." And, in a letter to the king, respecting his Novum Organum, he says, " This work is but " a new body of clay, whereunto your majesty, by

* The same letter to Lord Burleigh.

PREFACE. V

" your countenance and protection, may breathe life. " And to tell your majesty truly what I think, I ac- " count your favour maybe to this work as much as " an hundred years' time, for I am persuaded the " work will gain upon men's minds in ages, but your " gracing it may make it take hold more swiftly, ic which 1 would be very glad of, it being a work " meant, not for praise or glory, but for practice and " the good of men*."

Such were the doubtings and compliances and feverish hesitations by which this philosopher tarn pered as a politician with his better nature ; for, in his solitary and retired thoughts, he never doubted either the power of truth, or the impotence of these forced attempts to assist its progress. " I " have," he says, in the true spirit of philosophy, " unassisted by any mortalf, steadfastly entered the " true path which was absolutely untrod before, and " held out a light to posterity by a torch set up in " the obscurity of philosophy "

On the 23rd of July, 1603, the day previous to the coronation of King James, which was solemnized on the 24th, Francis Bacon was knighted. In August, 1604, the king constituted him one of his counsel, learned in the law, with a fee of forty pounds a year, which is said to have been the first act of royal power of that nature ; and on the same

* Letter to the king, 12th October, 1620. t See Novum Organum on the hope that knowledge will be progressive.

Vl PREFACE.

day his majesty granted him a pension of sixty pounds a-year, for special services received from his brother Anthony Bacon and himself: and, from this time, he was a special servant of the crown. In obedience to his favourite doctrine, " That " will indeed dignify and exalt knowledge, if con- " templation and action may be more nearly and " strongly conjoined and united together, than they " have been: a conjunction like unto that of the ie two highest planets, Saturn the planet of rest and u contemplation, and Jupiter the planet of civil " society and action, ''he, in the year 1605, when he was 44 years of age, published his Advancement of Learning. It is entitled

THE

TVVOO BOOKES OF

Francis Bacon.

Of the proficience and aduancement of Learning,

diuine and humane.

to the king.

At London,

H Printed for Henri Tomes, and are to be sould at his

shop in Graies Inne Gate in Holborne. 1605. It is a small thin quarto, of 119 pages, somewhat incorrectly printed, the subjects being distinguished by capitals and italics introduced into the text, with a few marginal notes in Latin. The following is an exact specimen:

" History is Natvrall, Civile, Ecclesi- " asticall & literary, whereof the three first I « allow as extant, the fourth I note as deficient. For

PREFACE. Vll

" no man hath propounded to himselfe the generall " state of learning to bee described and represented " from age to age, as many haue done the works " of nature, & the State ciuile 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 shew the spirit, and life of the person."

Of this work he sent a copy, with a letter, to the king; to the university of Cambridge; to Trinity college, Cambridge; to the university of Oxford; to Sir Thomas Bodley ; to Lord Chancellor Egerton ; to the Earl of Salisbury ; to the Lord Treasurer Buckhurst ; and to Mr. Matthews. From these letters, which are all in existence*, the letter to the Lord Chancellor, as a favourable specimen, is annexed :

" MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,

" I humbly present your lordship w!th a Work, " wherein, as you have much commandment over " the author ; so your lordship hath great interest in " the argument : For to speak without flattery, " few have like use of learning, or like judgment " in learning, as I have observed in your lordship. " And again, your lordship hath been a great planter " of learning, not only in those places in the " church, which have been in your own gift, but " also in your commendatory vote, no man hath " more constantly held ; let it be given to the most

* See Shaw's edition of Philosophical Works of Bacon, page 477, and the different collections of Bacon's letters.

Vlll PREFACE.

" deserving, detur digniori : And therefore, both " your lordship is beholding to learning, and learn- " ing beholding to you ; which maketh me presume " with good assurance that your lordship will accept u well of these my labours ; the rather because your "lordship in private speech hath often begun to me " in expressing your admiration of his majesty's " learning, to whom I have dedicated this work ; " and whose virtue and perfection in that kind did " chiefly move me to a work of this nature. And " so with signification of my most humble duty and " affection to your lordship, I remain. "

Some short time after the publication of this work, probably about the year 1608, Sir Francis Bacon was desirous that the Advancement of Learning should be translated into Latin ; and, for this purpose, he applied to Dr. Playfer, the Margaret professor of divinity in the university of Cambridge.*

* This appears by the following letter, without any date :

" MR. DR. PLAYFER,

" A great desire will take a small occasion to " hope and put in trial that which is desired. It " pleased you a good while since, to express unto me " the good liking which you conceived of my book " of the Advancement of Learning ; and that more " significantly, (as it seemed to me) than out of " courtesie, or civil respect. Myself, as I then " took contentment in your approbation thereof; so

PREFACE, IX

Upon the subject of this application Archbishop Tennison says in his Baconiana — " The doctor was

" I should esteem and acknowledge, not onely my " contentment encreased, but my labours advanced, " if I might obtain your help in that nature which I " desire. Wherein before I set down in plain terms, " my request unto you, I will open myself, what " it was which I chiefly sought and propounded to " myself in that work ; that you may perceive that " which I now desire, to be persuant thereupon. If I u do not much err, (for any judgment that a man " maketh of his own doings, had need be spoken " witji a Si nunquam fallit Imago, I have this *' opinion, that if I had sought mine own commenda- " tion, it had been a much fitter course for me to " have done as gardeners used to do, by taking " their seed and slips, and rearing them first into " plants, and so uttering them in pots, when they " are in flower, and in their best state. But for as u much as my end was Merit of the State of Learn- " ing (to my power) and not Glory ; and because my " purpose was rather to excite other mens wits than " to magnifie mine own ; I was desirous to prevent " the uncertainness of mine own life and times, by " uttering rather seeds than plants : Nay and " further, (as the proverb is) by sowing with the " basket, rather than with the hand : Wherefore, " since I have onely taken upon me to ring a bell, to " call other w;ts together, (which is the meanest

PREFACE.

" willing to serve so excellent a person, and so " worthy a design ; and, within a while, sent him a a office) it cannot but be consonant to my desire, to " have that bell heard as far as can be. And " since they are but sparks which can work but " upon matter prepared, I have the more reason to " wish, that those sparks may fly abroad, that they " may the better find and light upon those minds " and spirits which are apt to be kindled. And li therefore the privateness of the language conu sidered, wherein it is written, excluding so many 66 readers; as on the other side, the obscurity of the " argument in many parts of it, excludeth many " others ; I must account it a second birth of that " work, if it might be translated into Latin, without " manifest loss of the sense and matter. For this " purpose I could not represent to myself any " man into whose hands T do more earnestly de- " sire that work should fall than yourself; for by u that I have heard and read, I know no man, a " greater master in commanding words to serve " matter. Nevertheless, I am not ignorant of the " worth of your labours, whether such as your "place and profession imposeth, or such as your " own virtue may upon your voluntary election take " in hand. But I can lay before you no other per- 66 swasions than either the work itself may affect " you with ; or the honour of his majesty, to whom 16 it is dedicated, or your particular inclination to

PREFACE. Xi

" specimen of a latine translation. But men, ge- " nerally, come short of themselves when they " strive to out-doe themselves. They put a force t( upon their natural genius, and, by straining of it, " crack and disable it. And so, it seems, it hap- " pened to that worthy and elegant man. Upon " this great occasion, he would be over-accurate; " and he sent a specimen of such superfine latinity, " that the Lord Bacon did not encourage him to " labour further in that work, in the penning of " which, he desired not so much neat and polite, as " clear masculine, and apt expression."

On the 12th of October, J 620, in a letter to the king, presenting the Novum Organum to his majesty, Lord Bacon says, " I hear my former book of the " Advancement of Learning, is well tasted in the " universities here, and the English colleges abroad : " and this is the same argument sunk deeper."

" myself; who, as I never took so much comfort in " any labours of mine own, so I shall never ac- " knowledge myself more obliged in any thing " to the labours of another, than in that which shall " assist it. Which your labour, if I can by my " place, profession, means, friends, travel, work, " deed, requite unto you, I shall esteem myself so " streightly bound thereunto, as I shall be ever " most ready both to take and seek occasion of " thankfulness. So leaving it nevertheless, Salvd " Amicitid, as reason is to your good liking. I 11 remain/'

XU PREFACE.

An edition in 8vo. was published in 1629*; and a third edition, corrected from the original edition of 1605, was published at Oxford in l(>33f. These are the only editions of the Advancement of Learning, which were published before the year 1/36, a period of ten years after the death of Lord Bacon. In the year lc>23, the treatise <De Augmentis Scientiarum" was published in Latin by Lord Bacon. This work has very generally but erroneously been supposed to be a mere translation of the Advancement of Learning, but they differ in extent, and there are many passages in each of these works which are not contained in the other. The beautiful passage, for instance, upon Queen Elizabeth, which is contained in page 80, of this volume, is omitted in the treatise De Augmentis J.

The treatise " De Augmentis," being in nine books and more extensive, abounds with passages that are not contained in " The Advancement." This will appear by taking one specimen from each subject into which the work is divided : — viz. from

/ History, relating to the Memory.

«? Poetry, relating to the Imagination. And

C Philosophy, relating to the Understanding.

* For William Washington, and are to be sold at his shop in St. Dunstan's Church Yard. 1629.

t Oxford. Printed by J. L., printer to the University, for Thoma3 Huggins, 1633, with permission of B. Fisher.

X What was the cause of this omission % — Were not the praises of Elizabeth acceptable to James ?

PREFACE. Xlll

In the treatise De Augmentis, Natural History is divided —

Of Nature in Course.

Of Nature Erring.

Of Arts.

si. As to the subject : J %

| u

v. 2 As to the use : 5 J ■

.2 As to the use: O- Narrative.

t-2. Inductive,

But the division, as to the use, #c. is not contained in the Advancement.

Under Poetry— -The fable of Pan, of Perseus, &c. which are not in the Advancement, will be found in the treatise De Augmentis.

Under Philosophy. — Speaking on the advancement of universal justice or the laws of laws, he says, " I propose, if God give me leave, having begun a " work of this nature in aphorisms, to propound it " hereafter, noting it in the meantime for deficient."

In the treatise De Augmentis, considerable progress is made in this projected work, in forty-seven distinct axioms, of which one is subjoined as a specimen :

The difference between the Advancement of Learning and the treatise De Augmentis, is stated by Lord Bacon himself, in a letter to the Bishop of Winchester, in which he says, " And for that my

XIV PREFACE.

" book of Advancement of Learning, I have thought " good to procure a translation into the general lan- " guage, not without great and ample additions, and " enrichment thereof ; especially in the second book, " which handleth the partition of science, in such " sort, as 1 hold it, may serve in lieu of the first " part of the Instauration, and acquit my promise in " that part."

And Mallet in his edition of the Advancement, published in the year 1808, says, " Accordingly in " 1693 came out the " De Augmentis Scientiarum," " being a Latin Version of these two books, much " enlarged ; in which he was assisted by Mr. George " Herbert, and the famous Philosopher of Malmes- " bury.* It consists of nine books: the first is nearly " a literal translation of the first book of this work ; " the other eight, divided into 46 chapters, comprise " the second book : but great additions are made " throughout, especially to the subjects of Rhetoric, " Laws, and Government/*

The present edition is corrected from the first edition of 1605, and with the hope of making it more acceptable to the public, an Analysis of the whole work with a table of contents is prefixed, and a copious index is annexed.

* See Tennison's Baconiana, and the Life of Hobbes.

Contents

Page The Excellence of Learning and the merit of disseminating it . . .5 Objections to learning . .6 Objections which divines make to learning . 9 Objections which politicians make to learning . 14 Objections to learning from the errors of learned

Distempers of learning . . 38

Peccant humours of learning . . . 52

Book I. To The King

There 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 and excellency of your individual person, than to the business of your crown and state.

Wherefore, representing your majesty many times unto my mind, and beholding you not with the inquisitive eye of presumption, to discover that

MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL. :

The UNDIVIDED so

.2. The DIVIDED state of mai

3 M 2. MAN Ii

Of CONVERSATION. 306.

Of NEGOCIATION. 309.

Of GOVERNMENT. S53.

Impression. ^ ody. |*

1. HEALTH. 18 BEAUTY. 20

STJtl'.\C'J If.

The WILL. 260.

INVENTION.

The UNDERSTANDING. «

MEMORY. 230. /?■ Helps of memory. Si I 2. Nature of memory. 2, lar. 236. I * -

\4. TRADITION.,

2. Rhetoric. :

3. Appendices.

fl. The 1 12. The C

OF

THE PROFICIENCE

AND ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING,

HUMAN AND DIVINE.

BOOK I.

TO THE KING.

There 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 and excellency of your individual person, than to the business of your crown and state.

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 and faculties, which the philosophers call intellectual; the largeness of your capacity, the faithfulness of your memory, the swiftness of your apprehension, the penetration of your judgment, and the facility and order of your elocution: and I have often thought, that of all the persons living that I have known, your majesty were the best instance to make a man of Plato's opinion, 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 delivered. 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

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING.

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 Csesar; "Augusto profluens, et quoe principem deceret, eloquentia fuit." (His eloquence was fluent, and worthy of a prince.) 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 imitation of some pattern of eloquence, though never so excellent ; all this has somewhat servile, and holding of the subject. But your majesty's manner of speech is indeed princelike, 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 emulation 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

OF THE PROF1CIENCE AND in your neighbour princes thereunto : so likewise, in these intellectual matters, there seemeth to be no less contention between the excellency of your majesty's gifts of nature, and the universality and perfection of your learning. 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 has been so learned in all literature and erudition, divine and human. For let a man seriously and diligently revolve and peruse the succession of the emperors of Rome; of which Csesar the dictator, who lived some years before Christ, and Marcus Antoninus, were the best learned; and so descend to the emperors of Grsecia, or of the West ; and then to the lines of France, Spain, England, Scotland, and the rest, and he shall find this judgment is truly made. For it seemeth much in a king, if, by the compendious extractions of other men's wits and labours, he can take hold of any superficial ornaments and shews of learning; or if he countenance and prefer learning and learned men : but to drink indeed of the true fountains of learning, nay, to have such a fountain of learning in himself, in a king, and in a king born, is almost a miracle. And the more, because there is met in your majesty a rare conjunction, as well of divine and

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING.

sacred literature, as of profane and human ; so as your majesty standeth invested 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, deserve th to be expressed not only in the fame and admiration 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 difference and perfection of such a king.

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 sum will consist of these two parts; the former, concerning the excellency of learning and knowledge, and the excellency 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 undertaken 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

Or THE PR0FIC1ENCE AND framed particulars ; yet I may excite your princely cogitations to visit the excellent treasure of your own mind, and thence to extract particulars for this purpose, agreeably to your magnanimity and wisdom.

LEARNING, HOW DISCREDITED.

In 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 objections ; I think good to deliver it from the discredits and disgraces which it hath received, all from ignorance, but ignorance severally disguised ; appearing sometimes in the zeal and jealousy of divines, sometimes in the severity and arrogancy of politicians, and sometimes in the errors and imperfections of learned men themselves.

I hear the former sort say, that knowledge is of those things which are to be accepted of with great limitation and caution ; that the aspiring to overmuch knowledge, was the original temptation and sin, whereupon ensued the fall of man ; that knowledge hath in it somewhat of the serpent, and therefore where it entereth into a man it makes him

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING.

swell ; " Scientia inflat :" (Knowledge puffeth up) ; that Solomon gives a censure, " That there is no end of making books, and that much reading is a weariness of the flesh ;" and again in another place, " That in spacious knowledge there is much contestation, and that he that increases knowledge increaseth anxiety ;" that St. Paul gives a caveat, " That we be not spoiled through vain philosophy;" that experience demonstrates 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 dependance upon God, who is the first cause.

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 universality, a knowledge by the light whereof man did give names unto other creatures in Paradise, as they were brought before him, according unto their proprieties, which gave occasion to the fall; but it was the proud knowledge of good and evil, with an intent in man to give law unto himself, and to depend no more upon God's commandments, 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 Solomon, speaking of the two principal senses of inquisition, the eye and the ear, affirmeth that the eye is 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 defmeth likewise in these words, placed after that calendar or ephemerides, which he maketh of the diversities of times and seasons for all actions and purposes ; 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 out 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 ordinances and decrees, which throughout all those changes are infallibly observed. And although he doth insinuate, that the supreme or summary law of nature,