and imperfections of manners. For if a man's mind be deeply seasoned with the consideration of the mortality. and corruptible nature of things, he will easily concur with Epictetus, who went forth one day, and saw a woman weeping for her pitcher of earth that was broken; and went forth the next day, and saw a woman weeping for her son that was dead; and thereupon said, Heri vidi fragilem frangi, hodie vidi mortalem mori. And therefore Virgil did excellently and profoundly couple the knowledge of causes, and the conquest of all fears together, as concomitantia: Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, Quique metus omnes, et inexorabile fatum Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari. It were too long to go over the particular remedies which learning doth minister to all the diseases of the mind, sometimes purging the ill humours, sometimes opening the obstructions, sometimes helping the digestion, sometimes increasing appetite, sometimes healing the wounds and exulcerations thereof, and the like; and therefore I will conclude with that which hath rationem totius, which is, that it disposeth the constitution of the mind not to be fixed or settled in the defects thereof, but still to be capable and susceptible of reformation. For the unlearned man knows not what it is to descend into himself, or to call himself to account; nor the pleasure of that suavissima vita, indies sentire se fieri meliorem. The good parts he hath, he will learn to shew to the full, and use them dexterously, but not much to increase them the faults he hath, he will learn how to hide and colour them, but not much to amend them: like an ill mower, that mows on still and never whets his scythe. Whereas with the learned man it fares otherwise, that he doth ever intermix the correction and amendment of his mind with the use and employment thereof. Nay, farther, in general and in sum, certain it is, that veritas and bonitas differ but as the seal and the print: for truth prints goodness; and they be the clouds of error which descend in the storms of passions and perturbations. From general virtue let us pass on to matter of power and commandment, and tonsider whether in right reason there be any comparable with that wherewith knowledge investeth and crowneth man's nature. We see the dignity of the commandment is according to the dignity of commanded: to have commandment over beasts, as herdmen have, is a thing contemptible; to have commandment over children, as schoolmasters have, is a matter of small honour; to have commandment over galley-slaves, is a disparagement rather than an honour. Neither is the commandment of tyrants much better over people which have put off the generosity of their minds: and therefore it was ever holden, that honours in free monarchies and commonwealths had a sweetness more than in tyrannies, because the commandment extendeth more over the wills of men, and not only over their deeds and services. And therefore, when Virgil putteth himself forth to attribute to Augustus Cæsar the best of human honours, he doth it in these words: victorque volenteš Per populos dat jura viamque affectat Olympo. But yet the commandment of knowledge is higher than the commandment over the will; for it is a commandment over the reason, belief, and understanding of man, which is the highest part of the mind, and giveth law to the will itself: for there is no power on earth which setteth up a throne, or chair of state, in the spirits and souls of men, and in their cogitations, imaginations, opinions, and beliefs, but knowledge and learning. In the beginning of the second part, he treats of public institutions relative to the advancement of learning; on which subject he lays down this fundamental position : Let this ground (says he) be laid, that all works are overcome by amplitude of reward, by soundness VOL. II. 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 antevertit cursorem extra vium; and Solomon excellently setteth it down, "If iron be not sharp, it 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 works of magnificence and memory, than of progression and proficience, and tend rather to augment the mass of learning, in the multitude of learned men, than to rectify or raise the sciences themselves. * The last defect which I will note is, that there hath not 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 shew, 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, might devour the serpents of the enchanters. The two books of the Advancement of Learning he afterwards enlarged; and divided the whole into eight books, writing now in the Latin language. This book being in requisition in foreign countries, he caused the part also, which he had originally written in English, to be translated into Latin, by Mr. Herbert and others, carefully revising the whole himself, so as to make it in effect his own work. The book, thus prepared, was translated into English by Dr. Gilbert Watts of Oxford, but in such a manner, that much of the genius and spirit of Lord Bacon had evaporated. Of the Latin editions, the most correct is said to be that in folio, printed at London, 1623. 7. Not long after the time of his appoint ment to the office of solicitor, or about the year 1607-8, he seems to have digested the |