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parliament, and deprived of the Great Seal. He devoted his remaining five years to study.

The Advancement of Learning appeared in 1605, in two Books; in 1623, it was issued in Latin under the title of De Augmentis Scientiarum, in nine Books. The History of the Reign of Henry VII. (1622) was his first work after his retirement from public affairs. The Essays, ten in number, were first published in 1597; in 1612 (second revised edition), they had increased to thirty-eight; and the edition of 1625 included fifty-eight. The original essays were extended and improved in the successive editions. Bacon's other works were very numerous.

MORAL ADVANTAGES OF LEARNING.

(From Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, divine and human, Book I.)

Sound learning taketh away the wildness and barbarism and fierceness of men's minds: but indeed the accent had need be upon 'sound' for a little superficial learning doth rather work a contrary effect. It taketh away all levity, temerity, and insolency, by copious suggestion of all doubts and difficulties, and acquainting the mind to balance reasons on both sides, and to turn back the first offers and conceits of the mind, and to accept of nothing but examined and tried. It taketh away vain admiration of any thing, which is the root of all weakness. For all things are admired, either because they are new, or because they are great. For novelty, no man that wadeth in learning or contemplation throughly, but will find that printed in his heart, nil novi super terram.1 Neither can any man marvel at the play of puppets, that goeth behind the curtain and adviseth well of the motion. And for magnitude, as Alexander the Great, after that he was used to great armies, and the conquests of the spacious provinces in Asia, when he received letters out of Greece, of some fights and services there, which were commonly for a passage, or a fort, or some walled town at the most, he said it seemed to him that he was advertised of the

1 Nothing new upon earth.

battle of the frogs and the mice, that the old tales went of.' So certainly, if a man meditate upon the universal frame of nature, the earth, with men upon it (the divineness of souls except) will not seem much other than an ant-hill, whereas some ants carry corn, and some carry their young, and some go empty, and all to and fro a little heap of dust. It taketh away or mitigateth fear of death or adverse fortune; which is one of the greatest impediments of virtue, 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.1 And therefore Vergil2 did excellently and profoundly couple the knowledge of causes and the conquest of all fears together, as concomitantia.3.

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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 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 growth and 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

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1 Yesterday I saw a brittle vessel broken; to-day I have seen a mortal man die. 2 Georg., ii. 490-2. 3 Facts that (necessarily) go together-keep company. Bacon goes on to quote here the lines of Vergil referred to. The sum of the whole matter (Cf. Eccles. xii. 13).

meliorem.1 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 Veritas2 and Bonitas3 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.

1 Most pleasant life, which consists in our daily feeling ourselves become better. 2 Truth. 3 Goodness.

NOTES.

Conceits, thoughts. See notes, page 154. Nothing but examined and tried, Latin construction.

Admiration, wondering. Lat. admirationem, from ad-miror (wonder at). Cf. (below) 'marvel.'

For novelty. Such phrases of reference
(with 'for,' 'as for,' &c.) in the fore-
ground are exceedingly common in
Bacon. Cf. (below) 'for magnitude.'
That goeth. The antecedent to 'that'
is 'man' the separation is very
awkward.

Adviseth, considereth, looketh atten-
tively at. From Fr. adviser, aviser,
from Lat. ad-visum (to look at).
As Alexander. This sentence is im-
complete, the second part of the
comparison being given in the next.
The Latin edition separates the two
parts only by a colon.

He said. The subject to 'said' is
'Alexander the Great;' and the
pron. 'he' is inserted to recall the
noun-subject, which is liable to be
forgotten when so many clauses

come between it and the verb.' Even one clause was felt to break the connection so much as to justify the insertion of the pronoun. (See Murison's First Work in English, sect. 537-) The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice (Batrachomyomachia) is the title of a Greek poem frequently ascribed by the ancients to Homer, but evidently belonging to a later period. 'Plutarch (Ages. 15, sect. 6) relates that Alexander called the battle between Antipater and Agis a battle of mice. The news was brought to him soon after the battle of Arbela' (Wright). It taketh away &c. Observe the sys

tematic repetition of this expression. Epictetus, a celebrated Stoic philosopher (60-140 A.D.). He was a Phrygian by birth, and began life as the slave of a freedman of Nero's. Purging . . . opening, &c. One of the

most useful applications of the participle.

Which descend. The antecedent to 'which' is 'they' (the clouds).

Similarities of structure may be studied, and tautologies may be pruned.

OF THE CHARACTER OF HENRY VII.

(From The History of the Reign of King Henry VII.)

No doubt, in him, as in all men, and most of all in kings, his fortune wrought upon his nature, and his nature upon his fortune. He attained to the crown, not only from a private fortune, which might endow him with moderation; but also from the fortune of an exiled man, which had quickened in him all seeds of observation and industry. And his times being rather prosperous than calm, had raised his confidence by success, but almost marred his nature by troubles. His wisdom, by often evading from perils, was turned rather into a dexterity to deliver himself from dangers when they pressed him, than into a providence to prevent and remove them afar off. And even in nature, the sight of his mind was like some sights of eyes; rather strong at hand, than to carry afar off. For his wit increased upon the occasion: and so much the more if the occasion were sharpened by danger. Again, whether it were the shortness of his foresight, or the strength of his will, or the dazzling of his suspicions, or what it was; certain it is that the perpetual troubles of his fortunes, there being no more matter out of which they grew, could not have been without some great defects and main errors in his nature, customs, and proceedings, which he had enough to do to save and help with a thousand little industries and watches. But those do best appear in the story itself. Yet take him with all his defects, if a man should compare him with the kings his concurrents in France and Spain, he shall find him more politic than Lewis the twelfth of France, and more entire and sincere than Ferdinando of Spain. But if you shall change Lewis the twelfth for Lewis the eleventh, who died a little before, the consort is more perfect. For that Lewis the eleventh, Ferdinando, and Henry, may be

esteemed for the tres magi1 of kings of those ages. Το conclude, if this king did no greater matters, it was long of himself for what he minded he compassed.

1 Three wise men.

NOTES.

Henry VII. Henry Tudor, Earl of
Richmond, was born in 1456. He
defeated Richard III. on Bosworth
Field, Aug. 22, 1485 (see page 53),
and at once ascended the throne as
Henry VII. He reigned 1485-1509.
Evading, lit. going out (Lat. e-vadĕre),
stepping aside. Hence it is followed
by 'from,' which we now drop.
Providence, lit. foresight (Lat. pro-
videntia, from videre, to see), which
occurs three sentences below.
Prevent, lit. come before or sooner than
(Lat. præ-ventum), anticipate. Cf.
Job xxx. 27; Ps. cxix. 147-8; &c.; and
(below) Thomson, Spring, 183, note.
Afar off. In full: when they were (or
appeared) afar off.' If the balance
were thus completed, there would be
no suggestion that 'afar off' modifies
'remove.'

Wit, judgment, mental ability or re

source.

Concurrents, contemporaries. Lat. concurrentes (together, or at the same time, running). Perhaps there is implied somewhat of the sense of rivalry. Cf. Ger. concurrent (competitor, rival); and Raleigh, History of the World, Book II., ch. xix., sect. 5 (quoted by Richardson):

How long this Tibni, the new competitor of Omri, held out, I do not find, only it appears that his side. decayed, and so he died, leaving no other successor than his concurrent.' So Dryden, Dedication of Translations from Ovid: 'Let Homer and Vergil contend for the prize of honour betwixt themselves; I am satisfied they will never have a third concurrent.'

Lewis XII. reigned 1498-1515.
Entire is synon. with 'sincere.' Fr.
entier, Lat. integer, from in (not)
and root tag (in tangere, to touch).
Lit. untouched, of integrity.
Ferdinando. Ferdinand the Catholic,
husband of Isabella, reigned 1479-
1516.

If you.

This is a very convenient alternation with 'a man' (cf. preceding sentence), 'one,' &c.; but the use of it implies a degree of familiarity.

Lewis XI, reigned 1461-1483.
Consort, agreement, similarity. From
Lat. con-sortem (having the same
lot).

For that for: the clause of reason or
explanation getting a sentence to
itself.

Magi, a name for priests and religious teachers among the Medes and Persians. The reference is to the three specially notable magi or 'wise men' who came to see Christ (Matt. ii.). They are said to have been ' regarded almost as kings in the East;' and some have thought them typical of 'the kings of the east' in Rev. xvi. 12. But really 'there is no ground for supposing the magi to have been three in number, or to have been kings. The first tradition appears to have arisen from the number of their gifts: the second, from the prophecy in Is. lx. 3' (Alford).

Long of himself: owing to, on account of, himself. Shortened from 'along,' which in O. Eng. was gelang. This is a different word from 'along,' the prep. of place, as in 'along the street.'

Balance kept up; highly idiomatic language.

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