one case he may not have intended to publish what we know he did intend to write, so in the other he may have intended to write what we know he did not intend to publish. And indeed though the Prooemium stands in Gruter's volume by itself and we cannot know to which of Bacon's projected works on the Interpretation of Nature it was meant to be prefixed, there is none which it seems to fit so well as the Temporis Partus Masculus. Now the Temporis Partus Masculus, as we know from the titles of the three books above quoted, was to contain both the formula Interpretationis and the inventa per eandem.

All these points will be considered more at large when I come to state the grounds upon which I have assigned to each tract its place in this edition. In the meantime I am unwilling to let any conclusion of importance appear to rest upon them; and in the present case all inferences which are in any way dependent upon the assumptions which I have noticed as questionable may I think be freely dispensed with. That to bring in a new method of Induction was Bacon's central idea and original design, and that the idea of an Instauratio Magna came after, may in the absence of all evidence to the contrary be safely enough inferred from his own words in the Advancement of Learning; where after reporting a deficiency of the first magnitude in that department of knowledge which concerns the invention of sciences,-a deficiency proved by the barrenness and accounted for by the viciousness and incompetency of the method of induction then in use, he adds, "This part of Invention, concerning the Invention of Sciences, I purpose, if God give me leave, hereafter to propound; having digested into two parts; whereof the one I term Experientia Literata, and the other Interpretatio Naturæ1; 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." This "Interpretatio Nature" can have been nothing else therefore than a new method of induction to supply the place of the vicious and incompetent method then in use; and since among all the reported "deficiencies" this is the only one which he himself proposes to supply,-for of the others he merely gives specimens to make his meaning clear,—we may, I think, safely conclude that this and no other was the great work which he was meditating when he wrote the Advancement of Learning. His expressions moreover seem to imply that this work was already begun and in progress; and seeing that the Valerius Terminus answers the description both in title and (so far as the first book goes, which is all we know of it) in contents also, why may we not suppose that it was a commencement or a sketch of the very work

The corresponding passage in the De Augmentis calls it "Interpretatio Naturæ sive Novum Organum,"

he speaks of, and that of the fragment which has been preserved part was written before and part after? a supposition probable enough in itself, and by which at least one difficulty, which I shall mention hereafter, is effectually removed.

As an additional reason for thinking that the idea of the Instauratio Magna was of later date than that of a work on the Interpretation of Nature, I may observe that the name Instauratio does not occur in any of Bacon's letters earlier than 1609. The earliest of his compositions in which it appears was probably the Partis Instaurationis secundæ Delineatio et Argumentum; but of this the date cannot be fixed with any certainty; and as Gruter is our only authority for it, and the word Instauratio appears in the title only, not in the body of the work, we cannot even be sure that it was originally there. If Gruter found a manuscript headed "Partis secundæ Delineatio, &c.," and evidently referring to the parts of the Instauratio Magna, he was likely enough to insert the word silently by way of explanation.

NOTE B.

THE question is, how far, by what means, and with what motive, Bacon at one time wished to keep his system secret.

Let us first compare all the passages in which such an intention appears to be intimated, or such a practice alluded to; taking them in chronological order, as far as our knowledge of the dates of his various. writings enables us to do so. These which follow are all that I have been able to find.

1. Valerius Terminus. Ch. 18.

"That the discretion anciently observed, though by the precedent of many vain persons and deceivers abused, of publishing part and reserving part to a private succession, and of publishing in such a manner whereby it may not be to the taste or capacity of all, but shall as it were single and adopt his reader, is not to be laid aside; both for the avoiding of abuse in the excluded, and the strengthening of affection in the admitted."

And again (Ch. 11.), "To ascend further by scale I do forbear, partly because it would draw on the example to an over-great length, but chiefly because it would open that which in this work I determine to reserve."

2. Advancement of Learning.

"And as Alexander Borgia was wont to say of the expedition of the French for Naples, that they came with chalk in their hands to See my note at the end of Mr. Ellis's Preface to the Valerius Terminus.

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."

3. Advancement of Learning.

"Another diversity of method there is," [he is speaking of the different methods of "tradition,". i. e. of communicating and transmitting knowledge] 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 that is, enigmatical and disclosed. The pretence whereof [that is, of the enigmatical method] 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."

4. Proœmium de Interpretatione Naturæ.

"Publicandi autem ista ratio ea est, ut quæ ad ingeniorum correspondentias captandas et mentium areas purgandas pertinent, edantur in vulgus et per ora volitent; reliqua per manus tradantur cum electione et judicio. Nec me latet usitatum et tritum esse impostorum artificium, ut quædam a vulgo secernant nihilo iis ineptiis quas vulgo propinant meliora. Sed ego sine omni impostura, ex providentiâ sanâ prospicio, ipsam interpretationis formulam et inventa per eandem, intra legitima et optata ingenia clausa, vegetiora et munitiora futura."

5. De Interpretatione Naturæ Sententiæ XII.

De moribus Interpretis.

"Sit etiam in scientiâ quam adeptus est nec occultandâ nec proferendâ vanus, sed ingenuus et prudens: tradatque inventa non ambitiosè aut malignè, sed modo primum maxime vivaci et vegeto, id est ad injurias temporis munitissimo, et ad scientiam propagandam fortissimo, deinde ad errores pariendos innocentissimo, et ante omnia qui sibi legitimum lectorem seponat."

6. Temporis Partus Masculus. C. 1.

"An tu censes cum omnes omnium mentium aditus ac meatus obscurissimis idolis, iisdemque alte hærentibus et inustis, obsessi et obstructi sint, veris Rerum et nativis radiis sinceras et politas areas adesse? Nova invenienda est ratio quâ mentibus obductissimis illabi possimus. Ut enim phreneticorum deliramenta arte et ingenio subvertuntur, vi et contentione efferantur, omnino ita in hâc universali insaniâ mos gerendus est. Quid? leviores illæ conditiones, quæ ad

legitimum scientiæ tradendæ modum pertinent, an tibi tam expedita et faciles videntur? ut modus innocens sit; id est nulli prorsus errori ansam et occasionem præbeat? ut vim quandam insitam et innatam habeat tum ad fidem conciliandam, tum ad pellendas injurias temporis, adeo ut scientia ita tradita, veluti planta vivax et vegeta, quotidie serpat et adolescat? ut idoneum et legitimum sibi lectorem seponat et quasi adoptet?

7. Cogitata et visa.

"Itaque de re non modo perficiendâ sed et communicandâ et tradendâ (quâ par est curâ) cogitationem suscipiendam esse. Reperit autem homines in rerum scientiâ quam sibi videntur adepti, interdum proferendâ interdum occultandâ, famæ et ostentationi servire: quin et eos potissimum qui minus solida proponunt solere ea quæ adferunt obscurâ et ambiguâ luce venditare, ut facilius vanitati suæ velificare possint. Putare autem se id tractare quod ambitione aliquâ aut affectatione polluere minime dignum sit; sed tamen necessario eo decurrendum esse (nisi forte rerum et animorum valde imperitus esset, et prorsus inexplorato viam inire vellet) ut satis meminerit, inveteratos semper errores, tanquam phreneticorum deliramenta, arte et ingenio subverti, vi et contentione efferari. Itaque prudentiâ et morigeratione quâdam utendum (quanta cum simplicitate et candore conjungi potest) ut contradictiones ante extinguentur quam excitentur.

. Venit ei itaque in mentem posse aliquid simplicius proponi, quod in vulgus non editum, saltem tamen ad rei tam salutaris abortum arcendum satis fortasse esse possit. Ad hunc finem parare se de naturâ opus quod errores minimâ asperitate destruere, et ad hominum mentes non turbide accedere possit; quod et facilius fore, quod non se pro duce gesturus, sed ex naturâ lucem præbiturus et sparsurus sit, ut duce postea non sit opus.”

8. Redargutio Philosophiarum (the beginning of the Pars secunda, following the Delineatio.)

"Omnem violentiam (ut jam ab initio professi sumus) abesse volumus atque quod Borgia facetè de Caroli octavi expeditione in Italiam dixit; Gallos venisse in manibus cretam tenentes quâ diversoria notarent, non arma quibus perrumperent; similem quoque inventorum nostrorum et rationem et successum animo præcipimus ; nimirum ut potius animos hominum capaces et idoneos seponere et subire possint, quam contra sentientibus molesta sint."

9. Novum Organum. I. 35.

"Dixit Borgia de expeditione Gallorum in Italiam, eos venisse cum cretâ in manibus, ut diversoria notarent, non cum armis, ut perrumperent: Itidem et nostra ratio est; ut doctrina nostra animos

idoneos et capaces subintret; confutationum enim nullus est usus, ubi de principiis et ipsis notionibus atque etiam de formis demonstrationum dissentimus."

10. De Augmentis Scientiarum. VI. 2.

Sequitur aliud methodi discrimen, priori [methodo ad filios, etc.], intentione affine, reipsâ fere contrarium. Hoc enim habet utraque methodus commune, ut vulgus auditorum a selectis separet; illud oppositum, quod prior introducit modum tradendi solito apertiorem ; altera, de quâ jam dicemus, occultiorem. Sit igitur discrimen tale, ut altera methodus sit exoterica, altera acroamatica. Etenim quam antiqui adhibuerunt præcipue in edendis libris differentiam, eam nos transferimus ad ipsum modum tradendi. Quin etiam acroamatica ipsa apud veteres in usu fuit, atque prudenter et cum judicio adhibita. At acroamaticum sive ænigmaticum istud dicendi genus posterioribus temporibus dehonestatum est a plurimis, qui eo tanquam lumine ambiguo et fallaci abusi sunt ad merces suas adulterinas extrudendas. Intentio autem ejus ea esse videtur, ut traditionis involucris vulgus (profanum scilicet) a secretis scientiarum summoveatur; atque illi tantum admittantur qui aut per manus magistrorum parabolarum interpretationem nacti sunt, aut proprio ingenii acumine et subtilitate intra velum penetrare possint."

These are all the passages I have been able to find, in which the advantage of keeping certain parts of knowledge reserved to a select audience is alluded to. And the question is whether the reserve which Bacon contemplated can be justly compared with that practised by the alchemists and others, who concealed their discoveries as treasures of which the value would be decreased if others were allowed to share in it."

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Now I would observe in the first place that though the expression single and adopt his reader," or its equivalent, occurs in all these passages, and that too in immediate reference to the method of delivery or transmission, yet in many of them the object of so singling and adopting the reader was certainly not to keep the knowledge secret; for many, indeed most, of them relate to that part of the subject which Bacon never proposed to reserve, but which was designed "edi in vulgus et per ora volitare." The part which he proposed to reserve is distinctly defined in the fourth extract as "ipsa interpretationis formula et inventa per eandem;" the part to be published is "ea quæ ad ingeniorum correspondentias captandas et mentium areas purgandas pertinent." Now it is unquestionably to this latter part that the second, the eighth, and the ninth extracts refer. "Primo enim," he says, in the Partis secundæ Delineatio, "mentis area æquanda et liberanda ab eis quæ hactenus recepta sunt."