cipimus; 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."

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." This he calls Pars destruens; and proposes to begin with the Redargutio Philosophiarum, from the introduction to which the eighth extract is taken. And the other two must of course be classed with it. Thus the "animi capaces et idonei" which he wishes "seponere et subire," are clearly identified with the minds marked up with chalk as capable of lodging and harbouring the truth, which are spoken of in the Advancement.

Next to the Pars destruens came the Pars præparans, the object of which was to prepare men's expectations for what was coming, and by dislodging erroneous preconceptions to make their minds ready for the reception of the truth. To this part belongs the seventh extract; and if the seventh, then the sixth, which evidently corresponds to it; and if the sixth, then the fifth, which is but the sixth condensed. Or if there be any doubt about the correspondence between the seventh and sixth, it will I think be removed by comparing them both with the following passage which winds up the description of the Pars præparans in the Partis secundæ Delineatio.

"Quod si cui supervacua videatur accurata ista nostra quam adhibemus ad mentes præparandas diligentia, atque cogitet hoc quiddam esse ex pompâ et in ostentationem compositum; itaque cupiat rem ipsam missis ambagibus et præstructionibus simpliciter exhiberi; certe optabilis nobis foret (si vera esset) hujusmodi insimulatio. Utinam enim tam proclive nobis esset difficultates et impedimenta vincere quam fastum inanem et falsum apparatum deponere. Verum hoc velimus homines existiment, nos haud inexplorato viam in tantâ solitudine inire, præsertim cum argu

mentum hujusmodi præ manibus habeamus quod tractandi imperitiâ perdere et veluti exponere nefas sit. Itaque ex perpenso et perspecto tam rerum quam animorum statu, duriores fere aditus ad hominum mentes quam ad res ipsas invenimus, ac tradendi labores inveniendi laboribus haud multo leviores experimur, atque, quod in intellectualibus res nova fere est, morem gerimus, et tam nostras cogitationes quam aliorum simul bajulamus. Omne enim idolum vanum arte atque obsequio ac debito accessu subvertitur, vi et contentione atque incursione subitâ et abruptâ efferatur. Quâ in re accedit et alia quædam difficultas ex moribus nostris non parva, quod constantissimo decreto nobis ipsi sancivimus, ut candorem nostrum et simplicitatem perpetuo retineamus, nec per vana ad vera aditum quæramus; sed ita obsequio nostro moderemur ut tamen non per artificium aliquod vafrum aut imposturam aut aliquid simile imposturæ, sed tantummodo per ordinis lumen et novorum super saniorem partem veterum sollertem insitionem, nos nostrorum votorum compotes fore speremus."

Now all this was to precede and prepare for the exposition of the method of induction itself— the "formula ipsa interpretationis' - which alone it was proposed to reserve; and therefore we must understand the legitimus lector of the fifth and sixth extract, as corresponding with the "animus capax et idoneus" of the eighth and ninth; and with the mind "chalked and marked up" by truth as " capable to lodge and harbour it," of the second; and we must not suppose that the process of singling and adopting the fit reader was to be effected by any restraint in communication, or any obscurity in style, which should exclude others; but by presenting the truth in such a shape as should be least likely to shock prejudice or awaken contradiction, and most likely to win its way into those minds which were best disposed to receive it The object was to propagate knowledge so that it should grow and spread: the difficulty anticipated was not in excluding auditors, but in finding them.

1 It may be worth while perhaps to compare with these passages an expression which Bacon uses in his letter to Dr. Playfere, proposing to him to translate the Advancement of Learning into Latin; where a similar meaning is conveyed under another image. "Wherefore since I have only taken upon me to ring a bell to call other wits together, which is the meanest 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

Thus I conceive that six out of the ten passages under consideration must be set aside as not bearing at all upon the question at issue. Of the four that remain, two must be set aside in like manner, because though they directly allude to the practice of transmitting knowledge as a secret from hand to hand, they contain no evidence that Bacon approved of it. These are the third and the last, and come respectively from the Advancement of Learning, one of his earliest works, and from the De Augmentis Scientiarum, one of his latest. In both these works the object being to show in what departments the stock of knowledge then existing was defective, the various methods which have been or may be adopted for the transmission of knowledge are pointed out as a fit subject of inquiry, and the secret or enigmatical or acroamatic method is described among the rest; but it is described only, not recommended.

There remain therefore only the first and the fourth extracts to be considered: and it is true that in both of these Bacon intimates an intention to reserve the communication of one part of his philosophy the "formula ipsa interpretationis et inventa per eandem" to certain fit and chosen persons. May we infer from the expressions which he there uses, that his object was to prevent it from becoming generally known, as being a treasure which would lose its value by being divulged? Such a supposition seems to me inconsistent not only with all we know of his proceedings, purposes, and aspirations, but with the very explanation with which he himself accompanies the suggestion. The fruits which he anticipated from his philosophy were not only intended for the benefit of all mankind, but were to be gathered in another generation. Is it conceivable that at any time of his life he would have willingly foregone the aid of any single fellow labourer, or that anything could have been more welcome than the prospect of a rapid and indefinite increase of those "legitima et optata ingenia" in whose hands it might be expected to thrive and spread? But setting general probabilities aside, let us look at the reasons which he himself assigns for the precaution which he meditates. Ask why in Valerius. Terminus he proposes to reserve part of his discovery to "a private succession?" His answer is, first "for the prevention of abuse in the excluded;" that

fly abroad, that they may the better find and light upon those minds and spirits that are apt to be kindled."

is, because if it should fall into incapable and unfit hands it will be misused and mismanaged: secondly, "for the strengthening of affection in the admitted;" that is, because the fit and capable will take more interest in the work when they feel that it is committed to their charge. Ask again why in the Proœmium he proposes to keep the Formula of interpretation private, — “intra legitima et optata ingenia clausa?" The answer is to the same effect it will be "vegetior et munitior;" it will flourish better and be kept safer. And certainly if we refer to any of the many passages in which he has either enumerated the obstructions which had hitherto hindered the progress of knowledge, or described the qualifications, moral and intellectual, and the order of proceeding, which he considered necessary for the successful prosecution of the new philosophy, we may easily understand why he anticipated more hindrance than help from a popular audience.

Upon a review of the evidence therefore I see no reason to suspect that he had any other motive for his proposed reserve than that which he himself assigns; and I think we may conclude that he meant to withhold the publication of his Formula, not “as a secret of too much value to be lightly revealed," but as a subject too abstruse to be handled successfully except by the fit and few.

NOTE C.

On some changes in Bacon's treatment of his doctrine of Idols.

"WHEN the doctrine of Idols" (says Mr. Ellis) "was thrown into its present form” [i. e. the form in which it appears in the Novum Organum, as contrasted with that in which it appears in the Partis secundæ Delineatio], "it ceased to afford a convenient basis for the pars destruens, and accordingly the substance of the three Redargutiones is in the Novum Organum less systematically set forth than Bacon purposed that it should be when he wrote the Partis secundæ Delineatio."

That the argument is set forth in the Novum Organum less systematically than Bacon originally intended, is no doubt true; for when he wrote the "Partis secundæ Delineatio et Argumentum,”