estimation, that it should be as a diminution to the mind of man to be much conversant in experiences and particulars subject to sense and bound in matter, and which are laborious to search, ignoble to meditate, harsh to deliver, illiberal to practise, infinite as is supposed in number, and no ways accommodate to the glory of arts. This opinion or state of mind received much credit and strength by the school of Plato, who thinking that particulars rather revived the notions or excited the faculties of the mind, than merely informed; and having mingled his philosophy with superstition, which never favoureth the sense; extolleth too much the understanding of man in the inward light thereof. And again Aristotle's school, which giveth the due to the sense in assertion, denieth it in practice much more than that of Plato. For we see the schoolmen, Aristotle's succession, which were utterly ignorant of history, rested only upon agitation of wit; whereas Plato giveth good example of inquiry by induction and view of particulars; though in such a wandering manner as is of no force or fruit. So that he saw well, that the supposition of the sufficiency of man's mind hath lost the means thereof,1 Here the MS. ends abruptly in the middle of the page. At the top is written in Bacon's hand "The English as much as was parfited." The blank part of the last page seems to have formed the outside of a miscellaneous bundle, and bears the following docket, also in Bacon's hand, "Severall fragments of discourses." PREFACE TO THE DE INTERPRETATIONE NATURE PROEMIUM. THE paper that bears this title was first published by Gruter. He printed it among the Impetus Philosophici (concerning which see Preface to Part II. p. 3.) where it stands by itself, unconnected with the neighbouring pieces. Hence I conclude that it was one of the loose papers. Its date may be partly inferred from the contents. Bacon speaks of himself in it as a man no longer young', yet not old2; and as one who having been a candidate (apparently without success) for office in the state, had at length resolved to abandon that pursuit and betake himself entirely to this work. All this suits very well with his position in the summer of 1603, when he desired "to meddle as little as he could in the King's causes" and "put his ambition wholly upon his pen;" at which time also he was engaged on a work concerning the " Invention of Sciences," which he had digested into two parts, whereof one was entitled Interpretatio Naturæ. And since this Proœmium was evidently intended to stand as a general introduction to some great work bearing that title, we cannot be far wrong, I think, in placing it next to the Advancement of Learn ing and in connexion with the pieces which follow. All that is of general application in it was afterwards digested into the first book of the Novum Organum. But it retains a peculiar interest for us on account of the passage in which he explains the plans and purposes of his life, and the estimate he had formed of his own character and abilities;-a passage which was replaced in the days of his greatness by a simple De nobis ipsis silemus. It is the only piece of autobiography in which 1 cum atas jam consisteret. 2 hominem non senem. 1 ab istis cogitationibus me prorsus alienavi et in hoc opus ex priore decreto me totum recepi. he ever indulged, and deserves on several accounts to be carefully considered. When a man's life and character have any interest for posterity, it is always good to have his own account of them; for no one can tell so well what objects he proposed to himself, and how he set about to accomplish them; without a knowledge of which it must always be impossible to form a true judgment of his career. We have here Bacon's own account, written when he was between 40 and 50, of the plan upon which his life had been laid out. And if we accept it as sincere, if we believe that such were indeed the objects which he mainly aimed at, and such the motives which mainly guided him, the course which he actually followed in the various conjunctures of his life will present few difficulties; but will be found (after reasonable allowance made for human accidents without, and human infirmities within) very natural and consistent from first to last,—in fact a very remarkable example of constancy to an original design. He began by conceiving that a wiser method of studying nature would give man the key to all her secrets, and therewith the mastery of all her powers. If so, what boon so great could a man bestow upon his fellow-men? But the work would be long and arduous, and the event remote; and in the mean time he was not to neglect the immediate and peculiar services which as an Englishman he owed to his country and as a Protestant to his religion. He set out with the intention of doing what he could towards the discharge of all three obligations, and planned his course accordingly. With regard to the two last however, he found as life wore away that the means and opportunities which he had hoped for did not present themselves; and fearing that all would fail together if he lost more time in waiting for them, he resolved to fall back upon the first as an enterprise which depended for success upon himself alone. So his case stood when he drew up this paper. Afterwards, though new exigencies of state gave him an opening for service and drew him again into business and politics, he did not cease to devote his leisure to the prosecution of his main object; and as soon as his fall restored to him the entire command of his time, he again made it his sole occupation. So far therefore, his actual course was quite consistent with his first design; and it is even probable that this very constancy |