PREFACE

TO THE

DE INTERPRETATIONE NATURE PROCEMIUM.

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. Vol. V. p. 187.) 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 old; 2 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 intro

1 cum ætas jam consisteret.

2 hominem non senem.

8 ab istis cogitationibus me prorsus alienavi et in hoc opus ex priore decreto me totum recepi.

duction to some great work bearing that title, we cannot be far wrong, I think, in placing it next to the Advancement of Learning 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 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 If so, powers. 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 was in some degree answerable for the great error and misfortune of his life. That an absorbing interest in one thing should induce negligence of others not less important, is an accident only too natural and familiar; and if he did not allow the Novum Organum to interfere with his attention to the causes which came before him in Chancery, it did probably prevent him from attending as carefully as he

should and otherwise would have done to the proceedings of his servants and the state of his accounts.

Had his main design been successful, the story of his life would have stood simply thus, and called for no further speculation. But there is one thing (though his popular reputation as the father of modern science has prevented it from being remarked) which still remains to be explained; and which is in fact very difficult to reconcile with the opinion almost universally entertained with regard to his philosophical genius. How is it that abilities like his, applying themselves to a practical object for so many years together with such eager interest and laborious industry, met with so little success? I assume of course (what indeed cannot be reasonably doubted) that he was no mere talker or trifler, but a true workman, with genuine zeal and faith in his work. How is it then that he did not succeed, if not in accomplishing, yet in putting in a way to be accomplished, or in persuading somebody to think capable of accomplishment, some part at least of the work which he had so much at heart? If the end was unattainable, how is it that he did not find that out? If he had mistaken the way, how is it that he did not himself discover the error as he proceeded? If he failed from not well understanding the use of some of the necessary implements, why did he not apply himself to learn the use of them, or seek help from those who did understand it? He may have neglected mechanics and mathematics in his youth because he did not then know their importance; but he could hardly have proceeded far in the attempt to weigh and measure and analyse the secret forces of nature, without finding the want, long before it was too late to commence