'OfrU/ University of California Berkeley Gift of STELLA FREEDMAN /////'/./ f tfj&C07l /A//'/// //'/'" VERUJLAB1IANA; OR OPINIONS ON MEN, MANNERS, LITERATURE, POLITICS AXD THEOLOGY. BY jfrancis IBacon, BARON OF VERULAM, &c. &c. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. BY THE EDITOR. HonXion: PRINTED FOR R. DUTTON, 45, GR,ACECHURCH-STREET T, HURST, PATJTJl-KOSTER-ROW; JOHN CAWTHORN, CATFTERINE-STREET ; AND CHAPPXE, PALL-MALL. 1803. T. PLUMMER, PRINTER, SEETHING-LANE. PREFACE. THE WRITINGS OF LORD BACON pos- sess many advantages by which the Editor has endeavoured to profit in the execution of the following ABRIDGMENT. Joining to vigour and comprehensiveness of mind, an intimate acquaintance with the history and constitution of society, the situations zvhich his Lordship sue- essively occupied, enabled him fully to appre- ciate whatsoever is deemed valuable among men. The method also whereby he has communicated the result of his extensive information, seemed peculiarly favourable to the present undertaking. Sensible of the strength of his opinions, and therefore discarding the tediousness of ratioci- nation, he uniformly adopts that sententious form so remarkable in the composition of our Scrip- tures. His sentences comprise so many apho- risms ; which may be dispersed and arranged, without injury either to the style or sentiment of the original. I* PREFACE. Anxious that the public should acquire, within a desirable compass, alt that could be considered generally and eminently interesting throughout his Lordship's voluminous works, it has been the labour of the Editor to collect) as it were at one mew, the opinions of that illustrious writer. The task, though voluntarily imposed and cheer- fully accomplished, has proved great. Amply, however, tvill the Editor feel compensated, if by this means his Author become more extensively and beneficially studied; if .doctrines of such intrinsic worthy and bearing the stamp of so exalted an authority, penetrate into all conditions of mankind, and are received in proportion to their desert ; if vanity is corrected, scepticism reformed) and virtue established* To the higher classes, in seminaries of educa- tion ; to young men, entering on the arduous responsibility of human life ; and to those zvhose minds are unhappily undecided on subjects of the deepest importance, this Publication is earnestly recommended. As a compendium of first prin- ciples, perhaps it will be found inestimable. P. L. C. AUG. 56, 1803. MEMOIRS OF Fr RANCIS BACON, afterwards baron of Veru- lam, and viscount St. Alban's, was the younger sou of Sir Nicholas Bacon, by his second wife Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, of Giddy Hail in. the county of Essex. He was born at York House in the Strand, on the 22d of January, 1560-1. At a period when the disposition is most suscep- tible of impressions \vhich generally continue through life, Francis enjoyed advantages almost peculiar. His mother, a lady of uncommon erudition, sound judgment, and great piety, directed her whole atten- tion to the formation of his infant mind ; while his father, who soon perceived in this son the opening of extraordinary mental powers, omitted no means o f invigorating and improving his talents. These paren- tal assiduities were attended with the happiest suc- cess. Even queen Elizabeth, who was no flatterer, b often MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. often noticed Francis, calling him " her young Lord K coper," in reference to the abilities which h ap- peared to inherit from his father, \vho was Keeper of the seals during the first twenty years of her nign, an office which he discharged with great cre- dit to himself, and satisfaction to his sovereign. There is an anecdote recorded of Francis, about this time, which must have confirmed the fond presen- timents of those who were the most interested in his welfare. Being asked his age, by the Queen, he instantly replied " that he was just two years younger than her Majesty's happy reign !" About the ae of sixteen he quitted Trinity Col- lege, where under Dr. Whitgifr, afterwards archbi- shop of Canteibury, he had made astonishing pro* gress in the sciences ; and was sent from thence to Paris, under the direction of Sir Amias Powlet, the English ambassador ; such was the mode of instruc- tion then adopted with those who were destined to occupy important public situations ; and when at thirty years of age, a man was supposed to be young enough to enter on the great duties of a statesman. The ambassador felt, however, so much confidence in Francis, that he entrusted him with a 'secret mis- sion to his sovereign, in the performance of which he acquired additional reputation. It was during this interval that young Bacon vent red to investigate the defects of the Aristotelian philosophy ; which he then censured, as a system calculated to breed logical contention, without conferring on man any signal or beneficial discoveries, His " Succinct View of the State of Europe," written on his return from France, at the age of 19, and his Essay on Travelling, re- main honourable evidences of the use to which he devoted the advantages he had derived from the fondness of a discerning parent. Soon, however, was he about to experience, in the loss of his father, all the bitterness of early disap- pointment, MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. vU ^ointment, and lasting regret. Sir Nicholas Bacon died suddenly, on February the 20th, 157.9, and before he had completed the arrangements for the future independence of his favourite son. Perceiving the rapid advancement of Francis's mind, and aware how necessary it was, for the perfection of such ta- lents, that they should be exempted from pecuniary embarrassment, he had apportioned certain property for this purpose ; but this, owing to his premature decease, became divided with the, remaining family estate, in which Francis possessed a fifth only. Compelled by this event to return fiom France, 1m had resorted to the study of the law, and entered himself at Gray's Inn. Here he erected an elegant building, long distinguished by the appellation of Lord Bacon's lodgings; and here he laid, in his treatise entitled u The Greatest Birth of Time," displaying the outline of his " In stati ration of the Sciences," the foundation of that philosophy which he afterwards so nobly reared, lie was ever much attached to Gray's Inn, where, in his 28th year, he filled the office of Reader to that Society ; about which time he was named by the Queen, her Counsel learned in the Law Extraordinary. Other obstacles than those originating in the loss of his father, now impeded the progress of Mr. Bacon : he had to contend with that envy and ma- lice which are commonly, and sometimes success- fully, exerted against genius and merit. Those who were naturally considered as his friends, uneasy at the superiority of his acquirements, laboured se- cretly to retard his progress; while his parliamentary opposition to the court, strengthened the prejudices against him which were constantly infused into the mind of Elizabeth.* He was hardly more fortunate b 2 in * He was chosen a member for Middlesex, in the Parliarnu that met in February, 159-2-3. vsii MEMOIRS OF LORD BA.CON. .in attaching himself to the Earl of Essex, of when* the Queen was extremely jealous, and therefore par- ticularly suspicious of such as were recommended to her by that nobleman. Notwithstanding the nature of his qualifications, it is therefore by no means sur- prising that the most he could obtain was the rever- sion, of Register of the Court of Star-Chamber, worth , nearly lO'OOl. a year, but which did not fall into his hands till many years afterwards : and a grant of Twickenham Park, with its Garden of Para- dise, which he undersold at 1801. made to him by Essex oat of his private estate, as some immediate compensation for the unsuceessfulness of his appli- cations to the Queen. He who claims the conside- ration of society, must come prepared to contend for that which always will awaken the vigilance of observation, and the asperity of opposition. But this struggle, though it could not effectually subdue the fortitude of a great man, seems so far to have depressed the temper of Mr. Bacon, that, in a letter to the earl of Essex, he entreated permission to travel.* Whether the measure was merely pro- * To my T-ord of Essex. It may please your good Lordship, I am very sorry her majesty should take my motion to travel in offence. But surely, under her majesty's royal correction, it JB swch an offeree as it should be an offence to the sun, when a man, to avoid the scorching heat thereof, flieth into the shade. And your lordship may easily think, that having now these twenty years (for so long it is, and mere, since I went with Sir Amyas Paulet into France, from her majesty's royal hand) made her majesty's service the scope of my life ; I shall never find a greater grief than this, reiinquere amorem primum. But since, prinnpiaacfionum sunt tantum in nostrapotestate, I hope her Maj. sty of her clemency, yea and justice, will pardon me and not force me to pine here with melancholy. For though mine heart be good, yet mine eyes will be sore ; so as I shall have no pleasure to look abroad: and if I should otherwise be affected, hr MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. i jX'Sed in order to rouse the attention of bis sove- reign, cannot perhaps be ascertained : it met, b.o-.v- over, with a decided negative from the queen, who doubtless foresaw of what import the presence of such a pe rson might prove to her affairs, and who could not wish that the friend and counsellor of Essex should be absent, at a time when his infor- mation and talents were likely to be called into action. There is no circumstance in the life of Bacon on which animadversion has so freely expatiated, as on the part lie shortly afterwards acted in the disgrace of Essex, by the publication entitled, " A Decla- ration of the Treasons of Robert t'.arl of Essex," which was considered as the manifesto of the court against that unhappy peer. Ingratitude is perhaps a vice too warmly stigmatized, to admit often of a dispassionate judgment ; while the pride of one de- scription of men appears always interested to over- estimate the benefits \\liich they confer. It seems, after all, rather hard that any individual, though under extensive obligation lo another, must partici- pate in the errors and vices of his benefactor, espe- cially if he should have been the first to warn that friend "of the effects of his misconduct; that he must openly excuse what he cannot even privately exte- nuate, and submit himself to the severity of conse- quences which, had his advice been adopted, it would effectually have prevented. Doubtless it is to be regretted that Bacon accepted any public concern b 3 iu her maje-ty in her wisdom will hut think me an impudent man, that would face out a disgrace. Therefore, <>s I have ever found you my good lord an i rrue friend, so I pray open the matter so to h-^r majesty, as she may discern the necessity of it, without adding hard conceit to her rejection ; of which, I am sure, the latter I never deserved. Thus, &c This letter was written about the year 1598. s MEMOIRS OF LOUD BACON. in the condemnation of the earl : that he becamr, though with the view of eventually serving his friend, and ironv a superior sense of duty to his queen, an active participator in a scene of which he should have remained the passive spectator; thereby in- curring that weight oi obloquy by which his charac- ter has so long been depreciated.* Whatever * The following passages, selected from different parts of Lord Bacon's writings, will throw considerable light on the connection between his Lordship and the Earl of Essex. Too much pains cannot bi.* taken to elucidate a transaction about which so much prejudice has unjustly been raised against his lordship. Suspecting Essex to have depreciated him, &c. he writes thus to Lord Howard (the admiral under Elizabeth) " For my Lord Essex, I am not servile to him, having regard to mv supe- rior's duty. I havebern much bound unto him. And, on the other side, I have spent more time and more thoughts about his well doing than ever 1 did about mine own. I pray God that you his friends, amongst you, be in the right. For my part, I have deserved better than -o have my name abjected to envy, or my life to a iuj}ian's violence. But 1 have the privy-coat of a good conscience. 1 am sure these courses and bruits hurt my lord more than all." Oct. 4, 1596. He reminds Essex of his former advice, coun- sels him to win the queen, and not offend her by aspiring at to much greatness and an over-bearing disposition, or after mili- tary eminence to shew no avidity for' emolument in chusing for himself places of great profit -to avoid popjlarhy and to practise economy, to which the queen was much attached, in his own estate. Recounting, in his praise of queen Eliza- beth, the fate of her most remarkable enemies, Lord B. observes " 1 may not mention the death of some that occur to mind : feat still, methinks, they live that should live, and they die that should die." This passage appears to glance at the fate ot the queen of Scots and Essex. " The truth is, that the issue of all his (the earl's) dealing grew to this, that ti.e queen, by some slackness of my lord's as 1 imagine, liked him worse and worse, and grew more in- Censed towards him. Then she, remembering belike the conti- nual and incessant and confident speeches and courses that I had held on my lord's side, became utterly alienated from me, and for the space of at least three months would not so much al< MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. xi Whatever advantages might have ensued from this instance of his complaisance to the crown, they ve;c rendered abortive by the death of Kfeibeth ; vho died on the 24th of March, l6"()3, about a year after the decapitation of Essex, filled with regret at his fate. Though seriously occupied in the study of juris- prudence, and occasionally engaged in transaction^ of state, Mr. Bacon, far from neglecting the prose- fa 4 cutiou look on me, but turned away from rne with express and pur- pose-like discountenance wheresoever she saw. me ; and at such time as I had desired to spoak with her about law business, ever sent m:; forth very slight refusals. Insomuch as is most true, ''that, immediately after new year's t id e , I desired to speak with her, and being admitted to her, I dealt with her plainly ; and said, 4< Madam, I see you withdraw your favour from me, and now I have lost many friends for your sake, I shall lose you too : you have put me like one of those the French call enfans pcrdus, v*bo serve on foot before horsemen, so have you put me into matters of envy without place or strength ; and 1 know, at chess, a pawn before the king is ever much played upon. A great many love me not, because they think I have been against my lord of Essex ; and you love me not, because you know I have been tor him ; yet wiH 1 never repent me that I have dealt in sim- pliciry of heait towards you both, without respect of cautions to myself; and therefore vivus ridfustjue percs : if I do break my neck, I shall do it in a manner as Mr. Dorrington did it, who walked on the battlements of the chuich many days, and took a view and survey where he should fall. And so, Madam," suid I, " I am not s" simple but that I take a prospect of mine ove throw, only I thought I would tell you so much, that you may know that it was faith, and not folly, that brought me into it : and so I will pray for you.'* Upon which speeches of mine, uttere.i with some passion, it is true her majesty was ex- ceedingly moved; and accumulated a number of kind and gra- cious words upon me, and willed me to rest upon this Gratia mea siifficit* and a number of other sensible and tender words and demonstrations, such as more could not be : but as touch- ing my lord of Essex, ?icver burn qmdem. Whereupon I departed, re^tine; then determined to meddle no more in the matter; as that w'.iich 1 saw would overthrow me, and not be able to do him an/ good " Bacon's djtology, in certain. Imp-s- tations concerning the taie Earl of Essex. Xli MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. cution of those studies which have conferred immor- tality on his name, published in 1597, the first part of his " Essays on Counsels, Civil and Moral." Some time in the preceding year, he had completed his " Maxims on the Law ;" a work on which he justly prided himself, and which has been esteemed the most judicious and satisfactory on the subject. But the pressure of his circumstances did not permit him calmly to pursue his favourite objects ; and he was induced to speculate on an advantageous match, as the means of extricating himself from his embar- rassments. He accordingly directed his attention to the daughter of Sir Thomas Cecil, then relict of Sir William ilatton. The design, however, did not succeed: and it is remarkable, that the lady after- wards married his great rival and antagonist, lord Coke. This miscarriage augmented his distresses to such a degree, that he was shortly after arrested for 3001. on his return from transacting some important avocations at the Tower; a situation of which his enemies appear maliciously to have availed them- selves in order to disgrace him publicly. His conduct in parliament continued all this while unexceptionably popular. His " Praise of Eliza- beth," published in reply to a book which appeared in 160,5 against that queen, was also highly extolled, although (says the writer, in a letter to a friend oa the subject) u 1 freely confess myself not a disinte- rested man." With the accession of James I. the hopes of Mr. Bacon appear to have brightened. In a letter to his friend Matthews,* there are the following observa- tions. " I have many comforts and assurances ; but in my own opinhm the chief is, the canvass!:^ world * Son of Dr. Toby Matthews, bishop of Durham, and arcif- bishop of York. MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. xiii 'world is gone, and the deserving world is come.?' It appears that his early proffers of service held been favourably Deceived by the new sovereign, who knighted him, at Whitehall, on the 23d of January, 1603. But distinction, though pleasing, and per- haps the prelude to riches, is not property. Favour had yet to screen him from the importunity of credi- tors, and he was again anested, even at the very moment of his exaltation. August 24th, 1()04-, being first appointed one of his Majestv's Counsel learned in the Law, with a fee of 401. a year, he at length obtained a grant of u'Ol. a year, in acknowledgment of special services ren-r dered by him and his brother Anthony. In ihe year ]()05 appeared the first part of the author's great Avork, in " The two Books of Francis Bacon of the Proiicience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Iluman ; to the King." This work derived much advantage from the assistance of the learned Bishop Andrew*,* who appears to have considerably. facilitated the literary labours of its author. ihtheru), however, Sir Francis had found, on the whole, but little occasion of self-congratula- tion. " I see well (he observes, in a'letler to lord Burleigh) that the* Bar will be my bier ; I must and will u&e it, rather than my estate or re- putation shall decay/' Still disappointed in the expectation of emolument, he was compelled to resume hi* matrimonial projects. What he had in. vain attempted within the circle of the court, he acquired with less difficulty from the city ; and about the year l(iQ6 9 at the age of forty, he was married to Alice, daughter of Benedict Ba; nham, Esq.. alderman of London, with whom he received a, plentiful fortune, but no accession to his happiness. b5 By * Bishop of Ely, and of Winchester; a prelate whose pen. was employed in the refutation of Bellarraine. xiv MEMOIftS OF LORD BACOX. By a letter to the chancellor Egcrton, it appears that this union had been formed under his Lordship's aujpices, \vho probably used similar representations with those made by the earl of Essex when the treaty was in agitation between Mr. Bacon and lady rfattoir. This, it is evident, produced consequences xvhich might easily have been predicted. Taught to consider their new relation as a rising man, and per- ceiving his progress by no means answerable to the expectations which were raised, the friends of, Mrs. Bacon, unable to conceal the effect of their disap- pointment, expressed themselves in a way not very likely to promote the welfare of her for whom they appeared most solicitous ; especially when allied to a husband who never seems to have been particu- larly sensible to the endearments of domestic inter- course 1 , and who had entered into the engagement under induct men is \\hich are not imagined to con- tribute to matrimonial felicity. Formed on such principles, and in such circumstances it cannot be surprising if his marriage, far from augmenting the number of his satisfactions, even embittered his usual enjoyments. At length, however, his unwearying diligence in the service of the cio\vn, and his incessant applica- tions and remonstrances to friends in power, pro- cured him the office of Solicitor-General ; with an express stipulation, that he should succeed, on the first vacancy, to the Attorneyship. Amidst this professional career, followed by extensive private practice, his attention to literature remained undi- verted, and his ardour unabated. In 1 6* 10 appeared the treatise " Of the Wisdom of the Ancients/' Which was much admired. He possessed at this period an income of 50001. a year ; a reputation that could no longer be disputed ; and was rapidly advancing in the estimation of his sovereign. On the 27th of October l6l3, he was raised to the sta- tion MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. xv tion of Attorney-General. Such was the regard \viih which he was contemplated by the Commons, and so heartily did they coincide in his promotion, that thf-v allowed him to retain his seat in the house as a mark of their personal respect, though it had heen vacated by his acceptance of the office to which lie was just appointed, The duties of Attorney-General, however odious in their popular exertion, must necessarily insure the approbation and patronage of the government, when ably and faithfully discharged. Of this cir- cumstance no man was more fully apprised than Sir Francis Bacon, nor perhaps any one. better qualified to avail himself of it to the utmost extent, His part in the trial of the Karl of Somerset, appears to have been of the most confidential description ; a;)d he acquitted himself so well- in this delicate transaction, as to place himself on a very intimate footing with king James. When, therefore, he ap- plied himself to Vilhers, afterwards Duke of Buck- ingham, who succeeded Somerset in the reign of favourileism, it could not proceed from any neces- sity on his part for securing the countenance of the new- statesman, in order to establish his own interest with the monaich. Even his advice to Villiers had more of instruction than supplication ; it was rather the language o( a man who feh his own importance in the common wealth, than of one anxious to have his consequence ascertained : it was the fair tender of that assistance, on terms honourable to both par- ties, for which inexperience and insecurity could ne- ver have been too grateful. Since a favourite wa necessary to a prince, it remained for wisdom to consider how much an engine might become subser- vient to the general interest of that community over which he seemed destined to preside. June 9th, I6"l6, Sir Francis Bacon was sworn of the Privy-Council, Perhaps his progress was not a b 6* littlfc MEMOIRS OF L071D BACON. in the condemnation of the earl : that he became, though with the view of eventually serving his friend, and i'ronv a superior sense of duty to his queen, an active participator in a scene of which he should have 'remained the passive spectator; thereby in- curring that weight of obloquy bv which his charac- ter has so long been depreciated.* Whatever * The following passages, selected from different parts of Lord Bacon's writings, will throw considerable light on the connection between his Lordship and the Earl of Essex. Too much pains cannot th- taken to elucidate a transaction about which so much prejudice has unjustly been raised against his lordship. Suspecting Essex to have depreciated him, c. he writes thus to Lord Howard (the admiral under Elizabeth) " For my Lord Essex, I am not servile to him, having regard to mv supe- rior's duty. I have been much bound unto him. And, on the other side, I have spent more time and more thoughts about his 'well doing than ever 1 did about mine own. I pray God that you his friends, amongst you, be in the right. For my part, I have* deserved better than -o have my name abjected to envy, or my life to a 'iitjjians violence. But 1 have the privy-coat of a good conscience. 1 am sure these courses and bruits hurt my lord more than all." Oct. 4, 156. He reminds Essex of his former advice, coun- sels him to win the queen, and not offend her by aspiring at to much greatness and an over-bearing disposition, or after mili- tary eminence to shew no avidity for' emolument in chusing for himself places of great profit to avoid popjlarity and to practise economy, to which the queen was much attached, in his own estate. Recounting, in his praise of queen Eliza- beth, the fate of her most remarkable enemies, Lord B. observes " 1 may not mention the death of some that occur to mind : ftut still, methinks, they live that should live, and they die that should die." This passage appears to glance at the fate of the queen of Scots and Essex. " The truth is, that the issue of all his (the carl's) dealing grew to this, that ti.e queen, by some slackness of my lord's as 1 imagine, liked him worse and worse, and grow more in- censed towards him. Then she, remembering beiike the conti- nual and incessant and confident speeches and courses that I had held on my lord's side, became utterly alienated from me, and for the space of at least three mouths would not so much ajf MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. xi \Vhattever advantages might have ensued from this instance of his complaisance to the crown, they vere rendered abortive by the death of Klizubeth ; \\ho died on the 24th of March, l()03, about a year after the decapitation of Essex, filled with regret at his fate. Though seriously occupied in the study of juris- prudence, and occasionally engaged in transactions of state, Mr. Bacon, far from neglecting the prose- b 4- cut ion look on me, but turned away from me with express and pur- pose-like discountenance wheresoever she saw. me ; and at such time as I had desired to speak with her about law business, ever sent ms forth very slight refusals. Insomuch as is most true, that, immediately after new year's tide, I desired to speak with her, and being admitted to her, I dealt with her plainly ; and fctiid, 4< Madam, I see you withdraw your favour from me, and now I have lost many friends ior your sake, 1 shall lose you too : you have put me like one of those the French call enfans pcrdits, vho serve on foot before horsemen, so have you put me into matters of envy without place or strength ; and 1 know, at che.ss, a pawn before the king is ever much played upon. A great many love me not, because they think 1 have been against my lord of Essex ; and you love me not, because you know I have been tor him ; yet wiH 1 never repent me that I have dealt in sim- plicity of heait towards you both, without respect of cautions to myself; and therefore vivus ridcusque percs : if I do break my neck, I shall do it in a manner as Mr. Dorrington did it, who walked on the battlements of the church many days, and took a view and survey where he should fall. And so, Madam," said I, " I am not s" simple but that I take a prospect of mine ove throw, only I thought I would tell you so much, that you may know that it was faith, and not folly, that brought me into it : and so I will pray for you.'* Upon which speeches of mine, uttere.i with some passion, it is true her majesty was ex- ceedingly moved; and accumulated a number of kind and gra- cious words upon me, and willed me to rest upon this Gratia men. suflicit* and a number of other sensible and tender words and demonstrations, such as more could not be : but as touch- ing my lord of Essex, never burn quid em. "VVHereupon I departed, resting then determined to meddle no more in the matter ; as that wiich 1 saw would overthrow me, and not be able to do him an/ good " Bacon's /Jjjotogi/ f in certain Impu- tations concerning the late Earl of Essex. xii MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON". n of those studies which have conferred immor- on his name, pub! s on Couis< Some time in the preceding year, lie I his " Maxims on the Lau ;" a p uhichhe justly prided himself, and which the most judicious and satisfactory on the su But the p. his circu: did not permit him calmly to pursue his favourite objects ; and he was induced to spec an advantageo as the means of ex -<-.if from hL> embar- rassments. He according!) directed his attention to the daughter of Sir Thomas Cecil, then relict of Sir William Hatton. The design, however, did not succeed: and it i* remarkable, that the lady after- married his great rival and antagonist, lord 1 his miscarriage, augmented his distress ' to such a degree, that he was shortly after am steel for 3GOl. on his return from transacting some Liij-ortai.t avocations at the Tower; a situation of which his enemies appear maliciously to have availed them- 's in order to disgrace him publicly. His conduct in parliament continued all this while reptionably popular. Mis t; Praise of Eliza- beth," published in reply to a book which in 1605 against that queen, was also highly extolled, although (says the \\riter, in a letter to a frit nd on the subject) " 1 freely confess myself not a disinte- T< sled man." With the accession of James I. the h?;pes of Mr. Bacon appear to have brightened. In a letter to hi* friend Matthews,* there are the following observa- tions. " 1 have many comforts and assurances ; but in my own opimon the chief is, the can- * Son of Dr. Toby Matthews, bishop of Duihara, am bishop of York. MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON'. xiii and the deserving world is come." It appears that his early proffers of service had been favourably eceived bv the iievv sovereign, \vho knighted him, at Whitehall, on the 23d of January, 1603. But distinction, though pleasing, aud per- . be prelude to riches, is not property . Favour had yet to screen him from the importunity of credi- tors, aud he *as again anested, even at the very Element of his exaltation. . 16*04, being first appointed one of -A learned in the Law, with a fee . he at lei . ued a grant of 6*01. a year, in acknowledgment .1 services reu^ dered by him and his brother Anthony. In ;he year appeared the first part of tbe author's great oks of Francis iiacon of the e and Advancement of Learning, Divine and iiuman; to the King." This work derived much advantage fro in the assistance of the learned .vho appears to have considerably, ! the li r erary. labours of ks author. Hitherto, however, Sir Francis had found, on the whole, but little occasion of self- congratula- tion. *' I see well (he observes, in a letter to lord Burleigh) that the? Bar will be niy bier; I must acd will use it, rather than my estate or re- putation shall decay." Still disappointed in the expectation of emolument, he was compelled to resume hi* n.a'rimouial projects. What be had in vain attempted within the circle of the court, he acquired with less difficulty from the city ; and about the year 16*00, at the age of forty, he was married U> Alice, daughter of Benedict Ha. uharn, Esq. . alderman of London, with whom he received a. plentiful fortune, but no accession to his happiness. b.5 By * Bishop of Ely, and of Winchester ; a prelate whose pen.* was employed in the refutation of Beilarmmc. xiv MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON". By a letter to the chancellor Kgerton, it appears that this union had been formed under his Lords hip' I auspices, who probably used similar representations with those made by the earl of Essex when the treaty was in agitation between Mr. Bacon and lady llatton. This, it is evident, produced consequences which might easily have been predicted. Taught to consider their new relation as a rising man, and per- ceiving his progress by no means answerable to the expectations which were raised, the friends of, Mrs. Bacon, unable to conceal the effect of their disap- pointment, expressed themselves in a way not very likely to promote the welfare of her for whom they appeared most solicitous ; especially when allied to a husband who never seems to have been particu- larly sensible to the endearments of domestic inter- course, and who had entered into the engagement under induct merits \\hich are not imagined to con- tribute to matrimonial felicity. Formed on such principles, and in such circumstances it cannot be surprising if his marriage, far from augmenting the number of his satisfactions, even embittered his usual enjoyments. At length, however, his unwearying diligence in the service of the ciown, and his incessant applica- tions and rt'rnonstrances to friends in power, pro- cured him the office of Solicitor-General ; with an express stipulation, that he should succeed, on the iirst vacancy, to the Attorneyship. Amidst this professional career, followed by extensive private practice, his attention to literature remained undi- verted, and his ardour unabated. In 16TO appeared the treatise " Of the Wisdom of the Ancients/' which was much admired. He possessed at this period an income of 50001. a year; a reputation that could no longer be disputed ; and was rapidly advancing in the estimation of his sovereign. On the 27th of October l6J3, he was raised to the sta- tion MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. xv tion of Attorney-General. Such was the regard \viih which he was contemplated by the Commons, and so heartily did they coincide in his promotion, that they allowed him to retain his seat in the house as a mark of their personal respect, though it had been vacated by his acceptance of the office to which he was just appointed. The duties of Attorney-General, however odious in their popular exertion, must necessarily insure the approbation and patronage of the government,, when ably and faithfully discharged. Of this cir- cumstance no man was more fully apprised than Sir Francis Bacon, nor perhaps any one? better qualified to avail himself of it to the utmost extent, ' His pan in the trial of the Earl of Somerset, appears to have been of the most confidential description;' cuid he acquitted himself so well- in this delicate transaction, as to place himself on a very intimate footing with king James. When, therefore, he ap- plied himself to Viihers, afienvarcls Duke of Buck- ingham, who succeeded Somerset in the reign of favouriteism, it could not proceed from any neces- sity on his part for securing the countenance of the new statesman, in order to establish his own interest with the monaich. Even his advice to Villiers had more of instruction than supplication; it was rather the language of a man who felt his own importance in the common wealth, than of one anxious to have his consequence ascertained : it was the fair tender of that assistance, on terms honourable to both par- ties, for which inexperience and insecurity could ne- ver have been too grateful. Since a favourite was neccseary to a prince, it remained for wisdom to consider how much an engine might become subser- vient to the general interest uf that community over which he seemed destined to preside. June 9*h, I6*l6, Sir Francis Bacon was sworn of the Privy-Council, Perhaps his progress was not a b 6 littl* xri MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. little accelerated, and his spirits invigorated,- by the disgrace of lord Coke, who had unhappily involved himself in a jurisdiclionary dispute with the Chan- cery, and incurred the king's displeasure, That a high degree of animosity subsisted between these illustrious individuals is evident irom the letter writ- ten by Sir Francis to lord Coke, during his banish- ment from court ; a letter, in which the lornier has displayed an acrimonious littleness utterly unworthy of himself, and which scarcely any provocation could justify on such an occasion. This situation of affairs, together with the chancellor's illness, encou- raged Sir Francis to apply for the expected succes- sion to the seals.* In the hands of Buckingham his suit became successful ; and on Egerton's voluntary resignation, March 7th, K)'l6'-7, the Seals were de- "vered to him, with the title of Lord Keeper, an oilire now rendered equivalent with that of chan- cellor. Writing to the Duke of Buckingham, May .7th, l6l7, he says " Yesterday I took my place in Chancery, which I hold, only from the king's grace and favour, and your constant friendship.. There was much ado, and a great deal of world : but this matter of pomp, \\liich is Heaven, to some men, is Hell to me, or purgatory at least. It is true, I was * When lord B. accepted the Solicitor's place, he had coRdi- tioned that his preferment should be progressive. Feb. 9,, 1615, he writes thus to James " My lord chancellor's sickness falleth Ot duro tempore. I have always known him a wise man, and of just elevation for monarchy ; but your Majesty's service must, not ie-mnrtnl. And it you lose him, as your Majesty hath now of late purchased many hearts by depressing the wicked; so God doth minister unto you a counterpart to do the like, by raising the honest ! Having procured the chancellor's recom- mendation, as the fittest person tosucced him ; lord B. observes in a letter to the king, dated February 12, 1615, " Your wor- thy chancellor (Egerton), I fear, goeth his last day." He then makes a direct tender of himself, as his successor : offering to give up his place of Attorney General, worth Ooool. a year, arid, his place i the Star Chamber, worth I cool, a year. MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON ? . I was glad to see that the King's choice was so rally approved/' Sir Francis Bacon made an admi- rable address, on taking his seat in Chancery Lord Coke had not remained an indifferent spec- tator of these transactions. Anxious, by i chaining the favour of the court, to rival, if not impede his antagonist, he now eagerly embraced an alliance with Sir John Villiers, brother of Buckingham, .who for- merly had sued for the daughter of lofd Coke,, but was disdainfully repulsed. His lordship at length perceived the broad road to distinction, which lie sought in a manner that must have been sufficiently mortifying to his high and contumacious temper, and with an assiduity that could not have been ex- ceeded by the veriest dependant on power. Bacon, who had irritated James by his patriotic though respectful opposition to the match agitated between the, English and Spanish courts, angered the favour- ite also by his remonstrances on this between the families of Coke and Viliiers* Apologizing to Buck- ingham, " I did ever foresee," he observes, u that this alliance would go near to lose me your lordship, I hold so dear ; and that was the only respect parti- cular to myself that moved me to be as I was, till I heard from you. But I will rely upon your con- stancy, and my own deserving, and the firm tie we have in respect of the King's service/' Whatever reflections may occur on the meanness of intrigue, and the instability of human prosperity, these con- cessions appear to have satisfied the parties to whom they were directed; for on the January the 4th, l6l8, he was declared chancellor.* On the llth of July * I o the Earl "f Buckingham. On being declared Lord Keeper of the Great; Seal, March yth> 1016-17, My dearest Lord, It is both in cores and kindness, that small ones float up to the tonguej and great ones sink down into the heart in silence. Therefore aviii MEMOIRS OF LORD BACOtf. July following, he was created Baron of Vcrulani ; as the preamble declares, in consideration of the eminent services which he had rendered the state. While chancellor he procured York. House, in the Strand, Therefore I could speak little to your lordship to day, neither had I fir time : but 1 must profess thus muchj that in this day's work you arc the truest and perfectest mirror and example of firm and generous friendship t'.ai eve? was in court. And I shall count every day lost, wherein I -shall not either srudy your well doing in thought, or do your name honour in speech, or perform you seivice indeed. Good, my lord, account and ac- cept me Your most bounden And devoted friend and servant of all men living, FR. BACON, C. S. How honourably and sincerely lord Bacon had studied the welfare of the duke of Buckingham may be seen from the fol- io. .ing letter, which he wrote to him on sending him his pa- tent, August 12, itiv6,.and which may be considered as a com- pendium of the advice which he had uniformly given him. * 1 did not see but you may think your private fortunes esta- blished: and therefore it is now time that you should refer^ vour actions chiefly to the good of your sovereign and your country. It is the life of an ox or beast always to eat, and ne- ver to exercise;. but men are born (especially Christian men) not to cram in theii fortune-, but to exercise their virtues, &c. And in this dedication of yourself to the public, I recommend unto you, principally; that which I think -vasntver done s nee. J was born ; and which not done, hath bred almost a wilder- ness and solitude in the king's service : which is, that you coun- tenance, and encourage, and advance able and virtuous men,. in ail kinds, degrees and professions. For in the time of some late great counsel!- rs, when they bear sway, able men weie by design and of purpose suppressed ; and though now choice gocth better both in church and commonwealth, yet money,, and turn-s rving, and cunning canvasses, and importunity prevail too much In places of moment, rather make ablv and honest men yours, than advance those that are otherwise be- cause they arc yours. As for cunning and corrupt men, you must, I know, sometimes use ; but keep them at a distance,, and let it appear that you make us .: of them, rather than that they lead you. Above all, defend wholly next to God, upon Sht MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. si* Strand, for bis residence ; he was attached to it as the place of his nativity, and afterwards quitted it, owing to his misfortunes, with evident regret. Here he celebrated his birth day, with great magnifi- cence, in l6"20, when lie completed his 6oth year. In the October of l6'20 his Lordship presented to- the King the " Novum Organmn,"' or second pw t of his Grand Instanration of the Sciences, in which after enum era ting defects, he exhibits a new logic for the better conduct of the imder c -t;tiKling. It is liow- rver singular, that he whoso much deprecated syllo- gism, should continually have adopted the syllogistic form of composition. The " Novum Organ urn'' is distinguished as being twelve times re-written ; it's author making it a practice to revise and correct it once a year, during twelve years, even exceeding, the injunction of the poet. Dissatisfaction had been so plainly expressed against the proceedings of Buckingham, that it was deemed prudent to exercise every precaution in con- vening the representatives of the country. Lord Verulam, from his experience, his talents, and his influence, was earnestly looked up to by the court, at whose desire he was much concerned in the assembling of the parliament which met in 1620-1 ; on the 27th of January, in which year he tad been raised to the dignity of Viscount Saint Al- ban's in the county of Hertfoit, with a pension from the customs. His enemies, however, had not been inactive ;, much odium had been attached to him for his the king; ami be ruled, as hitherto you have been, by his in- structions : for that's best for yourself ! For the king's care and thoughts concerning you, are according to the thoughts of a great king ; whereas your thoughts concerning yourself are, and ought to be, according to the thoughts of a modest man. But let me not weary you. The sum is, that you think goodness of the best part of greatness ; and that you remember whence you* rising comes, and make return accordingly," xr MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON, his docility towards the Favourite ; though his cor- respondence demonstrates that he was Jar from being so practicable as was then believed. Going early into the discussion of grievances, circumstances \\ere unfortunately discovered, by the house, tending to impeach the chanct.Iior's integrity. This enquiry eomujenced on the 12th of March, 1()'21 ; on the 1.9ih accusations of corruption were exhibited against his Lordship, when a letter from him was presented to the peers by the Duke of Buckingham ; other complaints beiiui preferred on. March 521, another leticr, throwing himself on the generosity and feel- ings i.f nobility, was delivered from his Lordship by the Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles 1. on the 24th of April: and in the beginning of May, not- withstanding every measure used to abate ijie vio- lence of proceeding, he received his bitter sentence from that very parliament to whose formation he had largely cnntiibuted.'* James is reported to have feiied tears, on learning the chancellor's disgrace ; who oppears in some measure to have been the scape- goat of Buckingham : nor does it seem. to have been in the King's power, circumstances considered, to have afforded him protection, without rekindling the public * Upon the charges brought against him in pailiament, lord Baccn addressed a letter to the lords dated Mar. loth, 162], praying their justice. On the 24t' of April, his lordship sent in his submission to the peers, dated April 22 ; which was noti- fied to the house by the Prince of Wales ; this being not deemed full enough, another, entitled a humble confession and sub- mi.-sion of me the lord chancellor, was received on 2Qth of April. On the 3d of May, the chancellor (Declining to at- tend, on account of si- kness, the peers proceeded to the fol- lowing j. dgrr.ent. " That the Lord Viscount St. Alban, Loid Chdi cehor of England, shall undergo a fine and ransom of 40,0001. that he shall be imprisoned in the Tower during the King's pleasuie: that he shall for ever be uncapable of any office, place, or e inpayment in the state or coranaon- wealth : that MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. xxi public jealousy. It was not the time for judgment to be stayed, when his arm was raised, and the peo- ple were calling aloud for its operations. His lord- ship had indeed the mib'brtune to tV^l the full weight ot that resentment which ought to have been divided among many. There is ainplr reason to confide in the truth of the chancellor's statement, that he had accepted money for the expediting -only, never for the perversion of justice ; since not one of his decrees were at any time reversed !* 'What that he shall never sit in pailiament, nor come within the verge of the court." The severity of this judgment was thought ne- cessary to appease the irritation of the lower house against the court, though, no doubt, it was in a great meas re procured by the intrigues of the chancellor's enemies, many of whom were then in power : it was excused, by those who had voted for it, on the ground that they had left him in good hands, meaning those of the king, who could at any time mitigate or even re- deem the sentence, while public justice was fully satisfied in the punishment of so great a man. * The following reflections on his adversity will be found un- commonly interesting. It will be *seen in what manner a great mind, instead of bending before the moral tempest, continued high and' erect. They are consolations indeed worthy of reli- gion and philosophy. " It is a good sound conclusion, that if our betters have sus- tained the like events, we have the less cause to be grieved. In- this kind of consolation I have not been wanting to myself: though, as a Christian, I have tasted (through God's great good- ness) of higher remedies. Having, therefore, through the va- riety cf my reading, set before me many examples both of ancient and latter times; my thoughts, I confess, have chiefly stayed upon three particulars, as the most eminent and the most resembling. All three, persons that had held chief place of authority in their countries ; all three ruined, not by war, or by any other disaster, but by justice and sentence, as delinquents and criminals : all three famous writers, insomuch as the remembrance of their calamity is now, as to posterity, but ai a. little picture of night work, remaining amongst the fair and excellent tables of their acts and works : and all three if that r/cre any thing to the matter) fit examples to quench any man's ambition xxii MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. What, could not pmdf ntly be attempted at oner, was gradually and safely effected. First, his Lord- ship was released from imprisonment; then, his fine was remitted ; afterwards, October ] '2ih, a x warrant was signed for his pardon ; and, lastly, he \vas per- ir/;l:( (1 to return within the verge of the court. By March, Io22, he so far recovered from the immediate effects of his situation, as to publish his u History of Hcnrv VII. " which he dedicated to the Prince of Wales. Much SMrnbition of rising again ; for that they were every one restored \vith great glory, but to their farther ruin and destruction, end- ing in a violent death. The men were Demosthenes, Cicero, afrid Seneca; persons that I durst not claim affinity with, except the similitude of our fortunes had contracted it.. When I had> cast mine eyes upon these examples, 1 was carried on farthet to obseive how they did btar their fortunes ; and, principally, how they did employ their time, being banished, and disabled for public business ; to the end, that J might learn by them, and that they might be as well my counsellors as my comt'ort- eis* Whereupon I happened to note how diversely their for- tunes wrought upon them ; especially in that point at which t did most aim, which w MS ihe employing of the:r times and pens*. In Cicero, I saw that, durnghis banishment (which was almo.sC two years), he was so softened and dejected, as he wrote nothing but a few womanish epistles. And yet, in mine opinion he had least reason of the three to be discouraged : for that, althoug i it was judged, and judged by the highest kind of judgment, in form, of a r-.tatuie or law, that he should he banished, and his whole estaie confiscated and seized, and his houses pulled down, and; that itshoul." be highly penal for any man to propound a repeal ^ yet his case, even then, had nu gieat blot of ignominy, for it was, thought but a tempest of popularity which overthrew him. De- mosthenes contrariwise, though his case was foul, beifig con- demned for bribery (and not simple bribery, but bribery in tho nature of treas.-n.and disloyalty), yet nevertheless took so little knowledge of his fortune, as during his banishment lie did much busy himself and intermeddle with, matters of state; and took upon to cvunsel the state (as if he had been still at the helm) by, letters, as appears by some epistles of his which are extant. Sene- Q'df indeed, who was condemned for many carruptioas aad ci ime , arid MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. xxiii Much has been urged on the subject of his Lord- ship's poverty, complaints of which abound in the letters written by him during his humiliation. He however, could not rightly be thought poor who had an income of 25001. a year. But, with diminished means, Lord Baton could not be brought to abate any thing of his accustomed stale : he still livtd in great splendour ; while his affairs, as they were per- plexed, might alarm him with the apprehension of dying insolvent. His chief difficulty must have, con- sisteJ in being unable to procure the payment of monies advanced to him by the crown ; but in this he was relieved on Buckingham's return from Spain, who effectually exerted himself in the business, and to whom the credit of a warm and faithful friend is unquestionably due.* The and banished into a solitary island, kept a mean ; and though his pen did not freeze, yet he abstained from intruding into mat- ters of business : but spent his time in writi ;g books of excel- lent argument and use for all ages ; though he might have made better choice, sometimes, of his dedications. These examples confirmed me much in a rcsolntinn (where^ unto I was otherwise inclined) to spend my time wholly in writ- ing ; and to put forth that poor talent, or half-talent, or what it is, that God hath given me, not, as heretofore, to particular exchanges, but to banks, or mounts of p rpetuity, which will not brenk. (i; Introduction to ttie Discourse on a Holy f far ^ written in 1622. ' * o the Lord Treasurer Mariborovg/i. My Lord, I humbly entreat your Lordship, and (if I may use the word)/ advise you to make me a better answer. Your Lordship is inter- ested in honour, in the opinion of all them who hear ho\v I am dealt with : if your Lordship malice me tor such a cause,, surely it was one of the juscest businesses th-'t ever was in Chancery. J will vouch it ; and how deeply 1 was tempted therein, yout Lordship knows best. Your Lordship may- do well, in this great age of yours, to think of your grave, as I do of mine; and to (1) The, Ke-.ider will perceive hcjw seriously this- thought i* taken up, ia kord Baton's Prayer. bewar* MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. The pardon of his faithful servant and chancellor was among the last acts performed by kn,i> James, who died shortly after. Lord Baron was summoned to the first parliament of Charles I. but infirmities prevented his taking any share in the repnv-etiuuion. It was while labouring under this ind'spi'thr..!!, that he received a vit-r from the nutrquis U'LiImt, who had come over with the princess Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles i. " You resemble/' said the minister, finding him in bed with the curtains drawn, ~ of heart. And as for fair words, it is a wind by which neither your Lordship, nor any man else, can ' sail long. Howsoever, I am the man who .vill give all due re- spects and reverence to your great place, c. This; letter appears to have been written in December, 1624, and as a remonstrance on the difficulties which Lord Ba-on ex- perienced in procuring the payment of a warrant rhat had been issued to him, on land, from the Chancery, at the instance of the Duke of Buckingham. Even this was far from being -qual to his Lordsh'o's just expectations. <* His Majesty ," says the Duke of Buckingham, in the letter which conveys the grant, " is but tor the present, he says, able to yield unto the three years' advance ; which if you rlease to accept, you aie noc hereafter the farther off from obtaining some better testimony of his favour, worthier both of him and you, though it can never be ajaswerable to what my he-^rt wishes you," MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. xxr Flighgafe, he died there on Raster Day, April 9th, l62u\ in his ()6th year.* Me was interred privately in the chapel of Saint Michael's Church, near Saint Alban's, within the precincts of Old Venilam. The spot that contained his remains was obscure and undistinguished] till the gratitude of Sir Thomas Meautys raised a monument to his remembrance. f In person, Lord Bacon is described to have been of the middling stature ; his forehead spacious and open, but from the cast of his disposition and in- tenseness of mental application, early impressed with the characters of age ; his eyes lively and pene- trating ; and his whole appearance generally pleasing, lie had the air of a good man, and soon acquired, with * Tie had been trying experiments touching the conservation and induration of bodies, and was proceeding from York Mouse to Saint Alban's, where he was so suddenly struck in the sto- mach, as to be compelled to stop at Higngaw. " As for the experiment itself," says his Lordship, in the last letter he wrote, to the Earl of Arundel, " it succeeded excellently well ; but in the journey hither L was taken with such a fit of casting, as I knew not whether it were the stone, or some surfeit, or cold, or indeed a touch of them all three. But when ( came to your Lordship's house, I was not able to go back ; and therefore was forced to take up my lodging here, where your housekeeper is very careful and diligent about me: which, I assure myself, your Lordship will not only pardon towards him, but think the befer ot him for it. For indeed your Lordship's house was happy to me ; and I kiss your noble hands, for the welcome which I am sure you give me to it. I know how unfit it is for me to write to your Lordship with any other hand than my own ; but, by my troth, my fingers are so disjointed with this fit of sickness, that I cannot steadily hold my pen." He sickened with a fever, attended with a defluxion on his breast, and, af- ter a week's illness, expired. -f* Sir Thomas Meautys, who was not only his secretary and most faithful servant, but his cousin and heir, and had likewise married his grand neice, erected an elegant tomb of white marble to Lord Bacon's memory, in the chancel of the church. His lord- ship is represented sitting in a chair, in his usual contemplative posture xxvi MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. with those who knew him, the estimation due to a great man, Mis conversation was various, always adapted to times and persons, and distinguished for facility and propriety. These excellencies accom- panied him into public, wheie the natural dignity of his aspect, and the gracefulness of his elocution, irrr-sistably commanded the attention and sympathies of his hearers. One of those extraordinary beings who aie alike gifted with the eloquence of the pen and of the tongue, whether he applied his powers to private entertainment, or the instruction and per- suasion of society, he could not fail to obtain an un- common portion of admiration and esteem. Delia* nt in none of the qualifications necessary to a statesman, and possessing many of them emi- nently, we see him ably filling, during a series of ytais, important situations in the country. That such a mind .should be compelled to drudge through the usual track towards preferment, may occasion regret turc, one hand supporting his head, and the other hanging over thearmof the chair. Underneath is a latin inscription writtea by the celebrated Sir Henry Wotton, of which the following is a translation: FRANCIS BACON, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban's ; Or by more conspicuous titles, Of Sciences the Light, of Eloquence the Law, Sat Thus. Who after all Natural Wisdom, And Secrets of Civil Life he had unfolded, Nature's Law fulfilled, Let compounds be dissolved ; In the Year of our Lord, M.DC.XXVI. Of his Age, LXVI. Of such a Man, That the Memory might remain, THOMAS MEAUTYS, Living his Attendant, Dead his Admirer, Placed this Monument. MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON". xxvii regret, but ought not to excite surprise. Superior acquisitions, if unf;u ilitnted by local influence and local advantages, are the result either of desert or fortune, or a felicitous combination oi both. Itrni.: ( not however be concealed, that in his anxiety as a courtier, Bacon sometimes forgot his independence as a man ; that his loyalty occasionally bordered on idolatry. But this conduct was not without its vir- tues. It gave him an ascendancy with the sovereign, which often enabled him to present advice that would have been rejected from any other, and to obtain a favourable audience. Nothing short of consum- mate political discretion could have acquired what lie long enjosed, the reputation of keeping up a good understanding both with the parliament and the court. II( had made deep observations on human nature; but it may be doubted, wluther this knowledge con- tributed to his interests. Like most who have per- plexed themselves wiih investigations of ihis clescrip- tion, he often imagined more; cunniiig than actually existed, and was not.tiilfrequently MIIJ l'yed in com- batting the phantoms v,f his own creation. It is the. error of men long accustomed to the, machinations of- the world, to believe that all is insincerity, vexation and vanity, and generally to gather the bitter fruits of their belief. Lord Bacon thought dissimulation in some cases so indipensible, and even justifiable, that he carried it to an extent highly injurious to himself. There is reason for concluding that his ex- treme love of letters \vas in a great degree affected, in order to cover his ambition as a politician, by inducing an opinion of his real indifference to public employment: yet his enemies successfully retorted, on this very ground, representing him as a man of learning rather than business, and therefore unfitted for those situations to which he secretly aspired. Contem- xxviii MEMOIRS OF LORD BACON. Contemplated as a philosopher, his imperfections immediately disappear, or are lost in the lustre of his reputation. What Pope has written of the im- mortal Newton, may with justice be asserted here f ' Nature, and Nature's laws lay hid in night : " GOD said, let Bacon be ! and all was light \" But it is not only with reference to philosophy, that" we are to consider his Lordship's character. " I am in good hope," he observes, " that when Sir Edward Coke's Reports, and my Rules and deci- sions shall come to posterity ; there will be (what- soever is now thought) question, who was the greater Lawyer?" Intimately conversant with history, the institutions of society, and the springs of human conduct, he has evinced, in his History of Henry VII. how truly he was qualified to delineate the views and transactions of mankind. With equal ability he sustained the offices of the essayist, the moralist, and the divine. Whether, indeed, his Lordship be contemplated as a statesman, a philosopher, an his- torian, a lawyer, or a theologian, he is eminently entitled to universal respect and admiration. His Lady, by whom he had no children, and with whom he enjoyed no felicity, survived him upwards f twenty years. VERULAMIANA. MEN, MANNERS, AND LITERATURE. PART. I. VERULAMIANA. ADVEHSITY. OT only knowledge, but also every other gift (which we call the gifts of fortune) have power to puff up earth ; afflictions only level these mole-hills of pride, plough the heart, and make it fit for wisdom to sow her seed, and for grace to bring forth her encrease. Happy is that man therefore, both in regard df heavenly and earthly wisdom, who is thus wounded to be cured ; thus broken, to be made strait ; thus made acquainted with his own imperfections^ that he may be perfected ! God, if we belong to him, takes us in hand- and because he seeth that we have unbridled stomachs, therefore he sends outward crosses, which, while they cause us to mourn, do com* B 2 fort 4 VERULAMIANA. fort us, being assured testimonies of his love that sends them. To humble ourselves there- fore before God, is the part of a Christian: but for the world, and our enemies, the counsel of the poet is apt Tu nc cede mails, sea contra audcntior ito. This is certain, the mind that is most prone to be puffed up with prosperity, is most weak and apt to be dejected with the least puff of adversity. ADVERSITY AND PROSPERITY. CERTAINLY if miracles be the command over nature, they appear most in adversity. It is true greatness, to have in one the frailty of a man, and the security of a God. Fere magmun, habere fragilitatem homhtis, securitatem Dei. But to speak in a mean : the virtue of prosperity is temperance; the virtue of adversity is forti- tude, which in morals is the more hgroical virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New, which carrie th the greater benediction, and the clearer VERULAMIANA. * dearer revelation of God's favour. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adver- sity is not without comforts and hopes. Cer- tainly virtue is like precious odours, most frag- rant when they are incensed,, or crushed ; for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adver- sity doth best discover virtue. . ADVICE. THE greatest trust between man and man is the trust of giving counsel. Things will have their first, or second .agi- tation ; if they be not tossed upon the arguments of counsel, they will be tossed upon the waves of fortune; and be full of inconstancy, doing and undoing, like the reeling of a drunken man. Whosoever is not wiser upon advice than upon the sudden, the same man is no wiser at fifty years old than he was at thirty. B 3 ABETTING. VfcRULAMIANA. ABETTING. W there be a conspiracy to murder a man as he journeys hy the way; and it be cme man's part to draw him forth to that journey by invitation, or by colour of some business ; and another takes upon him to dissuade some friend of his whom be had a purpose to take in his company, that he be not too strong to make Iws defence ; and another hath the part to go along with him, and to hold him in talk till the first blow be given : all these are abettors to this murder, though none of them give the blow, nor assist to give it. He is not the hunter alone, who let slips the dog upon the deer ; but he that lodges the deer, or raises him, or puts him out, or he who sets a toil that he cannot escape. ALCHEMY. SURELY to alchemy this right is due, that U may be compared to the husbandman, whereof iisop makes the fable, who, when he died, told his VERULAMIANA, 7 his sons that he had left unto them gold buried under ground in his vineyard ; and they digged over all the ground, and gold' they found none,, hut by reason of their stirring and digging the mould about the roots of the vines, they had a great vintage- the year following : so the search and stir to make gold hath brought to light a great number of good and fruitful inventions and experiments, as well for the disclosing of at we, as for the use of man's life. ANGEll. To seek to extinguish anger utterly is but a bravery of the stoics. We have better oracles. - Me angry ; but sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger. There is no other way but to meditate and ruminate well upon the effects of anger; how it troubles man's life. And the best time to do this, is to look buck upon anger when the lit is thoroughly ovej\ Anger is certainly a kind of baseness, as appears well in the weakness of those in whom it reigns ; children, women, old B 4 iblka> VERULAMIAtfA. folks, sick folks. No man is angry that feels not himself hurt : and therefore tender and de- iicate persons must needs be oft angry ; they have so many things to trouble them,, which more robust natures have little sense of. There be two things whereof you must have special caution. ' The one, of extreme bitterness of words : and that in anger a man reveal no se- crets ; for that makes him not fit for society. The other that you do not peremptorily break off, in any business, in a fit of anger ; but, how- soever you shew bitterness, do not act any thing that is not revocable. The scripture exhorteth us, to possess our souls in patience. Whosoever is out of patience, is out of possession of his soul. ANIMAL FOOI>. CARNIVOROUS animals cannot be fed with herbage. Hence (though the will of men has a greater influence over their bodies, than in other animals) the order of the Folietani, or leaf-eaters, is said to have dropped upon finding that VERULAMIANA. 9 that leaves or herbage were not capable of nourishing the human body. ANNIHILATION. THERE is nothing more certain in nature., than that it is impossible for any body to be utterly annihilated : as it was the work of the ornnipotency of God to make somewhat of nothing, so it requireth the like omnipotency to turn somewhat into nothing. ANTIQUITY. THESE times are the antient times, when. the world is antient; and not those which we ac- count antient, by a computation backward from ourselves. ANTIENTS AND MODERNS. SOME are wrapped up in the admiration of antiquity, others spend themselves in a fondness for novelty ; and few are so tempered as to hold B 5 a mean, io VERULAMIANA. a mean, ,but either quarrel with what was justly asserted by the antients, or despise what is justly advanced by the moderns. And this is highly prejudicial to philosophy, and the sciences ; as being rather an affectation for an- tiquity, or for novelty, than any true judgment; for truth is not to be derived from any felicity of times, which is an? uncertain thing, but from the eternal light of nature and experience. APHORISMS. TH E writing in aphorisms hath many excel- ^ivt virtues, whereto the writing in method dotb not approach. First, it trieth the writer, whe- ther he be superficial or solid ; for aphorisms, except they should be ridiculous, cannot be made but of the pitK and heart of sciences : for discourse of illustration is cut off, recitals of ex- amples are cut off, discourse of connexion and order is cut off, descriptions of practice are cut; off; so there remaineth nothing to fill the aphorisms but some good quantity of- observa- tion : and therefore no man can suffice, nor in reason will attempt to write aphorisms, but he that is sound and grounded. AUTHORITY. VERULAM1ANA. n AUTHORITY. AUTHORITY is best supported by love and! fear intermixed. AVIAIUKS. FOR Aviaries, I like them not, except they be of that largeness as they may be turfed, and; have living plants and bushes set in them ; that the birds may have more seope and natural nestling,, and that no foulness- appear in the floor of the aviary. BABLERS-*. As for talkers and futile personsj they are commonly vain and credulous withal. For he that talketh what he knoweth, will also talk; \vhathe knoweth not. B 6 BEAUTY.. 12 VERULAMIANA. BEAUTY. VIRTUE is like a rich stone, best plain set:' and surely virtue is best in a body that is come- ly, though not of delicate features ; and that hath rather dignity of presence, than beauty o aspect. That is the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot express ; no, nor the first sight of the life. There is no excellent beau-ty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. A man shall see faces, in which, if you examine them part by part, you shall never find a good ; and yet altogether they do well*. Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last; and for the most part it makes a dissolute Youth, and an Age a little out of countenance:- but jet certainly, again, if it light well, it maketh virtues shine, and vices blush. BELIEF. VERUL AMI-ANA, is BELIEF. THERE be three means to fortify belief- The first, is experience ; the second, reason ; the third, authority : and that of these which is far the most potent, is authority ; for belief up- QII reason or upon experience, will stagger. BIOGRAPHY, HISTORIES do rather set forth the pomp of business, than the true and inward resorts there- of. But lives, if they be well written, pro- pounding to themselves a person to represent, in whom actions both greater and smaller,, public and private, have of commixture, must of necessity contain a more true* native and lively representation,. ELDER AND YOUNGER. BROTHERS* YOUNGER Brothers are commonly fortunate; but seldom or never, when the Elder are dis- inherited, BOOKS* VEKULAMUXA.. BOOKS.- ALL knowledge is either delivered by teachers^ or attained by men's proper endeavours ; and therefore as the principal part of tradition of knowledge concerned) chiefly writing of books,, so the relative part thereof concerned) reading of books-; vvhereunto appertain these considera- tions. First, concerning the. true correction and editing of authors ;. wherein, nevertheless,, rash diligence hath done great prejudice. For these critics have often presumed, that that which they understood not was falsely set down. As the priest, who, where he found it written of. Saint Paul Dtmissus est per sportam, mended his book, and made it Demissus est per pirtam, be-~ cause sportam was a hard word, and out of his reading. Therefore, as it hath been wisely noted, the most corrected copies are commonly the least correct. The second is concerning the exposition and, explication of authors, which resteth in anno- tations arid commentaries ; wherein it is over usual to blanch the, obscure places, and dis- course VERULAMIANA. fc course upon the plain. The third, is concern- ing the times, which in many cases give great- light to true interpretations. The fourth, is concerning some brief censure and judgment of the authors ; that men thereby may make some election unto themselves, what books to read. And the fifth is concerning the syntax and disposition of studies, that men may know in what order or pursuit to read. Books must follow sciences, and not sciences- booksv MULTIPLICITY OF BOOKS. THE opinion of plenty is among the causes of' want ; and the great quantity of books maketh: a shew rather of superfluity than lack : which surcharge, nevertheless, is not to be remedied by making no more books, but by making more good books, which, as the serpent of Moses, might devour the serpents of the enchanters* VERULAMIANAV BOLDNESS. WONDERFUL is the ease of boldness in civil business : what first ? Boldness. What second and third ? Boldness. And yet boldness is a child of ignorance and baseness, far inferior to other parts. But nevertheless it doth fascinate, and bind hand and foot, those that are either shallow in judgment or weak in courage ; which are the greatest part: yea, and prevailed! with wise men at weak times. Therefore we see it bath done wonders in popular states ; but with, senates and princes less: and more ever upon tbe first entrance of bold persons into action, than soon after; for boldness is an ill keeper of promise. Surely, as there are mountebanks for the natural body, so there are mountebanks for the politick body men that undertake great curesj and perhaps have been; lucky in two or three experiments, but want the grounds of science, and therefore cannot hold mi t: nay, you shall see a bold fellow many times do Ma- homet's miracle. Mahomet made the people believe that he would call an hill to him, and from VERULAMIANA. 17 from the top of it oifer up his prayers for the observers of his law. The people assembled Mahomet called the hill to come to him, again and again, and when the hill stood still, he was never a whit abashed, but said, " If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill." So these men, when they have promised great matters, and failed most shame- fully, yet, if they have the perfection of bold- ness, they will but slight it over, and make a turn, and no more ado. This is well to be weighed, that boldness is ever blind, for it seeth not dangers and incon- veniencies ; therefore it is ill in counsel, good in execution: so that the right use of bold per- sons is that they never command in chief, but be seconds, and under the direction of others. For in counsel, it is good to see dangers ; and in execution not to see them, except they be very great. CELIBACY. THE perpetuity by generation is common to beasts; but memory, merit, and noble works, are 1 8 VERULAMUNA, are proper to men : and surely a man shall set that the noblest works and foundations have proceeded from childless men, who have sought to express the images of their minds, where those of their bodies have failed ; so the care of posterity is most in theia that have no posterity. He that hath wife and children, hath givea hostages to fortune ; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. Some there are, who though they lead a single life, yet their thoughts do end with them- selves, and account future times impertinences. Nay, there are some other, that account wife and children but as bills of charges. Some rich* jfooliso covetous men take a pride in having no children, because they may be thought so much the richer. But the most ordinary cause of a. single-life is liberty ; especially in certain self- pleasing and: humourous minds, who are so sensible of every restraint, that they will go near to think their girdles and garters to be bonds- and shackles. Unmarried^ VERTJLAM1ANA. 19 Unmarried men are best friends, best masters, best servants, but not always best subjects ; for they are light to run away, and almost all fu- gitives are of that condition. A single-life cloth well with churchmen; for charity will hardly water the ground, where it must first fill a pool. It is indifferent for judges and magistrates : for if they be facile and corrupt, you shall have a servant five times worse than a wife. For soldiers, I find the generals commonly, in their hortatives, put men in mind of their wives arid children : and I think the despising of mar- riage, amongst the Turks, maketh the vulgar soldiers more base. Certainly, wife and chil- dren are a kind of discipline of humanity ; and single-men, though they be many times more charitable, because their means are less ex- hausted, yet, on the other side, they are more cruel and hard-hearted, good to make severe inquisitors, because their tenderness is not so often called upon. COMMON-PLACE BOOKS. I AM not ignorant of the prejudice imputed to the use of common-place books, as causing a retardation. 20 -VERULAM1ANA, retardation of reading, and some sloth or re- laxation of memory. 'But because it is but a counterfeit tiling in knowledge, to be forward and pregnant, except a man be deep and full, I hold the entry of common -pi aces to be a mat- ter of great use and essence in studying, as that which assureth copiousness of invention, and contracted! judgment to a strength. CONCUPISCENCE. UNLAWFUL lust i-s like a furnace; if you stop the flames altogether, it will quench ; but if you gi-ve them any vent, it will rage. CONVERSATION. IT is good in discourse and speech of conver- sation, to vary and intermingle speech of the present occasion with arguments ; tales with reasons ; asking of questions with telling of opinions ; and jest with earnest : far it is a dull thing to tire, and (as we say now) to jade any- thing, too far. He VERULAMIANA. 2r lie that questioneth much shall learn much, and content much ; but especially if he apply his questions to the skill of the persons whom be asketh : for he shall give them occasion to please themselves in speaking, and himself shall continually gather knowledge. Discretion of speech is more than eloquence ; and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal, is more than to speak in good words, or in order. CONTROVERSY. As in civil business, if "there be a meeting, and men fail at words, there is common iy an end of the matter for that time, and no proceed- ing at all ; so in learning, where there is much controversy, there is many times little enquiry. CONSOLATION. AMONGST consolations, it is not the least to. represent to a man's self like examples of cala- mity a* VERULAMIANA. mity in others. For examples give a quicker impression than arguments ; and, besides, they certify us of that which the Scripture also ten- dereth for satisfaction that no new thing has happened unto us. This they do the better, by how much the examples are liker in circum* stances to our own case ; and more especially if they fall upon persons that are greater and worthier than ourselves. For as it savoureth of vanity, to match ourselves highly in our own conceit ; so on the other side it is a good sound conclusion, that if our betters have sustained the like events, we have the less cause to be grieved. CONTEMPLATION AND ACTION. MEN must know, that in --this theatre of man's life, it is reserved only for God and an- gels to be lookers on : neither could the ques- tion ever have been received in the church, but upon this defence, that the monastical life is not simply contemplative, but performeth the duty either of incessant prayers and supplica- tions, which hath been truly esteemed as an of- fice VERULAMIAKA. S3 fice in the church ; or else of writing or taking instructions for writing concerning the law of God, as Moses did when he abode so long in the mount. So we see Enoch, the seventh from -Adam, who was the first contemplative, and walked with God, yet did also endow the church with prophesy, which St. Jude citeth. But for contemplation which should be finished in it- self, without casting beams upon society, as- suredly divinity knovveth it Hot. This decideth the controversies between Zeno and Socrates, who placed felicity in virtue simply or attended, the actions and exercises whereof do chiefly embrace and concern so- ciety ; arid, on the other side, the Cyrenaics and Epicureans, vho placed it in pleasure, and made virtue to be but as a servant, -without which pleasure cannot be served and attended : And the reformed sctvool of the Epicureans, which placed virtue in serenity of mind and freedom from perturbation ; as if they would have deposed Jupiter again, and restored Sa- turn and the first age, when there was no sum- mer nor winter, spring nor antumto> but all after one air and season: Also Ilerillus^ who placed felicity 24 VERULAMIANA. felicity in extinguishment of the disputes of the mind, making no fixed nature of good and evil, esteeming things according to the clearness of the desires or the rcluctatiou : all which mani- festly tend to private repose and contentment, and not to point of society. It censureth also the philosophy of Epictetus, which pre-supposeth that felicity must be placed in those things which are in our power, lest we be liable to fortune and disturbance ; as if it were not a thing much more happy to fail in good and virtuous ends for the public, than to obtain all that we can wish to ourselves in. our proper fortune. W hereunto the, \yisdo in of that heavenly leader hath signed, that a good conscience is a continual feast ; shewing plainly that the conscience of good intentions, how- soever succeeding, is a more continual joy to na- ture than all the provision which can *be made for security and repose. It censureth likewise that abuse of philo- sophy (which grew general about the time of Epictetus) in converting it into an occupation or profession, as if the purpose had been not to VERULAMIANA. *;> to resist and extinguish perturbations, but to fly and avoid tbe causes of them, and to shape a particular kind and course of life to that end; introducing such an health of mind, as was that health of body which Aristotle notclh in licrodicus, who did nothing all his life long but intend his health : whereas, if men refer themselves to duties of society, as that health of body is best which is ablest to endure all alterations and extremities, so likewise that health of mind is most proper which can go through the greatest temptations and pertur- bations. So as Diogcnes's opinion is to be ac- cepted ; who commended not them which ab- stained, but them which sustained, and could refrain their mind in precipitio, and could give unto the mind the shortest stop or turn. Lastly, it censureth the tenderness and want of application in some of the most antient and reverend philosophers, and philosophical men, who retired too easily from civil business, for avoiding of indignities and perturbations : whereas the resolution of men truly moral night to be such as Gonsalvo said the honour of a soldier should he, etala crassiorc; and C not 2* VERULAM1ANA. not so fine, as that every thing should catch in it and endanger it. In life there is no man's spirit so soft, hut lhat he esteerneth the effecting of somewhat he hath fixed jn his desire, more than sensuality. Which priority of the active good is much upheld by the consideration of our state to he mortal and exposed to fortune; which maketh us desire to have somewhat secured and ex- empted from time, which are only our deeds and works. The pre-eminence likewise of this active good is upheld by the affection which is natural in man towards variety and proceed- ing, which in the pleasures of the sense, which is the principal part of passive good, can have no great latitude. But in enterprises pursuits and purposes of life there is much variety, whereof men are sensible with pleasure in their inceptions, progressions, recoils, leintegrations, approaches and attainings to their ends. So as it was well sttid. Vita sine proposito languida et vaga est. Yet, that gigantic state of mind which possesseth the troublers of the world, \vho would have all men happy or unhappy, as they are their friends or enemies, and would give VERULAMIANA. a/ give form to 'the world according to their own humours which is the true theomacy pre- tendeth and aspireth to active good, though it recedeth farthest from the good of society, which we have determined to be the greater. In man, the approach or assumption to divine or angelical nature is the perfection of his form; the error or false imitation of which good, 13 that which is the tempest of human life. CONSENT OR AGREEMENT. OF all characteristics, that is the worst which men take from consent, in matters of the under- standing ; except such as concern religion and politics, which properly go by voices. CREDIBILITY OF SYSTEM. THE harmony of a science, supporting each part the other, is and ought to be the true and brief confutation and suppression of all the smaller sort of objections. CUSTOM 2S V^HULAMIAXA, CUSTOM AND EDUCATION. THE thoughts of men are much according to their inclination ; their discourse and speeches, according to their learning and infused opini- ons; hut their deeds are after as they have heen accustomed. Therefore since custom is the principal magistrate of man's life, let men hy all means endeavour to ohtain good customs. Certainly, custom is most perfect when it hegin- neth in young years : this we call education, which is, in effect, hut an early custom. CUNNING OR SELF-POLICY. IT is one thing to understand persons, and another thing to understand matters : for many are perfect in mens' humours, that are not greatly capable of the real part of business. It is a point of cunning, to wait upon him with whom you .speak with your eye ; for there be many wise men that have secret hearts and transparent countenances : yet this should be done with a demure abasing of your eye some- times. I Another VERULAMIANA. 29 Another is, that when you have any thing to obtain of present dispatch, you entertain and amuse the party with whom you deal with some other discourse ; that he be not too much awake to make objections. The like surprise may be made by moving the thing when the party is in haste, and cannot stay to consider advisedly of what is moved* If a man would cross a business, that he doubts some other would handsomely and effec- tually move; let him pretend to wish it well, and move it himself in such sort as may foil it. The breaking off in the midst of what one was about to say, as if he took himself up, breeds greater appetite in him with whom you confer, to know more. And because it works better when any thing seemeth to be gotten from you by question, than if you 6 tier it of yourself, you may lay a bait for a question, by shewing another visage and countenance than you are wont. In things that are tender and un pleasing, it u good to break the ice by some whose word* are S* VERULAM1ANA. are of less weight, and to reserve the more weighty voice to come in as by chance. In tilings that a man would not be seen in himself, it is a point of cunning to borrow the name of the world ; as to say, " The world says/' or, " There is a speech abroad." I knew one, who, when he wrote a letter, would put that which was most material in the postscript, as if it had been a bye-matter. I knew another who would pass over that which he intended most ; and go forth, and come back again, and speak of it as of a thing that he had almost forgot. Some procure themselves to be surprised at such time, so as it is likely that the party they work upon will suddenly come upon them. It is a point of cunning to let fall those words in a man's own name, which he would have another man learn and use, and thereupon take advantage. It is a way that some men have, to glance and dart at others by justifying themselves bj negatives ; as to say, " This / do not." VERULAMIANA ai Some have in readiness so many tales and stories, as there is nothing they would insinuate but they can wrap it into a tale. It is a good point of cunning for a man to shape the answer he would have, iu his own words and propo- sitions. It is strange how long some men will lie in wait to speak somewhat they desire to say; and how far about they will fetch, and how many matters they will beat over to come near it : it is a thing of great patience, but yet of much use*. A sudden bold, and unexpected question, doth many times surprise a man, and lay him open. Like to him, who having changed his name, and walking in St. Paul's, another sud- denly came behind him and called him by his true name, whereat strait way he looked back. But these small wares and petty points of cun- ning are infinite, and it were a good deed to make a list of them : for nothing doth more hurt in a state, than that cunning men pass for wise. It is generally better to deal by speech than l>y letter ; and by the mediation of a third, than C4 bj 32 VERULAM1ANA. by a man's self. Letters are good, when a man would draw an answer by letter back again ; or where it may be danger to be interrupted, or heard by pieces , or when it may serve for a man's justification, afterwards to produce his own letter. To deal in person is good, when u man's face breedeth regard, as commonly with inferiors ; or in tender cases, where a man's eye upon the countenance of him to whom he speak- eth, may give him a direction how far to go : and, generally, where a man will reserve to himself liberty either to disavow or to expound. In dealing with cunning persons, we must ever consider their ends to interpret their speeches; and it is good to say little to them, and thai which they least look for. DANCING. DANCING to song is a thing of great state and pleasure. I understand it, that the song be la quire, placed aloft, and accompanied with some broken music, and the ditty titled to the device. Several quires placed one over against another, and taking the voice by catches, anthem-wise, v(i\e great pleasure. The VERULAMIANA. 33 The colours that shew best by candle-light, are white, carnation, and a kind of sea-water green : and ouches or spangs, as they are of no- great co:?t, so they are of most glory. Some sweet ocjrmr?, suddenly coming forth without any drops falling, are in such company (as there is steam and heat) things of great pleasure and refreshment. DEFORMITIES. DEFORMED persons are commonly even with nature ; for as nature hath done ill by them, so do they by nature ; being for the most part, as the Scripture saith, void of natural affection, and so they have their revenge 6 f nature. Cer- tainly there is a consent between the body and the mind ; and where nature erreth in the one, she ventureth in the other. Whosoever hath any thing fixed in his persota that doth induce contempt, hath also a perpe- tual spur in himself to rescue and deliver him- self from scorn ; and therefore all deformed persons are extreme bold. Also it stirreth in them industry, and especially of this kind C 5 to 4 VERULAMIANA. to watch and observe the failings of others, that they may have somewhat to repay. Again, in their superiors it quencheth jealousy towards them, as persons that they think they may at pleasure despise ; and it layeth their compe- titors and emulators asleep, as never believing they should be in possibility of advancement, till they see them in possession. So that, in a great wit, deformity is an advantage towards rising. DELAYS. THERE is surely no greater wisdom, than we]E to time the beginnings and outsets of things. Dangers are no more light, if they once seem light: and more dangers have deceived men, than forced them. Nay, it were better to meet some dangers haff way, though they come no- thing near, than to keep too long a watch upon their approaches *, for if a man watch too long,. it is odds but he will fall asleep. On the other side, to be deceived by too long shadows (as some have been when the moon was low, and shone on their enemy's back) and so to shoot eff before the time j or to teach dangers to> come VEROIAMIANA. 35 come on, by over-early buckling towards them, is another extreme. The helmet of Pluto, which maketh the poli- tic man go invisible, is seciesy in the council, and celerity in the execution, for when things are once come to the execution there is no secresy comparable to celerity ; like the motion of a bullet in the air, which flieih so swift as it out- runs the eye. DEDICATIONS. THE modern dedications of books and wait- ings, as to patrons, is not to be commended^ for books, such as are worthy the name of books, ought to have no patrons but truth and. reason. And the antient custom w r as,, to dedi- cate them only to private and equal friends ; or to entitle the books with their names ; or if to kings and great persons, it was to some such as the argument of the book was lit and proper for. [Not that I can tax or- condemn the application- of learned men to men in fortune; For the an- swer was good that Diogenes made to one that asked him in mockery, " How it came to pass, that philosophers were the followers of rich C 6 in sri; 35 VERULAM-IANA. men, and not rich men of philosophers. 1 * Il> answered soberly, and yet sharply " because the one sort knew what they had need of, and the other did not." Of the like nature was the answer which Aristrippus made, when having a petition to Dionysius, and no ear given to him, he fell down at his feet; whereupon Dionysius staid, and gave him the hearing, and granted it : afterwards some person, tender on the be- half of philosophy, reproved Aristippus, that he could offer the profession of philosophy such an indignity as for a private suit to fall at a tyrant's feet. But he answered " It was not his fault, hut the fault of Dionysius, that he had his ears in his feet/' Neither was it ac- counted weakness, but discretion in him that would not dispute his best with Adrianus Cesar; excusing himself, " That it was reason to yield to him who commanded thirty legions.'* These and the like applications, and stooping to points of necessity and convenience, are to be accounted submissions to the occasion^ and not to the person, ISVATCH. VF.RULAiMUNA. S7 DISPATCH. AFFECTED Dispatch is one of the most dan- gerous things to business that can be. It is like that which the physicians call predigestion, or hasty digestion ; which is sure to fill the body full of crudities, and secret seeds of diseases. And as in races it is not the large stride or high lift, that makes the speed ; so in business, the keeping close to the matter, and not taking of too much at once procureth dispatch. I knew a wise man, who had it for a bye-word, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion^ " Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner." Long and curious speeches are as fit for dis- patch, as a robe or mantle with a long train is for a race. Above all things, order and distribution in singling out parts is the life of dispatch. To chuse time, is to save time; and an unseason- able motion is but beating the air. DISPOSITION SS VERULAMIANA. DISPOSITION OR NATURE. NATURE is often hidden, sometimes over- come, seldom extinguished. Force maketh na- ture more violent in the return ; doctrine and discourse maketh. nature less importunate, but custom only doth alter and subdue nature. He thatseeketh victory over his nature, let him not set himself too great, nor too small tasks ; for the first will make him dejected by often failings, and the second will make him a small procecder though by often prevailing^. Neither is the antient rule amiss, to bend Nature,.as a wand, to a contrary extreme, whereby to set it right; understanding it where the contrary extreme is no vice. But let no man trust his victory over his nature too far; for nature will lie buried a great time, and yet revive upon the occasion or temptation. Like as it. was with JEsop's dam- sel, turned from a. cat to a woman : who sat very demurely at the board's end", till a mouse ran before her. Therefore let a. man either avoid the occasion altogether, or put himself often to it, that he may be little moved by it.. A man's nature is best perceived in private- ness, for there is no aflectation 5 in passion,. far that VERULAMIANA. 3* that putteth a man out of his precepts : and in a new case or experiment, for there custom leaveth him. A man's nature runs either to herbs, or weeds : therefore let him seasonably water the one,, and destroy the other. DISSIMULATION. DISSIMULATION is but a faint kind of policy, or wisdom ; for it asketh a strong wit, and a strong heart, to know when to tell truth, and to do it. Therefore it is the weaker sort of politir- cians that are the great dissemblers,. For, if a man have that penetration of judg- ment as to discern what things are to be Iai4 open, and what to be secreted, and what to be shewed at half-lights ; and to whom an.d when (which, indeed, are arts of state and arts of life,, as Tacitus well calleth them) ; to him, a habit of dissimulation is a hindrance and a poorness. But if a man cannot obtain to that judgment, then it is left to him, generally, to be close and a dis- sembler. As in confession the revealing is not for worldly use, but for the ease of a man's heart ; so 4* VERULAMIANA. so secret men come to knowledge of many things in that kind,, while men rather discharge their minds, than impart their minds. Besides, to say truth, nakedness is uncomely, as well in mind as body ; and it addeth no small reverence to men's manners and actions,, it* they be not al- together open. Therefore set it down that an ha- bit of secresy is both politic and moral. He that will be secret must be a dissembler in some degree. For men are too cunning to suf- fer a man to keep an indifferent carriage between both, and to be secret without swaying the ba- lance on either side. They will so beset a man VYith questions, and draw him on, and pick it cut of him, that, without an absurd silence, he must shew an inclination one way; or if he do not, they will gather as much by his silence as by his speech. As for equivocations, or oracu- lous speeches, they cannot hold out long. So that no man can be secret, except he give him- self a little scope of dissimulation ; which is, as it were, but the skirts or train of secresy. The best composition and temperature is, to have openness in fame and opinion ; secresy in habit ; 'VERULAMIANA. habit ; dissimulation in seasonable use ; and a power to feign, if there be no remedy. BREAMS AND OMENS. I WOULD have it thoroughly enquired, whe- ther there beany secret passages of sympathy between persons of near blood ; as, parents, children, brothers, sisters, nurse-children, hus- bands, wives ? There be many reports in his- tory, that upon the death of persons of such nearness, men have had an inward feeling of it. 1 myself remember, that, being in Paris, and my father dying in London, I had a dream, (which I told to divers English gentlemen) that my father's house in the country was plaistered all over with black mortar. Next to those that are near in blood, there may be the like passage and instincts of nature between great friends and enemies : and sometimes the revealing is unto another person, and riot to the party him- self. I remember that Philip Coin mines, u grave writer, r^porteth that the Archbishop of Vienna, a reverend prelate, said one day, after mass, to Louis the eleventh of France, " Sir, your mortal enemy is dead " what time Duke Charles t2 VERULAMIANA. Charles of Burgundy was slain at the battle of Gran son, against the Swiss, DUELS. WHEN revenge is once extorted out of the magistrate's hands, contrary to God's ordinance - Mihi vindicta, ego retribuam; and every man shall bear the sword, not to defend, but to as- sail ; and private men begin once to presume to give law to themselves, and to right their own wrongs ; no man can foresee the dangers and inconveniences that may arise and multiply thereupon. So that the state by this means shall be like to a distempered and -imperfect body, continually subject to inflammations and convulsions It is a miserable effect, when young men full of toward ness and hope, such as the poets call uuvur&jilu, sons of the morning, in whom the expectation and comfort of their friends consist- eth, shall be cast away and destroyed in such a vain manner: but much more it is to be deplor- ed when so much noble and genteel blood shall be spilt upon such follies, as, if adventured iu the field,, in service of the king and realm, were able VERULAMIANA. ,4; able to make the fortune of a clay, and to change the fortune of a kingdom. Men have almost lost the true notion and understanding of fortitude and valour. For fortitude clistinguisheth of the grounds of quarrels, whether they be just ; and not only so, but whether they be worthy ; and setteth a better price upon lives than to bestow them idly. A man's life is not to be trifled away : it is to be offered up and sacrificed to honourable services, public merits, good causes,, and noble adventures. I find in Scripture, that Cain enticed his brother into the field and slew him treache- rously ; but Larnech vaunted of his manhood, that he would kill a young man, if it were to his hurt: I see no difference between an insidious murder, and a braving or presumptuous murder, but the difference between Cain and Lamech. Greece and Rome were the most valiant and generous nations of the world; and yet they had not this practice of duels, nor any thing that bare shew thereof: and surely they would have had it, if there had been any virtue in it. It is also memorable, that is reported touching the censure of the Turks of these duels. There was 4 i VERULAMIANA. was a combat of this kind performed by two persons of quality of the Turks, wherein one of them was slain; the other party being brought before the counsel of Bashaws, the reprehension \vasinthese words. "How durst you under- take to fight one with the other? Arc thtro 'not Christians enough enough to kill ? Did you not know that which soever of vou should be */ u slain, the loss would be the Great Seignior's r" So as we may see that the most warlike nations, whether generous or barbarous, h;ive ever de- spised this wherein men now glory, I should think, that men of birth and quality will leave the practice when it begins to be vili- fied ; and comes so low as to barber-surgeons and butchers, and such base mechanical per- sons. Lastly, I have a petition to the nobles and gentlemen of England ; that they would learn to esteem themselves at a just price. Their blood is not to be spilled like water, or a vile tiling: therefore they should rest per* suaded that there cannot be a form of honour, except it be upon a woithy matter. EDUCATION VERULAMIANA. EDUCATION. THE culture and manu r ance of minds in youth hath such a forcible, though unseen ope- ration, as hardly any length of time or conten- tion of Labour can countervail it afterwards. EGOTISM. THE coming in a man's own name,, without regard of antiquity or fraternity, is no good sign of truth ; although it be joined with the fortune and success of an cum rccipittis. EGYPTIANS. IT was no wonder that the Egyptians who conferred divinity and consecration upon the inventors of things, had more images of brutes than men : for brutes by their natural instinct, made many discoveries; whilst men, with their discourses and rational conclusion^ made few or none. ELOQUENCE* VERULAMIANA. ELOQUENCE. IT was great injustice in Plato, though spring- ing out of a just hatred of the rhetoricians of his time, to esteem of rhetoric but as a voluptu- ary art ; resembling it to cookery, that did mar wholesome meats, and help unwholesome, by variety of sauces, to the pleasure of the taste. For we see that speech is much more conver- sant in adorning that which is good; than in co- louring that which is evil ; for there is no man but speaketh more honestly than he can do or think: and it was excellently noticed by Thu- cy^ides in Cleon, that because he used to hold on the bad side in causes of estate, therefore he was ever inveighing against eloquence and good speech, knowing that no man can speak fair of courses sordid and base. And as Plato said elegantly, "that Virtue, if she could be seen, would move great love and affection ;" so, seeing that she cannot be shewn to the sense by cor- poral shape, the next degree is, to shew her to the imagination by lively representation : for to shew her to reason only in subtlety of argu- ment was a thing ever derided in Chrysippus, and. VERULAMIANA. 47 find many of the Stoics ; who thought to thrust virtue upon men by sharp disputations and con- clusions, which have no sympathy with the will of man. If the affections in themselves were pliant and obedient to reason, there should be no great use of persuasions and insinuations to the will more than of naked propositions and proofs : but in re- gard of the continual mutinies and seditions of the affections, reason would become captive and servile, if eloquence of persuasion did not prac- tice and win the imagination from the affection's part, and contract a confederacy between the reason and imagination against the affections ; for the affections themselves carry ever an ap- petite to good, as reason doth. The difference is, that the affection beholdeth merely the pre- sent ; reason beholdeth the future, and sum of time. And therefore, the present filling the imagination more, reason is commonly van- quished : but after that force of" eloquence and persuasion hath made things future and remote appear as present, then, upon the revolt of the imagination, reason prevaileth. INEMIBS. 4l VERULAMIANA. ENEMIES. TRUST not a reconciled enemy ; but think the peace is hut to secure you for further ad- vantage, or expect a second and a third en- counter ; the main battle, the wings are yet un- broken ; they may charge you at an instant, or death before them. Walk therefore circum- spectly. ENQUIRY. THE two ways of contemplation are not un- like the two w r ays of action, commonly spoken of by the antients ; the one, plain and smooth in the beginning, and in the end impassable ; the other, rough' and troublesome in the en- trance, but after awhile fair and even. So it is in contemplation. If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall' end in certainties. ENVY. VERULAMIANA. 4t ENVY. THERE are none of the affections which have been noted to fascinate or bewitch, but love and envy. They both have vehement wishes ; they frame themselves readily into imaginations and suggestions ; and they come easily into the eye, especially upon the presence of the objects ; which are the points which conduce to fascina- tion, if any such thing there be. We see like- wise, that the Scripture calleth envy an evil eye; and the Astrologers call the evil influences of the stars, evil aspects ; so that still there seem- eth to be acknowledged in the act of envy, an ejaculation, or irradiation of the eye. A MAN that hath no virtue in himself, ever envieth virtue in others. For men's minds will either feed upon their own good, or upon others' evil ; and whoever wanteth the one, will prey upon the other; and whoever, is out of hope to attain to another's virtue, will seek to come at even hand, by depressing another's for- tune. D A man 50 VERULAMIANA. A man that is busy and inquisitive, is com-' ni only envious. For envy is a gadding passion, and walketh the streets, and doth not keep at home. Men of noble birth are noted to be envious to- wards new men when they rise : for the dis- tance-is altered ; and it is like a deceit of the eye, that, when others come on, they think them- selves go back. Deformed persons, and eunuchs, arid old men, and bastards, are envious: for he that cannot possibly mend his own case, will do what he can to impair another's. The same is the case of men that rise after calamities and misfor- tunes ; for they are as men fallen out with the times, and think other men's harms a redemp- tion of their own sufferings. They that desire to excel in too many matters, out of levity and vain-glory, are ever envious ; for they Cannot want work : it being impossible but that many, in some one of those things should surpass them. Near VERULAMIANA- 51 Near kinsfolk, and fellows in office, and those that have been bred together, are more apt to envy their equals when they are raised. For it doth upbraid unto them their own fortunes, arid poinleth at them, and coineth -oftener into their remembrance, and incurred) likewise more the notice of others; and envy ever redoubled* from speech and fame. Persons of eminent virtue when they are ad- vanced are less envied. For their fortune seein- eth but due unto them ; and no man envielh the payment of a debt, but rewards and liberality rather. Again, envy is ever joined with the comparing of a man's self; and where there is no comparison, no envy; and therefore kings are not envied, but by kings. Persons of no- Lie blood are less envied in their rising ; for it seemeth but right done to their birth : besides, there seemeth not much added to their fortune ; and envy is as the sun-beams, which beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising-ground, than upoa a flat. And, for the same reason, those that are advanced by degrees, are less envied than those that are advanced suddenly. Those that have joined with their honour, great trarels, cares, or D 2 perils. 52 VERULAMIANA. perils, are less subject to envy : for inen think that they earn their honours hardly, and pity them sometimes ; and pity ever healeth envy. But this is to be understood of business that is laid upon men, and not such as they call unto themselves : for nothing increaseth envy more, than an unnecessary and ambitious ingrossing of business. Above all, those are most subject to envy, who carry the greatness of their fortunes in an insolent and proud manner ! being never well but while they are shewing how great they are, either by outward pomp, or by triumphing over all opposition or competition : whereas wise men will rather do sacrifice to envy, in suffering themselves sometimes to be crossed and over- borne, in things that do not much concern them. Love and envy make a man pine, which other affections do not, because they are not so con- tinual. Envy is also the vilest affection, and the most depraved ; for which cause it is the proper attribute of the devil, who is called the envious man, that soweth tares amongst the wheat VmiULAMlANA. by niglity as it always cometh to pass that envy worketh subtily, and in the dark, and to the" prejudice of good things. ERROR. IT is a thing that may touch a man with a religious wonder, to see how the footsteps of seducement are the very same in divine and hu- man truth ; for as in divine truth man cannot endure tohecome as a child, so, in human, they reputed the attending to inductions as if it were a second infancy or childhood. A cripple in the right way, may beat a racer in the wrong one. Nay, the fleeter and better the racer is, who hath once missed his way, the further he leaveth it behind, EXPENDITURE. RICHES are for spending, and spending for honour and good actions. Certainly if a man will keep but of even hand, his ordinary expences pught to be but to the half of his receipts ; and if 1) 3 he 54 VERtTLAMIANA. be think to wax rich, but to the third part. It is no baseness for the greatest to descend and look into their own estate. Some forbear it, not upon negligence alone, but doubting to bring them- selves into melancholy, in respeet they shall find it broken. But wounds cannot be cured without searching. A man had need, if he be plentiful in some kind of expence, to be as saving again in some other. For he that is plentiful in expences of all kinds, will hardly be preserved from decay. A man ought warily to begin charges, which, once begun, will continue; but in matters that return not, he may be more magnificent. Cer- tainly, who hath an estate to repair may not despise small things : and, common!} 7 , it is less dishonourable to abridge petty charges, than to stoop to petty gettings. THE FALL. BY the fall, man at once forfeited his inno- cency and his dominion over the creatures, though both of them are, in some measure, re- coverable VERULAMIANA. 56 coverable even in this life : the former by reli- gion and faith ; the latter, by arts and science?. For the world was not. made absolutely rebel- lious by the curse ; but in virtue of that denun- ciation " in the sweat of thy brow thou shaft eat thy bread" it is, at length, not by disputes and indolent ceremonies, but by various real labours subdued, and brought in some degree to afford the necessaries of life. FATHRRS* IF a father breed his son well, or allow him well while he liveth, but leave him nothing at his death, whereby both he and his children and his children's children may be the better, surely the care and piety of a father is not in him complete. FAVOURS. DEEPS are not such assured pledges, as that they may be trusted without a judicious consi- deration of their magnitude and nature : the Italian tliinketh himself upon the point to be D 4 bought VERULAMIANA. bought and sold, when he is better used than he was wont to be, without manifest, cause. For small favours they do but lull men asleep, both as to caution and as to industry. FLATTERY. IF he be an ordinary flatterer, he will have certain common attributes which may serve every man ; if he be a cunning flatterer, he will follow the arch-flatterer, which is a man's self, and wherein a man thinketh best of him- self a flatterer will uphold him most; but if he be an impudent flatterer, wherein a man is con- scious to himself that he is most defective, that will the flatterer entitle him to per force, It is flattery to praise in absence, fhat is, when either the virtue is absent or the occasion is absent, and so the praise is not natural but forced, either in truth or in time. But let Cicero be heard in his oration, pro MarccIIo, which is nothing but an excellent table of Ce- sar's virtue, and made to his face; besides the example of many other excellent persons, and % we VERULAMIANA. 5? we will never doubt,, upon a full occasion, to give just praises to present or absent. FOLLOWERS AND SUITORS. COSTLY followers are not to be liked; lest while a man maketh his train longer, he makes his wings shorter. I reckon to be costly, not them alone which charge the purse, but which are wearisome and importunate in suits. , Ordinary followers ought to challenge no higher conditions than countenance, recommendation, and protection from wrongs. Factious follow r ~ ers are worse to be liked ; which follow not upon affection to him with whom they range themselves, but upon discontentment conceived against some other, whereupon commonly en- sueth that ill intelligence that we many times see between great personages. Likewise glo- rious followers, who make themselves as trum- pets of the commendation of those they follow, .are full of inconvenience : for they taint busi- ness through want of secrecy; and they export honour from a man, and make him a return in envy. There is a kind of followers, likewise^ D 5 which a* which are dangerous, heing indeed spies ; who enquire the secrets of the house, and bear tales oi' them to others. Surely there is in some sort a right in every suit; either a right of equity, if it be a suit of controversy, or a right of desert, if it be a suit of petition. If affection lead a man to favour the wrong side injustice, let him rather use his countenance to compound the matter than to carry it. If affection lead 1 a man to favour the less worthy in desert, let him do it without de- praving or disabling the better deserveiv Suitors are so distasted with delays and abuses, that plain dealing in denying to deal in suits at first, and in reporting the success barely, and challenging no more thanks than one hath deserved, is grown not only honourable but gracious. Secresy in suits is a great mean of obtaining ; for voicing them to be in forwardness may dis* courage some kind of suitors, but doth quicken and awake others. Bat timeing of the suit is the principal: timeing, I say, nor only in re* spcct VERULAMIAi\ T A. 59 spect of the person that should grant it,, but in respect of those which are likely to cross it. The reparation of a denial is sometimes equal to the first grant ; if a man shew himself neither dejected nor discontented. Nothing is thought so easy a request, to a great person, as his letter; and yet, if it be not in a good cause, it is so much out of his reputation. There is little fiiendship in the world'; and least of all between equals, which was wont to be magnified. That which is, is between supe- rior and inferior, whose fortunes may compre^ liend the one or the other. FORGIVENESS, GENEROUS and magnanimous minds are rea- diest to forgive; and it is a weakness and impo- teney of mind to be unable to forgive. 1)6 FORTUNE. VERULAMIANA. FORTUNE. IT cannot be denied but outward accidents conduce much to fortune : favour, opportunity, death of others, occasion fitting virtue. But chiefly the mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands. Therefore if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see fortune; for though, she be blind, yet she is not invisible. Fortune is to be honoured and respected, if it be but for her daughters, Confidence and Reputation. For these two felicity breedeth : the first, within a man's self; the latter, in others towards him. FRIENDS. EVERY honest man, that hath his heart well planted, will forsake his king rather than for- sake God, and forsake his friend rather than forsake his king; and yet will forsake any earthly commodity, and his own life in some cases, ra- ther than forsake his friend, A good VERULAMIANA, Di A good sure friend is a better help, at a pinch, than all the stratagems and policies of a man's own wit. FRENCH AND SPANIARD'S. IT hath been an opinion, that the French are wiser than they seem, and the Spaniards seem wiser than they are. FRIENDSHIP. A PRINCIPAL fruit of friendship is the ease and discharge of the fulness and swellings of the heart, which passions of all kinds do cause and induce. We know diseases of stoppings and suffocations are the most dangerous in the body, and it is not much otherwise in the mind : you may take sarza to open the liver, steel to open the spleen, flower of sulphur for the lungs, castoreum for the brain ; but no receipt openeth the heart but a true friend, to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, 62 VERULAMIANA. counsels, and whatever lieth upon the heart to oppress it,- in a kind of civil shrift or confession. The parable of Pythagoras is dark, but true ; Cor ne edito eat not the heart. Certainly, if a man would give it a hard phrase, those that want true friends to open themselves unto are canibals of their own hearts. But one thing is* most admirable, that, this communicating of a plan's self to his friend works two contrary ef- fects ; for it redoubleth joys, and cutteth griefs in halves. For there is no man that impartedv his joys to his friends, but he joyeth the more; and no man that imparteth his griefs to his friend, but he grieveth the less. The second fruit of friendship is healthfiil and sovereign for the understanding, as the first is for the affections. For friendship indeed maketh a fair day in the affections, from storm and tempests; but it maketh day-li^ht in the understanding, out of darkness and confusion of thoughts. Neither is this to be understood only of faithful counsel, which a man receiveth from his friend ; but before it come to that, certain it i?, that whosoever hath his mind fraught VERULAMIANA. 63 fraught with many thoughts, his wits and un- derstanding do clarify and break up in the com- municating and discoursing with another, he tosseth his thoughts more easily, he marsh alleth them more orderly, he seeth how they look when they are turned into words ; finally, he waxeth wiser than himself, and that more by an hour's discourse, than by a da} T 's meditation. In* a word, n ma were better relate himself to a statue, or picture, than to suffer his thoughts to pass in smother. The light that a man receiveth by counsel from another, is drier and purer than that w-hich cometh from his own understanding and judg- ment ; which is ever infused and drenched in his affection and customs. The calling of a man's self to a strict account, is a medicine sometimes too piercing and corrosive. Reading good books of morality, is a little flat and dead. Observing our faults in others, is sometimes im- proper for our ease : but the best receipt, (best, I say, to work, and best to take) is the admoni- tion of a friend. It is a strange thing to behold what gross errors and extreme absurdities many, especially of the greater sort, do commit, for want 64 VERULAMIANA. want of a friend to tell them of them; to the great damage both of their fame and fortune. As for business,, a man may think, if he will, that two eyes can see no more than one ; or that a gamester seeth always more than a look- er-on ; or that a man in anger is as wise as he that hath said over the four and twenty letters ; or that a musket may be shot off as well upon the arm, as upon a rest ; and such other fond and high imaginations, to think himself all in all. But, when all is done, the help of good counsel is that that setteth business strait. Men have their time, and die many times in desire of some things which they principally take to heart; the bestowing of a child, the finishing of a work, or the like. If a man have a true friend, he may rest almost secure that the care of those things will continue after him. So that a man hath two lives as it were in his desires. How many things are there which a man cannot, with any face or comeli- ness, say or do himself: A man can scarce allege his own merits with modesty, much less extol them ; a man cannot sometimes brook to supplicate or beg ; and a number of the like. But VERULAMIANA. 6> tJut all these things are graceful in a friend's mouth, which are blushing in a man's own. A man cannot speak to his son, but as a father; to his wife, but as a husband ; to his enemy, but 'upon terms : whereas a friend may speak as the case requires, and not as it sorteth with the person. Where a man cannot fitly play his own part, if he have not a friend, he may quit the stage. FUTURITY, IT pleaseth God sometimes^ in order to mak men depend upon him the more, to hide froni them the clear sight of future events ; and to make them think that full of uncertainties which proveth certain and clear ; and sometimes on the other side, to cross men's expectations, and to make them full of difficulty and perplexity in that which they thought easy and assured. GAMING. THERE is a folly very usual ; for gamesters are apt to imagine, that some that stand by them bring them ill luck, GARDENS. VERULAMIANA. GARDENS. GOD ALMIGHTY first planted a garden, and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man ; without which, palaces and buildings are but gross handy works : And a man shall ever see, that when ages grow to civility and elegancy men come to build stately, sooner than to gar- den finely; as if gardening were the greater perfection. GENERALITIES. IT is jthe nature of the mind of man, to the (extreme prejudice of knowledge, to delight in the spacious liberties of generalities, as in a Champain region, and not in the inclosurcs of particularity. GENERAL SYMPATHIES, OH DESIIIES. THE delight which men have in popularity, fame, honour, submission, and subjection of other VERULAMIANA. <57 other men's minds,, wills or affections, seemeth to be a thing in itself, without contemplation of consequences, grateful and agreeable to the nature of man* This thing, surely, is not with- out some signification ; as if all spirits and souls of men came forth out of one divine limbus : else, why should men be so much affected with that which others think or say ? The best temper of minds desireth good name and true honour : the lighter, popularity and applause : the more depraved, subjection and tyranny; as is seen in great conquerors and troublers of the world ; but still more in arch- heretics, for the introducing of new doctrines Ss an affectation of tyranny over the under- standings and beliefs of men. GESTURES. GESTURES are as transitory as hieroglyphics - and are to hieroglyphics as word* spoken are to words written, in that they abide not; but they have evermore, as well as the other, an affinity vitb the things signified. Periander, being consulted 03 VERULAMIANA. consulted with how to preserve a tyranny newly usurped, bade the messenger attend and report what he saw him do, and went into his garden aud topped all the highest flowers ; signifying, that it consisted in the cutting off and keeping low of the nobility and grandees* GOODNESS. GOODNESS I call the habit, and goodness of nature the inclination. This of all virtues and dignities of the mind is the greatest, being the character of the deity ; and without it man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, no better than a kind of vermin. Goodness answers tQ the theological virtue charity., and admits no. excess but error. Errors indeed in this virtue of goodness or charity may be committed. The Italians have an ungracious proverb, Tanto buon che val nientc. So good, that he is good for nothing. And one of the doctors of Italy had the confidence to put in writing, almost in plain terms, that the Christian faith had given up good men in prey to those that are tyran- nical and unjust; which he spake, because in- deed VERULAMIANA. 69 deed there was never law, or sect, or opinion, that did so much magnify goodness as the Chris- tian religion doth : therefore, to avoid the scan- dal and the danger both, it is right to take knowledge of the errors of an habit so excel- lent. Seek the good of other men, but be not in bondage to their faces or fancies ; for that is but facility or softness, which taketh an honest mind prisoner. Neither give thou Esop's cock a gem, who would be better pleased, and happier, if he had a barley-corn. The example of God teacheth the lesson truely, he, scndeth his rain, and maketh his sun to shine upon the just and the unj-ust ; but he doth not rain wealth, nor shine honour and virtues upon men equally. Common benefits are to be communicated to all, but peculiar benefits with choice. And beware how, in making the portraiture, thou breakest the pattern ; for divinity maketh the love of our- selves the pattern, the love of our neighbours but the portraiture. Sell all thou hast, and^wt it to the poor, and follow me. But sell not all thou hast, except thou come and follow me ; that is, except thou have a vocation wherein thou mayst do as much good with little means as 7* VERULAMIANA. as with great : for, otherwise, in feeding tUe streams thou driest the fountain. If a man be gracious and courteous to stran- gers, it shews he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a continent that joins to them. If he be compassionate towards the afflictions of others, it shews that his heart is like the noble tree, that is wounded itself when it gives the balm. If he easily pardons and remits offences, it shews that his mind is planted above injuries, so that he cannot be shot. If he be thankful for small benefits, it shews that he weighs men's minds, and not their trash. But, above all, if he have Saint Paul's perfection, that he would wish to be an anathema from Christ for the salvation of his brethien ; it shews much of a divine nature, and a kind of conformity with Christ himself. GRAMMAR. MAN still striveth to reintegrate himself in those benedictions of which by his fault he has been VERULAMIANA. 71 been deprived : and as be hath striven against the first general curse by the invention of all other arts, so hath he sought to come forth of the second general curse, which was the con- fusion of tongues, by the art of grammar ; whereof the use, in a mother-tongue is small, in a foreign tongue more, but most in such fo- reign tongues as have ceased to be vulgar tongues, and are turned only to be learned tongues. The duty of it is of two natures : the one popular, which is for the speedy and perfect attaining of languages, as well for intercourse of speech as for understanding of authors ; the the other philosophical, examining the power and nature of words, as they are the footsteps and prints of reason. HEALTH. THERE is wisdom in this beyond the rules of physic ; a man's own observation, what he finds good of, and what he finds hurt of, is the best physic to preserve health. For it is hard to distinguish that which is generally held good and wholesome, from that which is good parti- I cularly 72 VERULAMIANA. cularly and fit for thine own body. fc But it is a safer conclusion to say C( This agreeth not well with me, therefore I will not continue it ;" than this " I find no offence of this, therefore I may use it." For strength of nature in youth passeth over many excesses, which are owing a man till his age. To he free-minded and cheerfully disposed, at hours of meat, and of sleep, and of exercise, is one of the best precepts of long lasting. As for the passions and studies of the mind ; avoid envy, anxious fears, anger fretting inward, subtle and knotty inquisitions, joys and exhila- rations in excess, sadness not communicated. Entertain hopes, mirth rather than joy, variety of delights rather than surfeit of them ; wonder and admiration, and therefore novelties ; studies that fill the mind with illustrious and splendid objects, as histories, fables, and contemplations of nature. If you fly physic in health altogether, it will be strange for your body when you shall need it. If you make it too familiar, it will work no ex- traordinary effect when sickness cometh. Despise VERULAMIANA. 73 Despise no new accident in your body, but ask opinion of it. Those that put their bodies to endure in health, may in most sicknesses which are not very sharp, be cured only with diet and ten- dering. Use fasting and full eating, but rather full eating ; watching and sleep, but rather sleep ; sitting and exercise, but rather exercise. HONOUR AND REPUTATION. THE winning of honour is but the revealing of a man's virtue and worth without disadvan- tage. If a man perform that which hath not been attempted before, or attempted and given over ; or hath been atchieved, but not with sd good circumstance ; he shall purchase moir> honour than by effecting a matter of greater difficulty or virtue, wherein he is but a follower. Jf a man so temper his actions as is in some one of them he doth content every faction or com- bination of people, the music will be the fuller. E A maa f4 VERULAMIANA. A man is an ill husband of his honour, that entereth into any action, the failing wherein may disgrace him more than the carrying of it through can honour him. Let a man contend to excel any competitors of his in honour, in out-shooting them, if he can, in their awn bow. Discreet followers and servants help much to reputation. Envy, which is the can- ker of honour, is best extinguished by declaring a man's self, in his ends, rather to seek merit than fame; and by attributing a man's successes rather to divine providence and felicity, than to his own virtue or policy. HOUSES. HOUSES are tyiilt to live in, and not to look on ; therefore let use be preferred before uni- formity, except where both may be had. He that builds a fair house upon an ill scite, com- mitteth himself to prison. For bowed-windows, I hold them of good use, (in cities, indeed, upright do better in re- spect, of uniformity towards the street) for they be VERULAMIANA. be pretty retiring places for conference ; and, besides, they do both keep the wind and sun off, HISTORIES. OF histories we may find three kinds , memo- rials, perfect histories, and antiquities. Memorials, or preparatory history, are of two sorts; whereof the one may be termed com- mentaries, and the other registers. Commen- taries are they which set down a continuance of the naked events and actions, without the mo- tives or designs, the counsels, the speeches, the pretexts, the occasions, and other passages of action : for this is the true nature of a commen- tary ; though Cesar, in modesty mixed with greatness, did for his pleasure apply the name of a commentary to the best history in the \vorld. Registers are collections of public acts, as decrees of council, judicial proceedings, de- clarations and letters of state, orations and the like, without a perfect continuance or contex- ture of the thread of the narration. E 3 Antiquities VERULAMIANA. Antiquities, or remnants of history, are when industrious persons, by an exact and scrupulous diligence and observation, out of monuments, names, words, proverbs, traditions, private re- cords and evidences, fragments of stories, pas- sages of books that concern not story, and the Jike,, do save and recover somewhat from the deluge of time. History, which may be called just and perfect history, is of three kinds, according to the ob- ject which it propoundeth or pretendeth to re- present ; for it either representeth a time, or a person, or an action. The first, we call chro- nicles ; the second, lives ; and the third, narra- tions or relations. Of these, although the first be the most complete and absolute kind of his- tory, and hath most estimation and glory, yet the second excelleth it in profit and use, and the third in verity and sincerity. Narrations and relations of actions, as the War of Peleponncsus, the Expedition of Cyrus Minor, the Conspiracy of Cataline, cannot but be more purely and exactly true than histories of times, because they may chuse an argument comprehensible VERULAMIANA. 7-7 comprehensible within the notice and instruc- tions of the writer : whereas lie that under- taketh the story of a time, especially of any length, cannot but meet with many blanks and spaces which he must be forced to fill up out of his own wit and conjecture. For antiquity is like fame/ caput inter nubila condit; her head is muffled from our sight. "er There is yet another partition of history, annals and journals : appropriating to the for- mer, matters of state ; and to the latter, arts and accidents of a meaner nature. It cloth not. a little embase the authority of an history, to intermingle matters of triumph, or matt* ceremony, or matters of novelty, with matters of state. EPITOMES OF HISTOKY. As for the corruptions and moths of history, which are epitomes, the use of them deserveth to be banished, as all men of sound judgment have confessed ; as those that have fretted and corroded the sound bodies of many excellent his- E 3 tone*. 7* VERULAM1ANA. lories,, and wrought them into base and unpro- fitable dregs. IMITATION. THERE is in men, and other creatures, a pre- disposition to imitate. We see how ready apes and monkeys are to imitate all motions of man; and no man doth accompany with others-, but he learneth, ere he is aware, some gesture, or voice, or fashion of another. IMPOSSIBILITY. THOSE things are to be held possible, which, may be done by some person, though not by every one ; and which in ay be done by many, though not by any one ; and which may be done in succession of ages, though not within the hour-glass of one man's life ; and which may be done by public designation, though not by private endeavour* INCLINATIONS. VERULAM1ANA. INCLINATIONS. SOMETIMES it eometh to pass, that men's inclinations are opened more in a toy, than in a serious matter* , IRRESOLUTION* As the covetous man will enjoy nothing, because he will have his full store and possi- bility to enjoy the more ; so by this reason a man should execute nothing, because he would be still indifferent, and at liberty to execute any thing. JESTING, As for jest, there be certain things that ought to be privileged from it; namely, religion, mat- ters of state, and any man's present business of importance, and any case that deserveth pity. And, generally, men ought to find the differ- ence between saltness and bitterness. Certainly ,* lie VERULAMIANA. he that hath a satirical vein, as he maketh others afraid of his wit, so he had need be Afraid of othm' memory. IMPEDIMENTS OF KNOWLEDGE. HE that delivereth knowledge, desireth to deliver it in such form as may he soonest he* Jieved, and not as may he easiest examined. He that r.eceiveth knowledge, desireth rather present satisfaction than expectant search, anc} so rather not to doubt than not to err. Glory maketh the author not to lay open his weakness ; -and sloth muketii the disciple not to know his strength. Then begin men to aspire to the se- cond prizes; to be a profound interpreter and commentator, to be a sharp champion and de- .fender, to be a methodical compounder and .abridger. And this is the unfortunate succes- sion of., \vits, whereby the patrimony of all knowledge goeth root on husbanded or improved, .but wasted and decayed. For knowledge is Jike a water, that will never rise again higher than the level from, which it fell. However VERULAMIANA. 81 However governments have several form?, sometimes the government of one, sometimes of few, sometimes of the multitude ; yet the state of knowledge is ever a democracy, .-UK! thai prevailcth which is most agreeable to the senses and conceits of the people. Monarchies incline wits to profit and pleasure; commonwealths, to glory and vanity. Univer- sities incline wits to sophistry and affectation ; cloisters,, to fables and unprofitable subtlety ; studies at large, to' variety : and it is hard to say, whether mixture of contemplations with an active life, or retiring wholly to contempla- tions, do disable and hinder the mind more. LEARNING VINDICATED AND ASSERTED. IT was not the pure knowledge of nature and universality, a knowledge by the light whereof man did give names unto other crea- tures in paradise, as they were brought before him, according unto their properties, which gave occasion to the fail ; but it was the proud knowledge of good and evil, with an intent in E 5 mnn 19. VERULAMIANA. man to give law unto himself, and to depend no more upon God's commandments, which was the form of the temptation. Neither is it any quantity of knowledge, how great soever, that can make the mind of man to swell ; for nothing can fill, much less extend the soul of man, but God, and the contemplation of God: and therefore Solomon,, speaking of the princi- pal senses of inquisition, the eye and the ear, affirmeth that the e} T e is never satisfied with see- ing, nor the ear with hearing ; and if there be no fulness, then is the continent greater than the content. If then such be the capacity and receipt of the mind of man, it is manifest that there is no danger at all in the proportion or quantity of knowledge, lest it should make it swell or out- compass itself; no, but it is merely the quality of knowledge, which, be it in quantity more or less,, if it be taken without the true cor- rective thereof, hath in it some nature of ve- nom or malignity, and some effect of that ve- nom, which is ventosity or swelling. This cor- rective spice, the mixture whereof maketh knowledge so sovereign, is charity : If 1 spake , stiith VERULAMIANA. e s&ith Saint Paul,, with the tongues of men and angels, and had not charity, it were but as a tinkling cymbal > not but that it is an excellent thing to speak with the tongues of men and an- gels, but because, if it be severed from charity, and not referred to the good of men and man- kind, it hath rather a sounding and unworthy glory, than a meriting and substantial virtue. There is no vexation or anxiety of mind which resulted! from knowledge, otherwise than merely by accident ; for all knowledge, and wonder, which is the seed of knowledge, is an impres- sion of pleasure in itself ; but when men fall to framing conclusions out of their knowledge, applying it to their particular, and ministering to themselves thereby weak fears or vast desires, then groweth that carefulness and trouble of mind which is spoken of: for then knowledge is no more Lumem siccum optima anima, but it becometh Lumen madidnin or maceralum, be- ing steeped and infused in the'humours of the affections. And if any man shall think, by view and inquiry into these sensible and mate- rial things, to attain that light whereby he may reveal unto himself the nature or will of God, G thea 8-1 VERULAMIANA. then indeed is he spoiled by vain philosophy: for the contemplation of God's creatures and works produceth, having regard to the works and creatures themselves, knowledge ; hut hav- ing regard to God, no perfeet knowledge, but wonder, which is broken knowledge. Let no man, upon a weak conceit of sobriety, or an ill-applied moderation, think or maintain that a man can search too far, or to be too wall studied in the book of God's word, or in the book of God's works, -Divinity or Philosophy ; but ra- ther let them endeavour an endless progress or proficience in both : only let men beware that they apply both to charity, and not to swelling ; to use, and not to ostentation ; and again, that they do not unwisely mingle or confound these* learnings together. LEARNING NOT CONDUCIVE TO IDLENESS. IF any man be laborious in reading and study, and yet idle in business and action, it groweth from some weakness of body, or softness of spi- rit, and not of learning : well may it be, that such VERULAMIANA. 83 suet) a point of a man's nature may make him give himself to learning ; but it is not learning, that breedeth any such point in his nature, POVERTY OF THE LEARNED. IT is the case of learned men usually to be- gin with little, and not to grow rich so fast as- other men, by reason they convert not their labours chiefly to lucre and increase. The- feli- city and delicacy of princes and great persons had long since turned to rudeness and barba- rism,, if the poverty of learning had not kept up civility and honour of life. Neither can this point otherwise be. For learning endueth men's minds with a true sense of the frailty of their persons, the casualty of their fortunes, and the dignity of their soul and creation ; so that it is impossible for them to esteem that any greatness of their own fortune can be a true or worthy end of their being and ordainment : whereas the corrupter sort of mere politicians, who have not their thoughts esta- blished by learning in the love and apprehension of 80 VERULAMIAtfA. of duty, nor ever look abroad into universality, do refer all things to themselves, and thrust themselves into the centre of the world, as if all lines should meet in them and their fortunes ; never caring, in all tempests, what becomes of the ship of state, so they may save themselves in the cockboat of their own fortune. Whereas men that feel the weight of duty, and know the limits of self love, use to make good their places and duties though with peril. And if they stand in seditious or violent alterations, it is rather the reverence which many times both adverse parties do give to honesty, than any versatile advantage of their own carriage. LEARNING, MORAL AND PERSONAL. LEARNING taketh away all levity, temerity, and insolency, by copious suggestion of all doubts and difficulties, and acquainting the mind to balance reason 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 VERULAM1ANA. 07 for all things are admired either because they are new, or because they are great. For no- velty, no man that wadeth in learning or con- templation thoroughly but will find that printed in his heart Nil novi super terrain. And for magnitude if a man meditate upon the uni- versal frame of nature ; the earth, with men upon it, (the divineness of souls excepted) will not seem much other than an ant-hill, where 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 miti- gateth fear of death, or adverse fortune ; which are two of the greatest impediments of virtue, and imperfections of manners. It were too long to go over the particular re- medies which learning doth minister to all the diseases of the mind. The unlearned man knows not what it is to descend into himself, or to call himself to account; nor the pleasure of that snavtssima vita, indies sentire se fieri meli- orem. The good parts he hath, he will learn to shew to the fall, and use them dextrously, but not much to encrease them : the fault he hath he will learn how to hide and colour, but not much 88 VEKULAMIANA. much to amend them. Whereas with the learned man it fares otherwise,, that he doth ever inter- mix the correction and amendment of his mind with the use and employment thereof. From moral virtue., let us pass on to matter of power and commandment ; and consider, whether in right reason there he any compar- able to that wherewith knowledge in vesteth and crowneth man's nature. The commandment of knowledge is yet higher than the commandment over the will : for it is a commandment over the reason, belief, and understanding of man/ which is the highest part of the mind, and givelh law to the will itself; and there is no power on earth which setteth up a throne, or chair of state, in the spirits and souls of men, and in their cogi- tations, imaginations, opinions, and beliefs, but knowledge and learning. As for fortune and advancement, it was well noted long ago, that Homer hath given more men their livings, than either Sylla or Cesar or Augustus ever did, notwithstanding their great largesses or donatives and distribution of lands to so many legions. And in case of sovereignty \vthe serpent; his baseness and going upon his belly, his volubility and lubricity, his envy and sting and the rest, that is, all forms and natures of evil ; for without this, virtue lieth open. and unfenced. Nay, an honest man can do no good upon those that are wicked, to reclaim them, without the help of the knowledge of evil : for men of corrupted minds pre-suppose that ho- nesty groweth out of simplicity of manners, and believing of preachers, schoolmasters, and menVexterior language. So that, except you can make them believe that you know the ut- most reaches of their own corrupt opinions, they udespise all morality. MAGNANIMITY. VERULAMIANA. MAGNANIMITY. MAGNANIMITY consisteth in contempt of peril, in contempt of profit, and in meriting of the times wherein one liveth. MAN. TH mind is the man ; and the knowledge of the mind. A man is but what he knoweth. The sovereignty of man lieth hid in knowledge : wherein many things are reserved, which kings with their treasures cannot buy, nor with their forces command ; their spies and intelligencers ean give no news of them ; their seamen and discoverers cannot sail where they grow. All knowledge' is to be limitted by religion, and to be referred to use and action. MAPS. I WOULD not willingly imitate those that de- scribe maps, who when they come to some far countries, VERULAMIANA. countries, whereof they have no knowledge, set dov tli ere. set down how there be great wastes and desart MARRIAGE. ft* were great reason, that those that have children should have the greatest care of future times, unto which they know they must trans- mit their dearest pledges. Grave natures, led by custom, and therefore constant, are commonly loving husbands. Chaste- women are often proud and forward, as presum- ing upon the merit of their chastity. It is ono of the best bonds, both of chastity and obe- dience, in the wife, if she think her husbamt wise ; which she will never do, if she find hira jealous. Wives are young men's mistresses ; compa* riions for middle*age ; and old men's nurses. Yet he was reputed one of the wise men, who made answer to the question, when a man F should 99 VERULAMIANA. should marry ? e A young man not yet, an old man not at all." It is often seen that bad husbands have very good wives : whether it be, that it raiseth the price of their husbands kindness, when it comes ; r, that the wives take a pride in their patience. MEANS NOT JUSTIFIED BY THE END. THERE are a number of cases of comparative duty ; amongst which, that of all others is the most frequent, where the question is of a great deal of good to ensue of a small injustice? but the reply is good, Auctortm prasentis justicia hales, spomoremfutura non hales ; men pursue things which are just in present, and leave the future to the Divine Providence. MEMORY. SINCE young men may be happy by hope, why should not old men, and sequestered men, by remembrance ? KNOWLEDGE * YERULAMIANA. KNOWLEDGE OF MEN. WEAKNESS and faults are best known from, enemies, virtue and abilities from friends, cus- toms and times from servants, conceits and opi- nions from familiar friends. General fame is light, and the opinions conceived by superiors or equals are deceitful. But the soundest dis- closing and expounding of men is, by their natures and ends ; wherein the weakest sort of men are best interpreted by their natures, and the wisest by their ends. MENTAL FRIVOLITIES. I MAKE no more estimation of repeating a great number of names or words upon once hearing, or the pouring forth of a number of verses or rhymes extemporaneously, or the mak- ing of a satirical simile of every thing, or the turning of every thing to a jest, or the falsifying or contradicting of every thing by cavil, or the like (whereof in the faculties of the mind there is great copia, and such as by device and prac- F 2 tice loo VERULAMIANA, ticc may be exalted to an extreme degree of wonder); than I do of the tricks of tumblers, funambuloes, bnladincs ; the one being the same in the mind, that the ether is in the body; matters of strangeness without worthiness. DECEPTIONS OP MIND. THE mind of man is far from the nature of a clear and equal glass, wherein the beams of things should reflect according to their true inci- dence ; nay, it is rather like an enchanted glass, full of superstition and imposture, if it be not delivered and reduced. To the nature of the mind of nil men it is consonant for the affirma- tive or active to effect more than the negative or privative. So that a few times bitting or presence, countervails oft-times failing or ab^ sence : as was well .answered by Diagoras to him that shewed him, .in Neptune's temple, the great number of pictures -of such as h,ad escaped shipwreck, aiijd had paid their vows to Neptune, saying, " Advise now^ you that think it folly to jnvoeate Neptune in tempest!" " Yea, but (saith Diagoras) where are they painted that are 1 drowned :" VKRULAMIANA, 101 tfrowned?" Let us consider, again, the false appearances iai posed upon us by individual na- ture and custom. Although our persons live in the view of heaven, yet our spirits are included in the eaves of ' our own complexions and'cus- tows,, which mmbtdi unto m infinite errors* and vain opinions, if they be not recalled to exa- mination, CULTURE OF THE MIND, IN the culture and care of the mind of man,, two things are without our command ; points of nature, and points of fortune : for to the basis of the one, and the conditions of the other* our work is limited and tied. But when we speak of suffering,, we do not speak of a dull and neglected suffering, hut of a wise and in- dustrious suffering ; which draweth and contriv- eth use and advantage out of that which seeni- eth adverse and contrary, ayJ is what properly we call accommodating ,or applying. If it deserves to be considered that there are minds which are proportioned to great matters, F 3 and J2 VERULAMIANA. and others to small ; doth it not deserve as well to be considered that there are minds propor- tioned to intend many matters, and others to few,? So that some can divide themselves; others can perchance do exactly well, but it must be but in few things at once ; and so there comes to be a narrowness of mind, as well as pusillanimity. Again, some minds are propor- tioned to that which may be dispatched at once, or within a .short return of time; others to that which begins afar off, and is to be won by length of pursuit, Of much like kind are those impressions of nature which are imposed upon the mind by sex, by age, by climate, by health and sick- ness, by beauty and deformity, and the like ; which are inherent, and not external : and again, those which are caused by extern for- tune, as sovereignty, nobility, obscure birth, riches, want, magistracy, privateness, prospe- rity, adversity, constant fortune, variable for- tune, rising per salt um or per gradits, and the like. Another VERULAMIANA, 103 Another article of this knowledge is the en- quiry touching the affections : for as in medi- cining the body, it is in order first to know the divers complexions and constitutions, se- condly the diseases, and lastly the cures; so in medicining the mind, after knowledge of the divers characters of men's nature, it followeth to know the diseases and infirmities of the mind, which are no other than the perturbations and distempers of the affections. For as the and-* ent politicians, in popular states, were wont to compare the people to the sea, and the orators to the winds ; because as the sea would of itself be calm and quiet if the winds did not move and trouble it, so the people would he peaceable and tractable if the seditious orators did not set them in working and agitation : tt may be fitly said, that the mind in. the nature thereof would be temperate and stayed, if the affections, as, winds, did not put it into tumult and pertur-r bation. This is of special use in moral and civil matters, to set affection against affection, and to master one by another ; for as in the go- vernment of states it is sometimes necessary to bridle one faction with another, so it is with the government within. F 4 The 204 , VERULAM1ANA, The opinion of Aristotle seemeth to n)C & negligent opinion, that of those which consist by nature, nothing can be changed by custom ; for there be many precepts of the wise, order- 1 ng the exercises of the mind, whereof we will recite a few. That we beware to take not at the first either too high a strain, or too weak : for if too high, in a diffident nature you discourage, in a confident nature you breed an opinion of facility ; and so a sloth, if too weak, you may not look to perform and overcome any great task. Another precept is, to practice all things chiefly at two several times, the one when th mind is best disposed, the other when it is worse disposed. Another precept is, to bear ever to- wards the contrary^xtreme of that whereunto we are by nature inclined. Another precept is, that the mind is brought to any thing better, and trith more sweetness and happiness, if that whereunto you pretend be not first in the inten- tion, because of the natural hatred against 'necessity and constraint, But there is a kind of culture of the mind that seemeth yet more- accurate and elaborate than the rest, and is built upon this ground That the minds of ail men are sometimes in a state more perfect, and at V6RULAMIANA. 105 at other times in a state more depraved. The purpose therefore of this practice is to fix and cherish the good hours of the mind,, and to obliterate and take forth the evil. We will conclude with that last point, which is of all other means the most compendious and sum- mary, and the most noble and effectual,, to the reducing of the mind unto virtue and good estate; which is, the electing and propounding to a man's self good and virtuous ends of his life, such as may be in a reasonable sort within his compass to attain. For if these two things be supposed^ that a man set before him honest and good endsj, and again that he be resolute and constant and true unto them ; it will follow that he shall mould himself into all virtue at once. J40HA.L PHILOSOPHY. IF it be said that the cure of men's minds belongeth to sacred divinity, it is most true ; but yet moral philosophy may be offered unto her, as a wise servant and humble handmaid. Eor as the Psalm saith, that the eyes of ike F 5 handmaid lofi VERULAMIANA. handmaid look perpetually towards the mistress^ and yet, no doubt, many things are left to the discretion of the handmaid to discern of the mistress's will ; so ought moral philosophy to, give a constant attention to the doctrines of divinity, and yet so as to yield of herself, within due limits, many sound and profitable directions. POWER OF MUSIC. IT hath been antiently held and observed,, that the sense of hearing, and the kinds of mu- sic, have most operation upon manners ; as, to encourage men, and make them warlike ; to make them, soft and effeminate ; to nuike them grave ; to make them light; to make them gen- 'tie and inclined to pity. The cause is, that the sense of hearing striketh the spirits more imme~ diately than the other senses, and more incor- poreaJly than the smelling j for the sight, taste, and feeling, have their organs not of so present and immediate access to the spirits,, as the ing hatb. VERULAMIANA. 107 NAVIGATION AND DISCOVERY. THE proficiency in navigation and discoveries may plant an expectation of the further profi- cience and augmentation of all sciences, be- cause it may seem, they are ordained by God to be coevals; that is, to meet in one age. For so the prophet Daniel, speaking of the latter times, foretelleth Plurimi per transibunt, ct multiplex eret suentia ; as if the openness and thorough passage of the world, and the increase of knowledge, were appointed to be in the same ages. OATHS. FOR perjury, it is hard to say whether it te more odious to God, or pernicious to man : an oath, saith the apostle, is the end of contro- versies : if therefore that boundary of suits be taken away or misplaced, where shall be the end ?. F6 OPINION VERULAMIANA, OPINION AND TIME. OPINION is a blast that goeth and cometh : for time, it is true, it goeth, and cometh not ; but yet I have learned that it may be redeemed.. OPPORTUNITY. A WISE man will make more oppcu tunitie^ than he finds. 0HDER, AND HARMONY. THE causes of that which is pleasing or un~ grateful to the hearing., may receive light by that which is pleasing or ungrateful to the sight. There be two things pleasing to the sight; colours and order. The pleasing of colour symbolizeth .with the pleasing of any single tone to the ear ; but the pleasing of order doth symbolize with harmony. Both these pleasures (that of the eye, and that of the ear) are but the effects of equality, good proportion, or corres- pondence ; VERULAM1ANA. 109 pomlence : so that equality and correspondence are the causes of harmony, PARENTS AND CHILDREN. THE joys of parents are secret; and so are their griefs: they cannot utter the one, nor will they utter the other. Children sweeten labours ; but they make misfortunes more bit- ter: they increase the cares of Me, but they mitigat the remembrance of death I The difference in the affection of parents towards * their children is many times unequal, and sometimes unworthy \ as Solomon saith, A wise son rejoicetk the father, but an ungra- cious son shames* the mother. A man shall see r where there is a house full of children, one or two of the eldest respected, and the youngest made wantons ; but in the midst, some that are as it were forgotten, who many times, ne- vertheless, prove the best. The illiberality of parents in allowance to- wards their children is an harmful error j it makes them no VERULAMIANA. them base, acquaints them with shifts,, makes them sort with mean company, and makes them surfeit more when they come to plenty : and therefore the proof is best, when men keep their authority towards their children, but not their purse. Let parents choose betimes the vocations and courses they mean their children should take ; for then they are most flexible: and let them not too much apply themselves to the disposi- tion of their children, as thinking they will take best to that which they have most mind to. It is true, that if the affection or aptness of the children be extraordinary, then it is not good to cross iu They who are the first raisers of their houses, are most indulgent towards their children ; be- holding them as the continuance, not only of their kind, but of their work \ and so, both children and creatures. VERULAM1ANA. Ill PARABLES AND S1M1LIES. ALLUSIVE, or parabolical, is a narration ap- plied only to express some special purpose or conceit : which latter kind of parabolical wis- dom was much more in use in the ancient times as by the fables of Esop, and the brief sen- tences of the Seven, find the use of hierogly- phics, may appear. And the cause was, for it was then of necessity to express any point of reason, which was more sharp and subtle than the vulgar, in that manner ; because men, in those times, wanted both variety of examples and subtlety of conceit : and as heiroglyphics were before letters, so parables were before ar- guments. And nevertheless now, and at all times, they do retain much life and vigour ; be- cause reason cannot be so sensible, nor example so fit. In matters of faith and religion, we raise our imagination above our reason; which is the cause why religion sought ever access to the mind by similitudes, types^ parables, visions, dreams* PHILOSOPHICAL VEKULAMIANA, PHILOSOPHICAL SCEPTICISM 1 . WHEN a doubt is once received) men labour rather how to keep it a doubt still, than how to solve it, and accordingly bend their wits. But that use of wit and knowledge is to be allowed, which laboureth to make doubtful things cer- tain ; and not those who labour to make certain tilings doubtful.. PHILOSOPHISM. IF men had not, through many ages, been prepossessed with religion and theology ; and if . civil governments- had not been averse from innovations of this kind, though but intended, there would doubtless have 'been numerous other sects of philosophies and theories introduced, of kin to those which, in great variety, formerly flourished among the Greeks, PHYSIOGNOMY, VERULAMIANA. PHYSIOGNOMY. THE lineaments of the body disclose the dis- position and inclination of the mind in general; but the motions of the countenance and pans do not only so, but do farther disclose the pre- sent humour and state of the mind and will. " As the tongue speaketh to the ear, so the ges- ture speaketh to the eye/' PHYSICIANS. THE lawyer is judged by the virtue of his pleading, and not by the issue of the cause. The master of the ship is judged by the direct- ing his course aright, and not by the fortune of the voyage. But the physician, and perhaps the politician, have no particular act* demon- strative of their ability, but are judged most by the event, which is ever but as it is taken : for who can tell, if a patient die or recover, or if a state be preserved or ruined, whether it be art or accident ? And therefore many times the im- postor is prized, and the man of virtue taxed. 114 VERULAMIANA. Nay, we seethe weakness and credulity of men is such, as they will often prefer a mountebank or witch before a learned physician. For in all times, in the opinion of the multitude, witches and old women and impostors have had a com- petition with physicians. And what followeth? Even this that physicians say to themselves, as Solomon expresses it upon a higher occasion, If it befall me, as befalleih to fools, zchy should I labour to be more wise ? Therefore I cannot much blame physicians, that they use com- monly to intend some other art or practice, which they fancy, more than their profession. For yon shall have of them, antiquarians, poets, humanists, statesmen, merchants, divines; and in every of these better seen than in their pro- fession : and, no doubt, upon this ground, that they find their mediocrity or excellency in their art inaketh no difference in profit and reputation towards their fortune* POETRY. POESY is a part of learning in measure af words, for the most part restrained, but in all other VERULAMIANA. ili, other points extremely licensed, and doth truly refer to the imagination ; which, being not tied to the laws of matter, may at pleasure join that which nature hath severed, and sever that which nature hath joined, and so make unlawful matches and divorces of things. The use of this feigned history hath been to give some sha- dow of satisfaction to the mind of man, in those points wherein the nature of things doth deny it, the world being in proportion inferior to the soul; by reason whereof there is, agreeable to the spirit of man, a more ample greatness, a more exact goodness, and a more absolute variety, than can be found in the nature of things, Because true history propoundeth the successes and issues of actions not so agreeable to the merits and virtue of vice ; therefore poesy feigns them more justice in retribution, and more according to revealed providence : because true history representeth actions and events more ordinary, and less interchanged ; there- fore poesy endueth them with more rareness, and more unexpected and alternative variations: so as it appeareth that poesy serveth a.nd con- fereth to magnanimity, morality, and to delec- tation. Therefore it was ever thought to have spine 1U VERULAM1ANA. some partition of divineness, because it doth raise and erect the mim-1, by submitting the she\vs of tilings to the de&ires of the mind ; whereas reason doth buckle -and bow the mind unto the nature of things. And we *ee, that by these insinuations imd congntitiei with roan's nature and pleasure! joined also with the agree- ment and consort it hath with music, it hath had access and estimation in rude times and baiv barons regions, where other learning stood excluded. To ascribe unto it that which is due. For the expression of affections, passion?, corruptions, and customs, we are beholden to poett more than to the works of the philosophers; and for wit and eloquence, not much less than to the. of the era tors,. POLFTEN ESS. SMALL matters win great commendation, be- cause they are continually in use and in note ; whereas the occasion of any great virtue coin- eth but on festivals: -therefore it doth much add to a man's reputation, and is (as Queen Isabella said). VERULAMIANA, Hf said) like perpetual letters commendatory, to have good forms. Not to use ceremonies at all, is to teach others not to use them again, and so diminisheth respect to one's self; especially they be not to be omitted to strangers, and for- mal natures: but the dwelling upon them, and exalting them above the moon, is not only tedi- ous, but doth xliiiunish the faith and credit of him that speaks. Men had need beware how they be too perfect in compliments ; for, be they iteviei* so sufficient otherwise, their enviers will be sure to give them tlvat attribute to the disadvantage of their greater virtues. Mens* behaviour should be like their apparel ; wot too straight or point device, but free foar exercise or motion. POPULAR JUDGMENT. WE see commonly the levity and incon- stancy of men's judgments, which, till a matter be done, wonder that it can be done ; and, a? soon as it is done, wonder again it was no sooner done. POSTERITY. VERULAMIANA. POSTERITY. THE appeal is lawful, from the first cogi- tations of men to their second ; and from the nearer times, to the times farther off. PRAISE. PRAISE is the reflection of virtue: but it is as the glass or hody which giveth the reflection. If it be from the common people it is com- monly false and nought, and rather followeth vain persons than virtuous ; for the common people understand not many excellent virtues : the lowest virtues draw praise from them, the middle virtues work in them astonishment or admiration, but of the highest virtues they have no sense or perceiving at all ; but shews, and species virtutibus similes, serve best with them. Certainly fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swoln, and drowns things weighty and solid : but if persons of quality and judgment concur, then it is, as the Scrip- ture saith, Namen bonum imtar inguenti fra- grantis. VERULAMIANA. lit grantis. It filleth all round about, and will not easily away ; for the odours of ointments are more durable than those of flowers. PRODIGIES. NEITHER am I of opinion, that superstitious narrations of sorceries, witchcrafts, dreams, di- vinations, and the like, where there is an assur- ance of the fact, be altogether excluded. For it is not yet known in what cases, and how far, effects attributed to superstition do participate of natural causes : and therefore however the practice of such things is to be condemned, yet from the speculation and consideration of them like may be taken not only for discerning of the offences, but for the farther disclosing of nature. PROFESSORS AND STUDENTS. DISCIPLES do owe unto masters only a tern* porary belief, and a suspension of their own judgment till they be fully instructed ; and not an absolute resignation, or perpetual captivity : 2 and 120 VERULAMIANA. and therefore, I will say no move, but so let great authors have their due, as that time, who is the author of authors, he not deprived of his due, which is farther and farther to discover truth. PRUDENCE AND SELF-KNOWLEDGE. As the divine glass is the word of God, so the politic glass is the state of the world, or times wherein we live, in the which we are to behold ourselves. Men ought to take an impartial view of their own abilities and virtues, and again of their wants and impediments ; accounting these with the most, and those with the least ; and from this view and examination, to frame these con- siderations following. First, how the consti- tution of their nature sorteth with the general state of the times ; which if they find agreeable and fit, then in all things to give themselves more scope and liberty, but if, differing and dissonant, then in the whole course of their life to be more close, retired and reserved. Secondly, rEKULAMIANA. 1*! Secondly, to consider how -their nature sorteth with professions and courses of life, and accord- ingly to make election, if they be free; and if engaged, to make the departure the first oppor- tunity. Thirdly, to consider how they sort with those whom they are like to have compe- titors and concurrents, and to take that course wherein there is most solitude, and themselves likely to be most eminent. Fourthly, in the choice of their friends and dependants, to pro- ceed according to the composition of their own nature. Fifthly, to take special heed how th^y guide themselves by examples, in thinking they can do as they see others do, when perhaps their natures and carriages are far differing. Next to the well understanding and discern- ing of a man's self, there followeth the well opening and revealing a man's self; wherein we see nothing more usual than for the more able to make the less shew. For there is a great advan- tage in the well setting forth of a man's virtues, fortunes,, merits; and, again, in the artificial covering of a man's weaknesses, defects, dis- graces. Caution is, when men do ingeniously and discreetly avoid to be put into those things G for U2 VERULAMIANA. for which they are not proper : whereas, con* trariwise, hold and unquiet spirits will thrust themselves into matters without difference, and so publish and proclaim all their wants. What- soever want a man hath, he must see that he pretend the virtue that shadoweth it : as, if he be dull, he must affect gravity ; if a coward, mildness; and so the rest. For confidence, it is the last but surest remedy, to depress and seem to despise whatever a man cannot attain : ob- serving the good principle of the merchants, who endeavoured to raise tjie price of their commodities, and to beat down the price of others. But there is a confidence that passeth this other, which is, to face out a man's own defects, in seeming to conceive that he is the best in those things wherein he is failing; and to help that again, to seem on the other side that he hath least opinion of himself in those things wherein he is best. In this righting and helping of a man's self in his own conduct, he must take heed that he shew not himself dis- mantled and exposed to scorn and injury, by too much dulceness, goodness and facility of na- ture, but shew some sparkles of liberty, spirit and edge : which kind of fortified carriage, 4 with tERULAMlANA. Mfc with a ready rescuing of a man's self from scorns,, is sometimes of necessity imposed upon men by somewhat in their person or fortune ; but it ever succeedeth with good felicity* Another precept of this knowledge is, by all possible endeavour to frame the mind to be pliant and obedient to occasion. Men are where they were, when occasions turn ; and therefore of Cato, whom Livy maketh such an architect of fortune, he addeth that he had versatile ingcnium. And thereof it cometh that those grave solemn wits, which must be like themselves, and cannot make departures, have more dignity than felicity. But from whatsoever root or cause this restiveness of mind proceedeth, it is a thing most prejudical ; and nothing is more politic than to make the wheels of our mind concentric and volubile with the wheels of fortune- / Another part of this knowledge is, the ob serving a good mediocrity in the declaring or not declaring a man's self. Another precept is, to accustom our minds to judge of the propor- tion or value of things, as they conduce and G2 are 124 VERULAMIANA. are material to our particular ends ; and that to do substantially, and not superficially. As foi the true marshaling of men's pursuits towards fortune, as they are more or less material, L hold them to stand thus. First the amendment of their own minds ; for the removing the impedi- ments of the mind will sooner clear the passages of fortune, then the obtaining fortune will re- move the impediments of the mind. In the second place I set down wealth and means, which, I know, most men would have placed first, because of the general use which it bear- eth towards all variety of occasions. But, it may be truly affirmed, that it is not monies that are the sinews of fortune, hut it is the sinews and steel of men's minds, wit, courage, auda-r city, resolution, temper, industry, and the like. In the third plaqe I set down reputation, because of ,the peremptory tides and currents it hath, which, if they be not taken in -their due time, are seldom recovered ; it being extreme hard to play an after-game of reputation. Lastly, I place honour, which is more easily won by any of the other, three, much more by all, than any of them can be purchased by honour. To conclude this precept, as there is order .and pri r 1 ority in matter, so is there in time,, the prepos- terous placing whereof is one' of the commonest errors; while men fly to their ends, when they should intend their beginnings. Another preeept of this knowledge is, not tor embrace any matters which do occupy too great a quantity of time. Another precept of this knowledge is, to imitate nature, which doth nothing ra vain ; which surely a man may do if he well interlace his business, and bend not his mind too much upon that which he principally iwtendeth. Another precept of this knowledge is, not to engage a man's self .peremptorily in anything, though it seem not liable to accident, but ever to have a window to fly out at, or a door- way to retire by ; following the wisdom in the ancient fable of the two frogs, who consulted when their plash was dry whither they should go, and the one moved to go down into a pit because it was not likely the water would drf theie, but the other answered " True, but if it do, how shall we get out again ? Another precept of this knowledge is, that ancient pre- cept of Bias, construed not to any point of perfidiousness, but only to caution and mode- G 3 ration* 3*0 YERULAM1ANA. ration, Et ama tanquam inimicusfuturus, et odi tanquam amaturus : for it utterly betrayeth all utility for men to embark themselves too far into unfortunate friendships,, troublesome spleens and childish and humoursome envies or emu* lations. But it must be remembered, all this while* that the precepts which we have set down are of that kind which may be counted and called boiite artes. Men ought to look up to the Eter- nal Providence and Divine Judgment, which often subverteth the wisdom of evil plots and imaginations, according to that scripture He hath conceived mischief', and shqll bring forth a vain thing. And although raen should refrain themselves from injury and evil arts, yet this incessant and Sabbathless pursuit of a man's for- tune leaveth not that tribute which we owe to God of our time, who, \ye see, demandeth a tenth of our substance, but a seventh, which is more strict, of our time : and it is to small puiv pose to have an erected face towards heaven, and a perpetual grovelling spirit upon earth, eating dust, as doth the serpent. And if any flatter himself that he will employ his foiv tuu,o VERULAMIANA. W tune well, though he should obtain it ill ; these compensations and satisfactions ateTgOod to be used, but never good to be proposed. Let men rather build upon that foundation which is ti corner-stone of divinity and philosophy,, wherein they join close, For divinity saith, Primum qu&rite rtgmun Dei, et ista ornnia adjicientur vobis: and Philosophy saith, Primum gu&rite lona aiiimi, cat era aut auderunt, aut nou obe- runt. And although the human foundation hath somewhat of the sands, yet the divine foundation is upon the rock. REVENGE, IN taking ^revenge, a man is but even with his enemy ; but in passing it over he is supe- rior: for it is a prince's part to pardon. And Solomon, I am sure, saith, it is the glory of a man to pass by an offence. That which is past is gone and irrevocable, and wise men have enough to do with things present and to come : therefore they do but trifle with themselves, that labour in past matters. There is no man doth a wrong for the wrong's sake ; but thereby G4 to *2* VERULAMIANA. to purchase himself profit, or pleasure, or ho- nour, or the like. Therefore, why should I be angry with a man for loving himself better than me? And if any man should do wrong out of ill nature, Why? yet it is but like the thorn, or briar, which prick and scratch, because they can do no other. Cosmus, duke of Florence, had a desperate saying against perfidious and neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were unpardonable. " You 'shall read (said he.) that we are commanded to forgive our enemies ; but you never read that we are commanded to forgive our friend's !" But yet the spirit of Job w r as in a better tune " Shall we (saith he) take good at God's bands, and not be content to take evil also?" And so. of friends in a proportion.. This is certain, that a man that studieth re^ Tenge, keeps his own wounds green ; which, otherwise would heal, and do well. Vindicative persons live the life of witches, who as they ace , mischievous, so end they unfortunately. VERULAMIANA. RICHES. I CANNOT call riches better than the baggage of virtue. The Roman word is better, impe- dimenta. For as the baggage is to an army, so are riches, to virtue. It cannot be spared, nor left behind, but it hindereth the march; yea, and the care of it, sometimes, loseth or disturbeth the victory. The personal fruition, in any man, cannot reach to feel great riches : there is a custody of them ; or a power of dole and donative of them, or a fame of them ; but no solid use to the owner. Great riches have sold more men than they have bought. Seek not proud riches ; but such as thort mayst get justly, use soberly, distribute cheer- fully, and leave contentedly. Yet have no ab- stract or friarly contempt of them. The ways to enricli are many, and most of thera foul. Parsimony is one of the best, and G-5 vet 13* VEHULAMIANA. yet is not innocent : for it witholdeth men from works of liberality and chanty. It was truly observed by one, That himself came very hardly to a little riches, and very easily to great riches. Be not penny-wise: riches have wings; and sometimes they fly away of themselves ; some- times they must be set flying to bring in more. Jle thatresteth upon gains certain, shall hardly grow to great riches. And he that puts all upon adventures doth sometimes break, and come to poverty : it is good, therefore, to guard adven- tures with certainties th#t may uphold losses. Believe not much them which seem to despise riches: for they despise them that despair of them ; and none worse when they come to them. SCEPTICISM. IT is better to know so much as is necessary^ and yet not think ourselves to know all ; than to VERULAMIANA. to think that we know all, and yet remain igno- rant of that which is necessary. SELF CONCEIT. IT was prettily devised by Esop The fly sat upon the axle-tree of the chariot-wheel, and said, " What a dust do I raise." So are there some vain persons, who, whatsoever goeth alone, or moveth upon greater means, if they have never so little a hand in it ; think it is they that carry it. They that are glorious must needs be factious; as all bravery stands upon compa- rison. They must needs be violent, to make good their own vaunts : neither can they be se- cret, and are therefore not effectual ; but accord- ing to the French proverb, Bcaucmtp de bruit) pen de fruit much bruit, little fruit. SELF-LOVE, DIVIDE with reason, between self-love and society; and be so true to thyself, as thou be not fa,lse to others, especially to thy king and G 6 country. 132 YERULAMIANA, country. It is a poor centre of a man's actions Himself. It is right earth. For that only stands upon its own centre : whereas all things which have affinity with the heavens, move upon the centre of another that they benefit. Wisdom for a man's self, is in many branches thereof a depraved thing. It is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a house somewhat before it fall. It is the wisdom of the fox, that thrusts out the badger who digged and made toom for him. It is the wisdom of crocodiles, which shed tears when they would devour. But that which especially to be noted is, that those who (as Cicero says of Pompey) are sui amantes sine rivali, are many times unfortunate* .And whereas they have all their times sacrificed to themselves, they become in the end them- selves sacrifices to the inconstancy of fortune,,, whose wings they thought by their self-wisdom, to have pinioned.. SELF RESPECT, THE reverence of a man's self is> next reli^- jion, the chiefest bridle of all vices. SOLITUDE* VERULAM1ANA. 1-33 SOLITUDE. IT. had been hard for him that spake it to have put more truth and untruth together, in a few words, than in that speech " Whosoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a-God." For it is most true, that a natural and secret hatred and averseness from society, in any man, hath somewhat of the savage beast ; but it is most untrue, that it should have any character at all of the divine nature, except it proceed, not out of a pleasure in solitude, but out of a love and desire to sequester a man's self for a higher conversation ; as in divers of the antient hermits, and holy fathers of the church. But little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth. For a crowd is not com- pany, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, and talk is but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love. The latin adage meeteth with it a little ; Magna cimtas, magna solitude. But we may go farther, and affirm most truly, that it is a mere and miserable solitude to want true friends ; without which the world is but a wil- derness*. SOPHISM VERULAMIANA. SOPHISM. As many substances in nature, which are solid, do putrefy and corrupt into worms; so it is the property of good and sound knowledge to putrefy and dissolve into a number of subtle, idle, unwholesome, and (as I may term them) verini culate questions, which have indeed a kind of quickness and life of spirit, but no soundness of matter or goodness of quality. For the wit and mind of man, if it work upon matter, which is the contemplation of the creatures of God, worketh according to the stuff, and is limited thereby : but if it work upon itself, as the spider worketh the web, then it is endless, and brings forth indeed cobwebs of learning, admirable for the fineness of thread and work, but of no substance or profit. NATURE OF THE SOUL. A$ the substance of the soul, in the creation, was not extracted out of the mass of heaven and earth, by the benediction of a producat, but VERULAMIANA, 195 but was immediately inspired from God ; so it is not possible that it should be, otherwise than by accident, subject to the laws of heaven and earth, which are the object of philosophy : and therefore the true knowledge of the nature and state of the soul, must come by the same inspi- ration that gave the substance. SOUNDS CONDUCIVE TO REPOSE. TONES are not so apt altogether to procure sleep, as some other sounds ; as the wind, the purling of water, humming of bees, and a sweet voice of one that readeth. The cause whereof is, that tones, because they are equal and slide not, do more strike and direct the sense than the others: and over-much attention hindereth sleep. STUDIES. STUDIES serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring ; for ornament, is in dis- course : 13C VERULAMIA'NA. course; and for ability, is in the judgment disposition of business. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need prun- ing by study ; and studies tbernselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Read not to con- tradict and confute, nor to believe arid take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse ; but la weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested : thai is, some books are to be read only in parts ; others to be read, but not curiously ; and some few to be read wholly and with diligence and attention. If a .man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit ; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning to seern to know what he doth not. Histories make men wise; Poets, witty; the Mathematics, subtle ; Natural Phi- losophy, deep ; Moral Philosophy, grave ; Logic and Rhetoric, able to contend. Crafty men eontemn studies ; simple men admire them ; and wise mea use them. For they teach not their VEHULA.MIAN'A. rsjT their own use ; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. There be chiefly three vanities in studies, whereby learning hath been most traduced. For those things we do esteem vain, which are either false or frivolous ; those which either have no truth, or no use : and those persons we esteem vain, which are either credulous or curious ; and curiosity is either in matter or words. So that in reason, as well as in experience, there fall out to be these three distempers of learning : the first, fantastical learning ; the second, con- tentious learning ; and the last, delicate learn- ing: vain imaginations, vain altercations, and vain affectations* VEHEMENCY OF STYLE. BITTER and earnest writing must not hastily be condemned : for men cannot contend coldly and without affection, about things which they kold dear and precious. SUFFICIENCY. 188 VERI^AMIANA. SUFFICIENCY. IF a man entereth into an high imagination that he can compass and fathom all accidents; and aseribeth all successes to his drifts and reaches ; and the contrary to his errors and sleepings : it is commonly seen that the evening fortune of that man is not prosperous. -TIMIDITY AND COVETOUSNESS. A TIMOROUS man is everybody's; a covetous .wi an is his own. TRUTH AND FALSHOOD. CERTAINLY there be who delight in giddi- ness, and count it a bondage to fix a belief; ptflectiiig free-will in thinking, as well as in act- ing. But it is not only the difficulty and labour which men take in finding out of truth ; nor again, that, when it is found, it imposeth upon thoughts \ that doth bring lies intQ favour 3 but VERULAM1ANA. 13* but a natural, though corrupt, love of the lie itself. A mixture of a lie doth ever add plea- sure. Doth any man doubt, that if there were taken out of men's minds, vain opinions, flatter- ing hopes, false valuations, imaginations as one would, and the like ; but it would leave the minds of a number of men poor shrunken things, full of melancholy and indisposition, and unpleasing to themselves ? One of the fa- thers, in great severity, called poesy vinun de- wow/m because it filleth the imagination, and yet it is but with the shadow of a lie. But it is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in, and settleth in it, that cloth the hurt. Howsoever these things arc in men's depraved judgments and affections, yet truth, which only doth judge itself, teacheth that the enquiry of truth, which is the love- making or wooing of it,--?the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature. Tha first creature of God, in the works of the days, was the light of the sense ; the last was the light of reason ; and his sabbath work, ever e.| is the illutniu^tion of his Spirit. First, he breathed MO VERULAMIANA. breathed light upon the face of* the matter of chaos; then, he breathed light into the face of man ; and still he breathed and inspired light into the face of his chosen. Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth, It will be acknowledged, even by those who practice it not, that clear and round dealing is the honour of man's nature ;. and that the mix* ture of falshopd is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may make the metal work the bet- ter, but it embaseth it. For these winding and crooked courses are the goings of the serpent; which goeth basely upon the belly, and not upon the feet. There is no vice, that doth so cover a man with shame, as to be found false- and perfidious. TRAVELLING. TRAVEL in the younger sort is a part of edu- cation ; in the elder, a part of experience. The VfiAULAMIANA. 14 * The things to be seen and observed are, the courts of princes, especially when they give audience to cmbassadors : the courts of justice, while they sit and hear causes; and so of con- sistories ecclesiastic : the churches and monas-' teries, with the monuments which are therein extant: the walls and fortifications of cities and towns ; and so the havens and harbours ; anti- quities and ruins : libraries ; colleges ; deputa- tion?, and lectures, where any are : shipping and navies : houses, and gardens of state and pleasure near great cities : armories, arsenals., magazines, exchanges, 'burses, \yare-houses : exercises of horsemanship, fencing, training of soldiers, and the like : comedies, such whereunte the better sort of persons resort : treasuries of jewels and robes, cabinets and rareties, As for triumphs, masks, feasts, weddings, funerals, .capital executions, and such shows, men need -not be put in mind of them ; yet are they not .to be neglectecj. If you will have a young man put into little : room, and in short time to gather much, this you must do; first, he must have some entrance into the, language before he goeth, Then he must 14* VERULAMIANA. must have such a servant, or tutor, as kn owe tit- the country. Let him carry with him also some card or book describing the country where he travelleth, which will be a good key to his en- quiries. Let him keep also a diary* Let him not stay long in one city or town ; more or less, as the place deserveth, but not long: nay, when he stayeth in one city or town, let him change his lodging from one end and part of a town to another, which is a great adamant of acquaint- ance. Let him sequester himself from the com- pany of his countrymen, and diet in such places where there is good company of the nation where he travelleth. Let him, upon his re- moves from one place to another, procure re- commendation to some person of quality residing in the place whither he removeth; that he may use his favour in those things which he desire th to see or know. As for the acquaintance which is to be sought in travelling, that which is most of all profit* able is acquaintance with the secretaries and employed men of embassadors ; for so in travel- ling in one country, he shall suck the experience of many. Let him also see and visit eminent person* VERULAMIANA. 143 persons in all kinds, who are of great name abroad ; that he may be able to tell how the life agreeth with the fame. For quarrels, they are with care and discretion to be avoided. And let a man beware how he keepeth company "with choleric and quarrelsome persons, for they will engage him into their own quarrels. When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled alto- gether behind him ; but maintain a correspon- dence, by letters, with those of his acquaintance who are of most worth. And let his travel ap- pear rather in his discourse than in his apparel or gesture ; and in his discourse let him be rather advised in his answers, than forward to tell stories : and let it appear that he doth not change his country's manners for those of foreign parts ; but only prick in some flowers, of that which he hath learned abroad, into the custom* of his own country. UNDER- 1.44 VERULAMIANA. UNDERSTANDING. MEN have a certain pride of the understand- ing, as well as of the will ; especially men of an elevated genius. WISHES. As it askcth some knowledge, to demand a question not impertinent; so it requireth some sense, to make a wish not absurd. That w r hich men desire should be true, they are most inclined to believe. LONGEVITY OF WOMEN. GENERALLY exercise., if it be much, is n friend to the prolongation of life ; and it is one cause why women live longer than men, .because they stir less. WORDS. VERULAM1ANA. WORDS. ALTHOUGH we think we govern our words yet certain it is that words, as a Tartar's bow, do shoot back upon the understanding of the wisest, and mightily entangle and pervert the judgment; so as it is almost necessary in all controversies and disputations to imitate the wisdom of the mathematicians, in setting down, in the very beginning, the definitions of our words and terms, that others may know how we accept and understand them, and whether they concur with us or no. For it cometh to pass, for want of this, that we are sure to end where we ought to have begun, which is in questioa and differences about words. Words are generally imposed according to vulgar conceptions, and divide things by lines or distinctions most apparent to the under* standing of the multitude; and when a more acute understanding, or observation, would place these lines according to nature, words cry out/ forbid. And as there are things which,' H through VERULAMIANA. through want of being observed, remain without names; so there are names coined upon phan- tastical conceits, and having no things corres- ponding unto them. THE WORLD. MEN have got a fashion now-a-days, that two or three busy-bodys will take upon them the name of the world, and broach their own conceits, as if it were a general opinion. THE WILL. THE will of man is thai which is most mani- able and obedient, as it is that which admiUeth most medicines to cure and alter it. The most sovereign of all is religion ; which is able to change and transform it in the deepest and most inward inclinations and motions : next to that, is opinion and apprehension ; whether it be in- fused by tradition and institution/or wrought in by disputation and persuasion : the third, is example ; which transformed! the will of man intP VERUDAMIANA. 147 into the similitude of that which is most fami- liar towards it: the fourth is, when one affection is healed and corrected by another ; as when cowardice is remedied by shame and dishonour, or sluggishness and backwardness by indigna- tion and emulation : and lastly, when all these- means, or any of them, have new framed or formed human will, then doth custom and ha- bit corroborate and confirm all the rest. There- fore it is no marvel, though this faculty of tho mind, (will and election) which inclineth affec- tion and appetite, these being but the inceptions and rudiments of will, may be so well governed and managed. The intellectual powers have fewer means to work upon them, than the will or body of man; but the one that prevaileth, which is exercise, worketh more forcibly in them than in the rest. SEEMING WISE. As the apostle saith of godliness, having % sJuw of godliness, but denying the power thereof} s'o certainly there are in point of wisdom and H 2 sufficiency, 4t VERULAMIANA. sufficiency, who do nothing or little very so- lemnly. It is a ridiculous thing, and fit for a satire to persons of judgment, to see what shifts these formalists have, and what prospec- tives to make superficies seern body that hath depth and bulk. There is no decaying mer- chant, or inward beggar, hath so many tricks to uphold the credit of their wealth, as these empty persons have to maintain the credit of their sufficiency. Seeming-wise men may make shift to get opinion ; but let no man chuse them for employment ; for certainly you had better take for business a man somewhat absurd, than over-formal. YOUTH AND AGE. A MAN that is young in years may be old in hours, if he have lost no time. But that hap- peneth rarely. Generally, youth is like the first cogitations, not so wise as the second. For there is a youth in thoughts, as well as in ages. Natures that have much heat, and great and violent desires and perturbations, are not ripe for VERULAMIANA. 140> for action till they have passed the meridian of their years. But reposed natures may do well in youth. The errors of young men are the ruin of business ; but the errors of aged men amount but to this that more might have been done, or sooner. Young men, in the conduct and management of actions, embrace more than they can hold ; stir more than they can quiet ; fly to the end without consideration of the means and degrees; pursue some few principles which they have chanced upon absurdly; cure not ta innovate, which draws unknown inconveniences y use extreme remedies at first; and;, that which doubleth all errors, will not acknowledge or re- tract them ; like an unready horse, that will nei- ther stop nor turn. Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent toa soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a me- diocrity of success. Certainly, it is good to compound employments of both : for that will be good for the present, because the virtues of either age may correct the defects of both. But for the moral part, perhaps youth will have jthe pre-eminence ; as age hath for the politic. H 3 The .1M> V1CRULAMIANA. The more a man drinketh of the world, the more it intoxicateth ; and age dolh profit rather in the powers of the understanding, than in the virtues of the will and affections. There h some that have an over-early ripeness in their years; which fudeth betimes. VERULAMIANA. POLITICS. PART II. VERULAMIANA. ADMINISTRATION OF EMPIRE. JL HE answer of Appolonius to Vespasian is -full of excellent instruction. Vespasian asked' him, what was Nero's overthrow? He answered^ - Nero could touch and tune the harp well; but in government, sometimes he used to wind the pins too high, sometimes to let them down too low. And certain it is, that nothing de- stroyeth authority so much as the unequal and; untimely interchange of power, pressed too far. and relaxed too much. The wisdom of all these latter times',; in princes* affairs, is rather fine deliveries, aiuk shiftings of dangers and mischiefs, when they are near, than solid and grounded courses to^ keep them aloof. But this is hut to try masteries H.5, with. ifr VERULAMIANA. with fortune :. and let men beware, liow they neglect and suffer matter of trouble to be pre- pared ; for no man can fqrbid the spark, nor tell whence it may come. The difficulties in princes' business are many and great ; but the greatest difficulty is often in their own mincL For it is- the solecism of power, to think to. command the end, and yet not to endure the aiean. ALLEGIANCE. ALLEGIANCE is of a greater extent and dimen- sion than -laws, or kingdoms, and cannot consist by the laws merely ; because it began before laws, it continueth after laws, and it is in vigour where laws are suspended and have not their force. That it is more antient than law, ap- peareth by that kings were more antient than? lawgivers ; that the first submissions were sim- ple, and upon confidence to the person of kings ; and that the f allegiance of subjects to hereditary monarchies can be no more said to consist by laws, than the obedience of children to parents. That allegiance continued! after laws, I will- only VERULAMIANA. i*3 only put the case That if^a King of England should be expulsed his kinglfem, and some par- ticular subjects should follow him in flight or exile into foreign parts, and any of them should there conspire his death ; upon his recovery of his kingdom, such a subject might by the -law of England be proceeded with for treason com- mitted and perpetrated at what time he had n&i kingdom; arid in a place where the law did not bind. That allegiance is in vigour and force where the power of law hath a cessation, ap- peareih notably in time of wars; for silent leges inter arma. And yet the -sovereignty and impe- rial power of the king is so far from being then extinguished or suspended, that contrariwise it is raised and made more absolute: for then he may proceed by his supreme authority, and martial law, without observing formalities of the laws of his kingdom. Therefore whosoever spcaketh only of laws, and the king's power by laws, and the subjects obedience or allegiance to laws, speaketh but one half of the crown. A man's allegiance must be independant a net certain, not dependant and conditional. U6- AMJBIX10&" YERULAMIANA*. AMBITION. AMBITION is like choler, which is an humour that maketh men active, earnest full of ala- crity, and stirring, if it be not stopped. But if it be stopped and cannot have its way,, it beeoraeth, adust, and thereby malign and xenemous. Good commanders in the wars must betaken^ fee they never so ambitious : for the use of their service dispenð with the rest; and to take a soldier without ambition, is to pull off his spurs. There is also great use of ambitious men in be- ing screens to princes, in matters of danger and envy ; for no man will take that part, except he be like a seeled dove, that mounts and mounts because he cannot see about him. There is. use also of ambitious men in pulling down the greatness of any subject that overtops. A prince may animate and inure some meaner ^persons, to be as it were scourges ta ambitions men. As for the pulling of them down, if the affairs require it,, and that it may jaet be done with VERULAMIANA. U7 -with safety suddenly, the only way is the inter- change continually of favours and disgraces ; whereby they may not know what to expect, and be as it were in a wood. There is less dan- ger of them, if they be of mean birth, than if they be noble ; and if they be rather harsh of nature, than gracious and popular ; and if they be rather new raised, than grown canning and fortified in their greatness. He that is used to go forward, antl findeth a stop, falleth out of his own favour, and is noV the thing he was, He that seeketh to be eminent amongst able men, hath a great task ; but that is, ever good for the public. But he that plots to be the only figure amongst cyphers, is the decay of a whole age. Honour hath three things in it : the van- tage ground to do good ; the approach to kings and principal persons ; and the raising of a man's fortunes. He that hath the best of these inten- tions, when he aspireth, is an honest man. : and that prince who can discern of these inten- tions in another that aspireth, is a wise prince. 2 ANNEXATIONS VERULAMIANA. ANNEXATIONS. IN conquest it is commonly seen, although the bulk and quantity of territory be increased, yet the strength of kingdoms is diminished, as well by the wasting of the forces of both par- ties in the conflict,, as by the evil coherence of the nation conquering and conquered, the one being apt to be insolent, and the other discon- tented ; and so both full of jealousies and dis- cord". Where countries are annexed only by acts of state and submissions, such submissions are commonly grounded upon fear, which is no good author of continuance, besides the quar- rels and revolts which do ensue upon conditional and articulate subjections. CANALS. A VERY great help unto trade are navigable rivers; they are so many indraughts to attain wealth ; wherefore by art and industry let them he made ; but let them not be turned to private profit. CCXNSCIENCIES. VERULAMIANA. CONSGIENCIES. CAUSES of conscience,, when they exceed their bounds, and prove to be matter of faction, lose their nature : and sovereign princes ought distinctly to punish the practice or contempt, though coloured with the pretences of con> science and religion.. COLONIZATION. I LIKE a plantation in a pure soil ; that is.,, where people are not displanted to the end to plant in others. For else it is rather an extir- pation, than a plantation* It isa shameful and unblessed thing, to take the scum of people, and wicked and condemned men, to be the people with whom you plant : and not only so, but it spoileth the plantation; for they will ever live like rogues,, and not fall to work, but be lazy and do mischief, and spend victuals, and be quickly weary, and then certify over to their country to the discredit of the plantation. 100 VERULAMIANA. plantation. When the plantation grows to strength, then it is time to plant with women, as well as with men ; that the plantation may spread into generations, and not be even pieced from without. Let not the government of the plantation depend upon too many counsellors and under- takers in the country that planteth ; but upon a temperate number : and let those be rather no- blemen and gentlemen, than merchants ; for they look ever to the present gain. If you plant where ravages are, do not only entertain them with trifles and gingles, but use them justly and graciously, with sufficient guard nevertheless; and do not win their favour by helping them to invade their enemies; but for their defence it is not amiss. And send, oft, of them over to the country that plants ; that they may see a better condition than their own, and commend it when they return. It is the sinfullest thing in the world to for- sake and destitute a plantation once in forward- ness ; for, besides the dishonour, it is the guild- BOSS of blood of many considerable persons. COUNCIL VERULAMIANA. COUNCIL. IN other confidences men commit the parts of life their lands, their goods, their children, their credit, some particular affair ; but to such as they make their counsellors, they commit the whole : by how much the more are they obliged to all faith and integrity. Princes are not bound to communicate all matters with all counsellors, but may extract and select. Neither is it necessary that he that consulted what he should do, should declare what he will do, But let princes beware that the unsecreting of their affairs come not from themselves. And as for cabinet councils, it may be their motto Plcnus rimarum sum : one futile person that maketh it his glory to tell, will do more hurt than many who know it their duty to conceal, It is true, there be some affairs winch require extreme secresy, which willhardly go beyond one or two persons be- sides the king: neither are those councils un- prosperous; fpr, besides the secresy, they com- monly 3*2 VERULAMIANA. monly go orf constantly in one spirit of direction without distraction* The majesty of kings is rather exalted than diminished when they are in the chair of coun- sel : neither was there ever prince bereaved of his dependencies by his council, except where there hath been either an over-greatness in one counsellor, or an over-strict combination In di- vers ; which are things soon found and remedied. There be, that are in nature, faithful and sin- cere, and plain and direct; not crafty and in- volved : let princes, above all, draw to them- selves such natures. Besides, counsellors are not commonly so united, but that one coun- sellor keepeth centinel over another ; so that if any do counsel out of faction, or private ends, it commonly comes to the king's ear. It is in vain for princes to take counsel concerning mat- ters, if they take no counsel likewise concerning persons : for all matters are as dead images ; and the life of the execution of affairs resteth in the good choice of persons. The true composition of a counsellor is rather tQ be skilful in his master business, than in his, nature ; VERULAMIANA. itfs nature ; for then he is like to advise him,, and not to feed his humour. It is of singular use to princes, if they take the opinions of their eoim- sel both separately and together: for private opinion is more free, but opinion before others is more reverent. A long table, and a square table, or seats about the walls, seem things of fovm, but are things of substance : for at a long table, a few at the upper end, in effect, sway all the bust- ness; but in the other form, there is more use of the counsellors' opinions, that sit lower. It was truely said, optimi consiliarii mortmi books will speak plain, when counsellors blanch* Therefore it is good to be conversant in them* especially the books of such- as themselves been actors upon the stage. LAWS OF ENGLAND. LET the rule of justice be the Laws of the Land ; an impartial arbiter between the king arid' 1 his people, arid between one subject and another* 364 VERULAMIANA. another. I shall not speak superlatively of them, lest I be suspected of partiality, in re- gard of my own profession: but this I may truly say, They are second to none in the Christian world. They are the best, the equal- Jest in the world, between prince and people ; by which the king hath the justest prerogative, and the people the best liberty : and if at any time there be an unjust deviation, Hominis est vicium, non proftssionis. Let no arbitrary power be intruded ; the people of this kingdom love the laws thereof: and nothing will oblige them more, than a confidence of the free enjoy- ing of them. What the nobles once said in parliament, No/umus leges ^nglia mutari ! is imprinted in the hearts of all the people. ENVY AND DETRACTION. THIS envy, being in the Latin Invidia, goetb in the modern languages by the name of discon- tentment. It is a disease, in a state, like to infection ; for as infection spreadeth upon that which is sound, and tainteth it so when envy is gotten once into a state, it traduceth even the best V.ERULAMIANA. l6s best actions thereof, and turneth them into an ill odour : and therefore there is little won by intermingling of plausible actions : for that doth argue but a weakness and fear of envy, which hurteth so much the more; as it is likewise usual in infections, which if you fear them, you call them upon you. Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon principal officers or ministers, rather than upon kings and states themselves. But this is a sure rule, that if the envy upon the minister be great, when the cause for it in him is small or, if the envy be general in a manner upon all the mini- sters of a state, then the envy, though hidden, is truly upon the state itself. FACTIONS. WHEN factions are carried too high, and too violently, it is a sign of weakness in princes : and much to the prejudice both of their autho- rity and business. The lower and weaker fac- tion is the firmer in conjunction : and it is often seen, that a few that are stiff do tire out a greater number that are more moderate, FAVOURITES. i4; VERULAMIANA. FAVOURITES. IT is a strange thing to observe how high a rate great -kings and moriarchs do set upon the fruit of friendship; so great, as they purchase it many times at the hazard of their .own safety and greatness. For princes, in regard of the distance of their fortune from that of their sub- jects and servants, cannot gather this fruit : ex- cept, to make themselves capable thereof; they raise some persons to he as it were companions, and almost equals with themselves; which many times sorteth to inconvenience. The mo- dern languages give unto such persons the name of favourites^ or privadoes, as if it were, , mat- ter of grace or conversation : but the Roman name attaineth the true use and cause thereof, naming them participes 'cur arum; for it is that which tieth the knot. And we see plainly, that this hath been done, not by weak and pas- sionate princes only, but by the wisest and most politic that ever reigned ; who have often times joined, to themselves some of their servants, vyhom both themselves have called friends, and allowed others likewise to call them in the same manner, VERULAMIANA. 167 manner, using the word which is received be* I ween private men. It is counted by some a weakness in princes to have favourites ; but it is of all others, the best remedy against ambitious great ones. For, when the way of pleasing and displeasuring lietii by the favourite,, it is impossible any other should be over-creat. FOUNDING OF KINGDOMS. As in arts and sciences, to be the first inventor is more than to illustrate or amplify ; as in the works of God, the creation is greater than the preservation ; and as in the works of nature, the birth and nativity is more than the conti- nuance : so in kingdoms, the first foundation or plantation is of more noble dignity and merit than all that followeth. GOVERNMENT. GOVERNMENT is a part of knowledge secret and retired, in both these respects in which things I6 VERULAMIANA. things are deemed secret ; for some things are secret because they are hard to know, and some because they are not fit to utter : we see, all governments are obscure and invisible. The government of God over the world is hidden, insomuch as it seemeth to participate of much irregularity and confusion : the government of the soul in moving the body is inward and pro- found, and the passages thereof hardly to be reduced to demonstration* Even unto the gene- ral rules and discourses of policy and govern- ment, there is due a reverend and reserved handling. But, contrariwise, in the governors towards the governed all things ought, as far as the frailty of man permitted^ to be manifest and revealed. So unto princes and states, the na-> tures and dispositions of the people, their con- ditions and necessities, their factions and com- binations, their animosities and discontents ought to be, in regard of the variety of their intelligence, the wisdom of their observations, and the heighth of the station where they keep centinel, in great part clear and transparent. All VEFLULAMIANA. 1(59 All those who have written of laws, have written either as philosophers or as lawyers, and none as statesmen. As for the philosophers, they make imaginary laws for imaginary com- monwealths ; and their discourses are as the stars, which give little light, because they are so high. For the lawyers, they write accord- ing to the states in which they live, what is re- ceived law, and not v hat ought to be law ; for the wisdom of a law-maker is one, and that of a lawyer is another. There are in nature cer- tain fountains of justice, whence all civil laws are derived but as streams : and like as waters do take tinctures and tastes from the soils through which they run, so do civil laws vary according to the regions and governments where they are planted, though they proceed from the same fountains. Again, the wisdom of a law- maker consisteth not only in a platform of justice, but in the wise application thereof. HONOURS. THE true marshaling of the degrees of sove- reign honour are these. In the first place, are I conditores 170 VERULAMIANA. conditoKCS imperiorum founders of states and commonwealths. In the second place, are legislator's lawgivers ; which are also called second founders, orperpetui principes, because they govern by their ordinances, after they are gone. In the third place, are libcratores or salva tores such as compound the long miseries of civil wars, or deliver their countries from servitude to strangers or tyrants. In the fourth place, are propagators 01* propugnatons imperil Such as in honourable wars enlarge their terri- tories, or make noble defence against invaders. In the last place, are patres pat rice who reign justly, and make the times good wherein they live. There is an honour, likewise, which may be ranked amongst the greatest, which hap- peneth rarely ; that is, of such as sacrifice themselves to death or danger, for the good of their country. INNOVATIONS. IT is true, that what is settled by custom, though it be not good, yet at least it is fit. And those things which have long gone together, 3 are VERULAMIANA. I7j are, a3 it were, confederate within themselves : whereas new things pieee not so well; but though they help by their utility, yet they trouble by their inconformity. Besides, they are like strangeis, more admired and less fa- voured. All this is true, if time stood still ; which, contrariwise, moveth so round, that a froward retention of custom is as turbulent a thing as an innovation : and they that reverence too much old times, are but a scorn to the new. It were good therefore, that men, in their innovations, would follow the example of time itself, which indeed innovateth greatly, but quietly, and by degrees scarce to be perceived : for, otherwise, whatsoever is new is unlocked for ; and even it mends some, and impairs others, It is good also not to try experiments in states, except the necessity be urgent, or the utility evident: and well to be aware, that it be the reformation that draweth on the change ; and not the desire of change that pretendeth the reformation. And lastly, that the novelty, though it be not rejected, yet be held for a suspect: and, as the Scripture saith, that we make a stand upon the antient zvay, and then look I 2 about 272 VERULAMIANA. about us, and discover what is the strait and right zvay, and so to walk in it. INVENTIONS. THE introduction of noble inventions seems to hold by far the most excellent place among all human actions. And this was the judgment of antiquity, which attributed divine honours to kiventors ; but conferred only heroical ho- nours upon those who deserved well in civil affairs. The benefits of inventions may extend to all mankind, but civil benefits only to parti- cular countries or seats of men ; and these civil benefits seldom descend to more than a few ages, whereas inventions are perpetuated through the course of time. Besides, a state is seldom amended in its civil affairs without force and perturbation, whilst inventions spread without doing injury, or causing disturbance. It may not be amiss to distinguish three kinds^ and as it were degrees of ambition in mankind ; first, such as desire to aggrandize their private power in their own country, which is the most vulgar VERULAMIANA. i?3 vulgar and degenerate ; secondly, such as en- deavour to enlarge the power and empire of their country in respect of others,, which is more noble,, though not less selfish : but if any should strive to restore and enlarge the power and empire of mankind over the universe of things, this ambition is, without dispute, more Solid and majestic than the others. Discoveries are like new creations^ and imitations of the divine works* JUDGES ought to remember that their office isjMS dice re, and notjws dare ; to interpret law, and not to make law or give law. Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverend than plausible, and more advised than confidant. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue. Cursed, saith the law, is he that rcmoveth the land-mark. The mislayer of a stone is to blame ; but it is the unjust judge that is the capital remover of land-marks, when he defineth amiss of lands and property. One foul sentence doth more hurt than many foul J. 3 examples. 174 VERULAMIANA. examples. For these do but corrupt trie stream: the other corrupteth the fountain. The princi- pal duty of a judge is to suppress force and fraud ; whereof force is more pernicious when it is open, and fraud when it is close and disguised. Add thereto contentious suits, which ought to be spewed out as the surfeit of courts. A judge ought to prepare his way to a just sentence as God useth to prepare his way., by raising vallks and taking down hills: so when there appeareth on either side an high hand, violent prosecution, cunning advantages taken, combination, power, great counsel, then is the virtue of a judge seen, to make inequality equal, that he may plant his judgment as upon an even ground. Judges must beware of hard constructions and strained inferences, for there is no worse tor- tr.re than the torture of laws: especially in case of laws penal they ought to have care, that that which was meant for terror be not turned into rigour ; and that they bring not upon the peo- ple that shower whereof the scripture speaketh, plael super cos laqueos > for penal laws, pressed, are a shower of snares upon the people. In causes of life and death, judges ought, as far as the law perinittetb, in justice to remember mercy ; VERULAMIANA. 175 mercy ; and to cast a severe eye upon the exam- ple, but a merciful eye upon the person. The parts of a judge in hearing are four : to direct the evidence ; to moderate length, repe- tition, or impertinency of speech ; to recapi- tulate, select, and collate the material points of that which hath heen said; and to give the vale or sentence Whatsoever is above these, is too much, and proceedeth either of glory and willingness to speak, or of impatience to hear, or of shortness of memory, or of want of a staid and equal attention. It is a strange thing to see that the boldness of advocates should prevail with judges ; whereas they should imi- tate God in whose seat they sit, who represseth the presumptions, and giveth grace to the mo- dest. But it is more strange, that judges should have noted favourites ; which cannot but cause multiplication of fees, and suspicion of bye- ways. There is due from the judge to the advo- cate some commendation and gracing, where causes are well handled and fair pleaded. There is likewise due to the public a civil reprehension of advocates, where there appeareth cunning counsel, gross neglect, slight information, indis- I 4 creejt 170 VERULAM1ANA. creet pressing, or an over-bold defence. And let not the counsel at the bar chop with the judge ; nor wind himself into the handling of the cause anew, after the judge hath declared his sentence. The place of justice is an hallowed place; and therefore not only the bench, but the foot- pace and precincts, and purprise thereof ought to be preserved without scandal and corruption. For certainly grapes, as the Scripture saitlr, will not be gathered of thorns or thistks: nei- ther can justice yield her fruit with sweetness, amongst the briars and brambles of catching and holding clerks and ministers. Judges ought above all to remember the con- clusion of the Roman twelve tables- Sa lus po- puli sitprema kx ; aiul to know that laws, ex- cept, they be in order to the end, are but things 'captious, and oracles not well inspired. There- fore it is a happy thing in a state, when kings and states do often consult with judges ; and again, when judges do often consult with the king and state : the one, when there is matter of law intervenient in business of state ; the other, VERULAMIANA. 177 other, when there is some consideration of state intervenient in matter of law. For, many times, the things deduced to judgment, may be menm and tuum, when the reason and coivsequence thereof may trench to point of state. Let not judges also be so ignorant of their own right, as to think there is not left them, as a principal part of their office, a wise use and application of laws. JUDGES, . A POPULAR judge is a deformed thing: and plaudits are fitter for players than for magi- strates ; Do good to the people, love them and give themjustice 5 but let it be nihil indc expec- tant es-, looking for nothing, neither praise nor profit. The lines and portrai cures of a good judge. He should draw his learning out of his books, and not out of his brain : and continue the studying of books, and not spend on upon the old stock. He should mix well the freedom of his own opinion with reverence for the opinion 15 of 178 t VERULAMIANA. of his fellows. He should fear no man's face ; and yet not turn stoutness into bravery. He should be truly impartial, and not so as men may see affection through a fine carriage. He should not affect the opinion of pregnancy and expedition, by an impatient and catching hear- ing of the counsellors at the bar : but his speech should be with gravity, as one of the sages of the law ; and not talkative, nor with imperti- nent flying out to shew learning. He should he a light to jurors, to open their eyes, but not SL guide to lead them by the noses. His hands, and the hands of his hands (I mean those about him) must be clean ; and uncorrupt from gifts, from meddling in titles, and from serving of turns, be they of great ones or small ones. He must contain the jurisdiction of the court within the ancient merestones, without removing the mark. Lastly, he must carry such a hand over his ministers and clerks, as that they may rather be in awe of him, than presume upon him. Judges must be men of courage, fearing God, and having covetousness : an ignorant man can- not, a coward dares not be a good judge. Judges must be as chaste as Caesar's wife ; nei- ther VERULAMUNA. ther to be, nor to be suspected to be unjust : the honour of the judges, in their judicature, is the king's honour, whose person they represent. TRUE GREATNESS OF KINGDOMS AND STATES THERE is not any thing amongst civil affairs more subject to error, than the right valuation and true judgment concerning the power and forces of a state. The kingdom of heaven is compared not to any great kernel or nut, but to a grain of mustard seed ; which is one of the least grains, but hath in it a property and spirit hastily to get up and spread. So are these states great in territory, and yet not apt to enlarge or command ; and some that have but a small dimension of stem, and yet apt to be the foun- dations of great monarchies. Walled towns, stored arsenals and armouries, goodly races of horse, chariots of war, ele- phants, ordnance, artillery, and the like : all this is but a sheep in a lion's skin, except the breed and disposition of the people be stout and warlike. Nay number in armies importeth 1 6 not 180 VERULAMIANA. not much, where the people is of weak cou- rage ; for, as Virgil saith, it never troubles a wolf how many the sheep be. Neither is money the sinews of war, as it is trivially said ; where the sinews of men's arms, in base and effemi- nate people, are failing. For Solon said well to Creesus, when in ostentation he shewed him his gold, " Sir, if any other come that hath better iron than you, he will be master of all this gold/' Neither will it be, that a people overlaid with taxes should ever become valiant and martial. It is true, that taxes levied by consent of the state do abate men's courage less. Let states, that aim at greatness, take heed how their nobility and gentlemen do multiply too fast : for that maketh the common subject grow to be a peasant and a bases wain, driven out of heart, and in effect but the gentleman's labourer. By all means it is to be procured, that the trunk of Nebuchadnezzar's tree of monarchy be great enough to bear the branches and the boughs ; VERULAMIANA. 1S1 boughs ; that is, that the natural subjects of the crown or state bear a sufficient proportion to the stranger subjects whom they govern. There- fore all states that are liberal of naturalization towards strangers, are fit for empire. For to think that a handful of people can, with the greatest courage and policy in the world, em- brace too large extent of dominion; it may hold for a time, but it will fail suddenly. It is certain that sedentary and within-door arts, and delicate manufactures that require rather the finger than the arm, have in their na- ture a contrariety to a military disposition. Leave those arts chiefly to strangers, (which, for that purpose, are the more easily to be re- ceived) and contain the principal bulk of the vulgar natives within these three kinds, tillers of the ground, free servants, and handy crafts men of strong and manly hearts, as smiths, masons, carpenters, &c. not reckoning professed soldiers, To be master of the Sea, is an abridgment, or quintessence, of all monarchy. He that commands 18* VEUULAMIANA. commands the sea is at great liberty, and may take as much and as little of the war as he will. Whereas those that be strongest by land, are many times, nevertheless, in great straits. Surely, at this day, with us of Europe, the van- tage of strength at sea (which is one of the" principal dowries of this kingdom of Great Bri- tain) is great : both because most of the king- doms of Europe are not merely inland, but girt with the sea most part of their compass ; and because the wealth of both Indies seems, in great part, but an accessary to the command of the eeas. But, above all, for empire and greatness, it importeth most that a nation do profess arms as their principal honour, study, and occupation. It is enough to point at it, that no nation that doth not directly profess arms, may look to have greatness fall into their mouths. And, on the other side, it is a most certain oracle of time, that those states that continue long in that pro- fession do wonders ; and those that have pro- fessed arms but for an age, have notwithstand- ing commonly attained that greatness in that age. VERULAMIANA. 183 age, which maintained them long after, when their profession and exercise of arms had grown to decay. First therefore, let nations that pretend to greatness have this that they be sensible of wrongs, either upon borderers, merchants, or politic ministers ; and that they sit not too long upon a provocation. Secondly, let them be pressed, and ready to give aids and succours to their confederates, as it ever was with the Ro- mans. Let it suffice, that no state expect to be great that is not awake upon any just occasion of arming. No body can be healthy without exercise, neither natural body nor politic : and certainly, to a kingdom or state, a just and honourable war is the true exercise. A civil war, indeed, is like the heat of a fever ; but a foreign war is like the heat of exercise, and serveth to keep the body in health. For in a slothful peace, both courages will effeminate and manners cor- rupt. But however it be for happiness, without all question, for greatness it maketh to be, still for the most part, in arms : and the strength of a veteran 184 VERULAMIANA. a veteran army (though it be a chargeable busi- ness) always on foot,, is that which commonly giveth the law, or at least the reputation, amongst all neighbour states. The w r ars of latter ages seem to be made in the dark, in respect of the glory and honour which reflected upon men from the wars in anti- ent time. There be now, for martial encou- ragement, some degrees and orders of chivalry, which nevertheless are conferred promiscuously upon soldiers, and no soldiers ; and some re- membrance perhaps upon the escutcheon, and some hospitals for maimed soldiers and such ]ike things. But in antient times, the trophies erected upon the place of victory ; the funeral laudatives and monuments for those that died in the wars 5 the crowns and garlands personal ; the style of emperor, which the great kings of the world afterwards borrowed ; the triumphs of the generals upon their return ; the great do- natives and largesses upon the disbanding of the armies ; were things able to inflame all men's courages: but above all, that of the triumph, among the Romans, was not pageants or gau- dery, but one of the wisest and noblest insti- tutions VERULAMIANA. 185 tutions that ever was. For it contained three things,, honour to the general ; riches to the treasury, out of the spoils ; and donatives to the army. To conclude. No man can,, by care taking (as Scripture saith) add a cubit to his stature^ in this little model of a man's body : but in the great frame of kingdoms and commonwealths, it is iu the power of princes, or states, to add amplitude and greatness to their kingdoms. Fof by introducing such ordinances, constitutions arid customs, as we have now touched, they may sow greatness to their posterity and suc- cession. KNOWLEDGE NOT INIMICAL TO GOVERNMENTS THAT learning should undermine the rever- ence of laws and government, is surely a mere depravation and calumny, without all shadow of truth. For to say that a blind custom of obe- dience should be a surer obligation, than duty taught and understood ; it is to affirm that a blind man may tread surer by a guide, than a seeing man can by a light. Learning doth make the 18* VERULAMIANA, the minds of men gentle, generous, maniabfe and pliant to government ; whereas ignorance maketh them churlish, thwarting and mutinous: and the evidence of time doth clear this asser- tion, considering that the most barbarous, rude and unlearned times have been most subject to tumults, seditions and changes. The merit of learning in repressing the incon- veniences which 'grow from man to man, is not much inferior to that of relieving the necessities which arise from nature : which merit was ad- mirably set forth by the antients in that feigned relation of Orpheus' theatre, where all beasts and birds assembled, and forgetting their seve- ral appetites, some of prey, some of game, some of quarrel, stood all sociably together listening to the airs and accords of the harp, the sound whereof no sooner ceased, or was drowned by some louder noise, but every beast returned to his own nature. Herein was aptly described the nature and condition of men, who are full of savage and unreclaimed desires of profit, of lust, of revenge : which as long as they give ear to precepts, to laws, to religion, sweetly touched witU eloquence and persuasion of books, VKRULAMIANA. 17 of sermons, of harangues, so long is society and peace maintained : but if these instruments be silent, or that sedition and tumult make them not audible, all things dissolve into anar- chy and confusion. KINGS. A KING is a mortal god on earth, unto whom the living God hath lent his own name as a great honour : but withal told him, he should die like a man ; lest he should be proud and flat- ter himself, that God hath with his name im- parted unto him his nature also. A king that would not feel his crown too heavy for him, must wear it every day ; but if he think it too light, he knoweih not of what metal it is made. He must make religion the rule of govern- ment, and not to balance the scale ; for he that casteth religion in only to make the scales even, his own weight is contained in those characters He *sJ VERULAM1ANA. He is found too light y his kingdom shall be taken from him. He must be able to give counsel himself, but not rely thereupon. He is the fountain of honour, which should not run with a waste pipe, lest the courtiers sell the water, and then, as papists say of their holy wells, it Josefs the virtue. He is the life of the law, not only as he is lex loquem, himself, but because he animateth the dead letter, making it active towards all his sub* jeeta. A wise king must do less in altering his laws than he may ; for new government is ever dangerous. Bounties and magnificence are virtues very regal, but a prodigal king is nearer a tyrant than a parsimonious one ; for store at home draweth uot his contemplations abroad, but want sup- plieth itself of what is next, and many times the next way, A king, VERULAMIANA, I8d A king, when he presides in council, let him beware how he opens his own inclinations too much, in that which he propounded! :, for else counsellors will but ta"ke the wind of him, and, instead of giving free counsel, sing him a song of Placebo. His greatest enemies are his flatterers ; for though they ever speak on his side, yet their words still make against him. It is a miserable state of mind, to have few things to desire, and many things to fear : and yet that commonly is the case of kings, who, being at the highest, want matter of desire, which makes their minds more languishing ; and have many representations of perils and shadows, which make their minds the less clear. Hence it comes, likewise, that princes many times make themselves desires, and set their hearts upon toys : sometimes, upon a building ; sometimes, upon erecting of an order; some- times upon the advancing of a person ; some- times, in obtaining excellency in some art or feat of the hand. The W VERULAMIANA. The love which a king oweth to a weal public, should not be restrained to any one particular. As he must always resemble him whose great name he beareth, and that, as in manifesting the sweet influence of his mercy on the severe stroke of his justice sometimes so in this, not to suffer a man of death to live : for besides that the land doth mourn, the restraint of justice towards sin doth more retard the affection of love, than the extent of mercy doth inflame it. That king which is not feared, is not loved. As he is of the greatest power, so he is sub- ject to the greatest cares. Princes are like to heavenly bodies, which cause good or evil times; and which have much veneration, but no rest. He that honoureth them not is next an atheist, wanting the fear of God in his heart. LAWS, VERULAMIANA. LAWS. IF any of the meaner sort of politicians who -are sighted only to see the worst things, think that laws are but cobwebs, and that good princes will do well without them, and bad ones will not stand much upon them, the discourse is neither good nor wise. For certain it is, that good laws are" some bridle to bad princes, and as a very wall about government. And if ty- rants sometimes make a breach into them, yet they mollify even tyranny itself, as Solon's laws did the tyranny of Pisistratus : then commonly they get up again, upon the first advantage of better times. The laws of most kingdoms and states have been like buildings of many pieces, and patched up from time to time according to occasions, without frame or model. LEARNING AND ARMS. EXPERIENCE doth warrant that, both in per- sons and times, there hath been a meeting and concur- 302 VERULAMIANA, currence in learning and arms ; flourishing and excelling in the same men, and the same ages. Neither can it otherwise be. For as in man, the ripeness of strength of the body and mind com- eth at much about an age, save that the strength of the body cometh somewhat the more early ; so, in states, arms and learning whereof th$ one corresponded to the body, the other to the soul of man have a concurrence or near se- quence in times. LEARNED STATESMEN. IT is almost without instance contradictory, that ever any government v/as disastrous that was in the hands of learned governors. For howsoever it hath been ordinary with politicians to extenuate and disable learned men by the name of pedants, yet in the records of time it appeareth, in many particulars, that the go- vernments of princes in minority (notwithstand- ing the infinite disadvantage of that kind of state) have nevertheless excelled the govern- ments of princes of mature age; even for that reason which they seek to traduce, which is, 2 that VERULAMIANA. 193 that by that occasion the state hath been in the hands of pedants. LIBELS. LIBELS are generally the gusts of liberty of speech restrained, and the females of sedition. It is not the interlacing of your " God for- bid !" that will salve seditious speeches. Should I say to you, for example, " If these times were like some former times of king Henry Eight, or some other times, (which God forbid) Mr. J. S. it would cost you your life :" I am sure 'you would not think this to be a gentle warning, but rather that I incensed the court against you. And this I would wish both you and all to take heed of; how you speak seditious matter in parables, or by tropes or examples. There is a thing in indictment called an inu- en do : you must beware how you beckon or make signs upon the King in a dangerous sense* K LITERARY VSRULAMIANA. LITERARY FOUNDATIONS. As water, whether it be the dew of heaven or the springs of the earth, doth scatter and lose itself in the ground, except it be collected into some receptacle where it may by union comfort and sustain itself : so this excellent li- quor of knowledge, whether it descend from divine inspiration or spring from human sense, would soon perish and vanish to oblivion, if it were not preserved in books, traditions, confer- ences, and places appointed ; as universities, colleges and schools, for the receipt and com- forting of the same. LUXURY. LET the vanity of the times be restrained, which. the neighbourhood of other nations has induced ; and we strive apace to exceed our pattern: let vanity in apparel, and which is more vain, that of the fashion., be avoided. I have heard that in Spain, whom in this I wish we might imitate ; they do allow the players 1 and VERULAMIANA. 195 and courtezans the vanity of rich and costly clothes ; but to sober men and matrons they permit it not, upon pain of infamy, a severer punishment to ingenuous natures than a mulct. The excess of diet in costly meats and drinks, fetched from beyond seas, should be avoided : wise men will do so without a law ; I would there might be a law to restrain fools. The ex- cess of wine costs the kingdom much, and re- turns little but surfeits and diseases. Were we as wise as we easily might be, within a year or two at the most, (if we would needs be drunk with wines) we might be drunk at half the cost. MONARCHY. IT is evident that all other commonwealths, monarchies only excepted, do subsist by a law precedent. For where authority is divided amongst many officers, and they annual, or temporary, and not to receive their authority but by election, where certain persons only have voice to that election, and the like, these of necessity do presuppose a law precedent, written or unwritten, to guide and direct them : K 6 but 196 YERULAMIANA. but in monarchies, especially hereditary, when several families or lineages of people do submit themselves to one line, imperial or royal, the submission is more natural and simple, which by laws subsequent is perfected and made more formal. That this is so, it appeareth notably in two things; the platforms and patterns which are found in nature of monarchies, and the ori- ginal submissions, their motives and occasions. The platforms are three. The first is that of a father, or chief of a family ; who, governing over his wife by prerogative of sex, over his children by prerogative of age, and because he is author unto them of being, and over his ser- vants by prerogative of virtue and providence, is a very model of a King. And therefore Ly- curgus, when one counselled him to dissolve the kingdom, and to establish another form of state, answered " Sir, begin to do that which you advise first at home in your own house." No- ting, that the chief of a family is as a king; and that those who can least endure kings abroad can be content to be kings at home. The VERULAMIANA. in* 2<>0 VERULAMIANA. sions are evident to be natural, and more ariti* cnt than law. Law, no doubt, is the great organ by which the sovereign power dcth move, and may be truly compared to the sinews in a natural body, as the sovereignty may be compared to the spi- rits : for if the sinews be without the spirits, they are dead and without motion ; if the spi- rits move in weak sinews, it causeth trembling. So ihe laws, without the king's power, are dead; and the king's power, except the laws be corro- borate, will never move constantly, but be full of staggering and trepidation. But towards the King himself the law doth a double office or operation. The first is to define his title : as, in our law. That the kingdom should go to the issue female ; That it shall not be departable amongst daughters ; That the half-blood shall be respected ; and other points differing from common inheritance. The second is to make the ordinary power of the King more definite or regular. Although the King, in his person, be solutus legibus ; yet his acts and grants are limited by law, and we argue them every day, But VERULAMIANA. aov But, I demand,, do these offices or operations of law evacuate or frustrate the original sub- mission, which was natural ? Or, shall it be said that all allegiance is by law ? No more than it can be said that potestas patris, the power of the father over the child is by law : though the law of some nations has given fa- thers power to put their own children to death : others, to sell them thrice ; others, to disinherit them by testament at pleasure, and the like. Yet no man will affirm that the obedience of the child is by law, because laws, in some points, do make it more positive : And even so it is of allegiance of subjects to hereditary monarchs ; which is corroborated and confirmed by law, but is the work of the law of nature. There- fore you shall find the observation true, and almost general in all states, that their law-giv- ers were long after their first kings, who go- verned for a time by natural equity without law. Theseus was long before Solon in Athens ; Eurytion and Sons were long before Lycurgus in Sparta; Romulus was long before the De- cemviri, in Rome; and even amongst ourselves there were more ancient kings of the Saxons, yet the laws run under the name of Edgar's K 5 laws. 304 VERULAMIANA. ]aws. I will conclude this point with the style which divers acts of Parliament do give unto the King, terming him very effectually and truly " Our natural sovereign leige Lord." And as it was said by a principal Judge, that he would never allow that Queen Elizabeth (1 re- member it for the efficacy of the phrase) should l>e a statute Queen, but a common-law Queen : so., surely, I shall hardly consent that the King shall be called only our rightful sovereign or our lawful sovereign : but our natural lie^e sove- O 7 O reign, as acts of parliament speak. For, as the common-law is more worthy than the statute- law, so the law of nature is more worthy than them both. Other states have curious frames, soon put out of order v and they that are made fit to last, are not commonly fit to grow or spread; and, contrariwise, those that are made fit to spread and enlarge, are not fit to continue and endure. But monarchy is like a work of nature, well composed both to grow and to continue. The echools may dispute H, but time hath tried it. MINISTERS. VERULAMIANA. 200 MINISTERS. KINGS cannot possibly see all things with their own eyes, nor hear all things with their own ears ; they must commit many great trusts to their ministers. Tiiey must be answerable to God Almighty, to whom they are but ser- vants, for their actions and for their negligent omissions: but the Ministers of Kings, whose eyes and ears and hands they are, must be an- swerable to God and man for a breach of their duties, in violation of their trusts, whereby they betray them. NOBILITY. A MONARCHY, where there is no nobility ajt' all, is ever a pure and absolute tyranny: for nobility attempers sovereignty, and draws the eyes of the people somewhat aside from the line- royal. A great and potent nobility addeth ma- jesty to a monarch, but diminisheth power ; and putteth life and spirit into the people, but K 6 presseth 20* VERULAMIANA. presseth their fortune. It is well when nobles are not too great for sovereignty, nor for justice; and yet maintained in that height as the in- solency of inferiors may be broken upon them, before it come on too fast upon the majesty of kings. Certainly, kings that have able men of their nobility, shall find ease in employing them, and a better slide into their business : for people naturally bend to them, as born in some sort to command. It is a reverend thing to see an ancient castle or building not in decay; ho\r much more to behold an ancient noble family, which hath stood against the w r aves and weathers of time ? for new nobility is but the act of power, but ancient nobilitv is the act of time. PEACE. THAT prince, or state, offends as much against justice and against reason, which omit- teth a fair occasion of making an honourable and safe peace, as that which rashly and cause- lessly moveth an unjust wax. But though wars 2 be VERULAMIANA. 20$ be diseases,, yet I think it better to endure some sickness, than to venture upon every medicine. It is no cure to bring a state from a doubtful war to an unsafe treaty : it is no more than to put a feverish body out of a hot fit into a cold. As an unskilful physician may, by working a natural body with his medicines, bring it from a tertian or quartan fever to an hectic ; an im- provident statesman may, with conditions or treaty, so disarm a state of the friends, reputa- tion and strength it hath, that the cure will prove far worse than the disease. Therefore it is not the name of war or peace, but the cir- cumstances and conditions of either of them, that should make us fly the one,, or embrace the other. Princes or states, when they enter into con- sideration of their own affairs, may dispose themselves to peace, for utility, conveniency, or necessity : For utility if they can get advan- tage : for conveniency, if peace be fittest to conserve them in the state they are : for neces- sity, when they have no longer the means to make war. All states do stand as much by reputation, as by strength, POPULATION. VERULAMIANA. POPULATION. it is to be provided, that the population of a kingdom (especially if it be not mown down by wars) do not exceed the stock of the kingdom which should maintain it. Nei- ther is the population to be reckoned only by number : for a smaller number, that spend more and earn less, do wear out a state sodner than a greater number that live lower, and ga- ther more. PREDICTIONS. MY judgment is> that state prophecies or predictions ought all to be despised, and ought to serve but for winter-talk by the fireside. Though, when I say despised, I mean it as for belief: for, otherwise, the spreading or publish- ing of them is in no sort to be despised ; for they have done much mischief. And I see many severe laws, made to repress them. That VERULAMIANA. 207 That which hath given them grace, and some credit,, consisteth in three things. First, that men mark when they hit, and never mark when they miss ; as they do also, generally, of dreams. The second is, that probable conjectures, or obscure traditions, many times*, turn themselves into prophecies: while the nature of man, which coveteth divination, thinks it no peril to-- fore tel that which indeed they do but collect. The third and last is, that almost all of them (beiag infinite in number) have been impos- tures ; and by idle and crafty brains merely con- trived and feigned, after the event was past. PREROGATIVE AND LIBERTY. THE king's sovereignty, and the liberty of parliament, are as the two elements or principles of this state ; which, though the one be more active, the other more passive, yet they do not cross or destroy, but strengthen and maintain the one the other. Take away liberty of parli- ament, the griefs of the subjects will bleed in- wards : sharp and eager humours will not eva- porate ; and then they must exulcerate, and so may 208 VERULAMIANA. may endanger the sovereignty itself. On the other side, if the king's sovereignty receive diminution, or any degree of contempt ; with us that are born under an hereditary monarchy, so as that the motions of our state cannot work in any other frame or engirie, it must follow that we shall be a meteor or corpus imperfects mistum, which kind of bodies come speedily to confusion and dissolution. PREROGATIVE AND LAW. THE king's prerogative and the law are not two things; but the king's prerogative is law, and the principal part of the law, the first-born or pars prima of the law : and therefore in con- serving or maintaining that, we can serve and maintain the law. There is not in the body of man one law of the head, and another of the but all is one entire law. PRIVY VERULAMIAttA. 20$ PRIVY COUNCILS. ALL kings, though they be gods on earth, yet they are gods of earth, frail as other men : they may be of extreme age ; they may be in- disposed in health ; they may be absent. In these cases, if their councils may not supply their persons, to what infinite accidents are they exposed? Nay more, sometimes in policy kings will not be seen, but cover themselves with their council : and if this be taken from them, a great part of their safety is taken away. For the other point, that of weakening their council, they are nothing without the king : they are no body politic ; they have no com- mission under seal. So if you begin to distin- guish and disjoin them from the king, they are corpus opacum; for they have lumen de himiue. By distinguishing you extinguish the principal engine of the state. PROPERTY, VERULAMIANA, PROPERTY, ABOVE all things, good policy is to be used, that the treasure and monies in. estate be not gathered into few hands. For otherwise a state ma}' have a great stock, and yet starve. And money is like muck, not good except it be spread. This is done chiefly by suppressing, or at least keeping a strait hand upon the de- vouring trades of usury, engrossing, great pas- turages, and the like. REBELLION. As to rebellion or civil war, wisdom and jus- tice must prevent it. But if these should not prevail ; by a wise and timely inquisition, the peccant humours and humourists must be dis- covered, and purged or cut off: mercy, in such a case, in a king is true cruelty. If God bless these endeavours, and th^ king return to his own house in peace, then those who have been found faithful in the land must be regarded, and; VERULA.MIANA. ail and rewarded also ; the traiterous or treacherous who have misled others, severely p and the neutrals, and false hearted friends uud followers, be noted. SPIES. IF spies be lawful against lawful enemies, much more against conspirators and traitors. SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES. SHEPHERDS of people had need know the kalendars of tempests in a state, which are commonly greatest when things grow to equa- lity ; as natural tempests are greatest about the equinox. And as there are certain hoiiow blasts of wind, and secret swellings of seas before a tempest,, so are there in states. Libels and licentious discourses against the state, when they are frequent and open ; and., in like sort, false news often running up and down, to the disadvantage of the state, and hastily 212 VERULAMIANA. hastily embraced,, are amongst the signs of troubles. Neither doth it follow,, because these fames are a sign of troubles, that the suppres- sing of them with too much severity should be a remedy for troubles. For the despising of them many times checks them best ; and the going about to stop them doth but make a won- der long lived. Also that kind of obedience, which Tacitus speaketh of, is to be held sus- pected, Erant in officio, sed tamen qui tnallent mandata imperantium interprttari, quam exequi disputing, excusing, cavilling upon mandates and directions, is a kind of shaking off the yoke, and essay of disobedience : especially if in those disputings, they which are for the di- rection speak fearfully and tenderly ; and those who are against it, audaciously. 9 When the authority of princes is made but an accessary to a cause, and there be other bands that tie faster than the bands of sovereignty, kings begin to be put almost out of possession. Also, when discords and quarrels and factions are carried openly and audaciously, it is a sign that the reverence of government is lost, The VERULAMIAtfA. 21S The surest way to prevent seditions, if the times do bear it, is to take away the matter of them. For if there be fuel prepared, it is hard to tell where the spark shall come that shall set it on fire. The matter of seditions is of two kinds ; much poverty, and much discontent- ment. And if this poverty and broken estate in the better sort, be joined with a want and neces- sity in the mean people, the danger is imminent and great. For the rebellions of the belly are the worst. As for discontentments, they are, in the political body, like to humours in the na- tural, which are apt to gather a preternatural heat, and to inflame. And let no prince mea- sure the danger of them by this, whether they be just or unjust; for that were to imagine the people to be too reasonable, who do often spurn at their own good : nor yet by this, whether the griefs whereupon they rise be in fact great or small ; for they are the most dangerous discon- tentments, where the fear is greater than the feeling. Neither let any prince or state be se- cure concerning discontentments, because they have been often, or have been long, and yet no peril hath ensued: for as it is true that every va- pour or fume doth not turn into a storm, so it is *is VERULAMIANA, is nevertheless true that storms, though blown over divers times, yet may fall at last; and as the Spanish proverb noteth well, the cord break- eth at last by the weakest pull. There is in every state two portions of sub- jects the noblesse and the commonalty. When one of these is discontented, the danger is not great : for common people are of slow motion, if they be not excited by the greater sort; and the greater sort are of small strength, except the ^multitude be apt and ready to move of them- selves. Then is the danger, when the greater sort do but wait for the troubling of the wa- ters amongst the meaner, that they may declare themselves. The politic and artificial nourishing and en- tertaining of hopes, and carrying men from hopes to hopes, is one of the best antidotes against the poison of discontentments. And it is a certain sign of a wise government and pro- ceeding, that it can hold men's hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction; and when it can handle things in such a manner, as no evil shall appear so peremptory but that it hath some outlet VERULAMIANA. 2U outlet of hope : which is the less hard to do, because both particular factions are apt enough to flatter themselves with, or at least to brave, that which they believe not. Also, the foresight and prevention that there be no likely or fit head whereunto discontented * persons may resort, and under whom they may may join, is a known but excellent point of caution. I understand a fit head to be one who hath greatness and reputation ; who hath confi- dence with the discontented party, and upon whom they turn their eyes ; and who is thought discontented in his own particular: which kind of persons are either to be won and reconciled to the state, and that in a fast and true man- ner; or to be fronted with some others of the same party, who may oppose them, and so di- vide the reputation. Generally, the dividing and breaking off of all factions and combinations which are adverse to the state, and setting them at distance, or at least distrust amongst them- selves, is not one of the worst remedies. It is a desperate case, if those that hold with the proceedings of the state be full of discord and faction, 216 VERULAMIANA. faction, arid those that are against it be entire and united. Princes had need, in tender matters and tick- lish times, to beware what they say ; especially in those short speeches which fly abroad like darts, and are thought to be shot out of their secret intentions. For as to large discourses,, they are flat things, and not so much noted. I have remarked that some witty and sharp speeches, which have fallen from princes, have given fire to seditions. Lastly, let princes, against all events, not be without some great person (one, or rather more) of military valour near unto them, for the re- pressing of seditions in their beginnings. But let such military persons be assured and well re- puted of, rather than factious and popular : holding also good correspondence with the other great men in the state : or else the remedy is worse than the disease. TREASON. VERULAMIANA. TREASON. THESE offences respect either the safety of the king's person, or the safety of his estate and kingdom, which though they cannot be disse- vered indeed, yet they may be distinguished in speech. If any have conspired against the life of the King, or of the Queen's Majesty, or of the Prince their son ; the very compassing and inward imagination thereof is high treason, if it can be proved by any fact that is overt : for in the case of so sudden, dark, and pernicious, and peremptory attempts, it were too late for the law to take a blow before it gives. We see, by miserable examples, that wretches, which were but the scum of the earth, have been able to stir earthquakes by murdering of princes : and if it were in the case of contagion (as this is a contagion of the heart and soul) a rascal may bring a plague into the city as well as a great man. So it is not the person, but the matter that is to be considered. L Against 318 VERULAMIANA. Against hostile invasions, and the adherence of subjects to enemies-, kings can arm. Rebel- lions must go over the bodies of many good sub- jects before they can hurt the king. But con- spiracies against the persons of kings are like thunderbolts, which strike upon the sudden, hardly to be avoided. There is no preparation against them : and that preparation which may be of guard or custody, is a perpetual misery. High Treason is not written in ice ; that when the body relenteth, the impression should go away. TRUSTS AND DIGNITY. MEN in great place are thrice servants; servants of the sovereign or state ; servants of fame ; and servants of business : so as they have no freedom, neither in their persons, DOT in their actions, nor in their times. The rising unto place is laborious, and by pains men come to greater pains ; and it is sometimes base, and by indignities men come to dignities. Cer- tainly, great persons had need to borrow other men's opinions to think themselves happy, for VERULAMIANA, 21* if they judge by their own feeling they cannot find it; but if they think with themselves what other men think of theu^ and that other men would fain be as they are, then they are happy as it were by report, when perhaps they find the contrary within. For they are the first that find their own griefs ; though they be the last that find their own faults. In place, there is licence to do good and evil; whereof the latter is a curse : for in evil, the best condition is not to will ; the second, not to can. But the power to good is the true and lawful end of aspiring. For good thoughts, though God accept them, towards men are lit- tle better than good dreams, except they be put in act ; and that cannot be without power and place, as the vantage and commanding ground. Merit and good works is the end cf man's mo- tion; and conscience of the same is the accom- plishment of man's rest. For if a man can be partaker of God's theatre, he shall likewise be partaker of God's rest. In the discharge of thy place set before thee the best examples ; for imitation is a globe of L 2 precepts. 22& VERULAM1ANA. precepts. And, after a time, set before thee thine own example ; and examine thyself strictly, whether thou didst not best at first f Neglect not also the examples of those who have carried themselves ill in the same place ; not to set off thyself by taxing their memory, but to direct thyself what to avoid. Reform therefore without bravery or scandal of former times and persons ; but yet set it down to thy- self, as well to create good precedents as to fol- low them. Reduce things to the first institu- tion, and observe wherein and how they have degenerated : but yet ask counsel of both times of the aitcient time, what is best; and of the latter time, what is fittest. Seek to make thy course regular; that men may know beforehand what they may expect. Embrace and invite helps and advises, touching the execution of thy place, and do not drive away such as bring thee information, as medlers ; but accept of them in good part. Give easy access ; keep times appointed ; go through with that which is in hand ; and interlace not business but through necessity. For corruption, do not only bind thine own hands, or thy servant's hands from taking, but bind the hajids of suitors also from VERULAMIANA. 221 from offering. Whosoever is found variable, arid changeth manifestly without manifest cause, giveth suspicion of corruption : therefore always when thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it plainly,, and declare it, together with the reasons that move thee to change; and do not think to steal it. For roughness, it is a needless cause of discontent ; severity breedeth fear, hut roughness breedeth hate. - Even re- proofs, from authority, ought to he grave and not taunting. As for facility, it is worse than bribery. For bribes come but now and then ; but if importunity, or idle respects, lead a man 5 he shall never be without it. It is an assured sign of a worthy and gener- ous spirit, whom honour amends. For honour is, or should be, the place of virtue : and as in nature things move violently to their place, and calmly in their place ; so virtue in ambition is violent, in authority settled and calm. All ris- ing to great place is by a winding-stair : and if there be factions, it is good to side a man's self whilst he is in the rising, and to balance himself when he is placed. Use the memory of thy L 3 prede- predecessor fairly and tenderly; for if thou dost not, it is a debt that will surely be paid when thou art gone. USURY. MANY have made witty invectives against usury. I say this only, that usury is a concessum propter durition cordis ; for since there must be borrowing and lending, and men are so hard of heart as they will not lend freely, usury must be permitted. It is a vanity to conceive, that there would be ordinary borrowing without profit ; and it is impossible to conceive the number of inconveniencies that will ensue if borrowing be cramped. Therefore to speak of the abolishing of usury is idle : so as that opinion must be sent to Utopia. If it be objected, that this doth in a sort authorize usury ; the answer is, that it is better to mitigate usury by declaration or sta- tute, than to suffer it to rage by connivance. TERGE VERUtAMIANA. VERttE OF THE COURT. THE law doth so esteeth the dignity of the king's settled mansion-house, that it hath laid unto it a plat of twelve miles round, which we call the verge, to be suhject to a special and exempted jurisdiction depending upon his per- son and great officers. This is a half-pace, or carpet, spread about the king's chair of state, which therefore ought to be cleared and voided more than other places of the kingdom. We see the sun, when it is at the brightest there may be perhaps a bank of clouds in the north or the west, or remote regions, but near his body few or none : so where the king cometh, there should come peace and order, and an awe and reverence in men's hearts. VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS. EXTRAORDINARY expence must be limited by the worth of the occasion ; for voluntary undoing may be as just for a man's country, as for the kingdom of heaven. L4- WAR, 224 VERULAMIANA. WAR. WARS are no massacres and confusions : but they are the highest trials of right; when princes and states, which acknowledge no superior upon earth, put themselves upon the justice of God for the deciding of their controversies by such success as it shall please him to give on either side. In the proceedings of war, nothing ought to be done against the law of nations, or the Jaw of honour : which laws have ever pro- nounced conspirators against the persons of princes, and libellers against their good fame^ to be such enemies of common society as are not to be cherished, no not by enemies. As the cause of war ought to be just, so the justice of that cause ought to be evident; not obscure, not scrupulous. For by the consent of all laws, in capital causes, the evidence must be full and clear : and if so where one man's life is 'in question, what say we to a war, which i* ever the sentence of death upon many. Where VERULAMIANA. 325 Where there is an heap of people (though we term it a kingdom or state) that is altogether unable or unworthy to govern ; there is a just cause of war for another nation that is civil or policed to subdue them. When the consti- tution of a state, and the fundamental customs and laws of the same (if laws they may be called) are against the laws of nature and na- tions, then, I say, a war upon them is lawful* There are governments which God doth not avow. For though they be ordained by his se- cret providence, yet they are not acknowledged by his revealed will. Neither can this be meant of evil governors or tyrants ; for they are often avowed and established, as lawful potentates : but of some perverseness and defection in the-' very nation itself. This nullity of polity, and right of state in some nations, is significantly expressed by Moses, in the person of God to the Jews : Yc have incensed me with gods that are no gods; and I will incense you with a people, that are no people. Such, no doubt, were the people of Canaan, after seisin was given of the land of promise to the Israelites : for from that time their right to the land was dissolved, though L5 they 2*5 VERULAMIANA. they remained in many places un conquered. By this we may see, that there are nations in name, which are no nations in right ; but mul- titudes only, and swarms of people. For like as there are particular persons outlawed and proscribed by civil laws of several countries ; so are there nations which are outlawed and proscribed by the law of nature and nations, or by the immediate commandment of God. And as there are kings de facto and not dejure, in re- spect of the nullity of their title ; so are there nations which are occupants de facto and not dejure of their territories, in respect of the nul- lity of their policy of government. Beasts are not less savage because they have dens. It is a great error, and a narrowness or strait- ness of mind, if any man think that nations have nothing to do one with another, except there be either an union in sovereignty or a con- junction in pacts and leagues. There are other bands of society, and implicit confederations. Above all, there is the supreme and indissoluble consanguinity and society between men in gene- ral. Now if there be such a tacit league or confederation, sure it is not idle, it is against somewhat VERULAM1ANA. 227 somewhat, or somebody. Is it against wild beasts, or the elements of fire and water ? No, it is against such routs and shoals of peo- ple as have utterly degenerated from the laws of nature ; as have in their very body and frame of estate a monstrosity ; and may be truly accounted common enemies and grievances of mankind, or disgraces and reproaches to human nature. Such people, all nations are interested 1 and ought to be resenting, to suppress ; consi-' dering that the particular states themselves being the delinquents, can give no redress. And this is not to be measured so much by the principles of jurists, as by lex ckaritatis, lex proximi, lexjiliorurn Ad& de massa una; upon which original laws this opinion is grounded : which to deny, if a man may speak freely, were almost to be a schismatic in nature. Wars are vindicta, revenges and reparations. But revenges are not infinite ; but according to the measure of the first wrong or damage. And therefore when a voluntary offensive war, by the design or fortune of the war, is turned to a necessary defensive war, the scene of the tra- gedy is changed, and it is a new act to begin. L 6 There ua VERULAMIANA. There can no general rule be given, save one, which is that princes do keep due sentinel* that none of their neighbours do overgrow so (by encrease of territory, by embracing of trade, by approaches, or the like) as that they become more able to annoy than they were. And this- is generally the work of standing counsels, to foresee and to hinder it. For there is no ques- tion but that ajust fear of an imminent danger, though there be no blow given, is a lawful cause cf a war. For certainly as long as men are men, and as long as reason is reason, ajust fear will be a just cause of a preventive war; but especially if it be part of the case, that there be a nation that is manifestly detected to aspire to monarchy and new acquests : then, other states, assuredly, cannot be justly accused for not staying for the first blow; or for not accept- ing Polyphemus's courtesy, to be the last that shall be eaten up. WEALTH. As largeness of territory, severed from mili- tary virtue, is but a burden ; so treasure and riches, VERULAMIANA, 22f riches, severed from the same, is but a prey. Nor is it the abundance of treasure in the sub- jects hands that can make sudden supply of the wants of a state; because both reason and ex- perience tell us, that private persons have least will to contribute when they have most cause : for when there is noise or expectation of wars, then is always the deadest times for monies, in regard that every man restraineth and holdeth fast his means for his own comfort and succour ; according as Solomon saith, The riches of a man are as a strong hold in Jus imagination. o o It is worthy the observation, what a reverend and honoured thing poverty of fortune was, for some ages, in the Roman state ; which, never- theless, was a state without paradoxes. We see likewise, after that the state of Rome was not itself, but did degenerate, how that person who took rpon him to be counsellor to Julius Caesar, where to begin his restoration of the state, maketh it of all points the most summary to take away the estimation of wealth. VERULAMIANA. THEOLOGY. PART III, VERULAMIANA. ATHEISM. HAD rather believe all the fables in the Legend and the Talmud and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind. And therefore God never wrought a miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. It is true that a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to reli- gion : for while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them and go no farther ; but when it behold- cth the chain of them, confederate and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence 'and Deity. The 33* VERULAMIANA. The Scripture saith, the fool hath said in his heart there is no God : it is not said, the fool hath thought in his heart. So that he rather saith it by rote to himself, as what he would have, than that he can thoroughly helieve it or be persuaded of it. For none can deny there is a God, but those for whom it maketh that there were no God. The causes of atheism are, divi- sions in religion, if they be many ; for any one main division addeth zeal to both sides, but many divisions introduce atheism. Another is, scandal of priests. A third is, custom of pro- fane scoffing in holy matters ; which doth, by little and little, deface the reverence of religion. And lastly, learned times, especially with peace and prosperity : for troubles and adversities do more bow men's minds to religion. They that deny a God, destroy man's jiobi- lity: for, certainly, man is a kin to the beasts by his body ; and if he be not a kin to God by his spirit,, he is a base and ignoble creature. It destroys likewise magnanimity, and the raising of human nature. Man, when he resteth and assureth himself upon divine protection and fa- vours, gatheretb a force and faith which human nature VERULAMfANA* nature of itself could not obtain : therefore as atheism is in all respects hateful, so in this that it depriveth human nature of the means to exalt itself above human frailty, CLERGYMEN. THE persons of the priesthood are to be had in due respect, for their works' sake ; and pro- tected from scorn : but if a clergyman be loose and scandalous, he must not be permitted or winked at ; the example of a few such corrupt many. CONTENTIONS, IT is the condition of the Church to be ever under trials : and there are but two trials the one, of prosecution, the other, of scandal and contention ; and when the one ceaseth, the other succeedeth. Nay, there is scarcely any one epistle of Saint Paul's unto the churches, but containeth some representation of unneces- sary and schismaticaj controversies. So in the reign 3* YERULAMIANA. reign of Constanline the Great, after the time that the church had obtained peace from perse- cution, there entered sundry questions and con- troversies about no less matters than the essen- tial parts of the Faith, and the high mysteries of the Trinity. But reason teaches iis, that in ignorance and implied belief it is easy to agree, as colours agree in the dark ; or if any country decline into atheism, then controversies wax dainty, because y way of argument. It consisteth also of pro- bation and argument. In the former, God vouchsafed:) to descend to our capacity, in the expressing of his mysteries as they may be sen- sible unto us, and doth graft his revelations and holy doctrine upon the notions of our reason, and applyeth his inspirations to open our under- standing, as the form of the k^y to the ward of the lock. For the latter, there is allowed to us an use of reason and argument, secondary and respective, although not original and absolute. After the articles and principles of religion are placed and exempled from examination of rea~ son, it is then permitted unto us to make deriva- tion and inferences from, and according to the .analogy of them, for our better direction. Divinity hath two principal parts ; the matter informed or revealed, and the nature of the in- formation or revelation. How far particular persons continue to be inspired? How far the church is inspired ? How far reason may be used? What points of religion are fundamen- tal, and what perfective ? And how the grada- tions of light, according to the dispensation of times, are material to the sufficiency of belief? The ft40 VKRULAMIANA. The points fundamental, and the points of farther perfection only, ought to be with piety and wisdom distinguished. Moses, when he saw the Israelite and the Egyptian fight, did not say Why strive you? but drew his sword, and slew the Egyptian : but when he saw the two Israelites fight, he said You are brethren, why strive you ? If the point of doctrine be an Egyptian, it must be slain by the sword of the spirit, and not reconciled: but if it be an Israelite, though in the wrong, then, Why strive you ? Of the fundamental points, our Saviour penneth the league thus He that is not with us, is against MS ; but of points not fundamental, thus He that is not against us, is with us. We see, that chaff may and ought to be severed from the corn in the ear ; but the tares may not be pulled up from the com in the field. For the obtaining of the information, it rest- eth upon true and sound interpretation of the Scriptures, which are the fountains of the wa- ter of life. In this men have sought three things; a summary brevity, a compacted strength and a complete perfection; whereof, the two 3 first VERULAMIANA. ilt'S via ejus ? The true use of these sums and met ods ' place i*n institutions or introduction- pr-pa M ratory 242 VERULAMIAKA. ratory to knowledge ; but in them, or by de- ducement from them, to handle the main body and substance of a knowledge, is in all sciences prejudicial, and in divinity dangerous, The Scriptures being given by inspiration, and not by human reason, do differ from all other books in the author ; which by conse- quence doth draw on some difference to be used by the expositor. For the Inditer of them did know four things which no man attains to know ; which are, the mysteries of the kingdom of glory, the perfection of the laws of nature, the secrets of the heart of man, and the future suc- cession of all ages. But to press too far into this, cannot but cause a dissolution and over- throw of the spirit of man : for whatsoever knowledge reason cannot at all work upon and convert, is a mere intoxication, and endan- gereth a dissolution of the mind and under- standing. Paracelsus, and some others, have pretended to find the truth of all natural philosophy in the Scriptures ; scandalizing and traducing all other philosophy, as heathenish and profane. But VERULAMIANA. 543 But there is no such enmity between God's word and his works : Neither do they give ho- nour to the Scriptures, as they suppose, but much embase them. As to seek divinity in phi- losophy, is to seek the living amongst the dead ; so to seek philosophy in divinity, is to seek the dead amongst the living. The scope or purpose of the Spirit of God is not to express matters of nature in the Scriptures, otherwise than in pas- sage, and for application to man's capacity, and to matters moral or divine. But the two latter points, touching the secrets of the heart and successions of time, do make a just and sound difference between the manner of the exposition of the Scriptures, and all other books. Being- written to the thoughts of men, and to the suc- cession of all ages, with a foresight of all here- sies, contradictions, differing estates of the church, and particularly of the elect ; the Scrip- tures are not to be interpreted only according to the latitude of the proper sense of the place, and respectively towards that occasion where- upon the words were uttered, or in precise con- gruity or contexture with the words before or after, or in contemplation of the principal scope of the place: but have in themselves, not ouiy M totally 24* VERULAMIANA. totally or collectively, but distributably in clauses and words, infinite springs and streams of doctrine to water the church in every part. Not that i wish men to be bold in allegories,, or indulgent or light in allusions ; but that I do much condemn that interpretation of Scripture, which is only after the manner as men use to Interpret of a profane book. The matter informed by diving is of two kinds : matter of belief, and truth of opinion ; and matter of service and adoration, which is judged and directed by the former ; the one be- ing as the internal soul of religion, and the other as the external body thereof. Faith con- taineth doctrine of the nature of God, of the attributes of God, and* of the works of God. The nature of God consisteth of three per- sons in unity of Godhead. The attributes of God are either common to the Deity, or re- spective to the persons. The works of God summary are two that of the creation, and that of the redemption ; and both these works, as in total they appertain to the unity of the Godhead, so in their parts they refer to the three Persons, That of the creation, in the mass VERULAMIANA. SMS mass of the matter, to the Father ; in the dis- position of the form to the Son ; and in the continuance and conservation of the being to the Holy Spirit. So that of the redemption, in the election and counsel, to the Father; in the whole act and consummation, to the Son ; and in the application, to the Holy Spirit, 3or by the Holy Ghost was Christ conceived in flesh, and by the Holy Ghost are the elect rege- nerate in spirit, For manners, the doctrine thereof is con- tained in the Law, which discloseth sin ; the law itself is divided into the law of nature, the law moral, and the law positive ; and, according to the style, into negative and affirmative, prohi- bitions and commandments. Sin, in the matter and subject thereof, is divided according to the commandments ; in the form thereof, it re-- ferret h to the three persons in Deity. Sins of infirmity against the Father, whose more specia,! attribute is power ; sins of ignorance against the Son, whose attribute is wisdom ; and sins of malice against the Holy Ghost, whose attribute is grace or love. In the motions of sin, it either moveth to blind devotion, or to profane and M 3 libertine 246 VERULAMIANA. libertine transgression ; either in imposing re- straint where God granteth liberty., or in taking liberty where God imposeth restraint. In the degrees and progress of it, it divideth itself into though t, word or act. For the liturgy or service, it consisteth of the reciprocal acts between God and man : which, on the part of God, are the preaching of the word, and the sacraments, which are seals to the covenant, or as the visible word ; and on the part of man, invocation of the name of God, although the use of holy vows of thank- fulness and retribution may be accounted also as sealed petitions. And for the government of the church, it consisteth of the patrimony of the church, the franchises of the church, the offices and jurisdictions of the church, and the laws of the church, directing the whole ; all of which have two considerations, the one in themselves, the other how they stand compa^ tihle and agreeable with the state. The declinations from religion, besides the primitive, which is atheism, and the branches thereof, are three heresies, idolatry, and witch- craft ; VKRULAMIANA. 247 craft: heresies, when we serve; the true God with a false worship : idolatry, when we wor- ship false gods, supposing them to be true ; and witchcraft, when we adore false gods, knowing them to be wicked and false. And yet, though these be true degrees, Samuel teacheth us that they be all of a nature, when there is once a receding from the word of God ; Quasi pecca- turn ariolandl est repugnare, et quasi scelus idolatries nulle acquiescere. I can find no space or ground that lieth va- cant and unsown in the matter of divinity ; so diligent have men been, either in sowing of good seed, or in sowing of tares. DEATH, I HAVE often thought upon death, and I find it the least of all evils. All that which is past is as a dream ; and he that hopes or depends upon time coming, dreams waking. So much of our life as we have discovered is already dead ; and all those hours which we share, even from the breasts of our mother until we return to our M 4 grand- 248 VERULAMIANA. grand-mother the earth, are part of our dying days : whereof even this is one, and those that succeed are of the same nature ; for we die daily : and as others have given place to us, so we must in the end give way to others. Physicians in the name of death include all sorrow, anguish, disease, calamity, or what- soever can fall into the life of man, either grievous or unwelcome : but these things are familiar unto us, and we suffer them every hour ; therefore we die daily,, and I am older since I affirmed it. I know many wise men who fear to die ; for the change is bitter, and flesh would jefuse to prove it: besides, the expectation brings terror, and that exceeds the evil. But I do not believe that any man fears to be dead, but only the stroke of death. This is strength and the blood to virtue to contemn things that be desired, and to neglect that which is feared. Why should man be in love with his fetters, though of gold : Art thou drowned in security ? Then, I say, thou art perfectly dead, For though VERULAMIANA. 249 though thou movest, yet thy soul is buried within thee ; and thy good angel either forsakes his guard, or sleeps. The soul having shaken off her flesh, doth then set up for herself, and, contemning things that are under, shews what finger hath enforced her; for the souls of ideots are of the same piece with those of statesmen : but, now and then, nature is at fault, and this good guest of ours takes soil in an imperfect body, and so is slackened from shewing her wonders ; like an excellent musician, who cannot utter himself upon a defective instrument. But, see how I am swerved, and lose my course, touching at the soul, that doth least hold action with death, who hath the surest property in this frail act ; his style is the end of all flesh, and the beginning of incorruption. This ruler of monuments leads men, for the most part, out of this world with their heels forward, in token that he is contrary to^ life ; which, being obtained, sends men headloag : M 5 into 250 VERULAM1ANA, into this wretched theatre, where, being arrived, their first language is that of mourning. Man, having derived his being from the earth, first lives the life of a tree, drawing his nou- rishment as a plant; and made ripe for death, he tends downwards, and is sowed again in his mother the earth, where he perisheth not, but expects a quickening. So we see deatli exempts not a man from be- ing, but only presents an alteration : yet there are some men, 1 think, that stand otherwise persuaded. I gather that death is disagreeable to most citizens, because they commonly die intestate; this being a rule, that when their will is made they think themselves nearer a grave than be- fore: row they, out of the wisdom of thou- sands, think t$, scare destiny, from which there is no appef&, by not making a will ; or to live longer by protestation of their unwillingness to die. Death VERULAMIANA. 251 Death arrives gracious only to such as sit in darkness, or lie heavy burthened with grief and irons. To the poor Christian, that sits bound in the galley ; to despairful widows, pen- sive prisoners, and deposed kings ; to them whose fortune runs back, and whose spirit muti- nies ; unto such, death is a redeemer, and the grave a place for retiredness and rest. These wait upon the shore of death, and waft unto him, to draw near, wishing, above all others, to see his star, that they might be led to his place : wooing the remorseless sisters, to- wind down the watch of their life^ and to break them off before the hour, Bui death is a doleful messenger to an usurer, and fate untimely cuts his thread : for it is ne- ver mentioned by hinv hut when rumours of "war, and civil tumults, put him in mind thereof. And when many hands are armed, and the peace of a city is in disorder, and the foot of the common soldier sounds an alarm on his stairs, 252 VERULAMIANA, stairs, then, perhaps, such a one, broken in thoughts of his monies abroad, and cursing the monuments of coin which are in his house, can be content to think of death : and, being hasty of perdition, will perhaps hang himself lest his; throat should be cut : provided that he may do it in his study, surrounded with wealth, to which his eye sends a faint and languishing salute, even upon the turning off; remem- bering always, that he have time and liberty, by writing, to depute himself as his own heir. For that is a great peace to his end, and re- conciles him wonderfully upon the point, If wishes might find place, I would die toge- gether, and not my mind often, and my body once ; that is, I would prepare for the messen- gers of death, sickness and affliction, and not wait long, or be attempted by the violence of pain. Herein I do not profess myself a Stoick, to hold grief no evil ; but opinion and a thing indifferent. But VERULAMIANA. 253 But I consent, with Caesar,, that the sudden- est passage is easiest : and there is nothing more awakens our resolve and readiness to die, than the quiet conscience., strengthened by opi- nion, that we shall be well spoken of upon earth by those that are just and of the family of virtue ; the opposite whereof is a fury to man, and makes even life unsweet. Therefore what is more heavy than evil fame deserved ? Or, likewise, who can see worse days, than he that, yet living, doth follow at the funeral of his own reputation ? I have laid up many hopes that I am privi- leged from that kind of mourning, and could wish the like peace to all those with whom I wage love. I might say much of the commodities that death can sell a man : but, briefly, death is a friend of ours , and he that is not ready to entertain him, is not at home. Whilst I arn^ my ambition is not to fore-flow the tide. I have but so to make my interest of it, as that I may account for it ; I would wish npthing but wh&f 3 2 might 254 VERULAMIANA. might better my days, nor desire any greater place than the front of good opinion. I make not love to the continuance of days, but to the goodness of them ; nor wish to die, but refer myself to my hour, which the great dispenser of all things hath appointed me : yet as I am frail-, and suffered for the first fault, were it given me to chuse, I should not be earnest to see the evening of my Hge that extremity of itself being a disease, and a mere return into infancy ; so that, if perpetuity of life mi^ht be given me, I should thin!: what the Greek poet said, " Such an age is a mortal evil." And since I 'must needs be dead, I require it may not be done before mine enemies, that 1 be not stript before 1 be cold ; but before my friends. The night was even now, but that name is lost, it is not now late but early. Mine eyes begin to discharge their watch, and compound with this fleshly weakness for a time of perpetual rest : and I shall presently be as happy, for a few hours, as though I had died the first hour I was born. Men fear d^ath as children fear to go in the flark j and as that natural fear in children is encreased VERULAMIANA. 15$ increased by tales, so is the other. Certainly the contemplation of death, as the wages of sin, and passage to another world, is holy and religious; but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature, is weak. Many times, death passeth with less pain than the torture of a limb : for the most vital purts are not the quick- est of sense. Groans, and convulsions, and a discoloured face, and friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, shew death terrible. It is worthy the observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man so weak, but it mates and masters the fear of death : and therefore death is no such terrible enemy, when a man hath so many attendants about him winch can win the combat of him. Revenge triumphs over death; Love slights it; Honour aspireth to it ; Gf icf flieth to it ; Fear preoccupieth it ; nay, we read after Otho, the emperor, had slain himself, that Pity, which is the tcndercst of affections, provoked many to die, out of mere compasssion to their sovereign, and as the truest sort of followers. A man would die, though he were neither valiant nor miserable, only from a weariness to do the same thing, so oft, over ami over. It is as natural to die> as- to 256 VERULAMIANA. to be born ; and to a little infant, perhaps the one is as painful as the other. He that dies in an earnest pursuit, is like one that is wounded in hot blood, who, for the time, scarce feels the hurt; and therefore a mind fixed and bent upon somewhat that is good, doth avert the dolours of death : but above aji, believe it, the sweetest canticle is Nunc Dimittis ; when a man hath obtained worthy ends and expectations. Death bath this also that it openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth envy. CHURCH OF ENGLAND. IF any question be moved concerning the doctrine of the Church of England, expressed in the 39 Articles, give not the least ear to the movers thereof: that is so soundly and so ortho-r doxly settled, as it cannot be questioned without extreme danger to the honour and stability of our Religion ; which hath been sealed with the blood of so many different martyrs and con^ fessors, as are famous through the Christian world. The enemies and underminers thereof are, the Roman Catholics, on tbe one hand, whose VERULAMIANA. a*7 whose tenets are inconsistent with the truth of religion professed and protested by the Church of England, and the anabaptists and separatists and sectaries, on the other hand, whose te- nets are full of schism, and inconsistent with monarchy. For the Discipline, by Bishops &c. ; I will not positively say, as some do, that it is jure dirino : but this 1 say and think ex aniwo, that it is the nearest to Apostolical truth, and confi- dently, it is fittest for monarchy of all others. If any attempt be made to alter the discipline of the church, although it is not an essential part of our religion, yet the very substance of religion will be interested in it. it is dangerous to give the least ear to such innovators; but it is desperate to be misled by them : mark but the admonition of the wisest of men My son, fear God and the King; and meddle not with those who are givm to change. Prov. Ch. 24, v. 21. Order and decent ceremonies in the church are not only comely, but commendable. The true Protestant Religion is seated in the golden mean ; the enemies unto her are the extremes on either hand. ECCLESIASTICAL VERULAMIANA. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. IT is not St. Augustine's nor St. Ambrose's works that will make so wise a Divine, as eccle- siastical history thoroughly read and observed. DIVINE LEARNING. Oun Saviour did first shew his power to sub- due ignorance, by his conference with the priests and doctors of the law, before he shewed his power to subdue nature, by his miracles. And the coining of the Holy Spirit was chiefly figured and expressed in the similitude and gift of tongues, which are but vehicula scienticz. So in the election of those instruments which it pleased God to use for the plantation of the faith, notwithstanding that at first he did em- ploy persons altogether unlearned, otherwise than by inspiration, more evidently to declare his immediate working, and to abase all human wisdom or knowledge ; yet, neveitheless, that counsel of his was no sooner performed, but in the VERULAMIAN-A. 259 the next vicissitude and succession he did send his divine truth into the world, waited on with other learnings, as with servants or handmaids : for so we see Saint Paul, who only was learned amongst the apostles, had his pen .aost used in the Scriptures of the New Testament. Again, we find that many of the antient bishops and fathers of the Church were excel- lently read and studied in all the learning of the heathen ; insomuch that the edict of the em- peror Julianus, whereby it was interdicted unto Christians to be admitted into schools or exer- cises of learning, was esteemed and accounted a more pernicious engine and machination against the Christian faith, than were all the sanguinary persecutions of his predecessors. There be two principal duties and services, besides ornament and illustration, which philo- sophy and human learning do perform to faith and religion. The one, because they are an effectual inducement to the exaltation of the glory of God. The other, because they mini- ster a singular help and preservative against unbelief and error. MARTYRDOM* VHRULAMIANA. MAHTYRDOM. Fon Martyrdoms, I reckon them amongst miracles ; because they seem to exceed the strength of human nature. NATURAL THEOLOGY. NATURAL THEOLOGY is that knowledge, or rudiment of knowledge, concerning God, which may be obtained by the contemplation of his creatures; which knowledge may be truly termed divine in respect of the object; and natural in respect of the light. The bounds of this know- ledge are, that it sufficeth to convince atheism, but not lo inform religion : because no light of nature extendeth to declare the will and true worship of God. By the contemplation of na- ture, to induce and enforce the acknowledgment of God, and ty> demonstrate his power, provi- dence and goodness, is an excellent argument. But, on the other side, out o f the contem- plation of nature, or ground of human know- ledges, VERULAMIAWi. 25T ledges, to induce any verity or persuasion con- cerning the points of faith, is in my judgment not safe. The heathen themselves conclude as much, in that excellent and divine fable of the 1 golden chain, " That men and gods were not able to draw Jupiter doy n to the earth ; but contrariwise, Jupiter was able to draw them up to heaven." So as we ought not to attempt to draw down, or submit the mysteries of God to our reason ; but, contrariwise, to raise and ad- vance our reason to the clivioe truth. Hereunto I have digressed, because of the extreme prejudice which both religion and phi- losophy have received, and may receive, by being commixed together; as that which un- doubtedly will make an heretical religion, and an imaginary and fabulous philosophy. NON-RESIDENCE, FOR non-residence, except it "fee in case ot necessary absence, it seemeth an abuse drawn out of covetousness and sloth : that men should live of the flock which they do not feed, or of the sltar at which they do not serve, is a thing that 262 VERULAMIANA. that can hardly receive just defence ; and to exercise the office of a pastor, in matter of the word and doctrine, by deputies,, is a thing not warranted. PARADISE. AFTER the creation was finished, it is set clown unto us that man was placed in the gar- den to work therein; which work, so appointed to him, could be no other than work of contem- plationthat is, when the end of work is but for exercise and experiment, not for necessity : for there being then no reluctation of the crea- ture, ; nor sweat of the brow, man's employment BHist of consequence have been matter of de- light in the experiment, and not matter of la- bour for the use. Again, the first acts which man performed in Paradise consisted of the two summary parts of knowledge ; the view of Creatures, and the imposition of names. PREACHING. VERULAMIANA. 263 PREACHING. Ira preacher preach with care and meditation (I speak not of the vain scholastical manner of preaching ; but soundly indeed, ordering the matter he handleth distinctly, for memory, deducting and drawing it down for direction, and authorising it with strong proofs and war- rants) it is censured as a form of speaking not becoming the simplicity of the gospel, and they refer it to the reprehension of Saint Paul, of the enticing speech of man's zcisdom. Now for their own manner of preaching, what is it ? Surely they exhort well, and work compunction of mind, and bring men well to the question Viri,fratres, quidfacicmus ? But that is not enough, except they resolve the question. They handle matters of controversy weakly, and as before a people that will accept of any thing. In doctrine of manners there is little but generality and repetition. The word (the bread of life) they toss up and down ; they break it not: they draw not their directions ad casus conscicntia, that a man may be S6i VEliULAMIANA, be warranted in bis particular actions whe- ther they be lawful or not ; neither indeed are many of them -able to do it, what through want of grounded knowledge, what through want of study and time. It is a compendious and easy thing to cah 1 for the observation of the sabbath day, or to speak against unlawful gain : but what actions and works may be done upon the sabbath, and what not : and what courses of gain are lawful, and in what cases; to set this clown, a*nd to clear the whole with good distinc- tions and decisions, is a matter of great know- ledge and labour, and asketh much meditation and conversing in the Scriptures, and other helps which God hath provided a'nd preserved for instruction. They forget that there are sins on tfhe right hand as well as on the left : and that the Word is double-edged, and Cutteth on both sides; a^s well the profane transgressions, as the super- stitious observances. Who doubtcth but that it is as unlawful to shut \vhere Gbd hath opened as to open whefe God hath shut ; to bind where God hath loosed, ds to loose wherfc God hath bound! In this kintf ctf zeal thy have pro- nounced VKRULAMJANA. 20* nounced generally, and without difference, all untruths unlawful: notwithstanding that the midwives are directly reported to have been blessed for their excuse to the Egyptians ; that Rahab is said by faith to have concealed the spies; that Solomon's selected judgment pro- ceeded upon a simulation ; and that our Saviour, ehe more to touch the hearts of the two disciples, made as if he would have passed Emmaus. Far- ther, I have heard some sermons of mortification, I think, with very good meaning, but apt to breed in men rather weak opinions and per- plexed despairs, than the filial and true repent- ance which is sought. Another point of great inconvenience and peril is to entitle the people to hear controversies, and all kinds of doctrine. They say no part of the council of God is to be suppressed, nor the people defrauded ; so that the difference which the Apostle maketh be- tween milk and strong meat is confounded : and his precept, that the weak be not admitted unto questions and controversies, taketh no place. But, most of all is to be suspected their man- ner of handling the Scriptures : for whilst they eek express Scripture for every thing, and have N deprived 2<5<5 VERULAMiANA. deprived themselves and the church of a special help and support by embasing the authority of the fathers, they resort to naked examples, con- ceited inferences and forced allusions, such as do mine into all certainty of religion. Where- soever they find in the Scriptures the word spo- ken of, they expound it of preaching ; and they have made it, in a manner, of the essence of the sacrament of the Lord's supper to have a sermon precedent : they have, in a sort, anni- hilated the use of liturgies and forms of divine service, although the house of God be denomi- nated principally domiis orationis, a house of prayer, and not a house of preaching. As for the life of the good monks and hermits in the primitive church, I knovv they will condemn a man as half a papist ; if he should maintain it as otherwise than profane, because they heard no sermons. In the mean time, what preach- ing is or who may be said to preach, they move no question : but (as far as [ see) every man that presumeth to speak in chair is accounted a preacher. All these errors and mis-proceedings they fortify and intrench by an addicted respect to their own opinions, and an impatience to hear contradiction or argument : yea, I know some of VERULAMIANA. 267 of them who would think it a tempting of God to hear or read what may be said against them. God forbid, that every man who can take unto himself boldness to speak an hour together in a church upon a text, should be admitted for a preacher, though he mean never so well, I know there is a great latitude in gifts, and a great variety in auditors and congregations ; but yet so as there is below which you ought not to descend. For you must rather leave the ark to shake as it shall please God, than put unworthy hands to hold it up. When we are in God's temple, we are warned rather to put our hands upon our mouthy than to offer the sacrifice of fools. And surely it may be justly thought, that amongst many causes of atheism, as schisms and controversies, profane scoffings in holy matters, and the like ; it is not the least, that divers do adventure to handle the word of God who are unfit and unworthy. Herein I would have no man mistake me, as if I did extol cu- rious and affected preaching ; which is as much on the other side to be disliked, and breedeth atheism and scandal as well as the other : for who would not be offended at one that cometh N '2 into 26 VERULAMIANA. into the pulpit, as if he came upon the stage to play parts or prizes ? PROPHECY. DIVINE prophecies being of the nature of their Author, with whom a thousand years are but as one day, are not fulfilled punctually at once, but have springing and genninant accom- plishment throughout many ages ; though the height of fulness of them may refer to some one age. SUPERSTITION. IT were better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an opinion as is unworthy of him : for the one is unlelief, the other is con- tumely ; and certainly superstition is the re- proach of the Deity. Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation ; all which maybe guides to an outward moral vir- tue, VERULAMIANA. 26? tue, though religion were not : but s-uperstition dismounts all these, and directs an absolute monarchy ia the minds of men. The master of superstition is the people : and in all super- stition wise men follow fools ; and arguments are fitted to practice, in a reversed order. The causes of superstition are, pleasing and sensual rites and ceremonies : excess of outward and pharisaical holiness : over-great reverence of traditions, which cannot but load the church : the stratagems of prelates for their own ambi- tion and lucre : the favouring too much of good intentions, which openeth the gates to conceits and novelties: the taking an aim at divine mat- ters by human, which cannot but breed a mix- ture of imaginations : and lastly, barbarous times, especially joined with calamities and disasters. There is a superstition in avoiding superstition > when men think to do best, if they go farthest from the superstition formerly received : there- fore care should be had that the good be not taken away with the bad, which commonly is done when the people is the reformer. N 3 TYTHES, VERULAMIANA. TYTHES. IT is a constitution of the divine law, from which human laws cannot derogate, that those which feed the flock, should live of the flock ; that those who serve at the altar should live at the altar; that those who dispense spiritual things, should reap temporal things : of which also it is an appendix, that the proportion of this maintenance be not small or necessitous, but plentiful and liberal. I must confess (let me speak it with reverence) that all the parlia- ments since 27 and 31 of Henry 8th, who gave away impropriations from the church, seem to me to stand in a sort obnoxious ; and obliged to God, in conscience, to do somewhat for the church, to reduce the patrimony thereof to a competency. For since they have debarred Christ's wire of a great part of her dowry, it were reason they made her 9, competent jointure. VEEULAMiANA. 271 OF UNITY. THE quarrels and divisions about religion were evils unknown to the heathen. The rea- son Was, because the religion of the heathen consisted rather in rites and ceremonies, than in any constant belief. Heresies and schisms are of all others the greatest scandals ; yea, more than corruption of manners. For as in the natural body, a wound, or solution of continuity, is worse than a corrupt humour ; so in the spiritual. So that nothing doth so much keep men out of the church, and drive men out of the church, as breach of unity : and therefore, whensoever it ..Cometh to pass that one saith ecce in desserto ; and another saith ecce inpemtralibus : that is, when some men seek Christ in the conventicles of heretics, and others in an outward face of a church, that voice had need continually to sound in men's ears, nolite exire go not out. Jt is but a light thing to be vouched in so seri- ous a matter, but yet it expressed! well the de- N 4 formity : 272 "V ERULAMUNA. forinity : There is a master of scoffing who -in his catalogue of books of a feigned library, sets down this title of a book, " The Morris-dance of Heritiques." For indeed every sect of them hath a diverse posture or cringe by themselves ; which cannot but move derision in worldling and depraved politicians, who are apt to con- team holy things. As for the fruit of unity towards those that are within, it is peace; which containeth infi- nite blessings : It establisheth faith, it kindleth charity ; the outward peace of the church dis- iilleth into peace of conscience ; and it turneth the labours of writing and reading of contro- versies, into treatises of mortification and de- votion. To certain zealots, all speech of pacification is odious. Peace is not the matter, but follow- ing, and party. Contrariwise, certain Laodi- ceans, and lukewarm persons, think they may accommodate points of religion by middle ways, and taking part of both, and witty reconcile- ments ; as if they would make an arbitrament between God and man. Both these extremes are VERULAM1ANA. 2?S are to be avoided ; which will be clone, if the league of Christians, penned by our Saviour himself, were, in the two cross clauses thereof, soundly and plain!}' expounded : lie that is not with us, is against us ; and again, He that is not against us, is with us. Men ought to take heed of rending God's church by two kinds of controversies. The one is, when the matter of the point contro- verted is too small and light, not worth the heat and strife about it, kindled only by con- tradiction. They be two things, Unity and Uniformity. The other is, when the matter of the point controverted is great, but js driven to an overgreat subtilty and obscurity; so that.it becometh a thing rather ingenious than substan- tial. A man that is of judgment and under- standing shall sometimes hear ignorant men dif- fer, and know well within himself, that those which so differ mean one thing, and yet they themselves would never agree. S And if it come so to pass, in that distance of judgment which is between man and man, shall we think that God above, who knows the heart, doth not N 5 discern #14 VERULAMIANA. discern that frail men, in some of their contra- dictions, intend the same thing, and accepteth of both ? There be also two false peaces, or unities ; the one, when the peace is grounded but upon an implicit ignorance ; for all colours will agree in the dark : the other when it is pieced up on a direct admission of contraries in fundamental points. For truth and falshood, in such things, are like the iron and clay in the toes of Nebu- chadnezzar's image ; they may cleave, but they will nol incorporate. There be two swords amongst Christians, the spiritual and temporal ; and both have their due office and place in the maintenance of re- ligion. But we may not take up the third sword which is Mahomet's sword, or like unto it, that is, to propagate religion by wars, or by sangui- Dary persecutions to force consciences : except it be in cases pf overt scandal, blasphemy, or intermixture of practice against the state : tnuch less, to nourish seditions, to authorise conspiracies and rebellions ; to put the sword into VERUIAMIANA. 275 into the people's hands,, and the like, tending to the subversion of all government., which is the ordinance of God. GOOD WORKS. IT was truly said tarn smit mores qiiidam schismaticiy quatn dogmata schismatica ; there he as well schismatical fashions as opinions. Thre are who have irnpropriated to themselves the names of zealous, sincere and reformed ; as if all others were cold minglers of holy things and profane, and friends of abuses. Yea, be a man endued with great virtues^ and fruitful in good works, yet if he concur not with them, they term him, in derogation, a civil and mo- ral man, and compare him to Socrates, or some heathen philosopher ; whereas the wisdom of the Scriptures teacheth us otherwise : namely to judge and denominate men religious accord- ing to their works of the second table ; because those of the first are often counterfeit, and prac- tised in hypocrisy. Saint John saith, that a man doth vainly boast of loving God whom he never saw, if he- love not his brother whom he N 6 hath 27* VERULAMJANA. hath seen: and Saint James saith, This is trut religion, to visit the fatherless and the widow. So as that which is with them but philosophical and moral, is, in the apostle's phrase, true reli- gion and Christianity. VICISSITUDES OF THINGS. SOLOMON saith, There is no new thing upon the earth: so that as Plato had an imagination that all knowledge was but remembrance, so Solomon giveth his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion. The great winding-sheets that bury all things in oblivion are two deluges and earthquakes. The greatest vicissitude of things amongst men, is the vicissitude of sects and religions ; for those orbs rule in men's minds most. When the religion formerly received is rent by dis- cords, and when the holiness of the professors of religion, is decayed and full of scandal, and vithall tbe times be stupid, ignorant and bar- barous, VERULAMIANA. i/f barous, you may doubt the springing up of a new sect; if then, also/ there should arise any extravagant and strange spirit, to make himself author thereof. If a new sect have not two properties, fear it not ; for it will not spread. The one is, the supplanting, or the opposing of authority established : for nothing is more popu- lar than that. The other is, the giving licence to pleasures and a voluptuous life. The changes and vicissitudes in wars are many ; but chiefly in three things : in the seats or stages of the war; in the weapons,- and in the manner of the conduct. Upon the breaking and shivering of a great state and empire, you may be sure to have wars. When there be great shools of people, which go on to populate without foreseeing means of life and sustentation, it is of necessity that once in an age or two they discharge a portion of their people upon other nations; which the antient northern people were wont to do by lot, casting *7 VERULAMIANA. casting lots what part should stay at home, and what should seek their fortunes. When a warlike state grows soft and effemi- nate they may he sure of a war. For, com- monly, such states are grown rich in the time of their degenerating ; and so the prey inviteth, and their decay in valour encourageth a war. In the youth of a state, arms do flourish ; in the middle age of a state, learning ; and then 'both of them together, for a time : in the de- elining age of a state, mechanical arts and mer- chandise. Learning hath its-infancy, when it is hut beginning and almost childish ; then its youth^ when it is luxuriant and juvenile ; then its strength of years, when it is solid and re- duced ; and lastly its old age, when it waxeth dry and exhaust. But it is not good to look too long upon these turning wheels of vicissitude, test we become giddy. APPENDIX TO VEIRUILAMIANA, APOPHTHEGMS. JL HE book of deposing king Richard the second, and the coming in of Henry the fourth, supposed to be written by Doctor Hay ward, who was committed to the Tower for it, had mucfe incensed queen Elizabeth ; and she asked Mr* Bacon, being then of her learned council, " Whether there were any treason contained in it?" Who, intending to do him a pleasure, an,d to take off the queen's bitterness with a meny conceit, answered ; " No, madam, for treason I cannot deliver opinion that there is any, but very much felony." The que^n apprehending S it 280 APPENDIX. it gladly, asked, " How? and wherein ?" Mr. Bacon answered, " Because he had stolen many of his sentences and conceits out of Cornelius Tacitus." Queen Elizabeth being to resolve upon a great officer, and being by some, that canvassed for others, put in some doubt of that person whom she meant to advance,, called for Mr. Bacon ; and told him, " She was like one with a Ian- thorn seeking a man ;" and seemed unsatisfied in the choice she had of a man for that place. Mr. Bacon answered her, " That he had heard that in old time there was usually painted on the church walls the day of doom, and God sitting in judgment, and Saint Michael by him, with a pair of balances ; and the soul, and the good deeds in the one balance ; and the faults and the evil deeds in the other : and the soul's balance went up far too light. Then was our 'lady painted with a great pair of beads, who cast them into the light balance, and brought -down the scale: so (he said) place and autho- rity, which were in her majesty's hands to give, were like our lady's beads, which though men, through any imperfections, were too light be- fore^ APPENDIX. ct fore, yet when they were cast in, made weight competent.** There were fishermen drawing the river at Chelsey ; Mr. Bacon came thither by chance, in the afternoon, and offered to buy their draught : they were willing. He asked them, what they would take ? They asked thirty shil- lings. Mr. Bacon offered them ten. They re- fused it. " Why then," saith Mr. Bacon, " I will be only a looker on." They drew, and catched nothing. Saith Mr. Bacon, " Are not you mad fellows now, who might have had an angel in your purse, to have made merry withal, and to have warmed you thoroughly, and now you must go home with nothing." " Aye but," saith the fishermen, " we had hope then to make a better gain of it," Saith Mr. Bacon, " Well, my masters, then I will tell you, hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper." A lady walking with Mr. Bacon in Gray's Inn walks, asked him, Whose that piece of ground lying next under the walls was ? He answered, " Theirs." Then she asked him, If those fields beyond the walks were theirs too? He an- swered, 22 APPENDIX. swered, " Yes, Madam,, those are ours, as you are ours, to look on, and no more/' His lordship, when he was newly made lord Keeper, was in Gray's Inn walks with Sir Wal- ter Raleigh : one came and to d him, that the earl of Exeter was above. He continued upon occasion, still walking a good while. At last, when he came up, my lord of Exeter met him, and said ; My lord, I have made a great ven- ture, to come up so high stairs, being a gouty man." His lordship answered; "-Pardon me, my lord, I have made the greatest venture of all, for I have ventured upon your patience." When Sir Francis Bacon was made the king's attorney, Sir Edward Coke was put up, from being lord Chief Justice of the common pleas, to be lord Chief Justice of the king's bench ; which is a place of greater honour, but of less profit : and, withal, was made privy counsellor. After a few days, the Jord Coke meeting with the king's attorney, said unto him; " Mr. At- torney, this is all your doing: It is you that have made this stir." Mr. Attorney answered; "Ah! my lord ^ your lordship all this while luith APPENDIX. 2 S3 hath grown in breadth ; you must needs now grow in height, or else you would be a monster/' One 'day queen Elizabeth told Mr. Bacon, that my lord of Essex, after great protestation of penitence and affection, fell in the end but upon the suit of renewing his farm of sweet wines. He answered, " I read that in nature, there be two kinds of motions or appetites in sympathy ; the one as of iron to the adamant, for perfection ; the other, as of the vine to the stake, for ostenta- tion : that her majesty was the one, and his suit the other." Mr. Bacon, after he had been vehement im parliament against depopulation and inclosures; and that, soon after, the queen told that she had referred the hearing of Mr. Mills's cause to certain counsellors and judges ; and asked him how he liked of it ? answered ; " Oh ma- dam ! my mind is known ; I am against ail inclosures, and especially against inclosed jus- tice." When Sir Nicholas (the lord Keeper) lived, every room in Gorhambury was, seived with ft pipe 284 APPENDIX. pipe of water from the ponds, distant about a mile off. in the life time of Mr. Anthony Bacon, the water ceased. After whose death, his lordship coming to the inheritance, could not recover the \vater without infinite charge. When he was lord chancellor, he built Verulam house, close by the pond-yard, for a place of privacy when he was called upon to dispatch any urgent business. And being asked why he built that house there ; his lordship answered, " that since he could not carry the water to his house, he would carry his house to the water/' When his lordship was newly advanced to the great seal, Gondomar came to visit him. My lord said; " that he was to thank God and the king for that honour ; but yet, so he might be rid of the burden, he could very willingly for- bear the honour : and that he formerly had a desire, and the same continued with him still, to lead a private life." Gondomar answered, that he would tell him a tale of an old rat, who would needs leave the world, and acquainted the young rats that he would retire into his hole, and spend his days solitarily ; and would enjoy no more comfort : and commanded them, upon his APPENDIX. 285 his high displeasure, not to offer to come in unto him. They forbore two or three days ; at last, one that was more hardy than the rest, in- cited some of his fellows to go in with him, and he would venture to see how his father did : for he might be dead. They went in, and found the old rat in the midst of a rich Parmesan cheese." So he applied the fable after his witty manner. In 1588, when the queen went from Temple- bar along Fleet-street, the lawyers were ranked on one side, and the companies of the city on the other. Said Mr. Bacon to a lawyer who stood next to him : were like the Olympick gamesters, who ab- stained from necessary labours, that they might be fit for such as were not so." " The empirical philosophers (he would also observe) are like to ants; they only lay up and use their store : the rationalists are like the spi- ders; they spin all out of their own bowels. But give me a philosopher, who like the bee hath a middle faculty, gathering from abroad, hut digesting that which is gathered by his own virtue." His lordship, who was not over-hasty to raise theories, but proceeded slowly by experiments, was wont to say to some philosophers who would not go his pace " Gentlemen, nature is a labyrinth ; in which the very haste you move with, will make you lose your way." When speaking of the Dutch he would say " that we could not abandon them for our safety, nor keep them for our profit," The APPENDIX, 9*1 The same lord, when a gentleman seemed not much to approve of his liberality to his retinue, answered ff Sir, I am all of a piece ; if the head be lifted up, the inferior parts of the body must too." Lord Bacon was wont to commend the advice of the plain old man at Buxton, who sold be- soms. A proud lazy young fellow came to him for a besom upon trust; to whom the old man said (e Friend, hast thou no money ? borrow of thy back, and borrow of thy belly, they'll never ask thee again, I shall be dunning thee every day !" His lordship, when he had finished his col- lection of Apophthegms, concluded thus. " Come, now all is well : they say he is not a wise man, who will lose his friend for his wit; but he is less a wise man, who will lose his friend for another man's wit." O 2 LORD LORD BACON'S CONFESSION OF FAITH. JL BELIEVE that nothing is without begin- ning but God ; no nature, no matter, no spirit, but only, and the same God. That God, as he is eternally almighty, only wise, only good in his nature j so he is eternally* Eather, Son and Spirit, in persons. I believe that God* ie so holy, pure, and jea- lous, as it is impossible for him to be pleased in any creature, though the work of his own hands ; so that neither angel, man, nor world, could stand, or can stand, one moment in his eves, without beholding the same in the face of a medi- APPEND fX. *$3 a mediator: and therefore, that before him, with whom all things are present, the Lamb of God was slain before all worlds; without which eternal counsel of his, it was impossible for him to have descended to any -work of crea- tion. But lie should have enjoyed the blessed and individual society of three persons in God.- head, for ever. But that, out of his eternal and infinite good- ness and love purposing to become a Creator, and to communicate to his creatures, he or- dained in his eternal counsel, that one :person *rf the Godhead .should be united to one nature, .and to one particular of his creatures; that so, in the person of the Mediator, the true ladder might be fixed, whereby God might descend to his creatures, and his creatures might ascend to God : so that God, by the reconcilement of the Mediator, turning his countenance towards hrs creatures (though not in-equal light and degree), made way unto the dispensation of his most holy .and secret will ; whereby some of his creatures miprht stand, and keep their state ; others might possibly fall,, and be restored ; and others might O 3 fall *0* APPENDIX. fall and not be restored to their estate, but vet ( / remain in being, though under wrath and cor- ruption : all with respect to the Mediator ; which is the great mystery and perfect centre of all God's ways with his creatures, and unto which all his other works and wonders do but serve and refer. That he chose (according to his good plea- sure) man to be that creature, to whose nature the person of the eternal Son of God should be united; and amongst the generations of men, elected a small flock, in whom (by the partici- pation of himself ) he purposed to express the riches of his glory : all the ministration of an- gels, damnation of devils and reprobates, and universal administration of all creatures, and dispensation of all times, having no other end, but as the ways and ambages' of God, to be further glorified in his Saints, who are one with their head the Mediator, who is one with God. That by the virtue of this his eternal counsel he condescended of his own good pleasure, and according to tb times and seasons to himself known, APPENDIX. 59* known, to become a Creator ; and by his eter- nal Word created all things; and by his eternal Spirit doth comfort and preserve them. That he made all things in their first estate good, and removed from himself the beginning of all evil and vanity into the liberty of the creature; hut reserved in himself the beginning of all restitution to the liberty of his grace: using, nevertheless, and turning the falling and defection of the creature (which to his pre- science was eternally known) to make way to his eternal counsel touching a Mediator, and the work he purposed to accomplish in him. That God created Spirits, whereof some kept their standing, and others fell. He created heaven and earth, and all their armies and ge- nerations ; and gave unto them constant and everlasting laws, which we call nature : which is nothing but the laws of the creation ; which laws, nevertheless, have had three changes or times, and are to have a fourth or last. The first, when the matter of heaven and earth was created without forms ; the second, the interim of perfection of every day'* work ; the third, O4 by a0 APPENDIX. by the curse, which notwithstanding was no new creation ; and the last, at the end of the world, the manner whereof is not yet fully re- vealed : so as the laws of nature, which now remain and govern inviolably till the end of the world, began to be in force when God first rested from his works, and ceased to create ; but received a revocation, in part, by the curse ; since which time they change not. That notwithstanding God hath rested and ceased from creating since the first sabbath, yet, nevertheless, he doth accomplish and fulfil his divine will in all things, great and small, sin- gular and general, as fully and exactly by pro- vidence, as he could by miracle and new crea- tion ; though his working be not immediate an4 direct, but by compass; not violating nature, which is his own law upon the creature. That at the first the soul of man was not pro- duced by heaven or earth, but was breathed immediately Yrom God, So that the ways and proceedings of God with spirits are wot iu- luded in nature, that is, in the laws of hca- and earth - 9 but are reserved to the law of hi APPENDIX. -M-7' hi* secret will and grace : wherein God worfceth still, and restetb not from the work of redemp- tion, as he resteth from the work of creation ; but continuctli working till the end of the world : what time, that work also shall be accomplished, and an eternal sabbath shall en- sue. Likewise, that whenever God doth tran- scend the law of n at are by miracles (which may ever seem as new creations), he never corneth to that point or pass ; but in regard of the work of redemption, which is the greater, and whereto* all God's signs and miracles do refer... That God created man in his own image, in z reasonable soul, in innocency, in free-will, and in sovereignty: that he gave him a law and com- mandment, which it was in his power to keep, but he kept it not : That man made a total de- fection from God, presuming to imagine that the commandments and prohibitions of God were not the rules of good and- evil, but that good and evil had their own principles and beginnings^ and lusted after the knowledge of those imagined' beginnings, to the end, to depend no ihoreupoli God's will revealed, but upon hiife'sfelf and his own light, as a God ; than the Which there net be a sin more opposite to the whole O 5 2ps APPENDIX. law of God : that yet, nevertheless, this e^reat sin was not originally moved by the malice of man, but was insinuated by the suggestion and instigation of the devil ; who was the first de- fected creature, and fell of malice, and not by temptation. That upon the fall of man, death and vanity entered by the justice of God ; and the image of God in man was defaced ; and heaven and earth, which were made for man's use, were subdued to corruption by his fall : but then, that instantly and without intermission of time, after the word of God's law became, through ,the fall of man, frustrate as to obedience, there .succeeded the greater word of the promise; that the righteousness of God might be wrought by faith. That as well the law of God as the word of his promise, endure the same for ever : but that they have been revealed in several manners, according to the dispensation of times. For the law was first imprinted in that remnant of light of nature which was left after the fall, being sufficient to accuse : then, it was more 3 manifestly APPENDIX. 203 manifestly expressed in the written law; and was yet more opened by the prophets : and lastly it was expounded in the true perfection by the Son of God, the great Prophet, and perfect in- terpreter, as also fulfiller of the law. That,, like- wise, the word of the promise was manifested and revealed, first, by immediate revelation and in- spiration ; after by figures, which were of two natures : the one, the rites and ceremonies of the law ; the other, the continual history of the old world, and church of the Jews, which though it be literally true, yet it is pregnant of a perpetual allegory and shadow of the work of the redemption to follow. The same pro-, mise or evangile was more clearly revealed and declared by the prophets ; and then, by the Son himself; and lastly by the Holy Ghost, which illuminateth the church to the end of the world. That in the fulness of time, according to the promise and oath, of a chosen lineage de- scended the blessed seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and Saviour of the world ; who was conceived by the power and over-shadowing of the Holy Ghost, and took flesh of the Virgin Mary. O 6 - ' That 3*> APPENDIX; That the Word : did notx>nly take flesh, or was joined to flesh, but was made flesh, though without confusion of substance or nature : so as the eternal son of God, and the ever blessed Son of Mary was one person ; so owe, as the blessed virgin may be truly and catholickly called Deipara, the mother of God ; so one, as there is no unity in universal nature, not that of the soul and body of man, so perfect ; for the three heavenly unities (whereof that is the second) exceed all natural unities, that is to say, the unity of the three persons in Godhead, the unity of God and man in Christ; and the unity of Christ and the Church ; the Holy Ghost be- ing the worker of both these latter unities. For by the Holy Ghost was Christ incarnate and quickened in flesh ; and by the Holy Ghost is man regenerate and quickened in spirit. That Jesus, the Lord, became in the flesh a sacrificer, and a sacrifice for sin ; a satisfaction and price to the justice of God; a meriter of glory, and the kingdom ; a pattern of all righte- ousness; a preacher of the word which himself was; a finisher of the ceremony; a corner- stone, to remove the separation between Jew and APPENDIX. 301 and Gentile; an intercessor for the church ; A lord of nature, in his miracles; or conqueror of death and the power of darkness, in his resurrection : and that he fulfilled the whole counsel of God, performing all his sacred offices, and anointing on earth ; accomplished the whole work of the redemption and restitu- tion of man, to a state superior to the angels (whereas the state of man by creation was infe- rior) ; and reconciled and established all things according to the eternal will of the Father. That in time Jesus the Lord was born in the days of Herod, and suffered under the govern^ ment of Pontius Pilatc> being deputy of the Romans, and under the high priesthood of Caiaphas, and was betrayed by Judas, one of the twelve apostles ; and was crucified at Hieru- sularn : and after a true and natural death, ancj his body laid in the sepulchre, the third day he raised himself from the bonds of death, and arose and shewed himself to many chosen wit- nesses, by the space of divers days ; and at the end of those days, in the sight of many ascended in to heaven, where hecoatinurth his intercession; and 03 APPENDIX, \ and shall from thence, at the day appointed, come in>greatest glory to judge the world. That the sufferings and merits of Christ/ as they are sufficient to do away the sins of the -whole world, so they are only effectual to those which are regenerate by the Holy Ghost, who breatheth where he will of free grace, which grace, as a seed incorruptible, quickeneth the spirit of man, and conceiveth him a new son of God and member of Christ: so that, Christ having man's flesh, and man having Christ's spirit, there is an open passage and mutual impu- tation, whereby sin and wrath was conveyed to Christ from man, and merit and life is conveyed to man from Christ. Which seed of the Holy Ghost first figureth in us the image of Christ slain or crucified, through a lively faith ; and then reneweth in us the image of God in holi* ness and chanty : though both imperfectly, and in degrees far differing even in God's elect, as well in regard of the fire of the spirit, as of the illumination thereof, which is more or less in a large proportion, as in the church before Christ; which yet, nevertheless, was partaker of one and APPENDIX. SO* and the same salvation with us, and of one and the same means of salvation with us. That the work of the Spirit, though it he not tied to any means in heaven or earth, yet it is ordinarily dispensed by the preaching of the word; the administration of the sacraments; the covenants of the fathers upon the children^ prayer, reading ; the censures of the church; the society of the godly ; the cross and afflic- tions ; God's benefits ; his judgments upon others; miracles; the contemplation of his creatures: All which (though some he more principal, God useth as the means of vocation and conversion of his elect ; not derogating from his power to call immediately hy his grace> and at all hours and moments of the day (that is, of man's life)., according to his good pleasure. That the word of God, whereby his will is revealed, continued in revelation and tradition until Moses ; and that the Scriptures were from Moses's time to the time of the apostles and evangelists, in whose age, after the coming of the Holy Ghost, the teacher of all truth, the book *04 APPENDIX. book of the Scriptures was shut and closed, so as not to receive any new addition ; and that the church hath no power over the Scriptures, to teach or ooimnawl any thing contrary to the written word.,, hut is as the ark wherein the ta- bles of the first testament were kept and pre- served,^ that is to say, the church -hath only the custody and delivery over of the Scriptures committed unto the same ; together with the in- terpretation of them, but such only as is con- ceived from ti>emselves. That there is an universal or catholic church; f God, dispersed over the face of the earth, which is Christ's spouse, and Christ's body ; being gathered of the fathers of the old world,, of the church of the Jews, of the spirits of the faithful dissolved, and the spirits of the faithful militant, and of the names yet to be born-, which are already written in the book of life That there is also a visible church, distinguished by the outward works of God's covenant, and the receiving of the holy doctrine,, with- the u SG of the mysteries of God, and the invocation and aanctificatipa of his holy name. That there is also APPENDIX. 305 also -an holy succession in the prophets of the new testament and fathers of the church, from the time of the apostles and disciples who saw our Siiviouri-n the flesh, unto the consummation of the work of the ministry; which persons are called from God by gift, or inward anointing, and the vocation of God followed by an out- ward calling and ordination of the church. I believe that the souls of such as die in the Lord are blessed, and rest from their la- bours, and enjoy the sight of God ; yet so as they are in expectation of a farther revelation of their glory in the last day. At which time all flesh of man shall arise and be changed, and shall appear and receive from Jesus Christ his eternal judgment; and the glory of the saints shall then be full; and the kingdom shall be given up to God the Father : from which time all things shall continue for ever in that being and state, which then they shall receive. So as there are three times (if times they may be called), or parts of eternity; The first, the time before beginnings, when the Godhead was only, without the being of any creature; the second, the time of the mystery, 300 APPENDIX, 'mystery, which continueth from the creation to the dissolution of the world ; and the third, the time of the revelations of the sons of God, which time is the last, and is everlasting without change. A PRAYER PRAYER OR PSALM Made by Lord Bacon. gracious Lord God, my merciful Father, from my youth up, my Creator, my Redeemer, my Comforter ! Thou, O Lord, soundest and searchest the depths and secrets of all hearts : thou acknowledgest the upright of heart ; thou judgest the hypocrite ; thou ponderest men's thoughts and doings as in a balance, thou measurest their intentions as with a line ; vanity and crooked ways cannot be hid from thee. Remember, O Lord ! how thy servant hath walked before thee : remember what 1 have first sought* 3oS APPENDIX. sought, and what hath been principal in iny intentions. I have loved thy assemblies; 1 have mourned for the divisions of thy church ; I have delighted in the brightness of thy sanc- tuary. This vine which thy right h-an