The essays, or councils, civil and moral, of Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban with a table of the colours of good and evil, and a discourse of The wisdom of the ancients : to this edition is added The character of Queen Elizabeth, never before printed in English.

L. Of Studies. (Book 50)

STUDIES serve for Delight, for Ornament, and for Ability. Their chief use for Delight is in Pri∣vateness and Retiring; for Ornament is in Discourse; and for Ability, is in the Judgment and Disposition of Business. For expert Men can execute, and per∣haps judge of particulars one by one; but the general Counsels and the Plots, and Marshalling of Affairs, come best from those that are Learned. To spend too much time in Studies is sloth; to use them too much for Ornament is affectation; to make Judgment whol∣ly by their Rules is the humour of a Scholar. They perfect Nature, and are perfected by experience: for Natural Abilities are like Natural Plants, that need Proyning by Study, and Studies themselves do give forth Directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty Men contemn Stu∣dies, Simple Men admire them, and Wise Men use them: For they teach not their own use, but that is a Wisdom without them, and above them, won by Observation. Read not to Contradict and Confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find Talk and Discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some Books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that 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. Some Books also may be read by Deputy, and Extracts made of them by o∣thers: But that would be only in the less important Arguments, and the meaner sort of Books, else distil∣led Books are like common distilled Waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full Man; Conference a

ready Man; and Writing an exact Man. And there∣fore 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 seem to know that he doth not. Hi∣stories make Men Wise, Poets Witty, the Mathematicks Subtil, Natural Philosophy Deep, Moral Grave, Logick and Rhetorick able to Contend. Abiunt Studia in Mo∣res; Nay, there is no Stand or Impediment in the Wit, but may be wrought out by fit Studies: Like as Diseases of the Body may have appropriate Exercises. Bowling is good for the Stone and Reins, Shooting for the Lungs and Breast, Gentle Walking for the Sto∣mach, Riding for the Head, and the like. So if a Man's Wit be wandering, let him Study the Mathema∣ticks; for in Demonstrations, if his Wit be called a∣way never so little, he must begin again: If his Wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him Study the School-Men; for they are Cumini sectores. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him Study the Lawyers Cases; so every Defect of the mind may have a special Receipt.