The works of Francis Bacon, lord chancellor of England.

NOTES TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. 247
That paves the brooks, the stationary rocks, Although the love of excelling is the motive by which in our
The moving waters and the invisible air. public schools, and our universities, youth is stimulated> and
Whate'er exists hath properties that spread is in the common world a very common motive of action, yet
Beyond itself, communicating good, this intellectual gladiatorship does not and never did influence
A simple blessing or with evil mixed: the noblest minds: it is only a temporary motive, and fosters
Spirit that knows no insulated spot, bad passion. The love of excellence on the other hand, is
No chasm, no solitude, from link to link powerful and permanent, and constantly generates good feelIt circulates the soul of all the worlds." ing. That the love of excelling does not influence philosophy, is
Excursion, page 387. an opinion so prevalent that, assuming it to be the motive by
which men are generally induced to engage in public life, it
NOTE F. has been urged by politicians as an objection to learning,
Referring to page 140. "that it doth divert nlen's travails from action and business,
To this tendency to hasty assent, which is one of the idols and bringeth them to a love of leisure and privateness."*
of tle understanding, originating in a love of truth, (see ante The error of the supposition that the love of excelling can innote E) it may seem that Bacon ought to have traced the fluence philosophy, may be seen in the nature of the passion,
evils of credulity, which he has classed under Fantastical in the opinions of eminent moralists, and in the actions of
Learning. (page 171.) Bacon, also says, those illustrious men, who, without suffering worldly dis"The mind of man doth wonderfully endeavour and ex- tinctions to have precedence in their thoughts, are content
tremnely covet that it may not be pensile: but that it nmay light without them, or with themn, when following in the train of
upon something fixed and immoveable, on which, as on a fir- their duty.
manment, it may support itself in its swift motions and disqui- TWith respect to the nature of the passion, it is difficult to supsitions. Aristotle endeavours to prove that in all tmotions of pose that it can influence any mind, which lets its hopes and
bodies, there is some point quiescent: and very elegantly ex- fears wander towards future and far distant events. " If a
psounds the fable of Atlas, who stood fixed and bare up the man," says Bacon, " meditate much upon the universal frame
heavens fromn falling, to be meant of the poles of the world, of nature, the earth with men upon it, (the divineness of souls
whereupon the conversion is accomplished. In like manner, except,) will not seem much other than an ant-hill, where as
inen do earnestly seek to have some atlas or axis of their co- some ants carrycorn, and some carry their young, and some go
gitations within themselves, which may, in some Ineasure, empty, and all to-and-fro a little heap ofdust." So says Bishop
nloderate the fluctuations and wheelings of the understanding, Taylor, " Whatsoever tempts tihe pride and vanity of ambifearing it may be the falling of their heaven." tious persons is not so big as the smallest star which we see
IHe says also, scattered in disorder and unregarded upon the pavement and
"; We are not so eager as to reap moss for corn: or the ten- floor of heaven. And if we would suppose the pisomires had
der blade for ears: but wait with patience'the ripeness of the but our understanding, they also would have the method of a
harvest." man's greatness, and divide their little mole-hills into proAnd again, vinces and exarchats: and if they also grew as vitious and as
Beware of too forward maturation of knowledge, which miserable, one of their princes would lead an army out, and
makes mtan bold and confident, and rather wants great pro- kill his neighbotr ants, that he might reign over the nest
ceeding than causeth it." handfill of a turf."
"' Such a rash impotency and intemperance doth possess and The same lesson may be taught by a moment's self-re.
infatuate the whole race of man: that they do not only pre- flection.
same upon and promise to themselves what is repugnant in "I shall entertain you," Bishop Taylor, in the preface to
nature to be performed: but also are confident that they are his Holy Dying, says, "in a charnel-house, and carry your
able to conquer, even at their pleasure, and that by way of meditation a while into the chamnbers of death, where yot
recreation, the most difficult passages of nature withouttrou- shall find the rooms dressed up with melancholick arts, and
ble or travail." fit to converse with your most retired thoughts, which begin
" Stay a little, that you may make an end the sooner," was with a sigh, and proceed in deep consideration, and end in a
a favourite maxim of Sir Nl'icholas Bacon. holy resolution. The sight that St. Augustin mnost noted in
In Locke's Conduct of the Understanding, there are some that house of sorrow was the body of Caesar clothed with all
observations upon the evils of haste in the acquisition of the dishonours of corruption that you can suppose in six
knowledge, in departing from the old maxim that "the sinews months' burial."
of wisdom are slowness of belief." So true it is, "I have read of a fair youtng German gentleman, who li" wVe nimst take root downwards, if Swe wotld bear fruit ving, often refused to be pictured, but put off the importunity
upwards; if we would bear fruit and continue to bear fruit, of his friends' desire, by giving way that after a few days' buwhen the foodful plants that stand straight, only because they rial, they might send a painter to his vault, and, if they saw
grew in company; or whose slender service-roots owe their cause for it, draw the image of his death unto the life. They
whole steadfastness to their entanglement, have been beaten did so, and found his face half eaten, and his midriff and
down by the continued rains, or whirled aloft by the sudden backbone full of serpents; and so he stands pictured amongst
h bhrricane. "Cotle id e. his armed ancestours"
So truie is it, that With respect to the opinions and actions of eminent mlen, Ba" The advaitces of nature are gradual. They are scarce con says, " It is commonly found that men have views to fame
discernible in their motions, but only visible in their issue. and ostentation, sometimes in uttering, and sometimes in cirNobody perceives the grass grow or the shadow move upon culating the knowledge they think they have acquired. But
the dial till after some time and leisure we reflect upon their for our undertaking, we judge it of such a nature, that it were
prog~ress." —Soultl. highly unworthy to pollute it with any degree of ambition or
affectation; as it is an unavoidable decree with us ever to
NOTE G. retain our native candour and simplicity, and not attempt a
ReJerring to page 140. passage to truth under the conduct of vanity; for, seeking
This peccant humour of learning, "the delivering know- real nature with all her fruits about her, we should think it a
ledge too peremptorily, otght, it seenms, to have been referred betraying of our trust to infect such a subject either with an
to delivery of klowledge, where it is more copiously treated." ambitious, an ignorant, or any other faulty manner of treating
-See page 213. it.
So John Milton says,
NOTE H. " I am not speaking to the mercenary crew of false preterReferring to page 140. ders to learning, but the free and ingenuous sort of such as
This most important part of the conduct of the understand- evidently were born to study, and love learning for itself, nor
ing, a consideration of the motives by which we are actuated for lucre, or any other end, but the service of God and of
in the acqutisition of knowledge, may, as in this beautiful truth, and perhaps tmat lasting fame and perpetuity of praise,
which God and good men have consented shall be the reward
2passage, and in other parts of Ifacon's works, be s of those whose published labours advance the good of man
into
kind."
1. A love of excelling.
2. A love of excellence. * See page 164 ante