The works of Francis Bacon, lord chancellor of England.

LIFE OF BACON. xlix
From these suggestions, the germ of his opi- search of knowledge, and in the judgments it
nions upon the same subject in the Advancement makes: yet the last resort a man has recourse
of Learning, it appears that he considered the ob- to in the conduct of himself is his understanding.
ject of education to be knowledge and improve- A few rules of logic are thought sufficient in this
ment of the body and of the mind. case for those who pretend to the highest imHow far society has, after the lapse of two provement: and it is easy to preceive that men
centuries, concurred with him in these opinions, are guilty of a great many faults in the exercise
and, if he is not in error, how far we have acted and improvement of this faculty of the mind,
upon his suggestions, may deserve a moment's which hinder them in their progress, and keep
consideration. them in ignorance and error all their lives."
Bacon arranges knowledge respecting the body At some future period our youth will, perhaps,
into be instructed in the different properties of our
1. The preservation. minds, understanding, reason, imagination, merI. Health. 2. The cure of diseases. moy, will, and be taught the nature and extent
I3. The prolongation of life. of our powers for the discovery of truth;-our
1. Athletic. different motives for the exercise of our powers;II. Strength. 2 Gymnasics the various obstacles to the acquisition of knowledge,-and the art of invention, by which our
III. Beauty. reason will be'" rightly guided, and directed to
Liv. Pleasure. the place where the star appears, and point to the
These subjects, considered of importance by very house where the babe lies."
Bacon, by the ancients, and by all physiologists, In the English universities there are not any
do not form any part of our university education. lectures upon the passions; but this subject,
The formation of bodily habits, upon which our deemed important by all philosophy, human and
happiness and utility must be founded, are left to divine, is disregarded, except by such indirect in%hance, to the customs of our parents, or the formation as may be obtained from the poets and
practices of our first college associates. All na- historians; by whom the love of our country is
ture strives for life and for health. The smallest taught-perhaps, if only one mode is adopted,
moss cannot be moved without disturbing my- best taught-in the midst of Troy's flames: and
riads of living beings. If any part of the animal friend ship by Nisus eagerly sacrificing his own
eirame is injured, the whole system is active in life to save his beloved Euryalus: and with such
restoring it: but man is daily cut off or withered slight information we are suffered to enbark upon
in his prime; and, at the age of fifty, we stand our voyage, without any direct instruction as to
amidst the tombs of our early friepnds. the tempests by which we may be agitated; by
At some future time the admonition of Bacon, which so many, believing they are led by light
that "; although the world, to a Christian travellinco from heaven, are wrecked and lost; and so few
o the land of promise, be as it wereawilderness, reach the true haven of a well ordered mind; 1"that
yet that our shoes and vestments be less worn temple of God which he graceth with his perfecaway while we sojourn in this wilderness, is to tion and blesseth with his peace, not suffering it
be esteemed a gift coming from divine good- to be renoved, although the earth be removed, and
ness," may, perhaps, be considered deserving at- although the mountains be carried into the midst
tention. of the sea."
At some future time it may be deemed worthy
Bacon arranges knowledge respecting the mind of consideration, whether inquiry ought not to be
into. made of the nature of each passion, and the har1. Invention. mony which results from the exact and regular.. The understning 2. Judgment. movement of the whole.
3. Memory. In the fall of the year, Bacon expressed to the
4. Tradition. lord chancellor an inclination to write a history
l. I. 1 The image of good. of Great Britain; and he prepared a work, in-.II The will. 2 The culture of the mind. scribed to the king, upon its true greatness.
"' Fortunatos nimium sua si bona norint."
In the English universities there is giot, except
by a few lectures, some meager explanations of In this work, in which, he says, he has not any
logic, and some indirect instruction by mathe- purpose vainly to represent this greatness, as in
matics upon mental fixedness, any information water, which shows things bigger than they are,
imparted upon the nature or conduct of the under- but rather, as by an instrument of art, helping the
standing, and Locke might now repeat what he sense to take a true magnitude and dimension, he
said more than acentury ago: ", Although it is of intended an investigation of the general truths
the highest concernment that great care should upon which the prosperity of states depends, with
be taken of the mind, to conduct it right in the a particular application of them to this island
VOL. I -(7) (E)