The works of Francis Bacon, lord chancellor of England.

520 SCALING LADDER OF THE INTELLECT.
defect in question, they wholly give up the busi- ries, lays firm hold of certain fixed principles in
ness; and thus, by denying the certainty of the the science, and, with immovable reliance upon
senses, pluck up science from its very foundation; them, disentangles (as he will with little effort)
whereas, we, by the introduction of a new me- what he handles, if he advances steadily onward,
thod, endeavour to regulate and correct the aber- not flinching out of excess either of self-confirations both of the senses and of the intellect. dence or of self-distrust from the object of his,
The consequence is, that they, thinking the die pursuit, will find he is journeying in the first of
finally cast, turn aside to the uncontrolled and these two tracks; and if he can endure to suspend
fascinating ramblings of genius; while we, by his judgment, and to mount gradually, and to
our different view of the subject, are constrained climb by regular succession the height of things,
to enter upon an arduous and distant province, like so many tops of mountains, with persevering
which we unceasingly pray we may administer and indefatigable patience, he will in due time
to the advantage and happiness of mankind. attain the very uppermost elevations of nature,
The introductory part of our progress we de- where his station will be serene, his prospects
scribed in our second book, which, having delightful, and his descent to all the practical
entered, in the third we treated on the pheno- arts by a gentle slope perfectly easy.
mena of the universe, and on history, plunging It is therefore, our purpose, as in the second
into and traversing the woodlands, as it were, of book we laid down the precepts of genuine and
nature, here overshadowed (as by foliage) with legitimate disquisition, so in this to propound
the infinite variety of experiments; there per- and establish, with reference to the variety of subplexed and entangled (as by thorns and briers) jects, illustrative examples; and that in the form
with the subtilty of acute commentations. which we think most agreeable to truth, and regard
And now, perhaps, by our advance from the as approved and authorized. Yet, we do not alter
woods to the foot of the. mountains, we have the customary fashion, as well to all the constituent
reached a more disengaged, but yet a more ardu- parts of this formula on absolute necessity, as if
ous station.: For, from history we shall proceed they were universally indispensable and inviolaby a firm and sure track, new indeed, and hitherto ble: for we do not hold, that the industry and the.unexplored, to universals. To these paths of happiness of man are to be indissolubly bound,
contemplation, in truth, might appositely be ap- as it were, to a single pillar. Nothing, indeed,
plied the celebrated and often quoted illustration need prevent those who possess great leisure, or
of the "s double road of active life," of which have surmounted the difficulties infallibly enone branch, at first even and level, conducted the countered in the beginning of the experiment,
traveller to places precipitous and impassable; from carrying onward the process here pointed
the other, though steep and rough at the entrance, out. On the contrary, it is our firm conviction
terminated in perfect smoothness. In a similar that true art is always capable of advancing.
manner, he who, in the very outset of his inqui- F. W.