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of the upward tending motion of terrestrial bodies towards the air and heaven, for the goat is a climbing creature that loves to be hanging about the rocks and steep mountains. And this is done also in a wonderful manner, even by those things which are destinated to this inferior globe, as may manifestly appear in clouds and meteors.

The two ensigns which Pan bears in his hands do point, the one at harmony, the other at empiry. For the pipe consisting of seven reeds doth evidently demonstrate the consent, and harmony, and discordant concord of all inferior creatures, which is caused by the motion of the seven planets; and that of the sheep-hook may be excellently applied to the order of nature, which is partly right,2 partly crooked; this staff, therefore, or rod, is especially crooked in the upper end, because all the works of divine providence in the world are done in a far-fetched and circular manner, so that one thing may seem to be effected and yet indeed a clean contrary brought to pass, as the selling of Joseph into Egypt, and the like. Besides, in all wise human government, they that sit at the helm do more happily bring their purposes about, and insinuate more easily into the minds of the people by pretexts and oblique courses than by direct methods; so that all sceptres and maces of authority ought in very deed to be crooked in the upper end.

Pan's cloak or mantle is ingeniously feigned to be the skin of a leopard, because it is full of spots. So the heavens are spotted with stars, the sea with rocks and islands, the land with flowers, and every particular creature also is for the most part garnished with divers colours about the superficies, which is, as it were, a mantle unto it. The office of Pan can be by nothing so lively conceived and expressed as by feigning him to be the god of hunters, for every natural action is nothing else but a hunting. Arts and sciences have their works, and human counsels their ends, which they earnestly hunt after. All natural things have either their food as a prey, or their pleasure as a recreation, which they seek for, and that in most expert and sagacious manner.

Pan is also said to be the god of the country clowns, because men of this condition lead lives more agreeable unto nature than those that live in the cities and courts of princes, where nature by too much art is corrupted. He was held to be lord-president of the mountains, because in the high mountains and hills nature lays herself most open, and men most apt to view and contemplation. Whereas Pan is said to be (next unto Mercury) the messenger of the gods, there is in that a divine mystery contained, for, next to the Word of God, the image of the world proclaims the power and wisdom Divine, as sings the sacred poet, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth the works of His hands." The nymphs, that is, the souls of living things, take great delight 1 As our older authors constantly speak of the seven planets, it is right to mention that these were, the sun, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The earth was considered the centre of the system, round which all the other bodies revolved. 2 i. e., straight.

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SELECTIONS FROM THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING."

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in Pan. For these souls are the delights or minions of nature, and the direction or conduct of these nymphs is with great reason attributed unto Pan, because the souls of all things living do follow their natural dispositions as their guides, and with infinite variety every one of them after his own fashion doth leap and frisk and dance with incessant motion about her. The Satyrs and Sileni also, to wit, youth and old age, are some of Pan's followers; for of all natural things there is a lively, jocund, and (as I may say) a dancing age, and an age again that is dull, bibling,' and reeling. The carriages and dispositions of both which ages, to some such as Democritus was (that would observe them duly), might peradventure seem as ridiculous and deformed as the gambols of the Satyrs or the gestures of the Sileni.

Of those fears and terrors of which Pan is said to be the author, there may be this wise construction made, namely, that nature hath bred in every living thing a kind of care and fear, tending to the preservation of its own life and being, and to the repelling and shunning of all things hurtful. And yet nature knows not how to keep a mean, but always intermixes vain and empty fears with such as are discreet and profitable; so that all things (if their insides might be seen) would appear full of Panic frights. But men, especially in hard, fearful, and diverse times, are wonderfully infatuated with superstition, which indeed is nothing else but a Panic terror.

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5. SELECTIONS FROM THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING," BOOK I.

1. Of unprofitable subtlety.-The precept of St Paul is at all times seasonable: "avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called." He assigns two marks of suspected and falsified science: the one, novelty and strangeness of terms; the other, strictness of positions, which necessarily induces oppositions, and thence questions and altercations. And, indeed, as many solid substances putrefy, and turn into worms, so does sound knowledge often putrefy into a number of subtle, idle, and vermicular questions, that have a certain quickness of life and spirit, but no strength of matter, or excellence of quality. This kind of degenerate learning chiefly reigned among the schoolmen; who, having subtle and strong capacities, abundance of leisure, and but small variety of reading, their minds being shut up in a few authors, as their bodies were in the cells of their monasteries, and thus kept ignorant both of the history of nature and times, they, with infinite agitation of wit, spun out of a small quantity of matter those laborious webs of learning which are extant in their books. For the human mind, if it acts upon matter and contemplates the nature of things, and the works of God, operates according to the stuff, and is limited 1 i.e., tottering; so, at least, say the commentators on Bacon. The Latin word used in the passage is bibula, and its ordinary meaning drunken seems as appropriate as that which the commentators give.

2 Called the Laughing I hilosopher, from his indulging in laughter at the sight of the folly of men.

thereby; but if it works upon itself, as the spider does, then it has no end; but produces cobwebs of learning, admirable indeed for the fineness of the thread, but of no substance or profit.

2. Deference to great names.-Credulity in respect of certain authors, and making them dictators instead of consuls, is a principal cause that the sciences are no farther advanced. For hence, though in mechanical arts the first inventor falls short, time adds perfection; whilst in the sciences the first author goes furthest, and time only abates or corrupts. Thus artillery, sailing, and printing, were grossly managed at the first, but received improvement by time; whilst the philosophy and the sciences of Aristotle, Plato, Democritus, Hippocrates, Euclid, and Archimedes, flourished most in the original authors, and degenerated with time. The reason is, that in the mechanic arts, the capacities and industry of many are collected together; whereas in sciences, the capacities and industry of many have been spent upon the invention of some one man, who has commonly been thereby rather obscured than illustrated. For as water ascends no higher than the level of the first spring, so knowledge derived from Aristotle will at most rise no higher again than the knowledge of Aristotle. And therefore, though a scholar must have faith in his master, yet a man well instructed must judge for himself, for learners owe to their masters only a temporary belief, and a suspension of their own judgment till they are fully instructed, and not an absolute resignation or perpetual captivity. Let great authors, therefore, have their due, but so as not to defraud time, which is the author of authors, and the parent of truth.

3. Antiquity. Some errors in learning require to be particularly mentioned. The first is the affecting of two extremes, antiquity and novelty; wherein the children of time seem to imitate their father; for as he devours his children,' so they endeavour to devour each other; whilst antiquity envies new improvements, and novelty is not content to add without defacing. The advice of the prophet is just in this case : "stand upon the old ways, and see which is the good way, and walk therein." For antiquity deserves that men should stand awhile upon it, to view around which is the best way; but when the discovery is well made, they should stand no longer, but proceed with cheerfulness. And to speak the truth, antiquity, as we call it, is the young state of the world; for those times are ancient when the world is ancient; and not those we vulgarly account ancient by computing backwards; so that the present time is the real antiquity.

4. Mistakes as to the true end of learning. Some men covet knowledge out of a natural curiosity and inquisitive temper; some to entertain the mind with variety and delight; some for ornament and reputation; some for victory and contention; many for lucre and a livelihood; and but few for employing the Divine gift of reason to the use and benefit of mankind. Thus some appear to seek in knowledge a couch for a searching spirit; others, a walk for a 1 Saturn, the god of time, according to the fables, devoured his children.

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wandering mind; others, a tower of state; others, a fort or commanding ground; and others a shop for profit or sale, instead of a storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the endowment of human life. But that which must dignify and exalt knowledge is the more intimate and strict conjunction of contemplation and action; a conjunction like that of Saturn, the planet of rest and contemplation, and Jupiter, the planet of civil society and action. But here, by use and action, we do not mean the applying of knowledge to lucre, for that diverts the advancing of knowledge, as the golden ball thrown before Atalanta, which, while she stoops to take up, the race is hindered.

5. Dignity of Learning.-The dignity and excellence of knowledge and learning is what human nature most aspires to for the securing of immortality, which is also endeavoured after by raising and ennobling families; by buildings, foundations, and monuments of fame; and is, in effect, the bent of all other human desires. But we see how much more durable the monuments of genius and learning are, than those of the hand. The verses of Homer have continued about five and twenty hundred years without loss, in which time numberless palaces, temples, castles, and cities have been demolished, and are fallen to ruin. It is impossible to have the true pictures or statues of Cyrus, Alexander, Cæsar, or the great personages of much later date; for the originals cannot last, and the copies must lose life and truth; but the images of men's knowledge remain in books, exempt from the injuries of time, and capable of perpetual renovation. Nor are these properly called images; because they generate still, and sow their seed in the minds of others, so as to cause infinite actions and opinions in succeeding ages. If, therefore, the invention of a ship was thought so noble, which carries commodities from place to place, and consociateth the remotest regions in participation of their fruits, how much more are letters to be valued, which, like ships, pass through the vast ocean of time, and convey knowledge and inventions to the remotest ages?

III. SIR WALTER RALEGH.

At an

RALEGH was born at Hayes Farm, Devonshire, in 1552. early age he manifested that love of adventure which distinguished him through life. At seventeen he served in the religious wars on the Continent; some time after he joined in an expedition to Newfoundland, and, on his return, he was employed in the Irish wars, where he displayed such courage and ability that he was rewarded with a considerable grant of land. He had also the good fortune, by his address, to secure the favour of Queen Elizabeth, who, besides knighting him, bestowed on him, on various occasions, substantial marks of her

Ralegh spells his own name Ralegh, not Raleigh, as usually given.

regard. But the thirst for adventure was unquenchable; and after several unsuccessful expeditions to North America, he, in 1595, sailed in search of imaginary gold mines to Guiana. He returned again without success, and distinguished himself more honourably by his enterprise in the Spanish wars. Shortly after the accession of James, Ralegh, Cobham, and others, were apprehended and tried on the charge of conspiring against the King. The plot is one of the mysteries in English history; but it is certain that against Ralegh no sufficient evidence was brought. The jury, however, either overawed by the Court, or sharing in the general dislike of Ralegh, who was very unpopular from his opposition to Essex, the people's darling, found him guilty, and he was sentenced to death.

James reprieved him, and he was committed to the Tower, where he lay till, in 1615, having proposed to James to fit out an expedition to Guiana, from which he hoped to reap a golden harvest, the needy monarch released him, and entrusted him with a fleet. Whatever may have been his ultimate intentions, Ralegh's first proceedings were to commence war on the Spaniards, then at peace with England; and for this he was arrested, brought home, and executed, on the old sentence, October 29, 1618. His chief work is his "History of the World," written to beguile the tedium of a twelve year's imprisonment. It was never finished; and, according to Jonson, he was much indebted, while composing it, to the labour and learning of others. In style it is clear and lively, it is dignified without pomp, and learned without pedantry, and is pervaded by a tone of melancholy, naturally springing from his unhappy position, and the disappointment of all his hopes.

1. THAT MAN IS, AS IT WERE, A LITTLE WORLD.—(BOOK I.,

CAP. II., SECT. V.)

"Man," says Gregory Nazianzen, "is the bond and chain which tieth together both natures;" and because in the little frame of man's body there is a representation of the universal, and (by allusion) a kind of participation of all the parts thereof, therefore was man called microcosmos, or the little world. His blood, which disperseth itself by the branches of veins through all the body, may be resembled to those waters which are carried by brooks and rivers over all the earth; his breath to the air; his natural heat to the enclosed warmth which the earth hath in itself, which, stirred up by the heat of the sun, assisteth nature in the speedier procreation of those varieties which the earth bringeth forth; our radical moisture, oil, or balsamum (whereon the natural heat feedeth and is maintained), is resembled to the fat and fertility of the earth; the hairs of man's body, which adorn or overshadow it, to the grass, which covereth the upper face and skin of the earth; our determinations, to the light, wandering, and unstable clouds, carried everywhere with uncertain winds; our eyes, to the light of the sun and moon; and the beauty of our youth, to the flowers of the spring, which, either in a very short time, or with the sun's heat, dry up and wither away, or the fierce puffs of

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