first digestion And therefore it was not without cause that so many excellent Philosophers became Sceptiques and Academiques and denyed any certaintie of Knowledge or Comprehension and held opinion that the knowledge of man extended onely to Appearances and Probabilities It is true that in Socrates it was supposed to be but a fourme of Irony Scientiam dissimulando simulauit For hee vsed to disable his knowledge to the end to inhanse his Knowledge like the Humor of ◅iberius in his beginnings that would Raigne but would not acknowledge so much And in the later Academy which Cicero embraced this opinion also of Acatalepsia I doubt was not held sincerely for that all those which excelled in Copie of speech seeme to haue chosen that Sect as that which was fittest to giue glorie to their eloquence and variable discourses being rather like Progresses of pleasure than Iourneyes to an end But assuredly many scattered in both Academyes did hold it in subtiltie and integritie But heere was their cheefe ◅rrour They charged the deceite vppon the THE SENCES which in my Iudgement notwithstanding all their Cauillations are verie sufficient to certifie and report truth though not alwayes immediately yet by comparison by helpe of instrument and by producing and vrging such things as are too subtile for the sence to some effect comprehensible by the sence and other like assistāce But they ought to haue charged the deceit vpon the weaknes of the intellectual powers vpon the maner of collecting concluding vpon the reports of the sences This I speake not to disable the minde of man but to stirre it vp to seeke helpe for no man be he neuer so cunning or practised can make a straight line or perfect circle by steadinesse of hand which may bee easily done by helpe of a Ruler or Compasse This part of Inuention concerning the Inuention of Sciences I purpose if God giue mee leaue hereafter to propound hauing digested it into two partes whereof the one I tearme Experientia literata and the other Interpretatio Naturae The former being but a degree and rudiment of the later But I will not dwell too long nor speake too great vpon a promise The Inuention of speech or argument is not properly an Inuention for to Inuent is to discouer that we know not not to recouer or resūmon that which wee alreadie knowe and the vse of this Inuention is no other But out of the Knowledge whereof our minde is alreadie possest to drawe foorth or call before vs that which may bee pertinent to the purpose which wee take into our consideration So as to speake truely it is no Inuention but a Remembrance or Suggestion with a Application Which is the cause why the Schooles doe place it after Iudgement as subsequent and not precedent Neuerthelesse because wee doe account it a Chase aswell of Deere in an inclosed Parke as in a Forrest at large and that it hath alreadie obtayned the the name Let it bee called Inuention so as it be perceyued and discerned that the Scope and end of this Inuention is readynesse and present vse of our knowledge and not addition or amplification thereof To procure this readie vse of Knowledge there are two Courses PREPARATION and SVGGESTION The former of these seemeth scarcely a part of Knowledge consisting rather of Diligence than of any artificiall erudition And heerein Aristotle wittily but hurtfully doth deride the Sophists neere his time saying They did as if one that professed the Art of Shooe-making should not teach howe to make vp a Shooe but onely exhibite in a readin◅sse a number of Shooes of all fashions and Sizes But yet a man might reply that if a Shooe-maker should haue no Shooes in his Shoppe but onely worke as hee is bespoken hee should bee weakely customed But our Sauiour speaking of Diuine Knowledge sayth That the Kingdome of Heauen is like a good Ho◅sholder that bringeth foo◅th both n◅we and ould store And wee see the ancient Writers of Rhetoricke doe giue it in precept That Pleaders should haue the Places whereof they haue most continuall vse readie handled in all the varietie that may bee as that To speake for the literall Interpretation of the Lawe against Equitie and Contrarie and to speake for Presumptions and Inferences against Testimonie and Contrarie And Cicero himselfe being broken vnto it by great experience deliuereth it plainely That whatsoeuer a man shall haue occasion to speake of if hee will take the paines he may haue it in effect premeditate and handled in these So that when hee commeth to a particular he shall haue nothing to doe but to put too Names and times and places and such other Circumstances of Indiuiduals We see likewise the exact diligence of Demosthenes who in regard of the great force that the entrance and accesse into causes hath to make a good impression had readie framed a number of Prefaces for Orations and Speeches All which Authorities and Presidents may ouer way Aristotles opinion that would haue vs chaunge a rich Wardrobe for a paire of Sheares But the Nature of the Collection of this Prouision or Preparatorie store though it be common both to Logicke and Rhetoricke yet hauing made an entrye of it heere where it came first to be spoken of I thinke fitte to referre ouer the further handling of it to Rhetoricke The other part of INVENTION which I terme SVGGESTION doth assigne and direct vs to certaine Markes or Places which may excite our Minde to returne and produce such Knowledge as it hath formerly collected to the end wee may make vse thereof Neither is this vse truely taken onely to furnish argument to dispute probably with others But likewise to Minister vnto our Iudgement to conclude aright within our selues Neither may these places serue onely to apprompt our Inuention but also to direct our enquirie For a facultie of wise interrogating is halfe a knowledge For as Plato saith Whosoeuer seeketh knoweth that which he seeketh for in a generall Notion Else how shall he know it when he hath found it And therfore the larger your Anticipation is the more direct and compendious is your search But the same Places which will help vs what to produce of that which we know alreadie will also helpe vs if a man of experience were before vs what questions to aske or if we haue Bookes and Authors to instruct vs what points to search and reuolue so as I cannot report that this part of Inuention which is that which the Schooles call Topiques is deficient Neuertheles Topiques are of 2. sorts general speciall The generall we haue spokē to but the particular hath ben touched by some but reiected generally as inartificial variable But leauing the humor which hath raigned too much in the Schooles which is to be vainly subtile in a few thinges which are within their command and to reiect the rest I doe receiue particular Topiques that is places or directions of Inuention and Inquirie
fewe pleasing receits whereupon they are confident and aduenturous but know neither the causes of diseases nor the complexions of Patients nor perill of accidents nor the true methode of Cures We see it is a like error to rely vpon Aduocates or Lawyers which are onely men of practise and not grounded in their Bookes who are many times easily surprised when matter falleth out besides their experience to the preiudice of the causes they handle so by like reason it cannot be but a matter of doubtfull consequence if States bee managed by Emperique Statesmen not well mingled with men grounded in Learning But contrary wise it is almost without instance contradictorie that euer any gouernement was disastrous that was in the hands of learned Gouernors For howsoeuer it hath beene ordinarie with politique men to extenuate and disable learned men by the names of Pedantes yet in the Records of time it appeareth in many particulers that the Gouernements of Princes in minority notwithstanding the infinite disaduantage of that kinde of State haue neuerthelesse excelled the gouernement of Princes of mature age euen for that reason which they seek to traduce which is that by that occasion the state hath been in the hands of Pedantes for so was the State of Rome for the first fiue yeeres which are so much magnified during the minoritie of Nero in the handes of Seneca a Pedanti So it was againe for ten yeres space or more during the minoritie of Gordianus the younger with great applause and contentation in the hands of Misiâ—…heus a Pedanti so was it before that in the minoritie of Alexander Seuerus in like happinesse in hands not much vnlike by reason of the rule of the women who were ayded by the Teachers and Preceptors Nay let a man looke into the gouernement of the Bishops of Rome as by name into the gouernement of Pius Quintus and Sexâ—… Quintus in out times who were both at their entrance esteemed but as Pedanticall Friers and he shall find that such Popes doe greater thinges and proceed vpon truer principles of Estate than those which haue ascended to the Papacie from an education breeding in affaires of Estate and Courts of Princes for although men bred in Learning are perhaps to seeke in points of conuenience and accommodating for the present which the Italians call Ragioni di 〈◊〉 whereof the same Pius Quintus could not heare spoken with patience tearming them Inuentions against Religion and the morall vertues yet on the other side to recompence that they are perfite in those same plaine grounds of Religion Iustice Honour and Morall vertue which if they be well and watchfully pursued there will bee seldome vse of those other no more than of Phisicke in a sound or well dieted bodie neither can the experience of one mans life furnish examples and presidents for the euents of one mans life For as it happeneth sometimes that the Graund child or other descendent resembleth the Ancestor more than the Sonne so many times occurrences of present times may sort better with ancient examples than with those of the later or immediate times and lastly the wit of one man can no more counteruaile learning than one mans meanes can hold way with a common purse And as for those particular seducements or indispositions of the minde for policie and gouernement which learning is pretended to insinuate if it be graunted that any such thing be it must be remembred withall that learning ministreth in euery of them greater strength of medicine or remedie than it offereth cause of indisposition or infirmitie For if by a secret operation it make men perplexed and irresolute on the other side by plaine precept it teacheth them when and vpon what ground to resolue yea and how to carrie thinges in suspence without preiudice till they resolue If it make men positiue and reguler it teacheth them what thinges are in their nature demonstratiue what are coniecturall and aswell the vse of distinctions and exceptions as the latitude of principles and rules If it mislead by disproportion or dissimilitude of Examples it teacheth men the force of Circumstances the errours of comparisons and all the cautions of application so that in all these it doth rectifie more effectually than it can peruert And these medicines it conueyeth into mens minds much more forcibly by the quicknesse and penetration of Examples for let a man looke into the errours of Clement the seuenth so liuely described by Guicciardine who serued vnder him or into the errours of Cicero painted out by his owne pensill in his Epistles to Atticus and he will flye apace from being irresolute Let him looke into the errors of Pâ—…ion and he will beware how he be obstinate or inflexible Let him but read the Fable of Ixion and it will hold him from being vaporous or imaginatiue let him look into the errors of Cato the second and he will neuer be one of the Antipodes to tread opposite to the present world And for the conceite that Learning should dispose men to leasure and priuatenesse and make men slouthfull it were a strange thing if that which accustometh the minde to a perpetuall motion and agitation should induce slouthfulnesse whereas contrariwise it may bee truely affirmed that no kinde of men loue businesse for it selfe but those that are learned for other persons loue it for profite as an hireling that loues the worke for the wages or for honour as because it beareth them vp in the eyes of men and refresheth their reputation which otherwise would weare or because it putteth them in mind of their fortune and giueth them occasion to pleasure and displeasure or because it exerciseth some faculty wherein they take pride and so entertaineth them in good humor and pleasing conceits toward themselues or because it aduanceth any other their ends So that as it is sayd of vntrue valors that some mens valors are in the eyes of them that look on So such mens industries are in the eyes of others or at least in regard of their owne designements onely learned men loue businesse as an action according to nature as agreable to health of minde as exercise is to health of bodie taking pleasure in the action it selfe not in the purchase So that of all men they are the most indefatigable if it be towards any businesse which can hold or detaine their minde And if any man be laborious in reading and study and yet idle in busines action it groweth froÌ„ some weakenes of body or softnes of spirit such as Seneca speaketh of Quidam tam sunt vmbratiles vt putent in turbido esse quicquid in luce est and not of learning wel may it be that such a point of a mans nature may make him giue himselfe to learning but it is not learning that breedeth any such point in his Nature And that learning should take vp too much time or leasure I answere the most actiue or busie man that hath
with any vaine or fayned matter and yet on thother saâ—…e hath cast all prodigious Narrations which he thought worthy the recording into one Booke excellently discerning that matter of manifest truth such wherevpon obseruation and rule was to bee built was not to bee mingled or weakened with matter of doubtfull credite and yet againe that rarities and reports that seeme vncredible are not to be suppressed or denyed to the memorie of men And as for the facilitie of credite which is yeelded to Arts opinions it is likewise of two kinds either when too much beleefe is attributed to the Arts themselues or to certaine Authors in any Art The Sciences themselues which haue had better intelligence and confederacie with the imagination of man than with his reason are three in number Astrologie Naturall Magicke and Alcumy of which Sciences neuerthelesse the ends or pretences are noble For Astrologie pretendeth to discouer that correspondence or concatenation which is betweene the superiour Globe and the inferiour Naturall Magicke pretendeth to cal reduce natural Philosophie from variety of speculations to the magnitude of works And Alcumy pretendeth to make separation of all the vnlike parts of bodies which in mixtures of nature are incorporate But the deriuations and prosecutions to these ends both in the theories and in the practises are full of Errour and vanitie which the great Professors themselues haue sought to vaile ouer and conceale by euigmaticall writings and referring themselues to auricular traditions and such other deuises to saue the credite of Impostures and yet surely to Alcumy this right is due that it may be compared to the Husband man whereof Aesope makes the Fable that when he died told his Sonnes that he had left vnto them gold buried vnder ground in his Vineyard and they digged ouer all the ground and gold they found none but by reason of their stirring and digging the mold about the rootes of their Vines they had a great Vintage the yeare following so assuredly the search and stirre to make gold hath brought to light a great number of good and fruitfull inuentions and experiments as well for the disclosing of Nature as for the vse of mans life And as for the ouermuch credite that hath beene giuen vnto Authors in Sciences in making them Dictators that their wordes should stand and not Counsels to giue aduise the dammage is infinite that Sciences haue receiued thereby as the principall cause that hath kept them lowe at a stay without groweth or aduancement For hence it hath comen that in arts Mechanicall the first deuiser coms shortest and time addeth and perfecteth but in Sciences the first Author goeth furthest and time leeseth and corrupteth So we see Artillerie sayling printing and the like were grossely managed at the first and by time accommodated and refined but contrary wise the Philosophies and Sciences of Aristotle Plato Democritus Hypocrates Euclidâ—…s Archimedes of most vigor at the first and by time degenerate and imbased whereof the reason is no other but that in the former many wits and industries haue 〈◊〉 contributed in one and in the later many wits and industries haue ben spent about the wit of some one whom many times they haue rather depraued than illustrated For as water will not ascend higher than the leuell of the first spring head from whence it descendeth so knowledge deriued from Aristotle and exempted from libertie of examination will not rise againe higher than the knowledge of Aristotle And therfore although the position be good Oportet discentem credere yet it must bee coupled with this Oportet edoctum iudicare for Disciples doe owe vnto Maisters onely a temporarie beleefe and a suspension of their owne iudgement till they be fully instructed and not an absolute resignation or perpetuall captiuitie and therefore to conclude this point I will say no more but so let great Authors haue theire due as time which is the Author of Authors be not depriued of his due which is furder and furder to discouer truth Thus haue I gone ouer these three diseasses of learning besides the which there are some other rather peccant humors then fourmed diseases which neuertheles are not so secret and intrinsike but that they fall vnder a popular obseruation and traducement and therefore are not to be passed ouer The first of these is the extreame affecting of two extreamities The one Antiquity The other Nouelty wherein it seemeth the children of time doe take after the nature and mallice of the father For as he deuowreth his children so one of them seeketh to deuoure and suppresse the other while Antiquity enuieth there should be new additions and Nouelty cannot be content to add but it must deface Surely the aduise of the Prophet is the true direction in this matter State super vias antiquas videte quaenam sit via recta bona ambulate in ea Antiquity deserueth that reuereÌ„ce that men should make a stand thereupon and discouer what is the best way but when the discouery is well taken then to make progression And to speake truly Antiquita seculi Iuuentus Mundi These times are the ancient times when the world is ancient not those which we count antient Ordine retrogrado by a computacion backward from our selues Another Error induced by the former is a distrust that any thing should bee now to bee found out which the world should haue missed and passed ouer so long time as if the same obiection were to be made to time that Lucian maketh to Iupiter and other the heathen Gods of which he woondreth that they begot so many Children in old time and begot none in his time and asketh whether they were become septuagenarie or whether the lawe Pappia made against old mens mariages had restrayned them So it seemeth men doubt least time is become past children and generation wherein contrary wise we see commonly the leuitie and vnconstancie of mens iudgements which till a matter bee done wonder that it can be done and assoone as it is done woonder againe that it was no sooner done as we see in the expedition of Alexander into Asia which at first was preiudged as a vast and impossible enterprize and yet afterwards it pleaseth Liuye to make no more of it than this Nil aliud quam bene ausus vana contemnere And the same happened to Columbus in the westerne Nauigation But in intellectuall matters it is much more common as may be seen in most of the propositions of Euclyde which till they bee demonstrate they seeme strange to our assent but being demonstrate our mind accepteth of them by a kind of relation as the Lawyers speak as if we had knowne them before Another Errour that hath also some affinitie with the former is a conceit that of former opinions or sects after varietie and examination the best hath still preuailed and suppressed the rest So as if a man should beginne the labour of a newe search hee were but like
faith and for the better illumination of the Church touching those parts of Prophecies which are yet vnfulfilled allowing neuerthelesse that Latitude which is agreable and familiar vnto diuine Prophecies being of the nature of their Author with whom a thousande yeares are but as one day and therefore are not fulfilled punctually at once but haue springing and germinant accomplishment throughout many ages though the height or fulnesse of them may referre to some one age This is a worke which I finde deficient but is to bee done with wisedom sobrietie and reuerence or not at all The third which is HISTORY of PROVIDENCE containeth that excellēt correspondence which is betweene Gods reuealed will and his secret will which though it be so obscure as for the most part it is not legible to the Naturall Man no nor many times to those that behold it from the Tabernacle yet at some times it pleaseth God for our better establishment and the confuting of those which are as without God in the world to write it in such Text and Capitall Letters that as the Prophet saith He that runneth by may read it that is meere sensual persons which hasten by Gods iudgements and neuer bend or fixe their cogitations vpon them are neuerthelesse in their passage and race vrged to discerne it Such are the notable euents and examples of Gods iudgements chastizements deliuerances and blessings And this is a work which hath passed through the labour of many and therefore I cannot present as omitted There are also other parts of learning which are APPENDICES to HISTORY for al the exterior proceedings of man consist of Wordes and Deeds whereof History doth properly receiue and retaine in Memory the Deedes and if Wordes yet but as Inducements and passages to Deedes So are there other Books and Writings which are appropriat to the custodie and receite of Wordes onely which likewise are of three sorts ORATIONS LETTERS BRIEFE SPEECHES or SAYINGS ORATIONS are pleadings speeches of counsell Laudatiues Inuectiues Apologies Reprehensions Orations of Formalitie or Ceremonie and the like Letters are according to all the varietie of occasions Aduertisments Aduises Directions Propositions Peticions Commendatorie Expostulatorie Satisfactorie of complement of Pleasure of Discourse and all other passages of Action And such as are written from wise men are of all the words of Man in my iudgement the best for they are more Naturall then Orations and publike speeches more aduised then cōferences or present speeches So againe Letters of Affaires from such as Manage them or are priuie to them are of all others the best instructions for History and to a diligent reader the best Histories in themselues For APOTHEGMES It is a great losse of that Booke of Caesars For as his History and those fewe Letters of his which wee haue and those Apothegmes which were of his owne excell all mens else So I suppose would his collection of APOTHEGMES haue done For as for those which are collected by others either I haue no tast in such Matters or else their choice hath not beene happie But vpon these three kindes of Writings I doe not insist because I haue no deficiēces to propound concerning them Thus much therefore concerning History which is that part of learning which answereth to one of the Celles Domiciles or offices of the Mind of Man which is that of the Memorie POESIE is a part of Learning in measure of words for the most part restrained but in all other points extreamely licensed and doth truly referre to the Imagination which beeing not tyed to the Lawes of Matter may at pleasure ioyne that which Nature hath seuered seuer that which Nature hath ioyned and so make vnlawfull Matches diuorses of things Pictoribus atque Poetis c. It is taken in two senses in respect of Wordes or Matter In the first sense it is but a Character of stile and belongeth to Arts of speeche and is not pertinent for the present In the later it is as hath beene saide one of the principalll Portions of learning and is nothing else but FAINED HISTORY which may be stiled as well in Prose as in Verse The vse of this FAINED HISTORIE hath beene to giue some shadowe of satisfaction to the minde of Man in those points wherein the Nature of things doth denie it the world being in proportion inferiour to the soule by reason whereof there is agreeable to the spirit of Man a more ample Greatnesse a more exact Goodnesse and a more absolute varietie then can bee found in the Nature of things Therefore because the Acts or Euents of true Historie haue not that Magnitude which satisfieth the minde of Man Poesie saineth Acts and Euents Greater and more Heroicall because true Historie propoundeth the successes and issues of actions not so agreable to the merits of Vertue and Vice therefore Poesie faines them more iust in Retribution and more according to Reuealed Prouidence because true Historie representeth Actions and Euents more ordinarie and lesse interchanged therefore Poesie endueth them with more Rarenesse and more vnexpected and alternatiue Variations So as it appeareth that Poesie serueth and conferreth to Magnanimitie Moralitie and to delectation And therefore it was euer thought to haue some participation of diuinesse because it doth raise and erect the Minde by submitting the shewes of things to the desires of the Mind whereas reason doth buckle and bowe the Mind vnto the Nature of things And we see that by these insinuations and congruities with mans Nature and pleasure ioyned also with the agreement and consort it hath with Musicke it hath had accesse and estimation in rude times and barbarous Regions where other learning stoode excluded The diuisiō of Poesie which is aptest in the proprietie therof besides those diuisiōs which are cōmon vnto it with history as fained Chronicles fained liues the Appēdices of History as fained Epistles fained Orations and the rest is into POESIE NARRATIVE REPRESENTATIVE and ALLVSIVE The NARRATIVE is a meere imitation of History with the excesses before remembred Ohoosing for subiect cōmonly Warrs and Loue rarely State and sometimes Pleasure or Mirth REPRESENTATIVE is as a visible History and is an Image of Actions as if they were present as History is of actions in nature as they are that is past ALLVSIVE or PARABOLICALL is a NARRTION applied onely to expresse some speciall purpose or conceit Which later kind of Parabolical wisedome was much more in vse in the ancient times as by the Fables of Aesope and the briefe sentences of the seuen and the vse of Hieroglyphikes may appeare And the cause was for that it was then of necessitie to expresse any point of reason which was more sharpe or subtile then the vulgar in that maner because men in those times wanted both varietie of examples and subtiltie of conceit And as Hierogliphikes were before Letters so parables were before arguments And neuerthelesse now and at all times they doe retaine much life and vigor
norished by earth waer Beasts for the most part by hearbs fruits Man by the flesh of Beasts Birds Fishes Hearbs Grains Fruits Water the manifold alterations dressings and preparations of these seuerall bodies before they come to be his food aliment Adde hereunto that Beasts haue a more simple order of life and lesse change of Affections to worke vppon their bodies whereas man in his Mansion sleepe exercise passions hath infinit variations and it cannot be denied but that the bodie of Man of all other things is of the most compounded Masse The soule on the other side is the simplest of substances as is well expressed Purumque reliquit Aethereum sensum atque Aurai simplicis ignem So that it is no maruaile though the soule so placed enioy no rest if that principle be true that Motus rerum est rapidus extra locum Placidus in loco But to the purpose this variable composition of mans bodie hath made it as an Instrument easie to to distemper and therefore the Poets did well to conioyne MVSICKE and MEDICINE in Apollo because the Office of Medicine is but to tune this curious Harpe of mans bodie and to reduce it to Harmonie So then the Subiect being so Variable hath made the Art by consequent more coniecturall and the Art being Coniecturall hath made so much the more place to bee left for imposture For almost all other Arts and Sciences iudged by Acts or Master peeces as I may terme them and not by the successes and euents The Lawyer is iudged by the vertue of his pleading and not by the yssue of the cause The Master in the Shippe is iudged by the directing his course aright and not by the fortune of the Voyage But the Phisitian and perhaps the Politique hath no particular Acts demonstratiue of his abilitie but is iudged most by the euent which is euer but as it is taken for who can tell if a Patient die or recouer or if a State be preserued or ruyned whether it be Art or Accident And therefore many times the Impostor is prized and the man of vertue taxed Nay we see weakenesse and credulitie of men is such as they will often preferre a Montabanke or Witch before a learned Phisitian And therefore the Poets were cleere sighted in discerning this extreame folly when they made Aesculapius and Circe Brother and Sister both Children of the Sunne as in the verses Ipse repertorem medicinae talis artis Fulmine Phoebigenam stygias detrusit ad vn◅as And againe Diues inaccessos vbi Solis filia Lucos c. For in all times in the opinion of the multitude Witches and old women and Impostors haue had a Competicion with Phisitians And what followeth Euen this that Phisitians say to themselues as Salomon expresseth it vpon an higher occasion If it befall to me as befalleth to the fooles why should I labour to be more wise And therefore I cannot much blame Phisitians that they vse commonly to intend some other Art or practise which they fancie more than their profession For you shall haue of them Antiquaries Poets Humanists States-men Marchants Diuines and in euerie of these better seene than in their profession no doubt vpon this ground that they find that mediocrity excellency in their Art maketh no difference in profite or reputation towards their fortune for the weakenesse of Patients and sweetnesse of life and Nature of hope maketh men depend vpon Phisitians with all their defects But neuerthelesse these things which we haue spoken of are courses begotten betweene a little occasion and a great deale of sloath and default for if we will excite and awake our obseruation we shall see in familiar instances what a predominant facultie The Subtiltie of Spirite hath ouer the Varietie of Matter or Fourme Nothing more variable then faces and countenances yet men can bea◅e in memorie the infinite distinctions of them Nay a Painter with a fewe shelles of colours and the benefite of his Eye and habite of his imagination can imitate them all that euer haue ben ar or may be if they were brought before him Nothing more variable than voices yet men can likewise discern them personally nay you shall haue a Buffon or Pantomimus will expresse as many as hee pleaseth Nothing more variable than the differing sounds of words yet men haue found the way to reduce thē to a few simple Letters so that it is not the insufficiency or incapacity of mans mind but it is the remove standing or placing thereof that breedeth these Mazes and incomprehensions for as the sence a far off is full of mistaking but is exact at hand so is it of the vnderstanding The remedie whereof is not to quicken or strengthen the Organ but to goe neerer to the obiect and therefore there is no doubt but if the Phisitians will learne and vse the true approaches and Auenues of Nature they may assume as much as the Poet sayth Et quoniam variant Morbi variabimus artes Mille Mali species mille Salutis erunt Which that they should doe the noblenesse of their Art doth deserue well shadowed by the Poets in that they made Aesculapius to be the sonne of Sunne the one being the fountaine of life the other as the second streame but infinitely more honored by the example of our Sauiour who made the body of man the obiect of his miracles as the soule was the obiect of his Doctrine For wee reade not that euer he vouchsafed to doe any miracle about honor or money except that one for giuing Tribute to Caesar but onely about the preseruing sustayning and healing the bodie of man Medicine is a Science which hath beene as wee haue sayd more professed than labored yet more labored than aduanced the labor hauing been in my iudgement rather in circle than in progression For I finde much Iteration but small Addition It considereth causes of Diseases with the occasions or impulsions The Discases themselues with the Accidents and the Cures with the Preseruations The Deficiences which I thinke good to note being a few of many those such as ar of a more open and manifest Nature I will enumerate and not place The first is the discontinuance of the auncient and serious diligence of Hippocrates which vsed to set downe a Narratiue of the speciall cases of his patientes and how they proceeded how they were iudged by recouery or death Therefore hauing an example proper in the father of the art I shal not neede to alledge an example forraine of the wisedome of the Lawyers who are carefull to reporte new cases and decisions for the direction of future iudgements This continuance of Medicinall History I find deficient which I vnderstand neither to be so infinite as to extend to euery common Case nor so reserued as to admit none but Woonders for many thinges are new in the Manner which are not new in the Kinde and if men will intend to
obserue they shall finde much worthy to obserue In the inquirie which is made by Anatomie I finde much deficience for they enquire of the Parts and their Substances Figures and Collocations But they enquire not of the Diuersities of the Parts the Secrecies of the Passages and the seats or neastling of the humours nor much of the Foot-steps and impressions of Diseases The reason of which omission I suppose to be because the first enquirie may be satisfied in the view of one or a few Anatomies but the latter being comparatiue and casuall must arise from the view of many And as to the diuersitie of parts there is no doubt but the facture or framing of the inward parts is as full of difference as the outward and in that is rhe Cause Continent of many diseases which not being obserued they quarrell many times with the humors which are not in fault the fault being in the very frame and Mechanicke of the parte which cannot be remoued by medicine alteratine but must be accomodate and palliate by dyets and medicines familiar And for the passages and pores it is true which was aunciently noted that the more subtile of them appeare not in anatomyes because they are shut and latent in dead bodies though they be open and manifest in liue which being supposed though the inhumanity of Anatomia viuorū was by Celsus iust ly reproued yet in regard of the great vse of this obseruation the inquiry needed not by him so sleightly to haue ben relinquished altogether or referred to the casuall practises of surgerie but mought haue been well diuerted vpon the dissection of beastes aliue which notwithstanding the dissimilitude of their parts may sufficiently satisfie this inquirie And for the humors they are commonly passed ouer in Anatomies as purgaments whereas it is most necessarie to obserue what cauities nestes receptacles the humors doe finde in the parts with the differing kinde of the humor so lodged and receiued And as for the footesteps of diseases their deuas◅ations of the inward parts impostumations exulcerations discontinuations putrefactions consumptions contractions extensions convulsions dislocations obstructions repletions together with all preternatural substances as stones carnosities excrescences wormes and the like they ought to haue beene exactly obserued by multitude of Anatomies and the contribution of mens seuerall experiences and carefully set downe both historically according to the appearances and artificially with a reference to the diseases and symptomes which resulted from them in case where the Anatomy is of a desunct patient wheras now vpon opening of bodies they are passed ouer sleightly and in silence In the inquirie of diseases they doe abandon the cures of many some as in their nature incurable and others as passed the periode of cure so that Sylla and the Triumvirs neuer proscribed so many men to die as they doe by their ignorant edictes whereof numbers do escape with lesse difficulty then they did in the Romane proscriptions Therfore I wil not doubt to note as a deficience that they inquire not the persite cures of many diseases or extremities of diseases but pronouncing them incurable doe enact a lawe of neglect exempt ignorance from discredite Nay further I esteeme it the office of a Phisition not onely to restore health but to mittigate pain and dolors and not onely when such mittigation may conduce to recouery but when it may serue to make a fayre and easie passage for it is no small felicitie which Auguslus Caesar was wont to wish to himselfe that same Euthanasia and which was specially noted in the death of Antoninus Pius whose death was after the fashion and semblance of a kindly pleasant sleepe So it is written of Epicurus that after his disease was iudged desperate he drowned his stomacke and senses with a large draught and ingurgitation of wine whereupon the Epigram was made Hinc stygias Ebrius hausit aquas He was not sober enough to taste any bitternesse of the stygian water But the Phisitions contrariwise doe make a kinde of scruple and Religion to stay with the patient after the disease is deplored wheras in my iudgment they ought both to enquire the skill and to giue the attendances for the facilitating asswaging of the paynes and agonies of death In the consideration of the Cures of diseases I find a deficience in the Receiptes of proprietie respecting the particular cures of diseases for the Phisitians haue frustrated the fruite of tradition experience by their magistralities in adding and taking out and changing Quid pro quo in their receiptes at their pleasures commanding so ouer the medicine as the medicine cannot commmād ouer the disease For except it be Treacle and Mythridatū of late Diascordium and a few more they tye themselues to no receiptes seuerely and religiously for as to the confections of sale which are in the shoppes they are for readines and not for proprietie for they are vpon generall intentions of purging opening comforting altering and not much appropriate to particular Diseases and this is the cause why Emperiques and ould women are more happie many times in their Cures than learned Phisitians because they are more religious in holding their Medicines Therefore here is the deficience which I finde that Phisitians haue not partly out of their owne practize partly out of the constant probations reported in bookes partly out of the traditions of Emperiques setdowne and deliuered ouer certaine Experimentall Medicines for the Cure of particular Diseases besides their owne Coniecturall and Magistrall descriptions For as they were the men of the best Composition in the State of Rome which either being Consuls inclined to the people or being Tribunes inclined to the Senat so in the matter we now handle they be the best Phisitians which being learned incline to the traditions of experience or being Emperiques incline to the methods of learning In preparation of Medicines I doe finde strange specially considering how mineral Medicines haue beene extolled and that they are safer for the outward than inward parts that no man hath sought to make an Imitation by Art of Naturall Bathes and Medicinable fountaines which neuerthelesse are confessed to receiue their vertues from Minerals and not so onely but discerned and distinguished from what particular Mynerall they receiue Tincture as Sulphur Vitriole steele or the like which Nature if it may be reduced to compositions of art both the varietie of them will be encreased the temper of them will be more commanded But least I grow to be more particular than is agreeable either to my intention or to proportion I will conclude this part with the note of one deficience more which seemeth to me of greatest consequence which is that the prescripts in vse are too compendious to attaine their end for to my vnderstanding it is a vaine and flattering opinion to think any Medicine can be so soueraigne or so happie as
vp both to be applyed to that which is frequent and most in request The former of these I will call Antitheta the latter Formulae Antitheta are Theses argued pro contra wherin men may be more large laborious but in such as are able to doe it to auoyd prolixity of entry I wish the seedes of the seuerall arguments to be cast vp into some briefe and acute sentences not to bee cyted but to bee as Skaynes or Bottomes of thread to bee vnwinded at large when they come to be vsed supplying authorities and Examples by reference Pro verbis legis Non est interpretatio sed diuinatio quae recedit a littera Cum receditur a littera Index transit in legislatorem Pro sententia Legis Ex omnibus verbis est Elu◅endus sensus qui interpretatur singula Formulae are but decent and apt passages or conueyances of speeche which may serue indifferently for differing subiects as of Preface Conclusion Digression Transition Excusation c. For as in buildings there is great pleasure and vse in the well casting of the staire cases entryes doores windowes and the like so in speeche the conueyances and passages are of speciall ornament and effect A conclusion in a Del◅eratiue So may we redeeme the faults passed preuent the inconue niences future There remayn two Appendices touching the tradition of knowledge The one Criticall The other Pedanticall For all knowledge is eyther deliuered by Teachers or attayned by mens proper endeuors And therefore as the principall part of Tradition of knowledge concerneth chiefly in writing of Books So the Relatiue part thereof concerneth reading of Bookes Wherunto appertayn incidently these consideratiōs The first is cōcerning the true Correction editiō of Authors wherin neuerthelesse rash diligēce hath don gret preiudice For these Critiques haue oftē presumed that that which they vnderstandnot is false set down As the Priest that where he found it written of S. Paul Demissus est per sportam mēded his book and made it Demissus est per portam because Sperta was an hard word and out of his reading and surely their errors though they be not so palpable and ridiculous yet are of the same kind And therefore as it hath beene wisely noted the most corrected copies are cōmonly the least correct The second is concerning the exposition and explication of Authors which resteth in Annotations and Cōmentaryes wherin it is ouer vsual to blaunch the obscure places and discourse vpon the playne The third is concerning the times which in many cases giue great light to true Interpretations The fourth is concerning some briefe Censure and iudgement of the Authors that men therby may make some election vnto themselues what Bookes to reade And the fift is concerning the Syntax and disposition of studies that men may know in what order or pursuite to reade For PEDANTICALL knowledge it contayneth that differēce of Tradition which is proper for youth Whereunto appertaine diuers considerations of greatfruit As first the tyming and seasoning of knowledges as with what to initiate them and from what for a time to refraine them Secondly the consideration where to begin with the easiest and so proceede to the more difficult And in what courses to presse the more difficulte and then to turne them to the more easie for it is one Methode to practise swimming with bladders and another to practise dauncing with heauy shooes A third is the application of learning according vnto the propriety of the wittes for there is no defect in the faculties intellectuall but seemeth to haue a proper Cure contayned in some studies As for example If a Child be Bird-witted that is hath not the facultie of attention the Mathematiques giueth a remedy thereunto for in them if the witte be caught away but a moment one is new to begin And as sciences haue a propriety towards faculties for Cure and helpe So faculties or powers haue a Simpathy towards Sciences for excellency or speedy profiting And therfore it is an enquity of greate wisedom what kinds of wits and Natures are most apt and proper for what sciences Fourthly the ordering of exercises is matter of great consequence to hurt or helpe For as is well ob serued by Cicero men in exercising their faculties if they be not wel aduised doe exercise their faultes get ill habits as well as good so as there is a greate iudgement to be had in the continuance and intermission of Exercises It were to longe to particularize a number of other consideratiōs of this nature things but of meane appearance but of singular efficacy For as the wronging or cherishing of seeds or young plants is that that is most important to their thriuing And as it was noted that the first six kings being in trueth as Tutors of the State of Rome in the infancy thereof was the principal cause of the immense greatnesse of that state which followed So the culture and manurance of Minds in youth hath such a forcible though vnseen operacion as hardly any length of time or contention of labour can counteruaile it afterwards And it is not amisse to obserue also how small and meane faculties gotten by Education yet when they fall into greate men or great matters doe work great and important effects whereof we see a notable example in Tacitus of two Stage-plaiers Percennius and Vibulenus who by their facultie of playing put the Pannonian armies into an extreame tumulte and combustion For there arising a mutinie amongst them vpon the death of Augustus Caesar Bloesus the lieuetenant had committed some of the Mutiners which were suddenly rescued whereupon Vtbulenus got to be heard speake which he did in this manner These poore innocent wretches appointed to cruell death you haue restored to behould the light But who shall restore my brother to me or life vnto my brother that was sent hither in message from the legions of Germany to treat of the common Cause and he hath murdered him this last night by some of his sencers ruffians that he hath about him for his executioners vpon Souldiours Answer Blaesus what is done with his body The mortallest Enem'es doe not deny buriall when I haue performed my last duties to the Corpes with kisses with teares command me to be slaine besides him so that these my fellowes for our good meaning and our true hearts to the Legions may haue leaue to bury vs. With which speeche he put the army into an infinite fury and vprore whereas truth was he had no brother neyther was there any such matter but hee plaide it meerely as if he had beene vpon the stage But to returne we are now come to a period of RATIONALL KNOVVLEDGES wherein if I haue made the diuisions other than those that are receiued yet would I not be thought to disallow all those diuisions which I doe not vse For there is a double necessity imposed vpon me of altering the diuisions The one because it
that other that monies weretl◅e sinews of the warres wheras saith he the true sinews of the warres are the sinews of mens Armes that is a valiant populous and Military Nation he voucheth aptly the authority of Solon who when Craesus shewed him his treasury of goalde saide to him that if another came that had better Iron he woulde be maister o◅ his Gould In like manner it may be truly affirmed that it is not monies that are the sinews of fortune but it is the sinews and steele of mens Mynds Witte Courage Audacity Resolution Temper Industry and the like In thirde place I set down Reputation because of the peremptory Tides Currants it hath which if they bee not taken in their due time are sildome recouered it beinge extreame harde to plaie an after game of reputation And lastly I place honoure which is more easily wonne by any of the other three much more by all then any of them can bee purchased by honour To conclude this precepte as there is order and priority in Matter so is there in Time the proposterous placing whereof is one of the commonest Errors while men fly to their ends when they shoulde intend their beginninings and doe not take things in order of time as they come on but marshall them according to greatnes and not according to instance not obseruing the good precepte Quod nunc instat agamus Another precept of this knowledge is not to imbrace any matters which doe occupie to great a quantity of time but to haue that sounding in a mans eares Sed fugit interea fugit irreparabile tempus and that is the cause why those which take their course of rising by professions of Burden as Lawyers Orators painefull diuines and the like are not commonlie so politique for their owne fortune otherwise then in their ordinary way because they want time to learne particulars to waite occasions and to deuise plottes Another precept of this knowledge is to imitate nature which doth nothing in vaine which surely a man may do if he do well interlace his businesse and bend not his mind too much vpon that which he prin cipally intendeth For a man ought in euery particular action so to carry the motions of his mind and so to haue one thing vnder another as if he cannot haue that he seeketh in the best degree yet to haue it in a second or so in a third and if he can haue no parte of that which he purposed yet to turn the vse of it to sōwhat els and if he cannot make any thing of it for the present yet to make it as a seed of somwhat in time to come and if he can contriue no effect or substaunce from it yet to win som good opinion by it or the like so that he should exact an account of himself of euery action to reape somwhat and not to stand amazed and confused if he saile of that he chiefly meant for nothing is more impollitique then to mind actions wholly one by one For he that dooth so leeseth infinite occasions which enterveine and are many times more proper and propitious for somewhat that he shall need afterwards then for that which he vrgeth for the present and therfore men must be parfite in that rule Haec oportet facere illa non omittere Another precept of this knowledge is not to ingage a mans selfe peremptorily in any thing though it seem not liable to accident but euer to haue a window to flie out at or away to retyre following the wisedom in the ancient fable of the two frogs which consulted when their plash was drie whether they should go and the one mooued to go down into a pit because it was not likely the water would dry there but the other answered True but if it do how shall we get out againe Another precept of this knowledge is that ancient precept of Bias construed not to any point of perfidiousnesse but only to caution and moderation Et ama tanquam inimicus suturus odi tanquam amaturus For it vtterly betraieth al vtility for mē to imbarque them selues to far into vnfortunate friendships troublesom spleans childish humorous enuies or aemulatiōs But I continue this beyond the measure of an example led because I wold not haue such knowledges which I note as deficient to be thought things Imaginatiue or in the ayre or an obseruation or two much made of but thinges of bulke and masse whereof an end is hardlier made then a beginning It must be likewise conceiued that in these pointes which I mencion and set downe they are far from complete tractates of them but onelye as small peeces for patternes And lastlye no man I suppose will thinke that I meane fortunes are not obteyned without all this adoe For I know they come tumblinge into some mens lappes and a nomber obtaine good fortunes by dilligence in a plaine way Little intermedlinge and keeping themselues from grosse errors But as Cicero when he setteth down an Idea of a parfit Orator doth not mean that euery pleader should be such and so likewise when a Prince or a Courtier hath been described by such as haue handled those subiects the mould hath vsed to be made accordinge to the perfectiō of the Arte and not according to cō mon practise So I vnderstand it that it ought to be done in the description of a Pollitique man I meane pollitique for his owne fortune But it must be remembred al this while that the precepts which we haue set down are of thatkind which may be coūted called Bonae Artes as for euill arts if a man would set down for himselfe that principle of Machiauel That a man seeke not to attaine vertue it selfe But the apparance onely thereof because the credite of vertue is a helpe but the vse of it is cumber or that other of his principles That he presuppose that men are not fitly to be wrought otherwise but by feare and therefore that he seeke to haue euery mā obnoxius lowe in streight which the Italiās cal seminar spine to sowe thornes or that other principle cōteined in the verse which Cice ro cyteth cadant amici dūmodo Inimici intercidāt as the Trium virs which fould euery one to other the liues of their friends for the deaths of theire enemiees or that other protestation of L. Catilina to set on fire trouble states to the end to fish in droumy waters to vnwrappe their fortunes Ego si quid in fortunis meis excitatum sit incendium id non aqua sed ruina restinguam or that other principle of Lysāder That childrē are to be deceiued with cōfittes men with othes the like euil and corrupt positions whereof as in al things there are more in number then of the good Certainly with these dispensations from the lawes of charity integryty the pressing of a mans fortune may be more ha sty and compendious But it
preambles or without howe they are to bee pruned and reformed from time to time and what is the best meanes to keepe them frō being too vast in volumes or too ful of multiplicitie crosnesse how they are to be expounded When vpon causes emergent and iudicially discussed and when vpon responses and conferences touching generall points or questions how they are to be pressed rigorously or tenderly how they are to be Mitigated by equitie and good conscience and whether discretion and strict Lawe are to be mingled in the same Courts or kept a part in seuerall Courts Againe how the practise profession and erudition of Lawe is to be censured and gouerned and many other points touching the administration and as I may tearme it animation of Lawes Vpon which I insist the lesse because I purpose if God giue me leaue hauing begunne a worke of this Nature in Aphorismes to propound it hereafter noting it in the meane time for deficient And for your Maiesties Lawes of England I could say much of their dignitie and somewhat of their defect But they cannot but excell the ciuill Lawes in fitnesse for the gouernment for the ciuill Law was non hos quaesitum munus in vsus It was not made for the countries which it gouerneth hereof I cease to speake because I will not intermingle matter of Action with matter of generall Learning THus haue I concluded this portion of learning touching Ciuill knowledge with Ciuill knowledge haue concluded HVMANE PHILOSOPHY and with Humane Philosophy PHILOSOPHY in GENERAL and being now at some pause looking backe into that I haue passed through This writing seemeth to me Si nunquam sailit imago as farre as a man can iudge of his owne worke not much better then that noise or sound which Musitiās make while they are in tuning their Instrumēts which is nothing pleasāt to hear but yet is a cause why the Musique is sweeter afterwardes So haue I beene content to tune the Instruments of the Muses that they may play that haue better hands And surely when I set before me the condition of these times in which learning hath made her third visitation or circuite in all the qualities thereof as the excellencie and viuacitie of the wits of this age The noble helpes and lights which we haue by the trauailes of ancient writers The Art of Printing which communicateth Bookes to men of all fortunes The opēnesse of the world by Nauigation which hath disclosed multitudes of experiments and a Masse of Naturall History The leasure wherwith these times abound not imploying men so generally in ciuill businesse as the States of Graecia did in respect of their popularitie and the State of Rome in respect of the greatnesse of their Monarchie The present disposition of these times at this instant to peace The consumption of all that euer can be said in controuersies of Religiō which haue so much diuerted men from other Sciences The perfection of your Maj learning which as a Phoenix may call whole volyes of wits to followe you and the inseparable proprietie of Time which is euer more and more to disclose truth I cannot but be raised to this perswasion that this third period of time will farre surpasse that of the Graecian and Romane Learning Onely if men will know their own strength and their owne weakenesse both and take one from the other light of inuention and not fire of contradiction and esteeme of the Inquisition of truth as of an enterprise not as of a qualitie or ornament imploy wit and magnificence to things of worth excellencie not to things vulgar and of popular estimation As for my labors if any man shall please himselfe or others in the reprehension of them they shall make that ancient and patient request ver bera sed audi Let men reprehend them so they obserue and waigh them For the Appeale is lawfull though it may be it shall not be needefull from the first cogitations of men to their second from the neerer times to the times further of Now let vs come to that learning which both the former times were not so blessed as to knowe Sacred inspired Diuinitie the Sabaoth and port of all mens labours and peregrinations THe prerogatiue of God extendeth as well to the reason as to the will of Man So that as we are to obey his law though we finde a reluctatiō in our wil◅ So we are to belieue his word though we finde a reluctation in our reason For if we beleeue onely that which is agreeable to our sence we giue consent to the matter and not to the Author which is no more then we would doe towards a suspected and discredited witnesse But that faith which was accounted to Abraham for righteousnesse was of such a point as where at Sarah laughed who therein was an Image of Naturall Reason Howbeit if we will truly consider of it more worthy it is to belieue then to knowe as we now know For in knowledge mans mind suffereth from sence but in beliefe it suffereth from Spirit such one as it holdeth for more authorised then it selfe so suffereth from the worthier Agent otherwise it is of the state of man glorified for then faith shal cease we shall knowe as we are knowne Wherefore we conclude that sacred Theologie which in our Idiome we call Diuinitie is grounded onely vpon the word oracle of God and not vpon the light of nature for it is written Caelienarrāt gloriam Dei But it is not written Caelienarrant voluntatem Dei But of that it is said Ad legem testimonium si non fecerint secundū verbum istud c. This holdeth not onely in those points of faith which concerne the great misteries of the Deitie of the Creation of the Redemption but likewise those which concerne the law Moral truly interpreted Loue your Enemies doe good to thē that hate you Be like to your heauenly father that suffereth his raine to fal vpon the Iust Vniust To this it ought to be applauded Nec vox hominē sonat It is a voice beyond the light of Nature So we see the heathen Poets when they fall vpon a libertine passion doe still expostulate with lawes and Moralities as if they were opposite and malignant to Nature Et quod natura remitti◅ invida Iura negant So said Dendamis the Indian vnto Alexanders Messengers That he had heard somewhat of Pythagoras and some other of the wise men of Graecia and that he held them for excellent Men but that they had a fault which was that they had in too great reuerence and veneration a thing they called Lawe and Manners So it must be confessed that a great part of the Lawe Morall is of that perfection whereunto the light of Nature cannot aspire how then is it that man is saide to haue by the light and lawe of Nature some Notions and conceits of vertue and vice iustice wrong good