2 and judgment, that may report whether he may deal in them with honour; but let him chuse well his referendaries,' for else he may be led by the nose. Suitors are so distasted with delays and abuses,3 that plain dealing in denying to deal in suits at first, and reporting the success barely, and in challenging no more thanks than one hath deserved, is grown not only honourable, but also gracious. In suits of favour, the first coming ought to take little place; so far forth consideration may be had of his trust, that if intelligence of the matter could not otherwise have been had but by him, advantage be not taken of the note, but the party left to his other means, and in some sort recompensed for his discovery. To be ignorant of the value of a suit is simplicity, as well as to be ignorant of the right thereof is want of conscience. Secrecy in suits is a great mean of obtaining; for voicing' them to be in forwardness may discourage some kind of suitors, but doth quicken and awake others; but timing of the suit is the principal—timing, I say, not only in respect of the person who should grant it, but in respect of those which are like to cross it. Let a man, in the choice of his mean,' rather chuse the fittest mean than the greatest mean; and rather them that deal in certain things, Referendaries. Referees. 'Who was legate at the dooings, who was referendarie, who was presidente, who was presente.'-Bishop Jewell. 2 Distaste. To disgust. These new edicts, that so distaste the people.'— Heywood. 3 Abuses. Deception. 'Lend me your kind pains to find out this abuse.'—Shakespere. 4 Place. Effect. 'Yet these fixed evils sit so fit in him, That they take place, when virtue's steely bones 5 So far forth. To the degree. The substance of the service of God, so far forth as it hath in it anything more than the love of reason doth teach, must not be invented of man, but received from God himself.'-Hooker. 'Arraied for this feste, in every wise So far forth as his connynge may suffice.'-Chaucer. 6 Note. Notification; information. 'She that from Naples Can have no note, unless the sun were past, (The man i' the moon's too slow.)'-Shakespere. 7 Voice. To report. It was voiced that the king proposed to put to death Edward Plantagenet.'-Shakespere. 8 Quicken. To bring to life. See page 420. 9 Mean. Instrument. 'Pamela's noble heart would needs gratefully make known the valiant mean of her safety.'-Sidney. 2 than those that are general. The reparation of a denial is sometimes equal to the first grant, if a man show himself neither dejected nor discontented. Iniquum petas, ut æquum feras" is a good rule where a man hath strength of favour; but otherwise, a man were better rise in his suit, for he that would have ventured at first to have lost the suitor, will not, in the conclusion, lose both the suitor and his own former favour. Nothing is thought so easy a request to a great person, as his letter; and yet, if it be not in a good cause, it is so much out of his reputation. There are no worse instruments than these general contrivers of suits, for they are but a kind of poison and infection to public proceedings. ANNOTATIONS. If it be not in a good cause, it is so much out of his To this very just and important remark Bacon might have added, that even in 'a good cause,' a recommendation of any one is likely to be regarded as a favour asked, for which a return will be expected. Nor is this, perhaps, altogether unreasonable. For, a Minister of State, for instance, may say, 'if we had wanted your advice for our own sake, we should have consulted you; but if you offer a suggestion unasked, our complying with it must be reckoned a kindness done to you, for which we may expect a return.' And one who has laid himself under an obligation to a Minister, if he is afterwards asked to vote, or to dispense patronage, contrary to his own judgment, must feel it very awkward either to comply or to refuse. The best course, in general is, to write a letter to the person himself whose views you would promote, expressing your opinion of him, with liberty to show the letter, and to make reference to you for character. 1 Ask for what is unjust, in order that thou mayest obtain what is just.' 2 Lost. Ruined. 'Therefore mark my counsel .... or both yourself and me ESSAY L. OF STUDIES. STUDIES serve for delight, TUDIES serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness' and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business; for, expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies, is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar; they perfect nature, and are perfected by experience for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them, for they teach not their own use but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would' be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are, like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man; and, therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have 1 Privateness. Privacy. See page 105. 2 Make. Give. See page 471. 3 Curiously. Attentively. At first I thought there had been no light reflected from the water; but observing it more curiously, I saw within it several spots, which appeared darker than the rest.'- Sir Isaac Newton. 4 Would. Should. See page 333 6 5 much cunning, to seem to know that' he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend: Abeunt studia in mores"-nay, there is no stond3 or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies, like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises— bowling is good for the stone and reins, shooting for the lungs and breast, gentle walking for the stomach, riding for the head, and the like; so, if a man's wits be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again; if his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoolmen, for they are cymini sectores ;" if he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call upon one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases-so every defect of the mind may have a special receipt. 1 That. What. See page 73. * Manners are influenced by studies.' 3 Stond. Hindrances. See page 413. CONTRA. 'Quæ unquam ars docuit tempestivum artis usum ? What art has ever taught us the suitable use of an art?' 'Artis sæpissime ineptus usus est, ne sit nullus. 'A branch of knowledge is often put to an improper use, for fear of its being idle.' + Wrought. Worked. 'Who, through faith, wrought righteousness.’—Heb. xi. 33. 'How great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee!'-Psalm xxxi. 19. Reins. Kidneys; inward parts. 'Whom I shall see for myself, though my reins be consumed within me.'-Job xix. 27. Differences. Distinctions. See page 468. 7 Splitters of cummin.'-Vid. A. L. I. vii. 7. ANNOTATIONS. 'Crafty men contemn studies.' It is not unlikely that by the 'crafty' (in the Latin 'callidi') Bacon meant not exactly what the word now denotes, but -in agreement with the ancient use of the word 'craft,' for an occupation'-what we commonly call practical men ;-those expert in the details of business, and exclusively conversant in these. Some such men resemble a clock with a minute-hand but no hour-hand. These are apt to take for granted that a student, and especially an author, must be unfit for business. And the vulgar sometimes go further, and are disposed to give a man credit for practical sagacity merely on account of his being illiterate. It is worth observing that some of those who disparage some branch of study in which they are deficient, will often affect more contempt for it than they really feel. And not unfrequently they will take pains to have it thought that they are themselves well versed in it, or that they easily might be, if they thought it worth while;-in short, that it is not from hanging too high that the grapes are called sour. Thus, Swift, in the person of Gulliver, represents himself, while deriding the extravagant passion for Mathematics among the Laputans, as being a good mathematician. Yet he betrays his utter ignorance, by speaking of a pudding in the form of a cycloid' evidently taking a cycloid for a figure, instead of a line. This may help to explain the difficulty he is said to have had in obtaining his Degree. Lord Chesterfield, again, when writing to his son in disparagement of classical studies, gives him to understand that he is himself quite at home in the classics. But when he proceeds to criticise Homer for celebrating the courage of Achilles, who could show none, being invulnerable, he betrays his having never read even a translation of the Iliad. For not only does Homer make no mention of his hero's being invulnerable, but he even represents him as receiving a wound; and a great 1 See Acts xix. 25-27. |