MEDITATIONES SACRE.

The first and, I believe, the only edition of this tract which was published in Latin by Lord Bacon, appeared in 1597. During his life, and since his death, it has been frequently reprinted. If the reader will compare the Meditation upon Atheism, in page 215, with the Essay on Atheism, page 53, and his observation upon Atheism, in page 13 of vol. 2, he will see that these Meditations are but the seeds of his opinions upon this important subject. The sentiments and the very words are similar. In the Meditations, he says, "This I dare affirm in knowledge “of nature, that a little natural philosophy, and "the first entrance into it, doth dispose the opinion "to atheism; but on the other side, much natural philosophy and wading deep into it will bring about "men's minds to religion; wherefore atheism every

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way seems to be joined and combined with folly "and ignorance, seeing nothing can be more justly "allotted to be the saying of fools, than this, "There " is no God.'

In the Advancement of Learning, he says, "It

"is an assured truth, and a conclusion of experience, "that a little or superficial knowledge of philosophy

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may incline the mind of man to atheism, but "a further proceeding therein doth bring the "mind back again to religion; for in the entrance "of philosophy, when the second causes, which are "next unto the senses, do offer themselves to the "mind of man, if it dwell and stay there, it may in"duce some oblivion of the highest cause; but when "a man passeth on farther, and seeth the depend"ence of causes, and the works of Providence, then, "according to the allegory of the poets, he will

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easily believe that the highest link of nature's "chain must needs be tied to the foot of Jupiter's chair.

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§ 3.

THE COLOURS OF GOOD AND EVIL.

This tract was published by Lord Bacon in 1597,* and has been repeatedly published by different editors. It was incorporated in the treatise on rhetoric, in the advancement of learning,† and more extensively in the treatise "De Augmentis.” The dedication, of which there is a MS.‡ in the British Museum, to the Lord Mountjoye, is copied from "The Remains," published by Stephens.§

*"Of the Coulours of good and evill a fragment. 1597." At the end, and after the word "Finis," in this old edition is, "Printed at London by John Windet for Humfrey Hooper. 1597." + See vol. 2, page 213.

Harleian 6797, and there is a page or two of the work itself. § But I do not find it prefixed to the work.

$4.

PRAISE OF KNOWLEDGE.

This tract" In Praise of Knowledge," of which there is a MSS. in the British Museum,* is a rudiment both of the " Advancement of Learning," and of the "Novum Organum." This will appear from the following extracts:

PRAISE OF KNOWLEDGE, PAGE 251 OF THIS VOL.

"The truth of being, and the truth of knowing, "is all one: and the pleasures of the affections "greater than the pleasures of the senses. And are "not the pleasures of the intellect greater than the

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pleasures of the affections? Is it not a true and only natural pleasure, whereof there is no satiety? "Is it not knowledge that doth alone clear the mind. "of all perturbations ?"

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ADVANCEMENT of learning, page 85 of vol. II.

"The pleasure and delight of knowledge and learning far surpasseth all other in nature; for, "shall the pleasures of the affections so exceed the senses, as much as the obtaining of desire or victory exceedeth a song or a dinner; and must not, "of consequence, the pleasures of the intellect or understanding exceed the pleasures of the affec"tions? We see in all other pleasures there is a satiety, "and after they be used, their verdure departeth; "which sheweth well they be but deceits of plea"sure, and not pleasures; and that it was the novelty which pleased, and not the quality and

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*Harleian MSS. 6797.

"therefore we see that voluptuous men turn friars, " and ambitious princes turn melancholy. But of "knowledge there is no satiety, but satisfaction and appetite are perpetually interchangeable."

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PRAISE OF KNOWLEDGE, Page 255 of this vol.

"Printing, a gross invention; artillery, a thing "that lay not far out of the way; the needle, a

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thing partly known before: what a change have "these three things made in the world in these "times; the one in state of learning, the other in "state of the war, the third in the state of treasure, "commodities, and navigation ?"

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NOVUM ORGANUM, PART I. APH. 129.

“Rursus, vim et virtutem et consequentias Re"rum inventarum notare juvat: quæ non in aliis "manifestius occurrunt, quam in illis tribus, quæ Antiquis incognitæ, et quarum primordia, licet re"centia, obscura et ingloria sunt: Artis nimirum Imprimendi, Pulveris Tormentarii, et Acus Nau"ticæ. Hæc enim tria, rerum faciem et statum "in Orbe terrarum mutaverunt: primum, in Re "Literaria; secundum, in Re Bellica: tertium, in

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Navigationibus: Unde innumeræ rerum muta"tiones sequutæ sunt, ut non imperium aliquod, r non Secta, non Stella majorem efficaciam et quasi "influxum super res humanas exercuisse videatur, "quam ista Mechanica exercuerunt."*

* Shaw's translation.

Again, it may not be improper to observe the power, the efficacy, and the consequences of inventions, which appear no

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VALERIUS TERMINUS.

This too is clearly a rudiment of the "Advance"ment of Learning," as may be perceived almost in every page for instance, by comparing,

It is also a rudiment of the "Novum Organum." In page 285 of this volume, he says, "Let the effect "to be produced be whiteness; let the first direction

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be, that if air and water be intermingled, or broken "in small portions together, whiteness will ensue, "as in snow, in the breaking of the waves* of the sea, "and rivers, and the like."

In the "Novum Organum," under the head of travelling instances, he says, "To give an example “of a travelling instance; suppose the nature in

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quired after were whiteness, an instance advancing "to generation is glass, whole, and in powder;

"where plainer, than in those three particulars, unknown to the "ancients, and whose origins, though modern, are obscure and

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inglorious, viz. the art of printing, gunpowder, and the compass, which have altered the state of the world, and given it "a new face; 1. With regard to learning; 2. With regard to "war; and, 3. With regard to navigation. Whence number"less vicissitudes of things have ensued, insomuch that no em

pire, no sect, no celestial body, could seem to have a greater efficacy, and, as it were, influence over human affairs than "these three mechanical inventions have had."

ways.

I have ventured in this preface to substitute "waves" for