Page:The Works of Francis Bacon (1884) Volume 1.djvu/271

 ANALYSIS OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. / will now attempt to make a general and faithful perambulation of learning, with an inquiry what parts thtreuf lie fresh and waste 187 DIVISION OF LEARNING, HUMAN AND DIVINE. 187 . History relating to the memory. . Poetry relating to the imagination, & Philosophy relating to the reason. BISTORT. Division. . Natural. . Civil. . Ecclesiastical. . Literary. LITERART BISTORT 187 . It is the history of learning from age to age. . It is in general deficient, but there are some slight memorials of particular sects and sciences. . The uses of literary history. Natural History 1 187 Division. . Of creatures. . Of marvels. . Of arts. History of Creatures. . It is the history of nature in course. . It is extant and in perfection. History of Marvels. . It is the history of nature wandering. . It is deficient. . Its uses. . To correct the partiality of axioms. . To discover the wonders of art. It is, as it were, hounding Nature in her wanderings to be able to lead her afterwards to the same place again. 4 Different marvels. History of Arts 1 188 It is in general deficient. It is considered not elevating to inquire into mat ters mechanical 188 The truth is, they be not the highest in stances that give the securest information, as may be well expressed in the tale so common of the philosopher, that while he gazed up ward* to the stars fell into the water, for if he had looked down he might have seen the stars in the water, but looking aloft he could not see the water in the stars. So it cometh often to pass, that mean and small things discover great, better than great can discover the small. Aristotle noteth well, &quot; that the nature of every thing is best seen in Us smallest portions.&quot; And for that cause he inquireth the nature of a commonwealth, first in a family, and the simple conjugations of man and wife, parent ana child, master and servant, which are in every cottage. The turning of iron touched with the load stone towards the north, was found out in needles of iron, not in bars of iron. The arrangement of this part is altered in the Treatise De Augmentis. See note (O) at tfca end of this Treatise. As a man s disposition is ntver well known till he be crossed, nor Proleus evfr changed shapes till he was straitened and held fast ; so the passages and variations of nature can not appear so fully in the liberty of naturt, as in the trials and vexations of art. CIVIL HISTORT 189 Division. . Memorials. . Perfect Histories. . Antiquities. Of pictures or images, we see, some are un finished, some are perfect, and some are de faced. Memorials. . Memorials are preparations for history. . Different sorts ; commentaries, registers. . They are naturally imperfect. Antiquities. . They are the remnant of history. They are as planks saved from the deluge of time. . Epitomes should be abolished. They areas the moths of history that hate frettrd and corroded the sound bodies of many excellent histories. Perfect History. Division and their relative merits 189 . Chronicles. . Biography. . Relations. Biography. . It is the most useful of all history. . It is to be lamented that biography is not more fre quent 190 One of the poets feigned that at the end of the thread or web of every man s life there was a little medal containing the person s name, and that Time waited upon the shears ; and as soon as the thread was cut, caught the medals, and carried them to the river of Lethe,- and about the bank there were many birds flying up and down, that would get the me dals and carry them in their beak a little while, and then let them full into the river , only there were a few swans, which if they got a name, would carry it to a temple where it was consecrated. . Impropriety of disregarding posthumous fame 190 Chronicles. . Chronicles excel for celebrity 18S . The heathen antiquities are deficient 189 . Bacon recommends a history of England from the union of the roses to the union of the king*- doms 190 Relations. . They excel in verity and sincerity 189 . It is to be lamented that there is not more diligence in relations 1 90 The collection of such relations might be OK a nursery garden, whereby to plant a fair and stately garden, when time should serve.. . Annals and journals.