23 3^ On the Fafe and CharaSer 



appearances amongft; thofe who hold the lead of learning, 

 Shall we then wonder at the fate which this tr;ie and real 

 philofopher, the monk Roger Bacon, experienced in an ig- 

 norant, fuperftitious, and iervilelv debafed age ? 



To point out the real merit and character of this wonderful 

 man, which is the purport of this paper, I fliall now pro- 

 ceed to a review and general analyfis of hi&doclrines as ftaled 

 in his Opus Majus. 



I tnift it will he found to be an amazing extenfive plan, 

 founded in experience of nature and on the analvfis of truth ; 

 condufted by the nioft penetrating inventive faculties of in- 

 deftion, and the molt cxaft precifion of combination; that 

 it iSy as I faid before, a RcJJauralio humani intellcclus, and 

 an InJlaurcAw fc'ienha-. 



I. It ilrft ftalcs the caufes of error, and then clears the 

 ground ot them ; difcards all prctenfions to knowledge which 

 obtrude themfelves under the form of learning. 



Sufficit nobis in iuquifilione proprii intelleftus ut, quan- 

 tum poflinius, caufas et occafiones crroris extraneas longius 

 .1 debilitate fenfus noftri relia:anius. Quatuor vero funl max- 

 ima comprehendendae veritatis of^endicula, quae omnem 

 qucmcimque fapicntem impcdiunl ; et vix aliquem permit- 

 tant advorfiiro litulum fapientia: pervenire. 



imo. Fragilis et indignae authoiitatis cxeraplum. 



Mark here the ground on which, in thofe days of ecclefi- 

 attica! and civil tyranny, the crime of herefy againft the 

 cfmrch, and of treafon againft the (late, might be imputed, 

 and which was the real ground of his perfecution ai^id im^ 

 pyifnniuent. 



ido. Canfuetudinis diuturnitas. 



3tio. Vulgi fenfus imperili. 



4to. Propriae ignorantias occultatio cum oflentatione fa- 

 pienti ae-. 



Ilis omnis homo involvitur, omnis ftatus occupatur. 



II. Thefe four points he examines, explains, and difcuflcs 

 fpccialfy and at full length under their feveral heads. The 

 ground thus cleared, and the foundations thus laid, he pro- 

 ceeds in the fccond part in analyfing grammar to its ele- 

 ments j wherein he not only goes to the art of language, but 

 to the powers and operations of the mind, by an inquifition 

 into the human undcritanding, as Mr. Locke, and Mr. Harris 

 in his Hermes did afterward. 



Then, paffing by the commonly received mode of reafon- 

 iiig, a* it moves in the trann-ncls of logic, which this great 

 original ftates to be not "only pervcrfivc, but at beft a mere 

 Ici't- handed hold by which we take truths already difcovered ; 



bv 



