HO THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. 



nt, which the lord hath over a bondman ; but that 

 rea over the imagination that commandment which a 

 magStrate hath over a free citizen,&quot; who may come also to 

 mil in his turn. For we see that, m matters of faith and 

 religion, we raise our imagination above our reason, which is 

 the^cause why religion sought ever access to .the &amp;gt; mine I by 

 similitudes types, parables, visions, dreams. And again, in all 

 SSroaSoS that are wrought by eloquence, and other impres- 

 Srof like nature, which do paint and disguise the true 

 opearance of things the chief recommendation unto reason 

 S from the imagination. Nevertheless, because I find not any 

 scienc that doth properly or fitly pertain to the imagination, 

 I see no cause to alter the former division. For as for poesy, 

 it is ?ather a pleasure or play of imagination than a work or 

 dutv thereof. And if it be a work, we speak not now of such 

 parts of learning as the imagination produceth, but of such 

 LTences as handle and consider of the imagination. No more 

 than we shall speak now of such knowledges as reason pro 

 duceth (for that extendeth to all philosophy) but of such 

 knowledges as do handle and inquire of the faculty of reason : 

 so Ts poesy had his true place. As for the power of the 

 imatination in nature, and the manner of fortifying the same, 

 w^Ce mentioned it in the doctrine De Amma, whereunto 

 most fitly it belongeth. And lastly, for imaginative or in- 

 Snuative reason, which is the subject of rhetoric, we think it 

 bit to refer it to the arts of reason. So therefore we content 

 ourselves with the former division, that human philosophy, 

 which respecteth the faculties of the mind of man, hath two 



^g^SfSSSi philosophy which is rational is of all 

 knowledges, to the most wits, the least delightful, and seemeth 

 butTnet of subtlety and spinosity. For as it was truly said, 

 that knowledge is pabulum animi ; so in the nature of mens 

 appetiteTo this food most men are of the taste and stomach 

 of P the Israelites in the desert, that would fain have returned 

 ad Mas carnival, and were weary of manna ; which though it 

 were celestial, yet seemed less nutritive and comfortable. So 

 g?neraUy men y taste well knowledges that are Benched in 

 flesh and blood, civil history, morality, policy about the which 

 men s affections, praises, fortunes do turn and are conversant. 

 Sut tHs same lumen siccum doth parch and off end most men s 

 watery and soft natures. But to speak truly of things as they 

 are in worth, rational knowledges are the keys of aU other 

 arts- for as Aristotle saith aptly and elegantly, &quot;That the 

 band is the instrument of instruments, and the mind is the 



