PREFACE. Xi 



goaded by worldly want ; or actuated by his favou 

 rite opinion, that perfection consisted in the union of 

 contemplation and action, of Saturn the planet of 

 rest and Jupiter the planet of action, he, in an evil 

 hour accepted the offer. 



&quot; Forth reaching to the fruit, he pluck d, he eat.&quot; 

 One of the consequences was the publication of 

 the Novum Organum in its present state; the sacri 

 fice of his favourite work, upon which he had been 

 engaged for thirty years, and had twelve times 

 transcribed with his own hand, (w) 



The second reason assigned by Lord Bacon for 

 the publication of the Novum Organum in 1620 is, 

 to try ivhether I can get help in one intended part of 

 this work, namely, the compiling of a Natural and 

 Experimental History, which must he the foundation 

 of a true and active philosophy. (/;) The meaning 

 of this seems also to be obvious. Lord Bacon s 

 conviction of the importance of Natural History, 

 as the primitive matter of philosophy, appears 

 in every part of his works in the Advancement of 

 Learning ; (a) the Sylva Sylvarum ; (,r) the New 

 Atlantis ; (c 1 ) the Wisdom of the Antients ; (cT) and 

 the Novum Organum. It seems probable, therefore, 

 that he availed himself of the moment when power 

 was entrusted to him, to induce the king to assist in 

 the formation of &quot; such a collection of natural history 



(to) See Rawley s Life, and postea, xii. 



(b) Ante, vi. (a) Vol. ii. 102. (*) Vol. iv. 



(c) Vol. ii. 368. (rf) Vol.iii. p. 31. 



