ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. CXXV11 



and he must also have forgotten his own nervous and 

 beautiful admonition, that &quot; the honest and just bounds of 

 observation by one person upon another extend no further 

 but to understand him sufficiently whereby not to give him 

 offence ; or whereby to be able to give him faithful coun 

 sel ; or whereby to stand upon reasonable guard and caution 

 with respect to a man s self: but to be speculative into 

 another man, to the end to know how to work him, or 

 wind him, or govern him, proceedeth from a heart that is 

 double and cloven, and not entire and ingenuous, which 

 as in friendship it is want of integrity, so towards princes 

 or superiors it is want of duty.&quot; 



If his work had been addressed to the philosophy of the Objections 

 country, instead of having confined his professional objec- n( j-l s 

 tions to divines and politicians, he would have explained tickms. 

 that, as our opinions always constitute our intellectual 

 and often our worldly wealth, prejudice is common to 

 us all, (a) and is particularly conspicuous amongst all 

 professional men with respect to the sciences which they 

 profess. () 



His objections to learning from the errors of learned Errors of 



men contain his observations upon the study of words ; 



J 7 



upon useless knowledge; and upon falsehood, called by 

 him delicate learning ; contentious learning; and fantastical 

 learning; all of them erroneously considered objections to 



usually in the houses of great persons, being little better than solemn para 

 sites. Neither is the modern dedication of books and writings, as to 

 patrons, to be commended : for that books, such as are worthy the name of 

 books, ought to have no patrons but truth and reason. And the ancient 

 custom was to dedicate them only to private and equal friends, or to entitle 

 the books with their names ; or if to kings and great persons, it was to some 

 such as the argument of the book was fit and proper for : but these and the 

 like courses may deserve rather reprehension than defence.&quot; 



(ft} See postea, under Novum Organum. 



