CXC1V LIFE OF BACON. 



The flattering illusion of good to result from the union 

 of contemplation and action would have been dissipated by 

 the admonition, that the life and faculties of man are so 



discovered the West Indies; also the inventor of ships; your monk, that 

 was the inventor of ordnance and of gunpowder ; the inventor of music ; 

 the inventor of letters ; the inventor of printing ; the inventor of observa 

 tions of astronomy ; the inventor of works in metal ; the inventor of glass ; 

 the inventor of silk of the worm; the inventor of wine; the inventor of corn 

 and bread ; the inventor of sugars ; and all these by more certain tradition 

 than you have. Then have we divers inventors of our own, of excellent 

 works, which since you have not seen, it were too long to make descrip 

 tions of them ; and besides, in the right understanding of those descriptions 

 you might easily err. For, upon every invention of value, we erect a 

 statue to the inventor, and give him a liberal and honourable reward. 

 These statues are some of brass ; some of marble and touchstone ; some of 

 cedar and other special woods gilt and adorned ; some of iron ; some of 

 silver; some of gold. 7 



&quot; For my part, I should think of a man who spent his time in such a 

 painful impartial search after truth a better friend to mankind than the 

 greatest statesman or hero, the advantage of whose labours is confined to a 

 little part of the world and a short space of time, whereas a ray of truth 

 may enlighten the whole world, and extend to future ages.&quot; 



Minute Philosopher. 



&quot; But to speak my mind freely on the subject of consequences, I am 

 not so scrupulous perhaps, in my regard to them, as many of my profession 

 are apt to be: my nature is frank and open, and warmly disposed, not 

 only to seek, but to speak what I take to be true, which disposition has 

 been greatly confirmed by the situation into which Providence has thrown 

 me. For I was never trained to pace in the trammels of the church, nor 

 tempted by the sweets of its preferment to sacrifice the philosophic freedom 

 of a studious to the servile restraints of an ambitious life : and from this 

 very circumstance, as often as I reflect upon it, I feel that comfort in my 

 own breast which no external honours can bestow. I persuade myself 

 that the life and faculties of man, at the best but short and limited, cannot 

 be employed more rationally or laudably than in the search of knowledge ; 

 and especially of that sort which relates to our duty and conduces to our 

 happiness. In these inquiries, therefore, wherever I perceive any glim 

 mering of truth before me, I readily pursue, and endeavour to trace it to 

 its source ; without any reserve or caution of pushing the discovery too far, 

 or opening too great a glare of it to the public. I look upon the discovery 

 of any thing which is true as a valuable acquisition to society ; which can- 



