NOTI; is is r,. 



which it is dedicated ; for as to any ability of mine, it cannot merit that 

 jree of approbation. For your caution for church-men and church-masters, 

 is for any impediment it might be to the applause and celebrity of my work, it 

 moveth me not ; but as it may hinder the fruit and good which may come of a 

 quiet and calm passage to the good port which it is bound, 1 hold it a just 

 respect ; so as to fetch a fair wind 1 go not too far about. But the truth is, 

 that I at all have no occasion to meet them in my way ; except it be as they 

 will needs confederate themselves with Aristotle, who, you know, is intempe- 

 rately magnified by the schoolmen ; and is also allied, as I take it, to the 

 Jesuits, by Faber, who was a companion of Loyola, and a great Aristotelian. 

 I send you at this time the only part which hath any harshness ; and yet I 

 framed to myself an opinion, that whosoever allowed well of that preface, 

 which you so much commend, will not dislike, or at least ought not to dislike, 

 this other speech of preparation ; for it is written out of the same spirit, and out 

 of the same necessity : nay, it doth more fully lay open that the question be 

 tween me and the ancients is not of the virtue of the race, but of the Tightness 

 of the way. And to speak truth, it is to the other but as palma to pugnus, part 

 of the same thing more large. You conceive aright, that in this and the other 

 you have commission to impart and communicate them to others according to 

 your discretion. Other matters I write not of. Myself am like the miller of 

 Granchester, that was wont to pray for peace amongst the willows ; for while 

 the winds blew, the wind-mills wrought, and the water-mill was less customed. 

 So I see that controversies of religion must hinder the advancement of sciences. 

 Let me conclude with my perpetual wish towards yourself, that the approbation 

 of yourself, by your own discreet and temperate carriage, may restore you to 

 your country, and your friends to your society. And so I commend you to 

 God s goodness. 



Gray s Inn, Oct. 10, 1609. 



And there is another letter, in which, to use his own words, it appears 

 &quot; how much his heart was upon it.&quot; 



To Mr. Mathew. 



Sir, I thank you for your last, and pray you to believe, &c. And I must 

 confess my desire to be, that my writings should not court the present time, or 

 some few places, in such sort as might make them either less general to persons, 

 or less permanent in future ages. As to the Instauration, your so full appro 

 bation thereof I read with much comfort, by how much more my heart is upon 

 it ; and by how much less I expected consent and concurrence in a matter so 

 obscure. Of this I can assure you, that though many things of great hope 

 decay with youth, and multitude of civil businesses is wont to diminish the 

 price, though not the delight of contemplations, yet the proceeding in that 

 work doth gain with me upon my aftection and desire, both by years and busi 

 nesses. And therefore I hope, even by this, that it is well pleasing to God, 

 from whom, and to whom all good moves. To him I most heartily commend 

 you. 



And in his address written in the year 1622, to &quot; An Advertisement touching 

 an Holy War, to the Right Reverend Father in God, Lancelot Andrews, Lord 

 Bishop of Winchester, and Counsellor of Estate, to his Majesty.&quot; After men 

 tioning the instances of Demosthenes, Cicero, and Seneca, &quot; All three persons 

 that had held chief place of authority in their countries ; all three ruined, not 

 by war, or by any other disaster, but by justice and sentence, as delinquents 

 and criminals,&quot; he says, &quot;These examples confirmed me much in a resolution 

 whereunto I was otherwise inclined, to spend my time wholly in writing; and 

 to put forth that poor talent, or half talent, or what it is, that God hath given 

 me, not as heretofore to particular exchanges, but to banks or mounts of perpe- 

 petuity, which will not break. Therefore having not long since set forth a part 

 of my Instauration, which is the work that in mine own judgment, si nunquam 

 fallit imago, I do most esteem ; I think to proceed in some new parti thereof. 

 And although I have received from many parts beyond the seas, testimonies 



VOL. xv. 17 



