ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 101 



ing and arts flourished, in what ages, and what parts of 

 the world; 2, their antiquities, progress, and travels on 

 the globe; 3, their decline, disappearance, and restora 

 tion. In each art should be observed, 4, its origin and 

 occasion of invention; 5, the manner and form of its de 

 livery; and 6, the means of its introduction, exercise, and 

 establishment. Add to these, 7, the most famous sects 

 and controversies of learned men; 8, the calumnies they 

 suffered, and the praises and honors they received; 9, all 

 along let the best authors and books be noted; with 10, 

 the schools, successions, academies, societies, colleges, or 

 ders, and whatever regards the state of learning: but 11, 

 principally let events be throughout coupled with their 

 causes (which is the soul, as it were, of civil history), in 

 relating the nature of countries and people, and 12, their 

 disposition and indisposition to different kinds of learning; 

 13, the accidents of time, whether favorable or destructive 

 to the sciences; 14, the zeal and mixture of religion; 15, 

 the severity and lenity of laws; 16, the remarkable patron 

 age, efforts, and endowments of illustrious men, for the pro 

 motion of learning and the like. All which we would 

 have handled, not in the manner of critics, who barely 

 praise and censure; but historically, or in the way of a . 

 naked delivery of facts, with but a sparing use of private 

 judgment. 



For the manner of writing this history, we particularly 

 advise the materials of it to be drawn, not only from his 

 tories and critical works, but also that the principal books 

 of every century be regularly consulted downward; so far 

 we mean, as that a taste may be had, or a judgment formed, 

 of the subject, style, and method thereof; whence the literary 

 genius of every age may at pleasure be raised, as it were, 

 from the dead. 



The use and end of this work is not to derive honor 

 and pomp to learning, nor to gratify an eager curiosity and 

 fondness of knowing and preserving whatever may relate 

 thereto; but chiefly to make learned men wise, in the pru- 



