40 BACON 



pointing out and the delineation of the direct way to the com- 

 pletion of the object in view. For " claudus in via antevertit 

 cursorem extra viam " ; and Solomon appositely says : " If the 

 iron is not pointed, greater strength is to be used ; "a so what 

 really prevaileth over everything is wisdom, by which he insinu- 

 ates that a wise selection of means leads us more directly to our 

 object than a straining or accumulation of strength. Without 

 wishing to derogate from the merit of those who in any way 

 have advanced learning, this much I have been led to say, from 

 perceiving that their works and acts have tended rather to the 

 glory of their name than the progression or proficiency of the 

 sciences to augment the man of learning in the minds of 

 philosophers, rather than reform or elevate the sciences them- 

 selves. 



The institutions which relate to the extension of letters are 

 threefold, viz., schools and universities, books, and professors. 

 For as water, whether of the dew of heaven or spring of the 

 earth, would speedily lose itself in the ground unless collected 

 into conduits and cisterns, so it seemeth this excellent liquor of 

 knowledge, whether it descend from Divine inspiration or 

 spring from human sense, would soon hide itself in oblivion, 

 unless collected in books, traditions, academies, and schools, 

 it might find a permanent seat, and a fructifying union of 

 strength. 



The works which concern the seats of learning are four 

 buildings, endowments, privileges, and charters, which all pro- 

 mote quietness and seclusion, freedom from cares and anxieties. 

 Such stations resemble those which Virgil prescribes for bee- 

 hiving: 



" Principio sedes apibus, statioque petenda 

 Quo neque sit ventis aditus." * 



The works which relate to books are two first, libraries, 

 which are as the shrines where the bones of old saints full of 

 virtue lie buried ; secondly, new editions of writers, with cor- 

 recter impressions, more faultless versions, more useful com- 

 mentaries, and more learned annotations. 



Finally, the works which pertain to the persons of the learned 

 are, besides the general patronage which ought to be extended 

 to them, twofold. The foundation of professorships in sciences 

 already extant, and in those not yet begun or imperfectly elab- 

 orated. 



