THE PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS. 63 



the preface was written before the work itself was commenced ; 

 still if he had not thought it possible to make good what he 

 here proposes to do, he would have expressly said so. l 



In a letter to Fulgenzio, written probably when Bacon was 

 "dagli anni e da fortuna oppresso," he remarks that "these 

 things " (the instauration of the sciences) require some ages for 

 the ripening of them. But though he despaired of completing 

 his design himself, and even thought that some generations , 

 must pass before it received its consummation, yet he always * 

 regarded it as a thing which sooner or later would be effectually 

 accomplished, and which would thenceforth remain as a /crijfjia 

 h asl. His instauration of the sciences had a definite end, in 

 which when it was once attained it would finally acquiesce; 

 nor is there anything in his writings to countenance the assump- 

 tion which has been often made, that in his opinion the onward 

 progress of knowledge was to continue throughout all time. 

 On the contrary, the knowledge which man is capable of might,_ 

 he thought, be attained, not certainly at once, but within the 

 compass of no very long period. In this doubtless he erred ; 

 for knowledge must always continue to be imperfect, and 

 therefore in its best estate progressive. 



Bacon has been likened to the prophet who from Mount 

 Pisgah surveyed the Promised Land, but left it for others to 

 take possession of. Of this happy image perhaps part of the 

 felicity was not perceived by its author. For though Pisgah i 

 was a place of large prospect, yet still the Promised Land was a \ 

 land of definite extent and known boundaries, and moreover 

 it was certain that after no long time the chosen people would 

 be in possession of it all. And this agrees with what Bacon 

 promised to himself and to mankind from the instauration of 

 the sciences. 



A truer image of the progress of knowledge may be derived 

 from the symbol which, though on other grounds, Bacon him- 

 self adopted. Those who strive to increase our knowledge of 

 the outward universe may be said to put out upon an apparently 

 boundless sea : they dedicate themselves 



" To unpathed waters undreamed shores ; " 

 and though they have a good hope of success, yet they know 



1 The sixth part, containing the new philosophy itself, is spoken of at the end of 

 the Distributio as at least an inchoate work, which others must finish, but to which 

 he hopes to give " initia non contemnenda." 



