THE NOVUM ORGANUM. - 107 



lie speaks of, and that of the fragment which has been preserved part 

 was written before and part after ? a supposition probable enough in 

 itself, and by which at least one difficulty, which I shall mention 

 hereafter l , is effectually removed. 



As an additional reason for thinking that the idea of the Instau- 

 ratio Magna was of later date than that of a work on the Inter- 

 pretation of Nature, 1 may observe that the name Instauratio does 

 not occur in any of Bacon's letters earlier than 1609. The earliest 

 of his compositions in which it appears was probably the Partis In- 

 staurationis secundce Delineatio et Argumentum; but of this the date 

 cannot be fixed with any certainty ; and as Gruter is our only 

 authority for it, and the word Instauratio appears in the title only, 

 not in the body of the work, we cannot even be sure that it was ori- 

 ginally there. If Gruter found a manuscript headed " Partis secundae 

 Delineatio, &c.," and evidently referring to the parts of the Instaura- 

 tio Magna, he was likely enough to insert the word silently by way 

 of explanation. 



NOTE B. 



THE question is, how far, by what means, and with what motive, 

 Bacon at one time wished to keep his system secret. 



Let us first compare all the passages in which such an intention 

 appears to be intimated, or such a practice alluded to ; taking them in 

 chronological order, as far as our knowledge of the dates of his various 

 writings enables us to do so. These which follow are all that I have 

 been able to find. 



1. Valerius Terminus. Ch. 18. 



"That the discretion anciently observed, though, by the precedent 

 of many vain persons and deceivers abused, of publishing part and 

 reserving part to a private succession, and of publishing in such a 

 manner whereby it may not be to the taste or capacity of all, but 

 shall as it were single and adopt his reader, is not to be laid aside ; 

 both for the avoiding of abuse in the excluded, and the strengthening 

 of affection in the admitted." 



And again (Ch. 11.), "To ascend further by scale I do forbear, 

 partly because it would draw on the example to an over-great length, 

 but chiefly because it would open that which in this work I determine 

 to reserve." 



2. Advancement of Learning. 



" And as Alexander Borgia was wont to say of the expedition of 

 the French for Naples, that they came with chalk in their hands to 



1 See my note at the end of Mr. Ellis's Preface to the Valerius Terminus. 



