THE PARASCEVE. 381 



observed in collecting it. He published it (somewhat out of its 

 proper place) in the same volume with the Novum Organum, in 

 order that, if possible, men might be set about the work at once ; of 

 such primary importance did he hold it to be. If you distrust my 

 translation, take it in his own English. In presenting the Novum 

 Organum to the King, after explaining the nature and objects of the 

 work and his reason for publishing it in an imperfect shape, he adds, 

 " There is another reason for my so doing ; which is to try whether 

 I can get help in one intended part of this work, namely the com- 

 piling of a natural and experimental history, which must be the main 

 foundation of a true and active philosophy" And again about a 

 week after, in reply to the King's gracious acknowledgement of the 

 book, " This comfortable beginning makes me hope further that 

 your Majesty will be aiding to me in setting men on work for the 

 collecting of a natural and experimental history, which is basis 

 totius negotii" And this was no after-thought, but an essential 

 feature of his design as he had conceived it at least sixteen years 

 before. There is extant a description of this proposed history, 

 which appears to have been written as early as 1604 ; and though 

 the only copy that I know of is in an imperfect and mutilated 

 manuscript, enough remains to show that in all its material features 

 it agreed exactly with the description set forth in the Parasceve. 



Now you know I am not going to discuss the merit of his plan. 

 It may (as I said) have been all a delusion. But grant it a delusion 



still it was a delusion under which he was actually labouring. If 

 every man of science that ever lived had considered it and pro- 

 nounced it puerile and ridiculous, still their unanimous verdict 

 could not, in the face of his own repeated and earnest declarations, 

 persuade me that it was not an essential part of Bacon's scheme ; 

 that it was not (in his perfect and rooted judgment) the one key to 

 the cipher in which the fortunes of the human race are locked up, 



the one thing with which all might be done ; without which 

 nothing. And this is all that is necessary for our present busi- 

 ness. For we are not discussing his philosophical capacity, but 

 his personal character and purposes as illustrated by the tenour of 

 his life. 



Such in 1847 were my reasons for rejecting as unsatisfactory 

 all the explanations I had then met with of the distinctive 

 peculiarity of the Baconian philosophy, and such the result of 

 my attempt to find a more satisfactory one for myself. 



In rejecting former explanations as unsatisfactory, Mr. Ellis, 

 it will be seen, concurs with me, and for much the same reason. 

 According to them "it becomes," he says, "impossible to 



