416 PREFACE TO 



serve in lieu of the first part of the Instauration, and acquit my 

 promise in that part." 



But why, when Bacon determined to fit this work for that 

 part, did he not give it the proper title ? Curious as he always 

 was in the choice of names, why not call it " Partitions* Scien- 

 tiarum," which describes the proper business of the first part of 

 the Instauratio, instead of " De dignitate et augmentis Scien- 

 tiarum," which passes it by ? 



The answer, I think, is that he felt it would be inappropriate. 

 The form in which the De Augmentis was cast retained so 

 strong an impress of the original design out of which it grew, 

 a design truly and exactly described in the title, and having 

 no immediate reference to the ultimate plan of the Instauratio, 

 - that another title referring to another design would have 

 been manifestly unfit. When he wrote the Advancement of 

 Learning, he was already engaged upon a work concerning the 

 Interpretation of Nature, which (to judge from the fragments 

 and sketches that remain) was meant to begin at once where the 

 Novum Organum begins, without any preliminary review of the 

 existing condition of knowledge ; a work corresponding to that 

 which in the foregoing extract he calls " the Instauration," as 

 distinguished from the Advancement of Learning, which was to 

 serve as " a preparative or key " to it ; and the writing of a 

 book which should exhibit a complete and particular survey of 

 the state of knowledge then extant in the world was, I suspect, 

 a by-thought suggested by a particular'accident. 



However Bacon may have underrated the difficulties of the 

 reform which he proposed, he was well aware that it could 

 not be carried into effect by a private man. A private man 

 might suggest the course, and produce a specimen ; but the 

 execution of the work on a scale of adequate magnitude re- 

 quired the means and influence of a King or a Pope. Now it 

 happened, by a very singular accident, that while he was engaged 

 in considering and maturing his plan there succeeded to the 

 throne of England a man whose tastes and previous training 

 qualified him more than most other men to take an earnest, 

 active, and intelligent interest in it. James the First was a 

 man of peace by principle and inclination, of solid, various, and 

 extensive learning, and of great intellectual activity. It is 

 difficult even now to say why he might not have proved, in the 

 province of letters, a great governor. At that time, when his 



