TEMPORIS PARTUS MASCULUS. 11 



arises from their relation to a common subject, and 

 from their being both addressed to a disciple, or son. 



With regard to the date of composition, it will be 

 observed that my reasons for connecting the Temporis 

 Partus Masculus with the Valerius Terminus and pla- 

 cing it next in order to the Advancement of Learning, 

 apply only to the first chapter and the general design 

 as indicated in the title. The second chapter may, for 

 anything that appears, have been added at a much later 

 period. And I am myself much inclined to suspect 

 that it was not written before the summer of 1608. 



Its object is to explode the various philosophical 

 systems or theories which had been previously pro- 

 pounded ; being the first and principal part of the doc- 

 trine of the Idols of the Theatre, a part which, 

 though not directly noticed in the Advancement of 

 Learning, assumed soon after so prominent a place in 

 Bacon's scheme that he resolved to place it in the very- 

 front of his battle. " Itaque primus imponitur labor 

 (he says in the Partis Secundce Delineatio) ut omnis 

 ista militia theoriarum, quae tantas dedit pugnas, mit- 

 tatur ac relegetur." This primus labor is what he here 

 begins with. He goes over the same ground in another 

 paper entitled Redargutio Philosophiarum, and again in 

 the Novum Organum. And upon a comparison of the 

 three, there can be little doubt that this is the earliest. 

 But besides its being more crude, there is a specific 

 peculiarity in the style and manner of this piece which 

 requires explanation. All Bacon's other writings are 

 marked with the gentleness and modesty which are said 

 to have distinguished his demeanour and conversation, 

 and which were no doubt natural to him. In those 

 which deal with the errors of received opinions in phi- 



