THE MEDIEVAL MIND 93 



Nicholas IV. It is probable that Bacon was not 

 released till the death of Nicholas in 1292. In 

 that year he wrote a tract called Compendium 

 Theologicz, and we hear no more of the great Friar. 



Bacon, for all his change of outlook, accepted 

 most of the mediaeval attitude of mind. No man 

 can do more than advance a little way in front of 

 the ranks of that contemporary army of thought to 

 which, whether he will or no, he belongs. Bacon 

 accepted the absolute authority of Scripture, could 

 the pure text be recovered, and the entire frame 

 of dogmatic theology in which Christianity was pre- 

 sented to that age. A more hampering preconcep- 

 tion was his agreement with the scholastic view, 

 which in other ways he assails so vehemently, that 

 the end of all science and philosophy was to elucidate 

 and adorn their queen theology. Hence came the 

 confusion and inconsistencies which at every turn 

 are seen in his writings, mixed with originality and 

 insight far beyond his time, or, indeed, of the next 

 three centuries. Struggle as he might, he never 

 cast off the shackles of the theological mind ; it mars 

 his work, as the persecution of his Order marred 

 his life. 



It is one of the signs of Bacon's greatness that 

 he realized the importance of a study of mathematics 

 as a basis for other sciences. He tells us that mathe- 

 matics and optics, which he calls perspective, were 

 understood by Robert of Lincoln, and must underlie 

 other studies. Mathematical tables and instruments 

 are necessary, though costly and liable to destruction. 

 He points out the errors of the calendar, and calculates 

 that it had gained one day in excess for each 130 years. 



