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of knowledge ; for some men covet knowledge out of a 

 natural curiosity and inquisitive temper j some to entertain 

 the mind with variety and delight ; some for ornament and 

 reputation ; some for victory and contention ; many for Incro 

 and a livelihood ; and hut few for employing the Divine gift 

 of reason to the use and henefit of mankind. Thus some 

 appear to seek in knowledge a couch for a searching spirit ; 

 othei-s, a walk for a wandering mind ; others, a tower of 

 state ; others, a fort, or commanding ground j and. others, a 

 shop for profit or sale, instead of a storehouse for the glory 

 of the Creator and the endowment of human life. But that 

 which must dignify and exalt knowledge is the more in- 

 timate and strict conjunction of contemplation and action ; 

 a conjunction like that of Saturn, the planet of rest and 

 contemplation ; and Jupiter, the planet of civil society and 

 action. But here, by use and action, we do not mean the 

 applying of knowledge to lucre, for that diverts the advance- 

 ment of knowledge, as the golden ball thrown before Atalanta, 

 which, while she stoops to take up, the race is hindered. 



**Declinat cursus, aurumque volubile tollit." — Ovid, Metam. x. 667. 



Nor do we mean, as was said of Socrates, to call philosophy 

 do^vn from heaven to converse upon eai-th :^ that is, to leave 

 natural philosophy behind, and apply knowledge only" to 

 morality and policy : but as both heaven and earth con- 

 tribute to the use and benefit of man, so the end ought to be, 

 from both philosophies, to separate and reject vain and empty 

 speculations, and preserve and increase all that is solid and 

 fruitful. 



We have now laid open by a kind of dissection the chief 

 of those peccant humours which have not only retarded 

 the advancement of learning, but tended to its traduce- 

 ment.b If we have cut too deeply, it must be rem en- 



• Cicero, Tiiscul. Quaest. v. c. 4. 



*» To this catalogue of errors incident to learned men may be added, 

 the frauds and impostures of which they are sometimes guilty, to the 

 Bcandal of learning. Thus plagiarism, piracy, falsification, interpola- 

 tion, castration, the publishing of spurious books, and the stealing of 

 manuscripts out of libraiies, have been frequent, especially among eccle- 

 siastical writers, and the Fratres Falsarii. For instances of this kind, 

 Bee Struvius ** De Doctis Impostoribus," Morhof in " Polyhist. de 

 Psendonyrais, Anonymis, &c.," Le Clerc's "ArsCritica," Cave's "Hiiv 



