74 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [bOOK U. 



them "water, we are naturally led to speak in this place of 

 the mean salaries apportioned to public lectureships, whether 

 in the sciences or the arts. For such offices being instituted 

 not for an ephemeral purpose, but for the constant transmis- 

 sion and extension of learning, it is of the utmost importance 

 that the men selected to fill them be learned and gifted. 

 But it is idle to expec^^ that the ablest scholars will employ 

 their whole energy and time in such functions unless the 

 reward be answerable to that competency which may be ex 

 pected from the practice of a profession. The sciences will 

 only flourish on the condition of David's military law, — that 

 those who remain with the baggage shall have equal part 

 with those who descend to the tiarht, otherwise the baoforaije 

 will be neglected. Lecturers being in like manner guardians 

 of the literary stores whence those who are engaged in active 

 service draw, it is but just that their labours should be 

 equally recompensed, otherwise the reward of the fathers of 

 the sciences not being sufficiently ample, the verse will be 

 realized, — 



" Et patrura invalid! referent jejunia nati."^ 

 The next deficiency we shall notice is, the want of philo- 

 sophical instruments, in crying up which we are aided by 

 the alchemists, who call upon men to sell their books, and to 

 build furnaces, rejecting Minerva and the Muses as barren 

 virgins, and relying upon Yulcan. To study natural phi- 

 losophy, physic, and many other sciences to advantage, 

 books are not the only essentials, — other instruments are 

 required ; nor has the munificence of men been altogether 

 wanting in their provisions. For spheres, globes, astrolabes, 

 maps, and the like, have been provided for the elucidation 

 of astronomy and cosmography; and many schools of medi- 

 cine are provided with gardens for the growth of simples, 

 and supplied with dead bodies for dissection. But these 

 concern only a few things. In general, however, there will 

 be no inroad made into the secrets of nature unless experi- 

 ments, be they of Vulcan or Daedalus, furnace, engine, or 

 any other kind, are allowed for ; and therefore as the secre- 

 taries and spies of princes and states bring in bills for intel- 

 ligence, so you must allow the spies and intelligences of 

 nature to bring in their bills, or else you will be ignorant of 

 • Virg. Georg. iii. 128. 



