PREFACE- 381 



d.iily habit and intercourse of life, has com^. prepossessed with corrupted 

 tlnctrineSj and filled with the vainest idols. The art of logic therefore 

 being (as we have mentioned), too late a precaution,' and in no way re- 

 medying the matter, has tended more to confirm errors, than to disclose 

 truth. Our only remaining hope and salvation is to begin the whole 

 labour of the mind again ; not leaving it to itself, but directing it per- 

 petually from the very first, and attaining our end as it were by mechani- 

 cal aid. If men, for instance, had attempted mechanical labours with 

 their hands alone, and without the power and aid of Instruments, as they 

 have not hesitated to carry on the labours of their understanding with 

 the unaided efforts of their mind, they would have been able to move 

 and overcome but little, though they had exerted their utmost and 

 united powers. And just to pause awhile on this comparison, and look 

 .nto it as a mirror ; let us ask, if any obelisk of a remarkable size were 

 perchance required to be moved, for the purpose of gracing a triumph 

 or any similar pageant, and men were to attempt it with their bare 

 hands, would not any sober spectator avow it to be an act of the 

 greatest madness ? And if they should increase the number of work- 

 men, and imagine that they could thus succeed, would he not think so 

 still more ? But if they chose to make a selection, and to remove the 

 weak, and only employ the strong and vigorous, thinking by this means, 

 at any rate, to achieve their object, would he not say that they were 

 more fondly deranged ? Nay, if not content with this, they were to 

 determine on consulting the athletic art, and were to give orders for all 

 to appear with their hands, arms, and muscles regularly oiled and pre- 

 pared, would ho not exclaim that they were taking pains to rave by 

 method and design ? Yet men are hurried on with the same senseless 

 energy and useless combination in intellectual matters, as long as they 

 expect great results either from the number and agreement, or the ex- 

 cellence and acuteness of their wits ; or even strengthen their minds 

 with logic, which may be considered as an athletic preparation, but yet 

 do not desist (if we rightly consider the matter) from applying their own 

 understandings merely with all this zeal and effort. Whilst nothing is 

 more clear, than that in every great work executed by the hand of man 

 without machines or implements, it is impossible for the strength of 

 individuals to be increased, or for that of the multitude to combine. 



Having premised so much, we lay down two points on which we 

 would admonish mankind, lest they should fail to see or to observe them. 

 The first of these is, that it is cur good fortune (as we consider it), for 

 the sake of extinguishing and removing contradiction and irritation of 

 mind, to leave the honour and reverence due to the ancients untouchetl 

 and undiminished, so that we can perform our intended work, and yet 

 enjoy the benefit of our respectful moderation. For if we should pro- 

 fess to offer something better than the ancients, and yet should pursue 



* Because it was idle to draw a logical conclusion from false princi- 

 ples, error being propagated as much by false premises, which logic does 

 Qot pretend to examine, as by illegitimate inference. Hence, as Bacon 

 eays farther on, men being easily led to confound legitimate infetenca 

 with truth, were confirmed in their errors by the very subtilty oi tbeii 

 geniui*. Kd, 



