FRANCIS Lord V E KV L AM 

 His great Inftauration. 



The PREFACE. 



Of the State of Learning , that 'it is not Profpe- 

 rous, nor greatly AdvSinccd'j and that a far dif- 

 ferent way J than hatj^ been l^own to former Ages^ 

 must he opened , to man's VnderHanding ; and o- 

 ther Aids procured ; that the Mind may fra&ice 

 her orpn power the nature of things. 



[T fee ms tome, that men neither underftand 

 the Eftate they poflefs , nor their Abilities 

 to purchafe : but of the one to prefume 

 more i of the other, lefs, than indeed they 

 fhould. So it comes to pafs, that over-prizing 

 the Arts received, they make no farther Inquiry ; or un- 

 dervaluing themfelves, more than in equity they ought, 

 they expend their Abilities upon matters of flight confe- 

 qirence, never once making experiment of thofe things 

 which conduce to the fummof the butinefs. Wherefore, 

 Sciences alfo have , as it were, their Fatal Columus i being 

 men are not excited, either out of Defirc or Hope, to pe- 

 netrate farther. And feeing r/;^ Opinion of Wealth is one 

 of the cheif catifes'of Want 5 and that out of a confi- 

 dence of what we polTefs in prcfenr, true afllftances are 

 defpifed for the future , it is expedient, nay, altogether 

 neceflary, that the excefTive Reverence and Admiration 

 conceived of thofe Sciences , which hichcrto have been 

 found out, fliould in the Front and Entrance of this work, 

 fand that roundly and undiflemblingly ) by fome whol- 

 fomc premonition, be taken off, left their Copy and U- 

 lility be too miKh Magnified and Celebrated. For he that 



[E a] furveys 



