5 o Of the Advancement of Learning, L i b . II. 



(eat of Learning. HiHory is referred to Memory , Toefie to the Imagi' 

 nation, Vhilofophy to Reafon. By Poe(ie, in this place, we underftand no- 

 thing elfe, but feigned Hijiory, or Fables. As for Fcrfe, that is only a 

 ftile of expreffion, and pertains to the Art of Elocution , of which ia 

 due place. 



§ Hijiory is property of Individuals circumfcribed rpithin time and 

 place : for although Natural Hijiory feetn to be converfant about univer' 

 fat Natures , yet this (b falls out,becau(e of the promifcuous firailitude 

 in things Natural comprehended under one kind 5 fothat if you know 

 one, you know all of that fpecies. But if any where there be found 

 Individuals^which in their kind are either fingular , as the Sun and the 

 Moon ; or which do notably digrefs from their kind, as Mongers 5 thefe 

 are as aptly handled in Natural Hijiory, zs particular men are in Civil Hi- 

 ilory. All thefe are referred unto Memory, 



II. Poejie, in that fence we have expounded it,^ Uksvpife of Individu- 

 als, fancied to the fimilitude of thofe things tphich in true Hijiory are re- 

 corded, yet (b as often it exceeds meafure 3 and tho(e things which ia 

 Nature would never meet, nor come to pa(s , Poefie compoleth and ia- 

 troduceth at pleafure, even as Tainting doth : which indeed is the work 

 of the Imagination. 



III. Philofophy difmiffeth Individuals and comprehendeth.not the 6rft 

 Impreffions, but the abftradt Motions thereof, and converfaat in com- 

 pounding and dividing them according to the Law of Nature, and of 

 the things themfelves ; And this is wholly the ofiSce and operation of 

 Reafon. 



§ And that this Dijiribntion is truly made, he fliall eafily conceive 

 that hath recourfe to the Originals of Intelleftuals. Individuals only 

 ftrike the fenfe, which is the port or entrance of the underftanding,; 

 The Images or Impreffions of thofe Individuals accepted from thefenjcy 

 are fixt in the Memory, and at firft enter into it entire, in the fame man- 

 ner they were met : afterwards the nnderjianding ruminates upon them, 

 and refines them, which then it doth either meerly review , or in a 

 wanton delight counterfeit and re/ez^Zi/e 3 or by compounding and di- 

 viding digeft and endue them. So it is clearly raanifeft, that from thefe 

 three fountains of Memory , of Imagination and of Reafon , there are 

 thefe three Emanations, oi Hijiory, of Poefie, and of /'/ji/(2/^;'^75andthat 

 there can be no other nor no more ; for Hifiory and Experience^ we take 

 for one and the fame, as Ve do Philofophy and Sciences. 



§ Neither do we think any other Partition than this is requifite t6 

 Divine Learning. Indeed the informations of Oracle and of Senfe be 

 divers 3 both in the matter and manner of Conveying, but the fpirit 

 of Man is the fame, the Cells and Receptacles thereof the very fame. 

 For it comes to pafs here, as if divers Liquors, and that by divers Fun- 

 nels, fhouldSbe receiv'd into one and the fame veflcl. Wherefore Theo- 

 logy alfb confifls either of Sacred Hijiory , of Parables^ which are a kind 

 of Divine Poefie ; or of Precepts and Doctrines, as an eternal Phibfophy, 

 As for that part which feems fupernumerary, which is Prophecy, that is 

 a branch of Hijiory : however Divine Hiflory hath that prerogative over 

 Humane J that the Narration may be before the Faft as well after. 



CHAP, 



