6i Of the Advancement of Learning. Lib. If. 



nslaudes contempfiMUS quam {andanda facere defcivitfius. Yet that will 

 Prov.io. not with us, \>XG)Vidi\cziQ Salomon s Judgment, The memory of the luji 

 is with BeKcdiSion , hut the name of the vptcked (Ijall pntrifie : The one 

 perpetually flourifhes; the other rnftantly departs into Oblivion, or 

 diUblves into an ill Odour. And therefore in that ftile and form of 

 fpeaking, which is very well brought in ufe, attributed to the Dead, 

 of Happy Memory ; of Pioui Memory '-, of Blejfed Memory ; we feera to 

 acknowledge that which Cicero alledgeth j borrowing it from Demo- 

 Rhenes, Bonam Famam propriam ejje pojfejjionem defunHorum j which 

 poffeffion I cannot but note that in our age it lyes much waft and neg- 

 . leaed. 



§ At concerning Relations it could be in truth, wifh'd, that there 

 were a greater diligence taken therein : For there is no Aftion more e- 

 minent, that hath not fome able Pen to attend it, which may take and 

 tranlcribe it. And becaufe it is a Quality not common to all men to 

 write a rerfe6i Hifiory to the life and Dignity thereof, (as may well 

 appear by the fmall number, even of mean Writers in that kind) yet if 

 particular Adions were but by a tolerable Pen reported, as they pals, 

 it might be hoped that in fome after Age, Writers might arife, that 

 might compile a FerfeCt Hifiory by the help and affiftance offuch Notes: 

 For fuch CoUedious might be as a Ntirfery Garden, whereby to Plant a 

 fair and ftately Garden, when time Qiould ferve. 



' Chap. VIII. 



The Partition of the Hifiory of Times, into Hifiory Vniverfat j 4ad Par* 

 ticular. The Advantages and Difadvantages of both, 



THE Hifiory of Times is either Vniverfalj or Particular : This cof»' 

 prehends the affairs of fome Kingdom 5 or State 5 or Nation : That, 

 the affairs of the whole world. Neither have there been wanting tho(e, 

 who would feem to have compofed a Hifiory oft he world, even from the 

 Birth thereof; prefenting a raifccllany of matter and compends o( Reports 

 for Hifiory. Others have been confident that they might comprize, as 

 in a Perfect Hifiory, the Afts of their own times, memorable through- 

 out the world , which was certainly a generous attempt, and of An- 

 gular u(e. For the aftions, and negotiations of men, are not (b divor- 

 ced through the divifion of Kingdoms, and Countries 5 but that they 

 have many coincident Conneftions : wherefore it is of great import to 

 behold the fates, and affairs deftinate to one age or time drawn, as it 

 were, and delineate in one Table. For it falls out that many writings not 

 to be defpifed (fuch as are they whereof we {pake before, Relations') 

 which perchance otherwife would periQij nor often come tothePrefs, 

 or at leaft the chief heads thereof might be incorporated into the body 

 offuch a General Hifiory, and by this means be fixed and preferved. 

 Yet notwithftandingifa man well weigh the matter, he fhall perceive 

 that the Laws of a Jufi Hifiory are Co fevere and ftrift, as they can hard- 

 ly be obferv'd in fuch a vaftnefs of Argument ; (b that the Majefty of 

 Wfiory is rather minifht, than amplified by the greatnefs of the Bulk. 



For 



