PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS OF LOUD BACON. 419 



It would be quite unnecessary to proceed any farther, in ac- 

 cumulating French authorities. The preceding deduction is 

 sufficient to establish, not only that there is no foundation what- 

 ever for the statement, that Bacon's writings were little known 

 in France previous to the publication of the Encyclopedic ; but 

 that they had, at a much earlier period, made an impression in 

 that country, greatly favourable to the progress of truth *. I 

 shall, therefore, go on to inquire, though in a cursory man- 

 ner, whether there are any similar proofs of equally early at- 

 tention having been paid to them, by the other lettered na- 

 tions of the Continent. 



Turning to Italy, we shall find, that there also, Bacon's philo- 

 sophical works had attracted considerable notice, even before 

 his death. It is evident from his correspondence with Father 

 Fulgentio, that the Venetian philosophers were extremely in- 

 quisitive about his publications f . His correspondence with 

 Father Baranzan proves, that the Novum Organumwas known, 

 and had found anxious readers, in the north of Italy, at a surpri- 



3 G 2 singly 



* D'Alembert, in his Preliminary Discourse, assumes, that Bacon's writings 

 remained long unheeded, and then exerts his ingenuity to show how this re- 

 sult was to be expected. " La scholastique qui dominoit de son temps, ne 

 pouvoit etre renversee que par des opinions hardies et nouvelles ; et il n'y a pas 

 apparence qu'un philosophe, qui se contente de dire, — Vvila le peu que vous avez 

 appris, void ce qu'il vous reste a chercher, soit destine a faire beaucoup de bruit par- 

 mi ses contemporains." But were not Bacon's opinions sufficiently bold, new, 

 and animating, to attract the notice of an age already disposed to innova- 

 tion ? Did he not proclaim in the most energetic terms, that the whole of the 

 antient systems and methods of philosophy must be abandoned as corrupt and 

 incapable ; that the true path to science had been delineated only by him ; and 

 that countless discoveries waited to reward those who should follow that path 

 with free minds and regulated perseverance ? 



" He tryM each art, reprovM each dull delay, 



Allur'd to brighter worlds, and led the way." 



f Tennison's Baconiana, p. 196, 197. 



