ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. 



royal issue, worthy to continue and represent you for ever ; and whose 

 youthful and fruitful bed doth yet promise many the like renovations j 

 it is proper and agreeable to be conversant, not only in the transitory 

 parts of good government, but in those acts also which are in their 

 nature permanent and perpetual : amongst the which, if affection do 

 not transport me, there is not any more worthy, than the farther 

 endowment of the world with sound and fruitful knowledge. For why 

 should a few received authors stand up like Hercules s columns ; be 

 yond which there should be no sailing or discovering, since we have 

 so bright and benign a star as your majesty, to conduct and prosper 

 us? To return therefore where we left, it remaineth to consider of what 

 kind those acts are, which have been undertaken and performed by 

 kings and others, for the increase and advancement of learning, where 

 in 1 purpose to speak actively, without digressing or dilating. 



Let this ground therefore be laid, that all works are overcome by 

 amplitude of reward, by soundness of direction, and by the conjunction 

 of labours. The first multiplieth endeavour, the second prcventcth 

 error, and the third supplieth the frailty of man ; but the principal of 

 these is direction : for &quot; claudus in via antevertit cursorem extra 

 viam ;&quot; and Solomon excellently setteth it down, &quot; If the iron be not 

 sharp, it rcquircth more strength ; but wisdom is that which prevail- 

 eth : &quot; signifying, that the invention or election of the mean is more 

 effectual than any inforcement or accumulation of endeavours. This 

 I am induced to speak, for that, not derogating from the noble inten 

 tion of any that have been deservers towards the state of learning, I 

 do observe, nevertheless, that their works and acts are rather matters 

 of magnificence and memory, than of progression and proficience, 

 and tend rather to augment the mass of learning, in the multitude of 

 learned men, than to rectify or raise the sciences themselves. 



The works or acts of merit towards learning are conversant about 

 three objects : the places of learning, the books of learning, and the 

 persons of the learned. For as water, whether it be the dew of heaven, 

 or the springs of the earth, doth scatter and lose itself in the ground, 

 except it be collected into some receptacle, where it may by union com 

 fort and sustain itself; and for that cause the industry of man hath 

 made and framed spring-heads, conduits, cisterns, and pools, which 

 men have accustomed likewise to beautify and adorn with accomplish 

 ments of magnificence and state, as well as of use and necessity ; so 

 this excellent liquor of knowledge, whether it descend from divine 

 inspiration, or spring from human sense, would soon perish and vanish 

 to oblivion, if it were not preserved in books, traditions, conferences, 

 and places appointed ; as universities, colleges, and schools, for the 

 receipt and comforting of the same. 



The works which concern the seats and places of learning are 

 four : foundations and buildings, endowments with revenues, endow 

 ments with franchises and privileges, institutions and ordinances for 

 government ; all tending to quietness and privateness of life, and dis 

 charge of cares and troubles ; much like the stations which Virgil 

 prescribeth for the hiving of bees : 



