II.] ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. \ 5 1 



trcscct :&quot; the one flourishcth, the other either consumcth to present 

 oblivion, or turncth to an ill odour. 



And therefore in that stile or addition, which is and hath been 

 long well received and brought in use, &quot;fclicis memoria?, piaz mcmoria?, 

 borne memoria?,&quot; we do acknowledge that which Cicero saith, borrow 

 ing it from Demosthenes, that &quot; bona fama propria posscssio dcs 

 functorum ;&quot; which possession I cannot but note, that in our time it 

 lieth much waste, and that therein there is a deticicncc. 



For Narrations and Relations of particular actions, there were also 

 to be wished a greater diligence therein ; common way, before we 

 come where the ways part, for there is no great action but hath some 

 good pen which attends it. 



And because it is an ability not common to write a good history, 

 as may well appear by the small number of them ; yet if particularity 

 of actions memorable were but tolerably reported as they pass, tho 

 compiling of a complete history of times might be the better expected, 

 when a writer should arise that were fit for it ; for the collection ol 

 such relations might be as a nursery garden, whereby to plant a fai; 

 and stately garden, when time should serve. 



There is yet another partition of history which Cornelius Tacitus 

 maketh, which is not to be forgotten, especially with that application 

 which heaccouplieth it withal, Annals and Jounui s: appropriating to 

 the former, matters of state ; and to the latter, acts and accidents of 

 a meaner nature. For giving but a touch to certain magnificent 

 buildings, he addeth, &quot; Cum ex dignitatc populi Romani repcrtum sit, 

 res illustrcs annalibus, talia diurnis urbis actis mandare.&quot; So as there 

 is a contemplative kind of heraldry, as well as civil. And as nothing 

 doth derogate from the dignity of a state more than confusion ol 

 degrees ; so it doth not a little embase the authority of an history, 

 to intermingle matters of triumph, or matters of ceremony, or matters 

 of novelty, with matters of state. But the use of a journal hath not 

 only been in the history of time, but likewise in the history of persons, 

 and chiefly of actions ; for princes in ancient time had, upon point of 

 honour and policy both, journals kept, what passed day by day : for 

 tve see the chronicle which was read before Ahasuerus, when he could 

 not take rest, contained matters of affairs indeed, but such as had 

 passed in his own time, and very lately before: but the journal of 

 Alexander s house expressed every small particularity even concerning 

 his person and court ; and it is yet an use well received in enterprises 

 memorable, as expeditions of war, navigations, and the like, to keep 

 , of that which passcth continually. 



I cannot likewise be ignorant of a form of writing, which some 

 grave and wise men have used, containing a scattered history of those 

 actions which they have thought worthy of memory, with politic dis 

 course and observation thereupon ; not incorporated into the history, 

 but separately, and as the more principal in their intention ; which 

 kind of ruminated history I think more fit to place amongst books 

 of policy, whereof we shall hereafter speak, than amongst books of 

 history : for it is the true office of history to represent the events 



