II.] ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. 237 



rules and discourses of policy and government there is due a reverent 

 and reserved handling. 



But, contrariwise, in the governors towards the governed, all 

 things ought, as far as the frailty of man pcrmittcth, to be manifest 

 and revealed. For so it is expressed in the Scriptures touching the 

 government of God, that this globe which sccmeth to us a dark and 

 shady body, is in the view of God as crystal, &quot; Et in conspectu scdis 

 tanquam marc vitrcum simile crystallo.&quot; So unto princes and states, 

 specially towards wise senates and councils, the natures and disposi 

 tions of the |x.ople, their conditions and necessities, their factions and 

 combinations, their animosities and discontents, ought to be, in regard 

 of the variety of their intelligences, the wisdom of their observations, 

 and the height of the station where they kept ccntincl, in great part 

 clear and transparent. Wherefore, considering that I write to a king 

 ihat is a master of this science, and is so well assisted, I think it decent 

 to pass over this part in silence, as willing to obtain the certificate 

 which one of the ancient philosophers aspired unto ; who being silent, 

 when others contended to make demonstration of their abilities by 

 speech, desired it might be certified for his part, &quot; that there was one 

 that knew how to &quot; hold his peace. 



Notwithstanding, for the more public part of government, which is 

 laws, I think good to note only one dcficiencc : which is, that all those 

 which have written of laws, have written cither as philosophers, or as 

 lawyers, and none as statesmen. As for the philosophers, they make 

 imaginary laws for imaginary commonwealths, and their discourses 

 arc as the stars, which give little light, because they are so high. For 

 the lawyers, they write according to the states where they live, what is 

 received law, and not what ought to be law ; for the wisdom of a law 

 maker is one, and of a lawyer is another. For there arc in nature 

 certain fountains of justice, whence all civil laws arc derived but as 

 streams : and like as waters do take tinctures and tastes from the soils 

 through which they run, so do civil laws vary according to the regions 

 and governments where they are planted, though they proceed from 

 the same fountains. Again, the wisdom of a law-maker consisteth 

 not only in a platform of justice, but in the application thereof ; taking 

 into consideration by what means laws may be made certain, and 

 what are the causes and remedies of the doubtfulness and inccrtainty 

 of la\v ; by what means law may be made apt and easy to be executed, 

 and what arc the impediments and remedies in the execution of laws ; 

 what influence laws touching private right of inenin and /////;// have 

 into the public state, and how they may be made apt and agreeable; 

 how laws are to be penned and delivered, whether in texts or in acts, 

 brief or large, with preambles or without ; how they arc to be pruned 

 and reformed from time to time, and what is the best means to keep 

 them from being too vast in volumes, or too full of multiplicity or 

 Crossness: how they are to be expounded, when upon causes emergent, 

 and judicially discussed : and when upon responses and conferences 

 touching general points or questions ; how they are to be pressed, 

 rigorously or tenderly ; how they are to be mitigated by equity and 



