No More Learning

To this he said, "You have reason for to commend that excellent
institution of the Feast of the Family. And indeed we have experience
that those families that are partakers of the blessing of that feast do
flourish and prosper ever after in an extraordinary manner. But hear
me now, and I will tell you what I know. You shall understand that
there is not under the heavens so chaste a nation as this of Bensalem;
nor so free from all pollution or foulness. It is the virgin of the
world. I remember I have read in one of your European books, of an
holy hermit amongst you that desired to see the Spirit of Fornication;
and there appeared to him a little foul ugly Aethiop. But if he had
desired to see the Spirit of Chastity of Bensalem, it would have
appeared to him in the likeness of a fair beautiful Cherubim. For
there is nothing amongst mortal men more fair and admirable, than the
chaste minds of this people. Know therefore, that with them there are
no stews, no dissolute houses, no courtesans, nor anything of that
kind. Nay they wonder (with detestation) at you in Europe, which
permit such things. They say ye have put marriage out of office: for
marriage is ordained a remedy for unlawful concupiscence; and natural
concupiscence seemeth as a spar to marriage. But when men have at hand
a remedy more agreeable to their corrupt will, marriage is almost
expulsed. And therefore there are with you seen infinite men that
marry not, but chose rather a libertine and impure single life, than to
be yoked in marriage; and many that do marry, marry late, when the
prime and strength of their years is past. And when they do marry, what
is marriage to them but a very bargain; wherein is sought alliance, or
portion, or reputation, with some desire (almost indifferent) of issue;
and not the faithful nuptial union of man and wife, that was first
instituted. Neither is it possible that those that have cast away so
basely so much of their strength, should greatly esteem children,
(being of the same matter,) as chaste men do. So likewise during
marriage, is the case much amended, as it ought to be if those things
were tolerated only for necessity? No, but they remain still as a very
affront to marriage. The haunting of those dissolute places, or resort
to courtesans, are no more punished in married men than in bachelors.
And the depraved custom of change, and the delight in meretricious
embracements, (where sin is turned into art,) maketh marriage a dull
thing, and a kind of imposition or tax. They hear you defend these
things, as done to avoid greater evils; as advoutries, deflowering of
virgins, unnatural lust, and the like. But they say this is a
preposterous wisdom; and they call it Lot's offer, who to save his
guests from abusing, offered his daughters: nay they say farther that
there is little gained in this; for that the same vices and appetites
do still remain and abound; unlawful lust being like a furnace, that if
you stop the flames altogether, it will quench; but if you give it any
vent, it will rage. As for masculine love, they have no touch of it;
and yet there are not so faithful and inviolate friendships in the
world again as are there; and to speak generally, (as I said before,) I
have not read of any such chastity, in any people as theirs. And their
usual saying is, That whosoever is unchaste cannot reverence himself;
and they say, That the reverence of a man's self, is, next to religion,
the chiefest bridle of all vices. "

And when he had said this, the good Jew paused a little; whereupon I,
far more willing to hear him speak on than to speak myself, yet
thinking it decent that upon his pause of speech I should not be
altogether silent, said only this; "That I would say to him, as the
widow of Sarepta said to Elias; that he was come to bring to memory our
sins; and that I confess the righteousness of Bensalem was greater than
the righteousness of Europe. " At which speech he bowed his head, and
went on in this manner:

"They have also many wise and excellent laws touching marriage. They
allow no polygamy. They have ordained that none do intermarry or
contract, until a month be past from their first interview. Marriage
without consent of parents they do not make void, but they mulct it in
the inheritors: for the children of such marriages are not admitted to
inherit above a third part of their parents' inheritance. I have read
in a book of one of your men, of a Feigned Commonwealth, where the
married couple are permitted, before they contract, to see one another
naked. This they dislike; for they think it a scorn to give a refusal
after so familiar knowledge: but because of many hidden defects in men
and women's bodies, they have a more civil way; for they have near
every town a couple of pools, (which they call Adam and Eve's pools,)
where it is permitted to one of the friends of the men, and another of
the friends of the woman, to see them severally bathe naked. "

And as we were thus in conference, there came one that seemed to be a
messenger, in a rich huke, that spake with the Jew: whereupon he turned
to me and said; "You will pardon me, for I am commanded away in haste. "
The next morning he came to me again, joyful as it seemed, and said;
"There is word come to the Governor of the city, that one of the
Fathers of Salomon's House will be here this day seven-night: we have
seen none of them this dozen years. His coming is in state; but the
cause of his coming is secret. I will provide you and your fellows of
a good standing to see his entry. " I thanked him, and told him, I was
most glad of the news.

The day being come, he made his entry. He was a man of middle stature
and age, comely of person, and had an aspect as if he pitied men. He
was clothed in a robe of fine black cloth, with wide sleeves and a
cape. His under garment was of excellent white linen down to the foot,
girt with a girdle of the same; and a sindon or tippet of the same
about his neck. He had gloves, that were curious,'' and set with
stone; and shoes of peach-coloured velvet. His neck was bare to the
shoulders. His hat was like a helmet, or Spanish montera; and his
locks curled below it decently: they were of colour brown. His beard
was cut round, and of the same colour with his hair, somewhat lighter.
He was carried in a rich chariot without wheels, litter-wise; with two
horses at either end, richly trapped in blue velvet embroidered; and
two footmen on each side in the like attire. The chariot was all of
cedar, gilt, and adorned with crystal; save that the fore-end had
panels of sapphires, set in borders of gold; and the hinder-end the
like of emeralds of the Peru colour. There was also a sun of gold,
radiant, upon the top, in the midst; and on the top before, a small
cherub of gold, with wings displayed. The chariot was covered with
cloth of gold tissued upon blue. He had before him fifty attendants,
young men all, in white satin loose coats to the mid leg; and stockings
of white silk; and shoes of blue velvet; and hats of blue velvet; with
fine plumes of diverse colours, set round like hat-bands. Next before
the chariot, went two men, bare-headed, in linen garments down the
foot, girt, and shoes of blue velvet; who carried, the one a crosier,
the other a pastoral staff like a sheep-hook; neither of them of metal,
but the crosier of balm-wood, the pastoral staff of cedar. Horsemen he
had none, neither before nor behind his chariot: as it seemeth, to
avoid all tumult and trouble. Behind his chariot went all the officers
and principals of the companies of the city. He sat alone, upon
cushions of a kind of excellent plush, blue; and under his foot curious
carpets of silk of diverse colours, like the Persian, but far finer.
He held up his bare hand as he went, as blessing the people, but in
silence. The street was wonderfully well kept: so that there was never
any army had their men stand in better battle-array than the people
stood. The windows likewise were not crowded, but every one stood in
them as if they had been placed.

When the shew was past, the Jew said to me; "I shall not be able to
attend you as I would, in regard of some charge the city hath laid upon
me, for the entertaining of this great person. " Three days after the
Jew came to me again, and said; "Ye are happy men; for the Father of
Salomon's House taketh knowledge of your being here, and commanded me
to tell you that he will admit all your company to his presence, and
have private conference with one of you, that ye shall choose: and for
this hath appointed the next day after to-morrow. And because he
meaneth to give you his blessing, he hath appointed it in the forenoon. "

We came at our day and hour, and I was chosen by my fellows for the
private access. We found him in a fair chamber, richly hanged, and
carpeted under foot without any degrees to the state. He was set upon
a low Throne richly adorned, and a rich cloth of state over his head,
of blue satin embroidered. He was alone, save that he had two pages of
honour, on either hand one, finely attired in white. His under
garments were the like that we saw him wear in the chariot; but instead
of his gown, he had on him a mantle with a cape, of the same fine
black, fastened about him. When we came in, as we were taught, we
bowed low at our first entrance; and when we were come near his chair,
he stood up, holding forth his hand ungloved, and in posture of
blessing; and we every one of us stooped down, and kissed the hem of
his tippet. That done, the rest departed, and I remained. Then he
warned the pages forth of the room, and caused me to sit down beside
him, and spake to me thus in the Spanish tongue.

"God bless thee, my son; I will give thee the greatest jewel I have.
For I will impart unto thee, for the love of God and men, a relation of
the true state of Salomon's House. Son, to make you know the true
state of Salomon's House, I will keep this order. First, I will set
forth unto you the end of our foundation. Secondly, the preparations
and instruments we have for our works. Thirdly, the several
employments and functions whereto our fellows are assigned. And
fourthly, the ordinances and rites which we observe.

"The end of our foundation is the knowledge of causes, and secret
motions of things; and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to
the effecting of all things possible.

"The Preparations and Instruments are these. We have large and deep
caves of several depths: the deepest are sunk six hundred fathom: and
some of them are digged and made under great hills and mountains: so
that if you reckon together the depth of the hill and the depth of the
cave, they are (some of them) above three miles deep. For we find,
that the depth of a hill, and the depth of a cave from the flat, is the
same thing; both remote alike, from the sun and heaven's beams, and
from the open air. These caves we call the Lower Region; and we use
them for all coagulations, indurations, refrigerations, and
conservations of bodies. We use them likewise for the imitation of
natural mines; and the producing also of new artificial metals, by
compositions and materials which we use, and lay there for many years.
We use them also sometimes, (which may seem strange,) for curing of
some diseases, and for prolongation of life in some hermits that choose
to live there, well accommodated of all things necessary, and indeed
live very long; by whom also we learn many things.

"We have burials in several earths, where we put diverse cements, as
the Chineses do their porcellain. But we have them in greater variety,
and some of them more fine. We have also great variety of composts and
soils, for the making of the earth fruitful.

"We have high towers; the highest about half a mile in height; and some
of them likewise set upon high mountains; so that the vantage of the
hill with the tower is in the highest of them three miles at least. And
these places we call the Upper Region; accounting the air between the
high places and the low, as a Middle Region. We use these towers,
according to their several heights, and situations, for insolation,
refrigeration, conservation; and for the view of divers meteors; as
winds, rain, snow, hail; and some of the fiery meteors also. And upon
them, in some places, are dwellings of hermits, whom we visit
sometimes, and instruct what to observe.

"We have great lakes, both salt, and fresh; whereof we have use for the
fish and fowl. We use them also for burials of some natural bodies:
for we find a difference in things buried in earth or in air below the
earth, and things buried in water. We have also pools, of which some
do strain fresh water out of salt; and others by art do turn fresh
water into salt. We have also some rocks in the midst of the sea, and
some bays upon the shore for some works, wherein is required the air
and vapor of the sea. We have likewise violent streams and cataracts,
which serve us for many motions: and likewise engines for multiplying
and enforcing of winds, to set also on going diverse motions.

"We have also a number of artificial wells and fountains, made in
imitation of the natural sources and baths; as tincted upon vitriol,
sulphur, steel, brass, lead, nitre, and other minerals. And again we
have little wells for infusions of many things, where the waters take
the virtue quicker and better, than in vessels or basins. And amongst
them we have a water which we call Water of Paradise, being, by that we
do to it made very sovereign for health, and prolongation of life.

"We have also great and spacious houses where we imitate and
demonstrate meteors; as snow, hail, rain, some artificial rains of
bodies and not of water, thunders, lightnings; also generations of
bodies in air; as frogs, flies, and divers others.

"We have also certain chambers, which we call Chambers of Health, where
we qualify the air as we think good and proper for the cure of divers
diseases, and preservation of health.

"We have also fair and large baths, of several mixtures, for the cure
of diseases, and the restoring of man's body from arefaction: and
others for the confirming of it in strength of sinewes, vital parts,
and the very juice and substance of the body.

"We have also large and various orchards and gardens; wherein we do not
so much respect beauty, as variety of ground and soil, proper for
divers trees and herbs: and some very spacious, where trees and berries
are set whereof we make divers kinds of drinks, besides the vineyards.
In these we practise likewise all conclusions of grafting, and
inoculating as well of wild-trees as fruit-trees, which produceth many
effects. And we make (by art) in the same orchards and gardens, trees
and flowers to come earlier or later than their seasons; and to come up
and bear more speedily than by their natural course they do. We make
them also by art greater much than their nature; and their fruit
greater and sweeter and of differing taste, smell, colour, and figure,
from their nature. And many of them we so order, as they become of
medicinal use.

"We have also means to make divers plants rise by mixtures of earths
without seeds; and likewise to make divers new plants, differing from
the vulgar; and to make one tree or plant turn into another.

"We have also parks and enclosures of all sorts of beasts and birds
which we use not only for view or rareness, but likewise for
dissections and trials; that thereby we may take light what may be
wrought upon the body of man. Wherein we find many strange effects; as
continuing life in them, though divers parts, which you account vital,
be perished and taken forth; resuscitating of some that seem dead in
appearance; and the like. We try also all poisons and other medicines
upon them, as well of chirurgery, as physic. By art likewise, we make
them greater or taller than their kind is; and contrariwise dwarf them,
and stay their growth: we make them more fruitful and bearing than
their kind is; and contrariwise barren and not generative. Also we
make them differ in colour, shape, activity, many ways. We find means
to make commixtures and copulations of different kinds; which have
produced many new kinds, and them not barren, as the general opinion
is. We make a number of kinds of serpents, worms, flies, fishes, of
putrefaction; whereof some are advanced (in effect) to be perfect
creatures, like bests or birds; and have sexes, and do propagate.
Neither do we this by chance, but we know beforehand, of what matter
and commixture what kind of those creatures will arise.

"We have also particular pools, where we make trials upon fishes, as we
have said before of beasts and birds.

"We have also places for breed and generation of those kinds of worms
and flies which are of special use; such as are with you your
silk-worms and bees.

"I will not hold you long with recounting of our brewhouses,
bake-houses, and kitchens, where are made divers drinks, breads, and
meats, rare and of special effects. Wines we have of grapes; and
drinks of other juice of fruits, of grains, and of roots; and of
mixtures with honey, sugar, manna, and fruits dried, and decocted; Also
of the tears or woundings of trees; and of the pulp of canes. And these
drinks are of several ages, some to the age or last of forty years. We
have drinks also brewed with several herbs, and roots, and spices; yea
with several fleshes, and white-meats; whereof some of the drinks are
such, as they are in effect meat and drink both: so that divers,
especially in age, do desire to live with them, with little or no meat
or bread. And above all, we strive to have drink of extreme thin
parts, to insinuate into the body, and yet without all biting,
sharpness, or fretting; insomuch as some of them put upon the back of
your hand will, with a little stay, pass through to the palm, and yet
taste mild to the mouth. We have also waters which we ripen in that
fashion, as they become nourishing; so that they are indeed excellent
drink; and many will use no other. Breads we have of several grains,
roots, and kernels; yea and some of flesh and fish dried; with divers
kinds of leavenings and seasonings: so that some do extremely move
appetites; some do nourish so, as divers do live of them, without any
other meat; who live very long. So for meats, we have some of them so
beaten and made tender and mortified,' yet without all corrupting, as a
weak heat of the stomach will turn them into good chylus; as well as a
strong heat would meat otherwise prepared. We have some meats also and
breads and drinks, which taken by men enable them to fast long after;
and some other, that used make the very flesh of men's bodies sensibly'
more hard and tough and their strength far greater than otherwise it
would be.

"We have dispensatories, or shops of medicines. Wherein you may easily
think, if we have such variety of plants and living creatures more than
you have in Europe, (for we know what you have,) the simples, drugs,
and ingredients of medicines, must likewise be in so much the greater
variety. We have them likewise of divers ages, and long fermentations.
And for their preparations, we have not only all manner of exquisite
distillations and separations, and especially by gentle heats and
percolations through divers strainers, yea and substances; but also
exact forms of composition, whereby they incorporate almost, as they
were natural simples.

"We have also divers mechanical arts, which you have not; and stuffs
made by them; as papers, linen, silks, tissues; dainty works of
feathers of wonderful lustre; excellent dies, and, many others; and
shops likewise, as well for such as are not brought into vulgar use
amongst us as for those that are. For you must know that of the things
before recited, many of them are grown into use throughout the kingdom;
but yet, if they did flow from our invention, we have of them also for
patterns and principals.

"We have also furnaces of great diversities, and that keep great
diversity of heats; fierce and quick; strong and constant; soft and
mild; blown, quiet; dry, moist; and the like. But above all, we have
heats, in imitation of the Sun's and heavenly bodies' heats, that pass
divers inequalities, and (as it were) orbs, progresses, and returns,
whereby we produce admirable effects. Besides, we have heats of dungs;
and of bellies and maws of living creatures, and of their bloods and
bodies; and of hays and herbs laid up moist; of lime unquenched; and
such like. Instruments also which generate heat only by motion. And
farther, places for strong insulations; and again, places under the
earth, which by nature, or art, yield heat. These divers heats we use,
as the nature of the operation, which we intend, requireth.

"We have also perspective-houses, where we make demonstrations of all
lights and radiations; and of all colours: and out of things uncoloured
and transparent, we can represent unto you all several colours; not in
rain-bows, (as it is in gems, and prisms,) but of themselves single.
We represent also all multiplications of light, which we carry to great
distance, and make so sharp as to discern small points and lines. Also
all colourations of light; all delusions and deceits of the sight, in
figures, magnitudes, motions, colours all demonstrations of shadows.
We find also divers means, yet unknown to you, of producing of light
originally from divers bodies. We procure means of seeing objects afar
off; as in the heaven and remote places; and represent things near as
afar off; and things afar off as near; making feigned distances. We
have also helps for the sight, far above spectacles and glasses in use.
We have also glasses and means to see small and minute bodies perfectly
and distinctly; as the shapes and colours of small flies and worms,
grains and flaws in gems, which cannot otherwise be seen, observations
in urine and blood not otherwise to be seen. We make artificial
rain-bows, halo's, and circles about light. We represent also all
manner of reflexions, refractions, and multiplications of visual beams
of objects.

"We have also precious stones of all kinds, many of them of great
beauty, and to you unknown; crystals likewise; and glasses of divers
kinds; and amongst them some of metals vitrificated, and other
materials besides those of which you make glass. Also a number of
fossils, and imperfect minerals, which you have not. Likewise
loadstones of prodigious virtue; and other rare stones, both natural
and artificial.

"We have also sound-houses, where we practise and demonstrate all
sounds, and their generation. We have harmonies which you have not, of
quarter-sounds, and lesser slides of sounds. Divers instruments of
music likewise to you unknown, some sweeter than any you have, together
with bells and rings that are dainty and sweet. We represent small
sounds as great and deep; likewise great sounds extenuate and sharp; we
make divers tremblings and warblings of sounds, which in their original
are entire. We represent and imitate all articulate sounds and
letters, and the voices and notes of beasts and birds. We have certain
helps which set to the ear do further the hearing greatly. We have also
divers strange and artificial echoes, reflecting the voice many times,
and as it were tossing it: and some that give back the voice louder
than it came, some shriller, and some deeper; yea, some rendering the
voice differing in the letters or articulate sound from that they
receive. We have also means to convey sounds in trunks and pipes, in
strange lines and distances.

"We have also perfume-houses; wherewith we join also practices of
taste. We multiply smells, which may seem strange. We imitate smells,
making all smells to breathe outs of other mixtures than those that
give them. We make divers imitations of taste likewise, so that they
will deceive any man's taste. And in this house we contain also a
confiture-house; where we make all sweet-meats, dry and moist; and
divers pleasant wines, milks, broths, and sallets; in far greater
variety than you have.

"We have also engine-houses, where are prepared engines and instruments
for all sorts of motions. There we imitate and practise to make
swifter motions than any you have, either out of your muskets or any
engine that you have: and to make them and multiply them more easily,
and with small force, by wheels and other means: and to make them
stronger and more violent than yours are; exceeding your greatest
cannons and basilisks. We represent also ordnance and instruments of
war, and engines of all kinds: and likewise new mixtures and
compositions of gun-powder, wild-fires burning in water, and
unquenchable. Also fireworks of all variety both for pleasure and use.
We imitate also flights of birds; we have some degrees of flying in the
air. We have ships and boats for going under water, and brooking of
seas; also swimming-girdles and supporters. We have divers curious
clocks, and other like motions of return: and some perpetual motions.
We imitate also motions of living creatures, by images, of men, beasts,
birds, fishes, and serpents. We have also a great number of other
various motions, strange for equality, fineness, and subtilty.

"We have also a mathematical house, where are represented all
instruments, as well of geometry as astronomy, exquisitely made.

"We have also houses of deceits of the senses; where we represent all
manner of feats of juggling, false apparitions, impostures, and
illusions; and their fallacies. And surely you will easily believe
that we that have so many things truly natural which induce admiration,
could in a world of particulars deceive the senses, if we would
disguise those things and labour to make them seem more miraculous. But
we do hate all impostures, and lies; insomuch as we have severely
forbidden it to all our fellows, under pain of ignominy and fines, that
they do not show any natural work or thing, adorned or swelling; but
only pure as it is, and without all affectation of strangeness.

"These are (my son) the riches of Salomon's House.

"For the several employments and offices of our fellows; we have twelve
that sail into foreign countries, under the names of other nations,
(for our own we conceal); who bring us the books, and abstracts, and
patterns of experiments of all other parts. These we call Merchants of
Light.

"We have three that collect the experiments which are in all books.
These we call Depredators.

"We have three that collect the experiments of all mechanical arts; and
also of liberal sciences; and also of practices which are not brought
into arts. These we call Mystery-men.

"We have three that try new experiments, such as themselves think good.
These we call Pioneers or Miners.

"We have three that draw the experiments of the former four into titles
and tables, to give the better light for the drawing of observations
and axioms out of them. These we call Compilers.

"We have three that bend themselves, looking into the experiments of
their fellows, and cast about how to draw out of them things of use and
practise for man's life, and knowledge, as well for works as for plain
demonstration of causes, means of natural divinations, and the easy and
clear discovery of the virtues and parts of bodies. These we call
Dowry-men or Benefactors.

"Then after divers meetings and consults of our whole number, to
consider of the former labours and collections, we have three that take
care, out of them, to direct new experiments, of a higher light, more
penetrating into nature than the former. These we call Lamps.

"We have three others that do execute the experiments so directed, and
report them. These we call Inoculators.

"Lastly, we have three that raise the former discoveries by experiments
into greater observations, axioms, and aphorisms. These we call
Interpreters of Nature.

"We have also, as you must think, novices and apprentices, that the
succession of the former employed men do not fail; besides, a great
number of servants and attendants, men and women. And this we do also:
we have consultations, which of the inventions and experiences which we
have discovered shall be published, and which not: and take all an oath
of secrecy, for the concealing of those which we think fit to keep
secret: though some of those we do reveal sometimes to the state and
some not.

"For our ordinances and rites: we have two very long and fair
galleries: in one of these we place patterns and samples of all manner
of the more rare and excellent inventions in the other we place the
statues of all principal inventors. There we have the statue of your
Columbus, that discovered the West Indies: also the inventor of ships:
your monk that was the inventor of ordnance and of gunpowder: the
inventor of music: the inventor of letters: the inventor of printing:
the inventor of observations of astronomy: the inventor of works in
metal: the inventor of glass: the inventor of silk of the worm: the
inventor of wine: the inventor of corn and bread: the inventor of
sugars: and all these, by more certain tradition than you have. Then
have we divers inventors of our own, of excellent works; which since
you have not seen, it were too long to make descriptions of them; and
besides, in the right understanding of those descriptions you might
easily err. For upon every invention of value, we erect a statue to
the inventor, and give him a liberal and honourable reward. These
statues are some of brass; some of marble and touch-stone; some of
cedar and other special woods gilt and adorned; some of iron; some of
silver; some of gold.

"We have certain hymns and services, which we say daily, of Lord and
thanks to God for his marvellous works: and forms of prayers, imploring
his aid and blessing for the illumination of our labours, and the
turning of them into good and holy uses.
"Lastly, we have circuits or visits of divers principal cities of the
kingdom; where, as it cometh to pass, we do publish such new profitable
inventions as we think good. And we do also declare natural
divinations of diseases, plagues, swarms-of hurtful creatures,
scarcity, tempests, earthquakes, great inundations, comets, temperature
of the year, and divers other things; and we give counsel thereupon,
what the people shall do for the prevention and remedy of them. "

And when he had said this, he stood up; and I, as I had been taught,
kneeled down, and he laid his right hand upon my head, and said; "God
bless thee, my son; and God bless this relation, which I have made. I
give thee leave to publish it for the good of other nations; for we
here are in God's bosom, a land unknown. " And so he left me; having
assigned a value of about two thousand ducats, for a bounty to me and
my fellows. For they give great largesses where they come upon all
occasions.

[The rest was not perfected. ]




THE ESSAYS OR COUNSELS, CIVIL AND MORAL,

OF FRANCIS Ld. VERULAM VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS


By Francis Bacon


THE ESSAYS

Of Truth
Of Death
Of Unity in Religion
Of Revenge
Of Adversity
Of Simulation and Dissimulation
Of Parents and Children
Of Marriage and Single Life
Of Envy
Of Love
Of Great Place
Of Boldness
Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature
Of Nobility
Of Seditions and Troubles
Of Atheism
Of Superstition
Of Travel
Of Empire
Of Counsel
Of Delays
Of Cunning
Of Wisdom for a Man's Self
Of Innovations
Of Dispatch
Of Seeming Wise
Of Friendship
Of Expense
Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates
Of Regiment of Health
Of Suspicion
Of Discourse
Of Plantations
Of Riches
Of Prophecies
Of Ambition
Of Masques and Triumphs
Of Nature in Men
Of Custom and Education
Of Fortune
Of Usury
Of Youth and Age
Of Beauty
Of Deformity
Of Building
Of Gardens
Of Negotiating
Of Followers and Friends
Of Suitors
Of Studies
Of Faction
Of Ceremonies and Respects
Of Praise
Of Vain-glory
Of Honor and Reputation
Of Judicature
Of Anger
Of Vicissitude of Things
Of Fame


TO

THE RIGHT HONORABLE

MY VERY GOOD LORD

THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

HIS GRACE, LORD

HIGH ADMIRAL OF ENGLAND


EXCELLENT LORD:

SALOMON saies; A good Name is as a precious oyntment; And I assure my
selfe, such wil your Graces Name bee, with Posteritie. For your Fortune,
and Merit both, have been Eminent. And you have planted Things, that
are like to last. I doe now publish my Essayes; which, of all my other
workes, have beene most Currant: For that, as it seemes, they come home,
to Mens Businesse, and Bosomes. I have enlarged them, both in Number,
and Weight; So that they are indeed a New Worke. I thought it therefore
agreeable, to my Affection, and Obligation to your Grace, to prefix your
Name before them, both in English, and in Latine. For I doe conceive,
that the Latine Volume of them, (being in the Universall Language) may
last, as long as Bookes last. My Instauration, I dedicated to the King:
My Historie of Henry the Seventh, (which I have now also translated into
Latine) and my Portions of Naturall History, to the Prince: And these
I dedicate to your Grace; Being of the best Fruits, that by the good
Encrease, which God gives to my Pen and Labours, I could yeeld. God
leade your Grace by the Hand. Your Graces most Obliged and faithfull
Servant,

FR. ST. ALBAN





Of Truth


WHAT is truth? said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer.
Certainly there be, that delight in giddiness, and count it a bondage to
fix a belief; affecting free-will in thinking, as well as in acting. And
though the sects of philosophers of that kind be gone, yet there remain
certain discoursing wits, which are of the same veins, though there be
not so much blood in them, as was in those of the ancients. But it is
not only the difficulty and labor, which men take in finding out
of truth, nor again, that when it is found, it imposeth upon men's
thoughts, that doth bring lies in favor; but a natural, though corrupt
love, of the lie itself. One of the later school of the Grecians,
examineth the matter, and is at a stand, to think what should be in it,
that men should love lies; where neither they make for pleasure, as with
poets, nor for advantage, as with the merchant; but for the lie's sake.
But I cannot tell; this same truth, is a naked, and open day-light, that
doth not show the masks, and mummeries, and triumphs, of the world, half
so stately and daintily as candle-lights. Truth may perhaps come to the
price of a pearl, that showeth best by day; but it will not rise to the
price of a diamond, or carbuncle, that showeth best in varied lights.
A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure. Doth any man doubt, that if
there were taken out of men's minds, vain opinions, flattering hopes,
false valuations, imaginations as one would, and the like, but it would
leave the minds, of a number of men, poor shrunken things, full of
melancholy and indisposition, and unpleasing to themselves?

One of the fathers, in great severity, called poesy vinum daemonum,
because it fireth the imagination; and yet, it is but with the shadow of
a lie. But it is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the
lie that sinketh in, and settleth in it, that doth the hurt; such as we
spake of before. But howsoever these things are thus in men's depraved
judgments, and affections, yet truth, which only doth judge itself,
teacheth that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making, or wooing
of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the
belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of
human nature. The first creature of God, in the works of the days,
was the light of the sense; the last, was the light of reason; and his
sabbath work ever since, is the illumination of his Spirit. First he
breathed light, upon the face of the matter or chaos; then he breathed
light, into the face of man; and still he breatheth and inspireth light,
into the face of his chosen. The poet, that beautified the sect, that
was otherwise inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently well: It is a
pleasure, to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea;
a pleasure, to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle,
and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to the
standing upon the vantage ground of truth (a hill not to be commanded,
and where the air is always clear and serene), and to see the errors,
and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below; so always
that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling, or pride.
Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to have a man's mind move in
charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.

To pass from theological, and philosophical truth, to the truth of civil
business; it will be acknowledged, even by those that practise it not,
that clear, and round dealing, is the honor of man's nature; and that
mixture of falsehoods, is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which
may make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it. For these
winding, and crooked courses, are the goings of the serpent; which goeth
basely upon the belly, and not upon the feet. There is no vice, that
doth so cover a man with shame, as to be found false and perfidious. And
therefore Montaigne saith prettily, when he inquired the reason, why the
word of the lie should be such a disgrace, and such an odious charge?
Saith he, If it be well weighed, to say that a man lieth, is as much to
say, as that he is brave towards God, and a coward towards men. For a
lie faces God, and shrinks from man. Surely the wickedness of falsehood,
and breach of faith, cannot possibly be so highly expressed, as in
that it shall be the last peal, to call the judgments of God upon the
generations of men; it being foretold, that when Christ cometh, he shall
not find faith upon the earth.




Of Death


MEN fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural
fear in children, is increased with tales, so is the other. Certainly,
the contemplation of death, as the wages of sin, and passage to another
world, is holy and religious; but the fear of it, as a tribute due
unto nature, is weak. Yet in religious meditations, there is sometimes
mixture of vanity, and of superstition. You shall read, in some of the
friars' books of mortification, that a man should think with himself,
what the pain is, if he have but his finger's end pressed, or tortured,
and thereby imagine, what the pains of death are, when the whole body is
corrupted, and dissolved; when many times death passeth, with less
pain than the torture of a limb; for the most vital parts, are not the
quickest of sense. And by him that spake only as a philosopher, and
natural man, it was well said, Pompa mortis magis terret, quam mors
ipsa. Groans, and convulsions, and a discolored face, and friends
weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible.
It is worthy the observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man,
so weak, but it mates, and masters, the fear of death; and therefore,
death is no such terrible enemy, when a man hath so many attendants
about him, that can win the combat of him. Revenge triumphs over
death; love slights it; honor aspireth to it; grief flieth to it;
fear preoccupateth it; nay, we read, after Otho the emperor had slain
himself, pity (which is the tenderest of affections) provoked many to
die, out of mere compassion to their sovereign, and as the truest sort
of followers. Nay, Seneca adds niceness and satiety: Cogita quamdiu
eadem feceris; mori velle, non tantum fortis aut miser, sed etiam
fastidiosus potest. A man would die, though he were neither valiant, nor
miserable, only upon a weariness to do the same thing so oft, over and
over. It is no less worthy, to observe, how little alteration in good
spirits, the approaches of death make; for they appear to be the same
men, till the last instant. Augustus Caesar died in a compliment; Livia,
conjugii nostri memor, vive et vale. Tiberius in dissimulation; as
Tacitus saith of him, Jam Tiberium vires et corpus, non dissimulatio,
deserebant. Vespasian in a jest, sitting upon the stool; Ut puto deus
fio. Galba with a sentence; Feri, si ex re sit populi Romani; holding
forth his neck. Septimius Severus in despatch; Adeste si quid mihi
restat agendum. And the like. Certainly the Stoics bestowed too much
cost upon death, and by their great preparations, made it appear more
fearful. Better saith he, qui finem vitae extremum inter munera ponat
naturae. It is as natural to die, as to be born; and to a little infant,
perhaps, the one is as painful, as the other. He that dies in an earnest
pursuit, is like one that is wounded in hot blood; who, for the time,
scarce feels the hurt; and therefore a mind fixed, and bent upon
somewhat that is good, doth avert the dolors of death. But, above all,
believe it, the sweetest canticle is', Nunc dimittis; when a man hath
obtained worthy ends, and expectations. Death hath this also; that
it openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth envy. --Extinctus
amabitur idem.




Of Unity In Religion


RELIGION being the chief band of human society, it is a happy thing,
when itself is well contained within the true band of unity. The
quarrels, and divisions about religion, were evils unknown to the
heathen. The reason was, because the religion of the heathen, consisted
rather in rites and ceremonies, than in any constant belief. For you
may imagine, what kind of faith theirs was, when the chief doctors,
and fathers of their church, were the poets. But the true God hath this
attribute, that he is a jealous God; and therefore, his worship and
religion, will endure no mixture, nor partner. We shall therefore speak
a few words, concerning the unity of the church; what are the fruits
thereof; what the bounds; and what the means.

The fruits of unity (next unto the well pleasing of God, which is all
in all) are two: the one, towards those that are without the church,
the other, towards those that are within. For the former; it is certain,
that heresies, and schisms, are of all others the greatest scandals;
yea, more than corruption of manners. For as in the natural body, a
wound, or solution of continuity, is worse than a corrupt humor; so in
the spiritual. So that nothing, doth so much keep men out of the church,
and drive men out of the church, as breach of unity. And therefore,
whensoever it cometh to that pass, that one saith, Ecce in deserto,
another saith, Ecce in penetralibus; that is, when some men seek Christ,
in the conventicles of heretics, and others, in an outward face of a
church, that voice had need continually to sound in men's ears, Nolite
exire,--Go not out. The doctor of the Gentiles (the propriety of whose
vocation, drew him to have a special care of those without) saith, if
an heathen come in, and hear you speak with several tongues, will he not
say that you are mad? And certainly it is little better, when atheists,
and profane persons, do hear of so many discordant, and contrary
opinions in religion; it doth avert them from the church, and maketh
them, to sit down in the chair of the scorners. It is but a light thing,
to be vouched in so serious a matter, but yet it expresseth well the
deformity. There is a master of scoffing, that in his catalogue of books
of a feigned library, sets down this title of a book, The Morris-Dance
of Heretics. For indeed, every sect of them, hath a diverse posture, or
cringe by themselves, which cannot but move derision in worldlings, and
depraved politics, who are apt to contemn holy things.

As for the fruit towards those that are within; it is peace; which
containeth infinite blessings. It establisheth faith; it kindleth
charity; the outward peace of the church, distilleth into peace of
conscience; and it turneth the labors of writing, and reading of
controversies, into treaties of mortification and devotion.

Concerning the bounds of unity; the true placing of them, importeth
exceedingly. There appear to be two extremes. For to certain zealants,
all speech of pacification is odious. Is it peace, Jehu,? What hast
thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me. Peace is not the matter,
but following, and party. Contrariwise, certain Laodiceans, and lukewarm
persons, think they may accommodate points of religion, by middle way,
and taking part of both, and witty reconcilements; as if they would
make an arbitrament between God and man. Both these extremes are to be
avoided; which will be done, if the league of Christians, penned by our
Savior himself, were in two cross clauses thereof, soundly and plainly
expounded: He that is not with us, is against us; and again, He that is
not against us, is with us; that is, if the points fundamental and of
substance in religion, were truly discerned and distinguished, from
points not merely of faith, but of opinion, order, or good intention.
This is a thing may seem to many a matter trivial, and done already. But
if it were done less partially, it would be embraced more generally.

Of this I may give only this advice, according to my small model.
Men ought to take heed, of rending God's church, by two kinds of
controversies. The one is, when the matter of the point controverted,
is too small and light, not worth the heat and strife about it, kindled
only by contradiction. For, as it is noted, by one of the fathers,
Christ's coat indeed had no seam, but the church's vesture was of divers
colors; whereupon he saith, In veste varietas sit, scissura non sit;
they be two things, unity and uniformity. The other is, when the matter
of the point controverted, is great, but it is driven to an over-great
subtilty, and obscurity; so that it becometh a thing rather ingenious,
than substantial. A man that is of judgment and understanding, shall
sometimes hear ignorant men differ, and know well within himself, that
those which so differ, mean one thing, and yet they themselves would
never agree. And if it come so to pass, in that distance of judgment,
which is between man and man, shall we not think that God above, that
knows the heart, doth not discern that frail men, in some of their
contradictions, intend the same thing; and accepteth of both? The nature
of such controversies is excellently expressed, by St. Paul, in the
warning and precept, that he giveth concerning the same, Devita profanas
vocum novitates, et oppositiones falsi nominis scientiae. Men create
oppositions, which are not; and put them into new terms, so fixed,
as whereas the meaning ought to govern the term, the term in effect
governeth the meaning. There be also two false peaces, or unities: the
one, when the peace is grounded, but upon an implicit ignorance; for all
colors will agree in the dark: the other, when it is pieced up, upon
a direct admission of contraries, in fundamental points. For truth and
falsehood, in such things, are like the iron and clay, in the toes of
Nebuchadnezzar's image; they may cleave, but they will not incorporate.

Concerning the means of procuring unity; men must beware, that in the
procuring, or reuniting, of religious unity, they do not dissolve and
deface the laws of charity, and of human society. There be two swords
amongst Christians, the spiritual and temporal; and both have their due
office and place, in the maintenance of religion. But we may not take up
the third sword, which is Mahomet's sword, or like unto it; that is,
to propagate religion by wars, or by sanguinary persecutions to force
consciences; except it be in cases of overt scandal, blasphemy, or
intermixture of practice against the state; much less to nourish
seditions; to authorize conspiracies and rebellions; to put the sword
into the people's hands; and the like; tending to the subversion of all
government, which is the ordinance of God. For this is but to dash the
first table against the second; and so to consider men as Christians, as
we forget that they are men. Lucretius the poet, when he beheld the act
of Agamemnon, that could endure the sacrificing of his own daughter,
exclaimed: Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum.

What would he have said, if he had known of the massacre in France,
or the powder treason of England? He would have been seven times more
Epicure, and atheist, than he was. For as the temporal sword is to be
drawn with great circumspection in cases of religion; so it is a thing
monstrous to put it into the hands of the common people. Let that be
left unto the Anabaptists, and other furies. It was great blasphemy,
when the devil said, I will ascend, and be like the highest; but it is
greater blasphemy, to personate God, and bring him in saying, I will
descend, and be like the prince of darkness; and what is it better,
to make the cause of religion to descend, to the cruel and execrable
actions of murthering princes, butchery of people, and subversion of
states and governments? Surely this is to bring down the Holy Ghost,
instead of the likeness of a dove, in the shape of a vulture or raven;
and set, out of the bark of a Christian church, a flag of a bark of
pirates, and assassins. Therefore it is most necessary, that the church,
by doctrine and decree, princes by their sword, and all learnings, both
Christian and moral, as by their Mercury rod, do damn and send to hell
for ever, those facts and opinions tending to the support of the same;
as hath been already in good part done. Surely in counsels concerning
religion, that counsel of the apostle would be prefixed, Ira hominis non
implet justitiam Dei. And it was a notable observation of a wise father,
and no less ingenuously confessed; that those which held and persuaded
pressure of consciences, were commonly interested therein, themselves,
for their own ends.




Of Revenge


REVENGE is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to,
the more ought law to weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth
but offend the law; but the revenge of that wrong, putteth the law out
of office. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his
enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince's part
to pardon. And Solomon, I am sure, saith, It is the glory of a man, to
pass by an offence. That which is past is gone, and irrevocable; and
wise men have enough to do, with things present and to come; therefore
they do but trifle with themselves, that labor in past matters. There
is no man doth a wrong, for the wrong's sake; but thereby to purchase
himself profit, or pleasure, or honor, or the like. Therefore why should
I be angry with a man, for loving himself better than me? And if any man
should do wrong, merely out of ill-nature, why, yet it is but like the
thorn or briar, which prick and scratch, because they can do no other.
The most tolerable sort of revenge, is for those wrongs which there is
no law to remedy; but then let a man take heed, the revenge be such as
there is no law to punish; else a man's enemy is still before hand, and
it is two for one. Some, when they take revenge, are desirous, the
party should know, whence it cometh. This is the more generous. For the
delight seemeth to be, not so much in doing the hurt, as in making
the party repent. But base and crafty cowards, are like the arrow that
flieth in the dark. Cosmus, duke of Florence, had a desperate saying
against perfidious or neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were
unpardonable; You shall read (saith he) that we are commanded to forgive
our enemies; but you never read, that we are commanded to forgive our
friends. But yet the spirit of Job was in a better tune: Shall we (saith
he) take good at God's hands, and not be content to take evil also? And
so of friends in a proportion. This is certain, that a man that studieth
revenge, keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal, and do
well. Public revenges are for the most part fortunate; as that for the
death of Caesar; for the death of Pertinax; for the death of Henry the
Third of France; and many more. But in private revenges, it is not so.
Nay rather, vindictive persons live the life of witches; who, as they
are mischievous, so end they infortunate.




Of Adversity


IT WAS an high speech of Seneca (after the manner of the Stoics), that
the good things, which belong to prosperity, are to be wished; but the
good things, that belong to adversity, are to be admired. Bona rerum
secundarum optabilia; adversarum mirabilia. Certainly if miracles be the
command over nature, they appear most in adversity. It is yet a higher
speech of his, than the other (much too high for a heathen), It is true
greatness, to have in one the frailty of a man, and the security of
a God. Vere magnum habere fragilitatem hominis, securitatem Dei. This
would have done better in poesy, where transcendences are more allowed.
And the poets indeed have been busy with it; for it is in effect the
thing, which figured in that strange fiction of the ancient poets, which
seemeth not to be without mystery; nay, and to have some approach to the
state of a Christian; that Hercules, when he went to unbind Prometheus
(by whom human nature is represented), sailed the length of the great
ocean, in an earthen pot or pitcher; lively describing Christian
resolution, that saileth in the frail bark of the flesh, through the
waves of the world. But to speak in a mean. The virtue of prosperity,
is temperance; the virtue of adversity, is fortitude; which in morals
is the more heroical virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old
Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New; which carrieth the
greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of God's favor. Yet even
in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp, you shall hear as
many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath
labored more in describing the afflictions of Job, than the felicities
of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and
adversity is not without comforts and hopes. We see in needle-works and
embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work, upon a sad and
solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work, upon a lightsome
ground: judge therefore of the pleasure of the heart, by the pleasure
of the eye. Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when
they are incensed, or crushed: for prosperity doth best discover vice,
but adversity doth best discover virtue.




Of Simulation And Dissimulation


DISSIMULATION is but a faint kind of policy, or wisdom; for it asketh
a strong wit, and a strong heart, to know when to tell truth, and to
do it. Therefore it is the weaker sort of politics, that are the great
dissemblers.

Tacitus saith, Livia sorted well with the arts of her husband, and
dissimulation of her son; attributing arts or policy to Augustus,
and dissimulation to Tiberius. And again, when Mucianus encourageth
Vespasian, to take arms against Vitellius, he saith, We rise not against
the piercing judgment of Augustus, nor the extreme caution or closeness
of Tiberius. These properties, of arts or policy, and dissimulation
or closeness, are indeed habits and faculties several, and to be
distinguished. For if a man have that penetration of judgment, as he can
discern what things are to be laid open, and what to be secreted, and
what to be showed at half lights, and to whom and when (which indeed are
arts of state, and arts of life, as Tacitus well calleth them), to him,
a habit of dissimulation is a hinderance and a poorness. But if a man
cannot obtain to that judgment, then it is left to him generally, to
be close, and a dissembler. For where a man cannot choose, or vary in
particulars, there it is good to take the safest, and wariest way, in
general; like the going softly, by one that cannot well see. Certainly
the ablest men that ever were, have had all an openness, and frankness,
of dealing; and a name of certainty and veracity; but then they were
like horses well managed; for they could tell passing well, when to stop
or turn; and at such times, when they thought the case indeed required
dissimulation, if then they used it, it came to pass that the former
opinion, spread abroad, of their good faith and clearness of dealing,
made them almost invisible.

There be three degrees of this hiding and veiling of a man's self. The
first, closeness, reservation, and secrecy; when a man leaveth himself
without observation, or without hold to be taken, what he is. The
second, dissimulation, in the negative; when a man lets fall signs and
arguments, that he is not, that he is. And the third, simulation, in the
affirmative; when a man industriously and expressly feigns and pretends
to be, that he is not.

For the first of these, secrecy; it is indeed the virtue of a confessor.
And assuredly, the secret man heareth many confessions. For who will
open himself, to a blab or a babbler? But if a man be thought secret, it
inviteth discovery; as the more close air sucketh in the more open; and
as in confession, the revealing is not for worldly use, but for the ease
of a man's heart, so secret men come to the knowledge of many things
in that kind; while men rather discharge their minds, than impart their
minds. In few words, mysteries are due to secrecy. Besides (to say
truth) nakedness is uncomely, as well in mind as body; and it addeth no
small reverence, to men's manners and actions, if they be not altogether
open. As for talkers and futile persons, they are commonly vain and
credulous withal. For he that talketh what he knoweth, will also talk
what he knoweth not. Therefore set it down, that an habit of secrecy, is
both politic and moral. And in this part, it is good that a man's face
give his tongue leave to speak. For the discovery of a man' s self, by
the tracts of his countenance, is a great weakness and betraying; by how
much it is many times more marked, and believed, than a man's words.

For the second, which is dissimulation; it followeth many times upon
secrecy, by a necessity; so that he that will be secret, must be a
dissembler in some degree. For men are too cunning, to suffer a man to
keep an indifferent carriage between both, and to be secret, without
swaying the balance on either side. They will so beset a man with
questions, and draw him on, and pick it out of him, that, without an
absurd silence, he must show an inclination one way; or if he do not,
they will gather as much by his silence, as by his speech. As for
equivocations, or oraculous speeches, they cannot hold out long. So
that no man can be secret, except he give himself a little scope of
dissimulation; which is, as it were, but the skirts or train of secrecy.

But for the third degree, which is simulation, and false profession;
that I hold more culpable, and less politic; except it be in great and
rare matters. And therefore a general custom of simulation (which is
this last degree) is a vice, using either of a natural falseness or
fearfulness, or of a mind that hath some main faults, which because
a man must needs disguise, it maketh him practise simulation in other
things, lest his hand should be out of use.

The great advantages of simulation and dissimulation are three. First,
to lay asleep opposition, and to surprise. For where a man's intentions
are published, it is an alarum, to call up all that are against them.
The second is, to reserve to a man's self a fair retreat. For if a man
engage himself by a manifest declaration, he must go through or take a
fall. The third is, the better to discover the mind of another. For to
him that opens himself, men will hardly show themselves adverse; but
will fair let him go on, and turn their freedom of speech, to freedom of
thought. And therefore it is a good shrewd proverb of the Spaniard, Tell
a lie and find a troth. As if there were no way of discovery, but by
simulation. There be also three disadvantages, to set it even. The
first, that simulation and dissimulation commonly carry with them a show
of fearfulness, which in any business, doth spoil the feathers, of round
flying up to the mark. The second, that it puzzleth and perplexeth the
conceits of many, that perhaps would otherwise co-operate with him; and
makes a man walk almost alone, to his own ends. The third and greatest
is, that it depriveth a man of one of the most principal instruments for
action; which is trust and belief.