the strict line he had originally marked out,
by inserting in the ten preceding chapters his
opinions on three abstruse subjects, Vacuum,
Motion, and Space, mainly in regard to their
spiritual significance. 'As these questions,'
he says,' are very perplexing and difficult, I
thought I would record what I had to say
about them in some one of my works. In the
Opus Majus and Opus Minus I had not studied
them sufficiently to prevail on myself to
commit my thoughts about them to writing;
and I was glad to omit them, owing to the
length of those works, and because I was
much hurried in their composition.' From the
fifty-second chapter to the close of the volume
he adheres to his subject without further digression,
but with so much vigor of thought
and freshness of observations, that, like the
Opus Minus, the Opus Tertium may be fairly
considered an independent work."--pp.
xliv-xlv.[13]
The details which Bacon gives of his personal history are of special
interest as throwing light upon the habits of life of a scholar in the
thirteenth century. Their autobiographic charm is increased by their
novelty, for they give a view of ways of life of which but few
particulars have been handed down.
Excusing himself for the delay which had occurred, after the reception
of the Pope's letter, before the transmission of the writings he had
desired, Bacon says that he was strictly prohibited by a rule of his
Order from communicating to others any writing made by one of its
members, under penalty of loss of the book, and a diet for many days of
bread and water. Moreover, a fair copy could not be made, supposing that
he succeeded in writing, except by scribes outside of the Order; and
they might transcribe either for themselves or others, and through their
dishonesty it very often happened that books were divulged at Paris.
"Then other far greater causes of delay occurred, on account of which I
was often ready to despair; and a hundred times I thought to give up the
work I had undertaken; and, had it not been for reverence for the Vicar
of the only Saviour, and [regard to] the profit to the world to be
secured through him alone, I would not have proceeded, against these
hindrances, with this affair, for all those who are in the Church of
Christ, however much they might have prayed and urged me. The first
hindrance was from those who were set over me, to whom you had written
nothing in my favor, and who, since I could not reveal your secret
[commission] to them, being bound not to do so by your command of
secrecy, urged me with unutterable violence, and with other means, to
obey their will. But I resisted, on account of the bond of your precept,
which obliged me to your work, in spite of every mandate of my
superiors....
"But I met also with another hindrance, which was enough to put a stop
to the whole matter, and this was the want of [means to meet] the
expense. For I was obliged to pay out in this business more than sixty
livres of Paris,[14] the account and reckoning of which I will set forth
in their place hereafter. I do not wonder, indeed, that you did not
think of these expenses, because, sitting at the top of the world, you
have to think of so great and so many things that no one can estimate
the cares of your mind. But the messengers who carried your letters were
careless in not making mention to you of these expenses; and they were
unwilling to expend a single penny, even though I told them that I would
write to you an account of the expenses, and that to every one of them
should be returned what was his. I truly have no money, as you know, nor
can I have it, nor consequently can I borrow, since I have nothing
wherewith to repay. I sent then to my rich brother, in my country, who,
belonging to the party of the king, was exiled with my mother and my
brothers and the whole family, and oftentimes being taken by the enemy
redeemed himself with money, so that thus being ruined and
impoverished, he could not assist me, nor even to this day have I had an
answer from him.
"Considering, then, the reverence due to you, and the nature of your
command, I solicited many and great people, the faces of some of whom
you know well, but not their minds; and I told them that a certain
affair of yours must he attended to by me in France, (but I did not
disclose to them what it was,) the performance of which required a large
sum of money. But how often I was deemed a cheat, how often repulsed,
how often put off with empty hope, how often confused in myself, I
cannot express. Even my friends did not believe me, because I could not
explain to them the affair; and hence I could not advance by this way.
In distress, therefore, beyond what can be imagined, I compelled
serving-men and poor to expend all that they had, to sell many things,
and to pawn others, often at usury; and I promised them that I would
write to you every part of the expenses, and would in good faith obtain
from you payment in full. And yet, on account of the poverty of these
persons, I many times gave up the work, and many times despaired and
neglected to proceed; and indeed, if I had known that you would not
attend to the settling of these accounts, I would not for the whole
world have gone on,--nay, rather, I would have gone to prison. Nor could
I send special messengers to you for the needed sum, because I had no
means. And I preferred to spend whatever I could procure in advancing
the business rather than in despatching a messenger to you. And also, on
account of the reverence due to you, I determined to make no report of
expenses before sending to you something which might please you, and by
ocular proof should give witness to its cost. On account, then, of all
these things, so great a delay has occurred in this matter."[15]
There is a touching simplicity in this account of the trials by which he
was beset, and it rises to dignity in connection with a sentence which
immediately follows, in which he says, the thought of "the advantage of
the world excited me, and the revival of knowledge, which now for many
ages has lain dead, vehemently urged me forward." Motives such as these
were truly needed to enable him to make head against such difficulties.
The work which he accomplished, remarkable as it is from its intrinsic
qualities, is also surprising from the rapidity with which it was
performed, in spite of the distractions and obstacles that attended it.
It would seem that in less than two years from the date of Clement's
letter, the three works composed in compliance with its demand were
despatched to the Pope. Bacon's diligence must have been as great as his
learning. In speaking, in another part of the "Opus Tertium," of the
insufficiency of the common modes of instruction, he gives incidentally
an account of his own devotion to study. "I have labored much," he says,
"on the sciences and languages; it is now forty years since I first
learned the alphabet, and I have always been studious; except two years
of these forty, I have been always engaged in study; and I have expended
much, [in learning,] as others generally do; but yet I am sure that
within a quarter of a year, or half a year, I could teach orally, to a
man eager and confident to learn, all that I know of the powers of the
sciences and languages; provided only that I had previously composed a
written compend. And yet it is known that no one else has worked so hard
or on so many sciences and tongues; for men used to wonder formerly that
I kept my life on account of my excessive labor, and ever since I have
been as studious as I was then, but I have not worked so hard, because,
through my practice in knowledge, it was not needful."[16] Again he
says, that in the twenty years in which he had specially labored in the
study of wisdom, neglecting the notions of the crowd, he had spent more
than two thousand pounds [livres] in the acquisition of secret books,
and for various experiments, instruments, tables, and other things, as
well as in seeking the friendship of learned men, and in instructing
assistants in languages, figures, the use of instruments and tables,
and many other things. But yet, though he had examined everything that
was necessary for the construction of a preliminary work to serve as a
guide to the wisdom of philosophy, though he knew how it was to be done,
with what aids, and what were the hindrances to it, still he could not
proceed with it, owing to the want of means. The cost of employing
proper persons in the work, the rarity and costliness of books, the
expense of instruments and of experiments, the need of infinite
parchment and many scribes for rough copies, all put it beyond his power
to accomplish. This was his excuse for the imperfection of the treatise
which he had sent to the Pope, and this was a work worthy to be
sustained by Papal aid.[17]
The enumeration by Bacon of the trials and difficulties of a scholar's
life at a time when the means of communicating knowledge were difficult,
when books were rare and to be obtained only at great cost, when the
knowledge of the ancient languages was most imperfect, and many of the
most precious works of ancient philosophy were not to be obtained or
were to be found only in imperfect and erroneous translations, depicts a
condition of things in vivid contrast to the present facilities for the
communication and acquisition of learning, and enables us in some degree
to estimate the drawbacks under which scholars prosecuted their studies
before the invention of printing. That with such impediments they were
able to effect so much is wonderful; and their claim on the gratitude
and respect of their successors is heightened by the arduous nature of
the difficulties with which they were forced to contend. The value of
their work receives a high estimate, when we consider the scanty means
with which it was performed.
Complaining of the want of books, Bacon says,--"The books on philosophy
by Aristotle and Avicenna, by Seneca and Tully and others, cannot be had
except at great cost, both because the chief of them are not translated
into Latin, and because of others not a copy is to be found in public
schools of learning or elsewhere. For instance, the most excellent books
of Tully De Republica are nowhere to be found, so far as I can hear, and
I have been eager in the search for them in various parts of the world
and with various agents. It is the same with many other of his books.
The books of Seneca also, the flowers of which I have copied out for
your Beatitude, I was never able to find till about the time of your
mandate, although I had been diligent in seeking for them for twenty
years and more."[18] Again, speaking of the corruption of translations,
so that they are often unintelligible, as is especially the case with
the books of Aristotle, he says that "there are not four Latins [that
is, Western scholars] who know the grammar of the Hebrews, the Greeks,
and the Arabians; for I am well acquainted with them, and have made
diligent inquiry both here and beyond the sea, and have labored much in
these things. There are many, indeed, who can speak Greek and Arabic and
Hebrew, but scarcely any who know the principles of the grammar so as to
teach it, for I have tried very many."[19]
In his treatise entitled "Compendium Studii Philosophiae," which is
printed in this volume for the first time, he adds in relation to this
subject,--"Teachers are not wanting, because there are Jews everywhere,
and their tongue is the same in substance with the Arabic and the
Chaldean, though they differ in mode.... Nor would it be much, for the
sake of the great advantage of learning Greek, to go to Italy, where the
clergy and the people in many places are purely Greek; moreover, bishops
and archbishops and rich men and elders might send thither for books,
and for one or for more persons who know Greek, as Lord Robert, the
sainted Bishop of Lincoln,[20] did indeed do,--and some of those [whom
he brought over] still survive in England."[21] The ignorance of the
most noted clerks and lecturers of his day is over and over again the
subject of Bacon's indignant remonstrance. They were utterly unable to
correct the mistakes with which the translations of ancient works were
full. "The text is in great part horribly corrupt in the copy of the
Vulgate at Paris, ...and as many readers as there are, so many
correctors, or rather corruptors, ...for every reader changes the text
according to his fancy."[22] Even those who professed to translate new
works of ancient learning were generally wholly unfit for the task.
Hermann the German knew nothing of science, and little of Arabic, from
which he professed to translate; but when he was in Spain, he kept
Saracens with him who did the main part of the translations that he
claimed. In like manner, Michael Scot asserted that he had made many
translations; but the truth was, that a certain Jew named Andrew worked
more than he upon them.[23] William Fleming was, however, the most
ignorant and most presuming of all.[24] "Certain I am that it were
better for the Latins that the wisdom of Aristotle had not been
translated, than to have it thus perverted and obscured, ...so that the
more men study it the less they know, as I have experienced with all who
have stuck to these books. Wherefore my Lord Robert of blessed memory
altogether neglected them, and proceeded by his own experiments, and
with other means, until he knew the things concerning which Aristotle
treats a hundred thousand times better than he could ever have learned
them from those perverse translations. And if I had power over these
translations of Aristotle, I would have every copy of them burned; for
to study them is only a loss of time and a cause of error and a
multiplication of ignorance beyond telling. And since the labors of
Aristotle are the foundation of all knowledge, no one can estimate the
injury done by means of these bad translations."[25]
Bacon had occasion for lamenting not only the character of the
translations in use, but also the fact that many of the most important
works of the ancients were not translated at all, and hence lay out of
the reach of all but the rare scholars, like himself and his friend
Grostête, who were able, through their acquaintance with the languages
in which they were written, to make use of them, provided manuscripts
could be found for reading. "We have few useful works on philosophy in
Latin. Aristotle composed a thousand volumes, as we read in his Life,
and of these we have but three of any notable size, namely,--on Logic,
Natural History, and Metaphysics; so that all the other scientific works
that he composed are wanting to the Latins, except some tractates and
small little books, and of these but very few. Of his Logic two of the
best books are deficient, which Hermann had in Arabic, but did not
venture to translate. One of them, indeed, he did translate, or caused
to be translated, but so ill that the translation is of no sort of value
and has never come into use. Aristotle wrote fifty excellent books about
Animals, as Pliny says in the eighth book of his Natural History, and I
have seen them in Greek, and of these the Latins have only nineteen
wretchedly imperfect little books. Of his Metaphysics the Latins read
only the ten books which they have, while there are many more; and of
these ten which they read, many chapters are wanting in the translation,
and almost infinite lines. Indeed, the Latins have nothing worthy; and
therefore it is necessary that they should know the languages, for the
sake of translating those things that are deficient and needful. For,
moreover, of the works on secret sciences, in which the secrets and
marvels of Nature are explored, they have little except fragments here
and there, which scarcely suffice to excite the very wisest to study and
experiment and to inquire by themselves after those things which are
lacking to the dignity of wisdom; while the crowd of students are not
moved to any worthy undertaking, and grow so languid and asinine over
these ill translations, that they lose utterly their time and study and
expense. They are held, indeed, by appearances alone; for they do not
care what they know, but what they seem to know to the silly
multitude."[26]
These passages may serve to show something of the nature of those
external hindrances to knowledge with which Bacon himself had had to
strive, which he overcame, and which he set himself with all his force
to break down, that they might no longer obstruct the path of study.
What scholar, what lover of learning, can now picture to himself such
efforts without emotion,--without an almost oppressive sense of the
contrast between the wealth of his own opportunities and the penury of
the earlier scholar? On the shelves within reach of his hand lie the
accumulated riches of time. Compare our libraries, with their crowded
volumes of ancient and modern learning, with the bare cell of the
solitary Friar, in which, in a single small cupboard, are laid away a
few imperfect manuscripts, precious as a king's ransom, which it had
been the labor of years to collect. This very volume of his works, a
noble monument of patient labor, of careful investigation, of deep
thought, costs us but a trivial sum; while its author, in his poverty,
was scarcely able, without begging, to pay for the parchment upon which
he wrote it, as, uncheered by the anticipation that centuries after his
death men would prize the works he painfully accomplished, he leaned
against his empty desk, half-discouraged by the difficulties that beset
him. All honor to him! honor to the schoolmen of the Middle Ages! to the
men who kept the traditions of wisdom alive, who trimmed the wick of the
lamp of learning when its flame was flickering, and who, when its light
grew dim and seemed to be dying out, supplied it with oil hardly
squeezed by their own hands, drop by drop, from the scanty olives which
they had gathered from the eternal tree of Truth! In these later days
learning has become cheap. What sort of scholar must he now be, who
should be worthy to be put into comparison with the philosopher of the
thirteenth century?
The general scheme of Bacon's system of philosophy was at once simple
and comprehensive. The scope of his thought had a breadth uncommon in
his or in any time. In his view, the object of all philosophy and human
learning was to enable men to attain to the wisdom of God; and to this
end it was to be subservient absolutely, and relatively so far as
regarded the Church, the government of the state, the conversion of
infidels, and the repression of those who could not be converted. All
wisdom was included in the Sacred Scriptures, if properly understood and
explained. "I believe," said he, "that the perfection of philosophy is
to raise it to the state of a Christian law." Wisdom was the gift of
God, and as such it included the knowledge of all things in heaven and
earth, the knowledge of God himself, of the teachings of Christ, the
beauty of virtue, the honesty of laws, the eternal life of glory and of
punishment, the resurrection of the dead, and all things else.[27]
To this end all special sciences were ordained. All these, properly
speaking, were to be called speculative; and though they each might be
divided into two parts, the practical and the speculative, yet one
alone, the most noble and best of all, in respect to which there was no
comparison with the others, was in its own nature practical: this was
the science of morals, or moral philosophy. All the works of Art and
Nature are subservient to morals, and are of value only as they promote
it. They are as nothing without it; as the whole wisdom of philosophy is
as nothing without the wisdom of the Christian faith. This science of
morals has six principal divisions. The first of these is theological,
treating of the relations of man to God and to spiritual things; the
second is political, treating of public laws and the government of
states; the third is ethical, treating of virtue and vice; the fourth
treats of the revolutions of religious sects, and of the proofs of the
Christian faith.
"This is the best part of all philosophy." Experimental science and the
knowledge of languages come into use here. The fifth division is
hortatory, or of morals as applied to duty, and embraces the art of
rhetoric and other subsidiary arts. The sixth and final division treats
of the relations of morals to the execution of justice.[28] Under one
or other of these heads all special sciences and every branch of
learning are included.
Such, then, being the object and end of all learning, it is to be
considered in what manner and by what methods study is to be pursued, to
secure the attainment of truth. And here occurs one of the most
remarkable features of Bacon's system. It is in his distinct statement
of the prime importance of experiment as the only test of certainty in
the sciences. "However strong arguments may be, they do not give
certainty, apart from positive experience of a conclusion." "It is the
prerogative of experiment to test the noble conclusions of all sciences
which are drawn from arguments." All science is ancillary to it.[29] And
of all branches of learning, two are of chief importance: languages are
the first gate of wisdom; mathematics the second.[30] By means of
foreign tongues we gain the wisdom which men have collected in past
times and other countries; and without them the sciences are not to be
pursued, for the requisite books are wanting in the Latin tongue. Even
theology must fail without a knowledge of the original texts of the
Sacred Writings and of their earliest expositors. Mathematics are of
scarcely less importance; "for he who knows not mathematics cannot know
any other physical science,--what is more, cannot discover his own
ignorance or find its proper remedies." "The sciences cannot be known by
logical and sophistical arguments, such as are commonly used, but only
by mathematical demonstrations."[31] But this view of the essential
importance of these two studies did not prevent Bacon from rising to the
height from which he beheld the mutual importance and relations of all
knowledge. We do not know where to find a clearer statement of the
connection of the sciences than in the following words:--"All sciences
are connected, and support each other with mutual aid, as parts of the
same whole, of which each performs its work, not for itself alone, but
for the others as well: as the eye directs the whole body, and the foot
supports the whole; so that any part of knowledge taken from the rest is
like an eye torn out or a foot cut off."[32]
Such, then, in brief, appears to have been Bacon's general system of
philosophy. He has nowhere presented it in a compact form; and his style
of writing is often so corrupt, and his use of terms so inexact, that
any exposition of his views, exhibiting them in a methodical
arrangement, is liable to the charge of possessing a definiteness of
statement beyond that which his opinions had assumed in his own mind.
Still, the view that has now been given of his philosophy corresponds as
nearly as may be with the indications afforded by his works. The details
of his system present many points of peculiar interest. He was not
merely a theorist, with speculative views of a character far in advance
of those of the mass of contemporary schoolmen, but a practical
investigator as well, who by his experiments and discoveries pushed
forward the limits of knowledge, and a sound scholar who saw and
displayed to others the true means by which progress in learning was to
be secured. In this latter respect, no parts of his writings are more
remarkable than those in which he urges the importance of philological
and linguistic studies. His remarks on comparative grammar, on the
relations of languages, on the necessity of the study of original texts,
are distinguished by good sense, by extensive and (for the time) exact
scholarship, and by a breadth of view unparalleled, so far as we are
aware, by any other writer of his age. The treatise on the Greek
Grammar--which occupies a large portion of the incomplete "Compendium
Studii Philosophiae," and which is broken off in the middle by the
mutilation of the manuscript--contains, in addition to many curious
remarks illustrative of the learning of the period, much matter of
permanent interest to the student of language. The passages which we
have quoted in regard to the defects of the translations of Greek
authors show to how great a degree the study of Greek and other ancient
tongues had been neglected. Most of the scholars of the day contented
themselves with collecting the Greek words which they found interpreted
in the works of St. Augustine, St. Jerome, Origen, Martianus Capella,
Boëthius, and a few other later Latin authors; and were satisfied to use
these interpretations without investigation of their exactness, or
without understanding their meaning. Hugo of Saint Victor, (Dante's "Ugo
di Sanvittore è qui con elli,") one of the most illustrious of Bacon's
predecessors, translates, for instance, _mechanica_ by _adulterina_, as
if it came from the Latin _moecha_, and derives _economica_ from
_oequus_, showing that he, like most other Western scholars, was
ignorant even of the Greek letters.[33] Michael Scot, in respect to
whose translations Bacon speaks with merited contempt, exhibits the
grossest ignorance, in his version from the Arabic of Aristotle's
History of Animals, for example, a passage in which Aristotle speaks of
taming the wildest animals, and says, "Beneficio enim mitescunt, veluti
crocodilorum genus afficitur erga sacerdotem a quo enratur ut alantur,"
("They become mild with kind treatment, as crocodiles toward the priest
who provides them with food,") is thus unintelligibly rendered by him:
"Genus autem karoluoz et hirdon habet pacem lehhium et domesticatur cum
illo, quoniam cogitat de suo cibo." [34] Such a medley makes it certain
that he knew neither Greek nor Arabic, and was willing to compound a
third language, as obscure to his readers as the original was to him.
Bacon points out many instances of this kind; and it is against such
errors--errors so destructive to all learning--that he inveighs with the
full force of invective, and protests with irresistible arguments. His
acquirements in Greek and in Hebrew prove that he had devoted long labor
to the study of these languages, and that he understood them far better
than many scholars who made more pretence of learning. Nowhere are the
defects of the scholarship of the Middle Ages more pointedly and ably
exhibited than in what he has said of them.
But, although his knowledge in this field was of uncommon quality and
amount, it does not seem to have surpassed his acquisitions in science.
"I have attempted," he says in a striking passage, "with great
diligence, to attain certainty as to what is needful to be known
concerning the processes of alchemy and natural philosophy and
medicine.... And what I have written of the roots [of these sciences]
is, in my judgment, worth far more than all that the other natural
philosophers now alive suppose themselves to know; for in vain, without
these roots, do they seek for branches, flowers, and fruit. And here I
am boastful in words, but not in my soul; for I say this because I
grieve for the infinite error that now exists, and that I may urge you
[the Pope] to a consideration of the truth."[35] Again he says, in
regard to his treatise "De Perspectiva," or On Optics,--"Why should I
conceal the truth? I assert that there is no one among the Latin
scholars who could accomplish, in the space of a year, this work; no,
nor even in ten years."[36] In mathematics, in chemistry, in optics, in
mechanics, he was, if not superior, at least equal, to the best of his
contemporaries. His confidence in his own powers was the just result of
self-knowledge and self-respect. Natural genius, and the accumulations
of forty years of laborious study pursued with a method superior to that
which guided the studies of others, had set him at the head of the
learned men of his time; and he was great enough to know and to claim
his place. He had the self-devotion of enthusiasm, and its ready, but
dignified boldness, based upon the secure foundation of truth.
In spite of the very imperfect style in which he wrote, and the usually
clumsy and often careless construction of his sentences, his works
contain now and then noble thoughts expressed with simplicity and force.
"Natura est instrumentum Divinae operationis," might be taken as the
motto for his whole system of natural science. In speaking of the value
of words, he says,--"Sed considerare debemus quod verba habent maximam
potestatem, et omnia miracula facta a principio mundi fere facta sunt
per verba. Et opus animae rationalis praecipuum est verbum, et in quo
maxime delectatur." In the "Opus Tertium," at the point where he begins
to give an abstract of his "Opus Majus," he uses words which remind one
of the famous "Franciscus de Verulamio sic cogitavit." He
says,--"Cogitavi quod intellectus humanus habet magnam debilitationem ex
se.... Et ideo volui excludere errorum corde hominis impossible est
ipsum videre veritatem." This is strikingly similar to Lord Bacon's
"errores qui invaluerunt, quique in aeternum invalituri sunt, alii post
alios, si mens sibi permittatur." Such citations of passages remarkable
for thought or for expression might be indefinitely extended, but we
have space for only one more, in which the Friar attacks the vices of
the Roman court with an energy that brings to mind the invectives of the
greatest of his contemporaries. "Curia Romana, quae solebat et debet
regi sapientia Dei, nunc depravatur.... Laceratur enim illa sedes sacra
fraudibus et dolis injustorum. Pent justitia; pax omnis violatur;
infinita scandala suscitantur. Mores enim sequuntur ibidem
perversissimi; regnat superbia, ardet avaritia, invidia corrodit
singulos, luxuria diffamat totam illam curiam, gula in omnibus
dominatur." It was not the charge of magic alone that brought Roger
Bacon's works into discredit with the Church, and caused a nail to be
driven through their covers to keep the dangerous pages closed
tightly within.
There is no reason to doubt that Bacon's investigations led him to
discoveries of essential value, but which for the most part died with
him. His active and piercing intellect, which employed itself on the
most difficult subjects, which led him to the formation of a theory of
tides, and brought him to see the need and with prophetic anticipation
to point out the means of a reformation of the calendar, enabled him to
discover many of what were then called the Secrets of Nature. The
popular belief that he was the inventor of gunpowder had its origin in
two passages in his treatise "On the Secret Works of Art and Nature, and
on the Nullity of Magic,"[37] in one of which he describes some of its
qualities, while in the other he apparently conceals its composition
under an enigma.[38] He had made experiments with Greek fire and the
magnet; he had constructed burning-glasses, and lenses of various power;
and had practised with multiplying-mirrors, and with mirrors that
magnified and diminished. It was no wonder that a man who knew and
employed such wonderful things, who was known, too, to have sought for
artificial gold, should gain the reputation of a wizard, and that his
books should be looked upon with suspicion. As he himself says,--"Many
books are esteemed magic, which are not so, but contain the dignity of
knowledge." And he adds,--"For, as it is unworthy and unlawful for a
wise man to deal with magic, so it is superfluous and unnecessary."[39]
There is a passage in this treatise "On the Nullity of Magic" of
remarkable character, as exhibiting the achievements, or, if not the
actual achievements, the things esteemed possible by the inventors of
the thirteenth century. There is in it a seeming mixture of fancy and of
fact, of childish credulity with more than mere haphazard prophecy of
mechanical and physical results which have been so lately reached in the
progress of science as to be among new things even six centuries after
Bacon's death. Its positiveness of statement is puzzling, when tested by
what is known from other sources of the nature of the discoveries and
inventions of that early time; and were there reason to question Bacon's
truth, it would seem as if he had mistaken his dreams for facts. As it
stands, it is one of the most curious existing illustrations of the
state of physical science in the Middle Ages. It runs as follows:--"I
will now, in the first place, speak of some of the wonderful works of
Art and Nature, that I may afterwards assign the causes and methods of
them, in which there is nothing magical, so that it may be seen how
inferior and worthless all magic power is, in comparison with these
works. And first, according to the fashion and rule of Art alone. Thus,
machines can be made for navigation without men to row them; so that
ships of the largest size, whether on rivers or the sea, can be carried
forward, under the guidance of a single man, at greater speed than if
they were full of men [rowers]. In like manner, a car can be made which
will move, without the aid of any animal, with incalculable impetus;
such as we suppose the scythed chariots to have been which were
anciently used in battle. Also, machines for flying can be made, so that
a man may sit in the middle of the machine, turning an engine, by which
wings artificially disposed are made to beat the air after the manner of
a bird in flight. Also, an instrument, small in size, for raising and
depressing almost infinite weights, than which nothing on occasion is
more useful: for, with an instrument of three fingers in height, and of
the same width, and of smaller bulk, a man might deliver himself and his
companions from all danger of prison, and could rise or descend. Also,
an instrument might be easily made by which one man could draw to
himself a thousand men by force and against their will, and in like
manner draw other things. Instruments can be made for walking in the sea
or in rivers, even at the bottom, without bodily risk: for Alexander the
Great made use of this to see the secrets of the sea, as the Ethical
Astronomer relates. These things were made in ancient times, and are
made in our times, as is certain; except, perhaps, the machine for
flying, which I have not seen, nor have I known any one who had seen
it, but I know a wise man who thought to accomplish this device. And
almost an infinite number of such things can be made; as bridges across
rivers without piers or any supports, and machines and unheard-of
engines." Bacon goes on to speak of other wonders of Nature and Art, to
prove, that, to produce marvellous effects, it is not necessary to
aspire to the knowledge of magic, and ends this division of his subject
with words becoming a philosopher:--"Yet wise men are now ignorant of
many things which the common crowd of students [_vulgus studentium_]
will know in future times."[40]
It is much to be regretted that Roger Bacon does not appear to have
executed the second and more important part of his design, namely, "to
assign the causes and methods" of these wonderful works of Art and
Nature. Possibly he was unable to do so to his own satisfaction;
possibly he may upon further reflection have refrained from doing so,
deeming them mysteries not to be communicated to the vulgar;--"for he
who divulges mysteries diminishes the majesty of things; wherefore
Aristotle says that he should be the breaker of the heavenly seal, were
he to divulge the secret things of wisdom."[41] However this may have
been, we may safely doubt whether the inventions which he reports were
in fact the result of sound scientific knowledge, whether they had
indeed any real existence, or whether they were only the half-realized
and imperfect creations of the prophetic soul of the wide world dreaming
of things to come.
The matters of interest in the volume before us are by no means
exhausted, but we can proceed no farther in the examination of them, and
must refer those readers who desire to know more of its contents to the
volume itself. We can assure them that they will find it full of vivid
illustrations of the character of Bacon's time,--of the thoughts of men
at an epoch of which less is commonly known than of periods more
distant, but less connected by intellectual sympathy and moral relations
with our own. But the chief interest of Bacon's works lies in their
exhibition to us of himself, a man foremost in his own time in all
knowledge, endowed by Nature with a genius of peculiar force and
clearness of intuition, with a resolute energy that yielded to no
obstacles, with a combination so remarkable of the speculative and the
practical intellect as to place him in the ranks of the chief
philosophers to whom the progress of the world in learning and in
thought is due. They show him exposed to the trials which the men who
are in advance of their contemporaries are in every age called to meet,
and bearing these trials with a noble confidence in the final prevalence
of the truth,--using all his powers for the advantage of the world, and
regarding all science and learning of value only as they led to
acquaintance with the wisdom of God and the establishment of Christian
virtue. He himself gives us a picture of a scholar of his times, which
we may receive as a not unworthy portrait of himself. "He does not care
for discourses and disputes of words, but he pursues the works of
wisdom, and in them he finds rest. And what others dim-sighted strive to
see, like bats in twilight, he beholds in its full splendor, because he
is the master of experiments; and thus he knows natural things, and the
truths of medicine and alchemy, and the things of heaven as well as
those below. Nay, he is ashamed, if any common man, or old wife, or
soldier, or rustic in the country knows anything of which he is
ignorant. Wherefore he has searched out all the effects of the fusing of
metals, and whatever is effected with gold and silver and other metals
and all minerals; and whatever pertains to warfare and arms and the
chase he knows; and he has examined all that pertains to agriculture,
and the measuring of lands, and the labors of husbandmen; and he has
even considered the practices and the fortune-telling of old women, and
their songs, and all sorts of magic arts, and also the tricks and
devices of jugglers; so that nothing which ought to be known may lie hid
from him, and that he may as far as possible know how to reject all that
is false and magical. And he, as he is above price, so does he not value
himself at his worth. For, if he wished to dwell with kings and princes,
easily could he find those who would honor and enrich him; or, if he
would display at Paris what he knows through the works of wisdom, the
whole world would follow him. But, because in either of these ways he
would be impeded in the great pursuits of experimental philosophy, in
which he chiefly delights, he neglects all honor and wealth, though he
might, when he wished, enrich himself by his knowledge."
* * * * *
_Popular Music of the Olden Time_. A Collection of Ancient Songs,
Ballads, and Dance-Tunes, Illustrative of the National Music of England.
With Short Introductions to the Different Reigns, and Notices of the
Airs from Writers of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Also, a
Short Account of the Minstrels. By W. Chappel, F.S.A. The whole of the
Airs harmonized by G. A. McFarren. 2 vols. pp. 384, 439. London: Cramer,
Beale, & Chappell. New York: Webb & Allen.
In tracing the history of the English nation, no line of investigation
is more interesting, or shows more clearly the progress of civilization,
than the study of its early poetry and music. Sung alike in the royal
palaces and in the cottages and highways of the nation, the ballads and
songs reflect most accurately the manners and customs, and not a little
of the history of the people; while, as indicating the progress of
intellectual culture, the successive changes in language, and the steady
advance of the science of music, and of its handmaid, poetry, they
possess a value peculiarly their own.
The industry and learning of Percy, Warton, and Ritson have rendered a
thorough acquaintance with early English poetry comparatively easy;
while in the work whose comprehensive title heads this article the
research of Chappell presents to us all that is valuable of the "Popular
Music of the Olden Time," enriched by interesting incidents and
historical facts which render the volumes equally interesting to the
general reader and to the student in music. Chappell published his
collection of "National English Airs" about twenty years ago. Since that
time, he tells us in his preface, the increase of material has been so
great, that it has been advisable to rewrite the entire work, and to
change the title, so that the present edition has all the freshness of a
new publication, and contains more than one hundred and fifty
additional airs.
The opening chapters are devoted to a concise historical account of
English minstrelsy, from the earliest Saxon times to its gradual
extinction in the reigns of Edward IV. and Queen Elizabeth; and while
presenting in a condensed form all that is valuable in Percy and others,
the author has interwoven in the narrative much curious and interesting
matter derived from his own careful studies. Much of romantic interest
clusters around the history of the minstrels of England. They are
generally supposed to have been the successors of the ancient bards, who
from the earliest times were held in the highest veneration by nearly
all the people of Europe, whether of Celtic or Gothic origin. According
to Percy, "Their skill was considered as something divine; their persons
were deemed sacred; their attendance was solicited by kings; and they
were everywhere loaded with honors and rewards." Our Anglo-Saxon
ancestors, on their migration into Britain, retained their veneration
for poetry and song, and minstrels continued in high repute, until their
hold upon the people gradually yielded to the steady advance of
civilization, the influence of the printing-press, and the consequent
diffusion of knowledge. It is to be borne in mind that the name,
minstrel, was applied equally to those who sang, and accompanied their
voices with the harp, or some other instrument, and to those who were
skilled in instrumental music only. The harp was the favorite and indeed
the national instrument of the Britons, and its use has been traced as
far back as the first invasion of the country by the Saxons. By the laws
of Wales, no one could pretend to the character of a freeman or
gentleman, who did not possess or could not play upon a harp. Its use
was forbidden to slaves; and a harp could not be seized for debt, as the
simple fact of a person's being without one would reduce him to an
equality with a slave. Other instruments, however, were in use by the
early Anglo-Saxons, such as the Psaltery, the Fiddle, and the Pipe. The
minstrels, clad in a costume of their own, and singing to their quaint
tunes the exploits of past heroes or the simple love-songs of the times,
were the favorites of royalty, and often, and perhaps usually, some of
the better class held stations at court; and under the reigns of Henry
I. and II., Richard I., and John, minstrelsy flourished greatly, and the
services of the minstrels were often rated higher than those of the
clergy. These musicians seem to have had easy access to all places and
persons, and often received valuable grants from the king, until, in the
reign of Edward II., (1315,) such privileges were claimed by them, that
a royal edict became necessary to prevent impositions and abuses.
In the fourteenth century music was an almost universal accomplishment,
and we learn from Chaucer, in whose poetry much can be learned of the
music of his time, that country-squires could sing and play the lute,
and even "songes make and well indite." From the same source it appears
that then, as now, one of the favorite accomplishments of a young lady
was to sing well, and that her prospects for marriage were in proportion
to her proficiency in this art. In those days the bass-viol
(_viol-de-gamba_) was a popular instrument, and was played upon by
ladies,--a practice which in these modern times would be considered a
violation of female propriety, and even then some thought it "an
unmannerly instrument for a woman." In Elizabeth's time vocal music was
held in the highest estimation, and to sing well was a necessary
accomplishment for ladies and gentlemen. A writer of 1602 says to the
ladies, "It shall be your first and finest praise to sing the note of
every new fashion at first sight." That some of the fair sex may have
carried their musical practice too far, like many who have lived since
then, is perhaps indicated in some verses of that date which run in the
following strain:--
"This is all that women do:
Sit and answer them that woo;
Deck themselves in new attire,
To entangle fresh desire;
After dinner sing and play,
Or, dancing, pass the time away."
To many readers one of the most interesting features of Chappell's work
will be the presentation of the original airs to which were sung the
ballads familiar to us from childhood, learned from our English and
Scotch ancestors, or later in life from Percy's "Reliques" and other
sources; and the musician will detect, in even the earliest
compositions, a character and substance, a beauty of cadence and
rhythmic ideality, which render in comparison much of our modern
song-music tamer, if possible, than it now seems. Here are found the
original airs of "Agincourt," "All in the Downs," "Barbara Allen," "The
Barley-Mow," "Cease, rude Boreas," "Derry Down," "Frog he would a-wooing
go," "One Friday morn when we set sail," "Chanson Roland," "Chevy
Chace," and scores of others which have rung in our ears from
nursery-days.
The ballad-mongers took a wide range in their writings, and almost every
subject seems to have called for their rhymes. There is a curious little
song, dating back to 1601, entitled "O mother, a Hoop," in which the
value of hoop-skirts is set forth by a fair damsel in terms that would
delight a modern belle. It commences thus:--
"What a fine thing have I seen to-day!
O mother, a Hoop!
I must have one; you cannot say Nay;
O mother, a Hoop!"
Another stanza shows the practical usefulness of the hoop:--
"Pray, hear me, dear mother, what I have been taught:
Nine men and nine women o'erset in a boat;
The men were all drowned, but the women did float,
And by help of their hoops they all safely got out."
The fashion for hoops was revived in 1711, in which year was published
in England "A Panegyrick upon the Late, but most Admirable Invention of
the Hoop-Pettycoat." A few years later, (1726,) in New England, a
three-penny pamphlet was issued with the title, "Hoop Petticoats
Arraigned and Condemned by the Light of Nature and Law of God," by which
it would seem that our worthy ancestors did not approve of the fashion.
In 1728 we find _hoop-skirts_ and _negro girls_ and other "chattels"
advertised for sale in the same shop!
The celebrated song, "Tobacco is an Indian weed," is traced to George
Withers, of the time of James I. Perhaps no song has been more
frequently "reset"; but the original version, as is generally the case,
is the best.
One of the most satisfactory features of Chappell's work is the
thoroughness with which he traces the origin of tunes, and his acute
discrimination and candid judgment. As an instance of this may be
mentioned his article on "God save the Queen"; and wherever we turn, we
find the same evidence of honest investigation. So far as is possible,
he has arranged his airs and his topics chronologically, and presented a
complete picture of the condition of poetry and music during the reigns
of the successive monarchs of England. The musician will find these
volumes invaluable in the pursuit of his studies, the general reader
will be interested in the well-drawn descriptions of men, manners, and
customs, and the antiquary will pore over the pages with a keen delight.
The work is illustrated with several specimens of the early style of
writing music, the first being an illuminated engraving and fac-simile
of the song, "Sumer is icumen in,"--the earliest secular composition, in
parts, known to exist in any country, its origin being traced back to
1250. It should have been mentioned before this that the very difficult
task of reducing the old songs to modern characters and requirements,
and harmonizing them, has been most admirably done by McFarren, who has
thus made intelligible and available what would otherwise be valuable
only as curiosities.
1. _Folk-Songs_. Selected and edited by John Williamson Palmer, M.D.
Illustrated with Original Designs. New York: Charles Scribner. 1861.
Small folio. pp. xxiii., 466.
2. _Loves and Heroines of the Poets_. Edited by Richard Henry Stoddard.
New York: Derby & Jackson. 1861. Quarto, pp. xviii., 480.
3. _A Forest Hymn_. By William Cullen Bryant. With Illustrations of John
A. Hows. New York: W. A. Townsend & Co. 1861. Small quarto, pp. 32.
We have no great liking for illustrated books. Poems, to be sure, often
lend themselves readily to the pencil; but, in proportion as they stand
in need of pictures, they fall short of being poetry. We have never yet
seen any attempts to help Shakspeare in this way that were not as
crutches to an Indian runner. To illustrate poetry truly great in itself
is like illuminating to show off a torchlight-procession. We doubt if
even Michel Angelo's copy of Dante was so great a loss as has sometimes
been thought. We have seen missals and other manuscripts that were truly
_illuminated_,--
"laughing leaves
That Franco of Bologna's pencil limned ";
but the line of those artists ended with Frà Angelico, whose works are
only larger illuminations in fresco and on panel. In those days some
precious volume became the Laura of a poor monk, who lavished on it all
the poetry of his nature, all the unsatisfied longing of a lifetime.
Shut out from the world, his single poem or book of saintly legends was
the window through which he looked back on real life, and he stained its
panes with every brightest hue of fancy and tender half-tint of reverie.
There was, indeed, a chance of success, when the artist worked for the
love of it, gave his whole manhood to a single volume, and mixed his
life with his pigments. But to please yourself is a different thing from
pleasing Tom, Dick, and Harry, which is the problem to be worked out by
whoever makes illustrations to be multiplied and sold by thousands. In
Dr. Palmer's "Folk-Songs," if we understand his preface rightly, the
artists have done their work for love, and it is accordingly much better
done than usual. The engravings make a part of the page, and the
designs, with few exceptions, are happy. Numerous fac-similes of
handwriting are added for the lovers of autographs; and in point of
printing, it is beyond a question the handsomest and most tasteful
volume ever produced in America. The Riverside Press may fairly take
rank now with the classic names in the history of the art. But it is for
the judgment shown in the choice of the poems that the book deserves its
chief commendation. Our readers do not need to be told who Dr. Palmer
is, or that one who knows how to write so well himself is likely to know
what good writing is in others. We have never seen so good and choice a
_florilegium_. The width of its range and its catholicity may be
estimated by its including William Blake and Dibdin, Bishop King and Dr.
Maginn. It would be hard to find the person who would not meet here a
favorite poem. We can speak from our own knowledge of the length of
labor and the loving care that have been devoted to it, and the result
is a gift-book unique in its way and suited to all seasons and all
tastes. Nor has the binding (an art in which America is far behind-hand)
been forgotten. The same taste makes itself felt here, and Matthews of
New York has seconded it with his admirable workmanship.
In Mr. Stoddard's volume we have a poet selecting such poems as
illustrate the loves of the poets. It is a happy thought happily
realized. With the exception of Dante, Petrarch, and Tasso, the choice
is made from English poets, and comes down to our own time. It is a book
for lovers, and he must be exacting who cannot find his mistress
somewhere between the covers. The selection from the poets of the
Elizabethan and Jacobian periods is particularly full; and this is as it
should be; for at no time was our language more equally removed from
conventionalism and commonplace, or so fitted to refine strength of
passion with recondite thought and airy courtliness of phrase. The book
is one likely to teach as well as to please; for, though everybody knows
how to fall in love, few know how to love. It is a mirror of womanly
loveliness and manly devotion. Mr. Stoddard has done his work with the
instinct of a poet, and we cordially commend his truly precious volume
both to those
"who love a coral lip
And a rosy cheek admire,"
and to those who
"Interassured of the mind,
Are careless, eyes, lips, hands, to miss";
for both likings will find satisfaction here. The season of gifts comes
round oftener for lovers than for less favored mortals, and by means of
this book they may press some two hundred poets into their service to
thread for the "inexpressive she" all the beads of Love's rosary. The
volume is a quarto sumptuous in printing and binding. Of the plates we
cannot speak so warmly.
The third book on our list deserves very great praise. Bryant's noble
"Forest Hymn" winds like a river through edging and overhanging
greenery. Frequently the designs are rather ornaments to the page than
illustrations of the poem, and in this we think the artist is to be
commended. There is no Birket Foster-ism in the groups of trees, but
honest drawing from Nature, and American Nature. The volume, we think,
marks the highest point that native Art has reached in this direction,
and may challenge comparison with that of any other country. Many of the
drawings are of great and decided merit, graceful and truthful at the
same time.
_The Works of Lord Bacon_, etc., etc. Vols. XI. and XII. Boston: Brown &
Taggard. 1860.
We have already spoken of the peculiar merits which make the edition of
Messrs. Heath and Spedding by far the best that exists of Lord Bacon's
Works. It only remains to say, that the American reprint has not only
the advantage of some additional notes contributed by Mr. Spedding, but
that it is more convenient in form, and a much more beautiful specimen
of printing than the English. A better edition could not be desired. The
two volumes thus far published are chiefly filled with the "Life of
Henry VII." and the "Essays"; and readers who are more familiar with
these (as most are) than with the philosophical works will see at once
how much the editors have done in the way of illustration and
correction.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Some time after, the Bey of Tunis ordered Eaton to send his
ship, the Gloria, with despatches to the United States. Eaton sent her
to Leghorn, and sold her at a loss. "The flag of the United States," he
wrote, "has never been seen floating in the service of a Barbary pirate
under my agency."]
[Footnote 2: The Administration was saturated with this petty parsimony,
as may be seen in an extract from a letter written by Madison to Eaton,
announcing the approach of Dale and his ships:--"The present moment is
peculiarly favorable for the experiment, not only as it is a provision
against an immediate danger, but as we are now at peace and amity with
all the rest of the world, _and as the force employed would, if at home,
be at nearly the same expense, with less advantage to our mariners_."
Linkum Fidelius has given the Jeffersonian plan of making war in
two lines:--
"We'll blow the villains all sky-high,
But do it with e-co-no-my."]
[Footnote 3: About this time came Meli-Meli, Ambassador from Tunis, in
search of an indemnity and the frigate.]
[Footnote 4: Massachusetts gave him ten thousand acres, to be selected
by him or by his heirs, in any of the unappropriated land of the
Commonwealth in the District of Maine. Act Passed March 3d, 1806]
[Footnote 5: He remained in Sicily until 1809, when he was offered the
Beyship of Derne by his brother. He accepted it; two years later, fresh
troubles drove him again into exile. He died in great poverty at Cairo.
Jusuf reigned until 1832, and abdicated in favor of a son. A grandson of
Jusuf took up arms against the new Pacha. The intervention of the Sultan
was asked; a corps of Turkish troops entered Tripoli, drove out both
Pachas, and reannexed the Regency to the Porte.]
[Footnote 6: The scene of Mr. Jefferson's celebrated retreat from the
British. A place of frequent resort for Federal editors in those days.]
[Footnote 7: In attempting to describe my own sensations, I labor under
the disadvantage of speaking mostly to those who have never experienced
anything of the kind. Hence, what would he perfectly clear to myself,
and to those who have passed through a similar experience, may be
unintelligible to the former class. The Spiritualists excuse the
crudities which their Plato, St. Paul, and Shakspeare utter, by
ascribing them to the imperfection of human language; and I may claim
the same allowance in setting forth mental conditions of which the mind
itself can grasp no complete idea, seeing that its most important
faculties are paralyzed during the existence of those conditions.]
[Footnote 8: The recent experiments in Hypnotism, in France, show that a
very similar psychological condition accompanies the trance produced by
gazing fixedly upon a bright object held near the eyes. I have no doubt,
in fact, that it belongs to every abnormal state of the mind.]
[Footnote 9: See _The Famous Historie of Fryer Bacon containing the
Wonderful Things that he did in his Life, also the Manner of his Death;
with the Lives and Deaths of the Conjurors Bungye and Vandermast_.
Reprinted in Thom's _Early English Romances_.]
[Footnote 10: _Historia Crit. Phil_. Period. II. Pars II.
Liber II. Cap. iii. Section 23.]
[Footnote 11: A barbarous distich gives the relations of these two
famous divisions of knowledge in the Middle Ages:--
"_Gramm_ loquitur, _Dia_ verba docet, _Rhet_ verba colorat,
_Mus_ canit, _Ar_ numerat, _Geo_ ponderat, _Ast_ colit astra."]
[Footnote 12: See Hauréau, _De la Philosophie Scolastique_, II. 284-5.]
[Footnote 13: Mr. Brewer has in most respects performed his work as
editor in a satisfactory manner. The many difficulties attending the
deciphering of the text of ill-written manuscripts and the correction of
the mistakes of ignorant scribes have been in great part overcome by his
patience and skill. Some passages of the text, however, require further
revision. The Introduction is valuable for its account of existing
manuscripts, but its analysis of Bacon's opinions is unsatisfactory. Nor
are the translations given in it always so accurate as they should be.
The analyses of the chapters in side-notes to the text are sometimes
imperfect, and do not sufficiently represent the current of Bacon's
thought; and the volume stands in great need of a thorough Index. This
omission is hardly to be excused, and ought at once to be supplied in a
separate publication.]
[Footnote 14: This sum was a large one. It appears that the necessaries
of life were cheap and luxuries dear at Paris during the thirteenth
century. Thus, we are told, in the year 1226, a house sold for forty-six
livres; another with a garden, near St. Eustache, sold for two hundred
livres. This sum was thought large, being estimated as equal to 16,400
francs at present. Sixty livres were then about five thousand francs, or
a thousand dollars. Lodgings at this period varied from 5 to 17 livres
the year. An ox was worth 1 livre 10 sols; a sheep, 6 sols 3 deniers.
Bacon must at some period of his life have possessed money, for we find
him speaking of having expended two thousand livres in the pursuit of
learning. If the comparative value assumed be correct, this sum
represented between $30,000 and $40,000 of our currency.]
[Footnote 15: _Opus Tertium_. Cap. iii. pp. 15-17.]
[Footnote 16: _Opus Tertium_. Cap. xx. p. 65.]
[Footnote 17: _Opus Tertium_. Capp. xvi., xvii. Roger Bacon's urgency to
the Pope to promote the works for the advancement of knowledge which
were too great for private efforts bears a striking resemblance to the
words addressed for the same end by his great successor, Lord Bacon, to
James I. "Et ideo patet," says the Bacon of the thirteenth century,
"quod scripta, principalia de sapientia philosophiae non possunt fieri
ab uno homine, nec a pluribus, nisi manus praelatorum et principum
juvent sapientes cum magna virtute." "Horum quos enumeravimus omnium
defectuum remedia," says the Bacon of the seventeenth century,
"...opera sunt vere basilica; erga quae privati alicujus conatus et
industria fere sic se habent ut Mercurius in bivio, qui digito potest in
viam intendere, pedem inferre non potest."--_De Aug. Scient_. Lib. II.
_Ad Regem Suum_.
A still more remarkable parallelism is to be found in the following
passages. "Nam facile est dicere, fiant scripture completae de
scientiis, sed nunquam fuerunt apud Latinos aliquae condignae, nec
fient, nisi aliud consilium habeatur. Et nullus sufficeret ad hoc, nisi
dominus papa, vel imperator, aut aliquis rex magnificus, sicut est
dominus rex Franciae. Aristoteles quidem, auctoritate et auxiliis regum,
et maxime Alexandri, fecit in Graeco quae voluit, et multis millibus
hominum usus est in experientia scientiarum, et expensis copiosis, sicut
historiae narrant." (_Opus Tertium_, Cap. viii.) Compare with this the
following passage from the part of the _De Augmentis_ already
cited:--"Et exploratoribus ac speculatoribus Naturae satisfaciendum de
expensis suis; alias de quamplurimis scitu dignissimis nunquam fiemus
certiores. Si enim Alexander magnam vim pecuniae suppeditavit
Aristoteli, qua conduceret venatores, aucupes, piscatores et alios, quo
instructior accederet ad conscribendam historiam animalium; certe majus
quiddam debetur iis, qui non in saltibus naturae pererrant, sed in
labyrinthis artium viam sibi aperiunt."
Other similar parallelisms of expression on this topic are to be found
in these two authors, but need not be here quoted. Many resemblances in
the words and in the spirit of the philosophy of the two Bacons have
been pointed out, and it has even been supposed that the later of these
two great philosophers borrowed his famous doctrine of "Idols" from the
classification of the four chief hindrances to knowledge by his
predecessor. But the supposition wants foundation, and there is no
reason to suppose that Lord Bacon was acquainted with the works of the
Friar. The Rev. Charles Forster, in his _Mahometanism Unveiled_, a work
of some learning, but more extravagance, after speaking of Roger Bacon
as "strictly and properly an experimentalist of the Saracenic school,"
goes indeed so far as to assert that he "was the undoubted, though
unowned, original when his great namesake drew the materials of his
famous experimental system." (Vol. II. pp. 312-317.) But the
resemblances in their systems, although striking in some particulars,
are on the whole not too great to be regarded simply as the results of
corresponding genius, and of a common sense of the insufficiency of the
prevalent methods of scholastic philosophy for the discovery of truth
and the advancement of knowledge. "The same sanguine and sometimes rash
confidence in the effect of physical discoveries, the same fondness for
experiment, the same preference of inductive to abstract reasoning
pervade both works," the _Opus Majus_ and the _Novum Organum_.--Hallam,
_Europe during the Middle Ages_, III. 431. See also Hallam, _Literature
of Europe_, I. 113; and Mr. Ellis's Preface to the _Novum Organum_, p.
90, in the first volume of the admirable edition of the _Works of Lord
Bacon_ now in course of publication.]
[Footnote 18: _Opus Tertium_. Cap. xv. pp. 55, 56.]
[Footnote 19: _Id_. Cap. x. p. 33.]
[Footnote 20: The famous Grostête,--who died in 1253. "Vir in Latino et
Graeco peritissimus," says Matthew Paris.]
[Footnote 21: _Comp. Studii Phil_. Cap. vi.]
[Footnote 22: _Opus Minus_, p. 330.]
[Footnote 23: This was Michael Scot the Wizard, who would seem to have
deserved the place that Dante assigned to him in the _Inferno_, if not
from his practice of forbidden arts, at least from his corruption of
ancient learning in his so-called translations. Strange that he, of all
the Schoolmen, should have been honored by being commemorated by the
greatest poet of Italy and the greatest of his own land! In the Notes to
the _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, his kinsman quotes the following lines
concerning him from Satchell's poem on _The Right Honorable Name
of Scott_:--
"His writing pen did seem to me to be
Of hardened metal like steel or acumie;
The volume of [his book] did seem so large to me
As the Book of Martyrs and Turks Historie."]
[Footnote 24: _Comp. Studii Phil_. Cap. viii. p. 472.]
[Footnote 25: _Comp. Studii Phil_. Cap. viii. p. 469.]
[Footnote 26: _Comp. Studii Phil_. Cap. viii. p. 473.]
[Footnote 27: _Opus Tertium_, Cap. xxiv. pp. 80-82.]
[Footnote 28: _Opus Tertium_. Capp. xiv., xv., pp. 48-53.]
[Footnote 29: _Id_. Cap. xiii. pp. 43-44.]
[Footnote 30: _Id_. Cap. xxviii. p. 102.]
[Footnote 31: _Opus Majus_. pp. 57, 64.]
[Footnote 32: _Opus Tertium_. Cap. iv. p. 18.]
[Footnote 33: See Hauréau: _Nouvel Examen de l'Édition des Oeuvres de
Hugues de Saint-Victor._ Paris, 1869. p. 52.]
[Footnote 34: Jourdain: _Recherches sur les Traductions Latines
d'Aristote_. Paris, 1819. p. 373.]
[Footnote 35: _Opus Tertium_. Cap. xii. p. 42.]
[Footnote 36: _Id. Cap. ii. p. 14.]
[Footnote 37: Reprinted in the Appendix to the volume edited by
Professor Brewer. A translation of this treatise was printed at London
as early as 1597; and a second version, "faithfully translated out of
Dr. Dee's own copy by T. M.," appeared in 1659.]
[Footnote 38: "Sed tamen sal petræ LURU VOPO VIR CAN UTRIET sulphuris;
et sic facies tonitruum et coruscationem, si scias artificium. Videas
tamen utrum loquar ænigmate aut secundum veritatem." (p. 551.) One is
tempted to read the last two words of the dark phrase as phonographic
English, or, translating the _vir_, to find the meaning to be, "O man!
you can try it."]
[Footnote 39: This expression is similar in substance to the closing
sentences of Sir Kenelm Digby's Discourse at Montpellier on the Powder
of Sympathy, in 1657. "Now it is a poor kind of pusillanimity and
faint-heartedness, or rather, a gross weakness of the Understanding, to
pretend any effects of charm or magick herein, or to confine all the
actions of Nature to the grossness of our Senses, when we have not
sufficiently consider'd nor examined the true causes and principles
whereon 'tis fitting we should ground our judgment: we need not have
recourse to a Demon or Angel in such difficulties.
"'Nec Deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus Inciderit.'"]
[Footnote 40: _Nullity of Magic_, pp. 532-542.]
[Footnote 41: _Comp. Stud. Phil._ p. 416.]
RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS
RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY.
Poems. By Sarah Gould. New York. Rudd & Carleton. 32mo. Blue and gold.
pp. 180. 75 cts.
Miss Gilbert's Career. An American Story. By J.G. Holland. New York.
Charles Scribner. 12mo. pp. 476. $1.25.
Curiosities of Natural History. Second Series. By Francis T. Buckland,
M.A. New York. Rudd & Carleton, 12mo. pp. 441. $1.25.
A Course of Six Lectures on the Various Forces of Matter, and their
Relations to each other. By Michael Faraday, D.C.L., F.R.S. Edited by
William Crookes, F.C.S. New York. Harper & Brothers. 18mo. pp. 198.
60 cts.
A History and Analysis of the Constitution of the United States; with a
Full Account of the Confederations which preceded it, etc., etc. By
Nathaniel C. Towle. Boston. Little, Brown, & Co. 12mo. pp. 444. $1.25.
The History of Putnam and Marshall Counties, Illinois. By Henry A. Ford.
Lacon. Published by the Author. 24mo. pp. 162. 25 cts.
My Novel; or, Varieties in English Life. By Pisistratus Caxton. New
York. Harper & Brothers. 2 vols. 12mo. pp. 589, 581. $2.00.
Woods and Waters; or, The Saranacs and Racket; with Map of the Route,
and Nine Illustrations on Wood. By Alfred B. Street. New York. M.
Doolady. 12mo. pp. 345. $1.25.
The Lost Hunter. A Tale of Early Times. By John T. Adams. New York. M.
Doolady. 12mo. pp. 462. $1.25.
History of Latin Christianity; including that of the Popes to the
Pontificate of Nicolas V. By Henry Hart Milman, D.D. Vol. I. New York.
Sheldon & Co. 12mo. pp. 554. $1.50.
Quodlibet; containing some Annals thereof. By Solomon Secondthought.
Philadelphia. J.B. Lippincott & Co. 12mo. pp. 268. $1.00.
The Lake Region of Central Africa. A Picture of Exploration. By Richard
F. Burton. New York. Harper & Brothers. 8vo. pp. 572. $3.00.
Glimpses of Ocean Life; or, Rock-Pools and the Lessons they teach. By
John Harper. New York. T. Nelson & Sons. 16mo. pp. 371. $1.25.
Wheat and Tares. New York. Harper & Brothers. 16mo. pp. 280. 75 cts.
The Works of Charles Lamb. In Four Volumes. A New Edition. Boston.
Crosby, Nichols, Lee, & Co. 12mo. $5.00.
The Works of J.P. Kennedy. In Five Volumes. Philadelphia. J.B.
Lippincott & Co. 12mo. $6.00.
Cousin Harry. By Mrs. Grey, Author of "The Little Beauty," etc.
Philadelphia. T.B. Peterson & Brother. 12mo. pp. 402. $1.25.
Recent Inquiries in Theology, by Eminent English Churchmen; being
"Essays and Reviews." Edited, with an Introduction, by Rev. Frederic H.
Hedge, D.D. Boston. Walker, Wise, & Co. 12mo. pp. 480. $1.25.
Odd People; being a Popular Description of Singular Races of Man, By
Captain Mayne Reid. Illustrated. Boston. Ticknor & Fields. 16mo. pp.
461. 75 cts.
A Sermon, preached in Trinity Church, Boston, on Wednesday, September
12, 1860, at the Admission of the Rev. Frederic D. Huntington to the
Holy Order of Deacons. By the Rt. Rev. George Burgess, D.D. Boston. E.P.
Dutton & Co. 8vo. paper, pp. 20. 20 cts.
Object Teachings and Oral Lessons on Social Science and Common Things;
with Various Illustrations of the Principles and Practice of Primary
Education, as adopted in the Model Schools of Great Britain. Republished
from Barnard's American Journal of Education. New York. F.C. Brownell.
8vo. pp. 434. $2.00.
First Greek Book; comprising an Outline of the Forms and Inflections of
the Language. By Albert Harkness. New York. D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp.
275. 75 cts.
The Little Night-Cap Letters. By the Author of "Night-Caps," etc. New
York. D. Appleton & Co. 18mo. pp. 178. 50 cts.
The Fairy Night-Caps. By the Author of "The Five Night-Cap Books," etc.
New York. D. Appleton & Co. 18mo. pp. 215. 50 cts.
Philothea. A Grecian Romance. By. L. Maria Child. Boston. T.O.H.P.
Burnham. 12mo. pp. 290. $1.00.
Chambers's Encyclopaedia. A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the
People. Part XX. New York. D. Appleton & Co. 8vo. paper, pp. 63. 25 cts.
The Housekeeper's Encyclopedia of Useful Information for the Housekeeper
in all Branches of Cooking and Domestic Economy. By Mrs. E.F. Haskell.
New York. D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. 245. $1.25.
The War-Tiger; or, Adventures and Wonderful Fortunes of the Young
Sea-Chief and his Last Chow. A Tale of the Conquests of China, By
William Dalton. New York. W.A. Townsend & Co. 16mo. pp. 340. 75 cts.
The White Elephant; or, The Hunters of Ava and the King of the Golden
Foot. By William Dalton. New York. W.A. Townsend & Co. 16mo. pp. 374.
75 cts.
Famous Boys, and how they became Great Men. Dedicated to Youths and
Young Men, as a Stimulus to Earnest Living. New York. W.A. Townsend &
Co. 16 mo. pp. 300. 75 cts.
Life of Columbus. By Washington Irving. Now Illustrated Edition. Vol. I.
New York. G.P. Putnam & Co. 12mo. pp. 261. $1.50.
A Year with Maggie and Emma. A True Story. Edited by Maria J. McIntosh.
New York. D. Appleton & Co. 18mo. pp. 137. 50 cts.
Notes on the Parables of our Lord. By Richard C. Trench. Condensed. New
York. D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. 288. $1.00.
Wa-Wa-Wanda. A Legend of Old Orange. New York. Rudd & Carleton. 12mo.
pp. 180. $1.00.
The Prince's Ball. A Brochure from "Vanity Fair." By Edmund C. Stedman.
New York. Rudd & Carleton. pp. 63. 50 cts.
The Red-Skins; or, Indian and Ingin; being the Conclusion of the
"Littlepage Manuscripts." By J. Fenimore Cooper. Illustrated from
Drawings by Darley. New York. W.A. Townsend & Co. 12mo. pp. 536. $1.50.
Life and Religion of the Hindoos. With a Sketch of the Life and
Experience of the Author, J.C. Gangooly. Boston. Crosby, Nichols, Lee, &
Co: 16mo. pp. 306. $1.00.
Rosemary; or, Life and Death. By J. Vincent Huntington. New York. D. &
J. Sadlier & Co. 12mo. pp. 522. $1,25.
The King of the Mountains. From the French of Edmond About. By Mary L.
Booth. With an Introduction by Epes Sargent. Boston. J.E. Tilton & Co.
l6 mo. pp. 300. $1.00.
A Forest Hymn. By William Cullen Bryant. Illustrated. New York. W.A.
Townsend & Co. 8vo. pp. 32. $3.00.
The Great Preparation; or, Redemption draweth nigh. By Rev. John
Cumming, D.D. First Series. New York. Rudd & Carleton. 12mo. pp.
258. $1.00.
The Moral History of Women. From the French of Ernest Legouvé.
Translated by J.W. Palmer, M.D. New York. Rudd & Carleton. 12mo. pp.
343. $1.00.
May Coverley, the Young Dressmaker. Boston. J.E. Tilton & Co. 18mo. pp.
258. 75 cts.
Paul Blake; or, The Story of a Boy's Perils in the Islands of Corsica
and Monte Christo. By Alfred Elwes. New York. Thomson Brothers. 18mo.
pp. 383. 75 cts.
Little by Little; or, The Cruise of the Fly-away. A Story for Young
Folks. By Oliver Optic. Boston. Crosby, Nichols, Lee, & Co. 18mo. pp.
280. 63 cts.
Logic in Theology, and other Essays. By Isaac Taylor. With a Sketch of
the Life of the Author, and a Catalogue of his Writings, New York.
William Gowans. 12mo. pp. 297. $1.25.
The Illustrated Annual Register of Rural Affairs, for 1861. Albany.
Luther Tucker & Son. 12mo. paper, pp. 124. 25 cts.
Harrington. A Story of True Love. By the Author of "What Cheer," etc.
Boston. Thayer & Eldridge. 12mo. pp. 556. $1.25.
Analysis of the Cartoons of Raphael. New York. Charles B. Norton. 16mo.
pp. 141. 75 cts.
Home Ballads and Poems. By John Greenleaf Whittier. Boston. Ticknor &
Fields. 16mo. pp. 207. 75 cts.
Legends of the Madonna, as represented in the Fine Arts. By Mrs.
Jameson. Boston. Ticknor & Fields. 32mo. Blue and Gold. pp. 483. 75 cts.