Page images
PDF
EPUB

which yielding 208. 4d. towards her majesty for every license and pardon, was estimated to advantage her highness during those fourteen years, the sum of 3,7214. 68. ob. qu. more than without that demise she was like to have found. As also in the court of wards and liveries, and in the Exchequer itself: where, by reason of the tenures in chief revived through the only labours of these offices, both the sums for respect of homage be increased, and the profits of wardships, primer seisins, ouster le maine, and liveries, cannot but be much advanced. And so her majesty's self hath, in this particular, gained the full sum of 8,7361. 5«. 5d. ob. qu., not comprising those profits in the Exchequer and court of wards, the very certainty whereof lieth not in the knowledge of these officers, nor accounting any part of that great benefit which the earl and his executrix have made by the demises: which, one year with another, during all the thirteen years and a half, I suppose to have been 2,2637. or thereabouts; and so in all about 27,1587. above all his costs and expenses. The which, albeit I do here report only for the justification of the service in this place; yet who cannot but see withal, how much the royal revenues might be advanced, if but the like good endeavours were showed for her majesty in the rest of her finances, as have been found in this office for the commodity of this one subject? The views of all which matter being presented to the most wise and princely consideration of her majesty, she was pleased to demise these profits and fines for other five years, to begin at the feast of the Annunciation, 1590, in the thirty-second year of her reign, for the yearly rent formerly reserved upon the leases of the earl; within the compass of which five years, expired at the Annunciation, 1595, there was advanced to her majesty's benefit, by this service, the whole sum of 13,013. 148. Id. qu. beyond the ancient yearly revenues, which, before any lease, were usually made of these finances. To which, if there be added 5,7001. for the gain given to her majesty by the yearly receipt of 3007. in rent, from the first demise to the earl, until the time of his death, together with the sum of 1,173. 15s. 8d. ob., clearly won in those six terms bought of the countess; then the whole commodity, from the first institution of this office, till the end of these last five years expired at the Annunciation, 1595, shall appear to be 19,8871. 9s. 9d. ob. qu. To the which sum also if 28,5501. 15s. 6d. ob. qu., which the earl and the countess levied hereby, be likewise adjoined, then the whole profit taken in these nineteen years, that is, from the first lease, to the end of the last, for her majesty, the earl, and the Countess, will amount unto 48,4381. 5s. 4d. This labour hitherto thus luckily succeeding, the deputies in this office finding by daily proof, that it was wearisome to the subject to travel to divers places, and through sundry hands, for the pursu

ing of common recoveries, either not holden of her majesty at all, or but partly holden in chief; and not doubting to improve her majesty's revenue therein, and that without loss to any, either private person or public officer, if the same might be managed by them jointly with the rest whereof they had the charge; they found, by search in the hanaper, that the fruits of those writs of entry had not, one year with another, in the ten years next before, exceeded 4007. by the year. Whereupon they took hold of the occasion then present, for the renewing of the lease of the former profits; and moved the lord treasurer, and Sir John Fortescue, under treasurer and chancellor of the Exchequer, to join the same in one and the same demise, and to yield unto her majesty 5001. by year therefor; which is 100%. yearly of increase. The which desire being by them recommended to her majesty, it liked her forthwith to include the same, and all the former demised profits, within one entire lease, for seven years, to begin at the said feast of the Annunciation, 1597, under the yearly rent of 2,9331. 2s. 7d. qu. Since which time hitherto, I mean to the end of Michaelmas term, 1598, not only the proportion of the said increased 100%., but almost of one other 1007. also, hath been answered to her majesty's coffers, for those recoveries so drawn into the demise now continuing.

Thus I have opened both the first plotting, the especial practice, and the consequent profit arising by these officers; and now if I should be demanded, whether this increase of profit were likely to stand without fall, or to be yet amended or made more? I would answer, that if some few things were provided, and some others prevented, it is probable enough in mine own opinion, that the profit should rather receive accession than decay.

The things that I wish to be provided are these: first, that by the diligence of these officers, assisted with such other as can bring good help thereunto, a general and careful collection be made of all the tenures in chief; and that the same be digested by way of alphabet into apt volumes, for every part, or shire, of the realm. Then that every office, or inquisition, that findeth any tenure in chief, shall express the true quantities of the lands so holden, even as in ancient time it was wont to be done by way of admeasurement, after the manner of a perfect extent or survey; whereby all the parts of the tenancy in chief may be wholly brought to light, howsoever in process of time it hath been, or shall be torn and dismembered. For prevention, I wish likewise, first, that some good means were devised for the restraint of making these inordinate and covinous leases of lands, holden in chief, for hundreds or thousands of years, now grown so bold, that they dare show themselves in fines, levied upon the open stage of the Common Pleas; by which one man taketh

the full profit, and another beareth the empty name | root that doth maintain this silver stem, that by of tenancy, to the infinite deceit of her majesty in this part of her prerogative. Then, that no alienation of lands holden in chief should be available, touching the freehold or inheritance thereof, but only where it were made by matter of record, to be found in some of her majesty's treasuries; and, lastly, that a continual and watchful eye be had, as well upon these new founden traverses of tenure, which are not now tried per patriam, as the old manner was; as also upon all such pleas whereunto the confession of her majesty's said attorney-general is expected: so as the tenure of the prerogative be not prejudiced, either by the fraud of counsellors at the law, many of which do bend their wits to the overthrow thereof; or by the greediness of clerks and attorneys, that, to serve their own gain, do both impair the tenure, and therewithal grow more heavy to the client, in so costly pleading for discharge, than the very confession of the matter itself would prove unto him. I may yet hereunto add another thing, very meet not only to be prevented with all speed, but also to be punished with great severity: I mean that collusion set on foot lately, between some of her majesty's tenants in chief, and certain others that have had to do in her highness's grants of concealed lands: where, under a feigned concealment of the land itself, nothing else is sought but only to make a change of the tenure, which is reserved upon the grant of those concealments, into that tenure in chief: in which practice there is no less abuse of her majesty's great bounty, than loss and hindrance of her royal right. These things thus settled, the tenure in chief should be kept alive and nourished; the which, as it is the very

many rich and fruitful branches spreadeth itself
into the Chancery, Exchequer, and court of wards;
so, if it be suffered to starve, by want of ablaquea-
tion, and other good husbandry, not only this
yearly fruit will much decrease from time to time,
but also the whole body and boughs of that precious
tree itself will fall into danger of decay and dying.
And now,
to conclude therewith, I cannot see
how it may justly be misliked, that her majesty
should, in a reasonable and moderate manner,
demand and take this sort of finance; which is not
newly out and imposed, but is given and grown
up with the first law itself, and which is evermore
accompanied with some special benefit to the giver
of the same: seeing that lightly no alienation is
made, but either upon recompense in money, or
land, or for marriage, or other good and profitable
consideration that doth move it: yea, rather all
good subjects and citizens ought not only to yield
that gladly of themselves, but also to further it
with other men; as knowing that the better this
and such like ancient and settled revenues shall be
answered and paid, the less need her majesty shall
have to ask subsidies, fifteens, loans, and what-
soever extraordinary helps, that otherwise must
of necessity be levied upon them. And for proof
that it shall be more profitable to her majesty, to
have every of the same to be managed by men of
fidelity, that shall be waged by her own pay, than
either to be letten out to the fermours benefits, or
to be left at large to the booty and spoil of rave-
nous ministers, that have not their reward; let
the experiment and success be in this one office,
and persuade for all the rest.
Laus Deo.

THE GREAT
GREAT INSTAURATION

OF LORD BACON.

PART II.

NOVUM ORGANUM.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

THE following is a TRANSLATION of the "Instauratio Magna," excepting the first book, the Treatise "De Augmentis Scientiarum."

BOOK II. NOVUM ORGANUM.

The first edition of this work was published in folio, in 1620, when Lord Bacon was chancellor. Editions in 12 mo. were published in Holland in 1645, 1650, and 1660. An edition was published in 1779; Wirceburgi, apud Jo. Jac. Stahel :" and an edition was published at Oxford in 1813. No assistance to this, or, as I am aware, to any part of Lord Bacon's works, has been rendered by the University of Cambridge.

Parts of the Novum Organum have, at different periods, been translated.

In Watts's translation, in 1640, of the Treatise De Augmentis, there is a translation of the Introductory Tract prefixed to the Novum Organum.

In the third edition of the Resuscitatio, published in 1671, there are three translated tracts from the Novum Organum, viz., 1. The Natural and Experimental History of the Form of Hot Things. 2. Of the several kinds of Motion or of the Active Virtue. 3. A Translation of the Parasceve, which is the beginning of the third part of the Instauration, but is annexed to the Novum Organum in the first edition. This translation of the Parasceve is by a well wisher to his lordship's writings. In the tenth edition of the Sylva Sylvarum, there is an abridged translation of the Novum Organum. The following is a copy of the title page: The Novum Organum of Sir Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Albans Epitomiz'd: for a clearer understanding of his Natural History. Translated and taken out of the Latine by M. D. B. D. London: Printed for Thomas Lee, at the Turk's-head in Fleet Street, 1676. As this tenth edition of the Sylva was published 1671, and Dr. Rawley died 1667, it must not, from any document now known, be ascribed to him. It is not noticed in the Baconiana published in 1679.

In 1733, Peter Shaw, M. D., published a translation of the Novum Organum.

Dr. Shaw, who was a great admirer of Lord Bacon, seems to have laboured under a diseased love of arrangement, by which he was induced to deviate from the order of the publications by Lord Bacon, and to adopt his own method. This may be seen in almost every part of his edition, but particularly in his edition of the Essays, and of the Novum Organum, which is divided and subdivided into sections, with a perplexing alteration, without an explanation of the numbers of the Aphorisms; this will appear at the conclusion of his first section, where he passes from section thirty-seven to section one.

His own account of his translation is as follows:-"The design of these volumes is to give a methodical English edition of his philosophical works, fitted for a commodious and ready perusal; somewhat in the same manner as the philosophical works of Mr. Boyle were, a few years since, fitted, in three quarto volumes.

"All the author's pieces, that were originally written in Latin, or by himself translated into Latin, are here new done from those originals; with care all along to collate his own English with the Latin, where the pieces were extant in both languages.

VOL. III.-42

2E2

329

"The method observed in thus rendering them into English, is not that of a direct translation, (which might have left them more obscure than they are; and no way suited this design;) but a kind of open version, which endeavours to express, in modern English, the sense of the author, clear, full, and strong; though without deviating from him, and, if possible, without losing of his spirit, force, or energy. And though this attempt may seem vain, or bold, it was doubtless better to have had the view, than willingly to have aimed at second prizes.

"The liberty sometimes taken, not of abridging, (for just and perfect writings are incapable of abridgment,) but of dropping, or leaving out, some parts of the author's writings, may require greater excuse. But this was done in order to shorten the works, whose length has proved one discouragement to their being read. And regard has been had to omit none of the philosophical matter; but only certain personal addresses, compliments, exordiums, and the like; for, as the reasons and ends, for which these were originally made, subsist no longer, it was thought superfluous to continue such particularities, in a work of this general nature."

In the year 1810 the Novum Organum was translated into Italian. The following is a copy of the title-page: Nuovo Organo Delle Scienze di Francesco Bacone, Di Verulamio, Traduzione in Italiano del can. Antonio Pellizzari, Edizione seconda arricchita di un Indice e di Annotazioni. Bassano, Tipografia Remondiniana, 1810.

For the translation of the Novum Organum contained in this volume, I am indebted to my friend William Wood: excepting the translation of the Catalogue of Particular Histories, for which I am indebted to my friend and pupil, William G. Glen.

BOOK III. NATURAL AND EXPERIMENTAL HISTORY.

THE HISTORY OF THE WINDS.

The translation was published in 1671, in the third edition of the Resuscitatio. It is "translated into English by R. G., gentleman." Of this tract Archbishop Tennison, says, in his Baconiana: "The second section is the History of Winds, written in Latin by the author, and by R. G., gen tleman, turned into English. It was dedicated to King Charles, then Prince, as the first-fruits of his lordship's Natural History; and as a grain of mustard-seed, which was, by degrees, to grow into a tree of experimental science. This was the birth of the first of those six months, in which he determined (God assisting him) to write six several histories of natural things. To wit, of Dense and Rare Bodies; of Heavy and Light Bodies; of Sympathy and Antipathy; of Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury; of Life and Death; and (which he first perfected) that of Winds, which he calls the Wings, by which men fly on the sea, and the besoms of the air and earth. And he rightly observeth, concerning those postnati, (for, as he saith, they are not a part of the six days' work or primary creatures.) that the generation of them has not been well understood, because men have been ignorant of the nature and power of the air, on which the winds attend, as Eolus on Juno.

"The English translation of this book of Winds is printed in the second part of the Resuscitatio, as it is called, though improperly enough; for it is rather a collection of books already printed, than a resuscitation of any considerable ones, which before slept in private manuscript."

The translations of the Histories of Density and Rarity; of Heavy and Light; of Sympathy and Antipathy; of Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt, are from the third edition of the Resuscitatio, published in 1671; which contains also a translation of the Entrance to the History of Life and Death.

The translation of the History of Life and Death is taken from the seventh edition of the Sylva Sylvarum, published in 1658. Of this translation, Archbishop Tennison thus speaks in his Baco niana: "The sixth section is the History of Life and Death, written by his lordship in Latin, and first turned into English by an injudicious translator, and rendered much better a second time, by an abler pen, made abler still by the advice and assistance of Dr. Rawley.

"This work, though ranked last amongst the six monthly designations, yet was set forth in the second place. His lordship (as he saith) inverting the order, in respect of the prime use of this argument, in which the least loss of time was by him esteemed very precious. The subject of this book, (which Sir Henry Wotton calleth none of the least of his lordship's works,) and the argument of which some had before undertaken, but to much less purpose, is the first of those which he put in his Catalogue of the Magnalia Naturæ. And, doubtless, his lordship undertook both a great and a most desirable work, of making art short, and life easy and long. And it was his lordship's wish that the nobler sort of physicians might not employ their times wholly in the sordidness of cures, neither be honoured for necessity only; but become coadjutors and instruments of the Divine omnipotence and clemence, in prolonging and renewing the life of man; and in helping Christians, who pant after the land of promise, so to journey through this world's wilderness, as to have their shoes and garments (these of their frail bodies) little worn and impaired.'”

BOOK IV. OF THE SCALING LADDER OF THE INTELLECT.

For this translation I am indebted to my dear friend, the Reverend Archdeacon Wrangham, with whom, after an uninterrupted friendship of more than forty years, I am happy to be associated in this work.

Archbishop Tennison thus speaks of this fourth book: "The fourth part of the Instauration designed, was Scala Intellectus.

To this there is some sort of entrance in his lordship's distribution of the Novum Organum, and in a page or two under that title of Scala, published by Gruter. But the work itself passed not beyond the model of it in the head of the noble author.

"That which he intended was, a particular explication and application of the second part of the Instauration, (which giveth general rules for the interpretation of nature,) by gradual instances and examples.

"He thought that his rules, without some more sensible explication, were like discourses in geometry or mechanics, without figures and types of engines. He therefore designed to select certain subjects in nature or art; and, as it were, to draw to the sense a certain scheme of the beginning and progress of philosophical disquisition in them; showing, by degrees, where our consideration takes root, and how it spreadeth and advanceth. And some such thing is done by those who, from the Cicatricula, or from the Punctum Saliens, observe and register all the phenomena of the animal unto its death, and after it, also, in the medical, or culinary, or other use of its body; together with all the train of the thoughts occasioned by those phenomena, or by others in compare with them. "And because he intended to exhibit such observations, as they gradually arise, therefore, he gave to that designed work the title of the Scale, or Ladder of the Understanding. He also expressed the same conceit by another metaphor, advising students to imitate men who, by going by degrees, from several eminences of some very high mountain, do at length arrive at the top, or pike of it.”

FIFTH BOOK, OR ANTICIPATIONS OF THE SECOND PHILOSOPHY.

For this translation I am also indebted to my friend, Archdeacon Wrangham. Of this tract Archbishop Tennison thus speaks: "The fifth part of the Instauration designed, was what he called Prodromi sive Anticipationes Philosophiæ Secundæ. To this we find a very brief entrance in the Organum, and the Scripta, published by Gruter. And, though his lordship is not known to have composed any part of this work by itself, yet something of it is to be collected from the axioms and greater observations interspersed in his Natural Histories, which are not pure but mixed writings. The anticipations he intended to pay down as use, till he might furnish the world with the principal."

« PreviousContinue »