The Works of Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor of England, Volume 5

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W. Pickering, 1826 - Law

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Page 475 - It is true, that what is settled by custom, though it be not good, yet at least it is fit. And those things which have long gone together, are, as it were, confederate within themselves : whereas new things piece not so well ; but though they help by their utility, yet they trouble by their inconformity.
Page 475 - Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief Priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.
Page 466 - I did but prompt the age to quit their clogs By the known rules of ancient liberty, When straight a barbarous noise environs me Of owls and cuckoos, asses, apes, and dogs...
Page ix - Antiquity deserveth that reverence, that men should make a stand thereupon, and discover what is the best way ; but when the discovery is well taken, then to make progression.
Page 473 - HE that goeth about to persuade a multitude, that they are not so well governed as they ought to be, shall never want attentive and favourable hearers ; because they know the manifold defects whereunto every kind of regiment is subject, but the secret lets and difficulties, which in public proceedings are innumerable and inevitable, they have not ordinarily the judgment to consider.
Page 472 - If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a continent that joins to them...
Page 472 - Goodness I call the habit, and goodness of nature the inclination. This of all virtues and dignities of the mind is the greatest, being the character of the Deity ; and, without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, no better than a kind of vermin.
Page 475 - But men must know that in this theatre of man's life it is reserved only for God and Angels to be lookers on...
Page 475 - Oportet discentem credere,** yet it must be coupled with this, Oportet edoctum judicare; for disciples do owe unto masters only a temporary belief and a suspension of their own judgment till they be fully instructed, and not an absolute resignation or perpetual captivity...
Page 162 - This work therefore, of all other most memorable and honourable, your majesty hath now in hand ; especially, if your majesty join the harp of David, in casting out the evil spirit of superstition, with the harp of Orpheus, in casting out desolation and barbarism.

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