CHAPTER XXIV.

THE MISSING FOURTH PART OF "THE GREAT INSTAURATION."

It has been urged by critics that Bacon, whilst professing to take all knowledge for his province, ignored one-half of it--that half which was a knowledge of himself; that to him the external world was everything, the internal nothing. All that Nature revealed was external; nothing that was internal was of much importance.

It must be remembered that all that we have of Bacon's was written as he was passing into the "vale of life." Of his early productions nothing has come down to the present times under his own name. The following extracts from his acknowledged works establish two facts:--(1) That the foregoing criticism is unfounded, for he placed the study of man's mind and character above all other enquiries. (2) That he had prepared examples, being "actual types and models, by which the entire process of the mind and the whole fabric and order of invention from the beginning to the end in certain subjects and those various and remarkable should be set, as it were, before the eyes." Where are these works to be found?

Bacon never tires of quoting from the Roman poet the line--

"Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci,"

which, in an Elizabethan handwriting, may be seen in a contemporary volume thus rendered--

"He of all others fittest is to write Which with some profit allso ioynes delight."

He repeats in different forms, until the reiteration becomes almost tedious, the following incident:--

"And as Alexander Borgia was wont to say, of the expedition of the French for Naples, that they came with chalk in their hands to marke up their lodgings not with weapons to fight; so we like better, that entry of truth, which comes peaceably where the Mindes of men, capable to lodge so great a guest, are signed, as it were, with chalke; than that which comes with Pugnacity, and forceth itselfe a way by contentions and controversies."

The same idea is embodied in the following example of the antitheta:--

"A witty conceit is oftentimes a convoy of a Truth which otherwise could not so handsomely have been ferried over."

In the "Advancement of Learning," Lib. II., again the same view is insisted on:--

"Besides in all wise humane Government, they that sit at the helme, doe more happily bring their purposes about, and insinuate more easily things fit for the people, by pretexts, and oblique courses; than by downe-right dealing. Nay (which perchance may seem very strange) in things meerely naturall, you may sooner deceive nature, than force her; so improper, and selfe impeaching are open direct proceedings; whereas on the other side, an oblique and an insinuing way, gently glides along and compasseth the intended effect."

One other fact must be realised before the full import of the quotations about to be made can be appreciated. In the "Distributio Operis" prefixed to the "Novum Organum" the following significant passage occurs[55]:--

"For as often as I have occasion to report anything as deficient, the nature of which is at all obscure, so that men may not perhaps easily understand what I mean or what the work is which I have in my head, I shall always (provided it be a matter of any worth) take care to subjoin either directions for the execution of such work, or else a portion of the work itself executed by myself as a sample of the whole: thus giving assistance in every case either by work or by counsel."

In the "Advancement of Learning," Book II., chap. i., it is written:

"That is the truest Partition of humane Learning, which hath reference to the three Faculties of Man's soule, which is the feat of Learning. History is referred to Memory, Poesy to the Imagination, Philosophy to Reason. By Poesy, in this place, we understand nothing else, but feigned History, or Fables. As for Verse, that is only a style of expression, and pertaines to the Art of Elocution, of which in due place."

"Poesy, in that sense we have expounded it, is likewise of Individuals, fancied to the similitude of those things which in true History are recorded, yet so as often it exceeds measure; and those things which in Nature would never meet, nor come to passe, Poesy composeth and introduceth at pleasure, even as Painting doth: which indeed is the work of the Imagination."

And in the same book, Chapter XIII.:--

"Drammaticall, or Representative Poesy, which brings the World upon the stage, is of excellent use, if it were not abused. For the Instructions, and Corruptions, of the Stage, may be great; but the corruptions in this kind abound, the Discipline is altogether neglected in our times. For although in moderne Commonwealths, Stage-plaies be but estimed a sport or pastime, unlesse it draw from the Satyre, and be mordant; yet the care of the Ancients was, that it should instruct the minds of men unto virtue. Nay, wise men and great Philosophers, have accounted it, as the Archet, or musicall Bow of the Mind. And certainly it is most true, and as it were, a secret of nature, that the minds of men are more patent to affections, and impressions, Congregate, than solitary."

The third chapter of Book VII. of the "De Augmentis" is devoted to emphasising the importance of a knowledge of the internal working of the mind and of the disposition and character of men. The following extracts are of special moment:--

"Some are naturally formed for contemplation, others for business, others for war, others for advancement of fortune, others for love, others for the arts, others for a varied kind of life; so among the poets (heroic, satiric, tragic, comic) are everywhere interspersed, representations of characters, though generally exaggerated and surpassing the truth. And this argument touching the different characters of dispositions is one of those subjects in which the common discourse of men (as sometimes, though very rarely, happens) is wiser than books."

The drama as the only vehicle through which this can be accomplished at once suggests itself to the reader. But in order to emphasize this point he proceeds--

"But far the best provision and material for this treatise is to be gained from the wiser sort of historians, not only from the commemorations which they commonly add on recording the deaths of illustrious persons, but much more from the entire body of history as often as such a person enters upon the stage."

Bacon becomes still more explicit. He continues:--

"Wherefore out of these materials (which are surely rich and abundant) let a full and careful treatise be constructed. Not, however, that I would have their characters presented in ethics (as we find them in history, or poetry, or even in common discourse) in the shape of complete individual portraits, but rather the several features and simple lineaments of which they are composed, and by the various combinations and arrangements of which all characters whatever are made up, showing how many, and of what nature these are, and how connected and subordinated one to another; that so we may have a scientific and accurate dissection of minds and characters, and the secret dispositions of particular men may be revealed; and that from a knowledge thereof better rules may be framed for the treatment of the mind. And not only should the characters of dispositions which are impressed by nature be received into this treatise, but those also which are imposed upon the mind by sex, by age, by region, by health and sickness, by beauty and deformity and the like; and again, those which are caused by fortune, as sovereignty, nobility, obscure birth, riches, want, magistracy, privateness, prosperity, adversity and the like."

Shortly after follows this remarkable pronouncement.

"But to speak the truth the poets and writers of history are the best doctors of this knowledge,[56] where we may find painted forth with great life and dissected, how affections are kindled and excited, and how pacified and restrained, and how again contained from act and further degree; how they disclose themselves, though repressed and concealed; how they work; how they vary; how they are enwrapped one within another; how they fight and encounter one with another; and many more particulars of this kind; amongst which this last is of special use in moral and civil matters; how, I say, to set affection against affection, and to use the aid of one to master another; like hunters and fowlers who use to hunt beast with beast, and catch bird with bird, which otherwise perhaps without their aid man of himself could not so easily contrive; upon which foundation is erected that excellent and general use in civil government of reward and punishment, whereon commonwealths lean; seeing these predominant affections of fear and hope suppress and bridle all the rest. For as in the government of States it is sometimes necessary to bridle one faction with another, so is it in the internal government of the mind."

In his "Distributio Operis" Bacon thus describes the missing fourth part of his "Instauratio Magna":--

"Of these the first is to set forth examples of inquiry and invention[57] according to my method exhibited by anticipation in some particular subjects; choosing such subjects as are at once the most noble in themselves among those under enquiry, and most different one from another, that there may be an example in every kind. I do not speak of these precepts and rules by way of illustration (for of these I have given plenty in the second part of the work); but I mean actual types and models, by which the entire process of the mind and the whole fabric and order of invention from the beginning to the end in certain subjects, and those various and remarkable, should be set as it were before the eyes. For I remember that in the mathematics it is easy to follow the demonstration when you have a machine beside you, whereas, without that help, all appears involved and more subtle than it really is. To examples of this kind--being, in fact, nothing more than an application of the second part in detail and at large--the fourth part of the work is devoted."

The late Mr. Edwin Reed has, in his "Francis Bacon our Shakespeare," page 126, drawn attention to a remarkable circumstance. In 1607 Bacon had written his "Cogitata et Visa," which was the forerunner of his "Novum Organum." It was not published until twenty-seven years after his death, namely, in 1653, by Isaac Gruter, at Leyden. In 1857 Mr. Spedding found a manuscript copy of the "Cogitata" in the library of Queen's College at Oxford. This manuscript had been corrected in Bacon's own handwriting. It contained passages which were omitted from Gruter's print. Spedding did not realise the importance of the omitted passages, but Mr. Edwin Reed has made this manifest. The following extract is specially noteworthy, the portion printed in italics having been omitted by Gruter:--

"... So he thought best, after long considering the subject and weighing it carefully, first of all to prepare _Tabulae Inveniendi_ or regular forms of inquiry; in other words, a mass of particulars arranged for the understanding, and to serve, as it were, for an example and almost visible representation of the matter. For nothing else can be devised that would place in a clearer light what is true and what is false, or show more plainly that what is presented is more than words, and must be avoided by anyone who either has no confidence in his own scheme or may wish to have his scheme taken for more than it is worth.

"_But when these Tabulae Inveniendi have been put forth and seen, he does not doubt that the more timid wits will shrink almost in despair from imitating them with similar productions with other materials or on other subjects; and they will take so much delight in the specimen given that they will miss the precepts in it. Still, many persons will be led to inquire into the real meaning and highest use of these writings, and to find the key to their interpretation, and thus more ardently desire, in some degree at least, to acquire the new aspect of nature which such a key will reveal. But he intends, yielding neither to his own personal aspirations nor to the wishes of others, but keeping steadily in view the success of his undertaking, having shared these writings with some, to withhold the rest until the treatise intended for the people shall be published._"

Now what conclusions may be drawn from the foregoing extracts? Bacon attached the greatest importance to the consideration of the internal life of man. He affirms that dramaticall or representative poesy, which brings the world upon the stage, is of excellent use if it be not abused. The discipline of the stage was neglected in his time, but the care of the ancients was that it should instruct the minds of men unto virtue, and wise men and great philosophers accounted it as the musical bow of the mind. He has devoted the fourth part of his "Instauratio Magna" to setting forth examples of inquiry and invention, choosing such subjects as are at once the most noble in themselves and the most different one from another, that there may be an example in every kind. He is not speaking of precepts and rules by way of interpretation, but actual types and models by which the entire process of the mind, and the whole fabric and order of invention, should be set, as it were, before the eyes.

Not only should the characters of dispositions which are impressed by nature be received into this treatise, but those also which are imposed upon the mind by sex, by age, by region, by health and sickness, by beauty and deformity, and the like; and, again, those that are caused by fortune, as sovereignty, nobility, obscure birth, riches, want, magistracy, privateness, prosperity, adversity, and the like.

_The fourth part of Bacon's "Great Instauration" is missing._ The above requirements are met in the Shakespeare plays. Could the dramas be more accurately described than in the foregoing extracts?

From a study of the plays let a list be made out of the qualifications which the author must have possessed. It will be found that the only person in whom every qualification will be found who has lived in any age of any country was Francis Bacon. Any investigator who will devote the time and trouble requisite for an exhaustive examination of the subject can come to no other conclusion.

One cannot without feeling deep regret recognise that we have to turn to a foreigner to give "reasons for the faith which we English have in Shakespeare." It was a German, Schlegel, who discovered the great dramatist, and to-day we must turn to his "Lectures on the Drama" for the most penetrating description of his plays. The following is a translation of a passage which in describing the plays almost adopts the words Bacon uses in the foregoing passages as to the scope and object of the fourth part of his "Great Instauration."

"Never, perhaps, was there so comprehensive a talent for the delineation of character as Shakespeare's. It not only grasps the diversities of rank, sex, and age, down to the dawnings of infancy; not only do the king and the beggar, the hero and the pickpocket, the sage and the idiot speak and act with equal truth; not only does he transport himself to distant ages and foreign nations, and portray in the most accurate manner, with only a few apparent violations of costume, the spirit of the ancient Romans, of the French in their wars with the English, of the English themselves during a great part of their history, of the Southern Europeans (in the serious part of many comedies), the cultivated society of that time, and the former rude and barbarous state of the North; his human characters have not only such depth and precision that they cannot be arranged under classes, and are inexhaustible, even in conception; no, this Prometheus not merely forms men, he opens the gates of the magical world of spirits, calls up the midnight ghost, exhibits before us his witches amidst their unhallowed mysteries, peoples the air with sportive fairies and sylphs; and these beings, existing only in imagination, possess such truth and consistency that even when deformed monsters like Caliban, he extorts the conviction that if there should be such beings they would so conduct themselves. In a word, as he carries with him the most fruitful and daring fancy into the kingdom of nature; on the other hand, he carries nature into the regions of fancy, lying beyond the confines of reality. We are lost in astonishment at seeing the extraordinary, the wonderful, and the unheard of in such intimate nearness."

"If Shakespeare deserves our admiration for his characters he is equally deserving of it for his exhibition of passion, taking this word in its widest signification, as including every mental condition, every tone from indifference or familiar mirth to the wildest rage and despair. He gives us the history of minds, he lays open to us in a single word a whole series of preceding conditions. His passions do not at first stand displayed to us in all their height, as is the case with so many tragic poets who, in the language of Lessing, are thorough masters of the legal style of love. He paints, in a most inimitable manner, the gradual progress from the first origin. 'He gives,' as Lessing says, 'a living picture of all the most minute and secret artifices by which a feeling steals into our souls; of all the imperceptible advantages which it there gains, of all the stratagems by which every other passion is made subservient to it, till it becomes the sole tyrant of our desires and our aversions.' Of all poets, perhaps, he alone has portrayed the mental diseases--melancholy, delirium, lunacy--with such inexpressible, and in every respect definite truth, that the physician may enrich his observations from them in the same manner as from real cases."

FOOTNOTES:

[55] A Translation by Spedding, "Works," Vol. IV., p. 23.

[56] The knowledge touching the affections and perturbations which are the diseases of the mind.

[57] Tabulae inveniendi.