OF STUDIES
(AN ESSAY BY FRANCIS BACON}
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and
Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. He was also a famous writer and
had massive interest in scientific subjects.
His favourite language
was Latin but finally he succeeded in adopting good English prose in which his
most important work consists of a series of Essays,
first appeared in 1597 with ten essays, and later with additions in 1612 and 1625.
The extracts which are
given below are from 1625 edition.
I.Studies serve for delight, for
ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privateness and
retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment
and disposition of business.
II. Crafty men contemn studies,
simple men admire them, and wise men use them, for they teach not their own
use; for that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation.
III. Read not to contradict and confute,
not to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to
weigh and consider.
IV. Some books are to be tasted, others to be
swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested, that is, some books are to
be read only in parts; others to be read , but not curiously; and some to be
read wholly, and with diligence and attention.
V. Reading maketh a full man,
conference a ready man, and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write
little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have
a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to
know that he doth not.
VI. Histories make men wise, poets,
witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral , grave: logic
and rhetoric, able to contend.
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G.R.Kanwal
22 July 2024
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