ABSTRACT
The chapter begins with a quote from Sir Francis Bacon. This preface can do no better than another quote from that famous gentleman. It was a singular occasion where he departed somewhat from his customary modesty, the place being the Proem to “The Advancement of Learning,” around 1600–1605.
For myself, I found that I was fitted for nothing so well as for the study of Truth; as having a mind nimble and versatile enough to catch the resemblances of things (which is the chief point), and at the same time steady enough to fix and distinguish their subtler differences; as being gifted by nature with desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to reconsider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and as being a man that neither affects what is new nor admires what is old, and that hates every kind of imposture. So I thought my nature had a kind of familiarity and relationship with Truth.
