[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] Tabulæ inveniendi. CHAPTER XXV. THE PHILOSOPHY OF BACON. To attempt anything of the nature of a review of Bacon's acknowledged works is a task far too great for the scope of the present volume. To attempt a survey of the whole of his works would require years of diligent study, and would necessitate a perusal of nearly every book published in England between 1576 and 1630. Not that it is suggested that all the literature of this period was the product of his pen or was produced under his supervision, but each book published should be read and considered with attention to arrive at a selection. There has been no abler judgment of the acknowledged works than that which will be found in William Hazlitt's "Lectures on the Literature of the Age of Elizabeth." Lecture VII. commences with an account of the "Character of Bacon's Works." It may not, however, be out of place here to try and make plain in what sense Bacon was a philosopher. In Chapter CXVI. of the "Novum Organum" he makes his position clear in the following words:-- "First then I must request men not to suppose that after the fashion of ancient Greeks, and of certain moderns, as Telesius, Patricius, Severinus, I wish to found a new sect in philosophy. For this is not what I am about; nor do I think that it matters much to the fortunes of men what abstract notions one may entertain concerning nature and the principles of things; and no doubt many old theories of this kind can be revived, and many new ones introduced; just as many theories of the heavens may be supposed which agree well enough with the phenomena and yet differ with each other. "For my part, I do not trouble myself with any such speculative and withal unprofitable matters. My purpose on the contrary, is to try whether I cannot in very fact lay more firmly the foundations and extend more widely the limits of the power and greatness of man ... I have no entire or universal theory to propound." So the idea that there was what is termed a system of philosophy constructed by Bacon must be abandoned. What justification is there for calling him the father of the Inductive Philosophy?