HAT is Truth? faid jefting Pilate, and would not stay for an Answer.1 Certainly there be that delight in Giddi

nefs, and count it a Bondage to fix a Belief; affecting Free-will in Thinking as well as in Acting. And though the Sects of Philofophers of that Kind be gone, yet there remain certain difcourfing Wits, which are of the fame Veins, though there be not fo much Blood in them as was in thofe of the Ancients. But it is not only the Difficulty and Labour which Men take in finding out of Truth; nor again, that when it is found, it imposeth upon men's Thoughts, that doth bring Lies in favour; but a natural, though corrupt, Love of the Lie itself. One of the later Schools2 of the Grecians examineth the matter, and is at a ftand to think what fhould be in it, that men fhould love Lies, where neither they make for Pleasure, as with Poets; nor for Advantage, as

1 S. John xviii. 38.

2 Moft probably he refers to the New Academy.

B

with the Merchant; but for the Lie's fake. But I cannot tell: This fame Truth is a naked and open Daylight, that doth not show the Masques and Mummeries, and Triumphs of the world, half so stately and daintily, as Candlelights. Truth may perhaps come to the price of a Pearl, that fhoweth beft by Day; but it will not rise to the Price of a Diamond or Carbuncle, that sheweth best in varied Lights. A mixture of a Lie doth ever add Pleasure. Doth any man doubt, that if there were taken out of Men's Minds vain Opinions, flattering Hopes, false Valuations, Imaginations as one would, and the like; but it would leave the Minds of a Number of Men poor shrunken Things, full of Melancholy and Indifpofition, and unpleafing to themselves? One of the Fathers,3 in great Severity, called Poesy, Vinum Dæmonum ; because it filleth the Imagination, and yet it is but with the Shadow of a Lie. But it is not the Lie that paffeth through the Mind, but the Lie that finketh in and fettleth in it, that doth the Hurt, fuch as we spake of before. But howfoever these things are thus in Men's depraved Judgements and Affections, yet Truth, which only doth judge itself, teacheth, that the Inquiry of Truth, which is the Love-making or Wooing of it; the Knowledge of Truth, which is the Prefence of it; and the Belief of Truth, which is the enjoying of it; is the Sovereign Good of human Nature.

The allufion is probably to S. Jerome, in Epiftol. de duobus filiis, who fays, "Dæmonem cibus eft carmina Poetarum," &c.

The firft Creature of God, in the Works of the Days, was the Light of the Sense; the last was the Light of Reafon; and his Sabbath Work, ever fince, is the Illumination of his Spirit. First he breathed Light upon the Face of the Matter, or Chaos; then he breathed Light into the Face of Man; and ftill he breatheth and inspireth Light into the Face of his Chofen. The Poet, that beautified the Sect that was otherwise inferior to the reft, faith yet excellently well; It is a Pleasure to Stand upon the Shore, and to see Ships toft upon the Sea: a Pleasure to stand in the Window of a Castle, and to fee a Battle, and the Adventures thereof below: but no Pleafure is comparable to the ftanding upon the vantage Ground of Truth; (A Hill not to be commanded, and where the Air is always clear and ferene) and to fee the Errors, and Wanderings, and Mifts, and Tempefts, in the Vale below: So always that this Profpect be with Pity, and not with Swelling, or Pride. Certainly, it is Heaven upon Earth to have a Man's Mind move in Charity, rest in Providence, and turn upon the Poles of Truth.

To pass from Theological and Philosophical Truth, to the Truth of civil Bufinefs, it will be acknowledged, even by those that practise it not, that clear and round dealing is the Honour of Man's Nature, and that Mixture of Falfehood is like Alloy in Coin of Gold and Silver, which may

Lucretius, lib. i. ab init. It is fuperfluous to add that the paffage is loosely paraphrased. Comp. Advancement of Learning, lib. i. p. 63.-Ed. 1640.

5 Beautified, i. e. embellished, set off to advantage.

make the Metal work the better, but it embaseth it for these winding and crooked Courses are the Goings of the Serpent; which goeth basely upon the belly, and not upon the Feet. There is no Vice that doth fo cover a Man with Shame as to be found falfe and perfidious. And therefore Montaigne faith prettily, when he enquired the reason why the Word of the Lie fhould be fuch a Difgrace, and fuch an Odious Charge?6 Saith he, If it be well weighed, to fay that a Man lieth, is as much as to say, that he is brave towards God, and a Coward towards Men: For a Lie faces God, and fhrinks from Man. Surely the Wickedness of Falfehood and Breach of Faith cannot poffibly be fo highly expreffed as in that it fhall be the last Peal to call the Judgements of God upon the Generations of Men: it being foretold that when Christ cometh, He shall not find Faith upon the Earth.

6 See the 18th Effay on the second book Du Defmentir. Montaigne's words are, "C'est un vilain vice que le mentir, et qu'un ancien a peint bien honteusement, quand il dit, que 'c'est donner témoignage de meprifer Dieu, et quand et quand de craindre les hommes.' Il n'eft pas poffible de representer plus richement l'horreur, la vilité et le defréglement: car que peut on imaginer plus vilain, que d'eftre couart à l'endroit des hommes, et brave à l'endroit de Dieu ?"

The ancient referred to is Plutarch in the Life of Lyfander. It appears to me that Lord Bacon may have used Florio's verfion. 7 Luke xviii. 8.