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We have discovered
a shorter and more prudent method
to become scholars and wits,
without the fatigue of reading
or of thinking.
The most accomplished way
of using books at present is twofold:
either first to serve them
as some men do lords:
learn their titles exactly,
and then brag of their acquaintance.
Secondly, which is indeed
the more profound
and more polite method:
to get a thorough
insight into the index
by which the whole book
insight into the index
by which the whole book
is governed and turned,
like fishes by the tail.
To enter the palace of learning
at the great gate requires
an expense of time and forms.
Therefore men of much haste
and little ceremony are content
to get in by the back-door.
For the arts [and sciences]
are all in a flying march,
and therefore more easily subdued
by attacking them in the rear.
Physicians discover the state
of the whole body by consulting
only what comes from behind.
Men catch knowledge
by throwing their wit
on the posteriors of a book,
as boys do sparrows with
flinging salt upon their tails.
And human life is best understood
by the wise man’s rule of regarding
the end.
Thus are the sciences found
like Hercules' oxen:
by tracing them backwards.
And the old sciences unravelled
like old stockings by beginning
at the foot.
***
A Tale of a Tub
(1704)
The italics within the body of the text
were included in the original manuscript,
over three hundred years ago
But extremely minor changes were made
to the entire text by Bloggy Verio,
less than thirty minutes ago
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FootnotesThe italics within the body of the text
were included in the original manuscript,
over three hundred years ago
But extremely minor changes were made
to the entire text by Bloggy Verio,
less than thirty minutes ago
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
