Bacon  rarely  discussed  specific  educational
questions.  The  more  interest  attaches  to
certain  views  of  his  on  the  "  Arts  of  Teaching  "
that  appear  in  Book  VI,  ch.  iv,  of  the  Ad-
vancement of  Learning.  We  there  learn  that
education,  according  to  Bacon,  should  go
on  in  colleges  and  not  wholly  in  private
houses  and  schools;   that  too  concise  methods,


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too  hasty  opinions,  are  to  be  avoided,  which
"  rather  make  a  show  of  improvement  than
procure  it  ";  that  there  are  two  ways  of  exer-
cising genius,  from  the  easy  to  the  hard  and
from  the  hard  to  the  easy,  "  for  it  is  one  method
to  begin  swimming  with  bladders,  and  another
to  begin  dancing  with  loaded  shoes  ";  that
"  excursions  of  genius  are  to  be  somewhat
favored";  that  "  the  suiting  of  studies  to  the
genius  [ability]  is  of  singular  use  ";  that
"  everyone  makes  greater  progress  in  those
studies  whereto  he  is  naturally  inclined  ";  that
"  there  are  certain  remedies  in  a  proper  choice
of  studies  for  particular  indispositions  of  mind,"
e.g.  he  recommends  mathematics  for  inatten-
tion; and  that  exercises  should  be  varied  in
character  to  prevent  the  fixation  of  faults.
These  definite  views  on  teaching  hardly  surpass
the  customary  principles  advocated  by  the
Renaissance  educators.  In  fact,  they  rather
indicate  that  Bacon  paid  only  casual  attention
to  teachers  and  teaching.
