nature to perform.

"Now among all the benefits that could be conferred upon mankind, I
found none so great as the discovery of new arts, endowments, and
commodities for the bettering of man's life.... But if a man could
succeed, not in striking out some particular invention, however
useful, but in kindling a light in nature--a light that should in
its very rising touch and illuminate all the border regions that
confine upon the circle of our present knowledge; and so spreading
further and further should presently disclose and bring into sight
all that is most hidden and secret in the world--that man (I
thought) would be the benefactor indeed of the human race--the
propagator of man's empire over the universe, the champion of
liberty, the conqueror and subduer of necessities.

"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.

"Nevertheless, because my birth and education had seasoned me in
business of State; and because opinions (so young as I was) would
sometimes stagger me; and because I thought that a man's own country
has some special claims upon him more than the rest of the world;
and because I hoped that, if I rose to any place of honour in the
State, I should have a larger command of industry and ability to
help me in my work--for these reasons I both applied myself to
acquire the arts of civil life, and commended my service, so far as
in modesty and honesty I might, to the favour of such friends as had
any influence. In which also I had another motive: for I felt that
those things I have spoken of--be they great or small--reach no
further than the condition and culture of this mortal life; and I
was not without hope (the condition of religion being at that time