Bacon, Englishman, and angel

Meaning

The learned Bacon is praised by a play on Englishman and angel. The joke reinforces an attributed account of metallic first matter; it does not identify a particular book or establish the precise authorial identity beyond the name given.

II.4.15 distinguishes the material described by Bacon from the universal spirit now being treated. It is metallic first matter, related to the broader source as offspring rather than identical parent. The author's approval therefore cannot authorize transferring every predicate of the cited metallic subject to universal matter. Reason and experience support his differentiation, while the Englishman/angel compliment gives the citation rhetorical warmth.

The translation preserves the verbal contrast between bon Anglois and bon Ange. The entry retains “Bacon” without silently supplying a specific treatise, edition or externally reconstructed quotation.