Passage (Francis Bacon, *Of Studies*, 1625): "Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment, and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best, from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need proyning, by study; and studies themselves, do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation." Bacon contrasts *expert men* with *those that are learned*. According to the passage, what is the difference between the two?
AExpert men can execute and judge particulars, while learned men are better suited to giving general counsels and ordering complex affairs.
BExpert men are formally educated; learned men are not.
CExpert men are wiser than learned men.
DThere is no real difference; the two terms are used interchangeably.
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. Expert men can execute and judge particulars, while learned men are better suited to giving general counsels and ordering complex affairs.
Bacon's sentence reads: *expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best, from those that are learned.*
The contrast is **scope**: *expert men* handle particulars one at a time; *the learned* synthesize across cases — they give general counsels and orchestrate complex affairs. Both have value, but their domains differ.
- **A** is the *opposite* of Bacon's usage. *Expert men* in early-modern English meant practically experienced (not necessarily formally educated); *the learned* meant formally schooled.
- **C** introduces a ranking Bacon does not make.
- **D** misses the deliberate contrast.
The inference: Bacon is mapping out *complementary* abilities, not endorsing one over the other.
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