"The man of one book." A WISE QUESTION. A wise questioning is the half-way towards knowledge. This is found in Bacon, "De Augmentis Scientiarum," lib. V. cap. 116. PLEASING RECOLLECTION. Alas! how much less delightful it is to live with those that survive, than it is to cherish a recollection of you. This is Shenstone's epitaph on Miss Dolmen at the Leasowes. Than to remember thee." UNITY, LIBERTY, CHARITY.-ST. AUGUSTINE. Unity in things necessary, liberty in what is doubtful, charity in all things. THUS PASSES AWAY THE GLORY OF THIS WORLD. O Holy Father, thus passes away the glory of the world. The master of the ceremonies at the Pope's inauguration bears two dried reeds, whereof the one hath on the top a candle to kindle the other, crying aloud unto the Pope. THE SCOTCH. The fiery genius of the Scotch. This occurs in the Jesuita Vapulans of Andreas Rivetus, a Calvinistic minister and professor of theology at Leyden the middle of the seventeenth century. The phrase is found in the following passage:-"These books I will in some things This expression is said to belong originally to St. Thomas no otherwise commend than Andreas Rivetus, professor et Aquinas. TO DO A DEED BY THE HAND OF ANOTHER. He who does a deed by the hand of another is the same as if he did it himself. Leyden, did the doctrine of Buchanan and Knox: whose rashness he ascribed præfervido Scotorum ingenio et ad audendum prompto." Sir T. Urquhart's Tracts. Edin. 1754, p. 134. LOOK TO THE END. Look to the end is in the last line but one of This is one of the maxims of Boniface VIII. (Sexti Decret. the fable "De Accipitre et Columbis," in " Anonylib. v. tit. 12, de Reg. Jur. c. 72), derived according to the glos-mi Fabulæ Æsopicæ," Fabulæ Variorum Auctorum, sary from the maxim of Paulus (Digest. lib. i. tit. 17, de Div. Reg. Jur. i. 180). p. 503. Francof. 1560. THE DEAD. Of the dead nothing should be said except what is good. This is a saying of Solon in Plutarch. THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. The voice of the people is the voice of God. This is No. 97 among the Aphorismi Politici ex Ph. Cominæo per Lambertum Danæum collecti, Lugd. Bat. 1609. THE PEOPLE. The people wish to be deceived, let it be deceived. It was Paul IV.'s legate, Cardinal Carafa, that spoke thus of the devout Parisians: 64 Quandoquidem populus decipi vult, decipiatur." See Matthias Prideaux's "Easy and Compendious Introduction for Reading all Texts of Histories," 6th ed. Oxford, 1682. SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS. BOOKS HAVE THEIR FATE. Little books have their fates according to the taste of the reader. This line is found in a didactic poem of Terentianus Mau rus. A WICKED ACT. A thing forbidden becomes little thought of when it is allowed. This is found in the elegies (iii. v. 77) of C. Cornelius Gallus. TO REJOICE IN CRIME. Wretched are those who take pleasure in their crimes. This is found in Pseudo-Gallus (i. 180) in the collection of six elegies published under the name of C. Cornelius Gallus, by Pomponius Gauricus. Venice, 1501, 4to. DIFFERENT THINGS DELIGHT DIFFERENT PEOPLE. You fall into Scylla, desiring to avoid Charyb- different tastes; all things do not suit all ages. dis. This line is from the "Alexandreis" of Philippe Gaultier. The following are the lines: "Darius, having found a horse, flies away from the field bedewed with the blood of his men. Whither, O king doomed to die, dost thou fly in so cowardly a way? Alas! lost man, thou knowest not whom thou fliest; thou runnest into the midst of enemies, whilst thou fliest the enemy: thou fallest into Scylla, while thou avoidest Charybdis." RIDICULE. He chastises manners by ridicule. This was improvised by Santeuil for the Harlequin Dominique. TO BE IN THE UTMOST MISERY. He who lies on the ground cannot fall. This phrase is found in the Liber Parabolarum (Opera "I am not now in fortune's power: THE CONCLUSIVE ARGUMENT OF KINGS. Louis XIV. caused these words to be inscribed on his can non. JUPITER. This saying is found in Plutarch's Laconic Apothegms I have found a harbor; hope and fortune, fare-("Plutarchi Opera Mortalia," ed. Dan. Wyttenbach, vol. i. p. well; you have made sufficient sport of me, sport 649). Philemon Holland has turned it into English thus:with others now. This is a verse of Henault, made by him for the motto of Achilles and the tortoise. his "Abrégé Chronologique de l'Histoire de France." It is a translation of two lines of Pope's (1. 740, 741) “Essay on Criticism:" **Content, if hence the unlearn'd their wants may view, The learn'd reflect on what before they knew." LEISURE. Leisure along with dignity. This is found in Cicero, in Or. P. Sextio, 45. Let no man be the servant of another who can Reverend Fathers,-See that this infamous schism (refanda be his own master. TO LIVE WELL. schisma) be rooted out," intent on having the Bohemian schism ended-which he reckons to be of the feminine gender. To which a cardinal mildly replying, "schisma is neuter, your majesty." Sigismund loftily replied, “I am king He has lived long enough, who has lived well of the Romans and above grammar," BACON'S ESSAYS. INTRODUCTION. BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL. AMONG the great spirits whose claim to undisputed | be detected by the keen glance of the Stagyrite; and empire over men's thoughts has been ratified by the notwithstanding that both the ancient and the modern concurrent testimony of ages and nations, Lord Ba- philosopher have had their share of detractors, mancon stands deservedly pre-eminent. If he does not occupy the foremost place, his pretensions are as high and legitimate as any of his competitors. The question is not, however, one of degree, but of kind, and consequently will be decided according to the estimation in which men are inclined to hold different objects. If ideal philosophy be regarded and the application of the rational faculty to objects of moral speculation, the palm must be awarded to Socrates and Plato. If the art of mental analysis be considered, and the power of distinctly looking into the human mind, and tracing out the various laws which produce and control its phenomena, we must as readily admit the pretensions of Aristotle. But should we direct our views to physical science, the creation of material arts and the extension of man's power over nature, we shall be compelled to grace Bacon's temples with the proudest wreath of glory. Despite the splendid attempts of Plato and Aristotle to explain everything, the result proved that their empire was bounded by the confines of the material universe. The arts and discoveries of the Athenian sages, splendid as they are in the spiritual world, and even potent to liberate the soul from the tyranny of the passions, still stop here. They might be exercised in a cloister, a desert, or in a dungeon, as they were exercised under the despotism of the most degraded of the Roman Emperors, without teaching man any other art than that of patience under calamities, and that of stringing together the speculative truths proposed by science or revelation. These advantages were, doubtless, important in their day, but they failed to disclose one physical truth, to protect the civilized world from the incursion of savages, or rescue mankind from barbarism. Bacon, though not the first to detect this lacune in philosophy, was the first to bring to its removal the adventurous genius of the Stagyrite, and to explore the mines of physical phenomena with the searching keenness that his predecessor manifested in analyzing the law of the reasoning faculty. Thought and language adjusted themselves to the pursuit,-new ideas were evolved, and a practical method instituted of applying the inductive syllogism to the interpretation of nature. kind have been wonderfully concurrent in paying fealty to each as the great arbiters of the destinies of their species. The influence of the Stagyrite extends over a waste of two thousand years, through which, with some knocks from those who ought to have been his greatest friends, and with damaging support from that school whose descendants have proved his mortal enemies, he has generally contrived to mould the minds of those who sway the world. The intellect of Bacon has only impressed itself upon two centuries, and yet so unanimous has been the verdict of mankind, and so astounding the discoveries which have resulted from his method, that his fame may be pronounced to stand upon as firm a basis as that of Aristotle. Not an age passes wherein the inquiries which he continues to excite and direct do not lead to some practical result, either in the diminution of human evil, or in the increase of man's power and enjoyment; and so rapid has been the stride of scientific improvement since his day, that men now justly regard that state of learning which the scholastics surveyed with raptures of admiration, as the mere infancy of knowledge. But Bacon was not only the high priest of nature, he was also the Lord Chancellor of England, and notwithstanding that some of his actions in relation to this office will occasionally awaken the censure of the reader, there are traits and performances which must challenge his applause, and transmit his name with lustre to posterity. The eloquence and searching analysis he displayed in philosophy followed him to the bar. His legal arguments, of which that on perpetuities may be taken as a type, are among the most masterly ever heard in Westminster Hall. His history of the Alienation Office may be pronounced worthy of Hale, while his dissertation on the courts of equity certainly throws the more popular treatise of Grotius into the shade. The question of law reform, so popular in our day, was first raised by him, and advocated in a speech of reasoning eloquence which at once secured him the favor of the Commons; and though his exhortations were unheeded till the Barebones Parliament thought that lawyers might be dispensed with altogether, and though they have If Bacon discovered no great law himself, he not been neglected from the Restoration till our own only propounded the system by which all might be times, it must be borne in mind that the reforms reached, but gave hints which enabled his successors already effected have been mainly directed by his to light at once on the lurking-place of the discovery, counsels, and that in carrying out that wide measure and roused mankind with heart-stirring appeals to of chancery reform, on which all parties are now bent, pursue the only legitimate track of natural science. he is our safest guide. Though the son of a lordIf a Newton was required to exemplify the utility of keeper, and the nephew of a prime minister, he had, Bacon's Organun, by a series of splendid discoveries, like all aspiring legists, to fight his way up to the a Plato was also needed to exhibit the highest tri- highest posts of his profession by merit alone; nor umphs of the reasoning faculty before its laws could 'does it appear that his official kinsmen ever opened their lips, or stretched out their hand, except to push | tions and the men whom it regarded with veneration; him back, or asperse his fame. but it requires no great sagacity to discern in his reWhether, then, we consider moral admonitions, the marks on cloistered learning, his opinion of alma-mahighest philosophical achievements, practical civil ter, and its sister university. He deplored, as we dewisdom, or the most splendid legal and forensic plore now, and are making some attempts to remedy talents, the life and works of Lord Bacon stand if not the absence of scientific studies in the British unialone in the world, at least without their rival in versities; and covertly described the philosophy exmodern annals.* The characters of ordinary think-pounded within their walls, as so much spider thread ers may be duly estimated when the generation with spun out of the brains of the scholastics, admirable which their influence ends has passed away, but the for its fineness, but without any use or purpose in merits of those who have given an immutable direc- nature. From his wrangling with Aristotle, whose tion to the resistless tide of human reason, and fash- logic he unaccountably deemed diametrically opposed ioned the channel through which it is destined to to his own, there is no doubt that he experienced flow, can only be fully appreciated after centuries some hard knocks at the university; and that like have tested the result. High as Bacon's name now Swift, Goldsmith, Gibbon, and Adam Smith, he was stands, every succeeding age must increase its eleva- treated as too stubborn and erratic for a systematic tion, and centuries roll away before it can be said to course of study, and left pretty much to follow the be graced with its final trophies. bent of his own inclination. Having kept only eight terms, Bacon quitted the university without a degree, and being intended by his father for the political profession, was intrusted to the care of Sir Amyas Paulet, the Queen's ambassador at Paris, and occasionally employed by him in offices of trust for the crown. After visiting the chief provinces of France he settled in Poictiers, and devoted three years of that period of life which is most averse to reflection, to study, and retirement. To this sojourn we owe not only his Essays, and the Notes on the State of Europe, which display the rising sagacity of the veteran statesman, but all the graces of style and manner which so distinguish him from his contemporaries. Francis Bacon was born at York House,† in the Strand, on the 22nd of January (old style), 1560. His father, Sir Nicholas Bacon, one of the greatest ornaments of Elizabeth's administration, and, lord-keeper of the great seal, contributed by his practical foresight to raise England to a height in European councils which has only been realized by the strongest governments of later times. His mother, Ann Cook, the daughter of Edward the Sixth's tutor, was skilled in the Latin and Greek tongues, which ladies were then accustomed to learn, owing to the dearth of modern literature; and also possessed such facility in French and Italian as to pronounce and translate those languages with ease and correctness. There can be little doubt that Bacon, like many other great men, inherited a large portion of his abilities from his mother, and that she, as the Lord-keeper's time was absorbed by more pressing duties, mostly contributed to fashion the infant stream of his thoughts and give them a healthy direction. Of his younger days, nothing more is recorded than his breaking open the drums and trumpets his nurses bought him, to explore the locality of the sound; his leaving the ordinary field sports, to discover the cause of an echo -in a neighboring vault, and his sprightly answers to Queen Elizabeth, who used to stroke his head and call him her little lord-keeper. "It is certain," says Macaulay, "that at twelve years old he busied himself with very ingenious speculations on the art of legerdemain; a subject which, as Dugald Stewart has most justly observed, merits much more attention from philosophers than it has ever received." While Bacon was engaged in his studies he received news (Feb. 20, 1579,) of his father's death. Like Philip of Arragon, Sir Nicholas Bacon perished from the effects of civility. The politeness of a ser vant, who would not presume to close a window be fore which his master had fallen asleep, killed him. Bacon hastened home, but found his eldest brother in possession of the patrimonial estate, with nothing left for himself but a slender fifth portion, totally inadequate to the maintenance of his station in society. After many futile applications to his uncle, the lordtreasurer Burleigh, for political employment, he entered Gray's Inn in his twentieth year, resolved to scale the heights of power by the more arduous but surer path of law. For ten or eleven succeeding years, he rarely suffered either amusement or literature to disturb the tenor of his professional duties, and seems to have fully mastered the common law, In the latter end of his thirteenth year he was en- and familiarized his mind with every branch of juristered at Trinity College, Cambridge, but it does not prudeuce. About this period he published a draft appear that he ever felt at home in what are, or ought of his philosophical notions, under the title of Temto be, the halls of science. His tutor, Whitgift, af-poris partum maximum (The Greatest Birth of Time;) terwards archbishop of Canterbury, never thought him worthy of a remark in his writings. Doubtless Bacon placed too high a value on being well with his age, to make an open onslaught on the institu which, however, dropped still-born from the press, the world only knowing of its existence through a paragraph in one of his letters to Father Fulgentio: nor does it appear that the copies which he scattered among his friends did him any further service than To the universality of this panegyric, Burke, who bor- to single him out as a rash speculatist. Bacon, emrowed from him his sagest political observations, bears boldened by his high talents and the claims of his testimony: "Who is there that, upon hearing the naine of family on the crown, continued to ply the Cecils Lord Bacon, does not instantly recognize everything of with solicitations, but without any other result than genius the most profound, everything of literature the most extensive, everything of discovery the most pene- testy refusals and lectures on his arrogance and pretrating, everything of observation on human life the sumption. The lord-treasurer, though a man of cool most distinguishing and refined. All these must be in-judgment and calculating foresight, had no regard stantly recognized, for they are all inseparably associated with the name of Lord Verulam." -Speech on the Impeachment of Warren Hasting. + York House was so named from having been inhabited by the archbishop of York in the reign of Queen Mary. It was situated on the banks of the Thames, at the bottom of Buckingham-street, Strand. The only vestige of it now remaining is its fine water-gate, built by Inigo Jones. A view of the old house is preserved in that curious and interesting repository Wilkinson's Londina Illustrata. for intellectual merit, and thought even one hundred pounds too handsome a gratuity for Spenser's "Fairy Queen," which he termed a foolish old song. Had he been childless, the same reason would have led him to bring forward, which now impelled him to push back, his illustrious kinsman; but he had a son, and being resolved to make the premiership heredi tary in his family, thought no means beneath him to blast Bacon's legal reputation. Elizabeth was told |