Chapter XXV.THE PHILOSOPHY OF BACON.

"Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci,"

which, in an Elizabethan handwriting, may be seen in a contemporary volume thus rendered—

"He of all others fittest is to writeWhich with some profit allso ioynes delight."

He repeats in different forms, until the reiteration becomes almost tedious, the following incident:—

"And as Alexander Borgia was wont to say, of the expedition of the French for Naples, that they came with chalk in their hands to marke up their lodgings not with weapons to fight; so we like better, that entry of truth, which comes peaceably where the Mindes of men, capable to lodge so great a guest, are signed, as it were, with chalke; than that which comes with Pugnacity, and forceth itselfe a way by contentions and controversies."

The same idea is embodied in the following example of the antitheta:—

"A witty conceit is oftentimes a convoy of a Truth which otherwise could not so handsomely have been ferried over."

In the "Advancement of Learning," Lib. II., again the same view is insisted on:—

"Besides in all wise humane Government, they that sit at the helme, doe more happily bring their purposes about, and insinuate more easily things fit for the people, by pretexts, and oblique courses; than by downe-right dealing. Nay (which perchance may seem very strange) in things meerely naturall, you may sooner deceive nature, than force her; so improper, and selfe impeaching are open direct proceedings; whereas on the other side, an oblique and an insinuing way, gently glides along and compasseth the intended effect."

One other fact must be realised before the full import of the quotations about to be made can be appreciated. In the "Distributio Operis" prefixed to the "Novum Organum" the following significant passage occurs[55]:—

"For as often as I have occasion to report anything as deficient, the nature of which is at all obscure, so that men may not perhaps easily understand what I mean or what the work is which I have in my head, I shall always (provided it be a matter of any worth) take care to subjoin either directions for the execution of such work, or else a portion of the work itself executed by myself as a sample of the whole: thus giving assistance in every case either by work or by counsel."

In the "Advancement of Learning," Book II., chap. i., it is written:

"That is the truest Partition of humane Learning, which hath reference to the three Faculties of Man's soule, which is the feat of Learning. History is referred to Memory, Poesy to the Imagination, Philosophy to Reason. By Poesy, in this place, we understand nothing else, but feigned History, or Fables. As for Verse, that is only a style of expression, and pertaines to the Art of Elocution, of which in due place.""Poesy, in that sense we have expounded it, is likewise of Individuals, fancied to the similitude of those things which in true History are recorded, yet so as often it exceeds measure; and those things which in Nature would never meet, nor come to passe, Poesy composeth and introduceth at pleasure, even as Painting doth: which indeed is the work of the Imagination."

"Poesy, in that sense we have expounded it, is likewise of Individuals, fancied to the similitude of those things which in true History are recorded, yet so as often it exceeds measure; and those things which in Nature would never meet, nor come to passe, Poesy composeth and introduceth at pleasure, even as Painting doth: which indeed is the work of the Imagination."

And in the same book, Chapter XIII.:—

"Drammaticall, or Representative Poesy, which brings the World upon the stage, is of excellent use, if it were not abused. For the Instructions, and Corruptions, of the Stage, may be great; but the corruptions in this kind abound, the Discipline is altogether neglected in our times. For although in moderne Commonwealths, Stage-plaies be but estimed a sport or pastime, unlesse it draw from the Satyre, and be mordant; yet the care of the Ancients was, that it shouldinstruct the minds of men unto virtue. Nay, wise men and great Philosophers, have accounted it, as the Archet, or musicall Bow of the Mind. And certainly it is most true, and as it were, a secret of nature, that the minds of men are more patent to affections, and impressions, Congregate, than solitary."

The third chapter of Book VII. of the "De Augmentis" is devoted to emphasising the importance of a knowledge of the internal working of the mind and of the disposition and character of men. The following extracts are of special moment:—

"Some are naturally formed for contemplation, others for business, others for war, others for advancement of fortune, others for love, others for the arts, others for a varied kind of life; so among the poets (heroic, satiric, tragic, comic) are everywhere interspersed, representations of characters, though generally exaggerated and surpassing the truth. And this argument touching the different characters of dispositions is one of those subjects in which the common discourse of men (as sometimes, though very rarely, happens) is wiser than books."

The drama as the only vehicle through which this can be accomplished at once suggests itself to the reader. But in order to emphasize this point he proceeds—

"But far the best provision and material for this treatise is to be gained from the wiser sort of historians, not only from the commemorations which they commonly add on recording the deaths of illustrious persons, but much more from the entire body of history as often as such a person enters upon the stage."

Bacon becomes still more explicit. He continues:—

"Wherefore out of these materials (which are surely rich and abundant) let a full and careful treatise beconstructed. Not, however, that I would have their characters presented in ethics (as we find them in history, or poetry, or even in common discourse) in the shape of complete individual portraits, but rather the several features and simple lineaments of which they are composed, and by the various combinations and arrangements of which all characters whatever are made up, showing how many, and of what nature these are, and how connected and subordinated one to another; that so we may have a scientific and accurate dissection of minds and characters, and the secret dispositions of particular men may be revealed; and that from a knowledge thereof better rules may be framed for the treatment of the mind. And not only should the characters of dispositions which are impressed by nature be received into this treatise, but those also which are imposed upon the mind by sex, by age, by region, by health and sickness, by beauty and deformity and the like; and again, those which are caused by fortune, as sovereignty, nobility, obscure birth, riches, want, magistracy, privateness, prosperity, adversity and the like."

Shortly after follows this remarkable pronouncement.

"But to speak the truth the poets and writers of history are the best doctors of this knowledge,[56]where we may find painted forth with great life and dissected, how affections are kindled and excited, and how pacified and restrained, and how again contained from act and further degree; how they disclose themselves, though repressed and concealed; how they work; how they vary; how they are enwrapped one within another; how they fight and encounter one with another; and many more particulars of this kind; amongst which this last is of special use in moral and civil matters; how, I say, to set affection against affection, and to use the aid ofone to master another; like hunters and fowlers who use to hunt beast with beast, and catch bird with bird, which otherwise perhaps without their aid man of himself could not so easily contrive; upon which foundation is erected that excellent and general use in civil government of reward and punishment, whereon commonwealths lean; seeing these predominant affections of fear and hope suppress and bridle all the rest. For as in the government of States it is sometimes necessary to bridle one faction with another, so is it in the internal government of the mind."

In his "Distributio Operis" Bacon thus describes the missing fourth part of his "Instauratio Magna":—

"Of these the first is to set forth examples of inquiry and invention[57]according to my method exhibited by anticipation in some particular subjects; choosing such subjects as are at once the most noble in themselves among those under enquiry, and most different one from another, that there may be an example in every kind. I do not speak of these precepts and rules by way of illustration (for of these I have given plenty in the second part of the work); but I mean actual types and models, by which the entire process of the mind and the whole fabric and order of invention from the beginning to the end in certain subjects, and those various and remarkable, should be set as it were before the eyes. For I remember that in the mathematics it is easy to follow the demonstration when you have a machine beside you, whereas, without that help, all appears involved and more subtle than it really is. To examples of this kind—being, in fact, nothing more than an application of the second part in detail and at large—the fourth part of the work is devoted."

The late Mr. Edwin Reed has, in his "Francis Baconour Shakespeare," page 126, drawn attention to a remarkable circumstance. In 1607 Bacon had written his "Cogitata et Visa," which was the forerunner of his "Novum Organum." It was not published until twenty-seven years after his death, namely, in 1653, by Isaac Gruter, at Leyden. In 1857 Mr. Spedding found a manuscript copy of the "Cogitata" in the library of Queen's College at Oxford. This manuscript had been corrected in Bacon's own handwriting. It contained passages which were omitted from Gruter's print. Spedding did not realise the importance of the omitted passages, but Mr. Edwin Reed has made this manifest. The following extract is specially noteworthy, the portion printed in italics having been omitted by Gruter:—

"... So he thought best, after long considering the subject and weighing it carefully, first of all to prepareTabulæ Inveniendior regular forms of inquiry; in other words, a mass of particulars arranged for the understanding, and to serve, as it were, for an example and almost visible representation of the matter. For nothing else can be devised that would place in a clearer light what is true and what is false, or show more plainly that what is presented is more than words, and must be avoided by anyone who either has no confidence in his own scheme or may wish to have his scheme taken for more than it is worth."But when these Tabulæ Inveniendi have been put forth and seen, he does not doubt that the more timid wits will shrink almost in despair from imitating them with similar productions with other materials or on other subjects; and they will take so much delight in the specimen given that they will miss the precepts in it. Still, many persons will be led to inquire into the real meaning and highest use of these writings, and to find the key to their interpretation, and thus more ardently desire, in some degree at least, to acquire the new aspect of nature whichsuch a key will reveal. But he intends, yielding neither to his own personal aspirations nor to the wishes of others, but keeping steadily in view the success of his undertaking, having shared these writings with some, to withhold the rest until the treatise intended for the people shall be published."

"But when these Tabulæ Inveniendi have been put forth and seen, he does not doubt that the more timid wits will shrink almost in despair from imitating them with similar productions with other materials or on other subjects; and they will take so much delight in the specimen given that they will miss the precepts in it. Still, many persons will be led to inquire into the real meaning and highest use of these writings, and to find the key to their interpretation, and thus more ardently desire, in some degree at least, to acquire the new aspect of nature whichsuch a key will reveal. But he intends, yielding neither to his own personal aspirations nor to the wishes of others, but keeping steadily in view the success of his undertaking, having shared these writings with some, to withhold the rest until the treatise intended for the people shall be published."

Now what conclusions may be drawn from the foregoing extracts? Bacon attached the greatest importance to the consideration of the internal life of man. He affirms that dramaticall or representative poesy, which brings the world upon the stage, is of excellent use if it be not abused. The discipline of the stage was neglected in his time, but the care of the ancients was that it should instruct the minds of men unto virtue, and wise men and great philosophers accounted it as the musical bow of the mind. He has devoted the fourth part of his "Instauratio Magna" to setting forth examples of inquiry and invention, choosing such subjects as are at once the most noble in themselves and the most different one from another, that there may be an example in every kind. He is not speaking of precepts and rules by way of interpretation, but actual types and models by which the entire process of the mind, and the whole fabric and order of invention, should be set, as it were, before the eyes.

Not only should the characters of dispositions which are impressed by nature be received into this treatise, but those also which are imposed upon the mind by sex, by age, by region, by health and sickness, by beauty and deformity, and the like; and, again, those that are caused by fortune, as sovereignty, nobility, obscure birth, riches, want, magistracy, privateness, prosperity, adversity, and the like.

The fourth part of Bacon's "Great Instauration" is missing.The above requirements are met in the Shakespeare plays. Could the dramas be more accurately described than in the foregoing extracts?

From a study of the plays let a list be made out of the qualifications which the author must have possessed. It will be found that the only person in whom every qualification will be found who has lived in any age of any country was Francis Bacon. Any investigator who will devote the time and trouble requisite for an exhaustive examination of the subject can come to no other conclusion.

One cannot without feeling deep regret recognise that we have to turn to a foreigner to give "reasons for the faith which we English have in Shakespeare." It was a German, Schlegel, who discovered the great dramatist, and to-day we must turn to his "Lectures on the Drama" for the most penetrating description of his plays. The following is a translation of a passage which in describing the plays almost adopts the words Bacon uses in the foregoing passages as to the scope and object of the fourth part of his "Great Instauration."

"Never, perhaps, was there so comprehensive a talent for the delineation of character as Shakespeare's. It not only grasps the diversities of rank, sex, and age, down to the dawnings of infancy; not only do the king and the beggar, the hero and the pickpocket, the sage and the idiot speak and act with equal truth; not only does he transport himself to distant ages and foreign nations, and portray in the most accurate manner, with only a few apparent violations of costume, the spirit of the ancient Romans, of the French in their wars with the English, of the English themselves during a great part of their history, of the Southern Europeans (in the serious part of many comedies), the cultivated society of that time, and the former rude and barbarous state of the North; his human characters have not only such depth and precision that they cannot be arranged under classes, and are inexhaustible, even in conception; no, this Prometheus not merely forms men, he opens thegates of the magical world of spirits, calls up the midnight ghost, exhibits before us his witches amidst their unhallowed mysteries, peoples the air with sportive fairies and sylphs; and these beings, existing only in imagination, possess such truth and consistency that even when deformed monsters like Caliban, he extorts the conviction that if there should be such beings they would so conduct themselves. In a word, as he carries with him the most fruitful and daring fancy into the kingdom of nature; on the other hand, he carries nature into the regions of fancy, lying beyond the confines of reality. We are lost in astonishment at seeing the extraordinary, the wonderful, and the unheard of in such intimate nearness."

"If Shakespeare deserves our admiration for his characters he is equally deserving of it for his exhibition of passion, taking this word in its widest signification, as including every mental condition, every tone from indifference or familiar mirth to the wildest rage and despair. He gives us the history of minds, he lays open to us in a single word a whole series of preceding conditions. His passions do not at first stand displayed to us in all their height, as is the case with so many tragic poets who, in the language of Lessing, are thorough masters of the legal style of love. He paints, in a most inimitable manner, the gradual progress from the first origin. 'He gives,' as Lessing says, 'a living picture of all the most minute and secret artifices by which a feeling steals into our souls; of all the imperceptible advantages which it there gains, of all the stratagems by which every other passion is made subservient to it, till it becomes the sole tyrant of our desires and our aversions.' Of all poets, perhaps, he alone has portrayed the mental diseases—melancholy, delirium, lunacy—with such inexpressible, and in every respect definite truth, that the physician may enrich his observations from them in the same manner as from real cases."

To attempt anything of the nature of a review of Bacon's acknowledged works is a task far too great for the scope of the present volume. To attempt a survey of the whole of his works would require years of diligent study, and would necessitate a perusal of nearly every book published in England between 1576 and 1630. Not that it is suggested that all the literature of this period was the product of his pen or was produced under his supervision, but each book published should be read and considered with attention to arrive at a selection.

There has been no abler judgment of the acknowledged works than that which will be found in William Hazlitt's "Lectures on the Literature of the Age of Elizabeth." Lecture VII. commences with an account of the "Character of Bacon's Works."

It may not, however, be out of place here to try and make plain in what sense Bacon was a philosopher.

In Chapter CXVI. of the "Novum Organum" he makes his position clear in the following words:—

"First then I must request men not to suppose that after the fashion of ancient Greeks, and of certain moderns, as Telesius, Patricius, Severinus, I wish to found a new sect in philosophy. For this is not what I am about; nor do I think that it matters much to the fortunes of men what abstract notions one may entertain concerning nature and the principles of things; and no doubt many old theories of this kind can be revived, and many new ones introduced; just as many theories of the heavens may be supposed which agreewell enough with the phenomena and yet differ with each other."For my part, I do not trouble myself with any such speculative and withal unprofitable matters. My purpose on the contrary, is to try whether I cannot in very fact lay more firmly the foundations and extend more widely the limits of the power and greatness of man ... I have no entire or universal theory to propound."

"For my part, I do not trouble myself with any such speculative and withal unprofitable matters. My purpose on the contrary, is to try whether I cannot in very fact lay more firmly the foundations and extend more widely the limits of the power and greatness of man ... I have no entire or universal theory to propound."

So the idea that there was what is termed a system of philosophy constructed by Bacon must be abandoned. What justification is there for calling him the father of the Inductive Philosophy?

It is difficult to answer this question. Spedding admits that Bacon was not the first to break down the dominion of Aristotle. That followed the awakening throughout the intellectual world which was brought about by the Reformation and the revival of learning. Sir John Herschel justifies the application to Bacon of the term "The great Reformer of Philosophy" not on the ground that he introduced inductive reasoning, but because of his "keen perception and his broad and spirit-stirring, almost enthusiastic announcement of its paramount importance, as the Alpha and Omega of science, as the grand and only chain for linking together of physical truths and the eventual key to every discovery and application."

Bacon was 60 years of age when his "Novum Organum" was published. It was founded on a tract he had written in 1607, which he called "Cogitata et Visa," not printed until long after his death. He had previously published a portion of his Essays, the two books on "The Advancement of Learning" and "The Wisdom of the Ancients." Just at the end of his life he gave to the world the "Novum Organum," accompanied by "The Parasceve." Certainly it was not understood in his time. Coke described it as only fit to freight the Ship ofFools, and the King likened it "to the peace of God which passeth all understanding." It is admittedly incomplete, and Bacon made no attempt in subsequent years to complete it. It is a book that if read and re-read becomes fascinating. Taine describes it as "a string of aphorisms, a collection as it were of scientific decrees as of an oracle who foresees the future and reveals the truth." "It is intuition not reasoning," he adds. The wisdom contained in its pages is profound. An understanding of the interpretation of the Idols and the Instances has so far evaded all commentators. Who can explain the "Latent Process"? But the book contains no scheme of arrangement. Therein is found a series of desultory discourses—full of wisdom, rich in analogies, abundant in observation and profound in comprehension. From here and there in it with the help of the "Parasceve" one can grasp the intention of the great philosopher.

In Chapter LXI. he says:—"But the course I propose for the discovery of sciences is such as leaves but little to the acuteness and strength of wits, but places all wits and understandings on a level." How was this to be accomplished? By the systemization of labour expended on scientific research. A catalogue of the particulars of histories which were to be prepared is appended to the "Parasceve." It embraces every subject conceivable. In Chapter CXI. he says, "I plainly confess that a collection of history, natural and experimental, such as I conceive it, and as it ought to be, is a great, I may say a royal work, and of much labour and expense."

In the "Parasceve" he says:—"If all the wits of all the ages had met or shall hereafter meet together; if the whole human race had applied or shall hereafter apply themselves to philosophy, and the whole earth had been or shall be nothing but academies and colleges and schools of learned men; still without a natural andexperimental history such as I am going to prescribe, no progress worthy of the human race could have been made or can be made in philosophy and the sciences. Whereas on the other hand let such a history be once provided and well set forth and let there be added to it such auxiliary and light-giving experiments as in the very course of interpretation will present themselves or will have to be found out; and the investigation of nature and of all sciences will be the work of a few years. This therefore must be done or the business given up."

To carry out this work an army of workers was required. In the preparation of each history some were to make a rough and general collection of facts. Their work was to be handed over to others who would arrange the facts in order for reference. This accomplished, others would examine to get rid of superfluities. Then would be brought in those who would re-arrange that which was left and the history would be completed.

From Chapter CIII. it is clear that Bacon contemplated that eventually all the experiments of all the arts, collected and digested,should be brought within one man's knowledge and judgment. This man, having a supreme view of the whole range of subjects, would transfer experiments of one art to another and so lead "to the discovery of many new things of service to the life and state of man."

Nearly three hundred years have passed since Bacon propounded his scheme. The arts and sciences have been greatly advanced. They might have proceeded more rapidly had the histories been prepared, but since his time there has arisen no man who has taken "all knowledge to be his province"—no man who could occupy the position Bacon contemplated.

The method by which the induction was to be followed is described in Chapter CV. There must be ananalysis of nature by proper rejections and exclusions, and then, after a sufficient number of negatives, a conclusion should be arrived at from the affirmative instances. "It is in this induction," Bacon adds, "that our chief hope lies."

Bacon's new organ has never been constructed, and all wits and understandings have not yet been placed on a level.

We come back to the mystery of Francis Bacon, the possessor of the most exquisite intellect that was ever bestowed on any of the children of men. As an historian, he gives us a taste of his quality in "Henry VII." In the Essays and the "Novum Organum," sayings which have the effect of axioms are at once striking and self-evident. But he is always desultory. In perceiving analogies between things which have nothing in common he never had an equal, and this characteristic, to quote Macaulay, "occasionally obtained the mastery over all his other faculties and led him into absurdities into which no dull man could have fallen." His memory was so stored with materials, and these so diverse, that in similitude or with comparison he passed from subject to subject. In the "Advancement of Learning" are enumerated the deficiencies which Bacon observed,nearly the whole of which were supplied during his lifetime.

The "Sylva Sylvarum" is the most extraordinary jumble of facts and observations that has ever been brought together. It is a literary curiosity. The "New Atlantis" and other short works in quantity amount to very little. Bacon's life has hitherto remained unaccounted for. In the foregoing pages an attempt has been made to offer an intelligible explanation of the work to which he devoted his life, namely, to supply the deficiencies which he had himself pointed out and which retarded the advancement of learning.

Hallam has said of Bacon: "If we compare what may be found in the sixth, seventh, and eighth books of the 'De Augmentis,' and the various short treatises contained in his works on moral and political wisdom and on human nature, with the rhetoric, ethics, and politics of Aristotle, or with the historians most celebrated for their deep insight into civil society and human character—with Thucydides, Tacitus, Phillipe de Comines, Machiavel, David Hume—we shall, I think, find that one man may almost be compared with all of these together."

Pope wrote: "Lord Bacon was the greatest genius that England, or perhaps any other country, ever produced." If an examination, more thorough than has hitherto been made, of the records and literature of his age establishes beyond doubt the truth of the suggestions which have now been put forward, what more can be said? This at any rate, that to him shall be given that title to which he aspired and for which he was willing to renounce his own name. He shall be called "The Benefactor of Mankind."

Sir Thomas Bodley left behind him a short history of his life which is of a fragmentary description. One-fourth of it is devoted to a record of how much he suffered in permitting Essex to urge his advancement in the State. The following is the passage:—

"Now here I can not choose but in making report of the principall accidents that have fallen unto me in the course of my life, but record among the rest, that from the very first day I had no man more to friend among the Lords of the Councell, than was the Lord Treasurer Burleigh: for when occasion had beene offered of declaring his conceit as touching my service, he would alwaies tell the Queen (which I received from her selfe and some other ear-witnesses) that there was not any man inEnglandso meet as myselfe to undergoe the office of the Secretary. And sithence his sonne, the present Lord Treasurer, hath signified unto me in private conference, that when his father first intended to advance him to that place, his purpose was withall to make me his Colleague. But the case stood thus in my behalf: before such time as I returned from the Provinces united, which was in the yeare 1597, and likewise after my returne, the then Earle ofEssexdid use me so kindly both by letters and messages, and other great tokens of his inward favours to me, that although I had no meaning, but to settle in my mind my chiefest desire and dependance upon the LordBurleigh, as one that I reputed to be both the best able, and therewithall the most willing to worke my advancement with the Queene, yet I know not how, the Earle, who fought by all devices to divert her love and likingboth from the Father and the Son (but from the Sonne in speciall) to withdraw my affection from the one and the other, and to winne mee altogether to depend upon himselfe, did so often take occasion to entertaine the Queene with some prodigall speeches of my sufficiency for a Secretary, which were ever accompanied with words of disgrace against the present Lord Treasurer, as neither she her selfe, of whose favour before I was thoroughly assured, took any great pleasure to preferre me the sooner, (for she hated his ambition, and would give little countenance to any of his followers) and both the LordBurleighand his Sonne waxed jealous of my courses, as if under hand I had beene induced by the cunning and kindnesse of the Earle ofEssex, to oppose my selfe against their dealings. And though in very truth they had no solid ground at all of the least alteration in my disposition towards either of them both, (for I did greatly respect their persons and places, with a settled resolution to doe them any service, as also in my heart I detested to be held of any faction whatsoever) yet the now Lord Treasurer, upon occasion of some talke, that I have since had with him, of the Earle and his actions, hath freely confessed of his owne accord unto me, that his daily provocations were so bitter and sharpe against him, and his comparisons so odious, when he put us in a ballance, as he thought thereupon he had very great reason to use his best meanes, to put any man out of hope of raising his fortune, whom the Earle with such violence, to his extreame prejudice, had endeavoured to dignifie. And this, as he affirmed, was all the motive he had to set himselfe against me, in whatsoever might redound to the bettering of my estate, or increasing of my credit and countenance with the Queene. When I hae thoroughly now bethought me, first in the Earle, of the slender hold-fast that he had in the favour of the Queene, of an endlesse opposition of the cheifest of our Statesmen like still to waite upon him, of his perillous, and feeble, and uncertain advice, as well in his owne, as in all the causes of his friends: and when moreover for my selfe I had fully considered how very untowardly these two Counsellours were affected unto me, (upon whom before in cogitation I had framed all the fabrique of my future prosperity) how ill it did concurre with my naturall disposition, to become, or to be counted either a stickler or partaker in any publique faction, how well I was able, by God's good blessing, to live of my selfe, if I could be content with a competent livelyhood; how short time of further life I was then to expect by the common course of nature: when I had, I say, in this manner represented to my thoughts my particular estate, together with the Earles, I resolved thereupon to possesse my soule in peace all the residue of my daies, to take my full farewell of State imployments, to satisfie my mind with that mediocrity of worldly living that I had of my owne, and so to retire me from the Court, which was the epilogue and end of all my actions and endeavours of any important note, till I came to the age of fifty-three."

The experience of Bodley and Bacon appears to have been identical. It certainly materially strengthens the case of those who contend that Bacon's conduct to Essex was not deserving of censure on the ground of ingratitude for favours received from him.

The words which Robert Cecil addressed to Bodley, namely, that "he had very great reason to use his best meanes, to put any man out of hope of raising his fortune whom the Earle with such violence, to his extreame prejudice had endeavoured to dignifie," would with equal force have been applied to Bacon's case. The drift of Bodley's account of the matter points to his feeling that Essex's conduct had not been of a disinterested character, and suggests that he felt the Earle had been making a tool of him.

The effect of this was that Bodley adopted the course which Bacon threatened to adopt when refused the office of Attorney-General, solicited for him by Essex—he took a farewell of State employments and retired from the Court to devote himself to the service of his "Reverend Mother, the University of Oxford," and to the advancement of her good. To this end he became a collector of books, whereas Bacon would have become "some sorry book-maker or a true pioner in that mine of truth which Anaxagoras said lay so deep."

Figure VI.Figure VI.

Figure VII.Figure VII.

Figure VIII.Figure VIII.

Figure IX.Figure IX.

Figure XX.Figure XX.

THE XXXVIII. BOOKE.THE XXXVIII. BOOKE.

Figure X.Figure X.

Figure XV.Figure XV.

Figure XI.Figure XI.

Figure XII.Figure XII.

Figure XXI.Figure XXI.

Figure XVI.Figure XVI.

Figure XVII.Figure XVII.

Figure XVIII.Figure XVIII.

Figure XIX.Figure XIX.

[1]Attention is drawn to one of the inaccuracies in "An Introduction to Mathematics," by A. W. Whithead, Sc.D., F.R.S., published in the Home University Library of Modern Knowledge. The author says: "Macaulay in his essay on Bacon contrasts the certainty of mathematics with the uncertainty of philosophy, and by way of a rhetorical example he says, 'There has been no re-action against Taylor's theorem.' He could not have chosen a worse example. For, without having made an examination of English text-books on mathematics contemporary with the publication of this essay, the assumption is a fairly safe one that Taylor's theorem was enunciated and proved wrongly in every one of them."

[2]There are copies of this work bearing date 1626, the year in which Bacon died.

[3]The concluding paragraph of the Epistle to the Reader is as follows: "It's easily imaginable how unconcerned I am as to the fate of this Book either in the History, or the Observations, since I have been so faithful in the first, that it is not my own, but the Historians; and so careful in the second that they are not mine, but the Histories."

[4]"Life and Letters," Vol. VII., page 552.

[5]Lloyd states that this occurred when he was seven years of age.

[6]"The Lives of Statesmen and Favourites of Elizabeth."

[7]Dr. Whitgift was a man of strong moral rectitude, yet in 1593 he became one of its sponsors on the publication of "Venus and Adonis."

[8]It was to Sir Amias that the custody of Mary Queen of Scots was committed.

[9]In the "Gesta Grayorum" one of the articles which the Knights of the Helmet were required to vow to keep, each kissing his helmet as he took his vow, was "Item—every Knight of this Order shall endeavour to add conference and experiment to reading; and therefore shall not only read and peruse 'Guizo,' 'The French Academy,' 'Galiatto the Courtier,' 'Plutarch,' 'The Arcadia,' and the Neoterical writers from time to time," etc. The "Gesta Grayorum," which was written in 1594, was not published until 1687. The manuscript was probably incorrectly read as to the titles of the books. "Galiatto," apparently, should be "Galateo," described in a letter of Gabriel Harvey as "The Italian Archbishop brave Galateo." The "Courtier" is the Italian work by Castiglione which was Englished by Sir Thomas Hoby. "Guizo" should be "Guazzo." Stefano Guazzo's "Civil Conversation"—four books—was Englished by G. Pettie and Young.

[10]"Hit" is used by Chaucer as the past participle of "Hide." The name thus yields a suggestive anagram, "Bacohit."

[11]1618 Edition, page 712.

[12]In addition to this and to the "Gesta Grayorum" (1692) I have only been able to find two references to "The French Academy" in the works of English writers.J. Payne Collier, in his "Poetical Decameron," Vol. II., page 271, draws attention to the epistle "to the Christian reader" prefixed to the second part, and suggests that the initials T.B. which occur at the end of the dedicatory epistle stand for Thomas Beard, the author of "Theatre of God's Judgments." Collier does not appear to have read "The French Academy." Dibdin, in "Notes on More's Utopia," says, "But I entreat the reader to examine (if he be fortunate enough to possess the book) "The French Academy of Primaudaye," a work written in a style of peculiarly impressive eloquence, and which, not very improbably, was the foundation of Derham's and Paley's "Natural Theology."

[12]In addition to this and to the "Gesta Grayorum" (1692) I have only been able to find two references to "The French Academy" in the works of English writers.

J. Payne Collier, in his "Poetical Decameron," Vol. II., page 271, draws attention to the epistle "to the Christian reader" prefixed to the second part, and suggests that the initials T.B. which occur at the end of the dedicatory epistle stand for Thomas Beard, the author of "Theatre of God's Judgments." Collier does not appear to have read "The French Academy." Dibdin, in "Notes on More's Utopia," says, "But I entreat the reader to examine (if he be fortunate enough to possess the book) "The French Academy of Primaudaye," a work written in a style of peculiarly impressive eloquence, and which, not very improbably, was the foundation of Derham's and Paley's "Natural Theology."

[13]"It being now forty years as I remember, since I composed a juvenile work on this subject which with great confidence and a magnificent title I named "The greatest birth of Time."

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