the most prudent of statesmen. His mother, a daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, was a lady of considerable talents, and well skilled in Latin and Italian. Young Francis was designed by his father for public life, and his education was completed in the house of Sir Amias Paulet, English Ambassador in France. He acquired the confidence of Sir Amias, performed satisfactorily a mission to her Majesty, and, from his observations during a tour through France, published a "Brief View of the State of Europe." His father died suddenly in 1530, when Francis was but nineteen years of age, and he found himself in narrow circumstances. He now began the study of the law, and at the age of twenty-eight was named by Elizabeth her Counsel Extraordinary-an office with little pay, but bringing with it consideration, and valuable as an introduction to practice. Hoping for preferment, he addressed himself to Lord Burleigh, his uncle, in these remarkable words: "The meanness of my estate doth somewhat move me; for though I cannot accuse myself that I am either prodigal or slothful, yet my health is not to spend, nor my course to get. I confess that I have vast contemplative ends, as I have moderate civil ends; for I have taken all knowledge to my province. . . ." The Lord Treasurer Burleigh, however, was pushing the fortunes of his son Robert too warmly to give much heed to Francis; and it is not unlikely he was fearful that the superior powers of Francis would, if allowed scope, overshadow the merits of Robert. All that Francis obtained was the reversion of the registrarship of the Star Chamber, worth some £1600 per annum. The office, however, did not fall in for twenty years, and was of no present value to Bacon. To Elizabeth, Burleigh represented Bacon as a man of too speculative a turn of mind to apply in earnest to the practical details of business. In the Parliament of 1593, Bacon sat as member for Middlesex, and in one of his speeches gave way to an outburst of patriotism, which very much offended the Queen. She had applied for large subsidies, and Bacon said, "This being granted in this sort, other princes hereafter will look for the like; so that we shall put an evil precedent to ourselves and our posterity; and in histories, it is to be observed, of all nations the English are not to be subject, base, or taxable." After this explosion, it would require but little pains on Burleigh's part to hinder

his nephew from receiving any office of emolument. Indeed, he was denied access to the Queen's presence.

;

The great opponent of the Cecils in all the political intrigues which abounded towards the end of Elizabeth's reign was the Earl of Essex; and from him Bacon had already received friendship and protection. He strained every nerve to gain for Bacon the attorneygeneralship, which was vacant; but the Cecils carried it against him Robert, the son, expressing to the Earl of Essex that he was surprised that the earl should solicit the office for a raw youth." We fear that Bacon's spirit was not a courageous or a lofty one; he loved ease, and comfort, and all that riches bring a man; and he had not the courage to accept poverty, and to depend on his abilities and character alone. He quickly repented of his exertions in the popular cause, and submitted himself to his mistress with eloquent professions of duty, humility, and profound respect. But this availed not. The Cecils were omnipotent; and Essex could do nothing for him, except what his generosity had already done to compensate for Bacon's disappointments, namely, made him the gift of an estate.

Early in 1597, Bacon published his Essays—a small volume. They became very popular, were enlarged in successive editions, and translated into Latin, French, and Italian. The Earl of Essex having been sent to Ireland, and failed in his mission, fell into disgrace. Subsequently, he was cited before the Council to answer certain things; but instead of attending, he armed in his own defence. Blood was shed; he was tried and executed. For some time Bacon stood his friend, but at last appeared against him, and appears to have been guilty of ingratitude and coldness of heart, all but incredible even in so timeserving a Court as that was in the last years of Elizabeth. This desertion of his benefactor is one of the two great indictments against Bacon, and is, in our estimation, by far the worst, and the most difficult to dispose of.

In 1603, James came to the throne, and Bacon received knighthood, and soon rose to great power and influence. Appointed king's counsel the next year, he became Solicitor-General in 1607, and Attorney-General in 1612. He engaged actively in the House of Commons in behalf of the union of England and Scotland; con

ducted successfully the great case of the Post Nati in the Exchequer Chamber; and still found leisure for letters and philosophy. "The noble treatise on the Advancement of Learning," as Lord Macaulay distinguishes it, appeared in 1605. This was expanded, later, into the De Augmentis. The "Wisdom of the Ancients," which, if it had proceeded from any other writer-according, again, to Macaulay→→→ would have been considered a masterpiece of wit and wisdom, but which adds little to the fame of Bacon, was printed in 1609. Meanwhile he was completing the Novum Organum.

Happy would it have been for Bacon's memory, and the sympathies of his well-wishers, if his legal and political achievements had been as clear and free from doubt as are his literary works. But, in a tangled web of tyrannical prosecutions, torturing questions, corruptive advances, Bacon involved himself, to suffer in his lifetime a loss of his offices and to cloud his memory with damaging suspicions. Still, during a long course of years, Bacon's career was crowned with success. Attaching himself to Villiers, he was rewarded by being sworn in of the Privy Council; and the next year, 1617, was appointed Keeper of the Great Seal, the office his father had held thirty-eight years before. Macaulay asserts that the years during which Bacon held the Seal were among the darkest and most shameful in English history. The execution of Raleigh, the granting of pernicious monopolies, the permitting of illegal arrests, the delivery of dictated decisions-these acts are alleged by the Edinburgh reviewer to prove his accusation, Mr. Spedding has endeavoured to account for much that was done; but Bacon cannot be made out to be high-minded and pure-souled, with what has yet been brought to light. The reviewer may not have proved his case; the biographer has not succeeded in his defence; judgment is in arrest.

The zenith of his fortune has been attained. The Novum Organum is just published, and all Europe has acclaimed it. He had been created Baron Verulam, and then Viscount St. Alban. But a fall is near at hand. In 1621, a new Parliament has been chosen, and amongst its first acts is to accuse the Chancellor of bribery and corruption in his high office. The evidence is too clear. The Chancellor admits the crime, and declares, "I do plainly and ingenuously confess

that I am guilty of corruption, and do renounce all defence." The Lords sought to know if he had really signed such a confession. " 'My lords," said Bacon, "it is my act, my hand, my heart. I beseech your lordships to be merciful to a broken reed." He is condemned to pay a fine of £40,000, to be imprisoned in the Tower during the king's pleasure; is declared incapable of holding any office in the state, or sitting in Parliament; and is banished for life from the verge of the Court. The worst is over. His sentence is mitigated almost as soon as announced. In two days he is at liberty, and retiring to Gorhambury; he is released from the fine; is suffered to present himself at Court; and in 1624 the rest of his punishment is remitted. Besides his other sorrows, he appears to have had trouble with his wife, a rich alderman's daughter, who became his lady soon after he was knighted.

During the last five years of his life, from 1621-1626, he worked hard. "He commenced a digest of the Laws of England, a History of England under the Princes of the House of Tudor, a body of Natural History, and a Philosophical Romance. He made extensive and valuable additions to his Essays. He published the inestimable treatise, De Augmentis Scientiarum. The very trifles with which he amused himself in hours of pain and languor, bore the mark of his mind. The best collection of jests in the world (these are the Apophthegms contained in this volume) he dictated from memory, without referring to any book, on a day when illness rendered him incapable of serious study."

His weaknesses as a man too fond of luxury, and too careless of how it was procured, seem to have led him into tortuous paths. It has been properly said, that absolute exculpation cannot be granted to Bacon. It is possible that he never gave judgment, as he himself declared, with a bribe in his eye. Here, however, is no condonation of the easy virtue of accepting presents. "Aversion to consider strict obligations, evasion of moral responsibility is a habit of mind by no means uncommon. We may dignify it in the case of such men as Bacon, with the name of incapacity for details, but this often means incapacity for high morality.”

He died in 1626, from a chill taken in stuffing, on the highway,

a fowl with snow, as an experiment against decomposition. His legacy to mankind was great, and he knew it. The words in which he commits himself to posterity are touchingly simple and grand. "For my name and memory, I leave it to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations, and to the next age." The great philosopher has not always been kindly entreated by his countrymen. Many have struck hard at him. But they have invariably expressed the sorrow they felt in the performance of what they considered their duty. Many have defended him, and the last battle has not been fought over his reputation. We should all owe a great debt to the man who should be able to remove the ugly suspicions which now attach to the political and judicial actions of Lord Bacon. We could then join in unalloyed admiration for the whole life and labours of the father of experimental philosophy.

S. O. B.