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Scotland。  It was not difficult for such an intellect to discover

many irresistible arguments in favor of such a scheme。  He

conducted the great case of the POST NATI in the Exchequer

Chamber; and the decision of the judgesa decision the legality

of which may be questioned; but the beneficial effect of which

must be acknowledgedwas in a great measure attributed to his

dexterous management。





Again:





While actively engaged in the House of Commons and in the courts

of law; he still found leisure for letters and philosophy。

The noble treatise on the ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING; which at a

later period was expanded into the DE AUGMENTIS; appeared in 1605。



The WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS; a work which; if it had

proceeded from any other writer; would have been considered as a

masterpiece of wit and learning; was printed in 1609。



In the mean time the NOVUM ORGANUM was slowly proceeding。

Several distinguished men of learning had been permitted to see

portions of that extraordinary book; and they spoke with the

greatest admiration of his genius。



Even Sir Thomas Bodley; after perusing the COGITATA ET VISA;

one of the most precious of those scattered leaves out of which

the great oracular volume was afterward made up; acknowledged

that 〃in all proposals and plots in that book; Bacon showed

himself a master workman〃; and that 〃it could not be gainsaid but

all the treatise over did abound with choice conceits of the

present state of learning; and with worthy contemplations of the

means to procure it。〃



In 1612 a new edition of the ESSAYS appeared; with additions

surpassing the original collection both in bulk and quality。



Nor did these pursuits distract Bacon's attention from a

work the most arduous; the most glorious; and the most useful

that even his mighty powers could have achieved; 〃the reducing

and recompiling;〃 to use his own phrase; 〃of the laws of England。〃





To serve the exacting and laborious offices of Attorney…General

and Solicitor…General would have satisfied the appetite of any

other man for hard work; but Bacon had to add the vast literary

industries just described; to satisfy his。  He was a born worker。





The service which he rendered to letters during the last

five years of his life; amid ten thousand distractions and

vexations; increase the regret with which we think on the many

years which he had wasted; to use the words of Sir Thomas Bodley;

〃on such study as was not worthy such a student。〃



He commenced a digest of the laws of England; a History of

England under the Princes of the House of Tudor; a body of

National History; a Philosophical Romance。  He made extensive and

valuable additions to his Essays。  He published the inestimable

TREATISE DE AUGMENTIS SCIENTIARUM。





Did these labors of Hercules fill up his time to his contentment;

and quiet his appetite for work?  Not entirely:





The trifles with which he amused himself in hours of pain and languor

bore the mark of his mind。  THE BEST JEST…BOOK IN THE WORLD is that

which he dictated from memory; without referring to any book;

on a day on which illness had rendered him incapable of serious study。





Here are some scattered remarks (from Macaulay) which throw

light upon Bacon; and seem to indicateand maybe demonstrate

that he was competent to write the Plays and Poems:





With great minuteness of observation he had an amplitude of comprehension

such as has never yet been vouchsafed to any other human being。





The ESSAYS contain abundant proofs that no nice feature of

character; no peculiarity in the ordering of a house; a garden;

or a court…masque; could escape the notice of one whose mind was

capable of taking in the whole world of knowledge。





His understanding resembled the tent which the fairy

Paribanou gave to Prince Ahmed:  fold it; and it seemed a toy for

the hand of a lady; spread it; and the armies of the powerful

Sultans might repose beneath its shade。





The knowledge in which Bacon excelled all men was a knowledge

of the mutual relations of all departments of knowledge。





In a letter written when he was only thirty…one; to his uncle;

Lord Burleigh; he said; 〃I have taken all knowledge to be my province。〃





Though Bacon did not arm his philosophy with the weapons of logic;

he adorned her profusely with all the richest decorations of rhetoric。





The practical faculty was powerful in Bacon; but not; like

his wit; so powerful as occasionally to usurp the place of his

reason and to tyrannize over the whole man。





There are too many places in the Plays where this happens。

Poor old dying John of Gaunt volleying second…rate puns at his

own name; is a pathetic instance of it。  〃We may assume〃 that it is

Bacon's fault; but the Stratford Shakespeare has to bear the blame。





No imagination was ever at once so strong and so thoroughly

subjugated。  It stopped at the first check from good sense。





In truth; much of Bacon's life was passed in a visionary world

amid things as strange as any that are described in the ARABIAN TALES

。 。 。 amid buildings more sumptuous than the palace of Aladdin;

fountains more wonderful than the golden water of Parizade;

conveyances more rapid than the hippogryph of Ruggiero; arms more

formidable than the lance of Astolfo; remedies more effacious

than the balsam of Fierabras。  Yet in his magnificent day…dreams

there was nothing wildnothing but what sober reason sanctioned。





Bacon's greatest performance is the first book of the NOVUM

ORGANUM。 。 。 。  Every part of it blazes with wit; but with wit

which is employed only to illustrate and decorate truth。  No book

ever made so great a revolution in the mode of thinking;

overthrew so may prejudices; introduced so many new opinions。





But what we most admire is the vast capacity of that

intellect which; without effort; takes in at once all the domains

of scienceall the past; the present and the future; all the

errors of two thousand years; all the encouraging signs of the

passing times; all the bright hopes of the coming age。





He had a wonderful talent for packing thought close and

rendering it portable。





His eloquence would alone have entitled him to a high rank

in literature。





It is evident that he had each and every one of the mental gifts

and each and every one of the acquirements that are so prodigally

displayed in the Plays and Poems; and in much higher and richer

degree than any other man of his time or of any previous time。

He was a genius without a mate; a prodigy not matable。  There was

only one of him; the planet could not produce two of him at

one birth; nor in one age。  He could have written anything that

is in the Plays and Poems。  He could have written this:







The cloud…cap'd towers; the gorgeous palaces;

The solemn temples; the great globe itself;

Yea; all which it inherit; shall dissolve;

And; like an insubstantial pageant faded;

Leave not a rack behind。  We are such stuff

As dreams are made of; and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep。





Also; he could have written this; but he refrained:





Good friend for Iesus sake forbeare

To digg the dust encloased heare:

Blest be ye man yt spares thes stones

And curst be he yt moves my bones。





When a person reads the noble verses about the cloud…cap'd

towers; he ought not to follow it immediately with Good friend

for Iesus sake forbeare; because he will find the transition from

great poetry to poor prose too violent for comfort。  It will give

him a shock。  You never notice how commonplace and unpoetic

gravel is until you bite into a layer of it in a pie。







 XI





Am I trying to convince anybody that Shakespeare did not

write Shakespeare's Works?  Ah; now; what do you take me for?

Would I be so soft as that; after having known the human race

familiarly for nearly seventy…four years?  It would grieve me to

know that any one could think so injuriously of me; so

uncomplimentarily; so unadmiringly of me。  No; no; I am aware

that when even the brightest mind in our world has been trained

up from childhood in a superstition of any kind; it will never be

possible for that mind; in its maturity; to examine sincerely;

dispassionately; and conscientiously any evidence or any

circumstance which shall seem to cast a doubt upon the validity

of that superstition。  I doubt if I could do it myself。  We

always get at second hand our notions about systems of

government; and high tariff and low tariff; and prohibition and

anti…prohibition; and the holiness of peace and the glories of

war; and codes of honor and codes of morals; and approval of the

duel and disapproval of it; and our beliefs concerning the nature

of cats; and our ideas as to whether the murder of helpless wild

animals is base or is heroic; and our preferences in the matter

of

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