The Mystery of Francis Bacon Part 15

"My conceit of his person was never increased toward him by his place, or honours: but I have and do reverence him, for the greatness that was only proper to himself, in that he seemed to me ever, by his work, one of the greatest men, and most worthy of admiration, that had been in many ages. In his adversity I ever prayed G.o.d would give him strength; for greatness he could not want.

Neither could I condole in a word or syllable for him, as knowing no accident could do harm to virtue, but rather help to make it manifest."

SIR TOBY MATTHEW describes Francis Bacon as

"A friend unalterable to his friends; A man most sweet in his conversation and ways";

and adds:

"It is not his greatness that I admire, but his virtue."

THOMAS BUSHEL, his servant, in a letter to Mr. John Eliot, printed in 1628, in a volume called "The First Part of Youth's Errors," says:

"Yet lest the calumnious tongues of men might extenuate the good opinion you had of his worth and merit, I must ingenuously confess that my selfe and others of his servants were the occasion of exhaling his vertues into a darke exlipse; which G.o.d knowes would have long endured both for the honour of his King and the good of the Commonaltie; had not we whom his bountie nursed, laid on his guiltlesse shoulders our base and execrable deeds to be scand and censured by the whole senate of a state, where no sooner sentence was given, but most of us forsoke him, which makes us bear the badge of Jewes to this day. Yet I am confident there were some G.o.dly Daniels amongst us.... As for myselfe, with shame I must acquit the t.i.tle, and pleade guilty; which grieves my very soule, that so matchlesse a Peer should be lost by such insinuating caterpillars, who in his owne nature scorn'd the least thought of any base, unworthy, or ign.o.ble act, though subject to infirmites as ordained to the wisest."

In FULLER'S "Worthies" it is written:

"He was a rich Cabinet filled with Judgment, Wit, Fancy and Memory, and had the golden Key, Elocution, to open it. He was singular in singulis, in every Science and Art, and being In-at-all came off with Credit. He was too Bountifull to his Servants, and either too confident of their Honesty, or too conniving at their Falsehood.

'Tis said he had 2 Servants, one in all Causes Patron to the Plaintiff, the other to the Defendant, but taking bribes of both, with this Condition, to restore the Mony received, if the Cause went against them. Such practices, tho' unknown to their Master, cost him the loss of his Office."

In "The Lives of Statesmen and Favourites of Elizabeth's Reign" it is said:--

"His religion was rational and sober, his spirit publick, his love to relations tender, to Friends faithful, to the hopeful liberal, to men universal, to his very Enemies civil. He left the best pattern of Government in his actions under one king and the best principles of it in the Life of the other."

The following is a translation from the discourse on the life of Mr.

Francis Bacon which is prefixed to the "Histoire Naturelle," by PIERE AMBOISE, published in Paris in 1631:

"Among so many virtues that made this great man commendable, prudence, as the first of all the moral virtues, and that most necessary to those of his profession, was that which shone in him the most brightly. His profound wisdom can be most readily seen in his books, and his matchless fidelity in the signal services that he continuously rendered to his Prince. Never was there man who so loved equity, or so enthusiastically worked for the public good as he; so that I may aver that he would have been much better suited to a Republic than to a Monarchy, where frequently the convenience of the Prince is more thought of than that of his people. And I do not doubt that had he lived in a Republic he would have acquired as much glory from the citizens as formerly did Aristides and Cato, the one in Athens, the other in Rome. Innocence oppressed found always in his protection a sure refuge, and the position of the great gave them no vantage ground before the Chancellor when suing for justice.

"Vanity, avarice, and ambition, vices that too often attach themselves to great honours, were to him quite unknown, and if he did a good action it was not from the desire of fame, but simply because he could not do otherwise. His good qualities were entirely pure, without being clouded by the admixture of any imperfections, and the pa.s.sions that form usually the defects in great men in him only served to bring out his virtues; if he felt hatred and rage it was only against evil-doers, to shew his detestation of their crimes, and success or failure in the affairs of his country brought to him the greater part of his joys or his sorrows. He was as truly a good man as he was an upright judge, and by the example of his life corrected vice and bad living as much as by pains and penalties. And, in a word, it seemed that Nature had exempted from the ordinary frailities of men him whom she had marked out to deal with their crimes. All these good qualities made him the darling of the people and prized by the great ones of the State. But when it seemed that nothing could destroy his position, Fortune made clear that she did not yet wish to abandon her character for instability, and that Bacon had too much worth to remain so long prosperous. It thus came about that amongst the great number of officials such as a man of his position must have in his house, there was one who was accused before Parliament of exaction, and of having sold the influence that he might have with his master. And though the probity of Mr. Bacon was entirely exempt from censure, nevertheless he was declared guilty of the crime of his servant and was deprived of the power that he had so long exercised with so much honour and glory.

In this I see the working of monstrous ingrat.i.tude and unparalleled cruelty--to say that a man who could mark the years of his life rather by the signal services that he had rendered to the State than by times or seasons, should have received such hard usage for the punishment of a crime which he never committed; England, indeed, teaches us by this that the sea that surrounds her sh.o.r.es imparts to her inhabitants somewhat of its restless inconstancy. This storm did not at all surprise him, and he received the news of his disgrace with a countenance so undisturbed that it was easy to see that he thought but little of the sweets of life since the loss of them caused him discomfort so slight." Thus ended this great man whom England could place alone as the equal of the best of all the previous centuries."

PETER BOENER, who was private apothecary to Bacon for a time, wrote in 1647 a Life, of portions of which the following are translations:--

"But how runneth man's future. He who seemed to occupy the highest rank is alas! by envious tongues near King and Parliament deposed from all his offices and chancellors.h.i.+p, little considering what treasure was being cast in the mire, as afterwards the issue and result thereof have shown in that country. But he always comforted himself with the words of Scripture--nihil est novi; that means 'there is nothing new.' Because so is Cicero by Octavia.n.u.s; Calisthenes by Alexander; Seneca (all his former teachers) by Nero; yea, Ovid, Luca.n.u.s, Statius (together with many others), for a small cause very unthankfully the one banished, the other killed, the third thrown to the lions. But even as for such men banishment is freedom--death their life, so is for this author his deposition a memory to greater honour and fame, and to such a sage no harm can come.

"Whilst his fortunes were so changed, I never saw him--either in mien, word or acts--changed or disturbed towards whomsoever; _ira enim hominis non implet just.i.tiam Dei_, he was ever one and the same, both in sorrow and in joy, as becometh a philosopher; always with a benevolent allocution--_ma.n.u.s nostrae sunt oculatae, credunt quod vident_.... A noteworthy example and pattern for everyone of all virtue, gentleness, peacefulness, and patience."

FRANCIs...o...b..RN, in his "Advice to a Son," writes:--

"And my memory neither doth nor (I believe possible ever) can direct me towards an example more splendid in this kind, than the Lord Bacon Earl of St. Albans, who in all companies did appear a good Proficient, if not a Master in those Arts entertained for the Subject of every ones discourse. So as I dare maintain, without the least affectation of Flattery or Hyperbole, That his most casual talk deserveth to be written, As I have been told his first or foulest Copys required no great Labour to render them competent for the nicest judgments. A high perfection, attainable only by use, and treating with every man in his respective profession, and what he was most vers'd in. So as I have heard him entertain a Country Lord in the proper terms relating to Hawks and Dogs. And at another time out-Cant a London Chirurgeon. Thus he did not only learn himself, but gratifie such as taught him; who looked upon their Callings as honoured through his Notice; Nor did an easie falling into Arguments (not unjustly taken for a blemish in the most) appear less than an ornament in Him: The ears of the hearers receiving more gratification, than trouble; And (so) no less sorry when he came to conclude, than displeased with any did interrupt him. Now this general Knowledge he had in all things, husbanded by his wit, and dignifi'd by so Majestical a carriage he was known to own, strook such an awful reverence in those he question'd, that they durst not conceal the most intrinsick part of their Mysteries from him, for fear of appearing Ignorant, or Saucy. All which rendered him no less Necessary, than admirable at the Council Table, where in reference to Impositions, Monopolies, &c. the meanest Manufacturers were an usual Argument: And, as I have heard, did in this Baffle, the Earl of Middles.e.x, that was born and bred a Citizen &c. Yet without any great (if at all) interrupting his other Studies, as is not hard to be Imagined of a quick Apprehension, in which he was Admirable."

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE MISSING FOURTH PART OF "THE GREAT INSTAURATION."

It has been urged by critics that Bacon, whilst professing to take all knowledge for his province, ignored one-half of it--that half which was a knowledge of himself; that to him the external world was everything, the internal nothing. All that Nature revealed was external; nothing that was internal was of much importance.

It must be remembered that all that we have of Bacon's was written as he was pa.s.sing into the "vale of life." Of his early productions nothing has come down to the present times under his own name. The following extracts from his acknowledged works establish two facts:--(1) That the foregoing criticism is unfounded, for he placed the study of man's mind and character above all other enquiries. (2) That he had prepared examples, being "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." Where are these works to be found?

Bacon never tires of quoting from the Roman poet the line--

"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 write Which 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 ant.i.theta:--

"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 compa.s.seth 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 pa.s.sage 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 a.s.sistance 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 Part.i.tion 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 pa.s.se, 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 should instruct 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 surpa.s.sing 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 ill.u.s.trious 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:--