His will contained the following wish: "For my > burial, I desire it may be in St. Michael's Church, near St. Albans: there was my mother buried, and it is the parish church of my mansion-house at Gorhambury, and it is the only Christian church within the walls of Old Verulam"; and he bequeathed his "name and memory to men's charitable speeches, to foreign nations, and the next ages." His wife survived him twenty-four years. They left no family. In concluding this sketch of his life, a few considerations respecting his character, surroundings, and influences must be briefly noticed. It has been seen that at an early age he evinced a striking interest in philosophy and scientific methods of thought. As a boy he cared little for sports or the games of youth. He would even remain in seclusion, quite apart from others, engrossed in some scheme or problem of nature. His more philosophic works were probably planned before he was fifteen years of age, and his youthful sagacity was evident to all, including the Queen. When quite a lad he possessed a rapid and correct judgment, and in matters legal and philosophical he had the courage of his convictions." This was shown in his college days and during his travels on the Continent. Though he was a great reader, Rawley says "he was no plodder upon books." No doubt his rapid perception would enable him to gather and assimilate all that he desired to use for his purposes with the least expenditure of time. The small things in nature never escaped his notice, and the peculiarities and functions of living bodies were always open to his investigation. His strongly developed imaginative faculty suggested many phenomena of interest, and, as indicating the use he made of his powers and experiences in his daily walks, we find him, in his Sylva, discussing such psychical problems as "whether a man constantly and strongly believing that such a thing shall be that such a one shall recover a sickness or the like-it doth help anything to the effecting of the thing itself," etc. As he advanced in years his imagination grew stronger, and it has been said that in this characteristic Burke resembled him. It may be assumed that the history of a life should never be considered apart from its environment or without a complete knowledge of the history of the period; and when in the case of any person, be he lowly or exalted, one's attention is directed to certain traits of character calling for deliberate and fair treatment, judgment must be based on reliable data. It is to be regretted that the defects which unfortunately existed in the character of Bacon are often not only exaggerated through an ignorance of such considerations, but cited as condemnatory of his entire reputation. The first step, therefore, in the study of his life should be a study of the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and James the First, more especially the intricacies of the former period. This will at least have the effect of making the inquirer more sympathetic, and enable him to approach the subject in a truer spirit. Bacon was born with an unquenchable ambition, and this was the mainspring of his life. In the attainment of some of his objects he did not hesitate to resort to many practices and mean devices that shock our sense of morality and outrage our feelings. In his desire to be popular with all men he sometimes overtaxed even his capabilities; and in those days greater tact and judgment were necessary in the public service even than at present. That he found himself stooping to acts and conducting cases which his conscience did not sanction, in order to further his own interests and assist him in climbing the ladder of fame, is true; and for much of his conduct I can find no palliation, no excuse. Further, I cannot agree with some of those writers who suggest that he possessed a high moral standard and keen. appreciation of right and wrong. That he recognized such a standard, and could well differentiate the right from the wrong, one can quite understand, but that he actually possessed such attributes or lived up to them in all his dealings it is impossible to believe. In his meditations he no doubt had many an hour of remorse and bitterness-for he was a man of tender feeling and religious instincts, and his mental punishment would be proportionate. Though appreciating all this, those who have watched his career with an unbiased eye must admit that he was hard and unyielding in his legal transactions, even to the point of cruelty, rather than that his personal aims should be thwarted or allowed to suffer. We have so many evidences that he was at heart a religious man, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, that it is quite unnecessary to enumerate them. His deep convictions in this respect are interwoven in all his best works, and his Confession of Faith remains with us demonstrating his mental attitude towards Christianity. Macaulay, in alluding to his feelings regarding the moral sense of public bodies, says: "Bacon well knew to how great an extent the happiness of every society must depend on the virtue of its branches; and he also knew what legislators can and what they cannot do for the purpose of promoting virtue, The early chroniclers of his history do not think it worth while to tell us much that pertains to his homely habits, conversations, or virtues. All that we know of this side of his life is much to his credit. In concluding this reference to his private character, let us add a few words of his own from the preface to the Historia Naturalis, which will enlighten us as much as anything to be found in his life: "If, therefore, there be any humility towards the Creator, any reverence for or disposition to magnify his works, any charity for man, and anxiety to relieve his sorrows and necessities, any love of truth in nature, any hatred of darkness, any desire for the purification of the understanding, we must interest men again and again, to discard, or at least set apart for a while those volatile and preposterous philosophies which have preferred these for hypotheses, led experience captive, and triumphed over the works of God; and to approach with humility and veneration to unroll the volume of Creation, to linger and meditate thereon, and with minds washed clean from opinions to study it in purity and integrity." Is it not too evident, as has been tersely stated by a modern writer, that Bacon, "like other human beings, was a mixture of good and evil; being a great man, in him both good and evil are on a large scale"? In the inner struggles of his heart he must have often uttered with Faust the despairing cry: "Zwei Seelen wohnen ach! in meiner Brust." |