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THE PRAISE OF

HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES,

BY FRANCIS BACON.

WRITTEN IN LATIN BY HIS LORDSHIP, AND TRANSLATED BY
DR. BIRCH.

HENRY Prince of Wales, eldest son of the king of Great Britain, happy in the hopes conceived of him, and now happy in his memory, died on the 6th of Nov. 1612, to the extreme concern and regret of the whole kingdom, being a youth, who had neither offended nor satiated the minds of men. He had by the excellence of his disposition. excited high expectations among great numbers of all ranks; nor had through the shortness of his life disappointed them. One capital circumstance added to these was the esteem, in which he was commonly held, of being firm to the cause of religion and men of the best judgment were fully persuaded, that his life was a great support and security to his father from the danger of con

*He says, "the following translation is an attempt, for the sake of the English reader, to give the sense of the original, without pretending to reach the force and conciseness of expression peculiar to the great writer as well as to the Roman language.

VOL. 3.

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spiracies; an evil, against which our age has scarce found a remedy; so that the people's love of religion and the king overflowed to the prince; and this consideration deservedly heightened the sense of the loss of him. His person was strong and erect; his stature of a middle size; his limbs well made; his gait and deportment majestic; his face long and inclining to leanness; his habit of body full; his look grave, and the motion of his eyes rather composed than spirited. In his countenance were some marks of severity, and in his air some appearance of haughtiness. But whoever looked beyond these outward circumstances, and addressed and softened him with a due respect and seasonable discourse, found the prince to be gracious and easy; so that he seemed wholly different in conversation from what he was in appearance, and in fact raised in others an opinion of himself very unlike what his manner would at first have suggested. He was unquestionably ambitious of commendation and glory, and was strongly affected by every appearance of what is good and honourable; which in a young man is to be considered as virtue. Arms and military men were highly valued by him; and he breathed himself something warlike. He was much devoted to the magnificence of buildings and works of all kinds, though in other respects rather frugal; and was a lover both of antiquity and arts. He shewed his esteem of learning in general more by the countenance which he gave to it, than by the time

which he spent in it. His conduct in respect of morals did him the utmost honour; for he was thought exact in the knowledge and practice of every duty. His obedience to the king his father was wonderfully strict and exemplary: towards the queen he behaved with the highest reverence: to his brother he was indulgent; and had an intire affection for his sister, whom he resembled in person as much as that of a young man could the beauty of a virgin. The instructors of his younger years (which rarely happens) continued high in his favour. In conversation he both expected a proper decorum, and practised it. In the daily business of life, and the allotment of hours for the several offices of it, he was more constant and regular than is usual at his age. His affections and passions were not strong, but rather equal than warm. With regard to that of love, there was a wonderful silence, considering his age, so that he passed that dangerous time of his youth, in the highest fortune, and in a vigorous state of health, without any remarkable imputation of gallantry. In his court no person was observed to have any ascendant over him, or strong interest with him: and even the studies, with which he was most delighted, had rather proper times assigned them, than were indulged to excess, and were rather repeated in their turns, than that any one kind of them had the preference of, and controlled the rest

whether this arose from the moderation of his

temper, and that in a genius not very forward, but ripening by slow degrees, it did not yet appear what would be the prevailing object of his inclination. He had certainly strong parts, and was endued both with curiosity and capacity; but in speech he was slow, and in some measure hesitating. But whoever diligently observed what fell from him either by way of question or remark, saw it to be full to the purpose, and expressive of no common genius. So that under that slowness and infrequency of discourse, his judgment had more the appearance of suspense and solicitude to determine rightly, than of weakness and want of apprehension. In the mean time he was wonderfully patient in hearing, even in business of the greatest length; and this with unwearied attention, so that his mind seldom wandered from the subject, or seemed fatigued, but he applied himself wholly to what was said or done: which (if his life had been lengthened) promised a very superior degree of prudence. There were indeed in the prince some things obscure, and not to be discovered by the sagacity of any person, but by time only, which was denied him; but what appeared were excellent, which is sufficient for his fame.

He died in the 19th year of his age of an obstinate fever, which during the summer, through the excessive heat and dryness of the season, unusual to islands, had been epidemical, though not fatal, but in autumn became more mortal. Fame

which, as Tacitus says, is more tragical with respect to the deaths of princes, added a suspicion of poison: but as no signs of this appeared, especially in his stomach, which uses to be chiefly affected by poison, this report soon vanished.

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