232 VILLIERS DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. The following Letter from the Duke of Buckingham to James the First, I believe, is not in print. In most of his letters he appears an abject flatterer of the King, and fhews a childish affection expreffed in very low language; in this, however, he writes in a manly ftyle. He would have recommended a fervant of his to fome place, but the King had previoufly difpofed of it. "God forbid that for eyther me or anie of mine your promis fhould be forced; my man "is not in miferie; his mafter by your favour is "in eftate not to let him want; he is younge, "yett patient, and your meanes manie to benefitt "him fome other way, an his honestie can de"ferve it; I will anfwere he will. So both I " and he are humble futers that you please your "felfe, in which docing you content all. So "cravinge your bleflings, I ende your humble ત LORD BACON. THIS great man has been accused of deserting his friend and patron the Earl of Effex in his diftrefs. Fuller thus attempts to exculpate him; "Lord Bacon," fays he, " was more true to "the Earl than the Earl was to himfelf; for finding him prefer deftruction before difpleafing "counsel, he fairly forfook (not his perfon, whom "his pity attended to the grave, but) his prac❝tices, and herein was not the worse friend for "being the better fubject.” Lord Bacon's Effays, which, as he says, will be more read than his other works, "coming "home to men's bufinefs and bofoms," have been the text-book of myriads of Effay-Writers, and comprehend fuch a condensation of wisdom and learning, that they have very fairly been wire-drawn by his fucceffors. Dr. Rowley, his Chaplain, gives the following account of his method of study, and of fome of his domestic habits. "He was," fays he, "no plodder upon "works; for though he read much, and that "with great judgment and rejection of imperti"nences incident to many authors, yet he would "ufe fome relaxation of mind with his ftudies; 66 as gently walking, coaching, flow riding, play"ing at bowls, and other fuch like exercises. "Yet he would lofe no time; for upon his first "return he would immediately fall to reading 66 He or thinking again; and fo fuffered no moment "to be loft and paft by him unprofitably. You might call his table a refection of the ear as "well as of the stomach, like the Noctes Attica, or "entertainments of the Deipnofophifts, wherein "a man might be refreshed in his mind and "understanding no lefs than in his body. I "have known fome men of mean parts that "have profeffed to make use of their note-books "when they have rifen from his table. "never took a pride (as is the humour of fome) "in putting any of his guests, or those that dif "courfed with him, to the blufh, but was ever "ready to countenance their abilities, whatever "they were. Neither was he one that would "appropriate the discourse to himself alone, but " left a liberty to the rest to speak in their turns, " and he took a pleasure to hear a man fpeak "in his own faculty, and would draw him on " and allure him to discourse upon different fubjects and for himself, he despised no man's "obfervations, but would light his torch at any "man's candle." 66 Mr. Ofborn, who knew Lord Bacon perfonally, in his "Advice to his Son," thus describes fcribes him :-"Lord Bacon, Viscount St. Al"ban's, in all companies did appear a good pro"ficient (if not a master) In those arts entertained "for the subject of every one's discourse; fo as "I dare maintain, without the least affectation "of flattery or hyperbole, that his moft cafual "task deserveth to be written, as I have been "told that his firft or fouleft copies required no "great labour to render them competent for "the niceft judgments; a high perfection, at"tainable only by ufe, and treating with every "man in his respective profeffion, and what he "was most verfed in. So as I have heard him "entertain a Country Lord in the proper terms "relating to hawks and dogs, and at another "time outcant a London Chirurgeon. Thus he ❝ did not only learn himself, but gratify such as "taught him, who looked upon their callings 66 as honourable through his notice. Nor did an eafie falling into arguments (not unjustly "taken for a blemish in the moft) appear lefs 66 than an ornament in him; the ears of the "hearers receiving more gratification than trou❝ble, and (fo) no less forry when he came to "conclude, than displeased with any that did "interrupt him. Now this general know ledge he had in all things, husbanded by his "wit, and dignified by fo majestical a carriage "he was known to owe, ftrook fuch an awful reverence in those he questioned, that they 66 "durft "durft not conceal the most intrinfick part of "their myfteries from him, for fear of appearing ignorant or faucy; all which rendered him no "lefs neceffary than admirable at the Counciltable, where, in reference to Impofitions, Mo66 nopolies, &c, the meanest manufactures were "an ufual argument; and (as I have heard) did in this baffle the Earl of Middlefex, that was "born and bred a citizen, &c. yet without any great (if at all) interrupting his other ftudies, "as is not hard to be imagined of a quick ap prehenfion, in which he was admirable." Lord Bacon is buried in a small obfcure church in St. Alban's, where the gratitude of one of his fervants, Mr. Meatys, has raised a monument to him; a gratitude which fhould be imitated on a larger scale, and in a more illuftrious place of fepulture, by a great and opulent Nation, who may well boaft of the honour of having had fuch an ornament to human nature born among them. In this age of liberality, diftinguished as well by poffeffing lovers of the arts as great artists themfelves, foreigners fhould no longer look in vain for the just tribute of our veneration to the memory of this great man, and that of Mr. Boyle and Mr. Locke, in our magnificent repofitories of the dead; and now indeed by the opening of St. Paul's to monuments to Dr. Johnfon and Mr. Howard, and by the wife and liberal regula 1 tions |