other the like particularities.' Such a lively description is required by Bacon from moral philosophy. That is to say, he desires nothing less than a natural history of the passions; - the very thing that Shakspeare has produced. Indeed, what poet could have excelled Shakspeare in this respect? Who, to use a Baconian expression, could have depicted man and his passions more "ad vivum"? According to Bacon, the poets and historians give us copies of characters; and the outlines of these images -the simple strokes that determine characters are the proper objects of ethical science. Just as physical science requires a dissection of bodies, that their hidden qualities and parts may be discovered; so should ethics penetrate the various minds of men, in order to find out the internal basis of them all. And not only this foundation, but likewise those external conditions which give a stamp to human character - all those peculiarities that "are imposed upon the mind by the sex, by the age, by the region, by health and sickness, by beauty and deformity, and the like, which are inherent and not external; and, again, those which are caused by external fortune," should come within the scope of

* "Advancement of Learning," ii. "De Augment. Scient." vii. 3.

"Advancement of Learning," ii. For the whole passage compare "De Augment. Scient." vii. 3.

ethical philosophy. In a word, Bacon would have man studied in his individuality as a product of nature and history, in every respect determined by natural and historical influences, by internal and external conditions. And exactly in the same spirit has Shakspeare understood man and his destiny; regarding character as the result of a certain natural temperament and a certain historical position, and destiny as a result of character. The great interest that Bacon took in portraits of character, is proved by the fact that he attempted to draw them himself. With a

few felicitous touches he sketched the characters of Julius and Augustus Cæsar, and his view of both was similar to that of Shakspeare. In Julius Cæsar he saw combined all that the Roman genius had to bestow in the shape of greatness, nobility, culture, and fascination, and regarded his character as the most formidable that the Roman world could encounter. And giving what always serves as the proof of the calculation in the analysis of a character; Bacon so explains the character of Cæsar, as to explain his fate also. He saw, like Shakspeare, that Cæsar was naturally inclined to a despotic feeling, that governed his great qualities and also their aberrations, rendering him dangerous to the Republic and blind with respect to his enemies. He wished says

Bacon, "not to be eminent amongst great and deserving men, but to be chief amongst inferiors and vassals.”* He was so much dazzled by his

own greatness that he no longer knew what danger was. This is the same Cæsar into whose

mouth Shakspeare puts the words

66

Danger knows full well

That Cæsar is more dangerous than he.
We were two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible."

Julius Cæsar, Act II. Sc. 2.

When Bacon, at last, attributes the fate of Cæsar to his forgiveness of enemies, that by this magnanimity he might impose upon the multitude, he still shows the dazzled man, who heightens the expression of his greatness at the expense of his security.

It is very characteristic that among human passions Bacon best understands avarice and ambition, and least understands love, which he ranks very low. Love was as foreign to his nature as lyrical poetry; but in one single case he perceived its tragic importance, and this very case was developed by Shakspeare into a tragedy. "You may observe," says Bacon, "that amongst all

* Compare Bacon's "Civil Character of Julius Cæsar," which, as well as the " Civil Character of Augustus," exists both in English and Latin.

the great and worthy persons, there is not one that hath been transported to the mad degree of love, which shows that great spirits and great business do keep out this weak passion. You must except, nevertheless, Marcus Antonius."* He has already said that love is "sometimes like a siren, sometimes like a fury," and it may be truly observed with respect to Cleopatra, as conceived by Shakspeare, that she appears to Marc Antony in both these capacities.

* Essay "On Love."

CHAP. VIII.

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THE BACONIAN PHILOSOPHY AS THE INSTAURATIO MAGNA ORGANON AND ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

OF SCIENCE.

"9

HAVING fully ascertained the point of view which Bacon opposes to all preceding Philosophy, and which he establishes as his own, we now describe from the same point the scientific horizon of the Baconian mind. His philosophy is a completely new edifice, raised on foundations and directed towards ends totally different from those of all theories that have gone before. With these he has so little in common that he does not even build upon their ruins. Bacon leaves the old edifices of philosophy standing, when he has shown how insecure they are, and how little suited for the habitation of man. On a soil that has hitherto been unoccupied, and with instruments that have never yet been used, he will build altogether anew. The instrument that he employs is the "Novum Organum;" the ground-plan, according to which he proceeds,