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DEPARTED FRIENDS

They are all gone into the world of light!
And I alone sit lingering here;
Their very memory is fair and bright,
And my sad thoughts doth clear.

It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast, 5
Like stars upon some gloomy grove,

Or those faint beams in which this hill is drest,

After the sun's remove.

I see them walking in an air of glory, Whose light doth trample on my days: 10 My days, which are at best but dull and hoary,

Mere glimmering and decays.

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FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626)

Bacon was connected through both his parents with the governing classes. His father was lord keeper of the great seal, and the queen used to call the boy her young lord keeper.' At twelve he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, and as a youth he studied law at Gray's Inn. He was in the diplomatic service at Paris when his father died, leaving him but ill provided for. In 1584 he was elected to the House of Commons, but in spite of conspicuous ability and powerful connections, his political preferment was slow. He became solicitor-general in 1607, attorney-general 1613, privy councillor 1616, lord keeper 1617, lord chancellor and baron Verulam 1618, viscount St. Albans 1621. But hostile political influences in this last year brought about his fall. He was accused of bribery, and admitted receiving gifts, but denied that they had influenced him in the administration of justice. He was deprived of all his offices, fined £200,000, imprisoned, and excluded from court and parliament. All the penalties except the last were immediately remitted by the king, but he was not allowed to return to public life. He retired to the estate he had inherited from his elder brother, and gave himself to literature and philosophy, which had always occupied his leisure. While still a young man, he said, I have as vast contemplative ends as I have moderate civil ends: for I have taken all knowledge to be my province.' The Advancement of Learning, published in English in_1605, is mainly an attempt to review what was then known; the Novum Organum (in Latin, 1620) is an exposition of the means by which the bounds of knowledge may be extended. His philosophical work was of great influence on account of the stress he laid on observation of facts and the testing of hypothesis by experiment. He met his death through a chill contracted by leaving his coach on a winter's day to gather snow to stuff a fowl in order to try the effect of cold on the preservation of meat. His History of Henry VII (1622) is an important work, but his most notable contribution to literature was the Essays - a title probably suggested by the French Essais of Montaigne (1580). Bacon's first edition of 10 essays appeared in 1597, an enlarged edition, containing 38, in 1612, and the final issue (58 essays) in 1625. Though they reveal only at times the philosophical bent of Bacon's genius, they illustrate fully the extraordinary keenness of his mind, his practical worldly wisdom, and the terse incisiveness of his style.

ESSAYS

1.- OF TRUTH

Grecians examineth the matter, and is at a stand to think what should be in it, that men should love lies: where neither they make for pleasure, as with poets;

'What is truth?' said jesting Pilate; 5 nor for advantage, as with the merchant;

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and would not stay for an answer.
tainly there be that delight in giddiness,
and count it a bondage to fix a belief,
affecting free-will in thinking, as well as
in acting. And though the sects of
philosophers of that kind be gone, yet
there remain certain discoursing wits
which are of the same veins, though there
be not so much blood in them as was in
those of the ancients. But it is not only 15
the difficulty and labor which men take
in finding out of truth; nor again, that
when it is found, it imposeth upon men's
thoughts, that doth bring lies in favor:
but a natural though corrupt love of the 20
lie itself. One of the later school of the

but for the lie's sake. But I cannot tell this same truth is a naked and open daylight, that doth not show the masques, and mummeries, and triumphs of the world half so stately and daintily as candle-lights. Truth may perhaps come to the price of a pearl, that showeth best by day; but it will not rise to the price of a diamond or carbuncle, that showeth best in varied lights. A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure. Doth any man doubt that if there were taken out of men's minds vain opinions, flattering hopes, false valuations, imaginations as one would, and the like, but it would leave the minds of a number

of men poor shrunken things, full of melancholy and indisposition, and unpleasing to themselves? One of the fathers, in great severity, called poesy vinum daemonum [devils' wine], because it filleth the imagination, and yet it is but with the shadow of a lie. But it is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in and settleth

the belly, and not upon the feet. There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame as to be found false and perfidious; and therefore Montaigne saith 5 prettily, when he inquired the reason why the word of the lie should be such a disgrace, and such an odious charge. If it be well weighed, to say that a man lieth, is as much as to say that he is

towards man.' For a lie faces God, and shrinks from man. Surely the wickedness of falsehood and breach of faith cannot possibly be so highly expressed as in that it shall be the last peal to call the judgments of God upon the generations of men: it being foretold, that when Christ cometh, he shall not find faith upon the earth.'

in it that doth the hurt, such as we spake 10 brave towards God, and a coward
of before. But howsoever these things
are thus in men's depraved judgments
and affections, yet truth, which only
doth judge itself, teacheth that the in-
quiry of truth, which is the love-making, 15
or wooing of it; the knowledge of truth,
which is the presence of it; and the be-
lief of truth, which is the enjoying of
it, is the sovereign good of human
nature. The first creature of God, in the 20
works of the days, was the light of the
sense; the last was the light of reason;
and his Sabbath work, ever since, is the
illumination of
of his spirit. First he It was a high speech of Seneca, after
breathed light upon the face of the 25 the manner of the Stoics, that the good

matter, or chaos; then he breathed light
into the face of man; and still he
breatheth and inspireth light into the
face of his chosen. The poet, that
beautified the sect, that was otherwise
inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently
well, It is a pleasure to stand upon the
shore, and to see ships tost upon the sea;
a pleasure to stand in the window of a
castle, and to see a battle, and the ad- 35
ventures thereof below; but no pleasure
is comparable to the standing upon the
vantage ground of truth (a hill not to be
commanded, and where the air is always
clear and serene), and to see the errors, 40
and wanderings, and mists, and tempests,
in the vale below'; so always that this
prospect be with pity, and not with
swelling or pride. Certainly it is heaven
upon earth to have a man's mind move 45
in charity, rest in providence, and turn
upon the poles of truth.

To pass from theological and philosophical truth to the truth of civil business, it will be acknowledged, even by 50 those that practice it not, that clear and round dealing is the honor of man's nature, and that mixture of falsehood is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may make the metal work the 55 better, but it embaseth it; for these winding and crooked courses are the goings of the serpent, which goeth basely upon

V. OF ADVERSITY

things which belong to prosperity are to be wished, but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.' Bona rerum secundarum optabilia, adversarum mirabilia. Certainly if miracles be the command over Nature, they appear most in adversity. It is yet a higher speech of his than the other, much too high for a heathen, 'It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a God' (Vere magnum, habere fragilitatem hominis. securitatem Dei). This would have done better in poesy, where transcendencies are more allowed. And the poets, indeed, have been busy with it; for it is in effect the thing which is figured in that strange fiction of the ancient poets which seemeth not to be without mystery; nay. and to have some approach to the state of a christian: that Hercules, when he went to unbind Prometheus, by whom human nature is represented, sailed the length of the great ocean in an earthen pot or pitcher; lively describing christian resolution that saileth in the frail bark of the flesh through the waves of the world. But to speak in a mean, the virtue of prosperity is temperance, the virtue of adversity is fortitude, which in morals is the more heroical virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, adversity is the blessing of

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the New, which carrieth the greater benediction and the clearer revelation of God's favor. Yet, even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols. And the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes, and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. We see in needleworks and embroideries it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn ground than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome 15 ground. Judge, therefore, of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure of the eye. Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed; for prosperity doth 20 best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.

VII.-OF PARENTS AND CHIL-
DREN

made wantons; but in the midst, some that are as it were forgotten, who, many times, nevertheless, prove the best. The illiberality of parents, in allowance towards their children, is a harmful error, and makes them base, acquaints them with shifts, makes them sort with mean company, and makes them surfeit more when they come to plenty; and therefore the proof is best when men keep their authority towards their children, but not their purse. Men have a foolish

manner (both parents, and schoolmasters, and servants), in creating and breeding an emulation between brothers during childhood, which many times sorteth to discord when they are men, and disturbeth families. The Italians make little difference between children and nephews, or near kinsfolk; but so they be of the lump they care not, though they pass not through their own body. And, to say truth, in nature it is much a like matter; insomuch that we see a nephew 25 sometimes resembleth an uncle, or a kinsman, more than his own parent, as the blood happens. Let parents choose betimes the vocations and courses they mean their children should take, for then they are most flexible; and let them not too much apply themselves to the disposition of their children, as thinking they will take best to that which they have most mind to. It is true, that if the affection, or aptness, of the children be extraordinary, then it is good not to cross it; but generally the precept is good. Optimum elige, suave et facile illud faciet consuetudo [Choose the best; custom will make it pleasant and easy]. Younger brothers are commonly fortunate, but seldom or never where the elder are disinherited.

The joys of parents are secret, and so are their griefs and fears; they cannot utter the one, nor they will not utter the 30 other. Children sweeten labors, but they make misfortunes more bitter; they increase the cares of life, but they mitigate the remembrance of death. The perpetuity by generation is common to 35 beasts; but memory, and merit, and noble works are proper to men; and surely a man shall see the noblest works and foundations have proceeded from childless men, which have sought to express 40 the images of their minds where those of their bodies have failed; so the care of posterity is most in them that have no posterity. They that are the first raisers of their houses are most indulgent 45 towards their children, beholding them as the continuance, not only of their kind, but of their work, and so both children and creatures.

The difference in affection of parents 50 towards their several children is many imes unequal, and sometimes unworthy, especially in the mother; as Solomon saith, A wise son rejoiceth the father, but an ungracious son shames the 55 mother. A man shall see, where there is a house full of children, one or two of the eldest respected, and the youngest

VIII.-OF MARRIAGE AND SINGLE
LIFE

He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men, which, both in affection and means, have married and endowed the public. Yet it were great reason that those that have children

should have greatest care of future times, unto which they know they must transmit their dearest pledges.

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Yea, 15

jealous. Wives are young men's mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men's nurses; so as a man may have a quarrel to marry when he will. But 5 yet he was reputed one of the wise men that made answer to the question when a man should marry, 'A young man not yet, an elder man not at all.' It is often seen that bad husbands have very good

price of their husband's kindness when it comes, or that the wives take a pride in their patience; but this never fails, if the bad husbands were of their own choosing, against their friends' consent; for then they will be sure to make good their own folly.

X.- OF LOVE

Some there are, who, though they lead a single life, yet their thoughts do end with themselves, and account future times impertinences; nay, there are some other that account wife and children but as bills of charges. Nay, more, there are some foolish rich covetous men that 10 wives; whether it be that it raiseth the take a pride in having no children, because they may be thought so much the richer; for, perhaps, they have heard. some talk. Such a one is a great rich man,' and another except to it, but he hath a great charge of children,' as if it were an abatement to his riches. But the most ordinary cause of a single life is liberty, especially in certain selfpleasing and humorous minds, which are 20 so sensible of every restraint, as they will go near to think their girdles and garters to be bonds and shackles. Unmarried men are best friends, best masters, best servants, but not always best sub- 25 jects; for they are light to run away, and almost all fugitives are of that condition. A single life doth well with churchmen, for charity will hardly water the ground where it must first fill 30 a pool. It is indifferent for judges and magistrates, for if they be facile and corrupt you shall have a servant five times worse than a wife. For soldiers, I find the generals commonly, in their hortatives, put men in mind of their wives and children. And I think the despising of marriage amongst the Turks maketh the vulgar soldier more base. Certainly, wife and children are a kind 40 of discipline of humanity; and single men, though they be many times more charitable, because their means are less exhaust, yet, on the other side, they are more cruel and hard-hearted, good to 45 make severe inquisitors, because their tenderness is not so oft called upon. Grave natures, led by custom, and therefore constant, are commonly loving husbands; as was said of Ulysses, Vetu- 50 lam suam praetulit immortalitati' [He preferred his old wife to immortality]. Chaste women are often proud and froward, as presuming upon the merit of their chastity. It is one of the best 55 bonds, both of chastity and obedience, in the wife if she think her husband wise, which she will never do if she find him

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The stage is more beholden to love than the life of man. For as to the stage love is ever a matter of comedies and now and then of tragedies, but in life it doth much mischief, sometimes like a siren, sometimes like a fury. You may observe that amongst all the great and worthy persons whereof the memory remaineth, either ancient or recent, 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, the half-partner of the empire of Rome, and Appius Claudius, the decemvir and lawgiver; whereof the former was indeed a voluptuous man and inordinate, but the latter was an austere and wise man; and therefore it seems, though rarely, that love can find entrance, not only into an open heart, but also into a heart well fortified, if watch be not well kept. It is a poor saying of Epicurus: Satis magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus [We are to each other a theater large enough], as if man, made for the contemplation of heaven and all noble objects, should do nothing but kneel before a little idol and make himself subject, though not of the mouth, as beasts are, yet of the eye, which was given him for higher purposes. It is a strange thing to note the excess of this passion, and how it braves the nature and value of things by this, that the speaking in a perpetual hyperbole is

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