had met in empty space, had united, and disposed themselves into the light or heavy masses, of which our senses take cognisance. Epicurus himself seems to have led a pure and upright life; but although by making sensation his standard of happiness, he certainly did not mean to encourage sensuality, his system too easily lent itself to the justification of a sensual life, and hence has come into great disrepute. Epicurus died B. C. 270.

The Epicurean doctrines were afterwards revived by a Roman school of philosophy. Lucretius (born B. C. 95, committed suicide B.C. 55), in a famous poem entitled De Rerum Natura, gives an exposition of the Epicurean theory of physics and morals.

25. 'commanded '-overlooked; looked down upon so as to be within the sphere of influence or attack-e.g. The fortress commanded all the bridges in the town.'

26. 'so-so that, provided that, on condition that.

'Evil into the mind of God or man

May come and go, so unapproved, and leave

No spot or blame behind'-Milton's Paradise Lost.

27. 'prospect'-looking forth; looking out upon the battle-field. 28. 'round'-plain, straightforward. So also in Shakespeare.

29.

'I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver '- Othello.

Let his queen-mother all alone entreat him

To show his griefs: let her be round with him'-Hamlet. 'embaseth'-debases, makes base. The prefix em or en is causative, as in embitter, embolden, embank, emboss, and endear, enthral, enlighten, enlarge. The same particle is sometimes used as a suffix with causative force-darken, lighten, strengthen, weaken.

30. false and perfidious.' The latter adjective is much stronger than the former. A perfidious man is one who not only acts falsely, but acts falsely after having pledged his faith to be

true.

31. 'Montaigne.' Michel Seigneur de Montaigne, a famous French essayist and scholar, was born of noble family at the château of Montaigne in Perigord, A.D. 1553; died 1592. His Essais are remarkable for clearness and simplicity of style, sound good sense and learning, but are pervaded with a philosophical scepticism that has greatly influenced the French character and subsequent literature. The passage Bacon refers to stands thus in the original:

'C'est un vilain vice que le mentir, et qu'un ancien peinct bien honteusement, quand il dict que 'c'est donner tesmoignage de mespriser Dieu, et quand et quand de craindre les hommes:' il n'est pas possible d'en representer plus richement l'horreur, la vilité, et le desreglement; car que peult

on imaginer plus vilain que d'estre couard à l'endroict des hommes, et brave à l'endroict de Dieu?'-Essais, livre ii, ch. xviii.

32. 'faith'-quoted here (from Luke xviii, 8) by Bacon in the sense of truth or truthfulness. This use of the word, now obsolete, occurs in the common asseverations, in faith, in good faith; and in the passage, 'They are a very froward generation; children in whom is no faith'-Deut. xxxii, 20.

ANALYSIS OF ESSAY I.

I. Some men care not for truth:

1. Anciently they were philosophers.
2. Now they are 'discoursing wits.'

II. Reasons for this:

1. The difficulty and labour of finding out truth.
2. The obligations it imposes upon the conduct.
3. A natural preference for lying, because—

(a.) Truth would expose too many shams.

(b.) Falsehood gives a pleasure to imaginations.

III. Yet truth is the ‘sovereign good of human nature,' being— 1. The perpetual creation and gift of God.

2. The only secure resting-place for men, as Lucretius says.

IV. 'Truth of civil business' (i.e. moral truth):

1. Universally allowed to be honourable;

2. As lying is a disgrace (Montaigne),

3. And will be the last peal to call down Divine judgment.

II. OF DEATH. (1612, enlarged 1625.)

MEN fear Death as children fear to go in1 the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other. Certainly, the contemplation of Death, as the wages of sin, and passage to another world, is holy and religious; but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature, is weak.2 Yet in religious meditations there is sometimes mixture of vanity and of superstition. You shall read in some of the friars' books of mortification, that a man should think with himself, what the pain is, if he have but his finger's end pressed or tortured; and thereby imagine what the pains of Death are, when the

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whole body is corrupted and dissolved; when many times Death passeth with less pain than the torture of a limb; for the most vital parts are not the quickest of sense. And by him that spake only as a philosopher, and natural man, it was well said, 'Pompa mortis magis terret, quam mors ipsa." Groans and convulsions, and a discoloured face, and friends weeping, and blacks and obsequies, and the like, show9 Death terrible.

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It is worthy of observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man so weak, but it mates 10 and masters the fear of Death; and therefore Death is no such terrible enemy when a man has so many attendants11 about him that can win the combat of him.12 Revenge triumphs over Death; Love slights it; Honour aspireth to it; Grief flieth to it; Fear pre-occupateth 13 it; nay, we read, after Otho the emperor had slain himself, Pity (which is the tenderest 14 of affections) provoked 15 many to die out of mere compassion 16 to their sovereign, and as the truest sort of followers. Nay, Seneca adds, Niceness 17 and Satiety: Cogita quamdiu eadem feceris; mori velle, non tantum fortis, aut miser, sed etiam fastidiosus potest.'18 man would die, though he were neither valiant nor miserable, only upon a weariness to do the same thing so oft over and over.

A

It is no less worthy to observe, how little alteration in good spirits 19 the approaches of Death make: for they appear to be the same men till the last instant. Augustus Cæsar died in a compliment: Livia, conjugii nostri memor, vive et vale.'20 Tiberius in dissimulation, as Tacitus saith of him, 'Jam Tiberium vires et corpus, non dissimulatio, deserebant:'21 Vespasian in a jest, sitting upon the stool, Ut puto Deus fio: 22 Galba with a sentence, 'Feri, si ex re sit populi Romani,' 23 holding forth his neck; Septimius Severus in despatch, 'Adeste, si quid mihi restat agendum,' 24 and the like.

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Certainly the Stoics 25 bestowed too much cost upon Death, and by their great preparations made it appear more fearful. Better, saith he, qui finem vitæ extremum inter munera ponit naturæ,'26 It is as natural to die as

to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other.

He that dies in an earnest pursuit, is like one that is wounded in hot blood; who, for the time, scarce feels the hurt; and therefore a mind fixed and bent upon somewhat that is good, doth avert the dolours of Death; but, above all, believe it, the sweetest canticle is 'Nunc dimittis,' when a man hath obtained worthy ends and expectations. Death hath this also, that it openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth envy: Extinctus amabitur idem.' 27

I. 'in'-into.

2..

NOTES ON ESSAY II.

The distinction we now make in English grammar is that, as denoting place, the preposition in follows verbs of rest (he stood in the street), while into is used with verbs of motion (he walked into the street). Formerly, however, the preposition in was used in both cases; in such expressions as he fell in love,' 'his conduct will be called in question,' it is still used for into.

'You put on fear and cast yourself in wonder’

-Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar.

'Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears '-Merchant of Venice.

But first I'll turn yon fellow in his grave'—Richard III.

'weak '-foolish, imbecile, weak-minded.

3. You shall read'—a stronger form for you may read,' or 'you will find.' The word will always implies more or less volition and voluntary desire, but this substitution of the auxiliary shall denotes absolute and inevitable certainty without regard to the will. Hence in a geometrical demonstration we use shall instead of will ('the angles shall be equal'); so, also, in Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth says to the guests who are wondering at her husband's strange conduct:

'If much you note him,

You shall offend him and extend his passion,'

meaning, you will be sure to offend him.'

4. 'should think'-ought to consider.

5. 'when'-whereas; when on the contrary. The obsolete conjunction whenas would properly be used in such a case as this

where the connecting word is intended to imply contradiction of what has been said previously. 6. 'quickest of sense'-most alive to feeling, most sensitive to pain. Quick is used for alive, as in the Creed, 'to judge the quick and the dead;' and in the Psalms, 'go down quick into hell.' So the sensitive flesh underneath the hard outer skin or under the nails is often called the quick. The word retains

this meaning in the compounds quicklime, quicksilver, quicksand, quickset-hedge. 7. The pomp of death terrifies more than death itself.' There is no doubt that he refers to Seneca, though the quotation is not literal; and he appropriately designates him a philosopher and natural man,' i.e. one guided only by the light of nature and not by revealed religion.

8. ‘blacks and obsequies.' The former word refers to black garments of mourning and the black hangings once commonly used in a chamber of death; the latter word denotes, funeral processions, the following (Latin obsequor) of the dead to their

graves.

So the adjective obsequious, which now means cringing, following about in a servile manner, was formerly used to denote junereal.

'In filial obligation, for some term

To do obsequious sorrow'-Hamlet.

'I awhile obsequiously lament

The untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster '-SHAkespeare.

9. ‘show'—make to appear. note 15, Essay I.

10. 'mates'-matches.

The verb is used causatively. See

II. 'attendants'-helpers whom he enumerates in the next sentence-Revenge, Love, Honour, Grief, Pity, Satiety.

13. 'pre-occupateth '-takes possession of it beforehand; goes to it voluntarily, as in the case of suicide, to avoid what is regarded as a greater evil.

14. 'tenderest' --gentlest, most delicate.

15. ‘provoked’—incited, moved, urged. This word, now com

monly applied only to incitements of temper, was formerly used generally. Your zeal hath provoked very many-2 Cor. ix, 2. 'Consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works'-Heb. x, 24.

16. 'mere compassion '-i.e. downright, absolute compassion. The word mere, now used in an exclusive sense to denote only this and nothing else, was formerly used in an inclusive and stronger sense for entire, absolute. Thus, 'He has a mere cold' means, 'He has a cold, and there nothing more the