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shews the necessity of experimental physics, which was not yet thought of. An enemy to systems, he beholds philosophy as only that part of our knowledge, which ought to contribute to make us better or more happy. He seems to limit it to the science of useful things, and every where recommends the study of nature. His other writings are formed on the same plan. Every thing in them, even their titles, is expressive of the man of genius, of the mind that sees in great. He there collects facts; he there compares experiments, and indicates a great number to be made. He invites the learned to study and perfect the arts, which he deems as the most illustrious and most essential part of human knowledge. He exposes with a noble simplicity his conjectures and thoughts on different objects worthy of interesting men; and he might have said, as the old gentleman of Terence, that nothing affecting humanity was foreign to him. Science of nature, morality, politics, œconomics, all seemed to be within the stretch of that luminous and profound wit; and we know not which most to admire, the richness he diffuses over all the subjects he treats of, or the dignity with which he speaks of them.

His writings cannot be better compared than to those of Hippocrates on medicine; and they would be neither less admired nor less read, if the culture of the mind was as dear to mankind as the preservation of their health. But there are none but the chiefs of sects of all kinds, whose works can have a certain splendor. Bacon was not of the number, and the form of his philosophy was against it. It was too good to fill any one with astonishment. The scholastic philosophy, which had gained the ascendant in his time, could not be overthrown but by bold and new opinions; and there is no probability that a philosopher, who only intimates to men, 'This is the little you have learned, this is what remains for your enquiry,' is calculated for making much noise among his cotemporaries. We might even presume to hazard some degree of reproach against the lord chancellor Bacon for having been perhaps too timid, if we were not sensible with what reserve, and as it were with what superstition, judgment ought to be passed on so sublime a genius. Though he confesses that the scholastic philosophers had enervated the sciences by the minutia of their questions, and that sound intellects ought to

have made a sacrifice of the study of general beings to that of particular objects, he seems, notwithstanding, by the frequent use he makes of school-terms, and sometimes also by the adopting of scholastic principles, and by the divisions and sub-divisions then much in vogue, to have shewed too much deference for the predominant taste of his age. This great man, after breaking the shackles of so many irons, was still entangled by some chains, which he either could not, or dared not to break asunder."

Such were the intellectual labours of this wonderful man. He has been styled, the father of experimental philosophy. The expression should be more comprehensive; he was the father of universal philosophy. Yet it is not strictly true, as D'Alembert affirms, that he was born amidst the obscurity of the most profound night. In respect of experimental philosophy, indeed, the expression is just; but it must be understood with very great limitations, if applied to the state of general knowledge. In truth, the dawn of knowledge had so far advanced, that broad day had already begun to appear. The age was prepared for him. The two great events, the revival of letters and the refor

mation, had shaken and enlivened the wits of men; and many had struck out into new paths of successful research. But these were travellers on journeys of discovery. The map of the intellectual regions had not yet been sketched. A few positions only ascertained; the other parts were desert and unknown. But Bacon came, and with the light of his effulgent genius, illumined the whole hemisphere of things; the various objects of enquiry now became distinctly marked, with their relative positions and bearings; the seve ral tracts towards them were likewise indicated, and even made plain; and men had nothing more to do than to proceed patiently and perseveringly to reach with certainty the expected end of their labours. From the time of Bacon therefore the progress of knowledge of all kinds has been rapid and continual. That his writings constituted the sole cause of this general progression, I by no means intend to assert; but that they taught solely, and established the only true method of acquiring knowledge, will not be disputed. The minds of men thus enlightened, their views of things became clear and settled. All future change, relative to the method of proceeding, is now

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out of the question; and we may go on without any risk that our labour shall be in vain, to accumulate knowledge, to spread illumination and happiness. The writings of Bacon, therefore, form one of the most important æras, not merely in the history of English literature, but in the annals of mankind.

Bacon was fully sensible of the value of his labours. His tast will contains this remarkable passage: "My name and memory I leave to foreign nations, and to mine own country after some time is passed over.”

His great talents shone forth even in his tender years, and were assisted by an ardent application. Before he was sixteen, such was the maturity of his powers that he had run through the whole circle of the liberal arts as taught in his time, and began to perceive those imperfections in the prevalent philosophy, which he afterwards so effectually exposed and dethroned.

As one proof, among numberless others, of his greatness, it is recorded, that through all the changes of his fortune, he never lost the command of his thoughts; but was able to direct them at will, and to bring them to bear upon what he always regarded as the great

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