CHAPTER XI.

We may now confidently widen the range of our inquiry; turning to the consideration of another fundamental quality of the plays, one universally recognized, and especially significant in its expression of the personality of the Poet. To fairly put the question: Had Bacon that wonderful imaginative power, whose display in the Shakespeare has so astonished the world; giving realization to visions, which in their penetration and range are fairly bewildering to our comprehension, in thoughts clothed in the most gorgeous imagery ever fashioned from nature's phenomena?

The poetic faculty is something exceedingly difficult to define, especially in its essential characteristics, as displayed for example in prose writings. One must penetrate beneath the distinctions and peculiarities incident to the widely divergent structural forms of poetry and prose, and fasten upon something underlying all that is fundamental in its character, its vital and vitalizing principle. This we take to be, essentially, the creative power. And this is perhaps best comprehended through its limitations. The Divine Creator, through the impartation of himself, brought into existence the universe, whose sustaining power is His energy, and whose development is the evolution of His thought. But man cannot rise to such dignity. He can only deal with materials already in existence. And moreover, created in His image, his creations are also in imagery—whether his instrument be brush, or chisel, or pen, and his vehicle canvas, stone, or words.

In common in all these Arts, the first attribute of man's creative power is vision, insight into the realm of existence, the discernment of an inner, subtler something which is given manifestation in some department of nature. In primary terms, it may be some inherent element, quality, attribute, or associative relation, which for convenience we term spiritual, but which is no less real than the material which is the vehicle of its expression. Thus, for illustration, it was through this vision that Corot attained to his magnificent grasp of the supreme quality of joyousness that pervades all nature at the birth of the new day, in its resurrection from the night.

Having thus attained to its clear perception, in part through its isolation in mental conception from the thousand other distracting qualities attendant in nature, man's creative power gives to this quality concrete representation, in the similitude of nature's mode of expression; but intensified to our comprehension through its subtle accentuation. For it is reembodied in imagery of nature so chosen and combined as to give to this quality "concentrated manifestation." It is the enshrinement within the outward form of an inner, animating spirit, equally perceptible to our apprehension - the vital element in the organic whole. The work is thus distinctively a creation, a perpetual source of delight, and in its comprehension, a revelation. And such is the triumph of art that even things invisible are thus given visible, tangible representation. Thus, for example, Daniel Chester French, in his masterpiece of modern sculpture, “Death and the Sculptor," has given to the awful mystery of death, in its inscrutable but inexorable sway, physical expression and embodiment, in the enshrouding gloom, the sombre but impassive face, the silently compelling gesture, and in every detail of the figure, — all expressive of things as real as they are manifest.

Coming specifically to words as the medium of expression, the distinctive mode of operation is essentially the same. It is the like work of the same creative power. There is first, vision, penetrating beyond the ordinary sight into the inner life and constitution of things; discerning here or there a subtle, intangible something which nature silently voices, a quality, a vital relation, or it may be a whole congeries of relations. This mighty power lays hold upon it, encompasses it, and compresses it into the condensation of an idea. And so vivid is the conception, that it seemingly comes like an inspiration. There is thence developed an entity, complete in itself, and almost self-existing, once it is born. For there is a birth as well. as a conception. The thought is delivered to the world by this wonderful faculty enshrined within a bodily form, concrete and coherent, and fashioned from materials common and familiar to all. It is clothed as in the flesh in a representative imagery, so beautifully adapted, so fitting, and so perfectly analogous in its similitude to the embodied thought, that it seems ordained from the beginning for its investment. The whole is indeed a new creation, instinct with life; for the grosser outer form is quickened by the presence of the subtler spirit within. And their union is so organic, that the thought, in its distinct individuality and its precise shade of meaning, is known to us only under the guise of its material form; while over this it is so dominant that the imagery but reveals to us the beautiful perfection of that which is enshrined within it.

To follow this up by a discussion of the serious prose writings of any of the great dramatic poets of the world, as for example, of Goethe or Schiller, who also wrote upon scientific and philosophical subjects, and to deduce from them, and to delineate in clear outlines the characteristic workings of this unique faculty, as they might be revealed in their mode of thought and style of expression,

would be a work of exceeding difficulty. It might perhaps be accomplished, though only by a master critic.

We can hardly realize the fact, but precisely this work has been done on Bacon's prose, and by one of the ablest critics of modern times. And, what is of the utmost significance, it was not done by one seeking specially to find some development of the poetic faculty; but on the contrary, it was the work of one aiming only to grasp and to delineate accurately and comprehensively the essential qualities and distinctive characteristics of Bacon's style and mode of thought. We refer to Taine, whose History of English Literature is universally recognized as a masterpiece of literary criticism. A somewhat extended quotation is perhaps admissible; both on account of the interest of the subject, and because of the keen insight displayed by this singularly acute, penetrating, and comprehensive critic. Of Bacon he says:

"In this band of scholars, dreamers, and enquirers, appears the most comprehensive, sensible, originative of the minds of the age, Francis Bacon, a great and luminous intellect, one of the finest of this poetic progeny, who, like his predecessors, was naturally disposed to clothe his ideas in the most splendid dress. In this age, a thought did not seem complete until it had assumed a form and color: but what distinguishes him from the others is, that with him an image only serves to concentrate meditation. He reflected long, stamped on his mind all the parts and joints of his subject; and then, instead of dissipating his completed idea in a graduated chain of reasoning, he embodies it in a comparison so expressive, exact, transparent, that behind the figure we perceive all the details of the idea, like a liquor in a fair crystal vase. Judge of his style by a single example:

"For as water, whether it be the dew of heaven or the springs of the earth, easily scatters and loses itself in the ground, except it be collected into some receptacle, where it may by

union and consort comfort and sustain itself (and for that cause, the industry of man has devised aqueducts, cisterns, and pools, and likewise beautified them with various ornaments of magnificence and state, as well as for use and necessity): so this excellent liquor of knowledge, whether it descend from divine inspiration or spring from human sense, would soon perish and vanish into oblivion, if it were not preserved in books, traditions, conferences, and especially in places appointed for such matters, as Universities, Colleges, and schools, where it may have both a fixed habitation, and means and opportunity of increasing and collecting itself.' 'The greatest error of all the rest, is the mistaking or misplacing of the last or farthest end of knowledge: ... as if there were sought in knowledge a couch whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit; or a terrace, for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect; or a tower of state, for a proud mind to raise itself upon; or a fort or commanding ground, for strife and contention; or a shop, for profit or sale; and not a rich storehouse, for the glory of the Creator, and the relief of men's estate.'

"This is his mode of thought, by symbols, not by analysis; instead of explaining his idea, he transposes and translates it,-translates it entire, to the smallest details; enclosing all in the majesty of a grand period, or in the brevity of a striking sentence. Thence springs a style of admirable richness, gravity, and vigor, now solemn and symmetrical, now concise and piercing, always elaborate and full of color. There is nothing in English prose superior to his diction. Thence is derived also his manner of conceiving of things. He is not a dialectician, like Hobbs or Descartes, apt in arranging ideas, in educing one from another, in leading his reader from the simple to the complex by an unbroken chain. He is a producer of conceptions and of sentences. The matter being explored he says to us: 'Such it is; touch it not on that side; it must be approached from the other.' Nothing more; no proof, no effort to convince: he affirms, and does nothing more; he has thought in the manner of artists and poets, and he speaks after the manner of prophets and seers. Cogita et Visa, this title of one of his books might be the title of all. The most admirable,