INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.

"LORD BACON was the greatest genius that England, or perhaps any other country, has ever produced." So says POPE, after he had penned that bitter couplet upon Bacon, which has passed into a proverb; and the saying is related by Spence.

This is the judgment expressed by a favourite poet, concerning an English writer of the seventeenth century, the formation of which pre-supposes the most exalted qualifications. To be entitled to assert such an opinion absolutely, would require almost supernatural endowments, and a universal acquaintance with the famous characters of all countries. It would involve the collation of eras and cycles; it would be, to raise the dead and scrutinize the living-to examine the long muster-roll of the sons of genius, and make a doomsday book of it-to weigh libraries and ransack universities-to glance at all, and single out one, and say, that "this man was the greatest of men-the greatest not of a city, but of the world-not of one age, but of all time."

But although it may not be possible to come to any such absolute conclusion; and to assert it roundly would be as extravagant as gravely to refute it would be ridiculous; and even if it were feasible we have no security for its justice;-the dictum is nevertheless a very remarkable one; and, construed in the probable sense in which it was evidently spoken, it is a most interesting one. It is the deliberate opinion of a man, who united great genius with consummate judgment, and had won his way to the summit of reputation as a poet; of one who was a vigorous thinker, acute observer, accomplished scholar, and, in short, the foremost man in the most brilliant circle of our Augustan age. He was, also, totally devoid of enthusiasm ; and his associations were all of the nil admirari caste : with Swift, the bitterest of our satirists, Bolingbroke, the most satiated of libertines and the most disappointed of politicians, Arbuthnot, one of the strongest-minded men of his time,—and many others of contemporary repute; in fact, all his chosen friends were, like himself, professed wits and nothing more-men who could not have done what they did, or been what they were, the ablest critics of life and manners in the language, without throwing away every thing that savoured of strong feeling, zealous affections, or passionate admiration. He was, moreover, not only versed in ancient learning, but well acquainted with modern speculations and discoveries. Locke is always mentioned with the respect of a disciple; he prepared an epitaph for Newton, which speaks for itself; and, when we recollect that the controversy between the ancients and moderns was then raging, it must not merely be admitted that he was entitled to pronounce the opinion which we have quoted, but it may be inferred that the opinion which he gave was that of his age.

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We believe that the dictum of Pope is the received opinion of the present day; nor will the estimate appear either exaggerated or extravagant, after the careful perusal of these works. The history of such a reputation would be a task far beyond the limits of so brief an Essay as that which is here proposed. It takes a long tract of time to establish such a reputation; and to trace it from its first development, through its successive stages, on to its maturity, would be to examine, with the minutest care, every word which the great author had written, and to observe, with the greatest accuracy, the effect of every word. Testimonies abound from the Elizabethan to the Georgian times, to the fact of this reputation. The testimonies of men who were contemporary with our author-of men who lived at a time when society was trying to settle itself, after a mighty revolution; and gigantic men were rising up in all directions to illustrate the era which they created ;-we are told, by Ben Jonson, that Francis Bacon was, even then, on all hands allowed to be first and foremost, as a statesman, orator, and philosopher. This reputation passed unimpaired through the fires of two succeeding revolutions; which were, as much as the first, revolutions of thoughts and opinions, as well as of force and arms, and which alike called into existence men worthy of their stirring crises; and we have the testimony of Alexander Pope, that the impress of this reputation was upon all in his day. And from that time to this, a period during which the most distinguished men, in every department of learning and the arts, have been the most eloquent expounders and successful cultivators of the Baconian philosophy, we shall find that the reputation has travelled down to us but to increase; and that the judgment is as correct, as the basis of it, in these volumes, is irreversible.

The poet, whose opinion we have commented upon, speaks positively as to Bacon being "the greatest genius that England" has produced, and doubtfully as to the rest of the world. But the qualified saying (notwithstanding Mr. Hume's sneer at English self-complacency) is quite enough; and the fellow-countrymen of Shakspeare, Milton, and Newton, if convinced of his pre-eminence here, would find little difficulty in awarding to him the premier place in the "peerage of intellect" every where else. A continental witness may be allowed to speak for Europe; and France, so jealous of her honour in arts and arms, and our only rival if not equal in both, will furnish a modern, unbiassed, and competent one, in the person of D'Alembert, who declares this author to be "the greatest, the most universal, and the most eloquent of philosophers."

But were it possible to settle the bare question of pre-eminence, the decision would be barren of all other use, than that of raising curiosity respecting the individual upon whom the general suffrage fell. Our allusion to it in the outset of these popular observations will be justified, if it stimulate one youthful, or one general reader, in this busy age, to the perusal of these works. Great and overwhelming reputations should be closely examined; in fact, they are subjected to the most rigid scrutiny. The hereditary principle is not acknowledged in the republic of letters; and a perpetual dictatorship would be an office of suffrage there. But each citizen of that republic is bound to exercise the franchise, which is enjoyed by all, for himself; his vote is a birthright, springing from his reason and conscience, with which the "voicing" of multitudes can be of no avail. There may be a blind allegiance to a rightful power, as well as a crouching submission to a wrongful one! In the kingdom of mind, which is essentially the kingdom of the free, there is yet too much of this voluntary vassalage; and the great names of wisdom, knowledge, and wit, still receive contemptible tribute. This sort of ignominious self-humiliation in reference to high minds and great truths, is an evident source of endless mischief; and, therefore, whatever may be the renown of a man, let every one "be convinced in his own mind," lest he perform the homage of the horde, and become a mere gregarious admirer.

We invite the reader, whose opinion of this author has not been derived from the study of his works, to try the experiment for himself. For what matters to him the fact of their unparalleled influence, or undiminished value, if he take it for granted, and judge not for himself? The test is not, what effect they produced on former individuals, but what positive and absolute effect will they have on any reader now; in order that it may be seen whether or not a writer of the olden time has been enabled, as it were, to "keep alive his own soul" to these times; by nothing less than the immortality which belongs to general truths of equal splendour and utility, clearly, gravely, and nobly announced. Without anticipating the reader's decision, he will then be entitled to abate or swell the triumph of " the greatest genius that England, or perhaps any other country, has produced."

Before entering upon our brief examination of these works undertaken with a view to facilitate the beginnings of inquiry, we shall interpose, with a few omissions, "The Life of the Honourable Author," written by Doctor Rawley, "his Lordship's first and last Chapleine;" as it gives a sufficient, though summary view of the author's life; and has the further recommendation of being a translation by the devoted "Chapleine" himself, of the "Nobilissimi Auctoris Vita," prefixed to the Instauratio Magna, at p. 276, in the second volume of this edition.

"THE LIFE OF THE HONOURABLE AUTHOR.

"FRANCIS BACON, the glory of his age and nation, the adorner and ornament of learning, was born in York House, or York Place, in the Strand, on the 22nd day of January, in the year of our Lord 1560. His father was that famous counseller to Queen Elizabeth, the second propp of the kingdome in his time, Sir Nicholas Bacon, Knight, lord keeper of the great seal of England, a lord of known prudence, sufficiency, moderation, and integrity. His mother was Ann Cook, one of the daughters of Sir Anthony Cook, unto whom the erudition of King Edward the Sixth had been committed: a choyce lady, and eminent for piety, vertue, and learning; being exquisitely skilled, for a woman, in the Greek and Latin tongues. These being the parents, you may easily imagine what the issue was like to be; having had whatsoever nature or breeding could put into him. His first and childish years were not without some mark of eminency, at which time he was endued with that pregnancy and towardness of wit, as they were presages of that deep and universal apprehension, which was manifest in him afterward: and caused him to be taken notice of by several persons of worth and place; and, especially, by the queen; who (as I have been informed) delighted much then to confer with him, and to prove him with questions: unto whom he delivered himself with that gravity and maturity, above his years, that her Majesty would often term him, the young lord keeper.

At the ordinary years of ripeness for the university, or rather something earlier, he was sent by his father to Trinity Colledge, in Cambridge, to be educated and bred under the tuition of Doctor John Whitegift, then master of the colledge, afterwards the renowned Archbishop of Canterbury; under whom he was observed to have been more then an ordinary proficient in the severall arts and sciences. Whilst he was commorant in the university, about sixteen years of age, (as his lordship hath been pleased to impart unto myself.) he first fell into the dislike of the philosophy of Aristotle, not for the worthlesnesse of the authour, to whom he would ever ascribe all high attributes; but for the unfruitfulnesse of the way, being a philosophy, (as his lordship used to say,) onely strong for disputations and contentions, but barren of the production of works for the benefit of the life of man; in which mind he continued to his dying day.

After he had passed the circle of the liberall arts, his father thought fit to frame and mould him for the arts of state and for that end, sent him over into France, with Sir Amyas Paulet, then employed ambassadour lieger into France; by whom he was, after a while, held fit to be entrusted with some message or advertisement to the queen; which having performed with great approbation, he returned back into France again, with intention to continue for some years there. In his absence in France, his father the lord keeper died; having collected (as I have heard of knowing persons) a considerable summe of money, which he had separated, with intention to have made a competent purchase of land, for the lively-hood of this his youngest son; (who was onely unprovided for, and though he was the youngest in years, yet he was not the lowest in his father's affection;) but the said purchase, being unaccomplished at his father's death, there came no greater share to him, than his single part and portion of the money dividable amongst five brethren: by which meanes he lived in some streits and necessities in his younger years. For as for that pleasant scite and mannour of Gorhambury, he came not to it till many years after, by the death of his dearest brother, Mr. Anthony Bacon. Being returned from travaile, he applyed himself to the study of the common law, which he took upon him to be his profession; in which he obtained to great excellency, though he made that (as himself said) but as an accessary, and not as his principall study. He wrote severall tractates upon that subject. In this way, he was after a while sworn of the queen's counsel learned extraordinary; a grace (if I err not) scarce known before. He seated himself, for the commodity of his studies and practise, amongst the honourable society of Greyes Inn; of which house he was a member, where he erected that elegant pile, or structure, commonly known by the name of the Lord Bacon's lodgings: which he inhabited, by turns, the most part of his life, (some few years onely excepted,) unto his dying day. In which house he carried himself with such sweetnesse, comity, and generosity, that he was much revered and loved by the readers and gentlemen of the house.