THE EDINBURGH REVIEW, OCTOBER, 1857. No. CCXVI. ART. I.-1. The Works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban, and Lord High Chancellor of England. Collected and edited by JAMES SPEDDING, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge; ROBERT LESLIE ELLIS, M.A., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; and DOUGLAS DENON HEATH, Barrister-at-Law, late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. London: 1857. 2. Bacon's Essays, with Annotations. By RICHARD WHATELY, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin. London: 1856. 3. The Works of Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor of England. A New Edition. By BASIL MONTAGU, Esq. London: 1825. 4. Euvres Philosophiques de Bacon. Par M. N. BOUILLET. 3 vols. Paris: 1835. 5. Examen de la Philosophie de Bacon. Ouvrage posthume du Comte JOSEPH DE MAISTRE. Lyons: 1852. 6. Franz Baco von Verulam. Die Realphilosophie und ihr Zeitalter. Von KUNO FISCHER. Leipzig: 1856. (A translation of this work, by Mr. Oxenford, is published. London: Longman and Co., 1857). 7. Bacon, sa Vie, son Temps, et son Influence jusqu'à nos Jours. Par CHARLES DE REMUSAT. 1857. THE need of a worthy edition of the works of Francis Bacon, and the appeal which this need made to the lovers of philosophy and the cultivators of English literature, have long been felt. Mackintosh, an elegant discourser on the history of philosophy and of literature, but a literary workman little apt VOL. CVI. NO. CCXVI. τ himself to undertake the labours of the editorial office, was in the habit of holding forth on this subject to his companions on the Norfolk circuit; and among these his exhortations produced an especial effect on his friend and admirer, Basil Montagu. Montagu was not much of a philosopher, and without some strong external impulse, would never have thought of laying his hands on the Novum Organon;' but he was one of those persons in whom the conviction that a thing ought to be done is a strong reason for doing it, if no one else will; so he devoted his life in a great measure to Bacon's works and Bacon's history. Perhaps it may have happened to some of our readers to fall in with the lively old man, exploring, a few years ago, his classic ground at St. Alban's; lingering among the groves of Gorhambury; or labouring in the church of St. Michael, to decipher the inscription on the grave of him who erected that striking monumental statue of his master; or tracing the lines of the ancient garden, with its pools, which is now called the Poniards, and which was formerly, as he explained, the pond yards; or pointing to the grave, in the same churchyard, which he had destined for himself, and the incription Patientissimus 'Veri,' by which he had already characterised himself, on his tombstone. His patience was considerable, but it could not quite compensate for the lack of philosophy; and his edition is rather a monument of his good will than a valuable addition to English literature. It did very little to satisfy the need which had given occasion to it. If our old collaborator, Mackintosh, had made an estimate of his hero, thus presented to the public by his own admirer, probably he would have taken occasion to supply the comprehensive philosophical views, exact literary criticism, and impartial biographical research, in which Mr. Montagu was largely deficient; and indeed the appearance of that edition is now chiefly memorable in literature as the occasion which called forth in these pages an essay on Bacon, of consummate eloquence and brilliancy, from the pen of a still more illustrious member of our confraternity. We have now before us, in the edition of Messrs. Spedding, Ellis, and Heath, a performance of a very different character. Bacon's works may, in a general view, be distinguished into historical, philosophical, and legal: and these three gentlemen are well known as persons who are eminently accomplished in these three departments of literature respectively. How they have discharged their duty as editors it may hereafter be our business to consider; but the fact that they should have thought it advisable to combine their different accomplishments in order to produce a worthy presentation and exposition of the great Chancellor of England and of Nature, shows at the same time a due reverence for their author and a just appreciation of the comprehensive and varied character of their undertaking. Several works have recently appeared, in other countries as well as in this, on the subject of Bacon and his philosophy; and of the value of that philosophy the estimates have been most diverse; some ascribing to him a large share of the merit of all that has been done in science since his time, others charging him with gross ignorance of what was known to the most intelligent men of his own day; some speaking of him as the author of a new and powerful method of discovering truth, others regarding his method as worthless; others again slighting his method as old and no novelty at all; while we have now before us another view of this matter, namely, that his method is new, and likely to be very efficacious for discovery, but has never yet been tried. Perhaps a calm survey of Bacon's writings, and of the history of science since his time, may enable us to decide among these opposing opinions; and certainly the edition now before us affords a favourable occasion for making the attempt. And there is another subject— the history of the philosophy and system as it arose and shaped itself in Bacon's own mind-which cannot fail to have a strong interest for all those who ascribe any importance to the philosophy or to the man, and which the present editors have enabled us to study with great advantages. We shall first say a few words on the latter of these subjects. The circumstances of Bacon's birth and family naturally opened to him prospects of ambition, both forensic and political, to which he was by no means insensible; but it would seem that from an early age he had felt within him the nobler impulse, much less common in persons of his rank, to be a reformer of philosophy. His biographer, Rawley, begins his account with a due reverence for his subject. '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 two and twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord 1560. His father,' he goes on to say, 6 was that 'famous counsellor to Queen Elizabeth, the second prop of the 'kingdom in his time, Sir Nicholas Bacon, Knight, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, a lord of honour, prudence, sufficiency, moderation, and integrity.' The first prop of the kingdom whom Rawley had in his mind, the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, was also connected with Bacon, having married hi 6 mother's sister. The admiring biographer soon proceeds to speak of his intellectual aspirations. Whilst he was commorant in the university, about sixteen years of age (as his lordship hath been pleased to impart unto myself), he fell into a dislike of the philosophy of Aristotle; not from the worthlessness of the author, to whom he would ever ascribe high ' attributes, but for the unfruitfulness of the way; being a philosophy (as his lordship used to say) only strong for dis'putations 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 a time spent in travel, he made the law his professional study; but he was also already employed in giving shape to a plan for the improvement of human knowledge, to the formation and success of which, according to his view, past ages had been gradually tending. The time was pregnant, and he undertook the office of announcing the expected birth. In his letter to Father Fulgentio, written about 1626, he says, I recollect that forty years ago I composed a small juvenile work on these matters, which 'truly with a mighty confidence, and with a sounding title, I "called "Temporis Partus Maximus." We do not possess this youthful essay, but the image as well as the thought remained fixed in his mind. Among his papers was found one*, written probably thirty years later than the period here spoken of, with the title, Temporis Partus masculus, sive Instauratio magna 'Imperii Humani in universum.' It might seem as if, in altering the phrase, he had represented to himself all previous philosophies as female births, unfitted for the harder and more effective business of life. He had reason to say, at that later period, that he trusted something must come of these his attempts, on the ground, among other grounds, of the ardour and constancy of his mind, which had not grown old in so many years as to this design, nor waxed cold in its purpose. Yet he had a strong tendency to employ his thoughts upon the practical characters and habits of men, in their intercourse with one another, as well as upon the knowledge by which they were to acquire or recover a wide empire over nature; and he had a rich vein of shrewdness, imagery, and pointed remark, often amounting to wit and sometimes to wisdom, which was • Published in this edition, vol. iii. p. 327. † Cowley says,— Philosophy, I say and call it He; especially in its appropriate province when applied to social, civil, and political matters; and though he was not placed in any very elevated post, his position in the earlier years of his manhood was such as to give him abundant opportunity of observing the characters, institutions, and incidents which make up the world, and afford materials for the sagest reflections, as well as for the keenest satire. The result of such reflections he committed to writing. It was the earliest of his printed publications, with the exception of some legal and occasional papers, and is undoubtedly up to the present time by far the most generally known and admired of all his works; and indeed in this way has few equals in the literature of modern Europe. The Essays,' of which we now speak, were published first in 1597, but were known, it would seem, before they were published; for in his dedication of the work to his brother, Anthony Bacon, he implies that there had been a danger of a surreptitious publication. Loving and beloved 'brother,' he says, I do now like some that have an orchard 'ill neighboured, that gather their fruit before it is ripe to 'prevent stealing.' Therefore,' he adds, I hold it but dis'cretion to publish them myself as they passed long ago from 'my pen, without any further disgrace than the weakness of 'the author.' 6 These Essays are so well known that we need not dwell upon their character. They seem to have been in some measure produced by the author's habit of collecting and preserving what he calls antitheta;-brief and pointed maxims on one side, and on the other of a number of general subjects; or, as he himself says*, • antitheta are theses argued pro et contra, 'wherein some may be more large and laborious; but in such 'as are able to do it, to avoid prolixity of entry, I wish the 'heads of the several arguments to be cast up into some brief and ' acute sentences, not to be cited, but to be as scanes or bottoms ' of thread, to be unwinded at large when they come to be ' used.' 6 Thus his antitheta on Nobility are (taking Dr. Whately's translations), 'Pro: High birth is the wreath with which men are crowned by time. We reverence antiquity even in lifeless monuments; how much more in living ones! Nobility withdraws virtue from envy, and commends it to favour. • Contra: * Advancement of Learning, p. 11. |