The Mystery of Francis Bacon

neither Montagu, Spedding, Hepworth Dixon, nor any other biographer seems to have thought it worth while to consider under what influences he was brought when he arrived there at the mo

n the teachings of the philosophers, with independence of thought and a courage which enabled him to condemn the methods of study followed at the University where he had spent three years; this boy who had a "beam of knowledge derived from God" upon him, who "had not his knowledge from books, but from some grounds and notions from himself," and above and beyond all who was conscious of his powers and had unbounded confiden

r," and Thomas Wright's "Arts of Rhetoric," almost exhaust the list. Thynne's edition, 1532, and Lidgate's edition, 1561, of Chaucer's works are not intelligible. Only in the 1598 edition ca

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Theologici, K. Henry VIII. book; under Juris Civilis, Littleton's Tenures, an old abridgement of Statutes; under Historiographi, Hall's Chronicles, and Fabian's Chronicles and The Decades of P. Martyr; under Mathemat

himself amorous of any good art. Here is where Spedding missed his way and never recovered himself. Deep as is the debt of gratitude due to him for his devoted labours in the preparation of "Bacon's Life and Letters" and in the edition of his works, it must be asserted that he accomplished this work without seeing Francis Bacon. There was a vista before young Bacon's eyes from which the practice of the law and civil di

peculiarities of diction which were only compensated for by weight of thought and simplicity of expression. Clement Marot, who followed, stands out as one of the first landmarks in the French Renaissance. His graceful style, free from stiffness and monotony, earned for him a popularity which even the brilliancy of the Pléiade did not extinguish, for he continued to be read with genuine admiration for nearly two centuries. He was the founder of a school of which Mellia de St. Gelais, the introducer of the sonnet into France,

berate scheme, originated, directed, and matured by a group of little more than boys. The French Renaissance was not the result of a spontaneous bursting out on all sides of genius. It was wrought out with sheer hard work, entailing the mastering of foreign languages, and accompanied by devotion and without hope of pecuniary gain. The manifesto of the young band was written by Joachim de Bellay in 1549, and was entitled, "La Défense et Illustration de la langue Francaise." In the following year appeared Ronsard's Ode-the first example of the new method. Pierre de Ronsard entered Court life when ten years old. In attendance on French Ambassadors he visited Scotland and England, where he remained for some time. A severe illness resulted in permanent deafness and compelled him to abandon his profession, when he turned to literature. Although Du Bellay was the originator of the scheme, Ronsard became the director and the acknowledged leader of the band. His accomplishments place him in the first rank of the poets of the world. Reference would be out of place here to the movement which was after his death directed by Malherbe against Ronsard's reputation and fame as a poet and his eventual restoration by the disciples of Sainte Beuve and the followers of Hugo. It is desirable, however, to allude to other great Frenchmen whose labours contributed in other directions to promote the growth of French literature. Jean Calvin, a native of Noyon, in Picardy, had published in Latin, in 1536, when only twenty-seven years of age, his greatest work, both from a literary and theological point of view,

countrymen. In England, for a gentleman to be amorous of any learned art was held to be discreditable, and any proclivities in this direction had to be hidden under assumed names or the names of others. In France it was held to be discreditable for a gentleman not to be amorous of the learned arts. The young men of the Pléiade were all of good family, and all came from cultured homes. Marguerite of Navarre had set the example of attracting poets and writers to her Court and a

ore children; it is very proper, not only to iradiate as you doe your own times, but also to extend your Cares to those Acts which succeeding Ages may cherish, and Eternity itself behold: Amongst which, if my affection to learning doe not transport me, there is none more worthy, or more noble, than the endowment of the world with sound and fruitfull Advancement of Learning: For why should we erect unto ourselves some few authors, to stand like He

erely read but criticised with the skill of an expert. Medicine, surgery-every subject-he had made himself master of. In fact, when he asserted that he had taken all knowledge to be his province he spoke advisedly and with a basis of truth which has never until now been recognised. The youth of 17 who possessed the intellect, the brain and the memory which jointly produced the "Novum Organum," whose mind was so abnormal that the artist painting his portrait was impelled to place round it "the significant words," "si tabula daretur digna, animum mallem," who had taken all knowledge to be his province, was capable of any achievement of the Admirable Crichton. And this youth it was who in 1576 passed from a country of literary and intellectual torpor into the brilliancy of the companionship of Pierre de Ronsard and his a

England, after a stay of two and a-half years on the Continent. He brought with him to the Queen a despatch from Sir Amias Paulet, in which he was spoken of as being "of great h