of the tract it states, "The King of Spain, Philip, son to Charles the Fifth, about 60 years of age:" but he was born on the 21st of May, 1527, so that he was 60 years old in 1587, when Bacon was between 16 and 17 years old.-The Author of Bacon's Life in the Biographia Britannica, from these different dates, concludes that the tract was written at different periods of time, beginning, as he must suppose, when Bacon was quite a boy: but, as it was not necessary for the purposes of this tract that the ages of the different monarchs should be ascertained with great precision, it is, perhaps, not probable that they were accurately examined, and the only fair inference is that it was written at a very early period of his life.*

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The same author says, "But what is extremely "remarkable in this small treatise, is the care and accuracy with which he has set down most of the little princes in Germany, with the state of their domi"nions." This minute observation, however, extends to all his works: and of all the extraordinary properties of Bacon's wonderful mind, his constant observation of what, we, in common parlance, call trifles, appears to be one of the most extraordinary. "See," he says, "the little cloud upon glass or gems or blades of swords, and mark well the discharge of that cloud, and you shall perceive that

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"The tract says, " D. Antonio, elect King of Portugal, is 66 now in France, where he hath levied soldiers, whereof part are "embarked, hoping to be restored again."

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"it ever breaks up first in the skirts, and last in the "midst. May we not learn from this the force of "union, even in the least quantities and weakest "bodies, how much it conduceth to preservation of "the present form and the resisting of a new. "like manner, icicles, if there be water to follow "them, lengthen themselves out in a very slender thread, to prevent a discontinuity of the water; "but if there be not a sufficient quantity to follow, "the water then falls in round drops, which is the figure that best supports it against discontinuation; "and at the very instant when the thread of water “ends, and the falling in drops begins, the water re"coils upwards to avoid being discontinued. So in "metals, which are fluid upón fusion, though a little "tenacious, some of the mettled mass frequently

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springs up in drops, and sticks in that form to the "sides of the crucible. There is a like instance in "the looking-glasses, commonly made of spittle by "children, in a loop of rush or whalebone, where we "find a consistent pellicule of water." Possessing this peculiar property himself, Bacon constantly admonishes his readers of its importance. "The eye "of the understanding, (he says,) is like the eye "of the sense for as you may see great objects through small crannies or levels, so you may see "axioms of great nature through small and contemptible instances." And again," it should be "considered as an oracle, the saying of the poor "woman to the haughty prince, who rejected "her petition as a thing below his a thing below his dignity to "notice then cease to reign:' for it is cer

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tain, that whoever will not attend to matters "because they are too minute or trifling, shall "never obtain command or rule over nature." And again," he who cannot contract the sight of "his mind as well as disperse and dilate it, wanteth a great faculty for certainly this may be averred “for truth, that they be not the highest instances, that give the best and surest information. This is not unaptly expressed in the tale, so common, of the philosopher, who while he gazed upward to the "stars fell into the water; for if he had looked down, he might have seen the stars in the water, "but looking up to heaven he could not see the "water in the stars. In like manner it often comes

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"" to pass that small and mean things conduce more

"to the discovery of great matters, than great

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things to the discovery of small matters; and "therefore Aristotle notes well, that the nature of every thing is best seen in its smallest portions. "For that cause he inquires the nature of a commonwealth, first in a family and the simple conju

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gations of society, man and wife; parents and "children; master and servant, which are in every "cottage. So likewise the nature of this great city "of the world, and the policy thereof, must be "sought in every first concordances and least por"tions of things. So we see that secret of nature (esteemed one of the great mysteries) of the turning of iron touched with a loadstone towards "the poles, was found out in needles of iron, not in "bars of iron."

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1

BIOGRAPHY.

Of the importance of biography, Bacon speaks in his Advancement of Learning;* concluding his remarks by saying, "Bona Fama propria possessio "defunctorum," which possession I cannot but note, that in our times it lieth much waste and that therein there is a deficience. This deficience with respect to Elizabeth he was anxious to supply by the publication of his sentiments, "in Felicem Memoriam "Elizabethæ :" but this publication seems to have required some caution, and to have been attended with some difficulty. In 1605, Bacon thus spoke: "But for a tablet, or picture of smaller volume, (not presuming to speak of your majesty that liveth,) in my judgment the most excellent is that " of Queen Elizabeth, your immediate predecessor in "this part of Britain; a princess that, if Plutarch were now alive to write lives by parallels, would "trouble him, I think, to find for her a parallel "amongst women. This lady was endued with "learning in her sex singular, and rare even amongst "masculine princes; whether we speak of learning,

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language, or of science, modern, or ancient, divi

nity or humanity: and unto the very last year of "her life she was accustomed to appoint set hours "for reading; scarcely any young student in any "university more daily, or more duly. As for her government, I assure myself, I shall not exceed, "if I do affirm that this part of the island never had * Page 111.

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forty-five years of better times; and yet not through the calmness of the season, but through "the wisdom of her regimen. For if there be con"sidered of the one side, the truth of religion established, the constant peace and security, the

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good administration of justice, the temperate use "of the prerogative, not slackened, nor much strained, the flourishing state of learning, sortable "to so excellent a patroness, the convenient estate "of wealth and means, both of crown and subject, the "habit of obedience, and the moderation of discon"tents; and there be considered, on the other side, "the differences of religion, the troubles of neigh"bour countries, the ambition of Spain, and opposi"tion of Rome: and then, that she was solitary and

of herself: these things, I say, considered, as I "could not have chosen an instance so recent and

"so proper, so, I suppose, I could not have chosen "one more remarkable or eminent to the purpose "now in hand, which is concerning the conjunction "of learning in the prince with felicity in the

people." So he wrote in the year 1605; but, about the year 1612," The King," says Wilson," cast his thoughts towards Peterborough, where his mother lay, whom he caused to be translated to a magnificent tomb, at Westminster. And (somewhat suitable to her mind when she was living) she had a translucent passage in the night, through the city of London, by multitudes of torches: the ta

* See ante xxxiii.