slept, and been suppressed, in this present volume, not leaving any thing to a future hand, which I found to be of moment, and communicable to the public, save only some few Latin works, which by God's favour and sufferance, shall soon after follow." And in another part of the same address he says, "I thought myself in a sort tied to vindicate these injuries and wrongs done to the monuments of his lordship's pen; and at once, by setting forth the true and genuine writings themselves, to prevent like invasions for the time to come."-3dly, It is not noticed by Archbishop Tenison, who published the Baconiana in 1679, in which he says, "His lordship's writings upon pious subjects are only these his Confession of Faith, the Questions about a Holy War, and the Prayers in these Remains; and a translation of certain of David's Psalms, into English verse.1-4thly, There is not any MSS. of these Paradoxes.*

The external reasons in favour of their authenticity are, 1st, They are published in the Remains, in 1649, and, although they are not recognised, they are not expressly disowned either in 1657 by Dr. Rawley, or in 1679 by Archbishop Tenison, who does expressly repudiate other works ascribed to Lord Bacon. Whether this silence is negative evidence that the Paradoxes are authentic, or that the friend and admirer of Lord Bacon, after having discredited the Remains, did not deem the Paradoxes entitled to a particular refutation, is a question not free from doubt, if it can be supposed that Dr. Rawley and the archbishop were so insincere as, knowing their reality, to express their opinion of Lord Bacon's religious sentiments, and to censure the author of the Remains, without doing him the justice to acknowledge that the Paradoxes were authentic. 2dly, Dr. Rawley and Archbishop Tenison admit that there were other MSS. in existence. 3dly, The authenticity of the Paradoxes is supposed to have been acknowledged by Archbishop Sancroft; but upon inquiry it will, perhaps, appear that the archbishop only corrected the copy which was inserted in the Remains, by comparing it with the first publication in 1645.3

Such is the external evidence. The internal evidence is either from the thought, or the mode in which the thought is expressed.

The reasons against the authenticity of the Paradoxes, from the nature of the thought, are-1st, If a spirit of piety pervades the Paradoxes, it seems to differ from the spirit which moved upon the mind of Lord Bacon;5 and if the MSS. of this Essay, of which there is not any evidence, had been

1 Baconiana, page 72.

2 I venture to assert this, for I have not been able to find a MSS. I should be happy to have my error corrected. 3 Blackburn, in the fourth volume of his edition of Bacon, A. D. 1730, p. 438, says, Archbishop Sancroft has reflected some credit on them by a careful review, having in very many instances corrected and prepared them for the press: among the other unquestioned writings of his lordship, I annex some of the passages from Blackburn, where Archbishop Sancroft is mentioned. "Our noble author's letters in the 'Resuscitatio' are in full credit; and yet these are in many instances corrected by Dr. Sancroft, and that uncontestably from MSS.; because the author's subscription, under that prelate's hand, is in several particulars added, as N. X. Your lordship's most humbly in all duty. N. XI. Your lordship's in all humbleness to be commanded.' I say I conceive it evident, that these subscriptions to the printed copy of 1657, do ascertain the additions to be made from original MSS., since they could not be added upon judgment or conjecture, but must be inserted from authority. And this gives sanction to the emendations of these letters contained in the Resuscitatio;' so that I may presume to think this present edition is even more exact than what Dr. Rawley himself published. Blackburn, vol. i. p. 193. In page 458, of vol. iv., he says, "I have added some fragments from the quarto edition of the Remains printed in 1648. That copy has been deservedly treated with great indignation and contempt; being notoriously printed, in a surreptitious and negligent manner. However, I do not remember a single page in this scandalous edition, excepting these fragments and the essay of a king, which does not appear in a more correct dress in some part or other of our noble author's works. This seems to give them a little credit; and Dr. Sancroft having corrected them with so much diligence, as to distinguish where he has done it from printed copies, I have some cause to apprehend that the other copies were amended by unquestionable MSS. of our noble author. The order they appear in is, 1. An Explanation what manner of persons those should be, that are to execute the power or ordinance of the king's prerogative, p. 3. This is corrected in very many places. 2. Short notes for civil conversation, p. 6, interlined in many places, with apt divisions, not observed in the edition of 1648. 3. An Essay on Death, p. 7. This is likewise corrected in very many places, and subdivided as if done from MSS., and made a new work. 4. The Characters of a believing Christian, in paradoxes and seeming contradictions. This in terms of abatement under the archbishop's own hand stands thus: Compared with the other copy, printed Lond. anno, 1645. 5. A Prayer, corrected only in two places, which I must confess does not appear to be cast in the same mould with that printed above, p. 447."

4 In the year 1762, the third edition of a penny tract of the characteristics was published. The following is a copy of the title page of this tract: Characteristics of a Believing Christian in Paradoxes and Seeming Contradictions. By Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount of St. Alban, and Lord High Chancellor of England, with a preface by a clergyman. The Third Edition. London, printed by M. Lewis, in Paternoster Row, 1762, (price one penny.) The following is the preface: In order to prevent a misconstruction of the following paradoxes, it may be needful to inform the reader, that when rightly considered, they are no ways ludicrous, sarcastical, or prophane, but solid, comfortable, and godly truths, taught by the Holy Ghost in the school of experience, and well understood by them who are truly Christians. I do not say, that every babe in Christ can understand them all, but this I think I may venture to affirm, he that understands none of them, hath not yet learned his A. B. C. in the school of Christ. But if any should ask me, why I choose to publish his lordship's paradoxes rather than any other? I answer-1st, Because, though very comprehensive, yet they are but short, and may therefore be easily purchased by the poorer sort of Christians. 2dly, That the minute philosophers and ignoble gentlemen of our day might hence be taught, that a fine gentleman, a sound scholar, and a great philosopher, may be a Christian; since we find not only Paul, a Justin Martyr, &c., but even in our own nation, so great a philosopher as my Lord Bacon, espousing and confessing the Christian verity. In a word, reader, if thou understandest these few paradoxes, bless God for them; if thou understandest them not, thou mayest, like the Eunuch, call in some Philip to thy assistance: but above all permit me to advise thee to ask of the Father of lights, who giveth wisdom liberally and upbraideth not. I am, for Christ's sake, thy friend and servant, F. GREEN.

Take any, for instance Paradox 34. "His advocate, his surety shall be his judge; his mortal part shall become immorVOL. II.-51 2 L2

found amongst the papers of Lord Bacon, would it not be more probable that they were the effusion of one of his pious friends, Herbert for instance, than that they were Lord Bacon's own production? 2d. If the Paradoxes are supposed to be polluted by an under current of infidelity, the very supposition is evidence against their authenticity, "for this lord was religious, and was able to render a reason of the hope which was in him. He repaired frequently to the service of the church, to hear sermons, to the administration of the sacrament of the blessed body and blood of Christ, and died in the true faith, established in the Church of England."

The internal evidence against the authenticity of the Paradoxes from the style is, that-1st, They, in style, are in opposition to the whole tenor of Lord Bacon's works, which endeavours to make doubtful things clear, not clear things doubtful.3 2d, The style of the Paradoxes, if they are supposed to contain an indirect attack upon Christianity, are in opposition to Lord Bacon's opinion of the proper style for religious controversy. "To search, he says, and rip up wounds with laughing countenance, to intermix Scripture and scurrility sometimes in one sentence, is a thing far from the devout reverence of a Christian, and scant beseeming the honest regard of a sober man. Non est major confusio quam serii et joci.' There is no greater confusion than the confounding of jest and earnest. The majesty of religion, and the contempt and deformity of things ridiculous, are things as distant as things may be. Two principal causes have I ever known of atheism; curious controversies, and profane scoffing. 3d, They have not any resemblance to the style of Lord Bacon; they are neither poetical, adorned by imagery, nor learned, enriched by rare quotation; nor familiar, illustrated by examples,5

4

tal; and what was sown in corruption and defilement shall be raised in incorruption and glory; and a finite creature shall possess an infinite happiness. Glory be to God." Compare this with his prayer. "Remember, O Lord, how thy servant hath walked before thee: remember what I have first sought, and what hath been principal in my intentions. I have loved thy assemblies: I have mourned for the divisions of thy church: I have delighted in the brightness of thy sanctuary. This vine which thy right hand hath planted in this nation, I have ever prayed unto thee, that it might have the first and the latter rain; and that it might stretch her branches to the seas and to the floods. The state and bread of the poor and oppressed have been precious in mine eyes: I have hated all cruelty and hardness of heart: I have, though in a despised weed, procured the good of all men. If any have been my enemies, I thought not of them; neither hath the sun almost set upon my displeasure; but I have been as a dove, free from superfluity of maliciousness. Thy creatures have been my books, but thy scriptures much more. I have sought thee in the courts, fields, and gardens, but I have found thee in thy temples."

So in the Religio Medici, Sir Thomas Brown says, "For my religion, though there be several circumstances that might perswade the world I have none at all, as the generall scandal of my profession, the natural course of my studies, the indif ferency of my behaviour, and discourse in matters of religion, neither violently defending one, nor with that common ardour and contention opposing another; yet in despight hereof I dare, without usurpation, assume the honorable stile of a Christian; not that I meerely owe this stile to the font, my education or clime wherein I was borne as being bred up either to confirme those principles my parents instilled into my unwary understanding; or by a generall consent proceed in the religion of my country. But having, in my riper years, and confirmed judgment seene and examined all, I find myselfe obliged by the principles of grace, and the law of mine owne reason to embrace no other name but this; neither doth herein my zeale so fare make me forget the generall charitie I owe unto humanity, as rather to hate than pity Turkes, Infidels and (what is worse) Jewes, rather contenting myself to enjoy that happy stile, than maligning those who refuse so glorious a title."

2 Such are the words of Dr. Rawley.

3 In some part of his works, I do not recollect where, he says, "I endeavour not to inflate trifles into marvails, but to reduce marvails to plain things:" and Rawley, in his life of Lord Bacon, says, "In the composing of his books he had rather drive at a masculine and clear expression, than at any fineness or affectation of phrases, and would often ask if the meaning were expressed plainly enough, as being one that accounted words to be but subservient, or ministeriall to matter; and not the principall. And it his stile were polite, it was because he could do no otherwise; neither was he given to any light conceits; or descanting upon words, but did ever, purposely and industriously avoyd them; for he held such things to be but digressions or diversions from the scope intended; and to derogate from the weight and dignity of the stile."

4 As a specimen of his mode of illustrating by imagery, see the Advancement of Learning, vol. ii. page 177. In "Orpheus's theatre, where all beasts and birds assembled; and, forgetting their several appetites, some of prey, some of game, some of quarrel, stood all sociably together, listening to the airs and accords of the harp; the sound whereof no sooner ceased, or was drowned by some louder noise, but every beast returned to his own nature: wherein is aptly described the nature and condition of men, who are full of savage and unreclaimed desires of profit, of lust, of revenge; which as long as they give ear to precepts, to laws, to religion, sweetly touched with eloquence and persuasion of books, of sermons, of harangues, so long is society and peace maintained; but if these instruments be silent, or that sedition and tumult make them not audible, all things dissolve into anarchy and confusion."

5 In the Treatise De Augmentis, lib. v. 2, upon literate experience or invention, not by art but by accident, he says, speak. ing of the error in supposing that experiments will succeed without due consideration of quantity of matter, "It is not altogether safe to rely upon any natural experiment, before proof be made both in a lesser, and greater quantity. Men should remember the mockery of Æsop's housewife, who conceited that by doubling her measure of barley, her hen would daily lay her two eggs; but the hen grew fat, and laid none." As specimens of his familiar illustration, see also the Advancement of Learning, when speaking of studies teeming with error, he says, "Surely to alchemy this right is due, that it may be compared to the husbandman whereof Æsop makes the fable; that, when he died, told his sons, that he had left unto them gold buried under ground in his vineyard; and they digged over all the ground, and gold they found none; but by reason of their stirring and digging the mould about the roots of their vines, they had a great vintage the year following: so assuredly the search and stir to make gold hath brought to light a great number of good and fruitful inventions and experi ments, as well for the disclosing of nature as for the use of man's life." See again in exhibiting the nature of the philosophy of universals, "Philosopha Prima," the connection between all parts of nature, he says, "Is not the delight of the quavering upon 2 stop in music, the same with the playing of light upon the water?

"Splendet tremulo sub lumine pontus:'"-See vol. i. p. 194.

I could willingly indulge myself with the selection of other instances, but remembering the admonition that “it is not granted to love and to be wise," I stop.

1

as in most of his philosophical works; nor written pressly and weightily, as the Novum Organum: but they seem remarkable only for antithesis, something like Fuller, without his spirit: a sort of dry Fuller, or, as he would say, Fuller's earth: or like the Essay on Death, published also in the Remains, and ascribed without authority to the same illustrious author.3

998

The evidence in favour of the authenticity of the Paradoxes, from the style, is, that—1. Aphorisms are the favourite style of Lord Bacon. 2. The paradoxes contain two of Lord Bacon's expressions; the one is in the beginning of the 26th Paradox," He is often tossed and shaken, yet is as Mount Sion: he is a serpent and a dove."5 The other in the 10th Paradox. "He lends and gives most freely, and yet he is the greatest usurer.' 3d. That although the Paradoxes do not contain any patent internal evidence of their authenticity, yet there is latent evidence from the dissimilarity of the style, as Lord Bacon, knowing how to discover the mind through words,7 well knew the art of concealment, by which he could cast a cloud about him so as to obscure himself from his enemies. To this refined reason which, without proving the authenticity of the Paradoxes, shows only that, by possibility, they may be authentic, it is sufficient to say that, as they were not published or intended for publication, it seems difficult to discover any assignable cause for this mystery.

CONSIDERATIONS TOUCHING THE PACIFICATION OF THE CHURCH. This was published in 1640, and there are copies in the British Museum, and at Cambridge: and a MSS. in Sloane's Collection, 23.

THE TRANSLATION OF CERTAIN PSALMS.

This was published in 8vo. in 1625, and in the Resuscitatio.

HOLY WAR.

This was written and published in 4to. in 1623, and in 1629; and there are MSS. in the British Museum.

1 Ben Jonson in his Discoveries says, Dominus Verulamius.-One though he be excellent, and the chief, is not to be imitated alone; for no imitator ever grew up to his author: likeness is always on this side of truth; yet there happened in my time one noble speaker, who was full of gravity in his speaking. His language (where he could spare or pass by a jest) was nobly censorious. No man ever spake more neatly, more pressly, more weightily, or suffered less emptiness, less idleness, in what he uttered. No member of his speech but consisted of his own graces. His hearers could not cough, or look aside from him without loss. Ile commanded where he spoke; and had his judges angry and pleased at his devotion. No man had their affections more in his power. The fear of every man that heard him was lest he should make an end. 2 Take for instance any of the Nervous Aphorisms, in the Novum Organum, and compare it with the sentences of the Paradoxes.

See Preface to vol. i.

4 No man was, for his own sake, less attached to system or ornament than Lord Bacon. A plain, unadorned style in aphorisms, in which the Novum Organum is written, is, he invariably states, the proper style for philosophy. In the midst of his own arrangement, in the Advancement of Learning, he says: "The worst and most absurd sort of triflers are those who have pent the whole art into strict methods and narrow systems, which men commonly cry up for the sake of their regularity and style." Then see Advancement of Learning.

5 This union of the serpent and the dove is a favourite image of Lord Bacon's. See the Advancement of Learning, vol. i. p. 223: "It is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with the columbine innocency, except men know exactly all the conditions of the serpent; his baseness and going upon his belly, his volubility and lubricity, his envy and sting, and the rest; that is, all forms and natures of evil: for without this, virtue lieth open and unfenced." See also the Meditationes Sacræ, "of the innocency of the dove, and the wisdom of the serpent."

6 See Apophthegm 148, in vol. i. p. 115, it is as follows:

"They would say of the Duke of Guise, Henry, that had sold and oppignerated all his patrimony, to suffice the great donatives that he had made; that he was the greatest usurer of France, because all his state was in obligations." 7 See Treatise De Augmentis, b. vi. c. 1, 11.

THEOLOGICAL TRACTS.

A PRAYER, OR PSALM,

MADE BY THE

LORD BACON, CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND.