Of his English productions it is unnecessary to say much. His Essays have obtained a considerable share of popularity ; but the- observations Contained in them, though frequently just and striking; are not always very consistent with one another. His speeches, law tracts, and hiStorical or political pa pers, are heavy and uninteresting compositions, con taining many specimens of bad taste and spurious • wit, Anterspersed occasionally with useful and pro • found remarks. The treatise on the Wisdom qf the • Ancients is ingenious, but extremely whimsical and , puerile. His Apophthegms are not of higher dignity , than Joe Mille•'s Jests;' indeed, the -one book ap pears to be the prOtotype of the other. His Letters have neither ease nor dignity ; and the greater part of them are full of teazing solicitations for prefer ment.
Lord Bacon professed a great veneration for reli ..gion. Some theological disquisitions, and sacred meditations, are found among his remains ; and one of his prayers has, with little discrimination, been, applauded by Addison as if it rivalled the devotion of an angel. His Christian Paradoxes are so ex travagantly expressed, that Bolingbroke has adduced them as proofs of his insincerity rather than of the strength of his faith. But of all his devotional ex ercises, his versions of some of the Psalms are the most despicable. The following notable passage from the 104th Psalm, versified by the chancellor of England, the contemporary of Spenser and Shake speare, cannot be matched by the sorriest rhymes of Hopkins and Sternhold The fishes there far voyages do make, To divers shores their journey they do take; There hast thou set the great leviathan, That makes the seas to seeth like boiling pan.
With regard to his style, it is generally harsh and inelegant, evidently laboured with extreme care ; of ten obscure or affected, but more frequently nervous and emphatic. His eloquence, according to Ben .lonson, was irresistibly impressive, and pleasing.
We now close our observations on the character and works of Bacon, a man, whose mind, indefatiga. bly active, was capable of the mightiest efforts ; whose powerful imagination suggested to him many original views ; and whose literary ambition urged him to the bold attempt of demolishing the fabric reared by Aristotle, and rebuilding science on a more impregnable foundation. While the story of his public life affords a salutary memorial of the ravages effected by inordinate ambition, the perusal of his philosophical labours tends to abate the keenness of our scorn, and to mingle admiration and gratitude with the sympathies claimed by fallen greatness. We would earnestly recommend the Novum Orga num to the attention of all speculative men, as one of the best means of facilitating and guiding their in quiries. From want of acquaintance with this excel lent auxiliary, many ingenious men, in the present day, proceed empirically in their investigations, as if rules were altogether superfluous, or at least as if they were not aware that any code of rules exists preferable to the random suggestions of imagination.
The best edition of the treatise De Aug mentis was published in 1623, under the author's inspection. A very accurate edition of the Novum Organum was published in 1620. The whole works of Lord Ba con were edited by Blackbourne, in four volumes folio, London, 1730; and by Mallet, London, 1740, also in four volumes folio. The most complete edi tions are one in five volumes quarto, London, 1778, and one in ten volumes octavo, London, 1803. There is a book in three volumes quarto, entitled, The Philosophical Works of Lord Bacon, by Dr Shaw ; but its accuracy is not to be relied upon. Some other translations and abridgments appear to be still less correct. See Rawley and Mallet's Life of Bacon. Rushworth's Historical Collections. Voltaire Me langes de Lilterature. Journals of Parliament, 1621. Birch's Memoirs of Elizabeth. (m. e.)