was brought to trial for raising an insurrection in the streets of London, it is said that Bacon unnecessarily appeared as counsel against him; and that in order to win the favour of the queen, he wrote out a Declaration of the treasons committed by the earl, which was published after that unfortunate nobleman's execution. It appears, however, when the facts are fairly examined, that Bacon did all in his power to prevent Essex from continuing the rash proceedings that ended in his ruin. Even then he did not desert him, but risked and encountered the displeasure of Elizabeth in pleading for his friend. In 1590, he had been appointed Counsel Extraordinary to the queen; and it fell to his lot, therefore, to appear against Essex, but he strove to mitigate the severity of the accusation brought against him. When at the command of the queen and council, he drew up the Declaration, it was found far too mild, and her majesty remarked, on first reading it—"I see old love is not easily forgotten."

The Essays, Bacon's most popular work, were published in 1597; but the first edition contained only ten, and these, in subsequent editions, were enlarged to almost double their former size. Up to the close of Elizabeth's reign, all Bacon's efforts for any great advancement seem to have been thwarted by the Cecils. His circumstances became straitened, and twice he was arrested for debt. With the accession of James I., however, his fortune improved. He was knighted shortly afterwards; and his eloquence and information gave him great weight in the House of Commons. On more than one occasion he was chosen by the house to state its grievances to the king, and he performed this duty with so much tact and address as to please both the sovereign and the Commons.

In 1607, Bacon was appointed solicitor-general, and about this time he married the daughter of a wealthy alderman. In 1613, he became attorney-general, and was appointed a member of the Privy Council. An objection was raised in the House of Commons to the effect that a seat in the Lower House was incompatible with the duties of attorney-general. The objection was acknow

ledged to be valid, but the house showed its regard for Bacon by overruling it. In Jan. 1618, he reached the summit of his ambition by being appointed Lord Chancellor; and in the following year he was created Baron Verulam, and took his seat in the House of Lords.

But though so busy with his professional duties, he found time for literature. While yet a student at Gray's Inn, he had sketched out his great work the Novum Organon, a philosophical work on the methods to be pursued in the search for truth, whether moral or scientific. He knew that the opinions contained in this work would meet with great opposition, as they were opposed to the current opinions of the time. He therefore sought to establish for himself a literary and philosophical reputation, so that when his great work appeared it might at least meet with a certain amount of consideration and respect. With this object in view, therefore, he published, in 1605, The Advancement of Learning, and five years. later, The Wisdom of the Ancients. At length, in 1620, the Novum Organon appeared. Twelve times had Bacon copied out the book, revising, correcting, and altering it year by year, until it was reduced to the form in which it was sent to the press. Its publication was greeted with mingled ridicule and admiration. Those who could not understand it, laughed; but by many persons at home, and by still more on the Continent, it was considered to be one of the most important contributions to philosophy ever published.

Bacon was now at the summit of fame and prosperity; but his fall was sudden. The new parliament assembled on the 30th of January, 1621; on the 15th of March, a committee of the House of Commons, which had been appointed to inquire into abuses in the courts of justice, reported that two charges of corruption had been brought against the Lord Chancellor. On the 17th, Bacon presided in the House of Lords for the last time. He was accused of having accepted bribes in his high office. He at once admitted the truth of the charges brought against him, but denied that the presents which he had received had,

in any way, influenced the administration of justice. The truth appears to be that it was the custom at that time for persons holding high official positions, from the sovereign downward, to accept presents of money. The House of Commons very wisely determined to put down this and other abuses, and Bacon was the first victim. He was stript of his offices, disqualified from holding any public position for the future, banished from Court, fined a sum of £40,000, and condemned to imprisonment in the Tower during the king's pleasure. "I was the justest judge," said he, "that was in England these fifty years; but it was the greatest censure in Parliament that was passed these two hundred years."

He was confined for a short time in the Tower and then discharged; and though his fine was commuted by the king, it still remained sufficient almost to ruin him. He was summoned to attend Parliament again before he died; but the remainder of his life was chiefly spent in literary and seientific pursuits. A French nobleman, who visited England towards the close of Bacon's life, paid a visit to the fallen chancellor, and found him in bed with the curtains drawn. "You resemble the angels," said the nobleman, "we hear those beings continually talked of, we believe them superior to mankind, and we never have the consolation to see them." His lordship replied, that "if the charity of others compared him to an angel, his own infirmities told him that he was a man."

Bacon's History of Henry VII., and some other works, were published after his disgrace. His devotion to science seems to have hastened his death. Travelling in his carriage between London and Highgate, at a time when there was snow upon the ground, he began to consider whether flesh might not be preserved by snow as well as by salt. In order to make the experiment he alighted at a cottage, at the foot of Highgate Hill, bought a hen, and stuffed the body with snow, assisting at the operation with his own hands. The cold made him seriously ill, so that he was unable to return home, and

he went to the house of his friend, the Earl of Arundel, which was in the neighbourhood. Unfortunately, the

bed in which he was put was damp, and had not been slept in for a year before. The consequence of this was a fever, of which he died in a few days, April 9th, 1626. In his will occurs the following passage: "For my name and memory I leave it to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations, and the next ages."

Bacon's style is clear, forcible, and concise; he abounds in metaphor, and his figures are generally novel and striking. It is, however, the matter rather than the language which makes his writings so valuable. His Essays are short, but exceedingly pithy, and a single sentence often contains as much thought as a page of ordinary writing.

The Novum Organon, Bacon's great work, is a treatise on the method to be pursued by scientific men in studying the laws of nature, and in establishing the principles of various sciences. The book is divided into two parts: in the first part he points out the errors to be avoided in making observations, collecting facts, and forming theories. In the second part he points out the true methods to be pursued. In the first place, facts must be collected, then the causes of these must be sought for, and in doing this we must begin by noting what things are excluded from the number of possible causes, and so proceed by negatives until we arrive at the real explanation. The publication of this work has had immense influence upon the progress of science, as it pointed out the only correct method of arriving at scientific truth. Nor is the system less valuable when applied to moral and historical investigations. Hence the appearance of the Novum Organon marks a new era in the history of natural and moral philosophy, and Bacon's work, as a philosophical treatise, is considered the greatest, not only of his age, but of almost all time.

BEN JONSON.-1574-1637.

BENJAMIN JONSON, now universally known by the shorter form of the Christian name, was born at Westminster in 1574, so that he was ten years younger than Shakespeare. He was of Scotch descent, and his father, who died shortly before Ben's birth, was 66 a grave minister of the gospel." After some preliminary education, Ben was sent to Westminster school, then taught by the learned Camden. It is stated by some of his biographers that Jonson went to St. John's College, Cambridge, but of this there is no evidence, though the statement is not improbable. His stay at Cambridge, however, could only have been short; for, while still in his teens, we hear of him working as a bricklayer in London, helping in the building of Lincoln's Inn. Disgusted with this uncongenial employment he enlisted as a soldier, and joined the army then in Flanders. He is reported to have killed one of the enemy in single combat in sight of both armies, and otherwise to have distinguished himself. He says

himself that "he loved the profession and did not shame it by his actions."

At nineteen years of age he is again in London, and in want of money. He therefore betook himself to the stage, and made his debut at a low theatre near Clerkenwell; but, like his great contemporary, he seems to have distinguished himself more as a writer than as a player. Having quarrelled with another actor, a duel was fought with swords, and Jonson had the misfortune to kill his antagonist, and was himself severely wounded. He was thrown into prison on a charge of murder, but after being in confinement for nearly a year, was released without a trial. During his imprisonment he was converted to the Roman Church, and he continued a member of it for twelve years, after which he returned to the communion of the Church of England.

Though Jonson had experienced such vicissitudes of fortune, he was, on his release from prison, only about