Had quite miscarried: I dare be bound again, 2420 Will never more break faith advisedly. Por. Then you shall be his surety. Give him this, And bid him keep it better than the other. Ant. Here, Lord Bassanio; swear to keep this ring. 2425 Here is a letter, read it at your leisure; It comes from Padua, from Bellario: There you shall find, that Portia was the doctor, 2430 Nerissa there, her clerk. Lorenzo here Shall witness, I set forth as soon as you, And even but now returned; I have not yet Entered my house. Antonio, you are welcome; Ant. Sweet lady, you have given me life and living ; For here I read for certain that my ships Are safely come to road. Por. How now, Lorenzo ? My clerk hath some good comforts too for you. Ner. Ay, and I'll give them him without a fee. 2445 There do I give to you and Jessica, From the rich Jew, a special deed of gift, After his death, of all he dies possessed of. Por. [Exeunt. 2450 FRANCIS BACON. between the Elizabethan Prose. The greatest names in Elizabethan literature are those of the dramatists and the poets, yet the intellectual advance of the time showed itself, also, in a rapid development of prose. English prose had made but little progress time of Wyclif and the middle of the sixteenth century. Such works as Malory's Morte d'Arthur (1485), More's History of Richard III. (written 1513), and Tyndale's Translation of the Bible (1525), show prose struggling towards a more honorable place; but it is not until the early years of the reign of Elizabeth, when life and thought were expanding on every side, that the art of English prose-writing may be said to fairly begin. The effect of the Renaissance may be seen in the learned prose of Ascham (1515–1568), and in the euphuistic intricacies of John Lyly (1553–1606). Literary criticism springs into life in such works as Sidney's Defense of Poesy (1580-1581), or Puttenham's Art of English Poesy (1589). Prose fiction is represented by Sidney's elaborate romance, The Arcadia, (1590), and by countless shorter stories from the rapid pens of Peele, Greene, and other struggling dramatists. Besides all this, we have, in the reigns of Elizabeth and James, an abundant prose literature of history and travel, and innumerable pamphlets on the questions of the day. In theology, Richard Hooker published The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (first four books, 1594); a great work, which has been called "the first monument of splendid literary prose that we possess.' This growth of English prose, in many directions, can only be hinted at, nor can we stop to consider Fuller, Jeremy Taylor, or Sir Thomas Browne, writers who occupy a high place in * " English Literature Primer," S. Brooke, p. 79. the literature of the early seventeenth century, by their quaintness, or majesty of style. Out of this wide range we will select one writer, Francis Bacon, for a somewhat more extended study. Bacon's Life. Francis Bacon was born in London, January 22, 1561. His father was Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and one of the most trusted of the early statesmen of Elizabeth; a yet more famous statesman, Lord Burleigh, was his uncle by marriage. From his earliest years, Bacon was thus connected with the court and with public life. When he was eighteen, his prospects were greatly changed by the sudden death of his father. Bacon, who was the younger son, was thus left insufficiently provided for, and was compelled to make his own way in the world. He accordingly entered upon the study of the law, and although Lord Burleigh showed no disposition to assist him, his advance was exceedingly rapid. He was made a barrister in 1582, Solicitor-General in 1601, AttorneyGeneral in 1613, and Lord Chancellor in 1617. From this brilliant public success we get no idea of Bacon's inner life and deepest aspirations. He declared, in a letter to Lord Burleigh, written at the outset of his career, "I confess that I have as vast contemplative ends, as I have moderate civil ends; for I have taken all knowledge to be my province." He early resolved that he would strive to benefit the race by the discovery of truth; and, although he seems at times to have been diverted by worldly necessities or worldly ambitions, he was always true at heart to his lofty purpose. From his inability to reconcile contending interests, the love of place and power, with the unselfish devotion to knowledge, springs the tragedy of Bacon's life. In 1621, Bacon's worldly ambitions were overthrown at a stroke. He was accused of having taken bribes in his office of Lord Chancellor. He piteously confessed the charge, and was henceforth a ruined man in reputation and in fortune. Bacon spent the remainder of his life in the composition of some of the great philosophical and scientific works on which his fame chiefly rests. With Bacon, the philosopher and scientist, however, the student of English literature is not directly concerned. The story of his closing years is very pitiable. "The Lord Chancellor," said his former patron, the young favorite, Buckingham, "the Lord Chancellor is so sick that he cannot live long." He still showed a brave front to the world, and moved about with a courtly retinue, like the shadow of his former self, so that Prince Charles said of him: "This man scorns to go out in a snuff;" but, for all this, the wound was deep, and bled inwardly. He caught cold, from exposure, while engaged in a scientific experiment, and died a few days later, April 9, 1626. Bacon is generally considered the greatest man of the Elizabethan age, with the single and inevitable exception of Shakespeare. Dean Church calls him " The brightest, richest, largest mind but one, in the age which had seen Shakespeare and his fellows." Yet, speaking strictly, Bacon holds a place in English literature almost by accident, and in spite of himself. He deliberately chose to be a Latin rather than an English writer, having no confidence in the stability of his own language, and believing that it would "at one time or another play the bank-rowte (bankrupt) with books." He even went so far as to have his Advancement of Learning translated from English into Latin, so convinced was he of the superiority of the latter tongue. This book in its original form, The Essays, The History of Henry VII., and a fragment, The New Atlantis, are substantially all that English prose can claim out of the great mass of Bacon's writings. Yet, while Bacon thought little of his work as an English writer, and threw the weight of his immense energy in other directions, it is his English works that have best held their own. In Raleigh's prose we encounter more impassioned and noble eloquence, as in those rare places in the History of the World, where he seems to suddenly leave the ground and soar in the celestial spaces; but Bacon's style has a more even excellence. Incidental and slight as Bacon's connection was with the literature of his own language, a high critical authority has recently pronounced him "one of the greatest writers of English prose before the accession of Charles I." * Incredible His Essays. as it would have seemed to Bacon, it is by The Essays that he is best known to the general reader. By an "essay," Bacon meant the first trial, or weighing, of a subject, as distinguished from a finished treatise. His essays are pithy jottings on great subjects, informally set down, with no attempt to carry the thought to its full or natural conclusion. They read like the note-book of a profound thinker, a shrewd observer of life, a politic and active man of affairs. They are brief, suggestive, without an ornament, but closely packed with thought. They give us the concentrated results of Bacon's experience, and are often comparable to the proverbial sayings in which wise men have delighted since the days of Solomon. Often they go to the heart of the matter with one quick thrust, as in the famous sentence: “Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, adversity is the blessing of the New, which carrieth the greater benediction and the clearer revelation of God's favour." + * Saintsbury's “Elizabethan Literature," p. 209. Essay assay-a test, or examination of metals; O. F,, assai; Latin, exagium. See Skeat's "Etymological Dictionary." Essay on Adversity. |