However much men may differ in their estimate of Bacon's method and position in philosophy, all agree in recognizing his intellectual greatness. It would be easy to fill pages with the glowing tributes that have been paid him, not only by English, but also by French and German, writers. Hallam, who is not given to inconsiderate panegyric, says: "If we compare what may be found in the sixth, seventh, and eighth books De Augmentis'; in the 'Essays,' the 'History of Henry VII.,' and the various short treatises contained in his works on moral and political wisdom, and on human nature, from experience of which all such wisdom is drawn, with the Rhetoric, Ethics, and Politics of Aristotle, or with the historians most celebrated for their deep insight into civil society and human character; with Thucydides, Tacitus, Philip de Comines, Machiavel, Davila, Hume, we shall, I think, find that one man may almost be compared with all of these together." An able German scholar assigns Bacon a high rank as a philosopher and educator because he was "the first to say to the learned men who lived and toiled in the languages and writings of antiquity, and who were mostly only echoes of the old Greeks and Romans, yea, who knew nothing better than to be such: There is also a present, only open your eyes to recognize its splendor. Turn away from the shallow springs of traditional natural science, and draw from the unfathomable and ever freshly flowing fountain of creation. Live in nature with active senses; ponder it in your thoughts, and learn to comprehend it, for thus you will be able to control it. Power increases with knowledge.'"1 1 Raumer, "Geschichte der Pädagogik." Bacon had unswerving faith in the power of truth, and he confidently looked forward to a time when the value of his teachings would be recognized. The fulfilment of the following prediction establishes the character and mission of the prophet: "I have held up a light in the obscurity of philosophy," he says, "which will be seen centuries after I am dead. It will be seen amid the erection of temples, tombs, palaces, theatres, bridges, making noble roads, cutting canals, granting multitudes of charters and liberties for comfort of decayed companies and corporations; the foundation of colleges and lectures for learning and the education of youth; foundations and institutions of orders and fraternities for nobility, enterprise, and obedience; but, above all, the establishing good laws for the regulation of the kingdom, and as an example to the world." WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. FROM the time of Chaucer to the present day, England has produced many great writers - almost colossal figures in universal literature. Chaucer, Spenser, Bacon, Milton, Tennyson these are great names; but by common conThe case is not Greece sent Shakespeare towers above them all. altered when we take into account other nations. had its Homer; Rome, its Virgil; Italy, its Dante; Germany, its Goethe; France, its Hugo. But if the judgment of competent critics were taken, Shakespeare would be placed on the throne as king among great writers, living and dead. If the great dramatist had left an autobiography, we should esteem it one of our greatest literary treasures. If some Boswell had dogged his footsteps, noted carefully the incidents of his everyday life, and recorded the sentiments and thoughts that dropped spontaneously from his lips, how eagerly we should read the book to gain a clearer insight into the great master's soul. As it is, we are shut up to very meagre records, to names and dates found in business accounts or legal documents; and the greatest genius of all literature is concealed behind his works almost in the haze of a myth. We are dependent, not upon history, but upon fancy, to fill up the measure of what must have been an interesting, varied, and bountiful life. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon, |