But the great men of the world, they who have beneficently ministered to the welfare of the race, advanced its enlightenment, and contributed to its enrichment, in a marked degree, are really gifts to humanity, a part of its priceless heritage. Among these men, Bacon stands foremost. And though the language employed in his delineation may perhaps seem extravagant to those who have not closely studied the man, yet it was apparently well considered, called forth by the necessities of the case, and from men who obviously felt that words were scarcely adequate to the portrayal of the man in the magnitude of his greatness. It comes as the almost involuntary tribute of the Intellect, the Critical Acumen, and the Genius of the world to their recognized Master.

United as in one voice, in ever blending harmony, it reveals to us the man in his true function, as the world's Great Teacher. This seemingly celestial genius, whose glance through the intellectual universe resembled that of the Archangel from the golden threshold of heaven, or of a guardian spirit of a higher order; endowed with an amplitude of comprehension such as has never yet been vouchsafed to any other human being; capable of taking in the whole world of knowledge, and for whose great mind the theatrical stage was too narrow, nay the whole visible world too narrow; much of whose life was passed in a visionary realm, amidst things as strange as any described in the Arabian Tales, and yet with nothing in these daydreams that was wild, nothing but what sober reason sanctioned; indulging in visions more magnificent and gigantic than those of Sir Epicure, and yet sifting evidence with keen and sagacious incredulity; gifted with a largeness of mind all his own, and yet with a keenness of observation equalled though perhaps never surpassed, and such that no nice feature of character, no peculiarity in the ordering of a house, a garden, or a court-masque

could escape; the most opposite and apparently irreconcilable qualities subsisting in him peaceably together; uniting the utmost elevation and the utmost depth, strength, and tenderness, power and peacefulness; a psychologist and a philosopher, but philosophy, fancy, and imagination penetrated with the spirit of the unwritten law of reason, his philosophy being practical and his practical views fused with philosophy and poetry; with the poetical faculty powerful, giving noble proofs of its vigor, but disciplined to obedience to his good sense; no imagination being ever at once so strong and so thoroughly subjugated; with nothing in English prose superior to his diction, the most extraordinary and most admirable of all writers; in strength called a demi-god, and in profundity of view a prophet, he spake after the manner of prophets, almost in Sibylline verses, like an oracle who foresees the future and reveals the truth, and at times you would think you stood before the unclosed awful books of fate, while the whirlwind of most impassioned life was howling through the leaves, and tossing them fiercely to and fro; but all the while, as open and unassuming as a child, he was employing his luxuriant wit, and the pleasure it affords, in developing and fulfilling our anticipations regarding man and his destiny, in clearing up the enigmas of life, in making obscure truths plain, repulsive ones attractive, fixing in the mind forever those otherwise leaving but transient impressions, and in making men by the mildest instructions acquainted with themselves; well knowing, that when his words should sink deep into the minds of men, they would produce, in their consequences, effects far surpassing any that are ascribed to the incantations of the old-time magicians.

Behold the man! And in the man, also, the key to the Shakespeare; to its beneficient intent, fulfilled in such glorious accomplishment! It is the befitting accompan

iment, if, indeed, it be not essentially an integral part of his Great Instauration; entering into his grand, comprehensive scheme, but reserved to himself for exhaustive development, upon the fundamental lines of the realities. Man is the subject; man as he is actually found in nature, good and bad; in his weaknesses, his excesses, his passions, and his crimes; in his rugged strength, in woman's gentle tenderness, her charming beauty, her constancy, and her devotion; in his friendship, his magnanimity, his loyalty, and his love; in all his incongruities and inconsistencies; in every phase of human existence, in almost every modification, and as developed amidst the complexities of life's experiences. It is a transcript of humanity, accurate, comprehensive, and well-nigh exhaustive, a vivid representation to the life of the universal man, in his essential characteristics, in his myriad forms, aspects, and experiences; thus both infolding and unfolding "the secrets of human nature." This great philosopher, playing upon our hearts as with a musician's bow, has made it "a means of educating men's minds to virtue"; and this is accomplished so sweetly, and in such perfection, and such beauty, that it has all the charm of enchantment. His magic is the only real magic in the world, the subtle power of realities, in the intensity of their beauty, and the might of their verity.

"Truth needs no color with his color fix'd;

Beauty no pencil, beauty's truth to lay."

And now, as we read the Shakespeare, we may rise fully to Goethe's plane of appreciation : we, also, may discern its mighty import, and catch the inspiration of its beneficent spirit. We may know, to a certainty, that it was bestowed upon us for our delight, and for our instruction as well. It is, indeed, delicious nutriment, luscious fruit imbedded in fragrant flowers, a banquet of delectable food provided for our entertainment, "a rich store

house," full of choicest grain, where every kernel contains its living germ of wisdom.

And in our delight over its marvellous beauty, we may know that we are only catching some gleams of Bacon's joy, as he threw off the accustomed restraints, assumed the magic mantle and the enchanter's wand, and gave himself up to a legitimate revel of his imagination. But we cannot know the rapture that filled his soul, ravishing the mental tendrils of all his senses and entrancing his whole being, in the convulsive throes of the creative act. It was the divine rapture, experienced in the impartation of himself.

In the hour of exaltation, when he was all aglow with the flame enkindled by a burning impulse, he gave enshrinement to his clearest visions, in creations that were after the likeness of human souls. They were clothed in imagery fashioned out of vivid impressions stamped upon his brain his spirit endowed them with vitality, and his wisdom with its subtle power. And over them all he threw a glittering canopy of wondrous beauty, woven out of beams and gleaming rays that he had drawn from the drapery of the universe.

The travails of their birth were, indeed, thrills of exquisite delight, and their life is everlasting, because they were the joyous outflowings of his immortal soul.

CHAPTER XII.

LET us, for our further satisfaction, delve once more, even into the subsoil of the world's criticism.

Mr. Hamilton W. Mabie, the distinguished critic, in his Essays in Literary Interpretation (a little book full of meat, feeding whereon a man grows), in a luminous generalization, places at our command another crucial test of the personality of the Poet. He says:

"Every dramatist of the first order has had a fundamental thought about life which, expressed in his own way, has been in some essential things different from the thought of all his fellows; and that thought has contained the very essence of his personality. The great writers speak not from report, but from personal knowledge. They differ from the lesser writers, not only in quality of workmanship, but still more in the fact that they are witnesses of the truth which they express. They have seen and felt, therefore they speak. And that which thus sees and feels and knows is the man's whole nature, not observation only, nor thought only, nor feeling only. All the faculties, the aptitudes, the sensibilities, the experiences which make us what we are, are involved in this process. So that which lies deepest in a man, his thought of the movement of things in which he finds himself, expresses completely and most profoundly his personality."

We have already been unconsciously applying this test, in our discussion of the play of Julius Cæsar, which indeed strikingly illustrates the truth of the proposition,— for else were it meaningless.* But to further prolong this

*For a more specific example, see the peculiar view enter