The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1878-12-09
How Shame Overlook the Brightest,
Greatest, Meanest Of Men"
SENTENCE OF THE LORDS.
Bright Thoughts on the Life
CT Wordsworth.
LIFE AND TIMES OF BACON.

iVt.l Boston: Hou2hton, OsSood co. 1870
This work on the life aud times of Lord Bacon,
comprised two we'll filed and well digested
volumes. is the abridgment Of much larger work
which appeared in England under the editorsbip Of
Mr.. SPEEDING between the years 1861 and 1874. The
philosophical. literary and professional works of Ba-
may be said to have been first published in a
shape worthy of their excellence and historic re-
nown, when between the years 1857 and 1859 three
English scholars Messrs. SPEEDING. Ellis and HEATH
divided among themselves a critical recension OF so
much of Bacon's writings gould be properly
classified under these heads. After this task had
been successfully completed in seven copious vol
nmes. which were reprinted in this country with
Mr. Speddings sanction and aid in fifteen vol
of reduced size, it still remained to edit the
occasional writings of the great Chancellor and
philosopher-that is to say. his letters, speeches,
tracts state papers, memorials, &c Taking this
part Of the work under his exclusive control, Mr.
SPEEDING has not only collected and set forth these
writings in their chronological order, but has
also accompanied them with biographical and
historical commentaries, which make them q
history OF Bacon's times exhaustive and
almost voluminous. too, the endless work
o. Professor Mason the Life and Times of Mil
ton" The Boston publishers OF the present work.
having recently gathered into volumes the most
essential of Bacons philosophical writings, have
like to possess in manageable shape. a biography of
Bacon which should present the result of the most
thorough criticism and inquiry, and include
much Of contemporary history is needed to give
The life its proper setting 1t is this theory that
the task of condcnsng Mr.. Speddng's seven volumes
into two has been undertaken by an American editor
whose name is net givenl, with Mr. Speddings
hon. and what is much more to the American read
ers purpose, with the benefit of Mr.. Spedding's
volumes unaltered. 1t is only the arrangement and
scope of his edition which have been modified by the
compiler.
With all natural prejudices against such
roactn'eati and compends. we obliged to admit
that the work of the editor has been faithfully and
skifnlly performed. The life of Bacon is here told
with minuteness of detail that is abundantly ade-
quate to portray full length likeness of the
IN all his aspects and in all his relations,
while for the fidelity of the portrature the
reader has the bes. possible guarantee in the I'M
equalled research and praiseworthy candor which
Mr. SPEEDING has brought to the appreciation Of
great name and the exposition a a momentous chap
ter in the history not only Of England but civil
lied world OF books which treat on the life and
character OF Bacon there is lack English era-
ture. kawley and Mallet and Basil Montagu and
Lord Campbell and Lord Macauey among the dead
Mr.. Hepworth Dixon, Mr.. Gardiner aud others among
the living have essayed. some with passionate objur-
CATION and some with passionate eulogy. tell the
story OF career which. for blended light and shadow
IL almost without example in the annals Of biogra-
ply. Shakespeare has limned FOR all time the face
and figure Of another Lore Chancellor Who before
Bacon. had sounded all the depths and shoals Of
honor; only to stumble and fall like Bacon in .the
ways Of glory" but the clouds which obscured the
brightness of woolsey have come to mild and
ham In.
trous lustre which still waits the name and fame
of his great Hene in his vivid stan
gas has bewaed the wretched fate the princes and
popes whom Dante has damned in his Inferno"
For all such criminals after the poet has passed
tence upon them in his awful triple rhymes there
IL, says Heine. no Redeemer. seeing, do that
time does but seal the brand OF that eternal shame
which is the prerogative OF genius stamp on the
brow Of its victims. In like manner it cannot be
doubted that the reputation of Bacon will suffer for
ever from the terse and epigrammatic line in which
the English poet has struck him of, in profile AZ
"the wisest brightest meanest Of mankind" The
sntithesis is sharp sharp the .'Iethal arrow,
about which Virgil sings; but for this very reason IT
still continues to stick in the eide Bacon and we
suppose will ever continue TO stick there doing his
fame to death in the eyes Of all who one reason or
another shall be inclined accept the compendious
doom OF Pope as the solemn, irreversbIe award Of
authentic history. Yet perhaps in all the mixed
Chronicle OF human glory and human shame there IL
no man whom IT is less easy to dismiss with single
satiric touch appended TO two superlatives The
colossal figure of Bacon stu before us like the
image seen in vision OF the Hebrew prophet-its
head Of nne gold its breast of silver.
it, legs Of iron and it, feet part Of iron and
part OF clay. We can but wonder how II
came to pass that mire and dirt should have been
mil vi ha .f,r ~,
for the beauty and strength Of the element which
composed his higher parts. modern German
writer has given interesting book on what he
calls the 'enigmatical, men" OF history but surely
there never was such riddle a. the character OF
Bacon. the popular conception 81 it Is assumed TO
he Just and true. That man 50 wise could be so
foolish; that man bright could be so stupid;
that man SO could be 80 magnificent as
Baron is commonly represented 10 have been presents
aproblem which calls for something more than the
perfunctory treatment 1t has too commonly received
NJ the hands Of the biographer and historian The
sntithess in the fortunes Bacon was inoxprcssly
great. when consider the hoight 10 which he
reached and the depth to which he fell; but when we
have penetrated 10 the ..true inwartinessv OF .he
man we sha find that the anttllesis in his charac.
ter Is ~ great a. II tobe. And IL IL for tins
that the biography Of Mr. Speeding has yalue
IN our eyes beyond that OF any similar work. IL
gives the facts in Bacon's life and character with
ensemble and naturalness which make him
"intclligible FORM" with the elements in
his nature unequally mixed, II may be, but
still not uncqually mixed Il is common
to suppose. Most OF those who have written
about Bacon would seem to leave upon the readers
mind the image either Of "fautiess monster" OF
monster Of iautincss, or, worse than all Of a
inous;or strangely compounded OF both TO be an
impossible creation. The narrative Of Mr.. Basil
Montngn and Of Mr.. Icpworth Dixon reads like
page torn from the Boliandist Lives OF tho saints"
Lord Campbell AZ in his other Lives of the Lord
Chancsors. is nothing II critical. In Macaulay
brilliant sketch we have the likeness Of a strange and
unearthy being who sis half swine's hoof, half
eagles wing But IN the portraturc Of Mr.. sped
ding we discern the picture Of man endowed with
great intellectual gifts playing great part the