The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1884-01-24
A Review Of LOveoy's Life Of Lord
Bacon.

An ethical purpose seems TO be pres
ent in this study Of the life of Bacon.
The writer holds brief and the whole
book is an indictment against the once
Lord Chancellor of England. II is an
attempt to hold up to judgment before
the young people OF this land--for the
book aims to be textbook in colleges
the man who has been spoken Of M
greatest, wisest, meanest, Of mankind"
II has another motive M set forth in the
preface Impressed with the idea that
there is room for sketch of this great
type Of official bribe-takers, the writer
has exhibited this extraordinary man
climbing TO the wool-sack and descend.
10 the prison-cell, through the channels
Of unsatisfied ambition and greed for
wealth, while giving TO the world prin.
ciples of philosophy and morality which
conferred immortality alike upon his
fame and his infamy."
A rapid sketch is given Of the child.
hood Of Bacon, and the conditions which
affected his early manhood, the serious
loss to his political hopes in the death of
his father the many and resuItIcss ap.
peals to his great uncle, Lord Burleigh,
for advancement. We arc told of his
pitiiul attempts to play the courtier to
Queen Elizabeth, and Of the small tyran.
MES and insults visited upon him by
that great lady He was far on in mid.
die Jiie when James |. came to the
throne, and even then years passed be.
fore Bacon obtained any post of innu-
eDce. His letters to his cousin, Robert
Cecil, afterwards Lord Salisbury, and %
the rising favorjte, Viliers, Marquis Of
buckingham, are seryile beyond express
sion. The fulsome flattery, the disinge-
nuous statement, tho willingness to say
anything and do anything to gain q
coveted end, present a character neither
honorable nor TO be h0nored. At last
the desire of his life was gratifed, and
he was Lord Chancellor of England.
Then came his downfall, his imprson.
ment, Punishment from Court, and,
after a few years in poverty and loncli.
ness his death
His was life Of hope deferred, Of
brief enjoyment, aud of hopeless dis.
grace. Yet side by side with this life
va u''Nh uih'''hcCkluR, Oh lTcNCnery 10
such friend ms the Earl of Essex, OF
Willingness to crafty king or favorte
by any base deed, there was another life
of wonderful intellectual vigor. Mr..
Lovejoy notes this in n well-expressed
sentence Gle was little cosmos Of
contradictions. His heart was cnslavcd
by philosophy, yet the tool of mn Office
seeking ambition. He sighed for con
templatiyo life, while aspiring to n
prominent place among his busiest con
temporaries." Whether it iswise or de-
sirablo thus to hold up one who in spite
OF his dement's must rank as among the
greatest Of English thinkers and writers,
to the scorn and condemnation of other
generations, need not be now discussed
Ii remains to his lasting honor that he
pointed out the true method Of study in
the field Of practical science
One third of the book has been de-
voted to selection from his ESSAYS, and
a study of these will be valuable in any
course of English literature in our high
schools and colleges. Perhaps it might
better have served its. purpose ms text
book, il this portion of the volume had
been more extended and the sketch of
Bacons life had covered less space.