The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1884-05-04

and made them IN love with knowledge. By .
felicitous mparison. Dean Church has llksnod
him to Columbus. for. indeed. he knew - little
Of tho science to which he beckoncd ne ~ Go.
lumbus know OF tho New World. that he laid
open to our gaze. He was poet rather than
toacher. Q prophet rather than General. Ho
kindled the enthusiasm which others wore to
translate into conquest. Cowley compared him
to Moses surveying from Mount Pisgah the
promised land; 20 DR.. Church IL careful to
qualify tho analogy by reminding Us that II
was but distant survey. and that Newton was
the Joshua who began to take possession OF It,"
Dosn Church dismisses CURLY the hypothesis
that would Identify the author Of tho " Essays"
with the writer Of " Hamlet" and p" Othello."
That 10 Idle" no says. Bacon could no moro
have prophesied tho victories Of natural
philosophy" 1t 10 possible. however. that tho
advocates OF that strange theory will draw
some comfort from the support indirectly and
unconsciously afforded by this latest biographor
to their main positions. DR.. Church can only
account for Bacon's singular silence about
Shakespeare by concsding that 1t was the
fashion. except among . SGT OF clever but not
always reputable peOple. TO think the stage. NJ
II was. below tho notice Of scholars and states
men," What q missile would tho knowledge
or evon tho suspicion that his rival was play.
wright have proved In the grasp Of Coke. who.
as II was. scofed Mt the incongruity Of Bacon's
nice scholarship. courtliness and lively wit
with the austere functions OF tho bench. but
Dean Church has rendered. . more efficient
service to tho ingenious propounders OF the
paradox In question. by going much further
than any preceding biograpner toward an
Initiating the fundamental and seemingly
Sh~-t IL. hok, n..no H. ri
losopher. and Shakespeare. the dramatic poet.
II. from his candid and careful discussion Of
tho "Novum Orgnnum." any clear and trenchant
deduction may be drawn. II 10 that no such
antithesis exists. For Bacon. 1t seems wns
NO philosopher at all. but seer and a maker.
weaver Of gorgeous fancies. dreamer Of
splendid dreams, a fashioner ~ stately apho-
risms. amagician whose words were spells.
The author Of this sketch has brought out
sharply another point which Miss Potts will
not overlook. We imagine. In her next edition
Of tho "Promus." Bacon was convinced that
anything conveyed through so raw medium
As English could count on but clrcumscribed
and evanescent audience. He never rested till
he gained. as he thought. q tenacious hold
upon the future by the translation with
additions) Of the Advancement Of Learn
ing" and the Essays" into Latin. Here
In he showed no lack OF foresight. since
the data OF more correct provision were
as yet lacking. How could Bacon fore
tell that within three centuries his own
vernacu!ar would play for the whole habitable
earth tho role OF universal language which tho
Roman tongue had filed in the relatively
narrow Mediterranean world2 On the con-
trary. shrewd men at the beginning Of the
seventeenth century would see good ground
for thinking that the catholic function so long
discharged by tho Latin would be inherited by
the Spanish rather than the English speech.
NJ W. r.