Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-12-16
LORD BACON.
Selected from DR.. Robnson's Note Book Of
Travels.
LONDON, NJ ay, 1885.

AS one travels along the bank of
the Thames in London fresh views
continually occur, monuments Of cele-
brated persons, places of ancient
bloody battles, historic stone buildings
and curiously named streets. Here is
the Tower to which jealous Kings and
Queens sent those whom they loved
least. 1t sits on side, hill of Grecian
structure, with heavy stony grandeur.
1t is canopied with an invisible, his
toric veil of mighty gloom. the peculiar
place of death, where wisdom and
beauty alike lost their heads so that
the avenger might see them covered
with gore on charger. A half hours
walk farther on across the Strand we
come to Gray's Inn Fields which con-
tains Gray's Inn Ca law school Here
every lover of great men pauses.
Lord Bacon the wisest Of men was here
schooled. The guides point with
pride to the trees which he planted in
this field. From these little low stony
structures which are seen scattered
through this field great Bacon went
forth to tread the paths of fame and
glory. Bacon (1561-1626) and Shake
speare (1564 1850 were .contem-
poraries. Some few who seek daily to
find out and tell some new thing, say
that Bacon and Shakespeare areone and
the same person with different names.
But, of course this is not so. London
| (Europe) take no stock in the idea.
1t is generally classified as an Ameri-
can female idea of Mrs. Pott, simply
because Bacon and Shakespeare said a
few thoughts which appeared alike.
The fact is they were two very great
men. All records show that Willie
Shakespeare CATER death, of course,
the Bard of Avon) courted with pleas
ure Annie Hathaway and married hel
because old former Hathaway said be
must and Bacon's WHY diplomacy dis.
placed his rival, Lord Cecil, in love
and married Alice Barnahm (she had
money! Bacon was a wonderful man
and said great thoughts. He founded
mighty systems of philosophy and
destroyed old ones. He set rolling the
| ball of materialism. He was a great
intellectual builder. He would be
purloined and plagarized but for the
fact that when his name is set to his
sayings it gives the remark the value
of belt of diamond studs. Some OF
his sayings are knowledge is power
GA little knowledge is a dangerous
thing" &c. He introduced a new
mode of reasoning among men called
inductiVe reasoning. The old method
was from Aristotle the Greacian, and
was called deductive reasoning. He
wrote volumes of works and died
at the age of 65. The setting of his
life was like the setting of a great
Sun. The writings which Bacon
said would last as long as books
last are called essays and by these he
is known mostly among men.
In the annals of the literary world
no name has deserved a higher and
more lasting fame among the instruct,
ors and benefactors of mankind than
Lord Bacon. England never knew
his peer nor has she ever produced a
man who could sway and concentrate
forces with such effectiveness. He
was endowed with one of the rarest
intellects. Bacon was England's great
est genius because he was her greatest
builder. He combined far reaching
speculation with unparalleled practical
common sense. In him the reader
cannot but recognize a broad anC
general mind; a mind original yet
stored with wealth of accumulated
knowledge which he bestowed bounti
fully on every object Of attraction.
Though deep and penetrating in eve ~
subject preached yet, the great branc
by which posterity know him, is tina
of an Instructor, as a teacher who
taught men how to utilize their cQuir
ments His was the philosophy o
1 philosopbizing. In treating a subjec
!. he was undigressive. He seems t,
have taken a subject and when h.
could think of no more that bort
directly on the subject he wisely quit
The man that gets the most credl
is he who says just what other mel
want to say, Bacon is such man. Al
through the fifty eight worn out sub
jects that he takes for his essays he il
saying what we would say ourselves
and so much the more do we admire
him because he says it ten times better
than we can say It,
Why he wrote these essays on sucI
topics is a question. [ suppose it was
because. his mind was so strong anC
active that it gave him comfort only
when actively engaged. His mine
was like a man IN trouble only at ease
when he was giving it to some one
else. A eursory reading of some Of
the subjects of Bacon's essays SUCCESS
the idea that he was man like Frank
lin who weighed every trife and
formulated it into sentence. Bacon
had high conception of little things