tions, his organ music, his "nicotian weed," and a game at bowls. To this period of calm the world owes a more complete edition of his "Essays," his weighty but too partial "History of Henry VII.," and a Latin translation of his "Advancement of Learning."

NOTE GORHAMBURY.

A picturesque writer supplies the following sketch of his retreat at Gorhambury ::

"The Gothic pile, enlarged by Sir Nicholas for Lady Anne, which had come into his possession on his brother's death, stood high and dry above the water; and as the stream would not flow up to his house he took his house down to the stream. Avenues of stately trees sloped from the hall-door to the little lakes which, four or five acres in extent, were kept bright as crystal, filled with brilliant fish, and paved with pebbles of various hues. On the banks of one of these lakelets he had built Verulam House, a tiny but enchanted palace, one front leaning on the water, the other glancing, under oak and elm, up the long leafy arcade to his mother's house. This place was furnished and complete. The larders and kitchens were underground; through the centre of the blocks ran a staircase delicately carved; on the rests and landings a series of figures-a bishop, a friar, a king, and the like-not one repeated either in idea or execution; on the door of the upper story statues of Jupiter, Apollo, and the round of gods. Beauty and luxury combined. Chimneypieces prettily wrought, rooms lofty and wainscotted, baths, oratories, divans. Shafts from the chimneys ran round the rooms, with cushions on these shafts so as to garner up the heat. The roof, which was flat and leaded, in the Eastern manner, commanded views of wood and water, plain

and upland, with the square plain Saxon tower of St. Alban's Abbey high above all. In the centre pond was a Roman temple or banqueting-room, paved with black and white marble. One

of the doors had a device of mirrors, so that a stranger fancied he was looking into the gardens when the door was closed."Hepworth Dixon.

An excellent account of Bacon's Gorhambury is given by Bishop Hind in a letter to Bishop Warburton, 14th June, 1679:

:

...

"This ancient seat . . . stands very pleasantly on high ground in the midst of a fine park, well wooded. There is a gentle descent from it to a pleasant vale, which again rises gradually into hills at a distance, and those well cultivated, or finely planted. The house itself is of the antique structure, with turrets, but low, and covered with a white stucco, not unlike the old part of your lordship's palace at Gloucester. It is built round a court, nearly square, the front to the south, with a little turn, I think, to the east. The rooms are numerous, but small, except the hall, which is of moderate size, but too narrow for the height the chapel neat and well-proportioned, but damp and fusty, being (as is usual with chapels belonging to the lay lords) seldom or never used. On the west side of the house runs a gallery, about the length of that at Prior Park; the windows, especially the oriel window at the west, finely painted; the niches covered with pictures of the great men of the time of the Stuarts; and the ceiling, which is coved, ornamented with the great men of antiquity, painted in compartments. At the end of the gallery is a return, which serves for a billiard-room. Underneath the gallery and billiard-room is a portico for walking, and that too painted. I should have observed that the chamber floor of the front is a library, furnished, as it seemed to me on a slight glance, with the books of the time, as the gallery is with the persons. The furniture altogether unique, and suitable to the rest. It is impossible that any fine man or woman of these times should endure to live at this place; but the whole

has an air of silence, repose, and recollection very suitable to the idea one has of those

'Shades, that to Bacon could retreat afford ;'

and to me is one of the most delicious seats I ever saw."*

The present mansion, the seat of Earl Verulam, was built in 1778-1785, by Lord Grimston, from the designs of Sir Robert Taylor. It is a spacious semi-classical structure, consisting of a centre of stone, with a grand portico supported on Corinthian columns, and two wings of brick covered with stucco. The hall, library, and reception-rooms are spacious, well-proportioned, and contain a good collection of pictures. Among these are portraits of Sir Nicholas Bacon, the Lord-Keeper; of Francis Bacon, by Vansomar; and of his half-brother, Sir Nathaniel Bacon, painted by himself. There are also portraits of Queen Mary, of Queen Elizabeth (painted by Hilliard), James I., Earls of Pembroke and Cumberland, Archbishop Abbot of Canterbury, Queen Catherine of Braganza, and many other illustrious per

sonages.

On Lord Bacon's death, Gorhambury descended to Sir Thomas Meantys, his cousin and heir, whose widow married Sir Harbottle Grimston. His son purchased the reversion of the estate, which has since continued in his descendants, created successively Viscount Grimston, and, in 1815, Earl of Verulam.

Gorhambury stands in the midst of a noble and well-wooded park of six hundred acres, about a mile and a-half to the northeast of St. Albans. Some remains of Bacon's house are still extant.

III.

I have said that a full pardon being granted to Bacon, he was entitled once more to take his place among his peers. But no parliament was summoned during the

"Letters from a late Eminent Prelate to one of his Friends,"

P. 429.

remainder of James I.'s reign, and,, after the accession of Charles I., he was prevented by his age and infirmities from taking his seat. Already the silver cord was loosed, the golden bowl broken. A frame, naturally weak, was bent and bowed by severe study, physical as well as mental suffering, disease as well as the consciousness of errors committed and wrongs endured. The unwearied fingers still plied the eloquent pen; but Bacon felt that the sun was sinking, and prepared to meet his end with Christian heroism. He effected a reconciliation with his enemies, even with the specious and crafty Williams, and made his last testamentary arrangements. Still, from all parts of Christendom came the great and learned, anxious to pay their homage to the Apostle of Experimental Philosophy. Visited by the Marquis d'Effiat -who had accompanied Queen Henrietta Maria to England-and disliking to expose the ravages of a cruel disease, Bacon received him in a darkened bed-chamber, and with curtains drawn. "You resemble the angels," said the Frenchman courteously, "we hear them frequently spoken of, we know them to be superior to mankind, and yet we have never the consolation to see them." "My infirmities," rejoined Bacon gravely, “tell

me I am a man."

It was when thinking of this noble close to the great philosopher's career, that Bén Johnson wrote:

"My conceit towards his person was never increased by his place or honours; but I love and do reverence him for the greatness that was only proper to himself, in that he seemed to me, ever by his works, one of the greatest men, and most worthy of admiration, that had been in many ages; in his adversity I ever prayed that God would give him strength,—for greatness he would not want; neither could I condole in a word or syllable

for him, as knowing no accident could do harm to virtue, but rather help to make it manifest.”

At home his popularity was due, I think, more to his eloquence as a speaker, and his repute as a man of great parts and learning, than to any general appreciation of the grandeur of his philosophical work. Writing a few

years after Bacon's death, Dr. Rawley, his chaplain and biographer, observes :-" His fame is greater and sounds louder in foreign parts abroad than at home in his own nation, thereby verifying that divine sentence, 'A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country and his own house.' Even the scholar and the man of science did not comprehend the true value and significance of the new philosopher. "Bacon was no great philosopher," said Harvey, contemptuously; "he writes philosophy like a Lord Chancellor." Sir Edward Coke received a presentation copy of the "Novum Organum." A device on the title-page represented a ship sailing between the Pillars of Hercules, with the proud motto of "Plus ultra.” The narrow-minded sciolist wrote above it, in allusion to the German satire of "The Ship of Fools," a miserable distich, which embalms for ever his pretentious ignor

ance :

"It deserveth not to be read in schools,

But to be freighted in the Ship of Fools."

Thanks to the sweet air of Gorhambury, Bacon's health during the autumn of 1625 made some improvement, but the rigorous winter which followed compelled him to return to London for the benefit of medical advice. He lodged at Gray's Inn, and busied himself in the preparation of a new edition of his "Natural History." As he was investigating the nicest methods of preventing putrefaction of animal substances, it occurred to him