. 72.] TO R. W. CHURCH. 743 



. . . As to dear Bentliam, his life is the very ideal 

 of a naturalist's life, and I have always regarded it 

 one of the happiest possible and one of the most suc- 

 cessful. . . . His administration of the Linnsean, his 

 series of addresses, etc., will be looked back to as an 

 oasis in the desert. 



Our spring is late ; the winter, or rather the 

 drought of the previous autumn, has been deadly on 

 perennials, herbs and shrubs. . . . 



TO R. W. CHURCH. 



May 22, 1883. 



... I wish to condole with you over a hardship 

 which you write of, that of having to write a book on 

 Lord Bacon. I quite understand that you should 

 bemoan your fate at being drawn into that undertak- 

 ing. I cannot think it at all to your liking. Bacon, 

 of all people, if the best is to be made of him. I fancy, 

 should be written of by a worldly-wise, if not a worldly- 

 minded man. Moreover, I must confess to a heretical 

 opinion as to another side of Bacon, that in which 

 English, and all English-speaking, people glory. To 

 blab it out : I have an ugly notion that he was rather 

 a sciologist than a man of science, and that he really 

 did nothing of real consequence for the furtherance 

 of science ; nothing to be compared with Galileo, a real 

 father of " inductive philosophy " and scientific inves- 

 tigation - - and Pascal. By the way, taking the two 

 men all round, do you not think a taking parallel 

 could be run with Bacon and Pascal ? 



Now, to change the subject, what a noble old man 

 Gladstone is, and what a great name he is going to 

 leave as a high-minded statesman ! I could envy you, 

 if it were in my way, the privilege of his friendship. 



