PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS OF LORD BACON. 409 
that Bacon’s fame was wholly owing to the false notions of phi- 
losophy then entertained, and that it could not fail to fade 
with the recurrence of sounder views. “The Lord Bacon,” 
says he, “ is like great piles; when the sun is not high, they 
** cast an extraordinary shadow over the earth, which lessen- 
“ eth as the sun grows vertical *.” How vain the prophecy 
involved in this uncouth simile! The fame of Bacon has 
brightened as Science has advanced, every new discovery bring- 
ing a fresh proof of that transcendent sagacity which enabled 
him so unerringly to plan and predict the indefinite enlarge- 
ment of her Empire. 
ee 
The preceding illustrations of the influence of Bacon’s wri- 
tings, are confined to the effects which they produced in Eng- 
land. It remains to be inquired, Whether they were atc. 
tive, in any degree, of any similar effects, in the other coun- 
tries of Europe? It is the opinion of some, who are far from 
being otherwise sceptical as to their influence, that these writ- 
ings were, for a long period, but little known upon the Conti- 
nent ; and consequently, that all their effects, of a direct kind, 
were limited to England. This opinion has been lately avow- 
ed by one of the most enlightened and ardent of Bacon’s ad- 
mirers; one whose extensive knowledge in regard to the his- 
tory of learning, I shall hardly, I trust, be suspected of any in- 
tention to bring into doubt, by dissenting from his statements 
on this particular question. 
“ That the works of Bacon,” says Mr Stewart, “ were but 
“ little read in France till after the publication of D’Atem- 
Vou. VIII. P. II. 3F S BERT’S 
* Sruser’s Legends no Histories, p. 28. 
