IRELAND. CXXXV11 



Sweet as such speculations were to such a mind : pleas 

 ing as the labour must have been in surmounting the 

 steeps : delightful to tarry upon them, and painful to quit 

 them, he did not suffer contemplation to absorb his mind ; 

 but as a statesman, he was ever in action, ever advancing 

 the welfare of his country. These opposite exertions were 

 the necessary result of his peculiar mind ; for, as knowledge 

 takes away vain admiration, as no man marvels at the play 

 of puppets who has been behind the curtain, (a) Bacon 

 could not have been misled by the baubles by which com 

 mon minds are delighted -,(d} and, as he had examined the 

 nature of all pleasures, and felt that knowledge and bene 

 volence, which is ever in its train, surpassed them all;(e) 

 the chief source of his happiness, wherever situated, must 

 have consisted in diminishing evil and in promoting good. 



With his delicate health and intense love of knowledge, 

 he ought in prudence to have shunned the broad way and 

 the green, and retreated to contemplation but it was 

 his favourite opinion that, &quot; in this theatre of man s life, 

 God and angels only should be lookers-on ; that contem 

 plation and action ought ever to be united, a conjunction 

 like unto that of the two highest planets, Saturn the planet 

 of rest, and Jupiter the planet of action.&quot; 



He could not, thus thinking, but engage in active life ; 

 and, so engaged, he could not but act in obedience to the 

 passion by which he was alone animated; by exerting 

 himself and endeavouring to excite others to promote the 

 public good. We find him, therefore, labouring as a states 

 man and a patriot to improve the condition of Ireland ; to 



() Advancement of Learning, vol. ii. p. 80. 



(c?) When the populace huzzaed Dr. Swift upon his arrival in Ireland, 

 &quot; I wish,&quot; he said, &quot; they would huzza my lord mayor.&quot; 

 (e) Advancement of Learning, vol. ii. p. 85. 



