CXCV1 LIFE OF BACON&quot;. 



the mechanism of state business. That Bacon should have 

 been doomed to such occupations, that he, who stood the 

 lofty beacon of science, evermore guiding the exploring 

 scholar in voyages of discovery to improve and bless man 

 kind, should voluntarily have descended to the shifting 

 quicksands of politics, is a theme for wonder and pity. 

 He could have pointed out to another the shoals, the 

 sunken rocks, and the treacherous nature of the current ; 

 but he adventured, and little minds can now point out 

 where he was lost, and where the waters went over his 

 soul.&quot; 



Much as it is to be lamented that he should have 

 accepted this office, the loss to science seems, in some 

 sort, to have been compensated by his entire devotion to 

 his professional and political duties: duties for which he 

 possessed unrivalled powers. 



It has been truly said by the biographer of Bacon s 

 successor, that &quot; the Chancellorship of England is not a 

 chariot for every scholar to get up and ride in. Saving 

 this one, perhaps it would take a long day to find another. 

 Our laws are the wisdom of many ages, consisting of a 

 world of customs, maxims, intricate decisions, which are 

 responsa prudentum. Tully could never have boasted, if 

 he had lived amongst us, Si mihi vehementer occupato sto- 

 machum moverint, triduo me jurisconsultum prqfitebor. (a) 

 He is altogether deceived, that thinks he is fit for the exer 

 cise of our judicature, because he is a great rabbi in some 

 academical authors; for this hath little or no copulation 

 with our encyclopedia of arts and sciences. Quintillian 

 might judge right upon the branches of oratory and philo 

 sophy, Omnes disciplinas inter se conjunctionem rerum, et 



(a) u If the advocates of Rome angered him, though he were full of 

 business, he would pass for a lawyer in three days.&quot; Orat. pro Mar. 



