2 BACON 



this opinion appear more fully confirmed, your soul being apt 

 to kindle at the intrusion of the slightest object ; and even at 

 the spark of a thought foreign to the purpose to burst into 

 flame. As the Scripture says of the wisest king, " That his 

 heart was as the sands of the sea/'c which, though one of the 

 largest bodies, contains the finest and smallest particles of mat- 

 ter. In like manner God has endowed your Majesty with a 

 mind capable of grasping the largest subjects and comprehend- 

 ing the least, though such an instrument seems an impossibility 

 in nature. As regards your readiness of speech, I am reminded 

 of that saying of Tacitus concerning Augustus Caesar, "Augusto 

 profluens ut quse principem virum deceret, eloquentia fuit."d 

 For all eloquence which is affected or overlabored, or merely 

 imitative, though otherwise excellent, carries with it an air of 

 servility, nor is it free to follow its own impulses. But your 

 Majesty's eloquence is indeed royal, streaming and branching 

 out in nature's fashion as from a fountain, copious and elegant, 

 original and inimitable. And as in those things which concern 

 your crown and family, virtue seems to contend with fortune 

 your Majesty being possessed of a virtuous disposition and a 

 prosperous government, a virtuous observance of the duties of 

 the conjugal state with most blessed and happy fruit of mar- 

 riage, a virtuous and most Christian desire of peace at a time 

 when contemporary princes seem no less inclined to harmony 

 so likewise in intellectual gifts there appears as great a conten- 

 tion between your Majesty's natural talents and the universality 

 and perfection of your learning. Nor indeed would it be easy 

 to find any monarch since the Christian era who could bear any 

 comparison with your Majesty in the variety and depth of your 

 erudition. Let any one run over the whole line of kings, and 

 he will agree with me. It indeed seems a great thing in a 

 monarch, if he can find time to digest a compendium or imbibe 

 the simple elements of science, or love and countenance learn- 

 ing ; but that a king, and he a king born, should have drunk at 

 the true fountain of knowledge, yea, rather, should have a foun- 

 tain of learning in himself, is indeed little short of a miracle. 

 And the more since in your Majesty's heart are united all the 

 treasures of sacred and profane knowledge, so that like Hermes 

 your Majesty is invested with a triple glory, being distinguished 

 no less by the power of a king than by the illumination of a priest 

 and the learning of a philosopher.* Since, then, your Majesty 



