248 BACON 



surpass nature, and cause this cold and cloudy clime to 

 rival the productions of the sunny South. Leaving this 

 place with a " lingering look behind,' I proceeded to the 

 ruins of the old mansion. 



Here there is ample food for the arch^ologist, 

 particularly in the small tower or entrance, which gives 

 evidence of a date far anterior to that of Elizabeth. 

 The ordinary observer might place its erection in the 

 time of our Norman kings, but he would be at a loss to 

 account for two Roman medallions on each side of the 

 building (one of a Ctesar), in excellent preservation, 

 unless he knew that they had since been discovered in 

 the neighbouring' ruins of Verulam, and purposely placed 

 there. 



My companion then pointed out the room Avhich the 

 great Chancellor generally occupied when pursuing his 

 studies after his retirement from Court ; — when that 

 mighty mind threw open the doors of knowledge, and 

 founded a system of philosophy that has obtained through 

 each succeeding o-eneration, and has been of more benefit 

 to his country and mankind than all the boasted and 

 splendid productions of the ancients ; or, indeed, any that 

 have dared to soar in regions wdiich the most powerful 

 of human intellect alone can reach in any age or nation — 

 our own Sir Isaac Newton alone excepted. 



He may have been, is now, and will be, folloAved, 

 imitated, almost worshipped, and his Avorks illustrated 

 and embellished — by others, his highly-gifted and talented 

 admirers — but there he stands in the pages of our history, 

 the Jupiter Olympus of a sublime conception, masterly 

 desifi;n, sound reasonino- and useful knowledire — com- 



