I OO Gleanings in Old Garden Literature. 



but it is really one of small validity as a rule, 

 and so far as Bacon is concerned of none 

 whatever. 



What we have to do here is to throw our- 

 selves back two centuries or so, and stand 

 by the side of this illustrious man, realizing 

 the difficulties under which he worked, the 

 important public avocations which demanded 

 his time and thought, the slender encourage- 

 ment afforded to such subjects and such 

 inquiries ; and then, when we have armed 

 ourselves with the means of more truly 

 judging, let us consider his ardour in experi- 

 mental philosophy, his minute attention to 

 details, his cordial interest in all topics 

 connected with Nature, his wide range of 

 culture and largeness of sympathy, his 

 comprehensive grasp and his profound and 

 delicate insight, and his descent from the 

 woolsack to investigate the economy of 

 manure beds. Only More before him had 

 displayed any share of this versatility of 

 genius and breadth of learning on the part of 

 a professional lawyer and a lord chancellor; 

 and in the long roll of keepers of the Great 



