If he spent largely, it was agreeably with the tastes and wishes of his sovereign; and if we are compelled to look upon him as a voluptuary, he was a sensualist without being selfish, and a courtier without being insolent. CHAPTER V. 1 FRANCIS, LORD BACON, VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS. Bacon's Birth-His Boyhood- His Oratory-- His Friends Hobbes of Malmsbury - Variety of Bacon's KnowledgeHis Superb Manner of Living - His Venality -- Dishonesty of His Servants- His Humiliation before His Peers - His Retort to Gondomar- Remark of Charles, Prince of Wales Bacon's Ingratitude to the Earl of Essex - False Aspersions Cast on His Name- His Comparative Poverty- Anecdotes His Personal Appearance - Anecdotes - Celebration of Bacon's Sixtieth Birthday - Ben Jonson's Verses on the Occasion - Bacon's Death-Howell's Remarks on the Event. -- THE story of Lord Bacon's life is so well known as to render any lengthened details respecting him unnecessary. We will content ourselves, therefore, with introducing some scattered anecdotes relating to an extraordinary man, over whose mighty mind and corrupt heart the Christian lingers with sorrow, the moralist with wonder, and the world at large with regret, - a man whom it is now difficult to praise, yet whom, but for some lamentable weaknesses, it would have been almost as difficult not to idolise. "If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined, Francis, Lord Bacon, was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, keeper of the great seal to Queen Elizabeth, and of Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, tutor to King Edward the Sixth; this lady has been extolled by her contemporaries for her piety and mental accomplishments. Bacon was born January 22, 1561, at York House in the Strand, formerly the residence of the Bishops of Norwich, and afterward of the Villiers, Dukes of Buckingham. Lloyd says that "he was a courtier from his cradle to his grave, sucking in experience with his milk, being inured to policy as early as to his grammar." When a boy, Queen Elizabeth took much notice of him, admired his ingenious answers, and, alluding to the post held by his father, used to style him familiarly her young lord keeper. She once inquired the age of the gifted boy, to which he replied, readily, that "he was two years younger than her Majesty's happy reign." It was remarked by the famous Earl of Salisbury, that Raleigh was a good orator, though a bad writer; Northampton a good writer, though a bad orator; but that Bacon excelled in both. Howell, who must have often listened to his oratory, speaks of him as "the eloquentest that was born in this isle." His conversation is described as having been eminently fascinating, possessing, as he did, the power of adapting himself to every sort of com pany and men of every variety of calling. Cheerful, merry, and a good listener, he delighted in practising an art which he enjoyed to an eminent degree, that of leading a man to talk on the subject in which he was most conversant. His memory was astonishing, yet he argued, according to Lloyd, rather from observation and his own reasonings than from books. He spent four hours every morning in study, during which period he never allowed himself to be interrupted. Ben Jonson and Richard, Earl of Dorset, were among the number of his friends. The latter was so great an admirer of his genius, that, according to Aubrey, he employed Sir Thomas Billingsley (the celebrated horseman) to write down whatever fell from the lips of the great philosopher in his social discourse. Lord Bacon liked to compose in his garden, accompanied either by a friend or amanuensis, who instantly committed his thoughts to paper. Among others whom he thus employed was Thomas Hobbes of Malmsbury. Aubrey informs us that this person was so beloved by his lord that he "was wont to have him walk with him in his delicate groves when he did meditate, and when a notion darted into his mind Mr. Hobbes was presently to write it down; and his lord was wont to say that he did it better than any one else about him, for that many times when he read their notes he scarce understood what they writ, because they understood it not clearly themselves." His information on all subjects was astonishing. "I have heard him," says Osborne, in his "Advice to his Son," "entertain a country lord in the proper terms relating to hawks and dogs, and at another time out-cant a London chirurgeon." Of money, he said, it was like manure, of no use till it was spread. Sometimes he would have music in the room adjoining that in which he composed. He was also accustomed to drink strong beer before going to bed, in order, we are told, "to lay his working fancy asleep, which otherwise would keep him waking a great part of the night." Sir Edward Coke, though he affected to undervalue him as a lawyer, appears to have been envious of his talent. We are assured by Lloyd- though we freely confess our incredulity on the subject — that Bacon always fainted at an eclipse of the moon. His manner of living was superb in the extreme, especially during the period when he was left regent of the kingdom, in the absence of King James in Scotland, when he gave audiences to the foreign ambassadors, in the Banqueting-house at Whitehall, almost with regal splendour. Aubrey says: "The aviary at York House was built by his lordship, and cost 300l. Every meal, according to the season of the year, he had his table strewed with sweet herbs and flowers, which, he said, did refresh his spirits and memory. When he was at |