66 yet, in my opinion, he had least reafon of the "three to be difcouraged; because, though it cr were judged (and judged by the highest kind "of judgment in form of a ftatute and law) "that he fhould be banished, and his whole "eftate confifcated and feized, and his houses pulled down; and that it should be highly "penal for any man to propound his repeal; "yet his case, even then, carried no great blot "of ignominy with it; for it was thought to be "but a tempest of popularity which overthrew "him. "Demofthenes, on the contrary fide, though "his cafe were foul, he being condemned for bribery, and bribery in the nature of treason "and difloyalty, took yet fo little knowledge of "his fortune, as that, during his banishment, he "bufied himself, and intermeddled as much "with matters of State by letters, as if he had "been still at the helm, as appears by fome "epiftles of his which are extant. "Seneca indeed, who was condemned for 66 many corruptions and crimes, and banished "into a folitary ifland, kept a mean: for though "his pen did not freeze, yet he abstained from "intruding into matters of business; but spent his time in writing books of excellent argu " ment "ment and ufe for all ages. Thefe examples "confirmed me much in a refolution (to which "I was otherwife inclined) to spend my time "wholly in writing, and to put forth that poor talent, or half talent, or what it is, which "God hath given me, not as heretofore, to par "ticular exchanges, but to banks or mounts of "perfpicuity, which will not break. "VERULAM." "Lord Chancellor Bacon," fays Howell in his Letters, "is lately dead of a long languish 86 ing illness. He died fo poor, that he scarce " left money to bury him, which (though he "had a great wit) did argue no great wisdom, "it being one of the effential properties of a "wife man to provide for the main chance. I "have read, that it had been the fortunes of all 66 poets commonly to die beggars; but for an "Orator, a Lawyer, and a Philofopher to die "fo, 'tis rare. It feems the fame fate befell him that attended Demofthenes, Seneca, and "Cicero (all great men), of whom the two first "fell by corruption. The faireft diamond may "have a flaw in it; but I believe he died poor from a contempt of the pelf of fortune, as alfo "out of an excefs of generofity, which appeared (as in divers other paffages) fo once, when the "King had fent him a ftag, he sent up for the "under "under-keeper, and having drank the King's "health to him in a great filver gilt bowl, he gave it to him for his fee. "He wrote a pitiful letter to King James not "long before his death, and concludes, "Help me, dear Sovereign, Lord and Master, and 66 pity me so far, that I who have been born to "a bag, be not now, in my age, forced in effect "to bear a wallet; nor that I, who defire to "live to study, may be driven to study to live.". "I write not this to derogate from the noble "worth of the Lord Viscount Verulam, who ❝was a rare man, recondita fcientiæ et ad falutem "literarum natus; and, I think, the eloquenteft "that was born in this Ifle. Wilfon, in his Life of King James, fays, Though Lord Bacon had a penfion allowed "him by the King, he wanted to his last; living 66 obfcurely in his lodging at Gray's Inn; where "his loneness and defolate condition wrought upon his ingenious (and therefore then more melancholy) temper, that he pined away. And "he had this unhappiness, after all his height of plenitude, to be denied beer to quench his "thirst. For having a fickly tafte, he did not "like the beer of the house, but sent to Sir Fulk "Greville, Lord Brooke, in his neighbourhood, (now and then,) for a bottle of his beer, and, "after" T "after fome grumbling, the butler had order to` "deny him. So fordid was the one that ad"vanced himself to be called Sir Philip Sidney's "friend, and fo friendlefs was the other after " he had dejected himself from what he was." "Lord Bacon," adds Wilfon, "was of a middling ftature: his countenance had in"dented with age before he was old; his pre❝ fence grave and comely; of a high-flying and lively wit; ftriving in fome things to be ra"ther admired than understood, yet fo quick "and eafy where he would exprefs himself, "and his memory fo ftrong and active, that he appeared the mafter of a large and plenteous "ftorehouse of knowledge, being (as it were) "Nature's midwife, ftripping her callow brood, "and cloathing them in new attire,” SIR EDWARD COKE, LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE COURT OF KING'S BENCH, on receiving from Lord Bacon, (who was not fuppofed to be a very profound lawyer,) as a prefent, his celebrated Treatife "De Inftaura"tione Scientiarum,” wrote on a blank leaf, malignantly enough, this distich: ઃઃ ' Inftaurare paras veterum documenta fophorum, You with a vain and ardent zeal explore "Five forts of perfons," fays Fuller, “this great man used to foredefign to mifery and ઃ poverty: chymifts, monopolizers, concealers, promoters, and rythming poets. For three things he faid he would give God folemn "thanks---that he never gave his body to " phyfic, nor his heart to cruelty, nor his hand "to corruption. In three things he much ap-7 ap-7 plauded his own fuccefs: in his fair fortune "with his wife, in his happy study of the law, "and in his free coming by all his preferment, "nec prece nec pretio; neither begging nor brib"ing for preferment. He conftantly had praycc ers faid in his own house, and charitably re"lieved the poor with his constant alms. The "foundation of Sutton's Hofpital (the Charter"Houfe, when indeed but a foundation) had "been ruined before it was raised, and crushed by fome courtiers in the hatching thereof, "had not his great care preserved the fame." When Sir Edward had loft all his public employments, and fome Peer was inclined to queftion the rights of the Cathedral of Norwich, he hindered |