presented without note or comment, for the exercise of the critical powers of the student and for personal research, in preparing philosophical and explanatory notes and analysis, similar in design and utility to those which have been appended to the other Essays.

The Sketch of the Life and Character, and of the Philosophical Writings of Bacon, has been chiefly derived from Macauley's brilliant and learned article on Montagu's Edition of his Works; from Dr. Kuno Fischer's able work on the Philosophy and Times of Bacon; in part also from Devey's Introductory Essay, Hallam's Literature of Europe, and Craik's and MacFarlane's History of England.

Should the present work be favorably received, it may be followed by another, on a similar plan, but embracing selections from several English Prose Classics of the Seventeenth Century, sufficiently large to enable the student to realize the spirit and manner of each author, and to warm into sympathy with him, and to extend his acquaintance with the style, the phraseology, the learning, the genius, the intellectual might and activity of the great writers of that age. It will be of no small advantage, as already hinted, by the careful annotation of such works as those which have been referred to on a previous page, to furnish a key to the best volumes of the seventeenth century, which to multitudes are now virtually closed, or comparatively of little use.

To vindicate the wisdom and importance of the literary labor performed in this volume, and projected for a future volume, or volumes, it ought to be sufficient, not only to consider what has been said above, but to read, in addition, the remarks of the scholarly Henry Hallam upon the merits of Bacon's Essays, as worthy

of a place in the course of educational studies. He writes: It will be somewhat derogatory to a man of the slightest claim to polite letters, were he unacquainted with the Essays of Bacon. It is indeed little worth while to read this or any other book for reputation's sake, but very few [books] in our language so well repay the pains, or afford more nourishment to the thoughts. They might be introduced, with a small number more, into a sound method of education: one that should make wisdom, rather than mere knowledge, its object, and might become a text book of examination in our Schools.'

The critical judgment of Prof. James Beattie, of the University of Aberdeen; of Henry Hallam (just quoted), the great historian of European Literature; of T. B. Macauley, the brilliant essayist, learned critic, and accomplished historian; also of Archbishop Whately, and of Prof. Dugald Stewart, the philosophic metaphysician of Edinburgh, concerning the character and merits of the Essays of Bacon, will be found under the head of Critical Estimates,' to which the reader is referred.

Since writing the above, the Editor, in the course of his reading, has met with an able lecture delivered to the Young Men's Christian Association in London, by the eloquent Rev. Thomas Binney; in which there are some observations that fall in so naturally with those presented in the beginning of the Introductory Note, and which show so clearly the importance of the object which is sought to be attained in the preparation of this volume, that he cannot deny himself the pleasure, nor his readers the advantage, of the quotation that follows::

"On an occasion like this, and considering who they

are whom I am anxious to serve, I think it proper to affirm and insist upon the fact, that it is quite possible for one who is a mere English scholar to write wellwith force, purity, eloquence and effect. I have the highest idea of the importance of thorough classical culture; yet I assert that one who knows nothing but his own tongue, may (if he likes) learn to use it with far more effect than thousands of those do who have studied the languages, and read the masters and models of antiquity. There was a time when England had not much of a literature of its own, and did not sufficiently value what it had; then, partly from the fashion of the age, and partly from the necessities of the case, even ladies, if they read, or read much, had to read Latin and Greek, for thus only could great and good authors be reached. This reason, however, does not hold now. Whatever might be the benefit to English ladies of their learning the ancient tongues, it certainly is not necessary for them to do so, from the meagreness of their own literature-the want of thorough good English books. In like manner, there was a time when, if a man was to learn to write well, it was incumbent upon him to study the great writers of Greece and Romethough even then he could not do much in English beyond what English writers had done before him, for no man can be very far beyond the style and fashion of his time. While the learned were writing for each other in Latin, English was gradually advancing upon them; it was getting moulded, improved, purified, enriched. It kept growing in strength, stature, compass, refinement; it forgot some words-it learned others; it got thoroughly formed, so that we have books in all possible styles of writing, to which every English reader has access, and by the study of which any one

may be disciplined in English authorship. He who will put himself under these masters, and do justice to their lessons and their examples may acquire power over his own tongue, ability to embody and adorn his thoughts, to an extent far superior to what they will possess who have enjoyed the advantages of a learned education, if they have not gone and done likewise. Whatever may be a man's acquaintance with other literature and other languages, to be attractive and classical as an English writer, he must study English; and England is now so rich in those who have used, or who use, her tongue, that he who knows only that, has ample means for learning so to speak in it, that the world shall listen-provided always that he has something to say. But even when a man has something to say, the "listening" will not follow, or not always, unless there be something also in his mode of saying it. That there may be this, he must work and toil-toil and work. He must make it an object. He must labor upon style. hours, and days, and nights, to that. be his own, and it must be natural and simple; but, to be his own, it must be formed by the study of other men's; and to be simple and natural, it must be gradually arrived at by long devotion to composition as an J. R. B.

art."

GENEVA, N. Y.

He must give His style must