it is good to compound employments of both: for that will be good for the present, because the virtues of either age may correct the defects of both; and good for succession, that young men may be learners, while men in age are actors; and lastly, good for external accidents, because authority followeth old men, and favour and popularity youth: but for the moral part, perhaps, youth will have the pre-eminence, as age hath for the politic. A certain rabbin upon the text, [10] "Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams," inferreth that young men are

[Utile etiam futuro.] Good for external, &c.: [Accidentia melius compescit, quia senes auctoritate, juvenes gratia et popularitate, pollent.] For external accidents: One edition has the olden form of the adjective externe, and another has extern. What accidents (or accompaniments) are here referred to? The politic: the political-that which pertains to public or national policy.

"This land was famously enriched With politic, grave counsel."-Shak.

The distinction between "the moral part" and "the politic," receives some illustration from a short paragraph in which Bacon refers to the 'Antitheta' going before. He says :—' The example of Antithets here laid down may not, perhaps, deserve the place assigned them; but as they were collected in my youth, and are really seeds, not flowers, I was unwilling they should be lost. In this they plainly show a juvenile warmth, that they abound in the moral and demonstrative kind, but touch sparingly upon the deliberative and judicial.'

[10.] The text, &c.: Joel 2: 28, quoted also in Acts 2: 17. Profit: improve, or make proficiency, or progress. 'That thy profiting may appear unto all men.'-1 Tim. 4: 15. 'It is a great means of profiting yourself to copy diligently excellent designs.'-Dryden. Bacon in his Antitheta, says: 'Si conspici daretur, magis deformat animos, quam corpora, senectus:' 'If the mind could be an object of sight, it would be seen that old age deforms it more than the body.'

admitted nearer to God than old, because vision is a clearer revelation than a dream: and, certainly the more a man drinketh of the world, the more it intoxicateth and age doth profit rather in the powers of understanding, than in the virtues of the will and affec[11] tions. There be some have an over-early ripe

[11.] There be some, &c.: It is remarkable that there is nothing less promising than, in early youth, a certain fullformed, settled, and, as it may be called adult character. A lad who has, to a degree that excites wonder and admiration, the character and demeanor of an intelligent man of mature age, will probably be that, and nothing more, all his life, and will cease, accordingly, being any thing remarkable, because it was the precocity alone that ever made him so. It is remarked by greyhound fanciers that a well-formed, compactshaped puppy never makes a fleet dog. They see more promise in the loose-jointed, awkward, clumsy ones. And even so, there is a kind of crudity and unsettledness in the minds of those young persons who turn out ultimately the most eminent.-W.

Betimes: Synonyme ?

Over-early ripeness: Synonyme? Brittle: Synonyme? Hermogenes: an orator and sophist of Tarsus, in the second century, and in many respects a prodigy. At fifteen he practiced his oratorical art in the presence of the Emperor, M. Aurelius Antoninus, and astonished him by his eloquence. At seventeen he published a System of Rhetoric, and at twenty his work on Philosophic Ideas; but at twenty-five he lost his memory, and became incapable of pursuing his profession. Upon the post-mortem examination of his body, at an advanced age, his heart was found to be unusually large, and covered with hair.

Waxed: Synonyme? Paul and Barnabas waxed bold.— Acts 13: 46. Have better grace: Paraphrase. [Quibus naturales quædam facultates insunt, quæ magis juventutem decent quam senectutem.] Idem, &c.: 'He remained the same; but the same was no longer becoming to him.'—Cic. Brut. 95. Tully: Give his more common name. Hortensius: a distinguished Roman orator (born 114 B. C.), the contemporary and rival of Cicero. At the early age of

ness in their years, which fadeth betimes: these are, first, such as have brittle wits, the edge whereof is soon turned: such as was Hermogenes the rhetorician, whose books are exceeding subtle, who afterwards waxed

nineteen his eloquence was famous in the Roman forum. He afterwards held successively the offices of ædile, prætor, and consul. As an orator, we cannot judge by his orations, for they are lost; but his rival, Cicero, has given (in his Brutus, C. 38) the following very interesting and instructive account of him :-"Nature had given him so happy a memory, that he never had need of committing to writing any discourse which he had meditated, while, after his opponent had finished speaking, he could recall, word by word, not only what the other had said, but also the authorities which had been cited against himself. His industry was indefatigable. He never let a day pass without speaking in the forum, or preparing himself to appear on the morrow; oftentimes he did both. He excelled particularly in the art of dividing his subject, and in then reuniting it in a luminous manner, calling in at the same time even some of the arguments which had been urged against him. His diction was noble, eloquent and rich; his voice strong and pleasing; his gestures carefully studied." Anthon proceeds to say what particularly illustrates the sentiment of the Essay: "The eloquence of Hortensius would seem, in fact, to have been of that showy species called Asiatic, being full of brilliant thoughts and of sparkling expressions. This glowing style of rhetoric, though deficient in solidity and weight, was not unsuitable in a young man; and, being further recommended by a beautiful cadence of periods, met with the utmost applause. But Hortensius, as he advanced in life, did not correct this exuberance, nor adopt a chaster eloquence; and this luxury and glitter of phraseology, which, even in his earliest years, had occasionally excited ridicule or disgust among the graver fathers of the senatorial order, being totally inconsistent with his advanced age and consular dignity, which required something more serious and composed, his reputation in consequence diminished with increase of years."

Have better grace in youth, &c. It is remarkable, that in point of style in writing, Bacon himself, at different periods of

stupid; a second sort is of those that have some natural dispositions, which have better grace in youth than in age; such as is a fluent and luxurious speech; which becomes youth well, but not age: so Tully saith of Hortensius," Idem manebat, neque idem decebat:" the third is of such as take too high a strain at the first, and are magnanimous more than tract of years can

life, showed differences just opposite to what most would have expected. His earlier writings are the most unornamented; and he grew more ornate as he advanced. So also Burke. His earliest work, 'On the Sublime,' is in a brief, dry, philosophical style; and he became florid to an excess as he grew older.-W.

-Take too high a strain, &c.: Paraphrase. lofty, daring, aspiring.

Magnanimous :

Tract: (from the Latin word 'trahere,' to draw out,) course, process. [Qui sub initiis nimium efferuntur; et magnanimitate præditi sunt, supra quam ætas provectior ferre valeat.]

"My fansies all are fled,

And tract of time begins to weave

Grey hairs upon my head."-Lord Vaux.

The above quotation is supposed to be the original of Shakespeare's grave-digger's song in Hamlet.

6

Ultima, &c.: The last fell short of the first,' or 'The close was unequal to the beginning.' This quotation is not correct. The words are, 'Memorabilior prima pars vitæ quam postrema fuit;'The first part of his life was more distinguished than the latter.'-D. Livy 38: ch. 53.

In the passage from which the above short extract is taken, Livy thus writes:-"He (i. e. Publius Scipio Africanus) was a man of eminent merit; but that merit was more conspicuous in affairs of war, than in those of peace. The former part of his life was more illustrious than the latter; because, in his early years he was continually employed in military commands. As he advanced to old age the lustre of his conduct was somewhat faded, as occasions did not occur to call forth the exercise of his talents. His second consulship, even if we add to it the

uphold; as was Scipio Africanus, of whom Livy saith in effect, "Ultima primis cedebant.”

censorship, was far from being equally brilliant with the first. However, he enjoyed alone the distinguished honor of putting an end to the Carthagenian war, by far the most difficult and dangerous one which the Roman state was ever engaged in."

1. Write an Analysis.

2. Divide into Paragraphs. Revise the division into sentences.

3. Repeat from memory any weighty thought contained in the Essay. 4. Note the obsolete or antiquated words and forms of expression. 5. How did Julius Cæsar and Septimius Severus differ from Augustus Cæsar, Cosmo, and Gaston de Fois? Give an account of the latter two. 6. Name the instance given of singular and short-lived precocity of genius.

7. Name certain qualities of oratory that befit youth rather than age, and give the example, and some of the particulars.

8. What was remarkable in Scipio Africanus?

9. Point out obsolete words or phrases, or words (if any) that have changed their meaning since the Essay was written.

10. Paraphrase the Essay in a neat and ornate style.