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"would lofe no time; for upon his first return " he would immediately fall to reading or thinking again; and fo fuffered no moment to be loft and past by him unprofitably. You might "call his table a refection of the ear as well as of "the ftomach, like the Noles Attica, or enter"tainments of the Deipnofophifts, wherein a man " might be refreshed in his mind and understanding no less than in his body. I have known fome "men of mean parts that have professed to make "ufe of their note-books when they have risen from

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his table. He never took a pride (as is the hu"mour of fome) in putting any of his guests, or "those that discoursed with him, to the blush, but "was ever ready to countenance their abilities, "whatever they were. Neither was he one that "would appropriate the discourse to himself alone, "but left a liberty to the reft to speak in their turns, "and he took a pleasure to hear a man fpeak "in his own faculty, and would draw him on " and allure him to difcourfe upon different subjects; and for himself, he despised no man's observations, but would light his torch at any "man's candle."

El

Mr. Ofborn, who knew Lord Bacon perfonally, in his " Advice to his Son," thus de fcribes him:-" Lord Bacon, Viscount St. Al

ban's, in all companies did appear a good pro<ficient (if not a master) in those arts entertained

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" for the fubject of every one's difcourfe; fo as "I dare maintain, without the leaft affectation "of flattery or hyperbole, that his most casual "task deserveth to be written, as I have been "told that his firft or fouleft copies required no

great labour to render them competent for "the niceft judgments; a high perfection, at"tainable only by ufe, and treating with every "man in his refpective profeffion, and what he was most verfed in. So as I have heard him

"entertain a Country Lord in the proper terms relating to hawks and dogs, and at another "time outcant a London Chirurgeon. Thus he "did not only learn himself, but gratify fuch as taught him, who looked upon their callings "as honourable through his notice. Nor did "an eafie falling into arguments (not unjustly "taken for a blemish in the most) appear less "than an ornament in him; the cars of the "hearers receiving more gratification than trouble, and (fo) no less forry when he came to conclude, than difpleafed with any that did interrupt him. Now this general knowledge " he had in all things, husbanded by his wit, and dignified by fo majeftical a carriage he was "known to owe, ftrook fuch an awful reverence

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in those he queftioned, that they durft not "conceal the most intrinfick part of their mys"teries from him, for fear of appearing ignorant

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VOL. I.

"or faucy; all which rendered him no lefs ne"ceffary than admirable at the Council-table, "where, in reference to Impofitions, Monopolies, "&c. the meaneft manufactures were an ufual argument; and (as I have heard) did in this baffle "the Earl of Middlefex, that was born and bred "a citizen, &c. yet without any great (if at all) interrupting his other ftudies, as is not hard to "be imagined of a quick apprehenfion, in which "he was admirable."

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Lord Bacon is buried in a small obfcure church in St. Alban's, where the gratitude of one of his fervants, Mr. Meatys, has raised a monument to him; a gratitude which fhould be imitated 'on a larger fcale, and in a more illuftrious place of fepulture, by a great and opulent Nation, who may well boast of the honour of having had fuch an ornament to human nature born among them. In this age of liberality, diftinguished as well by poffeffing lovers of the arts as great artifts themfelves, foreigners fhould no longer look in vain for the just tribute of our veneration to the memory of this great man, and that of Mr. Boyle and Mr. Locke, in our magnificent repofitories of the dead; and now indeed by the opening of St. Paul's to monuments to Dr. Johnfon and Mr. Howard, and by the wife and liberal regulations entered into by the Chapter of that Cathedral, Gwynn's

idea of a British Temple of Fame may be completely realized.

But there is also wanting another monument to Lord Bacon-the hiftory of his life and writings*; a work often mentioned by that great mafter of biography Dr. Johnson, as a work which he himself should like to undertake, and to which he wifhed to add a complete edition of Lord Bacon's English writings. Mr. Mallet has indeed written a life of this great man, but it is very fcanty and imperfect, and fays very little either of the philofophy of Lord Bacon or of those that preceded him; on which account Bishop Warburton, in his ftrong manner, faid, "that he supposed if Mr. "Mallet were to write the life of the Duke of "Marlborough, he would never once mention the "military art."

Lord Bacon died at Lord Arundel's house at Highgate, in his way to Gorhambury, being feized with the stroke of death as he was making some philofophical experiments. He dictated the following letter to Lord Arundel three days before he died; and it must be perused with a melancholy pleasure, as the laft letter this great man ever dictated.

"What a pity it is that no good memoir (fcarce indeed any "memoir at all) of this restorer of philofophy has ever ap

peared! and how much is fuch a work to be defired by all true lovers of literature."-Dr. JORTIN.

66

MY VERY GOOD LORD,

"I was likely to have had the fortune of "Caius Plinius the elder, who loft his life by "trying an experiment about the burning of the "Mountain Vefuvius; for I was defirous to try "an experiment or two touching the conferva"tion and enduration of bodies. As for the "experiment itself, it fucceeded extremely well; "but on the journey (between London and Highgate) I was taken with fuch a fit of casting as I knew not whether it were the ftone, or "fome furfeit, or cold, or indeed a touch of "them all three. But when I came to your

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Lordship's house I was not able to go back, " and therefore was forced to take my lodging here, where your housekeeper is very careful "and diligent about me; which I affure myfelf your Lordship will not only pardon towards him, but think the better of him for it; for "indeed your Lordship's houfe was happie to "me, and I kiffe your noble hands for the well"come which I am fure you give me to it. I "know how unfit it is for me to write to your

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Lordship with any pen but my own, but in "truth my fingers are fo disjointed with this fit of "ficknefs that I cannot steadily hold my pen. "Your Lordship's to command,

"ST. ALBAN'S." Mr.