his breast, and, after a week's illness, expired on Easter-Day, April the 9th, 1626, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. The last paper dictated by Lord Bacon, was a letter of thanks to the Earl of Arundel, for the accommodation afforded him at Highgate.

His body was privately interred in the chapel of St. Michael's church, near St. Alban's, conformably with the directions contained in his will." There," says his

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lordship, was my mother buried; and it is the parish church of my mansion-house of Gorhambury; and it is the only christian church within the walls of Old Verulam." Sir Thomas Meautys, his secretary and servant, and who had married his grand-niece, caused an elegant tomb of white marble to be erected to his memory in the chancel of the church. He is represented sitting in a chair, one hand supporting his head, and the other hanging over the arm of the chair, his usual contemplative posture; and underneath is a Latin inscription, by the celebrated Sir Henry Wotton, of which the following is a translation:

FRANCIS BACON,

Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban;
Or, by more conspicuous titles,

Of Sciences the Light, of Eloquence the Law,
Sat Thus.

Who after all Natural Wisdom,

And Secrets of Civil Life he had unfolded,
Nature's Law fulfilled,

Let compounds be dissolved;

In the Year of our Lord, M.DC.XXVI.
Of his Age LXVI.

Of such a Man,

That the Memory might remain,

Thomas Meautys,

Living his Attendant,

Dead his Admirer,

Placed this Monument.

In person, Lord Bacon was of the middling stature; his forehead was spacious and open, but, from the cast of his disposition, and the intenseness of his mental application, early impressed with the character of age; his eyes were lively and penetrating: his whole appearance was generally pleasing. Together with the attachment which is always conciliated by goodness, he readily acquired, among those who knew him, the estimation which is due to greatness. His conversation was varied, adapted to times and persons,

and distinguished for facility and propriety. These excellences accompanied him into public, where the natural dignity of his aspect, and the gracefulness of his elocution, irresistibly commanded the sympathy of his

hearers.

Deficient in none of the qualifications necessary to a statesman, and possessing many of them eminently, we find him ably occupying, during a series of years, situations of importance to his country. It is not,

however, to be denied, that, in his solicitation as a courtier, Bacon sometimes forfeited his independence as a patriot. Nothing less than consummate political discretion could have maintained, what he long enjoyed, the reputation of keeping up a good understanding both with the parliament and the cabinet; of being, at the same moment, in favour with the governing and the governed.

He made deep observations on human nature, yet it may be doubted whether the investigation contributed any thing to his real interest. Like too many who have perplexed themselves with this knowledge, he

Bacon

often imagined more cunning than existed in others, and employed himself in combating the phantom of his own suspicions. It seems the error of men long habituated to the world, to suppose that all is insincerity, vexation, and vanity, and thus to engender the bitter fruits of their opinion. believed dissimulation to be in some cases so indispensable, and even justifiable, that he practised it to an extent highly injurious to himself. There is reason for concluding that his love of letters was in a great measure affected, in order to cover his views as a politician. His enemies, availing themselves of his professed attachment to literature only, represented him as a man of learning rather than of business, and thereby unfitted for those situations to which secretly he aspired.

His philosophical reputation has never been questioned, as having first emancipated truth from the shackles which antiquity and error had imposed. As a lawyer, he disputes with Lord Coke the palm assigned to judgment and erudition. He is also distinguished

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as an able and judicious historian; and he sustained, with equal ability, the characters of essayist, moralist, and divine.

Whatever the nature or magnitude of his imperfections, he was a profound, ardent, and sincere professor of christianity. Though no one was ever more deeply instructed in the mysteries of nature, and the sublime truths of philosophy, it was not from these sources that he derived his highest gratifications. While he could not be ignorant how much the works and wonders of creation disclosed of the goodness and majesty of the Creator, it was to the revealed and written oracles of God that he confessed himself principally indebted: "whose creatures had been his books, but his scriptures more: whom he had sought in the courts, fields, and gardens, but whom he had found in his temple!" Such was the philosophy, such the religion of Lord Bacon.

His lady, by whom he had no children, and in whom he experienced little felicity, survived him upwards of twenty years.