in that only scene of life wherein we are all fure, later or fooner, to resemble them *. There remains only a letter, the last he ever wrote, addreffed to that nobleman, under whose roof he died: in which he compared himself to a celebrated philofopher of antiquity, Pliny the elder, who loft his life by enquiring, with too dangerous a curiofity, into the first great eruption of mount Vefuvius. By his will, he committed feveral of his latin and philofophical compofitions to the care of Sir William Bofwel, his majefty's agent in Holland, where they were afterwards publifhed. His orations and letters he commended to Sir Humphrey May, chancellor of the dutchy of Lancafter, and the bishop of Lincoln, Dr. Williams, his fucceffor in the court of Chancery: the letters to be preserved but not divulged, as touching too much on perfons and matters of ftate. By this judicious care, most of his papers have been preserved, the greatest part of them at different times printed, and published, collected into volumes, and stand immortal monuments to his own honour, to that of his age and country, and to human nature. In this will, one paffage is very remarkable. After bequeathing his foul and body in the ufual form, he adds, "My name and memory I leave to foreign nations; and to mine own country, after fome time be paffed over." We have obferved above that he was the admiration of the learned in all foreign nations. In England his great merits were the lefs regarded, as his failings were better known. But pofterity, as he foretold, has feemed unwilling to remember that he ever offended and those who record his failings, like thofe who have made obfervations on the spots of the Sun, neither pretend to diminish his real Brightness in himself, nor deny his univerfal Influence on the world of learning. Thus lived, and thus died, the lord chancellor Bacon. He was buried privately in the chapel of Saint Michael's church, near Saint Alban, within the precincts of Old Verulam. The fpot that contains his remains laid obfcure and undiftinguished, 'till the gratitude of a private man, Sir Thomas Meautys, his coufin and heir, who had married his grand niece, and had been his fecretary, and most faithful and indefatigable fervant in all his troubles, erected a monument to his memory. He is reprefented fitting in his chair, in a contemplative, and his ufual posture, one hand fupporting his head, the other hanging over the arm of the chair; underneath is an infcription, written in latin by that excellent writer Sir Henry Wotton. The following is a literal translation : FRANCIS BACON, BARON VERULAM, VISCOUNT SAINT ALBAN; Of Sciences the Light, of Eloquence the Law, Who, after all Natural Wisdom, Let Compounds be diffolved † ; To the Memory THOMAS MEAUTYS, Dead his Admirer, Placed this Monument. How nobly affecting was the scene at the death of that excellent man, Mr. Addifon See his life in the magazine for February, 1761. + Meaning the foul and body. His wife, Alice, Viscountefs Saint Alban, a daughter of Benedict Barnham, Efq; alderman of London, furvived him upwards of twenty years. It has been obferved before that he never had any children by her. This tomb was very elegantly cut out in white marble. In a better age his monument would have stood a public proof in what veneration the whole fociety held a citizen, whofe genius did them honour, and whofe writings will inftruct their lateft pofterity. The most eminent fcholars of the univerfity of Cambridge thewed their concern for his death, and the juft fense they had of the honour refulting to that noble feminary of learning, from his receiving his education there, by compofing verfes in feveral languages on that occafion, which were afterwards printed. He was of a middling ftature; his forehead fpacious and open, early impreffed with the marks of age; his eye lively and penetrating; his whole appearance venerably pleafing: fo that the beholder was infenfibly drawn to love, before he knew how much reason there was to admire him. In this respect we may apply to my lord St. Alban what Tacitus finely obferves of his father-in-law, Agricola: "A good man you would readily have judged him to be, and have been pleased to find him not only fo, but a great man alfo." One fingularity there was in his temperament, not easily to be accounted for: in every eclipfe of the moon, whether he obferved it or not, he was certainly feized with a fudden fit of fainting, which left him without any remaining weakness, as foon as the eclipfe ended. This fact is related by Dr. Rawley, his chaplain, who lived with him a great many years. Were we to relate all the commendations which different authors have beftowed on my lord St. Alban, or bring together the praises in which men of all nations, and of the greatest eminency in parts and learning have joined, to exprefs their veneration of his immenfe genius and furprising abilities, we might extend this life to a prodigious length: and to pafs all over in filence would be highly improper. But of an infinite number, a few fhall then be only selected, and thofe in the very words of each perfon, which will better exprefs the fenfe than any alteration can do. To pafs over Sir Walter Raleigh, Ben Johnson, and archbishop Williams, let us begin with Sir Henry Wotton; who, on receiving from him the Novum Organum, wrote to him thus in return: "Your lordship hath done a great and everlasting January, 1762. benefit to all the children of nature, and to nature herself in her utmost extent of latitude, who never before had fo noble, or, as I am readier to file your lordship, never fo inward a fecretary of her cabinet." The university of Oxford, on receiving from him his book on the increase of the fciences, gave the following noble teftimony of their approbation of his labours: "Right honourable, and what in nobility is almost a miracle, moft learned viscount! your honour could have given nothing more agreeable, and the univerfity could have received nothing more acceptable, than the fciences; and those fciences which the formerly fent out poor, of low ftature, unpolished, the hath received elegant, tall, and by the fupplies of your wit, by which alone they could have been advanced, moft rich in dowry. Under your pen ate the mufes grown, who, like fome mighty Hercules in learning, have, by your own hand, further advanced those pillars in the learned world, which, by the teft of that world, were fuppofed immoveable." This is only part of the first fentence of a very long letter, written to him by the univerfity after his fall. Neither were the best judges in the fucceeding-age lefs fenfible of, or less inclined to celebrate, his worth, The famous poet, Abraham Cowley, in a poem of great length, juftly celebrated his mighty difcoveries; and has done him all the justice that might have been expected from one vast genius to another. The learned Dr. Sprat, bishop of Rochester, the most elegant writer in our language, after obferving that his books contained the best arguments in the defence of experimental philosophy, and the best directions for promoting it, fpeaks thus : "But, methinks, in this one man do I find enough occafion to admire the ftrength of human wit, and to bewail the weakness of a mortal condition; for is it not wonderful that he who had run through all the degrees of that profession, which usually takes up men's whole time, who had Audied, practifed, and governed the common law, who had always lived in the-crowd, and bone the greatest burden of civil bufinefs, should yet find leifure enough for thefe retired Audies, to excel all thofe men who feparate themselves for this very purpose ? He was a man of ftrong, clear, and powerful imaginations, his genius was fearching him of his mafter the king of Spain's interpofition, if he judged it any ways convenient for the restoring his condition. So well was his character known in Spain, and fo much regarded, though his conduct had been always oppofite to that of the Spanish faction in the court of king James. To men of fentiment and understanding, learning is ever amiable and of no party, whether it is found in a Chriftian or a Jew, a Turk or an infidel, a friend or an enemy. Dr. Rawley tells us, he faw a letter to my lord Cavendish, afterwards earl of Devonshire, from Italy, wherein it was faid, that my lord St. Alban was more and more known, and his books more and more delighted in. In France, in short, in all Europe, his fame was very great: fo that thofe men who had the greatest knowledge in human affairs efteemed him one of the moft capable fpirits of that age. We have not room to infert the character which the elegant monfieur Voiture gives of the Latin works of my lord St. Alban, which he had feen; nor that of the learned Grotius and Conringius of the hiftory of Henry VII. But the character of his works in general by the celebrated baron Puffendorff, fo exquifite a judge of all the numerous fubjects on which they were written, as it does fo great an honour to his memory, and confirms all the reft, cannot be omitted. "The late moft wife chancellor of England, fays he, was the chief writer of our age, and who carried as it were the ftandard, that we might prefs forward, and make greater difcoveries in philofophic matters than any of which hitherto our fchools had rung. So that if, in our time, any great improvements have been made in philofophy, there has been not a little owing to that great man." To mention fome authors of our own time, the accurate and judicious Francis Buddæus ftiles him "A new light in philofophy, one who first united speculation and practice, and opened a paffage to thofe mighty difcoveries that have been made fince his time." lt is endless to make quotations. fearching and inimitable, and of this I need give no other proof than his ftile itfel, which, as for the most part, it defcribes men's minds, as well as pictures do their bodies, fo it did his above all men living, the courfe of it vigo ous and majeftic; the wit bold and familiar; the comparisons fetched out of the way, and yet the most easy; in all expreffing a foul equally skilled in men and nature." The incomparable Mr. Boyle always fpeaks of him with the highest honour. He ftiles him fometimes an illustrious, at others, an admirable and excellent philofopher; and, which is a higher commendation than any phrafe could have expreffed, he often imitates him, and profeffes a defire of treading in his paths. Dr. Power, one of the most active and judicious among the first members of the Royal Society, in a learned treatise of his on experimental philofophy, places at the head of his chapters the Latin text from my lord St. Alban's work; to fhew, that all the honour he claimed was to have profecuted his views. We will add but two more from the learned of our own nation; but they are two fuch as might alone have fecured immortality to the fame of any author they had commended. The firft is Mr. Addifon in one of the Tatlers. "Sir Francis Bacon, fays he, was a man, who for the greatnefs of his genius, and compafs of knowledge, did honour to his age and country; I could almost fay to human nature itself. He poffeffed at once all those extraordinary talents, which were divided amongst the greatest authors of antiquity; he had the found, diftinét, comprehensive knowledge of Ariftotle, with all the beautiful lights, graces, and embellishments of Cicero; one does not know which to admire most in his writings, the strength of reafon, force of ftile, or brightness of imagination," The fecond is that short character of his writings, given us by the pen of the most noble John Sheffield, late duke of Buckingham and Normanby, who afferts, "That all his works are, for expreffion as well as thought, the glory of our nation, and of all latter ages." The refpect paid to him abroad has been equal, and, for fome time, was fuperior to that which he received at home. The famous count de Gondamar, fo long ambassador here from his Catholic majefty, wrote him a very handfome letter on his misfortunes, in which he affured We will rame one more and have done. Monfieur Voltaire, that judicious obferver of men and manners, ftiles him "the father of experimental philofophy;" and enters into abundance of very juft reflections on his difcoveries and writings, owning at the fame time, that what furprifed him most was the doctrine of attraction, which is looked upon as the foundation of another philofophy, exprefly set down in my lord St. Alban's works, not to be controverted er miltaken. Such are the particular commendations of his talents, to which the learned in all nations have given their general and common fanétion; and own him for the father of the only valuable philosophy, that of fact and obfervation. Those talents that commonly appear fingle in others, and they too men of reputation, fhone forth in him united and eminent. All his cotemporaries, even thofe who hated the courtier, ftand up, and bear witness together to the fuperior abilities of the writer and pleader, of the philofopher and companion. In public he commanded the attention of his hearers, and had their affections wholly in his power. If he was ever interrupted, they were uneafy; when he concluded, they were forry. His carriage was majeftic, and ftruck such an awful reverence in those he questioned, that they never durst conceal the smallest truth from his penetrating eye. He enjoyed fuch an intellectual fagacity, that he difcerned every thing as it were by intuition. At the council-board, he filenced in an instant the earl of Middlesex, who was born and bred a citizen, in an affair concerning manufactures, which he feemed as well acquainted with as if he had made trade alone the study of his whole life. We muft speak a few words on a fubjest not to agreeable: his failings. Poftefity, in confideration of his vast abilities, has been willing to draw a veil over and forget them. This account of his life is not intended to disguise the truth, and they have been candidly owned in the courfe of it. He has been blamed for an immoderate defire of preferment, that Could add nothing to his dignity. He fcarce obtained any place without very trgent and repeated follicitations. excufe has been offered for this, that if he defired or laboured for advancement in civil life, it was but with a view to gain the means of accomplishing and improving his fyftem. That he made the most Shining transactions of his life fubfervient to it, is a truth not to be doubted. His An profufe inclination to expence, that could be requifite neither for his honour nor entertainment, has been fully fhewn to have been the true caufe of his pursuing thofe methods which occafioned his difgrace. But it was peculiar to this great man to have nothing narrow or selfish in his compofition. He gave away without concern whatever he poffeffed; and perhaps thinking other men were of the fame mould, received with as little confideration. He had the like fentiments even of fame; he was defirous of enjoying it, not from his knowledge, but from his free and liberal communication of that knowledge. It may therefore be truly and without flattery, faid, his worst qualities, profufenefs and extravagance, were the excelfes of the most exalted virtues. His views for the univerfal advancement of fcience were unlimited. This was the noble aim to which he directed all his philofophic labours. What Cæfar faid, in compliment to Tully, may, with strict justice, be applied to him: "That it was more glorious to have extended the limits of human wit than to have enlarged the bounds of the Roman world." The lord St. Alban really did fo: a truth acknowledged not only by the greatest private names in Europe, but by all the public focieties of its most civilized nations. Among his countrymen, the names alone of thofe who have adopted his notions, and proceeded on his plan, are fufficient for his encomium. To país over a long line of philofophers, all illuftrious, he reckons in the lift of his followers a Boyle, a Locke, a Newton himself. France, Italy, Germany, Britain, Spain, nay even Russia, have in a particular manner taken him for their leader, and submitted to be governed by his inftitutions. The empire he has erected in the learned world is as univerfal as the free ufe of reafon : and one must continue till the other is no more. To the memory of fuch a man of what importance is it, if James Howel has fet down fome vulgar tales, mixed with many mistakes? If the foreign dictator in our hiftory, Rapin, has treated him harfhly on the credit of Weldon, and Walpole, in his catalogue of noble authors, ftiles him, not improperly, the prophet of arts, which Newton was afterwards fent to reveal. other O her libellers, who knew no other way of escaping oblivion, but by assassinating great names, condemning thereby their own to immortal infamy? Or, if Pope, forgetting at once the distance and resemblance of their characters, has fuffered his petulant muse to say, If parts allure thee, think how Bacon fhin'd, The wifeft, brightest, meaneft, of mankind. His glory cannot be blafted by fuch flashes as these; his failings affected only his cotemporaries, and were expiated by his fufferings: but his virtue and knowledge, and, above all, his zeal for mankind, will be felt while there are men; and confequently, while they have gratitude, the name of Bacon, Verulam, or St. Alban, can never be mentioned but with admiration. Some further Particulars of the Cuftoms and Manners of the Inhabitants of the Kingdom of Kongo, on the western Coast of Africa. Before the arrival of the Portuguese, the inhabitants of Kongo dreffed very poorly; but after they were converted and become more converfant with the Europeans, they imitated them immediately; both king, nobles, and people, became exceffively fond of their drefs; and expreffed no lefs emulous a liking for the fashions than for the religion of the new comers. His court, retinue, table, furniture, and attendance, his throne, audiences, and ceremonies, were quickly regulated after the Portuguese model; and if there was any difference between them, it was only in the grandeur and magnificence in which the new convert itrove to outfhine his European ally. His table is covered with variety of the most exquifite meats, his fide-board with the most delicate wines, and other liquors, and he has tafters to examine every thing he eats and drinks; his cup and fide-board is furnished with the richeft veffels of filver and gold, and other precious materials, confecrated folely to his own ufe, as he always eats alone, and never fuffers any one, though of the highest rank, to fit with him, but only ftand round his chair; and these are only princes of the blood, and his other great officers. The former have this diftinction paid them, that they are permitted to stand covered. The throne of state, on which he gives public audience twice or three times a week, is equally grand and coftly; the foot of it, which confifts of three fteps, is all over covered with Indian tapestry; and the chair of flate on which he fits, as well as the table that stands before him, are covered with crimfon velvet; adorned with boffes, and nails of gold; and when he fits as judge, or to receive petitions, and hear caufes, none are per mitted to speak to him but his nobles and lords. Whenever he goes abroad, which is very feldom, he is attended with a numerous guard, followed by crowds of musicians, or players upon martial and other inftruments, the found of which, we are told, may be heard five or fix miles off; and they serve to give notice of his approach. Next to these are the officers of the houfhold, followed by the knights of the Holy Cross, an order inftituted by the first Chriftian king of Kongo, and which hath maintained itself in great credit ever fince. The king appears next, preceded by two young fquires of the nobleft families in the kingdom; the one bearing the royal shield, covered with a tiger's skin and the sword of ftate, adorned with precious ftones; the other holds a staff in his hand, covered with red velvet, adorned with two maffy knobs of filver, one at each end. On each fide the king, ride two officers, who keep fanning him with horfes tails; and behind these is a third, bearing a large umbrella over his head, of red damask, richly fringed and embroidered: these three last must likewise be of the moft illustrious families of the kingdom, as they are allowed to be nearest to his majesty's perfon. He goes to mafs with much the fame retinue and pomp; and upon his alighting at church is led by two masters of ceremonies to his own place, where there is a chair without arms for him to fit upon, when he thinks fit, and feveral velvet or damask cushions to kneel upon. As foon as he is placed, a lighted taper is put into his hands, which he gives to his next page to hold, till the gospel isread, at which time he takes it from him, and holds it up till that is ended, when the |