Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

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AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 59
Careful about details.
" The secret of Bacon's proficiency was that, in the smallest
matters, no less than in the greatest, he took a great deal of pains.
(Spedding, Works, vii. 197.) See the evidence of this in Bacon's
Promus of Formularies and Elegancies, his collections of Proverbs
and Quotations, the Sylva Syl varum, the History of Winds,
and other collections of minute particulars and jottings. See,
also, an excellent page in Macaulay's Essay, 417.
Without elevation of sentiment—His philosophy low and utilitarian.
" The moral qualities of Bacon were not of a high order. We
do not say that he was a bad man; ... his faults were . . .
coldness of heart, and meanuess of spirit. He seems to have
been incapable of feeling strong affection, of facing great dangers,
of making great sacrifices. His desires were set on things
below, " etc. (Macaulay, pp. 320-327, etc.)
" There is nothing that savours of the divine in Bacon's
philosophy; ... it began in observation, and ending in arts;
... a low object." (See lb. 373-396.)
Lofty in sentiment — Truly great.
"Greatness he could not want." (Ben Jons r >n, Bominus
Verulamius.)
" That mind lofty and discursive ... as a politician no less
grand and lofty in theory, than as a philosopher."
(Dr. Abbott,
int. to Essays.)
" In his magnificent day-dreams there was nothing wild; . . .
he loved to picture to himself the world. . . . Cowley, in one of
his finest poems, compared Bacon to Moses standing on Mount
Pisgah, . . . the great lawgiver looking round from his lonely
elevation on an infinite expanse," etc. (Macaulay, 423, 429.)
Commenting on Bacon's observation that " assuredly the very
contemplation of things ... is more worthy than the fruits of
inventions," etc. (Nov. Org. i. 129), Spedding says, in a footnote
to the Latin edition: " This is one of the passages which
sh')w how far Bacon was from what is now called a utilitarian."
(Spedding's Works, i. 222,)