number whom I much value, many whom I admire, but none who hath so astonisht me, and, as it were, ravisht my senses, to see so many and so great parts, which in other men were wont to be incompatible, united, and that in an iminent degree in one sole Person. I know not whether this truth will find easie belief, that there can be found a man beyond the Alpes, of a most ready wit; most faithful memory; most profound judgment; of a most rich and apt expression; universal in all kinds of knowledge, as in part may be seen by that rare incomparable piece, the 'Advancement of Learning,' which future ages shall render in different languages. But be the faith of other nations what it will in this point, the matter I report is so well understood in England, that every man knows and acknowledges as much, nay, hath been an eye and ear-witness thereof; nor, if I should expatiate upon this subject, should I be held a flatterer, but rather a suffragan to truth.”

The following letter, written by Lord Bacon in 1623, the very year in which the first folio of Shakespeare was published, is so important that we are induced to give it entire. It will be seen that in this communication Bacon refers to his literary labours, and the works he had been revising; but amongst these no mention is made either of poems or dramas; and it is hardly possible to believe that on such an occasion he would have refrained from noticing the collected edition of his plays, had he really been the author of the folio of 1623. To Tobie Matthew he could unbosom himself; and there cannot be the slightest doubt that to him, at least, he would have spoken of his dramatic works without hesitation. The letter is indorsed to "Mr. Matthew into Spain," and the fact of the separation, though temporary, of the friends, would afford an additional reason for confidence :

44

"GOOD MR. MATTHEW,—

"I THANK you for your letter of the 26th of June, and commend myself unto your friendship, knowing your word is good assurance, and thinking I cannot wish myself a better wish, than that your power may grow to your will.

"Since you say the Prince hath not forgot his commandment, touching my History of Henry VIII., I may not forget my duty. But I find Sir Robert Cotton, who poured forth what he had, in my other work, somewhat dainty of his materials in this.

It is true, my labours are now most set to have those works, which I had formerly published, as that of Advancement of Learning, that of Henry VII., that of the Essays, being retractate, and made more perfect, well translated into Latin by the help of some good pens, which forsake me not. For these modern languages will, at one time or other, play the bankrupts with books: and since I have lost much time with this age, I would be glad, as God shall give me leave, to recover it with posterity.

For the essay of friendship, while I took your speech of it for a cursory request, I took my promise for a compliment. But since you call for it, I shall perform it. "I am much beholden to Mr. Gage for many expressions of his love to me; and his in itself very company, acceptable, is the more pleasing to me, because it retaineth the memory of yourself.

"This letter of yours, of the 26th, lay not so long by you, but it hath been as speedily answered by me, so as with Sir Francis Cottington, I have had no speech since the receit of it. Your former letters, which I received from Mr. Griesley, I had answered before, and put my letter into a good hand.

"For the great business, God conduct it well. Mine own fortune hath taught me expectation. God keep you."*

* Letters, Speeches, Charges, Advices, &c. of Francis Bacon. By Thomas Birch, D.D., 1763, pp. 346.

The request concerning the Essay on Friendship particularly interesting. The first edition of the Essays, published in 1597, contains only ten pieces, and not one amongst these that treats upon Friendship. The same thing occurs in the editions of 1598 and 1606; but in 1612, an enlarged edition appeared, containing thirtyeight (the table of contents gives forty) essays, with one upon Friendship standing thirteenth upon the list. It is very short, differs materially from the text of the one now in general use; and as it may not be within the reach of all readers, we append it.

"OF FRIENDSHIP.

"There is no greater desert or wilderness then to be without true friends. For without friendship, society is but meeting. And as it is certaine, that in bodies inanimate, union strengtheneth any naturall motion, and weakeneth any violent motion; so amongst men, friendship multiplieth joies, and divideth griefes. Therefore, whosoever wanteth fortitude, let him worshippe Friendship. For the yoke of Friendship maketh the yoke of fortune more light. There bee some whose lives are, as if they perpetually plaid upon a stage, disguised to all others, open onely to themselves. But perpetuall dissimulation is painfull; and hee that is all Fortune, and no Nature, is but an exquisit Hierling. Live not in continuall smother, but take some friends with whom to communicate. It will unfold thy understanding; it will evaporate thy affections; it will prepare thy businesse. A man may keepe a corner of his minde from his friend, and it be but to witnesse to himselfe, that it is not upon facility, but upon true use of friendship that he imparteth himselfe. Want of true friends, as it is the reward of perfidious natures; so it is an imposition upon great fortunes. The one deserve it, the other cannot scape it. And therefore it is good to retaine sincerity, and to put it into the reckoning of Ambition, that the higher one

goeth, the fewer true friends he shall have. Perfection of friendship is but a speculation. It is friendship, when a man can say to himselfe, I love this man without respect of utility. I am open-hearted to him, I single him from the generality of those with whom I live; I make him a portion of my owne wishes."

Our readers will readily perceive that the text of this differs very materially from that of the Essay upon the same subject, with which they are generally acquainted. In 1625, a newly augmented edition of these Essays made its appearance, in which the Essay upon Friendship was greatly enlarged, being put forth, in fact, in pretty much the form in which we find it in more modern editions; and it came twenty-seventh, in a list of fifty-eight. The Essay on Friendship was, in all probability, rewritten and extended in deference to the request of Tobie Matthew; and we may reasonably suppose that Lord Bacon had his friend in view when engaged in this charming composition.

Sir Tobie survived his friend nearly thirty years; many of his letters have been published; and it is evident that, had he been possessed of any such secret as that to which Mr. William Henry Smith refers, it Iwould have been revealed. He was fond of mixing himself up in the affairs of celebrated people, and was not the kind of person to have carried with him to the grave a secret, the disclosure of which must have created a profound sensation at the time, and produced quite a revolution in men's minds respecting one of the most important matters in English literature.

Many of Bacon's letters and papers have been published at different times, and the absence from these of any allusion to this supposed authorship is an additional proof, were more required, that he did not write these dramas.*

*The new edition of Bacon's works, now in progress, in which the public are promised some additional letters and MSS., will doubtless still further confirm this view.

Moreover, not a scrap of blank verse is to be found amongst his papers; and it is utterly incredible that a man who had composed between thirty and forty of the finest plays in our language, should not have left any trace of his peculiar facility for dramatic composition, either in his other works, or amongst his private letters and manuscripts.

One more fact before we turn to another branch of the

subject. In his will, Lord Bacon gave directions respecting the disposal of his papers. One portion of it is as follows:-"But towards that durable part of Memory, which consisteth in my Writings, I require my Servant, Henry Percy, to deliver to my Brother Constable all my Manuscript Compositions, and the Fragments also of such as are not finished; to the end that, if any of them be fit to be published, he may accordingly dispose of them. And herein I desire him to take the advice of Mr. Selden, and Mr. Herbert, of the Inner Temple, and to publish or suppress what shall be thought fit. In particular, I wish the Elegie, which I writ in felicem memoriam Elizabethæ, may be published."*

Lord Bacon says nothing of any dramatic works. Neither those persons to whom his papers were intrusted, nor others who have since submitted them to a searching examination, chanced to hit upon any such disclosure, or it would long since have furnished fresh matter of astonishment to all who take an interest in what is passing in the world of letters.

* Baconia, or Certaine Genuine Remaines of Francis Bacon, p. 203.