These words might almost have
been written of Bacon himself. A great writer, a great man,--but
"The rest was not perfected." He put his trust in princes and he
fell. Yet into the land of knowledge--
"Bacon, like Moses, led us forth at last;
The barren wilderness he passed,
Did on the very border stand
Of the blest promised land,
And from the mountain's top of his exalted wit
Saw it himself and shew'd us it.
But life did never to one man allow
Time to discover worlds and conquer too;
Nor can so short a line sufficient be,
To fathom the vast depths of nature's sea.
The work he did we ought t'admire,
And were unjust if we should more require
From his few years, divided twixt th' excess
Of low affliction and high happiness.
For who on things remote can fix his sight
That's always in a triumph or a fight."*
*Abraham Cowley, To the Royal Society.
You will like to know, that less than forty years after Bacon's
death a society called The Royal Society was founded.
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