To attempt anything of the nature of a review of Bacon's acknowledged works is a task far too great for the scope of the present volume. To attempt a survey of the whole of his works would require years of diligent study, and would necessitate a perusal of nearly every book published in England between 1576 and 1630. Not that it is suggested that all the literature of this period was the product of his pen or was produced under his supervision, but each book published should be read and considered with attention to arrive at a selection.

There has been no abler judgment of the acknowledged works than that which will be found in William Hazlitt's "Lectures on the Literature of the Age of Elizabeth." Lecture VII. commences with an account of the "Character of Bacon's Works."

It may not, however, be out of place here to try and make plain in what sense Bacon was a philosopher.

In Chapter CXVI. of the "Novum Organum" he makes his position clear in the following words:—

So the idea that there was what is termed a system of philosophy constructed by Bacon must be abandoned. What justification is there for calling him the father of the Inductive Philosophy?

It is difficult to answer this question. Spedding admits that Bacon was not the first to break down the dominion of Aristotle. That followed the awakening throughout the intellectual world which was brought about by the Reformation and the revival of learning. Sir John Herschel justifies the application to Bacon of the term "The great Reformer of Philosophy" not on the ground that he introduced inductive reasoning, but because of his "keen perception and his broad and spirit-stirring, almost enthusiastic announcement of its paramount importance, as the Alpha and Omega of science, as the grand and only chain for linking together of physical truths and the eventual key to every discovery and application."

Bacon was 60 years of age when his "Novum Organum" was published. It was founded on a tract he had written in 1607, which he called "Cogitata et Visa," not printed until long after his death. He had previously published a portion of his Essays, the two books on "The Advancement of Learning" and "The Wisdom of the Ancients." Just at the end of his life he gave to the world the "Novum Organum," accompanied by "The Parasceve." Certainly it was not understood in his time. Coke described it as only fit to freight the Ship of Fools, and the King likened it "to the peace of God which passeth all understanding." It is admittedly incomplete, and Bacon made no attempt in subsequent years to complete it. It is a book that if read and re-read becomes fascinating. Taine describes it as "a string of aphorisms, a collection as it were of scientific decrees as of an oracle who foresees the future and reveals the truth." "It is intuition not reasoning," he adds. The wisdom contained in its pages is profound. An understanding of the interpretation of the Idols and the Instances has so far evaded all commentators. Who can explain the "Latent Process"? But the book contains no scheme of arrangement. Therein is found a series of desultory discourses—full of wisdom, rich in analogies, abundant in observation and profound in comprehension. From here and there in it with the help of the "Parasceve" one can grasp the intention of the great philosopher.

In Chapter LXI. he says:—"But the course I propose for the discovery of sciences is such as leaves but little to the acuteness and strength of wits, but places all wits and understandings on a level." How was this to be accomplished? By the systemization of labour expended on scientific research. A catalogue of the particulars of histories which were to be prepared is appended to the "Parasceve." It embraces every subject conceivable. In Chapter CXI. he says, "I plainly confess that a collection of history, natural and experimental, such as I conceive it, and as it ought to be, is a great, I may say a royal work, and of much labour and expense."

In the "Parasceve" he says:—"If all the wits of all the ages had met or shall hereafter meet together; if the whole human race had applied or shall hereafter apply themselves to philosophy, and the whole earth had been or shall be nothing but academies and colleges and schools of learned men; still without a natural and experimental history such as I am going to prescribe, no progress worthy of the human race could have been made or can be made in philosophy and the sciences. Whereas on the other hand let such a history be once provided and well set forth and let there be added to it such auxiliary and light-giving experiments as in the very course of interpretation will present themselves or will have to be found out; and the investigation of nature and of all sciences will be the work of a few years. This therefore must be done or the business given up."

To carry out this work an army of workers was required. In the preparation of each history some were to make a rough and general collection of facts. Their work was to be handed over to others who would arrange the facts in order for reference. This accomplished, others would examine to get rid of superfluities. Then would be brought in those who would re-arrange that which was left and the history would be completed.

From Chapter CIII. it is clear that Bacon contemplated that eventually all the experiments of all the arts, collected and digested, should be brought within one man's knowledge and judgment. This man, having a supreme view of the whole range of subjects, would transfer experiments of one art to another and so lead "to the discovery of many new things of service to the life and state of man."

Nearly three hundred years have passed since Bacon propounded his scheme. The arts and sciences have been greatly advanced. They might have proceeded more rapidly had the histories been prepared, but since his time there has arisen no man who has taken "all knowledge to be his province"—no man who could occupy the position Bacon contemplated.

The method by which the induction was to be followed is described in Chapter CV. There must be an analysis of nature by proper rejections and exclusions, and then, after a sufficient number of negatives, a conclusion should be arrived at from the affirmative instances. "It is in this induction," Bacon adds, "that our chief hope lies."

Bacon's new organ has never been constructed, and all wits and understandings have not yet been placed on a level.

We come back to the mystery of Francis Bacon, the possessor of the most exquisite intellect that was ever bestowed on any of the children of men. As an historian, he gives us a taste of his quality in "Henry VII." In the Essays and the "Novum Organum," sayings which have the effect of axioms are at once striking and self-evident. But he is always desultory. In perceiving analogies between things which have nothing in common he never had an equal, and this characteristic, to quote Macaulay, "occasionally obtained the mastery over all his other faculties and led him into absurdities into which no dull man could have fallen." His memory was so stored with materials, and these so diverse, that in similitude or with comparison he passed from subject to subject. In the "Advancement of Learning" are enumerated the deficiencies which Bacon observed, nearly the whole of which were supplied during his lifetime.

The "Sylva Sylvarum" is the most extraordinary jumble of facts and observations that has ever been brought together. It is a literary curiosity. The "New Atlantis" and other short works in quantity amount to very little. Bacon's life has hitherto remained unaccounted for. In the foregoing pages an attempt has been made to offer an intelligible explanation of the work to which he devoted his life, namely, to supply the deficiencies which he had himself pointed out and which retarded the advancement of learning.

Hallam has said of Bacon: "If we compare what may be found in the sixth, seventh, and eighth books of the 'De Augmentis,' and the various short treatises contained in his works on moral and political wisdom and on human nature, with the rhetoric, ethics, and politics of Aristotle, or with the historians most celebrated for their deep insight into civil society and human character—with Thucydides, Tacitus, Phillipe de Comines, Machiavel, David Hume—we shall, I think, find that one man may almost be compared with all of these together."

Pope wrote: "Lord Bacon was the greatest genius that England, or perhaps any other country, ever produced." If an examination, more thorough than has hitherto been made, of the records and literature of his age establishes beyond doubt the truth of the suggestions which have now been put forward, what more can be said? This at any rate, that to him shall be given that title to which he aspired and for which he was willing to renounce his own name. He shall be called "The Benefactor of Mankind."