whole body is corrupted and dissolved; when many times Death passeth with less pain than the torture of a limb; for the most vital parts are not the quickest of sense.6 And by him that spake only as a philosopher, and natural man, it was well said, 'Pompa mortis magis terret, quam mors ipsa." Groans and convulsions, and a discoloured face, and friends weeping, and blacks and obsequies, and the like, show Death terrible.

It is worthy of observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man so weak, but it mates 10 and masters the fear of Death; and therefore Death is no such terrible enemy when a man has so many attendants 11 about him that can win the combat of him.12 Revenge triumphs over Death; Love slights it; Honour aspireth to it; Grief flieth to it; Fear pre-occupateth 13 it; nay, we read, after Otho the emperor had slain himself, Pity (which is the tenderest 14 of affections) provoked 15 many to die out of mere compassion 16 to their sovereign, and as the truest sort of followers. Nay, Seneca adds, Niceness 17 and Satiety: Cogita quamdiu eadem feceris; mori velle, non tantum fortis, aut miser, sed etiam fastidiosus potest.' 18 A man would die, though he were neither valiant nor miserable, only upon a weariness to do the same thing so oft over and over.

It is no less worthy to observe, how little alteration in good spirits 19 the approaches of Death make: for they appear to be the same men till the last instant. Augustus Cæsar died in a compliment: Livia, conjugii nostri memor, vive et vale.' 20 Tiberius in dissimulation, as Tacitus saith of him, 'Jam Tiberium vires et corpus, non dissimulatio, deserebant:'21 Vespasian in a jest, sitting upon the stool, Ut puto Deus fio: '22 Galba with a sentence, 'Feri, si ex re sit populi Romani,' 23 holding forth his neck; Septimius Severus in despatch, 'Adeste, si quid mihi restat agendum,' 24 and the like.

Certainly the Stoics 25 bestowed too much cost upon Death, and by their great preparations made it appear more fearful. Better, saith he,' qui finem vitæ extremum inter munera ponit naturæ.'26 It is as natural to die as

to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other.

He that dies in an earnest pursuit, is like one that is wounded in hot blood; who, for the time, scarce feels the hurt; and therefore a mind fixed and bent upon somewhat that is good, doth avert the dolours of Death; but, above all, believe it, the sweetest canticle is 'Nunc dimittis,' when a man hath obtained worthy ends and expectations. Death hath this also, that it openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth envy: 'Extinctus amabitur idem.' 27

1. 'in'-into.

2.

NOTES ON ESSAY II.

The distinction we now make in English grammar is that, as denoting place, the preposition in follows verbs of rest (he stood in the street), while into is used with verbs of motion (he walked into the street). Formerly, however, the preposition in was used in both cases; in such expressions as he fell in love,' 'his conduct will be called in question,' it is still used for into.

'You put on fear and cast yourself in wonder'

-Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar.

Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears'-Merchant of Venice.

'But first I'll turn yon fellow in his grave'-Richard III.

'weak'-foolish, imbecile, weak-minded.

3. You shall read '—a stronger form for you may read,' or 'you will find.' The word will always implies more or less volition and voluntary desire, but this substitution of the auxiliary shall denotes absolute and inevitable certainty without regard to the will. Hence in a geometrical demonstration we use shall instead of will (the angles shall be equal'); so, also, in Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth says to the guests who are wondering at her husband's strange conduct:

4.

'If much you note him,

You shall offend him and extend his passion,'

meaning, you will be sure to offend him.'

'should think '-ought to consider.

5. 'when' whereas; when on the contrary. The obsolete con

junction whenas would properly be used in such a case as this

where the connecting word is intended to imply contradiction of what has been said previously.

6. 'quickest of sense'-most alive to feeling, most sensitive to pain. Quick is used for alive, as in the Creed, 'to judge the quick and the dead;' and in the Psalms, 'go down quick into hell.' So the sensitive flesh underneath the hard outer skin or under the nails is often called the quick. The word retains this meaning in the compounds quicklime, quicksilver, quicksand, quickset-hedge. 7. The pomp of death terrifies more than death itself.' There is no doubt that he refers to Seneca, though the quotation is not literal; and he appropriately designates him 'a philosopher and natural man,' i.e. one guided only by the light of nature and not by revealed religion.

8. blacks and obsequies.' The former word refers to black garments of mourning and the black hangings once commonly used in a chamber of death; the latter word denotes funeral processions, the following (Latin obsequor) of the dead to their graves.

So the adjective obsequious, which now means cringing, following about in a servile manner, was formerly used to denote funereal.

'In filial obligation, for some term

To do obsequious sorrow'-Hamlet.

'I awhile obsequiously lament

The untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster'-SHAKESPEARE.

The verb is used causatively. See

II. attendants'-helpers whom he enumerates in the next sentence-Revenge, Love, Honour, Grief, Pity, Satiety.

13. 'pre-occupateth '-takes possession of it beforehand; goes to it voluntarily, as in the case of suicide, to avoid what is regarded as a greater evil.

14. tenderest'--gentlest, most delicate.

15. provoked-incited, moved, urged. This word, now commonly applied only to incitements of temper, was formerly used generally. Your zeal hath provoked very many-2 Cor. ix, 2. 'Consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works'—Heb. x, 24.

16. mere compassion '-i.e. downright, absolute compassion. The word mere, now used in an exclusive sense to denote only this and nothing else, was formerly used in an inclusive and stronger sense for entire, absolute. Thus, 'He has a mere cold' means, 'He has a cold, and there is nothing more the

matter with him;' but formerly it would have meant, ‘He has a decided and very bad cold.'

'Engaged my friend to his mere enemy'-Merchant of Venice.

'Things vile and gross in nature possess it merely'—Hamlet.

17. 'Niceness'-choiceness, fastidiousness. The adjective nice is now generally misapplied, being transferred from persons to things, or if used of persons, used wrongly. A nice man is not one who is pleasing to us, but whom it is difficult for us to please.

18. Consider how long you have been doing the same things; not only the brave or the miserable, but the fastidious man may wish to die.'

19. 'good spirits'-persons of good and noble nature.

20.

Farewell, Livia! and live mindful of our wedded life.'

21. "His powers and vitality were now forsaking Tiberius, but not his hypocrisy '-TACIT., Ann., vi, 50.

22. 'I am becoming a god, as I suppose.'

23. • Strike, if it be for the good of the Roman people."

24. Be ready, if anything remains for me to do.' Septimius Severus died in despatch" (i.e. in the midst of business and occupation) at York, A. D. 211.

25. 'Stoics.'

The Stoics were a sect of Greek philosophers founded at Athens by Zeno (B. C. 355 to 263). He taught that men should aim at freeing themselves from passion, and at acquiring a tranquillity unmovable either by joy or grief, that they should submit to unavoidable necessity without complaining, and that they should regard health or sickness, pain or pleasure, wealth or poverty, as things indifferent.

In personal character Zeno was manly, simple, and abstemious, and had a profound regard for moral obligation. Many great and noble men belonged to the Stoic school; but through the extravagant egotism and asperity of many other of its adherents, the Stoic philosophy, like the Epicurean, to which it was opposed, came into disrepute. Bacon hardly

does justice to Stoicism in the allusion which he makes to it here.

26. 'Who places the end of life among the gifts of nature.' The reference is to the Roman poet Juvenal, Sat. x, 358.

27. The same person, when dead, shall be beloved.'

ANALYSIS OF ESSAY II.

I. There is a foolish fear of death

1. Mingled even with religion,

2. And increased by the accompaniments of death.

II. Helps to master the fear of death:

1. The passions-Revenge, Grief, Fear, etc.

2. Noble life, which the approach of death does not alter.
3. The Stoic preparation, which failed, really making death
more fearful.

4. Earnest pursuit of worthy ends.

5. The hope of fame.

III. OF UNITY IN RELIGION. (1612, re-written in 1625.)

RELIGION being the chief band1 of human society, it is a happy thing2 when itself is well contained within the true band of Unity. The quarrels and divisions about religion were evils unknown to the heathen. The reason was, because the religion of the heathen consisted rather in rites and ceremonies than in any constant belief: for you may imagine what kind of faith theirs was, when the chief doctors and fathers of their church were the poets. But the true God hath this attribute, that He is a jealous3 God; and therefore His Worship and Religion will endure no mixture nor partner. We shall therefore speak a few words concerning the Unity of the Church; what are the fruits thereof; what the bounds; and what the

means.

The fruits of Unity (next unto the well-pleasing of God, which is all in all) are two; the one towards those that are without the Church, the other towards those that are within. For the former, it is certain, that heresies and schisms are of all others the greatest scandals :5 yea, more than corruption of manners: for as in the natural body a wound or solution of continuity is worse than a corrupt humour, so in the spiritual: so that nothing doth so much keep men out of the Church, and drive men out of the Church, as breach of Unity; and therefore whensoever it cometh to that pass that one saith, 'Ecce in deserto,' another saith, Ecce in penetralibus "7 (that is, when some men seek Christ in the conventicles of