Page:Essays of Francis Bacon 1908 Scott.djvu/93

Rh and more suitable to his scholar's profession, to have written the book in Latin or Greek. A young man destined for the service of the state, as Bacon was, found Latin the language of diplomacy and official business. With a Latin training like this, possessed of an unusually bright mind, and a scholar by instinct, Bacon remained throughout his life singularly in touch with the great Roman writers.

It is a matter of common observation that the English language from century to century swings like a great pendulum to and fro between its two elements, Teutonic and Romance. In Elizabeth's time the two forces were probably nearer equilibrium than they have ever been, before or since. This is why the Authorized Version of the Bible, and Shakspere's plays, and Bacon's Essays are the great conservators of the English speech. The bones of English are in them, and in good style, as in good portraiture or good sculpture, the bones underneath must show. Of the three, Bacon is consciously the most Latinised. For this reason, if one wishes to learn something of the Latin in English, either its prevalence or its stylistic effect, Bacon is the best English classic to study. Apart from the general question of style already discussed, Bacon's Latinity shows itself in the Essays mainly in his Latin paraphrases, in the use of English words in their Latin senses (thinking in Latin), in the frequent quotation of Latin proverbs, and even of a Latin pun. Any one of Bacon's Latin paraphrases will illustrate what a hold on Rh