Page:The Works of Francis Bacon (1884) Volume 1.djvu/412

 284 EDITOR S PREFACE. fcuceessoris, altera memoriae. Nam successorem sortita est eum, qui licet et mascula virtute ct prole, et nova imperii accessione fastigium ejus excedat et obumbret ; tamen et nomini et honoribus ejus faveat, et actis ejus quandam perpetuitatem donet: cum nee ex personarum delectu, nee ex institutorum ordine, quicquam magnopere mutaverit: adeo ut raro filius parenti, tanto silentio, atquse tarn exigua mutatione et perturbatione successerit.&quot; But it was not published during the life of the author; and the praise of Elizabeth, in the Advancement of Learning, is wholly omitted, and cer tainly not for its want of beauty, in the treatise &quot;De Augmentis,&quot; published in 1623, where he also omits the passage already cited in this preface. &quot;Then the reign of a queen matched with a foreigner: then of a queen that lived solitary and unmarried, and yet her government so masculino that it had greater impression and operation upon the states abroad than it any ways received from thence;&quot; merely saying, Rursus regnum fceminae solitariae et ctelibis.&quot; Whatever were the motives by which he was induced to suppress, for a time, the just praise of Elizabeth, he ordered the publication in a will, which he afterwards cancelled, but, in all probability, after some under standing with Dr. Rawley, that the publication should appear, as it did, soon after his death. This appears from Rawley s account. 1 &quot;I thought it fitting to intimate, that the discourse, within con tained, entitled, A Collection of the Felicities of Queen Elizabeth; was written by his lordship in Latin only, whereof, though his lordship had his particular ends then; yet in regard that I held it a duty, that her own nation, over which she so happily reigned for many years, should be acquainted and possessed with the virtues of that excellent queen, as well as foreign nations, I was induced, many years ago, to put the same into the English tongue; not ad verbum, for that had been but flat and injudicious; but, (as far as my slender ability could reach,) according to the expressions which I conceived his lordship would have rendered it in, if he had written the same in English : yet ever acknowledging that Zeuxis, or Apelles pencil could not be attained, but by Zeuxis, or Apelles himself. This work, in the Latin, his lordship so much affected, that he had ordained, by his last will and testament, to have had it published many years since : but that singular person intrusted therewith, soon after deceased. And therefore it must now expect a time to come forth amongst his lordship s other Latin works.&quot; And Archbishop Tenison says, &quot; the third is, a me morial, entitled The Felicities of Queen Elizabeth. This was written by his lordship in Latin only. A person of more good will than ability, translated it into English, and called it in the singular, Her Felicity. But we have also a version, much more accurate and judicious, performed by Doctor Rawley, who was pleased to take that labour upon him, because he understood the value his lordship put upon this work; for it was such, that I find this charge given concerning it, in his last will and testament. In particular, I wish the eulogy which I writ, in Felicem Memoriam Elizabethae, may be published. &quot; LIVES OF THE CAESARS. Of these tracts Tenison says, &quot;The fifth is, the Imago Civilis Julii Caesaris. The sixth, Imago Civilis Augusti Caesaris. Both of them short personal characters, and not histories of their empire : And written by his lordship in that tongue, which in their time was at its height, and became the language of the world. A while since, they were translated into English, and inserted into the first part of the Resuscitation.&quot; In the few lines upon the character of Augustus Caesar, there is a maxim well deserving the deep consideration of every young man of sensibility, apt to be Misled by fancy s meteor ray, By passion driven : And yet the light that leads astray, Is light from heaven. Bacon says, &quot; Those persons which are of a turbulent nature or appetite, do commonly pass their youth in many errors ; and about their middle, and then and not before, they show forth their perfec tions ; but those that are of a sedate and calm nature, may be ripe for great and glorious actions ip their youth.&quot; The very same sentiment which he expresses in his Essay on Youth and Age : &quot; Na tures that have much heat, and great and violent desires and perturbations, are not ripe for action till they have passed the meridian of their years ; as it was with Julius Caesar and Septimua Severus ; of the latter of whom it is said, Juventutem egit, erroribus, imo furoribus plenain ; and yet he was the ablest emperor, almost, of all the list: but reposed natures may do well in youth, as it is seep, in Augustus Caesar, Cosmus Duke of Florence, Gaston de Foix, and others.&quot; HENRY PRINCE OF WALES. have selected this piece of biography from the letters, and restored it to what appears to me to he its proper place. Of this a MS. may be found in the British Museum. 1 Preface to the Resuscitatio.
 * Restant felicitates posthumae duae, Us quae vivam comitabantur fere celsiores et augustiores : un&amp;lt;i