His taste was far unequal to his invention. So little did he
esteem the language of his country, that his favourite works were
composed in Latin; and he was anxious to have what he had written in
English preserved in that "universal language which may last as long as
books last."
It would have surprised Bacon to have been told that the most learned
men in Europe have studied English authors to learn to think and to
write. Our philosopher was surely somewhat mortified, when, in his
dedication of the Essays, he observed, that, "Of all my other works, my
Essays have been most current; for that, as it seems, they come home to
men's business and bosoms." It is too much to hope to find in a vast and
profound inventor, a writer also who bestows immortality on his
language. The English language is the only object, in his great survey
of art and of nature, which owes nothing of its excellence to the genius
of Bacon.
He had reason, indeed, to be mortified at the reception of his
philosophical works; and Dr. Rowley, even, some years after the death of
his illustrious master, had occasion to observe, "His fame is greater,
and sounds louder in foreign parts abroad than at home in his own
nation; thereby verifying that Divine sentence, 'A Prophet is not
without honour, save in his own country and in his own house,'" Even the
men of genius, who ought to have comprehended this new source of
knowledge thus opened to them, reluctantly entered into it: so repugnant
are we to give up ancient errors, which time and habit have made a part
of ourselves.
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