twixt him and the spirit which served him," &c. sign. A
viii. rect. "(R.) Bacon's end was much after _the like
sort_; for having a greedy desire unto meat, he could cause
nothing to enter the stomach--wherefore thus miserably he
starved to death." Sign. B. iij. rev. Not having at hand
John Dee's book of the defence of Roger Bacon, from the
charge of astrology and magic (the want of which one laments
as pathetically as did Naude, in his "_Apologie pour tous
les grands personnages, &c., faussement soupconnez de
Magic_," Haye, 1653, 8vo., p. 488), I am at a loss to say
the fine things, which Dee must have said, in commendation
of the extraordinary talents of ROGER BACON; who was
miserably matched in the age in which he lived; but who,
together with his great patron GROSTESTE, will shine forth
as beacons to futurity. Dr. Friend in his _History of
Physic_ has enumerated what he conceived to be Bacon's
leading works; while Gower in his _Confessio Amantis_
(Caxton's edit., fol. 70), has mentioned the brazen head--

=for to telle
Of such thyngs as befelle:=

which was the joint manufactory of the patron and his eleve.
As lately as the year 1666, Bacon's life formed the subject
of a "famous history," from which Walter Scott has given us
a facetious anecdote in the seventh volume (p. 10) of
_Dryden's Works_. But the curious investigator of ancient
times, and the genuine lover of British biography, will
seize upon the more prominent features in the life of this
renowned philosopher; will reckon up his great discoveries
in optics and physics; and will fancy, upon looking at the
above picture of his study, that an explosion from
gun-powder (of which our philosopher has been thought the
inventor) has protruded the palings which are leaning
against its sides. Bacon's "_Opus Majus_," which happened to
meet the eyes of Pope Clement IV., and which _now_ would
have encircled the neck of its author with an hundred golden
chains, and procured for him a diploma from every learned
society in Europe--just served to liberate him from his
first long imprisonment. This was succeeded by a subsequent
confinement of twelve years; from which he was released only
time enough to breathe his last in the pure air of heaven.
Whether