for the imitative talents of a tragedian, if he stands convicted
of forgery, nor for the courage of a soldier, if he is accused of murder.
Bacon's character can only be judged by the historian, and by a careful
study of the standard of public morality in Bacon's times. And the same
may be said of the position which he took with regard to religion and
theology. We may explain his inclination to keep religion distinct from
philosophy by taking into account the practical tendencies of all his
labors. But there is such a want of straightforwardness, and we might
almost say, of real faith, in his theological statements, that no one can
be surprised to find that, while he is taken as the representative of
orthodoxy by some, he has been attacked by others as the most dangerous
and insidious enemy of Christianity. Writers of the school of De Maistre
see in him a decided atheist and hypocrite.

In a work on Bacon, it seems to have become a necessity to discuss Bacon's
last reviewer, and M. Fischer therefore breaks a lance with Mr. Macaulay.
We give some extracts from this chapter (page 358 _seq._), which will
serve, at the same time, as a specimen of our author's style:--

"Mr. Macaulay pleads unconditionally in favor of practical
philosophy, which he designates by the name of Bacon, against all
theoretical philosophy. We have two questions to ask: 1. What does
Mr. Macaulay mean by the contrast of practical and theoretical
philosophy, on which he dwells so constantly? and 2. What has his
own practical philosophy in common with that of Bacon?

"Mr. Macaulay decides on the fate of philosophy with a ready
formula, which, like many of the same kind, dazzles by means of
words which have nothing behind them,--words which become more
obscure and empty the nearer we approach them. He says, Philosophy
was made for Man, not Man for Philosophy. In the former case it is
practical; in the latter, theoretical. Mr. Macaulay embraces the
first, and rejects the second. He cannot speak with sufficient
praise of the one, nor with sufficient contempt of the other.
According to him, the Baconian philosophy is practical; the
pre-Baconian, and particularly the ancient philosophy,
theoretical. He carries the contrast between the two to the last
extreme, and he places it before our eyes, not in its naked form,
but veiled in metaphors, and in well-chosen figures of speech,