were criminal, as we say they were, in leading the way to this war by their ultimatum to Serbia. If Christianity has no restraining influence upon the brutal instincts of those who profess and follow its faith, then surely it is time the world abandoned so ineffective a creed and turned to other laws likely to have more influence on human relationships. That, brutally, is the argument of the thinking world against the clergy of all nations who all claimed to be acting according to the justice of God and the spirit of Christ. It is a powerful argument, for the simple mind, rejecting casuistry, cuts straight to the appalling contrast between Christian profession and Christian practice, and says: "Here, in this war, there was no conflict between one faith and another, but a murderous death-struggle between many nations holding the same faith, preaching the same gospel, and claiming the same God as their protector.

Let us

seek some better truth than that hypocrisy! Let us, if need be, in honesty, get back to the savage worship of national gods, the Ju-ju of the tribe."

My own belief is that the war was no proof against the Christian faith, but rather is a revelation that we are as desperately in need of the spirit of Christ as

at any time in the history of mankind. But I think the clergy of all nations, apart from a heroic and saintly few, subordinated their faith, which is a gospel of charity, to national limitations. They were patriots before they were priests, and their patriotism was sometimes as limited, as narrow, as fierce, and as bloodthirsty as that of the people who looked to them for truth and light. They were often fiercer, narrower, and more desirous of vengeance than the soldiers who fought, because it is now a known truth that the soldiers, German and Austrian, French and Italian and British, were sick of the unending slaughter long before the ending of the war, and would have made a peace more fair than that which now prevails if it had been put to the common vote in the trenches; whereas the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of Cologne, and the clergy who spoke from many pulpits in many nations, under the Cross of Christ, still stoked up the fires of hate and urged the armies to go on fighting "in the cause of justice," "for the defense of the Fatherland," "for Christian righteousness," to the bitter end. Those words are painful to write, but as I am writing this book for truth's sake, at all cost, I let them stand.

THE distinction between that type of expository writing which appeals to the intellect and that which appeals to the imagination has already been established. The Familiar Essay is a conscious effort on the part of the writer to capture the reader's interest by stimulating his sense of beauty in sound, sense, and proportion, and by quickening his perceptions of the innate harmonies and the innate contrasts that exist between certain sets of ideas. Whether appreciative or satiric, it pays special attention to the medium of its expression and to the form of the whole. Consequently, the Essay, un

like Informative Prose, has a perennial charm independent of the ideas which it may contain; and furthermore those very ideas are of such a nature that the mind finds an indefinable pleasure in their contemplation.

The purpose of the Familiar Essay is, then, entertainment. Let us consider the means by which the essayist fulfills his obligation, by observing briefly the content and form of this literary type.

Instead of dealing with some subject of serious importance, the Essay tends to treat of the trivial, to exalt the trifling, while at the same time it illuminates the

motives of men and offers comment, direct or indirect, upon the follies and foibles men exhibit in contact with their environment. T. T.'s "Of Painting the Face," Charles Lamb's "Poor Relations," and Leigh Hunt's "On Getting up Cold Mornings" illustrate these tendencies, and "The Contributors' Club" of The Atlantic Monthly contains many modern examples true to type. Naturally in the treatment of such subjects brevity is an essential.

In spite of the implications of the foregoing paragraph, the Familiar Essay is very apt to deal with the general; or at least to find in the specific, traits common to mankind. Either the general is profusely exemplified by the specific, or else the specific is infused with a sense of larger values. Witness, for example, Robert Louis Stevenson's "Apology for Idlers," Samuel McChord Crothers' "The Toryism of Travelers," and Robert Cortes Holiday's "Caun't Speak the Language."

Nor must we accept too seriously all the judgments we may find set down in the Familiar Essay. This form is too closely related in spirit to poetry to be held responsible for its vagaries. It is too susceptible to the mood of the moment. Even the most optimistic of poets will have his "stanzas written in dejection," and Stevenson, that most industrious of workers, may be pardoned his "Apology for Idlers." Indeed it is this very mobility which is half the charm of the Essay. It is as flexible as emotion itself.

The charm of the Essay depends not

alone on its content, but on its form as well, for a familiar style is one of the distinguishing characteristics of this type. Style in its general sense is the total of all the qualities attached to a writer's diction, and depends upon variety and vividness of expression, appropriate connotation of words, proper agreement of sound and sense, and an indefinable individuality of the whole. Stevenson is always Stevenson just as Chesterton must be Chesterton. Both enjoy the incongruities of life; but Stevenson reveals the natural contrasts of our existence in a pleasingly whimsical style, while Chesterton hunts the pouting paradox with all the self-conscious diction of his vigorous satire.

Individuality is thus the keynote of the Familiar Essay. Subjectivity is its mark just as objectivity is the outstanding feature of Informative Prose. The writer reveals his personality in the choice of his theme, in the turns of his phrasing, and in the mood in which he writes. If he has a keen sense of the subtle ironies of life, a lively sympathy with struggling human beings, and can give appropriate expression to the humor and pathos which he finds, he will be able to employ effectively that form of Exposition called the Familiar Essay.

'There is a tendency among some critics to substitute for the original meaning of "style," characteristic expression, a more limited definition. To them style is an absolute quality which a writer either has or has not. This makes the phrase "bad style" a contradiction of terms. See Clayton Hamilton, A Manual of the Art of Fiction, Chap. XII.

can

STUDIES serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For expert men execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. Το spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules is the humor of the scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience; for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need proyning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies; simple men admire them; and wise men use them: for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.

1These selections from Francis Bacon have been included among the essays because in them there is a striving toward a definite literary medium, both as to language and as to form. Standing as they do just over the halfway line between Informative Prose and the Familiar Essay, they contain elements of each.

2

Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores. Nay, there is no stond or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies: like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again: if his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores. if he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases: so every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.

2"One's studies determine his character."

3Literally, cutters of cummin-seeds; i.e., those who split hairs.

MEN in great place are thrice servants: servants of the sovereign or state, servants of fame, and servants of business; so as they have no freedom, neither in their persons, nor in their actions, nor in their times. It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty; or to seek power over others and to lose power over a man's self. The rising unto place is laborious, and by pains men greater pains; and it is sometimes base, and by indignities men come to dignities. The standing is slippery; and the regress is either a downfall or at least an eclipse, which is a melancholy thing.

come to

Cum non sis qui fueris, non esse cur velis vivere. Nay, retire men cannot when they would, neither will they when it were reason, but are impatient of privateness, even in age and sickness, which require the shadow; like old townsmen, that will be still sitting at their street door, though thereby they offer age to scorn. Certainly, great persons had need to borrow other men's opinions to think themselves happy, for if they judge by their own feeling they cannot find it; but if they think with themselves what other men think of them, and that other men would fain be as they are, then they are happy as it were by report, when perhaps they find the contrary within. For they are the first that find their own griefs, though they be the last that find their own faults. Certainly, men in great fortunes are strangers to themselves, and while they are in the puzzle of business they have no time to tend their health either of body or mind. Illi mors gravis incubat, qui notus nimis omnibus, ignotus moritur sibi.3

1First included in the 1612 edition of the Essays.

2"Since you are no longer the man you were, there is no reason why you should wish to live."

"Death falls heavy upon him who, too well-known to all men, dies without knowing himself."

In place there is license to do good and evil, whereof the latter is a curse; for in evil the best condition is not to will, the second not to can. But power to do good is the true and lawful end of aspiring. For good thoughts, though God accept them, yet toward men are little better than good dreams, except they be put in act; and that cannot be without power and place, as the vantage and commanding ground. Merit and good works is the end of man's motion, and conscience of the same is the accomplishment of man's rest. For if a man can be partaker of God's theater, he shall likewise be partaker of God's rest. Et conversus Deus, ut aspiceret opera, quae fecerunt manus suae, vidit quod omnia essent bona nimis, and then the Sabbath.

4

In the discharge of thy place set before thee the best examples, for imitation is a globe of precepts. And after a time set before thee thine own example, and examine thyself strictly, whether thou didst not best at first. Neglect not also the examples of those that have carried themselves ill in the same place, not to set off thyself by taxing their memory, but to direct thyself what to avoid. Reform, therefore, without bravery or scandal of former times and persons; but yet set it down to thyself, as well to create good precedents as to follow them. Reduce things to the first institution, and observe wherein and how they have degenerate; but yet ask counsel of both times: of the ancient time what is best, and of the latter time what is fittest. Seek to make thy course regular, that men may know beforehand what they may expect; but be not too positive and peremptory, and express thyself well when thou digressest from thy rule. Preserve the right of thy place, but stir not questions

4"And when God turned to behold the works which his hands had made, he saw that they were all very good." Quoted inaccurately from Genesis I.

of jurisdiction; and rather assume thy right in silence and de facto, than voice it with claims and challenges. Preserve likewise the rights of inferior places, and think it more honor to direct in chief than to be busy in all. Embrace and invite helps and advices touching the execution of thy place, and do not drive away such as bring thee information, as meddlers, but accept of them in good part.

The vices of authority are chiefly four: delays, corruption, roughness, and facility. For delays: give easy access, keep times appointed, go through with that which is in hand, and interlace not business but of necessity. For corruption: do not only bind thine own hands, or thy servants' hands, from taking, but bind the hands of suitors also from offering. For integrity used doth the one; but integrity professed, and with a manifest detestation of bribery doth the other. And avoid not only the fault but the suspicion. Whosoever is found variable, and changeth manifestly without manifest. cause, giveth suspicion of corruption. Therefore always when thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it plainly, and declare it, together with the reasons that move thee to change, and do not think to steal it. A servant or a favorite, if he be inward, and no other apparent cause of esteem, is commonly thought but a by-way to close corruption. For roughness: it is a needless cause of discontent; severity breedeth fear, but roughness breedeth hate. Even reproofs from authority ought to be grave, and not taunt

ing. As for facility, it is worse than bribery.1 For bribes come but now and then; but if importunity or idle respects lead a man, he shall never be without. As Solomon saith: "To respect persons is not good: for such a man will transgress for a piece of bread."

It is most true that was anciently spoken, "A place showeth the man"; and it showeth some to the better and some to the worse. Omnium consensu, capax imperii, nisi imperasset, saith Tacitus of Galba; but of Vespasian he saith, Solus imperantium Vespasianus mutatus in melius3-though the one was meant of sufficiency, the other of manners and affection. It is an assured sign of a worthy and generous spirit, whom honor amends. For honor is, or should be, the place of virtue: and as in nature things move violently to their place, and calmly in their place; so virtue in ambition is violent, in authority settled and calm.

All rising to great place is by a winding stair, and, if there be factions, it is good to side a man's self whilst he is in the rising, and to balance himself when he is placed. Use the memory of thy predecessor fairly and tenderly; for if thou dost not, it is a debt will sure be paid when thou art gone. If thou have colleagues, respect them, and rather call them when they look not for it, than exclude them when they have reason to look to be called. Be not too sensible or too remembering of thy place in conversation and private answers to suitors; but let it rather be said, "When he sits in place he is another man."

In view of Bacon's later impeachment and imprisonment on the charge of receiving bribes this pronouncement is curious.

2"All would have judged him capable of governing if he had never governed."

and count it a bondage to fix a belief; affecting free-will in thinking, as well as

3"Alone of emperors, Vespasian changed for the better."

4First included in the 1625 edition of the Essays.