2. What is Bacon's method of reasoning, and what are its advantages over the method of Aristotle? 3. Did Aristotle have many followers in the universities of Europe in Bacon's day? 4. What was Bacon's criticism of Greek philosophy and science? 5. What arguments does Bacon give to show the importance of knowledge above all other possessions? 6. What sarcasm do you detect in Bacon's reference to the universities? 7. What great intellectual movement resulted in part, at least, from the three inventions mentioned, viz., printing, artillery, and the compass? 8. What familiar quotation do you note in this essay? 9. Does Bacon attain as high intellectual levels as Plato? As Marcus Aurelius? FOR REFERENCE "Bacon" ("English Men of Letters").--CHURCH. "Francis Bacon; a Sketch of His Life, Works, etc."--STEEVES. "Bacon" ("Critical and Miscellaneous Essays").--MACAULAY. "Account of the Life and Times of Lord Bacon."--SPEDDING. THOMAS CARLYLE (1795-1881) Carlyle was the son of a stone mason. He entered the University of Edinburgh at the age of thirteen and remained there five years, proving himself an omnivorous reader but impractical in many respects, so that he took no degree. After several years of hardship in Scotland as a teacher and a hack writer he married Jane Welsh, whose intellect was almost the equal of his own and whose eccentricity of temper was also similar to his, with the result that much of their life was marred by bickering; yet there is no question of their mutual affection. After a long fight against poverty in London, he eventually won the esteem of Europe for his bold personality and titanic literary power and died full of years and honors, but sensitive and harsh to the last. It is only fair to mention that he was the victim of lifelong dyspeptic trouble and the depression resultant therefrom. His writings all make a study of life, seeking the answer in the lives of the great men, the Heroes, whether of literature or of history. His early studies in German literature, especially the work of Goethe, influenced him not only in his outlook on the universe but in his literary style. Sacrificing everything to force, he adopts every expedient to drive home each point in the lesson he wishes to convey. This intense earnestness and unprecedented unconventionality, although united with phenomenal descriptive powers, resulted in an ungainly style, yet so filled with sincerity and the hatred of shams and falsity as to hold and inspire not merely a select circle of readers but a whole nation. His influence was that of a living personality, a prophet to all English-speaking peoples.