"I was at that time of twelve yeares age but through my fathers cost and care sufficiently instructed to become an auditour of _Chevalerius_ in Hebrew, of _Berealdus_ in Greeke, of _Calvin_ and _Beza_ in Divinity and of some other Professours in that University, (which was newly there erected) besides my domesticall teachers, in the house of Philibertus Saracenus, a famous Physitian in that City with whom I was boarded; when Robertus Constantinus that made the Greek Lexicon read Homer with me." Bodley was undoubtedly proficient in French, for Calvin and Beza lectured in French. The "Institution of the Christian Religion," Calvin's greatest work, although published in Latin in 1536, was translated by him into French, and issued in 1540 or 1541. This translation is one of the finest examples of French prose. Bodley's English was probably very poor, and for a very good reason--there was no English language worthy of comparison with the languages of France, Italy, or Spain. It had yet to be created. It is fair to assume that at twelve years of age Francis Bacon was as proficient in languages as were Philip Melancthon, Agrippa d'Aubigné, or Thomas Bodley at that age. He, therefore, had at least a good knowledge of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and such English as there was. Another class of evidence is now available. It has already been stated that a large number of Bacon's books have been recovered, copiously annotated by him. Some of these books bear the date when the annotations were made. For the most part the marginal notes appear to be aids to memory, but in many cases they are critical observations of the text. These are, however, dealt with in a subsequent chapter. Gilbert Wats, in dedicating to Charles I. his interpretation of "The Advancement of Proficiency of Learning" (1640), makes a statement which throws light on the course of Bacon's studies, and this strongly supports the present contention. He says:-- "He (Bacon) after he had survaied all the Records of Antiquity, after the volume of men, betook himselfe to the study of the volume of the world; and having conquerd whatever books possest, set upon the Kingdome of Nature and carried that victory very farre." Speaking of him as a boy his biographer[6] describes his memory as "fixed and methodical," and in another place he says "His judgment was solid yet his memory was a wonder." The extent of his reading at this time had been very wide. He had already taken all knowledge to be his province, and was with that industry which was beyond the capacity of his contemporaries rapidly laying the foundations which subsequently justified this claim. FOOTNOTES: [5] Lloyd states that this occurred when he was seven years of age. [6] "The Lives of Statesmen and Favourites of Elizabeth." CHAPTER IV. AT CAMBRIDGE.