Languages & literature > Bacon's essays, and Goldsmith's essays

XXV111
HISTORICAL AND
tion to the grant which he retained of 6001. a
year from the alienation office, and 7001. a
year, which he enjoyed from his own estate, he
still lived at a great expense, and sometimes ap¬
peared in splendor. It is said, that the prince,
one day observing, near London, a coach fol¬
lowed by a considerable number of people on
horseback, was told, on inquiry, that it was
Lord St. Albans, attended by his friends; upon
which his highness said, “ Well, do what we
can, this man scorns to go out like a snuff.” It
was no inconsiderable aggravation of the folly
of this prodigality, that he was still encumber¬
ed with a heavy load of debt: though about the
time of his fall, he found means to discharge
arrears to the amount of 80001. he died in debt
upwards of 22,0001. It is not surprising, that,
with so many causes of mortification and re¬
gret, external and internal, Lord Bacon should
be capable of exercising the virtue of humility.
It was a very natural and becoming reply which
he made to the French embassador, who, upon
reading a French translation of his Essays, paid
him the fulsome compliment of comparing him to
angels, of whom he had heard much, but whom
he had never seen : “ If the politeness of others
compare me to an angel, my own infirmities re-