Beacon Lights of History, Volume 06 | Page 3

littleness of man To him a personal God is everything Defects of his system Calvin an aristocrat His intellectual qualities His prodigious labors His severe characteristics His vast influence His immortal fame
LORD BACON.
THE NEW PHILOSOPHY.
Lord Bacon as portrayed by Macaulay His great defects of character Contrast made between the man and the philosopher Bacon's youth and accomplishments Enters Parliament Seeks office At the height of fortune and fame His misfortunes Consideration of charges against him His counterbalancing merits The exaltation by Macaulay of material life Bacon made its exponent But the aims of Bacon were higher The true spirit of his philosophy Deductive philosophies His new method Bacon's Works Relations of his philosophy Material science and knowledge Comparison of knowledge with wisdom
GALILEO.
ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERIES.
A brilliant portent The greatness of the sixteenth century Artists, scholars, reformers, religious defenders Maritime discoveries Literary, ecclesiastical, political achievements Youth of Galileo His early discoveries Genius for mathematics Professor at Pisa Ridicules the old philosophers; invents the thermometer Compared with Kepler Galileo teaches the doctrines of Copernicus Gives offence by his railleries and mockeries Theology and science Astronomical knowledge of the Ancients Utilization of science Construction of the first telescope Galileo's reward His successive discoveries His enemies High scientific rank in Europe Hostility of the Church Galileo summoned before the Inquisition; his condemnation and admonition His new offences Summoned before a council of Cardinals His humiliation His recantations Consideration of his position Greatness of mind rather than character His confinement at Arceti Opposition to science His melancholy old age and blindness Visited by John Milton; comparison of the two, when blind Consequence of Galileo's discoveries Later results Vastness of the universe Grandeur of astronomical science
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME VI.
Galileo at Pisa _After the painting by F. Roybet_.
Dante in Florence After the painting by Rafaeli Sorbi.
The Canterbury Pilgrimage _From the frieze by R.W.W. Sewell_.
Columbus at the Court of Spain _After the painting by Vaczlav Brozik, Metropolitan Museum, New_ York.
Savonarola _From the statue by E. Pazzi, Uffizi Gallery, Florence_.
Michael Angelo in His Studio Visited by Pope Julius II After the painting by Haman.
Luther Preaching at Wartburg After the painting by Hugo Vogel.
Henry VIII. of England _After the painting by Hans Holbein, Windsor Castle, England_.
Cranmer at the Traitor's Gate After the painting by Frederick Goodall.
Madame de Pompadour _After the painting by Fr. Boucher_.
John Calvin From a contemporaneous painting.
Lord Francis Bacon _After the painting by T. Van Somer_.
Galileo Galilei _After the painting by J. Sustermans, Uffizi Gallery, Florence_.

BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY
* * * * *
DANTE.
* * * * *
A. D. 1265-1321.
RISE OF MODERN POETRY.
The first great genius who aroused his country from the torpor of the Middle Ages was a poet. Poetry, then, was the first influence which elevated the human mind amid the miseries of a gloomy period, if we may except the schools of philosophy which flourished in the rising universities. But poetry probably preceded all other forms of culture in Europe, even as it preceded philosophy and art in Greece. The gay Provencal singers were harbingers of Dante, even as unknown poets prepared the way for Homer. And as Homer was the creator of Grecian literature, so Dante, by his immortal comedy, gave the first great impulse to Italian thought. Hence poets are great benefactors, and we will not let them die in our memories or hearts. We crown them, when alive, with laurels and praises; and when they die, we erect monuments to their honor. They are dear to us, since their writings give perpetual pleasure, and appeal to our loftiest sentiments. They appeal not merely to consecrated ideas and feelings, but they strive to conform to the principles of immortal art. Every great poet is as much an artist as the sculptor or the painter; and art survives learning itself. Varro, the most learned of the Romans, is forgotten, when Virgil is familiar to every school-boy. Cicero himself would not have been immortal, if his essays and orations had not conformed to the principles of art. Even an historian who would live must be an artist, like Voltaire or Macaulay. A cumbrous, or heavy, or pedantic historian will never be read, even if his learning be praised by all the critics of Germany.
Poets are the great artists of language. They even create languages, like Homer and Shakspeare. They are the ornaments of literature. But they are more than ornaments. They are the sages whose sayings are treasured up and valued and quoted from age to age, because of the inspiration which is given to them,--an insight into the mysteries of the soul and the secrets of life. A good song is never lost; a good poem is never buried, like a system of philosophy, but has an inherent vitality, like the melodies of the son of Jesse. Real poetry is something, too, beyond elaborate versification, which is