“That he might relieve himself a little from the severity of
these studies, and, as it were, amuse himself with erecting a
magnificent pavilion, while his great palace of philosophy was
building, he composed and sent abroad, in 1610, his celebrated
treatise of the Wisdom of the Ancients, in which he showed
that none had studied them more closely, was better acquainted
with their beauties, or had pierced deeper into their meaning.
There have been very few books published, either in this or any
other nation, which either deserved or met with more general
applause than this, and scarce any that are like to retain it
longer, for in this performance Sir Francis Bacon gave a singular
proof of his capacity to please all parties in literature, as
in his political conduct he stood fair with all the parties in
the nation. The admirers of antiquity were charmed with this
discourse, which seems expressly calculated to justify their
admiration; and, on the other hand, their opposites were no
less pleased with a piece from which they thought they could
demonstrate that the sagacity of a modern genius had found out
much better meanings for the ancients than ever were meant by
them.”