. A study in certain seventeenth century essays. an, assured of his ownpower, and measuring the world pretty generally by his own prac-tical standard; Fellthams lies in disclosing himself as a con-scientious youth - for his first essays were written at eighteen -preaching against his own weaknesses as well as at those of theworld, Just as Bacon is always the man of common-sense, so is Felltham always the religous enthusiast. Religion is mentioned but seldom by Bacon; from scarcely an essay of Fellthams is it omitted. The latters philosophy is summed up in this sentence 1 from Of Preparing £er
. A study in certain seventeenth century essays. an, assured of his ownpower, and measuring the world pretty generally by his own prac-tical standard; Fellthams lies in disclosing himself as a con-scientious youth - for his first essays were written at eighteen -preaching against his own weaknesses as well as at those of theworld, Just as Bacon is always the man of common-sense, so is Felltham always the religous enthusiast. Religion is mentioned but seldom by Bacon; from scarcely an essay of Fellthams is it omitted. The latters philosophy is summed up in this sentence 1 from Of Preparing £er Death : If I cannot put off Humanitywholly let me put off as much as I can, and that which I mustwear let me but loosely carry. Felltham fails to appeal to the general reader because he does not phrase the universal so oftenas Bacon; it is but seldom that we desire to put off humanitywholly. Yet Felltham stands on higher ground than Bacon, and look; at the world from a nobler point of view than that of expediency. 1. Felltham, ,, p. 32 In view of this noble earnestness, it would seen strangethat he is not at least occasionally known to the general reader,but the trouble lies to no snail degree in his style. Though inturn of phrase he often resembles Bacon extremely closely, hefalls short of Bacons masterly skill-in condensation. He arouseour attention with a striding statement; but he then proceeds toexpand it until, instead of stimulating, he wearies by pilingexample upon example, illuminating a; each may be in a sentence as, Even our growing to perfection is to progressto decay shows his epigrammatic power, but he lacked the essen-tial virtue of restraint. As we shall see later, euphuism clutchedhim hard. In Thomas Fullers oly and Profane state (1648), though he resembles Felltham in that the prevailing tone of his work is1 one of piety, and though he is more superficial, there is in placej a decided likeness to Bacon. Like him, he preaches at you ins
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectenglishliterature
