The word he took from the French essais of Montaigne, the first two books of which had been published in 1592.  Bacon testified that his essays were the most popular of his writings because they “came home to men’s business and bosoms.”  Their alternate title explains their character:  Counsels Civil and Moral, that is, pieces of advice touching the conduct of life, “of a nature whereof men shall find much in experience, little in books.”  The essays contain the quintessence of Bacon’s practical wisdom, his wide knowledge of the world of men.  The truth and depth of his sayings, and the extent of ground which they cover, as well as the weighty compactness of his style, have given many of them the currency of proverbs.  “Revenge is a kind of wild justice.”  “He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune.”  “There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.”  Bacon’s reason was illuminated by a powerful imagination, and his noble English rises now and then, as in his essay On Death, into eloquence—­the eloquence of pure thought, touched gravely and afar off by emotion.  In general, the atmosphere of his intellect is that lumen siccum which he loved to commend, “not drenched or bloodied by the affections.”  Dr. Johnson said that the wine of Bacon’s writings was a dry wine.

A popular class of books in the 17th century were “characters” or “witty descriptions of the properties of sundry persons,” such as the Good Schoolmaster, the Clown, the Country Magistrate; much as in some modern Heads of the People, where Douglas Jerrold or Leigh Hunt sketches the Medical Student, the Monthly Nurse, etc.  A still more modern instance of the kind is George Eliot’s Impressions of Theophrastus Such, which derives its title from the Greek philosopher, Theophrastus, whose character-sketches were the original models of this kind of literature.  The most popular character-book in Europe in the 17th century was La Bruyere’s Caracteres.  But this was not published till 1688.  In England the fashion had been set in 1614, by the Characters of Sir Thomas Overbury, who died by poison the year before his book was printed.  One of Overbury’s sketches—­the Fair and Happy Milkmaid—­is justly celebrated for its old-world sweetness and quaintness.  “Her breath is her own, which scents all the year long of June, like a new-made hay-cock.  She makes her hand hard with labor, and her heart soft with pity; and when winter evenings fall early, sitting at her merry wheel, she sings defiance to the giddy wheel of fortune.  She bestows her year’s wages at next fair, and, in choosing her garments, counts no bravery in the world like decency.  The garden and bee-hive are all her physic and surgery, and she lives the longer for it.  She dares go alone and unfold sheep in the night, and fears no manner of ill, because she means none; yet to say truth, she is never alone, but is still accompanied with old songs, honest thoughts and prayers, but short ones.  Thus lives she, and all her care is she may die in the spring-time, to have store of flowers stuck upon her winding-sheet.”