fyxmW mmmxii^ f ifctatg THE GIFT OF ^Q^^M^^uJ.^ X^tH^ ^. iit tU^lM^tvc^ryi'^L^vu 4^ M^M-iri' JiUn - XS.^-T)«^tfi*. l>e-i\,x?^]^ Copyright, 1895, by Theron S. E. Dixon The Diaii Pebsb. TO MY WIPE, BERTHA L. DIXON, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED ; FOK IT CODLD NOT HAVE BEEN COMPLETED EXCEPT FOB HER LOVING-KINDNESS AND HEK PAITHFDL CO-OPKEATION. T. S. B. D. A too vivid realization of the fact, with all that it implies, is herein an obvious fault ; one only to be forgiven when, in after years, this realization shall have Deconm » part of the consciousness of the people. CONTENTS. OHAPTEK PAGE Prologue ix. I. A Continuous Parallelism 11 I. (Continued) 55 II. The "New Birth" 101 III. The Alphabet op the Plays 114 III. (Continued) 131 IV. Their Primer 155 V. "Julius C^sar" 181 VI. " " .......... 199 VII. " . " 223 VIII. " " 253 IX. " " 274 IX. (Continued) 289 X. The Impulse 304 XI. The Style 321 XII. The Thought 355 XIII. Bacon's Work 372 Xin. (Continued) 408 An After -Word. — The Law ..... 430 TO GET AT THE BEING OF A GREAT AUTHOK, TO COME INTO RELA- TIONSHIP WITH HIB ABSOLUTE PERSONALITY, IS THE HIGHEST RESULT OF THE STUDY OF HIS WORKS." — PeOFESSOU HiBAM COESON. PEOLOGUE. The Tribunal of History is always open. Its session is one continuous term ; and therefore, its judgments are ever subject to review. Nor is attendance at its bar lim- ited to a privileged class : any one may at any time move a rehearing ; and not even a " retainer " is required, as authority for his appearance. Nevertheless, and justly, there is no court in which it is so difficult to win a case. Old Father Time is almost always of the opposing counsel : and his wisdom, age, and experience have great weight in a tribunal where humanity sits in judgment upon itself ; whose probity is the integrity of the race, and whose records are of the issues of its life. And, especially when its adju- dication has been entered of record for three hundred years, it is not only apparently, but actually, the height of presumption, for one utterly unknown within its precincts to enter his appearance and deliberately ask for its reversal, — unless he succeeds. And as with the Sphinx and its riddles, whose solution was open to all, the penalty of his failure is in effect death, or at least banishment. Never- more can he gain the ear of the court. Dropping this pleasant fancy, for 1 would not have this book regarded as fiction (though were it false, it might perhaps be humorously termed a work of imagination ; and if it be true, its truth is stranger than fiction), I would state, as the warrant for its appearance, that there are here presented data which have convinced me, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Francis Bacon wrote the Shake- spearian Plays. It may be that my judgment is at fault, that I am the victim of illusion ; but if so, as these data X. PROLOaUE. are here placed before the reader in just the light in which they appeal to my understanding, this fault must soon be- come glaringly apparent. But on the contrary, if I am right, and the data, in and of themselves, are really con- vincing, then I shall have good company. Whatever be the event, I have already received an ample reward, in the acquirement of a better acquaintance with him of whom I write. This I would share with the reader : and I am confident that he will gain from the perusal of this book, if nothing else, at least additional knowledge of Francis Bacon, The greatest, the brightest, the least understood Of mankind. FRANCIS BACON AND HIS SHAKESPEAUE. CHAPTER I. It is a thrice-told tale of Gilbert Stuart, the painter, that having confided to a friend a secret in the mixture of col- ors, when this friend afterwards asked that it might be intrusted to another, Stuart refused ; writing, " I know it, that is 1 ; you know it, that makes 11 ; tell your friend, and there are iii; but that is one hundred and eleven." This graphic portrayal of the cumulative effect of num- bers upon the disclosure of a secret illustrates equally well the multiplied potency of evidence in the revelation of the truth, when it links together in a continuous sequence, instead of being merely an aggregation of disconnected facts. That which before had only a nominal value of three, is thereby, under the established laws of evidence, raised to an actual probative power of one hundred and eleven ; while the addition of another unit in the like rela- tions increases its value to one thousand one hundred and eleven. If we continue this process indefinitely. Arithmetic at length becomes " dizzy " and we arrive at certainty, the end of mathematics. Always provided that it is possible for the human intellect, unaided, to arrive at certainty regarding anything ; — for only the Infinite One can com- prehend all the relations, which in their whole constitute the Truth. One after another, isolated parallelisms between the \2 FRANCIS BACON plays and Bacon's acknowledged writings have been re- peatedly pointed out, in ever-increasing numbers. But the general public still remains unconvinced of Bacon's authorship ; evidently for some good reason, for it is but fair to presume the prevalence of sincerity and of a will- ingness to know and accept the reality, if only it be made clearly manifest. The reason is to be found in that conservative instinct, dominant in the sound mind, which forbids the acceptance of a novel theory, if the facts presented in its support, interpreted in the light of experience, are fairly explain- able in harmony with the old established beliefs. This is altogether to be commended ; for otherwise hu- manity, drifting from its moorings, without bearings or compass, would be perpetually tossed upon the waves of inconstant opinion, on a veritable mare incognitum. Now, fairly stated, like parallelisms, though in much less numbers in each instance, have been foynd in the writ- ings of many authors, ancient and modern, and where obviously, in many cases, they fall within the category of coincidences. Hence the attitude generally assumed towards these newly discovered parallelisms. While they are confessedly numerous, some of them very striking, nevertheless, this ready explanation, drawn from experi- ence, is almost involuntarily applied to them ; and in result, the conservative mind usually withholds its assent, regard- ing them merely as coincidences ; interesting perhaps, and it may be inviting further investigation, but as wholly insufficient, in and of themselves, to establish the proposi- tion advanced. Coincidences, indeed, are in their essence simply devel- opments of chance; capricious, intermittent, irregular, and desultory in their happenings. Such likewise are isolated parallelisms, and therefore the pertinent application of the theory of coincidences in their explanation. AND HIS SHxiKESPEAEE. 13 But once eliminate these characteristics by the unfold- ing of a continuous parallelism, running through the whole of a material portion of one of the principal plays, involv- ing a wide diversity of elements, and faithful both in de- tail and comprehensively, and obviously the theory of chance as an explanation would no longer be tenable, since it would cease to be applicable. We would then enter another domain, where law prevails, and where by con- tinued application we must come at length to a definite and satisfactory conclusion ; as surely as did Harvey, when he traced the blood through the veins and arteries till he arrived at the heart of the matter and the solution of the problem. But is not the fulfilment of such a condition an impos- sibility with any author, comparing even his acknowledged writings, when upon different subjects ? Truly, it would be so anomalous, so contrary to all recognized human expe- rience, that to some minds, conservative ones too, if found in any production, it would be only explainable upon the hypothesis that it wag thus written of purpose, with that design and intent — a difficult but not impossible under- taking. The reader, however, must be the judge as to whether this onerous condition be indeed here fulfiled. We have selected for comparison Prospero's narrative to Miranda of their previous history, in The Tempest, Act I., Scene 2, it being admirably adapted for the pur- pose. It is from beginning to end deeply interesting, a revelation of humanity in its stern reality, uncovering the recesses of the heart, bringing into view its motives, its choices and their consequences, and enabling us to follow continuously its devious workings. It is of considerable length, extending over five pages in the " Handy Volume" edition : it is complete in itself, forming a well-rounded whole, and yet integral with the play, its very core, the central hub into which all the spokes converge. 14 FRANCIS BACON The following brief quotations from Mr. Denton J. Snider's able commentary on The Shakespearian Drama sufficiently indicate the relative importance of the selec- tion : '■'■Tempest stands very high in the list of Shakespeare's dramas ; in some respects it is his supreme work. Its wonderful types, its perfect symmetrical structure, its bright poetic language, but, above all, its profound signifi- cation, must always make it a favorite among the thought- ful readers of the Poet." " The play is often considered Shakespeare's last, and it may be regarded as a final summing up of his activity — or, indeed, that of any great poet." " The Poet clearly enters the realm of conscious sym- bolism, in the present drama, and the reader must follow him or remain outside. . . . Hamlet is doubtless more fully delineated ; still in Prospero the Poet is all his char- acters and himself too." " The second scene of the First Act, which now follows, is the most important one in the play, for it gives the key to the action. . . . Ho lays down his magic mantle — that is, he assumes the individual relation to his daughter — and then begins to give an account of his life and conflicts as an individual." This ostentatious laying aside of the magic garment, and with it his subtle power over the elements, is evidently part of the symbolism of the play : it invites our atten- tion and possibly influences our choice. The intrinsic importance of the proceeding would seem to justify the length of the selection, if indeed it be not a necessity of the situation ; while doubters, at least, should be the first to commend and the last to complain. What- ever be the outcome, however, the reader's patience may perhaps be amply rewarded by the attainment, inciden- tally, of a better comprehension of Francis Bacon him- AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 15 self, and of his varied and wonderful powers ; whose qual- ity may be tasted even in the crumbs that have here fallen from his bountiful table. If the reader will kindly bear this in mind, the proverbial " dry crusts " of annotations may possibly be transformed, by his subtle alchemy, into both palatable and nutritious food. The broader the lines traversed in the reader's mind, the more comprehensive the view that will open before him: and defects in details, incident to such a possibility, may perhaps be forgiven, in the greater satisfaction af- forded by the enlarged prospect. Moreover, any structure is much more stable resting upon a base than upon a point : and certainly, in this case, the foundation will be the more solid, if the manifestation of the workings of one and the same unique mentality be made not only continuous, but continuously abundant. ( For convenient comparison, the quotations from Bacon's recognized writings are interposed between the lines of the play, the italics being in most cases our own.} "Twelve years since, Miranda, twelve years since," The name Miranda is itself exquisitely significant, and according to ancient classic usage, symbolizes the quality therein expressed ; thus delicately shadowing forth the essential character of the play. " It may be that my reverence for the primitive time carries me too far, but the truth is that in some of these fables, as well in the very frame and texture of the story as in the propriety of the names by which the persons that figure in it are distinguished, I find a conformity and connection with the thing specified, so close and so evident, that one cannot help believing such a significa- tion to have been designed and meditated from the first, and purposely shadowed out. . . . Then again there is a conformity and significance in the very names, which 16 FKANCIS BACON must be clear to everybody. Metis, Jupiter's wife, plainly means Counsel; Typhon, swelling; Pan, the universe; Nemesis, revenge ; and the like." — Preface to Wisdom of the Ancients. The Poet, indeed, later in the play (Act III., Sc. 1) gives beautiful expression to his conception of the signifi- cance of the name in one of its phases : "Admired Miranda! Indeed, the top of admiration." If we turn to De Augmentis, Fourth Book, Chap. 1, it will afford us a glimpse not only of the height, but of the breadth and richness of the thought here expressed, and of its classic origin : " But that other subject of the Prerogatives of Man seems to me to deserve a place among the desiderata. Pindar in praising Hiero says most elegantly (as is his wont) that he ' culled the tops of all the virtues.' And certainly I think it would contribute much to magnanimity and the honor of humanity, if a collection were made of what the schoolmen call the uJtimities, and Pindar the tops or sum)nits of human nature, especially from true history ; shewing what is the ultimate and highest point which human nature has of itself attained in the several gifts of body and mind." " So as there was nothing to be added to this great king's felicity, being at the top of all worldly bliss." — History of Henry VII.* "Thy father was tlic Duke of Milan and A pmice of power." " Which words cost him his Duchy of Milan, and ut- * " That thou, my brother, my competitor In top of all design." — Antony and Cleopatra., V., 1. " For princes being at the top of human desires, they have for the most part no particular ends whereto they aspire." — Advancement of Learning, Second Book. AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 17 terly niiiied his affairs in Italy." — Of the True Great- ness of the Kingdom of Britain. " — and the like was done by that league (which Gui- ociardini saith was the security of Italy), made between Ferdinando King of Naples, Loreiizius Medicis, and Ludo- vicus Sf orza, potentates, the one of Florence, the other of Milan." — Of Empire. " But, my lords, I labor too much in a clear business. The king is so wise, and hath so good friends abroad, as now he knoweth Duke Perkin from his cradle. And because he is a great prince, if you have any good poet here, he can help him with notes to write his life ; and to parallel him with Lambert Simnel, now the king's fal- coner." — History of Henry VII.* * It appears from the context that this Perkin was an impos- tor, feigning himself to be Richard, Duke of York, second son of Edward the Fourth, who in fact had been murdered by Rich- ard III. Lambert Simnel was another impostor already exposed. The subtle play of wit in this reference to the poet's work will perhaps be better appreciated by reading the following from As You Like It, Act III., Scene 2 : " Touchstone. Truly, I would the gods had made thee poetical. ^^ Audrey. I do not know what poetical is ; is it honest in deed and work ? is it a true thing ? " Touchstone. No, truly ; for the truest poetry is the most feigning ; and lovers are given to poetry ; and what they swear in poetry, may be said as lovers, they do feign. "Audrey. Do you wish, then, that the gods had made me poetical ? " Touchstone. I do, truly ; for thou swear'st to me thou art honest ; now if thou wert a poet I might have some hope thou did'st feign." " Yet this I must say, that it is a strange form of proof to put a number of cases where this writ hath been obeyed, which is directly against you ; and then to feign to yourself what was the reason why it was obeyed, and to go on and imagine that if it had been and thus it would not have been obeyed. Sir, the story is good ; but your poetry why it was done if the case had 18 FRANCIS BACON "i//r. Sir, are you not my father? Pros. Thy mother wa« a piece of virtue," This word piece has been somewhat perplexing to the critics. We learn from the admirable Henry Irving edi- tion of the plays that the New Shakespeare Society, after differed, — therein you do but please yourself ; it will never move the Court at all." — Case de Rege Inconsulto. But this play upon poetry was based upon a profound phil- osophy : " Therefore, because the acts or events of true history have not that magnitude wliich satisfieth the mind of man, poetry feigneth acts and events greater and more heroical ; because true history propoundeth the successes and issues of actions not so agreeable to the merits of virtue and vice; therefore poetry yei/7«s them more just in retribution, and more according to revealed providence; because true history representeth actions and events more ordinary and less interchanged, therefore poetry endueth them with more rareness, and more unexpected and alternative variations. So it appeareth that poetry serveth and conferretli to magnanimity, morality, and to delectation." — Advaiircment of Learning, Second Book. " Witli all that poets feign of bliss and joy." — ///., Henri/ VI., I., 2. '■'■Poet. Sir, I have upon a high and pleasant hill Feigned Fortune to be throned." — Timon of Athens, I., 1. " Therefore the poet Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods." — Merchant of Venice, V., 1. " For herein the invention of one of the later poets [ Ariosto in Orlando Farioso'], by which he has enriched the ancient fic- tion, is not inelegant, lie feigns that at the end of the thread or web of every man's life there hangs a little medal or collar, on which his name is stamped ; and that Time waits upon the shears of Atropos, and as soon as the thread is cut, snatches the medals, carries them ofB, and presently throws them into the river Lethe ; and about the river there are many birds flying up and down, who catch the medals, and after carrying them round and round in their beaks a little while, let them fall into AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 19 discussion, endorsed Richard Grant White's interpreta- tion, as meaning " woman." But possibly the word is used here in another and more special sense, distinctively pecu- liar, and arising out of a train of associations best indicated by the following brief quotations ; which put the reader into line with Bacon's mode of thought, and also reveal his remarkable power of casting into the mould of material things such abstract qualities as virtue and justice : " For I never saw but that business is like a child which \s framed invisibly in the womb ; and if it come forth too soon, it will be abortive." — Letter to King James.* the river ; only there are a few swans, which if they get a medal with a name carry it off to a temple consecrated to im- mortality. Now this kind of swan is for the most part warithig in our age." — De Auginentis, Second Book. ( " Why, then, let grievous, ghastly, gaping wounds Untwine the sisters three! Come Atropos, I say ! " — IL, Henry IV., II., 4. "Why do you bend such solemn brows on me? Think you I bear the shears of destiny ? Have I commandment on the pulse of life?" — King John, IV., 2- "Therefore, my lord, go travel for awhile. Till that his rage and anger be forgot ; Or till the Destinies cut his thread of life." — Pericles, I., 2. "Was this easy? May this be washed in Lethe, and forgotten?" — IL, Henry IV., V., 2.) * " Frame the business after your own wisdom." — King Lear, L, 2. "'Tis wonder That an invisible instinct should frame them To royalty unlearned." — Cymbeline, LV., 2. " When nature /ramec? this piece, she meant thee a good turn." —Pericles, IV., 3. " \_Enter Coriolanus' wife, mother, and child.'] My wife comes foremost ; then the honor'd mould 20 FRANCIS BACON " But to come to the present case ; the great /mm e of justice (my Lords) in this present action, hath a Vault and it hath a Stage ; a Vault wherein these works of dark- ness were contained ; and a Stage, with steps, by which they were brought to light." — Charge against the Goun- iGSS of Somerset. " Wherein first Mr. Lumsden plays his part, whose offence stands alone single, the offence of the other two being in consort ; and yet all three meeting in their end and center, which was to interrupt or deface this excel- lent y>/ccc of justice." — Charge against Wentworth et al. " And for mercy and grace (without which there is no standing before justice) we see the King now hath reigned twelve years in his white robe, without any aspersion of the crimson dye of blood. There sits my lord Hobart, that served Attorney seven years. I served with him. We were so happy as there passed not through our hands any one arraignment for treason ; and but one for any capital offence ; which was that of the Lord Sanquhar ; the noblest piece of justice (one of them) that ever came forth in any King's times." — Charge against St. John. " First therefore (my Lord) call to mind oft and con- sider duly how infinitely your Grace is bound to God, in this one point, which I find to be a most rare piece, and wherein, either of ancient or later times, there are few ex- amples : That is, that you are so deai'ly beloved both of the King and Prince." — Letter of Advice to Bucking- ham." And finally, and in a connection alike applicable to man or woman : " I do esteem whatsoever I have, or may have in this world but as trash, in comparison of having the honor and happiness to be a near and well accepted kinsman to so rare and worthy a counsellor, governor, and patriot. Wherein this trunk was fram'd, and in her hand The grandchild to her blood." — Coriolantis, V., S. AND HIS SHAKESPEAKE. 21 For having been a studious, if not curious observer, as well of antiquities of virtue as late pieces, I forbear to say to your Lordship what I find and conceive ; but to any other I would think to make myself believed." — New Yearns Letter to the Earl of Salisbury.*' "and She said tliou wast my daughter; " This subtle touch finds its counterpart in one of Bacon's Apothegms : " There was a young man in Rome that was very like Augustus Csesar : Augustus took knowledge of him, sent for the man and asked him, ' Was your mother never at Eome ? ' He answered, ' No, Sir, but my father was.' " As indelicacy appears in many of the plays, it is part of the res gesta, a factor in the problem : the reader is therefore referred to Bacon's Apothegms., and also to his History of Henry VII., Spedding's Works, Vol. VI., page 215, or Bohn's ed. Essays, Sc, page 462, which will doubtless prove sufficient upon this point, and will illus- trate his humor as well. * " Thou art a piece of virtue, And I doubt not but thy training hath been noble." — Pericles, IV., 6. " Their transformations Were never for a piece of beauty rarer, Nor in a way so chaste." — A Winter's Tale, IV., 3. " And thou fresh piece Of excellent witchcraft, who, of force, must know The royal fool thou cop'st with." — Id. " Yet to imagine An Antony, were nature's piece 'gainst fancy, Condemning shadows quite." — Ant. and Cleo., V-, 1- " All princely graces, That ino'uld up such a jnece as this is, With all the virtues that attend the good, Shall still be doubled on her."— Henry VIII., V., 5. 22 FRANCIS BACON "and thy father Was Duke of Milan ; and thou his only heir And princess no worse issued." Issxied is a legal term, or rather the legal phrase or form of expressing the fact.* " But to your Majesty, whom God hath already blessed with so much royal issue, worthy to continue and repre- sent you forever, and whose youthful and fruitful bed doth yet promise many the like renovations, it is proper and agreeable to be conversant not only in the transitory parts of good government, but in those acts also which are in tliciv nature permanent and perjjetual." — Advance- ment of Learning, Second Book. " Mir. O the heavens ! " " O the," Promita of Formularies and Elegancies. " What foul ]ilay had we that we Ccime from thence? ( )r blessed was't we did? Pros. Both, both, my girl: By foul play, as thou say'st, were we heaved thence, But blessedly holp hither." The depth of the Poet's insight, and liis exquisite por- trayal of one of the subtler phases of human nature might here, as in the past, wholly escajje us, but for the follow- ing acute observation : " And he that is holpen, takes it for a fortune and * " But if the eldest son leave any issue, though lie die in the life of his father, then neither the second son nor the issue of the eldest shall iiihoiit the father's lands, but the father there shall be accounted to die without heirs, and the land shall be escheat." — The Use of the Law. "Of six pieceeding ancestors, that gem Conferr'd hij tcstd/i/u/it to the sci/iicnt isssiie. Hath it been ow'd and worn." — A/l's ll'ell, V., 3. AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 23 thanks the times ; and he that is hurt, for a wrong, and iuiputeth it to the author." — Of Innovations. Moreover, Bacon's unaffected delight in antithesis will become manifest, both directly and incidentally, in subse- quent citations. " Ifir. O my heart bleeds To think o' the teen that I have turned you to."* Taken in connection with other and more striking clauses, such as the following, one might well surmise that the Poet was master of the secret of the circulation of the blood : " Why does my blood thus muster to my heart," — Measure for Measure, II., 4. " But there, where I have garner'd up my heart ; Where either I must live, or bear no life ; The fountain from the which my current runs. Or else dries up." — • Othello, IV., 2. " Could I meet them But once a day, it would unclog my heart Of what lies heavy to 't." — Coriolanus, IV., 2. " As dear to me as are the ruddy drops That visit my sad heart." — Julius Cmsar, II., 2. " Or if that surly spirit, melancholy, Had baked thy blood, and made it heavy — thick, Which, else, runs tickling up and down the veins." — King John, III., 3. " Why, universal plodding prisons up The nimble spirits in the arteries :" — Loves Labor Lost, IV., 5.t * Note the "turn" of the expression: " — ; which have turned your Majesty to inestimable preju- dice." — Letter to King James, on his Estate. tThe above is an exemplification of a peculiar "spiritual" philosophy of man's constitution, which is given repeated and unmistakable development; in the exposition of an occult, but 24 FRANCIS BACON Bacon also exhibits this same wonderful knowledge : " Too continuous and copious an effusion of blood, such as sometimes takes place in hemorrhoids, sometimes in vomiting of blood from the opening or rupture of inner veins, and sometimes in wounds, causes speedy death -jfor the hlood of the veins supjiUes the blood of the arteries, which again supplies the spirit." — History of Life and Death. " There are two great precursors of death, the one sent thoroughly consistent physiology ; and of which the following are further examples : " Moreover, the course of life should if possible, be so ordered that it may have many and various restorations : and the spirits may not grow torpid by perpetual intercourse with the same things." — History of Life and Death. " My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up." — Tempest., I., 2. "Nor I, my spirits are nimble." — Id., II., 1. " Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep." — Hamlet, III., ^. " But there is No danger in what show of death it makes, More than the locking up the spirits a time. To be more fresh, reviving." — Gymbeline, I, 5. "In his Natural History, Bacon observes regarding drunk- enness: " The cause is for that the spirits of the wine oppress the spirits animal, and occupate part of the place where they are ; and so make them weak to move. . . . Besides they roh the spirits animal of their matter, whereby they are nourished ; for the spirits of the wine prey upon it as well as they : and so they make the spirits less supple and apt to move." Also: " Now the spirits are chiefly in the head and cells of the brain." And again, in his History of Life and Death : " We must be cautious about spices, wine, and strong drink, and use them very temperately, with intervals of abstinence; . . . For they supply to the spirits a heat not operative but predatory." This hostility, or predatory action, is made the very essence of Cassio's memorable apostrophe in Othello, II., 3: " O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 25 from the head, the other from the heart, namely, convul- sions and extreme labor of the pulse ; for that deadly hic- cough is itself a kind of convulsion. But this laboring of the pulse has a remarkable quickness, hecause on the point of death the heart trembles so violently that contraction and dilitation are almost confounded. But together w^ith this quickness there is a feebleness and lowness, and often known by, let us call thee devil! ... that men should put an enemiy in their mouths to steal away their brains ! " He further observes : " The power of opium to condense the spirits is remarkable ; for perhaps three grains will in a short time so coagulate them that they cannot separate, but are quenched and rendered immovable. . . . Simple opiates, which are likewise called narcotics and stupef actives, are opium itself, which is the juice of the poppy, the plant and seed of the poppy, henbane, mandragora, hemlock, tobacco, and nightshade." " Not poppy, nor mandragora, Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, Shall ever medicine to that sweet sleep Which thou ow'dst yesterday." — Othello, III., 3. " Cleo. Ha, ha ! — Give me to drink mandragora. Char. Why, madame? Cleo. That I might sleep out this great gap of time My Antony is awny." —Anton]/ and Cleopatra, I., 5. " O, I die, Horatio ; The potent poison quite o'ercrows my spirits." ■ — Hamlet, V.,2. " Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole. With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial. And, in the porches of mine ear did pour The leperous distilment ; whose effect Holds such enmity with blood of man. That, swift as quicksilver, it courses through The natural gates and alleys of the bodg ; And with a sudden vigor, it doth posset And ctvrd, like eager dropping into milk, The thin and wholesome blood : so did it niiue." —Id., I, 5. 26 FRANCIS BACON a great intermission in the pulse, the motion of the heart failing, and being no longer able to recover itself stoutly and regularly." — Id. And in metaphor : " And while the life-blood of Spain went inward to the heart, the outward limbs and members trembled and could not resist." — Speech on the Subsidy Bill. " — That the commerce between both nations be set open and free, so as the commodities and provisions of eith(.'i' may pass and flow to and fro without any stops or obstructions into the veins of the whole body, for the better sustentation and comfort of all parts ; . . . and that as well the iutcinal and vital veins of blood be opened from interruption and obstruction in making pedigree and claim- ing by do.;cont, as the external and elemental veins of pass- age and commerce." — Report on Union of the Realms. " — and therefore might be truly attributed to a secret instinct and inspiring, which many times runneth not only in the hearts of princes, but in the pulse and veins of peo- ple, touching the happiness thereby to ensue in time to come." — Ilinlrii'i/ of Ilnirij VII. It is unnecessary to attribute this to Bacon's sagacity, for it is sufficiently explained by the fact that Harvey was his physician.* * " He [Hai'vey] was twice censor of the college and in 1615 was appointed Luinelian lecturer. In the following year — tlie year of Shakespeare's death — he began his course of lec- tures, and first brought forward his views upon the movements of the heart and blood. Meantime his practice increased, and he had the lord chnucellor Francis Bacon, and the earl of Arundel among his patients." — Enc. Brit., Harvky. (It should be noted also that there is likewise the same philos- ophy of gravitation — prior to Newton's time: "But the strong base and building of my love Is as the very centre of the eardi, Drawing all things to it." — TmU. and Cress., IV., '2. "Therefoie we see that iron i)i particular sympathy niovclli AND HIS SlIAKESPEAKE. 27 "Which is from my remembrance! " The point, or rather the occasion of this reference is made clear by the context immediately preceding the nar- rative, which, as if introduced for the purpose, unfolds to the lodestone; but yet if it exceed a certain quantity, it for- saketh the affection to the lodestone, and like a good patriot, moveth to the earth, which is the region and country of massy bodies ; so we may go forward, and see that water and massy bodies move to the centre of the earth." — Advancement of Learning, Second Book. " if you could hurt. Your swords are now too massy for your strengths, And will not be uplifted." — Tempest, III., 3. "But in the wind and tempest of her frown. Distinction, with a broad and powerful fan. Puffing at all, winnows the light away ; And what hath mass, or matter, by itself Lies, rich in virtue, and unmingled." — Trail, and Cress., I., 3- " That idea to which the human mind is prone, namely that hard bodies are the densest, is to be checked and corrected. . . . Abundance and scarcity of matter constitute the notions of dense and rare, rightly understood. . . . Dense and rave have a close connection with heavy and light." — History of Dense and Bare. " I love thee ; I have spoke it : Uotv much the quantity, the weight as 'much, As I do love my father." — Cymbeliiia, IV., 2. " And therefore, as weight in all motions incrcaseth force, so do I not marvel to see men gather the greatest strength of argu- ment they can to make good their opinions." — Debate on the King's Right of Imposition. " And, as the thing that's heavy in itself. Upon, enforcement, flies with greatest speed. So did our men, heavy in Hotspur's loss, Lend to this weight such lightness with their fear. That arrows fled not swifter towards their aim Than did our soldiers, aiming at their safety. Fly from the field."—//. Henry IV., I., 1.) 28 FRANCIS BACON the fundamental philosophy of memory : that things for- gotten are recalled by or through their orderly association with other things, whose i/m/r/cs are impressed upon the mind : " Canst thou remember A time before we came into this 0611? I do not think thou canst ; for then tiiou wast not Out three years old. Jfir. Certainly, Sir, I can. Pros. By what ? by any other house or person ? ()f anything the imaye tell me, that HaCh kept with thy remembrance. i\[ir. 'T is far off ; And rather like a dream than an assurance That ray remembrance warrants. Had I not Four or five women once that tended lac r Pros. Thou hadVt, and more, Miranda. But luw is it That this lives in thy mind ? What see'st thou else In the dark backward abysm of time? If thou remember'st aught ere thou cam'st here, How thou cam'st hero thou may'st. 3Iir. But that I do not." Turning to De A iKjntcntis, Fifth Book, we find the like philosophy clearly taught : " The Art of Memory is built upon two intentions ; Pre- notion and Emblem. By Prenotion 1 mean a kind of cut- ting off of infinity of search. For when a man desires to recall anything into his memory, if he have no prenotion or perception of that he seeks, he seeks and strives and beats about hither and thither as if in infinite space. But if he have some certain prenotion, this infinity is at once cut off, and the memory ranges in a narrower compass ; like the hunting of a deer within an enclosure. And there- fore order also manifestly assists the memory ; for we have a prenotion that what we are stxdiing- must be something which agrees with order. . . . Emblem, on tlii> other hand, reduces intellectual conceptions to sensible twi«ytvs ,• for an object of sense always strikes the memory more forci- AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 29 bly and is more easily impressed upon it than an object of the intellect ; insomuch that even brutes have their memory excited by sensible impressions ; never by intel- lectual ones. And therefore you will more easily remem- ber the image of a hunter puiRuing a hare, of an apoth- ecary arranging his boxes, of a pedant making a speech, of a boy repeating verses from memory, of a player act- ing on the stage, than the mere notions of invention, dis- position, elocution, memory, and action. Other things there are (as I said just now) which relate to the help of memory, but the art as it now is consists of the two above stated." " Please you further. Pros. My In-other and thy uncle, called Antonio, — I pray thee mark me * that a brother should Be so perfidious ; — " " There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame as to be found yia^se and perfidious.'''' — Of Truth. " he whom next thyself Of all the world I loved," The following from a letter to Essex, prior to his trea- sonable insurrection, gives us, as in a chart, the bearings of Bacon's course : " I desire your Lordshijj also to think, that though I confess I love some things much better than I love your Lordship, — as the Queen's service, her quiet and contentment, her honor, her favor, the good of my coun- try, and the like, — • yet I love few persons better than yourself, both for gratitude's sake, and for your own vir- tues, which cannot hurt but by accident or abuse. Of which my good affection I was ever ready and am ready to yield testimony by any good offices, but with such res- * " Or otherwise (mark what I say) " — Charge to Grand Jury. ;iO FRANCIS BACON crvations as yourself cannot but allow : for as I was ever sorry that your Lordship should fly with waxen wings, doubting Icarus' fortune, so for the growing up of your own feathers, specially ostrich's, or any other save of a hini of prey, no man shall be more glad. And this is the axletree whereupon I have turned and shall turn." * "and to him put The manage of my state ; " " For that wliicli concerneth his crown and state, it is kn(.\vn . . . that for these last two years his Majesty * " strong as the axletree On wliich the heavens vide." — Troil. and Cress., /., S. " So as the axletree, whereupon their greatness turneth, is soon cut in two by any that shall be stronger llian they by sea." — GoiisiiJenifwns toiichhuj a War with Spain. Whence the origin of the figure? " And assuredly as Aristotle endeavors to prove that in all motion there is some point quiescent ; and as he very elegantly interprets the ancient fable of Atlas, who stood fixed and sup- ported the heaven on his shoulders, to be meant of the poles or axletree of heaven, whereujjon the conversion is accomplished ; so do men earnestly desire to have within them an Atlas or axle- tree of the thoughts, by which tlio fluctuations and dizziness of the understanding may be to some extent controlled; fearing belike that their heaven should fall." — De Augmentis, Fifth Book, Chap. IV. We begin to realize that Bacon was thorouglily saturated with " the wisdom of the ancients." He drank deep at the fountain of those waters, imbibing their subtle spirit, and seasoning his writings with their essence; sometimes so deftly that though we appreciate the richness, we are unable, in our ignorance, to dis- tinguish the flavor. We catch a glimpse also of his industry, for such an absolute mastery, as the educated world well knows, could only be ac- quired by years of close and patient study, and that too, we would almost add, in early youth, during the formative period. AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 31 hath been content to undergo the principal travel and manage of his affairs in his own person." — Memorialfor the Jvmff^s Speech. " A fellow that thinks with his magistrality and goose- quill to give laws and manages to crowns and .sceptres." — Charge Against TaHmt.* * " Lorenzo, I commit into your hands The husbandry and manage of my house." ■ — Merchant of Venice, III., 4-- " This might have been prevented and made wliole, With very easy arguments of love ; Which now the manage of two kingdoms must With fearful bloody issue arbitrate." — Khiff John, I., 1. (" And put thy fortune to the arbitriment Of bloody strokes, and mortal-staring war." — Richard III., V-, 3. The expression of a profound philosophy : " It is the wars that are the tribunal seat, where the highest rights and possessions are decided." — Bacon's Device. " Wars (I speak not of ambitious, predatory wars ) are suits of appeal to the tribunal of God's justice, where there are no superiors on earth to determine the cause : and they are (as civil pleas are) plaints or defences." — Considerations touching a War with Spain. " Strike up the drums ; and let the tongue of war Plead for our interest, and our being here." — King John, V., S. " Will you show our title to the crown ? If not our swords shall plead it in the field." — ///. Ilenrij VI., II., 1. "In God's name, cheerly on, courageous friends, To reap the harvest of perpetual peace. By this one bloody trial of sharp war." — Richard III., V., 2. " So is the equal poise of this fell war, Here on this molehill will I set me down, To whom God will, there be the victory." — ///. ffenrtj VI., II., 5.) 32 FRANCIS BACON "as at that time Througli all tlie signiories it was the first," " This is now, by the providence of God, the fourth time that the line and Kings of England have had domin- ions and sitjniories united unto them as patrimonies, and by descent of blood." — Case of the Post-Nati of Scotland. " And as for the Duke of Parma, he was reasonably well tempted to be true to that enterprise, by no less promise than to be made a feudatory or beneficiary king of En- gland, under the signiory (in chief) of the Pope, and the protection of the King of Spain." — Considerations touch- it/;/ a War ivith Sjiain. " And Prospero the prime duke," " I have been somebody by your Majesty's singular and undeserved favor : even the prime officer of your king- dom." — Letter to King Jcn/ica. " Y'our grace being, as it were, the first born or prime man of the King's creatures, must in consequence owe the most to his children and generations : whereof I know your noble heart hath far greater sense than any man's words can infuse into you." — Letter of Advice to Buck- ing ham.* " being so reputed In dignity," f *" Kinc/ Henry. Have I not made you The prime man of the state ? " — Henry VIII.. III., 2. t The following notes illustrate the intimacy of both thought and vocabulary : " For as the works of wisdom surpass in dignity and power the works of strength." — Wisdom of the Ancients. "I will take it for a good sign that you shall give honor to your dignity, and not your dignity to you." — Letter to Villiers. '• And though it must be confessed that the ante-natus and the post-natus are in the same degree in dignities; yet were they AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 33 " and for the liberal arts,* Without a parallel : " f« If we adopt the theory of the critics that Prospero rep- resents the Poet himself, J the resemblance is here so strik- ing that we are almost led to venture the further conjec- ture that the whole play is likewise symbolical upon the broadest lines ; the contest between Prospero and his brother typifying the conflict actually waged in the Poet's breast ; engendered by the attractions of power on the one hand, and the love of learning on the other, and exempli- fied in the vicissitudes of his life. Leaving this, however, to the future, and to the exegesis of merciful critics, the following citations are perhaps pertinent never so in abilities. For no man doubts, but the son of an Earl or Baron, born before his creation or call, shall inherit the dignity, as well as the son born after." — Speech Against Motion for Union of Laws. * " In the course of your study and choice of books, you must first seek to have the grounds of learning, which are the liberal arts." — Advice to Rutland, on his Travels. '■ Of all these arts those which belong to the eye and ear are esteemed the most liberal ; for these two senses are the purest ; and the sciences thereof are the most learned, as having math- ematics like a handmaid in their train. ... It has been well observed by some that military arts flourish at the birth and rise of States ; liberal arts when States are settled and at their height ; and voluptuary arts when they are turning to decline and ruin." — De Augmentis, Fourth Book, Chap. II. t " For as Statuas and Pictures are dumb histories, so his- tories are speaking Pictures. Wherein, if my affection be not too great, or my reading too small, I am of this opinion, that if Plutarch were alive to write lives by parallels, it would trouble him for virtue and fortune both to find for her a parallel amongst women." — Letter to the Lord Chancellor, referring to the de- ceased Queen Elizabeth. X " For in Prospero shall we not recognize the Artist him- self." — Lowell. 3 34 FRANCIS BACON " to the present business Which now 's upon us : " " I now come to tbe Art of Empire or Civil Govern- ment, which includes Economics, as a state includes a family. On this subject, as I before said, I have imposed silence on myself, though perhaps I might not be entirely unqualified to handle such topics with some skill and profit, as being one who has had the benefit of long experience, and who, by your Majesty's most gracious favor, without any merib of his own, has risen through so many grada- tions of office and honor to the highest dignity in the realm and borne the same for four whole years ; . . . and who also, besides other arts, has spent much time in the study of laws and histories." — De Aitgmentis, Eighth Book. " Seeing now, most excellent King, that my little bark, such as it is, has sailed round the whole circumference of the old and new world of sciences (with what success and fortune it is for posterity to decide), what remains but that having at length finished my course I should pay my vows." — Z>e Augmentis, Ninth Book, Chap. IX. " those being all my study, The governmeut I cast upon my brother,* And to my state grew stranger," f " Not however that learning admires or esteems this architecture of fortune otherwise than as an inferior work. For no man's fortune can be an end worbhy of the gift of being that has been given him by God ; and often the * " If I cast part of my burden, I shall be more strong and delivre to bear the rest." — Note for Interview ivith the King. t " Surely I think no man could ever more truly say of him- self with the Psalmist than I can, 'My soul hath been a stranger in her pilgrimage.' So I seem to have my conversation among the ancients more than among those with whom I live, and why should I not likewise converse rather with the absent than the present, and make my friendships by choice and election, rather than suffer them, as the manner is, to be settled by accident?" — Letter to Casaubon. AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 35 worthiest men abandon their fortunes willingly, that they may have leisure for higher pursuits." — De Augmentls, Eighth Book, Chap. II. '• My nature can take no evil ply ; but I will, by God's assistance, with this disgrace on my fortune, and yet with that comfort of the good opinion of so many honorable and worthy persons, retire myself, with a couple of men, to Cambridge, and there spend my life in my studies and contemplations without looking back." — Letter to Essex, in 1694. " being transported And rapt in secret studies." " Amongst which Qlf affection for learning transport me not) there is not any more noble or more worthy than the further endowment of the world with sound and fruit- ful knowledge." — De Augmentis, Second Book, Dedica- tion. " Let those who distrust their own powers observe my- self, one who have amongst my contemporaries been the most engaged in public business, who are not very strong in health (which causes a great loss of time), and am the first explorer of this course, following the guidance of none, nor even communicating my thoughts to a single in- dividual ; yet having once firmly entered in the right way, and submitting the powers of my mind to things, I have somewhat advanced (as I make bold to think) the matter I now treat of." — Novum Organum, Book I., 113. We now pass, in transition, into the counter realm of statescraft and policy, governed by laws of its own, taught by experience. And here, as by a master hand, the very springs of action are laid bare before us, so that we may even discern the peculiar antithesis inherent in their move- ment ; for as Bacon profoundly observes, in his Essay, O/" Empire, " To speak now of the true temper of empire, it is a thing rare and hard to keep ; for both temper and dis- temper consist of contraries ; but it is one thing to mingle 36 FRANCIS BACON contraries, another to interchange them," — the meaning of which will clearly appear as the theme is developed. "Thy/a&e uncle — Dost thou attend me ? 3{ir. Sir, most lieedftilly. Pros. Being once perfected * how to grant suits. How to deny them," " You are a new risen star, and the eyes of all men are upon you : let not your own negligence make you fall like a meteor. . . . And in respect of the suitors which shall at- tend you, there is nothing will bring you more honor and more ease than to do them what right in justice you may, and with as much speed as you may : for, believe me. Sir, next to the obtaining of the suit, a speedy and gentle de- nial (when the case will not bear it) is the most acceptable to suitors." — Letter of Advice to Villiers. " But your Majesty is still in a straight, that either your means or your mind must suffer. For to grant all suits were to undo yourself, or your people. To deny all suits were to see never a contented face." — Letter to King James. "whom to advance," f and whom * " It resteth tliat I express unto your majesty my great joy, in your honoring and advancing this gentleman ; . . . Only your Majesty's school (wherein he hath ah-eady so well profited, as in thi^ entrance upon the stage, being tlie time of greatest danger, he hath not committed any manifest error), will add perfection, — to your Majesty's comfort and the great content- ment of your people." — Letter to King James, regarding Vil- liers. t " And in places of moment, ratlier make able and honest men yours, than advance those that are otherwise because they are yours." — Letter to Villiers. " The knot which is to be tied for his reputation must either AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 87 To trash for overtopping, — " * " He (Henry VII.) kept a straight hand on his nobility, and chose rather to advance clergymen and lawyers, which were more obsequious to him, but had less interest in the people ; which made for his absoluteness, but not for his safety. . . . He was not afraid of an able man, as Lewis the Eleventh was ; but contrariwise, he was served by the ablest men that were to be found ; without which his af- fairs could not have prospered as they did. . . . And as he chose well, so he held them up well ; for it is a strange thing, that though he were a dark prince, and infinitely suspicious, and his times full of secret conspiracies and troubles, yet in twenty -four years' reign, he never ^m^ down or discomposed counsellor, or near servant, save only Stan- ley, the lord chamberlain. . . , He was a prince, sad, seri- ous, and full of thoughts and secret observations, and full be advancing or depressing of persons or putting by or forward- ing of actions." — Notes for Advice to Buckingham. "I should hope, that as your Majesty hath of late won hearts by depressing, you should in this lose no hearts by advancing : for I see your people can better skill of eoncretum than ab- stractiim, and that the waves of their afBections flow rather after persons than things." — Letter to King James. * " There is use also of ambitious men in pulling down the greatness of any subject that overtops ; as Tiberius used Marco in the pulling down of Sejanus. ... As for the pulling of them down, if the affairs require it, and it may be done with safety suddenly, the only way is the interchange continually of favors and disgraces, whereby they may not know what to expect, and be, as it were, in a wood." — Of Am.bition. " And the like diligence was used in the age before by that league (wherewith Guicciardine beginneth his story, and maketh it, as it were, the calendar of the good days of Italy), which was contracted between Ferdinando, King of Naples, Lorenzo of Medici, Potentate of Florence and Ludovico Sfortza, Dtike of Milan, designed chiefly against the growing power of the Vene- tians; but yet so, as the confederates had a perpetual eye one upon another, that none of them should overtop." — Considera- tions Touching a War with Spain. 38 FRANCIS BACDN of notes and memorials of his own hand, especially touch- ing persons ; as, whom to employ, tvliom to reward, whom to inquire of, vihoiii to beware of, what were the depend- encies, what were the factions, and the like." — History of Henry VII.* " new created The creatures that were mine, I say, or changed tliem, Or else new formed them ; " " And lastly, when all these means, or any of them, have neio framed or fanned human, vnll, then doth custom and habit corroborate and confirm all the rest." — Helps for the InteUectual Powers.^ "having both the key Of officer and office," " An instrument in tuning." — Promus of Formularies and Elerjancies. And in another sense : " This year also the King en- tered into a league with the Italian potentates for the de- * " And for those she advanced to places of trust, she kept sucli a tight rein upon them, and so distributed her favors, that she held each of them under the greatest obligation and concern to please her, whilst she always remained mistress of herself." — Memory of Elizaheth. t " Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness." — Hamlet., V., 1. " How use doth breed a habit in a man." — Two Gentlemen of Verona, V., 4- " That monster custom, who all sense doth eat — Of habits evil — is angel yet in this, — That to the use of actions fair and good He likewise gives a frock or livery, Tliat aptly is put on. Refrain to-night: And that shall lend a kind of easiness To the next abstinence ; the next more easy ; For use can almost change the stamp of nature." — Hamlet,' III., 4- AND HIS SIIAKESPEAEE. 39 fense of Italy against France ; for King Charles had con- quered the realm of Naples, and lost it again, in a kind of felicity of a dream. He passed the whole length of Italy without resistance ; so that it was true which Pope Alex- ander was wont to say, ' That the Frenchmen came into Italy with chalk in their hands, to mark up their lodgings, rather than with swords to fight.' * He likewise entered and won, in effect, the whole kingdom of Naples itself, without striking stroke. But presently thereupon he did commit and multiply so many errors, as was too great a task for the best fortune to overcome. He gave no con- tentment to the barons of Naples, of the faction of the Angeovines ; but scattered his rewards according to the mercenery appetites of some about him. . , . He fell too soon at differences with Ludovico Sfortza, who was the man that carried the Tceys which brought him in and shut him out." — History of Henry VII. " set all hearts i' the state To what tune pleased his ear; " " It is my desire that if any the King's business either of honor or profit shall pass the house, it may be not only with external prevailing but with satisfaction of the inward * Later in the play [Act V., Scene 1], when all were amicably reconciled, Gonzalo says: " Look down, you gods, And on this couple drop a blessed crown ! For it is you that have chalk'd forth the way Which brought us hither." Bacon repeats Pope Alexander's remark at least three times ; in De Augmentis, Third Book, Chap. VI., continuing : " so I like better that entry of truth which comes peaceably, as with chalk to mark up those minds which are capable to lodge and harbor such a guest, than that which forces its way with pug- nacity and contention." It is perhaps significant that the commentators upon the play, for want of the key, have failed to comprehend the now clear 40 FRANCIS BACON man. For in consent where tongue -strings not heart- strings make the music, that harmony may end in discord. . . . When Vespasian came out of Judea towards Italy to receive the empire, as he passed by Alexandria he spake with Apollonius, a man much admired, and asked him a question of state : ' What was Nero's fall or overthrow ? ' Apollonius answered again, ' Nero could tune the harp well : but in government he always either wound up the pins too high and strained the strings too far, or let them down too low and slackened the strings too much.' Here we see the difference between regular and able princes and irregular and incapable, Nerva and Nero. The one tem- pers and mingles the sovereignty with the liberty of the subject wisely ; and the other doth interchange it and vary it unequally and absurdly." — Speech on tlie King's Mes- sages. " Until your Majesty have tuned your instrument you will have no harmony. I, for my part, think it a thing in- estimable for your Majesty's safety and service that you once part with your parliament with love and reverence." " That it doth well in church music when the greatest part of the hymn is sung by one voice, and then the quire at times falls in sweetly and solemnly, and that the same harmony sorteth well in monarchy between the King and his Parliament." — Letters to King James. " This I apply to the King's business, which surely I revolve most when I am least in action ; . . . But still it must be remembered, that the stringing of the harp, nor the tuning of it, will not serve, except it be well played on from time to time." — Letter to Buckingliam. " If a man so temper his actions, as in some one of them meaning of this artificial metaphor. (The same figure reap- pears in unmistakable terms in Henry VIII., /., 1: " For, being not propp'd by ancestory, whose grace Chalks successors their way ; ") AND ins SHAKESPEARE. 41 he doth content every faction or combination of people, the music will be the fuller." — Of Honor and Refutation.* " that now lie was Tlie ivy which had hid my princely trunk," ■\ And suck'd my verdure out on't — " " Nor is it without a mystery that the ivy was sacred to Bacchus, and this for two reasons : first, because ivy is an evergreen, or flourishes in the winter ; and secondly, be- cause it winds and creeps about so many things, as trees, walls and buildings, and raises itself above them. . . . And for the second, the predominant passion of the mind * We cannot withhold two other ornate but graceful variations of this musical theme : " And when your Majesty could raise me no higher, it was your grace to illustrate me with beams of honor ; first making me Baron Verulam, and now Viscount St. Albans. So this is the eighth rise or reach, a diapason in music, even a good num- ber and accord for a close." — Letter to King James. " At length therefore having arrived at some pause and look- ing back into those things which I have passed through, this treatise of mine seems to me not unlike those sounds and pre- ludes which musicians make while they are tuning their instru- ments, which produce indeed a harsh and unpleasing sound to the ear, but tend to make the music sweeter afterwards. And thus have I intended to employ myself in tuning the harp of the muses and reducing it to perfect harmony, that thereafter the strings may be touched by a better hand or a better quill." — De Augmentis, Eighth Book, Chap. III. t " By all means it is to be procured that the trunk of Nebu- chadnezzar's tree of monarchy be great enough to bear the branches and the boughs." — Of the Trim Greatness of King- doms. " Your princely eye was wont to meet with any motion that was made on the relieving part." — Letter to the King. "Were gracious in those princely eyes of thine." — Titus And., L, 2. 42 FRANCIS BACON throws itself, like the ivy, round all hnmim aetions, en- twines all our resolutions, and perjietu illy ailheros to, and mixes itself among, or even overtops them." — Wiyiiom of the AiicientK* " Custom like an ivy which grows and clasps upon the tree of commerce." — JVotes of Siyeech on the King's Itlglit of Imposition. " But it loas orJaincil that this v}inding ivy of a Plan- tuqenct shovhl li/l the true tree itself." — History of lienry VII. "Thou attend'st not. Mir. O, good sir, I do." In this truly " speaking picture," the arena of action has been opened to our view and the relative positions of the as yet uncontending forces fully disclosed. And now we are about to be taken, as it were, behind the scenes, and into the very " counsels," that we may witness the in- ception of the struggle, its genesis, and even the develop- ment of the causes producing it. It is pregnant with instruction, which may be delivered to us, if we but follow Bacon's pertinent advice in the study of history : " In the story of France, you have a large and pleasant field in the lives of their kings to observe their alliances and successions, their conquests and their wars, especially with us ; their counsels, their treaties, and all rules and examples of experience and wisdom ; which may be lights and remembrances to you hereafter to judge all occur- rences at home and abroad." — Letter of Advice to Rut- land on his Travels. And he likewise condemns Epitomies, "where com- * " So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle Gently entwist ; the female ivy so Enrings the barky fingers of the elra." — Midsummer Night's Dream, IV., 1. AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 43 monly in matter of art the positions are set clown without tlieir proofs, and in matter of story the things done with- out the counsels and circumstances, which indeed are a thousand times more in use than the examples them- selves." — Advice to Greville on His Studief-:. "Pros. I pray thee, mark me,* I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated To closeness." " There be three degrees of this hiding and veiling of a man's self ; the first, closeness, reservation, and secrecy ; when a man leaveth himself without observation, or with- out hold to be taken, what he is." — Of Simulation a?id Dissimtdation. " It is not to be forgotten what Comineus observeth of his first master, Duke Charles the Hardy, namely, that he would communicate his secrets with none ; and least of all, those secrets which troubled him most. Whereupon he goeth on and saith, that towards his latter time that close- ness did impair and a little perish his undertakings. Surely Comineus might have made the same judgment also, if it had pleased him, of his second master, Lewis the Eleventh, whose closeness was indeed his tormentor." — Of Friendship. "and the bettering of my mind With that vfhich, but by being so retired, O'er-prized all popular rate," " Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for abil- ity. Their chief use for delight is in privateness and re- tii'ing." — 0/ Studies. The critics have been in somewhat of a quandary as to the meaning of the text. The exquisite delicacy of its sig- * " And to say truth, if one mark it well, this was in all mem- ory the main piece of wisdom in strong and prudent counsels." — Considerations Touching a War ivith Spain 44 FRANCIS BACON nificance, its classical origin, and its pertinency are all however clearly unfolded in the following, from the Ad- vanceiiwnt of Learning, Book I.: " As for retirement, it is a theme so common to extol a private life, not taxed with sensuality and sloth, for the liberty, the pleasure and the freedom from indignity it affords, that every one praises it well, such an agreement it has to the nature and apprehensions of mankind. This may he added, that learned men, forgotten in states and not living in the eyes of the world, are like the images of Cassius and Brutus at the funeral of Junia, which not be- ing represented as many others were, Tacitus said of them that, ' They outshone the rest, because not seen.' " "in my false brother Awiiked ail evil nntuic: " " But let no man trust his victory over his nature too far ; for nature will lie buried a great time, and yet 7-evive upon the occasion or temptation." — Of Nature in Men. (See Angelo in Ileasuvefor Measure.) " At this time the King's estate was very prosperous; secured by the amity of Scotland, strengthened by that of Spain, cherished by that of Burgundy, all domestic trou- bles quenched, and all noise of war, like a thunder afar off, going upon Italy. Wherefore nature, which many times is happily contained and refrained by some bands of fortune, began to take place in the King ; carrying, as with a strong tide, his affections and thoughts into the gathering and heaping up of treasure." — History of Henry \ II. "and my trust, Like a good parent,* did beget of him A falsehood," * This remarkable expression seems fully warranted by Bacon's close observation : " Revolve in histories the memories of happy men, and you AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 45 " He (Cupid) is introduced without a parent, that is to say without a cause ; for the cause is as the parent of the effect ; and it is a familiar and almost continual figure of speech to denote cause and effect as parent and child." — On Principles and Origins.* " For corruptio unius generatio alterius holds as well in arguments as in nature. The destruction of an objec- tion begets a proof." — Case of the Post Nati of Scotland. " There is no pound profit which redoundeth to your Majesty in this course, but induceth and hegetteth three pound damage upon your subjects, besides the discontent- ment." — Speech to King James Touching Purveyors. " Another point was, that I always vehemently dis- suaded him from seeking greatness by a military depend- ence, or by a popular dependence, as that which would breed in the Queen jealousy, in himself presumption, and in the state perturbation." — Apology Concerning the Earl of Essex. " — glozing then, that because he had heard that by shall not find any of rare felicity but either he died childless, or his line spent soon after his death, or else he was unfortunate in his children. Should a man have to be slain by his vassals, as the posthumus of Alexander the Great was ? or to call them his imposthumes, as Augustus Caesar called his? Peruse the catalogue : Cornelius Sylla, Julius Caesar, Flavius Vespasianus, Severus, Constantinus the Great, and many more." — Discourse in Praise of the Queen. * " Then let them anatomize Regan ; see what breeds about her heart. Is there any cause in nature that makes these hard hearts? " — King Lear, III., 6. ( " To make an anatomy of it, and shew the lines and parts, which might serve to give a light, though not delight." — Con- ference on the Question of Law. ) " My brain I '11 prove the female to my soul ; My soul the father : and these two heget A generation of still-breeding thoughts." — Richard II., V., 5. [See, please, infra, pages 60 and 80.] 46 FRANCIS BACON strict exposition of law all treasons of rebellion did tend to the destruction of the King's person, it might breed a buzz in the rebels' heads, and so discourage them from coming in." — Declaration against Essex.* (For the like argumentative " glozing," see Troil. and Cress., II., S.) * " Now this follows, (Which, as I take it, is a kind of puppy To the old dam, treason) — Charles the Emperor, Under pretence to see the queen his aunt, (For, 't was, indeed, his color ; but he came To whisper Wolsey,) here makes visitation: His fears were, that the interview betwixt England and France might, through their amity. Breed him some prejudice." — Henry VIII., I., 1. [See infra, page 71.] " Ulyss. I have a young conception in my brain, Be you my time to bring it to some shape. Nest. Whatis't? Ulyss. This 'tis: — Blunt wedges rive hard knots : the seeded pride That hath to this maturity blown up In rank Achilles, must or now be cropp'd Or, shedding, breed a nursery of like evil, To overbulk us all." — Troil. and Cress., I., 3. (Bacon was especially prolific in metaphors developed from nature's "nursery": "He entered into due consideration as well how to weed out the partakers of the former rebellion, as to kill the seeds of the like in time to come." " But that the true way is, to stop the seeds of sedition and rebellion in their beginnings." " But these blossoms of unripe marriages were but kindly wishes and the airs of loving entertainment." "And this was but a summer fruit, which they thought was almost ripe, and would be soon gathered." — History of Henry VI L " No mortal calamity is more moving and aiSicting, than to see the flower of virtue cropped before its time." — Wisdom of the Ancients. " A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman, Framed in the prodigality of nature, The spacious world cannot again afford : And will she yet abase her eyes on me AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 47 "in its contrary as greut As my trust was ; " " — : always uuderstood, that if you can reconcile all the words, and make no falsity, that is a case quite out of this rule, which hath place only where there is a direct contrariety or falsity not to be reconciled to this rule." — Maxims of the Law, Regula XXIV. And, illustrating also his delight in playing with words : "And yet they say that an use is but a nimble and light thing ; and now, contrariwise, it seemeth to be weightier than anything else : for you cannot weigh it up to raise it, neither by deed nor deed enrolled, without the weight of a consideration." — Heading on the Statute of Uses.* That cropped the golden prime of this sweet prince," — Biohard III., I., 2.) " Seldom but that pity begets you a good opinion, and that opinion a mere profit." — Pericles, IV., S. (" For lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance." — Of Vain Glory.') " Scroop. Let him be punished, sovereign ; lest example Breed, by his suffrance, more of such a kind. K. Hen. If little faults, proceeding on distemper, Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd and digested. Appear before us?" — Henry V., II., 3. (" Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." — Of Studies.) " Know that this gold must coin a stratagem. Which cunningly effected, will beget A very excellent piece of villainy." — Tit. Andron., II., 3. * " — purse and brain both empty ; the brain the heavier for being too light, the purse too light being drawn of heaviness ; ! of this contradiction you shall now be quit." — Cymbeline, r.,4- The following are a couple of like examples from a single Letter to Queen Elizabeth : 48 FRANCIS BACON " As for profit, there appeareth a direct contrm-iety be- tween that and all three courses." — Gesta Grayorum. " Without it there can be no fortitude, for all other darings come of fury, and fury is a passion, and passions ever turn into their contraries, and therefore the most furious men, when their first blaze is spent, be commonly the most fearful." — Advice to Rutland on his Travels.* " I think I would rest senseless of that wherein others liave sense restless, and that is of my particular estate and fortune. . . . Thirdly, your Majesty may by this redemption (for so may I truly call it) free me from the contempt of the contempt- ible, that measure a man by his estate." And in the same vein : " or to dissever so Our great self and our credit, to esteem A senseless help, when help past sense we deem." — All's Well, II., 1. " Above the sense of sense : so sensible Seemeth their conference." — L. L. L., V., 2. " I think you may use all the places of logic against his plac- ing." — Letter to Essex. " Open your mouth : this will shake your shaking, I can tell you, and that soundly." — Tempest, II., 2. " For the greatness of the fault, I shall not insist upon it, it hath already been so soundly sounded." — Speech on Telverton's Case. " To England will I steal, and there I'll steal." — Henry V., v., 2. " Let me know of such roots, and I will root them out of the country." — Speech to the Judges. " All this must be because you can pleasure men at pleasure." — Letter to Sir Vincent Skinner. " And if what pleases him shall pleasure you." — ///., Henry VI., III., 2. " This concurrence of occurrents." — Speech on S^ibsidy Bill. " O single-soled jest, solely singular for the singleness." — Romeo aiul Jidiet, II., 4-- * " And all things change them to the contrary." — Romeo and Juliet, IV., 5. AND ITIS SHAICESPEAUE. 49 " Excuseth memory : — Distracted by one day of aston- ishment, two of gladness : — Two contrary passions." — Notes for Speech Touching Subsidy. These are but a few out of a multitude of examples, such was his penchant for antithesis. " wliicli had indeed no limit, A confidence sans bound." '''■ Another peculiarity of Bacon was his frequent exagger- ation of quantity or quality to the utmost limit of state- ment : " Meaning that her goodness was without limit, where there was a true concurrence ; which I knew in her nature to be true." — Apology Concerning the JEarl of Essex. " Sweet love, I see, changing his property. Turns to the sourest and most deadly hate." — Bichard II., III., 2. " But, my Lords, as it is a principle in nature, that the best things are in their corruption the worst, and the sweetest wine makes the sharpest vinegar ; so it fell out with them that this excess (as I may term it) of friendship ended in mortal hatred." — Charge Against the Earl of Somerset. * " I was three of my young years bred with an embassador in France." — Letter to King James. ( See Henry V., Ill, J^.) In some instances, he even dropped into the peculiar French idiom : '■'■Myself, as I then took contentment in your approbation thereof, so I should esteem and acknowledge not only my con- tentment increased, but my labor advanced, if I might obtain your help in that nature which I desire." — Letter to Dr. Play- fair, Professor at Cambridge. In his old age and in distress, he thus appeals to Buckingham, formerly Villiers, to whom he had been of great service : " Myselfh&ve ridden at anchor all your Grace's absence, and my cables are now quite worn. . . . My lord, do some good work upon me, that I may end my days in comfort, which nev- ertheless cannot be complete except you put me in some way to i 50 FRANCIS RACON " And his ambition was so exhorbitant and unbounded, as he became suitor to the King for the earldom of Ches- ter, which ever being a kind of appendage to the princi- pality of Wales, and using to go to the King's son, his suit (lid not only end in a denial, but in a distaste." — History of Henry VII. His heart thus pours forth of its fulness, in expression of the tender affection between himself and Sir Toby Matthew : "Whatsoever the event be (wherein I depend upon God, who ordaineth the effect, the instrument, all) yet your in- cessant thinking of me, without loss of a moment of time, or a hint of occasion, or a circumstance of endeavor, or a stroke of a pulse, in demonstration of love and affection to me doth infinitely tie me to you." — Letter to Matthew* do your noble self service." And again : " For, as I writ be- fore, my cables are worn out, my hope of tackling is by your Lordship's means." This mournful note of the sea, whispering of the voyage of life, of loosening moorings and worn-out tackling, though in the sober measures of prose, as was befitting in correspondence, swells into a full diapason, in the tempest of poetic license: " K. John. O cousin, thou art come to set mine eye : The tackle of my heart is erack'd and burnt ; And all the shrouds, wherewith my life should sail Are turned to one thread, one little hair ; My heart hath one poor string to stay it by, Which holds but till thy news be uttered." ■ — King John, V., 7. * " He is one of the noblest note, to whose kindness I am most infinitely tied." — Cymbeline, /., 6. " A thousand oaths, an ocean of his tears, And instances as infinite of love Warrant me welcome to Proteus." — Tivo Gentlemen of Verona, II., 7. " Our duty is so rich, so infinite. That we may do it still without accompt." —L. L. L., v., 2. AND HIS SIIAKESPEAEE. 51 Again ; " But so it was, that not only the consent but the applause and joy was infinite, and not to he expressed, throughout the realm of England, upon this succession, whereof the consent, no doubt may be truly ascribed to the clearance of the right, but the general joy, alacrity and gratulation were the effects of different causes," etc. — Fragment of the History of Great Britain.* In the contrary sense, but the like pleonasm : " But yet for all that, this liberty is not infinite and without limits.'^ — Charge Against Whitelock. And to cap the climax : " I know I ought doubly infi- nitely to be her Majesty's." — Letter framed for Essex.^ "Neither mought I in reason presume to offer unto your Majesty dead lines, myself being excluded as I am ; were it not upon this only argument or subject, namely to clear myself in point of duty. Duty, though my state lie buried in the sands, and my favors be cast upon the waters, and my honors be com- mitted to the wind, yet standeth surely built upon the rock, and hath been, and ever shall be, unforced and unattempted." — Let- ter written for Essex to the Queen. " Wolsey. I am loyal, and will be. Though all the world should crack their duty to you, And throw it from their soul ; though perils did Abound, as thick as thought could make them, and Appear in forms more horrid ; yet my duty, As doth a rook against the chiding flood. Should the approach of this wild river break. And stand unshaken yours." — Henry VIII., Ill, 2. * " I mean that her beauty is exquisite, but her favor infi- nite." — Two Gentlemen of Verona, II., 1. " A satire against the softness of prosperity ; with a discov- ery of the infinite flatteries that follow youth and prosperity." —Timon of Athens, V., 1. " 0, you shall be exposed, my lord, to dangers As infinite as immanent." — Troil. and Cress., IV., 1. " In nature's infinite book of secrecy A little I can read." — Ant. and Gleo., I., S. t " Oh, were the sum of these that I should pay 52 FRANCIS BACON But it was in his pleasantries that Bacon gave the freer rein to this propensity. The following from a Court Masqiie, in celebration of the Queen's day in November, 1595, entitled by Spedding (Bacon's Works, Vol. VIII., page 377) Bacon's Device, is well worthy of its space, as an example, to mention nothing else, of the extravagance in thought and language of which he was capable : " Shall any man make his conceit as an anchor, mured up with compass of one beauty or person, that may have the liberty of all contemplation ? Shall he exchange the sweet travelling through the universal variety for one wearisome and endless round or labyrinth ? . . . " If from a sanguine, delightful humor of love he turn to a melancholy, retired humor of contemplation, or a tur- bulent, boiling humor of the wars, what doth he but change tyrants? Contemplation is a dream, love a trance, and the humor of war is raving. These be shifts of humor, but no reclaiming to reason. . . . " Nay, in his demonstration of love let him not go too far ; for these silly lovers, when they profess such infinite affection and obligation, they tax themselves at so high a rate they are ever under arrest.* . . . Countless and infinite, yet I would pay them." — Tit. Andron., V., S. " Beyond the infinite and boundless reach Of mercy, if thou didst this deed of death Art thou damn'd, Hubait." — King John, IV., S. — "he's a most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar." —Airs Well, III., 6. " Valor and pride excell themselves in Hector. The one almost as infinite as all, The other blank as nothing." — Troil. and Cress., IV., 5. * And in the like extravagance : " For these fellows of infi- nite tongue, that can rhyme themselves into ladies' favors, they do always reason themselves out again." — Henry V., V., 2. " Would now like him, now loathe him ; then entertain him, AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 53 " But give ear now to the comparison of my master's condition, and acknowledge such a difference as is betwixt the melting hail-stone and the solid pearl. Indeed it seemeth to depend as the globe of the earth seemeth to hang in the air ; but yet it is firm and stable in itself. It is like a cube or die form, which toss it or throw it any way, it ever lighteth upon a square. Is he denied the hopes of favors to come ? He can resort to the remembrance of contentments passed : destiny cannot repeal that which is past. Doth he find the acknowledgment of his affection small ? He may find the merit of his affection greater ? Fortune cannot have power over that which is within. " Nay, his falls are like the falls of Antaeus ; they re- new his strength. His clouds are like the clouds of har- vest, which make the sun break forth with greater force ; his wanes and changes are like the moon, whose globe is all light towards the sun when it is all dark towards the world ; such is the excellency of her nature and of his estate. then forswear him, now weep for him, then spit at him ; that I drave my suitor from his mad humor of love, to a living humor of madness ; which was to forswear the full stream of the world, and to live in a nook merely monastic." — As You Like It, III., 2. And again : " Troilus. In all Cupid's pageant there is presented no mon- ster. Cressida. Nor nothing monstrous neither? Troilus. Nothing, but our undertakings : when we vow to weep seas, live in fire, eat rocks, tame tigers ; thinking it harder for our mistress to devise imposition enough, than for us to un- dergo any difficulty imposed. This is the monstrosity in love, lady, — that the will is infinite, and the execution confined ; that the desire is boundless, and the act a slave to limit. Cressida. They say, all lovers swear more performance than they are able, and yet reserve an ability that they never per- form ; vowing more than the perfection of ten, and discharging less than the tenth part of one. They that have the voice of lions, and the act of hares, are they not monsters." — Trail, and Cress., III., 2. 54 FRANCIS BACON " Attend, you beadsman of the Muses, you take pleasure in a wilderness of variety ; but it is but of shadows. You are as a man rich in pictures, medals, and crystals. Your mind is of the water, which taketh all forms and impres- sions, but is weak of substance. Will you compare shad- ows with bodies, picture with life, variety of many beau- ties with the peerless excellency of one? the element of water with the element of fire ? And such is the compari- son between knowledge and love." * * The reader has doubtless already discerned our broader pur- pose, which is to afford him an opportunity to become person- ally acquainted with Bacon's innate imaginative power. And to this end we add still another example : Writing to Essex in 1596, he embodies his thought in this beautiful figure: " Wherein I do not doubt but as the beams of your favor often dissolved the coldness of my fortunes, so in this argument, your Lordship will do the like with your pen." Again, in writing to King James, he amplifies the same poetic imagery : " And so expecting that that sun which when it went from us left us cold weather, and now that it is returned towards us brought with it a blessed harvest, will when it cometh to us dis- perse all mists and mistakings, I ever rest, etc." The same expressive figure is utilized in the opening words of Riclixird III.: " Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this son of York ; And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried." This is indeed but a slight variation of the theme ; for it is but a hazy film tliat veils cold weather under the guise of win- ter, a blessed harvest in a glorious summer, and mists in lower- ing clouds. It is the same gorgeous transformation scene, util- izing poetically, in brilliant imagery, the subtle, inner, meta- phorical meaning of the revivifying power of the returning sun. AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 55 CHAPTER I. — Continued. " He being thus lorded, Not only with what my revenue yielded," " Sure I am that the treasure that cometh from you to her Majesty is but as a vapor which riseth from the earth and gathereth into a cloud, and stayeth there not long, but upon the same earth it falleth again : and what if some drops of this do fall upon France or Flanders ? It is like a sweet odor of honor and reputation to our nation throughout the world." — Speech on the Queeiis Subsidy. " And first in general we acknowledge that this tree of Tenures was planted into the prerogative by the ancient common law of this land ; that it hath been fenced in and preserved by many statutes ; and that it yieldeth at this day to the King the fruit of a great revenue. But yet not- withstanding, if upon the stem of this tree may be raised a pillar of support to the Crown permanent and durable as the marble, by investing the Crown with a more ample, more certain, and more loving dowry than this of Tenures, we hope we propound no matter of disservice." — Speech upon the Compounding of Tenures.* " But what my power might else exact," " And there is a great difference between a benevolence * " And further, he that shall look into your revenues at the ports of the sea, your revenues in courts of justice, and for the stirring of your seals, the revenues upon your clergy, and the rest, will conclude that the law of England studied how to make a rich crown, and yet without levies upon your subjects." — Of the True Greatness of the Kingdom of Britain. 56 FRANCIS BACON and an exaction called a benevolence ; * which the Duke of Buckingham speaks of in his oration to the city ; and defineth it to be not what the subject of his good-will would give, but what the king of his good-will would take." — Charge Against St. John, " And this Solomon of England, for Solomon was too heavy upon his people in exactions." — History of Henry VII. " like one Who having unto truth, by telKng of it, Made such a sinner of his memory, To credit his own lie, — he did believe He was indeed the duke; " " Neither was Perkin, for his part, wanting to himself, either in gracious or princely behavior, or in ready and apposite answers, or in contenting and caressing those that did apply themselves unto him, or in pretty scorn and disdain to those that seemed to doubt him ; but in all things did notably acquit himself ; insomuch as it was gen- erally believed, as well amongst great persons as amongst the vulgar, that he was indeed Duke Eichard. Nay, him- self, with long and continued counterfeiting, and with oft telling a lie, was turned by habit almost into the thing he seemed to be ; and from a liar to a believer." — History of Henry Vll.'f * '' And daily new exactions are devised — As blanks, benevolencies, and I wot not what;" — Kinff Richard II., II., 1. t In the interest of the earnest student of the plays, it should be mentioned that Bacon found in the classics (Tacitus) the germ out of which he developed this keen diagnosis of an ab- normal or disordered state of the mental powers: " And indeed let a man look into them, and he shall find them the only triumphant lies that ever were confuted by cir- cumstances of time and place, confuted by contrariety iw them- selves, confuted by tlio witness of bifi.alte persons that live yet AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 57 " out of the substitution,* And executing the outward face of royalty,f With all j)rerogative : — " The maintenance of the royal prerogative was Bacon's especial duty as Attorney-General for the Crown, and when Lord Keeper, he thus charged Sir John Denham, made Baron of the Exchequer : " First, therefore, above all you ought to maintain the King's prerogative, and to set down with yourself that the King's prerogative and the law are not two things ; but the King's prerogative is law, and the principal part of the law ; the first born or -pars prima of the law ; and there- fore in conserving and maintaining that, you conserve and maintain the law." And in humorous parlance, for in the words of Ben Jonson, Bacon's speech was nobly censorious, " when he could spare or pass a jest ": and have had particular knowledge of the matters ; but yet avouched with such asseveration, as if either they were fallen into that strange disease of the mind which a wise writer de- scribethin these words,_;?rep'MW^ svmul oreduntq;ue ; " etc., [They feign and at the same time believe it.] — Observations on a Libel, in 1592. And, by the way, if the classics are capable of such fruitage, even in one mind in a generation, can we afford to omit them from the curriculum open to our youth ? * In his Considerations Touching the Pacification and Edi- fication of the Church, Bacon condemns the holding of a bene- fice and executing its functions by a representative ; adding by way of exception, " and likewise for the case of necessity, as in the particular of infirmity of body and the like, no man will contradict but there may be some substitution for such a' time." t "The outward face of peace might flatter them into negli- gence, but their only real security was to be prepared for war." — Speech on Motion and Supply. " And therefore whensoever it cometh to pass that one saith 58 PKANCIS BACON "Then add to that some large allowance for waste (because the King shall not lose his prerogative to be de- ceived more than other men)." — On Retrenchment in the Household. And again, poetically : " His lordship further cited two precedents concerning other points of prerogative, which are likewise flowers of the crown." — Report of Salisbury's Answer to the Mer- chants. " Your Majesty's prerogative and authority having risen some just degrees above the horizon more than here- tofore, which hath dispersed vapors." — On the Im.j)olicy of the Alliance. The following is well worthy of place in illustration of Bacon's profound reverence for the " divine right of kings," a pronounced characteristic repeatedly manifested in the plays. Moreover, it lay at the foundation of the thorough respectability of the system then in vogue, of " suing " to the crown, as to the ordained source of earthly benefits, for the bestowal of privileges, favors, and ad- vancements : all of which is to us as foreign as if it be- longed to another world, and likewise as liable to be mis- judged : " The platforms are three : The first is that of a father, or chief of a family ; who governing over his wife by pre- rogative of sex, over his children by prerogative of age, and because he is author unto them of being, and over his servants by prerogative of virtue and providence (for he that is able of body, and improvident of mind, is nat- uru servus) is the very model of a king. . . . And this is the first platform, which we see is merely natural.* Ecce in deserto, another saith Ecce in penetralis, that is, when some men seek Christ in conventicles of heretics, and others in an outward face of a church, that voice had need continually to sound in men's ears, nulitc exire, — ' go not out.' " — Of Unity in Religion. * " Yet no man will affirm, that the obedience of the child is AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 59 " The second is that of a shepherd and his flock, which, Xenophon saith, Cyrus had ever in his mouth. For shep- herds are not owners of the sheep ; but their office is to feed and govern ; no more are kings proprietaries or owners of the people ; for God is sole owner of people. ' The nations,' as the Scriptures saith, ' are his inheritance ': but the office of kings is to govern, maintain and protect people. And it is not without a mystery, that the first king that was instituted by God, David (for Saul was but an untimely fruit), was translated from a shepherd, as you have it in Psalms Ixxviii. This is the second plat- form ; a work likewise of nature. " The third platform is the government of God himself over the world, whereof lawful monarchies are a shadow. And therefore amongst the Heathen, and amongst the Christians, the word sacred hath been attributed unto kings, because of the conformity of a monarchy with a divine Majesty: never to a senate or people. . . . So, we see, there be precedents or platforms of monarchies, both in nature, and above nature ; even from the monarch of heaven and earth to the king,* if you will, in a hive of by law, though laws in some points do make it more positive : and even so it is of allegiance of subjects to hereditary mon- archs, which is corroborated and confirmed by law, but is the work of the law of nature." — Case of the Post Nati of Scotland. * Curiously enough, the same intentional misnomer appears in the parallel passage in Henry V., I-, 2. "Bishop of Exeter. For government, though high and low, and lower, Put into parts, doth keep in one consent ; Congruing in a full and natural close. Like music. Canterbury. Therefore doth heaveri divide The state of man in divers functions, Setting endeavor in continual motion ; To which is fixed, as an aim or butt, Obedience : for so work the honey bees ; Creatures, that, by a rule of nature, teach 60 FRANCIS BACON bees. And therefore other states are the creatures of law: and this state only subsisteth by nature." — Cam of ilia Post Nati of Scotland. "Hence his ambition growing," — In his elegant exposition of the fable of Dionysius, Bacon gives a powerful delineation of the growth of all inordinate desire, from its first inception, through its development, to its final outbreak into overt, infamous action ; the fidelity of which all must recognize : " The fable seems to bear upon morals, and indeed there is nothing better to be found in moral philosophy. Under the person of Bacchus is described the nature of Desire, or passion aud perturbation. For the 'mother of all desire, even the most noxious, is nothing else than the appetite and aspiration for apparent good ; and the conception of it is always in some unlawful wish, rashly granted before it has been understood and weighed. But as the passion warms, its mother (that is the nature of good), not able to endure the heat of it, is destroyed and perishes in the The act of order to a peopled kingdom. They have a king, and officers of sorts : Where some, like magistrates, correct at home; Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad ; Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds ; Which pillage they with merry march bring home To the tent-royal of their emperor : Who, busied in his majesties, surveys The singing masons building roofs of gold ; The civil citizens kneading up the honey ; The poor mechanic porters crowding in Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate ; The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum. Delivering o'er to executors pale The lazy yawning drone. I this infer, — That many things, having full reference To one consent, may work contrariously." AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 61 flame. Itself, while still in embryo, remains in the hu- man soul (which is its fathe?' and represented by Jupi- ter), especially in the lower part of the soul, as in the thigh ; where it is both nourished and hidden ; and where it causes such prickings, pains, and depressions in the mind, that its resolutions and actions labor and limp with it. And even after it has grown strong by indul- gence and custom, and breaks forth into acts, it is never- theless brought up for a time with Proserpina ; that is to say, it seeks hiding-places, and keeps itself secret and as it were underground ; until casting off all restraints of shame and fear, and growing bold, it either assumes the mask of some virtue or sets infamy itself at defiance. . . . Very elegantly too is Passion represented as the subjugator of provinces, and the undertaker of an endless course of conquest. For it never rests satisfied with what it has, but goes on and on with infinite, insatiable appetite, pant- ing after new triumphs." — Wisdom of the Ancients, XXIV. " And, as it fareth with smoke, that never loseth itself till it be at the highest, he did now before his end raise his style, entitling himself no more Richard, Duke of York, but Richard the Fourth, King of England." — His- tory of Henry VII. "Dost thou hear? Mir. Your tale, sir, would cure deafness." " Auribus mederi difficillium." [To cure the ears most difficult.] — Promus of Formularies and Elegancies. This mere association may be supplemented by the fol- lowing equally poetic figures : " unto your Majesty's sacred ears (open to the air of all virtues.)" — Letter to King James. " wherein his Majesty's pen hath been so happy, as though the deaf adder will not hear, yet he is charmed 62 fRANCIS BACON that he doth not hiss." — Speech in Reinly to the Speaker's Oration.* " Therefore your Lordship's discourses had need con- tent my ears very well to make them entreat mine eyes to keep open." — Advertisement Touching an Holy War.] "Pros. To have no screen J between this part he play'd And him he play'd it for," " I think no man may more truly say with the Psalm, Multum incola fuit anima mea, than myself. For I do confess, since I was of any understanding, any mind hath in effect been absent from what I have done ; and in ab- sence are many errors which I do willingly acknowledge ; and amongst the rest this great one that led the rest ; that knowing myself by inward calling to be fitter to hold a book than to play apart, I have led my life in civil causes ; for which I was not very fit by nature, and more unfit by the preoccupation of my mind. Therefore calling myself home, I have now for a time enjoyed myself ; whereof likewise I desire to make the world partaker." — Letter to Sir Tliomas Bodley (presenting a copy of his Advance- * " For pleasure and revenge Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice Of any true decision." — Troil. and Cress., II., 2. t And in the like vein : " If this be true, (As I have such a heart that both mine eyes Must not in haste abuse.)" — Cymheline I., 6. t " in short, to be a screen to your Majesty in things of this nature ; such as was the Lord Burleigh for many years." — Letter to King James. " for by that means, there be so many screens between him and envy." — Of Envy. AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 6.^ ment of Learning^, written iu 1605, sixteen years before his fall. " Therefore I will reserve that till to-morrow, and hold myself to that which I called the stage or theatre, where- unto indeed it may be fitly compared : for that things were first contained within the invisible judgments of God, as within a curtain, and after came forth and were acted most worthily by the King, and right well by his Minis- ters." — Charge Against the Countess of Somerset. And in pleasantry : " And as for you, untrue Politique, . . while your life is nothing but a continual acting upon a stage; and that your mind must serve your humor, and yet your outward person must serve your end ; so as you carry in one per- son two several servitudes to contrary masters." — Device for Court Masque. " lie needs will be Absolute Milan." " And that King Ferdinando, howsoever he did dismiss himself of the name of King of Castile, yet meant to hold the kingdom without account and in absolute command." — History of Henry VII. "His Majesty's prerogative and his absolute power in- cident to his sovereignty is also lex terrae, and is invested and exercised by the law of the land, and is part thereof." — Proceeding Against Whitelocke. " For it is plain that a kingdom and absolute dukedom, or any other sovereign estate, do differ honore and not potestate." — Case ofthePost-Mati of Scotland.* * " So the mistaking (whether voluntary or ignorant, but gross and idle I am sure) of the end and use of this writ hath bred a great buzz, and a kind of amazement, as if this were a work of absohite power, or a strain of the prerogative, or a checking or shocking of justice, or an infinite delay." — Case de Rege In- eonsulto. 64 FRANCIS BACON "i/c, poor man, iny library- Was dukedom Lirge enough ; " See note to " sans bound," ante page 49. Possibly the idea of a more satisfying enjoyment of power is implied, in a subtle way, in the use of the phrase, " dukedom large enough." The reader is referred to the lengthy passage in the Advancejnent of Learning, First Book, Works, Spedding's edition. Vol. III., page 316, or Bohn's edition, page 68, where in an eloquent plea to man- kind in behalf of learning, Bacon characterizes it as a do- main of real power, higher than that of any earthly domin- ion, and approaching "nearest to the similitude of the divine rule." (Perhaps none will object if henceforth, for economy of space, in some minor matters, references merely be given, to be consulted at the reader's leisure.) " of temporal royalties He thinks me now incapable : " Prospero's faults are here, as in life, working out their inevitable penalty ; for as Bacon urged in his Advice to Essex, going into Ireland, " There is yet another kind of divination familiar in matters of state, being that which Demosthenes so often relieth upon in his time, when he saith, ' That which for the time past is worst of all, is for the time to come the best : which is, that things go ill not hy accident, hut hy errors.^ " AYe may confidently believe that in the intent of the Poet, Prospero's persistent seclusion, his absorbing devo- tion to secret studies, his consequent neglect, and his ex- cess of trust, were efficient causes contributing directly to his coming overthrow. " Again, if you think you may intend comtemplations with security, your Excellency will be deceived ; for such AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 65 studies will make you retired aud disused with your busi- ness, whence will follow a diminution of your authority." — Gesta Grayorum, Fourth Counsellor. " And let men beware how they neglect and suffer mat- ter of trouble to be prepared. For no man can forbid the spark, nor tell whence it may come. The difficulties in princes' business are many and great ; but the greatest dif- ficulty is often in their own mind." — Of Empire. " ' There are seasons,' says Tacitus, ' wherein great vir- tues are the surest causes of ruin.' And upon men emi- nent for virtue and justice it comes suddenly, sometimes long foreseen." — De Augmentis, Eighth Book, Chap. II. " confederates * (So dry he viras for sway) with the King of Naples," " But Richard, Duke of Gloucester, their unnatural un- cle, first thirsting after the kingdom, through ambition, and afterwards thirsting for their blood, out of desire to secure himself, employed an instrument of his, confident to him, as he thought, to murder them both." " For Pope Alexander, finding himself pent and locked up by a league and association of the principal states of Italy, that he could not make his way for the advancement of his own house, v/hich he immoderately thirsted after, was desirous to trouble the waters of Italy, that he might fish the better." — History of Henry VII. " To give him annual tribute, do him homage ; f Subject his coronet to his crown J and bend The dukedom, yet unbow'd, (alas poor Milan ! ) To most ignoble stooping." § * See WorJcs, Vol. 7, page 171 ; Vol. 14, page 500. t See WorJcs, Vol. 6, pp. 63, 65 ; Vol. 7, pp. 334, 482. t See WorJcs, Vol. 13, p. 196. § See WorJcs, Vol. 6, pp. 32, 222 ; Vol. 14, pp. 445, 517. 66 FRANCIS BACON Still another phase of human life and experience is here unfolded before us : " It is a poor centre of a man's action, himself. . . . it is a desperate evil in a servant to a prince or a citizen in a republic ; for whatsoever affairs pass such a man's hands, he crooketh them to his own ends, which must needs be often eccentric to the ends of his master or state : therefore let princes or states choose such servants as have not this mark ; except they mean their service should be made but the accessory. That which maketh the effect more pernicious is, that all proportion is lost : it were disproportionate enough for the servant's good to be pre- ferred before the master's ; but yet it is a greater extreme, when a little good of the servant shall carry things against a great good of the master's ; and yet that is the case of bad officers, treasurers, ambassadors, generals, and other false and corrupt servants ; which set a bias upon their bowl,* of their own pretty ends and envies to the over- throw of their master's great and important affairs ; and for the most part, the good such servants receive is after the model of their ov/n fortune ; but the hurt they sell for that good is after the model of their master's fortune ; and ceitainly it is the nature of extreme self-lovers, as they will set a house on fire, an it were but to roast their eggs." — Of Wisdom for a Man's Self. It is obvious that had the Poet made Antonio accom- l»lish his usurpation by the aid of his own minions, with- out bending Milan to such " ignoble stooping," this phase of human nature would have been left comparatively un- developed and the lesson less pointedly taught. * " Commodity, the bias of the world ; The world, who of itself is pieskl well, Made to run even, upon even ground ; Till this advantage, this vile drawing bias, This sway of motion, this commodity, Makes it take head from all indifferency, From all direction, purpose, courso, intent." — King John II., £?. AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 67 "i/v>. O the heavens! Pros. Mark his condition ; * and the event ; f then tell me, If this might be a brother." " And even when the ties of relationship (which are as the sacraments of nature) or of mutual good services come in to aid, yet in most cases all are too weak for ambition and interest and the license of power : the rather because princes can always find plenty of plausible pretexts (not being accountable to any arbiter) wherewith to justify and veil their cupidity and bad faith." — Wisdom of the An- cients, V. " 3IiT. I should sin To think but nobly of my grandmother : Good wombs have borne bad sons." See note to " a good parent," ante, page 44. " Pros. Now the condition. This king of Naples being an enemy To me inveterate, J hearkened my brother's suit ; § Which was, that he, in lieu o' the premises- — " In this concise, lawyer-like statement of the contract, * See WorJcs, Vol. 13, pp. 18, 64, 111, 212. t See Works, Vol 3, p. 371 ; Vol. 8, pp. 356, 357, 383 ; Vol. 14, p. 494. i The following from Snc. Brit., Article Italy — History — Age of Invasions, 1492, — would seem to indicate a close famil- iarity with the History of Italy on the part of the Poet: " Lu- dovico resolved to become Duke of Milan. The King of Na- ples was his natural enemy, and he had cause to suspect that Piero de' Medici might abandon his alliance." See also Works, Vol. 6, p. 208. § See Works, Vol. 8, p. 193. 68 rUANCIS BACON its consideration, the condition of its performance, and its fulfilment in the event, the appropriate use of this tech- nical legal phrase will be recognized at once by every at- torney. Moreover, it is evidently handled with that ease and freedom which accompany a mastery of technique. " Of liomage, and I know not liow much tribute, — Should jiresently extirpate me and mine Out of the dukedom ; * and confer fair Milan, With all the honors on my brother ; whereon, A treacherous army levied, one midnight Fated to the purpose,f did Antonio open The gates of Milan ; and, i' the dead of darkness, J The ministers for the purpose hurried thence IMe, and thy crying self" The deep insight of the Poet into the heart of things, and even into the occult sympathies existing between an ac- tion and its natural environment, here manifested in cloth- ing this deed in the shroud of night, needs but to be men- tioned to be appreciated. After his fall. Bacon addressed the Bishop of Winches- ter in these remarkable words ; revealing his greatness, even in the midst of his ruin : " In this kind of consolation I have not been wanting to myself, though as a Christian I have tasted (through God's great goodness) of higher remedies. Having there- fore, through the variety of my reading, set before me many examples, both of ancient and later times, my thoughts (I confess) have chiefly stayed upon three par- ticulars, as the most eminent and the most resembling. All three persons that had held chief places of authority * See Works, Vol. 8, p. 133. t See Works, Vol. 4, pp. 92, 320. •1: See Worlts, Vol. 6, p. 496 ; Vol. 9, p. 110 ; Vol. 10, p. 185. AND ills SHAKESPEARE. 69 in their countries ; all three ruined, not by war, or by any other disaster, but by justice and sentence, as delinquents and criminals ; all three famous writers, insomuch as the resemblance of their calamity is now as to posterity but as a little picture of night-work, remaining amongst the fair and excellent tables of their acts and works ; and all three (if that were anything to the matter) fit examples to quench any man's ambition of rising again ; for that they were every one of them restored with great glory, but to their further ruin and destruction, ending in a vio- lent death. The men were Demosthenes, Cicero, and Seneca; persons that I durst not claim affinity with, ex- cept the similitude of our fortunes had contracted it. When I had cast mine eyes upon these examples, I was carried on further to observe how they did bear their for- tunes, and principally how they did employ their times, being banished and disabled for public business : to the end that I might learn by them ; and that they might be as well my counsellors as my comforters. . . . These ex- amples confirmed me much in a resolution (whereunto I was otherwise inclined) to spend my time wholly in writ- ing ; and to put forth that poor talent, or half talent, or what it is, that God hath given me, not as heretofore to particular exchanges, but to banks or mounts of perpetu- ity, which will not break." "Mir. Alack, for pity ! I, not remembering how I cried out then, Will cry it o'er again : it is a hint That wrings mine eyes to 't." Wright, and some critics following him, interpret the word "hint" as meaning "subject, theme," while other critics say " suggestion." But there can be no doubt as to the meaning of the word, or of its exquisite adaptation to the thought ex- pressed, after reading the following : '■'■Pity causeth sometimes tears, and a flexion or cast of 70 FRANCIS BACON the eye aside. Tears come from the same cause that they do in grief : for pity is but grief in another's behalf."— Natural History, 719. "Pros. Hear a little further, And then I '11 bring thee to the present business Which now 's upon us; without the which, this story Were most impertinent." " This were a large field to enter into, and therefore I will only choose such a walk in it as leadeth pertinently to the question in hand: wherein I will stand only on pre- rogatives that did beget this writ." — Case of the Recje Inconsulto. " Although therefore I had wholly sequestered my thoughts from civil affairs, yet because it is a new case and concerneth my country infinitely, I obtained of myself to set down (out of long continued experience iu business of estate, and much conversation in books of policy and history) what I thought pertinent to this husiness." — Considerations Touching a War With Spain. " For if it be time to talk of this now, it is either be- cause the husiness now in hand cannot proceed without it, or because in time and order this matter should be precedent." — Speech on Union of Laws. "llir. Wherefore did they not That hour destroy us ? Pros. Well demanded, wench ; ]\Iy tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not,* — So dear the love my people bore me, — not set A mark so bloody on the business ; f but With colors fairer painted their foul ends." * For this colloquialism see ante page 69. t See Works, Vol. 6, p. 424 ; Vol. 7, p. 101 ; Vol. 12, p. 308. AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 71 " Color is, when men warily and skillfully make and prepare a way for themselves, for a favorable and conven- ient construction of their faults or wants ; as proceeding from a better cause, or intended for some other purpose than is commonly imagined." — Be Auc/mentis, Eighth Book, Chap. II. " And that if the king should have occasion to break up his Parliament suddenly there may be more civil color to do it." — Advice ToucJmig the Calling of Parliament. " Many a cruzado hath the Bishop of Rome granted to him and his predecessors upon that color, which have all been spent upon the effusion of Christian blood. And now this present year, the levies of Germans which should have been made underhand for France were colored with the pretence of war upon the Turk." — Observations on a Libel.* *("Des. Believe me, I had rather have lost my purse Full of cruzadoes." — Othello, III., 4. " and as the only means To stop effusion of our Christian blood." — /., Henry VL, V., 1.) " I have advertised him by secret means, That if, about this hour he make his way, Under the color of his usual game. He shall here find his friends, with horse and men To set him free from his captivity." — III., Henry VI., IV., 5. ("I would be glad to hear often from you, and to be adver- tised how things pass, whereby to have some occasion to think some good thoughts." — Letter to Sir John Davis. See Sonnet LXXXV.) " Q. Mar. Henry my lord is cold in great affairs. Too full of foolish pity: and Gloster's show Beguiles him as the mournful crocodile With sorrow snares relenting passengers. . . . Cardinal. That he should die is worthy policy : But yet we want a color for his death." — //., Henry VL, III, L 72 FKANCIS BACON " So as the opinion of so great and wise a man doth seem unto me a good warrant both of the possibility and worth of this matter. . . . But because there be so many- good painters both for hand and colors, it needeth but encouragement and instruction to give life and light to it." — Letter to the Lord Chancellor. " Now pass to the excellencies of her person. The view of them wholly and not severally do make so sweet a won- der as I fear to divide them again. . . . For the beauty and many graces of her presence, what colors are fine enough for such a portraiture ? " — Discourse in Praise of the Queen.* (" It is the wisdom of crocodiles, that shed tears when they would devour." — Of Wisdom for a Man's Self. " Neither do you deny, honorable Lords, to acknowledge safety, profit, and power to be of the substance oi policy, and fame and honor rather to be as flowers of well ordained actions than as good ends." — Gesta Grayoi~um. " Never did base and rotten policy. Color her workings with such deadly wounds." — /., Henri) IV., I., 3. " Wherein it must be confessed, that heaven was made too much to bow to earth, and religion to policy." — History of Henry VII.) These things indeed you have articulated, Proclaimed at market-crosses, read in churches, To face the garment of rebellion With some fine color that may please the eye. And never yet did insurrection want Such water-colors to impaint his cause." — /., Henry IV., V., 1. * Claud. Disloyal ? D. John. The word is too good to paint out her wickedness." — Much Ado, III, 2. " And this I shall do, my Lords, in verbis masadis ; no flour- ishing or painted words, but such words as are fit to go before deeds." — Speech on Taking his Seat in Chancery. " Good lord Boyet, my beauty, tliougli but mean, AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 73 " In few,* they hurried us aboard a bark ; Bore us some leagues to sea ; where they prepared A rotten carcase of a boat,f not rigg'd, Nor tackle, sail, nor mast; " See the lengthy description of a ship's rigging in His- tory of the Winds. " the very rats Instinctively have quit it;" " Wisdom for a man's self is, in many branches thereof, a depraved thing : it is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a house somewhat before it fall." — Of Wis- dom for a Mian's Self. " there they hoist us, To cry to the sea that roar'd to us ; to sigh To the winds, whose pity, sighing back again, Did us but loving wrong. J Mir. Alack ! what trouble Was I then to you ! Pros. O ! a cherubim § Thou wast that did preserve me ! Thou didst smile, Infused with a fortitude from heaven," Needs not the painted flourish of your praise." —L. L. L., II., 1. " Lend me the flourish of all gentle tongues, — Fie, painted rhetoric ! O, she needs it not." — Id. IV., 3. * See Works, Vol. 6, p. 388 ; Vol. 13, pp. 68, 203 ; Vol. 14, p. 494. t See Works, Vol. 14, pp. 322, 437. t See Works, Vol. 2, p. 390. And for a like figure : " im- plying as if the King slept out the sobs of his subjects, until he was awaked with the thunderbolt of a parliament."— ^e^ori of Salisbury's Answer to the Merchants. § See Works, Vol. 3, pp. 152, 296. 74 FRANCIS BACON " And it leadeth us to fortitude, for it teaclieth us that we should not too much prize life which we cannot keep, nor fear death which we cannot shun ; that he which dies nobly doth live forever, and he that lives in fear doth die continually ; that pain and danger be great only by opin- ion, and that in truth nothing is fearful but fear itself." — Advice to Rutland on his Travels.* " But to speak in a mean, the virtue of prosperity is temperance, the virtue of adversity is fortitude, which in morals is the more heroical virtue." — Of Adversity. " Wherein you have well expressed to the world, that there is infused in your sacred he&vtfrom God that high principle and position of government." — On Pacification and Edification of the Church. " When I have deck'd the sea with drops full salt ; f Under my burden groan'd ; which raised in me An undergoing Htomach, to bear up Again.st what should ensue." " There is shaped a tale in London's forge,^ that beat- * " Cowards die many times before their deaths ; The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear ; Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come." — Julius Ccesar II., S. t For another extravagant reference to tears see Works, Vol. 7, p. 141. t " But now behold, In the quick forge and working-house of thought, How London doth pour out her citizens ! " — Henry V., V., Cliorus. "Mrs. Page. Come to the forge with it then; shape it: I would not have things cool." — Mer. Wives of Wind., IV., 2- (See context.) " Here he comes : to beguile two hours in a sleep, and then to return and swear the lies h.& forges." — All's Well, IV., 1. AND HIS SriAKESPEAKE. 76 eth apace at this time. That I shoukl deliver opinion to the Queen in my Lord of Essex' cause ; first, that it was 'praemunire ; * and now last, that it was high treason ; and this opinion to be in opposition and encounter of the Lord Chief Justice's opinion and the Attorney-General's. My Lord, I thank God my wit serveth me not to deliver any opinion to the Queen, which my stomach serveth me not to maintain; one and the same conscience guiding waA fortifying me. But the untruth of this fable God and my sovereign can witness, and there I leave it ; know- ing no more remedy against lies, than others do against libels." — Letter to Howard. " This wrought in the earl, as in a haughty stomach it useth to do ; for the ignominy printed deeper than the grace." " And being a man of stomach and hardened by his former troubles refused to pay a mite." — History of Henry FZ/.f * Possibly upon another occasion, he actually handled this in- tricate matter, over which he had such thorough command : " So in ' King Henry VIII.' we have an equally accurate statement of the omnivorous nature of a writ of praemunire. The Duke of Suffolk, addressing Cardinal Wolsey, says : " Lord Cardinal, the King's further pleasure is, Because all those things you have done of late. By your power legative within this kingdom. Fall into the compass of a praemunire, That therefore such a writ be used against you. To forfeit all your goods, lands, tenements, Chatties, and whatsoever, and to be Out of the King's protection." — Lord Campbell's Shakespeare's Legal Acquirements. If the reader will consult Bacon's Works, Vol. 7, p. 741 ; Vol. 11, p. 270 ; Vol. 12, p. 388, and then read Henry VIII., III., 2, he will more clearly apprehend the complexity of this ^raemwrnre, 'Bacon's mastery of it, and the aptness of its appli- cation to Wolsey's ecclesiastical offences. t "Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host. 76 FRANCIS BACON "Mir. How Ciime we asliore? Pros. By Providence divine." The following, from a multitude of examples, may well command present attention, coming from a man of such deep insight, who was anything but a fanatic : " In this fourteenth year also, hy God's wonderful prov- idence, that boweth things unto his will, and hangeth great weights upon small wires, there fell out a trifling and un- toward accident, that drew on great and happy effects." — Ilistoty of Henry VII.* " A matter that we cannot ascribe to the skill or tem- per of our own carriage, but to the guiding and conduct- ing of God's holy providence and will, the true author of all unity and agreement." — Considtation Concerning the Union of England and Scotland.] That he which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him depart." — Henry V., IV., S. " High-stomached are they both and full of ire." — Richard II., I, 1. " Of an unbounded stomach, ever ranking Himself with princes." — Henry VIII, IV., 2. * " He that of greatest works is finisher Oft does them by the weakest minister : Great floods have flown From simple sources ; and great seas have dried, When miracles have by the greatest been denied." —AlVs Well, 11, 1. t " The third part, which is History of Providence, has indeed been handled by the pens of some pious writers, but not with- out partiality. Its business is to observe that divine correspond- ence which sometimes exists between God's revealed and secret will. For though the judgments and counsels of God are so obscure that to the natural man they are altogether inscrutable, yea, and many times hidden from the eyes of those that behold them from the tabernacle, yet at sometimes it pleases the Divine Wisdom, for the better establishment of his people and the con- fusion of those who are without God in the world, to write it and report it to view in such capital letters that (as the prophet AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 77 ' Some food we had and some fresh water, A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo, saith) « He that runneth by may read it '; that is, that mere sensual persons and voluptuaries, who hasten by God's judg- ments, and never bend or fix their thoughts upon them, are nevertheless, though running fast and busy about other things, forced to discern them. Such are late and unlooked for judg- ments; deliverances suddenly and unexpectedly vouchsafed; divine counsels, through tortuous labyrinths and by vast cir- cuits, at length manifestly accomplishing themselves ; and the like ; all which things serve not only to console the minds of the faithful, but to strike and convince the consciences of the wicked." — De Augmentis, Second Book, Chap. XI. " The hinge of Shakespeare's plays, that upon which they turn, is God's providential order. . . . It is commandingly ethical, blaz- ing forth the truth that the government of this moral sphere is set against selfishness, against treachery, against hypocrisy, against the madness of lust and the unwisdom of jealousy. . . Nowhere outside of the Scriptures are the sins of men revealed with more astonishing and terrific power as acts committed against the divine moral order." — Address on The World of Shakespeare, by Rev. Dr. John Henry Barrows. "God's secret judgment."—//., Henry VI., III., 2. "O God! I fear thy justice will take hold On me, and you, and mine, and yours, for this." — Richard III., II., 1. " That high All-Seer, which I dallied with. Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head, And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest. Thus doth He force the swords of wicked men To turn their own points on their master's bosoms ; Come, lead me, officers, to the block of shame, Wrong hath but wrong, and blame the due of blame." — Id., v., 1. " O God ! if my deep prayers cannot appease thee. But thou wilt be avenged on my misdeeds. Yet execute thy wrath on me alone." — Richard III., /., 4- " Take heed ; for He holds vengeance in his hand, 78 FKANCIS BACON Out of his cliarity * — being then appointed Master of this design — did give us;" We are reminded of Bacon's mot, found in the report of his Speech against the repeal of the Statute of Charit- able Trusts : " That the last Parliament there were so many bills for the relief of the poor that he called it a Feast of Charity." Again, in a flame of poetic fervor, bursting forth even amidst the dry husks of the law : " Then I do wish that this rude mass and chaos of a good deed were directed rather to a solid merit and dur- able charity than to a blaze of glory, that will crackle a little in talk and quickly extinguish." — Advice Concern- ing Sutton's Estate. And again, in the enunciation of a vital truth : " But these be heathen and profane passages, which To hurl upon their heads that break his laws." — Richard III., I., 4. " Edgar. What means this bloody knife ? Gent. 'Tis hot, it smokes; It came even from the heart of — O, she's dead. Albany. Who dead? speak, man. Gent. Your lady, sir, your lady : and her sister By her is poison'd ; she confesses it. Edmund. I was contracted to them both ; all three Now marry in an instant. Albany. Produce the bodies, be they alive or dead ! — This judgment of the heavens, that makes us tremble, Touches us not with pity." — King Lear, V., S. '' Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well, When our dear plots do pall ; and that should teach us There's a divinity that shapes our ends Rough-hew them how we will." — Hamlet, V., 2. * " That he would confirm and ratify all just privileges. — This his bounty and amity ; as a king, royally ; as King James, sweetly and Icindly, out of his good nature." — Note of Report on Compromise Suggested by the King. AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 79 grasp at shadows greater than the substance ; but the true religion and holy Christian faith lays hold of the reality itself, by imprinting upon men's souls, Charity, which is excellently called ' the bond of perfection,' because it com- prehends and fastens all virtues together. ... So cer- tainly if a man's mind be truly inflamed with charity, it raises him to a greater perfection than all the doctrines of morality can do ; which is but a sophist in comparison of the other. Nay, further, as Xenophon truly observed, ' that all other affections though they raise the mind, yet they distort and disorder it by their ecstasies and excesses, but love only at the same time exalts and composes it '; so all the other qualities which we admire in man, though they advance nature, are yet subject to excess ; whereas Charity alone admits of no excess." — De Augmentis, Seventh Book, Chap. III. Is not the word "charity," in the text, used in this higher sense ? Bacon says : " And for an example of this kind, I did ever allow the discretion and tenderness of the Rhemish translation in this point ; that finding in the original the word ayanrj and never i'poos, do ever translate Charity and never Love, because of the indifferency and equivocation of that word with impure love." — Pacification and Unification of the Church. "with Rich garments, linens, stuflfe, and necessaries,* Which since have steadied much ; so, of his gentle- ness, Knowing I loved my books, he furnish' d me, From mine own library, with volumes that I prize above my dukedom." " Again for the pleasure and delight of knowledge and learning, it far surpasseth all other in nature. . . . We * See Works, Vol. 6, p. 150 ; Vol. 8, p. 158 ; Vol. 14, p. 544. 80 FBANCIS BACON see in all other pleasures there is satiety, and after they be used their verdure departeth ; . . . But of knowledge there is no satiety, but satisfaction and appetite are per- petually interchangeable ; and therefore appeareth to be good in itself simply, without fallacy or accident. . . . But the images of men's wits and knowledges remain in books, exempted from the wrong of time and capable of perpetual renovation. Neither are they fitly to be called images, because they generate still, and cast their seeds in the minds of others, provoking and causing infinite actions and opinions in succeeding ages." — Advancement of Learning, First Book. "3Ih: Would I might But ever see that man ! Pros. Now I arine : — [Resumes his mantle. Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.* Here in tliis island we arrived; and here Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit Than other princess' can, that have more time For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful." " But what I mean is, that princes educated in courts, as the undoubted heirs of a crown, are corrupted by in- dulgence, and thence generally rendered less capable and less moderate in the management of affairs." — In Memory of Queen Elizabeth. " Courts are but superficial schools, to dandle fools." — Parody on a Greek Epigram. "Mir. Heavens thank you for 't ! And now, I pray you. Sir, (For still 'tis beating in my mind,) your reason For raising this sea-storm ? " *See Works, Vol. 11, p. 200; Vol. 14, p. 489. AND HIS SHAKESPEARE. 81 " I am now beating my brains (among many cases of his Majesty's business) touching the redeeming the time in this business of cloth." — Letter to Villiers. " If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyer's cases." — Of Studies. " So all opinions and doubts are beaten over, and then men, having made a taste of all, wax weary of variety." — Of the Interpretation of Nature.* " Pros. Know tlius far forth, By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune, — Nov? my dear lady — hath mine enemies Brought to this shore : " " All wise men, to decline the envy of their own virtues, use to ascribe them to Providence and Fortune ; for so they may the better assume them : and besides, it is great- ness in a man to be the care of higher powers. . . . and it hath been noted that those who ascribe openly too much to their own wisdom and policy end unfortunate. It is written that Timotheus, the Athenian, after he had, in the * " Sir, my liege. Do not infect your mind with beating on The strangeness of this business." — Tempest, V., 1. "This something-settled matter in his heart; Whereon his brains still beating, puts him thus From fashion of himself." — Hamlet, III., 1. "Which is a point not much stirred, though Sir Lionel Cran- field hath ever beaten upon it in his speech with me." — Letter to the King. " I '11 presently Acquaint the queen of your most noble offer ; Who, but to-day, hammer'cl of this design. But durst not tempt a minister of honor, Lest she should be denied." — Winter" s Tale, II., 2. 82 FRANCIS BACON account he gave to the state of his government, often interlaced this speech, ' and in this Fortune had no part,' never prospered in anything he undertook afterwards." — Of Fortune.* " I now come to the causes of these errors, and of so long a continuance in them through so many ages ; which are very many and very potent ; — that all wonder how these considerations which I bring forward should have escaped men's notice till now, may cease ; and the only wonder be, how now at last they should have entered into any man's head and become the subject of his thoughts ; which truly I myself esteem as the result of some happy accident, rather than of any excellence of faculty in me ; a birth of Time rather than a birth of Wit." — Novum Organum, I., 7