CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PR2944.R32B12 1902 
 
 Bacon and Shake-speare parallelisms, 
 
 3 1924 013 153 733 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013153733 
 
Bacon and Shake-speare 
 Parallelisms 
 
 By 
 
 Edwin Reed, A.M. 
 
 Author of ' Bacon vs. Shakspere, Brief for Plaintiff' 
 and ' Francis Bacon, Our Shaice-speare ' 
 
 LONDON 
 
 GAY AND BIRD 
 
 1902 
 
Copyright, igo2 
 By Edwin Reed 
 
 Entered at Stationers^ Hall, London 
 
 ^ Cl4 3:4~^l 
 
 UNIVERSITY PRESS . JOHN WILSON 
 AND SON • CAMBRIDGE, U. a. A. 
 
' C0 ma 
 
 BtlobEi ffiraiilHfattgi}tet 
 
 Borotfig gork Wiats\)ams 
 
 ' 3.ittlt iaiic, tf)ou cam'at into tijt isoilb iueeping bif)ilst nil about t^re imfleli ; 
 &o Hit tf)at ttjou mas'at trcyatt in smilts iuIiiUt all about tfjce bsitf " 
 
In this volume, as well as in our preceding ones on the 
 same subject, wherever personal reference is made to 
 William Shakspere of Stratford, the reputed dramatist, 
 the name is so spelled, William Shakspere; but where the 
 reference is to the author of the Plays, as such, we treat 
 the name as a pseudonym, spelling it as it was printed on 
 the title-pages of many of the early quartos, William 
 Shake-speare. In all cases of citation, except in those 
 where confusion would arise, we follow the originals. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 MY first perilous adventure on the subject of the 
 authorship of Shake-speare is entitled ' Bacon 
 vs. Shakspere, Brief for Plaintiff' (1897). It 
 is mainly devoted to the historical evidences pertinent to 
 the case, indirect and circumstantial as these evidences 
 necessarily are. 
 
 My second bears the title ' Francis Bacon, Our Shake- 
 speare' (1899). This deals with internal criticism, and 
 shows the philosophic purpose for which the Plays were 
 written. For this effort to assign to the great author of 
 the Shake-speare dramas — dramas imbedded in the love 
 and reverence of mankind — a motive higher than one 
 merely mercenary, I venture to ask a candid, if not sym- 
 pathetic hearing. 
 
 In the present volume I rest the argument for Bacon as 
 the sole author of these Poems and Plays on a single point, 
 viz., identity of thought and diction between them and his 
 acknowledged works. It is confidently believed that the 
 passages, quoted herein on either side, exhibit the warp 
 and woof of but one fabric, running in and out, over and 
 under, from end to end. 
 
 Inasmuch as in nearly every instance in these parallel- 
 isms the earlier expression, or germ, is in prose, subse- 
 quently developed in verse, I suggest to the student that 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 the respective extracts from Bacon be read first. This would 
 be particularly serviceable in the case of the Promus. The 
 Promus is Bacon's private memorandum book, or, as its 
 name signifies, literary storehouse, embracing nearly two 
 thousand entries in various languages (Greek, Latin, 
 Italian, Spanish, French, and English), and contributing 
 an immense variety of metaphors and illustrations to the 
 future work of his pen. The Shake-speare pages are 
 everywhere ablaze with this imagery. Some of the entries 
 are suitable only for use in dialogue, such as the follow- 
 ing : 'come to the point;' 'you take more than is 
 granted ; ' ' you go from the matter ; ' ' hear me out ; ' ' now 
 you say ; ' ' you speak colorably ; ' ' that is not so, by your 
 favor ; ' ' answer directly ; ' ' answer me shortly ; ' ' your 
 reason ; ' and many more of the same character. These 
 are, of course, wholly absent from Bacon's prose works. 
 Other entries are mere hooks and eyes, as it were, to 
 connect sentences : ' nevertheless,' ' well well,' ' perad- 
 venture,' ' yet,' ' whereas,' and the like. Others still are 
 hints only ; sharp-pointed phrases, to attract and bring 
 down, when wanted on any subject, flashes of creative 
 imagination, latent in the mind of the author. They 
 served to enrich and broaden the thought. One of these, 
 for example, consists of the words ' Bellerophon's Letters,' 
 that is to say, sealed letters in which the person addressed 
 is desired to put the bearer to death. Such a letter is in 
 ' Hamlet,' but nowhere else in any writing ever attributed 
 to Bacon. Another instance is the salutation ' good 
 dawning,' never used before and but once (1608) since, in 
 the English language, viz., in 'King Lear.' This would 
 seem to establish a connection between Bacon's Promus 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 (a work unknown to the public for a period of more than 
 two hundred years after it was written) and the great 
 tragedy as close as there is between a seed and its plant. 
 Indeed, Shake-speare itself is a vast field in which the 
 Baconian philosophy is white unto harvest. Fortunate 
 will he be who first enters it with his sickle. 
 
 EDWIN EEED. 
 
 Andoter, Mass., January, 1902. 
 
Bacon and Shake-speare 
 
 PARALLELISMS 
 
 PRESAGES OF DEATH 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 " After I saw him fumUe witli " The immediate signs which pre- 
 the sheets, and play with flowers, cede death are . . . fumbling with 
 and smUe upon his fingers' the hands . . . grasping and clutch- 
 ends, I knew there was hut one ing . . . the nose becoming sharp, 
 way; for his nose was as sharp the face pallid, . . . coldness of 
 as a pen. He bade me lay more the extremities." — Historia Vitce 
 clothes on his feet ; I put my hand et Mortis (1623). 
 into the bed and felt them, and 
 they were as cold as any stone." 
 Henry V. ii. 3 (1600). 
 
 In the first collective edition of the Plays (1623), known 
 as the first folio, the above passage from ' Henry V.' is printed 
 thus: 
 
 " After I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers, 
 and smile upon his fingers' ends, I knew there was but one way ; 
 for his nose was as sharp as a pen on a table of green field ; ' he 
 bade me lay more clothes on his feet ; I put my hand into the bed 
 and felt them, and they were as cold as any stone." 
 
 Hostess Quickly's account of the death of Sir John 
 Falstafif is one of the most famous passages in Shake- 
 speare, though it is one which editors and commentators 
 have failed to interpret correctly. In this speech of an 
 old nurse we find six distinct presages of death, all of 
 them taken from Hippocrates, a Greek writer of the fifth 
 
 1 Two slight typographical errors corrected. See p. 3, 2 n. 
 
 1 
 
BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 century B. c, and all but one mentioned also by Bacon 
 in his Historia Vitce et Mortis, as quoted above. We give 
 the three versions in tabular form as follows: 
 
 Hippocrates 
 
 Bacon 
 
 Shakb-speaee 
 
 Handling the bed- 
 clothes awkwardly. 
 
 Gathering bits of straw 
 or stems of flowers. 
 
 Eaising the hand aim- 
 lessly to the face. 
 
 The nose sharp. 
 
 The whole face of 
 pale-green color. 
 
 The extremities cold. 
 
 Fumbling with the 
 hands. 
 
 Clutching and grasp- 
 ing. 
 
 The nose becoming 
 sharp. 
 
 The face pallid. 
 
 Coldness of the ex- 
 tremities. 
 
 Fumbling with the 
 sheets. 
 
 Playing with flowers. 
 
 Smiling upon his 
 fingers' ends. 
 
 Nose as sharp as a 
 pen. 
 
 On a table of green 
 field. 
 
 Feet cold as any stone. 
 
 Shake-speare could not have copied these passages from 
 Bacon, for the play was first printed in 1600, and the His- 
 toria Vitce et Mortis not imtil 1623 ; nor did Bacon copy 
 them from Shake-speare, for he gives many from Hippoc- 
 rates which Shake-speare omits. The common source 
 was undoubtedly in the writings of Cardan or Galen, one 
 of whom had previously published a Latin translation of 
 the original Greek work, Prognostica, contaioing the pres- 
 ages, and the other a commentary upon it. A singular 
 circumstance (for our knowledge of which we are indebted 
 to Dr. C. Creighton of London), points unmistakably to this 
 conclusion. 
 
 Hippocrates, in describing the pallor that creeps over 
 the face at such a time, used the word -xXwpo^ to denote 
 it. xKapo'i means pale-green, -^ a term entirely appropriate 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 when applied to the olive-complexioned people of Greece, 
 but easily misunderstood or misinterpreted elsewhere. Ac- 
 cordingly, we find that out of forty-three versions of the 
 Prognostica, published in the languages of Western Europe, 
 including Latin, previously to the date of the play, twenty- 
 five translate this word by the Latin joallidus (pale) or its 
 equivalent, while nine do not translate it at all, but bring it 
 over bodily from the Greek into the new text. Several place 
 it in the margin, as though they were not sure of its true 
 meaning. Cardan and Galen, almost alone among their 
 contemporaries and successors, however, take the right 
 view. Galen says: 
 
 " The ancients assumed that x^^p°'' means merely pale ; it is 
 rather the color of cabbage or lettuce." 
 
 So, also. Cardan : 
 
 '•' The difficulty is, what does x^-wpos mean 1 It seems to me that 
 it should be interpreted in the sense of the time in which it was 
 used. Who does not know that in Greece the face of a dying man 
 is of a green color 1 " ' 
 
 We find the same fact stated in one of Sappho's poems : 
 
 " My face is paler than the grass ; 
 To die would seem no more." 
 
 To the Beloved. 
 (Translated by Prof. Thomas Davidson.) 
 
 Here is very nearly absolute proof that the author of the 
 Play, who in his description of Falstaffs nose — " as sharp as a 
 pen on a table of green field " ^ (that is, agaiast a green back- 
 
 1 A very poor, confused translation of the ' Prognostics ' appeared in English 
 in 1597. It was hased upon a French version hy Canappe, Canappe's on one 
 by Rabelais, and Eabelais' on Copus, all of whom rendered the Greek xA.»p<<» 
 hypallidus in Latin, pdle in French, or pale in English. 
 
 2 The printers of the first Shakespeare folio made two slight but perfectly 
 obvious typographical errors in setting up this line. They made it read as 
 follows : 
 
 " For his Nose was as sharpe as a Pen, and a Table of greene Fields.'' The 
 word Table, beginning with a capital letter, must, of course, be a substantive. 
 
4 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 ground) — was simply true to the original, had studied Car- 
 dan's translation of the Prognostica, or Galen's commentary 
 upon it. We know that Bacon was familiar with both of these 
 authors' works, frequently quoting from them in his own. 
 Perhaps the most striking passage in the Novum Organwm 
 is that in which he proclaims man as natures minister 
 (servant of nature), taken by Galen from the writings of 
 Hippocrates. In one of his tracts he mentions the Prog- 
 nostica by name. We know, too, that the author of the 
 Plays was acquainted with them, as Douce and Hunter 
 admit : 
 
 " There is a good deal on this subject [Suicide and Doubt] in Car- 
 dan's 'Comfort' (1576), a book which Shakespeare had certainly 
 read." — Dotsoe's Illustrations of Shakespeare, ii. 238. 
 
 "This seems to me to be the book [Cardan's] which Shake- 
 speare placed in the hands of Hamlet." — 'Sxtsie^b Illustrations of 
 Shakespeare, ii. 243. 
 
 The word field, used by Hostess Quickly in the above 
 passage, signifies merely expanse or surface (of the face), as 
 in the following instances, taken from Shake-speare himself : 
 
 " This silent war of lilies and roses, 
 Which Tarquin viewed in her fair face's ^Zrf." 
 
 Lucrece. 
 
 " When forty winters shall besiege thy brow, 
 And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's ^M." 
 
 Sonnet 2. 
 
 Dr. Henry Bradley, the distinguished lexicographer, has 
 shown that the royal court, now known as the Board of 
 Green Cloth, was formerly called, in one at least of the 
 household ordinances (1470), the Board of Green Field or 
 Feald. 
 
 It appears, then, that Bacon and Shake-speare quoted 
 the same presages of death from Hippocrates, quoted them 
 
PARALLELISMS 5 
 
 in the same order, and (probably) from the same Latin 
 
 translation. 
 
 2 
 
 CHALKING THE -ffAY 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " It is you that have chalk'd the " Alexander Borgia was wont to 
 
 way say of the expedition of the French 
 
 Which has brought us hither." for Naples, that they came with 
 
 Tempest, v. 1 (1623).* chalk ia. their hands to mark 
 
 " Not propp'd by ancestry, whose up their lodgings, and not with 
 
 grace weapons to fight." — Advancement 
 
 Chalks successors their way." of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 Senry VIIL, i. 1 (1623). "To mark with chalk."— Pro- 
 
 mus (1594-96). 
 
 Bacon was very fond of quoting the above witticism of the 
 Pope, applying it to his own case in the peaceful efforts he 
 was making to introduce into the minds of men a new phi- 
 losophy. In 1607, he sent one of his tracts to Sir Thomas 
 Bodley with the remark, " If you be not of the lodgings 
 marked up, I am but to pass by your door." He refers to 
 the subject again in his Bedargutio Fhilosophiarum com- 
 posed probably in 1608 ; also in the Novum Organum (1620) 
 and the Be Augmentis (1623). 
 
 "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 pugnacity 
 and contention." — Advancement of Learning. 
 
 The 'Tempest' was first printed in 1623, but written prob- 
 ably in or about 1613. ' Henry VIIL' was also printed for 
 the first time in the foHo of 1623, the date of its composi- 
 tion in its present form not having been earlier than May 
 3, 1621. 
 
 1 The dates appended in parentheses to these passages indicate the time 
 either when the passages were written, or (if that be unknown) when they 
 were first printed. 
 
6 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 3 
 
 KINGS OF BEES 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "For so live the honey-beea. " The king in a hive of bees." 
 
 Apothegm (1624). 
 They have a king." 
 
 Eenry V., i. 2 (1600). 
 
 This is, of course, an error, for bees have no king. But it 
 is one of classical origin. Virgil says : 
 
 " The bees of a hive are very obsequious to their king. They 
 attend him in crowds, often raising him on their shoulders and ex- 
 posing their own bodies in his defence." — Georgics, iv. 
 
 The truth is, the author of the Plays drew his knowledge 
 of natural history, not from nature, but from books. 
 
 DEAFKESS 
 
 " If this [song] penetrate, I will 
 consider your music the better ; if it 
 do not, it is a vice in her ears which 
 horse-hairs . . . can never mend." 
 — Cymbeline, ii. 3 (1623). 
 " Ywur tale, sir, would cure deaf- 
 ness." 
 
 The Tempest, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 "To cure deafness is difficult." 
 — Promus (1594-96). 
 
 "Nothing is so hard to cure as 
 the ear." — De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 HONET-DEW 
 
 " Fresh tears 
 Stood on her cheeks, as doth the 
 
 honey-dew 
 Upon a gather'd lily." 
 
 Titus Andronicus, iii. 1 (1600). 
 " Like the bee, culling from every 
 
 flower 
 The virtuous sweets." 
 
 S Henry IV., i-f. 5 (1623). 
 
 " Observe how the mind doth 
 gather this excellent dew of know- 
 ledge, like unto that which the poet 
 speaketh of, 'aerial honey,' distil- 
 ling and contriving it out of partic- 
 ulars natural and artificial, as the 
 flowers of the field and garden." — 
 Advcmcement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 It was the opinion of Aristotle that honey comes from 
 dew, and that bees gather from flowers nothing but wax. 
 Bacon notices this theory ia his Natural History, saying of 
 it : " I have heard from one that was industrious in hus- 
 bandry, that the labor of the bee is about the wax ; and that 
 he hath known, in the beginning of May, honey-combs empty 
 of honey, and within a fortnight, when the sweet dews fall, 
 filled like a cellar." Then he states his own opinion, agreeing 
 with the author of the plays : " for honey, the bee maketh 
 or gathereth it." The old superstition lingers with both 
 authors, however, in the term " honey-dew." 
 
 6 
 
 ELDER-TKEE AND TINE 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 " Guid. I do note " Take a service-tree, or a come- 
 That Grief and Patience, rooted in lian-tree, or an elder-tree, which 
 
 him, both we know have fruits of harsh and 
 
 Do mingle their spurs together. binding juice, and set them near a 
 
 Arvir. Grow, Patience, vine or fig-tree, and see whether 
 
 And let the stinking elder, Grief, the grapes or figs will not be the 
 
 untwine sweeter." — Natural History (1622- 
 
 His perishing * root, with the in- 25). 
 
 creasing vine." 
 
 Cymieline, iv. 2 (1623). 
 
 The ancients believed in the existence of sympathy and 
 antipathy among plants. They cited particularly the case 
 of the colewort and the vine, declariag that the vine, when- 
 ever it finds itself creeping near its enemy, the colewort, 
 turns away. Bacon discusses the same subject in his Nat- 
 viral History, and suggests that an experiment be made to 
 determine whether or not the elder-tree (among others) be 
 also inimical to the vine. The author of ' CymbeHne ' not only 
 makes mention of the same singular theory, as stated in 
 Pliny and Porta, but also applies it in connection with the 
 vine to the elder-tree (instead of the colewort), as Bacon did. 
 
 1 Used transitively, equivalent to kitting. 
 
BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 SIR THOMAS MOKE 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Nothing in his life " Sir Thomas More, at the very 
 
 Became him like the leaving it; he instant of death, when he had 
 
 died already laid his head on the fatal 
 
 As one that had been studied in his block, lifted it up a little and, 
 
 death, gently raising aside his beard, 
 
 To throw away the dearest thing which was somewhat long, said, 
 
 he ow'd,i ' This at least has not offended the 
 
 As 'twere a careless trifle." king.' " — JDe Augmentis (1622). 
 
 Macbeth, i. 4 (1623). 
 
 The commentators think that the author of ' Macbeth,' in 
 "writing the above passage, had in mind the Earl of Essex. 
 This is clearly a mistake. The Earl's conduct on the scaffold 
 was marked by deep seriousness and the most scrupulous 
 regard for propriety. He spent the entire time to the 
 moment of his death either in prayer or in imploring the 
 prayers of others. On the other hand, Bacon pronounces the 
 demeanor of Sir Thomas More on the scaffold as a miracle of 
 human nature, because More died with a jest in his mouth, 
 or threw away — 
 
 " The dearest thing he ow'd. 
 As 'twere a careless trifle." ^ 
 
 8 
 
 A LONG WORD 
 
 " Honorificabilitudinitatibus." " Honorifioabilitudine." — North- 
 
 Love's Labor 's Lost, v. 1 (1598). umberland MSS. (circa 1598). 
 
 1 In the sense of owned. 
 
 2 Mr. Spedding's want of discrimination is shown by his comment on above 
 passage from 'Macbeth': "If Sbakspere had not died two years before the 
 death of Sir Walter Ealeigh, we must have thought these lines referred to 
 him." And yet Mr. Spedding's own account of Sir Walter Raleigh's behavior 
 on the scaffold — that he met his death "with the most unaffected and 
 cheerful composure, the finest humanity, the most courtly grace and good 
 humor, and yet with no unseemly levity " — entirely negatives his opinion on 
 this subject. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 This is a perfectly serious word, meaning honor in a high 
 degree, with two stem roots and three suffixes, combined 
 according to the rules of mediaeval Latin. We find it in a 
 charter granted by the See of Eome to a religious house in 
 Genoa in 1187, but not printed until 1644; in Dante's De 
 Vulgare Eloquio, written in or about 1304, translated from 
 the original Latin into Italian and printed for the first time 
 in 1529 ; in the ' History of Henry VII. ' of Italy by Albertus 
 Musatus, a work composed between 1313 (date of Henry's 
 death) and 1330 (date of the author's death), but first printed 
 in 1635; and in the 'Complaint of Scotland,' anonymous, 
 published at St. Andrews in 1549. 
 
 The several passages in these works are as follows : 
 
 " Proiude considerata devotione, quam erga nos, et Ecclesiam 
 lanuensem, nee non et honorificabilitudinitate Ecclesise tuaB, 
 Parochiam quam Ecclesia jam dicta in praBsentiarum noscitur 
 obtinere, et a quadragiuta annis possedit, tibi et successoribus 
 tuis confirmamus, et prsesentis scripti patrocinio communimus." — 
 Italia Sacra, Tomus Quartm, page 845 (1187). 
 
 "Posset adbuc inveniri plurium syllabarum vocabulum, sive 
 verbum ; sed quia capacitatem nostrorum omnium carmLuum super- 
 excedit, rations prsesenti non videtur obnoxium ; sicut est iUud 
 onorificahilitudinitate, quod duodenS, perficitur syllabi in Vulgari, 
 et in grammatioa tredena perficitur, in duobus obliquis."* — De 
 Vulgari Eloquio, lib. ii. cap. vii. (aV. 1304). 
 
 " Nam et maturius cum rex prima Italise ostia contigisset, legatos 
 illo dux ipse direxerat cum regalibus exeniis Honorificabilitudini- 
 tatis et obsequentiae ullius causa, quibus etiam inhibitum pedes 
 osculari regios." — De Gestis Henrici VII. page 17 (1313-1330). 
 
 1 Translation ofilu passage from Dante: 
 
 " A name or word might be found witli more syllables still ; but as it 
 would exceed the capacity of all our lines, it does not appear to fall into 
 the present discussion. Such a word is onorificaUlitudinitate, which runs in 
 Italian to twelve syllables, and in Latin to thirteen, in two of the oblique 
 cases." 
 
 The case endings to which Dante refers are, of course, the dative and abla- 
 tive plural, in which the word (as used in ' Love's Labor 's Lost') has thirteen 
 syllables, thus : honorificabUitudinitatibus. 
 
lO 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 " Ther vas ane uther that writ in his verkis, gaudet Honwificahili- 
 tvdinitatibus. " ^ — Complaint of Scotland (1549), 
 
 The first edition of ' Love's Labor 's Lost ' was printed in 
 1598 ; the play was probably written in or about 1588. 
 
 CHASING A 
 From Shakespeare 
 " I saw him run after a gilded 
 hutterfly ; and, when he caught it, 
 he let it go again; and after it 
 again." — Coriolanus, i. 3 (1623). 
 
 BUTTEKFLT 
 
 From Bacon 
 "To he like a child following a 
 hird, which when he is nearest, 
 flyeth away and 'lighteth a little 
 hefore ; and then the child after it 
 again." — Letter to Greville (1595). 
 
 Professor Nichol refers to this extraordinary parallelism in 
 his Biography of Bacon, showing by dates that Bacon could not 
 have copied from Shake-speare, nor Shake-speare from Bacon. 
 The sentence from Bacon is found in a private letter, written 
 in 1595, but not made public tni 1657. The production of 
 ' Coriolanus ' is assigned to a date not earlier than 1612. The 
 play was first printed in 1623. 
 
 10 
 
 SELF-CENTRED CHAHACTEK OP JDLIDS CffiSAR 
 
 " Cmsar. 1 am constant as the 
 northern star, 
 
 Of whose true fixed and resting 
 quality 
 
 There is no fellow in the firma- 
 ment. The skies are painted 
 with unnumher'd sparks ; 
 
 They are all fire, and every one 
 doth shine ; 
 
 But there 's hut one in all doth hold 
 his place. 
 
 " He [Julius Caesar] referred all 
 things to himself, and was the 
 truest centre of his own actions." 
 — Character of Julius Gcesar (circa 
 1601). 
 
 1 First discovered by Mr. George Stronach of Edinburgh, and communi- 
 cated to the public by the poet Henry Dryerre, Esq., in the ' People's Friend 
 (Dundee), May 16, 1898. 
 
PARALLELISMS 1 1 
 
 So in the world ; 't is fumish'd well 
 
 with men, 
 And men are flesh and blood, and 
 
 apprehensive ; 
 But in the number I do know but 
 
 one 
 That, unassailable, holds on his 
 
 rank, 
 Unahak'd of motion." 
 
 Julius Ccesar, iii. 1 (1623). 
 
 As to tlie cause of Caesar's downfall we have also an exact 
 parallelism between the two authors, thus : 
 
 11 
 
 c^sak's downfall due to ektt 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " This was the noblest Roman of " How to extinguish envy he 
 
 them all ; knew excellently well, and thought 
 
 All the conspirators, save only he, it an object worth purchasing 
 
 Did what they did in enuy of great even by the sacrifice of dignity; 
 
 Caesar." — Ibid., v. 5. and being in quest of real power, 
 
 he was content during the whole 
 course of his Hfe to decline and 
 put by all the empty show and 
 pomp and circumstance of it, thus 
 throwing the envy upon others ; 
 until at last, whether satiated with 
 power or corrupted by flattery, he 
 aspired likewise to the Eternal em- 
 blems thereof, the name of King 
 and the Crown, — which turned 
 to his destruction." — Ibid. 
 
 In one of Bacon's letters to Sir Toby Matthew, written in 
 1609, he refers to this tract on the ' Character of Julius 
 Caesar ' as having been in existence, at least in an early draft, 
 for several years. It seems probable, therefore, that the prose 
 study and the Play (circa 1601) were substantially of the 
 same date. 
 
12 BACON JND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 12 
 ANAXAKCHUS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Ere my tongue " What a proof of patience is dis- 
 
 Shall wound mine honor with such played in the story of Anaxarchus, 
 
 feeble wrong, who, under torture, bit out his own 
 
 Or sound so base a parle, my teeth tongue (the only hope of infor- 
 
 shall tear mation) and spat it into the face 
 
 The slavish motive of recanting of the tyrant." — De Augmentis, 
 
 fear, (1622). 
 
 And spit it bleeding, in his high 
 
 disgrace, 
 Where shame doth harbor, even in 
 Mowbray's face." 
 
 Rklmrd IL, i. 1 (1597). 
 
 This story was told by Valerius Maximus and the elder- 
 Pliny, Latin authors of the first century A. D. ; and also par- 
 tially by Diogenes Laertius, a Greek writer of the second cen- 
 tury ; but no one of these works, Greek or Latin, had been 
 translated into English at the date when the play of ' Eichard 
 IL' was produced. 
 
 13 
 
 COEN-FLOWEES 
 
 " Idle weeds that grow " There be certain corn-flowers 
 In our sustaining corn." which come seldom or never in 
 
 JKn^ iear, iv. 4 (1608). other places unless they be set, 
 but only amongst corn." — Natu- 
 ral History (1622-25). 
 
 The play antedated the history ; but the explanation which 
 Bacon gives of the alleged phenomenon and his list of the 
 flowers that grow amongst corn, indicate the common pater- 
 nity of the two quoted passages, as follows : 
 
 " There be certain corn-iiowers which come seldom or never in 
 other places, unless they be set, but only amongst cornj as the 
 
PARALLELISMS 13 
 
 blue-bottle, a kind of yellow marygold, wild poppy and fumitory. 
 Neither can this be by reason of the culture of the ground, by 
 ploughing or furrowing, as some herbs and flowers will grow but 
 in ditches new cast ; for if the ground lie fallow and unsown, they 
 will not come ; so as it should seem to be the corn that quaUfieth 
 the earth, and prepareth it for their growth." 
 
 14 
 
 THE BEASTLY MULTITUDE 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Beast with many heads." " Beast with many heads." 
 
 Coriolaims, iv. 1 (1623).* Charge against Talbot (1614). 
 
 " Monster with many heads." 
 
 Conference of Pleasure (1592). 
 
 This is a cliaracterizatioii of the people, as distinguished 
 from the nobility. Shakspere, one of the people ; Bacon, one 
 of the nobility. 
 
 " Nay, worse than this, worse than his servility to royalty and 
 rank, we never find him speaking of the poor with respect, or al- 
 luding to the working classes without detestation or contempt. 
 We can understand these tendencies as existing in Lord Bacon, 
 born as he was to privilege, and holding office from a queen ; but 
 they seem utterly at variance with the natural instincts of a man 
 who had sprung from the body of the people, and who, through 
 the very pursuits of his father and likewise from his own begin- 
 ning, maybe regarded as one of the working classes himself." — 
 GBORaB Wilkes' Shakespeare from an American Point of View. 
 
 15 
 
 PHTSIOGNOMT 
 
 "There's no art "Neither let that be feared 
 
 To find the mind's construction, in which is said, fronti nulla fides 
 the face." [There 's no trusting to the face], 
 
 Macbeth, i. 4 (1623^. which is meant of a general out- 
 ward behavior." — Advancement of 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 » ' Coriolanus ' was written in 1612-19. 
 
14 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 16 
 C-ESAE AND ANTHONY 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " There was an Egyptian sooth- 
 sayer that made Antonius believe 
 that his genius (which otherwise 
 was brave and confident) was, in 
 the presence of Octavius Caesar, 
 poor and cowardly; and therefore 
 he advised him to absent himself 
 as much as he could and remove 
 far from him. This soothsayer was 
 thought to be suborned by Cleopa- 
 tra." — Natural History (1622-25). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 "Anthony. Now, sirrah ; you do 
 
 wish yourself in Egypt. 
 Soothsayer. Would I had never 
 
 come from thence. . . . 
 
 Hie you again to Egypt. 
 Ant. Say to me, whose fortunes 
 
 shall rise higher, Csesar's or 
 
 mine ? 
 Sooth. Caesar's. 
 
 Therefore, Anthony, stay not at 
 
 his side; 
 Thy daemon, that 's thy spirit 
 
 which keeps thee, is 
 Noble, courageous, high, umnatch- 
 
 able. 
 Where Caesar is not ; but near him, 
 
 thy angel 
 Becomes a fear, as being o'er- 
 
 power'd ; therefore 
 Make space enough between you." 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, n. 3 
 (1623). 
 
 Bacon had previously stated the principle underlying the 
 soothsayer's speech as follows : 
 
 " Others, that draw nearer to probability, calling to their view the 
 secrets of things and especially the contagion that passeth from body 
 to body, do conceive that there should be some transmissions and 
 operations from spirit to spirit without the mediation of the senses ; 
 whence the conceit has grown of the mastering spirit." — Advance- 
 ment of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 On the details of this extraordinary parallelism we quote 
 from Judge Nathaniel Holmes : 
 
 " A similar story is to be found in North's translation of Plu- 
 tarch's life of Anthony, which Shakespeare may have seen as well 
 
PARALLELISMS 15 
 
 as Bacon ; and it is true that some parts of it are very closely fol- 
 lowed in the play. There is little doubt that the writer had read 
 Plutarch. But Plutarch makes the soothsayer a member of the 
 household of Anthony at Rome : ' with Antonius there was a Sooth- 
 sayer or Astronomer of Egypt that could cast a figure and judge of 
 men's nativities, to teU them what should happen to them.' But 
 the play, like Bacon's story, makes him not only an Egyptian, but 
 one of the household of Cleopatra ; and in the play, he is sent by 
 Cleopatra as one of her numerous messengers from Egypt to Eome 
 to induce Anthony to return to Egypt ; and in this he is success- 
 ful J all which is in exact keeping with Bacon's statement that he 
 was thought to be suborned by Cleopatra to make Anthony live in 
 Egypt ; but of this there is not the least hint in Plutarch. All 
 this goes strongly to show that this story, together with the doc- 
 trine of a predominant or mastering spirit of one man over another, 
 went into the play through the Baconian strainer ; for it is next to 
 incredible that both Bacon and Shakespeare should make the same 
 variations upon the common original." — Authorship of Shakespeare, 
 i. 292. 
 
 17 
 
 LOCATION OF THE SOUL 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " His pure brain " The opinion of Plato, who 
 
 (Which some suppose the soul's placed the understanding in the 
 frail dwelling house)." brain . • . deserveth not to be de- 
 
 King John, v. 7 (1623). spised, but much less to be al- 
 lowed." — Advancement of Learn- 
 ing (1603-5). 
 
 Every man, says Bacon, has two souls : one, in common 
 with the brute creation; the other, especially inspired by 
 God. The former, which he calls the sensible soul, he lo- 
 cates (to use his own language) " chiefly in the head ; " the 
 latter, or rational one, in no particular part of the body. 
 The doubt he evidently felt on this point is reflected in 
 ' King John.' 
 
1 6 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 18 
 A COMPOSITE WOMAN 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " If, one by one, you wedded all " A man cannot tell whether 
 
 the world, Apelles or Albert Diirer were the 
 
 Or from all that are, took some- more trifler; whereof the one would 
 
 thing good, make a personage by geometrical 
 
 To make a perfect woman, she proportions ; the other, by taking 
 
 you kill'd the best parts out of divers faces. 
 
 Would be unparallel'd." to make one excellent." — Essay 
 
 Winter's Tale, y. 1 (1623). of Beauty (1607-12). 
 
 " Ferdinand (to Miranda) .• 
 
 But you, O you ! 
 So perfect and so peerless, are 
 
 created 
 Of every creature's best." 
 
 Tempest, iii. 1 (1623). 
 
 This singular conception appears once more in Bacon's 
 prose works. In his history of ' Henry VII.' he says : 
 
 " The instructions touching the Queen of Naples were so curious 
 and exquisite, being as articles whereby to direct a survey or fram- 
 ing a particular of hor person, for complexion, favour, feature, 
 stature, health, age, customs, behavior, conditions and estate, as 
 if ... he meant to find all things in one woman" (1621). 
 
 It may be well to add that Bacon makes a characteristic 
 error in his essay, quoted above ; for it was not Apelles, but 
 Zeuxis, of whom it is told that he took five beautiful maidens 
 of Greece to serve as models for his picture of Helen. The 
 author of the Plays was evidently familiar with this classical 
 story. 
 
 The 'Winter's Tale' was written in or about 1611; the 
 ' Tempest,' in 1613 ; both were first printed in 1623. The 
 essay preceded botL 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 17 
 
 19 
 
 THE HUMAN ETE 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " The eye sees not itself " The mind of a wise man is 
 
 But by reflection, — by some other compared to a glass wherein images 
 
 thing. of all kinds ui nature and custom 
 
 are represented." — Advancement 
 
 Since you know you cannot see of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 yourself 
 So well as by reflection, I, your 
 
 glass, 
 Will modestly discover to yourself 
 That of yourself which yet you 
 know not of." 
 
 Jidius Ccesar, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 For the second edition of the ' Advancement,' printed in 
 the same year as the play, Bacon rewrote the above-quoted 
 sentence, as follows : 
 
 " The comparison of the mind of a wise man to a glass is the 
 more proper, because in a glass he can see his own image, which 
 the eye itself without a glass cannot do." 
 
 The original of both of these parallel passages, however, is 
 in Plato, not then translated into English : 
 
 " You may take the analogy of the eye ; the eye sees not itself, 
 but from some other thing, as, for instance, from a glass ; it can 
 also see itself by reflection in another eye." — First Aldbiades. 
 
 20 
 
 CROCODILES SHEDDING TEARS 
 
 " As the mournful crocodile " It is the wisdom of crocodiles 
 
 With soiTow snares relenting pas- that shed tears when they would 
 
 sengers." devour." — Essay of Wisdom 
 
 Z Henry VI., iii. 2 (1623). (1625). 
 
 Taken from the Adagia of Erasmus, the Latin work from 
 which Bacon introduced more than two hundred proverbs 
 into his commonplace-book. The Adagia had not been 
 
 2 
 
i8 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 translated into English when the play of ' King Henry VI.' 
 was published or written. Erasmus says : 
 
 " Sunt qui scribunt crocodilum, conspecto procul Aomine, lachrymas 
 emittere atque eundem mox devorare.'' 
 
 21 
 
 FTJTEEFACTION 
 
 From Shake-speare 
 "The earth's a thief 
 That feeds and breeds by a corn- 
 posture stolen 
 From general excrement." 
 
 Timon of Athens, v. 3 (1623). 
 " Your chamber-lie breeds fleas 
 like a loach." 
 
 1 Henry IV., ii. 2 (1598). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 "Putrefaction is the bastard 
 brother of vivification." — Natural 
 History (1622-25). 
 
 " Moulds of pies and flesh, of 
 oranges and lemons, turn into 
 ■worms." — Ibid. 
 
 " The nature of vivification is 
 best inquired into in creatures bred 
 of putrefaction. Dregs of wine 
 turn into gnats." — Ibid. 
 
 " Wholesome meat corrupteth to 
 little worma." — Essay of Super, 
 stiiion (1607-12). 
 
 Bacon strongly held the old notion that putrefying sub- 
 stances generate organisms, such as frogs, grasshoppers, and 
 flies. And so did Shake-speare. Indeed, both authors seem 
 to have made a like investigation into the cause of the al- 
 leged phenomenon, as the following parallelism will show : 
 
 22 
 OEIGIN OF LIFE FROM PUTREFACTION 
 
 "Hamlet. For if the sun breeds 
 maggots in a dead dog, being 
 a god kissing carrion, — Have 
 you a daughter 1 
 
 Polonius. I have, my lord. 
 
 Ham. Let her not walk in the 
 sun. Conception is a blessing, 
 but not as your daughter may 
 conceive." 
 
 Hamlet, ii. 2 (1604). 
 
 " Aristotle dogmatically assigned 
 the cause of generation to the sun." 
 — Novum Organum (1608-20). 
 
PARALLELISMS 19 
 
 St. Augustine says : " Certain very small animals may not 
 have been created on the fifth and sixth days, but may have 
 originated from putrefying matter." St. Isadore of Seville, 
 who wrote in the seventh century of our era, is more explicit ; 
 he declares that " bees are generated from decomposed veal, 
 beetles from horse-flesh, grasshoppers from mules, scorpions 
 from crabs." 
 
 Bacon pursued the subject still farther, anticipating the 
 time when the generation of animals out of putrefying sub- 
 stances would be controlled by man, thus : 
 
 " We make a number of kinds of serpents, worms, flies, fishes, of 
 putrefaction ; whereof some are advanced (in efifect) to be perfect 
 creatures, like beasts or birds. Neither do we this by chance, but 
 we know beforehand of what matter and commixture what kind of 
 those creatures wiU arise." — New Atlantis. 
 
 23 
 
 CHILDEEN OF GOOD PAEENTS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " My trust, " Tou cannot find any man of 
 
 Like a good parent, did beget of rare felicity but either he died 
 
 him childless ... or else he was nn- 
 
 A falsehood." fortunate in his children.'' — Me- 
 
 Tempest, i. 2 (1623). morial to Queen Elizabeth (1608). 
 
 This most extraordinary opinion, expressed by Bacon in 
 1608, that happy men are always unfortunate in their chil- 
 dren (if they have any), was held also by the author of 
 the 'Tempest,' a play composed in about 1613. It is the 
 good parent, says Shake-speare, that begets children false 
 to him. 
 
 In the De Augmentis Bacon reiterates the statement, by 
 way of an exaggerated antithesis, thus : " They that are for- 
 tunate in other things are commonly unfortunate in their 
 children; lest men should cotm too near the condition of 
 gods." 
 
20 BACON JND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 24 
 
 WHITE VIOLETS 
 
 Frmn Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Violets dim, " That which, above all others. 
 
 But s-weeter than the lids of Juno'a jdelds the sweetest smell in the air 
 
 eyes, is the violet, especially the white." 
 
 Or Cytherea's breath." — Essay of Gardens (1625). 
 Winter's Tale, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
 The above exquisite passage from tlie ' Winter's Tale ' has 
 been the subject of much ignorant criticism. Dr. Johnson 
 accused the author of mistaking Juno for Pallas, on the 
 ground that the latter was the " goddess of blue eyes." Mr. 
 EUacombe, in his elaborate treatise on ' Plant Lore in Shake- 
 speare,' says that " in all the passages in which Shake-speare 
 names the violet he alludes to the purple violet." TMs is a 
 misapprehension. Bacon enables us to set the matter aright ; 
 for he tells us that it is the white variety which is the sweet- 
 est, and this, being slightly tinged or veined with purple, as 
 eyelids are, is the one, therefore, that justifies the compari- 
 son in the text. 
 
 Mr. EHacombe adds that the dramatist was evidently " very 
 fond " of this flower : he was so, indeed ; for in a letter to 
 Lord Treasurer Cranfield, Bacon expressed the pleasure he 
 should soon take in visiting his Lordship and "gathering 
 violets " in his garden. 
 
 25 
 
 THE world's MUCK 
 
 " He looked upon things precious " Money is Hke muck, not good 
 
 as they were except it be spread upon the earth." 
 
 The common muck of the world." — Essay of Seditions (1625). 
 Coriolanm, ii. 2 (1623). 
 
 Bacon made use of this simile three times in the course of 
 his life : in a letter to King James ; in one of his Apothegms, 
 where he credited it to an associate in Gray's Inn; and, 
 lastly, in the revised version of his ' Essay of Seditions.' Dr. 
 
PARALLELISMS 21 
 
 K. M. Theobald, to whom we are indebted for this parallelism, 
 remarks that the " annotators of ' Coriolanus ' have not yet 
 found out what Shakespeare meant by the ' common muck 
 of the world.'" 
 
 We group together several parallelisms imder the head of 
 Love. 
 
 26 
 LOVE, A MADNESS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bauxn 
 
 " Love is merely [wholly] a mad- '' Transported to the mad degree 
 
 ness." of love.'' — Essay of Love (1625). 
 As YmL Like It, iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 27 
 LOVE IS FOLLY 
 "By love, the young and tender wit "Love is the child of folly." — 
 
 Is tum'd to foUy." Essay of Love (1612). 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 1 
 a623). 
 
 28 
 
 STRONG CHARACTERS NOT GFVEN TO LOVE 
 
 " Believe not that the dribbling " Great spirits and great business 
 
 dart of love do keep out this weak passion." — 
 
 Can pierce a complete bosom." — Ibid. 
 Measure for Measure, i. 4 (1623). 
 
 29 
 LOVE FATAL TO WORLDLY SUCCESS 
 
 " It has " Whosoever esteemeth too much 
 
 Made me neglect my studies, lose of amorous affection quitteth both 
 
 my time, riches and wisdom." — Ibid. 
 
 War with good coimsel, set the "AU who, like Paris, prefer 
 
 world at naught." beauty, quit, like Paris, wisdom 
 
 Two Oentlemen of Verona, i. 1 and power."— I>e Augmentis (1622). 
 
 (1633). 
 
 30 
 
 LOVE CREEPS BEFORE IT GOES 
 
 "Love "Love must creep in service 
 
 Will creep in service where it can- where it cannot go." — Letter to 
 
 not go." King James. 
 26td.,iv. 2(1623). 
 
22 BACON JND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 The letter was written in 1610, but not published till long 
 after Bacon's death. The proverb appeared in one of the 
 Shake-speare plays, in print for the first time in 1623. 
 
 31 
 
 MODERATE LOVE 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Love moderately ; long love doth " Love me little ; love me long." 
 
 so." —Promus (1594-96). 
 Romeo and Juliet, ii. 6 (1599). 
 
 32 
 LOVE AND WISDOM INCOMPATIBLE 
 
 " To be wise and love " It ia not granted man to love 
 
 Exceeds man's might; that dwells and be wise." — Advancement of 
 
 with gods above." Learning (1603-5). 
 Troilus and Cressida, iii. 2 (1609). 
 
 It was Publilius Syrus, a Koman mimographer of the time 
 of Julius Caesar, who said that " it is scarcely possible for a 
 god to love and be wise." Bacon and the author of the Plays 
 both quote the saying approvingly, but both also change its 
 application (as above) from gods to men. 
 
 33 
 LANGUAGE OF LOVE HTPEEBOLICAX 
 
 "When we vow to weep, live " Speaking in a perpetual hyper- 
 iu fire, eat rooks, tame tigers, — bole is comely in nothing but love.'' 
 this is the monstrosity of love." — — Essay of Love (1612). 
 Ibid., iii. 2. 
 
 " Woo in rhyme, like a blind Har- 
 per's song, 
 Taflfeta phrases, silken terms pre- 
 cise, 
 
 Three-pil'd hyperboles." 
 Love's Labor's Lost, v. 2 (1598). 
 " Cleopatra. If it be love indeed, 
 
 tell me how much. 
 Anthony. There's beggary in the 
 love that can be reckon'd. 
 
PARALLELISMS 23 
 
 Cleo. I '11 set a boum how far to 
 
 be loved. 
 Ant. Then, must thou needs find 
 
 out new heaven, and new 
 
 earth." 
 Anthony and C2eqpa(m, i. (1623). 
 
 34 
 
 tTNEECrPEOCATED LOVE TREATED WITH CONTEMPT 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " In revenge of my contempt of " It is a true rule that Love is 
 
 love." ever rewarded either with the reci- 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 4 proque or with an inward and secret 
 
 (1623). contempt.-' — Essay of Love (1612). 
 
 35 
 
 LOVE BEWITCHES 
 
 " Now Bomeo is beloved and loves " There be uone of the affections, 
 again, which have been noted to fascinate 
 
 Alike bewitched by the charm of or bewitch, but Love and Envy." — 
 looks." Essay of Envy (1625). 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, i. Chorus 
 (1599). 
 " All the charms of love! 
 Let witchcraft join with beauty I " 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, ii. 1 
 (1623). 
 
 36 
 SOLDIERS GIVEN TO LOVE 
 
 " We are soldiers, " I know not how, but martial 
 And may that soldier a mere re- men are given to love." — Essay of 
 
 creant prove Love (1625). 
 
 That means not, hath not, or is not 
 in love." 
 Troilus and Gressida, i. 3 (1609). 
 
 This passage from Bacon's Essay was quoted by Lord 
 Tennyson to prove that Bacon, owing to his peculiar senti- 
 ments on love, could not have written the plays of Shake- 
 speare. And yet here is the identical sentiment in ' Troilus 
 and Cressida.' 
 
24 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 37 
 
 LOVE HOSTILE TO FOETDNE 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 M We have kiss'd away "Love troubleth men's for- 
 Kingdoms and provinces." tunes." — Ibid. 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, iii. 8 
 (1623). 
 
 These twenty-eight passages on Love cited above, and 
 many more of the same kind that might be cited, plainly 
 show that the two authors were in exact accord on the sub- 
 ject. This fact, indeed, is not without recognition among in- 
 telligent commentators. For example : 
 
 " In ' Venus and Adonis,' the goddess, after the death of her 
 favorite, utters a curse upon love which contains in the germ, as it 
 were, the whole development of the subject as Shakespeare has un- 
 folded it in the series of his dramas." — Gervinus. 
 
 It has been asserted by several writers that Queen Eliza- 
 beth withdrew her countenance from Bacon because of her 
 aversion to his sentiments on love, as expressed in his famous 
 essay. The essay was not written till nine years after the 
 Queen's death. 
 
 38 
 
 nrVINATION 
 
 From Bacon : 
 
 " By natural divination we mean that the mind has of its own essen- 
 tial power some pre-notion of things to come. This appears mostly (1) 
 in sleep; (2) in ecstasies; (3) near death; (4) more rarely, in waking 
 apprehensions; and (5) . . . from the foreknowledge of God and the 
 spirits." — De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 From Shakespeare: 
 1. In sleep : 
 
 " King Richard [narrating a dream']. 
 
 Methought the souls of aU that I had murder'd 
 Came to my tent; and every one did threat 
 To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard." 
 
PARALLELISMS 25 
 
 " Richmond {also narrating a dreani]. 
 
 Methought their souls, whose bodies Richard murder'd, 
 Came to my tent, and cried on victory." 
 
 Richard III., v. 3 (1597). 
 
 2. In ecstasy: 
 
 " Queen {to Hamlet, who sees his father's ghosf]. 
 This is the very coinage of your brain; 
 This bodiless creation ecstasy is very cunning In." 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 4 (1604). 
 
 3. Near death : 
 
 " King Henry [to his executioner'} 
 
 Thus I prophesy, that many a thousand, 
 Which now mistrust no parcel of my fear, 
 And many an old man's sigh, and many a widow's, 
 And many an orphan's water-standing eye — 
 Men for their sons, wives for their husbands. 
 And orphans for their parents' timeless death — 
 Shall rue the hour that ever thou wast born." 
 
 3 Henry VI., v. 6 (1595). 
 
 4. In waking apprehensions : 
 
 " Macbeth. Methought I heard a voice cry, ' Sleep no more, 
 
 Macbeth does murder sleep.' . . . 
 Lady Macbeth. What do you mean 1 
 
 Macb. Still it cried, ' Sleep no more,' to all the house ; 
 
 Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor 
 Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more." 
 
 Macbeth, ii. 2 (1623). 
 
 5. Prom foreknowledge of spirits : 
 
 " King [to Hamlef]. Prepare thyself ; 
 
 The bark is ready, and the wind at help ; 
 
 The associates tend, and everything is bent 
 
 For England. 
 Hamlet. For England ! 
 
 King. Ay, Hamlet. 
 
 Ham. Good. 
 
 King. So it is, if you knew'st our purposes. 
 
 Ham. I see a cherub that sees them." i 
 
 Hamlef, iv. 3 (1604). 
 
 1 Col. H. L. Moore of Lawrence, Kansas, in the Journal of the Bacon 
 Society, i. 187. Colonel Moore is an exceptionally keen and able critic. 
 
26 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Here we have a perfect illustration of eacli one of the five 
 kinds of divination mentioned by Bacon. 
 
 39 
 
 OPIATES 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Simple opiates are . . . (1) the 
 plant and seed of the poppy, (2) 
 henbane, (3) mandragora. ..." 
 — Natural History (1622-25). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 "Not (1) poppy, nor (3) man- 
 dragora, 
 Nor all the drowsy syrups of the 
 
 world 
 Shall ever medicine to that sweet 
 
 sleep 
 Which thou ow'dst yesterday." 
 
 OtheUo, iii. 3 (1622). 
 " Cleo. Give me to drink (3) man- 
 dragora. 
 Char. Why, madame 1 
 Cleo. That I might sleep out this 
 
 great gap of time 
 My Anthony is away.'' 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, i. 6 
 (1623). 
 " Upon my secure hour thy uncle 
 
 stole, 
 With juice of cursed (2) hebenon 
 
 [henbane] in a vial, 
 And in the porches of mine ear did 
 
 pour 
 The leperous distillment." 
 
 Hamlet, i. 5 (1603). 
 
 Both authors evidently made a study of anaesthetics: 
 Bacon, for his Natural History, which was not published 
 until after his death and which, therefore, could not have 
 been the source of Shake-speare's knowledge of the subject ; 
 and Shake-speare, from time to time for several of the Plays, 
 exact dates unknown- Bacon's study was of course original, 
 for he mentions many opiates not found in Shake-speare. 
 
 The two authors, still hand in hand as it were, pursued 
 the inquiry farther; they investigated not only artificial 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 27 
 
 methods of inducing sleep, but also those that cause death 
 to be painless. Under this head Bacon specifies three, two 
 of which are given by Shake-speare. Indeed, the dramatist 
 makes one of his characters (Cleopatra) an avowed specialist 
 (as Bacon was) in this singular branch of science, thus : 
 
 40 
 
 PAINLESS DEATH 
 
 From Shake-speare 
 " Bring down the devil, for he must 
 
 not die 
 So sweet a death as hanging." 
 
 Tittis Andronicus, v. 1 (1600). 
 " Hast thou the pretty worm of 
 
 Nilus there. 
 That kills and pains not 1 " 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, v. 2 (1623). 
 " She [Cleopatra] hath pursued 
 
 conclusions infinite 
 Of easy ways to die." Ibid. 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 "A man who was hanged and 
 afterwards resuscitated, on heing 
 asked what he had suffered said 
 that he felt no pain. " — History of 
 Life and Death (1623). 
 
 " The death that is most without 
 pain hath heen noted to he upon tak- 
 ing a potion of hemlock. . . . The 
 poison of the asp, that Cleopatra 
 used, hath some affinity with it." 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 The passage quoted above from 'Hamlet' was doubtless 
 suggested by what Pliny says of hebenon or henbane ; namely, 
 that it is a dangerous poison, especially when " injected iato 
 the ear." Pliny was not translated into English imtil fifteen 
 years at least after the play of ' Hamlet ' was first drafted. 
 
 41 
 
 RECOGNITION 
 
 " I have surely seen him ; 
 
 His favour is familiar to me ; Boy, 
 
 Thou hast look'd thyself into my 
 
 grace, 
 And art mine own. I know not 
 
 why, nor wherefore." 
 
 Cymbeline, v. 5 (1623). 
 
 OP FRIENDS 
 
 " It is mentioned in some stories 
 that where children have been ex- 
 posed, or taken away young from 
 their parents, and afterward have 
 been brought into their parents' 
 presence, the parents, though they 
 have not known them, have felt 
 a secret joy or other alteration 
 thereupon." — Natural History 
 (1622-25). 
 
28 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 In the above passage from Shake-speare, it is Imogen who 
 comes disguised after a long separation into her father's pres- 
 ence, producing upon him the effect noted in the play and 
 described by Bacon. 
 
 42 
 
 TEEKESTEIAIi GEAVITT 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " As the very centre of the earth, " Bodies fall towards the centre 
 
 Drawing all things to it." of the earth." — Union of the 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, iv. 2 Kingdoms (1603). 
 
 (1609). " The ancients added the math- 
 
 " I '11 believe as soon ematical fancy that heavy bodies 
 
 This whole earth may be bor'd, and would adhere to the centre of the 
 
 that the moon earth, even if the earth were bored 
 
 May through the centre creep." through." — History of Heavy and 
 
 Midsummer-Night's Dream, iii. 2 Light (1623). 
 (1600). 
 
 The opinion that, if a hole were bored through the earth, 
 bodies falling iuto it from either end would stop at the centre, 
 or as near the centre as possible, was elaborated by Eras- 
 mus, thus : 
 
 " Curio. If any god should bore through the centre of the earth, 
 quite down to the antipodes in a perpendicular line, and a stone were 
 let fall into it, whither would it go 1 
 
 Alphius. To the centre of the earth ; there all heavy bodies rest. 
 
 Cur. What if the antipodes should let fall a stone on their side 1 
 
 Alp. Then one stone would meet the other about at the centre and 
 stop there. 
 
 Cw. But what if by the vehemence of its motion the stone should 
 pass beyond the centre 1 
 
 Alp. It would return to the centre again, just as, when thrown up 
 into the air, it returns again to the earth. 
 
 Cur. But suppose any one should bore through the earth, but not 
 through the centre itself, as, for instance, one hundred furlongs distant 
 on one side from it, where would a stone fall then t 
 
 Alp. It would go straight to a point opposite the centre and rest there, 
 and at the left hand of the hole if the centre were at the left." 
 
 Familiar Colloquies. 
 
PARALLELISMS 29 
 
 The 'Familiar Colloquies' was first printed 'in Latia (as 
 already stated) in 1519, but not translated into English 
 until 1671. Bacon is known to have become thoroughly- 
 acquainted with the Latin works of Erasmus as early as 
 1594.1 
 
 43 
 
 KING JAMES AKD SCOTLAND 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "The body ia with the king, "Although hia hodv-politio of 
 
 but the king ia not with the King of England and his body- 
 body." — Hamlet, iv. 3 (1604). politic of King of Scotland be sev- 
 eral and distinct, yet his natural 
 person, which ia one, hath an 
 operation upon both and createth 
 a privity between them." — Speech 
 in Court (1608). 
 
 The passage quoted above from 'Hamlet' seems to have 
 grown out of the new relations then existing between Scot- 
 land and the King. James had left Scotland the year before 
 (1603), but he claimed that, though separated in person 
 from its body-politic, he was still united with it as closely 
 as ever. "I am the head; it is my body," said he, in his 
 first address to the English parliament. Bacon became at 
 once a strenuous advocate of the political union of the two 
 kingdoms, one of his arguments being that, although the 
 King in his natural body was not with the body-politic of 
 Scotland, yet the body-politic of Scotland was still with him." 
 
 1 Bacon seems to have caught a glimpse of one of the laws of gravity, — 
 namely, that attraction is in proportion to mass, — for he asserted that while six 
 men might he required to move a certain stone at the surface of the earth, two 
 could easUy move the same stone at the bottom of a mine ; the difference in 
 weight being due, of course, to the counteraction of a part of the earth's mass, 
 where the stone is beneath the surface. Indeed, he finally rejected the com- 
 mon opinion that bodies are always drawn toward the centre of the earth (a 
 mathematical point, as he called it), because, he said, bodies can be attracted 
 only by bodies, and not by place. Had he known the other law, discovered 
 by Newton, that attraction is in inverse ratio to the square of the distance, 
 he would have seen his mistake in regard to the stone. 
 
 ^ See Dr. Robert M. Theobald in Jowrnal of Bacon Society. 
 
JO BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 44 
 POETKT, A PLANT WITHOUT SEED 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Our poesy is as a giun which oozes "Poesy is a plant that cometh 
 
 From whence 'tis nourished." of the lust of the earth, without a 
 
 Timon of Athens, i. 1 (162S). formal seed." — Advancement of 
 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 A remarkable definition of poetry, given by Bacon eigbteen 
 years before it appeared in any form in Shake-speare. ' Timon 
 of Athens ' was written after Bacon's downfall in 1621. 
 
 45 
 
 WHEN WRONG IS JUSTIFIABLE 
 
 " To do a great right, do a " The question is of a great deal 
 little wrong." of good to ensue of a small in- 
 
 Jferchant of Venice, iv. 1 (1600). justice." — Advancement of Learn- 
 ing (1603-5). 
 
 46 
 CIRCUMLOCUTION 
 
 " King Richard. Stanley, what " It is strange how long some 
 
 news with you ? men will lie in wait to speak some- 
 
 Stanley. None good, my liege, to what they desire to say, and how 
 
 please you with the hearing, far about they will fetch." — Essay 
 Nor none so bad, but well may be of Cunning (1625). 
 
 reported. 
 King Richard. Heyday, a riddle! 
 
 neither good nor bad ? 
 What need'st thou run so many 
 
 miles about. 
 When thou may'st tell thy tale 
 
 the nearest way? 
 Once more, what news ? " 
 King Richard III., iv. 4 (1597). 
 
PARALLELISMS 31 
 
 47 
 
 OBSOLETE LAWS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " We have strict statutes and most " It has been well said that ' no 
 
 biting laws one should be wiser than the laws ; ' 
 
 Which for these fourteen years we yet this must be understood of 
 
 have let sleep. " waking and not of sleeping laws. ' ' 
 
 Measure for Measure, i. 3 (1623). -De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 In the Se Augmentis Bacon devotes several aphorisms to 
 the consideration of obsolete laws. He regards such laws as 
 a source of danger in the influence which they naturally exert 
 on the public mind regarding all law. To repeal them from 
 time to time was the one great practical reform which he con- 
 stantly urged upon the government, and it is the identical 
 reform which the author of ' Measure for Measure ' sought to 
 illustrate and enforce in that play. Bacon advised the fre- 
 quent appointment of commissions to do this work ; the Duke 
 in the play actually appoints one. 
 
 Judge Holmes calls attention to the fact that both authors 
 make the possession of "power and place" a necessary condition 
 to the accomplishment of this end. "Good thoughts are 
 little better than good dreams, except they be put in act ; and 
 that cannot be without power and place," says Bacon. 
 
 " I have deHver'd to Lord Angelo, 
 A man of stricture and firm abstinence, 
 My absolute power and place here in Vienna," 
 
 says the Duke. 
 
 48 
 
 VACtrUM 
 
 " The air which, but for vacancy, " There is no vacuum in nature, 
 
 Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra either in space at large, or in the 
 
 too, pores of bodies." — History of 
 
 And made a gap in nature." Dense and Rare (1623). 
 Anthony and Cleopatra,u. 2 (1623). 
 
32 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Bacon's mind was in a curious state of vacillation regard- 
 ing tlie theory of a vacuum in nature. At first he thought 
 that the atoms of which a body is composed must vibrate in 
 a vacuum, as he could not otherwise conceive how bodies 
 contract and expand. This was in 1603. In 1620, when he 
 pubhshed the Novum Organum, he said he was in doubt on 
 the subject ; but three years later we find him distinctly and 
 emphatically rejecting the theory of a vacuum, whether ap- 
 plied to bodies in space or to the internal constitution of 
 bodies. It is this last state of his mind which is reflected in 
 ' Anthony and Cleopatra ' of the same date. 
 
 49 
 
 SELF-TOETCEE IN PROSPECT OP DEATH 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 Cardinal Beaufort's Bedchamber. " The poets in tragedies do make 
 The Cardinal in Bed. the most passionate lamentations, 
 
 " Cardinal. Bring me unto my and those that fore-run final de- 
 trial when you will. spair, to be accusing, questioning. 
 Died he not in his bed 1 Where and torturing of a man's self." — 
 
 should he die ? Colors of Good and Evil (1597). 
 
 Can I make men live whe'r they 
 
 will or no ? 
 O ! torture me no more, I will con- 
 fess." 
 
 2 Eenry VI., iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 Cardinal Beaufort is represented in the drama as having 
 been accessory to the murder of Duke Humphrey, and after- 
 wards (in the above) as " questioning and torturing " himself 
 on the verge (forerunning) of " final despair." 
 
 50 
 
 THE NOXIOUS IN STUDIES 
 
 " The prince but studies his com- " There are neither teeth, nor 
 
 panions stings, nor venom, nor wreaths and 
 
 Like a strange tongue, wherein folds of serpents which ought not 
 
 to gain the language, to be known. Let no man fear 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 33 
 
 'T is needful that the most im- 
 modest woid 
 
 Be look'd upon and learn'd; 
 which once attain'd, 
 
 youi highness knows, comes to no 
 further use 
 
 But to be known and hated.'' 
 
 2 Henry IV., iv. 4 (1600). 
 
 infection thereirom, for the sun 
 entereth into sinks and is not 
 defiled." — Meditationes Sacra 
 (1598). 
 
 51 
 
 PRESUMPTION 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Most is it presumption in us, 
 
 when 
 The help of heaven we count the 
 act of men." 
 
 All's Well, a. 1 (1623). 
 " There 's something in 't, 
 More than my father's skill (which 
 
 was the greatest 
 Of his profession), that his good 
 
 receipt 
 Shall for my legacy be sanctified 
 By the luckiest stars of heaven." 
 Ibid., i. 3. 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 "Those that were great poUti- 
 ques ever ascribed their successes 
 to their felicity, and not to their 
 skUl or virtue." — Advancement of 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 "All wise men, to decline the 
 envy of their own virtues, use to 
 ascribe them to providence and 
 fortune." — Essay of Fortune 
 (1607-12). 
 
 Bacon refers to this act of presumption several times in 
 his writings, and to the evil effects that flow from it. He 
 mentions twice the case of Timotheus, the Athenian, who, 
 " after he had, in the account he gave to the state of his 
 government, often interlaced this speech, ' And in this For- 
 tune had no part,' never prospered in anything he undertook 
 afterwards." 
 
 Bacon also cites an instance of the same kind from the 
 life of Julius Caesar. When it was reported to Csesar that 
 the omens were unpropitious for his going to the Senate, he 
 was heard to mutter, — "They will be auspicious when I 
 wiU." His death immediately followed. 
 
34 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 52 
 NATUBE OF WOMAK 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " This it is to be a peevish girl, " Fortune has somewhat of the 
 
 That flies her fortune when it nature of a woman, who, if she be 
 
 follows her." too much wooed, is commonly the 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, v. 2 farther off." — Advancement of 
 
 (1623). Learning (1603-5). 
 
 53 
 
 SECOND CHOICE 
 
 " This project " A man ought to have one thing 
 
 Should have a back, or second, that under another, as, if he cannot 
 might hold, have that he seeketh in the best 
 
 K this should blast in proof." degree, yet to have it in a 
 
 Hamlet, iv. 7 (1604). second." — Advancement of Learn- 
 ing (1603-5). 
 
 54 
 CREDITING one's OWN LIE 
 
 " Who having unto truth, by tell- " It was generally believed that 
 
 ing oft, he was indeed Duke Richard. Nay, 
 
 Made such a sinner of his mem- himself, with long and continual 
 
 ory counterfeiting and with oft telling 
 
 To credit his own lie, he did a lie, was turned by habit almost 
 
 believe into the thing he seemed to be; 
 
 He was indeed the Duke." and from a liar into a believer." — 
 
 Tempest, i. 2 (1623). Historj/ of Henry VIL (1621). 
 
 A sentiment uttered by Tacitus in his Annals. Bacon 
 quoted the Latin sentence containing it, in the 'Advance- 
 ment of Learning' (1605), but with an entire misconception 
 of its meaning. He then rendered it thus : " The man who 
 easHy believes rumors will as easily manufacture additions to 
 them." Later in life, however, he seems to have gained a 
 better insight into the passage, the true signification of which, 
 enlarged into a proverb, is, that untruthful persons credit even 
 their own lies. It is so given both in the ' History of Henry 
 VII. ' (1621) and in the ' Tempest ' (1623). The qualification 
 
PARALLELISMS 35 
 
 that a lie is to be repeated many times as a condition pre- 
 cedent to such belief is not in Tacitus, but is peculiar alike 
 to Bacon and to Shake-speare, as above. 
 " Telling oft." — SnAKE-SPKiRE. 
 
 "Oft telling." — Bacon. 
 
 55 
 
 APPEOVAl of BEKOE 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " What damned error, but some " There is scarce any passion 
 
 sober brow which has not some branch of 
 
 ■Will bless it and approve it with learning to flatter it." — De Aug- 
 
 a text ? " mentis (1622). 
 Merchant of Venice, iii. 2 (1600). 
 
 56 
 good intentions without acts 
 " If our virtues " What is your virtue, if you 
 
 Did not go forth of us, 't were all show it not 1 " — Gray's Inn Revels 
 
 alike (1595). 
 
 As if we had them not." " Good thoughts ... are little 
 
 Measure for Measure, i. 1 (1623). better than good dreams, except 
 
 they be put in act." — Essay of 
 Great Place (1607-12). 
 
 57 
 
 JTTPITER ASSUMING FORMS OF BEASTS 
 
 " Jupiter " The poets tell us that Jupiter 
 
 Became a hull and beUow'd." in pursuit of his loves assumed 
 
 Winter's Tale, iv. 4 (1623). many shapes, — a bull, an eagle, a 
 
 "As I slept, methought swan." — Wisdom of the Ancients 
 
 Great Jupiter, upon his eagle (1609). 
 
 back'd. 
 Appeared to me." 
 
 Cymbeline, v. 5 (1623). 
 
 " You were also, Jupiter, a swan." 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 5 
 
 (1623). 
 
 58 
 
 CESAR declining THE CEOWN 
 
 " Brutus. Casca, tell us what hath " Caesar did extremely afifeet the 
 chanc'd to-day that Csesar name of king ; and some were set 
 looks so sad. on, as he passed by, in popular 
 
3^ 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 acclamation to salute him king 
 ■whereupon, finding the cry weak 
 and poor he put it off thus, in a 
 kind of jest." — Advancement of 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 Casca. Why, there was a crown 
 
 offered him ; and being offered 
 
 him, he put it by with the 
 
 back of his hand, thus ; and 
 
 then the people fell a shouting. 
 Brutus. What was the second 
 
 noiae for t 
 Casca. Why, for that too. 
 Cassius. They shouted thrice; 
 
 what was the last cry for 1 
 Casca. Why, for that too. 
 Brutus. Was the crown offered 
 
 him thrice 1 
 Casca. Ay, marry, was 't, and he 
 
 put it by thrice, every time 
 
 gentler than other; and at 
 
 every putting by, mine honest 
 
 neighbors shouted. 
 Cassius. Who offered him the 
 
 crown? 
 Casca. Why, Antony. 
 Brutus. Tell us the manner of it, 
 
 gentle Casca. 
 Casca. I can as well be hanged as 
 
 tell the manner of it; it was 
 
 mere foolery." 
 
 Julius Ccesar i. 2 (1623). 
 
 This account was undoubtedly taken, directly or indirectly, 
 from Plutarch, -where it is given as follows : — 
 
 " Caesar, dressed in a triumphal robe, seated himself iu a golden 
 chair at the rostra, to view this ceremony [celebration of the Luper- 
 calia]. Antony . . . went up and reached to Csesar a diadem 
 wreathed with laurel. Upon this there was a shout, but only a slight 
 one, made by the few who were stationed there for that purpose ; 
 but when Caesar refused it, there was universal applause. Upon the 
 second offer, very few, and upon the second refusal, all again, ap- 
 plauded. Cffisar, finding it would not take, rose up and ordered the 
 Crown to be carried into the Capitol. Caesar's statues were after- 
 ward found with royal diadems on their heads." — Life of Julius 
 Ccesar. 
 
PARALLELISMS 37 
 
 North's English translation of Plutarch's ' Lives ' was pub- 
 lished in 1579 ; Bacon's ' Advancement of Learning ' in 1605; 
 Shakespeare's play of ' Julius Caesar ' in 1623. It is sus- 
 ceptible of easy proof, as Judge Holmes in his ' Authorship 
 of Shakespeare ' shows, that the narration in the play did 
 not come directly from Plutarch, but either from the ' Ad- 
 vancement ' or from the pen of the author of the ' Advance- 
 ment.' Judge Holmes says : 
 
 " The play follows the ideas of Bacon rather than those of 
 Plutarch, and adopts the very pecuhatities of Bacon's expres- 
 sions, wherein they differ from North's ' Plutarch,' as, for instance, 
 in these : 
 
 ' Ctesar refused it.' — Plutarch. 
 ' He put it ofif thus.' — Bacon. 
 ' He put it oflf with the back of his hand, thus.' — Shakespeare. 
 
 ' There was a shout, but only a slight one.' — Plutarch. 
 ' Finding the cry weak and poor.' — Bacon. 
 ' What was that last cry for ? ' — Shakespeare. 
 
 — Plutarch. 
 
 ' In a kind of jest.' — Bacon. 
 
 ' It was mere foolery.' — Shakespeare. 
 
 [Plutarch has nothing to correspond with these last ex- 
 pressions. The author of the play plainly followed Bacon.] 
 
 " Again, North's Plutarch speaks of a laurel crown having a 
 ' royal band or diadem wreathed about it, which in old time was 
 the ancient mark or token of a king ; ' in the play it is called a 
 ' crown,' or ' one of these coronets,' but never a diadem, while in 
 Bacon, it is the ' style and diadem of a king ; ' whence it would 
 seem clear that Bacon followed Plutarch rather than the play." — 
 The Authorship of Shakespeare, page 286. 
 
 In the following, the versions are substantially alike : 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Decius. The Senate have con- " With Julius Caesar, Decimus 
 
 eluded Brutus had obtained that interest, 
 
 To give this day a crown to mighty as he set him down, in his testa- 
 
 Csesar ; ment, for heir in remainder, after 
 
38 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 If you shall send them word you his nephew. And this was the 
 
 will not come, man that had power with him, to 
 
 Their minds may change. Besides, draw him forth to his death. For 
 
 it were a mock, when Caesar would have discharged 
 
 Apt to be rendered, for some one the Senate, in regard of some ill 
 
 to say, presages, and especially a dream of 
 
 Break up the Senate till another Calpumia, this man lifted him 
 
 time, gently by the arm out of his chair. 
 
 When Caesar's wife shall meet with telling him he hoped he would not 
 
 better dreams.'' dismiss the Senate till his wife 
 
 Julius Cceiar, ii. 2. had dreamt a better dream." — 
 Essay of Friendship (1625). 
 
 It has been noticed that the name of Caesar's wife Oal-' 
 purnia, and the prsenomen of Brutus, Becimus, while given 
 correctly in Bacon's 'Essay of Friendship,' ale spelled re- 
 spectively Calphurnia and JDecius in the play, the inference 
 being that the two compositions could not have proceeded 
 from the same pen ; in other words, that Bacon knew what 
 Shake-speare did not know. The discrepancy is easily ex- 
 plainable. The forms found in the play were in Shake- 
 speare's time in common use in England. The Essay was 
 sent to the press two years after the publication of the play, 
 through the hands of Bacon's chaplain and amanuensis, 
 Kawley, who edited it for the press. We know this from the 
 fact that he impressed upon it (as will be seen above) his 
 own singular method of punctuation. Eawley was a Latin 
 scholar, and would naturally have made the superficial cor- 
 rections, alluded to, in the text.^ 
 
 A similar mistake, Bosphorus for Bosporus, has been 
 
 1 Bacon's ' Essay of Fame,' a fragment, was published by Rawley in 1657, 
 thirty years after Bacon's death. The following passage from it will also 
 show Kawley's peculiar method of punctuation : — 
 
 " Julius Csesar, took Pompey unprovided, and laid asleep his industry, and 
 preparations, by a Fame that he cunningly gave out ; How Csesar's own 
 soldiers loved him not ; and being wearied with the wars, and laden with the 
 spoils of Gaul, would forsake him, as soon as he came into Italy. Livia, 
 settled all things, for the succession, of her son Tiberius, by continually giving 
 out, that her husband Augustus, was upon recovery, and amendment." 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 39 
 
 handed down to tlie present time, even through the scholarly 
 pages of Gibbon. 
 
 59 
 
 DEFOEMITT OP RICHARD III 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Gloucester, I, that am not 
 shaped for sportive tricks, 
 
 Kor made to court an amorous 
 looking-glass ; 
 
 I, that am rudely stamp'd, and 
 want love's majesty 
 
 To strut before a wanton ambling 
 nymph; 
 
 I, that am curtail'd of this fair pro- 
 portion. 
 
 Cheated of feature by dissembling 
 nature, 
 
 Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before 
 my time 
 
 Into this breathing world, scarce 
 half made up. 
 
 And that so lamely and unfashion- 
 able 
 
 That dogs bark at me as I halt by 
 them ; 
 
 Why, I, in this weak piping time 
 of peace. 
 
 Have no delight to pass away the 
 time. 
 
 Unless to see my shadow in the sim 
 
 And descant on mine own deform- 
 ity ; 
 
 And therefore, since I cannot prove 
 a lover, 
 
 To entertain these fair well-spoken 
 days, 
 
 I am determined to prove a villain. 
 
 Plots have I laid, inductions dan- 
 gerous, 
 
 By drunken prophesies, libels, and 
 dreams. 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Deformed persons are com- 
 monly even with nature ; for as 
 nature hath done ill by them, so 
 do they by nature ; being for the 
 most part (as the scripture saith) 
 void of natural affection; and so 
 they have their revenge of nature." 
 — Essay of Deformity (1607-12). 
 
 " Deformed persons seek to 
 rescue themselves from scorn by 
 malice." — De Augmentis (1622). 
 
40 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 To set my brother Clarence and 
 
 the King 
 In deadly hate." 
 
 BicMrd III., i. 1 (1597). 
 
 Eichard III. is said to have been deformed, one of his 
 shoulders being somewhat higher than the other. The defect, 
 however, was scarcely noticeable, and yet Shake-speare, fol- 
 lowing and enlarging upon Holinshed, tells us it was so 
 marked that dogs in the street barked at the figure as it 
 passed. But this exaggeration had a definite purpose. The 
 play was written to show the natural connection between 
 deformity in body and deformity in miud, the two being in 
 the relation, as Bacon says, of cause and effect. Accordingly 
 we have in Richard a monster " born before his time," " bom 
 with teeth," " unfinished," a " bottled spider," a " foul bunch- 
 back'd toad." He is also (in strict accordance with Bacon's 
 theory), "void of natural afi"ection;" for he murders his 
 wife, his brother Clarence, and his two young nephews 
 in the Tower ; and he died with his mother's curse on his 
 soul.'' 
 
 In the play of ' Henry VI.,' this relationship between mind 
 and body in the case of Eichard III. is stUl more clearly ex- 
 pressed : 
 
 " Gloucester. Since the heavens have shaped my body so, 
 
 Let hell make crook'd my mind to answer it. " 
 
 8 Henry VI., v. 6. 
 
 1 " The deformity could scarcely have been very marked in cue who per- 
 formed such feats upon the battlefield, nor does it appear distinctly in any 
 contemporary portrait, though there are not a few. Of these several are of 
 the same type, and perhaps by the same artist, as those in the royal collection 
 at Windsor and the National Portrait Gallery. They exhibit an anxious- 
 looking face, with features capable, no doubt, of very varied expression, but 
 scarcely the look of transparent malice and deceit attributed to him by Poly- 
 dore Vergil, or the warlike, hard-favored visage with which he is credited by 
 Sir Thomas More." — Dictionary of National Biography." 
 
 The same criticism applies to Holinshed. Authorities differ even as to 
 which shoulder was the higher. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 41 
 
 60 
 
 HARMONY OF THE SPHERES 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Launcelot. Sit, Jessica ; look how 
 
 the floor of heaven 
 Is thick inlaid with patines of 
 
 bright gold; 
 There 's not the smallest orb which 
 
 thou behold'st 
 But in his motion like an angel 
 
 sings, 
 Still quiring to the young-eyed 
 
 Cherubins ; 
 Such harmony is in immortal 
 
 souls; 
 But, whilst this muddy vesture of 
 
 decay 
 Doth grossly close it in, we can- 
 not hear it." 
 Merchant of Venice, v. 1 (1600). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " It was Plato's opinion that all 
 knowledge is but remembrance, 
 and that the mind of man by 
 nature knoweth all things, and 
 hath but her own native and orig- 
 inal motions (which by the 
 strangeness and darkness of this 
 tabernacle of the body are se- 
 questered) again revived." — Ad- 
 vancement 0/ Learning (1603-5). 
 
 " The pipe of seven reeds [borne 
 by Pan] plainly denotes the har- 
 mony and consent of things, caused 
 by the motion of the seven planets. 
 ... If there be any lesser planets 
 which are not visible, or any 
 greater change in the heavens (as 
 in some superlunary comets), it 
 seems they are as pipes either 
 entirely mute or vocal only for 
 a season ; inasmuch as their in- 
 fluences either do not approach 
 so low as ourselves, or do not long 
 interrupt the harmony of the 
 seven pipes of Pan." — Be Aug- 
 mentis (1622). 
 
 It is the integument of our bodies, Shakespeare says in 
 effect, that prevents our perceiving the harmonious motions 
 of the stars; it is also the integument of our bodies, says 
 Bacon, that shuts out from our memory those motions of the 
 spirit which we had in a previous state of existence. Bacon 
 deliberately used here the word motion to describe what it is 
 that the body excludes; but editors of his works, even in- 
 cluding Mr. Spedding, have ignorantly substituted for it the 
 word notion. The parallel passage in the play justifies us ia 
 
42 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 restoring the original text. In Bacon's phUosophy discord 
 and concord are natural results of motion. 
 
 Indeed, both authors make occasional use of the word 
 motion in a very peculiar philosophical sense, applying it, as 
 occasion may require and to the despair of commentators, to 
 every possible impulse or movement, mental and physical, in 
 the whole realm of created things. 
 In Bacon : 
 
 " The Ught of nature consisteth in the motions [that is, intui- 
 tions] of the miad and the reports of the senses." — Advancement 
 of Learning. 
 
 Motions changed to notions by modern editors. 
 In Shakespeare : 
 
 " Yet in the number I do know but one 
 That, unassailable, holds on his rank, 
 Unshak'd of motion." 
 
 Julius Ccesar, iii. 1. 
 
 " Bead, Unshak'd of notion." — Ufton's Critical Observations on, 
 Shakespeare, p. 229. 
 
 " The reasons of onr state I cannot yield. 
 But like a common and an outward man, 
 That the great figure of a council frames 
 By self-unable motion." 
 
 All 's Well, iii. 1. 
 
 " Read notion ; that is, from his own ideas. A printer might 
 easily mistake motion for notion." — Prebendary Upton, p. 230. 
 
 61 
 
 THE WIND, A BEOOM 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Puck. I am sent with broom " To the earth the winds are 
 
 before, brooms ; they sweep and cleanse 
 
 To sweep the dust behind the it." — History of the Winds (\S2Si). 
 
 door." 
 Midsummer-Night's Dream, v. 1 
 
 (1600). 
 
 Puck is one of the aSrial spirits personified in ' Midsummer- 
 Night's Dream.' He represents the winds. 
 
PARALLELISMS 43 
 
 62 
 PATIENCE 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacori 
 
 " You are so fretful, you cannot " To live long, one must be 
 
 live long." patient." >—Promus (1594-6). 
 1 Henry IV., 3 (159S). 
 
 63 
 
 EEFLECTION OB" VIBTUE 
 
 " Man feels not what he owes, but " Virtue is as an heat which is 
 by reflection ; doubled by reflection." — Colors 
 
 As when his virtues, aiming upon of Good and Evil (1597). 
 others, 
 
 Heat them, and they retort that 
 heat again 
 
 To the first givers." 
 
 Trmlus and Cressida, iii. 3 (1609). 
 
 64 
 WORLD ON WHEELS 
 
 " The world on wheels." "The world runs on wheels." — 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, iii. 1 Promus (1594-96). 
 
 (1623). 
 " The third part [of the world] then 
 
 is drunk ; would it were all, 
 That it might go on wheels." 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, ii. 7 (1623). 
 
 65 
 
 DEATH-BED UTTEKANCES 
 
 " The tongues of dying men " The words which men speak 
 Enforce attention, like deep har- at their death, like the song of the 
 mony." dying swan, have a wonderful 
 
 Richard II., ii. 1 (1597). effect upon men's minds." — Wis- 
 dom of the Ancients (1609). 
 
 Diotnedes, having wounded Venus in battle, was put to 
 death for impiety, and his followers were changed into 
 swans, "a bird," says Bacon, "which at the approach of 
 
44 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 its own death utters a sweet and plaintive sound." This 
 myth is several times referred to in the Plays: 
 
 " If he lose, he makes a svran-like eud, 
 Fading in music." 
 
 Merchant of Venice, m.. 2. 
 
 It is in the comparison, however, between the speech of 
 dying men and the notes of a dying swan, or "deep har- 
 mony," that this extraordinary parallelism exists. 
 
 66 
 BELIGIOUS PEKSECUTIOK 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " It is an heretic that makes the " We may not take up the third 
 
 fire, sword (which is Mahomet's) . . . 
 
 Not she which hums in 't." to propagate religion by wars or by 
 
 Winter's Tale, ii. 3 (1623). sanguinary persecutions ; ... or 
 
 descend to the cruel and execrable 
 actions of murdering princes, butch- 
 ery of people, and subversion of 
 states and governments. Surely 
 this is to bring down the Holy 
 Ghost, not in the likeness of a 
 dove, but in the shape of a 
 vulture." — Essay of Unity of 
 Religion (1612). 
 
 This, ia an age of almost universal intolerance, is a marked 
 agreement of opinion in favor of religious liberty. It was 
 also of the same date, the play being first heard of in 1611, 
 and the essay in 1612. 
 
 67 
 
 DIVINITY IN CHANCE 
 
 " Our indiscretion sometimes serves " Oh, what divinity there is in 
 
 us well, chance ! Accident is many times 
 
 When our dear plots do paU ; and more subtle than foresight." — Ad- 
 
 that should teach us, vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
PARALLELISMS 45 
 
 There 's a divinity that shapes o\ir 
 
 ends, 
 Rough hew them how we will." 
 Hamlet, v. 2 (1604). 
 
 68 
 
 SUITS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Being perfected how to grant " To grant all suits were to undo 
 
 suits, yourself or your people; to deny 
 
 How to deny them, whom to ad- all suits were to see never a con- 
 
 vance, and whom tented face ; ... as your Majesty 
 
 To trash for overtopping." hath of late won hearts hy depress- 
 
 Tempest, i. 2 (1623). ing, you should in this lose no 
 
 hearts by advancing." — Letter to 
 
 King James i (1620). 
 
 " There is use also of ambitious 
 men in puUing down the greatness 
 of any subject that overtops." 
 
 Essay of Amhition (1626). 
 
 69 
 
 MISQUOTING ARISTOTLE 
 
 " Young men, whom Aristotle " Is not the opinion of Aristotle 
 
 thought worthy to be regarded wherein he 
 
 Unfit to hear moral philosophy." saith that young men are no fit 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, ii. 2 auditors of moral philosophy 1 " — 
 
 (1609). Advancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 It was political pMosophy that Aristotle referred to. 
 
 " AtO TTJS TToXtTlK^S OVK l(rTlV OOCeiOS OKpOanjS O V£OS. 
 
 Nicomachean Ethics, i. 3. 
 
 This error doubtless originated with Erasmus, with whose 
 works Bacon was thoroughly acquainted. It is found in 
 
 1 Quoted by Theron S. E. Dixon in his admirable work entitled ' Francis 
 Bacon and his Shakespeare' (1895), p. 36. We should be doing our readers 
 great injustice not to call their attention to this author's masterly analysis of 
 the drama of 'Julius Caesar.' All intelligent lovers of Shake-speare will 
 mourn Mr. Dixon's untimely death in 1898. He was a lawyer of uncommon 
 ability and worth. 
 
46 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 the ' Familiar Colloquies,' first published in Latin in 1519, 
 but not translated into English until 1671, or sixty-two years 
 after the date of the play. Erasmus wrote : 
 
 " Veltit irrepens in animos adolescentium quos recte scripsit 
 Aristoteles inidoneus ethicce jphilosophice " (young persons 
 whom Aristotle accounted not to be fit auditors of moral 
 philosophy). 
 
 Following is a group of parallelisms on the subtle connec- 
 tion between Secrecy and Trust. 
 
 70 
 
 SILENCE INDUCING TRUST 
 
 From Shahe-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Yovu silence, " Secrecy induceth trust and 
 Cunning in dumbness, from my inwardness." — Advancement of 
 
 weakness draws Learning (1603-5). 
 
 My very soul of counsel." 
 Troilus and Cressida, iii. 2 (1609). 
 
 In the second edition of the 'Advancement' (Be Aug- 
 mentis). Bacon rewrote the above sentence thus: 
 
 " Taciturnity induceth trust, so that men like to deposit their 
 secrets there." 
 
 Again: 
 
 " The silent man hears everything, for everything can be safely 
 communicated to him.'' 
 
 71 
 
 BLABBING 
 
 " See, we fools ! " The secret man heareth many 
 
 Why have I blabb'd ? Who shall confessions ; for who will open 
 
 be true to us, himself to a blab ? " — Essay of 
 
 When we are so unsecret to Simulation (1625). 
 
 ourselves ? " 
 Troilus and Cressida, iii. 2 (1609). 
 
PARALLELISMS 47 
 
 72 
 
 INDISCKETION 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Sweet, bid me hold my tongue, " Experience showeth that there 
 
 For in this rapture I shall surely are few men so true to themselves 
 
 speak and so settled but that, sometimes 
 
 The thing I shall repent." upon heat, sometimes upon bra- 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, iii. 2 very, sometimes upon kindness, 
 
 (1609). sometimes upon trouble of mind 
 
 and weakness, they open them- 
 selves." — Advancement of Learn- 
 ing (1603-5). 
 
 It will be noticed that this train of thought, abstruse and 
 peculiar, appears in the 'Advancement of Learning' (1605), 
 'Troilus and Cressida' (1609), De Augmentis (1622), and 
 the Essays (1625). 
 
 73 
 
 INVITIKG CONFIDENCES 
 
 " Perchance, my lord, I show more " Liberty of speech inviteth and 
 
 craft than love, provoketh liberty [in others], and 
 
 And fell so roundly to a large con- so bringeth much to a man's knowl- 
 
 fession edge." — Advancement of Learning 
 
 To angle for your thoughts." (1603-5). 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, iii. 2 (1609). 
 
 This is a variation of the same theme as above (secrecy 
 and trust). Bacon thus reverts to it in the Be Augmentis : 
 
 " The second [rule] is to keep a discreet temper and mediocrity 
 both in liberty of speech and in secrecy; in most cases using 
 liberty, but secrecy when the occasion requires it." 
 
 Even this variation duly appears in both authors. 
 
 74 
 
 A SPANISH PROVERB 
 
 " Tour bait of falsehood takes this " It is a good shrewd proverb of 
 carp of truth." the Spaniard, • Tell a lie and find 
 
 Hamlet, ii. 1 (1604). a truth.' " — Essay of Simulation 
 and Dissimulation (1625). 
 
48 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 75 
 
 BEHATIOK, 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " How oddly he is suited ! I 
 think he bought his doublet in 
 Italy, his round hose in France, his 
 bonnet in Germany, and his be- 
 haviour everywhere." 
 
 Merchant of Venice, i. 2 (1600). 
 
 i. GARMENT 
 
 From Bacon 
 "Behaviour is but a garment." 
 — Letter to Rutland (1596). 
 
 In the play behavior is regarded as a part of one's apparel 
 or suit, concerning which Bacon wrote at greater length in 
 the 'Advancement' : 
 
 " Behaviour seemeth to me as a garment of the mind, and to 
 have the conditions of a garment. For it ought to be made in 
 fashion ; it ought not to be too curious ; it ought to be shaped so 
 as to set forth any good making of the mind and hide any deform- 
 ity ; and above all, it ought not to be too straight or restrained for 
 exercise or motion." — Book ii. 
 
 76 
 
 BOBIN GOODFELLOW 
 
 " Sir Fulke Greville would say 
 merrily of himself, that he was like 
 Robin Goodfellow, for when maids 
 spilt the milk-can, or kept any 
 racket, they would lay it upon 
 'Rohm.." — Apothegms (1624). 
 
 " You are that shrewd and knavish 
 
 sprite 
 Call'd Robin Goodfellow ; are not 
 
 you he 
 That frights the maidens of the 
 
 villagery, 
 Skim milk, and sometimes labor in 
 
 the quern ?" 
 Midsummer-Night's Dream, ii. 1 
 
 (1600). 
 
 77 
 
 FEAE OF DEATH 
 
 " Of all the wonders that I yet " I do wonder at the Stoics, that 
 
 have heard, accounted themselves to hold the 
 
 It seems to me most strange that masculine virtues, esteeming other 
 
 men should fear [death] j sects delicate, tender and eifemi- 
 
PARALLELISMS 49 
 
 Seeing that death, a necessary end, nate, they should urge and advise 
 
 Will come when it will come." men to the meditation of death. 
 
 Julius Ccesar, n. 2 (1623). Was not this to increase the fear of 
 
 death, which they professed to as- 
 suage ? . . . Ought they not to have 
 taught men to die as if they should 
 live, and not to live as though 
 they continually should die. More 
 manfully thought the voluptuous 
 sect that counted it as one of the 
 ordinary works of nature." — Essex 
 Device (0. 1592). 
 
 78 
 
 EARLY AND LATE 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "It is so very very late " It is not now late, but early." 
 
 That we may call it early." — Essay of Death (j^osthumous), 
 Romeo and Juliet, ui. 4 (1597). 
 
 Both authors seem to have taken special delight in this 
 curious play upon the words early and late as applied to the 
 hours after midnight. In ' Twelfth Night' Shakespeare says : 
 
 " To be up after midnight and to go to bed then, is early." — ii. 3. 
 
 Again, in ' Eomeo and Juhet ' : 
 
 " Is she not down so late, or up so early ? " — iii. 5. 
 
 So, also, in the 'Promus,' written almost simultaneously 
 with ' Eomeo and Juliet,' we find this double entry : 
 
 "Late rising, 
 Early rising." 
 
 79 
 
 FEAE 
 
 " So full of artless jealousy is guilt, " Nothing is fearful but fear it- 
 
 It spills itself in fearing to be self." — Letter to Rutland (159G). 
 spilt." " Nothing is to be feared but fear 
 
 Hamlet, iv. 5 (1604). itself." — J^ssea; Device (c. 1592). 
 
 4 
 
50 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 The principle of this grand aphorism in 'Hamlet' is ex- 
 pressed many times in Bacon's prose writings, that fear is 
 the most terrible foe of mankind. 
 
 " Nothing is terrible but fear." — De Augmentis. 
 
 " Fears make devils of cherubins.'' — Troilus and Cressida. 
 
 " Of all base passions, fear is most accursed." — 1 Henry VI. 
 
 In 'Hamlet,' as above, the sentiment is applied to the 
 extreme case of a criminal. The germ of the thought is in 
 Virgil, who tells us that to become exempt from all fear one 
 must know the causes of things, and that such knowledge is 
 happiness. 
 
 Our attention was first called to this aphorism by the Eev. 
 Wniiam R Alger of Boston, one of the keenest intellects 
 New England has produced. 
 
 80 
 FEAK OF LOSS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " I cannot choose " To abstain from the use of a 
 
 But weep to have that which I thing that you may not feel a want 
 
 fear to lose." of it ; to shun the want that you 
 
 Sonnet 64 (1609). may not fear the loss of it, are the 
 
 precautions of pusillanimity and 
 
 cowardice." — Advancement of 
 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 " I will not use because I will 
 not desire. I will not desire be- 
 cause I will not fear to want." — 
 Essex Device (c. 1592). 
 
 The sentiment, which Bacon condemns and which Shake- 
 speare confesses as a weakness, that men cannot properly 
 take pleasure in anything because in the mutability of human 
 affairs they must be in constant anticipation of its loss, is 
 thus re-stated in the second edition of the 'Advancement' 
 (1623): 
 
 "Do we not often see minds so constituted as to take great 
 delight in present pleasures and yet endure the loss of those 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 51 
 
 pleasures with equanimity 1 Hence the advice of philosophers — 
 'Eiyoy not, that you may not desire; desire not, that you may 
 not fear ' — is pusillajiimous and cowardly." 
 
 The same sentiment is in Plutarch : 
 
 " To neglect the procuring of what is necessary or convenient in 
 life for fear of losing it, would he acting a very mean and ahsurd 
 part ; hy the same rule a man might refuse the enjoyment of riches 
 or honor or wisdom, because it is possible for him to be deprived 
 of them." — L^e of Solon. 
 
 81 
 
 A LETTEE TEICK 
 
 From Bacon 
 Some procure themselves to be 
 surprised at such times as it is 
 like[ly] the party they work upon 
 will suddenly come upon them ; 
 and to be found with a letter in 
 their hand, to the end they may 
 be apposed [questioned] of those 
 things which of themselves they 
 are desirous to utter." — Essay of 
 Cunning (1625). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 [^Reading a letter.'] 
 " Edmund. If this letter speed, 
 And my good intention thrive, 
 
 Edmund the base 
 Shall top the legitimate. 
 Enter Gloster. 
 Glo. Edmimd, how now 1 What 
 
 news 1 
 Edm. So please your lordship, 
 
 none. [Putting up the letter. 
 Glo. Why so earnestly seek you to 
 
 put up that letter ? 
 Edm. I know no news, my lord. 
 Glo. What paper were you reading? 
 Edm. Nothing, my lord. 
 Glo. No ? What needed, then, that 
 
 terrible dispatch into your 
 
 pocket ? " — King Lear, i. 2 
 
 (1608). 
 
 " With much affected reluctance Edmund gives up the letter, 
 which contains a proposition to put Gloster to death." — Euggles' 
 Plays of Shakespeare, 196.^ 
 
 1 Mr. Henry J. Ruggles' work, ' The Plays of Shakespeare, Founded on 
 Literary Forms' (Boston, Houghton, Mifflin, >& Co., 1895), from which we 
 have taken some excellent parallelisms, is one of the most valuable ever writ- 
 ten in Shakespearean criticism. It is the product of twenty years' study by a 
 trained juiist. 
 
52 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 82 
 
 MATERIALITY OF HEAT 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " One heat another heat expels. 
 As one nail by strength drives out 
 another." 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 4 
 (1623). 
 " One fire drives out one fire; one 
 naU, one naU." 
 
 Coriolanus, iv. 7 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " When two heats differ much 
 in degree, one destroys the other.'' 
 — De Principiis atque Originibus 
 (date unknown). 
 
 " Flame doth not mingle with 
 flame, but remaineth contiguous." 
 — Advancement of Learning (1603- 
 5). 
 
 83 
 DRIVING NAILS 
 
 " One naU by strength drives out " To drive out a nail with 
 another." Hid. nail." — Promus (1594-96). 
 
 84 
 STEP-MOTHEES 
 
 ' You shall not find me, daughter, " His Majesty hath commanded 
 
 After the slander of most step- 
 mothers, 
 Evil-ey'd unto you." 
 
 Cymbeline, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 special care to be taken in the 
 choice of persons to whom wards 
 be committed, ... to no greedy 
 persons, no step-mothers." — 
 Declaration for the Master of the 
 Wards (1612). 
 
 85 
 CIKCtfLATION OP THE BLOOD 
 
 " Both of Galen and Paracelsus." 
 AU's Well,u. 3 (1623). 
 " He has no more knowledge in 
 Hippocrates and Galen." — Merry 
 Wives of Windsor, iii. 1 (1623). 
 " I have read the cause of his ef- 
 fects in Galen." 
 
 S Henry IV., i. 1(1600). 
 "The most sovereign prescrip- 
 tion in Galen is empiricutic." — 
 Coriolanus, ii. 1 (1623). 
 
 " I ever liked the Galenists, that 
 deal with good compositions, and 
 not the Paracelsians, that deal with 
 these fine separations." — Letter to 
 CecU (1595). 
 
PARALLELISMS 53 
 
 Shake-speare's conception of the circulation of the blood, 
 as well as Bacon's, was that held by scientific medical schools 
 before the time of Servetus ; it was such as had been taught 
 by Hippocrates, Galen, and Paracelsus, namely, that the 
 blood ebbs and flows between the heart and the extremities of 
 the body, not by a circuitous motion (outward by the arteries 
 and back by the veins), but to and fro, or up and down, by 
 each route independently. This corresponds to the descrip- 
 tion of the process given in ' King John ' : 
 
 " Melancholy- 
 Had bated thy blood and made it heavy-thick, 
 Which else runs tickling up and down the veins." — iii. 3. 
 
 Neither in Bacon's writings nor in the plays do we find 
 any mention of Servetus or Harvey, but frequent references 
 to Hippocrates, Galen, and Paracelsus in both. 
 
 " Of the different functions of the arteries and veins Shakespeare 
 does not seem to have had any knowledge." [Nor did Bacon.] — 
 Elze's lAfe of William Shakespeare, p. 400. 
 
 Judge Holmes calls attention to a still closer parallelism 
 under this head, as follows : 
 
 86 
 
 HUMOE AND THE VITAL SPIRrT 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Through all thy veins shaU run " It was a pestilent fever, but, as 
 
 A cold and drowsy humor, which it seemeth, not seated in the veins 
 
 shall seize or humoi-s ; only a malign vapor 
 
 Each vital spirit." flew to the heart and seized the 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, iv. 1 (1597). vital spirit." — History of Henry 
 
 VII. (1621). 
 
 Physiological science was then in its infancy, but the 
 same peculiar conceptions of it are foimd in the two sets 
 of works. 
 
54 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 87 
 
 KNOWLEDGE IS KEMEMBEANCE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " If there be nothing new, but that 
 
 which is 
 Hath been before, how are onr 
 
 brains beguil'd, 
 Which, laboring for invention, 
 
 bear amiss 
 The second burthen of a former 
 
 child 1" Sonne* 59 (1609). 
 " No ! Time, thou shalt not boast 
 
 that I do change. 
 Thy pyramids, built up with newer 
 
 might. 
 To me are nothing novel, nothing 
 
 strange ; 
 They are but dressings of a former 
 
 sight." Sonnet 123. 
 
 This notion, derived from Plato, is repeatedly expressed 
 both in Bacon and in Shake-speare. 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " It was Plato's opinion that all 
 knowledge is but rem«mbranee." — 
 Advancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 "Salomon saith, 'There is no 
 new thing upon the earth.' So that 
 as Plato had an imagination, that 
 all knowledge is but remembrance, 
 so Salomon giveth his sentence, 
 that all novelty is but oblivion." 
 — Essay of Vicissitude of Things 
 (1625). 
 
 88 
 
 IN WAR 
 
 " Consider the varying chances 
 of war." — Promiis (1594-96). 
 
 CHANCES 
 
 " Consider, sir, the chance of war; 
 the day was yours by accident." — 
 Cymbeline, v. 5 (1623). 
 "Now good or bad, 'tis but the 
 chance of war." 
 Troilus and Cressida, Prologue 
 (1623). 
 
 " Thou know'st, great son, 
 The end of war 's uncertain." 
 
 Coriolanus, v. 3 (1623). 
 
 89 
 
 CHILDBEN GOTEBNING PARENTS 
 
 " I have often heard him main- " Suppose a nation where the 
 tain it to be fit that sons at perfect custom was that after full age the 
 
PARALLELISMS SS 
 
 age and fathers declined, the father sons shovdd expulse their fathers 
 should be as a ward to the son, and and mothers out of their possea- 
 the son manage the revenue." — sions and put them to their pen- 
 King Lear, i. 2 (1608). sion." — Advertisement touching a 
 
 Holy War (1622). 
 
 The above passage from ' King Lear ' was first printed in 
 1608, and the ' Advertisement touching a Holy War ' in 1629, 
 three years after Bacon's death. We know that the latter 
 tract was composed, in the shape in which we now have it, 
 ia 1622, but various memoranda, found among Bacon's post- 
 humous papers, show that he had made a study of the sub- 
 ject at different times several years earlier. The context 
 clearly proves that this study was an original one on his 
 part, and wholly independent of anything in ' Kiag Lear.' 
 Bacon's full statement is as follows : 
 
 " Let me put a feigned case (and yet antiquity makes it douht- 
 ful whether it were fiction or history) of a land of Amazons, where 
 the whole government, public and private, j'ea, the militia itself, 
 was in the hands of women. . . . And much like were the case, 
 if you suppose a nation where the custom were, that after full age 
 the sons should expulse their fathers and mothers out of their pos- 
 sessions, and put them to their pensions : for these cases, of women 
 to govern men, sons the fathers, slaves free men, are much in the 
 same degree ; all being total violations and perversions of the law 
 of nature." 
 
 90 
 
 EMBLEMS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Prospero. Canst thou remember "Emblem reduceth conceits in- 
 A time before we came to this cell ? telleotual to images sensible, which 
 Miranda. Certainly, sir, I can. strike the memory more." — Ad- 
 Pros. Of anything the image tell vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 me, that 
 Hath kept thy remembrance." 
 
 Tempest, i. 1 (1623). 
 
S6 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 In the second edition of the 'Advancement' {De Aug- 
 mentis, 1622) Bacon adds the following, to the sentence 
 quoted above: 
 
 " An image strikes the memory more forcibly 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 intellectual ones. And therefore you will more easily 
 remember the image of a hunter pursuing a hare, of an apothe- 
 cary arranging his boxes, of a pedant making a speech, of a boy 
 repeating verses from memory, of a player acting on a stage, than 
 the mere notions of invention, disposition, elocution, memory, 
 and action. ... So much, therefore, for the art of retaining or 
 keeping knowledge." 
 
 It is difficult to believe that when Prospero begged his 
 daughter to give him the image of anything she might have 
 retained in her memory of the time of their arrival on the 
 island, the author did not have in mind the philosophical 
 thesis on the art of memory that had been composed by 
 Bacon ten or twelve years earlier. 
 
 91 
 
 CASTOE AND POLLUX 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Prospero. Hast thou, spirit, " The ball of fire, called Castor 
 
 Perform'd, to poiat,i the tempest by the ancients, that appears at sea, 
 
 that I bade thee ? if it be single, prognosticates a 
 
 Ariel. To every article ; severe storm (seeing it is Castor, 
 
 I boarded the king's ship; npw on the dead brother), which will be 
 
 the beak, much more severe if the ball does 
 
 Now ia the waist, the deck, in not adhere to the mast, but rolls 
 
 every cabin, and dances about. But if there be 
 
 I flam'd amazement ; sometimes two of them (that is, if Pollux, the 
 
 I 'd divide, Uving brother, be present), and 
 
 And bum in many places ; on the that, too, when the storm has in- 
 
 topmast, creased, it is reckoned a good sign. 
 
 ' To point " means in every particular. 
 
PARALLELISMS 57 
 
 The yards and bowsprit, would I But if there are three of them (that 
 flame distinctly, is, if Helen, the general scourge, 
 
 Then meet and join." arrive), the storm will become more 
 
 Te?7y)es«, i. 2 (1623). fearful. The fact seems to be, that 
 one by itself seems to indicate that 
 the tempestuous matter is crude; 
 two, that it is prepared and ripened ; 
 three or more, that so great a quan- 
 tity is collected as can hardly be 
 dispersed." — History of the Winds 
 (1622). 
 
 Prospero's commission to Ariel to raise a storm at sea and 
 wreck Antonio's ship illustrates the object for which the 
 play was written ; namely, to show man's destined command 
 over the powers of nature. This was the professed object, 
 too, of Bacon's system of philosophy ; all his studies had 
 been directed from his youth to that end. 
 
 Accordingly, we are not surprised to find in Bacon's 
 prose works the preliminary details of such a wreck, as well as 
 the source from which they were chiefly derived. We quote 
 from Pliny's ' Natural History,' translated into English for 
 the first time in 1601, as follows : 
 
 " They settle also upon the yards and other parts of the ship, as 
 men do sail the sea, making a kind of vocal sound, leaping to and 
 fro, and shifting their places as birds do which fly from bough to 
 bough. Dangerous they be and unlucky when they come one by 
 one without a companion ; and they drown those ships on which 
 they alight and threaten shipwreck ; yea, and they set them on 
 fire, if haply they fall upon the bottom of the keel. But if they 
 appear two and two together, they bring comfort with them, and 
 foretell a prosperous course in the voyage, by whose coming, they 
 say, that dreadful, cursed and threatening meteor, Helena, is 
 chased and driven away. And therefore it is that men assign this 
 mighty power to Castor and Pollux and invocate them at sea, no 
 less than gods." 
 
58 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 It will be seen that, according to Pliny, it was a single 
 ball of fire that struck terror to the hearts of the mariners ; 
 but in Bacon's version, while one alone signified danger, the 
 really fatal omen, such as Ariel sought to create, lay in the ap- 
 pearance of three or more balls of fire together. That is to 
 say. Bacon made a certain deviation from the classical story, 
 and in this was duly followed by the author of the play ; for 
 
 in the lines — 
 
 " On the topmast, 
 The yards and bowsprit would I flame distinctly, 
 Then meet and join," — 
 
 the word distinctly, used to qualify the kind of apparition 
 produced by Ariel on the ship, means separately, or severally, 
 that is, in three or more places at once. 
 
 Hakluyt described these lights, as he called them, in 
 1600, but apparently without any knowledge of their alleged 
 character as portents. 
 
 92 
 REGION, BACK, AND SILENCE 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Anon permit the basest clouds " The winds in the upper region 
 
 to ride (which move the clouds above. 
 
 With ugly rack on his celestial face, which we call the rack, and are 
 And from the forlorn world his not perceived below) pass without 
 visage hide, noise." — Sylva Sylvarum (1622-23). 
 
 Stealing unseen to West. . . . 
 The region cloud hath mask'd him 
 from me now." 
 
 Sonnet 43 (1609). 
 " But as we often see, against some 
 
 storm, 
 A silence in the heavens, the rack 
 
 stood still. 
 The bold winds speechless, and the 
 
 orb below 
 As hush as death, anon the dreadful 
 
 thunder 
 Doth rend the region." 
 
 Hamlet, ii. 2 (1604). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 59 
 
 Mr. Main, in his ' Treasury of English Sonnets,' was the 
 first to notice this threefold parallelism of ' region, rack, and 
 silence ' in the foregoing descriptions of a storm. 
 
 93 
 
 FEIEUDSHIP 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " I have trusted thee, Camillo, 
 With all the nearest things to my 
 
 heart, as well 
 My chamber-councils, wherein, 
 
 priest-like, thou 
 Haat cleans'd my bosom." 
 
 Winter's Tale, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 "No receipt openeth the heart 
 but a true friend, to whom you 
 may impart griefs, joys, fears, 
 hopes, suspicions, counsels, and 
 whatsoever lieth upon the heart 
 to oppress it, in a kind of civil 
 shrift or confession.'' — Essay oj 
 Friendship (1625). 
 
 The first draft of the Essay was made sometime hetween 
 1607 and 1612. Both authors confer upon friendship the 
 functions of a religious confessional. 
 
 94 
 
 CUEBENT THEOUGH BOSPHOEUS 
 
 " In the Mediterranean Sea, a 
 slight ebb begins at the Atlantic, 
 but a flow from the other end." — 
 De Fluxu et Refluxu Maris (1616). 
 
 " Like to the Pontic sea. 
 Whose icy and compulsive course 
 Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps 
 
 due on 
 
 To the Propontic and the Helles- 
 pont." 
 
 Othello, iii. 3 (1622). 
 
 For an elucidation of this extraordinary parallelism, see 
 ' Francis Bacon Our Shake-speare,' p. 45. 
 
 95 
 
 BEOWNISTS 
 
 "Sir Andrew Toby. Policy I 
 hate ; I had as lief be a Brownist 
 as a politician." — Twelfth Night, 
 iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 " As for those we caU Brownists, 
 being when they were at the most, 
 a very small number of very sUly 
 and base people, here and there 
 
6o 
 
 BACON JND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 dispersed, they are now (thanks be 
 to God), by the good remedies 
 that have been used, suppressed 
 and worn out." — Observations on 
 a Libel (1592). 
 
 The Brownists (so called from Eobert Brown, their leader) 
 were a religious sect that objected to the rites, ceremonies, 
 and discipline of the English Church. They were the fore- 
 runners of the Puritans. Bacon and Shake-speare, it is un- 
 pleasant to note, both expressed the utmost contempt for 
 them. 
 
 This parallelism was suggested to us by a respected corre- 
 spondent in Basel, Switzerland. 
 
 From Shake-speare 
 
 " Katherine. I pray thee, hus- 
 band, be not so disquiet. 
 
 The meat was well, if you were so 
 contented. 
 
 Peiruchio. I tell thee, Kate, *t was 
 burnt and dried away. 
 
 It engenders choler. 
 
 96 
 CHOLERIC MEATS 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Fat meats induce choler and 
 satiety." — Sylva Sylvarum (1622- 
 25). 
 
 Grumio. What say you to a neat's 
 
 foot? 
 Kath. 'T is passing good ; I prithee, 
 
 let me have it. 
 Gru. I fear it is too choleric a 
 
 meat. 
 How say you to a fat tripe, finely 
 
 boU'd ? 
 Kalh. I like it well; good Grumio, 
 
 fetch it me. 
 Gru. I cannot tell; I fear 'tis 
 
 choleric." 
 Taming of the Shrew, iv. 2, 3 (1623). 
 
PARALLELISMS 61 
 
 In the first draft of ' The Taming of the Shrew,' published 
 under the title of 'The Taming of a Shrew' in 1594, the 
 term choleric in this scene is applied to mustard only ; but in 
 the final draft (1623), made while Bacon was writing his 
 ' Natural History ' and investigating the effects of different 
 kinds of food upon the stomach, it is used (as in the latter 
 work) in connection with fat meats. The reference to 
 mustard is still retained, but in a wholly subordinate way. 
 
 97 
 
 LITE ECLIPSED 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " The mortal moon. [Queen Eliza- " The Queen hath endured a 
 beth] hath her eclipse en- strange eclipse." — History of 
 dured." Sonnet 107. Henry VII. (1621). 
 
 98 
 ASSUMPTION OF VIETTJE 
 
 " Assume a virtue, if you have it " Whatsoever a want a man 
 
 not." hath, he must see that he pretend 
 
 Hamlet, Hi. 4 (1604). the virtue that shadoweth it." — 
 
 Adoancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 FALL OF THE ANGELS 
 
 " CromweU, I charge thee, fling " The desire of power in excess 
 
 away ambition ; caused the angels to faU." — Essay 
 
 By that sin fell the angels." of Goodness (1625). 
 Henry VIII., iii. 3 (1623). 
 
 100 
 
 HUMAN BEINGS, SPOET FOE THE GODS 
 
 " The gods kill us for their sport." " As if it were a custom that no 
 
 King Lear, iv. 1 (1608). mortal should be admitted to the 
 
 table of the gods, but for sport." 
 
 — Wisdom of the Ancients (1609). 
 
62 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 101 
 WATEB-SPOUTS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Not the dreadful spout "So great is the quantity and 
 
 Which shipmen do the hurricano mass of water suddenly discharged 
 
 call, by these water-spouts, that they 
 
 Constringed in mass by the al- seem to have been collections of 
 
 mighty sun, water made before, and to have 
 
 Shall dizzy with more clamor remained hanging in these places, 
 
 Neptune's ear and afterwards to have been thrown 
 
 In Ms descent than shall my down by some violent cause, than 
 
 prompted sword to have fallen by the natural mo- 
 
 FaUing on Diomed." tion of gravity." — Novum Orga- 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, v.2 (1609). num (1608-20). 
 
 102 
 JEWEL IN toad's HEAD 
 
 " Which, Uke the toad, ugly and " Qusere, if the stone, taken out 
 
 venomous, of a toad's head, be not of the like 
 
 Wears yet a precious jewel in his virtue." — NaturalHistory (1Q22- 
 
 head." 25). 
 As You Like It, ii. 1 (162.3). 
 
 Bacon, discussing the virtues of inanimate things, mentions 
 the bloodstone, which was once thought to be " good for 
 bleeding at the nose." It is in this same sense — that is, 
 as a " precious jewel " — that he treats of the stone said to be 
 found in'a toad's head. 
 
 103 
 BASE KNOWLEDGE 
 
 " Berowne. By Jove, I always took "'Sir' (saith a man of art to 
 three threes for nine. Philip, king of Macedon, when 
 
 Costard. Lord, sir, it were pity he controlled him in his faculty), 
 you should get your living by 'God forbid your fortune should 
 reckoning, sir." — Love's Labor's be such as to know these things 
 Lost, V. 2 (1598). better than I.' "—Valerius Ter- 
 
 minus. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 (>3 
 
 The Valerius Terminus is one of the very earliest of 
 Bacon's philosophical writings, the exact date being unknown. 
 The anecdote in it respecting Philip was repeated twenty or 
 thirty years later in the De Augmentis, where a knowledge 
 of the musical art, like that of the multiplication table, is 
 assumed to be beneath royal dignity. 
 
 104 
 
 PTJHStriT BETTER THAN ATTAINMENT 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " All things that are, 
 Are with more spirit chased than, 
 enjoy'd." 
 Merchant of Venice, ii. 6 (1600). 
 " Things won. are done ; joy's soul 
 lies in the doing." 
 Troilus and Cressida, i. 2 (1609). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Life without an object to pur- 
 sue is a languid and tiresome 
 thing." 
 
 " Good of advancement is greater 
 than good of simple preserva- 
 tion.'' — Advancement of Learn- 
 ing (1603-5). 
 
 " So much pleasanter is it to be 
 doing than to be enjoying." — De 
 Augmentis (1622). 
 
 105 
 DEATH, AN AEEEST WITHOUT BAIL 
 
 " He should be close enough [in 
 prison], and Death should be his 
 bail." — Charge against Somerset 
 (1616). 
 
 " This fell sergeant, death, 
 Is strict in his arrest." 
 
 Hamlet, v. 2 (1604). 
 
 « That fell arrest 
 Without all bail shall carry me 
 away." 
 
 Sonnet 74 (1609). 
 
 Here is the same legal imagery used in different ways for 
 different purposes. Overbury was arrested and imprisoned 
 under such conditions that death was his only bail; the 
 author of the sonnet anticipates his own arrest by death 
 without bail. 
 
64 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 106 
 LITTLE THINGS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " A good wit will make use of 
 anything."— ;S Henry IV., i. 2 
 (1600). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Excellent wits wiU make use 
 of every little thing." — Letter to 
 Sir Fulke Greville (1596). 
 
 107 
 
 HONEY IN CAEEION 
 "'Tis seldom when, the bee doth 
 
 leave her comb 
 In the dead carrion." 
 
 S Henry IV., 4 (1600). 
 
 " It may be, you shall do poster- 
 ity good, if out of the carcass of 
 dead and rotten greatness (as out 
 of Samson's lion), there be honey 
 gathered for the use of future 
 times." — Petition to the House of 
 Lords (1621). 
 
 " The lady protests too much." 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 2 (1603) 
 
 108 
 PROTESTATIONS 
 
 " For protestations ... I never 
 found them very fortunate ; they 
 rather increase suspicion." 
 
 Speech on Undertakers (1614). 
 
 109 
 
 PHILOSOPHERS AND THE TOOTH-ACHE 
 " There was never yet philosopher 
 That could endure the tooth-ache 
 patiently." 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing, v. ] 
 (1600). 
 
 " It is more than a philosopher 
 morally can digest. I esteem it 
 like the pulling out of a tooth." — 
 Letter to Essex (1595). 
 
 " I esteem it like the pulling out 
 of an aching tooth, which, I re- 
 member, when I was a child and 
 had little philosophy, I was glad 
 of when it was done." — Ibid. 
 
 This striking parallelism on the incompatibility of phil- 
 osophy and the toothache was pointed out by Mr. Donnelly 
 in his ' Great Cryptogram,' p. 377. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 65 
 
 110 
 
 SMALL DEFECTS OF CHAEACTEH 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " The dram of leaven 
 Doth, all the noble substance of 
 
 them [virtues] sour 
 To his own scandal." 
 
 Handet, i. 4 (1604). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " A little leaven of new distaste 
 doth commonly Bour the whole 
 lump of former merits." — History 
 of Henry VII. (1621). 
 
 The above is Mr. Hudson's version of an obscure passage 
 in ' Hamlet.' The parallelism, however, extends into further 
 details, thus : 
 
 " Oft it chances in particular men, 
 That for some vicious mole of 
 
 nature in them, 
 As in their birth, wherein they are 
 
 not guilty, 
 Since nature cannot choose his 
 
 origin, 
 By the o'er growth of some com- 
 plexion, 
 Oft breaking down the forts and 
 
 pales of reason. 
 Or by some habit that too much 
 
 o'er-leavens 
 The form of plausive manners ; 
 
 that these men, 
 Carrying, I say, the stamp of one 
 
 defect, 
 Being nature's livery, or fortune's 
 
 star, 
 Their virtues else, be they as pure 
 
 as grace, 
 As infinite as man may undergo, 
 Shall in the general censure take 
 
 corruption 
 From that particular fault." 
 
 Ihid. (1604). 
 
 " It is a very hard and unhappy 
 condition (as the proverb well re- 
 marks) of men pre-eminent for 
 virtue, that their errors, be they 
 never so trifling, are never ex- 
 cused. But, as in the clearest 
 diamond, every little cloud or 
 speck catches and displeases the 
 eye, which in a less perfect stone 
 would hardly be discerned, so 
 in men of remarkable virtue the 
 slightest faults are seen, talked of, 
 and severely censured, which in 
 ordinary men would either he 
 entirely unobserved, or readily 
 excused." — De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 " The best governments, yea and 
 the best men, are like the best 
 precious stones, wherein every 
 flaw, or icicle or grain is seen 
 and noted more than in those 
 that are generally foul and cor- 
 rupted." — Eeply to the Speaker 
 (1621). 
 
66 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 The origin of this sentiment, at least so far as Shake- 
 speare's expression of it is concerned, seems to have been in 
 Dante's ' Convito,' which had not been translated into English 
 when ' Hamlet ' was re- written in 1604. It may be interest- 
 ing to compare the two poets on this fine point of the moral 
 law: 
 
 From the ' Convito ' : 
 
 " Now, the man is stained with some passion, which he cannot 
 always resist ; now, he is blemished by some fault of limb ; now, 
 he is soiled by the ill-fame of his parents, or of some near relation ; 
 things which Fame does not bear with her, but which hang to the 
 man, so that he reveals them by his conversation ; and these spots 
 cast some shadow upon the brightness of goodness so that they 
 cause it to appear less bright and less excellent." — Translated by 
 Elizabeth Price Satee. 
 
 Ill 
 
 BODIES WEINKLED IN OLD AGE 
 From. Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "I am a scribbled form, drawn " Parchment, ... is not only 
 
 with a pen wrinkled in parts by fire, but the 
 
 Upon a parchment, and against whole body twists, curis, and rolls 
 
 this fire up." — Historia Densi et Eari 
 
 Do I shrink up." (1623). 
 King John, v. 7 (1623). 
 
 Bacon contends that the shrivelling of human bodies in old 
 age, or under the action of heat, is due to the loss of spirit. 
 King John feels this loss, just before his death, in his own 
 body, and compares his condition, almost in Bacon's prose 
 language, with that of parchment before a fire.^ 
 
 1 Mr. Donnelly calls attention to this parallelism in the First Part of his 
 ' Great Cryptogram,' p. 371. We take this occasion to say that in our judg- 
 ment he has given in this part the hest popular presentation of the argument 
 for Bacon thus far produced. The intimation of his belief that Bacon wrote 
 Montaigne's Essays is, of course, to be regretted. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 6'j 
 
 112 
 
 A DAKK PERIOD 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " My life has been threatened, 
 and my name libelled." — Letter 
 to the Queen (1599-1600). 
 
 " I know no remedy against 
 libels and lies ; ... as for any 
 violence to be oflfered to me, 
 wherewith my friends tell me 
 to no small terror that 1 am 
 threatened, I thank God I have 
 the privy coat of a good con- 
 science." — Letter to Cecil (1599- 
 1600). 
 
 " For my part, I have deserved 
 better than to have my name 
 objected to envy, or my life to a 
 ruffian's violence.'' — Letter to 
 Howard (1599-1600). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Thence comes it that my name 
 receives a brand." 
 
 Sonnet 111 (1600-1601). 
 
 " Your love and pity doth the im- 
 pression fill 
 
 Which vulgar scandal stamp'd 
 upon my brow." 
 
 Sonnet 112. 
 
 " Then hate me if thou wilt ; if 
 ever, now. 
 
 Now while the world is bent my 
 deeds to cross, 
 
 Join with the spite of fortune." 
 
 Sonnet 90. 
 
 " 'T is better to be vile than vile 
 esteem'd : 
 
 On my frailties why are frailer 
 
 spies, 
 Which in their wills count bad 
 what I count good 'I " 
 
 Sonnet 121. 
 " My body being dead, 
 The coward conquest of a wretch's 
 knife." 
 
 Sonnet 74. 
 
 For an explanation of these remarkable parallelisms see 
 ' Francis Bacon Our Shake-speare,' p. 27. 
 
 113 
 
 DISAPPOINTBD LIFE 
 
 " I do confess, since I was of 
 any understanding, my mind hath 
 in effect been absent from that I 
 have done ; . . . knowing myself 
 by inward calling to be fitter to 
 hold a book than to play a part, I 
 
 " Alas! 'tis true I have gone here 
 
 and there, 
 And made myself a motley to the 
 
 view, 
 Gor'd mine own thoughts, sold 
 
 cheap what is most dear. 
 
68 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Made old offences of affections 
 new; 
 
 Most true it is that I have look'd 
 on truth 
 
 Askance and strangely.'' 
 
 Sonnet 110 (1609). 
 
 " O ! for my sake do you with For- 
 tune chide, 
 
 The guilty goddess of my harmful 
 deeds, 
 
 That did not better for my life 
 provide, 
 
 Than public means which public 
 manners breeds." 
 
 Sonnet 3. 
 
 have led my life in civil causes for 
 which I was not very fit by nature, 
 and more unfit by the preoccupa- 
 tion of my mind." — Letter to 
 Bodley (1605). 
 
 " I have mia-spent [my life] in 
 things for which I was least fit; 
 so as I may truly say, my soul 
 hath been a stranger in the 
 course of my pilgrimage." — 
 Bacon's Prayer (1621). 
 
 Here is a double confession, that the pursuits of a whole 
 lifetime had been disappointing, and that, too, from the same 
 cause ; namely, preoccupation of mind. 
 
 114 
 SOUTHAMPTOK 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Not mine own fears, nor the pro- 
 phetic soul 
 
 Of the wide world dreaming on 
 things to come, 
 
 Can yet the lease of my true love 
 control, 
 
 Supposed as forfeit to a confin'd 
 doom. 
 
 The mortal moon hath her eclipse 
 endured. 
 
 And the sad augurs mock their own 
 presage ; 
 
 Incertainties now crown themselves 
 assur'd. 
 
 And peace proclaims olives of end- 
 less age. 
 
 Now with the drops of this most 
 balmy time 
 
 From Bacon 
 " It is as true as a thing that 
 God knoweth, that this great 
 change [from Elizabeth to James] 
 hath wrought in me no other 
 change towards your Lordship than 
 this, that I may safely be now that 
 which I was truly before.'' — Let- 
 ter to Southampton (1603). 
 
PARALLELISMS 69 
 
 My love looks fresli, and Death, to 
 
 me subscribes, 
 Since, spite of Mm, I '11 live in this 
 
 poor rhyme. 
 While he insults o'er dull and 
 
 speechless tribes." 
 
 Sonnet 107 (1609). 
 
 It is evident that these two passages deal with the same 
 events ; namely, the death of Queen Elizabeth, who was com- 
 monly called Cynthia, or " mortal moon," by the rhymesters 
 of her time ; ^ the peaceful succession of James to the vacant 
 throne in spite of the author's " fears " and the prophecies of 
 all to the contrary; and the release of Southampton from 
 the tower. The latter person is claimed by the poet as 
 his " true love," and by Bacon as one whom he stiU " loved 
 truly." 
 
 When the danger of a struggle for the crown was past. 
 Bacon described the sensation as like that of waking from a 
 fearful dream. The fears, expressed in the first Une of the 
 sonnet (quoted above), had been felt by him long before the 
 sonnet was written ; for he clearly foresaw that the rising 
 spirit of independence in the House of Commons would event- 
 ually lead to an armed conflict over the royal prerogative.^ 
 
 1 The use of the word " endured " in the line — 
 
 " The mortal moon hath her eclipse endur'd," 
 does not militate against this construction. The word sometimes means 
 simply to suffer without resistance, as in 'Macbeth,' — 
 
 " Let me endure your wrath, if 't be not so." v. 5, 36. 
 Queen Elizabeth had no wish to prolong her life. She persistently refused on 
 her death-bed to take any remedies, or even nourishment, for the purpose. 
 
 2 "It had been generally dispersed abroad that after Queen Elizabeth's 
 decease there must follow in England nothing but confusions, interreigns and 
 perturbations of estate; likely far to exceed the ancient calamities of the 
 civU wars between the houses "of Lancaster and York. . . . Neither wanted 
 there here within this realm divers persons, both wise and well-affected, who, 
 though they doubted not of the undoubted right, yet setting before them- 
 selves the waves of people's hearts, were not without fear what might be the 
 event." — Bacon's History of Great Britain. 
 
70 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Bacon and Southampton had been in early life very inti- 
 mate friends. They were fellow-lodgers at Gray's Inn, and 
 feUow-supporters of the Earl of Essex. But in or about 1600 
 they became, outwardly at least, estranged, Southampton fol- 
 lowing Essex in his mad career, and Bacon siding with the 
 government. There is reason to believe, however, says Mr. 
 Spedding, that Bacon did all he could to save Southampton 
 in that unhappy affair, mentioning his name in the Declara- 
 tion concerning it " as slightly as it was possible to do with- 
 out misrepresenting the case in one of its most material 
 features ; " ^ and, also, using his private influence with the 
 Queen after the trial to mitigate her displeasure. That there 
 was danger in an open avowal of sympathy with Southamp- 
 ton at this time appears from a letter written by Cecil to Sir 
 G. Carew in which he says : " those that would deal for him 
 (of which number I protest to God I am one as far as I dare) 
 are much disadvantaged." 
 
 Bacon's letter, of which we have quoted a part, was writ- 
 ten on the eve of Southampton's release (1603), and is as 
 follows : 
 
 " It may please your Lordship : 
 
 " I would have been very glad to have presented my humble ser- 
 vice to your Lordship by my attendance, if I could have foreseen, 
 that it should not have been unpleasing to you. And therefore, 
 because I would commit no error, I choose to write ; assuring your 
 Lordship (how credible [incredible] soever it may seem to you at 
 first) yet it is as true as a thing that God knoweth, that this great 
 change [death of Elizabeth] hath wrought in me no other change 
 towards your Lordship than this, that I may safely be now that 
 which I was truly before. And so, craving no other pardon than 
 for troubling you with this letter, I do not now begin, but con- 
 tinue to be, 
 
 " Your Lordship's humble and much devoted." 
 
 Shake-speare had the same loving attachment to the Earl 
 of Southampton in the first part of the decade 1590-1600. 
 
 1 Spedding's Life and Letters of Francis Bacon, iii. 75. 
 
PARALLELISMS 71 
 
 The ' Venus and Adonis ' was dedicated to Southampton in 
 1593, and the ' Eape of Lucrece ' in 1594, in terms of ador- 
 ing friendship. Then there came a period of estrangement, 
 the existence of which is proved not only by the sonnet 
 already quoted, but also by the apology offered in nos. 116 
 and 120: 
 
 " Let me not to the marriage of true minds 
 Admit impediments. Love is not love 
 Which alters when it alteration finds, 
 Or bends with the remover to remove. 
 O, no 1 it is an ever-fixed mark. 
 That looks on tempests and is never shaken; 
 It is the star to every wandering bark, 
 Whose worth 's unknown, although his height be taken. 
 Love 's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 
 Within his bending sickle's compass come ; 
 Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 
 But bears it out e'en to the edge of doom. 
 If this be error, and upon me proved, 
 I never writ, nor no man ever loved." — 116. 
 
 " That you were once unkind befriends me now. 
 And for that sorrow which I then did feel 
 Needs must I under my transgression bow. 
 Unless my nerves were brass or hammer'd steel. 
 For if you were by my unkiadness shaken, 
 As I by yours, you 've pass'd a hell of time ; 
 And I, a tyrant, have no leisure taken 
 To weigh liow once I suffer' d in your crime. 
 O ! that our night of woe might have remember'd 
 My deepest sense, how hard true sorrow hits. 
 And soon to you, as you to me, then tender'd 
 The humble salve which wounded bosoms fits. 
 But that your trespass now becomes a fee ; 
 Mine ransom yours, and yours must ransom me." — 120. 
 
 It is probable, as Mr. Spedding suggests, that Southampton 
 did not know, until after his release, of Bacon's exertions to 
 save him in 1601 ; therefore. Bacon may well have written 
 of him and to him in 1603 : 
 
72 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 In verse: 
 
 " ! never say that I was false of heart, 
 Though absence seem'd my flame to qualify ; 
 As easy might I from myself depart 
 As from my soul, which in thy breast doth lie." 
 
 In prose : 
 
 " However incredible it may seem to you at first, I may safely be 
 now that which I was truly before." 
 
 It tlius appears — 
 
 1. That both authors had at the same time (1593-94) a 
 warm attachment for the Earl of Southampton. 
 
 2. Both became estranged from him a few years later ; and 
 
 3. Both renewed their protestations of love, confessedly 
 without knowing how those protestations would be received, 
 in 1603. 
 
 115 
 
 CONSENT 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " For government, though high, " Certainly there is a consent 
 
 and low, and lower, between the body and the soul." — 
 
 Put into parts, doth keep in one Essay of Deformity (1607-12). 
 consent, 
 
 Congreeing in a full and natural 
 close, 
 
 Like music." 
 
 Henry F., i. 2 (1600). 
 
 The word " consent " iu both of the above passages is used 
 in a very peculiar sense. In its ordinary meaning, it is 
 derived from the Latin consentire, to agree, but here it ex- 
 presses the idea of harmony or concord, from concinere {con- 
 canere) to sing together. Bacon often uses metaphors, 
 suggested by the science of music, in his writings. He 
 compares, precisely as Shake-speare does, the ideal state of 
 society, in which all its members, of differing capacities, tastes 
 and acquirements, should work together for the common 
 
PARALLELISMS 73 
 
 good, to harmonious chords. In one of his speeches in the 
 House of Commons he said : 
 
 " For consent, where tongue-strings, not heart-strings, make 
 the music, that harmony may end ia discord." 
 
 It has long been noted by commentators that the passage 
 which we have quoted from 'Henry V.' bears a striking 
 resemblance to one in Cicero's Be Bepiiblica, a treatise now 
 lost, but of which we have a fragment preserved in St. 
 Augustine's Be Civitate Bei. It is in this fragment that 
 we find the musical simile which may have inspired that in 
 ' Henry V.,' and which is as follows : 
 
 " As among the different sounds that proceed from lyres, flutes, 
 and the human voice there must he maintained a certain harmony, 
 so where reason is allowed to control the various elements of a 
 state there is obtained a perfect concord from the upper, lower, and 
 middle classes of the people. What musicians call harmony ia 
 singing is concord in matters of state." — i. 74. 
 
 For the original of this famous passage, however, we must 
 go stiU farther back in the world's literature. It is found in 
 Plato. 
 
 Cicero, of course, followed Plato in the use of this remark- 
 able metaphor, his whole treatise being only an adaptation 
 of Plato's work on the same subject ; but which of the 
 two authors, Latin or Greek, Shake-speare himself followed, 
 it is impossible, perhaps, to determine. Mr. Knight, in- 
 deed, strongly favors the claim in behalf of Plato, for he 
 finds the lines in Shake-speare, as he says, "more deeply 
 imbued with the Platonic philosophy than the passage in 
 Cicero." 
 
 It is especially significant to find the conception of a social 
 state, in which citizens are likened to " consenting " chords, 
 or heart-strings, in both our authors. 
 
 Neither Plato nor St. Augustine had been translated into 
 English at the time the play was written. 
 
74 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 116 
 
 OBEDIENCE TO KULERS 
 
 From Bacon 
 " The third platform [model] is 
 the government of God himself 
 over the world, whereof lawful 
 monarchies are a shadow. . . . So, 
 we see, there be platforms of mon- 
 archies, both in nature, and above 
 nature ; even from the monarch of 
 heaven and earth to the king, if 
 you will, in a hive of bees." — 
 Speech on the Postnati (1608). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Canterbury. Therefore doth 
 
 heaven divide 
 
 The state of man in diverse func- 
 tions, 
 
 Setting endeavor in continual mo- 
 tion ; 
 
 To which is fixed, as an aim or 
 butt. 
 
 Obedience ; for so work the honey- 
 bees. 
 
 Creatures that by a rule of nature 
 teach 
 
 The act of order to a peopled 
 kingdom. 
 
 They have a king and officers of 
 sorts." 
 
 Henry V., i. 2 (1600). 
 
 This is a variation of the theme treated of in the paral- 
 lelism last cited. Instead of comparing the differences of 
 character and equipment among citizens of an ideal state 
 of society with chords in music, both authors are now em- 
 phasizing obedience to a ruler as a means of securing social 
 harmony. Bacon says that monarchies are established in 
 the very nature of things, not only in human affairs, but also 
 both above and below the human, from God in heaven to the 
 king in a hive of bees. This is likewise the exact statement 
 in Shake-speare, including the same illustration from bees and 
 the common error that bees have kings. Dr. E. A. Abbott 
 makes the following comment on this parallelism : 
 
 " No other passage that I know of expresses that multiplicity in 
 unity, that identity of object amid diversity of agents and means, 
 which was to characterize Bacon's ideal English nation, so aptly 
 as the well-known extract from the council scene in ' Henry V.' " 
 — Introduction to Bacon's Essays, 
 
PARALLELISMS 75 
 
 In ' Troilus and Cressida,' printed for the first time in the 
 year following that in which the Postnati speech was de- 
 livered, and therefore suggestive of a common study of the 
 subject in prose and verse, the providence that governs a 
 state, or (as expressed in ' Henry V.') the instinct of obedience 
 to a ruler, is pronounced a mystery. Bacon also pronounces 
 it a mystery : 
 
 117 
 
 HEKEDITARY MONAECHS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " There is a mystery, with whom " And it is not without a mys- 
 
 relation tery that the first king that was 
 
 Durst never meddle, in the soul of instituted by God was translated 
 
 state, from a shepherd. . . . Allegiance 
 
 Which hath an operation more of subjects to hereditary monarcha 
 
 divine ... is the work of the law of 
 
 Than breath, or pen, can give ex- nature." — Speech on the Postnati 
 
 pressure to.'' — Troilus and (1608). 
 
 Cressida, iii. 3 (1609). 
 
 The identity of thought on this subject between the two 
 authors runs even into minor details : 
 
 I. Shake-speare says, referring to the mystery of govern- 
 ment, that " relation durst never meddle " with it. Bacon 
 also says (' Advancement of Learning,' Book II.) that " govern- 
 ments are deemed secret, in both the respects in which things 
 are deemed secret; for some things are secret because they 
 are hard to know, and some because they are not fit to 
 utter." 
 
 II. Shake-speare says that the soul of state, in the dif- 
 ferent functions into which government is divided, is in 
 " continual motion ; " Bacon defines the soul itself as con- 
 tinual motion. 
 
 The speech on the Postnati was delivered, as we have 
 said, in 1608, but not printed until 1641, or twenty-five 
 years after the death of William Shakspere of Stratford. 
 
1(^ 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 118 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Now, because I am in the coun- 
 try, I will send you some of my 
 country fruits, which, with me are 
 good meditations." — Letter to 
 Villiers (1616). 
 
 COUNTRY TEUITS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Country hands reach forth 
 milk, cream, fruits, or what they 
 have ; and many nations (we have 
 heard) that had not gums and in- 
 cense, obtained their request with 
 a leavened cake. It was no fault 
 to approach their Gods by what 
 they could." — Epistle Dedicatory 
 to the Folio (1623). 
 
 The original of these passages may be found in the Dedi- 
 cation to Emperor Titus of Pliny's ' Natural History,' 
 translated into English in 1601 : 
 
 " The gods reject not the humble prayers of poor country peas- 
 ants, yea, and of many nations who offer nothing but milk unto 
 them ; and such as have no incense find grace and favor many 
 times with the oblation of a plain cake, made only of meal and 
 salt ; and never was any man blamed yet for his devotion to the 
 gods, so he offered according to his ability, were the things never 
 so simple." 
 
 119 
 
 THE MIND 
 
 " Tables of the mind differ from 
 common tables; . . . you wUl 
 scarcely wipe out the former 
 records unless you shall have in- 
 scribed the new." — Redarguiio 
 Philosophiarum (date unknown). 
 
 TABLES OF 
 
 " From the tables 
 Of my memory, I '11 wipe away all 
 
 saws of books, 
 AU trivial fond conceits 
 That ever youth, or else observance 
 
 noted, 
 And thy remembrance all alone 
 
 shall sit." 
 
 Hamlet, i. 5 (1603). 
 
 In the second edition of ' Hamlet ' the above passage was 
 
 revised, thus : 
 
 " From the table of my memory 
 I '11 wipe away all trivial fond records, 
 All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past. 
 That youth and observation copied there j 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 77 
 
 And thy commandment all alone shall live 
 
 Within the book and volume of my brain." 1604. 
 
 Hamlet says, he will erase all previous records from the 
 table of his memory, and remember only his father's com- 
 mandment ; Bacon shows how this can be effected. 
 
 This metaphor was a favorite one with ^schylus. 
 
 120 
 THE GBEATBK AND LESS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " So doth the greater glory dim 
 
 the less ; 
 A substitute shines brightly as a 
 
 king, 
 Until a king be by, and then his state 
 Empties itself, as doth an inland 
 
 brook. 
 Into the main of waters." 
 Merchant of Venice, v. 1 (1600). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " So we see when two lights do 
 meet, the greater doth darken and 
 drown the less. And when a 
 smaller river runs into a greater, 
 it loseth both the name and 
 stream." — Discourse on Union of 
 the Kingdoms (1603). 
 
 Eor this double parallelism of light and water, used ia the 
 same order and in illustration of the same idea, we are in- 
 debted to Judge Holmes. 
 
 121 
 
 MEEOT ASTD JTTSTICB 
 " In the course of justice none of " Forasmuch as mercy and jus- 
 iis tice be the true supporters of our 
 
 Should see salvation ; we do pray royal throne, . . . and that our 
 
 for mercy." 
 Merchant of Venice, iv. 1 (1600). 
 
 subjects, where their case deserveth 
 to be relieved in course of equity, 
 should not be abandoned and ex- 
 posed to perish under, the rigor 
 and extremity of the law, therefore, 
 etc." — Decree on the Prmmunire 
 Question, drawn probably by Bacon 
 (1616). 
 
 The above quotation, as from Bacon, is taken from a royal 
 decree made in 1616, when Francis Bacon was Attorney-Gen- 
 eral, to settle a long and bitter controversy between the two 
 
78 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 systems of Law and Equity. This controversy, arising from 
 the impossibility in those early days of providing by statute 
 for aU the exigencies of civil life that came before the courts, 
 had been going on, as we learn from an official report made 
 to King James, with ever-increasing severity, since the be- 
 ginning of the reign of Henry VII. in 1485. It reached a 
 crisis in 1616 that was simply intolerable, the judges at com- 
 mon law indicting the judges in equity for interference with 
 their judgments. Francis Bacon stood for justice and equity ; 
 Sir Edward Coke, for the statutes just as they were, without 
 much regard to extenuating circumstances. The Plays reflect 
 this great dispute. That Shake-speare, as well as Bacon, knew 
 not only the necessity at times for such interferences, but 
 also the limitations of the power of a court of equity, as 
 then understood and observed, appears as follows : 
 
 122 
 
 EQUITY COURTS 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " There is no power iu Venice " Equity is the dispenser of the 
 
 Can alter a decree established." king's conscience, following the 
 
 Ihid. law and justice, [but] not altering 
 " Lear. I '11 see their trial first. the law." ^ —Ibid. 
 
 \_To Edgar."] Thou robed man of 
 
 justice, take thy place. 
 [ To the Fool.] And thou, his yoke- 
 fellow of equity, 
 Bench by his side. 
 Edgar. Let us deal justly." 
 
 King Lear, iii. 6 (1608). 
 
 1 In the famous passage in ' 1 Kiug Henry IV.' (ii. 2) — 
 
 "An the Prince and Poina be not arrant cowards, there's no equity stir- 
 ring"— 
 
 the term equity is used in the popular sense, as synonymous with justice. 
 FalstafT is seeking to secure for the persons named condemnation for coward- 
 ice, a cause which, if actionable, would have clearly belonged to a court of 
 law. It would have been in personam, whereas equitable procedure is, in 
 ulterior effect, always in rem. 
 
 "An the Prince and Poins be not [condemned as] arrant cowards, there's 
 no [justice] stirring." 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 79 
 
 123 
 
 REPUDIATION 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " King John. Thy hand hath mur- 
 der'd him ; I had a mighty 
 cause 
 
 To wish him dead, but thou hadst 
 none to kill him. 
 
 Hubert. Why, did you not pro- 
 voke me 1 
 
 K. John. It is the curse of kings 
 to be attended 
 
 By slaves that take their humors 
 for a warrant 
 
 To break within the bloody house 
 of life. 
 
 And on the winking of authority 
 
 To understand a law, to know the 
 meaning 
 
 Of dangerous majesty, when per- 
 chance it frowns 
 
 More upon humor than advis'd 
 respect. 
 
 Hub. Here is your hand and seal 
 for what I did. 
 
 OF AGENTS 
 
 From Bacon 
 " These ministers, being by 
 nature cruel, and knowing well 
 enough what they are wanted for, 
 apply themselves to this kind of 
 work with wonderful diligence ; 
 till for want of caution and from 
 over eagerness to ingratiate them- 
 selves, they at one time or another, 
 (taking a nod or an ambiguous 
 word of the prince for a warrant) 
 perpetrate some execution that is 
 odious and unpopular. Upon 
 which the prince, not willing to 
 take envy of it upon himself, 
 throws them overboard." — Wis- 
 dom of the Ancients (1609). 
 ' "Kings hate, when uttered, the 
 very words they have ordered to 
 be uttered." — Promus (1594-96). 
 
 K. John. But thou didst under- 
 stand me by my signs. 
 
 And didst in signs again parley 
 with sin. 
 
 Oat of my sight, and never see me 
 more." 
 
 King John, iv. 2 (1623). 
 
 We find another example of this trait of character, as 
 described by Bacon, ia the Shake-speare plays: 
 
 " Exlon. Great king, within this coffin I present 
 
 Thy buried fear ; herein all breathless lies 
 The mightiest of thy great enemies, 
 Richard of Bordeaux, by me hither brought. 
 
 BolingbroTce. Exton, I thank thee not ; for thou hast wrought 
 A deed of slander with thy fatal hand 
 
8o 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Exton. 
 Bolinghroke. 
 
 Upon my head and all this famous land. 
 From your own mouth, my lord, did I this deed. 
 They love not poison that do poison need ; 
 Nor do I thee ; though I did wish him dead, 
 I hate the murderer, love him murder 'd. 
 The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labor. 
 But neither my good word, nor princely favor. 
 With Cain go wander through the shade of night, 
 And never show thy head by day nor light.'' 
 
 Rklard II., v. 6 (1597). 
 
 These wicked agents act, — according to Shake-speare, " on 
 tlie winking of authority ; " according to Bacon, " on a nod or 
 ambiguous word." 
 
 124 
 
 PEIDE 
 
 From Shake-speare 
 " Let them pull all about mine 
 
 ears ; present me 
 Death on the wheel, or at wild 
 
 horses' heels; 
 Or pile ten hills on the Tarpeian 
 
 rock, 
 That the precipitation might down 
 
 stretch 
 Below the beam of sight ; yet will 
 
 I still 
 Be thus to them. 
 
 From Bacon 
 " The highest pride lacks one 
 element of vice, hypocrisy." — De 
 Augmentis (1622). 
 
 Would you have me 
 False to my nature ? 
 Men. His nature is too noble for 
 
 the world. 
 He would not flatter Neptune for 
 
 his trident. 
 Or Jove for 's power to thunder." 
 
 Coriolanus, in. 1 and 2 (1623). 
 
 The friends of Coriolanus are urging him to conceal his 
 true sentiments until he shall safely be inducted into of&ce. 
 The play is a treatise on uncorrupted and incorruptible Pride. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 125 
 
 TKAVBL 
 From, Shakespeare 
 "Home-keeping youth have ever 
 
 homely wits. 
 Were 't not affection chaina thy 
 
 tender days 
 To the sweet glances of thy honor'd 
 
 love, 
 I rather would entreat thy company 
 To see the wonders of the world 
 abroad." 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 1 
 (1623). 
 "Panthino: [He] did request me 
 
 to importune you 
 To let him spend his time no more 
 
 at home, 
 Which would be great impeach- 
 ment to his age. 
 Antonio. He cannot be a perfect 
 
 man, 
 Not being tried and tutor'd in the 
 world." 
 
 Ibid., i. 3. 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Travel in the younger sort is a 
 part of education ; in the elder, a 
 part of experience." — Essay of 
 Travel (1625). 
 
 " In your travel you shaU have 
 great help to attain to knowl- 
 edge." — Advice to the Earl of 
 Rutland (1596). 
 
 126 
 
 SILENCE UNDER ACCUSATION 
 
 " Baptista. Why dost thou vrrong 
 her that did ne'er wrong thee 1 
 
 When did she cross thee with a 
 bitter word ! 
 
 Katharine. Her silence flouts me, 
 and 1 11 be revenged." 
 Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1 (1623). 
 
 " [On being charged with a fault] 
 guard against a melancholy and 
 stubborn silence, for this either 
 turns the fault wholly upon you, 
 or impeaches your inferior." — 
 Advancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 127 
 
 COUNTING IN ANGEB 
 
 " Second Murderer. I pray thee, " A man may think, if he will, 
 
 stay awhile ; I hope this holy hu- that a man in anger is as wise as 
 
 6 
 
82 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 mour will change ; 't was wont to he that hath said over the twenty 
 hold me but while one would tell four letters." — Essay of Anger 
 twenty." — Richard III., i. 4 (1625). 
 (1597). 
 
 128 
 
 MAKING one's SELF CHEAP 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Being daily swallow'd by men's "He that is too much in any- 
 thing, so that he giveth another 
 
 They surfeited with honey, and occasion of satiety, maketh himself 
 began cheap." — Essay of Ceremony 
 
 To loathe the taste of sweetness, (1598). 
 whereof a little 
 
 More than a little is by much too 
 much. 
 
 Grew a companion to the common 
 streets." 
 
 1 Henry IV., iii. 2 (1598). 
 
 129 
 
 MIND DEFORMED BT AGE 
 
 "As with age his body Uglier grows, "Old age, if it could be seen, 
 So his mind cankers." deforms the mind more than the 
 
 Tempest, iv. 1 (1623). body." — De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 Bacon enlarges on this subject in his Historia Vitce et 
 Mortis (1623) thus : 
 
 "I remember when I was a young man at Poictiers in France 
 that I was very intimate with a young Frenchman of great wit, hut 
 somewhat talkative, who afterwards turned out a very eminent 
 man. He used to inveigh against the manners of old men, and say 
 that if their minds could be seen as well as their bodies, they 
 would appear no less deformed ; and further indulging his fancy, 
 he argued that the defects of their minds had some parallel and 
 correspondence with those of the body." 
 
 Many other writers, including Lucretius, have called atten- 
 tion to this relationship between the mind and the body. 
 
PARALLELISMS 83 
 
 130 
 
 CONCORD AND DISCORD 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " How shall we find the concord of " A discord, resolved into a con- 
 
 this discord ? " cord, improves the harmony." — 
 
 Midsummer-Night's Dream, y. 1. Preface to Novum Organum (1620). 
 (1600). 
 
 131 
 
 LOVE, THE FIRST GOD 
 
 " O brawling love! loving hate ! " Love was the most ancient of 
 
 O anything! of nothing first all the gods, and existed before 
 
 created." everything else, except chaos." — 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, i. 1 (1597). Wisdom of the Ancients (1609). 
 
 Bacon wrote a chapter on Love as a god, declaring him to 
 have been the appetite or desire of matter, or the natural 
 motion of the atom. Accordingly, Love had no progenitor. 
 
 " Absolutely without cause," says Bacon. 
 
 " Created out of nothing," says Shake-speare. 
 
 132 
 
 DUELLING FORBIDDEN BY THE TURKS 
 
 Enter Othello and Attendants. " Touching the censure of the 
 
 " Othello. What is the matter Turks of these duels: there was a 
 
 here 1 combat of this kind performed by 
 
 Montana. 'Zounds ! I bleed still ; two persons of q^uality of the Turks 
 
 I am hurt to the death. wherein one of them was slain, 
 
 OtheUo. Why, how now, ho ! from the other party was convented 
 
 whence ariseth this ? before the councU of Bassaes ; 
 
 Are we tum'd Turks, and to our- the manner of the reprehension 
 
 selves do that was in these words : ' How durst 
 
 Which heaven hath forbid the you undertake to fight one with 
 
 Ottomites ? " the other 1 Are there not Christians 
 
 Othello, ii. 3 (1622). enough to kill ? Did you not 
 
 know that whether of you should 
 
 be slain, the loss would be the 
 
 Great Seigneour's ? ' " — Charge 
 
 touching Duels (1613). 
 
 Both authors condemned duelling, and both knew that the 
 practice was forbidden among the Turks. 
 
84 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 133 
 
 THK WOELD, A STAGE 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " All the world 's a stage, " Men must know that in this 
 
 And all the men and women theatre of man's life it is reserved 
 
 merely players. only for God and the angels to be 
 
 They have their exits and their lookers-on." — Advancement of 
 
 entrances, Learning (1603-5). 
 
 And one man in his time plays 
 many parts." 
 As You Like It, ii. 7 (1623). 
 
 The word merely in the above quotation from the play is 
 used in its strict Latin sense, merum, wholly. 
 
 On the world's stage men and women, without exception, are aU 
 
 players. — Shakespeare. 
 In the theatre of man's life, none are lookers-on. — Bacon. 
 
 134 
 
 ELIXIE 
 
 " How much unlike art thou Mark " [It is believed] that some 
 Anthony ! grains of the medicine projected 
 Yet, coining from him, that great should in a few moments of time 
 medicine hath turn a sea of quicksilver or other 
 With his tinct gilded thee.'' material into gold." — Advance- 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, i. 5 (1623). ment of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 Both authors called the tinct, which was supposed by the 
 alchemists to have the property of transmuting base metals 
 into gold, The Medicine. Both evidently investigated this 
 curious subject, Bacon even expressing the opinion that silver 
 could be produced by artificial means more easily than gold. 
 The true term for the tinct was Elixir. 
 
 135 
 
 HOKOKS LIKE GARMENTS 
 
 " New honors come upon him, " Queen Elizabeth used to say 
 
 Like our strange garments, cleave of her instructions to great officers, 
 
 not to their mould, ' that they were like garments, 
 
 But with the aid of use." straight at first putting on, but did 
 
 Macbeth, i. 3 (1623). by and by wear loose enough.' " — 
 
 Apothegms (1624). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 85 
 
 136 
 OKPHEUS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 "Orpheus' lute was strung with 
 
 poet's sinews, 
 Whose golden touch could soften 
 
 steel and stones. 
 Make tigers tame and huge levia- 
 thans 
 Forsake unsounded deeps to dance 
 on sands." 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, iii. 2 
 (1623). 
 " Therefore the poet 
 Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, 
 
 stones and floods ; 
 Since nought so stockish, hard and 
 
 full of rage. 
 But music for the time doth change 
 his nature." 
 Merchant of Venice, vi. (1600). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " All beasts and birds assembled, 
 and forgetting their several appe- 
 tites, some of prey, some of game, 
 some of quarrel, stood all sociably 
 together, listening unto the airs 
 and accords of [Orpheus'] harp." — 
 Advancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 " So great was the power of his 
 music that it moved the woods and 
 the very stones to shift themselves 
 and take their stations about him." 
 — Wisdom of the Ancients (1609). 
 
 It is perhaps significant that Bacon took Orpheus, the 
 great musician whose lyre Jupiter placed among the stars, 
 for his own model. He erected a statue of him in the 
 orchard at Gorhambury as " Philosophy Personified." 
 
 137 
 
 GESTICULATION 
 
 "Do not saw the air too much 
 with your hand, thus, but use 
 all gently. ... Be not too tame 
 neither, but let your discretion be 
 your tutor; suit the action to the 
 word, the word to the action, with 
 the special observance that you o'er- 
 step not the modesty of nature." — 
 Hamlet, iii. 2 (1604). 
 
 " It is necessary to use a sted- 
 fast countenance, not wavering 
 with action, as in moving the head 
 or hand too much. ... It is suf- 
 ficient with leisure to use a modest 
 action." — Civil Conversation (date 
 unknown). 
 
86 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 138 
 
 tTNION 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "In the eup an union shall he "Pearls are taken either in a 
 throw, fine powder or in solution.' ' — His- 
 
 Kicher than that which four sue- tory of Life and Death (1623). 
 cessive kings 
 
 In Denmark's crown have worn." 
 Hamlet, v. 2 (1604). 
 
 Large pearls were called uniones and treated as dainties 
 by the Eomans. Bacon classified them among medicines for 
 prolonging life. 
 
 The printers of the Hamlet quartos, not knowing what a 
 union was, substituted onyx for it. 
 
 139 
 
 GOVERNMENT BY MINORS 
 
 " Woe to that land that 's govem'd " Government of princes in mi- 
 by a child ! " nority ... an infinite disadvan- 
 
 Richard III., ii. 3 (1597). tage to the state." — Advancement 
 of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 140 
 
 TRIAL BY FIRE 
 
 " The fire seven times tried this ; " Fire shall try every man's 
 
 Seven times tried that judgment is work.'' — Promus (1594-96). 
 That did never choose amiss." 
 Merchant of Venice, ii. 9 (1600). 
 
 141 
 BASTINADO 
 
 " He gives the bastinado with his " No man loves one the better 
 
 tongue ; for giving him the bastinado with 
 
 Our ears are cudgell'd." a little cudgel." — Advice to 
 
 King John, ii. 1 (1623). Queen Elizabeth (1584-85). 
 
 142 
 
 VIVISECTION 
 
 " Queen. Master doctor, have you " Though the inhumanity of 
 
 brought those drugs 1 anatomia vivorum was by Celsus 
 
 Cornelius. Here they are, madam, justly reproved, yet, in regard to 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 87 
 
 the great use of this observation, 
 the inquiry needed not by him so 
 slightly to have been relinquished 
 altogether." — Advancement of 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 " We have also parks and enclo- 
 sures of all sorts of beasts and birds 
 which we use not only for view or 
 rareness, but likewise for dissec- 
 tions. We also try poisons and 
 other medicines upon them." — 
 New Atlantis (1624). 
 
 Queen. I will try the forces 
 Of these thy compounds on such 
 
 creatures as 
 We count not worth the hanging, 
 
 but none human, 
 To try the vigor of them and apply 
 Allayments to their act, and by 
 
 them gather 
 Their several virtues and effects. 
 
 Cor. [aside']. I do not like her. 
 
 She doth think she has 
 Strange lingering poisons ; I do 
 
 know her spirit, 
 And will not trust one of her 
 
 malice with 
 A drug of such damn'd nature. 
 
 Those she has 
 Win stupefy and dull the sense 
 
 awhile ; 
 Which first, perchance, she '11 prove 
 
 on cats and dogs, 
 Then afterward up higher." 
 
 Cymbeline, i. 5 (1623). 
 
 The practice of vivisection, and trial of drugs on living 
 organisms can be traced back to a very early period; but 
 until Harvey resorted to it in order to demonstrate the 
 circulation of the blood, knowledge of the subject was con- 
 fined to a very limited circle of physiologists. It was on 
 this account that Harvey has been called the Father of Vivi- 
 section. And yet it seems that Bacon and Shake-speare had 
 both investigated it before Harvey's experiments became 
 public, and were fully aware of the beneficent effects claimed 
 in its behalf. And they use the same expression in their 
 treatment of it: 
 
 " First, perchance, she '11 prove it on cats and dogs. 
 Then afterward up higher." Shake-speare. 
 
 " To speak, therefore, of medicine, and to resume that we have said, 
 ascending a little higher." — Bacon. 
 
88 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Harvey began his course of lectures after Shakespere's death 
 in 1616 ; and twelve years after the latter's retirement from 
 London. 
 
 143 
 
 BANISHMENT OP WOMEN FEOM COUKT 
 
 Fnmi Shakespeare 
 " King. Navarre sliall be the 
 
 wonder of the world ; 
 Our court shall be a little academe, 
 Still and contemplative in living 
 
 art. 
 You three, Biron, Dumaine, and 
 
 Longaville, 
 Have sworn for three years' term 
 
 to live with me, 
 My fellow-scholars, and to keep 
 
 these statutes 
 That are recorded in this schedule 
 
 here. 
 
 Biron. Give me the paper; let 
 
 me read the same, 
 And to the strict'st decrees I'll 
 
 write my name. 
 IReads] ' Item, that no woman 
 
 shall come within a mUe of 
 
 my court.' 
 
 ' Item, if any man be seen to talk 
 with a woman within the term of 
 three years, he shall endure such 
 public shame as the rest of the 
 court can possibly devise. ' " — 
 Love's Labor 's Lost, i. 1 (1598). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " They would make you a king 
 in a play. . . . What! nothing but 
 tasks, nothing but working days ? 
 No feasting, no music, no dancing, 
 no comedies, no love, no ladies?" 
 — Gesia Grayorum (1594). 
 
 144 
 
 CONDEMNED FOR VIRTUES 
 
 "I cannot tell, good sir, for 
 which of his virtues it was, but he 
 was certainly whipp'd." — Winter's 
 Tale, iv. 2 (1623). 
 
 " For which of the good works do 
 you stone me ? " — Promus (1594- 
 96). 
 
PARALLELISMS 89 
 
 145 
 MIBACLES 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Nothing almost sees miracles " If miracles be the command 
 
 But misery." over nature, they appear most in 
 
 Lear, ii. 2 (1623). adversity." — Essay of Adversity 
 (1625). 
 
 Dr. E. M. Theobald calls attention to the significant fact 
 that in both of the quarto editions of ' Lear,' published in 
 1608, the passage, quoted above, reads — 
 
 " Nothing almost sees my wracke 
 But misery." 
 
 The substitution in the folio of 1623 of the word miracles 
 for my wracke not only gives sense to the passage, but also 
 brings it into harmony with Bacon's philosophical views as 
 expounded by him in one of his later essays. This affords 
 additional proof to those given elsewhere that the play was 
 specially revised for the folio, seven years after the reputed 
 author's death, and by Francis Bacon himself. How else 
 could such a meaning have been extracted from the quartos ? 
 
 146 
 LOVE IN EYES 
 
 "Tell me where is fancy [love] "The affections, no douht, do 
 
 bred, make the spirits more powerful 
 
 Or in the heart or in the head 1 and active ; and especially those 
 
 How begot, how nourished 1 affections which draw the spirits 
 
 Keply, reply. into the eyes ; which are two — 
 
 It is engender'd iu the eyes, with love and envy." — Natural His- 
 
 gazing fed." tory (1622-25). 
 
 Merchant of Venice, iii. 2 (1600). " There be none of the affections 
 
 which have been noted to fascinate 
 or bewitch, but Love and Envy ; 
 . . . and they come easily into the 
 eje." — Essay of Envy (1625). 
 
9° 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 147 
 
 MARIGOLD 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Great princes' favorites their fair 
 
 leaves spread 
 Bat as the marigold at the sun's 
 
 eye." 
 
 Sonnet 25 (1609). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Some of the ancients, and like- 
 wise divers of the modern writers 
 that have labored in natural magic, 
 have noted a sympathy between 
 the sun, moon, and some principal 
 stars, and certain herbs and plants. 
 ... It is manifest that there are 
 some flowers that have respect to 
 the sun ; . . . for marigolds do 
 open or spread their leaves abroad 
 when the sun shineth serene and 
 fair ; and again (in some part) 
 close them or gather them inward 
 either towards night, or when the 
 sky is overcast." — Natural His- 
 tory (1622-25). 
 
 148 
 
 NATURAL MAGIC 
 
 " Oberon. I know a bank where 
 
 the wild thyme blows. 
 Where oxlips and the nodding 
 
 violet grows. 
 Quite over-canopied with luscious 
 
 woodbine, 
 With sweet musk-roses, and with 
 
 eglantine ; 
 There sleeps Titania some time of 
 
 the night, 
 Lull'd in these flowers with dances 
 
 and delight ; 
 And there the snake throws her 
 
 enamell'd skin, 
 Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy 
 
 in; 
 And with the juice of this I'll 
 
 streak her eyes. 
 
 "Natural magic has the same 
 kind of effect on men as some so- 
 porific drugs, which not only lull 
 to sleep, but also during sleep 
 instil gentle and pleasing dreams." 
 — De Augmentis (1622). 
 
PARALLELISMS 91 
 
 And make her full of hateful fan- 
 tasies." 
 
 Midsummer-Night's Bream, ii. 1 
 (1600). 
 
 "Puck. If we shadows have of- 
 fended, 
 
 Think but this, and all is mended, 
 
 That you have but slumber'd here, 
 
 WMle these visions did appear. 
 
 And this weak and idle theme 
 
 No more yielding than a dream.'' 
 nid., V. 1. 
 
 ' A Midsmnmer-Night's Dream ' is a play founded on 
 natural magic, with Oberon and Puck, or Eobin Goodfellow, 
 as prominent dramatis personce. These names and the char- 
 acters they represent were taken from romances, written by 
 Hugh or Huon of Bordeaux, with which Bacon was familiar. 
 He refers to them in the ' Advancement of Learning ' when 
 treating of magic : 
 
 " As for that natural magio whereof now there is mention in 
 books, containing certain credulous and superstitious conceits and 
 observations of Sympathies and Antipathies, and hidden proprieties 
 [properties], and some frivolous experiments, strange rather by 
 disguisement than in themselves, it is as far differing in truth of 
 nature from such a knowledge as we require, as the story of King 
 Arthur of Britain, or Hugh of Bordeaux, differs from Caesar's Com- 
 mentaries." — Book ii. (1605). 
 
 The play illustrates precisely such effects of magic as 
 Bacon describes, sympathy and antipathy at the wiU of 
 magicians. Lysander and Hermia, for instance, are intro- 
 duced to us in the first act as in love with each other and 
 about to marry ; but while Lysander is lying asleep by the 
 side of his prospective bride. Puck makes his appearance and 
 lets fall into his eyes some drops of a liquid that at once 
 turns his love into hate. The same kind of enchantment 
 causes him to fall in love with Helena. That is to say, his 
 
92 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 affections, like those of Demetrius and Titania, are controlled 
 by the " hidden (or magical) properties " of a flower while he 
 is asleep. 
 
 149 
 METHOD IN MADNESS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Though this be madness, yet " They were only taking pains 
 
 there is method in 't.'' to show a kind of method and 
 
 Hamlet, ii. 2 (1604). discretion in their madness." — 
 Novum Organum (1608-20). 
 
 150 
 COUGHING 
 "Thou hast quarreled with a "A cough cannot be hid." — 
 
 man for coughing in the street." Promvs (1594-96). 
 — Romeo and Juliet, iii. 1 (1599). 
 
 151 
 
 FOOLS 
 
 " Jaques. I am ambitious for a " Cato Major would say, that 
 
 motley coat. wise men learned more by fools, 
 
 Duke S. Thou shalt have one. than fools by wise men." — Apo- 
 
 Jaq. It is my only suit, thegms (1624). 
 
 . . . I must have liberty 
 
 Withal, as large a charter as the 
 wind, 
 
 To blow on whom I please ; give 
 me leave 
 
 To speak my mind, and I wiU 
 through and through 
 
 Cleanse the foul body of the in- 
 fected world. 
 
 If they wiU patiently receive my 
 medicine." 
 As You Like It, ii. 7 (1623). 
 
 Bacon was very fond of apothegms, as he was also of 
 proverbs. He refers to them as useful productions ia the 
 first edition of his ' Advancement of Learning ' in 1605, and 
 still more forcibly in the Latin edition of the same work 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 93 
 
 published in 1623. It is not difficult to understand why 
 both apothegms and proverbs are found, credited to clowns 
 and fools, in. Shake-speare : they illustrate Bacon's favorite 
 method of imparting philosophy without contention. "In 
 the reflections of Palstaff," says Mr. Hudson, " we have a clear, 
 though brief, view of the profound philosopher underlying 
 the profligate humorist and make-sport; for [the author] 
 there discovers a breadth and sharpness of observation and a 
 depth of practical sagacity such as might have placed him in 
 the front rank of statesmen and sages." — Shakespeaee's Art 
 and Life, ii. 94. 
 
 152 
 
 FIRESIDE TALK 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " 0, these flaws and starts, 
 Impostors to true fear, would well 
 
 become 
 A woman's story at a winter's fire." 
 Macbeth, iii. 4 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 "They ought aU to be despised, 
 and ought to serve but for win- 
 ter's talk by the fireside." — Essay 
 of Prophecies (1625). 
 
 153 
 
 MEDICINES rOE THE MIND 
 
 " Canst thou not minister to a 
 mind diseased ? " 
 
 Macbeth, v. 3 (1623). 
 
 " The particular remedies which 
 learning doth minister to all the 
 diseases of the mind." — Advance- 
 ment of Learning, Book i. (1603-5) . 
 
 " Good lord, Madam, said I, how 
 wisely and aptly can you speak 
 and discern of physic ministered 
 to the body, and consider not that 
 there is the like occasion of physic 
 ministered to the mind." — Apology 
 concerning the Earl of Essex (1603). 
 
 " We know diseases of stoppings 
 and sufi'ocations are the most dan- 
 gerous in the body ; and it is not 
 much otherwise in the mind." — 
 Essay of Friendship (1625). 
 
94 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 164 
 ADDKESS IN COURT 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Most potent, grave, and reverend " I speak not to simple men, but 
 
 signiors I " to prudent, grave, and wise peers." 
 
 Othello, i. 3 (1622). Speech at the Trial of Essex (1601). 
 
 On this parallelism Mr. Gerald Massey comments as 
 follows : 
 
 " Shakespeare himself gives us a hint, in his dramatic way, that 
 he was present at the trial of the Earl, for he has, in a well-known 
 speech of Othello's, adopted the manner and almost the words with 
 which Bacon opened his address on that memorable occasion." — 
 The Secret Drama, of Shakespeare's Sonnets, p. 216. 
 
 155 
 
 LUST 
 
 " The expense of spirit in a waste " Lust never rests satisfied with 
 
 of shame what it has, but goes on and on, 
 
 Is lust in action; and till action, with infinite insatiable appetite, 
 
 lust panting after new triumphs. Tigers 
 
 Is perjur'd, murderous, bloody, full also are kept in its stalls and yoked 
 
 of blame, to its chariot; for, as soon as it 
 
 Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to ceases to go on foot and comes to 
 
 trust ; ride in its chariot, as in celebration 
 
 Enjoy'd no sooner but despised of its victory and triumph over 
 
 straight; reason, then it is cruel, savage, and 
 
 Past reason hunted." pitiless." — Wisdom of the Ancients 
 
 Sonnet 129 (1609). (1609). 
 
 156 
 PERSONAL BEAUTY AND VIRTUE 
 
 "Those that she [Fortune] makes " Neither is it almost seen that 
 
 fair she scarce makes honest, and very beautiful persons are other- 
 
 those that she makes honest she wise of great virtue." — Essay of 
 
 makes very ill-favoredly.'' Beauty (1607-12). 
 As You Like It, i. 2 (1623). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 95 
 
 157 
 
 KUMOB 
 
 From Bacon 
 " The nature of the common 
 people . . . gives birth to rumors, 
 and malignant whispers, and que]> 
 ulous fames, and defamatory libels, 
 and the like." — Wisdom of the 
 Ancients (1609). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Rumor is a pipe 
 Blown by surmises, jealousies, 
 
 conjectures, 
 And of so easy and so plain a stop 
 That the blunt monster with un- 
 counted heads, 
 The still-discordant wavering mul- 
 titude, 
 Can play upon it." 
 
 Z Henry IV., Induction (1600). 
 
 Mr. George James, a ripe scholar and critic of Birming- 
 ham, England, calls attention to the identity of thought 
 regarding the operations of Eumor (evidently inspired by 
 Virgil) in Bacon's Essay of ' Seditions and Troubles ' and the 
 Induction to ' 2 Henry IV.' The passages he refers to are 
 as follows : 
 
 " Rumor. I, from the orient to the 
 
 drooping west. 
 Making the wind my post-horse, 
 
 still -unfold 
 The acts commenced on this ball 
 
 of earth ; 
 Upon my tongue continual slanders 
 
 ride; 
 The which in every language I 
 
 pronounce, 
 Stuffing the ears of men with false 
 
 reports." 
 
 Induction (1600). 
 
 " Libels and licentious discourses 
 against the state, when they are 
 frequent and open, and in like sort, 
 false news, running up and down 
 to the disadvantage of the state 
 and hastily embraced, are amongst 
 the signs of troubles." — Essay of 
 Seditions (1607-12). 
 
 158 
 
 SHIP ON A LEE SHOES 
 
 Enter Mariners 
 " Boatswain. Heigh, my hearts ! 
 cheerly, cheerly, my hearts ! 
 yare, yare ! take in the topsail. 
 
 " In heavy storms they first 
 lower the yards, and take in the 
 topsails, and, if necessary, all 
 the others, even cutting down 
 
96 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 the masts themselves." — History 
 
 Down with the topmast! yare I of the Winds (1622). 
 
 lower, lower 1 
 Bring her to try with main course. 
 
 Lay her a-hold, a-hold ! set her two 
 
 courses ; 
 Off to sea again ; lay her off." 
 
 Tempest, i. 1 (1623). 
 
 Bacon tells us, that when a ship is on a lee shore, and, to 
 avoid disaster, must put to sea again, she can lie within six 
 points of the wiad, provided she set her courses. Those were 
 the exact orders given in the play, lest " we run ourselves 
 aground," says the master. 
 
 159 
 
 ANGEE 
 
 From. Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "He's truly valiant that can "Seneca saith well, 'that anger 
 
 wisely suffer is like rain, which breaks itself 
 
 The worst that men can breathe, upon that it falls.' The Scripture 
 
 and make his wrongs exhorteth us, ' to possess our souls 
 
 His outsides, to wear them like his in patience.' Whosever is out of 
 
 raiment, carelessly, patience is out of possession of his 
 
 And ne'er prefer his injuries to his soul. Men must not turn bees, 
 
 heart, animasque in vulnere ponunt [and 
 
 To bring it into danger." leave their lives in the wound]." 
 
 Timon of Athens, iii. 5 (1623). — Essay of Anger (1623). 
 
 The injunction not to permit anger to strike to the heart 
 and thus endanger life appeared in one of the latest of 
 Bacon's essays, first published in 1625 ; and also in a Shake- 
 speare drama not heard of till seven years after the reputed 
 author's death, and first published in 1623. 
 
 160 
 
 SUSPICIOUS PERSONS 
 
 " Ccesar. Let me have men about " Princes, being full of thought 
 me that are fat ; and prone to suspicions, do not 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 97 
 
 Sleek-headed men and such as easily admit to familiar inter- 
 
 sleep o' nights. 
 
 'Zond Cassius has a lean and hun- 
 gry look ; 
 
 He thinks too much ; such men 
 are dangerous.'' 
 
 Julius Caesar, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 course men that are perspicacious 
 and curious, whose minds are 
 always on the watch and never 
 sleep." — Wisdom of the Ancients 
 (1609). 
 
 Another parallelism suggested by Mr. James, who seems 
 to be justified ia pronouncing it " absolute and perfect." 
 
 161 
 
 TEEEBEATIOS' OP TEEES 
 
 From Bacon 
 " The terebration of trees not 
 only makes them prosper better, 
 but it maketh also the fruit sweeter 
 and better. The cause is, for that, 
 notwithstanding the terebration, 
 they may receive aliment sufficient, 
 and yet no more than they can 
 well turn and digest." — Sylva 
 Syharum, 463 (1622-25). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " O, what pity is it 
 That he had not so trimm'd and 
 
 dress'd his land 
 As we this garden. We at time of 
 
 year 
 Do wound the bark, the skin of 
 
 our fruit-trees, 
 Lest, being over-proud in sap and 
 
 blood, 
 With too much riches it confound 
 itself." 
 
 Richard II., iii. 4 (1597). 
 
 Still another parallelism due to Mr. James. Bacon says 
 again on the same subject: 
 
 " It hath been practised in trees that show fair and hear not, to 
 bore a hole through the heart of the tree, and thereupon it will bear. 
 Which may be, for that the tree before hath too much repletion, 
 and was oppressed with its own sap." — Ibid., 428. 
 
 162 
 
 A PEOPHBCT 
 
 " King Henry of Richmond. Come 
 
 hither, pretty lad ; 
 If heavenly powers do aim aright 
 
 "One day when Henry the 
 Sixth (whose innocency gave him 
 holiness) was washing his hands 
 
98 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 To my divining tlioughta, thou, at a great feast, and cast his eye 
 
 pretty boy, upon King Henry [the Seventh], 
 
 Shalt prove this country's bliss. then a young youth, he said, 
 
 Thy head is made to wear a princely 'This is the lad that shall pos- 
 
 crown, sess quietly that that we now 
 
 Thy looks are all replete with strive for.' " — History of Henry 
 
 majesty; VII. (1621). 
 
 Make much of him, my lords, 
 For this is he shall help you more 
 Than you are hurt by me." 
 3 Henry VI., iv. 6 (1595, 1600, 
 
 1619). 
 
 The passage, cited above, from the 'Third Part of King 
 Henry VI.' appeared in the first edition of the play in 1595 ; 
 also, without change in the second, 1600 ; also agaia without 
 change in the third, in 1619, or three years after the death of 
 the reputed poet at Stratford in 1616. For the folio of 1623, 
 however, it was revised, undoubtedly (as our readers can 
 judge) by the author himself, and then made to read as 
 follows : 
 
 ' ' King Henry. Come hither, England's hope ; if secret powers 
 Suggest but truth to my divining thoughts. 
 This pretty lad will prove our country's bliss. 
 His looks are full of peaceful majesty. 
 His head by nature fram'd to wear a crown, 
 His hand to wield a sceptre ; and himself 
 Likely in time to bless a regal throne." (1623.) 
 
 It is noteworthy that on the titlepage of the 1619 quarto 
 the play, as then published, was said to have been " newly 
 corrected." The inference, therefore, is almost irresistible 
 that the author was Kving, not only immediately before 
 1619, when certain changes were elsewhere made in the 
 play, but also during the interval between 1619 and 
 1623, when very great changes, involving thousands of 
 lines, were made ia it.^ 
 
 1 See 'Francis Bacon Our Shake-speare,' p. 116. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 To pursue the subject a little farther, — the anecdote wa 
 taken from Holinshed, where we find it given thus : 
 
 " The Earl of Pembroke took this child, being his nephew, out o 
 the custody of the Lady Herbert, and at his return brought the child 
 with him to London, to King Heniy VI. ; whom when the king had 
 a good while beheld, he said to such princes as were with him : 
 ' Lo, surely this is he, to whom both we and our adversaries, leav- 
 ing the possession of all things, shall hereafter give room and 
 place." " 
 
 The historical plays of Shake-speare contain many para- 
 phrases from Holinshed and Halle. To show how closely 
 the dramatist sometimes follows these old chroniclers, we 
 give one more instance, this time from ' Henry V.' : 
 
 163 
 
 SALIC LAW 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " There is no bar to stay your high- " There was a French gentleman 
 
 ness' claim to France speaking with an English, of the 
 
 But one, which they produced from law Salique, that women were ex- 
 
 Faramount ; eluded to inherit the crown of 
 
 No female shall succeed in Salicke France. The English said, ' Yes, 
 
 land, but that was meant of the women 
 
 Which Salicke land the French themselves, not of such males as 
 
 unjustly gloze claimed by women.' The French 
 
 To be the realm of France, gentleman said, ' Where do you 
 
 And Paramount the founder of this find that gloss ? ' The Englishman 
 
 law and female bar. answered, ' I '11 tell you, sir ; look 
 
 Yet their own writers faithfully on the back side of the record of 
 
 affirm the law Salique, and there you 
 
 That the land Salicke hes in G«r- shall find it endorsed ; ' meaning 
 
 many there was no such thing at all as 
 
 Between the floods of Sabeck and the law Salique, but that it was a 
 
 of Elm." • ^ciion." — Apothegms (\QM). 
 Henry V., i. 2 (1600). 
 
 Both of these statements regarding the Salic law were 
 taken, almost word for word, from Holinshed's history. This 
 is a significant fact, for it shows that Holinshed was a com- 
 
CX3 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 ion and prolific source of information for the two authors in 
 (leir respective works. We give an example of each, addi- 
 lonal to the above : 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Sent the Lord Treasurer with 
 Master Eeginald Bray and others 
 unto the Lord Mayor of London, 
 req^uiring a present of six thousand 
 marks. Whereupon the said Lord 
 Mayor and his brethren, with the 
 commons of the city, granted a 
 present of two thousand pounds." 
 — HoUnshed, p. 764. 
 " Canterbury. In the boot of Num- 
 bers is it writ ; 
 'When the man dies, let the in- 
 heritance 
 Descend unto the daughter.' " 
 
 Henry V. i. 2 (1600). 
 " King Henry. If we may pass, we 
 
 will ; if we be hinder'd. 
 We shall your tawny ground with 
 
 your red blood 
 Discolor." 
 
 Ibid., iii. 6. 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " And thereupon he took a fit 
 occasion to send the Lord Treas- 
 urer and Master Bray, whom he 
 used as counsellor, to the Lord 
 Mayor of London, requiring of the 
 city a present of six thousand 
 marks ; but after parleys, he could 
 obtain but two thousand pounds." 
 — Bacon's History of Henry VI. 
 
 " The Archbishop further alleged 
 out of the book of Numbers this 
 saying : ' when a man dieth with- 
 out a son, let the inheritance de- 
 scend to his daughter.' " — HoUns- 
 hed, p. 546. 
 
 " And yet wish I not any of you 
 to be so unadvised as to be the 
 occasion that I dye your tawny 
 ground with your red blood." — 
 Ibid. 
 
 164 
 
 FLEAS 
 
 " Second Carrier. I think this 
 be the most villanous house in all 
 London road for fleas. . . . Your 
 chamber-lie breeds fleas like a 
 loach." — i Henry IV., ii. 1 
 (1598). 
 
 " Fleas breed principally in straw 
 or mats where there had been a 
 little moisture, or the chamber and 
 bedstraw been kept close and not 
 well aired.'' — Sylva Sylvarum 
 (1622-25). 
 
 165 
 CONJUNCTION OF PLANETS 
 
 " When the planets 
 In evil mixture to disorder wander, 
 What plagues, and what portents, 
 what mutiny. 
 
 " Greater winds are observed to 
 blow about the time of the con- 
 junctions of planets." — History of 
 the Winds (1622). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 lOI 
 
 What raging of the sea, shaking of 
 
 earth. 
 Commotion in the winds ! " 
 Troilus and Cressida, i. 3 (1609). 
 
 166 
 APPABITIONS 
 
 Frma Bacon 
 " As in infection and contagion 
 from body to body it is most cer- 
 tain that the infection is received 
 by the body passive, but yet is by 
 the strength and good disposition 
 thereof repulsed and wrought out 
 before it is formed into a disease ; 
 so much the more in impressions 
 from mind to mind, or from spirit 
 to spirit, the impression taketh, but 
 is encountered and overcome by 
 the mind and spirit, which is pas- 
 sive, before it work any manifest 
 effect." — 5t/Zua Sylvarum (1622- 
 25). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Brutiis. Ha ! who comes here ? 
 
 I think it is the weakness of mine 
 eyes 
 
 That shapes this monstrous appari- 
 tion. 
 
 It comes upon me. Art thou any- 
 thing ? 
 
 Art thou some god, some angel, or 
 some devil, 
 
 That mak'st my blood cold and my 
 hair to stare ? 
 
 Speak to me what thou art. 
 
 Ghost. Thy evil spirit, Brutus. 
 
 Brutus. Why comest thou 1 
 
 Ghost. To teU thee thou shalt see 
 me at Philippi. 
 
 Brutus. Well ; then I shall see 
 thee again 1 
 
 Ghost. Ay, at Philippi. 
 
 Brutus. Why, I will see thee at 
 Philippi then. 
 
 \^Ghost vanishes. 
 
 Now I have taken heart, thou 
 vanishest." 
 Julius CcEsar, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
 This stoiy is told by Plutarch, as follows : 
 
 " He thought he heard one come unto him and casting his eye 
 towards the door of his tent, he saw a wonderful strange and mon- 
 strous shape of a body coming towards him and said never a word. 
 So Brutus boldly asked what he was, a God or a man, and what 
 cause brought him thither. The spirit answered him, ' I am thy 
 evil spirit, Brutus, and thou shalt see me by the City of Philippes.' 
 
I02 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Brutus being no otherwise afraid replied again unto it — ' well, 
 then, I shall see thee again.' The spirit presently vanished away." 
 
 It appears now, as Mr. James very cleverly points out, 
 that Shake-speare's account of this apparition differs in one 
 important particular from Plutarch's ; namely, it represents 
 Brutus as at first affected by fear, and then, on recovery from 
 the fear, immediately losing sight of his unwelcome visitor. 
 That is, the ghost, being simply the creature of a disordered 
 imagination, fled as soon as the mind of Brutus resumed its 
 natural courage. This result is in exact accordance with 
 Bacon's definition, as given above. 
 
 167 
 
 WITCHES 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Be these juggling fiends no more " As divers wise judges have 
 believed, prescribed and cautioned, men 
 
 That palter with us in a double may not too rashly believe the 
 sense ; confessions of witches, nor yet the 
 
 That keep the word of promise to evidence against them. For the 
 our ear, witches themselves are imagina- 
 
 And break it to our hope." tive, and believe oft-times they do 
 
 Macbeth, v. 7 (1623). that which they do not.'' — Nat- 
 ural History (1622-25). 
 
 At the time when the drama of ' Macbeth ' was vsT-itten, the 
 crusade against witchcraft had reached its height, the king 
 himself having recently inflicted the most terrible punish- 
 ments upon a man in Scotland who was condemned for hav- 
 ing raised a tempest in the North Sea and thus endangered 
 the king's life. The drama is an admirable example of 
 Bacon's method of combating popular delusions, as laid 
 down in his preface to the ' Wisdom of the Ancients ' : 
 
 " Even now, if any one wish to let new light on any subject into 
 men's minds, and that without offence or harshness, he must still 
 go the same way [as that of the ancient poets] and call in the aid 
 of similitudes." 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 103 
 
 The term similitudiTies would include such a work as the 
 
 drama of ' Macbeth.' 
 
 168 
 
 QUAKBELLINS 
 From Shake-speare 
 
 " Gregory. I will frown as I pas3 
 by, £md let them take it as they 
 list. 
 
 Sampson. Nay, as they dare. I 
 will bite my thumb at them ; 
 which is a disgrace to them, if 
 they bear it. 
 
 Abraham. Do you bite your 
 thumb at us, sir ? 
 
 Samp. I do bite my thumb, sir. 
 
 Abr. Do you bite your thumb 
 at us, sir ? 
 
 Samp. No, sir ; I do not bite my 
 thumb at you, sir ; but I bite my 
 thumb, sir. 
 
 Abr. You lie. 
 
 Samp. Draw, if you be men. 
 
 Prince. What ho! you men, you 
 
 beasts, 
 That quench the fireot your perni- 
 cious rage 
 With pirrple fountains issuing from 
 your veins." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, i. 1 (1597). 
 " Thou ! why, thou wilt quarrel 
 with a man that hath a hair more 
 or a hair less in his beard than thou 
 hast. . . . Thou hast quarrelled 
 with a man for coughing in the 
 street, because he hath awakened 
 thy dog that hath lain asleep in 
 the sun. Didst thou not fall out 
 with a tailor for wearing his new 
 doublet before Easter ? With an- 
 other, for tying his new shoes with 
 old ribbon ? " — Ibid. , iii. 1. 
 
 OVER TRIPLES 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Life is grown too cheap in these 
 times, and every petty scorn or dis- 
 grace can have no other reparation 
 [than with the sword]. Nay, so 
 many men's lives are taken away 
 with impunity, that the life of the 
 law is almost taken away.'' — 
 Charge against Duelling (1613). 
 
 " Men have almost lost the 
 true notion and understanding of 
 fortitude and valor. A man's life 
 is not to be trifled with ; it is to 
 be offered up and sacrificed to 
 honorable services, public merits, 
 good causes, and noble adventures." 
 — Ibid. 
 
I04 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 169 
 
 THE PROUD MAN DEVOUKING HIMSELF 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Achilles. Patroclus, I'll speak " Those that waat friends to open 
 
 with nobody. 
 
 Agamemnon. He that is proud eats 
 
 up himself." 
 TroUus and Cresaida, ii. 3 (1609). 
 
 themselves unto are cannibals of 
 their own hearts.'' — Essay of 
 Friendship (1625). 
 
 170 
 
 A MONAKCH NOT ACCOUNTABLE TO OTHERS 
 
 " Her majesty, being imperial 
 and immediate under God, was 
 not holden to render account of 
 her actions to any." — Proceedings 
 against Essex (1600). 
 
 " What subject can give sentence 
 on his king ? 
 
 Shall the figure of God's majesty. 
 His captain, steward, deputy elect. 
 Anointed, crowned, planted many 
 
 years, 
 Be judg'd by subject and inferior 
 breath ? " 
 
 Richard II., iv. 1 (1597). 
 
 On no subject were Bacon and Shake-speare more fully 
 agreed than on the divine prerogatives of a king or queen. 
 
 171 
 
 WATCHMEN 
 
 " Watchman. Well, masters, we 
 hear our charge ; let us go sit here 
 upon the church-bench till two, 
 and then all to bed. 
 
 Dogberry. Goodman Verges, sir, 
 speaks a little oflF the matter, an 
 old man, sir, and his wits are not 
 so blunt as, God help, I would de- 
 sire they were ; but, in faith, honest 
 as the skin between his brows. 
 
 Verges. Yes, I thank God I am 
 
 " Question. How long is their 
 office? 
 
 Answer. The office of constable 
 is annual, except they be removed. 
 
 Question. Of what rank or order 
 of men are they? 
 
 Answer. They be men, as it is 
 now used, of inferior, yea, of base 
 condition." — The Office of Con- 
 stable (1608). 
 
PARALLELISMS 105 
 
 as honest as any man living that is 
 an old man and no honester than 
 I." — AiticA 4rfo, iii. 3 and 4 (1600). 
 
 In his paper on Constables from which we have quoted, 
 Bacon emphasizes the fact that these officers of the law 
 ought not to be aged men, one of the points upon which 
 Shakespeare lavishes his fun. We seem to find in the play 
 a clear case of instruction by example. 
 
 172 
 
 FORGIVENESS BETTEK THAN VENGEANCE 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Kindness, nobler ever than re- " In taking revenge, a man is 
 
 venge." but even with hia enemy; but in 
 
 As You Like It, iv. 3 (1623). passing it over, he is superior. . . . 
 
 " Though with their high wrongs I Some, when they take revenge, are 
 
 am struck to the quick, desirous the party should know 
 
 Yet, with my nobler reason, 'gainst whence it come th. This the more 
 
 my fury generous. For the delight seemeth 
 
 Do I take part. The rarer action is to be, not so much in doing the hurt, 
 
 In virtue than in vengeance ; they as in making the party repent.'' — 
 
 being penitent, Essay of Revenge (1625). 
 
 The sole drift of my purpose doth "One who does the wrong is the 
 
 extend aggressor; he who returns it, the 
 
 Not a frown further. Go, release protractor." — De Augmentis (1622). 
 them, Ariel." 
 
 Tempest, v. 1 (1623). 
 " Who by repentance is not satis- 
 fied, 
 Is not of heaven nor earth.'' 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv. 1 
 (1623). 
 
 Bacon's inculcation of the duty of forgiveness, which is so 
 emphatically reproduced in the Shake-speare Plays, was fully 
 exemplified in his own life. Sir Toby Matthew says of him : 
 " I can truly say that I never saw in him any trace of a vin- 
 dictive mind, whatever injury was done him, nor ever heard 
 him utter a word to any man's disadvantage which seemed 
 to proceed from personal feeling against the man." 
 
io6 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 173 
 DRUGS SUSPENDING ANIMATION 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 [Enter Friar Lawrence, with, a 
 haskel.'\ 
 
 " Friar. Now, ere the sun advance 
 his burning eye 
 
 The day to cheer and night's dank 
 dew to dry, 
 
 I must up-fill this osier cage of 
 ours 
 
 With baleful weeds and precious- 
 juiced flowers. 
 
 0, mickle is the powerful grace 
 
 that lies 
 In herbs, plants, stones, and their 
 
 true qualities. 
 
 Within the infant rind of this weak 
 
 flower 
 Poison hath residence and medi- 
 cine power. 
 For this, being smelt, with that 
 
 part cheers each part; 
 Being tasted, slays all senses with 
 
 the heart." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, ii. 3 (1597). 
 " Friar. Take thou this vial, being 
 
 then in bed. 
 And this distilled liquor drink 
 
 thou off; 
 When presently through all thy 
 
 veins shall run 
 A cold and drowsy humor, for no 
 
 pulse 
 Shall keep his native progress, but 
 
 surcease; 
 No warmth, no breath, shall testify 
 
 thou livest; 
 The roses in thy Ups and cheeks 
 
 shall fade 
 
 From Bacon 
 " I now come to inquire into the 
 second way of condensing the 
 spirits, namely, by cold ; and it is 
 done without any malignity or un- 
 friendly quality. . . . The root of 
 the operation I place in nitre, as a 
 thing specially created for this 
 purpose. The principal subordi- 
 nates of nitre are borage, bugloss, 
 langue de boeuf, bumet, strawberry 
 plants, strawberries, raspberries, 
 raw cucumbers, raw apples, vine 
 leaves, vine buds, and violets. 
 Next to these come . . . balm, 
 green citrons, green oranges, dis- 
 tilled rose-water, roasted pears, and 
 pale, red, and musk roses. Opium 
 and other strong narcotics congeal 
 the spirits and deprive them of 
 motion. So much for the conden- 
 sation of spirits by cold." — His- 
 tory of Life and Death (1623). 
 
PARALLELISMS 107 
 
 To paly ashes ; thy eyes' windows 
 faU, 
 
 Lite death, when he shuts up the 
 day of life; 
 
 Each part, deprived of supple gov- 
 ernmeat, 
 
 Shall, stiff and stark and cold, ap- 
 pear like death." 
 
 Ibid., iv. 1. 
 
 It will be seen that Bacon made a special study of nar- 
 cotics, and of numerous plants and fruits that are narcotic in 
 their nature. He even speaks of the efficacy of such potions 
 in inducing what he called " volimtary or procured trances," 
 in which, precisely as in the case of Juliet in the play, the 
 " senses are suspended," and suspended too, as he says, 
 " more powerfully than in sleep." 
 
 Indeed, Bacon went into the subject so thoroughly, pub- 
 lishing the results of his researches in two different books, 
 the fruits of a lifetime of study, that we may well refuse to 
 find the source of any part of his knowledge of it in a play. 
 
 174 
 SOLDIEES, IRON 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Therefore was I created with a " This island of Britain hath (I 
 
 stubborn outside, with an aspect of make no question) the best iron in 
 iron, that, when I come to woo the world, that is, the best soldiers 
 ladies, I fright them." in the world." — Speech in the 
 
 Henry V., v. 2 (1623). House of Commons (1606-7). 
 " To see you here an iron man, 
 Cheering a rout of rebels with 
 your drum." 
 
 S Henry IV., iv. 2 (1600). 
 
 Mr. Wigston points out this curious identification of 
 soldiers with iron in both authors. 
 
io8 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 175 
 pompey's command of the sea 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Anthony. What is his [Pompey's] "Pompey's counsel is plainly 
 
 strength by land ? that of Themistocles, for he thinks 
 
 Ccesar. Great and increasing; but that whoever is master of the sea 
 
 by sea is master of the empire." — De 
 
 He is an absolute master." Augmentis (1622). 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, ii. 2 (1623). " The commandment of the sea 
 
 "Menas. Thou [Pompey] art, if is an abridgment or quintessence 
 
 thou dar'st be, the earthly Jove ; of an universal monarchy. '' — Con- 
 
 Whate'er the ocean pales, or sky ference of Pleasure (1592). 
 
 inclips, 
 Is thine, if thou wilt ha't." 
 
 Ibid., ii. 7. 
 
 The empire of the sea is thus described by one of the 
 characters of the play to be equivalent to the empire of the 
 world. Bacon, quoting Cicero, who in turn had quoted 
 Themistocles, and applying the remark (as Shake-speare 
 does) to Pompey, adds : " Without doubt, Pompey had tired 
 out Caesar, if upon vain confidence he had not left that 
 way " — that is, if he had not relinquished the sovereignty 
 of the sea. 
 
 The parallelism goes farther than this, as Mr. Wigston 
 shows. The two authors were agreed in their conception of 
 Pompey's character. Menas having advised Pompey, who 
 for the moment had the triumvirs, Caesar, Anthony, and 
 Lepidus, in his power, to murder them, Pompey thus 
 replies : 
 
 176 
 pompey's dissimdlation 
 " Ah, this thou should'st have " Pompey made it his design by 
 
 done, infinite secret engines to cast the 
 
 And not have spoke on 't. In me state into an absolute anarchy and 
 
 'tis villainy; confusion, that the state might 
 
 In thee 't had been good service, cast itself into his arms for neces- 
 
 Thou must know sity and protection, and so the 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 109 
 
 sovereign power be put upon him, 
 and he never seen in it.'' — Ad- 
 vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 'T is not my profit that does lead 
 
 mine honor ; 
 Mine honor, it. Repent that e'er 
 
 thy tongue 
 Hath so betray'd thine act ; being 
 
 done unknown, 
 I should have found it afterwards 
 
 well done." 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, ii. (1623). 
 
 In the second edition of the ' Advancement,' the phrase 
 " never seen in it " is rendered, " apparently against his 
 wUl and incliaation." Both authors represent the Eoman 
 as an adept in dissimulation. 
 
 177 
 
 PERSONAL VANITY 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Sin of self-love posaesseth aU 
 
 mine eye, 
 And all my soul, and all my every 
 
 part; 
 And for this sin there is no remedy, 
 It is so grounded in my heart. 
 Methinks no face so gracious is as 
 
 mine." 
 
 Sonnet 62 (1609). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Neither had the fame of Cicero, 
 Seneca, Plinius Secundus, borne 
 her age so well, if it had not been 
 joined with some vanity in them- 
 selves ; like unto varnish, that 
 makes ceilings not only shine but 
 last. In some persons [this] is 
 not only comely, but gracious." — 
 Essay 0/ Vain Glory (1612). 
 
 178 
 
 PAINTING OF THE FACE 
 
 " Why should false painting imi- 
 tate his cheek, 
 
 And steal dead seeing of his living 
 hue? 
 
 Why should poor beauty indirectly 
 seek 
 
 Koses of shadow 1 " 
 
 Sonnet 67 (1609). 
 
 " As for artificial decoration [of 
 the face], it is well worthy of the 
 deficiencies which it hath; being 
 neither fine enough to deceive, nor 
 handsome enough to please, nor 
 wholesome enough to use." — Ad- 
 vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
no BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 179 
 
 SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND 
 From Shakespeare 
 " But there 's a saying very old 
 
 and true : 
 
 If that you will France win, 
 
 Then with Scotland first begin. 
 For, once the eagle England being 
 
 in prey, 
 To her unguarded nest the weasel 
 
 Scot 
 Comes sneaking and so sucks her 
 
 princely eggs, 
 Playing the mouse in absence of 
 
 the cat, 
 To tear and havoc more than she 
 
 can eat." 
 
 Henry F., i. 2 (1600). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Scotland was ever used by 
 France as a diversion of an Eng- 
 lish invasion upon France." — Ob- 
 servations of a Libel (1592). 
 
 180 
 
 PREMATURE DEATH OF HENRY V 
 
 " Small time, but in that small 
 
 most greatly Kved 
 This star of England." 
 
 Epilogue to Henry V. (1623). 
 " King Henry V., too famous to 
 
 live long ! " 
 
 1 Henry VI., i. 1 (1623). 
 
 " King Henry V., as his success 
 was wonderful, so he wanted con- 
 tinuance, being extinguished after 
 ten years in the prime of his for- 
 tune." — Observations on a Libel 
 (1592). 
 
 181 
 FREQUENT CHANGE OF RULERS, A DISADVANTAGE 
 
 " Henry the Sixth, in infant bands 
 crown'd king, 
 Of France and England, did this 
 king succeed ; 
 Whose state so many had the 
 managing 
 That they lost France and made 
 his England bleed." 
 Epilogue to Henry V. (1623). 
 
 " That sentence of Scripture — 
 ' a nation is miserable which has 
 many rulers ' — is interpreted not 
 only to extend to divisions and 
 distractions in government, but 
 also to frequent changes in suc- 
 cession." — Ibid. (1592). 
 
PARALLELISMS 1 1 1 
 
 182 
 DISTEIBCTION OF EICHES 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Gloucester. Here, take this " Of great riches there is no real 
 
 purse . . . use, except it be in distribution." 
 
 So distribution should undo excess, — Essay ofBiches (1607-12). 
 And each man have enough." 
 
 King Lear, iv. 1 (1608). 
 
 183 
 NOT EVEEY CLOUD A STOKM 
 
 "Every cloud engenders not a "Every vapor or fume doth 
 storm." not turn into a storm." — Essay of 
 
 3 Henry VI., v. 3 (] 623). Seditions and Troul)les (1625). 
 
 In both passages, as Mr. Wigston notes, the storms re- 
 ferred to under this metaphor are political. 
 
 184 
 WIND-CHANGING WARVeiCK 
 " Wind-changing Warwick now " It is commonly seen that men, 
 
 can change no more." once placed, take in with the cou- 
 
 3 Henry VL, v. 1 (1623). trary faction to that by which they 
 
 enter, thinking belike that they 
 have the first sure, and now are 
 ready for a new purchase." — Essay 
 of Faction (1597). 
 
 It is very probable that Bacon had Warwick's career in 
 mind when he wrote the above sentence (the first part of it 
 in 1597 and the latter part for the third edition of his Essays 
 in 1625) ; for that was the most conspicuous instance of 
 " wind-changing " that had happened down to that period in 
 the history of England. He amplified the thought still more 
 in the Latin edition, thus : " they have been long sure of the 
 goodwill and zeal of the other faction, and so prepare them- 
 selves to gain new friends." 
 
 The word " purchase " is used by Bacon, as it frequently 
 is by Shake-speare, in its strictly legal sense, of acquisition 
 
112 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 by any method other than inheritance. To purchase a thing 
 is to pay an equivalent for it ; and in one way or another, 
 excepting in the case of an inheritance, a man pays for every- 
 thing he acquires. Even a theft has its price. 
 
 185 
 
 belleeophon's letters 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 '^ Hamlet. Up from my cabin, "Bellerophon's letters (produc- 
 
 My sea-gown scarf d about me, in ing letters or evidence against 
 
 the dark oneself)." — Prorows (1594-96). 
 
 Grop'd I to find out them ; had my 
 
 desire ; 
 Pinger'd their packet ; and, in fine, 
 
 withdrew 
 To mine own room again, making 
 
 so bold. 
 My fears forgetting manners, to 
 
 unseal 
 Their grand commission ; where I 
 
 found, 
 O royal knavery! an exact com- 
 mand, — 
 Larded with many several sorts of 
 
 reasons, 
 Importing Denmark's health, and 
 
 England's too. 
 With, ho 1 such bugs and goblins 
 
 in my life, — 
 That on the supervise, no leisure 
 
 bated, 
 No, not to stay the grinding of the 
 
 aze, 
 My head should be struck off." 
 
 Hamlet, v. 2 (1604). 
 
 Bellerophon, having committed an offence at the court at 
 Argos and being protected from punishment there by the 
 rites of hospitality, was sent away to the king of Lycia 
 with a sealed letter, in which the king was requested to 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 113 
 
 put the bearer to death. Such letters were thence called 
 " Bellerophon's Letters." Bacon's entry of these words in 
 his Promus was made to remind him of this device in 
 correspondence for use in his writings. No other hint of a 
 letter of this kind can be found in aU his worts, vmless 
 the perfect example of it in ' Hamlet ' be his. 
 
 186 
 
 WOKDS AND MATTER 
 
 " Polonius. What do you read, my 
 
 lord? 
 Hamlet. Words, words, words. 
 Pol. What is the matter, my lord ? 
 Ham. Between who 1 
 Pol. I mean, the matter that you 
 
 read, my lord ? " 
 
 Hamlet, ii. 2 (1604). 
 
 " This matter of marrying his 
 
 king's daughter . . . words him, ' 
 
 I doubt not, a great deal from the 
 
 matter." — Cymbeline, i. 5 (1623). 
 
 " Here, then, is the first distem- 
 per of learning, when men study 
 words, and not matter." — Ad- 
 vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 187 
 
 WRITING FOR 
 
 " Not marble, nor the gilded mon- 
 uments 
 
 Of princes, shall outlive this power- 
 ful rhyme ; 
 
 But you shall shine more bright in 
 these contents 
 
 Than unswept stone, besmear'd 
 with sluttish time. 
 
 When wasteful war shall statues 
 overturn, 
 
 And broils root out the wort of 
 masonry. 
 
 Nor Mars his sword, nor war's 
 quick fire shall bum 
 
 The living record of your memory. 
 
 'Gainst death and all-oblivious en- 
 mity 
 
 THE FUTtTRE 
 
 " I must confess my desire to be 
 that my writings should not court 
 the present time, or some few 
 places, in such sort as might make 
 them either less general to persons, 
 or less permanent in future ages." 
 — Letter to Sir Toby Matthew 
 (1609). 
 
114 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Shall you pace forth ; your praise 
 
 shall still find room, 
 E'en in the eyes of all posterity 
 That wear this world out to the 
 
 ending doom." 
 
 Sonnet 55 (1609). 
 
 No comment on Shake-speare has been more often or 
 more approvingly quoted than one of Jonson's : " he [Shake- 
 speare] was not of an age, but for all time." How exactly 
 these words also describe Bacon's literary ambition, as above 
 
 expressed ! 
 
 ^ 188 
 
 DIVINITY HEDGING A KING 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " There 's such divinity doth wall " God hath implanted such a 
 
 a king majesty in the face of a prince that 
 
 That treason dares not look on." no private man dare approach the 
 Hamlet, iv. 5 (1603). person of his sovereign with a 
 traitorous intent." — Speech at 
 Trial of Essex (1601). 
 
 189 
 WORDS SOtTNDING, BUT SIGNIFYING NOTHING 
 
 " It is a tale " It is nothing else but words, 
 
 Told by an idiot, fuU of sound and which rather sound than signify 
 
 fury, anything." 
 
 Signifying nothing." 
 
 Macbeth, v. 5 (1623). 
 
 190 
 A MUEDEEED MAN'S WOUNDS BLEEDING AFRESH 
 
 " If thou delight to view thy hein- " If the body of one murdered 
 
 ous deeds, be brought before the murderer. 
 
 Behold this pattern of thy butcher- the wounds will bleed afresh." — 
 
 ies. Natural History (1622-25). 
 
 0! gentlemen, see, see! dead 
 
 Henry's wounds 
 Open their congeal'd mouths and 
 
 bleed afresh." 
 
 Bichard III., i. 2 (1597). 
 
PARALLELISMS 1 1 5 
 
 In his prose treatment of tMs subject Bacon makes several 
 points that are not alluded to in Shake-speare, and that must 
 have come from independent sources, thus : 
 
 " Some do afiirm that the dead body, upon the presence of the 
 murderer, hath opened the eyes ; and that there have heen such 
 like motions, as well, where the party murdered hath been 
 strangled or drowned, as where they have been killed by wounds." 
 
 He makes the same superstition the subject of an 
 apothegm : 
 
 " A lover met his lady in a close chair, she thinking to go un- 
 known. He came and spake to her. She asked him — ' how 
 did you know me ? ' He said, ' because my wounds bleed afresh.' " 
 
 191 
 
 REBELLION AGAINST THE BELLY 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " There was a time when all the " In this they fall into the error 
 
 body's members described in the ancient fable, in 
 
 Eebell'd against the belly ; thus which the other parts of the body 
 
 accused it : did suppose the stomach had been 
 
 That only like a gulf it did remain idle, because it neither performed 
 I' the midst of the body, idle and the office of motion, as the hmbs 
 
 inactive, do, nor of sense, as the head doth ; 
 
 Still cupboarding the viand, never but yet, notwithstanding, it is the 
 
 bearing stomach that digesteth and distrib- 
 
 Like labor with the rest, where the uteth to all the rest." — Advance- 
 
 other instruments ment of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 Did see and hear, devise, instruct, 
 
 walk, feel, 
 And, mutually participate, did 
 
 minister 
 Unto the appetite and affection 
 
 common 
 Of the whole body." 
 
 Coriolanus, i. 1 (1623). 
 
 Fovmd in Plutarch (1579), and in Sir Philip Sidney's 
 ' Apology for Poetry ' (1581). ' Coriolanus ' was probably writ- 
 ten sometime between 1612 and 1619 ; first printed in 1623. 
 
ii6 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 192 
 A CUNNING DEVICE 
 
 From Bacon 
 " There is a cunning which we 
 in England call The Turning of 
 the Cat in the Pan ; which is, when 
 that which a man says to another, 
 he lays it as if another had said 
 it to him." — Essay of Cunning 
 (1612). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " [Enter Othello and lago at a dis- 
 tance."] 
 Emilia. Madam, here comes my 
 
 lord. 
 Cassio. Madam, I '11 take my 
 
 leave. 
 Desdemona. Why, stay, and hear 
 
 me speak. 
 Cas. Madam, not now ; I am 
 
 very ill at ease, unfit for mine 
 
 own purposes. 
 Des. Well, do your discretion. 
 
 [Exit Cassio. 
 lago. Ha, I like not that. 
 Othello. What dost thou say ? 
 
 lago. Nothing, my lord ; or if — 
 
 I know not what. 
 Oih. Was not that Cassio parted 
 
 from my wife 1 
 lago. Cassio, my lord ? No, 
 
 sure, I cannot think it 
 That he would steal away so 
 
 guilty-like, 
 Seeing you coming. 
 
 O I beware, my lord, of jealousy ; 
 It is the green-eyed monster which 
 
 doth mock 
 The meat it feeds on." 
 
 Othello, iii. 3 (1622). 
 
 A better example of the kind of cunning which Bacon de- 
 scribes cannot be found in all literature than the one given 
 above from the play of ' Othello.' lago first incites the feel- 
 ing of jealousy in his victim, and then, as if surprised and 
 grieved to discover it, utters his warning against it. Mr. 
 Wigston, to whom we owe this splendid parallelism, thus 
 comments upon it: "If we study the whole of this scene 
 
PARALLELISMS 1 1 7 
 
 where lago first begins working upon Othello's mind, we 
 
 find this exactly illustrated. This caution against jealousy. 
 
 uttered by lago, reads as if Othello, and not lago, had first 
 
 started the subject, and places the latter in the position of a 
 
 friend endeavoring to disabuse a suspicious mind of jealous 
 
 fancies." 
 
 193 
 
 ENVY, A DEVIL 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Devil Envy, say Amen." "Envy is tlie proper attribute 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, ii. 3 (1609). of the devil." — Essay of Envy 
 
 (1625). 
 
 Bacon calls envy the "vilest affection and the most de- 
 praved." Shake-speare wrote a play to show its effect, when 
 exerted from without, even upon a mind wholly free from it. 
 Dante has pictured the result : the tempter and his victim 
 (Cassius and Brutus) both being eternally crimched between 
 the jaws of the DeviL 
 
 194 
 
 FALSE PKAISE 
 
 "Alcibiades. If I thrive well, I'll "Some men are praised mali- 
 
 visit thee again. ciously to their hurt." — Essay 
 
 2\"nwn. If I hope well, I'll never of Praise (1607-12). 
 
 see thee more. 
 Alcib. I never did thee harm. 
 Tim. Yes, thou spok'st well of 
 
 me. 
 Alcib. Call'st thou that harm ? 
 Tim. Men daily find it. Get thee 
 
 away." 
 
 Timon of Athens, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
 Alcibiades, a sycophant, had praised Timon " to his hurt." 
 
 195 
 
 SELF-CONTEMPT 
 
 " Apemanius. Heavens, that I were " Let pride go a step higher, and 
 a lord I from contempt of others rise to con- 
 
ii8 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Timon. What would'st do then, tempt of self, and it becomes phi- 
 
 Apemantus? losophy." — De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 Apem. E'en as Apemantus does 
 
 now ; hate a lord with all my 
 
 heart. 
 Tim. What, thyself? 
 Apem. Ay." 
 
 Timon of Athens, i. 1 (1623). 
 
 Apemantus is the " philosopher " of the play, 
 
 196 
 THE STAES, A SHOW 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " This huge stage presenteth nought " Velleius, the Epicurean, needed 
 but shows, not to have asked, why God should 
 
 Whereon the stars in secret influ- have adorned the heavens with 
 ence comiuent." stars, as if he had been an ^Edilis, 
 
 Sonnet 15 (1609). one that should have set forth some 
 magnificent shows or plays. " — Ad- 
 vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 This singular conception of the Maker of the Universe as an 
 ^dile, arranging the stars as shows, common to both authors, 
 seems to have been taken from Cicero's Be Naturd Deorum. 
 
 The use of the Word " plays " in this connection by Bacon 
 is significant, as Mr. Wigston with admirable pertinency 
 points out. It suggests the idea which lay deep in the minds 
 of both authors and which finds frequent expression in the 
 writiags of both, that the world is a theatre : 
 
 " All the world 's a stage, " Men must know that, in this 
 
 And all the men and women theatre of man's life, it is reserved 
 
 merely players." only for God and the Angels to 
 
 As You Like It, ii. 7 (1623). be lookers-on." — Advancement of 
 
 " I hold the world but as the world. Learning, 'Book ^. (1603-5). 
 
 Gratiano ; 
 A stage where every man must play 
 a part.'' 
 Merchant of Venice, i. 1 (1600). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 119 
 
 " Life 's but a walking shadow, a 
 
 poor player 
 That struts and frets his hour upon 
 
 the stage, 
 And then is heard no more." 
 
 Macbeth, v. 5 (1623). 
 
 " If your Majesty do at any time 
 think it fit for your affairs to em- 
 ploy me again publicly upon the 
 stage." — Memorandum of Access 
 to King James (1622). 
 
 This parallelism runs even into a minor detail, thus : 
 
 197 
 
 CRYING AT BIETH 
 
 From Shake-speare 
 " When we are bom, we cry that we 
 
 are come 
 To this great stage of fools." 
 
 King Lear, iv. 6 (1608), 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Men are sent headlong into this 
 wretched theatre, where, being ar- 
 rived, their first language is that 
 of mourning." — Posthumous Essay 
 of Death. 
 
 198 
 
 CONFLICT OP PASSIONS 
 
 " Cfremio. A bridegroom say you ? 
 
 'T is a groom indeed, 
 A grumbling groom, and that a 
 
 girl shall find. 
 Tranio. Curster than she ? "Why, 
 
 't is impossible. 
 Gremio. Why, she's a devil, a 
 
 devil, a very devil. 
 Tranio. Why, she's a devU, a 
 
 devil, the devil's dam. 
 
 Kaiharina. Come, come, you fro- 
 
 ward and unable worms ! 
 My mind hath been as big as one 
 
 of yours. 
 My heart as great, my reason haply 
 
 more, 
 To bandy word for word and frown 
 
 for frown; 
 But now I see our lances are but 
 
 straws, 
 
 " The best doctors of this knowl- 
 edge are the poets, where we may 
 find painted and dissected to the 
 life, how afi'eotions [passions] are to 
 be stirred up and kindled; how 
 still'd and laid asleep ; . . . how to 
 set affection against affection, and 
 by the help of one to master and re- 
 claim the other." — De Augmentis 
 (1622). 
 
I20 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Our strength as weak, our weak- 
 ness past compare ; 
 
 Then vail your stomachs, for it is 
 no boot, 
 
 And place your hands below your 
 husband's foot. 
 
 Hortensio. Now go thy ways; thou 
 
 haat tamed a curst shrew. 
 Lucentio. 'T is a wonder ; by your 
 
 leave, she will be tamed so." 
 Taming of the Shrew, v. 2 (1623). 
 
 Probably there is no more conspicuous instance in history 
 or fiction than the one we find in the ' Taming of the Shrew,' 
 where two persons, each of violent temper and determined 
 wiU, meet in conflict with the result Bacon describes. And 
 this, too, as Bacon says it ought to be, the work of a poet ! 
 
 199 
 
 HAPPINESS IN THE MEAN 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " They are as sick that surfeit " Mediocria firma." — Motto of 
 
 with too much as they that starve Nicholas Bacon, father of Francis. 
 with nothing. " Media tutius itur." — Letter to 
 
 " It is no mean happiness, there- King James (1616). 
 fore, to be seated in the mean." — 
 Merchant of Venice, i. 2 (1600). 
 "Be moderate, be moderate." 
 Troilus and Cressida,iY.4 (1609). 
 " Be moderate, allay thy ecstasy." 
 Merchant of Venice, iii. 2 (1600). 
 " Laugh moderately.'' 
 
 Love's Labor's Lost, i. 1 (1598). 
 " Love moderately." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, ii. 7 (1598). 
 
 The motto on the Bacon coat-of-arms (Nicholas Bacon) 
 was mediocria Jirma, — safety is in the mean. It can be read 
 to-day over the door of an ancient building connected with 
 
PARALLELISMS 121 
 
 Bacon's residence in Gorhambury Park. Nicholas Bacon 
 died in 1579. 
 
 200 
 
 LAUGHING PAEKOTS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Laugh like parrots at a bag- " You shall have parrots that will 
 
 piper." not only imitate voices, but laugh- 
 
 Merchant of Venice, i. 1 (1600). ing." — Sylva Sylvarum (1622-25). 
 
 Pointed out by Mr. Wigston. 
 
 201 
 
 SLANDEK 
 
 " [Slander], a crow that flies." " Fame hath swift wings, spe- 
 
 Sonnet 70 (1609). cially that which hath black feath- 
 ers." — Letter to Sir George 
 Villiers (1616). 
 
 IMPRESSIONS IN ICE 
 
 " This weak impress of love is as a " High treason is not written in 
 
 figure ice, that when the body relenteth, 
 
 Trench'd in ice, which with an the impression goeth away." — 
 
 hour's heat Charge of Owen (1615). 
 
 Dissolves to water and doth lose 
 his form." 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, iii. 2 
 (1623). 
 
 This fine parallelism is also due to Mr. Wigston, who in 
 this important field has no superior. 
 
 203 
 
 ANGER, A TEMPORARY MADNESS 
 
 " Ira furor irevis est." " Ira furor brevis." — Charge on 
 
 Timon of Athens, i. 2 (1623). Opening of the Court of the Verge 
 
 (circa 1611). 
 
122 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 204 
 
 WHEEL OF FOETUNE 
 
 Frmn Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " The [death] of majesty ... is a " This wheel (death of Queen 
 massy wheel." Elizabeth) is turned round." — 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 3 (1604). Letter to Kempe (1603). 
 
 Col. H. L. Moore calls attention to Bacon's definition of 
 wheel, given in one of his letters to ViUiers, as a revolution in 
 public sentiment : " Opinion is a master wheel." Cicero uses 
 it in the same sense. 
 
 205 
 
 MIND TRAINED LIKE A HORSE 
 
 " So is my horse, Octavius ; " Diogenes' opinion is to be ao- 
 
 It is a creature that 1 teach to fight, cepted who commended them . . . 
 
 To wind, to stop, to run directly which could give unto the mind 
 
 on, (as is used in horsemanship), the 
 
 His corporal motion govern'd by shortest stop or turn." — Advance- 
 
 axj spirit.'' ment of Learning (1603-5). 
 Julius CcEsar, iv. 1 (1623). 
 
 In the play Anthony compares Lepidus with his horse, 
 both being creatures he can turn or stop at will. Bacon para- 
 phrases a Greek passage (not then translated into English) 
 from Diogenes, in which we find the same comparison of a 
 man's mind with a horse under control of a master. 
 
 206 
 
 MUSIC, LOVE, AND FLOWERS 
 
 " If music be the food of love, play " The breath of flowers . . . 
 
 on ; comes and goes like the warbling 
 
 Give me excess of it, that, surfeit- of music." — Essay of Gardens 
 
 ing, (1625). 
 
 The appetite may sicken, and so " The falling from a discord to a 
 
 die. concord in music is sweet." — Sylva 
 
 That strain again ! it had a dying Sylvarum (1622-25). 
 
 fall ; "Is not the precept of a musi- 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 123 
 
 O, it came o'er my ear like the ciau, to fall from a discord to a 
 
 sweet south, concord, alike true in affection ? " — 
 
 That breathes upon a bank of Advancement of Learning {IGOZ-b). 
 
 violets, 
 Stealing and giving odor. Enough, 
 
 no more ; 
 'Tis not so sweet now as it was 
 
 before." 
 
 Twelfth Night, i. 1 (1623). 
 
 The reader will take note tliat the passage from Shake- 
 speare contains three very recondite conceptions; namely, 
 the character of a particular trope in music, the com- 
 parison of musical soimds with fragrance of flowers, and 
 the effect of music itself upon the heart. These are all 
 in Bacon. 
 
 207 
 
 D^DALUS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " I, Dsedalus ; my poor son, Icarus ; 
 Thy father, Minos, that denied our 
 
 course ; 
 Thy brother Edward, the sun that 
 
 sear'd his wings ; 
 And thou, the envious gulf that 
 
 swallow'd him." 
 
 3 Henry VI., v. 6 (1595). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 "This Dcedalus was persecuted 
 with great severity and diligence 
 and inquisition by Minos ; yet he 
 always found means of escape and 
 places of refuge. Last of all, he 
 taught his son Icarus how to fly ; 
 who, being a novice and ostenta- 
 tious of his art, feU from the sky 
 into the water." — Wisdom of the 
 Ancients (1609). 
 
 It will be noticed that of the five persons mentioned 
 with their types in a single sentence by Shake-speare, 
 King Henry (Daedalus), Prince Edward (Icarus), Duke of 
 York (Minos), King Edward (the Sun) and the Duke of 
 (jloucester (the Sea), the types of all of them are mentioned 
 or alluded to by Bacon, also in a single sentence. 
 
124 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 208 
 OBPHEDS AND THE THKACIAN WOMEN 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals, 
 Tearing the Thraoian singer in theii- 
 rage." 
 A Midsummer-Nights Dream, v. 
 1 (1600). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " At last, certain Thracian 
 women, under the stimulation 
 of Bacchus, came where he was, 
 . . . while Orpheus himself was 
 torn to pieces by them in their 
 fury.'' — Wisdom of the Ancients 
 (1609). 
 
 209 
 LEAGUE OF BODY AND SOUL 
 
 " Your face, my thane, is as a book 
 where men 
 
 May read strange matters. To he- 
 guile the time. 
 
 Look like the time ; bear welcome 
 in your eye. 
 
 Your hand, your tongue; look 
 like the innocent flower. 
 
 Bat be the serpent under 't." 
 
 Macbeth, i. 5 (1623). 
 
 " There 's language in her eye, her 
 cheek, her lip. 
 
 Nay, her foot speaks.'' 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, iv. 5 
 (1609). 
 
 "The league of soul and body 
 consists in disclosing the one the 
 other, and the working the one 
 upon the other. . . . And weU is 
 this known to a number of cun- 
 ning and astute persons, whose 
 eyes dwell upon the faces and 
 gestures of men, and make their 
 own advantage of it, as being 
 most part of their ability and 
 wisdom." — Advancement of Learn- 
 ing (1603-5). 
 
 Bacon made a special study of physiognomy, as had also, 
 it is evident, the author of the Shake-speare plays. 
 
 210 
 
 FEAK IS 
 
 " Let pale-fac'd fear keep with the 
 
 mean-bom man, 
 
 And find no harbor in aroyal heart." 
 
 S King Henry VI., iii. 1 (1623). 
 
 " True nobility is exempt from fear." 
 
 Ibid., iv. 1 (1623). 
 
 IGNOBLE 
 
 "Pear 
 minds." - 
 
 is a mark of ignohle 
 - Promus (1594-96). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 125 
 
 211 
 
 CONSTANCY 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Even to vice " Even vices derive a grace 
 
 They are not constant, but are from constancy.'' — De Augmentis 
 
 changing still (1622). 
 
 One vice, but of a minute old, for 
 
 one 
 Not half so old as that." 
 
 Cymheline, ii. 5 (1623). 
 
 212 
 EGYPTIAN DARKNESS 
 
 " There is no darkness, but ig- 
 norance, in which thou art more 
 puzzled than the Egyptians in 
 their fog." — Twelfth Night, iv. 2 
 (1623). 
 
 " This was done with an oath or 
 vow of secrecy, which is like the 
 Egyptian darkness." — Charge 
 against the Countess of Somerset 
 (1616). 
 
 213 
 THRASONICAL BEHAVIOE 
 
 " His general behavior vain, ridic- 
 ulous and thrasonical." 
 Love's Labor 's Lost, v. 1 (1598). 
 
 " He was of an insolent thrasoni- 
 cal disposition." — Charge against 
 Somerset (1616). 
 
 214 
 FORTUNE-TELLING TRICKS 
 
 " We are simple we ; we know 
 not what is brought to pass under 
 the color of fortune-telling." — 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, iv. 2 
 (1602). 
 
 " My Lord of Somerset, you 
 used him as fortune-teller's do 
 poor people in the country, hold 
 them in a tale while they steal 
 their purse." — Charge against 
 Somerset (1616). 
 
 Bacon gives one kind of trick that was practised " under 
 the color or profession of fortune-telling." 
 
126 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 215 
 POISON IN SAUCES 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Timon. Would poison were 
 
 obedient and knew my mind. 
 Apemantus. Where would'st thou 
 
 send it ? 
 Timon. To sauce thy dishes." 
 
 Timon of Athens, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " The poison of great spiders and 
 of the venomous fly cantharides 
 was fit for pig's sauce, or par- 
 tridge sauce, because it resembles 
 pepper." — Charge against the 
 Countess of Somerset (1616). 
 
 The drama of ' Timon of Athens ' was not known to the 
 world until it made its appearance in the first Shake-speare 
 folio of 1623. The trial of the Earl and Countess of Somer- 
 set on the charge of murder by poison, the most famous one 
 in the annals of England, took place in 1616. Bacon as 
 State's Attorney conducted the prosecution. The poison 
 had been administered to the victim in sauces. This trial 
 was subsequent to the death of the reputed poet. 
 
 216 
 TO WALK INVISIBLE 
 
 " We have the receipt of fern- " The wits of these days are too 
 
 seed; we walk invisible." • 
 Henry IV., ii. 1 (1598). 
 
 much refined, and practice too 
 much in use, for any man to walk 
 invisible." — Observations on a 
 Libel (1592). 
 
 217 
 
 WALKING WOODS 
 
 What wood is this be- " The greater navies look like 
 
 " Siward. 
 
 fore us 1 
 Menteith. The wood of Birnam. 
 Malcolm. Let every soldier hew 
 
 him down a bough, 
 And bear 't before him. 
 
 Messenger. Gracious my lord, 
 I should report that which I say I 
 
 saw, 
 But know not how to do it. 
 
 walking woods." — Metrical Trans- 
 lation of Psalm 104 (1624). 
 
PARALLELISMS 127 
 
 Macbeth. Well, sir, say. 
 
 Mess. As I did stand my watch 
 
 upon the hill 
 I look'd toward Bimam, and anon, 
 
 methought, 
 The wood began to move." 
 
 Macbeth, v. 4, 5 (1623). 
 
 Concerning Bacon's metrical translation of the psalm, made 
 (as Mr. Spedding says) " during a fit of sickness," we quote : 
 
 "The heroic couplet could hardly do its work better in the 
 hands of Dryden. The truth is. Bacon was not without the * fine 
 phrensy ' of the poet ; but the world into which it transported 
 him was one which, while it promised visions more glorious than 
 any poet could imagine, promised them upon the express condition 
 that fiction should be utterly prohibited and excluded. Had it 
 taken the ordinary direction, I have little doubt that it would 
 have carried him to a place among the great poets ; but it was the 
 study of his life to refrain his imagination and keep it within the 
 modesty of truth, aspiring no higher." — Spbdding's Works of 
 F. Bacon (Boston), xiv. 113. 
 
 On this we beg to make four points in reply : 
 
 1. The exclusion of imaginative works was not essential 
 to Bacon's success as a philosopher. Goethe's career is a 
 suflEicient answer to Mr. Spedding on this point. 
 
 2. If it were Bacon's reputation only that would have 
 been injured by such works and thereby the success of his 
 philosophy imperilled, nothing was required but concealment 
 of authorship. 
 
 3. Poetic instincts of a high order cannot be suppressed. 
 And Bacon himself says that they ought not to be suppressed, 
 even for philosophical purposes, for only by yielding to them 
 and making use of them can the nature and power of the 
 human passions, one with another, be displayed. (See ' Ad- 
 vancement of Learning,' Book II.) 
 
 4. As a matter of fact in Bacon's case, imaginative works 
 were not excluded. The ' New Atlantis ' is wholly imagina- 
 
128 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 tive, a work of the same kind as Plato's 'Eepublic,' St 
 Augustine's De Civitate Dei, and More's ' Utopia.' 
 
 218 
 
 TIME, OUR INTERPRETER 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " So our virtues " The times themselves inter- 
 Lie in the interpretation of the pret our deeds." — De Augmentis 
 times." (1622). 
 
 Coriolanus, iv. 7 (1623). 
 
 219 
 
 THE WORLD, 
 
 " Guildenstern. Prison, my lord? 
 
 Hamlet. Denmark 's a prison. 
 
 Rosencrantz. Then is the world 
 one. 
 
 Hamlet. A goodly one, in which 
 there are many confines, wards, 
 and dungeons, Denmark being 
 one of the worst." — Hamlet, ii. 2 
 (1623). 
 
 220 
 
 A PRISON 
 
 " The world is a prison, if I 
 may not approach his majesty." — 
 Letter to Buckingham (1621). 
 
 PRETENCE 
 
 " There are a sort of men whose 
 
 Do cream and mantle like a stand- 
 ing pond, 
 
 And do a wilful stillness entertain. 
 
 With purpose to be dress'd in an 
 opinion 
 
 Of wisdom, gravity, profound con- 
 ceit, 
 
 As who should say, I am Sir 
 Oracle, 
 
 And, when I ope my lips, let no 
 dog bark. 
 
 ! my Antonio, I do know of these 
 
 That therefore are reputed wise 
 
 For saying nothing." 
 
 Merchant of Venice, i. 1 (1600) 
 
 OF WISDOM 
 
 "Some help themselves with 
 countenance and gesture, and are 
 wise by signs, as Cicero saith of 
 Piso, that when he answered him, 
 he fetched one of his brows up to 
 his forehead, and bent the other 
 down to his chin. . . . Some are 
 so close and reserved as they will 
 not show their wares but by a 
 dark light, and seem always to 
 keep back somewhat." — Essay of 
 Seeming Wise (1607-12). 
 
PARALLELISMS 129 
 
 221 
 
 THE WISE MAN AND THE FOOL 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " The fool doth think he is wise, " If you are wise, you are a fool ; 
 but the wise man knows himself to if you are a fool, you are wise." — 
 be a fool." — As You Like It, v. De Augmentis (1622). 
 1 (1623). 
 
 222 
 THE COFFER OF DARIUS 
 
 " Her ashes, in an urn more pre- " What estimation he had learn- 
 
 cious ing in doth appear ... in the 
 
 Than the rich-jewell'd coifer of judgment he gave touching that 
 
 Darius." precious cabinet of Darius, which 
 
 1 Henry VI., i. 6 (1623). was found among his jewels." — 
 
 Advancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 223 
 DURATION OF A WONDER 
 
 " Gloucester. That would be ten "I thought good to step aside 
 days' wonder at the least. for nine days, which is the du- 
 
 Clarence. That 's a day longer ranee of a wonder." — Letter to 
 than a wonder lasts." Lord Keeper (1595). 
 
 3 Henry VI., iii. 2 (1595). 
 " I was seven of the nine days out 
 of the wonder before you came." 
 — As You Like It, iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 224 
 AN ACTOR FORGETTING HIS PART 
 
 "As an imperfect actor on the stage, " They would make you a king 
 
 Who with his fear is put beside his in a play, who, when one would 
 
 part." think he standeth in great majesty 
 
 Sonnet 23 (1609). and felicity, is troubled to say his 
 
 part." — Gesta Grayorum (1594). 
 
 225 
 AFFECTATIONS OF TRAVEL 
 
 " Look you lisp and wear strange " Let his travel appear rather in 
 
 suits, ... or I will scarce think his discourse than in his apparel or 
 
 you have swam in a gondola." — gesture." — Essay of Travel (1626). 
 As You Like It, iv. 1 (1623). 
 
I30 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 S26 
 INTEREST MONET 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Antonio. Is your gold and silver 
 
 ewes and rams ? 
 Shylock. I cannot tell ; I make it 
 
 breed as fast. 
 
 A ntonio. When did friendship take 
 A breed of barren metal of his 
 friend 1 " 
 Merchant of Venice,!. 3 (1600). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " It is against nature for money 
 to beget money." — Essay of 
 Usury (1625). 
 
 227 
 
 GAIN TIME 
 
 " In all refrainings of anger, it is 
 the best remedy to gain time, and 
 to make a man's self believe that 
 the opportunity of his revenge is 
 not yet come ; but that he foresees 
 a time for it, and so to still himself 
 in the mean time and reserve it."— 
 Essay of Anger (1625). 
 
 IN ANGER 
 " Hamlet. And thus he dies, and so 
 
 I am revenged. 
 No, not so ; he took my father 
 
 sleeping, his sins brimful ; 
 And how his soul stood to the state 
 
 of heaven, 
 Who knows, save the immortal 
 
 powers ? 
 And shall I kill him now. 
 When he is purging of his soul, 
 Making his way to heaven 1 This 
 
 is a benefit. 
 And not revenge ; no, get thee np 
 
 again ; 
 When he's at game, swearing, 
 
 taking his carouse, drinking, 
 
 drunk, 
 Or in the incestuous pleasure of 
 
 his bed. 
 Or at some act that hath no relish 
 Of salvation in't, then trip him. 
 That his heels may kick at heaven, 
 And fall as low as hell." 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 3 (1603). 
 
 The commentators can make nothing of this speech of 
 Hamlet's. Dr. Johnson thought it " too horrible to be read 
 
PARALLELISMS 1 3 1 
 
 or to be uttered." Caldecott and Wordsworth wondered 
 " whether or not Shakespeare gave a faithful picture of human 
 nature " in it ! 
 
 228 
 
 REPUGNANCE TO DEAD BODIES 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "How ! a page ! " Generally, that which is dead 
 
 Or dead or sleeping on him 1 But or corrupted or excemed hath an- 
 
 dead rather ; tipathy with the same thing when 
 
 For nature doth abhor to make his it is alive and when it is sound ; 
 
 bed as a carcass of man is most infec- 
 
 With the defunct, or sleep upon tious and odious to man." — Nat- 
 
 the dead." ural History (1622-25). 
 
 Cymheline, iv. 2 (1623). 
 
 229 
 
 VICE IN GARB OF VIRTUE 
 
 " There is no vice so simple but " EvU approacheth to good, 
 
 assumes sometimes for concealment, some- 
 
 Some mark of virtue on his out- times for protection. So hypocrisy 
 ward parts." draweth near to religion for covert 
 
 Merchant of Venice, iu. ^ (X&QG). and hiding itseK ; vice lurks in 
 
 the neighborhood of virtue; and 
 sanctuary-men, which were com- 
 monly inordinate men and male- 
 factors, were wont to be nearest to 
 priests and prelates and holy men." 
 — Colors of Good and Evil, vii. 
 (1597). 
 
 230 
 KNOTS IN TREES 
 
 '' As knots, by the conflux of meet- " They have some closeness and 
 
 ing sap, hardness in their stalk, which hin- 
 
 Infect the sound pine." dereth the sap from going up, until 
 
 TroilusandCressida,i.^(\&Q9). it hath gathered into a knot." — 
 
 Sylva Sylvarum (1622-25). 
 
132 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 231 
 AKION AMONG DOLPHINS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Like Arion on the Dolphin's " A man should be an Orpheus 
 back." in the woods, but among dolphins 
 
 Twelfth Night, i. a {162Z). an Aiion." — Advancement of 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 232 
 KNOTS IN GARDENS 
 " Thy curious-knotted garden." " As for the making of knots or 
 
 Love's Labor's Lostji.l (1598). figures with divers colored earths, 
 
 that they may lie under the win- 
 dows of the house, on that side 
 which the garden stands, they be 
 but toys." — Essay of Gardens 
 (1625). 
 
 233 
 
 IMPOSTHtnttATIONS 
 " This is th' imposthume of much " He that tumeth the humor or 
 
 wealth and peace, maketh the wound bleed inwards 
 
 That inward breaks, and shows no endangereth malign ulcers and 
 cause without pernicious imposthumations." — 
 
 Why the man dies." Essay of Seditions (1607-12). 
 
 Hamlet, iv. 4 (1604). 
 
 Mr. Eeynolds, in his scholarly edition of Bacon's Essays, 
 notes how frequently Bacon uses this pathological simile, 
 also introduced into Shake-speare. For instance, in addition 
 to the passage quoted above, we have the following : 
 
 " Take away liberty of Parliament, the griefs of the subject will 
 bleed inwards ; sharp and eager humours will not evaporate ; and 
 then they must exulcerate, and so may endanger sovereignty itself." 
 — Speech in Parliament (1610). 
 
 234 
 
 NIGHT MUSINGS 
 
 " Weary with toil I haste me to " I verily think your brother's 
 my bed, weak stomach to digest hath been 
 
PARALLELISMS 133 
 
 The dear repose for limbs with much caused and confirmed by 
 
 travel tired ; untimely going to bed, and then 
 
 But then begins a journey in my musing nescio quid when he should 
 
 head sleep." — Lady Bacon's Letter to 
 
 To work my mind, when body's Anthony (1590). 
 work 's expir'd." 
 
 Sonnet 27 (1609). 
 
 Peter BoSner, one of Bacon's servants, says he seldom saw 
 his lordship " take up a book. He only ordered his chaplain 
 and me to look in such and such an author for a certain 
 place, and then he dictated to us early in the morning what 
 he had invented and composed during the night." 
 
 sm 
 
 THE COMPLEXIONS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " The o'ergrowth of some com- " Empiric physicians . . . know 
 
 plexion." neither the causes of disease nor 
 
 Hamlet, i. 4 (1604). the complexions of patients." — 
 
 "Is that one of the four com- Advancement of Learning {1603-b). 
 
 plexions?" "Then must Franklin be pur- 
 
 Love's Labor's Lost,!. 2 (1598). veyor of the poisons, and procure 
 
 five, six, seven several potions, to 
 be sure to hit his complexion." — 
 Charge against Somerset (1616). 
 
 In each of these passages the word " complexion " is used 
 in its old philosophical sense of temperament, as determined 
 by the combination {complexio) in every man of the four 
 elementary humors : choler, melancholy, phlegm, and blood. 
 The excess or " o'ergrowth " of one of these was thought to 
 produce disease — beyond the knowledge or skill, as Bacon 
 says, of "empiric physicians." 
 
 236 
 
 CHAEGE TO CONSTABLES 
 
 " Verges. Give them their "The office of high-constable 
 charge, neighbor Dogberry." — grew in use for the receiving of 
 Much Adoi iiL 3 (1600). the commandments and prescripts 
 
134 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 from the justices of the peace, and 
 distiibuting them to the pettj 
 constables." — Office of Constables 
 (posthumous paper, date un- 
 known). 
 
 Lord Chief Justice Campbell, commenting on this scene in 
 ' Much Ado about Nothing,' says, " there has never been a 
 law or custom in England to give a charge to constables." It 
 appears that the author of the play knew more about the 
 laws of England than this Chief Justice himself did. 
 
 On other points involved in this scene between the master 
 constable and the watch, however, Lord Campbell concedes 
 that even " Coke could not have defined more accurately, than 
 in these lines, the power of a peace-of&cer." Certainly not, 
 nor could any other judge that ever sat upon an English 
 bench. Shake-speare simply followed the rule laid down by 
 Bacon, thus : 
 
 " For pacifying of quarrel begun, the constable may, upon hot 
 words given, or likelihood of breach of the peace to ensue, com- 
 mand them in the King's name to keep peace, and depart, and 
 forbear. . . . For punishment of breach of peace past, the law is 
 very sparing in giving any authority to constables, because they 
 have not power judicial, and the use of his office is rather for pre- 
 venting or staying of mischief, than for punishment of offences." 
 
 This limitation of authority is observable in every utter- 
 ance of Dogberry. 
 
 237 
 
 LIE THEEE, MY ART 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Lend thy hand, Lord Treasurer Burleigh used to 
 
 And pluck my magic garment say, when laying aside his official 
 
 from me, — so : robe at the close of his day's work, 
 
 [Lays down his mantle. " lie there, Lord Treasurer." 
 Lie there, my art." 
 
 Tempest, i. 2 (1623). 
 
PARALLELISMS 135 
 
 Burleigh was Bacon's uncle. He died in 1598, but this 
 incident of his private life was not made public until twenty- 
 six years after Shakspere's death. 
 
 238 
 LOVE WITHOUT CAUSE 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Why to love I can allege no " Love has no cause." — Wisdom 
 
 cause." of the Ancients (1609). 
 
 Sonnet 49 (1609). 
 
 239 
 
 PEKSPECTIVES 
 
 " Mine eye hath play'd the painter, " Like perspectives, -which show 
 
 and hath stell'd things inward when they are 
 
 Thy teauty's form in table of my but paintings." — Natural History 
 
 heart ; (1622-25). 
 
 My body is the frame wherein 't is 
 
 held. 
 And perspective it is beet painter's 
 
 art. 
 For through the painter must you 
 
 see his skiU, 
 To find where your true image 
 
 pictured lies, 
 Which in my bosom's shop is 
 
 hanging still. 
 That hath his windows glazed with 
 
 thine eyes." 
 
 Sonnet 24 (1609). 
 
 To " show things inward," or (as in the sonnet) to show 
 the loved one's form within the body, or in the heart of the 
 loving, is the highest art of the painter. Both authors call 
 this effect a perspective (jperspicere, to see through). 
 
 240 
 UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE 
 
 " Shakespeare so devoted himself " I have taken all knowledge to 
 to the study of every trade, pro- be my province." — Letter to Lord 
 fession, pursuit and accomplish- Burleigh (1592). 
 
^3^ 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 ment that he became master of 
 them all, which his plays clearly 
 show him to have been." — Fur- 
 ness's Variorum Shakespeare. 
 
 241 
 
 ASTROLOGY 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " The fault, dear Brutus, is not in 
 
 our stars, 
 But in ourselves." 
 
 Julius Ccesar, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " As for astrology, it is so full of 
 superstition that scarce anything 
 can be discovered in it." — De 
 Augmentis (1622). 
 
 " Chiefly the mould of a man's 
 fortune is ia himself." — Essay of 
 Fortune (1607-12). 
 
 It was Bacon's opinion that the influence of the stars is 
 exerted, not on individual men, but directly on masses of 
 men, though he made an exception in favor of certain persons 
 who, he said, " are more susceptible, and of softer wax, as 
 it were, than the rest of their species." 
 
 It is clear that Cassius would not have been included by 
 him in his excepted class. 
 
 242 
 
 EXPRESSION OF SORROW 
 
 " Give sorrow words; the grief 
 
 that does not speak, 
 Whispers the o'erfraught heart, 
 and bids it break." 
 
 Macbeth, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
 " You do freely bar the door of 
 
 your own liberty, if you deny your 
 
 griefs to your friend." — Hamlet, 
 
 iii. 2 (1604). 
 
 " No receipt openeth the heart 
 but a true friend, to whom you 
 may impart griefs." 
 
 " No man, that imparteth his 
 griefs to his friend, but he grieveth 
 the less." 
 
 " Those that want friends to open 
 themselves unto are cannibals of 
 their own hearts." — Essay of 
 Friendship (1607-12, 1612, 1625). 
 
PARALLELISMS 137 
 
 243 
 EXCESSIVE PEAISE 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Gaunt. Though Richard my " He who rises early, praising 
 
 life's counsel would not hear, his friend, shall be counted a curse 
 My death's sad tale may yet un- to him." — De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 deaf his ear. 
 York. No; it is stopp'd with other 
 
 flattering sounds, 
 As praises of his state. 
 
 Where doth the world thrust 
 
 forth a vanity, 
 So it be new, there 's no respect 
 
 how vile. 
 That is not quickly buzz'd into 
 
 lus ears 1 
 Then all too late comes counsel to 
 
 be heard. 
 Where will doth mutiny with 
 
 wit's regard. 
 
 Gaunt. [To the king, 
 
 A thousand flatterers sit within 
 thy crown. 
 
 Northumberland^ The king is not 
 
 himself, but basely led 
 By flatterers." 
 
 Eichard II., ii. 1 (1597). 
 
 We agree with Mr. Wigston that the drama of * Eichard 
 II.' was written to show the effect of flattery upon a mind 
 predisposed to receive it. 
 
 244 
 TELEPATHY 
 
 " Imogen. I did not take my leave " Some trial should be made 
 of him, but had whether pact or agreement do any- 
 Most pretty things to say; ere I thing; as if two friends should 
 could tell him agree that on such a day in every 
 
138 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 week, they, being in far different 
 places, should pray one for an- 
 other, or should put on a ring or 
 tablet, one for another's sake." — 
 Natural History (1622-25). 
 
 How I would think on him, at 
 
 certain hours. 
 Such thoughts and such. . . . 
 
 Or have charged him 
 At the sixth hour of mom, at 
 
 noon, at midnight, 
 To encounter me with orisons, for 
 
 then 
 I am in heaven with him.'' 
 
 Cymbeline, i. 4 (1623). 
 
 Imogen made this " pact or agreement " with her husband 
 on the eve of his departure for Italy, precisely in the manner 
 and for the purpose suggested by Bacon. The resemblance 
 extends even to the ring which she gives him for a keepsake : 
 
 " Imogen. This diamond was my mother's ; take it, heart." i. 1. 
 
 And the departing husband gives her a bracelet, an ex- 
 change of mementos, as Bacon says, " for one another's sake." 
 
 245 
 
 FOK VIKTUE, 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " But come, the bow ; now mercy 
 goes to kill, 
 
 And shooting well is then ac- 
 counted iU. 
 
 Thus will I save my credit in the 
 shoot : — 
 
 Not wounding, pity would not let 
 me do it ; 
 
 If wounding, then it was to show 
 my skill. 
 
 That more for praise than purpose 
 meant to kill. 
 
 And out of question, so it is some- 
 times. 
 
 Glory grows guilty of detested 
 crimes. 
 
 When for fame's sake, for praise, 
 an outward part. 
 
 KOT PKAISE 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Praise is the handmaid of vir- 
 tue."— Promw* (1594). 
 
 " We should both seek and love 
 virtue for itself, and not for praise; 
 for, as one said, it is a shame for 
 him that woos the mistress to 
 court the maid, for praise is the 
 handmaid of virtue." — Letter to 
 Rutland (1596). 
 
PARALLELISMS 139 
 
 We bend to that the working of 
 
 the heart. 
 As I for praise alone now seek to 
 
 spill 
 The poor deer's blood, that my 
 
 heart means no ill." 
 Love's Labor 's Lost, iv. 1 (1598). 
 
 Here is a parallelism that for depth, subtlety, and strength 
 cannot be exceeded. The two passages are rays of Light into 
 one and the same mind, penetrating to and revealing, under 
 different forms of imagery, the most sublime rule of human 
 conduct. Not only did Bacon express this sentiment several 
 times in his writings, hut, as we shall endeavor to show, he 
 also expressed it in his life. 
 
 246 
 MOLES 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Well said, old mole ! canst work " He had so many moles, as it 
 i' the earth so fast 1 " were perpetually at work, under- 
 
 Hamlet, i. 5 (1603). mining him." — History of Henry 
 VIL (1621). 
 
 247 
 
 C-ESAE AFFECTED BY FLATTERY 
 
 " When I tell him he hates flat- " Whether satiated with power 
 terers, or corrupted by flattery, he aspired 
 
 He says he does, being then most likewise to the external emblems [of 
 flattered." sovereignty], the name of king and 
 
 Julius Coesar, ii. 1 (1623). crown ; which turned to his destruc- 
 tion." — Character of Julius CcBsar 
 {circa 1601). 
 
 The two authors were at one in ascribing not only envy 
 to the assassins of Caesar, but to Csesar himself a fatal suscep- 
 tibility to flattery. 
 
 Mr. Wigston points out another subtle parallelism in this 
 twin analysis of the causes of Csesar's downfall. The flat- 
 
140 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 terers of Caesar had inspired him to an extreme (according to 
 Bacon), to an unwise (according to Shake-speare) degree of 
 self-confidence : 
 
 248 
 
 CiESAK'S SELF-CONFIDENCE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Cassar. What say the augurers ? 
 Servant. They would not have you 
 
 to stir forth to-day. 
 Plucking the entrails of an offering 
 
 forth, 
 They could not find a heart within 
 
 the beast. 
 Gees. The gods do this in shame of 
 
 cowardice. 
 Csesar should be a beast without a 
 
 heart. 
 If he should stay at home to-day 
 
 for fear. 
 No, Csesar shall not ; danger knows 
 
 full well 
 That Ctesar is more dangerous than 
 
 he. 
 We are two lions litter'd in one 
 
 day, 
 And I the elder and more terrible; 
 And Csesar shall go forth. 
 Calpurnia. Alas ! my lord. 
 
 Your wisdom is consumed in con- 
 fidence." 
 
 Ibid., ii. 2 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " When the augur brought Csesar 
 word that the entrails were not 
 favorable, he murmured in a low 
 voice, ' they will be more favorable 
 when I choose ; ' which speech did 
 not long precede the misfortune of 
 his death. For this extremity of 
 confidence is ever as unlucky as un- 
 hallowed." — JDe Augmentis (1622). 
 
 249 
 ACTS NOT TO BE JUDGED BY RESULTS 
 
 " Why, brother Hector, 
 We may not think the justness of 
 
 each act 
 Such and no other than event doth 
 form it.'' 
 Troilus and Cressida, ii. 2 (1609). 
 
 " I pray that whoever thinks 
 that an act must be judged by the 
 event he may not succeed." — 
 Promus (1594-96). 
 
PARALLELISMS 141 
 
 250 
 COMPOSITE BEINGS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " This hand is Grecian all, " Betwixt different species there 
 
 And this is Trojan ; the sinews of almost always lie certain indivi- 
 
 this leg duals which partake of the nature 
 
 All Greek, and this aU Troy; my of both ; as moas between corrup- 
 
 mother's blood tion and a plant ; fishes that stick 
 
 Runs on the dexter cheek, and his to rocks and cannot move away ; 
 
 sinister between a plant and an animal ; rats 
 
 Bounds in my father's." and mice, and some other things, 
 
 Troilusand Oressida, iv. 5 (1609), between animals generated of pu- 
 
 "This Ajaxishalf made ofHec- trefaction and of seed; bats between 
 
 tor's blood ; birds and beasts ; flying fish (which 
 
 In love whereof half Hector stays are now well-known) between birds 
 
 at home ; and fishes ; seals, between fishes and 
 
 Half heart, half hand, half Hector quadrupeds ; and the Uke." — De 
 
 comes to seek Augmentis (1622). 
 This blended knight, half Trojan, 
 and half Greek." 
 Troilus and Oressida (1609). 
 
 251 
 HOG AND BACON 
 
 " Quickly. Hang-hog is Latin for " A culprit, on trial for his life 
 Bacon, I warrant you." — Merry before Sir Nicholas Bacon, desired 
 Wiaes of Windsor, iv. 1 (1623). his mercy on account of kindred. 
 
 ' Prithee,' said my lord judge, 
 ' how comes that in ? ' ' Why, if 
 it please you, my lord, your name 
 is Bacon, and mine Hog, and 
 in all ages Hog and Bacon have 
 been so near kindred that they are 
 not to be separated.' ' Ay, but,' 
 replied Bacon, 'you and I cannot 
 be kindred, except you be hanged ; 
 for Hog is not Bacon until it be 
 well hanged." — Apothegms. 
 
 An incident in the history of the Bacon family, not pub- 
 lished to the world tiU forty-eight years after the above pas- 
 sage in the play was written. 
 
142 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 252 
 
 SYMPATHY IN SOUNDS 
 
 From Bacon 
 " All concords and discords of 
 music, no doubt, are sympathies 
 and antipathies of sounds." — Nat- 
 ural History (1622-25). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Mark how one string, sweet hus- 
 band to another, 
 
 Strikes each in each by mutual 
 ordering ; 
 
 KesembHng sire and child and 
 happy mother, 
 
 Who, all in one, one pleasing note 
 do sing." Sonnet 8 (1609). 
 
 The writer of this sonnet must have made a study of the 
 laws of sound. He refers to the effect which the vibration 
 of one string of a musical instrument may have by induction 
 upon another, both having first been wound up in unison. 
 From this he derives an exquisitely poetic exemplification of 
 marriage with its resulting offspring. 
 
 Bacon made the same study ; he devoted several pages of 
 his ' Natural History ' to it. In the case supposed his ex- 
 planation was, that the vibration is communicated from one 
 string to another " by sympathy." Bacon told the House of 
 Commons in 1610 that "in consent, where tongue-strings, 
 not heart-strings, make the music, harmony may end in dis- 
 cord." The transition to " heart-strings," implied in the 
 sonnet, is exactly in line with Bacon's thought. 
 
 253 
 
 DRUGS 
 
 " 'T is known I ever 
 Have studied physic, through 
 
 which secret art 
 By turning o'er authorities, I have 
 Together with my practice, made 
 
 familiar 
 To me and to my aid the blest 
 
 infusions 
 That dwell in vegetives, in metals, 
 
 stones." 
 
 Pericles, iii. 2 (1609). 
 
 " Here is the deficience which I 
 find, that physicians have not, 
 partly out of their own practice, 
 partly out of the constant proba- 
 tions reported in books, and partly 
 out of the traditions of empirics, 
 set down and delivered over cer- 
 tain experimental medicines for 
 the cure of particular diseases." — 
 Advancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 143 
 
 Ceremon, the physician in the play, has evidently supplied 
 the deficiency in the curative art which had heen noted by 
 Bacon, a few years before the play of 'Pericles' appeared in 
 print. Not only so, but this learned and philanthropic 
 citizen expressly admits that to acquire a knowledge of 
 these medicines, he was obliged, as Bacon says he would 
 be, to make some sacrifice of honor and wealth. We quote 
 
 THE TETJE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " I can speak of the distuibances 
 That nature works, and of her 
 
 cures ; which doth give me 
 A more content in course of true 
 
 delight 
 Than to be thirsty of tottering 
 
 honor. 
 Or tie my treasure up in silken 
 
 bags, 
 To please the fool and death." 
 
 Pericles, iii. 2 (1609). 
 
 254 
 
 PHYSICIAN 
 
 From Bacon 
 " In the opinion of the multi- 
 tude, witches and old women and 
 impostors have had a competition 
 with physicians. And what fol- 
 loweth ? Even this, that physi- 
 cians say to themselves, as Salomon 
 eipresseth upon an higher occasion, 
 ' if it befal to me as befalleth to the 
 fools, why should I labor to bemore 
 wise ? ' And therefore I cannot 
 much blame physicians, that they 
 use commonly to intend some 
 other art or practice, which they 
 fancy, more than their profession. 
 For you shall have of them anti- 
 quaries, poets, humanists, states- 
 men, merchants, divines, and in 
 every of these better seen than 
 in their profession; and no doubt 
 upon this ground, that they find 
 mediocrity and excellency in their 
 art maketh no difference in profit 
 or reputation toward their for- 
 tune." — Advancement of Learn- 
 ing (1603-5). 
 
 In another respect, then, Ceremon rises above the common 
 practitioners of the time. He seeks neither " honor " nor 
 " treasures tied up in silken bags " outside of his profession. 
 
144 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 He is Bacon's ideal, a true physician, "studying nature 
 and nature's cures with delight." He even restored Thaisa 
 to life, after she had lain many hours in her coffin, — an. 
 achievement Bacon declares to be, under certain conditions, 
 within the scope of medical science. 
 
 255 
 
 CONSTANCY 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Were man " Constancy is the foundation 
 
 But constant, he were perfect." on which virtues rest." — De 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, v. 4 Augmentis (1622). 
 (1623). 
 
 256 
 POIL 
 
 " A base foul stone, made precious " The stone had need to be rich 
 
 by the foil that is set without foU." 
 
 Of England's chair, where he is "Virtue is a rich stone, best 
 
 falsely set." plain set." — Essay of Beauty 
 
 Richard 111., v. 3 (1597). (1607-12). 
 " My reformation, glittering o'er 
 
 my fault, 
 Shall show more goodly and attract 
 
 more eyes 
 Than that which hath no foil to 
 
 set it off." 
 
 1 Henry IV., i. 2 (1598). 
 
 257 
 
 CIPHERS 
 
 " A crooked figure may " He that plotteth to be the 
 
 Attest in little place a million ; only figure amongst ciphers is the 
 
 Let us, ciphers to this great ac- decay of an whole age." — Essay 
 
 compt, of Ambition (1607-12). 
 On your imaginary forces work." 
 
 Prologue to Henry V. (1623). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 145 
 
 258 
 
 TOPS OF 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 "The top of admiration." 
 
 Tempest, iii. 1 (1623). 
 " The top of judgment." 
 Measure for Measure, ii. 2 (1623). 
 "The top of honor." 
 
 Z Henry VI., i. 2 (1623). 
 " To the spire and top of praises." 
 Coriolanus, i. 9 (1623). 
 " The top of question." 
 
 Hamlet, ii. 2. 
 " Top of sovereignty." 
 
 Macbeth, iv. 1 (1623). 
 " Top of my compass." 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 2. 
 " Top of my bent." Ibid. 
 
 " In top of all design." 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, v. 1(1623). 
 " In tops of all their pride." 
 
 3 Henry VI., v. 6. 
 " The top of happy hours." 
 
 Sonnet 16. 
 " In top of rage." 
 
 Lover's Complaint. 
 
 259 
 
 GATES OF MERCY 
 
 " The gates of mercy shall be all " We wished him not to shut 
 
 VIRTUES 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Pindar, in praising Hiero, says 
 most elegantly (as is his wont) 
 that he ' culled the tops of all vir- 
 tues.' And certainly I think it 
 would contribute much to mag- 
 nanimity and the honor of human- 
 ity, if a collection were made of 
 what the schoolmen call the ultimi- 
 ties and Pindar the tops or summits, 
 of human nature, especially from 
 true history ; showing what is the 
 ultimate and highest point which 
 human nature has of itself attained 
 in the several gifts of body and 
 mind." — De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 shut up." 
 
 Henry V., iii. 3 (1623). 
 
 the gate of your Majestj^'s mercy." 
 — Letter to the King (1616). 
 
 260 
 ELM AND VINE 
 
 " Thou art an elm, my husband, I 
 a vine." 
 Comedy of Errors, ii. 2 (1623). 
 
 " In France, the grapes that 
 make the wine grow upon low 
 vines, bound to small stakes ; . • • 
 in Italy and other countries where 
 they have hotter suns, they raise 
 them upon elms." — Natural His- 
 tory (1622-25). 
 
 10 
 
146 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 261 
 TWO SOULS IN ETBEY MAN 
 
 From Bacon 
 "We now come to the doctrine 
 of the human soul. It has two 
 parts ; the one treating of the 
 rational soul, which is divine ; 
 the other of the irrational, which 
 we have in common with the 
 brutes." — De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Adriana. I see two husbands, or 
 
 mine eyes deceive me. 
 Duke. One of these men is Genius 
 to the other. 
 
 Which is the natural man. 
 And which the spirit ? 
 
 These two Antipholuses, these two 
 
 so like, 
 And these two Dromios, one in 
 
 semblance." 
 Comedy of Errors, v. 1 (1623). 
 
 Bacon's psychology finds a witty development in the play. 
 Adriana, seeing a double husband before her, declares that 
 his two souls have become separated, and that each has 
 acquired a body of its own. The bewildered duke demands 
 to know which contains the Genius, or (as Bacon calls it) 
 " mastering spirit " ? 
 
 262 
 
 CONSERVATION OP BODIES 
 
 " Hamlet. How long will a man 
 
 lie i' the earth before he rots 1 " 
 
 Hamlet, v. 1 (1603). 
 
 "It is strange and well to be 
 noted, how long dead bodies have 
 continued uncorrupt and in their 
 former dimensions, as appeareth 
 in the mummies of Egypt ; having 
 lasted, as is conceived (some of 
 them) , three thousand years." — 
 Natural History (1622-25). 
 
 It is sufficiently remarkable that both authors should have 
 investigated this singular subject of the conservation of bodies 
 after death ; but it is still more remarkable — indeed, it can 
 be explained in one way only — that both should have sought 
 illustrations of it in the two-fold case of Alexander and Caesar, 
 thus : 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 H7 
 
 "Hamlet. Why may not imagi- 
 nation trace the nohle dust of 
 Alexander, tUl he find it stopping 
 a bung-hole ? 
 
 Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd 
 
 to clay, 
 Might stop a hole to keep the 
 
 ■wind away." 
 
 Hamlet, v. 1 (1603). 
 
 " When Augustus Csesar visited 
 the sepulchre of Alexander the 
 Great in Alexandria, he found the 
 body to keep his dimension ; but, 
 notwithstanding all the embalming 
 (which no doubt was of the best), 
 the body was so tender as Csesar, 
 touching but the nose of it, de- 
 faced it."— Natural History (1622- 
 25). 
 
 263 
 AKTIQUITT, THE YOUTH OF THE 'WO ELD 
 
 From, Shakespeare 
 " If that the world and love were 
 
 young, 
 And truth in every shepherd's 
 
 tongue, 
 These pretty pleasures might me 
 
 move, 
 To Kve with thee and be thy 
 
 love." 
 
 Lovers Answer. 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Antiquity was the youth of 
 the World. These times are the 
 ancient times, when the world is 
 ancient, and not those which we 
 account ancient by a computation 
 backward from ourselves." — Ad- 
 vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 " The age in which the ancients 
 lived, though in respect of us it 
 was the elder, yet in respect of 
 the world, it was the younger." — 
 Novum Organum (1608-20). 
 
 This sentiment is one of the most noteworthy Bacon ever 
 uttered ; we find it constantly repeated and enforced by him 
 as though it were his own. In Mr. Spedding's opinion it prob- 
 ably was his own, for no English writer, so far as we know, 
 had previously given expression to it — except Shake-speare. 
 
 264 
 COMMONPLACE BOOKS 
 
 " Loot ! what thy memory cannot 
 
 contain. 
 Commit to these waste blanks, and 
 
 thou sbalt find 
 Those children nura'd, deliver'd 
 
 from thy brain, 
 
 " There can hardly be anything 
 more useful even for the old and 
 popular sciences than a sound help 
 for the memory ; that is, a good 
 and learned digest of common- 
 places. ... I hold the entry of 
 
148 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 To take a new acquaintance of thy commonplaces to be a matter of 
 
 mind. 
 These offices, so oft as thou wilt 
 
 look, 
 Shall profit thee, and much en- 
 rich thy book." 
 
 Sonnet 77 (1609). 
 
 great use and essence in study- 
 ing." — Advancement of Learning 
 (1603-5). 
 
 Bacon himself kept a commonplace book. He began it 
 in December, 1594, and on Jan. 20, 1595-96, he was still 
 making entries in it. The advice given in the 'Advance- 
 ment of Learning,' reinforced in the Be Augmentis, and also 
 laid down in the seventy-seventh Sonnet, as to the usefulness 
 of such a work, was thus based on the results of personal ex- 
 perience. 
 
 265 
 AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " [Solemn music. 
 
 Belarius. My ingenious instru- 
 ment! 
 
 Hark ! Polydore, it sounds ; but 
 what occasion 
 
 Hath Cadwal now to give it mo- 
 tion ? Hark ! 
 
 Guiderius. Since death of my 
 dear'st mother 
 
 It did not speak before." 
 
 Cymbeline, iv. 2 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " There were lately with us cer- 
 tain Batavians who had constructed 
 a musical instrument which, when 
 exposed to the rays of the sun, ut- 
 tered harmonious sounds. It is 
 probable this was caused by the 
 expansion of heated air, which was 
 able to impart motion to the ele- 
 ments." — Phcenomena Universi 
 (previous to 1622). 
 
 266 
 BOOKS MORE DURABLE THAN MONUMENTS 
 
 " Not marble, nor the gilded mon- 
 uments 
 
 Of princes, shall outlive this powei^ 
 ful rhyme.'' 
 
 Sonnet 55 (1609). 
 
 " When wasteful war shall statues 
 overturn, 
 
 " We see, then, how far the mon- 
 uments of wit and learning are 
 more durable than the monuments 
 of power or of the hands. For 
 have not the verses of Homer con- 
 tinued twenty-five hundred years 
 or more, without the loss of a syl- 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 H9 
 
 And broils root out the work of 
 masonry, 
 
 Shall you pace forth ; your praise 
 shall still find room." 
 
 Sonnet 55 (1609). 
 
 lable or letter ; during which time 
 infinite palaces, temples, castles, 
 cities, have been decayed and de- 
 molished 1" — Advancement of 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 "It is not possible to have the 
 true pictures or statues of Cyrus, 
 Alexander, Csesar, no, nor of the 
 kings or great personages of much 
 later years, for the originals cannot 
 last, and the copies cannot but 
 leese of the life and truth. But 
 the images of men's wits and 
 knowledges remain in books, ex- 
 empted from the wrong of time 
 and capable of perpetual renova- 
 tion." — Ibid. 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 "Jagues. 'T is a Greek iuvocation, 
 to call fools into a circle." 
 As You Like It, ii. 6 (1623). 
 
 267 
 
 ENCYCLOPEDIAS 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " It is a matter of common dis- 
 course of the chain of sciences how 
 they are linked together, insomuch 
 as the Grecians, who had terms at 
 will, have fitted it of a name of 
 Circle Learning." — Of the Inter- 
 pretation of Nature (1603). 
 
 The circle mentioned by Jaques is tlie circle of the sciences, 
 called by the Greeks Uneydojocedia. An adept in one science, 
 and one only, may, in badiaage, be considered a " fool," for, 
 as Bacon undertakes to prove, a knowledge of aU sciences is 
 necessary for the fuU comprehension of any one. He cites 
 the case of Copernicus in point. Copernicus, as an astron- 
 omer, reached the conclusion that the sun is the centre of the 
 solar system, an opinion, says Bacon, " which astronomy can- 
 not correct because it is not repugnant to any of the appear- 
 ances, yet natural philosophy doth correct." The banished 
 
ISO BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 duke, in seeking to please a stubborn wiU in one direction, 
 has disregarded or lost sight of other interests, and thus, 
 technically considered, become a fool. 
 
 268 
 GOOD DAWNING 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Good dawning to thee, friend." " Albada '' [good dawning]. — 
 
 Promus (1594-96). 
 
 Albada is from the Spanish alborada, dawning. This 
 salutation, entered as an experiment in Bacon's private com- 
 monplace book, circa 1596, has since appeared but once in 
 English print, viz., in ' King Lear,' first published in 1608. 
 
 269 
 
 PBKSISTENCE OF NATURE 
 
 " How hard it ia to hide the sparks " Nature is often hidden, some- 
 
 of nature. times overcome, seldom extin- 
 
 These boys know little they are guished. ... It will lie buried a 
 
 sons to the king ; great time, and yet revive upon oo- 
 
 Nor Cymbeline dreams that they casion ; like as it was with .lEsop's 
 
 are alive. damsel, turned from a cat into a 
 
 They think that they are mine, woman, who sat very demurely at 
 
 and that though trained up the board's end till a mouse ran 
 
 thus meanly before her." — Essay of Nature in 
 
 I' the cave, wherein they bow, Men (1607-12). 
 
 their thoughts do hit " You may expel nature with a 
 
 The roofs of palaces." pitch fork, but it will continually 
 
 Cymbeline, iii. 3 (1623). return." — Promus (1594-96). 
 " Oh, my lord, wisdom and 
 blood combating in so tender a 
 body, we have ten proofs to one 
 that blood hath the victory." — 
 Much Ado, ii. 3 (1600). 
 
 270 
 England's walls and bulwarks 
 "England, hedged in with the "The seas are our walls, and 
 main, the ships our bulwarks." — Ad- 
 
 That water-walled bulwark." vice to Buckingham (1616). 
 
 King John, ii. 1 (1623). 
 
PARALLELISMS 151 
 
 In referring to the sea around Great Britain, both authors 
 use the terms wall and bulwark, and use them together, as 
 above, in a single sentence respectively. The metaphor was 
 a favorite one : 
 
 " The silver sea, " The King cannot enlarge the 
 Which serves it in the office of a bounds of these islands, the ocean 
 wall." being the unremovable wall which 
 
 Richard II., ii. 1 (1597). encloseth them." — Advice to Buck- 
 ingham (1616). 
 
 271 
 
 FASHIOK IN CREED 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " He we^rs his faith but as the " There be that delight in giddi- 
 
 fashion of his hat; it ever changes." ness, and count it a bondage to^a; 
 
 — Much Ado, i. 1 (1600). a belief." — Essay of Truth (1625). 
 
 In the Latin edition of the essay, printed after Bacon's 
 death, the phrase " to fix a belief " is rendered, " to be 
 restrained by a fixed faith or constant axioms " (translated). 
 
 272 
 
 SUSPICION IN KINGS 
 
 " I can counterfeit the deep trage- " It is a miserable state of mind 
 
 dian, to have few things to desire and 
 
 Speak and look, and pry on every many things to fear, and yet that 
 
 side, commonly is the case of kings. 
 
 Tremble and start at wagging of a They have many representations 
 
 straw, of perils and shadows." — Essay of 
 
 Intending deep suspicion." Empire (1607-12). 
 Richard III., iii. 5 (1597). 
 
 It has been noticed with what frequency this sentiment is 
 expressed in Bacon's acknowledged writings. That it should 
 have been uppermost in his mind in and after 1621 we can 
 easily understand, for in that year he wrote the history of 
 Henry VII., one of the most suspicious characters that ever 
 lived. Bacon says the king was "infinitely suspicious." 
 Perhaps this circumstance may account for the late insertion 
 of the picturesque line, — 
 
 " Tremble and start at wagging of a straw," 
 
152 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 in above passage ; for this line was not ia the first quarto of 
 the play, 1597 ; nor in the second, 1598 ; nor in the third, 
 1602 ; nor in the fourth, 1605 ; nor in the fifth, 1612 ; nor in the 
 sixth, 1622 (six years after the death of William Shakspere of 
 Stratford) ; but it appeared for the first time in the folio of 
 1623. For proof that the folio version was written after that 
 of 1622, see 'Francis Bacon Our Shake-speare. ' 
 
 273 
 
 BASILISK 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 "It is a basilisk unto mine eye, "The fable goeth of the basi- 
 BoUs me to look on't." lisk, that if he see you first you 
 
 Cymbeline, ii. 4 (1623). die for it, but if you see him first 
 he dieth." — Advancemerit of Learn- 
 ing (1605). 
 
 274 
 
 COMPARATIVE LOVE 
 
 "Ifthenthat friend demand why "I confess I love some things 
 
 Brutus rose against Caesar, this is much better than I love your lord- 
 
 my answer : ' not that I loved ship, as the Queen's service, her 
 
 Caesar less, but that I loved Rome quiet and contentment, her honor, 
 
 more.' " — Julius Coesar, iii. 2 her favor, the good of my country." 
 
 (1623). — Letter to Essex (1600). 
 
 Bacon took part with the government in the prosecution 
 of Essex, and in the course of the proceedings he was 
 charged by Essex with personal delinquency in doing so. 
 Brutus took part in the murder of Caesar, and he also was 
 charged by Caesar {et tu Brute) with personal delinquency. 
 The defence in both cases was, not only in thought but also 
 in diction, the same. And the play was written immediately 
 after the trial and execution of Essex in 1601. Says Dr. 
 FumivaU : 
 
 " What made Shakespeare produce this historical play in 
 1601? We know its date by an extract from Weever's 'Mirror of 
 Martyrs,' 1601, no doubt written when the play was quite fresh in 
 people's minds : — 
 
PARALLELISMS 153 
 
 ' The many-headed multitude were drawn 
 By Brutus' speech, that Caesar was ambitious ; 
 When eloquent Mark Anthony had shown 
 His virtues, who but Brutus then was vicious ? ' 
 
 As there is nothing in Plutarch's Lives that could have suggested 
 this, Weever must have known Shakespeare's play. What hap- 
 pened in England in 1601 to make Shakespeare anxious to enforce 
 the lesson of it ] Why, Essex's ill-judged rebellion against Queen 
 Elizabeth, on Sunday, Feb. 8, 1601. He, the Queen's most petted 
 favorite and general, broke out in armed rebellion against her in 
 London. His outbreak was ridiculously ill-advised. He was taken 
 prisoner, tried, and executed on Feb. 25, 1601. And I cannot 
 doubt that this rebellion was the reason of Shakespeare's pro- 
 ducing his 'Julius Caesar ' in 1601." — Introduction io the Leopold 
 Shakespeare, p. Ixvii. 
 
 275 
 
 BESTRIDING THE SEA 
 
 From ShaJce-speare From Bacon 
 
 " His legs bestrid the ocean." " This giant beatrideth the sea." 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, v. 2 — Charge against Duelling (1613). 
 (1623). 
 
 276 
 
 SAFFRON 
 
 "Whose villainous safifron would "Some few grains of saffron 
 
 have made all the unbaked and will give a tincture to a ton of 
 
 doughy youth of a nation in his water." ^ — Of the Interpretation of 
 
 color." — AlVs Well, v. 5 (1623). Nature {circa 1603). 
 
 The tract, ' Of the Interpretation of Nature,' was probably 
 an early draft of the ' Advancement of Learning,' and was 
 therefore written some time before 1603. It was not pub- 
 lished until 1734, or more than one hundred years after 
 Bacon's death. We may possibly regard it as an amplifi- 
 cation of the suppressed treatise, entitled 'The Greatest 
 Birth of Time ' (1585). 
 
 1 This parallelism was first pointed out by the anonymous author of ' Shake- 
 speare — Bacon ; An Essay,' London, 1899 
 
154 BJCON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 277 
 
 THE LIBERTY OF A 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " ! that I were a fool ! 
 I am ambitious for a motley coat. 
 
 I must liave liberty 
 
 Withal, as large a charter aa the 
 
 wind, 
 To blow on whom I please ; for so 
 fools have. 
 
 FOOL 
 From Bacon 
 " One ought to be bom either a 
 king or a fool." — Promus (1594- 
 96). 
 
 Invest me in my motley ; give me 
 
 leave 
 To speak my mind, and I will 
 
 through and through 
 Cleanse the foul body of the infected 
 
 world, 
 If they will patiently receive my 
 
 medicine." 
 As You Like It, ii. 7 (1623). 
 
 In this inatance it is Shake-speare who explains Bacon. 
 Fools were once privileged characters at court, free, like 
 their royal masters, to express sentiments which would not 
 have been tolerated in others. This is why there are so 
 many fools in the dramas of Shake-speare, — entirely in line 
 with Bacon's favorite method of imparting instruction. 
 
 278 
 
 HATRED 
 
 " Hates any man the thing he would 
 not kill 1 " 
 Merchant of Venice, iv. 1 (1600). 
 
 " The love of wicked friends con- 
 verts to fear ; 
 
 That fear to hate ; and hate turns 
 one, or both. 
 
 To worthy danger and deserved 
 death." 
 King Richard II., v. 1 (1597). 
 
 "Every one wishes him dead 
 whom he has feared." — Promus 
 (1594-96). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 ^55 
 
 279 
 
 ECHOES 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Mark the musical confusion. 
 Of hounds and echo in conjunction. 
 I was with Hercules and Cadmus 
 
 once 
 When in a wood of Crete they 
 
 bay'd the bear 
 With hounds of Sparta ; never did 
 
 I hear 
 Such gallant chiding ; for, besides 
 
 the groves, 
 The skies, the fountains, every 
 
 region near 
 Seem'd all one mutual cry ; I 
 
 never heard 
 So musical a discord." 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, iv. 
 1 (1600). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Sounds do disturb and alter 
 the one the other ; sometimes the 
 one drowning the other and mak- 
 ing it not heard ; sometimes the 
 one jarring with the other and mak- 
 ing a confusion ; sometimes the one 
 mingling with the other and mak- 
 ing a harmony. . . . Natural echoes 
 are made upon walls, woods, rocks, 
 hills and banks. There be many 
 places where you shall hear a num- 
 ber of echoes, one after another, 
 where there is variety of hiUs or 
 woods. Where echoes come from 
 several parts at the same distance, 
 they must needs make, as it were, 
 a quire of echoes." — Natural His- 
 tory (1622-25). 
 
 Bacon made a painstaking study of echoes, beginning it, 
 when he was a lad, at a conduit in the garden of St. James 
 Square in London, and continuing it during his sojourn in 
 France, in 1576-79. He describes two or three places in the 
 neighborhood of Paris that were quite famous in this respect, 
 one of them curiously as follows : 
 
 " There are certain letters that an echo will hardly express : as 
 S for one, especially being principal in a word. I remember well 
 that when I went to the echo at Pont-Charenton, there was an old 
 Parisian who took it to be the work of spirits, and of good spirits. 
 ' For,' said he, ' call Satan and the echo will not deliver back the 
 devil's name, but will say, va fen ; ' which is as much in French 
 as apage, or ' avoid him.' " 
 
156 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 280 
 
 STAE-CHAMBEK 
 
 From Shake-speare 
 
 " Shallow. Sir Hugh, persuade 
 me not ; I will make a Star-cham- 
 ber matter of it." — Merry Wives 
 of Windsor, i. 1 (1602). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Let Prsetorian and Censorian 
 Courts confine themselves to mon- 
 strous and extraordinary cases. 
 . . . Especial care must be taken 
 in Prsetorian Courts not to afford 
 relief in such cases as the law has 
 not so much omitted as despised 
 for their unimportance." — De 
 Augmentis (1622). 
 
 Bacon is speaking of the Court of Chancery and the Star- 
 chamber, though he does not call them by name. He insists 
 that their respective jurisdictions be limited to important 
 causes. This is the point in the play, where it is enforced by 
 the author's powers of ridicxile, — as though a difference be- 
 tween old Justice Shallow and Falstaff could be a matter for 
 the Star-chamber ! 
 
 281 
 TIMOIf's TEEE 
 
 " I have a tree that grows here in 
 
 my close, 
 That mine own use invites me to 
 
 cut down, 
 And shortly must I fell it ; tell 
 
 my friends, 
 TeU Athens, in the sequence of 
 
 degree. 
 From high to low throughout, that 
 
 whoso please 
 To stop affliction, let him take his 
 
 halter, 
 Come hither, ere my tree hath felt 
 
 the axe, 
 And hang himself." 
 
 Timon of Athens, v. 2 (1623). 
 
 "There be many that make it 
 their practice to bring men to the 
 bough, and yet have never a tree 
 for the purpose in their gardens." 
 — Essay of Goodness and Good- 
 ness of Nature (1607-12). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 157 
 
 In the second edition of Bacon's Essays (1612), the above 
 extract appears as follows : 
 
 " There be many misanihropi that make it their practice to bring 
 men to the bough, and yet have never a tree for the purpose in their 
 gardens, as Timon had." 
 
 In ' Francis Bacon our Shake-speare ' will be found ample 
 proof that the author of 'Timon of Athens' derived his 
 knowledge of this circumstance, not from Plutarch, but from 
 Lucian, the Greek writer from whose ' Dialogues ' Plutarch 
 himself copied it. 
 
 282 
 GALLOWS vs. DROWNING 
 
 From Shake-speare 
 
 " The pretty-vaulting sea refus'd 
 
 to drown me, 
 Knowing that thou wouldst have 
 
 me drown'd on shore." 
 S King Henry VI., iii. 2 (1623). 
 " Be gone, to save your ship from 
 
 wreck. 
 Which cannot perish, having thee 
 
 aboard. 
 Being destin'd to a drier death on 
 
 shore." 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 1 
 
 (1623). 
 " I have great comfort from this 
 fellow ; methinks he hath no drown- 
 ing mark upon him ; his complex- 
 ion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, 
 good fate, to his hanging ! Make 
 the rope of his destiny our cable, 
 for his own doth little advantage! 
 If he be not bom to be hang'd, our 
 case is miserable. ... I '11 war- 
 rant him for di-owning, though the 
 ship were no stronger than a nut- 
 shell." — The Tempest, i. 1 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " He may go by water, for he is 
 sure to be well landed." — Promus 
 (1594-96). 
 
158 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 283 
 
 FKIENDS AND ENEMIES 
 
 From Bacon 
 "You shall read that we are 
 commanded to forgive our en- 
 emies ; but you never read that 
 we are commanded to forgive our 
 friends." — Essay of Revenge 
 (1625). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 ^^ Flavius. What viler thing upon 
 
 the earth than friends 
 Who can bring noblest minds to 
 
 basest ends I 
 
 Grant I may ever love, and rather 
 
 woo, 
 Those that would mischief me, 
 
 than those that do." 
 
 Timon of Athens, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
 Here is tlie same curious distinction in both authors be- 
 tween those who, as friends, lead us astray, and those who, 
 as enemies, merely try to do so. It is the latter class, rather 
 than the former, who are to be "loved and wooed." The 
 true friend is one who can see the natural consequences of 
 an action, and who wiU give advice accordingly. Motives 
 are of secondary importance. 
 
 284 
 
 IN AND WITHOUT TROY 
 
 " Why should I war without the 
 
 walls of Troy, 
 That find such cruel battle here 
 
 within 1 " 
 Troilus and Cressida, i. 1 (1623). 
 
 " Men sin inside and outside the 
 walls of Troy." — Promvs (1594- 
 96). 
 
 285 
 LIGHT SWIFTER THAN SOXJND 
 
 " Ariel. Jove's lightnings, the pre- 
 cursors 
 
 0' the dreadful thunder-claps, 
 more momentary 
 
 And sight-outrunning were not; 
 the fire, and cracks 
 
 Of sulphurous roaring." 
 
 Tempest, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 "Light moves swifter than 
 sound ; as we see in thunder 
 which is far off, while the light- 
 ning precedeth the crack a good 
 space." — Natural History (1622- 
 25). 
 
PARALLELISMS 159 
 
 Bacon was very fond of such comparisons as this between 
 light and sound. Shake-speare also took delight in them, 
 comparing love, when "war, death or sickness doth make 
 siege to it," to a sudden illumination, — 
 
 " Momentary as a sound, 
 Swift as a shadow, short as any dream, 
 Brief as the lightning in the collied night. 
 That ia a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth. 
 And ere a man hath power to say, ' Behold ! ' 
 The jaws of darkness do devour it up." 
 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, i. 1. 
 
 286 
 
 ART 01" PERSUASION 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Has almost charm'd me from " Reasons plainly delivered, and 
 
 my profession, by persuading me always after one manner, espe- 
 
 to it-" ciaUy with fine and fastidious 
 
 Timon of Athens, iv. 3 (1623). minds, enter but heavily and 
 
 dully ; whereas if they be varied 
 and have more life and vigor put 
 into them by these forms and in- 
 sinuations, they cause a stronger 
 apprehension, and many times 
 suddenly win the mind to a reso- 
 lution." — Colours of Good and 
 Evil (1597). 
 
 Timon, as a hater of mankind, exhorts some handits to go 
 on with their evil practices — to visit Athens, break open 
 shops, and cut people 's throats ; and he teUs them that in 
 doing this they will be in harmony with physical nature and 
 human society, for — 
 
 " The sun 's a thief, and with his great attraction 
 Robs the va.st sea ; the moon 's an arrant thief, 
 And her pale fire she snatches from the sun ; 
 The sea 's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves 
 The moon into salt tears; the earth's a thief, 
 
i6o BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 That feeds and breeds by a composture stol'n 
 From general excrement ; each thing 's a thief. 
 
 Nothing can you steal 
 But thieves do lose it." — iv. 3. 
 
 Strange to say, however, this had an effect on the minds 
 of the bandits just the opposite of the one apparently in- 
 tended ; they felt persuaded to abandon their trade. Why ? 
 The answer is found in Bacon's treatise on the Art of Per- 
 suading. He says that reasons which, if presented, especially 
 to weak minds, directly or didactically, are powerless, gain 
 unexpected strength when hidden " in colors, popularities and 
 circumstances." Timon made his personal malevolence 
 toward mankind so clear that even these robbers revolted 
 from it. "Apprehension'' in a case like this leads, says 
 Bacon, to " reprehension." This is confessed in the play : 
 
 " 1 Bandit. 'T is in the malice of mankind that he thus advises us ; 
 not to have us thrive in our mystery. 
 2 Bandit. I'll believe him as an enemy, and give over my trade." 
 
 287 
 
 TKUTH HID IN MINES 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " I will find " The truth of nature lies hid in 
 
 Where truth is hid, though it were certain deep mines and caves." — 
 
 hid indeed Advancement of Learning (IQOZ-S). 
 Within the centre." 
 
 Hamlet, ii. 2 (1603). 
 
 288 
 TBUTH FORGED ON ANVILS 
 
 "Behold "Vulcan is a second nature. 
 
 (In the quick forge and working- ... It were good to divide natu- 
 house of thought) ral philosophy into the mine and 
 
 How London doth pour out her the furnace, and to make two pro- 
 citizens." fessions or occupations of natural 
 Henry F.,v. (Chorus) (1623). philosophers, some to be pioneers 
 
 and some smiths ; some to dig, 
 and some to refine and hammer." 
 — Ibid. 
 
PARALLELISMS i6i 
 
 " The wits of men . . . are the 
 shops wherein all actions are 
 forged." — Historical Sketch (writ- 
 ten previously to 1603). 
 
 We combine these two sets of parallelisms for the reason 
 that they themselves combine, on either side, the two Baconian 
 processes of ascertaining and cultivating truth ; namely, the 
 one by digging for it, as into a mine, and the other by forg- 
 ing it for use, as on an anvil. 
 
 289 
 
 PAINTING one's MIND 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " 0, could he but have drawn his " 0, that I could but paint his 
 wit ! " mind! " — Inscription over Bacon's 
 
 First Shakespeare Folio (1623). Portrait (1578). 
 
 These are respectively Ben Jonson's lament over the 
 Shake-speare portrait engraved as a frontispiece of the 
 First Folio, and that of Hilliard, the portrait-painter, over 
 his likeness of Francis Bacon at the age of seventeen. We 
 have little doubt that one of these lamentations is a mere 
 echo in jest of the other, and that both portraits (the former 
 behind a mask) are intended to represent the same person. 
 
 290 
 PARTHIAN ARROWS 
 
 " Like the Parthian, I shall flying " Words, as a Tartar's bow, do 
 fight." shoot back upon the understand- 
 
 Cymbdine, i. 6 (1623). ing." — Advancement of Learning 
 (1603-5). 
 
 291 
 ROLLING SNOW-BALLS 
 
 " A little snow, tumbl'd about, " Their snow-ball did not gather 
 Anon becomes a mountain." as it went." — History of Henry 
 
 King John, iii. 4 (1623). VIL (1621). 
 II 
 
1 62 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 292 
 
 wife's control op husband 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Obeying in commanding." " Nature to be commanded must 
 
 King Henry VIII., n. 4^ (IQiZ). be obeyed." — Novum Organum 
 
 (1621). 
 
 The splendid aphorism which we quote from Bacou is 
 supposed by Mr. Spedding to have been suggested by Pub- 
 lUius Syrus, of the first century B. c, one of whose maxims 
 was that a wife governs her husband by obeying him. This 
 clever inference is confirmed by the fact that the dramatist 
 actually applies it as Syrus did, our parallel on that side 
 being a part of King Henry the Eighth's speech in commen- 
 dation of his queen. Undoubtedly the two expressions, in 
 prose and in verse, were drawn from the same Latin source. 
 
 293 
 SOUNDS AT NIGHT 
 
 "Soft stillness and the night " Sounds are better heard, and 
 
 Become the touches of sweet further off in an evening or in the 
 
 harmony." night than at the noon or in the 
 
 Merchant of Venice, v. 1 (1600). day." — Natural History (1622- 
 
 25). 
 
 294 
 AET SUBJECT TO NATUEE 
 
 " Nature 's above art." "Art is subject to nature." — 
 
 Lear, iv. 6 (1608). Wisdom of the Ancients (1609). 
 
 295 
 CAEDUUS BENEDICTUS 
 
 " Get you some of this distill'd " I commend beads or pieces of 
 Carduus the roots of carduus benedictus.'' — 
 
 Benedictus and lay it to your Natural History (1622-26). 
 heart." 
 
 Much Ado, iii. 4 (1600). 
 
PARALLELISMS 163 
 
 296 
 MICBOCOSM 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " If you see this in the map of " The alchemists, when they 
 my microcosm, follows it that I am maintain that there is to be found 
 known well enough too 1" — Cor- in man every mineral, every 
 iolanus, ii. 1 (1623). vegetable, etc., or something corre- 
 
 sponding to them, take the word 
 microcosm in a sense too gross and 
 literal." — Wisdom of the Ancients 
 (1609). 
 
 This singular theory of the Greeks, knowledge of which is 
 presupposed in the play, is explained in Bacon's prose. 
 
 297 
 
 MEDICINE VS. STTEGEET 
 
 " A limb that hath but a disease — "If there be a speck in the eye, 
 
 Mortal, to cut it off ; to cure it, we endeavor to take it off. He 
 
 easy." would be a strange oculist who 
 
 Coriolanus, iii. 1 (1623). would pull out the eye." — 
 
 Apothegms (posthumous). 
 
 298 
 
 OPPOBTUNITY SUGGESTING CBIME 
 
 " How often the sight of means to " Opportunity makes the thief." 
 
 do ill deeds — Letter to Essex (1598). 
 
 Makes deeds iU done. Hadst thou 
 
 not been by, 
 A fellow by the hand of nature 
 
 mark'd. 
 Quoted and sign'd to do a deed of 
 
 shame. 
 This murder had not come into my 
 
 mind." 
 
 King John, iv. 2 (1623). 
 299 
 
 PEISON OF THE THOUGHTS 
 
 " Hamlet. Denmark 's a prison. " There is no prison to the prison 
 
 oittethoviglita." — The Essex De- 
 
 Rosencrantz. We think not so, vice (1595). 
 my lord. 
 
164 BACON JND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Hamlet. Why, then, 't is none to 
 you ; for there is nothing either 
 good or bad but thinking makes it 
 so ; to me it is a prison.'' — Hamlet, 
 ii. 2 (1623). 
 
 300 
 
 PYGMALION'S IMAGK 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " What, is there none of Pygmar 
 lion's images, newly made woman, 
 to be had now?" — Measure for 
 Measure, in. 2 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 "It seems to me that Pygma- 
 lion's frenzy [insania] is a good em- 
 blem or portraiture of this vanity ; 
 for words are but the images of 
 matter ; and except they have life 
 of reason and invention, to fall in. 
 love with them is all one as to fall 
 in love with a picture [sta(Mo]."— 
 Advancement 0/ Learning (1603-5). 
 
 301 
 
 IPS AST) ANDS 
 
 " When the parties were met 
 themselves, one of them thought 
 but of an ' if,' as, ' if you said so, 
 then I said so ; ' and they shook 
 hands and swore brothers. Tour 
 'if 'is the only peace-maker ; much 
 virtue in 'if.' " — As You Like It, 
 V. 4 (1623). 
 " Hastings. If they have done this 
 
 deed, my noble lord — 
 Gloucester. If! thou protector of 
 
 this damned strumpet, 
 Talk'st thou to me of ' ifs ' ? Thou 
 
 art a traitor I 
 Off with his head ! " 
 
 Richard IIL iii. 4 (1597). 
 
 " His case was said to be this : 
 that in discourse between Sir 
 Robert Clifford and him he has 
 said, That if he were sure that that 
 young man were King Edward's 
 son, he would never bear arms 
 against him. . . . The judges 
 thought it was a dangerous thing 
 to admit Ifs and Ands to qualify 
 words of treason. And it was 
 like to the case of Elizabeth Barton, 
 the holy maid of Kent, who had 
 said. That if King Henry the Eighth 
 did not take Catherine his wife 
 again, he should be deprived of 
 his Crown, and die the death of a 
 dog." — History of Henry VIL 
 (1621). 
 
 " Whosoever shall affirm in diem 
 or sub conditione that your majesty 
 may be destroyed, is a traitor de 
 prcesenti, for that he maketh you 
 
PARALLELISMS 165 
 
 but tenant for life at the will of 
 another. And I put the Duke of 
 Buckingham's case who said that 
 if the King caused him to be ar- 
 rested of treason he would stab 
 him, and the case of the impos- 
 turess Elizabeth Barton, who said 
 that if King Henry the Eighth 
 took not his wife again, Catherine 
 Dowager, he should be no longer 
 King." — Letter to King James 
 (1615). 
 
 302 
 
 AN APOTHECAET SHOP 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Here dwells an apothecary whom " It is easier to retain the image 
 
 oft I noted ... of an apothecary arranging 
 
 As I pass'd by, whose needy shop his boxes than the corresponding 
 
 is stufif'd notion of . . . disposition." — De 
 
 With beggarly accounts of ei .^jty Augmentis (1622). 
 
 boxes. 
 And in the same analigarta hangs; 
 Old ends of packthread, and cakes 
 
 of roses 
 Are thinly strew'd to make up a 
 
 show." 
 Romeo and Juliet, v. 1 (1597). 
 
 The multiplicity and variety of articles kept in an apothe- 
 cary shop seem to have made a permanent impression upon 
 the minds of both authors. 
 
 303 
 
 LITEEAET PIRACY 
 
 " How careful was I, when I took " I now act like one that has an 
 
 my way, orchard ill neighbored, and gathers 
 
 Each trifle under truest bars to his fruit before it is ripe, to pre- 
 
 thrust, vent stealing. These fragments 
 
 That to my use it might unused of my conceits were going to the 
 
 stay press ; to endeavor their stay had 
 
i66 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 From hands of falsehood, in sure 
 wards of trust. 
 
 But thou, to whom my jewels 
 trifles are, 
 
 My worthy comfort, now my great- 
 est grief, 
 
 Thou, best of dearest, and mine 
 only care, 
 
 Art left the prey of every vulgar 
 thief." 
 
 Sonnet (1609). 
 
 been troublesome ; I therefore held 
 it best to publish them myself, as 
 they passed long ago from my pen." 
 — Dedication of First Edition of 
 Essays (1598). 
 
 Mr. James of Birmingham, England, to wliom we owe 
 this parallelism, thus comments upon it : "a careful analysis 
 of this sonnet (48) will prove to the most skeptical that the 
 writer is lamenting his iaability to prevent the loved crea- 
 tions of his intellect from being appropriated by others.'' 
 This was precisely the reason assigned by Bacon for hurry- 
 ing his essays into print. 
 
 304 
 
 SELF-PEAISE 
 
 From Bacon 
 " How many things are there 
 which a man cannot with any face 
 of comeliness say or do himself? 
 A man can scarcely allege his own 
 merits with modesty, much less 
 extol them." — Essay of Friend- 
 ship (1625). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " 0, how thy worth with manners 
 
 may I sing. 
 Where thou art all the better part 
 
 of me? 
 What can mine own praise to mine 
 own self bring 1 " 
 
 Sonnet 39 (1609). 
 " There 's not one wise man 
 among twenty that will praise 
 himaelS."— Much Ado, v. 2 (1600). 
 " This comes too near the prais- 
 ing of myself ; therefore, no more 
 of it.'' — Merchant of Venice, iii. 4. 
 
 The author of the sonnet says that a man cannot praise 
 himself " with manners ; " the essayist, that one cannot do it 
 " with any face of comeliness," or " modesty." 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 167 
 
 305 
 HAILING PEAELS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " I '11 set thee in a shower of gold, " Such diffeienoe as is tetwixt 
 and haU the melting hail-stone and the 
 
 Rich pearls npon thee." solid pearl." — Gray's Inn Masque 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, ii. 5 (1623). (1594). 
 
 306 
 CUSTOM, Am APE OP NATtTEE 
 
 " He would beguile nature of her 
 
 custom, 
 So perfectly is he her ape." 
 
 Winter's Tale, v. 2 (1623). 
 
 "Governed by chance, custom 
 doth commonly prove but an ape 
 of nature." — Advancement of 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 Custom was regarded by both authors as often the ape of 
 nature, because, like nature, it is governed by laws of which 
 it is unconscious, and consists in habitudes or automatic 
 repetition of acts. 
 
 307 
 
 VERBOSITY 
 
 " Holo/ernes. He draweth out 
 the thread of his verbosity finer than 
 the staple of his argument. I ab- 
 hor such fanatical phantasimes, 
 such insociable and point-devise 
 companions, such rackers of or- 
 thography. . . . 
 
 Moth. They have been at a great 
 feast of languages, and stolen the 
 scraps. 
 
 Costard. ! they have Uved long 
 on the alms-basket of words. . . . 
 
 Hoi. The posterior of the day, 
 most generous sir, is liable, con- 
 gruent, and measurable for the 
 afternoon ; the word is well called, 
 chose, sweet and apt, I do assure 
 you." — Love's Labor's Lost, v. 1 
 (1598). 
 
 " Men began to hunt more after 
 words than matter ; and more after 
 the choiceness of the phrase, and 
 the round and clean composition 
 of the sentence, and the sweet fall- 
 ing of the clauses, and the varying 
 and illustration of their works 
 with tropes and figures, than after 
 the weight of matter, worth of 
 subject, soundness of argument, 
 life of invention, or depth of judg- 
 ment; taking liberty to coin and 
 frame new terms of art to express 
 their own sense, and to avoid cir- 
 cuit of speech, without regard to 
 the pureness, pleasantness, and 
 (as I may call it) lawfulness of the 
 phrase or word. . . . The excess 
 of this is so justly contemptible 
 
i68 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 that as Hercules, when he saw 
 the image of Adonis, Venus' min- 
 ion, in a temple, said in disdain, 
 ' Thou art no divinity,' so there is 
 none of Hercules' followers in learn- 
 ing, but will despise those delica- 
 cies and aflFectations, as indeed 
 capable of no divineness." — Ad- 
 vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 What Bacon analyzed and condemned as one of the dis- 
 tempers of learning, that is, an excessive pedantic regard for 
 mere diction, Shake-speare illustrated and ridiculed in ' Love's 
 
 Labor's Lost.' 
 
 308 
 
 QTIEEN' ELIZABETH 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 Cranmer. " Let me speak, sir, 
 
 For heaven now bids me; and the 
 words I utter 
 
 Let none think flattery, for they '11 
 find 'em truth. 
 
 This royal infant, heaven still move 
 about her ! 
 
 Though in her cradle, yet now 
 promises 
 
 Upon this land a thousand thou- 
 sand blessings. 
 
 Which time shall bring to ripe- 
 ness ; she shall be, 
 
 But few now living can behold 
 that goodness, 
 
 A pattern to all princes living with 
 her 
 
 And all that shall succeed; Saba 
 was never 
 
 More covetous of wisdom and fair 
 virtue 
 
 Than this pure soul shall be ; all 
 princely graces. 
 
 That mould up such a mighty 
 piece as this is, 
 
 From Bacon 
 " If Plutarch were now alive to 
 write lives by parallels, it would 
 trouble him, I think, to find for 
 her [Queen Elizabeth] a parallel 
 amongst women. ... I shall not 
 exceed if I do aflSrm that this part 
 of the island never had forty-five 
 years of better times; and yet not 
 through the calmness of the season, 
 but through the wisdom of her 
 regiment. For if there be con- 
 sidered the truth of religion es- 
 tablished ; the constant peace and 
 security ; the good administration 
 of justice; the temperate use of the 
 prerogative, not slackened, nor 
 much strained; the flourishing 
 state of learning, sortable to so ex- 
 cellent a patroness ; the convenient 
 estate of wealth and means, both 
 of crown and subject ; the habit of 
 obedience and the moderation of 
 discontents; . . . these things I 
 say considered, I suppose I could 
 not have chosen an instance more 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 169 
 
 With all the virtues that attend 
 
 the good. 
 Shall still be doubled on her; 
 
 truth shall nurse her ; 
 Holy and heavenly thoughts still 
 
 counsel her ; 
 She shall be lov'd and fear'd ; her 
 
 own shall bless her, 
 Her foes shake like a field of beaten 
 
 com, 
 And hang their heads with sorrow; 
 
 good grows with her. 
 In her days every man shall eat in 
 
 safety 
 Under his own vine what he plants, 
 
 and sing 
 The merry songs of peace to all 
 
 his neighbors. 
 God shall be truly known; and 
 
 those about her 
 From her shall read the perfect 
 
 ways of honor. 
 And by her claim their greatness ; 
 
 not by blood." 
 
 Henry VIII., v. 5 (1623). 
 
 remarkable or eminent to the pur- 
 pose in hand." — Advancement of 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 In these two equally unstinted eulogies of Queen Elizabeth 
 the commendation chiefly rests on the same points ; namely, 
 the peacefulness of her reign and the establishment of religion. 
 
 309 
 
 KING 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 "Nor shall this peace sleep with 
 
 her ; but as when 
 The bird of wonder dies, the 
 
 maiden phoenix. 
 Her ashes new create another heir, 
 As great in admiration as herself, 
 So shall she leave her blessedness 
 
 to one, 
 
 JAMES I 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Your Majesty's manner of 
 speech is indeed prince-like, flow- 
 ing as from a -fountain, and yet 
 streaming and branching itself into 
 nature's order, full of facility and 
 felicity, imitating none and inim- 
 itable by any. . . . For I am well 
 assured there hath not been since 
 
lyo BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 When heaven shall call her from 
 
 this cloud of darkness, 
 Who, from the sacred ashes of her 
 
 honor, 
 Shall star-hie rise, as great in 
 
 fame as she was. 
 And so stand fix'd. Peace, plenty, 
 
 love, truth, terror. 
 That were the servants to this 
 
 chosen infant. 
 Shall then be his, and like a vine 
 
 grow to him; 
 Wherever the bright sun of heaven 
 
 shall shine. 
 His honor and the greatness of his 
 
 name 
 Shall be, and make new nations ; 
 
 he shaU flourish. 
 And, like a mountain cedar, reach 
 
 his branches 
 To all the plains about him ; our 
 
 children's children 
 Shall see this and bless heaven." 
 Henry VIII., v. 5 (1623). 
 
 Christ's time any king or tem- 
 poral monarch which hath been so 
 learned in all literature and eru- 
 dition, divine and human. To 
 drink indeed of the true fountains 
 of learning, nay, to have such a 
 fountain of learning in himself, in 
 a king, and in a king bom, is al- 
 most a miracle. And the more, 
 because there is met in your Maj- 
 esty a rare conjunction as well of 
 divine and sacred literature as of 
 profane and human ; so as your 
 Majesty standeth invested of that 
 triplicity which in great venera- 
 tion was ascribed to the ancient 
 Hermes: the power and fortune 
 of a King, the knowledge and il- 
 lumination of a Priest, and the 
 learning and universality of a 
 Philosopher.'' — Advancement of 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 It will be readily admitted, we thiak, that these extrava- 
 gant eulogies of King James are even more significant than 
 those immediately preceding, of his predecessor on the 
 
 throne. 
 
 310 
 THE SWOED, A PLEADER 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Plead my successive title with " It will be said of them [Gas- 
 
 your swords." coigne and Anjou] also, that, after, 
 
 Titus Andronicus, i. 1 (1600). they were lost, and recovered in 
 
 ore gladii." — Post-Nati Speech, in 
 Court (1608). 
 
 It has been objected ^ that the phrase used as above in the 
 play, "plead with swords," is contrary to legal usage, and 
 
 1 Castle's Shakespeare, Bacon, Jonson, and Greene, p. 91. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 171 
 
 that therefore the play itself could not have been written by 
 a lawyer. Bacon said, in the course of a legal argument ia 
 the Exchequer Chamber, that a territory in Prance had been 
 taken by the English in ore gladii ; i. e., by the mouth or 
 pleading of a sword. 
 
 Exception has been taken on the same grounds, also, to the 
 use of the word " successive " in the above. But successive, 
 in the sense of one in succession, is a strict Latinism, of 
 which examples are foimd in Virgil and Ovid. Its use im- 
 plies, we admit, a scholarly and exceptional knowledge of 
 the LatiQ tongue on the part of the author. 
 
 311 
 
 THE PEOPEE EEMEDIES FOE MENTAL DISEASE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 ^^ Macbeth. How doth your patient, 
 
 doctor !• 
 Doctor. Not so sick, my lord, 
 
 As she is troubled with thick- 
 coming fancies, 
 That keep her from her rest. 
 Macb. Cure her of that. 
 
 Canst thou not minister to a mind 
 
 diseas'd, 
 Pluck from the memory a rooted 
 
 sorrow. 
 Haze out the written troubles of 
 
 the brain, 
 And with some sweet ohlivious 
 
 antidote 
 Cleanse the stuffd bosom of that 
 
 perilous stuff 
 Which weighs upon the heart ? 
 Doct. Therein the patient 
 
 Must minister to himself. 
 Macb. Throw physic to the dogs ; 
 
 I '11 none of it." 
 
 Macbeth, v. 3 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " I now come to those remedies 
 which operate upon diseases of the 
 mind, to custom, exercise, habit, 
 education, imitation, emulation, 
 company, friendship, praise, re- 
 proof, exhortation, fame, laws, 
 books, studies, and the like. These 
 are the things that rule in morals ; 
 these the agents by which mental 
 diseases are cured ; the ingredients, 
 of which are compounded the 
 medicines that recover and pre- 
 serve the health of the mind, so 
 far as it can be done by human 
 remedies." — De Augmeniis (1622), 
 
172 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Both authors treat of diseases of the mind and their cure. 
 One condemns for this purpose the use of physic ; the other 
 prescrihes exercise, good company, studies, and books. 
 
 312 
 
 COUNTY OF KENT 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Kent, in the Commentaries 
 
 Caesar writ, 
 Is term'd the cml'st place in all 
 
 this isle. 
 Sweet is the country, because full 
 
 of riches ; 
 The people liberal, valiant, active, 
 
 wealthy." 
 
 2 Henry VI., iv. 7 (1594). 
 
 The Bacon family originated in the county of Kent. 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 "The rude people had heard 
 Mammock say that Kent was never 
 conquered, and that they were the 
 freest people of England." — His- 
 tory of Henry VII. (1621). 
 
 313 
 
 TUENING one's ESTATE INTO OBLIGATIONS 
 
 " Timon. In some sort these wants 
 
 of mine are crown'd, 
 That I account them blessings; for 
 
 by these 
 ShaU I try friends. You shall 
 
 perceive how you 
 Mistake my fortunes ; I am wealthy 
 
 in my friends." 
 
 Timon of Athens, ii. 2 (1623). 
 
 " They would say of the Duke 
 of Guise, Henry, that he was the 
 greatest usurer in France, for that 
 he had turned all his estate into 
 obligations ; meaning that he had 
 sold and oppignorated all his pat- 
 rimony to give large donations to 
 othermen." — Apothegm (date un- 
 known). 
 
 314 
 BEGGARS, NO CHOOSERS 
 
 "Lord. Would not the beggar then "Beggars should not be choos- 
 
 f orget himseK ? 
 
 1 Hunter. Believe me, lord, I think 
 he cannot choose." 
 The Taming of the Shrew, Intro- 
 duction (1623). 
 
 eia."—Promus (1594-96). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 173 
 
 STARS, 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " This majestical roof, fretted with 
 golden fire." 
 
 Hamlet, ii. 2 (1604). 
 
 315 
 
 LIKE FRETS 
 
 From Bacon 
 "For if that great workm aster 
 
 had been of a human disposition, 
 he would have cast the stars into 
 some pleasant and beautiful works 
 and orders, like the frets in the 
 roofs of houses." — Advancement 
 of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 316 
 
 WATERS SWELLING BEFORE STORMS 
 
 " By a divine instinct men's minds 
 mistrust 
 
 Ensuing danger; as, by proof, we 
 see 
 
 The waters swell before a boister- 
 ous storm." 
 
 Richard III., ii. 3 (1597). 
 
 "As there are . . . secret swell- 
 ings of seas before tempests, so 
 there are in states." — Essay of 
 Seditions and Troubles (1607-12). 
 
 317 
 
 IVY ON TREES 
 
 " The ivy which had hid my 
 
 princely trunk. 
 And suck'd my verdure out on't." 
 Tempest, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 " It was ordained that this wind- 
 ing ivy of a Plantagenet should 
 kill the tree itself." — History of 
 Henry VII. (1621). 
 
 318 
 
 ALL IS NOT GOLD THAT GLISTERS 
 
 " All that glisters is not gold." 
 Merchant of Venice, ii. 7 (1600). 
 
 " All is not gold that glisters." - 
 Promus (1594-96). 
 
 319 
 ASHES OF FORTUNE 
 
 " I shall show the cinders of my " The sparks of my affection shall 
 
 spirits ever rest quick under the ashes of 
 
 Through the ashes of my chance." my fortune." — Letter to Falkland 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, v. 2 (1623). (1622). 
 
174 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 " In me thou see'st the glowing of " Ashes are good for somewhat, 
 
 such file for lees, for salts; but I hope I am 
 
 That on the ashes of his youth doth rather embers than ashes, having 
 He." the heat of good afi'ections under 
 
 Sonnet 73 (1609). the ashes of my fortunes." — Let- 
 ter to King James (1622). 
 
 320 
 SWEET MEATS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Lo ! as at English feasts, so I " Let not this Parliament end 
 
 regreet like a Dutch feast in salt meats, 
 
 The daintiest last, to mate the end but like an English feast, in sweet 
 
 most sweet." meats." — Speech in Parliament 
 
 Richard II., i. 3 (1597). (1604). 
 
 321 
 QUICKSILVEE 
 
 " The rogue fled from me like " It was not long but Perkin, 
 quicksilver." who was made of quicksilver (which 
 
 2 Henry IV; Ji. 4 (1600). is hard to imprison) began to 
 stir ; for deceiving hia keepers, he 
 took to his heels, and made speed 
 to the sea-coast." — History of 
 Henry VII. (1621). 
 
 322 
 ADAMAKT 
 
 " As iron to adamant." " A great adamant of acquaint- 
 
 TroUus and Cressida, iii. 2 ance." — Essay of Travel (1625). 
 (1609). 
 " Draw me, thou hard-hearted ada- 
 mant." 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, ii. 
 2 (1623). 
 
 The word " adamant " is from the Greek ahdjjia^, meaning 
 anything very hard, or incapable of being broken, dissolved, 
 or penetrated. It was first used as the name of the hardest 
 metal, probably steel, and subsequently of the diamond, the 
 latter (diamant) being iadeed a mere variation of it. In 
 
PARALLELISMS 175 
 
 medifieval Latin, however, it came to signify the loadstone 
 or magnet, perhaps because the word was thought to have 
 been derived from adamare, to have a likeness for, to draw. 
 In this perverted sense it made its way in the fourteenth 
 century into the English language, though it had been cor- 
 rectly used there for a period of five hundred years preceding. 
 Wyclif, Chaucer, Coverdale, Gower, Greene, and many other 
 -writers had so used it. Bacon and Shake-speare were among 
 the last and most conspicuous to fall victims to the blunder. 
 
 323 
 
 CAKDINAL WOLSET 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Had I but served my God with " Cardinal Wolsey said that if 
 
 half the zeal he had pleased God as he had 
 
 I served my king, he would not pleased the king, he had not been 
 
 in mine age ruined." — Letter {first draft) to 
 
 Have left me naked to mine the king (1621). 
 enemies." 
 
 Henry VIII., iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 324 
 
 POETRY, FEIGNED HISTOET 
 
 "Viola. 'T is poetical. " Poetry is feigned history." — 
 
 Olivia. It is the more likely to Advancement of Learning (1603- 
 be Mga'd..'" — Twelfth Night, i. 5). 
 5 (1623). 
 
 " The truest poetry is the most 
 feigning." — As You Like It, ui. 
 3 (1623). 
 
 "If thou wert a poet, I might 
 have some hope thou didst feign." 
 — Ibid. 
 
 325 
 TASTED, CHEWED, SWALLOWED, AND DIGESTED 
 
 " How shall we stretch our eye, "Some books are to be tasted, 
 
 when capital crimes, chew'd, swal- others to be swallowed, and some 
 
 low'd, and digested, appear before few to be chewed and digested." — 
 
 nsV — Henry V., ii. 2 (1600). Essay of Studies (1598). 
 
176 
 
 BACON AND SHAKE^SPEARE 
 
 326 
 CHAMELEON FEEDING ON AIR 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " The chameleon, Love, can feed 
 on the air." — Two Gentlemen of 
 Verona, ii. 1 (1623), 
 
 " Valentine. He is a kind of cha- 
 meleon. 
 
 Thurio. That hath more mind to 
 feed on your blood than live in 
 your air." — Ibid., ii. 4. 
 " Hamlet. The chameleon's dish — 
 feed on the air." 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 2 (1603). 
 
 From Bacon 
 "Some that have kept chame- 
 leons a whole year together could 
 never perceive that they fed upon 
 anything but air." — Sylva Syl- 
 varum (1622-25). 
 
 327 
 
 CHAMELEON CHANGING COLORS 
 
 "I can add colors to the chame- 
 leon ; 
 And for a need change shapes with 
 Proteus.'' 
 
 S Henry VI., iii. 2 (1595). 
 "Silvia. What, angry. Sir Thu- 
 rio 1 Do you change color 1 
 
 Valentine. Give him leave, mad- 
 am ; he is a kind of chameleon." 
 — Two Gentleman of Verona, ii. 4 
 (1623). 
 
 " If the chameleon be laid upon 
 green, the green predominates ; if 
 upon yellow, the yellow ; laid 
 upon black, he looketh all black." 
 
 — Jbid. 
 
 " Proteus would turn himself in- 
 to all manner of strange shapes." 
 
 — Wisdom of the Ancients (1609). 
 
 "The moon sleeps with 
 mion." 
 Merchant of Venice, v. 1 
 
 328 
 ENDTMION 
 
 Endy- " The moon of her own accord 
 came to Endymion as he slept." — 
 (1600). De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 329 
 
 DOUBLE CHERRY 
 
 " So we grew together, 
 Like to a double cherry." 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, iii. 
 2 (1600). 
 
 " There is a cherry tree that hath 
 double blossoms." — Sylva Syl- 
 varum (1622-25). 
 
PARALLELISMS 177 
 
 330 
 EFFECT ON THE THROAT OF DRINKING SNOW WATER 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " When we were boys, " The people that dwell at the 
 Who would believe that there were foot of snow mountains, or other- 
 mountaineers wise upon the ascent, especially 
 Dew-lapp'd like bulls, whose the women, by drinking snow 
 throats had hanging at 'em water, have great bags hanging 
 Wallets of flesh 1 " under their throats." — Sylva Syl- 
 Tempest, iii. 3 (1623). varum (1622-25). 
 
 331 
 
 CONJECTDRES AT HOME 
 
 " They '11 sit by the fire, and pre- " To make conjectures at home." 
 
 sume to know — Promus (1594-96). 
 
 What 's done i' the Capitol ; who 'a 
 like to rise, 
 
 Who thrives and who declines; 
 side factions, and give out 
 
 Conjectural marriages." 
 
 Coriolanus, i. 1 (1623). 
 
 332 
 HOW SWEET MUSIC AFFECTS THE SPIRITS 
 
 " I am never merry when I hear " Some noises help sleep, as — 
 
 sweet music. soft singing; the cause is, they 
 
 The reason is, your spirits are at- move in the spirit a gentle atten- 
 
 tentive.'' tion." — Syloa Sylvarum (1622- 
 
 Merchant of Venice, v. 1 (1600). 25). 
 
 333 
 
 SEA OP TROUBLES 
 
 " To take arms against a sea of " A sea of multitude." — Apo- 
 troubles." thegm. 
 
 Hamlet iii. 4 (1604). 
 
 Hamlet's phrase, "sea of troubles," has caused the com- 
 mentators great perplexity. Pope, thinking it a typograph- 
 ical error, proposed to substitute siege of troubles ; Forrest so 
 
 12 
 
178 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 rendered it on the stage. Another commentator preferred 
 an assail of troubles. It requires, however, but a glance at 
 Bacon's writings, in which the word " sea " is used over and 
 over again for " host " or " multitude," to redeem the passage. 
 Bacon evidently adopted it from the Greek, KaK&v ireXayo^. 
 In the expression " sea of multitude," Bacon refers to the 
 large army with which Charles VIII. invaded Italy, against 
 which it would have been perfectly proper to say, if histori- 
 cally true, that the people " took arms." 
 
 334 
 
 ADVANTAGE OF TIME 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Advantage is a better soldier "If time give his majesty the 
 
 than rashness." — Henry V., iii. 6 advantage, what needeth precipita- 
 
 (1600). tion to extreme remedies ? " — 
 
 Letter to Villiers (1616). 
 
 335 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF DELAY 
 
 " How poor are they that have not " In all negotiations of difficulty 
 
 patience? a man may not look to sow and 
 
 What wound did ever heal but by reap at once, but must prepare 
 
 degrees? business and so ripen it by de- 
 
 Thou know'st we work by wit, grees." — Essay of Negotiating 
 
 and not by witchcraft, (1625). 
 
 And wit depends on dilatory " I give Time his due, which is 
 
 time." to discover truth." — Conference 
 
 Othello, ii. 3 (1622). of Pleasure (1592). 
 
 336 
 
 HOLT-WATER 
 
 "Court holy-water in a dry "He was no brewer of holy-water 
 
 house is better than this rain-water in court." 
 
 out o' door.'' — King Lear, iii. 2 "Your lordship is no dealer in 
 (1608). holy-water, but noble and real." — 
 
 Letter to Salisbury (1607). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 179 
 
 337 
 
 DARK BACKSKOUNDS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 Like blight metal on a sullen 
 ground, 
 My reformation, gUtt'ring o'er my 
 
 fault, 
 Shall show more goodly, and at- 
 tract more eyes, 
 Than that which hath no foil to 
 set it off." 
 
 1 Henry IV., 12 (159S). 
 
 From Bacon 
 "We see in needle-works and 
 embroideries it is more pleasing to 
 have a lively work upon a sad and 
 solemn ground than to have a 
 dark and melancholy work upon 
 a lightsome ground." — Essay of 
 Adversity (1625). 
 
 338 
 WONDEE, CHILD OF RAKITY 
 
 " Wonder is the child of rarity. 
 If a thing be rare, though in 
 kind it be no way extraordinary, 
 it is wondered at. Yet, on the 
 other hand, things which really 
 call for wonder, if we have them 
 by us in common use, are but 
 slightly noticed." — Novum Or- 
 ganum (1620). 
 
 "Being seldom seen, I could not 
 
 stir. 
 But, like a comet, I was wonder'd 
 at." 
 
 1 Henry IV., iii. 2 (1598). 
 
 " Lafeu. They say miracles are 
 past, and we have our philosophi- 
 cal persons to make modern and 
 familiar things supernatural and 
 causeless. Hence it is that we 
 make trifles of errors, ensconcing 
 ourselves into seeming knowledge, 
 when we shoiild submit ourselves 
 to an unknown fear. 
 
 Parolles. Why, 't is the rarest ar- 
 gument of wonder." — All's Well, 
 ii. 3 (1623). 
 
 This conception of wonder as a state of mind produced by 
 what is rare, whether extraordinary or not, was a favorite one 
 with Bacon. We find it repeatedly in his prose works. We 
 find it also in many of the plays. Henry IV. tells his son 
 to keep himself as much as possible out of people's sight, 
 in order that, whenever he is seen, he may excite greater 
 wonder. It is at least remarkable that a causal relation of 
 
i8o 
 
 BACON AND SHAKE^SPEARE 
 
 so subtle a nature should occur over and over again in both 
 sets of works. 
 
 339 
 
 CORRUPTIONS IN PEACE 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " The cankers of a calm world " States corrupted through wealth 
 and a long peace." — 1 Henry IV., and too great length of peace." — 
 iv. 2 (1598). Letter to Rutland (1596). 
 
 340 
 EELS STARTLED BY THUNDER 
 
 Boult. " I warrant you, mis- 
 tress, thunder shall not so awake 
 the beds of eels." — Pericles, iv. 
 2 (1609). 
 
 " Upon the noise of thunder 
 
 . . . fishes are thought to be 
 
 frayed." — Sylva Sylvarum (_1622- 
 
 25). 
 
 " I thought you sea-gods, as in 
 your abode, 
 
 So in your nature, had not been 
 unlike 
 
 To fishes ; the which, as say phi- 
 losophers. 
 
 Have so small sense of music's 
 delight. 
 
 As 'tis a doubt, not fully yet 
 resolv'd, 
 
 Whether of hearing they have 
 sense or no." 
 Gray's Inn Masque (1594). 
 341 
 
 OPPORTUNITY 
 
 " There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
 Which, taken at the flood, leads 
 
 on to fortune ; 
 Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
 Is bound in shallows and in miseries. 
 On such a full sea are we now 
 
 afloat ; 
 And we must take the current 
 
 when it serves, 
 Or lose our ventures." 
 
 Julius Caesar, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
 " In the third place, I set down 
 reputation, because of the peremp- 
 tory tides and currents it hath, 
 which, if they be not taken in 
 their due time, are seldom recov- 
 ered." — Advancement of Learning 
 (1603-5). 
 
 " Particular conspiracies have 
 their periods of time, within which, 
 if they be not taken, they vanish." 
 Charge against Owen (1615). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 i«i 
 
 " I have important business. 
 The tide whereof is now." 
 Troilus and Cressida, v. 1 (1609). 
 "Who seeks and will not take, 
 
 when once 't is offered, 
 Shall never find it more." 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, ii. 7 (1623). 
 " Take the safest occasion by the 
 
 front." 
 
 Othello, iii. 1 (1622). 
 
 " If you had not been short- 
 sighted, you might have made 
 more use of me; but that tide is 
 passed." — Letter to Coke (1601). 
 
 " You are as well seen in the 
 periods and tides of estates [states] 
 as in your own circle and way." — 
 Letter to Cecil (1602). 
 
 " Occasion . . . turneth the handle 
 of the bottle first to be received, 
 and after that the belly, which is 
 hard to clasp." — Essay of Delays 
 (1625). 
 
 " Occasion turneth the bald nod- 
 dle after she hath presented her 
 locks in front, and no hold taken."" 
 — Ibid. 
 
 " We may say of Kature, what 
 is usually said of Fortune, that she 
 hath a lock before, but none be- 
 hind." — Scala Intellectus. 
 
 The ' Advancement of Learning ' was first printed in 
 1605; 'Troilus and Cressida,' in 1609; 'Othello,' 1622; 
 'Julius Caesar,' 1623; 'Essay of Delays,' 1625. The 'Let- 
 ter to Coke ' was written in 1601, and the ' Speech against 
 Owen' delivered in 1615. 
 
 The sentiment expressed in the above-quoted passages 
 seems to have been a favorite one with both authors, ap- 
 pearing, however, in Bacon first. The figure common to 
 ' Othello ' and the Essay is of classical origin, the ancients 
 having erected a statue to Occasion as a goddess, in which 
 the fore part of the head was furnished with a lock of hair, 
 while the back part was bald. The significancy of this was 
 pointed out in the Latin writings of Phsedrus, Cardan, and 
 Erasmus, and in the French of Eabelais. With the possible 
 exception of Phsedrus, these works we know were familiar 
 to Bacon, though none of them had then been translated 
 into English. 
 
I82 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 342 
 
 NATURE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Nature is made better by no mean 
 
 [means], 
 But nature. makes that mean; so, 
 
 o'er that art, 
 WMch you say adds to nature, is 
 
 an art 
 That nature makes. Tou see, sweet 
 
 maid, we marry 
 A gentler scion to the wildest stock, 
 And make conceive a bark of baser 
 
 kind 
 By bud of nobler race. This is an 
 
 art 
 Which does mend nature, change 
 
 it rather, but 
 The art itself is nature." 
 
 Winter's Tale, iv. 4 (c. 1611). 
 
 AND ART 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 "An opinion has long been 
 prevalent that art is something 
 different from nature. . . - There is 
 likewise another and more subtle 
 error which has crept into the 
 human mind, namely, that of con- 
 sidering art as merely an assistant 
 to nature, having the power, in- 
 deed, to finish what nature has 
 begun, to correct her when lapsing 
 into error, or to set her free when 
 in bondage, but by no means to 
 change, transmute, or fundamen- 
 tally alter nature. And this has 
 bred a premature despair in human 
 enterprises." — De Augmentis 
 (1622). 
 
 " It is the fashion to talk as if 
 art were something different from 
 nature, or a sort of addition to na- 
 ture, with power to finish what 
 nature has begun, or correct her 
 when going aside. In truth, man 
 has no power over nature except 
 that of motion, — the power, I say, 
 of putting natural bodies together, 
 or separating them, — the rest is 
 done by nature within." — Descrip- 
 tio Glohi Intellectualis (c. 1612). 
 
 For an exposition of this exceptionally strong parallel- 
 ism, see ' Francis Bacon Our Shake-speare,' p. 29. 
 
 343 
 
 KINGS HAVE LONG ARMS 
 " His rear'd arm " Kings have long arms, when 
 
 Crested the world." 
 A nthony and Cleopatra, v. 2 (1623). 
 
 they will extend them.'' — Speech 
 at trial of Lord Sanquhar (1612). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 183 
 
 " His sword 
 Hath a sharp edge ; it 's long, and 
 
 't may be said, 
 It reaches far ; and where 't will 
 
 not extend, 
 Thither he darts it." 
 
 King Henry VIII., i. 1 (1623). 
 
 344 
 PEAEMTJNIKE 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Where a man purchases, or 
 pui'sues in the Court of Rome, or 
 elsewhere, any process, sentence of 
 excommunication, bull, or instru- 
 ment, or other thing which touches 
 the king in his regality or his 
 realm in prejudice, it is prcemu- 
 nire." — Union of Laws (circa 
 1603). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Surrey. You have sent innumer- 
 able substance 
 
 To furnish Rome, and to prepare 
 the ways 
 
 You have for dignities ; to the 
 mere undoing 
 
 Of all the kingdom. 
 
 Suffolk. Lord Cardinal, the King's 
 
 farther pleasure is, — 
 Because all those things you have 
 
 done of late. 
 By your power legatine within this 
 
 kingdom. 
 Fall int' th' compass of a prmmu- 
 
 nire, 
 
 That therefore such a writ be sued 
 
 against you." 
 
 Henry VIII., iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 345 
 PEEPING THROUGH SMALL HOLES 
 " I have seen the day of wrong " You may see great objects 
 
 through the little hole of discre- through small crannies." — Na- 
 tion." — Love's Labor's Lost,y. 2 tural History (1622-25). 
 (1598). 
 
 Bacon made a characteristic use of this homely proverb : 
 " The eye of the understanding is like the eye of the .sense ; for, 
 as you may see great ohjects through small crannies or levels, so 
 you may see great axioms of nature through small and contemptible 
 instances." 
 
1 84 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 346 
 NOTHING FROM NOTHING 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Nothing can be made out of " Out of nothing, nothing can 
 nothing." — King Lear, i. 4 (1608). be made." — Novum Organum 
 
 (1620). 
 
 347 
 
 FAITH, LIKE ODORS OF FLOWERS 
 
 " Tread down my need, and faith " Virtue is like precious odors, 
 mounts up." most fragrant when they are in- 
 
 King John, ui. 1 (1623). censed or crushed." — Essay oj 
 Adversity (1625). 
 
 348 
 
 WINE, A DEVIL 
 
 " O thou invisible spirit of wine ! "Wine, a devil." — Advance- 
 
 if thou hast no name to be known meni of Learning (1603-5). 
 by, let us call thee devil." — 
 Othello, ii. 3 (1622). 
 
 349 
 
 THE TURKS 
 
 " Valiant Othello, we must " The Ottomans . . , degenerate 
 straight employ you from the laws of nature ; in their 
 
 Against the general enemy. Otto- very body and frame of estate a 
 man." monstrosity ; and may be truly 
 
 Othello, i. 3 (1622). accounted common enemies and 
 grievances of mankind." — Adver- 
 tisement touching a Holy War 
 (1622). 
 
 Bacon regarded the Ottomans, not only as infidels, but even 
 as a '' general enemy ; " that is, as a reproach on general 
 grounds to the human race. He wrote the following con- 
 cerning them in his dialogue on ' A Holy War ' : 
 
 " A cruel tyranny, bathed iu the blood of their emperors upon 
 every succession ; a heap of vassals and slaves ; no nobles, no 
 gentlemen, no freemen, no inheritance of land, no stirp of ancient 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 185 
 
 families ; a people without natural affection, and, as the scripture 
 saith, that regardeth not the desires of women ; ■without piety or 
 care toward their children; a nation without morality, without 
 letters, arts, or sciences ; that can scarce measure an acre of land, or 
 an hour of the day ; base and sluttish in buildings, diet, and the 
 like; in a word, a very reproach of human society." 
 
 This view of the Turks, as enemies of all nations on strictly- 
 human grounds, was common to both authors. It was 
 expressed by both in the same year, 1622, six years after the 
 death of William Shakspere of Stratford. 
 
 350 
 
 HERBS OK WEEDS IN HUMAN NATURE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Our bodies are our gardens, to 
 the which our wills are gardeners ; 
 so that, if we plant nettles or sow 
 lettuce, set hyssop and weed up 
 thyme, supply it with one gender 
 of herbs or distract it with many, 
 either to have it sterile with idle- 
 ness or manured with industry, 
 why, the power and corrigible 
 authority of this lies in our wills." 
 — Othello, i. 3 (1622). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " A man's nature runs either to 
 herbs or weeds." — Essay of Nature 
 in Men (1625). 
 
 351 
 
 AN ANATHEMA 
 
 " Emilia. O, who hath done this 
 
 deed ? 
 Desdemona. Nobody ; I myself ; 
 
 fkrewell ; 
 Commend me to my kind lord. 
 
 O ! farewell ! " 
 
 Othello, V. 2 (1622). 
 
 " If a man have St. Paul's per- 
 fection, that] he would wish to be 
 an anathema from Christ for the 
 salvation of his brethren, it shows 
 much of a divine nature." — Essay 
 of Goodness (1625). 
 
 Mr. Ruggles makes the following just comment on these 
 related passages : 
 
1 86 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 " Desdemona, dying under her husband's hands, devotes her 
 last gasp to the utterance of a lie, thus hecoming an anathema 
 from Christ, in order to shield her murderer from the consequences 
 of his cruelty to her. Here she touches the summit of human 
 nature, and reminds us of the divine utterance, ' Father, forgive 
 them, for they know not what they do.' It is as near an approach 
 to perfection as poor human frailty can make, and reveals a love 
 that can only be expressed by the antithesis of a lie prompted by 
 divine truth." — The Plays of Shakespeare, 602. 
 
 Mr. Euggles cites an historical case m point. When the 
 Charter House monks in London vs'ere summoned in the 
 reign of Henry VIII. to take the oath of allegiance to the 
 king, the prior proposed to the fraternity that he should save 
 their lives by offering himself as representative of the house 
 and swearing falsely. "I will make myself anathema for 
 you all," he said, " and trust to the mercy of God." 
 
 352 
 
 A CAUTION IN CONFERRING BENEFITS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Desdemona. If I do vow a friend- "Common benefits are to be 
 
 ship, I '11 perform it communicate with all, but peculiar 
 
 To the last article. My lord shall benefits with choice. And beware 
 
 never rest ; how in making the portraiture 
 
 I '11 watch him tame, and talk thou breakest the pattern. For 
 
 him out of patience. divinity maketh the love of our- 
 
 His bed shall seem a school, his selves the pattern ; the love of our 
 
 board a shrift. neighbor but the portraiture. " — 
 
 I '11 intermingle everything he does Essay of Goodness (1607-12). 
 With Cassio's suit." 
 
 Othello, iii. 3 (1622). 
 
 Desdemona's espousal of the cause of Cassio and the blind 
 zeal, ending in her own destruction, with which she prose- 
 cutes it, is an exact and evidently an intentional illustration 
 of the danger pointed out by Bacon. She sacrifices herself 
 for Cassio ; that is, she breaks the pattern on which she 
 models her innocent love for him. 
 
PARALLELISMS 187 
 
 353 
 
 PENALTY OF ADAM 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Are not these woods " After the creation was finished. 
 More free from peril than the it is said that man was placed in 
 envious court ? the garden to work therein, which 
 
 Here feel we not the penalty of could only have been the work of 
 Adam." contemplation ; that is, the end of 
 
 As You Like It, ii. 1 (1623). his work was but for exercise and 
 " All things in common, nature delight, and not for necessity. For 
 should produce without sweat." — there being then no reluctance of 
 Tempest, ii. 1 (1623). the creature, nor sweat of the 
 brow, man's employment was con- 
 sequently matter of pleasure, not 
 labor." — A dvancement of Learn- 
 ing (1603-5). 
 
 Bacon is describing the Garden of Eden as it was before 
 the fall; Shake-speare (in the passage from the 'Tempest') 
 as it wOl be when restored, and the " penalty of Adam " 
 remitted. 
 
 Modern editors, following Lewis Theobald, have changed 
 the word not, in the line quoted above from ' As You Like It,' 
 " Here feel we not the penalty of Adam," 
 
 to hut, and thus lost the sense of the passage. The Duke, as 
 
 pointed out by Mr. Knight, means that in the woods he and 
 
 his companions are escaping the penalty inflicted upon Adam, 
 
 " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread." 
 
 354 
 bkewee's hokse 
 " An I have not forgotten what ♦' The ass that carries wine and 
 
 the inside of a church is made of, I drinks water." — Promus (1594- 
 am a pepper-corn, a brewer's horse." 96). 
 — 1 King Henry IV., iii. 3 (1598). 
 
 The phrase, " brewer's horse," has caused the commentators 
 some perplexity. Johnson suggested that as a brewer's horse 
 is apt to be lean with hard work, Falstaff means that, if he 
 
i88 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 does n't tell the truth about his churchgomg, he is wilUng to 
 become emaciated, as a penalty for his falsehood. According 
 to Steevens, Falstaff refers, not to a dray-horse, but to the 
 " cross-beams on which beer-barrels are carried into cellars." 
 The Promus entry makes the meaning clear. Falstaff, who is 
 immoderately fond of beer, declares that, if convicted of 
 falsehood, he wiU carry beer about for others, instead of 
 drinking it himself, like a brewer's horse. 
 
 355 
 
 SUBJECTS NOT TO BE JESTED ABOUT 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Touchstone. You are not for- " Some things are privileged 
 sworn; no more was this knight, from jest, namely, religion, matters 
 swearing by his honor, for he of state, great persons." — Essay 0/ 
 never had any. . . . Discourse (1598). 
 
 Celia. Prithee, who is it that 
 thou meanest ? 
 
 Touchstone. One that old Fred- 
 erick, your father, loves. 
 
 Celia. My father's love is enough 
 to honor him. Enough ! speak no 
 more of him.'' — As You Like ft, 
 i. 2 (1623). 
 
 Mr. Euggles justly regards Celia's expostulation against 
 any jesting at the expense of one whom her father loved and 
 honored as coming directly under Bacon's rule. 
 
 356 
 
 PKAISE, A GLASS 
 " The glass of Pindar's praise." " Praise is the reflection of vir- 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, i. 2 (1609). tue. But it is as the glass or body 
 
 which giveth the reflection." — 
 Essay of Praise (1607-12). 
 
 Both authors have elsewhere (in 'Love's Labor's Lost' 
 and in 'The Apology') denounced praise as an aim. Bacon 
 calling it in this sense the handmaid of virtue: here both 
 denominate it as a glass. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 189 
 
 357 
 
 WINDOW OF THE HEART 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " My good window of lattice, 
 
 fare thee well; thy casement I 
 
 need not open, for I look through 
 
 thee." — ^H'« Well, ii. 3 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Let us obtain, as far as we can, 
 that window which Momus re- 
 quired, who, seeing in the frame 
 of man's heart such angles and 
 recesses, found fault there was not 
 a window to look into them." — Ad- 
 vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 358 
 
 DIVINATION INDUCED BT 
 
 " Soothsayer. Last night the very 
 gods show'd me a vision, 
 
 (I fast and pray'd for their intelli- 
 gence), thus : 
 
 I saw Jove's bird, the Eoman eagle, 
 wing'd 
 
 From the spongy south to this part 
 of the west, 
 
 There vanish'd in the sunbeams; 
 which portends 
 
 (Unless my sins abuse my divi- 
 nation) 
 
 Success to the Roman host." 
 
 Cymbeline, iv. 2 (1623). 
 
 FASTING AND PRATER 
 
 " Natural divination springs 
 from the inward power of the 
 mind. It is of two sorts: the 
 one, primitive ; the other, by 
 influxion. Primitive is grounded 
 upon the supposition that the 
 mind, when it is withdrawn and 
 collected into itself, and not dif- 
 fused into the organs of the body, 
 has of its own essential power 
 some pre-notion of things to come. 
 This state of mind is commonly 
 induced by those abstinences and 
 observances which most withdraw 
 the mind from exercising the 
 duties of the body, so that it 
 may enjoy its own nature, free 
 from external restraint. The re- 
 tiring of the mind within itself 
 gives it the fuller benefit of its 
 own nature and makes it the 
 more susceptible of divine influx- 
 ions." — De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 Bacon says that the act of divination must be preceded by 
 " abstinences and observances " that withdraw the mind from 
 external objects; Shake-speare gives an instance in which 
 the mind was prepared for an act of divination by " fasting 
 and prayer." 
 
I90 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 359 
 AN ENDURING MONUMENT 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "And thou in this shalt find thy " This attribute of your Majesty 
 
 monument, deserveth to he expressed, not only 
 
 When tyrants' crests and tombs of in the fame and admiration of the 
 brass are spent." present time, nor in the history or 
 
 Sonnet 107 (1609). traditionof the ages succeeding, but 
 also in some solid work, fixed me- 
 morial, and immortal monument." 
 — Advancement of Learning 
 (1605). 
 
 Each author claims in the same tone of self-confidence to 
 
 have erected with his pen a monument that would endure 
 
 forever. 
 
 360 
 
 peince's favoeites, screens 
 
 " His ambition growing ... " There is great use in ambi- 
 
 To have no screen between this tious men in being screens to 
 
 part he play'd princes in matters of danger and 
 
 And him he play'd it for." envy." — Essay of Ambition 
 
 Tempest, i. 2 (1623). (1625). 
 
 Bacon defined the nature of the " screen " in his letter of 
 advice to Villiers, thus : 
 
 " The king himself is above the reach of his people, but cannot 
 be above their censures ; and you are his shadow, if either he com- 
 mit an error and is loath to avow it, but excuses it upon his minis- 
 ters, of which you are the first in the eye ; or you commit the fault, 
 or have willingly permitted it, and must suffer for it ; so perhaps 
 you may be offered as a sacrifice to appease the multitude." 
 
 (1616). 
 361 
 
 SEX IN PLANTS 
 
 " Pale primroses, " I am apt enough to think that 
 
 That die unmarried, ere they can this same binarium of a stronger 
 
 behold S'ld a weaker, like unto masculine 
 
 Bright Phoebus in his strength." and feminine, doth hold in all 
 
 Winter's Tale, iv. 4 (1623). living hoAiea." — Natural History 
 
 (1622-25). 
 
PARALLELISMS 191 
 
 The existence of sex in plants was known, it appears, to 
 the author of the 'Winter's Tale,' as weU as to Bacon. 
 Csesalpinus' great work on the subject was published in Italy 
 in 1583, but not translated into English in Shake-speare's 
 time. 
 
 362 
 EOTAL BROKERAGE 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "That sly devil, "As for the politic and whole- 
 
 That broker that still breaks the some laws which were enacted in 
 
 pate of faith, his time, they were interpreted to 
 
 That daily break-vow, he that wins be but the brocage of an usurper, 
 
 of all ; thereby to woo and win the hearts 
 
 of the people." — History of Henry 
 
 And why rail I on this commodity, VII. (1621). 
 But for because he hath not woo'd 
 me yet." 
 
 King John, u. 1 (1623). 
 
 We owe this striking parallelism to Mr. Edmund Bengough. 
 In the passage from Shakespeare, the Kiug of France is 
 called a " broker," because he espouses the righteous cause of 
 Prince Arthur, not because it is righteous, but that he may 
 thereby " woo and win " favor. In the passage from Bacon, 
 the King of England is also called a broker, because he 
 passes wholesome laws, not because they are wholesome, but 
 that he may thus " woo and win " popular applause. We 
 have the same hypocritical pretence, described in the same 
 terms, in both cases. 
 
 363 
 THE MISANTHROPE, A BEAST 
 
 " AlcHnades. What art thou there 1 "A natural and secret hatred, 
 
 speak ! and aversion towards society in 
 
 Timon. A beast, as thou art. any man hath somewhat of the 
 
 savage beast." — Essay of Friend- 
 
 I am Misanihropos, and hate man- ship (1625). 
 
 kind." 
 
 Timon nf Athens, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
192 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 364 
 CONSCIENCE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Every man's conscience is a thou- 
 sand swords." 
 King Richard III., v. 2 (1597). 
 " My conscience hath a thousand 
 
 several tongues, 
 And every tongue bnngs in a 
 several tale." 
 
 Ibid., V. 3 (1597). 
 
 From Bacon 
 "Conscience is worth a thou- 
 sand witnesses." — Promus (1594- 
 96). 
 
 365 
 THE LIFE OF JIAN, A SPAN 
 
 « A life 's but a span." — Othello, " The life of man, 
 ii. 3 (1622). Less than a span." — Epigram. 
 
 366 
 
 SOUNDS FROM EMPTY CASKS 
 
 " The empty vessel makes the 
 
 greatest sound." 
 
 Henry V., iv. 4 (1623). 
 " I did never know so full a voice 
 
 issue from 
 So empty a heart." Ibid. 
 
 " Thy youngest daughter does not 
 
 love thee least, 
 Nor are those empty-hearted, whose 
 
 low sound 
 Keverbs no hollowness.'' 
 
 King Lear, i. 1 (1608). 
 
 " Like empty casks, they sound 
 loud when a man knocks upon 
 their outside." — Advice to Rut- 
 land (1596). 
 
 " Empty coffers give but an Ul 
 sound." — Advice to Villiers (1616). 
 
 367 
 
 MAN WITHOUT REASON OR 
 
 "Poor Ophelia, 
 Divided from herself and her fair 
 
 judgment, 
 Without the which we are pic- 
 tures." 
 
 Hamlet, iv. 5 (1604). 
 
 JUDGMENT, A PICTURE 
 
 " Except they be animated with 
 the spirit of reason, to fall in love 
 with them is all one as to fall in 
 love with a picture." — Advance'- 
 ment of Learning (1603-5). 
 
PARALLELISMS 193 
 
 Man without judgment is a picture. — Shakespeare. 
 Man without reason is a picture. — Bacon. 
 
 368 
 
 COWARDS AND DEATH 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Cowards die many times before " He that lives in fear doth die 
 their deaths ; continually." — Letter to Rutland 
 
 The valiant never taste of death (1596). 
 but once.'' 
 
 Julius Ccesar, ii. 2 (1623). 
 
 369 
 FEAE OP DEATH 
 
 " The sense of death is most " The expectation [of death] 
 in apprehension." — Measure for brings terror, and that exceeds the 
 Measure, iii. 1 (1623). evU." — Essay of Death (posthu- 
 
 mous). 
 
 370 
 
 LOSS OP EEPTTTATION 
 
 " Had I but died an hour before " Who can see worse days than 
 this chance, he that, yet living, doth follow at 
 
 I had lived a blessed time ; for, the funerals of Ms own reputa- 
 from this instant, tion ? " — Ibid. 
 
 There 's nothing serious in mortal- 
 ity ; 
 
 All is but toys ; renown and grace 
 is dead." 
 
 Macbeth, ii. 3 (1623). 
 
 371 
 
 NATUKE's ACCOUNT 
 
 "She [Nature] may detain, but not "Men should frequently call 
 
 still keep, her treasure ; upon Nature to render her ac- 
 
 Her audit, though delay'd, an- count. — Cogitationes de Natura 
 
 Bwer'd must be." Rerum (c. 1603). 
 
 Sonnet 126 (1609). 
 
 13 
 
194 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 372 
 GOOD AND EVIL COMPAEATIVE 
 
 Lear. 
 Kent. 
 Lear. 
 Kent. 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " That which is good to he rid 
 of, is evil ; that which is evil to be 
 rid of, is good. 
 
 " The reprehension of this color 
 is, that the good or evil which is 
 removed may be esteemed good or 
 evil comparatively." — Colors of 
 Good and Evil (1597). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 "Kent. Here is the place, my 
 
 lord ; good my lord, enter. 
 The tyranny of the open night's 
 
 too rough 
 For nature to endure. 
 
 [Storm still. 
 Let me alone. 
 Good my lord, enter here. 
 Wilt break my heart 1 
 I 'd rather break my own. 
 Good my lord, enter. 
 Lear. Thou think'st 't is much 
 
 that this contentious storm 
 Invades us to the skin ; so 't is to 
 
 thee; 
 But where the greater malady is 
 
 fixed, 
 The lesser is scarce felt. Thou'dst 
 
 shun a bear ; 
 But if thy flight lay toward the 
 
 roaring sea. 
 Thou 'dst meet the bear i' the 
 mouth." 
 
 King Lear, iii. 4 (1608). 
 
 In the second edition of the ' Advancement,' Bacon ex- 
 plains more fully the principle underlying these passages. 
 He says: 
 
 " When a good thing is taken away, it is not always succeeded 
 by a bad thing, but sometimes by a greater good ; as when the 
 flower falls and the fruit succeeds. Neither when a had thing is 
 taken away, is it always succeeded hy a good thing, hut sometimes 
 hy a worse. For by the removal of his enemy Claudius, Milo lost 
 the 'seed-bed of his glory.' " 
 
 This explains, also, Shake-speare's reference to the " bear " 
 and the " sea " in ' King Lear ; ' that is, a bad thing succeeded 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 195 
 
 by a worse. Mr. Wigston, to whose critical acumen we are 
 indebted for this parallelism, very justly assumes that " these 
 philosophical subtleties of thought are too deep, too rare, 
 to be the product of two separate and contemporary minds." 
 
 373 
 
 NATUKB FURNISHING MODELS FOE HUMAN SOCIETY 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Gardener. Go, bind thou up yon 
 dangling apricocks. 
 
 Which, like unruly chUdren, make 
 their sire 
 
 Stoop with oppression of their prod- 
 igal weight ; 
 
 Give some supportance to the bend- 
 ing of the twigs. 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Taking the fundamental laws 
 of nature, with the branches and 
 passages of them, as an original 
 and first model, whence to take 
 and describe a copy and imitation 
 for government." — On Union of 
 England and Scotland (1603). 
 
 You thus employ'd, I will go root 
 
 away 
 The noisome weeds, that without 
 
 profit suck 
 The soil's fertility from wholesome 
 
 flowers. 
 First Servant. Why should we in 
 
 the compass of a pale 
 Keep law, and form, and due 
 
 proportion. 
 Showing, as in a model, our firm 
 
 estate, 
 When our sea-wall'd garden, the 
 
 whole land, 
 Is full of weeds, her fairest flowers 
 
 chock'd up, 
 Her fruit-trees all unprun'd, her 
 
 hedges ruin'd. 
 Her knots disorder'd, and her 
 
 wholesome herbs 
 Swarming with caterpillars." 
 King Richard II., iii. 4 (1597). 
 
 Bacon was very fond of working out analogies between 
 nature, animate and inanimate, and human society. He 
 
196 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 found one in tlie harmony of musical chords ; another, 
 in a bee-hive; and here we have a third (first pointed 
 out by Mr. J. E. Koe) in a garden. All three are in 
 Shake-speare. 
 
 374 
 
 AND ENVY 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Those are most subject to 
 envy which cany the greatness 
 of their fortunes in an insolent 
 and proud manner." — Essay of 
 Envy (1625). 
 
 " When envy is gotten once into 
 a state, it tradueeth even the best 
 actions thereof and turneth them 
 into an ill odor." — Ibid. 
 
 " Public envy is an ostracism."— 
 Ibid. 
 
 PRIDE 
 
 From Shake-speare 
 " Sicinius. Was ever man so proud 
 
 as is this Martius 1 
 Brutus. He has no ec[ual. 
 
 Coriolanus. I would they were 
 
 barbarians, as they are. 
 Though in Borne litter'd, not 
 
 Romans, as they are not, 
 Though calved i' the porch 0' the 
 
 Capitol. 
 Behold! these are the tribunes of 
 
 the people, 
 The tongues o' the common mouth ; 
 
 I do despise them. 
 
 Brutus. Charge him home, that 
 
 he affects 
 Tyrannical power ; if he evades us 
 
 there, 
 Enforce him with hie envy to the 
 
 people, 
 And that the spoU, got on the 
 
 Antiates, 
 Was ne'er distributed. 
 
 In the name o' the people, 
 
 And in the power of us the trib- 
 unes, we, 
 
 Even from this instant, banish him 
 our city." 
 Coriolanus, ii. and iii. (1623). 
 
 Coriolanus in the play was both proud and insolent; 
 hence the three results mentioned by Bacon as inevitable 
 under such circumstances: 
 
PARALLELISMS 197 
 
 1. He excited public envy. 
 
 2. He was therefore slandered without cause, accused of 
 misappropriating the spoils of war and of seeking to over- 
 throw the liberties of the people. 
 
 3. He was ostracized. 
 
 With enviable keenness of vision, Mr. Wigston sees the 
 following additional points of resemblance between Shake- 
 speare and Bacon in the treatment of pride and envy : 
 
 COHCEAXMENT 
 
 Shakespeare : 
 
 " Volumnia. I would dissemble with my nature where 
 
 My fortunes and my friends at stake required. 
 • •••••«• 
 
 You might have been enough the man you are 
 With striving less to be so ; lesser had been 
 The thwartings of your dispositions, if 
 You had not show'd them how ye were dispos'd, 
 Ere they lack'd power to cross you." 
 
 CoriolantM. 
 
 Bacon .- 
 
 " Pride wants the best condition of vice, that is, concealment." — De 
 Augmentis. 
 
 DISEASE 
 
 Shake-speare : 
 
 " Sicinius. He 's a disease that must be cut away. 
 Brutus. Pursue hitn to his house, and pluck him there, 
 Lest his infection, being of catching nature, 
 
 Spread further." 
 
 Coriolanus. 
 Bacon : 
 
 " It is a disease in a state like to infection. For as infection spreadeth 
 upon that which is sound and tainteth it, so when envy is gotten once 
 into a state, it traduceth even the best actions thereof." — Essay of 
 Envy. 
 
 jmaO AND HERCULES 
 
 Shake-speare : 
 
 " Volumnia. Leave this faint puling, and lament as I do. 
 
 In anger, Juno-like. . . . 
 
 My boy Marcius approaches ; for the love of Juno, let 's go. 
 
198 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Cominius. He [Coriolanus] will shake 
 
 Your Borne about your ears. 
 Menenius. Aa Hercules 
 
 Did shake down mellow fruit." 
 
 Coriolanus. 
 Bacon : 
 
 " Envy puts virtues to laborious tasks, as Juno did Hercules.'' — De 
 Augmeniis. 
 
 ONE VICE EXPELLIKG- ANOTHER 
 Shakespeare : 
 
 " Power, unto itself most commendable, 
 Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair 
 To extol what it has done. 
 One fire drives out one fire, one nail one nail ; 
 Rights by rights falter, strengths by strengths do fail." 
 
 Coriolanus. 
 Bacon : 
 
 " Pride is, even with vices, incompatible. As poison is expelled by 
 poison, so are many vices by pride." — De Augmentis. 
 
 WITCHCRAFT 
 
 Shakespeare : 
 
 " I do not know what witchcraft 's in him, but 
 Your soldiers use him as the grace 'fore meat. 
 Their talk at table, and their thanks at end." 
 
 Coriolanus. 
 " I will counterfeit the bewitchment of some popular man." — Ibid. 
 
 Bacon : 
 
 " There be none of the affections which have been noted to fascinate 
 or bewitch but love and envy." — Essay of Envy. 
 
 THE COMMON PEOPLE 
 Shakespeare : 
 
 " Volumnia, 'T was you incens'd the rabble 1 
 
 Cats, that can judge as fitly of his worth 
 As I can of those mysteries which heaven 
 Will not have earth to know." 
 
 Coriolanus. 
 Bacon : 
 
 "The lowest virtues are praised by the common people ; the middle 
 are admired ; but of the highest they have no sense or perception." — 
 De Augmentis, 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 199 
 
 FLATTERY 
 Shakespeare : 
 
 " Menenius. His nature is too noble for the world ; 
 
 He would not flatter Neptune for his trident, 
 Or Jove for 's power to thunder. 
 
 Men. 
 
 Calmly, I beseech you. 
 Ay, as an ostler." 
 
 Coriolanus, 
 
 Bacon : 
 
 " Flattery is the style of slaves, the refuse of vices. The lowest of 
 all flatteries is the flattery of the common people." — De Augmentis, 
 
 Shakespeare : 
 " Coriolanus. 
 
 Bacon : 
 
 PRIDE AND MISrOETUNE 
 
 Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death. 
 Vagabond exile, flaying, pent to linger 
 With but a grain a day, I would not buy 
 Their mercy at the price of one fair word. 
 
 Coriolanus. 
 
 "The proud man, while he despises others, neglects himself." — De 
 Augmentis. 
 
 Mr. Wigston adds the following excellent criticism : 
 
 " The play of ' Coriolanus ' should be studied in relationship to 
 the character of Julius Caesar, as depicted in the play of that 
 name. In these plays we are presented with two noble Bomans, 
 who are successful soldiers, and who attain to the highest martial 
 honors. But whilst Julius C»sar is represented as a brave man, 
 he is also presented as a profound dissembler ; in short, a master 
 of those arts which seek and attain popularity by means of con- 
 cealing the inner man. Caesar is painted as feeling just the same 
 sort of contempt for the Roman common people as Coriolanus feels; 
 but with the great difference, that while the former conceals his 
 contempt, the latter reveals it, and revels in unbosoming himself 
 of his scorn. Both of these characters are victims of envy ; both 
 meet with a violent and tragic end." 
 
200 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 375 
 
 DTSPEPSIA 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 "Adriana. This week he hath been 
 
 heavy, sour, sad. 
 And much different from the man 
 
 he was. 
 Abbess. Unquiet meals make ill 
 
 digestions ; 
 
 . . . What doth ensue 
 But moody and dull melancholy, 
 Kinsman to grim and comfortless 
 
 despair, 
 And at their heels a huge infectious 
 
 troop 
 Of pale distemperatures and foes to 
 
 life?" 
 Comedy of Errors, V. 1 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " I have found now twice upon 
 amendment of my fortune dis- 
 position to melancholy and dis- 
 taste, specially the same happening 
 against the long vacation when 
 company failed and business both ; 
 for upon my Solicitor's place I 
 grew indisposed and inclined to 
 superstition. Now upon Mill's 
 place I find a relapse unto my old 
 symptom, as I was wont to have it 
 many years ago, as after sleeps, 
 strife at meats, strangeness, clouds, 
 etc." — Private Memoranda (1608). 
 
 The symptoms of disease given by the Abbess ia the play 
 axe those of dyspepsia, — a malady with which Bacon was 
 afflicted all his life, or until he became the victim of gout. 
 " Unquiet meals," or " strife at meats," are mentioned as one 
 of the causes of it, in both cases. 
 
 376 
 
 SINON, THE PROTOTYPE OP DECEIT 
 
 "'It cannot be,' quoth she, 'that 
 
 so much guile ' — 
 She would have said — 'can lurk 
 
 in such a look.' 
 But Tarquin's shape came in her 
 
 mind the while, 
 And from her tongue 'can lurk' 
 
 from ' cannot ' took. 
 'It cannot be,' she in that sense 
 
 forsook, 
 And tum'd it thus, ' it cannot be, 
 
 I find, 
 But such a face should bear a 
 
 wicked mind ; 
 
 " There is no man but will be 
 a little more raised by hearing it 
 said, ' Your enemies will be glad 
 of this' — Hoc lihacus velit, et 
 magno mercentur Atridoe — than 
 by hearing it said only, 'This is 
 evil for you.' " — Advancement of 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
PARALLELISMS loi 
 
 For even as subtle Sinon here is 
 
 painted. 
 So sober-sad, so weary, and so 
 
 mild, 
 As if with grief or travail he had 
 
 fainted, 
 To me came Tarquin arm'd; so 
 
 beguil'd 
 With outward honesty, but yet 
 
 defil'd 
 With inward vice ; as Priam him 
 
 did cherish. 
 So did I Tarquin ; so my Troy did 
 
 perish.' " 
 
 Lucrece (1594). 
 
 Lucrece illustrates the deceitfulness of Tarquin by citing 
 the case of Sinon, who under false pretences secured the 
 admission of the wooden horse into Troy. Bacon illustrates 
 his definition of a sophism by quoting from Virgil a line of 
 Sinon's speech made to the Trojans on that occasion ; that is 
 to say, Shake-speare and Bacon both chose the same classical 
 character as the prototype of deceit. 
 
 377 
 
 WARS AND TEMPESTS 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " This battle fares like to the morn- " Shepherds of people had need 
 
 ing's war, know the calendars of tempests of 
 
 When dying clouds contend with states ; which are commonly 
 
 growing light. greatest when things grow to 
 
 equality ; as natural tempests are 
 
 Now it sways this way, like a greatest about the Equinoctia." — 
 
 mighty sea ; Essay of Seditions and Troubles 
 
 Now one the better, then another (1607-12). 
 
 best; 
 Both tugging to be victors, breast 
 
 to breast. 
 Yet neither conqueror, nor con- 
 
 quer'd ; 
 So is the equal poise of this fell war." 
 S Henry VI., ii, 5 (1623). 
 
202 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Shake-speare compares a war in which the contending 
 forces are of equal strength and varying fortune with the 
 straggle between the powers of light and darkness at break 
 of day. At such a moment day and night are at an equi- 
 poise. Bacon, having the same phenomena in mind, says 
 that tempests are greatest at the time of the equinox, for 
 then day and night are equal in length and also (inferen- 
 tiaUy) in power. Both authors apply this theory to civil 
 wars. 
 
 378 
 
 CIVIL WAK, A FEVER 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " We are all diseas'd, " A civil war is as the heat of a 
 And ■with our surfeiting and fever." — Essay of the Greatness 
 
 wanton hours, of Kingdoms (1612). 
 
 Have brought ourselves into a 
 burning fever." 
 
 a Henry IV., iv. 1 (1623). 
 
 Bacon made a distinction in the use of imagery between a 
 foreign war and a civil war. The former he hkened to the 
 heat of exercise ; the latter, to the heat of a fever. In the 
 above passage from ' Henry IV.,' Shake-speare is treating of 
 the civil war under Eichard II., and in strict accordance with 
 Bacon's usage, he calls it a fever. 
 
 379 
 
 BANKS AND DEGREES IN STATES 
 
 " Degree being vizarded, "Nothing doth derogate from the 
 
 The unworthiest shows as fairly in dignity of a state more than con- 
 
 the mask. fusion of degrees." — Advancement 
 
 The heavens themselves, the of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 planets, and this centre 
 Observe degree. . . . O ! when 
 
 degree is shaked, 
 Which is the ladder to all high 
 
 designs. 
 The enterprise is sick. How could 
 
 communities, 
 
PARALLELISMS 203 
 
 Degrees in schools, and brother- 
 hoods in cities, 
 Peaceful commerce from dividable 
 
 The primogenitive and due of 
 birth, 
 
 Prerogative of age, crowns, scep- 
 tres, laurels. 
 
 But by degree, stand in authentic 
 place 1 
 
 Take but degree away, untune that 
 string, 
 
 And, hark I what discord follows ! " 
 Troilus and Cressida, i. 3 (1609). 
 
 In the second edition of the ' Advancement,' Bacon, who 
 was a nobleman and who had a contempt for the political 
 abilities of the commonalty, inserted the word " ranks " in 
 the sentence quoted above, so as to make his meaning still 
 clearer. It reads there : 
 
 " Nothing derogates from the dignity of a state more than con- 
 fusion of ranks and degrees." 
 
 Mr. E. S. Alderson, an excellent critic, to whom we are 
 indebted for this and the next following parallelisms, says : 
 
 " The political wisdom and insight displayed in ' Troilus and 
 Cressida ' have been a standing puzzle to all writers on Shakespeare. 
 How came he so well versed in state mysteries and policies 1 . . . 
 Bacon had been brought up among statesmen. At the age of seven- 
 teen he formed one of the suite of Sir Amyas Paulet, the Ambas- 
 sador to the French Court, and before he was nineteen had begun 
 the study of European politics, so that, by the time the plays were 
 written, the ways and policies of kings and states were quite famil- 
 iar to him. How they became so to Shakspere we can find no 
 
 clue." 
 
 380 
 
 YOUTH AND OLD AGE 
 
 "Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care ; 
 Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather; 
 
204 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare ; 
 Youth is full of sport, age's breath is short ; 
 
 Youth is nimble, age is lame ; 
 Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold ; 
 
 Youth is wild, and age is tame. 
 Age, I do abhor thee ; youth, I adore thee." 
 
 Shakespeare's Passionate Pilgrim (1599). 
 
 "A young man's skin is even and smooth, an old man's dry and 
 wrinkled ; 
 
 A young man's flesh is soft and tender, an old man's hard ; 
 
 Youth has strength and activity, old age decay of strength and slow- 
 ness of motion ; 
 
 Youth has a strong, old age a weak digestion ; 
 
 In youth the body is erect, in old age bent into a curve ; 
 
 A young man's limbs are firm, an old man's weak and trembling ; 
 
 In youth the juices of the body are more roscid, in old age more crude 
 and watery; 
 
 In youth the spirit is plentiful, in old age poor and scanty ; 
 
 In youth the senses are quick, in old age duU ; 
 
 A young man's teeth are strong, an old man's worn ; 
 
 A young man's hair is colored, an old man's white ; 
 
 Youth has hair, an old man is bald ; 
 
 In youth the pulse beats strong, in old age weak ; 
 
 In youth wounds heal fast, in old age slowly ; 
 
 A young man's cheeks are fresh-colored, an old man's pale." 
 
 Bacon's History of Life and Death [compressed], 1623. 
 
 Besides an elaborate contrast (of which we have given 
 above a part only) between youth and old age in respect of 
 the body. Bacon made another, equally elaborate, between 
 them in respect of the mind. The two occupy several pages 
 in the printed edition of his works. 
 
 381 
 
 MAEK ANTHONY AND LOVE 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Look ! where they come. " You may observe that amongst 
 
 [Enter Anthony and Cleopatra, all the great and worthy persons 
 
 Take but good note, and you shall (whereof the memory remaiaetb, 
 
 see in him ancient or modem) there is not 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 205 
 
 The triple pillar of the world trans- 
 
 form'd 
 Into a strumpet's fool." 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, i. 1 (1623). 
 
 one that hath been transported to 
 the mad degree of love ; which 
 shows that great spirits and great 
 business do keep out this weak 
 passion. You must except, never- 
 theless, Mark Anthony, the half 
 partner of the Empire of Rome ! " 
 — Essay of Love (1612). 
 
 " Nothing is more certain," says Mr. Wigston, " than that 
 the play of ' Anthony and Cleopatra ' was composed with an 
 entirely ethical purpose of portraying the calamities and 
 disasters that accompany inordinate and irregular love." 
 
 382 
 MONEY MAKES MATRIMONY 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 "Why, give him gold enough, 
 and marry him to a puppet, or an 
 aglet-baby ; or an old trot with 
 ne'er a tooth in her head, though 
 she have as many diseases as two 
 and fifty horses ; why, nothing 
 comes amiss, so money comes 
 withal." — Taming of the Shrew, i. 
 2 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Money makes matrimony." - 
 Promus (1594-96). 
 
 383 
 c^sab's stab 
 
 "A far more glorious star thy 
 
 soul will make 
 Than Julius Caesar's." 
 
 1 Henry VI., i. 1 (1623). 
 
 " This work, which is for the 
 bettering of men's bread and wine, 
 I hope by God's holy providence 
 will be ripened by Csesar'a star." 
 Letter to the King (1620). 
 
 A brilliant comet, which is said to have made its appear- 
 ance at the time of Julius Caesar's death, was in popular 
 belief the soul of Caesar himself, received up into heaven. 
 Virgil (Eclog. 9. 46) calls this comet " Caesar's Star." Bacon 
 and Shake-speare both refer to it under the same name, the 
 former hoping that its influence on the great work, Novum, 
 
2o6 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Organum, would be favorable, and the latter declaring that 
 
 at Henry the Fifth's death the English warrior's star would 
 
 be even more glorious than was Caesar's. Bacon quoted 
 
 Virgil's lines. 
 
 384 
 
 WINNOWING WITH A FAN 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " 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." 
 
 From Bacon 
 "Your Majesty wiU discern 
 what things are intermingled, like 
 the tares amongst the wheat, as 
 the one cannot be pulled up with- 
 out endangering the other; and 
 what are mingled but as the chafF 
 and the com, which need but a 
 fan to sift and sever them." — 
 Pacification of the Church (1603), 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, i. 3 (1609). 
 See Donnelly's ' The Great Cryptogram,' p. 368. 
 
 385 
 SUPPRESSED ANGEE 
 
 " Give sorrow words ; the grief 
 
 that wiU not speak. 
 Whispers the o'erfraught heart 
 
 and bids it break." 
 
 Macbeth, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
 " Suppressed anger is likewise 
 a kind of vexation, and makes the 
 spirit to prey upon the juices of 
 the body. But anger indulged 
 and let loose is beneficial." — 
 History of Life and Death (1623). 
 
 ' The Great Cryptogram,' p. 372. 
 
 386 
 
 MIND, A MIEROE HELD UP TO NATURE 
 
 "To hold, as 'twere, the mirror 
 up to nature." 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 2 (1604). 
 
 " God hath framed the mind of 
 man as a glass capable of the image 
 of the universal world." — Of the 
 Interpretation of Nature (c. 1603). 
 
 " The mind of a wise man is 
 compared to a glass wherein images 
 of aU kinds in nature and custom 
 are represented. " — Advancement 
 of Learning (1603-5). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 207 
 
 Bacon explained the existence of error in the world as an 
 imperfection in the mind as a glass, "which" (he says), "re- 
 ceiving rays irregularly, distorts and discolors the nature of 
 things" (^Novum Organum). On one occasion he even 
 reversed the imagery, calling Nature herself a "mirror 
 (^sjaeculum) of art." 
 
 387 
 SILENCE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Be cheok'd for silence, 
 But never tas'd for speech." 
 
 All 's Well, i. 1 (1623). 
 " Give every man thine ear, but 
 few thy voice." 
 
 Hamlet, i. 3 (1604). 
 " Men of few words are the best 
 men." 
 King Henry V., iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 "Silence gives to words both 
 grace and authority." 
 
 " Silence is the sleep that nour- 
 ishes wisdom." 
 
 " SUence aspires after truth." 
 De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 388 
 
 BROKEN MUSIC 
 
 " All concords and discords of 
 music may be aptly called the 
 sympathies and antipathies of 
 sounds; so in that music termed 
 Broken or Consort Music." — 
 Natural History (1622-25). 
 
 " Is there any else longs to see this 
 broken music in his sides V " 
 As You Like It, i. 2 (1623). 
 "Come, your answer in broken 
 music." 
 
 Henry V., v. 2 (1623). 
 " Fair prince, here is good broken 
 
 music." 
 Troilus and Cressida, iii. 1 (1609). 
 
 Of all writers on music known to us, Mr. Chappel is the 
 only one who has undertaken to explain what was meant in 
 Bacon's time by "broken music." He defined it, in his 
 ' Popular Music of the Olden Time,' as the " music of wind 
 instruments," but subsequently intimated, in a private letter 
 to Mr. Aldis A. "Wright, that on further consideration he had 
 discarded that opinion and adopted another, the latter, 
 however (as it appears to us), still less tenable. It is a pity 
 
2o8 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 he did not consult Bacon, perhaps the best authority of that 
 age on the musical art ; for if he had, he would have found 
 no mystery in the phrase. The author of the Plays was so 
 familiar with the expression that he made a pun on it in 
 ' Henry V.' 
 
 " King Henry. Come, your answer in broken music ; for thy 
 voice is music, and thy English broken ; therefore, queen of aU, 
 Katharine, break thy mind to me in broken English : wilt thou 
 have me ? " — v. 2. 
 
 389 
 
 BUBNING GLASSES 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " He loves to hear " I beard it affirmed by a man 
 
 That unicorns may be betray'd that was a great dealer in secrets, 
 
 with trees, but be was but vain, that there 
 
 And bears vnth glasses, elephants was a conspiracy (which himself 
 
 with boles, hindered) to have killed Queen 
 
 Lions with toils, and men with Mary, sister to EHzabeth, by a 
 
 flatterers." burning glass, when she walked in 
 
 Julius Coesar, ii. 1 (1623). St. James Park, from the leads of 
 
 the house ; (as they talk generally 
 
 of burning glasses that are able to 
 
 bum a navy.)" — Natural History 
 
 (1622-25). 
 
 390 
 COUNCIL AND COUNSEL 
 
 "The council shall know this; "Besides the giving of counsel, 
 't were better for you it were known the councillors are bound by their 
 in counsel." — Merry Wives of duties, as well as by their oaths, 
 Windsor i. 1 (1602). to keep counsel." — ^rfuiee to Vil- 
 
 liers (1616). 
 
 From the beginning until late in the seventeenth century, 
 and in a few instances, even in the eighteenth, these two words, 
 council and counsel, were used interchangeably in our lan- 
 guage. For examples: council (council-board) was written 
 counsel by Marbeck in 1581 ; by Sir E. WilKams in 1590 ; by 
 
PARALLELISMS 209 
 
 Captain John Smith in 1606 ; by Cotgrave in 1611 ; and by 
 the ' London Gazette ' in 1697. In like manner the word coun- 
 sel (advice) was written council by Wyclif in 1380 ; by Mal- 
 lory in 1470 ; by Caxton in 1474 ; by Coverdale in 1535 ; by 
 Udall in 1548 ; by Heywood in 1562 ; by Ford in 1633 ; by 
 Perkins in 1642 ; by Ward in 1647 ; by Nicholas in 1654 ; by 
 Steele in 1709 ; and by Gibber in 1739. On the other hand, 
 the author of the Plays used the word council 42 times, and 
 counsel 180 times without confusing them in a single in- 
 stance. He even makes a pun on them (as above) in the 
 'Merry Wives of Windsor.' Bacon, though proverbially 
 careless in matters of detail, observed this distinction with 
 great care in his prose writings, except in one or two 
 instances in wliich he is supposed to have employed 
 amanuenses. 
 
 391 
 THE SULTAN SLATING HIS BROTHERS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Brothers, you mix your sadness " Aristotle, after the Ottoman 
 with some fear. fashion, felt insecure about his own 
 
 This is the English, not the Turk- kingdom of philosophy till he had 
 ish court ; slain his brethren." — De Princip- 
 
 Not Amurath an Amurath sue- Us atque Originibus (posthumous), 
 ceeds, 
 
 But Harry, Harry." 
 
 S Henry IV., Y. 2(1600). 
 
 ' The Great Cryptogram,' p. 405. 
 
 392 
 REPUGNANCE TO MAKING WILLS 
 
 " I ne'er made my wUl yet, I " Men commonly die intestate ; 
 thank heaven ; I am not such a this being a rule, that when their 
 sickly creature. " — Merry Wives will is made, they think themselves 
 of Windsor, iii. 4 (1623). nearer a grave than before." — Es- 
 
 say of Death (posthumous). 
 
 ' The Great Cryptogram,' p. 395. 
 
 14 
 
2IO BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 393 
 PLUTO AND PLUTUS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Dearer than Pluto's mine, richer "Pluto was better to him than 
 than gold." VaWas." —History of Henry VII. 
 
 Julius Ccesar, iv. 3 (1623). (1621). 
 " Plutus, the god of gold, 
 Is but his steward." 
 
 Timon of Athens, i. 1 (1623). 
 
 Both authors carefully distinguished between Pluto, god of 
 mines, and Plutus, god of gold. Bacon certaiuly could not 
 have made a mistake of this kind, for he probably was the 
 most thorough student of ancient mythology that ever lived. 
 He expounded some of the prominent myths of Greece and 
 Eome in a book entitled Be Sapientid Veterum and pubhshed 
 in 1609. In the passage from his 'History of Henry VII.,' 
 quoted above, he means that King Ferdinand of Spain was 
 more fortunate, after the death of Isabella, as owner of mines 
 than as civil governor. It is, to say the least, remarkable 
 that classical scholars, editing the drama of Julius Csesar, 
 should have changed the name of the god from Pluto, as it 
 was plainly printed in the folios, to Plutus, on the ground 
 that Shake-speare had blundered. Mrs. C. F. A. Windle, of 
 San Francisco, was the first to point out this singular mis- 
 conception. 
 
 394 
 
 A MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS 
 
 " Falsiaff. Sirrah, you giant, " These advertisements which 
 
 what says the doctor to my water ? your lordship imparted to me, and 
 Page. He said, sir, the water it- the like, I hold to be no more cer- 
 self was a good healthy water ; but tain to make judgment upon than 
 for the party that ow'd it, he might a patient's water to a physician ; 
 have more diseases than he knew therefore for me upon one water to 
 for." — 3 Henry IV., i. 2 (1600). make a judgment were, indeed, 
 
 like a foolish bold mountebank or 
 Doctor Birket." — Letter to Essex 
 (1598). 
 
PARALLELISMS 1 1 1 
 
 395 
 A fool's bolt 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " A fool's bolt is soon shot." " I will shoot my fool's bolt." 
 
 Henry V., iii. 7 (1623). Letter of Advice to Essex (1598). 
 
 " According to the fool's bolt, sir." " A fool's bolt is soon shot." 
 
 As You Like It, v. 4 (1623). Promus (1594-96). 
 
 396 
 HARPING ON A STRING 
 "Harp not on that string, madam." "This string you cannot upon 
 
 Richard III., iv. 4 (1597). every apt occasion harp upon too 
 
 much." — Ibid. 
 
 397 
 CAMBRIDGE UNIVEKSITT 
 
 " Knock at his study, where (they " I remember in Trinity College 
 
 say) he keeps." in Cambridge there was an upper 
 
 Titus Andronicus, v. 2 (1600). chamber, which, being thought 
 
 weak in the roof of it, was sup- 
 ported by a pillar of iron of the 
 bigness of one's arm, in the midst 
 of the chamber ; which if you had 
 struck, it would make a little flat 
 noise in the room where it was 
 struck, but it would make a great 
 bomb in the chamber beneath." — 
 Natural History (1622-25). 
 
 Bacon was educated at Cambridge University ; so also, we 
 have good reason to believe, was the author of the Plays. 
 Under the latter head, we make the following points : 
 
 1. In a book printed at Cambridge and published anony- 
 mously in 1595, the author (that is, the true author) of 
 ' Venus and Adonis ' is said to have been matriculated 
 at Cambridge, Oxford, or at one of the Inns of Court in 
 London.^ 
 
 1 See ' Bacon vs. Shakspere, ' 8th ed. 
 
212 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 2. The author of the ' Merry Wives of Windsor ' held up 
 to ridicule a notorious character attached to a college at 
 Cambridge.^ 
 
 3. The author of ' Titus Andronicus ' was familiar (as 
 shown above) with a dialectical expression peculiar to Cam- 
 bridge University .2 
 
 398 
 
 SEEDS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " If you can look into the seeds of 
 
 time 
 And say which grain will grow 
 
 and which will not, 
 Speak then to me.'' 
 
 Macbeth, i. 3 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Skilful gardeners make trial of 
 the seeds before they buy them, 
 whether they be good or no." — 
 Natural History (1622-25). 
 
 399 
 
 " Why write I stiH aU one, ever 
 
 the same. 
 And keep invention in a noted 
 
 weed. 
 That every word doth almost tell 
 
 my name 1 " 
 
 Sonnet 76 (1609). 
 "Julia. Gentle Lucetta, fit me 
 
 with such weeds 
 As may beseem some well-reputed 
 
 page." 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 7 
 
 (1623). 
 " Cordelia. Be better suited ; 
 These weeds are memories of those 
 
 worser hours ; 
 I prithee, put them off. 
 
 Kent. Pardon me, dear madam ; 
 Yet to be known, shortens my 
 
 made intent ; 
 
 " The King was forced to put 
 himself into a pilgrim's weeds and 
 in that disguise to steal away.'' — 
 Speech at Trial of Essex (1601). 
 
 " This fellow . . . clad himself 
 like a hermit, and in that weed 
 wandered about the country, till 
 he was discovered and taken." — 
 History of Henry VII. (1621). 
 
 1 See ' Francis Bacon Our Shake-speare,' p. 43. 
 "^ See ' Bacon vs. Shakspere,' 8th ed. 
 
PARALLELISMS 213 
 
 My boon I make it that you know 
 
 me not 
 Till time and I think meet." 
 
 King Lear, iv. 7 (1608). 
 
 The word weed, in the sense in which it is used in the 
 above passages on either side, means garment, but a garment 
 such as one wears to express condition of some sort. Shake- 
 speare makes use of it over and over again in this signifi- 
 cation, as the following examples will show : 
 
 To express bereavement : 
 
 " My mourning weeds are laid aside." — 8 Henry VI. 
 " My mourning weeds are done." — Ihid. 
 " Victorious in thy mourning weeds." — Titus Andronicus. 
 " Mournful weeds." — Ihid. 
 
 It wiU be observed that in ' King Lear ' Cordelia asks 
 Kent to change his garments (weeds) because the circum- 
 stances of the wearer had changed. 
 
 To express humility : 
 
 " With a proud heart he wore 
 His humble weeds." — Coriolanus. 
 " With contempt he wore the humble weed." — Ihid. 
 
 This was the '' gown of humility," put on by candidates 
 for office in Rome. 
 
 To express sex : 
 
 " Where lie my maiden weeds." — Twelfth Night. 
 " In thy woman's weeds." — Ihid. 
 
 To express nationality : 
 
 " Weeds of Athens he doth wear." — A Midsummer-Night's Dream, 
 "I 'U disrobe me of these Italian weeds." — Cymheline. 
 
 To express servitude : 
 
 " Away with slavish weeds, and servile thoughts ! 
 I will be bright, and shine in pearl and gold, 
 To wait upon this new-made empress." — Titus Andronicus. 
 
214 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 To express official character : 
 
 " Were they but attir'd in grave weeds, 
 Rome could afford no tribune like to these." — Titus Andronicus. 
 
 To express peace (in the garb of a citizen, as distinguished 
 from a soldier's uniform) : 
 
 " Hector in his weeds of peace." — Troilus and Cressida. 
 
 In character of a flower-girl, symbolic of spring : 
 " Florizel. These, your unusual weeds, to each part of you 
 Do give a life ; no shepherdess, but Flora, 
 Peering in April's front." — Twelfth Night. 
 
 It is to its use by both authors to signify a disguise (as 
 shown in our paraUelism), however, that we wish to call the 
 particular attention of our readers. In Sonnet 76 the word 
 unquestionably is so used ; for, notwithstanding the fact that 
 these sonnets had been in private circulation for years, and 
 were openly published in 1609, as Shakespeare's, the writer 
 confessed in the stanza quoted that every word did almost 
 tell his name. The true name of the author must, therefore, 
 have been concealed. 
 
 This inference is greatly strengthened by a confession in 
 one of Bacon's prayers ; a prayer composed by him on the 
 occasion of his downfall, and said by Addison to resemble 
 the devotion of an angel rather than that of a man. The 
 confession is in these words : 
 
 " I have loved thy assemblies ; I have mourned for the divisions 
 of thy church ; I have delighted in the brightness of thy sanctu- 
 ary. This vine, which thy right hand hath planted in this nation, 
 I have ever prayed unto thee that it might have the first and the 
 latter rain ; and that it might stretch her branches to the seas and to 
 the floods. The state and bread of the poor and oppressed have been 
 precious in mine eyes ; I have hated all cruelty and hardnesWof heart ; 
 I have (though in a despised weed) procured the good of all men." 
 
 That Bacon used the word weed in this confession in the 
 sense of a disguise appears from the following considerations : 
 
PARALLELISMS 215 
 
 1. He always uses it, so far as we know, in this sense. 
 See the passages above quoted from him as parallels. 
 
 2. He characterizes the composition to which he referred, 
 whatever it was, as " despised." No term could have been 
 selected more appropriately expressing public sentiment at 
 that time on the subject of theatrical performances. Play- 
 actors were denounced by law as vagabonds ; they did not 
 dare to appear on the public streets of London without 
 protection-papers signed by some nobleman who called them 
 his servants ; otherwise they were liable to be arrested and 
 to have their ears bored with hot irons, not less (according 
 to the specific provisions of a statute) than one inch in cir- 
 cumference. The theatres themselves were the resorts of 
 the most degraded people of the city. No woman of good 
 character could visit them without wearing a mask. 
 
 3. By means of these mysterious compositions he had, as 
 he says, "procured the good of all men." Bacon, almost 
 alone among his contemporaries, viewed the drama as an 
 educational institution of high value. He recommended 
 that it be taught, both in theory and in practice, in public 
 schools. He even drafted the plan of a building for the 
 purpose, including dressing-rooms for the actors. 
 
 4. Bacon was the acknowledged author of no compositions 
 that were despised. This is proof that his authorship of those 
 described in the prayer was unacknowledged and secret. 
 
 401 
 WINE, NEEDING NO BUSH 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Good wine needs no bush." " Good wine needs no bush." — 
 
 As You Like It, Epilogue (1623). Promus (1594-96). 
 
 402 
 USELESS LIFE 
 " ' Let me not live," quoth he, " When you cannot be what you 
 
 « After my flame lacks oil.' " have been, there is no reason why 
 
 All 's Well, i. 2 (1623). you should wish to live." — Ibid. 
 
2i6 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 403 
 
 INFLUENCE OF THE MIND UPON THE BODY 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " By my body's action teach my " In what manner and how far 
 
 mind do the humors and temperaments 
 
 A most inherent baseness." of the body alter or work upon 
 
 CorioZonus, iii. 2 (1623). the mind?" — Advancement of 
 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 Bacon made a special study of physiognomy, not only to 
 show how " lineaments of the body disclose the character 
 of the mind," but also how the mind itself is affected by 
 the condition of the body. His object was, of course, to 
 gain a knowledge of physical remedies applicable to mental 
 disease. Shake-speare had made the same iuvestigation. 
 
 404 
 
 VICE BY NATURE 
 
 "What he cannot help in his "It were a strange speech 
 
 nature, which, spoken or spoken oft. 
 
 You account a vice in him ! " should cure a man of a vice to 
 
 Coriolanus, i. 1 (1623). which he is subject by nature." 
 
 405 
 
 THE NEAREST WAY, THE FOULEST 
 
 " I fear thy nature; " It is in life as it is in ways; 
 It is too fuU o' the milk of human the shortest way is commonly the 
 kindness foulest." — Advancement of Learn- 
 To catch the nearest way." ing (1603-5). 
 Macbeth, i. 5 (1623). 
 
 The " nearest way " for Macbeth was through murder ; the 
 nearest way to attaia a fortune (says Bacon) is by " dispen- 
 sations from the laws of charity and integrity." " He that 
 maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent " (' Essay of 
 Riches '). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 217 
 
 406 
 SABBATH AND SABBAOTH 
 From Shakespeare 
 ' Come the next Sabbaoth and I 
 will content you." 
 Richard III., iii. 2 (quarto 
 ed., 1597). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Sacred and inspired Divinity, 
 the Sabbaoth and port of all men's 
 labors." — Advancement of Learn- 
 ing (first ed., 1605). 
 
 " Sacred and inspired Divinity, 
 the Sabbath and port of all men's 
 labors.'' — Advancement of Learn- 
 ing (second ed., 1623). 
 
 " Come the next Sabbath and I 
 will content you." 
 
 Ibid, (folio ed., 1623).j 
 
 "By our holy Sabbaoth have I 
 
 sworn 
 To have the due and forfeit of my 
 
 bond." 
 Merchant of Venice, iv. 1 
 
 (quarto ed., 1600). 
 " By our holy Sabbath have I 
 
 sworn 
 To have the due and forfeit of 
 
 my bond." 
 
 Ibid, (folio ed., 1623).; 
 
 It will be seen that Bacon and tlie author of the Plays 
 made the same singular blunder in their earlier writings in 
 the use of the word Sahhaofh (host) for Sahbath (the 
 Hebrew day of rest). Both of them, however, subsequently 
 and (it would appear) simultaneously corrected it ; the one 
 in the second edition of the ' Advancement,' published in 
 1623, and the other in the foho editions of 'Eichard III.' 
 and the ' Merchant of Venice," pubhshed also in 1623. 
 
 The same blunder is found in Bacon's 'Confession of 
 Faith; written before 1603. 
 
 407 
 
 DISCOURSE OF REASON 
 " God ! a beast that wants dis- " Martin Luther, conducted, no 
 
 course of reason doubt, by an higher Providence, 
 
 Would have mourn'd longer ! " but in discourse of reason." — Ad- 
 
 Hamlet, i. 2 (1603). vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
2i8 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 " Ib your blood "True fortitude, which is not 
 
 So madly hot, that no discourse of given to man by nature, must grow 
 
 reason, out of discourse of reason." — Let- 
 
 No fear of bad success in a bad ter to Rutland (1596). 
 
 cause, 
 Can qualify the same 1 " 
 Troilus and Cressida, ii. 2 (1609). 
 
 The word discourse is derived from the Latin discurrere, 
 to run to and fro, that is, in mentality, from one fact or 
 consideration to another, in order that we may compare and 
 judge. It is a strict Latinism, found in the writings of Cax- 
 ton in the fifteenth, of Eden in the sixteenth, and of Florio 
 in the seventeenth centuries. 
 
 " May it not be that in the few instances where Shakespeare 
 uses the phrase in reference to the operations of the mind (I speak 
 with great hesitation ^ ) that its Latin origin was uppermost in his 
 mind ! " — Fueness' Variorum Edition of Shakespeare, vi. 268. 
 
 408 
 
 THE FALL OF MAN 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Ignorance is the curse of God." " The true end of knowledge is 
 
 Z Henry VI., iv. 7 (1623). the restitution of man to the sov- 
 ereignty and power (for whenso- 
 ever he shall be able to call the 
 creatures by their true names he 
 shall again command them) which 
 he had in his first state of crea- 
 tion." — Valerius Terminus. 
 
 Ignorance caused man's fall, says Shake-speare. 
 Knowledge wiU restore man to his first estate, says Bacon. 
 The Valerius Terminus preceded the 'Advancement of 
 Learning,' the exact date unknown. 
 
 1 The fear of the commentators lest they ascribe too much learning to the 
 author of the Plays is pitiable. The fate of Actseon is continually before 
 their eyes. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 219 
 
 409 
 ABAKDONMENT OP POETRY 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " This rough magic 
 
 I here abjure; and, when I have 
 required 
 
 Some heavenly music (which even 
 now I do) 
 
 To work mine end upon their 
 senses, that 
 
 This airy charm is for, I '11 break 
 my staff, 
 
 Bury it certain fathoms in the 
 earth. 
 
 And, deeper than did ever plum- 
 met sound, 
 
 I '11 drown my book." 
 
 Tempest, v. 1 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Poetry is as a dream of learn- 
 ing ; a thing sweet and varied, and 
 that would be thought to have in 
 it something divine ; a character 
 which dreams likewise affect. But 
 now it is time for me to awake, 
 and rising above the earth, to wing 
 my way through the clear air of 
 Philosophy and the Sciences." — 
 De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 410 
 
 LOVE AND 
 
 " ! how thy worth with manners 
 
 may I aing, 
 WTien thou art aU the better part 
 
 of me ? 
 What can mine own praise to mine 
 
 own self bring ? 
 And what is 't but mine own when 
 
 I praise thee ? 
 Even for this let us divided live 
 And our dear love lose name of 
 
 single one, 
 That by this separation I may give 
 That due to thee which thou de- 
 
 serv'st alone." 
 
 Sonnet 39 (1609). 
 
 SELF-LOVE 
 
 " The resolution of Erophilus 
 [Love] is fixed ; he renounceth 
 Philautia [Self-love] and all her 
 enchantments. For the Queen's 
 recreation, he will confer with hia 
 muse ; for her defence and honor, 
 he will sacrifice his life in the 
 wars, hoping to be embalmed in 
 the sweet odors of her remem- 
 brance ; to her service will he con- 
 secrate all his watchful endeavors ; 
 and will ever bear in his heart the 
 picture of her beauty ; in his ac- 
 tions, of her will ; and in his for- 
 tune, of her grace and favor. 
 
 So that I conclude I have traced 
 him the way to that which hath 
 been granted to some few, amare 
 et sapere, to love and be wise." — 
 Essex Device of Love and Self-love 
 (1595). 
 
220 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 In this sonnet, as indeed tliroughout the entire body of the 
 Shakespearean Sonnets, the poet is represented as a dual 
 being, himself as a man and himself as a muse, divided and 
 yet one. He even calls himself, in honest recognition of his 
 ovTn worth, the tenth muse ; and to this, the " better part " 
 of him, he gives all his love. 
 
 Bacon makes a similar distinction in the ' Essex Device ' 
 (1595). Love of the Queen and Self-love here contend for 
 the mastery. The former prevails, because only through the 
 Queen can fame, honor, and power, which are the objects of 
 Self-love, be attained. The two are thus in the last analysis 
 identical. He only who seeks the happiness of another, in 
 total abnegation of self, shall gain his own. " Whoso loseth 
 his life for my sake [in behalf of others], he shall find it." 
 
 411 
 
 CUPID AS AN INDIAN PRINCE 
 
 From. Shakespeare 
 
 " She, as her attendant, hath 
 A lovely boy, stol'n from an Indian 
 
 king; 
 She never had so sweet a change- 
 ling. 
 
 Cupid all arm'd ; a certain aim he 
 
 took 
 At a fair vestal thron'd by the 
 
 west. 
 
 I know 
 
 When thou hast stol'n away from 
 fairy land, 
 
 And in the shape of Corin sat all 
 day, 
 
 Playing on pipes of com, and vers- 
 ing love 
 
 To amorous Phillida. Why art 
 thou here ? 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " In the most retired part of that 
 division which those of Europe call 
 the West Indies, near unto the 
 fountain of the great river of the 
 Amazons, there govemeth at this 
 day a mighty monarch whose rare 
 happiness in all things else is only 
 eclipsed iu the calamity of his son, 
 this young Prince, who was born 
 blind. . . . Your majesty's sacred 
 presence hath wrought the strangest 
 innovation that ever was in the 
 world. Tou have here before you 
 Seeing Love, a Prince indeed, 
 but of greater territories than all 
 the Indies, armed after the Indian 
 manner with bow and arrows." — 
 Device of the Indian Prince (1595). 
 
PARALLELISMS 221 
 
 Come from the farthest ateppe of 
 
 India? 
 
 . the bouncing Amazon." 
 Midsummer-Night's Dream, iL. 1 
 
 (1600). 
 
 In the State Paper Office in London is preserved a docu- 
 ment in the handwriting of the end of the sixteenth, or the 
 beginning of the seventeenth century, and officially described 
 in the calendar as follows : 
 
 "A short play or interlude devised by the Earl of Essex for the 
 entertainment of the Queen. The subject is the visit of a native 
 Indian Prince from the sources of the Amazon River, who miracu- 
 lously recovers his sight." 
 
 The date of the performance is indicated in a penciled 
 memorandum as of November 17, 1595, being that of the 
 ' Essex Device,' to which we have already alluded. Mr. Hep- 
 worth Dixon in his ' Personal History of Lord Bacon ' (p. 62) 
 says that the interlude (as it is called) was a part of that 
 entertainment, and therefore the work of Bacon. It tells us 
 that a mighty monarch whose dominions were situated on 
 the Amazon had a son who was born blind, and that the 
 only resource left, after every other effort had been tried in 
 vain to give him eyesight, was to send him to England and 
 bring him into the presence of Queen Elizabeth. The oracle 
 was delivered in these words : 
 
 " Seated between the Old World and the New, 
 A land there is no other land may touch, 
 Where reigns a Queen in peace and honor true ; 
 Stories or fables do describe no such. 
 Never did Atlas such a burden bear, 
 As, in holding up the world opprest; 
 Supplying with her virtue everywhere 
 Weakness of friends, errors of servants best. 
 No nation breeds a warmer blood for war, 
 And yet she calms them by her majesty ; 
 No age hath ever wits refined so far, 
 
222 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 And yet she calms them by her policy. 
 To her thy son must make his sacrifice, 
 If he will have the morning of his eyes." 
 
 Accordingly the young Indian Prince, "blind from his 
 birth," and "armed with bow and arrows," crossed the 
 Atlantic, entered the presence of Elizabeth, and at once 
 became 'Seeing Love.' Of course he personated Cupid. 
 
 The drama of 'A Midsummer-Night's Dream' was pro- 
 duced at or about the time of the 'Device.' It was men- 
 tioned by Meres as beiag ia existence and known to the 
 public ia 1598. In it (as in the passage quoted above) we 
 have " Cupid all arm'd " comiag from the Amazon, and tak- 
 ing aim — 
 
 " At a fair vestal, thron'd in the West." 
 
 It appears that when the author's manuscript of the 
 ' Device ' was sent to the printer, the portion of it pertain- 
 ing to the Indian Prince, and the most interesting portion, 
 was for some unknown reason stricken out. It lay undis- 
 turbed among the documents of the State Paper Office two 
 hundred and fifty years. Being an early sketch, in part, 
 of a Shakespearean play, it was not permitted, with the 
 remainder of the ' Device,' to see the light.^ 
 
 412 
 NOBiLrrr of julius C2ESAr 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Your swords, made rich " Julius Csesar, the worthiest 
 
 With the most noble blood of all man that ever lived, a man of the 
 this world." greatest honor." — Essex Device, 
 
 Julius Coesar, iii. 1 (1623). (c. 1592). 
 
 1 Mr. Dixon says, without the slightest authority for the statement, that 
 the Earl of Essex struck it out on account of his enmity to Sir Walter Raleigh ; 
 but no evidence exists to show that the 'Device' had anything to do with Raleigh. 
 Spedding very properly rejects Dixon's statement, and then, unable himself to 
 offer any explanation of the curious circumstance, concludes that the legend 
 of the Indian Prince was no part of the ' Device.' In this view, however, he is 
 certainly wrong, for the character Philautia (Self-love) appears in both parts, 
 printed and unprinted, and links them together. 
 
PARALLELISMS 223 
 
 " Thou [Csesar] art the ruins of the 
 
 noblest man 
 That ever lived in the tide of 
 
 times." 
 
 Julius Cmsar, iii. 1 (1623). 
 
 413 
 MARCUS BKUTUS, C^SAE'S BASTARD SON 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 "Brutus' bastard hand "At last, when Marcus Brutus 
 Stabb'd Julius Csesar." gave him a wound, [he exclaimed] 
 
 S Henry VI., iv. 1 (1594). and thou, my son!" — Essex De- 
 vice (c. 1592). 
 
 Brutus was believed by many to be Csesar's illegitimate 
 son. Plutarch makes no mention of the alleged fact that 
 Csesar, before he fell, uttered a rebuke to Brutus. The story 
 rests upon the authority of Suetonius, a -Greek writer, who ^ ^t<.A\ 
 gives it in the words quoted by Bacon, Kal aii, tskvov. The TT fi/ -^.civ 
 
 writings of Suetonius were not translated into English at the ^ ,^ ^x 
 
 time of Shake-speare. 
 
 414 
 
 EPICURUS AND HIS REJECTION OF AUGURIES 
 
 " You know that I held Epicurus " Epicurus, accommodating and 
 
 strong, subjecting his natural to his moral 
 
 And his opinion ; now I change my philosophy (as appears from his 
 
 mind, own words), would not willingly 
 
 And partly credit things that do admit any opinion that depressed 
 
 presage. or hurt the mind, and troubled, or 
 
 Coming from Sardis, on our former disturbed that Enthumia of his, 
 
 ensign which he had adopted from Demo- 
 Two mighty eagles fell, and there critus. And so, being more fond 
 
 they perch'd, of enjoying the sweets of thought 
 
 Gorging and feeding from our than patient of the truth, he fairly 
 
 soldiers' hands, threw ofiF the yoke, and rejected 
 
 Who to Philippi here consorted us. both the necessity of Fate and the 
 
 This morning are they fled away fear of the gods." — De Augmentis 
 
 and gone, (1622). 
 And in their stead do ravens, crows 
 
 and kites 
 
 13' 
 
2 24 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Fly o'er our heads and downward 
 
 look on us, 
 As we were sickly prey." 
 
 Julius Ccesar, v. 1 (1623). 
 
 Epicurus denied the existence of Fate, and therefore 
 opposed every form of augury. His philosophy is fully 
 set forth in the writings of Diogenes Laertius, a Greek 
 writer of the third century, b. c. 
 
 415 
 RAINING ODORS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " The heavens rain odors on you 1 " " The treasure that cometh from 
 
 Twelfth Night, iii. 1 (1623). you to her Majesty is but as a vapor 
 
 which riseth from the earth and 
 gathereth into a cloud, and stayeth 
 not there long, but upon the same 
 earth it falleth again ; it is like a 
 sweet odor." — Speech in Parlia- 
 ment (1597). 
 
 The speech was on a money bill. It is so wise, so far in 
 advance of Bacon's time and even of our own, on an impor- 
 tant principle of political economy (namely, that a nation 
 prospers as its neighbors also prosper), that we take the liberty 
 to quote the full sentiment on the point given above : 
 
 " Sure I am that the treasure from you to her Majesty is but as 
 a vapor which riseth from the earth and gathereth into a cloud, and 
 stayeth not there long, but upon the same earth it falleth again ; 
 and what if some drops of this do fall upon France or Flanders ? 
 Ifc is like a sweet odor of honor and reputation to our nation 
 throughout the world." 
 
 416 
 
 STANLEY CROWNING HENET VII. ON THE FIELD OP BATTLE 
 " Stanley. Lo ! here, this long- " Sir William Stanley, after 
 
 usurped royalty some acclamations of the soldiers 
 
 From the dead temples of this in the field, put a crown of orna- 
 
 bloody wretch ment (which Kiohard wore in the 
 
PARALLELISMS 225 
 
 Have I pluck'd off, to grace thy battle and was found amongst the 
 
 brows withal; spoils) upon King Henry's head, 
 
 Wear it, enjoy it, and make much as if it were his chief title." — His- 
 
 ofit." tory of Henry VII. (1621). 
 Richard III., v. 4 (lB97). 
 
 Of the three titles to the crown open to the choice of 
 Henry VI I., after the death of Eichard on Bosworth Field, 
 that of conquest was the one, according to Bacon, which his 
 soldiers regarded as the chief ; it is the one, also, according 
 to Shake-speare, which was urged upon him by Sir William 
 Stanley and others in the moment of victory. A temporary 
 crown, taken from Eichard's head, was presented to him, as 
 per each account, as the badge of royalty. The play ends, 
 and the prose history begins, at this point. 
 
 The reign of Henry VII. is the only gap in the consecutive 
 
 series of Shake-speare's historical dramas, beginning with that 
 
 of Eichard II. (1366-1399) and extending through those of 
 
 Henry IV. (1399-1413), Henry V. (1413-1422), Henry VI. 
 
 (1422-1471), Edward IV. (1471-1483), Eichard III. (1483- 
 
 1485), to Henry VIII. (1509-1547) inclusive. Bacon's prose 
 
 history of Henry VII. exactly fills the gap of twenty-four 
 
 years. 
 
 417 
 
 ENCLOSUKE OF COMMON LA^fDS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Queen Margaret. Are your " Though it may be thought ill 
 
 supplications to his lordship ? and very prejudicial to lords that 
 
 have enclosed great grounds, and 
 Sit^oZ/c. What 's yours ? What 's pulled down even whole towns, 
 here ? [Reads] Against the Duke and converted them to sheep-pas- 
 of Suffolk for enclosing the com- tures, [yet] I should be sorry to 
 mons of Melford. How now, sir see within this kingdom that piece 
 kuavel of Ovid's verse prove true, Jam 
 
 Second petitioner, Alas ! sir, I seges est ubi Troja fuit (there is a 
 am but a poor petitioner of our cornfield where Troy was) ; so in 
 whole township." — 2 Henry VI. , England, instead of a whole town 
 i. 3 (1594). full of people, none but green 
 
 fields, but a shepherd and a dog." 
 Speech in Parliament (1597). 
 15 
 
2 26 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Into the movement to arrest decay of tillage by preventing 
 enclosure of common lands Bacon threw all his energy. He 
 introduced a bill on the subject into the House of Commons 
 and advocated it in the speech from which we quote. In the 
 play a whole township protests against such an enclosure 
 made by the Duke of Suffolk, though the reputed poet, Wil- 
 liam Shakspere, favored a nefarious proceeding of this kind 
 at Stratford, after he had been secretly guaranteed against 
 personal loss by the promoters. 
 
 418 
 man's body a musical instrument 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "You are a fair viol, and your " The poets did well to conjoin 
 
 sense the strings, music and medicine in Apollo, 
 
 Who, finger'd to make man his because the office of medicine is 
 
 lawful music, but to tune this curious harp of 
 
 Would draw heaven down and all man's body and to reduce it to har- 
 
 the gods to hearken.'' mony." — Advancement of Leam- 
 
 Pericles, i. 1 (1609). ing (1603-5). 
 
 A most striking and beautiful metaphor, appearing and 
 reappearing constantly, with different applications, in both 
 sets of works. 
 
 419 
 lees 
 
 " The wine of life is drawn, and " The memory of King Richard 
 
 the mere lees lay like lees in the bottom of men's 
 
 Is left." hearts." — History of Henry VII. 
 
 Macbeth, ii. 3 (1623). (1621). 
 
 420 
 TEMPERING WAX 
 
 " I have him already tempering " Taking him but as an image 
 
 between my finger and my thumb, of wax that others had tempered 
 
 and shortly will I seal with him." and moulded." — History of Henry 
 
 —S Henry IV., iv. 3 (1600). VII. (1621). 
 
PARALLELISMS 227 
 
 421 
 THE HARE AKD THE CRIPPLE 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Such a hare is madness ... to "A cripple in the right way out- 
 skip o'er the meshes of good conn- skips the runner in a wrong one." 
 sel, the cripple." — Merchant of — Novum Organum (1608-20). 
 Venice, i. 2 (1600). 
 
 422 
 LIME-TWIGS 
 
 " They are Umed with the twigs " Whatsoever service I do to her 
 
 that threaten them." — All 's Well, Majesty, it shall be thought to be 
 
 iii. 5 (1623). but Ume-twigs to place myself." — 
 
 " Myself have limed a bush for Letter to Greville (1594). 
 her." 
 
 2 Henry VI., i. 3 (1623). 
 
 The practice of ensnaring birds by the use of lime or other 
 viscous substance on bushes is often employed metaphori- 
 cally by both authors. 
 
 ' The Great Cryptogram,' p. 364. 
 
 423 
 KNOWLEDGE 
 
 " Knowledge [is] the wing where- " To praise knowledge, or to per- 
 
 with we fly to heaven." suade your lordship to the love of 
 
 S Henry VI., iv. 7 (1623). it, I shall not need to use many 
 
 words ; I will only say, that where 
 that wants, the man is void of all 
 good ; without it, there can be no 
 fortitude ; without it, no Uberality ; 
 without it, no justice ; without it, 
 no constancy or patience ; without 
 it, no temperance ; nay, without it, 
 no true religion." — Letter to Rut- 
 land (1596) [abridged]. 
 
 William Shakspere, the reputed poet, had two children, 
 both of whom passed their lives in utter ignorance. One 
 could not write her name at the age of twenty-six, and the 
 other could not identify her husband's handwriting after a 
 married life with him of twenty-eight years. 
 
228 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 424 
 
 GEIEF FOE OTHERS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Is it not monstrous that this " To weep for grief of others.' 
 player here, — Promos (1594-96). 
 
 But in a fiction, in a dream of pas- 
 sion, 
 
 Could force his soul so to his own 
 conceit, 
 
 That, from her working, all his 
 visage wann'd, 
 
 Tears in his eyes, distraction in 'a 
 aspect, 
 
 A broken voice 1 " 
 
 Hamlet, ii. 2 (1604). 
 
 425 
 A BEAUTIFTIL FACE 
 
 " The beauty that is borne here in "A beautiful face is a silent 
 
 the face commendation." — Ornamenta Ra- 
 
 . . . Commends itself to others' tionalia (date unknown), 
 eyes." 
 TroUus and Cressida, iii. 3 (1609). 
 
 'The Great Cryptogram,'- p. 382. 
 
 426 
 RELATIVE DURATION OF GOOD AND EVIL 
 
 " The evil that men do lives after " HI, to man's nature as it stands 
 
 them, perverted, hath a natural motion 
 
 The good is oft interred with their strongest in continuance ; but 
 
 bones." good, as a forced motion, strong- 
 
 Julius CcEsar, iii. 2 (1623). est at first." — Essay of Innovations 
 
 " Men's evil manners live in brass ; (1625). 
 
 their virtues 
 We write in water." 
 
 Henry VIII., iv. 2 (1623). 
 
 ' The Great Cryptogram,' p. 386. 
 
PARALLELISMS 229 
 
 427 
 PILOTS IN CALM WEATHEB 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " When the sea was calm, all " Any one can manage a boat in 
 
 boats alike calm weather." — Promus (1594- 
 
 ShoVd mastership in floating." 96). 
 Coriolanus, iv. 1 (1623). 
 
 428 
 THE PHANTASM AT PHILIPPI 
 
 "Brutus [to Ghost']. Why comest "A phantasm that appeared to 
 
 thou? M. Brutus in his tent said to 
 
 Ghost. To tell thee, thou shalt see him, Thou shalt see me again at 
 
 me at Philippi." Philippi." — Essay of Prophecies 
 
 Julius CcEsar, iv. 3 (1623). (1625). 
 
 429 
 
 COCKA.TEICB 
 
 " They will kill one another by " This was the end of this little 
 the look, like cockatrices." — cockatrice of a king, that was able 
 Twelfth Night, iv. 3 (1623). to destroy those that did not espy 
 
 him first." — History of Henry 
 VII. (1621). 
 
 430 
 CUSHIONS 
 
 "Hostess. I pray God the fruit " Henry the Fourth of France his 
 
 of her womb miscarry. Queen was great with child. Count 
 
 Beadle. If it do, you shall have Soissona, that had his expectation 
 
 a dozen of cushions." — S Henry upon the crown, when it was twice 
 
 IV., y. 4(1600). or thrice thought that the Queen 
 
 was with child before, said to 
 some of his friends, that it was 
 but with a pillow." — Apothegm. 
 
 ' The Great Ciyptogram,' p. 406. 
 
djo BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 431 
 
 THINGS UNNOTICED 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " The jewel that we find, we stoop " When things are put before 
 
 and take it their feet, men do not see them, 
 
 Because we see it ; but what we do unless admonished, but pass on.'' 
 
 not see 
 We tread upon, and never think 
 of it." 
 
 Measure for Measure, ii. 1 
 (1623). 
 
 Quoted from Mr. Wigston's ' A New Study of Shakespeare.' 
 
 432 
 
 OPINION DETBBMINBS VALUE 
 
 "There is nothing either good "Pain and danger be great only 
 or bad but thinking makes it so." — by opinion." — Letter to Rutland 
 Hamlet, ii. 2 (1604). (1596). 
 
 ' The Great Cryptogram,' p. 389. 
 
 433 
 
 SLEEP, A NOUKISHMENT 
 
 " Sleep, " Sleep nourisheth, or at least 
 
 Chief nourisher in life's feast." preserveth bodies a long time 
 
 Macbeth, iL 2 (1623). without other nourishment." — 
 Natural History (1622-25). 
 
 Mr. Donnelly very justly emphasizes this parallelism. 
 ' The Great Cryptogram,' p. 425. 
 
 434 
 
 LIVER, THE SEAT OF SENSUALITY 
 
 " This is the liver- vein, which " Plato's opinion, who located 
 makes flesh a deity." — Love's sensuality in the liver, is not to 
 Labor 's Lost, iv. 3 (1598). be despised." — Advancement of 
 
 "Ford [referring to Falstqff"]. Love Learning (1603-5). 
 
 my wife ! 
 Pistol. With liver burning hot." 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 1 
 (1602). 
 
PARALLELISMS 231 
 
 435 
 
 GEOCENTRIC THEORY OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " The heavens themselves, the " It is a poor centre of a man's 
 
 planets, and this centre observe actions, himself; it is right earth; 
 
 degree." — Troilus and Cressida, for that only stands fast upon his 
 
 i. 3 (1609). own centre, whereas all things 
 
 that have affinity with the heavens 
 move upon the centre of another 
 [the earth], which they benefit." — 
 Essay of Wisdom for a Man's Self 
 (1607-12). 
 
 Both authors held to the geocentric theory of the solar 
 system to the last, though the Copemican hypothesis, pub- 
 lished in 1543, had then prevailed. See ' Francis Bacon Our 
 Shake-speare,' p. 16. 
 
 436 
 SIGNIFICANCY OF NAMES 
 " Ferdinand. What is your name ? " There is a conformity and sig- 
 
 Miranda. Miranda. nificancy in the very names which 
 
 Ferdinand. Admired Miranda ! must he clear to everybody. Metis, 
 Indeed, the top of admiration." Jupiter's wife, plainly means coun- 
 Tfejjipes^, iii. 1 (1623). sel; Typhon, swelling; Pan, the 
 imiverse; Nemesis, revenge; and 
 the like." — Preface to the Wis- 
 dom of the Ancients (1609). 
 
 What Bacon notices and comments upon m. the ancient 
 myths ; namely, that oftentimes names of gods and goddesses 
 bear a close relation to the characters ascribed to them, we find 
 also in the Shake-speare plays. In the case of Miranda the 
 author expressly tells us what the name signifies, — the " top 
 of admiration." And this in turn is explained by Bacon in 
 his ' Advancement of Learning,' thus : 
 
 " 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 the magnanimity and the honor of 
 humanity, if a collection were made of what the schoolmen call 
 
232 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 the ultimities, and Pindar the tops or summits of human nature, 
 especially from true history; showing what is the ultimate and 
 highest point which human nature has of itself attained in the 
 several gifts of body and mind." 
 
 That Miranda was intended to personate the highest glory 
 of womanhood appears further from what Ferdinand says 
 
 of her: 
 
 " For several virtues 
 Have I liked several women ; never any 
 With so full a soul, but some defect in her 
 Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owed, 
 And put it to the foil ; but you, you ! 
 So perfect, and so peerless, are created 
 Of every creature's best." — iii. 1. 
 
 437 
 
 DISSECTION OP MINDS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Then let them anatomize Regan, "Wherefore out of these materi- 
 
 see what breeds about her heart, als let a full and careful treatise be 
 Is there any cause in nature that constructed; ... so that we may 
 makes these hard hearts 1" — King have a scientific and accurate dis- 
 Lear, iii. 6 (1608). section of minda and characters, 
 
 and the secret dispositions of par- 
 ticular men may be revealed; and 
 that from the knowledge thereof 
 better rules may be framed for the 
 treatment of the mind." — De 
 Augmentis (1622). 
 
 Both authors proposed that mind be dissected: the one, 
 for the purpose of learning how to treat it ; the other, how 
 to understand such a nature as Eegan's, and then, presuma- 
 bly, how to treat it. 
 
 438 
 
 WEIGHT AND VELOCITY 
 " The thing that 's heavy in itself, " Weight in all motions increas- 
 
 Upon enforcement, flies with great- eth force." — Speech in Parliament 
 est speed." (1610). 
 
 2 Henry IV., i. 1 (1600). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 •^33 
 
 439 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 DIFrEKENCES AMONG CHILDKBN OF SAME PARENTAGE 
 
 *' A man shall find in the tradi- 
 tions of astrology some pretty and 
 apt divisions of men's natures, 
 according to the predominances of 
 the planets." — Advancement of 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 " Kent. It is the stars, 
 
 The stars above ns, govern our 
 
 conditions; 
 Else one self-mate and mate could 
 
 not beget 
 Such different issues." 
 
 King Lear, iv. 3 (1608). 
 
 In ' King Lear,' Kent is unable to explain how Cordelia 
 could be of a character so different from that of her sisters, 
 except through the varying influence of the planets at birth. 
 Bacon, it appears, held the same theory at the time when 
 the tragedy was written, in or about 1605-6, though later in 
 life he thought such influence is exerted upon men in the 
 mass rather than upon individuals. Even then, he made an 
 exception of such individuals as are of a tender or particularly 
 susceptible nature. The case of Cordelia would probably 
 have fallen within the exception. 
 
 440 
 
 OBEDIENOE TO KINGS, 
 " Therefore doth heaven divide 
 
 The state of man in divers func- 
 tions ; 
 
 To which is fixed, as an aim or 
 butt, 
 
 Obedience ; for so work the honey 
 bees ; 
 
 Creatures that by a rule of nature, 
 teach 
 
 The act of order to a peopled king- 
 dom," 
 
 Henry V., i. 2 (1600). 
 
 A LAW OF NATURE 
 
 " The platforms [of obedience] 
 are three : The first is that of the 
 father or chief of a family, who, 
 governing his wife by prerogative 
 of sex and his children by preroga- 
 tive of age, . . . is the very model 
 of a king. This we see is wholly 
 natural. 
 
 The second is that of a shepherd 
 and his flock — a work likewise of 
 nature. 
 
 The third is the government of 
 God himself over the world, both 
 in nature and above nature ; even 
 from the monarch of heaven and 
 
234 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 earth to the king, if you will, in a 
 hive of bees. This state subsisteth 
 by nature." — Case of the Post- 
 Naii (1608). 
 
 Both authors based the allegiance of subjects to hereditary 
 
 monarchs on the same ground on which obedience of children 
 
 is due to parents ; namely, not by human laws, but by a rule 
 
 of nature. And both illustrated it by the example of bees in 
 
 a hive. Bacon believed in the divine right of kings ; so did 
 
 Shake-speare. 
 
 441 
 
 A PBIEND, ANOTHBE ONE's SELF 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Thou disease of a friend, and not " A friend is another himself." 
 
 himself." — Essay of Friendship (1625). 
 
 Timon of Athens, iii. 1 (1623). 
 
 This paraUehsm and the three parallelisms that follow 
 were pointed out by Mr. Wigston. 
 
 442 
 IN SOLITUDE, MAN IS A BEAST 
 " Alcibiades. What art thou, there? " ' Whosoever is delighted in soli- 
 Timon. A beast, as thou art." tude is either a wild beast, or a 
 
 Ibid., iv. 3. god.'' 
 " Nothing I '11 bear from thee For it is most true that a natural 
 
 But nakedness, thou detestable and secret hatred and aversation 
 town ! towards society, in any man, hath 
 
 Timon will to the woods, where he somewhat of the savage beast." 
 
 shall find Dnd. 
 
 The unkindest beast more kinder 
 than mankind." 
 
 Ibid., XV. 1. 
 
 The dramatist had so strong a feeling that a man who, out 
 of hatred towards his fellow-men, retires to a solitude, must 
 have in him " something of the savage beast," that he makes 
 one of his characters on seeing Timon's tomb exclaim, — 
 
 " What is this ! 
 Some beast rear'd this ! " — v. 3. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 ns 
 
 443 
 STONES TALUED ACCOKDING TO FANCY 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Stones, whose rates are either " Do you not see what feigned 
 rich or poor prices are set upon little stones ? " — 
 
 Aa fancy values them." Essay of Riches (1607-12). 
 
 Mecmire/or Measure, ii. 2 (1623). 
 
 444 
 FOLLOWERS STRIPPING A MAN OF WINGS 
 
 " I do fear, 
 When every feather sticks in his 
 
 own wing. 
 Lord Timon will be left a naked 
 
 guU." 
 
 Timon of Athens, ii. 1 (1623). 
 
 " Costly followers are not to be 
 liked, lest, while a man maketh 
 his train longer, he make his wings 
 shorter." — Essay of Followers and 
 Friends (1598). 
 
 445 
 
 AIE POISONED BY 
 
 "The rabblement shouted and 
 clapped their chopped hands, and 
 threw up their sweaty night-caps, 
 and uttered such a deal of stinking 
 breath, because Csesar refused the 
 crown, that it had almost choked 
 Csesar; for he swooned and fell 
 down at it. And for my part, I 
 durst not laugh, for fear of open- 
 ing my lips and receiving the bad 
 Ail." — Julius Cmsar, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 FOUL BREATHS 
 
 " If such foul smells be made by 
 art and by the hand, they consist 
 chiefly of man's flesh or sweat pu- 
 trefied ; for they are not those stinks 
 which the nostrils straight abhor 
 and expel, that are most perni- 
 cious. . . . 
 
 And these empoisonments of air 
 are the more dangerous in meet- 
 ings of people, because the much 
 breath of people doth further the 
 reception of the infection." — Nat- 
 ural History (1622-25). 
 
 446 
 STARS ARE FIEE3 
 
 "The skies are painted with un- 
 
 number'd sparks ; 
 They are all fire." 
 
 Julius Coesar, iii. 1 (1623). 
 
 " The stars are true fires." — 
 Descriptio Globi Intellectualis (c. 
 1612). 
 
236 
 
 BACON AND SHAKEr-SPEARE 
 
 be 
 
 447 
 GOLD, THE METAL MOST EASILY WROUGHT 
 
 From Bacon 
 " The most excellent metal, gold, 
 is of all other the most pliant and 
 most enduring to be wrought ; so 
 of all living and breathing sub- 
 stances the perfectest (man) is the 
 most susceptible." — Helps for the 
 Intellectual Powers (1596-1604). 
 
 Dixon's 'Prancis Bacon and his Shakespeare,' p. 173. 
 
 448 
 PROPHETIC DREAMS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Cassius [speaking to Brutus^ 
 
 see 
 Thy honorable metal may 
 
 wrought 
 From that it is disposed." 
 
 Julius CcBsar, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 "Calpurnia, here, my wife, stays 
 me at home ; 
 
 She dream'd to-night she saw my 
 statua, 
 
 Which, like a fountain with a hun- 
 dred spouts, 
 
 Did run pure blood ; and many 
 lusty Romans 
 
 Came smiling, and did bathe their 
 hands in it.'' 
 
 Julitis Ccesar, ii. 2 (1623). 
 
 " By a divine instinct men's minds 
 mistrust ensuing danger." 
 Richard III., ii. 3 (1597). 
 
 Bacon's dream was in 1579. 
 
 " I myself remember that, being 
 in Paris, and my father dying in 
 London, two or three days before 
 my father's death, I had a dream, 
 which I told to divers English 
 gentlemen, that my father's house 
 in the country was plastered all 
 over with black mortar." — Nat- 
 ural History (1622-25). 
 
 449 
 
 AFFECTION AND REASON 
 
 To speak truth of Csesar, " Affections behold merely the 
 present ; reason the future. There- 
 fore, the present filling the imagi- 
 nation more, reason is commonly 
 vanquished ; but after that force of 
 eloquence and persuasion have 
 made things future and remote 
 appear as present, then upon the 
 
 I have not known when his affec 
 
 tions sway'd 
 More than his reason." 
 
 Julius Ccesar, IL 1 (1623). 
 
PARALLELISMS 237 
 
 revolt of the imagination reason 
 prevaileth." — Advancement of 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 The author of the play had investigated the relative 
 strength of the affections and the reasoning faculty. 
 
 450 
 ANTICIPATIONS OF MIND 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Brutus. 'T is a common proof " The method of discovering 
 
 That lowliness is young ambition's truth, now in vogue, is to fly at 
 
 ladder, once from the senses and particu- 
 
 Whereto the climber-upward turns lars to the most general axioms, 
 
 Ms face ; rather than by a gradual and un- 
 
 But when he once attains the up- broken ascent; for the mind longs 
 
 most round, to spring up to positions of higher 
 
 He then unto the ladder turns his generality, that it may find rest 
 
 back, there ; and so, after a little while, 
 
 Looks in the clouds, scorning the wearies of experiment." — Novmn 
 
 base degrees Organum (162C). 
 By which he did ascend." 
 
 Julim CcBsar, ii. 1 (1623). 
 
 Bacon called his philosophical method a ladder (Scala In- 
 tellectus), and declared that every sincere inquirer after 
 truth must mount it, round by round, to the top and rest 
 there. In no other way, as he taught, can one safely climb 
 to a broad generalization. If, however, the searcher after 
 truth should leap higher, or — 
 
 " unto the ladder turn his back," 
 
 he wiU become "weary of experiment;" in other words, 
 
 (Shake-speare's), he wiU 
 
 " scorn the base degrees 
 By which he did ascend." 
 
 This leads to error. Brutus (or the author who created the 
 character of Brutus) certainly understood the difference be- 
 tween ' Anticipation of Mind ' and ' Interpretation of Nature,' 
 as laid down in the Novum Organvm. 
 
238 BACON JND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 451 
 C^SAE WARNED BY AUG0EEKS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Caesar. What say the augurers ? " The augur brought him word 
 
 Servant. They would not have you that the entrails were not favor- 
 to stir forth to-day. able." — De Augmentis (1622). 
 Plucking the entrails of an offering 
 
 forth, 
 They could not find a heart within 
 the beast." 
 
 Julius CcBsar, ii. 2 (1623). 
 
 452 
 ACTION IS ELOQUENCE 
 
 " Action is eloquence, and the eyes " Question was asked of Demos- 
 of the ignorant thenes, ' what was the chief part of 
 
 More learned than the ears." an orator ? ' he answered, ' action.' 
 
 ConoZanus, iii. 2 (1623). What next? 'action.' What next 
 again ? 'action.' " — Essay of Bold- 
 ness (1625). 
 
 453 
 DEATH, BEING INEVITABLE, MUST BE ENDURED 
 " With meditating that she must "I mourn not for that end which 
 
 die once, must be." — Essay of Death (post- 
 
 I have the patience to endure it humous), 
 now." 
 
 Julius CcBsar, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
 454 
 UNSUSPECTING NATURES 
 
 « The Moor is of a free and open « He who thinks no evil is easUy 
 
 ^^^^'re, deceived." — Promus (1 594-96). 
 
 That thinks men honest that but 
 seem to be so. 
 
 And will as tenderly be led by the 
 nose 
 
 As asses are." 
 
 Othello, i. 3 (1622). 
 
 " A brother noble, 
 Whose nature is so far from doing 
 harms. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 ^39 
 
 That he suspects none ; on whose 
 
 foolish honesty 
 My practices ride easy." 
 
 King Lear, i. 2 (1608). 
 
 455 
 WRITING FOE POSTERITY 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Were 't aught to me I bore the 
 
 canopy, 
 With my extern the outward 
 
 honoring, 
 Or laid great bases for eternity 1 " 
 Sonnet 125 (1609). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 "1 write for posterity, these 
 things requiring ages for their 
 accomplishment." — Letter to 
 Father Fulgentio (1624-25). 
 
 456 
 ARIEL A SPIRIT, COMPOUNDED OF FLAME AND AIR 
 
 " Ariel. I boarded the king's ship ; 
 
 now on the beak, 
 Now in the waist, the deck, in 
 
 every cabin, 
 Iflam'd amazement ; sometimes I 'd 
 
 divide, 
 And hum in many places ; on the 
 
 topmast, 
 The yard and bowsprit, would I 
 
 flame distinctly. 
 
 Tempest, i. 2 (1623). 
 " Ariel. If you now beheld them, 
 
 your aifections 
 Would become tender. 
 Prospero. Dost thou think so, 
 
 spirit f 
 Art. Mine would, sir, were I hu- 
 man. 
 Pros. And mine shall. 
 
 Hast thou, which art hut air, a touch, 
 
 a feeling 
 Of their affections ? " 
 
 Ih. V. 1. 
 
 " Let us now proceed to the 
 doctrine which concerns the human 
 soul. The parts thereof are two : 
 the one treats of the rational 
 soul, which is divine; the other 
 of the sensible, which is common 
 with brutes. The latter is itself 
 only the instrument of the rational 
 soul, and may be fitly termed not 
 soul, but spirit. It is compounded 
 of flame and air." — De Aug- 
 mentis (1622). 
 
240 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 In the play Ariel is an invisible creature that confesses 
 himself to be the " instrument " of Prospero. He is said at 
 one time (as the name implies) to be " air ; " when he visited 
 the ship, he was " flame ; " at all times, therefore, he was a 
 " compound of air and flame." Prospero frequently addresses 
 him as " spirit." It would be difficult to conceive of more 
 perfect embodiments, according to Bacon's conception, of the 
 two souls, taken separately, that exist in every human being 
 than these in the ' Tempest.' 
 
 45V 
 
 BABEING ENTAILS BY MEANS 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Parolles. Sir, for a quart d'ecu 
 he will sell the fee-simple of his 
 salvation, the inheritance of it; 
 and cnt the entail from all re- 
 mainders." — 4M 's Well, iv. 3 
 (1623). 
 
 01" A FEE-SIMPLE 
 From Bacon 
 
 " The last and greatest estate in 
 land is fee-simple, and beyond this 
 there is none. He that maketh a 
 lease for life to one, or a gift in 
 tail, may appoint a remainder to 
 another for life, or in tail after 
 that estate, or to a third in fee- 
 simple ; but after a fee-simple he 
 can limit no other estate. And if 
 a man do not dispose of the fee- 
 simple by way of remainder when 
 he maketh the gift in tail or for 
 Uvea, then the fee-simple resteth 
 in him as a reversion. . . . This 
 slight was first invented when 
 entails fell out to be so inconven- 
 ient that men made no conscience 
 to cut them off, if they could find 
 law for it." — Use of the Law 
 (date uncertain). 
 
 The ownership of land in fee-simple was doubtless well 
 understood in Shake-speare's time ; but this cunning use of 
 it, to bar entails, was then a comparatively recent invention, 
 and known only to lawyers. Chief Justice Campbell says 
 ('The Law in Shakespeare') that "Parolles, the bragging 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 241 
 
 cowardly soldier, is made to talk like a conveyancer in 
 Lincoln's Inn." 
 
 458 
 KING BESTOWING WARDS IN MAEEIAGE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " King. It is in us to plant thine 
 
 honor where 
 We please to have it grow. Check 
 
 thy contempt. 
 Obey our will, which travails to 
 thy good. 
 .... Take her by the hand. 
 And tell her she is thine." 
 
 All 's Well, ii. 3 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " The grief was, that every man's 
 eldest son or heir was, by Preroga- 
 tive, to be in ward to the king for 
 his body and lands; [the king] to 
 imitate and approach, as near as 
 may be, to the duties and ofBces 
 of a natural father, in the good 
 education, and well bestowing 
 in marriage." — On Wardships 
 (1612). 
 
 The scene of ' All 's Well ' is laid in France, but Bacon 
 knew (as pointed out by the late Mr. T. S. E. Dixon) that the 
 same law prevailed there as in England, conferring upon the 
 king the right to dispose of his wards in marriage. This ap- 
 pears in his ' History of Henry VII.' where he says that King 
 Charles of France had the power, " according to his right 
 of seigniory and tutelage, to dispose of the marriage of the 
 young Duchess of Britain [his ward] as he should think 
 good." 
 
 459 
 
 FELONY AND BENEFIT OF CLEEGT 
 
 " Thou hast appointed justices 
 of the peace, to call poor men be- 
 fore them about matters they were 
 not able to answer. Moreover, 
 thou hast put them in prison, and 
 because they could not read, thou 
 hast hanged them, when indeed 
 only for that cause they have been 
 most worthy to live." — S Henry 
 VI., iv. 7 (1594). 
 
 " For the scarcity of men that 
 could read, and the multitude req- 
 uisite in the clergy of the realm to 
 be disposed unto religious houses, 
 priests, deacons, and clerks of 
 parishes, there was a prerogative 
 allowed to the clergy that if any 
 man that could read as a clerk 
 were to be condemned to death, the 
 bishop of the diocese might, if he 
 would, claim him; biat if either 
 the bishop would not demand him, 
 
 16 
 
242 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 or that the prisoner could not read, 
 then he was to be put to death." — 
 Use of the Law (date uncertain) . 
 
 " How acquired I know not, but it is quite certain that the 
 drawer of this indictment must have had some acquaintance with 
 ' The Crown Circuit Companion,' and must have had a full and 
 accurate knowledge of that rather obscure and intricate subject — 
 ' Felony and Benefit of Clergy.' " — Chief Justice Campbell, in 
 his * Law in, Shakespeare' 
 
 460 
 
 OFFICE OF TIME, 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Time's glory is . . . 
 To unmask falsehood, and bring 
 truth to light." 
 
 Lucrece (1594). 
 
 TO DISCLOSE TRUTH 
 From Bacon 
 "The inseparable property of 
 Time, which is ever more and 
 more to disclose truth." — The Ad- 
 vancement q/iearm'ng (1603-5). 
 
 " Truth is rightly called the 
 Daughter of Time." — Novum 
 Organum (1620). 
 
 461 
 ■WITCHCRAFT IN LOVE 
 
 " I wUl a round unvamish'd tale 
 
 deliver 
 Of my whole course of love ; what 
 
 drugs, what charms. 
 What conjuration, and what 
 
 mighty magic 
 (For such proceedings I am charged 
 
 withal) 
 I won his daughter with. 
 
 This only is the witchcraft I have 
 us'd." 
 
 Othello, i. 3 (1623). 
 
 "For witchcraft, by the former 
 law it was not death; ... but 
 now by an act of his Majesty's 
 times, charms and sorceries in 
 certain cases of procuring unlaw- 
 ful love or bodily hurt, and some 
 others, are made felony the sec- 
 ond offence." — Speech in Court 
 (1611). 
 
 462 
 FALSE WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 
 
 " Sly. Bring our lady hither to " There have been many addi- 
 our sight ; tions of power and authority given 
 
PARALLELISMS 243 
 
 And, once again, a pot o' the small- to the stewards of Leets and Law- 
 est ale. days to be put in use in their courts. 
 
 Servant. Yet would you say ye They may punish . , . trades- 
 were beaten out of door, men of all sorts, selling at nnder 
 
 And rail upon the hostess of the weight or measure." — Use of the 
 house, Law (date uncertain). 
 
 And say you would present her at 
 the leet, 
 
 Because she brought stone jugs and 
 no seal'd C[uart3." 
 Taming of the Shrew, Induction, 
 2 (1623). 
 
 Bacon's interest in the subject of weights and measures 
 was very great, for in 1601 he introduced a bill against 
 abuses in the use of them into the House of Commons, 
 and in the course of his speech, advocating it, he said: 
 
 " I 'U tell you, Mr. Speaker, I '11 speak out of mine own experi- 
 ence that I have learned and observed, having bad causes of this 
 nature referred to my report, that this fault of using false weights 
 and measures is grown so intolerable and common that, if you 
 would build churches, you shall not need for battlements and 
 bells other things than false weights of lead and brass." 
 
 Bacon's bill appears to have been temporarily "thrown 
 out ; " but, according to Chief Justice Campbell, a law was 
 subsequently enacted that " ale should be sold only in sealed 
 vessels of the standard capacity," and not in stone jugs. 
 Bacon appears finally to have been successful, as we learn 
 also from the play. 
 
 463 
 LAND INHERITANCE 
 From Shahe-speare From Bacon 
 
 " King. Tour brother is legiti- " If the son marry himself to a 
 
 mate; woman defamed, so that she bring 
 
 Your father's wife did after wed- bastard slips and false progeny 
 lock bear him ; into the family, yet the issue of 
 
 And if she did play false, the fraud this woman shall inherit the 
 was hers. land." — Use of the Law. 
 
244 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 My mother's son did get your 
 
 father's heir; 
 Your father's heir must have your 
 
 father's land." 
 
 King John, i. 1 (1623). 
 
 " This is the true doctrine, Pater est quern nuptioB demonstrant. 
 It was likewise properly ruled [in ' King John '] that the father's 
 will, in favor of his son Eobert, had no power to dispossess the 
 rightful heir." — Chief Justice Campbell. 
 
 464 
 
 A FOOL AMONG FOOLS 
 
 From Sliahe-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Hamlet. Why was he sent into " It was both pleasantly and 
 
 England 1 wisely said (though I think very 
 
 Clown. Why ? Because he was untruly) by a nuncio of the Pope, 
 
 mad; he shall recover his wits returning from a certain nation 
 
 there ; or, if he do not, 't is no great where he served as lieger ; whose 
 
 matter there. opinion being asked touching the 
 
 Hamlet. Why ? appointment of one to go in his 
 
 Chum. 'T will not be seen in place, he wished that in any case 
 
 him there. There the men are as they did not send one that was too 
 
 mad as he." — Hamlet, y. 1 (1603). wise; because no very wise man 
 
 " A strange fish ! Were I in would ever imagine what they in 
 
 England now (as once I was), and that country were like to do." — 
 
 had but this fish painted, not a Advancement of Learning {\QQZ-b), 
 
 holiday fool there but would give " To few doubtless would he 
 
 a piece of silver ; there would this seem mad therein, because the 
 
 monster make a man ; any strange majority of men are mad." 
 
 beast there makes a man." — The Promus (1594-96). 
 Tempest, ii. 2 (1623). 
 
 465 
 
 SELF-INFLICTED EVILS 
 
 " Those wounds heal ill that men " The evil that a man brings on 
 
 do give themselves." himself by his own fault is greater; 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, iii. 3 (1609). that which is brought on him from 
 
 without is less. . . . Where the evil 
 is derived from a man's own fault, 
 there all strikes deadly inwards." 
 — Colors of Good and Evil (1597). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 245 
 
 466 
 PUEVEYOESHIP GKIETANCES 
 
 From Bacon 
 " There is no grievance in your 
 kingdom so general, so continual, 
 so sensible, and so bitter unto the 
 common subject, as this whereof 
 ■we now speak." — Speech on Pur- 
 veyors (1604). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Queen Katharine. Nay, we must 
 kneel longer ; I am a suitor. 
 
 I am solicited, not by a few, 
 And those of true condition, that 
 
 youi subjects 
 Are in great grievance ; there have 
 
 been commissions 
 Sent down among 'em, which hath 
 
 flaw'd the heart 
 Of all their loyalties ; wherein, al- 
 though. 
 My good lord cardinal, they vent 
 
 reproaches 
 Most bitterly on you, as putter-on 
 Of these exactions, yet the king, 
 
 our master. 
 Whose honor heaven shield from 
 
 soil ! even he escapes not 
 Language unmannerly; yea, such 
 
 which breaks 
 The sides of loyalty, and almost 
 
 appears 
 In loud rebellion." 
 
 Henry VIII., i. 2 (1623). 
 
 In 1604, the House of Commons petitioned the king to 
 abate certain evils growing out of the royal purveyorship ; 
 that is, out of proceedings established by law for taking 
 merchandise of various kinds from subjects for the use of 
 the king's household. The petition was presented by a com- 
 mittee of which Bacon was spokesman. 
 
 In the play of ' Henry VIII.,' a petition of the same kind, 
 and made for the same purpose, was presented to the king 
 by Queen Katharine. Her speech, as given by the dramatist 
 and that of Bacon, are so similar in scope and diction, that, 
 as the late Judge Holmes (to whose work on the 'Author- 
 
246 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 ship of Shakespeare ' we are indebted for this interesting 
 parallelism) said, the two must have "proceeded from the 
 same pen." 
 
 The following are some of the points of resemblance : 
 
 1. The exactions are made in the king's name, affecting 
 the king's honor. 
 
 " Queen. Although, 
 
 My good lord cardinal, they vent reproaches 
 
 Most bitterly on you, as putter-on 
 
 Of these exactions, yet the king, our master, 
 
 Whose honor heaven shield from soil, even he escapes not 
 
 Language unmannerly.'' Shake-speakb. 
 
 "All these great misdemeanors are committed in and under your 
 Majesty's name. And therefore we hope your Majesty wiU hold them 
 twice guilty, — once for oppressing of the poor, and once more for doing 
 it under color and abuse of your Majesty's dreaded and beloved name." 
 — Bacon. 
 
 2. The exactions are very great and oppressive. 
 
 " These exactions, 
 Whereof my sovereign would have note, they are 
 Most pestilent to the hearing ; and to bear 'em 
 The back is sacrificed to the load." 
 
 Shake-speare. 
 
 " Your Majesty doth not hear our opinions or senses, but the very 
 groans and complaints themselves of your Commons, more truly and 
 vively than by representation. For there is no grievance in your king- 
 dom so general, so continual, so sensible and so bitter unto the common 
 subject, as this whereof we now speak." — Bacon. 
 
 3. The exactions were made under commissions, against 
 
 the law. 
 
 " Queen. The subjects' grief 
 
 Comes through commissions." 
 
 King \to the Cardinal]. Have you a precedent 
 Of this commission ? I believe, not any. 
 We must not rend our subjects from our laws. 
 And stick them in our will." 
 
 Shake-speare. 
 
PARALLELISMS i^'j 
 
 " They take in an unlawful manner, in a manner (I say) directly and 
 expressly prohibited by divers laws." — Bacon. 
 
 4. The exactions bear heavily upon dealers in wool and 
 woollen goods. 
 
 " Norfolk. The clothiers all, not able to maintain 
 
 The many to them 'longing, have put ofif 
 The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers." 
 
 Shake-spearb. 
 
 "I do set apart these commodities, wool, wool-fels, and leather." 
 — Bacon. 
 
 5. Another special grievance is the taking of trees. 
 
 " We take 
 From every tree, lop, bark, and part o' th' timber ; 
 And, though we leave it with a root, thus hack'd, 
 The air will drink the sap." Shake-speare. 
 
 " They take trees, which by law they cannot do ; timber trees, 
 which are the beauty, countenance, and shelter of men's houses. 
 . . . They put the axe to the root of the tree, ere ever the master 
 can stop it." — Bacon. 
 
 Bacon's speech was delivered, as we have said, in 1604, the 
 very year in which the reputed poet retired from London and 
 took up his permanent abode in Stratford.^ It was not 
 printed till 1657, or forty-one years after the latter's death. 
 
 467 
 
 POETKATING ANOTHER, AS IN A GLASS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " You go not till I set you up a glass " That which I have propounded 
 Where you may see the inmost to myself is, . . . to show you 
 part of you." your true shape in a glass." — Let- 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 4 (1604). ter to Sir Edward Coke. 
 
 1 Mr. Staunton, in his ' Life of Shakspere ' (excellent Shakespearean author- 
 ity), says that the reputed poet retired to Sti-atford in the spring of 1604. It 
 is hardly possible, however, that, even if in London at the time, he could have 
 known the contents of a speech of which there was no contemporary public 
 record, and which was delivered before the court and in the presence of a com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons only. 
 
248 
 
 BACON JND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 468 
 nattjeb's benefits, a loan 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Nature never lends 
 The smallest scruple of her excel- 
 lence; 
 But, like a thrifty goddess, she de- 
 termines 
 Herself the glory of a creditor — 
 Both thanks and use." 
 Measure for Measure, i. 1 (1623). 
 " Nature's bequest gives nothing, 
 
 hut doth lend; 
 And being frank, she lends to those 
 
 are free. 
 Then, beauteous niggard, why dost 
 
 thou abuse 
 The bounteous largess given thee 
 to give ? " 
 
 Sonnet 4 (1609). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " It must be remembered that 
 the least part of knowledge, passed 
 to man by this so large a charter 
 from God, must be subject to that 
 use for which God hath granted it ; 
 which is the benefit and relief of 
 the state and society of man." — 
 Valerius Terminus (c. 1603). 
 
 469 
 KULES OF LITERARY ART, PROGRESSIVE 
 
 " We would not lay down, after 
 the manner now received (more re- 
 cepto') among men, any rigid rules 
 of our own, as though they were 
 unique and inviolable for the prep- 
 aration of these works. We would 
 not so cramp and confine the in- 
 dustry and felicity of mankind. 
 Indeed, we know of nothing to 
 hinder others who have more lei- 
 sure than we have and who are 
 freed from the special difficulties 
 that always attend a first experi- 
 ment, from carrying our method 
 to higher perfection. True art is 
 progressive." — Scala Intellectus 
 (date unknown). 
 
 As will be shown hereafter, the Scala Intellectus is a 
 preface to the fourth part of Bacon's philosophical system, 
 
 " Impute it not a crime 
 
 To me, or my swift passage, that I 
 slide 
 
 O'er sixteen years, and leave the 
 growth untri'd 
 
 Of that wide gap ; since it is in my 
 power 
 
 To overthrow law, in one self-born 
 hour 
 
 To plant and o'erwhelm custom. 
 Let me pass 
 
 The same I am, ere ancient'st or- 
 der was, 
 
 Or what is now received." 
 Winter's Tale, iv. Chorus (1623). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 249 
 
 being the sole fragment of this fourth part that has come 
 down to us among his acknowledged works. It briefly de- 
 scribes the character of the art employed in the missing part, 
 informing us that the rules applied to it were contrary to 
 prevailing usage. The Chorus in the ' Winter's Tale ' ex- 
 plains, as the late Judge Holmes pointed out, what this 
 deviation was ; namely, an abandonment of the Greek rules 
 of dramatization, for which this play is noted. 
 
 470 
 
 GEOSS AND PALPABLE 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "This palpable gross play hath 
 well beguil'd 
 
 The heavy gait of night." 
 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, 
 V. 1 (1600). 
 
 *' These lies are like the father 
 that begets them ; 
 
 Gross as a mountain, open, pal- 
 pable." 
 
 1 Henry IV., ii. 4 (1598). 
 
 " Which moveth me to give the 
 reader a taste of their untruths, 
 especially such as are wittily con- 
 trived, and are not merely gross 
 and palpable." — Observations on 
 a Libel (1592-3). 
 
 "The second is a slander and 
 falsification and averting of the law 
 of the land, gross and palpable." 
 
 — Charge against Oliver St. John, 
 (1615). 
 
 " This [was] done with an oath 
 or vow of secrecy which is like the 
 Egyptian darkness, a gross and pal- 
 pable darkness that may be felt." 
 
 — Charge against the Countess of 
 Somerset (1616). 
 
 The expression, " gross and palpable," is, as Dr. Eobert M. 
 Theobald informs us, "one of Bacon's iuventions." 
 
 471 
 
 TEtJTH, A SOVEREIGN 
 
 " Thou seem'st a palace "Truth, ... the sovereign 
 
 For the crown'd truth to dwell in." good of human nature." — Essay 
 
 Pericles, v. 1 (1609). of Truth (1625). 
 
250 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 472 
 
 MEN BUSIEST WHEN ALOlOl 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Men most are busied when " His Majesty is never less alone 
 
 they 're most alone." than when he is alone." — Letter 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, i. 1 (1597). to VUliers (1616). 
 
 473 
 
 WHOLESOME AND SWEET AIK FOB HOMES 
 
 " This castle hath a pleasant seat, " He that builds a fair house upon 
 
 the air an ill seat committeth himself to 
 
 Nimbly and sweetly recommends prison. Neither do I reckon it an 
 
 itself 
 Unto our gentle senses." 
 
 Macbeth, i. 6 (1623). 
 
 ill seat only where the air is un- 
 wholesome, but likewise where 
 the air is unequal." — Essay of 
 Building (1625). 
 
 474 
 
 PRINCES SHOULD BE CAKEFUL OF SPEECH 
 
 ^' Exton. Didst thou not mark the 
 
 king, what words he spake, 
 ' Have I no friend wUl rid me of 
 
 this living fear ? ' 
 Was it not so ? 
 Servant. Those were his very 
 
 words. 
 Exton. ' Have I no friend ? ' quoth 
 
 he; he spake it twice." 
 
 iJ2cAardJ/.,v. 4(1597). 
 
 "Surely, princes had need in 
 tender matters and ticklish times 
 to beware what they say ; especially 
 in these short speeches which fly 
 abroad like darts and are thought 
 to be shot out of their secret 
 intentions." — Essay of Seditions 
 and Troubles (1625). 
 
 475 
 
 EVIL KEPOETS, LIKE POISONED STEEL DABTS 
 
 " I go to meet 
 
 The noble Brutus, thrusting this 
 report 
 
 Into his ears ; I may say, thrusting 
 it. 
 
 For piercing steel and darts en- 
 venomed 
 
 Shall be as w^elcome to the ears of 
 Brutus 
 
 As tidings of this sight." 
 
 Julius Cmsar, v. 3 (1623). 
 
 "A seditious slander, like to 
 that the poet speaketh of, a ven- 
 omous dart that hath both iron and 
 poison." — Chargeagainst St. John 
 (1615). 
 
PARALLELISMS 251 
 
 Both authors describe an evil report, thrust into the ears, 
 as a steel or iron dart, envenomed. 
 
 476 
 
 INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Small have continual plodders " Alas ! they learn nothing there 
 
 ever won, [in the universities of Europe] 
 
 Save base authority from others' but to believe." — In Praise of 
 
 books." Knowledge (1592). 
 
 Love's Labor 's Lost, i. 1 (1598). " In the schools men learn to 
 
 believe." — ProOTUS (1594^96). 
 
 477 
 
 WISDOM AND HEE CHILDREN 
 
 " Every wise man's son doth " Wisdom is justified in all 
 know." her children." — Advancement of 
 
 Twelfth Night, ii. 3 (1623). Learning (1603-5). 
 
 478 
 
 TALES DELIGHTING YOUNG AND OLD 
 
 " Aged ears play truant at his tales, " A tale that holdeth children 
 
 And younger hearings are quite from play, and old men from the 
 
 ravish'd." chimney corner." 
 Love's Labor's Lost, ii. 1 (1598). 
 
 479 
 
 EXCESSIVE GOODNESS 
 
 " Undone by goodness ; " The Italians have an ungra- 
 
 Man's worst sin is, he does too cious proverb, — so good that he 
 
 much good." is good for nothing." — Essay of 
 
 Timon of Athens, iv. 2 (1609). Goodness (1607-12). 
 
 480 
 ADONIs' GARDENS 
 
 " Thy promises are like Adonis' " The gardens of love, wherein 
 
 gardens, he now playeth himself, are fresh 
 
 That one day bloom'd and fruitful to-day and fading to-morrow ; but 
 
 were the next." the gardens of the Muses keep the 
 
 1 Henry VI., i. 6 (1623). privilege of the golden age; they 
 
 ever flourish and are in league with 
 
 time." — Device for Essex (1595). 
 
252 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 As elsewhere explained, the gardens of Adonis, known to 
 the ancients, were of two kinds : the one, consisting of plants 
 in earthen pots, that soon faded ; these in the popular view 
 were emblematic of things showy and without substance. 
 Bacon describes them in the ' Essex Device ' and ia the 
 ' Promus.' The other is a creation of the poets, in which 
 trees and shrubs hasten, not to decay, but to bloom and 
 fruitage. Thus, in an important sense, the two were com- 
 plementary, one to the other, knowledge of one implying 
 knowledge of both. 
 
 481 
 
 BEEMOOTHES 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Thou call'dst me up at mid- " The Spaniards dislike thin 
 
 night to fetch dew letters and change them imme- 
 
 From the still- vex'd Bermoothes." diately into those of a middle tone." 
 
 The Tempest, i. 2 (1623). -De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 The scene of the ' Tempest ' was laid on one of the islands 
 of the Bermudas, but Shake-speare gave to the name its 
 Spanish pronunciation, according to the rule laid down by 
 Bacon, the letter d being flattened into the median inter- 
 vocal z (English th), Bermoothes. 
 
 482 
 
 METEMPSYCHOSIS 
 
 " Thou almost mak'st me waver in " This has bred opinions super- 
 
 my faith, stitious and corrupt and most in- 
 
 To hold opinion with Pythagoras, jurious to the dignity of the human 
 
 That souls of animals infuse them- mind, touching metempsychosis, 
 
 selves and the purification of souls in 
 
 Into the trunks of men ; thy cur- periods of years, and indeed too 
 
 rish spirit near an affinity in all things be- 
 
 Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for tween the human soul and the 
 
 human slaughter, soul of brutes." — De Augmentis 
 
 Even from the gallows did his fell (1622). 
 
 soul fleet, 
 And whilst thou lay'st in thy un- 
 
 hallow'd dam, 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 '^S3 
 
 Infus'd itself in thee ; for thy de- 
 sires 
 
 Are wolfish, bloody, starv'd and 
 ravenous." 
 Merchant of Venice, iv. 1 (1600). 
 
 483 
 
 DEPOPULATION OF TOWNS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Sicinius. What is the city but 
 
 the people? 
 Citizens. True, 
 
 The people are the city. 
 
 Sicinius. Where is this viper 
 
 That would depopulate the city ? 
 
 For we are peremptory to dispatch 
 This viperous traitor." 
 
 Coriolanus, iii. 1 (1623). 
 
 On this subject Bacon took very strong ground. He in- 
 troduced a bill in favor of towns into the House of Com- 
 mons ; and though the Peers were against him — the Earl of 
 Essex even coming to London expressly to join the opposi- 
 tion — he carried it through triumphantly. The result was 
 one of the greatest victories of his parliamentary career. 
 
 484 
 
 VAIN SPECTJLATIONS 
 
 From Bacon 
 " I should be sorry to see within 
 this kingdom that piece of Ovid's 
 verse prove true, 'Now there are 
 crops where Troy was ; ' so in 
 England, instead of a whole town 
 full of people, none but green 
 fields, only a shepherd and a dog. 
 ... A sharp and vigorous law 
 had need to be made against these 
 viperous natures." — Speech in Par- 
 liament (1597). 
 
 " Thus the native hue of resolution 
 Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of 
 
 thought ; 
 And enterprises of great pith and 
 
 moment. 
 With this regard, their currents 
 
 turn awry, 
 And lose the name of action." 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 1 (1604). 
 
 " The same unprofitable sub- 
 tility or curiosity is of two sorts ; 
 either in the subject itself that 
 they handle, when it is a fruitless 
 speculation or controversy, or in 
 the method of handling, . . . that 
 rests not so much upon evidence 
 of truth as upon particular con- 
 futations and solutions of every 
 scruple, cavillation and objection ; 
 breeding for the most part one 
 question as fast as it eolveth an- 
 
254 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 other ; ... so as it is not possible 
 but this quality of knowledge must 
 fall under popular contempt . . . 
 when people see such digladiation 
 about snbtilities and matter of no 
 use or moment.'' — Advancement 
 of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 Bacon gives us here an exact description of Hamlet's great 
 soliloquy on Suicide and Doubt. He is discussing the dis- 
 tempers of learning, which he finds to be three in number : 
 " the first, fantastical learning ; the second, contentious learn- 
 ing ; and the last, delicate learning," — summing them up 
 respectively as "vain imaginations, vain altercations and 
 vain affectations." Under the second head he places " vain 
 matter," which he declares to be " worse than vain words ; " 
 matter, like certain substances in nature, that " putrefies and 
 corrupts into worms ; " that is, " into subtQe, idle, unwhole- 
 some and, as it were, vermiculate questions, which have 
 indeed a kind of quickness and life of spirit, but no sound- 
 ness of matter or goodness of quality." 
 
 Colonel Moore, to whom we owe this interesting and in- 
 structive parallelism, says : 
 
 " Hamlet's question dissolved itself in this manner : one spring- 
 ing up after another before he could get the first one answered. 
 To be or not to be 1 is death a sleep ? is the sleep of death dis- 
 turbed by dreams 1 and so on, — all unwholesome questions, ' with- 
 out soundness of matter, or goodness of quality.' " 
 
 The result of indulgence in such speculations is, according 
 to the dramatist, that one loses power of action ; according 
 to Bacon, that one becomes subject to popular contempt. 
 
 485 
 
 WORKING OTHERS FOR SELFISH ENDS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Hamlet. Why do you go about " The honest and just bounds of 
 
 to recover the wind of me, as if observation by one person upon an- 
 
 you would drive me into a toil 1 other extend no farther than to un- 
 
PARALLELISMS 255 
 
 Guildenstern. 1 my lord, if derstand him sufficiently, whereby 
 
 my duty be too bold, my love is not to give him offence, or wbere- 
 
 too unmannei'ly. by to be able to give him faithful 
 
 Hamlet. I do not well under- counsel, or whereby to stand upon 
 
 stand that. Will you play xipon reasonable guard and caution in 
 
 this pipe ? ' respect of a man's self ; but to be 
 
 speculative into another man, to 
 
 Why, look you now, how un- the end to know how to work him, 
 
 worthy a thing you make of me. or wind him, or govern him, pro- 
 
 You would play upon me ; you ceedeth from a heart that is double 
 
 would seem to know my stops; and cloven." — Advancement of 
 
 you would pluck out the heart of Learning (1603-5). 
 my mystery ; you would sound me 
 from the lowest note to the top of 
 my compass. 'S blood ! do you 
 think I am easier to be play'd on 
 than a pipe?" — Hamlet, iii. 2 
 (1603). 
 
 The colloquy between Hamlet and Guildenstern gives us 
 the best conceivable illustration of the precept laid down by- 
 Bacon ; namely, that while it is right and proper for us to 
 investigate the character of those with whom we deal to the 
 extent of knowing how to help them and how to protect our 
 own interests, we are not justified in going any farther and 
 acquiring secret confidences to any selfish or injurious end. 
 Guildenstern, who was one of Hamlet's old friends, had been 
 summoned by the king to Elsinore for this very purpose, — 
 " to work him, or wind him, or govern him," — and thus to 
 compass Hamlet's death. In doing so, he had, of course, a 
 " double or cloven heart." For this parallelism, also, we are 
 indebted to Colonel Moore. 
 
 486 
 
 TEDIUM OF LIFE 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Life is as tedious as a twice-told " Only think how often you do 
 
 tale." the same thing over and over. 
 
 King John, iii. 4 (1623). Food, sleep, play, come round in a 
 
256 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 perpetual circle ; one might wisii to 
 die, not only from fortitude, or 
 misery or wisdom, but merely from 
 disgust and weariness of life." — 
 Advancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 487 
 
 BOOK ON DUELLING 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " sir, we quarrel in point, by " Item, no knight of this order 
 
 the book. . . . You may avoid shall, in point of honor, resort to 
 that, too (lie direct) with an ' if.' any grammar rules out of the 
 I knew when seven justices could books De Duello; but shall out of 
 not take up a quarrel ; but when his own brave mind and natural 
 the parties were met themselves, courage deliver himself from 
 one of them thought but of an ' if,' scorns." 
 
 as, ' If you said so, then I said so ; ' Gesta Grayorum (1594). 
 
 and they shook hands, and swore 
 brothers. Your ' if is the only 
 peacemaker ; — much virtue in 
 'if.'" 
 
 As You Like It, v. 4 (1623). 
 
 It is practically certain that the book to wliicli the author 
 of ' As You Like It ' alludes is one written by Vincentio 
 Saviolo and published in 1594; for a paragraph from one of 
 its chapters is transferred almost bodily into the play, as 
 given above. The paragraph is as follows : 
 
 " Conditional lies be such as are given conditionally, as if a man 
 should say or write these words : if thou hast said that I have 
 offered my lord abuse, thou liest ; or if thou sayest so hereafter, 
 thou shalt lie. Of these kinds of lies, given in this maDner, often 
 arise much contention in words." 
 
 It is also practically certain that Bacon, who was the chief 
 contriver of the Eevels at Gray's Inn in 1594, refers to the 
 same book, and in the same spirit of ridicule, in the " orders 
 of the court;" for he mentions it by its chief title, De 
 Duello. And the book was published in the same year. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 257 
 
 488 
 
 FINE AND 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Dromio S. There's no time for 
 a man to recover his hair that grows 
 bald by nature. 
 
 Ant. S. May he not do it by 
 fine and recovery? 
 
 Dromio S. Yes, to pay a fine for 
 a periwig, and recover the lost hair 
 of another man." 
 
 Comedy of Errors, ii. 2 (1623). 
 
 KECOVEET 
 
 From Bacon 
 "A fine is a real agreement . . . 
 that one man shall have [land] 
 from another to him and his heirs, 
 or to him for his life, or to him 
 and the heirs or heirs male of his 
 body, or for years certain. It is a 
 record of great credit. . . . Re- 
 covery is where, for assurance of 
 lands, the parties do agree that one 
 shall begiu an action real against 
 the other, as though he had good 
 right to the land, . . . and at the 
 day appoiuted he maketh default ; 
 and thereupon the court is to give 
 judgment against him. ... By 
 this device, grounded upon strict 
 principles of law, the first tenant 
 loseth the land and hath nothing ; 
 but it is by his own agreement, for 
 assurance to him that bought it." 
 — The Use of the Law (date un- 
 certain). 
 
 The legal procedure involved in a case of fine and recovery 
 is so abstruse that Blackstone, in entering upon the subject 
 in his Commentaries, says : "I am greatly apprehensive that 
 its form and method will not be easUy understood by the 
 student who is not yet acquainted with the course of judicial 
 proceedings." But we find the author of the ' Comedy of 
 Errors ' so familiar with the law that he actually revels in 
 puns upon it. The explanation is simple. The play was 
 first produced before the judges and lawyers of Gray's Inn, 
 on a festive occasion when Francis Bacon was master of cere- 
 monies, and so clearly the leading spirit that the entire pro- 
 ceedings finally centred upon him as the " conjurer." 
 
 William Shakspere, the reputed dramatist, not only took 
 
 17 
 
258 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 no part in the presentation of the play, but he was not even 
 present. He was at Greenwich, with the company of players 
 to which he was attached. 
 
 489 
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH AND LOVE 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Your Majesty shall first see 
 your own invaluable value, and 
 thereby discern that the favors you 
 vouchsafe are pure gifts and no ex- 
 changes. And if any be so happy 
 as to have his affection accepted, 
 yet your prerogative is such as 
 they stand bound, and your Ma- 
 jesty is free.'' — Device of the In- 
 dian Prince (1595). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 "Cupid all arm'd; a certain aim 
 
 he took 
 At a fair vestal thron'd by the west ; 
 And loos'd his love shaft smartly 
 
 from his bow. 
 As it should pierce a hundred 
 
 thousand hearts ; 
 But I might see young Cupid's fiery 
 
 shaft 
 Quench'd in the chaste beams of 
 
 the waf ry moon. 
 And the imperial vot'ress passed 
 
 on, 
 In maiden meditation fancy-free.'' 
 A Midsummer-Night's Bream, 
 ii. 1 (1600). 
 
 Both authors assert that Queen Elizabeth was capable of 
 inspiring the passion of love in others while she herself was 
 always free from it, — Shake-speare in ' Midsummer-Night's 
 Dream,' written in or about 1595-6, and Bacon in his 'De- 
 vice of an Indian Prince,' a masque performed before the 
 Queen in 1595. 
 
 490 
 witches' catldeon 
 ^' First Witch. Round about the "There be many things that 
 
 cauldron go ; work upon the spirits of men by 
 
 In the poison'd entrails throw." secret sympathy and antipathy." 
 Macbeth iv. 1 (1623). — Natural History (1622-25). 
 
 In the incantation scene in ' Macbeth ' the witches throw 
 into the cauldron certain ingredients that were deemed to 
 possess occult properties, and cause spirits or apparitions 
 
PARALLELISMS 259 
 
 to appear at call. Bacon also in his Natural History 
 enumerates many objects that possess the same secret prop- 
 erties, some of them being identical with those used for the 
 same purpose by the witches. The following are examples 
 from each : 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 Brinded cat hath meVd. Tail or leg of a cat. 
 
 Hedge-pig whin'd. Hedge-hog. 
 
 Fillet of a fenny snake. Spoil of a snake. 
 
 Tongue of dog. Head of a dog. 
 
 Toad, under coldest stone. Toad [that] loveth shade and cool- 
 ness. 
 
 Swelter'd venom. Venom drawn from the spirits. 
 
 Witches' mummy. Mummy. 
 
 Eoot of hemlock. Hemlock. 
 
 Baboon's blood. Heart of an ape. 
 
 Tooth of wolf. Skin of a wolf. 
 
 Maw of the salt-sea shark. Rings of sea-horse teeth. 
 
 The two lists agree in another important particular : each 
 consists, generally speaking, of portions only of the animals 
 mentioned. This is explained by Bacon: 
 
 " The writers of natural magic do attribute much to the virtues 
 that come from the parts of living creatures ; so as they be taken 
 from them, the creatures remaining still alive ; as if the creature, 
 still living, did infuse some immateriate virtue or vigor into the 
 part severed." 
 
 Incantations, of the kind we find described in Bacon and 
 acted in Shake-speare, abound in ancient authors, as in 
 .^schylus. Homer, Ovid, Lucan, Seneca, and Virgil. Preb- 
 endary Upton says : 
 
 "There is such a cast of antiquity, and something so horridly 
 solemn in this infernal ceremony of the witches [in ' Macbeth'], that 
 I never consider it without admiring our poet's improvement of 
 every hint he receives from the ancients or moderns." — Critical 
 Ohsei'vations, p. 36. 
 
26o 
 
 BACON AND SHAKR-SPEARE 
 
 491 
 
 TO DIVIDE AND DEFINE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Sir, his definement suffers no 
 perdition in you ; though, I know, 
 to divide him inventorily would 
 dizzy the arithmetic of memory." 
 — Hamlet, v. 2 (1604). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Plato casteth his burden and 
 saith, that he will revere him as a 
 God who can truly divide and 
 define." — Interpretation of Nature 
 (c. 1603). 
 
 492 
 MARRIAGE OF MIND AND PHYSICAL NATURE 
 
 " Speculation turns not to itself, 
 Till it hath travell'd, and is married 
 
 there 
 Where it may see itself." 
 TroUus and Cressida, iii. 3 (1623). 
 
 " I have established forever a 
 true and lawful marriage between 
 the empirical and the rational 
 faculties, the unkind and iU-starv'd 
 divorce and separation of which 
 has thrown into confusion all the 
 affairs of the human family. 
 
 " The true relation between the 
 nature of things and the nature of 
 the mind is as the strewing and 
 decoration of the bridal chamber 
 of the Mind and the Universe." — 
 Preface to Novum Organum (1620). 
 
 In the above passage from 'Troilus and Cressida,' Mr. 
 Eichard Grant White, following some others, substitutes the 
 word mirror' d for "married," and says that "the emendation 
 needs no defence ; " but the late Judge Holmes, having the 
 advantage of a correct point of view, defended the original 
 text as entirely consistent with the profound metaphysical 
 meaning of Bacon's marriage of the mind to external nature. 
 This becomes evident when we consider what follows in the 
 
 play: 
 
 " No man is lord of anything, 
 Though in and of him there be much consisting, 
 TUl he communicate his parts to others." 
 
PARALLELISMS <i6i 
 
 493 
 DEVOURING TIME 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Ulysses. Time hath, my lord, a " Solomon giveth this sentence : 
 
 wallet at his back, That all novelty is but oblivion. 
 
 Wherein he puts alms for oblivion ; Whereby you may see that the 
 
 A great siz'd monster of ingrati- river of Lethe runneth as weU 
 
 tudes, abovejground as below. . . Certain 
 
 Whose scraps are good deeds, past ; it is that matter is in a perpetual 
 
 which are devour'd flux, and never at a stay." — Essay 
 
 As fast as they are made, forgot as of Vicissitude (1625). 
 
 soon 
 As done." 
 Troilus and Cressida, iii. 3 (1623). 
 
 Bacon regarded all nature as in a "perpetual flux," in 
 accordance with the classical derivation of the word natura, 
 meaning the dbout-to-le. The present, he says in effect, is 
 continually rushing into the past and into forgetfulness. 
 Shake-speare expresses this thought in three different ways : 
 first, in the passage quoted above, where Time is represented 
 as an imgrateful monster, devouring all deeds as they come 
 to him ; secondly, in the following lines, — 
 
 " . . . to have done is to hang 
 Quite out of fashion, like a rusty nail 
 In monumental mockery," — 
 
 showing that deeds past are not only obliterated, but also 
 useless ; thirdly, to illustrate how soon even good deeds are 
 forgotten, — 
 
 " Time is like a fashionable host 
 That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand, 
 And with his arms outstretch'd, as he would fly, 
 Grasps in the comer." 
 
 Judge Holmes comments eloquently : 
 
 " This marriage of mind to the universe, this deep river of Lethe, 
 running as well above ground as below, this perpetual flux of 
 remembrance and oblivion, in which all that appears is like the 
 
262 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 foam on the roaring -waterfall, every instant born, and every instant 
 dead, living only in the flow, — these subtle riddles running under- 
 neath the two writings, — will marry to nothing but the truth of 
 Nature, or to the prose and verse of Francis Bacon." — Authorship 
 of Shakespeare, 464. 
 
 494 
 
 WKONG IN HIGH PLACES 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Thieves for their robbery have " When the judgment-seat takes 
 
 authority, the part of injustice, there succeeds 
 
 When judges steal themselves." a state of general robbery." — Dc 
 
 Measure for Measure, u. 2 (162S). Augmentis (1622). 
 
 495 
 moon's infltjenoe on vegetation 
 "As true as . . . plantage to the "The opinion received is that 
 
 moon." seeds will grow soonest ... in 
 
 TroUus and Cressida, iii. 2 (1623). the increase of the moon." — Nat- 
 ural History (1622-25). 
 
 "We see that in planting and 
 sowing and grafting, observation 
 of the age of the moon is a thing 
 not altogether frivolous." — De 
 Augmentis (1622). 
 
 496 
 
 PEEMATUEE OLD AGE 
 
 " That time of year thou mayst in " I wax now somewhat ancient ; 
 
 me behold one and thirty years is a great deal 
 
 When yellow leaves, or none, or of sand in the hour glass." — Letter 
 
 few, do hang to BurgUey (1592). 
 
 Upon those boughs which shake " Her Majesty's being begun in 
 
 against the cold, my first years, I would be sorry she 
 
 Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the should estrange in my last years, — 
 
 sweet birds sang. for so I account them, reckoning 
 
 In me thou see'st the twilight of by health, not by age." — Letter to 
 
 such day Cecil (1599). 
 As after sunset fadeth in the west, 
 Which by and by black night doth 
 
 take away, 
 
PARALLELISMS 263 
 
 Death's second self, that seals up 
 
 all the rest. 
 In me thou see'st the glowing of 
 
 such fire 
 That on the ashes of his youth 
 
 doth lie, 
 As the death-bed whereon it must 
 
 expire, 
 Consum'd with that which it was 
 nourish'd by. 
 This thou perceivest, which 
 makes thy love more strong, 
 To love that well which thou 
 must leave ere long." 
 
 Sonnet 73 (1609). 
 " My glass shows me myself in- 
 deed, 
 Beated and chopp'd with tann'd 
 antiquity." Ibid., 62. 
 
 " Vainly thinking that she thinks 
 me young. 
 Although she knows my days are 
 past the best." Ihid., 138. 
 
 The sonnets, confessing to the writer's premature old age, 
 were written several years before they were published, at or 
 about the time when Bacon's letters, above quoted from, were 
 also written. 
 
 497 
 
 FLOWEES OP NARCISSUS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Proserpina ! " Proserpina, daughter of Ceres, 
 
 For the flowers now, that, frighted, a fair virgin, was gathering flowers 
 
 thou lett'st fall of Narcissus in the Sicilian mead- 
 
 From Dis' wagon I " ows, when Pluto rushed suddenly 
 
 The Winter's Tale, iv. 3 (1623). upon her and carried her off in his 
 
 chariot to the subterranean re- 
 gions. Great reverence was paid 
 her there, so much that she was 
 even called the Queen of Dis." — 
 De Sapientia Veierum (1609). 
 
264 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Bacon, following the myth, says that Proserpina was carried 
 off in a chariot and became Queen of Dis. Shake-speare adds 
 the pretty conceit that among the flowers which Perdita 
 delivers to her friends in the play are some that Proserpina 
 in her fright dropped from Dis' chariot at the time of her 
 capture. 
 
 498 
 
 THE CURE OF SUSPICION 
 From Bacon * 
 " There is nothing makes a man 
 suspect much, more than to know 
 little; and therefore men should 
 remedy suspicion by proceeding to 
 know more." — Essay of Suspicion 
 (1625). 
 
 GKEATEE KNOWLEDGE, 
 
 From Shake-speare 
 " lago. Trifles, light as air, 
 
 Are to the jealous confirmations 
 
 strong 
 As proofs of holy writ. 
 
 Othello. I swear, 't is better to be 
 
 much abus'd 
 Than but to know a little." 
 
 Othello, iii. 3 (1622). 
 
 499 
 GREAT DEEDS DONE BY WEAK MEN 
 "He that of greatest works is fin- " It is the workmanship of God 
 
 isher alone to hang the greatest weights 
 
 Oft does them by the weakest min- upon the smallest wires." — Resus- 
 ister." citatio (posthumous). 
 
 All's ■PTe/i, ii. 1 (1623). 
 
 500 
 
 WORLD FORMED FROM ATOMS OP SEEDS 
 
 "There is a history in all men's 
 
 lives. 
 Figuring the nature of the times 
 
 deceas'd, 
 The which observ'd, a man may 
 
 prophesy. 
 With a near aim, of the main 
 
 chance of things, 
 As yet not come to life, which in 
 
 their seeds 
 And weak beginnings, lie intreas- 
 
 ur'd; 
 
 "When Democritus had set 
 down matter, or seeds, as infinite 
 in quantity and finite in attributes 
 and power, he was driven by the 
 very force of this opinion to con- 
 stitute multiform worlds.'' — De- 
 scriptio Gldbi Intellectualis (1612). 
 
 "The natural motion of the 
 atom is the original and unique 
 force that constitutes and fashions 
 all things out of matter." — De 
 Sapientia Velerum (1609). 
 
PARALLELISMS 265 
 
 Such things become the hatch and " In the first beginnings of 
 
 brood of time." things, these seeds must neces- 
 
 S King Hem-y IV., iii. 1 (1600). sarUy have a dark and hidden 
 
 nature, lest something should rise 
 up to resist and oppose them." — 
 De Principiis atque Originibus. 
 
 Both authors in early life held to the doctrine of atoms, — 
 a system which, on the assumption that atoms are endowed 
 with gravity and motion, accounts for the origin of all other 
 things. The one says that these seeds lay " intreasured " ia 
 the beginning, and became the " hatch and brood of time ; " 
 the other, that they are of a " dark and hidden nature," and 
 out of them the " worlds were constituted and fashioned." 
 
 The De Principiis atque Originibus, from which we have 
 quoted, is one of Bacon's earliest philosophical tracts, its 
 exact date unknown. 
 
 501 
 
 COUNTENANCE EEFLECTING MIND 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " What are these faces ? " " With regard to the counte- 
 
 Macheth, iv. 2, 79 (1623). nance, be not influenced by the old 
 
 " [Enter a servant, adage, ' Trust not to a man's face ; ' 
 
 Macbeth. The devil damn thee for, though this may not be wrongly 
 
 black, thou cream-fac'd loon ! said of the general outward carriage 
 
 Where gott'st thou that goose- of the face and action, yet there 
 
 look ? are some more subtle motions and 
 
 Servant. There is ten thousand — labors of the eyes, mouth, counte- 
 
 Macbeth. Geese, villain? nance and gesture by which (as Q. 
 
 Servant. Soldiers, sir. Cicero elegantly expresses it) the 
 
 Macbeth. Go, prick thy face, over- door of the mind is unlocked and 
 
 red thy fear, opened." — De Augmentis (1622). 
 Thou lily-liver'd boy. What 
 
 soldiers, patch ? 
 Death of thy soul I those linen 
 
 cheeks of thine 
 Are counsellors to fear. What 
 
 soldiers, whey-face ? 
 
266 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Servant. The English force, so 
 
 please you. 
 Macbeth. Take thy face hence." 
 Ibid., V. 3. 
 
 The play of ' Macbeth ' is crowded with proofs, as shown 
 by Mr. Euggles in his 'Method of Shakespeare as an 
 Artist ' (1870), that the dramatist had made (as we have 
 already said) a painstaking study of physiognomy. It was 
 on the sudden entrance of the murderers into the presence 
 of Lady Macduff that she asks in terror, " What are these 
 faces?" So Macbeth himself, when the approach of the 
 English forces is announced to him, dwells on the signs of 
 fear in the face of the messenger. 
 
 The results of Bacon's study of this subject were given 
 to the world in the first edition of ' The Advancement of 
 Learning,' in 1605, simultaneously with the production of 
 ' Macbeth.' Our quotation above is taken from its second 
 edition (in which the subject is still more elaborately 
 discussed), contemporaneous with the first publication of the 
 play. 
 
 502 
 
 MAKE HASTE SLOWLY 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Romeo. ! let us hence ; I stand " I knew a wise man had it for a 
 
 on sudden haste. bye-word when he saw men hasten 
 
 Friar. Wisely and slow ; they to a conclusion ; stay a little that 
 
 stumble that run fast." we may make an end the sooner." — 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, ii. 3 (1599). Essay of Dispatch (1607-12). 
 
 503 
 DOUBT 
 
 " Modest doubt is call'd " Doubts have a double use ; 
 
 The beacon of the wise, the tent first, they guard philosophy against 
 
 that searches errors ; secondly, they are so many 
 
 To the bottom of the worst.'' sponges which attract and imbibe 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, ii. 2 (1609). whatever stimulates the growth of 
 
 knowledge." — The Advancement 
 of Learning (1605). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 267 
 
 504 
 MOUNTEBANKS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " I bought an unction, of a mounte- 
 bank 
 
 So mortal, that but dip a knife in 
 it, 
 
 Where it drops blood, no cataplasm 
 so rare, 
 
 Collected from all simples that 
 have virtue 
 
 Under the moon, can save the 
 thing from death. 
 
 That is but scratch'd withal." 
 
 Hamlet, iv. 7 (1604). 
 " Corrupted 
 
 By spells and medicines bought of 
 mountebanks." 
 
 Othello, i. 3 (1622). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Such is the weakness and cre- 
 dulity of men that they will often 
 prefer a witch or mountebank to a 
 learned physician." — Advancement 
 of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 505 
 
 JEALOUSY 
 
 " Pardon me, wife. Henceforth, do 
 
 what thou wilt, 
 I rather will suspect the sun with 
 
 cold 
 Than thee with wantonness ; now 
 
 doth thy honor stand, 
 In him that was of late an heretic, 
 As firm as faith." 
 The Merry Wives of Windsor, iv. 
 4 (1623). 
 
 " The Italian says : Sospetto li- 
 centia fede; as if suspicion did 
 give a passport to faith." — Essay 
 of Suspicion (1625). 
 
 In the quarto editions of ' The Merry Wives of Windsor ' 
 of 1602 and 1619 (the latter published three years after the 
 death of Wilham Shakspere of Stratford) the renunciation of 
 suspicion for the future, declared by Bacon to be under such 
 circumstances in accordance with human nature, is made ia 
 these words : 
 
268 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 " Ford. Well, wife, here take my hand ; upon my soul, I love thee 
 clearer than I do my life, and joy I have so true and constant wife. My 
 jealousy shall never more offend thee." 
 
 506 
 
 CUSTOM SUBDUING NATUEE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 "Use almost can change the stamp 
 of nature." 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 4 (1604). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " His rule holdeth still, that na- 
 ture, nor the engagement of words, 
 are not so forcible as custom." — 
 Essay of Custom and Education, 
 (1607-12). 
 
 "Custom only doth alter and 
 subdue nature." — Essay of Nu' 
 tureinMan (1607-12). 
 
 507 
 
 INCENSE ON ALTARS 
 
 my Cor- " The first grain of incense that 
 was sacrificed upon the altar of 
 in- peace." — History of Henry VII. 
 cense." (1621). 
 
 King Lear, v. 3 (1608). 
 
 508 
 IMAGINATION AND ACTION 
 " Imagination bodies forth the form " Nothing can be done in act 
 of things unknown." until it first be done in imagina- 
 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, v. tion." — Advancement of Learning 
 1 (1600). (1603-5). 
 
 509 
 WITCHES OPERATE THROUGH INTERMEDIATE AGENTS 
 
 "Upon such sacrifices. 
 
 delia, 
 The gods themselves throw 
 
 "Hie thee hither, 
 That I may pour my spirits in 
 
 thine ear, 
 And chastise with the valor of my 
 
 tongue 
 All that impedes thee from the 
 
 golden round. 
 Which fate and metaphysical aid 
 
 doth seem 
 To have thee crown'd withal." 
 
 Macbeth, i. 5 (1623). 
 
 " If a witch by imagination hurt 
 any one afar off, it cannot be done 
 naturally, but by working upon 
 the spirit of one that comes to the 
 witch, and from thence upon the 
 imagination of another." — Sylva 
 Sylvarum (1622-25). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 26g 
 
 The witclies took full possession of Lady Macbeth's mind, 
 but only in the manner described by Bacon, through the in- 
 termediate agency of her husband, who had interviewed 
 them. 
 
 510 
 
 INSOMNIA 
 From Shakespeare 
 " How many thousand of my 
 
 poorest subjects 
 Are at this hour asleep ! O sleep ! 
 
 O gentle sleep ! 
 Nature's soft nurse, how have I 
 
 frighted thee, 
 That thou no more wilt weigh my 
 
 eyelids down 
 And steep my senses in forgetful- 
 
 ness ? 
 
 O thou dull god! why liest thou 
 
 with the vile 
 In loathsome beds, and leav'st the 
 
 kingly couch 
 A watch-case or a common 'larum 
 
 beU? 
 
 Uneasy lies the head that wears 
 a crown." 
 
 S Henry IV., iii. 1 (1600). 
 
 IN KINGS 
 
 From Bacon 
 " It is a miserable state of mind 
 to have few things to desire, and 
 many things to fear ; and yet that 
 commonly is the case of kings ; 
 who, being at the highest, want 
 matter of desire, which makes their 
 minds more languishing ; and have 
 many representations of perils and 
 shadows, which makes their minds 
 the less clear." — Essay of Empire 
 (1607-12). 
 
 511 
 
 WIVES MDKDEEING 
 
 " For God's sake, let us sit upon 
 
 the ground 
 And tell sad stories of the death of 
 
 kings; 
 How some have been depos'd, some 
 
 slain in war, 
 Some haunted by the ghosts they 
 
 have depos'd, 
 Some poison'd by their wives, some 
 
 sleeping kill'd, 
 
 THEIE HUSBANDS 
 
 " Kings have to deal with their 
 neighbors, [their wives, their chil- 
 dren, their prelates or clergy, their 
 nobles, their second-nobles or 
 gentlemen, their merchants, their 
 commons, and their men of war; 
 and from all these arise dan- 
 gers. . . . 
 
 " For their wives : there are cruel 
 examples of them. Livia is in- 
 
ayo 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 All murder'd ; for within the 
 
 hollow crown 
 That rounds the mortal temples of 
 
 a king 
 Keeps Death his court." 
 
 Richard II., iii. 2 (1597). 
 
 famed for the poisoning of her 
 husband ; Eozalana, Solyman's 
 wife, was the destruction of that 
 renowned prince Sultan Mustapha, 
 and otherwise troubled his house 
 and succession ; Edward the Second 
 of England his queen had the 
 principal hand in the deposing and 
 murder of h er husband. This kind 
 of danger is then to be feared." — 
 Essay of Empire (1625). 
 
 512 
 
 CHILDREN, THE HIGHEST FELICITY 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Thrice blessed they that master 
 so their blood 
 
 To undergo such maiden pilgrim- 
 age. 
 
 But earthlier happy is the rose 
 distill'd 
 
 Than that which, withering on the 
 virgin thorn, 
 
 Grows, lives and dies in single 
 blessedness." 
 Midsummer-Night's Dream,, i. 1 
 (1600). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Childless she [EKzabeth] was, 
 indeed, and left no issue ; . . . 
 some taking it for a diminution of 
 felicity, for that to be happy both 
 in the individual self and in the 
 propagation of the kind would be 
 a blessing above the condition 
 of humanity." — The Fortunate 
 Memory of Elizabeth (1608). 
 
 513 
 
 DISCERNING CHARACTER IN EYES AND PACES 
 
 " Which is the villain ? Let me 
 
 see his eyes, 
 That when I note another man 
 
 like him, 
 I may avoid him." 
 
 Much Ado, V. 2 (1600). 
 
 " A number of subtile persons, 
 whose eyes do dwell upon the 
 faces and fashions of men, do well 
 know the advantage of this obser- 
 vation, as being most part of their 
 ability; neither can it be denied 
 but that it is a great discovery of 
 dissimulations." — Advancement of 
 Learning, Bk. ii. (1605). 
 
PARALLELISMS 271 
 
 514 
 JEALOUSY, A SENTINEL 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " For wtere Love reigns, disturb- " Counsellors are not commonly 
 
 ing Jealousy so united but that one counsellor 
 
 Doth call himself Affection's senti- keepeth sentinel over another.'' — 
 
 nel." Essay of Counsel (1607-12). 
 Venus and Adonis (1593). 
 
 The identical image here, as pointed out by Mr. Wigston, 
 is in the function of Jealousy as a sentinel, whether among 
 the coimsellors of a king or the affections of one's heart. 
 
 515 
 EXCESS OP COURAGE, MAGNANIMITT 
 
 " Methinks a woman of this valiant "Excess is usually the vice of 
 
 spirit youth, defect that of old age. . . . 
 
 Should, if a ^ coward heard her In excess there is some magna- 
 
 speak these words, nimity shown.'' — Sapientia Fete- 
 
 Infuse his breast with magnani- rum (1609). 
 
 mity, 
 And make him, naked, foil a man 
 
 at arms." 
 
 S Henry VI., v. 4, 39-42. 
 
 The youthful Prince Edward, brought unarmed and de- 
 fenceless into the presence of his captors, so defied and 
 insulted them that he was at once put to death. This was 
 on his part an excess of courage, in which both authors see 
 greatness of soul or magnanimity. 
 
 516 
 SYMPATHY WITH BRUTES 
 
 " First Lord. Come, shall we go " My Lord St. Alban, having a 
 
 and kill us venison ? dog which he loved sick, put him 
 
 And yet it irks us, the poor dappl'd to a woman to keep. The dog 
 
 fools, died. My Lord met her the next 
 
 Being native burghers of this desert day and said, ' how doth my dog 1 ' 
 
 city, She answered in a whining tone, 
 
272 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Should in their own confines with 
 
 forked heads 
 Have their round haunches gor'd. 
 
 To the which place a poor seques- 
 
 ter'd stag, 
 That from the hunter's aim had 
 
 ta'en a hurt, 
 Did come to languish ; and, indeed, 
 
 my lord, 
 The wretched animal heav'd forth 
 
 such groans 
 That their discharge did stretch his 
 
 leathern coat 
 Almost to bursting ; and the big 
 
 round tears 
 Cours'd one another down his inno- 
 cent nose 
 In piteous chase ; and thus the 
 
 hairy fool. 
 Much marked of the melancholy 
 
 Jaq^ues, 
 Stood on the extremest verge of the 
 
 swift brook. 
 Augmenting it with tears. 
 Duke Senior. And did you leave 
 
 him in this contemplation 1 
 Second Lord. We did, my lord, 
 
 weeping and commenting 
 Upon the sobbing deer." 
 
 As You Like It, ii. 1 (1623). 
 " I, for praise alone, now seek to 
 
 spill 
 The poor deer's blood that my 
 
 heart means no ill." 
 Love's Labor's Lost, iv. 1 (1598). 
 
 " ' Out with the dog,' says one ; 
 ' What cur is that,' says another ; 
 'Whip him out,' says the third; 
 ' Hang him up,' says the duke. I, 
 having been acquainted with the 
 smell before, knew it was Crab, and 
 
 and putting a handkerchief to her 
 eye, ' The dog is well, I hope.' " — 
 Apothegm. 
 
 " The incHnatiou to goodness is 
 imprinted deeply in the nature of 
 man ; insomuch that if it issue not 
 toward men, it will unto other 
 living creatures; as it is seen in 
 the Turks, a cruel people, who 
 nevertheless are kind to beasts, and 
 give alms to dogs and birds." — 
 Essay of Goodness and Goodness 
 of Nature (1625). 
 
PARALLELISMS 273 
 
 goes me to the fellow ttat whips 
 dogs. ' Friend,' quoth I, ' you mean 
 to whip the dog 1 ' ' Ay, marry, 
 do I,' quoth he. ' You do him the 
 more wrong,' ctuoth I; ''twas I 
 did the thing you wot of.' He 
 makes me no more ado, but whips 
 me out of the chamber. How 
 many masters would do this for his 
 servant ? Nay, I '11 be sworn, I 
 have sat in the stocks for puddings 
 he hath stolen, otherwise he had 
 been executed ; I have stood on 
 the pillory for geese he hath killed, 
 otherwise he had suffered for it." 
 — The Two Gentlemen of Verona, 
 iv. 4 (1623). 
 
 Bacon's sympathy with brute animals in distress was one 
 of his most marked characteristics, as it is one that continu- 
 ally crops out in the plays. He once sacrificed a friendship 
 because he could not- endure the sight of a dog abused. He 
 told the owner that " every gentleman loves a dog." Shake- 
 speare represents a man as taking upon himself various pun- 
 ishments for offences committed by his dog, to save the dog's 
 
 life. 
 
 517 
 
 HAPPT DOLE 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Happy man be his dole." " Happy man, happy dole." — 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, iii. 4 Promus (1594-96). 
 
 (1623). 
 1 King Henry IV., ii. 2 (1598). 
 The Taming of the Shrew, i. 1 
 (1623). 
 The Winter's Tale, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 518 
 HAPPINESS IN OPINION OF OTHERS 
 
 " O ceremony, show me but thy " Certainly, great persons had 
 worth ! need to borrow other men's opin- 
 
 18 
 
274 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 What is the soul of adoration 1 
 
 Art thou aught else but place, de- 
 gree, and form. 
 
 Creating awe and fear in other men? 
 
 Wherein thou art less happy, being 
 fear'd, 
 
 Than they in fearing. 
 
 And what art thou, idle ceremony? 
 
 What kind of god art thou, that 
 suffer'st more 
 
 Of mortal grief than do thy wor- 
 shippers 1 " 
 
 Henry V., iv. 1 (1623). 
 
 ions, to think themselves happy ; 
 for, if they judge by their own feel- 
 ing, they cannot find it ; but if they 
 think with themselves what other 
 men think of them, and that other 
 men would fain be as they are, 
 then they are happy, as it were, by 
 report ; when perhaps they find 
 the contrary within." — Essay of 
 Great Place (1602-12). 
 
 519 
 
 SOME GOOD TN EVEETTHrVG 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " There is some soul of goodness in 
 
 things evil, 
 Would men observingly distil it 
 
 out." 
 
 Henry V., iv. 1 (1623). 
 " And this our life, exempt from 
 
 public haunt. 
 
 Finds . . . good in everything." 
 
 As You Like It, ii. 1 (1623). 
 " Nought so vile that on the earth 
 
 doth live. 
 But to the earth some special good 
 doth give." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, ii. 3. 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " There is formed in everything 
 a double nature of good." — Ad- 
 vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 " The inclination to goodness is 
 imprinted deeply in the nature of 
 man." — Essay of Goodness and 
 Goodness of Nature (1625). 
 
 520 
 
 DISTORTION OF IMAGES KEELECTED IN THE MIND 
 
 "A mind reflecting ages past, 
 
 whose clear 
 And equal surface can make things 
 
 appear 
 
 " The reflection from glasses, so 
 usually resembled to the imagery 
 of the mind, every man knoweth 
 to receive error and variety both in 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 275 
 
 Distant a thousand years, and rep- 
 resent 
 
 Them in their lively colors, just 
 extent." 
 /. M. S. in First Shake-speare 
 Folio (1623). 
 
 color, magnitude, and shape, ac- 
 cording to the quality of the glass." 
 — Of the Interpretation of Nature 
 (c. 1603). 
 
 " Do you suppose that when en- 
 trances to men's minds are ob- 
 structed by the darkest errors, 
 smooth, even spaces can be found 
 in these minds so that the light of 
 truth can be accurately reflected 
 from them? " — Temporis Partus 
 Masculus (c. 1605). 
 
 " The mind of man, dimmed and 
 clouded as it is by the covering of 
 the body, far from being a smooth, 
 clear and equal glass, wherein the 
 beams of things reflect according 
 to their true incidence, is rather 
 like an inchanted glass, full of su- 
 perstition and imposture." — Ad- 
 vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 The unknown contributor to the preliminary matter of the 
 
 first Shake-speare folio, I. M. S., here uses one of Bacon's 
 
 favorite images in depicting the dramatist's intellectual 
 
 character. 
 
 521 
 
 EOBBEEY ON GAd'S-HILL 
 
 From Shake-speare 
 "Enter Gadshill. 
 "Gadshill. Stand. 
 Falslaff. So I do, against my 
 wiU. 
 
 Poins. ! 't is our setter, I 
 know his voice. 
 
 Enter Travellers. 
 1 Traveller. Come, neighbor; 
 the boy shall lead our horses down 
 the hOl ; we 'H walk afoot awhile, 
 and ease our legs. 
 Thieves. Stand! 
 Travellers. Jesu bless us ! 
 
 From Bacon 
 "If a man command I. S. to 
 rob I. D. on Shooter's-hiU, and he 
 doth it on Gads-hUl, ... yet he is 
 accessory nevertheless." — Maxims 
 of the Law (1596). 
 
276 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Fahtaff. Strike, down with 
 them; cut the 'villains' throats. 
 Ah! whoreson caterpillars 1 bacon- 
 fed knaves ! They hate us youth ; 
 down with them ; fleece them. 
 
 Travellers. O! we are undone, 
 both we and ours, for ever.'' — 
 1 King Henry IV., ii. 2 (1596). 
 
 The only case of highway robbery mentioned in the plays 
 
 occurred on Gad's-Hill ; the only one mentioned by Bacon 
 
 in his law treatises was also committed on Gad's-HUl. The 
 
 play and the treatise appear to have been written the same 
 
 year. 
 
 522 
 
 FLOWEKS ACCOEDING TO SEASOIT 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " I do hold it, in the royal order- 
 ing of gardens, there ought to be 
 gardens for all the months in the 
 year, in which severally things of 
 beauty may be then in season." 
 
 FLOWEES OF WINTEE 
 
 " Perdita. Reverend sirs, "For December and January 
 
 For you there 's rosemary and rue ; and the latter part of November, 
 
 these keep you must take such things as are 
 
 Seeming and savor all the winter green all winter; rosemary, laven- 
 
 long." der, sweet marjoram." 
 
 FLOWEES OF SPEING 
 
 "Perdita. Now, my fair'st friend, " There followeth for the latter 
 
 I would I had some flowers o' th' part of January and February 
 
 spring, that might crocus vemus, both the yellow and 
 
 Become your time of day; and the grey; primroses; anemones; 
 
 yours, and yours, the early tulippa ; hyacinthus ori- 
 
 That wear upon your virgin entalis. For March, there come 
 
 branches yet violets, especially the single blue, 
 
 Your maidenheads growing ; which are the earliest ; the yellow 
 
 Proserpina! dq^rfiZ; the daisy. In April fol- 
 
 For the flowers now, that, frighted, low the double white violet, the 
 
 thou lett'st fall wall-flower, the s,ioak-gilliJlomer, 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 277 
 
 From Dis' wagon! daffodils, the cowslip, flower-de-luces, and 
 
 That come before the swallow lilies of aU natures; rosemary 
 
 dares, and takes flowers, the pale daffodil, the 
 
 The winds of March with beauty; French honeysuckle." 
 
 violets, dim, 
 But sweeter than the lids of Juno's 
 
 eyes, 
 
 Or Cytherea's breath; pale prim- 
 roses. 
 
 That die unmarried ere they can 
 behold 
 
 Bright Phcebus in his strength, a 
 malady 
 
 Most incident to maids; bold ox- 
 lips, and 
 
 The crown imperial ; lilies of all 
 Mnds, 
 
 The flower-de-luce being one." 
 
 FLOWERS OP SUMMEE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Perdila. Here 's flowers for you ; 
 
 Hot lavender, mints, savory, mar- 
 joram. 
 
 The marigold, that goes to bed wi' 
 the sun, 
 
 And with him rises weeping ; these 
 are flowers 
 
 Of middle summer, and, I think, 
 they are given 
 
 To men of middle age." 
 
 From Bacon 
 " In May and June come pinks 
 of all sorts, especially the blush 
 pinks, roses of all kinds, except the 
 musk, which comes later ; honey- 
 suckles, columbine, the French 
 marigold, vine flowers, lavender in 
 flowers, the sweet satyrian." 
 
 FLOWERS OF AUTUMN 
 
 " Perdita. Sir, the year growing 
 
 ancient, — 
 Not yet on summer's death, nor 
 
 on the birth 
 Of trembling winter, — the fairest 
 
 flowers o' the season 
 Are our carnations, and streak'd 
 
 gillivors.'" 
 The Winter's Tale, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
 " In October and the beginning 
 of November come services, roses 
 cut, or removed to come later; 
 hollyokes, and such like." — Essay 
 of Gardens (1625). 
 
278 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Not only is the catalogue of flowers in the two lists sub- 
 stantially the same, but so also is the order of the seasons 
 given in them, each beginning, rather curiously, with winter. 
 
 We now add a complete list of the flowers, trees, and 
 shrubs mentioned in this single Essay and also in the 
 Plays : 
 
 Ivy 
 Bay 
 Cypress 
 few 
 
 Lily 
 
 Honeysuckle 
 Thorn 
 Pink 
 
 Filberts 
 Poppy 
 Pear 
 Almond 
 
 Apple 
 Plum 
 Quince 
 Bumet 
 
 Eosemary 
 Lavender 
 
 Eose 
 Musk rose 
 
 Gooseberry 
 Currants 
 
 Carnation 
 Mint 
 
 Marjoram 
 
 Damask rose 
 
 Bean 
 
 Thistle 
 
 Primrose 
 Violet 
 
 Strawberry 
 Columbine 
 
 Grape 
 HoUy 
 
 Pine 
 
 Flag 
 
 Daffodil 
 
 Daisy 
 
 GUliflower 
 
 Marigold 
 
 Cherry 
 
 Vine 
 
 Orange 
 Lemon 
 Damson 
 
 Myrtle 
 
 Peach 
 
 Warden 
 
 Cowslip 
 Fleur-de-lis 
 
 Lime 
 Apricots 
 
 Fig 
 523 
 
 Wild thyme 
 
 
 BISE 
 
 ASH FALL 
 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 ^^ King Richard. 0, goodl con- 
 vey ? Conveyers are you all, 
 That rise thus nimbly by a true 
 knight's faU." 
 King Richard II., iv. 1 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Be seated ; your rise has been 
 my fall." — A Saying to his Ser- 
 vants (1621). 
 
 524 
 
 PITT 
 
 " If ever you have look'd on better 
 
 days. 
 If ever been where bells have 
 
 knoU'd to church, 
 If ever sat at any good man's feast, 
 If ever from your eyelids wip'd a 
 
 tear, 
 
 " The next morning he came to 
 me again, joyful as it seemed, and 
 said, ' There is word come to the 
 governor of the city, that one of 
 the Fathers of Salomon's House 
 will be here this day seven-night ; 
 we have seen none of them this 
 
PARALLELISMS 279 
 
 And know what 't is to pity, and dozen years. Hia coming is in 
 
 be pitied, state, but the cause of his coming 
 
 Let gentleness my strong enforce- is secret. I will provide you fel- 
 
 ment be." lows of a good standing to see his 
 
 As You Like It, ii. 7 (1623). entry.' I thanked him, and told 
 
 him, ' I was most glad of the news.' 
 The day being come, he made his 
 entry. He was a man of middle 
 stature and age, comely of person, 
 and had an aspect as if he pitied 
 men." — New Atlantis (c. 1624). 
 
 According to Bacon, pity for distress is the crowning glory 
 of human character; this alone, as though it were all in 
 all, he ascribes to the chief personage of his ideal common- 
 wealth, the New Atlantis. So Orlando in the play, rushing 
 forward for succor in behalf of his poor, old, famishing ser- 
 vant left behind in the woods, makes his impassioned appeals, 
 rising to higher and higher considerations as he speaks, and 
 finally restiag his claim on that which, in intensity and 
 strength, was thought to surpass all others, — the sentiment 
 of pity. 
 
 525 
 
 VAPOK 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Vows are but breath, and breath "When water passes into vapor, 
 
 a vapor is ; it is moat certain that it is changed 
 
 Then thou, fair sun, which on my into air." — Cogitationes de Natura 
 
 earth dost shine, Rerum (1603). 
 
 Exhal'st this vapor-vow." " Water seems to he but a cou- 
 
 Love's Labor 's Lost, iv. 3 (1598). gelation and contraction of air." — 
 " Like a dew-drop from the lion's De Principiis et Originibus. 
 
 mane, "A drop of water, turned into 
 
 Be shook to air." air, requires at least a hundred 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, iii. 3 (1623). times more space than before." — 
 
 History of the Winds. 
 
 The extraordinary opinion, derived from Aristotle, that 
 the vapor of water is air was held by both authors. It ap- 
 peared, in Shake-speare, in a play first published in 1598 ; 
 
a8o 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 in Bacon, in one of his earliest phUosopliical tracts, printed in 
 Holland for the first time, posthumously, in 1653. A con- 
 temporary opinion, widely spread, was to the effect that vapor 
 is a combination of water and fire, the latter element giving 
 to the compound its tendency to rise through the atmos- 
 phere. The actual identity of vapor and air seems to have 
 taken a strong hold on the minds of Bacon and Shake-speare. 
 
 526 
 SWELLING WITH PKIDE, AS WITH VENOM 
 
 From Shake-speare 
 "The venomous malice of 
 
 swelling heart." 
 Titus Andronicus, v. 3, 13 (1600) 
 
 my 
 
 From Bacon 
 "Knowledge, if it be taken 
 without the true corrective thereof, 
 hath in it some nature of venom or 
 malignity, and some eflfects of that 
 venom, which is ventosity or swell- 
 ing." — The Advancement of Learn- 
 ing (1603-5). 
 
 Both authors made frequent use of this analogy between 
 the swelling of a serpent with venom and that of the human 
 heart with pride and malice. Bacon says, it is not quantity 
 of knowledge that produces this result, but its quality ; that 
 is, as he defines it, knowledge without charity. 
 
 527 
 
 PEESEUS AND PEGASUS 
 
 "I will not change my horse 
 with any that treads but on four 
 pasterns, ^a, ha ! He bounds from 
 the earth as if his entrails were 
 hairs ; le chevall volant, the Pegasus, 
 qui a les narines defeu I When I 
 bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk ; 
 the earth sings when he touches it ; 
 the basest horn of his hoof is more 
 musical than the pipe of Hermes. 
 
 It is a beast for Perseus." — King 
 Henry V., iii. 7 (1600). 
 
 " Perseus was sent, it is said, by 
 Pallas to cut off the head of Me- 
 dusa. . . . From the blood that 
 flowed from the wound, there sud- 
 denly leaped forth a winged Pega- 
 sus." — Wisdom of the Ancients 
 (1609). 
 
PARALLELISMS 281 
 
 528 
 PROTEUS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Change shapes with Proteus." "If any one wanted his [Pro- 
 
 S King Henry VI., iii. 2, 192 (1595). tens'] help in any matter, the only 
 
 way was first to secure his hands 
 with handcuffs, and then to bind 
 him with chains. Whereupon he 
 on his part, in order to get free, 
 would turn himself into all man- 
 ner of strange shapes." — Wisdom 
 of the Ancients (1609). 
 
 529 
 
 NEMESIS 
 
 "Black Nemesis." "Nemesis of the Darkness." — 
 
 I King Henry VI., iv. 7, 78 (1623). Ibid. 
 
 The dramatist had no authority to call Nemesis black, 
 except in allusion to her origin and to the secrecy with 
 which she was supposed to execute certain divine decrees. 
 This was Bacon's view of her. 
 
 530 
 
 SIN BY LAW 
 
 " Escalus. What do you think of "I had not known sin but by 
 the trade, Pompey 1 the law." — Fromus (1594-96). 
 
 Is it a lawful trade 1 
 
 Clown. If the law would allow 
 it, sir?" 
 Measure for Measure, ii. 1 
 (1623). 
 
 531 
 
 DOMINEERING PEDANTS 
 
 "A domineering pedant o'er the " The conditions of life of ped- 
 
 boy." ants have been scorned upon 
 
 Lovers Labor's Lost, iii. 1, 179 theatres, as the ape of tyranny." 
 
 (1598). — The Advancement of Learning 
 
 (1603-5). 
 
282 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 532 
 PARASITES 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Most smiling, smooth, detested 
 parasites, 
 
 You fools of fortune, trencher- 
 friends, time's flies." 
 Timon of Athens, iii. 6, 95-97 
 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Such as were those trencher- 
 philosophers, which, in the later 
 age of the Roman state, were usu- 
 ally in the houses of great persons, 
 being little better than solemn 
 parasites." — The Advancement oj 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 533 
 
 OPINION 
 " The great Achilles, whom opinion " Praise is a matter of opinion." 
 
 crowns 
 The sinew and the forehand of our 
 host." 
 Troilus and Cressida, i. 3 (1609). 
 
 ■Promus (1594-96). 
 
 TVTEALTH IN A 
 
 " I' the commonwealth . 
 
 Letters should not be known; 
 
 riches, poverty. 
 And use of service, none." 
 
 Tempest, ii. 1, 146-150 (1623). 
 
 534 
 
 STATE, AN EVIIi 
 
 " There was never any state in 
 the world into which avarice and 
 luxury made their way so late ; 
 nor any in which poverty and 
 frugality were for so long a time 
 held in so great honor. 
 
 We see, likewise, after that the 
 state of Rome was not itself but 
 did degenerate, how that person 
 that took upon him to be coun- 
 sellor to Julius Caesar after his 
 victory, where to begin his restora- 
 tion of the state, maketh it of all 
 points the most summary to take 
 away the estimation of wealth: 
 ' but these and all other evils ' (he 
 says) 'will cease as soon as the 
 worship of money ceases.' " — 
 Advancement of Learning, i. 
 (1603-5). 
 
PARALLELISMS 283 
 
 The author of the play, in his deliaeation of an ideal 
 commonwealth, undoubtedly followed Montaigne; but the 
 influence of wealth in a state, which the dramatist deemed an 
 evil, was deprecated also by Bacon. 
 
 535 
 
 DAFFODIL, A SPEING FLOWER 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Daffodils, "Narcissus [daflfodil] is said to 
 
 That come before the swallow have been a young man of wonder- 
 dares, and take ful beauty. . . . One day, he came 
 The winds of March with beauty." by chance to a clear fountain, and 
 The WirUer's Tale, iv. 3, 119-120 (it being in the heat of noon) lay 
 (1623). down by it ; when, beholding in 
 
 the water his own image, he fell 
 into such a study and then into 
 such a rapturous admiration of 
 himself, that he could not be 
 drawn away from gazing at the 
 shadowy picture, but remained 
 rooted to the spot till sense left 
 him ; and at last he was changed 
 into the flower that bears his name, 
 a flower that appears in early 
 spring.'' — The Wisdom of the 
 Ancients (1609). 
 
 536 
 
 MEDUSA, TUKNING PEOPLE TO STONE 
 
 "Approach the chamber, and de- " No cause of war is more pious 
 
 stroy your sight than the overthrow of a tyranny 
 
 With a new Gorgon." tmder which the people lie pros- 
 
 Macbeth, ii. 3, 72-73 (1 623). trate, as if turned to stone by the 
 
 aspect of Medusa. Medusa was 
 one of the Qorgons. " — Ibid. 
 
 537 
 
 THE CYCLOPS, HAMMEEtNG AND FORGING 
 
 " The Cyclops' hammers fall " With officious industry, the 
 
 On Mars his armor, forg'd for Cyclopes labored hard with a 
 
 proof eterne." terrible din in forging thunder- 
 
 Hairdet, ii. 2, 495-496 (1604). bolts and other instruments of 
 
 terror." — Ibid. 
 
284 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 538 
 ACTION, TtlENED INTO A STAG 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Acteon, having unawares and 
 by chance seen Diana naked, was 
 turned into a stag." — The Wisdom 
 of the Ancients (1609). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Had I the power that some say 
 
 Dian had, 
 Thy temples should be planted 
 
 presently 
 With horns as was Actseon's." 
 
 Titus Andronicus, ii. 3, 61-63 
 (1600). 
 
 539 
 
 titan's kats 
 
 "Lord Saturnine, whose virtues "The body of Nature ig most 
 
 will, I hope, 
 Eeflect on Kome as Titan's rays 
 
 on earth." 
 Titus Andronicus, i. 1, 226 (1600). 
 
 elegantly and truly represented as 
 covered with hair, in allusion to 
 the rays which all objects emit. 
 Whatever produces an effect at a 
 distance may be said to emit rays. 
 The rays of the celestial bodies 
 operate and penetrate from a 
 greater distance than any other." 
 
 " The Sun was the only one of 
 the Titans that was on Jupiter's 
 side." — Ibid. 
 
 Both authors call the sun by the exceptional name of 
 Titan. 
 
 540 
 hamlet's indecision 
 
 *' Conscience does make cowards 
 of us all ; 
 
 And thus the native hue of resolu- 
 tion 
 
 Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast 
 of thought, 
 
 And enterprises of great pith and 
 moment 
 
 With this regard their currents 
 turn away 
 
 And lose the name of action." 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 1 (1603-4). 
 
 " Aristotle speaketh seriously 
 and wisely when he saith, 'They 
 who take few points only into ac- 
 count find it easy to pronounce 
 judgment.' " — Advancement of 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
PARALLELISMS 285 
 
 "How all occasions do inform 
 
 against me, 
 And spur my dull revenge ! . . . 
 Whether it be 
 Bestial oblivion, or some craven 
 
 scruple 
 Of thinking too precisely on the 
 
 event — 
 A thought which, quarter'd, hath 
 
 but one part wisdom 
 And ever three parts cowaid, — I 
 
 do not know 
 Why yet I live to say ' This thing 's 
 
 to do,' 
 Sith I have cause, and wUl, and 
 
 strength, and means, 
 Todo't." 
 Advancement of Learning, iv. 4 
 
 (1604). 
 
 Bacon furnishes in the above-quoted passage from the 
 ' Advancement ' the key to Hamlet's irresolution in execut- 
 ing the command laid upon him. Hamlet himself was an 
 extraordinarily resolute character, as shown when he followed 
 his father's ghost on the platform against the admonition of 
 his friends, and when on the voyage to England he boarded 
 the pirate, sword in hand and alone, at the first moment of 
 contact between the two vessels. On each of these occasions 
 his duty seemed clear to him ; and his action was prompt and 
 courageous. But when it came to an act of assassination in cold 
 blood at the behest of a spectre, and the person to be assassi- 
 nated was his uncle, his stepfather and his sovereign, that was 
 a different matter. That required the most careful circum- 
 spection. After all, he said to himself (as Orestes did under 
 similar conditions in the 'Electra' of Euripides,^ whence 
 Shake-speare derived so much of his great tragedy), perhaps 
 " the spirit that I have seen may be the devil who abuses 
 me to damn me." We find, then, that his subsequent de- 
 
 See 'Francis Bacon Our Shake-speare,' Chapter V. 
 
286 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 meaner conformed to the precept laid down by Bacon ; namely, 
 that in forming a judgment, whatever may be the delay, we 
 should take all points into account. 
 
 The philosophy of ' Hamlet ' may be compressed into an 
 aphorism: he knows nothing who knows not everything. 
 Actions are rightly adjudged wise or unwise only in the light 
 of their eternal effects. 
 
 541 
 
 ATALANTA 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Nimble wit . . . made of Ata- "Atalanta, remarkable for speed." 
 lanta's beels." — The Wisdom of the Ancients 
 
 As You Like It, iii. (1623). (1609). 
 
 542 
 
 ALL 'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL 
 
 " All 's well that ends well." " All 's well that ends well." — 
 
 All's Well, iv. 4 (1623). Ibid. 
 
 543 
 SOTLLA AND CHARTBDIS 
 
 "When I shun ScyUa, your "The passage between Scylla 
 father, I fall into Charybdis, your and Charybdis needs both skill and 
 mother." — Merchant of Venice,iii. good fortune to navigate it. For 
 5 (1600). if the ship run on ScyUa, it is 
 
 dashed on the roeks ; if on Cha- 
 rybdis, it is sucked in by the 
 whirlpool." — Ibid. 
 
 544 
 A king's oath 
 
 " For a kingdom any oath may " As to treaties and compacts 
 
 be broken ; of princes, whatever be the solem- 
 
 I would break a thousand oaths to nity and sanctity of the oath they 
 reign one year." are confirmed with, yet they are 
 
 3 King Henry VL, 1, 2 (1623). little to be depended upon ; inso- 
 much that they are iised in fact 
 rather with an eye to reputation 
 and fame and ceremony than for 
 confidence and security and effect." 
 —Ibid. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 2Sy 
 
 545 
 THE KISSES OF AN ENEMY 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " His kisses are Judaa' own 
 
 children." — As You Like It, iii. 4 
 
 (1623). 
 " 'T is time to fear when tyrants 
 
 seem to kiss." — Pericles, i. 2 (1609). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " The kisses of an enemy are de- 
 ceitful." — Adoancement of Learn- 
 ing (1603-5). 
 
 546 
 
 CHERUBIM 
 
 " In the celestial hierarchy, ac- 
 cording to Dionysius, the first place 
 or degree is given to the angels of 
 love, which are termed seraphim ; 
 the second, to the angels of light, 
 which are called cherubim; so as 
 the angels of knowledge and illu- 
 mination are placed before the 
 angels of office and domination." 
 — Ibid. 
 
 " Besides, this Duncan 
 Hath borne his faculties so meek, 
 
 hath been 
 So clear in his great office, that his 
 
 virtues 
 WUl plead like angels, trumpet- 
 
 tongued, against 
 The deep damnation of his taking- 
 
 off; 
 And pity, Uke a naked new-bom 
 
 babe, 
 Striding the blast, or heaven's 
 
 cherubin, hors'd 
 Upon the sightless couriers of the 
 
 air, 
 Shall blow the horrid deed in every 
 
 eye." 
 
 Macbeth, i. 7 (1623). 
 " Such cherubins as your sweet self 
 
 resemble, 
 Creating every bad a perfect best, 
 As fast as objects to his beams as- 
 semble." 
 
 Sonnet 114 (1609). 
 
 Bacon confessedly took his view of the celestial hierarchy 
 from Dionysius, the Areopagite, who wrote in Greek, and 
 whose works have only recently been translated into Eng- 
 lish. But Shake-speare was also acquainted with the writ- 
 ings of Dionysius, for he assigns to the chertxbim, as Bacon 
 
288 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 does, the attributes of light and illumination, the seraphs 
 
 being angels of love. Macbeth foretells that the knowledge 
 
 of Duncan's murder will be carried by the cherubim " to 
 
 every eye." 
 
 547 
 
 KINGS FEAKED AND LOVED 
 From Shakespeare From Bacori 
 
 " Never was monarch better fear'd " The king which is not feared 
 and lov'd is not loved." — Essay of a King 
 
 Than is your majesty." (posthumous). 
 
 King Henry V., ii. 2 (1600). 
 
 548 
 THE FOUR ELEMENTS 
 
 " I might say ' element,' but the " The opinion that all sublunaiy 
 word is overworn." — Twelfth bodies are composed of the four 
 Night, iu. 1 (c. 1601). elements is ill borne out." — His- 
 
 tory of Dense and Rare (1622-25). 
 
 Bacon seems to have come slowly to the conclusion that 
 the doctrine of the four elements of matter (earth, air, fire, 
 and water), held by his contemporaries, is erroneous. In a 
 tract written in 1612 (-De Glohi Intellectualis) he expressly 
 withheld his opinion on the subject, sayiug parenthetically, 
 " in regard to this I am silent." But when subsequently he 
 investigated the specific gravity of various substances and 
 discovered that gold is heavier than any one of these four 
 elements, or than any possible combination of them, he 
 definitely rejected the doctriae. Shake-speare entertained 
 the same doubt that Bacon did, and entertained it too at 
 the same time; that is to say, several years before the 
 latter made the decisive experiment referred to. 
 
 549 
 POETRY, DIVINE 
 
 " Much is the force of heaven- " Poesy was ever thought to 
 bred poesy." — Two Gentlemen of have some participation of divine- 
 Verona, iii. 2 (1623). ness." — Advancement of Learning 
 
 (1603-5). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 1289 
 
 560 
 MUSIC AND POETRY 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " The degancy, facility and 
 golden cadence of poesy." — Love's 
 Labor's Lost, iv. 2 (1623). 
 
 " Music and poesy use to quicken 
 you." — TTie Taming of the Shrew, 
 i. 1 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Poesy, by its congruities with 
 man's nature and pleasure, joined 
 with the agreement and consort it 
 hath with music, hath had access 
 and estimation in rude times and 
 barbarous regions, where other 
 learning stood excluded." — Ad- 
 vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 Bacon pronounces poetry " one of the principal portions of 
 learning," dramatic poetry especially being " nothing else but 
 feigned history." The latter, he says, has two uses : one, 
 " to demonstrate and illustrate that which is taught and de- 
 livered ; " the other, " to retire and obscure the secrets and 
 mysteries of religion, polity and philosophy." It was for 
 this reason that he regarded the ancient poets as philoso- 
 phers, and that even now, if we wish to advance anything 
 new in philosophy, we must employ the pen of a dramatic 
 poet for the purpose. 
 
 551 
 EPICTJEEAKS 
 
 "Epicureans placed felicity in 
 pleasure, and made virtue to be 
 but as a servant, without which 
 pleasure cannot be properly served 
 and attended." — Advancement of 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 " What a damn'd Epicurean ras- 
 cal is this ! " — Merry Wives of 
 Windsor, ii. 3 (1602). 
 " Our court, infected with their 
 
 manners, 
 Shows like a riotous inn ; Epicur- 
 ism and lust 
 Make it more like a tavern, or a 
 
 brothel, 
 Than a grac'd palace." 
 
 King Lear, i. 4 (1608). 
 
 In the plays from which the above extracts are taken, 
 virtue is treated, under the express authority of Epicurus, 
 as subordinate to pleasure. Bacon also credits the same 
 doctrine to Epicurus. 
 
 19 
 
290 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 552 
 
 FORTUNE 
 
 From, Shakespeare 
 
 " Call me not fool, till Heaven hath 
 sent me fortune." 
 As You Like It, ii. 7 (1623). 
 " I am even 
 The natural fool of fortune." 
 
 King Lear, iv. 6 (1608). 
 
 AND FOLLT 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Fortune is the child of the vul- 
 gar. . . . Epicurus seems not only 
 to be profane, but to be foolish, 
 when he says, • It ia better to be- 
 lieve in the fable of the gods, than 
 to assert the power of fate.' " — De 
 Augmentis (1622). 
 
 Bacon expresses this sentiment more clearly in his 
 
 ' Promus ' : 
 
 " God sendeth fortune to fools." 
 
 553 
 LOVE AND CHAOS 
 
 " When I love thee not. 
 Chaos is come again." 
 
 Othello, in. 3 (1622). 
 
 " Love, united with Chaos, be- 
 gat the gods and all things." — 
 Principles and Origins (posthu- 
 mous). 
 
 " Chaos is restrained and kept 
 in order by the concord of things, 
 which is love." — De Augmentis 
 (1622). 
 
 Othello identifies his individual love for Desdemona with 
 that inherent in the universe, and assigns to it the function 
 described by Bacon. In other words, take love from the 
 world, and " chaos is come again." 
 
 554 
 
 TYPHON 
 
 " When he speaks, 
 'Tis like a chime amending; with 
 
 terms unscLuar'd, 
 Which, from the tongue of roaring 
 
 Typhon dropp'd, 
 Would seem hyperboles." 
 Troilus and Oressida, i. 3 (1609). 
 
 " The same thing is alluded to 
 in that other circumstance of catch- 
 ing Typhon in a net." — De Aug- 
 mentis (1622). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 291 
 
 The story of Typhoii is here alluded to by both authors. 
 The giant stormed the heights of heaven, and with such 
 awful roarings in imitation of different animals as to frighten 
 the gods. In the same boisterous manner Patroclus, lolling 
 on his bed and amusing Achilles, mocks the several Grecian 
 chieftains. 
 
 555 
 
 GRATITUDE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Veniidius. I do return those 
 talents, 
 
 Doubled with thanks and service, 
 from whose help 
 
 I deriv'd liberty. 
 
 Timon. 0, by no means, 
 
 Honest Ventidius; you mistake my 
 love; 
 
 I gave it freely ever ; and there 's 
 none 
 
 Can truly say, he gives, if he re- 
 ceives." 
 Timon of Athens, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Gratitude is justly due only 
 for things unbought." — Pro j»mm 
 (1594-96). 
 
 556 
 
 PROGNOSTICS 
 
 " Calphwnia. Caesar, I never stood 
 
 on ceremonies, 
 Yet now they fright me. There is 
 
 one within. 
 Besides the things that we have 
 
 heard and seen. 
 Recounts most horrid sights seen 
 
 by the watch. 
 A lioness hath whelped in the 
 
 streets ; 
 And graves have yawn'd, and 
 
 yielded up their dead ; 
 Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the 
 
 clouds, 
 
 " Predictions may be made of 
 wars, seditions, schisms, transmi- 
 grations of peoples, and in short 
 of all commotions or greater revo- 
 lutions of things, natural as well 
 as 'civil. These predictions may 
 also be made (though not so cer- 
 tainly) with reference to events 
 more special and perhaps singular." 
 -De Augmentis (1622). 
 
292 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 In ranks and sq^uadrons, and right 
 
 form of war, 
 Which drizzled blood upon the 
 
 Capitol ; 
 The noise of battle hurtled in the 
 
 air, 
 Horses do neigh, and dying men 
 
 did groan. 
 And ghosts did shriek and squeal 
 
 about the streets, 
 O Csesar 1 these things are beyond 
 
 all use, 
 And I do fear them. 
 Ocesar. What can be avoided 
 
 Whose end is purpos'd by the 
 
 mighty gods 1 
 Yet Csesar shall go forth ; for these 
 
 predictions 
 Are to the world in general, as to 
 
 Caesar." 
 
 Julius Ccesar, ii. 2 (1623). 
 
 557 
 
 ANTIPODES 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Thou art as opposite to every "The ancients had knowledge 
 
 good of the antipodes. 
 
 As the antipodes are unto us.'' ' And while on us the fresh East 
 
 3 King Henry VI., i. 4 (1594). breathes from far, 
 
 For them the red West lights her 
 evening star.' " 
 
 Advancement of Learning, 
 (1603-5). 
 
 Among the great controversies that from time to time 
 have raged in the world, one of the most notable and viru- 
 lent was upon the existence of the antipodes. It began in 
 the early days of Christianity (Christian writers denouncing 
 the theory as unscriptural), and did not wholly cease till 
 long after the time of Bacon and Shake-speare. Even 
 Magellan's voyage into the Pacific Ocean did not terminate 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 ^93 
 
 it, nor Acosta's letters from Peru, ia which he assured his 
 friends that he and the people about him were not standing 
 " with their heads downwards and their feet on high." 
 Bacon and Shake-speare were at one on the subject. 
 
 558 
 
 SPIDER S SELF-DEAWING WEB 
 
 From Shake-speare 
 
 " Spider-like, 
 Out of his self-drawing web, he 
 
 gives us note, 
 The foice of his own merit makes 
 its way." 
 King Henry VIII., i. 1 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " The wit and mind of man, if 
 it work upon matter, worketh ac- 
 cording to the stuff, and is limited 
 thereby ; but if it work upon itself, 
 as the spider worketh his web, 
 then it is endless." — Advance- 
 ment of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 559 
 
 CUPID AN INFAST, BLIND, NAKED, WINGED, AND AN ARCHER 
 
 1. An Infant 
 " Therefore is Love said to be a 
 child." 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, i. 
 
 1 (1600). 
 " He hath been five thousand 
 years a boy." — Love's Labor 's 
 Lost, V. 2 (1598). 
 
 2. Blind 
 
 " Love looks not with the eyes, 
 
 but with the mind, 
 And therefore is wing'd Cupid 
 painted bUnd." 
 A Midsummer-Nighfs Dream, i. 
 1 (1600). 
 " Love is bUnd." 
 
 Two Gentleman of Verona, ii. 1 
 (1623). 
 
 3. Naked 
 
 "A naked blind boy." — King 
 Henry r.,m. 2 (162S). 
 
 " Various attributes have been 
 assigned to Cupid : as that he is 
 always [1] an infant, [2] blind, [3] 
 naked, [4] winged, and [5] an 
 archer." — De Principiis et Origini- 
 lus (posthumous). 
 
294 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 '' If [you would] conjure up love 
 in her in his true likeneBs, he must 
 appear naked and blind." — Kinff 
 Henry V., iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 4. Winged 
 " Borrow Cupid's wings and soar 
 with them." — Borneo and Juliet, 
 i. 4 (1599). 
 
 5. An Archer 
 " Hit with Cupid's archery." — 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, 
 iu. 2 (1600). 
 
 560 
 
 AXLETEEE OF THE EARTH 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Strong as the axletree 
 On which heaven rides.'' 
 TroUus and Cressida, i. 2 (1609). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " By the ancient fable of Atlas, 
 Aristotle meant the poles or axle- 
 tree on which the earth turns." 
 — Advancement of Learning 
 (1603-5). 
 
 561 
 ACCENTS OF WORDS 
 
 " The pox of such limping, an- " With regard to accents of 
 
 tique, affecting fantasticos, these words, it is too small a matter 
 
 new tuners of accents." — Romeo to speak of." — De Augmentis 
 
 and Juliet, ii. 4 (1597). (1622). 
 
 562 
 
 LANGUAGE 
 
 "Thou shalt not sigh, nor hold 
 thy stumps to heaven. 
 
 Nor wink, nor nod, nor kneel, nor 
 make a sign. 
 
 But I, of these, will wrest an alpha- 
 bet, 
 
 And, by still practice, learn to 
 know thy meaning." 
 Titus Andronicus, iii. 2 (1623). 
 " There was speech in their 
 
 OF GESTDEE 
 
 " In the practice of some who 
 had been deaf and dumb from 
 their birth and were otherwise 
 clever, I have seen wonderful dia- 
 logues carried on between them 
 and their friends who had learned 
 to understand their gestures." — 
 De Augmentis (1622). 
 
PARALLELISMS 295 
 
 dumbness, language in their very- 
 gesture." — Winter's Tale, v. 2 
 (1623). 
 
 Bacon made mention, rather cursorily, of the language of 
 gesture in the first or English edition of the ' Advancement ' 
 in 1605, but in the second or Latin edition of 1622-23, he 
 gave more attention to it, as the above extract wiU show. 
 At about this latter date, probably, the author of ' Titus An- 
 dronicus' added the celebrated new scene (iii. 2) to the play, 
 with the same subject (the language of gestures) as its most 
 conspicuous feature. The preceding quarto editions of 1600 
 and 1611 did not contain it. 
 
 563 
 
 seller's price 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " 2'imoji. Sir, your jewel " The merchant praises what he 
 
 Hath suffer'd under praise. . . . wants to sell." — De Augmentis 
 
 If I should pay you for 't as 't is (1622). 
 
 extoll'd, 
 It would unclew me quite." 
 
 Timon of Athens, i. 1 (1623). 
 
 564 
 buyer's price 
 "You do as chapmen do, "'It is nai;ght, it is naught,' 
 Dispraise the thing that you desire says the buyer." — Ibid. 
 
 to buy." 
 Troilus and Cressida, iv. 1 (1609). 
 
 565 
 STINGS IN WORDS 
 
 " What sharp stings are in her " These points and stings of 
 mildest words." — A II 's Well, iii. 4 words." -r- Ibid. 
 (1623). 
 
 566 
 
 THE promised END 
 
 " Is this the promis'd end ] " " Is this the promised end ? " — 
 
 King Lear, v. 3 (1608). Promus (1594-96). 
 
296 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " The rabble call him lord ; 
 And, as the world were now but to 
 
 begin, 
 Antiquity forgot, cuatom not 
 
 known. 
 The ratifiers and props of every 
 
 word. 
 They cry, ' Choose we ; Laertes 
 
 shall be king ! ' 
 Caps, hands, and tongues, applaud 
 
 it to the clouds." 
 
 Hamlet, iv. 5 (1604). 
 
 " I love the people. 
 
 But do not like to stage me to their 
 
 eyes; 
 Though it do well, I do not relish 
 
 well 
 Their loud applause." 
 Measure for Measure,!. 1 (1623). 
 An habitation giddy and unsure. 
 Hath he that buildeth on the vul- 
 gar heart 
 Oh thou fond [foolish] many! with 
 
 what loud applause 
 Didst thou beat heaven with bless- 
 ing Bolingbroke, 
 Before he was what thou wouldst 
 
 have him be ; 
 And being now trimm'd in thine 
 
 own desires, 
 Thou, beastly feeder, art so full of 
 
 him, 
 That thou provok'st thyself to cast 
 
 him up. 
 So, so, thou common dog, didst 
 
 thou disgorge 
 Thy glutton bosom of the royal 
 
 Richard, 
 
 567 
 
 APPLAUSE OF THE RABBLE 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Phooion, when the people ap- 
 plauded him more than usual, 
 asked, whether he had done wrong." 
 — De Augmenlis (1622). 
 
PARALLELISMS 1^1 
 
 And now thou wouldst eat thy 
 
 dead vomit up, 
 And howl'st to find it." 
 
 3 King Henry IV., i. 3 (1623). 
 
 568 
 FEIBNDS lU- ASSOCIATION WITH FRIENDS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Friends should associate friends." " Everything delights to associ- 
 
 Titus Andronicus, v. 3 (1600). ate with itself that which is agree- 
 
 ahle.'' — De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 569 
 VIGILS IN CONNECTION WITH FEASTS 
 
 " He that shall live this day, and " The lower order of courtiers 
 
 see old age, were pleasantly compared with the 
 
 WiU yearly on the vigil feast his vigils of festivals, that are next the 
 
 neighbors, feast days. " — Ibid. 
 
 And say, ' To-morrow is Saint Cris- 
 pian.' " 
 King Henry V., iv. 3 (1600). 
 
 570 
 
 EVEBT WAT, A GAIN 
 
 " Whether he kill Cassio, " To fall well every way." — Pro- 
 Or Cassio him, or each do kill the mus (1594-96). 
 
 other. 
 Every way makes my gain." 
 
 OtheUo, v. 1 (1622). 
 
 571 
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH, A PHffiNIX 
 
 " The bird of wonder, the maiden •' A phoenix, a blessed bird 
 
 phoenix [Queen Elizabeth]." [Queen Elizabeth] ." — Speech of 
 
 Henry VIII., v. 5 (1623). Nicholas Bacon [Father of Francis] 
 
 in Parliament (1571). 
 
 Pointed out by Mr. George James. 
 
298 BACON ANB SHAKESPEARE 
 
 572 
 
 TJKITY AND MULTIPLICITY 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " A thing insepaxate Sophism. — " Whatever consists 
 
 Divides more wider than the sky of many divisible parts is greater 
 
 and earth." than that which consists of few 
 
 TroUus and Cressida, v. 2 (1609). parts and is more of one piece." — 
 
 Colors of Good and Evil (1597). 
 
 Bacon gives this sophism in order to refute it. He says 
 that " though at first sight it appears a shorter distance on a 
 dead level, where nothing intervenes to break the view, than 
 when there are trees and buildings or some other mark to 
 divide the space," " yet this is a false opinion." " The sophism 
 deceives," he adds, " by reason of the superiority of what is 
 inseparate to multitude." 
 
 573 
 
 CIPHER MESSAGE OP THE SPARTANS 
 
 "What's here? A scroll, and " Scytala." — Promits (1594-96). 
 written about." 
 Titus Andronicus, iv. 2 (1600). 
 
 The scytala was a cipher message, written about a conical 
 staff. Used by the Lacedaemonians in communication with 
 their generals in the field. 
 
 574 
 
 DEATH, A REDEEMER 
 
 " O I that the Everlasting had not " A man might wish to die, 
 
 fix'd though he were neither brave, nor 
 
 His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! miserable, nor wise, wholly from 
 
 God ! O God ! weariness of living." — De Aug- 
 
 How weary, stale, flat, and un- mentis (1622). 
 
 profitable 
 Seem to me all the uses of this 
 
 world ! 
 Fieon'tl Ofie!" 
 
 Hamlet, i. 2 (1604). 
 
PARALLELISMS 299 
 
 576 
 
 THE STOICS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Only, good master, while we do " Tie felicity of the Stoics is 
 
 admire placed in virtue ; but it is like the 
 
 This virtue, and this moral disci- felicity of a player, who, if he were 
 
 pline, left of his auditory and their ap- 
 
 Let 's be no Stoics, nor no stocks, plause, would straight be out of 
 
 I pray." heart and countenance." — Colors 
 
 The Taming of the Shrew, i. 1 of Good and Evil (1597). 
 
 (1623). "It was not the Epicureans 
 
 but the Stoics that troubled the 
 ancient states." — De Augmeniis 
 (1622). 
 
 576 
 
 DEATH AND BNTY 
 
 {Before the tomb.) "Nothing but death can recon- 
 
 " Here lurks no treason, here no cile envy to virtue." — Ibid. 
 envy swells." 
 Titus Andronicus, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 577 
 
 CIRCE 
 
 " As if, with Circe, she would " The worst of Circe's transfor- 
 change my shape." mations." — Ibid. 
 
 1 King Henry VI., v. 2 (1623). 
 
 578 
 
 HUMAJfTE INFLITENCES OB" CHILDREN 
 
 "Tou have no children, butchers 1 "Children are a kind of disci- 
 
 if you had, pliae of humanity." — Ibid. 
 
 The thought of them would have 
 stirr'd up remorse." 
 S King Henry VI., v. 5 (1595). 
 
 579 
 TYRANNY OF CUSTOM 
 
 "Custom calls me to 't; "The tyranny of custom." — 
 
 What custom wills, in all things Essay of Custom and Education 
 
 should we do't." (1625). 
 Coriolanus, ii. 3 (1623). 
 
300 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 " New customa, 
 Though they be never so ridicu- 
 lous, 
 Nay, let 'em be unmanly, yet are 
 follow'd." 
 King Henry VIII., i. 2 (1623). 
 " The tyrant custom." 
 
 Othdlo, i. 3 (1622). 
 "That monster, custom, who aU 
 sense doth eat." 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 4 (1604). 
 
 " Custom is the principal magis- 
 trate of man's life." — Essay of 
 Custom and Education (1607-12). 
 
 " Nature is a schoolmaster, cus- 
 tom a magistrate." — De Augmen- 
 tis (1622). 
 
 580 
 
 ACCIDENTS OF LIFE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Not a man, for being simply 
 
 man. 
 Hath any honor; but honor for 
 
 those honors 
 That are without him, as place, 
 
 riches and favor, 
 Prizes of accident as oft as merit." 
 Troilus and Cressida, iii. 3 (1609). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " It is absurd to prefer the acci- 
 dents of life to life itself." — Ibid. 
 
 581 
 
 DISH OF DOVES 
 
 "I have here a dish of doves 
 that I would bestow upon your 
 worship." — Merchant of Venice, 
 ii. 2 (1600). 
 
 "I have brought you a letter 
 and a couple of pigeons." — Titus 
 Andronicus, iv. 4 (1600). 
 
 "I send between your brother 
 and you the first flight of my dove- 
 house, ii dozen and iiii pigeons ; 
 xii to you and xvi to your brother 
 [Francis], because he was wont to 
 love them better than you from a 
 boy." — Lady Bacon to Anthony 
 (Qorhambury, April, 1595). 
 
 " I send you xii pigeons, my 
 last flight, and one ring-dove be- 
 — Ibid. (Oct. 1595). 
 
 It is interesting to note in this connection that Francis 
 Bacon had an especial fondness for a dish of doves. 
 
PARALLELISMS 301 
 
 582 
 COMMANDING AEMIES FROM A LITTER 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Once I read " Great empires have been gov- 
 
 That stout Pendr^on, in his litter, emed from bed, great armies com- 
 
 sick, manded from the litter." — De 
 
 Came to the field and vanquished Augmentis (1622). 
 his foes." 
 1 King Henry VL, iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 583 
 VIKTTTE, BEAUTY 
 
 " Virtue is beauty." — Twelfth " Virtue is nothing but inward 
 iVi^ft<, iv. 3 (1623). hescat j. " — Ibid. 
 
 584 
 
 DIVINENESS IN YOUTH 
 
 " Behold divineness " Young men's counsels have 
 No elder than a boy." more divineness." — Ibid. 
 
 Cynibeline, iii. 6 (1623). 
 
 585 
 
 PRIAM AND HIS CHILDREN 
 
 " And so obsequious will thy father " Some persons have wished for 
 be, Priam's fortune, who survived all 
 
 Son, for the loss of thee, having no his children." — Ibid. 
 more. 
 
 As Priam was for all his valiant 
 sons." 
 S King Henry VL, ii. 5 (1623). 
 
 586 
 WEALTH DESPISED BY THE POOR 
 
 "Whiles I am a beggar, I will "They despise riches who de- 
 rail, spair of them." — Ibid. 
 
 And say, there is no sin but to be 
 rich." 
 
 King John, ii. 2 (1623). 
 
302 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 587 
 DELIBEKATION, A MAKE OF DULNESS 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " 0, these deliberate fools 1 when " He that is wise in deliberation 
 
 they choose, 
 They have the wisdom by their wit 
 
 to lose." 
 Merchant of Verice, ii. 9 (1600). 
 
 and not upon the moment does no 
 great matters." — De Augmentit 
 (1622). 
 
 588 
 
 ELDEE-PLOWEES 
 
 "What says my .ffisoulapius ? my 
 Galen? my heart of Elder. . . . 
 Thou art a CastiUan, King Urinal." 
 — Merry Wives, ii. 3. 
 
 " Of this kind are elder-flowers, 
 which are therefore proper for 
 stone." — Sylva Sylvarmn (\G2,'2r- 
 25). 
 
 " In the end, add of elder-flow- 
 ers and marigold-flowers together, 
 one pugil.'' — Bacon's Receipt for 
 the Stone (posthumous). 
 
 Dr. Caius, a physician, is here addressed as though he 
 were a specialist in kidney diseases, and in some manner con- 
 nected with a specific remedy mentioned by Bacon ; namely, 
 elder-flowers — " my heart of elder." He was a conspicuous 
 professor in the University of Cambridge when the Bacon 
 brothers were matriculated there, both of whom are known 
 to have been lifelong sufferers from an affection of the 
 kidneys. Noted by Mr. James. 
 
 589 
 SPIBITS IN INANIMATE BODIES 
 
 " My uncle's spirit is in these " All tangible bodies contain a 
 atones." spirit." 
 
 King John, iv. 3 (1623). '' No known body in the upp.er 
 parts of the earth is without a 
 spirit." — Historia Vitce et Mortis 
 (1623). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 303 
 
 590 
 AN ILL WIND 
 
 From. Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " The ill wind which blows no " An ill wind that bloweth no 
 man to good." man to good." — Pronws (1594-96). 
 
 2 King Henry IV., v. 3 (1600). 
 "lU blows the wind that profits 
 nobody." 
 5 King Henry VI., ii. 5 (1595). 
 
 591 
 STUDIES SHOULD FOLLOW INCLINATION 
 
 " Practise rhetoric in your com- 
 mon talk ; 
 
 Music and poesy use to quicken you. 
 
 The mathematics, and the meta- 
 physics, 
 
 Fall to them, as you find your 
 stomach serves you. 
 
 No profit grows where is no pleas- 
 ure ta'eu. 
 
 In brief, sir, study what you most 
 affect." 
 
 The Taming of the Shrew, i. 1 (1623). 
 
 " There are very many advantages 
 in a coUegiate education. Let some 
 encouragement be given to the free 
 exercise of the pupils' minds and 
 tastes ; I mean, if any one of 
 them, besides performing the pre- 
 scribed exercises, shall steal time 
 for other pursuits to which he is 
 more inclined, let him not be 
 checked." — De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 592 
 
 ARMIES OF THE PANNONIANS 
 
 " The Pannonians and Dalmatians 
 
 for 
 Their liberties are now in arms." 
 Cymbdine, iii. 1 (162,3). 
 
 " Two stage-players, by their 
 faculty of playing, put the Pan- 
 nonian armies into an extreme 
 tumult. " — Advancement of Learn- 
 ing (1603-5). 
 
 Bacon speaks of the Dalmatians in his Sistoria Ven- 
 
 torum. 
 
 693 
 
 STAGE-PLAYING AND BASHFULNBSS 
 
 " I love the people, " Stage playing accustoms young 
 
 But do not like to stage me to their men to bear to be looked at." — De 
 
 eyes." Augmentis (1622). 
 Measure for Measure, i. 1 (1623). 
 
304 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 594 
 
 CONTEMPLATIVE STUDIES 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Navarre shall be the wonder of 
 
 the -world ; 
 Our court shall be a little academe. 
 Still and contemplative in living 
 
 art." 
 Love's Labor's Lost, i. 1 (1598). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Moral philosophy determines 
 the question, ' Which is to be pre- 
 ferred, the contemplative or the 
 active life,' and decides it against 
 Aristotle. For all the reasons 
 which Aristotle adduces in favor 
 of the contemplative are for one's 
 private good and have respect to 
 the pleasure and dignity of a man's 
 self; not much unlike the com- 
 parison which Pythagoras made, 
 who, being asked what he was, 
 answered, ' That if Hieio were ever 
 at the Olympian games, he knew 
 the manner, that some came to try 
 their fortune for the prizes, and 
 some came as merchants to utter 
 their commodities, and some came 
 to make good cheer and meet their 
 friends, and some came to look on ; 
 and that he was one of them that 
 came to look on.' But men must 
 know that in this theatre of man's 
 life, it is reserved only for G-od and 
 Angels to be lookers on." — Ad- 
 vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 Contemplative life, according to Bacon, is that which is 
 spent in abstract study, in consideration, for instance, of the 
 nature of things, of virtue and vice, of pleasure and pain, of 
 degrees of good, and the like, without regard to the practical 
 wants of society. This he contrasts with active life, such as 
 Pythagoras found in the games at Olympia. 
 
 Shake-speare proposes a similar theoretical study in 
 ' Love's Lahor 's Lost ; ' bestows upon it a name taken from 
 Bacon's philosophical terminology ; and then proceeds, as if 
 
PARALLELISMS 305 
 
 in vindication of Bacon's opinion of it, to demonstrate its 
 absurdity. See 'Francis Bacon Our Shake-speare,' p. 42. • 
 
 595 
 EFFECT OF GREAT AND SUDDEN JOTS 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Helioanus I strike me, honor'd " Many have died from great 
 sir; and sudden joys." — History of 
 
 Give me a gash, put me to present Life and Death (1623). 
 
 pain, 
 Lest this great sea of joys, rushing 
 
 upon me, 
 O'erbear the shores of my mortality. 
 And drown me with their sweet- 
 ness." 
 
 Pericles, v. 1 (1609). 
 
 596 
 
 COMEDY OF EREOES 
 
 "Xuceita. In what habit will you "As it is used in some come- 
 
 go along ? dies of errors, wherein the mistress 
 
 Julia. Gentle Lucetta, fit me with and the maid change habits." — 
 
 such weeds Ihid. 
 
 As may beseem some well-reputed 
 
 page." 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, iL 
 7 (1623). 
 
 In the play (one of the earliest written) ^ the mistress 
 changes her habit to that of a page. In Bacon's work from 
 which the corresponding passage is cited, a similar trans- 
 formation is said to have been effected in some " comedies of 
 errors." It is noteworthy that in the second edition of the 
 'Advancement ' (1622) the designation " comedies of errors " 
 is withdrawn, and that of " comedies " only substituted in its 
 stead. Why ? Had the former become too significant, just 
 on the eve of the first publication (1623) of a Shakespearean 
 drama, entitled, ' The Comedy of Errors ' ? 
 
 1 See 'Francis Bacon Our Shake-speare,' p. 70. 
 
 20 
 
3o6 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 59V 
 ABSTEMIOUSNESS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Let 's be no Stoics, nor no stocks, " Introducing such an health of 
 I pray ; mind as was that health of body 
 
 Or so devote to Aristotle's checks, of which Aristotle speaketh of 
 As Ovid be an outcast quite ab- Herodicus who did nothing all his 
 jur'd." life long but intend his health." — 
 
 The Taming of the Shrew, i. Advancement of Learning (1603-5'), 
 1 (1623). 
 
 In the second edition of the 'Advancement ' (1622) Bacon 
 quotes further from Aristotle that Herodicus, out of con- 
 sideration for his health, " abstained from an infinite variety 
 of things, depriving himself, as it were, of the use of his 
 body in the meantime." It is to these restraints that Tranio 
 makes objection in the play, calling them " Aristotle's 
 
 Checks." 
 
 598 
 
 need's passion for the LT7TB 
 
 " I will, and, like thee, Nero, " The passion of Nero for the 
 
 Play on the lute." lute." i — De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 1 King Henry VL, i. 4 (1623). 
 
 599 
 CHARACTER OF STLLA 
 
 " Like ambitious Sylla, overgorg'd " That gigantean state of mind, 
 
 With gobbets of thy mother's which possesses the troublers of the 
 
 bleeding heart." world, such as was Lucius Sylla." 
 
 2 King Henry VI., iv. 1 (1623). — Hid. 
 
 600 
 praise in presence 
 " I come not " It is esteemed flattery to praise 
 To hear such flattery now, and in in presence." — Advancement of 
 my presence." Learning (1603-5). 
 
 King Henry VIII., v. 2 (1623). 
 
 1 The word is citkara in the original. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 307 
 
 " Madam, altbougt I speak it in 
 
 your presence, 
 You have a noble and a true conceit 
 Of god-like amity.'' 
 
 The Merchant of Venice, iii. 4 
 (1600). 
 
 601 
 
 WHEEL OP FOBXUITE 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " She [Fortune] is painted also " The wheels of his fortune." ■ 
 
 with a wheel." Essay of Fortune (1625). 
 King Henry V., iii. 6 (1600). 
 
 602 
 PREDOMINANCES OF PLANETS 
 
 " We make guilty of our disas- 
 ters the sun, the moon, and the 
 stars ; as if we were villains by 
 necessity ; fools, by heavenly com- 
 pulsion ; knaves, thieves, and 
 treachers, by spherical predomi- 
 nance ; drunkards, liars, and 
 adulterers, by an enforced obe- 
 dience of planetary influence." — 
 King Lear, i. 2 (1608). 
 
 " In the traditions of astrology, 
 men's natures and dispositions are 
 not unaptly distinguished accord- 
 ing to the predominances of the 
 planets." — De Augmentig (1622). 
 
 603 
 
 KILLING OF TYRANTS LAWFUL 
 
 " Those whom we fight against 
 Had rather have us win than him 
 
 they follow. 
 For what is he they follow 1 truly, 
 
 gentlemen, 
 A bloody tyrant, and a homicide ; 
 One rais'd in blood, and one in 
 
 blood establish'd ; 
 One that made means to come by 
 
 what he hath; 
 And slaughter'd those that were 
 
 the means to help him ; 
 A base foul stone, made precious 
 
 by the foil 
 
 " To make trial of their opinions, 
 the question was cunningly raised, 
 ' whether the killing of a tjrant 
 were lawful ? ' They were divided 
 in opinion; some holding that it 
 was clearly lawful, for servitude is 
 the extreme of evils." — Advance- 
 ment of Learning (1603-5). 
 
3o8 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Of England's chair, where he is 
 
 falsely set ; 
 One that hath ever been God's 
 
 enemy. 
 Then, if you fight against God's 
 
 enemy, 
 God will, in justice, ward you as 
 
 his soldiers ; 
 If you do sweat to put a tyrant 
 
 down. 
 You sleep in peace, the tyrant 
 
 being slain." 
 King Richard III., v. 3 (1597). 
 
 604 
 POETS, BEST DELINEATORS OP AFFECTIONS AND PASSIONS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "The truest poetry is the most "To speai the real truth, the 
 feigning." poets, and writers of history, are 
 
 As You Like It, iii. 3 (1623). the best doctors of this knowledge ; 
 
 where we may find, painted forth 
 with great life, how affections are 
 kindled and incited ; how pacified 
 and refrained ; how they disclose 
 themselves, how they work, how 
 they vary, how they gather and 
 fortify, and how they are in- 
 wrapped one within another." — 
 Advancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 Bacon tells us that the conflicting passions and affections 
 of the human heart can best be portrayed by poets ; Shake- 
 speare, developing the thought a little farther, that this is 
 done to the greatest advantage when the poetry is most 
 feigned, — that is, when it is least in the trammels of actual 
 events. Bacon adds that " a character, so worked into the 
 narrative, gives a better idea of the man than a formal 
 criticism or review can." 
 
 It is evident that both of these authors had the drama 
 here in view. Bacon certainly anticipated for the drama a 
 
Missing Page 
 
Missing Page 
 
PARALLELISMS 311 
 
 Lucentio. Spit in the hole, man, 
 and tune again. 
 
 Bianca. Now let me see if I 
 can construe it : Hie that Simois, 
 I know you not ; Mc est Sigeia 
 tellus, I trust you not ; Hie 
 steterat Priami, take heed he hears 
 us not ; regia, presume not ; celsa 
 senis, despair not. 
 Hortensio. Madam, 't is now in 
 
 tune. 
 Lttcentio. All but the base. 
 
 Hortensio. The base is right ; 
 'tis the base knave that jars." 
 
 The Taming of the Shrew, iii. 1 
 (1623). 
 
 613 
 POINTS OF THE COMPASS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " It standeth north-north-east " The particular divisions of 
 and by east." — Love's Labor 's the winds is shown by the follow- 
 Lost, i. 1 (1598). ing table [iu part] : North-north- 
 
 east, North-east, anciently called 
 Aquilo, and by East.'' — Historia 
 Ventorum (1622). 
 
 Both authors made a study of the winds in relation to 
 points of the compass. 
 
 614 
 
 EAST WIND, humor's POST-HOESE 
 
 " Open your ears ; for which of " Persons, saUing in the open sea 
 
 you will stop between the tropics, are aware of a 
 
 The vent of hearing, when loud steady and continual wind (called 
 
 Humor speaks 1 by the sailors Brize) blowing from 
 
 I, from the Orient to the drooping East to West. This wind is so 
 
 West, strong that partly by its own blast 
 
 Making the wind my post-horse, and partly by its influence on the 
 
 still unfold current, it prevents vessels, sailing 
 
 The acts commenced on this ball to Peru, from returning by the same 
 
 of earth ; way." — Historia Ventorum (1622). 
 
312 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Upon my tongues continual slan- 
 ders ride, 
 
 The which in every language I 
 pronounce, 
 
 Stuffing the ears of men with false 
 reports." 
 S King Henry IV., Induction 
 (1600). 
 
 Bacon attributed this continuous east wind in the tropics, 
 as also the general atmospheric movement in the same direction 
 throughout the earth, to the influence of the heavens, for he 
 thought the latter to be always in motion from east to west. 
 In this view no other wind could be a suitable post-horse for 
 Eumor to ride. 
 
 615 
 
 ENGLAND AND FBANCE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 "Five men to twenty! — though 
 
 the odds be great, 
 I doubt not, uncle, of our victory. 
 Many a battle have I won in 
 
 France 
 When as the enemy hath been ten 
 
 to one." 
 S King Henry VI., i. 2 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " England, though far less in 
 territory and population, has been 
 nevertheless an overmatch [for 
 France] ; and for this reason, that 
 the yeomen and lower classes of 
 England make good soldiers and 
 the peasants of France do not." — 
 De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 618 
 EXCESSIVE PEAISE 
 
 " Duke. How dost thou, my 
 good fellow? 
 
 Clown. Truly, sir, the better for 
 my foes, and the worse for my 
 friends. 
 
 Duke. Just the contrary ; the 
 better for thy friends. 
 
 Clovm. No, sir ; the worse. 
 
 Duke. How can that be ? 
 
 Clown. Marry, sir, they praise 
 me, and make an ass of me." — 
 Twelfth NigJit, v. 1 (1623). 
 
 "Praises, when moderate and 
 seasonable, and expressed on fit 
 occasion, contribute greatly both 
 to the reputation and, fortune of 
 men ; but when immoderate, noisy, 
 and unseasonably lavished, they do 
 no good ; nay rather, they do 
 great harm." — Ibid. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 3^2 
 
 617 
 
 C^SAK, A TTEANT 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " 1 Citizen, This Csesar was a 
 
 tyrant. 
 
 S Citizen. Nay, that 's certain. 
 
 We are bless'd that Rome is rid 
 
 of him." — Julius Ccesar, ui. 2 
 
 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 "As Cicero said, 'Csesar does 
 not refuse, but rather demands to 
 be called a tyrant, sa he really 
 is.' " — Advancement of Learning 
 (1603-5). 
 
 618 
 SOLDIEES, THE TRUE SINEWS OF WAE 
 
 " Whereas there was an old 
 proverb, that ' money is the sinews 
 of war,' yet he maintained on the 
 contrary that the true sinews of 
 war are nothing else than the 
 sinews of a valiant and military 
 people." — Ibid. 
 
 (The gates being forced, enter 
 Soldiers.) 
 " Talbot. How say you, madam ? 
 
 are you now persuaded, 
 That Talbot is but shadow of him- 
 self? 
 These are his substance, sinews, 
 arms, and strength." 
 1 King Henry VI., ii. 3 (1623). 
 
 619 
 A JUDGMENT OP GOD ON HENKT AND KATHABINE 
 
 "King Henry. Hence I took a 
 
 thought. 
 This was a judgment on me." 
 King Henry VIII., n. 4 (1623). 
 
 " It was a judgment of God, for 
 that her former marriage was made 
 in blood ; meaning that of the Earl 
 of Warwick." — History of Henry 
 VII. (1621). 
 
 The execution of Edward, Earl of Warwick, a prisoner in 
 tlie Tower and a dangerous claimant of the throne, had been 
 insisted upon by Katharine's parents as a condition precedent 
 to her marriage with Arthur. To this act, under a judgment 
 of God, Henry attributed his domestic misfortunes, as above 
 stated. 
 
 620 
 
 THE BATTLE OF AOTIUM 
 
 "Anthony. "All is lost! "The battle of Actium decided 
 
 This foul Egyptian hath betray 'd the fate of the world" — De Aug- 
 me. mentis (1622). 
 
314 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 My fleet hath yielded to the foe, 
 and youder 
 
 They cast their caps up, and ca- 
 rouse together, 
 
 Like friends long lost. 
 
 Dercetas. I say, O Csesar, Anthony 
 
 is dead. 
 Ccesar. The breaking of so great a 
 
 thing should make 
 A greater crack. The round world 
 Should have shook lions into civil 
 
 streets. 
 And citizens to their dens. The 
 
 death of Anthony 
 Is not a single doom ; in the name 
 
 lay 
 A moiety of the world." 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, iv. 9, 
 V. 1 (1623). 
 
 621 
 TIME, THE WISEST OP ALL THINGS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Time is the old Justice that " Time, according to the ancient 
 
 examines all such offenders." — As saying, is the wisest of all things." 
 You Like It, iv. 1 (1623). -De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 " Here 's Nestor: 
 Instructed by the antiquary times. 
 He must, he is, he cannot but be 
 
 wise." 
 Troilics and Cressida, ii. 3 (1609). 
 "jEneas. 'T is the old Nestor. 
 
 Hector. Let me embrace thee, good 
 
 old Chronicle, 
 Thou hast so long walk'd hand in 
 hand with Time." 
 
 Ibid., iv. 5. 
 
 " That old common arbitrator. 
 
 Time." Ibid. 
 
 " Time I thou tutor both to good 
 
 and bad!" 
 
 Lucrece (1594). 
 
PARALLELISMS 3 1 5 
 
 622 
 LEGAIi SN^ABES 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Here's a fish hangs in the net, "There are no worse snares 
 
 like a poor man's right in the than legal snares ; . . . they are 
 law."— Pericles, ii. 1 (1609). as nets in the path." — De Aug- 
 
 mentis (1622). 
 623 
 BRANDING THE HAND 
 
 " Methinks he should stand in " The king hegan also then, as 
 
 fear of fire, being burnt i' the hand well in wisdom as in justice, to 
 for stealing of sheep." —g ^in^i pare a little the privilege of 
 Henry VI., iv. 2 (1594). clergy ; ordaining that clerks con- 
 
 vict should be burned in the 
 hand." — History of Henry VII. 
 (1621). 
 
 The first enactment relating to Benefit of Clergy was in 
 the reign of Henry VI. 
 
 624 
 
 LIVING IN FEAR OP DEATH 
 
 " That Life is better life, past fear- " Philosophers have increased 
 
 ing death, the fear of death in offering to 
 
 Than that which lives to fear." cure it. For when they would 
 
 Measure for Measure, v. 1 (1623). have a man's whole life to be but 
 
 "Cassius. He that cuts off twenty a discipline or preparation to die, 
 
 years of life, they must needs make men think 
 
 Cuts off so many years of fearing that it is a terrible enemy against 
 
 death. whom there is no end of prepar- 
 
 Brutus. Grant that, and then is ing." — Advancement of Learning 
 
 death a benefit; (1603-5). 
 So are we Caesar's friends that have 
 
 abridg'd 
 His time of fearing death." 
 
 Julius CcBsar, in. 1 (1623). 
 
 625 
 
 SELDOM COMES THE BETTER 
 
 " Seldom comes the better." " Seldom cometh the better." — 
 
 King Richard III., ii. 3 (1597). Promus (1594-96), 
 
3i6 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 626 
 
 CICBBO'S DE OEATOBB 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Cornelia never with more care " Cicero's portrait of a perfect 
 
 Bead to hex sons than she hath orator." — Advancement of Learn- 
 
 read to thee ing (1603-5). 
 
 Sweet poetry and Tally's Orator." 
 Titus Andronieus, iv. 1 (1600). 
 
 The book referred to is Marcus Tullius Cicero's ' Orator ' 
 (De Oratore}, not translated into English in Shake-speare's 
 time. 
 
 627 
 
 SATING AND DOING 
 
 "Your word "Saying and doing are two 
 
 And performance are no kin." things." — Promus (1594-96). 
 
 Olhello, iv. 2 (1622). 
 "Ever may your highness yoke 
 
 together, 
 Aa I will lend you cause, my doing 
 
 well 
 With my well saying." 
 
 King Henry VIII., iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 628 
 KINGDOM OF AEOLUS 
 
 " What did I then, but curs'd the " The poets have feigned that 
 
 gentle gusts, the kingdom of jEolus was situated 
 
 And he that loos'd them from their in subterranean dens and caverns, 
 
 brazen caves." where the winds were imprisoned, 
 
 2 King Henry VI., iii. 2 (1623). and whence they were occasionally 
 
 let loose." — IMd. 
 
 629 
 
 AIB WITHIN THE EARTH 
 
 " As when the wind, iraprison'd in "When air exhales from the 
 the ground, earth gradually and at different 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 317 
 
 Struggling for passage, earth's 
 foundation shakes." 
 
 Venus and Adonis (1593). 
 
 spots, it is at first hardly percepti- 
 ble ; but when many of these small 
 emanations of air are collected to- 
 gether, a wind is formed from 
 them. There is doubtless a large 
 quantity of air contained in the 
 earth. 
 
 It requires a great force of sub- 
 terraneous air to shake or cleave 
 the earth." — Historia Ventorum 
 (1622). 
 
 630 
 A GOD TO MAN 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Let a man only consider what 
 a diflference there is between the 
 life of men in the most civilised 
 provinces of Europe and in the 
 wildest and most barbarous dis- 
 tricts of New India ; he will feel 
 it be great enough to justify the 
 saying that ' man is a god to 
 man.' " — Novum Organum (1608- 
 20). 
 
 MAN, 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 "A god on earth thou art." 
 
 King Richard II., v. 3 (1597). 
 " Which is that god in office, guid- 
 ing men 1 
 Which is the high and mighty 
 
 Agamemnon ? " 
 Troilus and Cressida, i. 3 (1609). 
 " And this man 
 Is now become a god." 
 
 Julius Ccesar, i. 2 (1623). 
 " He [Csesar] is a god 
 And knows what is most right." 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, iii. 2 
 (1623). 
 " We scarce are men, and you are 
 gods." 
 
 Cymbeline, v. 2 (1623). 
 " Immortality attends the former, 
 [Virtue and cunning] making man 
 a god." 
 
 lUd., iii. 2. 
 
 631 
 
 SOLTMAn's campaigns against PERSIA 
 
 " By this scimitar, — " Sometimes the winds hurl 
 
 That slew the Sophy, and a Per- down avalanches from the moun- 
 
 sian prince tains, so as almost to bury the 
 
3i8 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 That won three fields of Sultan. 
 
 Solyman, — 
 I would outstare the sternest eyes." 
 The Merchant of Venice, ii. 1 
 
 (1600). 
 
 plains below them ; a thing which 
 befel Solyman in the plains of 
 Sultania." — Historia Veniorum 
 (1622). 
 
 " So again Persia . . . hath had 
 three memorable revolutions of 
 great monarchies. The first in the 
 time of Cyrus ; the second in the 
 time of the new Artaxerxes, who 
 raised himself in the reign of 
 Alexander Severus, Emperor of 
 Rome ; and now of late memory, 
 in Ismail the Sophy, whose de- 
 scendants continue in empire, and 
 competition with the Turks, to 
 this day." — 0/ the True Greatness 
 of the Kingdom of Gt. Britain 
 (c. 1608). 
 
 Solyman, the Magnificent, undertook three invasions of 
 Persia, in 1534-35, 1549, and 1554, and in each of them faUed 
 to accomplish his purpose. They were thus, substantially 
 (as Shake-speare calls them), Persian victories. 
 
 The avalanche, mentioned by Bacon, took place in 1534, 
 while the Turkish army was encamped in Sultania. 
 
 Knowledge of these campaigns was exceediagly meagre 
 in England at the time 'The Merchant of Venice' was 
 written. It was probably limited to foreign sources. 
 
 632 
 
 OVERFLOWING 
 From Shakespeare 
 " They take the flow o' the Nile 
 By certain scales i' the pyramid ; 
 
 they knew, 
 By the height, the lowness, or the 
 
 mean, if dearth 
 Or foison follow. The higher 
 
 NUus swells, 
 The more it promises ; as it ebbs, 
 
 the seedsman 
 
 OF THE NILE 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " It is strange that, the river of 
 Nilus, overflowing, as it does, the 
 country of Egypt, there should be 
 nevertheless little or no rain in 
 the country." — Natural History 
 (1622-25). 
 
 " It is reported of credit that if 
 you take earth from land adjoin- 
 ing to the river of Nile, and pre- 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 3'^9 
 
 Upon the slime and ooze scatters 
 his grain, 
 
 And shortly comes to harvest." 
 Anihony and Cleopatra, ii. 7 
 (1623). 
 
 " Charmian. Even as the overflow- 
 ing Nile presages famine. 
 
 Iras. Go to, you wild fellow, you 
 cannot soothsay." 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, i. 2. 
 
 serve it in that manner that it 
 come to be neither wet nor wasted, 
 and weigh it daily, it will not al- 
 ter weight untU June 17th, which 
 is the day when the river begin- 
 neth to rise." — Natural History 
 (1622-25). 
 
 " The water of Nilus is sweeter 
 than other waters in taste." — 
 Ibid. 
 
 " It is an old tradition that those 
 that dwell near the cataracts of 
 Nilus are strucken deaf." — Ibid. 
 
 "The Nile runneth through a 
 country of a hot climate, and flat, 
 without shade either of woods or 
 hms."—Ibid. 
 
 " It is certain that in Egypt 
 they prepare and clarify the water 
 of the Nile by putting it in great 
 jars of stone, and stirring it about 
 with a few stamped almonds ; 
 wherewith they also besmear the 
 mouth of the vessel ; and so draw 
 it ofiF, after it hath rested some 
 time." — Ibid. 
 
 " Upon that very day when the 
 river first riseth, great plagues in 
 Cairo use suddenly to break up." 
 — Ibid. 
 
 " It has been set down by the 
 ancients as one of the causes of the 
 inundation of the Nile that at that 
 time of the year the Etesian or 
 North winds are prevalent, which 
 prevent the river from running to 
 the sea, and drive it back." — 
 Eistoria Ventorum (1622). 
 
 Here are statements respecting the annual overflow of the 
 river Nile, eight made by Bacon and three by the author we 
 caU Shake-speare, and aU taken from a book of travels writ- 
 
320 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 ten by George Sandys and published in 1615. Indeed, Bacon 
 followed Sandys so closely and systematically while writing 
 his Sylva Sylvarum, that (as we have stated elsewhere) one 
 can know what countries Sandys visited, and what was the 
 order in which he visited them, from Bacon's work. This 
 dependence, we shall now undertake to show, was true also, 
 so far as knowledge of the Nile is concerned, of Shake-speare. 
 We give the corresponding passages in juxtaposition : 
 
 1 
 
 Bacon. " It is strange that the river of Nilua, overflowing, as it does, 
 the country of Egypt, there should be nevertheless little or no 
 rain in the country." 
 
 Sandys. "The earth then burnt with the violent fervor, never re- 
 freshed with rain (which here rarely falls, and then only in 
 the winter)." 
 
 2 
 
 Bacon. " It is reported of credit that if you take earth from land 
 adjoining to the river of Nile, and preserve it in that manner 
 that it come to be neither wet nor wasted, and weigh it daily, 
 it will not alter weight until June 17th, which is the day when 
 the river beginneth to rise." 
 
 Sandys. " Tate of the earth of Egypt, adjoining to the river, and 
 preserve it carefully, that it neither come to be wet nor wasted; 
 weigh it daily, and you shall find it neither more nor less 
 heavy until the iVth of June; at which day it beginneth to 
 grow ponderous, and augmenteth with the augmentation of 
 the river." 
 
 3 
 
 Bacon. " The water of Nilus is sweeter than other waters in taste." 
 
 Sandys. " Than the waters whereof there is none more sweet." 
 
 4 
 
 Bacon. "It is an old tradition that those that dwell near the cata- 
 racts of Nilus are strucken deaf." 
 
 Sandys. " He spouts down from a wonderful height into the valley 
 below, and that with such a roaring of waters that a colony, 
 there planted by the Persians, made almost deaf with the noise, 
 were glad to abandon their habitations." 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 321 
 
 Bacon. " The Nile runneth through a country of a hot climate, and 
 
 flat, -without shade either of woods or hills." 
 Sandys. " From Eosetta to Alexandria, thirty miles, all low ground, 
 
 and lying in a Champion level between barren mountains." 
 " Neither are there any trees to speak of." 
 
 6 
 
 Bacon. "It is certain that in Egypt they prepare and clarify the 
 water of the Nile by putting it in great jars of stone, and stir- 
 ring it about with a few stamped almonds; wherewith they 
 also besmear the mouth of the vessel ; and so draw it off after 
 it hath rested some time." 
 
 Sandys. " They put the water in large jars of stone, stirring it about 
 with a few stamped almonds, wherewith also they besmear the 
 mouth of the vessel ; and for three or four hours do suffer it to 
 clarify." 
 
 Bacon. "Upon that very day when the river first riseth, great 
 plagues in Cairo use suddenly to break up." 
 
 Sandys. " The Plague, which here oft miserably lageth, upon the 
 first of the flood doth instantly cease." 
 
 8 
 
 Bacon. " It has been set down by the ancients as one of the causes 
 of the inundation of the Nile that at that time of the year the 
 Etesian or North winds are prevalent, which prevent the river 
 from running to the sea, and drive it back." 
 
 Sandys. " Thales attributes it unto the northern winds, which, then 
 blowing up the river, resist the current and force the rever- 
 berated streams to retire." 
 
 Shake-speare. " They take the flow 0' the Nile 
 
 By certain scales i' the pyramid." 
 Sandys. " By the pillar, standing in a vault within the Castle, entred 
 by the NUe, they measure his increase." 
 21 
 
322 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 10 
 Shakespeare. " They know 
 
 By the height, the lowness, or the mean, if dearth 
 
 Or foison follow. The higher Nilus swells, 
 
 The more it promises." 
 Sandys. "Answerable to the increase of the river, is the plenty or 
 
 scarcity of the year succeeding." 
 
 11 
 Shakespeare. " As it ebbs, the seedsman 
 
 Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain, 
 
 And shortly comes to harvest." 
 Sandys. " Retiring a month after within his proper bounds, it giveth 
 
 way unto husbandry (the earth untilled) by throwing the 
 
 grain on the mud, and rice into the water." 
 
 Sandys' book of travels was published in London in 1615 ; 
 that is, as years were then reckoned, between March 25, 
 1615, and March 25, 1616.^ WilUam Shakespeare, the re- 
 puted poet, died at Stratford, April 23, 1616. His will was 
 drawn by a scrivener in January preceding, at which time he 
 was unable to recall the name of a grandchild, eleven years 
 of age. His death was occasioned, according to the best 
 evidence that we possess, by a drunken debauch.^ 
 
 633 
 
 MAERIAGE OF RICHMOND AND ELIZABETH 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " ! now let Richmond and " At last upon the eighteenth 
 
 Elizabeth, of January was solemnised the 
 
 The tnie succeeders of each royal so long expected and so much de- 
 house, sired marriage between the king 
 By God's fair ordinance conjoin and Lady Elizabeth ; which day 
 together ! of marriage was celebrated with 
 
 1 Contemporary accounts of the inundation are found in Leo's History of 
 Africa (translated by Pory, 1600) and Pliny's Natural History (translated by 
 Holland, 1601). The dramatist, however, is at variance in some important 
 particulars with these authors, but with Bacon and Sandys in exact agreement 
 throughout. 
 
 • See our ' Bacon vs. Shakspere,' 8th ed. 
 
PARALLELISMS 323 
 
 And let their heirs (God, if thy greater triunaph and demonstra- 
 
 will be so) tions (especially on the people's 
 
 Enrich the time to come with part) of joy and gladness, than the 
 
 smooth-fac'd peace, days either of his entry or coro- 
 
 With smiling plenty, and fair nation." — History of Henry VII. 
 
 prosperous days." (1622). 
 King Richard III., v. 4 (1597). 
 
 634 
 
 FREQtTENT CAPTDEE OF THEBES 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " It was play'd " Storks ought to he very long- 
 When I from Thebes came last a lived, if the old story is true that 
 conqueror." they never went to Thebea because 
 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, v. that city was so often captured." 
 1 (1600). — Historia Vita et Mortis (1623). 
 
 635 
 
 FISH COLD-BLOODED 
 
 " His fins like arms ! Warm ! o' " Fish are said to be cold- 
 my troth ! I do now let loose my blooded." — Ibid. 
 opinion, hold it no longer. This 
 is no fish." — The Tempest, ii . 2 
 (1623). 
 
 636 
 bacon's newlt discovered portfolio 
 "Kevealing day through every "Revealing day through every 
 cranny spies." cranny peeps." — Cover of MS. 
 
 Lucrece (1594). Volume of Bacon (c. 1598). 
 
 A volume of manuscripts, on the cover of which had been 
 reproduced a line from Shake-speare's ' Lucrece ' (as quoted 
 above), was discovered in an old library in London in 1867. 
 It contained certain writings of Francis Bacon, the existence 
 of which had not previously been known. It also con- 
 tained on the same cover the names of Bacon and Shake- 
 speare, written together over and over again, and what, if 
 possible, is still more significant, the titles of two of the 
 Shake-speare plays, ' Kichard II.' and ' Eichard III.' In the 
 
324 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 space immediately above these latter titles the name of 
 Shakespeare made its first appearance in this Bacon port- 
 folio. Tor a full description of this interesting volume, 
 including a facsimile of the cover, see our 'Bacon vs. 
 Shakspere,' 8th ed. 
 
 637 
 
 OIL IN WHALES 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " This whale, with so many tons " An immense quantity of oil 
 
 of oil in his belly." is extracted from whales." — 
 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 1 Natural History (1622-25). 
 (1623). 
 
 The first edition of ' The Merry Wives of Windsor ' (1602) 
 did not contain the above reference to a whale ; nor did the 
 second edition (1619). The reference made its first appear- 
 ance in the folio of 1623, at which time Bacon was compos- 
 ing his ' Natural History.' 
 
 638 
 
 BEAUTY OF NARCISSUS 
 
 " Hadst thou Narcissus in thy " Narcissus is said to have been a 
 face, to me young man of wonderful beauty." 
 
 Thou wouldst appear most ugly." — Wisdom of the Ancients (1609). 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, ii. 5 
 (1623). 
 
 639 
 C-ffliSAE DESIRING TITLE OF KING 
 
 " What means this shouting ? I " Csesar did extremely affect the 
 
 do fear the people name of king ; and some were set 
 
 Choose Csesar for their king.'' on, as he passed by, in popular 
 
 Julius CcBsar, i. 2 (1623). acclamation to salute him king." 
 
 — The Advancement of Learning 
 
 (1603-5). 
 
 640 
 MAN IN THE MOON 
 
 "This man, with lanthom, dog, "Kespecting the face La the 
 
 and bush of thorn, moon's orb, this consideration is 
 
 Presenteth Moonshine. wisely proposed, that it is not prob- 
 able that in the dispersion of matter 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 3'^S 
 
 nature enclosed every compact 
 body in the globe of the earth 
 alone, when there were so many 
 globes of stars revolving.'' — De 
 Principiis et Originibus (c. 1603). 
 
 This lanthom is the moon; I, the 
 man in the moon." 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, 
 V. 1 (1600). 
 " The maai i' the moon 'a too 
 slow." 
 
 The Tempest, ii. 1 (1623). 
 
 It may surprise our readers to find this myth given a 
 place in Bacon's system of philosophy. 
 
 641 
 
 MEDEA 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " In such a night 
 Medea gathered the enchanted 
 
 herbs 
 That did renew old ^son." 
 The Merchant of Venice, v. 1 
 (1600). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " In the fable of the restoration 
 of PeUas to youth, Medea, when 
 she pretended to set to work, pro- 
 posed to accomplish it by cutting 
 the body of the old man to pieces, 
 and boiling it up in a cauldron 
 with certain drugs." — History of 
 Life and Death (1623). 
 
 These passages have reference to the same myth. 
 
 642 
 
 INTUSIONS 
 
 "I fully believe that if some- 
 thing could be infused in very 
 small portions into the whole sub- 
 stance of blood, over which the 
 action of the spirit and heat should 
 have little or no power, it would 
 be very effectual in prolonging 
 me." — Ibid. 
 
 MEDICAL 
 
 " 'T is known I ever 
 
 Have studied physic, through 
 which secret art 
 
 By turning o'er authorities, I have 
 
 (Together with my practice) made 
 familiar 
 
 To me and to my aid the blest in- 
 fusions 
 
 That dwell in vegetives, in metals, 
 stones." 
 
 Pericles, iii. 2 (1609). 
 
 Bacon laid special stress on the medicinal virtues of infu- 
 sions, and he virtually classified them, for practical use, as 
 Shake-speare did, into the vegetative, the metallic, and the 
 mineral, thus : 
 
326 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 The Vegetative. "In my opinion, the safer and more eflfectual 
 means would be the use of woods in infusions and decoctions. Those 
 suited to the purpose are sandal, oak, and vine. Also, the dry and 
 woody stalks of rosemary and the ivy. Let them be taken in broths, or 
 in new wine or beer before the latter is settled. If in broths, let them 
 be infused a long time before they are boiled." 
 
 The Metallic. " Gold only, for all metals except gold have some 
 pernicious quality in their volatile part, neither can they be beaten out 
 so finely as gold-leaf. Wine in which gold has been dissolved I think 
 good once in a meal. 
 
 The Mineral. "Of crystals two are chiefly regarded as cordials, 
 the emerald and the jacinth, which are given in the same forms as 
 pearls — either in a iine powder or in a kind of paste or solution made 
 by the juice of very sour and fresh lemons." 
 
 It is difficult to resist the conclusion that the man who 
 drew the character of Cerimon in ' Pericles ' had made a 
 study of medicine (as indeed Cerimon confesses he had), and 
 particularly of the effect of drugs on the human constitution, 
 as Bacon had. 
 
 643 
 
 DISEMBOWELLING, THE PUNISHMENT FOE HIGH TREASON 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Like a traitor to the name " I remember to have seen the 
 
 of God, heart of a man who had his bowels 
 
 [Thou] didst break that vow, and torn out (the punishment with us 
 
 with thy treacherous blade of high treason) which, on being 
 
 Unripp'dst the bowels of thy sov- cast according to custom into the 
 
 ereign's son." fire, leaped up." — Ibid. 
 King Richard III., i. 4 (1597). 
 
 In the passage from the play, Clarence is accused of 
 having disembowelled Prince Edward with his own dagger. 
 
 644 
 
 MOON AND SATURN 
 
 " Chanting faint praises to the cold, " Other planets again are set 
 
 fruitless moon." down as cold ; the moon for in- 
 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, i. stance, and, above all, Saturn." — 
 
 1 (1600). Novum Organum (1620). 
 
PARALLELISMS 327 
 
 "Flying between the cold moon 
 
 and the earth, 
 Cupid, all arm'd." 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, ii. 1. 
 
 " The sweet view on 't 
 Might well have warm'd old 
 Saturn." 
 
 Cymbeline, ii. 5 (1623). ' 
 
 645 
 DIMEKSIOKS OP AN ATOM 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 "It is as easy to count atomies " An atom, as Democritus him- 
 
 as to resolve the propositions of a self said, no one ever saw or can 
 
 lover." — As You Like It, iii. 2 see." — Cogitationes de Natura 
 
 (1623). Rerum (c. 1603-4). 
 
 Bacon was a great admirer of Democritus, considering him 
 to have been superior both to Plato and to Aristotle. At one 
 time he strongly leaned toward the doctrine of atomies or 
 atoms which Democritus was the first to proclaim, and in his 
 own writings he laid special stress on the latter's habit of 
 imparting instruction by the use of allegory, parable, meta- 
 phor, and other devices of the imagination. The author of 
 the Plays, as already pointed out, was also famiUar with the 
 atomic theory of Democritus. 
 
 646 
 CENTRAL FIEE IN THE EABTH 
 
 " Doubt that in earth is fire." " With regard to the earth, when 
 
 Hamlet, ii. 2 (1603). we have penetrated into the in- 
 terior, and got through the crust 
 and composition which is found on 
 the surface and next to it, there 
 seems a perpetuity there also, like 
 that supposed to exist in the 
 heavens. . . . Certainly most of 
 the earthquakes and eruptions of 
 water or fire do not rise from any 
 great depth, but close at hand, 
 seeing that they occupy a small 
 part of the surface." 
 
328 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 When the author of ' Hamlet ' made his first draft of that 
 tragedy in 1586, he evidently agreed with the opinion, then 
 and stiLl prevailing, that the interior of the earth is a mass 
 of molten matter, and the earth itself, consequently, subject 
 to changes throughout its entire body. This was the view 
 of Aristotle, who held that the heavens, on the contrary, were 
 incorruptible and unchangeable. The play was first printed 
 in 1603, substantially in the form in which it had been 
 written seventeen years earlier. In 1604, however, the 
 second edition appeared with the line, quoted above, omitted. 
 The theory was repudiated by Bacon, it will be seen, in the 
 same year. See ' Francis Bacon Our Shake-speare,' p. 15, et sec[. 
 
 647 
 
 CHAOS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Mis-shapen chaos." " Chaos is without form." — 
 
 Borneo and Juliet, i. 1 (1597). De Principiis atque Originibus 
 
 (posthumous). 
 
 648 
 PAEENTAGE OP CUPID 
 
 " Tell me, heavenly bow, " Cupid, the son of Venus." — 
 If Venus, or her son, as thou dost Ibid. 
 
 know, 
 Do now attend the Queen ? Since 
 
 they did plot 
 The means that dusky Dis my 
 
 daughter got, 
 Her and her blind boy's scandal'd 
 
 company 
 I have forsworn." 
 
 The Tempest, iv. 1 (1623). 
 
 649 
 PREDOMINANCT OF THE PLAKETS 
 
 " You must needs be bom under " What an idle invention is 
 
 Mars, that, that each of the planets 
 
 When he was predominant." reigns in turn." — De Augmentis 
 
 All's Well, i. 1 (1623). (1622). 
 
PARALLELISMS 329 
 
 "It is a bawdy planet that will 
 
 strike 
 Where it is predominant." 
 
 Winter's Tale, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 650 
 THE EAUTH, A DEAD BODY 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " She 's dead as earth." " The earth, from its entire and 
 
 King Lear, v. 3 (1608). unrefracted cold, and the extreme 
 contraction of matter, is most 
 cold, dark, dense, and completely 
 immovable." — De Principiis et 
 Originibus (posthumous). 
 
 King Lear's reference to the earth as " dead " was probably 
 suggested by the search made in ancient times for the first 
 principle of matter. Of the four (supposed) original elements, 
 earth, water, air, and fire, three of them, each in turn, were 
 selected and advocated as the primal, active cause : water by 
 Thales, air by Anaximenes, and fire by Heraclitus. " I have 
 found no one," says Bacon, " who would affirm that principle 
 to be earth ; for the quiet, torpid, inactive nature of the earth 
 which submits patiently to the heaven, fire, and other things, 
 prevented such a conception from entering into any one's 
 mind." The earth, as distinguished from the other elements, 
 was thus dead matter. 
 
 651 
 
 MONSTERS 
 
 "This is a devil, and no monster." "Nature is either free, and 
 The Tempest, ii. 2 (1623). allowed to go her own way and 
 
 develop herself in her ordinary 
 course ; or she is forced and driven 
 out of her course by the perversi- 
 ties and insubordination of way- 
 ward and rebellious matter, and 
 by the violence of impediments, 
 as in monsters." — Descriptio Globi 
 Intellectualis (c. 1612). 
 
330 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Trinculo makes the same distinction as Bacon does, between 
 
 creatures developed in accordance with regular types and 
 
 those that deviate from regular types. Technically, the latter 
 
 are monsters. 
 
 652 
 
 DARKNESS AT C^SAr'S DEATH 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 ' In the most high, and palmy state " Such phenomena [of the sun's 
 
 of Eome, temporary diminution of light] 
 
 A little ere the mightiest Julius happened in the year 790, in the 
 
 fell, times of Justinian for half a year, 
 
 The graves stood tenantless, and and after the death of Julius Caesar 
 
 the sheeted dead for several days. Respecting the 
 
 Did squeak and gibber in the Ro- Julian darkness there remains that 
 
 man streets, notable testimony of Virgil : 
 
 As stars with trains of fire and ' Then did the sun in pity dim his 
 
 dews of blood, light. 
 
 Disasters in the sun ; and the And drew a dusk veil o'er his 
 
 moist star, visage bright, 
 
 Upon whose influence Neptune's And shook the impious times with 
 
 empire stands, dread of endless night.' " 
 
 Was sick almost to doomsday with JDescriptio Globi Intelledualis 
 
 eclipse." (c. 1612). 
 Hamlet, i. 1 (1604). 
 
 653 
 
 ASSASSINATION OP JULIUS CESAR 
 
 At the celebration of the Queen's birthday in 1592 (17th 
 November), Bacon made a speech on Fortitude, as part of a 
 device prepared by the Earl of Essex. In this speech he 
 cited the case of Julius Csesar as one that illustrates the trait 
 of character with which he was dealing. It will therefore 
 be interesting to compare his statements as then made with 
 those made by the dramatist a short time afterward in the 
 play of ' Julius Csesar.' 
 
 1 
 "The worthiest man that ever lived." — Bacon. 
 " The noblest man 
 That ever lived." Shake-speabe. 
 
PARALLELISMS 23 1 
 
 2 
 " They came about him unarmed, and as a stag at bay." — Bacon. 
 " Antony. Here wast thou bay'd, brave hart ; 
 
 How like a deer, stricken by many princes, 
 Dost thou here lie." 
 
 Shake-speare. 
 3 
 " The first wound was given him on the neck by Casca, that stood 
 behind his chair." — Bacon. 
 
 " Damned Casca, like a cur behind, 
 Struck Caesar on the neck." 
 
 Shake-speare. 
 
 4 
 " He turned about and caught hold of Casca's arm." — Bacon. 
 
 " Caesar catches hold of his [Casca's] arm." 
 
 Shake-spbake. 
 5 
 "At last Marcus Brutus gave him a wound." — Bacon. 
 "He is then stabbed by several other conspirators, and last by 
 Marcus Brutus." Shake-speabe. 
 
 6 
 
 " And thou, my son." — Bacon. 
 
 " Were you, Antony, the son of Caesar, 
 Tou should be satisfied." 
 
 Shake-speabe. 
 
 No hint of tHs is in Plutarch. 
 
 7 
 " This word [and thou, my son] turned itself afterwards into the like- 
 ness of an iU spirit. " — Bacon. 
 
 " Julius Caesar I thou art mighty yet ; 
 Thy spirit walks abroad." 
 
 Shake-speabe. 
 8 
 " Spirit that appeared to him in his tent." — Bacon. 
 [Within the tent of Brutus. 
 {Enter the Ghost of CcBsar. 
 " Brutus. Speak to me, what thou art. 
 Ghost. Thy evil spirit, Brutus." 
 
 Shake-speare- 
 
33^ BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 9 
 
 " This word wounded, this word enchanted him [Brutus], this word 
 made him ever despair of a final good success of the war." — Bacon. 
 " Brutus. The ghost of Csesar hath appeared to me. 
 
 I know my hour is come." 
 
 Shakb-speare. 
 
 10 
 "Let us turn our consideration, and behold justice, the sacred 
 ■virtue." — Bacon. 
 
 " Did not great Julius bleed for justice's sake ? " 
 
 Shake-speabe. 
 11 
 " I do wonder at the Stoics . . . that they should so urge and advise 
 men to the meditation of death. . . . More manfully thought the vo- 
 luptuous sect [Epicureans] that counted it as one of the ordinary works 
 of nature." — Bacon. 
 
 " Cassius. You know that I held Epicurus strong, 
 
 And his opinion ; now I change my mind. 
 Brutus. But I do find it cowardly and vile. 
 
 For fear of what might fall, so to prevent [anticipate] 
 The time of Ufe." Shake-speare. 
 
 12 
 " Nothing grievous, but to yield to grief." — Bacon. 
 " 0, Cassius, I am sick of many griefs." 
 
 Shake-speake. 
 
 13 
 
 ♦' Pain hath taught him a new philosophy." — Bacon. 
 " Of your Philosophy you make no use." 
 
 Shake-speaee. 
 
 654 
 
 REVOLUTION OF THE SUN 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Doubt that the sun doth move." " The introduction of so much 
 Hamlet, ii. 2 (1604). immobility into nature, by repre- 
 senting the sun and stars as im- 
 movable, especially being of all 
 bodies the highest and most ra- 
 diant, and making the moon re- 
 
PARALLELISMS 233 
 
 Tolve about the earth in an epicycle, 
 and some other assumptions of his 
 [Copernicus], are the speculations 
 of one who cares not what fictions 
 he introduces into nature, pro- 
 vided his calculations come out 
 aright." — Deseriptio Globi Intel- 
 lectualis (c. 1612). 
 
 For a full exposition imder this head, see p. 16. 
 
 655 
 FINAL CONFLAGRATION OF THE WORLD 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Let the vile world end, "Aristotle ought not therefore to 
 
 And the premised flames of the have feared the conflagration of 
 
 last day Heraclitus for his world, although 
 
 Knit earth and heaven together." he had determined the stars to be 
 
 3 King Henry VI., v. 2 (1623). true fires."— iiirf. 
 
 656 
 LIFE AND ITS DUTIES 
 
 " To-day shalt thou behold a sub- " I am of opinion that the du- 
 
 ject die ties of life are preferable to life it- 
 
 For truth, for duty, and for loy- self." — Historia Vitoe et Mortis 
 
 alty." (1623). 
 King Richard 111., iii. 3 (1597). 
 
 657 
 
 WOOD TtlRNING TO STONE 
 
 "Like the spring that turneth "There are some springs of water 
 wood to atone." wherein, if you put wood, it will 
 
 Hamlet, iv. 7 (1604). turn into the nature of stone." — 
 Physiological Remains (date un- 
 certain). 
 
 658 
 GRAFTING OLD TREES 
 
 "We have some old crab-trees " Experiment to be tried — graft- 
 here at home, that will not ing upon boughs of old trees." — 
 Be grafted to your relish." Ibid. 
 Coriolanus, ii. 1 (1623). 
 
334 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 659 
 SOUTH SEA OF DISCOTEKT 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " One inch of delay more is a " "We sailed from Peru for China 
 South-sea of discovery." and Japan by the South Sea. . . . 
 
 As You Like It, iii. 2 (1623). Finding ourselves [after six 
 
 months] in the midst of the greatest 
 wilderness of waters in the world, 
 without victual, we gave ourselves 
 for lost men, and prepared for 
 death ; . . . knowing how that 
 part of the South Sea was utterly 
 unknown, and might have islands 
 or continents that hitherto were 
 not come to light.'' — New At- 
 lantis (1624). 
 
 Eosalind, impatient to be informed of something, says 
 that an inch of further delay would be more to her than a 
 voyage of discovery on the South Sea, just such a voyage as 
 Bacon's imagination was then projecting in quest of his 
 New Atlantis. 
 
 660 
 ARCHEET 
 
 " Shallow. Is old Double of your " When he was come within a 
 town living yet 1 flight-shot of our ship, signs were 
 
 Silence. Dead, sir. made to us." — Ibid. 
 
 Shallow. Jesu ! Jesu ! — he drew 
 a good bow ; and dead ! — a' shot 
 a fine shoot ; John a Gaunt loved 
 him well, and betted much money 
 on his head. Dead ! — a' would 
 have clapped i' the clout at twelve 
 score ; and carried you a forehand 
 shaft a fourteen, and fourteen and 
 a half." — ;S King Henry IV., iii. 
 2 (1600). 
 
 A " flight-shot " was a term used in archery, meaning the 
 distance covered by an arrow when the archer was seeking 
 
PARALLELISMS 335 
 
 to shoot farthest. Shake-speare gave the distance which 
 Double could shoot under such circumstances as 14 or 14^ 
 score ; that is, 280 or 290 yards. 
 
 661 
 
 MEAN PERSONS 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " We live not to be grip'd by " We, being some ten of us (the 
 meaner persons." rest were of the meaner sort, or 
 
 King Henry VIII., ii. 2 (1623). else gone abroad) sat down with 
 
 him." — iVew Atlaviis (1624). 
 " I was not ignoble of descent, 
 And meaner than myself have had 
 like fortune.'' 
 S King Henry VI., iv. 1 (1623). 
 " The contract you pretend with 
 
 that base wretch, 
 (One bred of alms, and foster'd 
 
 with cold dishes, 
 With scraps o' the court), it is no 
 
 contract, none; 
 Though it be aUow'd in meaner 
 parties." 
 
 Cymbeline, ii. 3 (1623). 
 
 Both authors continually style all persons, not of noble 
 rank, as mean, rude, vulgar. The fair inference is that both 
 (if there were two) belonged to the nobility. 
 
 662 
 
 THE THEATRE AND THE WORLD 
 
 " This wide and universal theatre " Dramatic poetry, which has the 
 Presents more woeful pageants theatre for the world." — De Aug- 
 
 than the scene mentis (1622). 
 
 Wherein we play." 
 
 As You Like It, ii. 7 (1623). 
 
 Mr. Spedding calls attention to what he considers "a 
 curious fact that these remarks [made by Bacon in the De 
 Augmentis\ on the character of the modem drama were 
 
336 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 probably written, and were certainly first published, in the 
 same year which saw the first coUection of Shakespeare's 
 plays." 
 
 Bacon made three grand divisions of knowledge : knowl- 
 edge of God, knowledge of nature, and knowledge of man. 
 Por the first, we must go, as he said, to the inspired Scrip- 
 tures ; for the second, to the mind of man, which is its mirror ; 
 for the third, to dramatic poetry. The three constitute what 
 he called The Intellectual Globe. 
 
 663 
 
 SEA- WATER GREEN 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 ^' Armado. I am in love, too. Who "The herald and children are 
 
 was Sampson's love, my dear clothed with mantles of sea-water 
 
 Moth? green satin." — New Atlantis 
 
 Moth. A woman, master. (1624). 
 Armada. Of what complexion ? 
 
 Moth. Of the searwater green, sir. 
 Armado. Is that one of the four 
 
 complexions 1 
 Moth. As I have read, sir; and 
 
 the hest of them, too. 
 Armado. Green, indeed, is the 
 
 color of lovers." 
 Love's Labor's Lost, i. 2 (1598). 
 
 The natural color of a person was thought in mediaeval 
 times to indicate temperament or character. In the classifi- 
 cation of colors with this in view, green, or, as the author of 
 ' Love's Labor 's Lost ' says, sea-green, was considered the 
 best, being the color of love. 
 
 It was on this account, perhaps, that Bacon arrayed the chief 
 attendants at the Feast of the Family in his New Atlantis in 
 sea-green. The occasion was one when reverence and affec- 
 tion became supreme, the King addressing the father officially 
 on the happy occasion as " my beloved friend." Every man 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 337 
 
 in Bacon's commonwealth, who lived to see thirty lineal de- 
 scendants of his, all alive at one time and aU. over three years 
 of age, was entitled to the honors of this Feast, given to him 
 at public expense. 
 
 664 
 
 BROTHELS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Marina. Thou holdst a place for 
 
 ■which the pained'st fiend 
 Of hell would not in reputation 
 
 change ; 
 Thou art the damned door-keeper 
 
 to every 
 Coystrel that comes inquiring for 
 
 his Tib ; 
 To the choleric fisting of every 
 
 rogue 
 Thy ear is liable ; thy food is such 
 As hath been belch'd on by in- 
 fected lungs. 
 Boult. What would you have 
 me do 1 Go to the wars, would 
 you ? where a man may serve 
 seven years for the loss of a leg, 
 and have not money enough in 
 the end to buy him a wooden one ? 
 Marina. Do anything but this 
 
 thou doest. Empty 
 Old receptacles, or common sewers, 
 
 of filth ; 
 Serve by indenture to the common 
 
 hangman ; 
 Any of these ways are yet better 
 
 than this." 
 
 Pericles, iv. 6 (1609). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 "I remember to have read, 
 in one of your European books, of 
 an holy hermit amongst you that 
 desired to see the Spirit of Forni- 
 cation ; and there appeared to him 
 a little foul, ugly Aethiop. But 
 if he had desired to see the Spirit 
 of Chastity of Bensalem, it would 
 have appeared to him in the like- 
 ness of a fair, beautiful Cherubin. 
 For there is nothing amongst 
 mortal men more fair and admi- 
 rable than the chaste minds of 
 this people. 
 
 Know, therefore, that with them 
 there are no stews, no dissolute 
 houses, no courtesans, nor any- 
 thing of that kind. Nay, they 
 wonder (with detestation) at you 
 in Europe, which permit such 
 things." —iVew AUantis (1624). 
 
 665 
 
 KING JAMES I., THE SOLOMON OP HIS AGE 
 
 " Peace, plenty, love, truth, terror. 
 That were the servants to this 
 chosen infant, 
 
 "We have some parts of his 
 works which with you are lost ; 
 namely, that Natural History 
 
 22 
 
338 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Shall then be his, and like a vine which he wrote, of all plants, from 
 
 grow to him ; the cedar of Libanus to the moss 
 
 Wherever the bright sun of heaven that groweth out of the wall, and 
 
 shall shine, of all things that have life and mo- 
 llis honor and the greatness of his tion. This maketh me think that 
 
 name our king, finding himself to sym- 
 
 Shall be, and make new nations ; bolize in many things with that 
 
 he shall flourish, king of the Hebrews (which lived 
 
 And, like a mountain cedar, reach many years before him) honored 
 
 his branches him with the title of this founda- 
 
 To all the plains about him.'' tion." 
 King Henrtj VIII., v. 4 (1623). 
 
 James I., who prided himself on his learning, was called 
 by his flatterers the Solomon of his age. Bacon and Shake- 
 speare both refer to him in connection with the cedar of 
 Lebanon, because of the prominence given to that tree in the 
 Hebrew king's work on Natural History. 
 
 666 
 
 SPELLING AND BEADING 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Thy love did read by rote, and " Such as rather laboreth to 
 
 could not spell." — Romeo and spell and so by degrees to read in 
 
 Juliet, ii. 3 (1597). the volume of God's creatures." — 
 
 Of the Interpretation of Nature 
 (c. 1603). 
 
 667 
 
 PEACE, A LETHARGY 
 
 " Peace is a very apoplexy, " No body can be healthful with- 
 
 lethargy ; mulled, deaf, sleepy, in- out exercise ; and certainly to a 
 
 sensible." — Coriolanus, xiv. 5 kingdom or estate a just and honor- 
 
 (1623). able war is the true exercise." — 
 
 De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 668 
 
 KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED TO ASK QUESTIONS 
 
 "Fool. An' thou hadst been i' "It asks some knowledge to de- 
 
 the stocks for that question, thou mand a question not impertinent." 
 
 hadst well deserved it. — On the Interpretation of Nature 
 
 Kent. Why, fool ? (c. 1603). 
 
PARALLELISMS 239 
 
 Fool. We '11 set thee to a school 
 to an ant." 
 
 King Lear, ii. 4 (1608). 
 
 Bacon uses the word " impertinent " in its primitive Latin 
 sense, not pertinent. This explains why it is proposed in the 
 play to send a foolish questioner to school. 
 
 669 
 
 THE WHITE IN AECHERT 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " You hit the white." " Except the white be placed, 
 
 The Taming of the Shrew, v. 2 men cannot level." — On the Inter- 
 
 (1623). pretation of Nature (c. 1803). 
 
 670 
 
 CENTAURS 
 
 " Down from the waist they are " The strange fiction of the poets, 
 
 Centaurs, of the transformation of Scylla, 
 
 Though women all above.'' seemeth to be a lively emblem of 
 
 King Lear, iv. 6 (1608). this philosophy and knowledge ; a 
 
 fair woman upwards in the parts 
 
 of show, but when you come to 
 
 the parts of use and generation, 
 
 barking monsters." — Ibid. 
 
 671 
 
 CrVET 
 
 " Give me an onnce of civet, to " So many grains of civet wiU 
 sweeten my imagination." — King give a perfume to a whole chamber 
 Lear, iv. 6 (1608). of air." — lUd. 
 
 Bacon's complete sentence, of which the above is a part, is 
 as follows: 
 
 " Some few grains of saffron will give a tincture to a ton of water ; but 
 so many grains of civet will give a perfume to a whole chamber of air." 
 
 Shake-speare, as we have already shown, takes note of this 
 property of saffron, as well as of civet, thus : 
 
 "Tour son was misled with a snipt-taffeta fellow there, whose villa- 
 nous saffron would have made all the unbaked and doughy youth of a 
 nation in his color."— ^/r« Well, iv. 5 (1623). 
 
34° BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 672 
 MANUPACTTJEE OF GOLD 
 
 From Shake-^eare 
 " You axe an alchymist ; make gold 
 
 of that. 
 Out, rascal dogs ! '' 
 
 Timon of Athens, v. 1 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " We knew a Dutchman that had 
 wrought himself into the belief of 
 a great person by undertaking that 
 he could make gold, whose dis- 
 course was, that gold might be 
 made, but that the alchymists over- 
 fired the work." — Sylva Sylvarum 
 (1622-25). 
 
 673 
 CAUSE OF THUNDER 
 
 " What is the cause of thunder 1 " " Some of the Grecians which 
 King Lear, in. 4 (1608). first gave the reason of thunder 
 were condemned of impiety." — 
 Filum Labyrinthi (c. 1608). 
 
 674 
 SECRETS OF NATURE 
 
 " The secrets of nature 
 Have not more gift in taciturnity." 
 Troilus and Cressida, iv. 2 
 (1609). 
 
 " The secrets of nature are the 
 secrets of God." — Ibid. 
 
 "God hath set the world in 
 man's heart, yet man cannot find 
 out the work which God worketh 
 from the beginning to the end." 
 — Of the Interpretation of Nature 
 (c. 1603). 
 
 675 
 
 WISDOM OP SOLOMON 
 
 " Solomon had a very good wit." 
 
 Love's Labor 's Lost, i. 2 (1598). 
 " Profound Solomon." 
 
 Ibid., iv. 3. 
 
 " Solomon, in his grant of wis- 
 dom from God, had contained as 
 a branch thereof, that knowledge 
 whereby he wrote a natural his- 
 tory of all verdor, from the cedar 
 to the moss." — Filum Labyrinthi 
 (c. 1608). 
 
 " In the person of Solomon, the 
 king, we see the gift or endowment 
 of Wisdom and Learning." — Ad- 
 vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
PARALLELISMS 341 
 
 Wit, as used in the play, means intellect or mental 
 
 capacity. 
 
 676 
 
 HJXACT 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 "Emilia. 0, my lord! yonder 's " Aa for the exciting of the mo- 
 foul murder done. tion of the spirits, you must note 
 Othello. What ! now ? that the growth of hedges, herbs, 
 Emilia. But now, my lord. hair, &c. is caused by the moon, 
 Othello. It is the very error of the by exciting of the spirits, as well 
 moon; as by increase of the moisture. 
 She comes more nearer earth than But for spirits in particular, the 
 she was wont, great instance is in limacies." — 
 And makes men mad." Natural History (1622-25). 
 Othello, V. 2 (1622). 
 
 677 
 
 PEOMETHEUS, DISCOVERER OF FIRE 
 
 " But once put out thy light, " You would not say that Pro- 
 
 Thou cunning'st pattern of excel- metheus was led by speculation to 
 
 ling nature, the discovery of fire, or that when 
 
 I know not where is that Prome- he first struck the flint he expected 
 
 thean heat the spark; but rather that he 
 
 That can thy light relume." lighted on it by accident, and (as 
 
 Hid. they say) stole it from Jupiter." — 
 Advancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 678 
 A SONNET 
 
 "I once writ a sonnet in his "At which time I had (though 
 
 praise." — King Henry V., iii. 7 I profess not to be a poet) prepared 
 (1600). a sonnet directly tending and al- 
 
 luding to draw on her Majesty's 
 reconcilement to my Lord.'' — 
 The Essex Apology (1603). 
 
 679 
 
 BURNING MTSA 
 
 " Now let hot Mtaa, cool in Si- " Great quantity of sulphur, and 
 
 cily." sometimes naturally burning, after 
 
 Titus Andronicus, iii. 1 (1600). the manner of Mtna." — De Colore 
 
 et Frigore (date unknown). 
 
342 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 680 
 
 HEAT FROM BURNING-GLASSES 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacor^ 
 
 "The appetite of her eye did "The uniting or collection of 
 
 seem to scorch me up like a burn- the sun-beams multiplieth heat, as 
 
 ing-glass." — The Merry Wives of in burning glasses." — De Colore 
 
 Windsor, i. 3 (1602). et Frigore (date luiknown). 
 
 681 
 
 SUN, FOUNTAIN 
 "Alcihiades. How came the noble 
 
 Timon to this change ? 
 Timon. As the moon does, by- 
 wanting light to give. 
 But then, renew I could not, like 
 
 the moon; 
 There were no suns to borrow of." 
 Timon of Athens, iv. 3 (1623). 
 "And thirty dozen moons, with 
 
 borrow'd sheen. 
 About the world have times twelve 
 thirties been." 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 2 (1604). 
 
 OF LIGHT 
 
 " The sun is a fountain of light 
 as well as heat. The other celes- 
 tial bodies manifest in light, and 
 yet non constat whether all bop- 
 rowed as in the moon," — Ibid, 
 
 682 
 
 DEW 
 
 "When the sun sets, the air doth "The sun-beams raise vapors 
 
 drizzle dew." out of the earth, and when they 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, iii. 5 (1597). withdraw they fall back in dews." 
 
 —Ibid. 
 
 683 
 Circe's drugs 
 
 "I think you all have drunk of 
 
 Circe's cup." 
 The Comedy of Errors, v. 1 (1623). 
 
 " Such is the weakness and 
 credulity of men that they will 
 often prefer a mountebank or 
 witch before a learned physician. 
 And therefore the poets were clear- 
 sighted in discerning this extreme 
 folly when they made jEsoulapiua 
 and Circe brother and sister ; . . • 
 
PARALLELISMS 343 
 
 for in all times, in the opinion of 
 the multitude, witches and old 
 vromen and impostois have had a 
 competition with physicians.'' — 
 Advancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 Circe was fabled to possess two special powers ; namely, 
 to transform men into beasts, and by means of drugs to pro- 
 duce mental stupefaction without impairing tbe bodily facul- 
 ties. Our parallelism No. 581 exhibits the first; the second 
 is presented above. 
 
 684 
 CHINESE GOLD 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Here comes the little villain. "A counterfeit angel [piece of 
 
 How now, my metal of India 1 " — money] is made more like a true 
 
 Twelfth Night, ii. 5 (1623). angel than if it were an angel 
 
 coined of Chinese gold. " — Of the 
 Interpretation of Nature (c. 1603). 
 
 It is conceded that by the phrase " metal of India," Shake- 
 speare meant gold, it being similar to the more common one, 
 " Pearl of India." But in this sense it seems to be so incon- 
 gruous with the context (where the same person is called 
 the "little villain") that some of the commentators have , 
 pronounced it a printer's blunder, and suggested the alter- 
 native reading, " nettle of India." But Bacon's prose easily 
 sets us right. The people of the East made a kiud of gold 
 (out of lead, Purchas says) which Bacon stigmatizes as coun- 
 terfeit. This is the kind to which Sir Toby compares the 
 little villain in the play. 
 
 Purchas' book went to press in 1625 ; it could not there- 
 fore have been the source of either Shake-speare or Bacon's 
 information on this subject. But it was based on manu- 
 scripts which had been in existence for many years, and to 
 which, as proved by other references. Bacon had had access. 
 
344 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 685 
 
 CYCLOPS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " We are but shrubs, no cedars we ; 
 No big-bon'd men, fram'd of the 
 Cyclop's size." 
 Titus Andronicus, iv. 3 (1600). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " The story is, that the Cyclops 
 (giants) were at first on account 
 of their fierceness and brutality 
 driven into Tartarus, and con- 
 demned to perpetual imprison- 
 ment; but afterwards he [Jupiter] 
 was persuaded by the Earth (their 
 mother) that it would be for his 
 interest to release them and em- 
 ploy them to make thunderbolts 
 for him ; which he accordingly 
 did; and they with ofiicious in- 
 dustry labored assiduously with 
 a terrible din in forging thunder- 
 bolts and other instruments of 
 terror." — Wisdom of the Ancients 
 (1609). 
 
 686 
 DIVORCE OF HENET Till 
 
 " Did you not of late days hear " The divorce of King Henry the 
 
 A buzzing of a separation Eighth from the Lady Katharine 
 
 Between the king and Katharine ? " did so much busy the world.'' — 
 
 King Henry VIIL, ii. 1 (1623). History of Henry VII. (1621). 
 
 687 
 
 LOVE CANNOT BE HID 
 "A murderous guilt shows not "Love cannot be hid." — Pro- 
 
 itself more soon 
 Than love that would seem hid. 
 Love's night is noon." 
 
 Twelflh Night, iii. 1 (1623). 
 
 mus (1594^96). 
 
 688 
 WARS WITH THE EOSES 
 
 " I pluck this white rose with " The title of the White Kose 
 Plantagenet.'' or house of York.'' — History of 
 
 1 King Henry VI., ii. 4 (1623). Henry VII. (1621). 
 
PARALLELISMS 345 
 
 689 
 RICHARD ni. AS A MDEDEKEB 
 McRDEKBD His Sovereign, Hbnrt VI 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Gloucester. I '11 hear no more, — " No man thinking any igno- 
 die, prophet, in thy speech." miny or contumely unworthy of 
 [Stais him. him that had been the executioner 
 of King Henry the Sixth with his 
 own hand." 
 
 MuBDERED His Brother, Clarence 
 " (Enter two murderers.) " The contriver of the death of 
 
 Gloucester. But soft, here come the Duke of Clarence, his brother." 
 my executioners. 
 
 How now, my hardy, stout, re- 
 solved mates ! 
 
 Are you now going to dispatch 
 this thing ? 
 
 1 Murderer. We are, my lord ; and 
 come to have the warrant. 
 
 That we may be admitted where 
 he is. 
 
 Gloucester. Well thought upon ; I 
 have it here about me. 
 
 [Gives the warrant. 
 
 Clarence. Not to relent is beastly, 
 
 savage, devilish. 
 Which of you, if you were a 
 
 prince's son, 
 Being pent from liberty, as I am 
 
 now, 
 If two such murderers as your- 
 selves came to you, 
 Would not entreat for life ? 
 My friend, I spy some pity in thy 
 
 looks; 
 O ! if thine eye be not a flatterer, 
 Come thou on my side, and entreat 
 
 for me. 
 As you would beg, were you in 
 
 my distress. 
 
346 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 A begging prince what beggar pities 
 not. 
 
 2 Murderer. Look behind you, my 
 lord. 
 
 1 Murderer. Take that, and that 
 \_Slabs him] ; if all this will 
 not do, 
 
 I '11 drown you in the malmsey- 
 butt within. 
 
 [^Exit, with the body." 
 
 MuKDERED His Two Nbphbws 
 
 " (Re-enter Page, loith Tyrrel.) "The murderer of his two 
 
 Gloucester, now King Richard. Is nephews." 
 
 thy name Tyrrel? 
 Tyrrel. James Tyrrel, and your 
 
 most obedient subject. 
 King Richard. Art thou, indeed P 
 Tyrrel. Prove me, my gracious 
 
 lord. 
 King Richard. Dar'st thou resolve 
 
 to kill a friend of mine 1 
 Tyrrel. Please you ; but I had 
 
 rather kill two enemies. 
 King Richard. Why, then thou 
 
 hast it: two deep enemies, 
 Foes to my rest, and my sweet 
 
 sleep's disturbers, 
 Are they that I would have thee 
 
 deal upon. 
 Tyrrel, I mean those bastards in 
 
 the Tower. 
 Tyrrel. Let me have open means 
 
 to come to them. 
 And soon I 'U rid you from the 
 
 fear of them. 
 King Richard. Thou sing'st sweet 
 
 music. Hark, come hither, 
 
 Tyrrel ; 
 Go, by this token. Eise and lend 
 
 thine ear. 
 
 [ Whispers. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 347 
 
 - say, it is 
 
 There is no more but so ; 
 
 done, 
 And I will love thee, and prefer 
 
 thee for it. 
 Tyrrel. I will dispatch it straight. 
 
 (Enter King Richard.) 
 Tyrrel. All health, my sovereign 
 
 lord. 
 King Richard. Kind Tyrrel, am 
 
 I happy in thy news? 
 Tyrrel. If to have done the thing 
 
 you gave in charge 
 Beget your happiaess, be happy 
 
 then, 
 For it is done. 
 King Richard. But didst thou 
 
 see them dead ? 
 Tyrrel. I did, my lord." 
 
 Pbobablt Mukdbred His Wipe Anne 
 
 "King Richard. Come hither, 
 Catesby ; rumor it abroad. 
 
 That Anne, my wife, is very 
 grievous sick ; 
 
 I will take order for her keeping 
 close. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth [to K. Richard"]. 
 Tell her, thou mad'st away her 
 
 uncle Clarence, 
 Her uncle Elvers ; ay, and for her 
 
 Mad'st quick conveyance with her 
 good aunt Anne. 
 
 (The Ghost of Queen Anne rises.") 
 Ghost [to K. Richard^. Richard, 
 
 thy wife, that wretched Anne, 
 
 thy wife, 
 That never slept a quiet hour with 
 
 thee. 
 
 "And vehemently suspected to 
 have been the impoisoner of his 
 wife." — History of Henry VII. 
 (1621). 
 
348 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Now fills thy sleep with perturba- 
 tions. 
 
 Tomorrow in the battle think on 
 me, 
 
 And fall thy edgeless sword." 
 
 King Richard III. (1597). 
 
 Notwithstanding tlie great diversity of opinion that has 
 prevailed from the first regarding the character and career of 
 Richard III., Bacon and Shake-speare were in full agreement 
 on the subject. Both declared that Kichard killed Henry 
 with his own hand ; that he contrived the death of his 
 brother Clarence ; that he was responsible for the murder of 
 the princes in the Tower ; and both had doubts as to the fate 
 of Queen Anne. 
 
 690 
 
 EAELY DATE OP GLOUCESTER'S CONSPIRACY 
 
 From Shake-speare 
 " Gloucester. What news abroad ? 
 Hastings. No news so bad abroad 
 
 as this at home. 
 The king is sickly, weak, and 
 
 melancholy, 
 And his physicians fear him 
 
 mightily. 
 Gloucester. Now, by Saint Paul, 
 
 that news is bad indeed. 
 O ! he hath kept an evil diet long, 
 And over much consum'd his 
 
 royal person. 
 'Tis very grievous to be thought 
 
 upon. 
 What, is he in his bed ? 
 Hastings. He is. 
 Gloucester. Go you before, and I 
 
 will follow you. 
 
 [Exit Hastings. 
 He cannot live, I hope; and must 
 
 not die, 
 Till George be pack'd with post- 
 horse up to heaven. 
 
 From Bacon 
 " It was noted by men of great 
 understanding that even in the 
 time of King Edward his brother, 
 he [Gloucester] was not without 
 secret trains and mines to turn 
 envy and hatred upon his brother's 
 government; as having an ex- 
 pectation and a kind of divi- 
 nation that the king, by reason of 
 his many disorders, could not be 
 of long life, but was like to leave 
 his sons of tender years ; and then 
 he knew well how easy a step it 
 was from the place of a Protector 
 and first Prince of the blood to 
 the Crown." — History of Henry 
 VII. (1621). 
 
PARALLELISMS 349 
 
 I 'E in, to urge his hatred more to 
 
 Clarence, 
 With lies well steel'd with weighty 
 
 arguments. 
 And if I faU not in my deep intent, 
 Clarence hath not another day to 
 
 Uve; 
 Which done, God take King 
 
 Edward to his mercy, 
 And leave the world for me to 
 
 bustle in." 
 King Richard IIL, i. 1 (1597). 
 
 691 
 
 THE SWEATINGr-SICKNESS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " FalstaflF shall die of a sweat." " About this time in autumn, 
 
 King Henry v., Epilogue (162Z). towards the end of September, 
 
 there began and reigned in the 
 city and other parts of the king- 
 dom a disease then new, which by 
 the accidents and manner thereof 
 they called the sweating-sickness. 
 . . . Infinite persons died sud- 
 denly of it." — History of Henry 
 VII. (1621). 
 
 Bacon's description of this disease was written in 1621 
 and published ia 1622. The Epilogue in which it is 
 referred to, as above, did not appear in the first edition of 
 Henry V. (1600), nor in the second (1602), nor in the third 
 (1608), but for the first time in the folio of 1623. 
 
 692 
 
 FEEDINAND AND HENRY VIII., GREAT PRINCES 
 
 " Please you, sir, "Ferdinando and Henry may 
 
 Theking, your father [Henry VII.] be esteemed for the tres magi''- of 
 
 was reputed for kings of those ages." — Ibid. 
 
 A prince most prudent, of an 
 
 excellent 
 
 1 Bacon ranked the King of France with Ferdinand and Henry in wisdom. 
 
3 so BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 And unmatch'd wit and judgment; 
 
 Ferdinand, 
 My father, King of Spain, was 
 
 reckon'd one 
 The wisest prince that there had 
 
 reign'd by many 
 A year before." 
 
 King Henry VJIL, ii. 4 (1623). 
 
 693 
 
 MANDRAKE 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " With loathsome smells, "Asmandrakes, whereof witches 
 
 And shrieks Uke mandrakes', torn and impostors make an ugly image." 
 out of the earth." — Sylva Sylvarum (1622-25). 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, iv. 3 (1599). 
 "Could curses kill, as doth the 
 mandrake's groan." 
 Z King Henry VI., iii. 2 (1594). 
 
 The mandrake, or mandragora, is a plant that was long 
 known for its narcotic properties, having even been used by 
 the ancients, it is said, as an anaesthetic. At the same time 
 some very fanciful notions were allowed to gather about it ; 
 namely, that by reason of the shape of its root it had a 
 special influence on human kind, and that the root itself, 
 when pulled from the earth, uttered loud shrieks. Shake- 
 speare speaks of the plant on several occasions, but always 
 with a distinction between the legitimate and the illegitimate 
 functions attributed to it. That is to say, when referring to 
 its medicinal character, he calls it by its Latin name, man- 
 dragora, as thus : 
 
 *' Not poppy, nor mandragora. 
 Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, 
 Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep 
 Which thou owd'st yesterday." 
 
 Othello, iii. 3. 
 " Cleopatra. Give me to drink mandragora — 
 Charmian. Why, madam ? 
 
PARALLELISMS 351 
 
 Cleopatra. That I might sleep out this great gap of time, 
 
 My Anthony is away." 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, i. 5. 
 
 Bacon preserves the same distinction. 
 
 694 
 TICKLING 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " It were a better death than die " Tickling is ever painful, and 
 with mocks, not well endured." — Sylva Sylva- 
 
 Which is as bad as die with rum (1622-25). 
 tickling." 
 
 Much Ado, iii. 1 (1600). 
 
 695 
 GROUND SWEETENED BY RAINBOW 
 
 " Who, with thy saffron wings " It hath been observed by the 
 
 upon my flowers, ancients that where a rainbow 
 
 Diffusest honey-drops, refreshing seemeth to hang over or to touch, 
 
 showers; there breatheth forth a sweet 
 
 And with each end of thy blue smell; . . . and the like do soft 
 
 bow dost crown showers, for they also make the 
 
 My boaky acres, and my un- grounds sweet." — Ibid. 
 
 shrubb'd down. 
 Rich scarf to my proud earth." 
 
 The Tempest, iv. 1 (1623). 
 Showers and the rainbow make the ground sweet. — Bacon. 
 Showers and the earth's " rich scarf" diffuse honey-drops. 
 
 Shakb-speaeb. 
 
 CANNIBALS 
 
 "I spake ... of the Cannibals "The Cannibals in the West 
 that each other eat." Indies eat man's flesh." — Sylva 
 
 Othello, i. 3 (1622). Sylvarum (1622-25). 
 
 697 
 
 PATIENCE OP JOB 
 
 «' I am as poor as Job, my lord, but " Job, a model of patience." — 
 not so patient." Md. 
 
 g Henry IV., i. 2 (1600). 
 
352 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 698 
 EAGLE, LONG-LIVED 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " These moss'd trees 
 That have outlived the eagle." 
 Timon of Athens, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 "The eagle is considered long- 
 lived, though its exact age is not 
 ascertained. It is reckoned like- 
 wise as a sign of longevity that he 
 cast his beak, which makes him 
 grow young again ; whence comes 
 the proverb, 'the old age of the 
 eagle.' " — Sylva Sylvarum (1622- 
 25). 
 
 LOVE-VEESES ON FOREST TREES 
 
 " It is a cimosity to have inscrip- 
 tions or engravings iu fruit or trees. 
 This is easily performed by writing 
 with a needle or bodkin or knife 
 or the like, when the fruit or trees 
 are young; for, as they grow, so 
 the letters will grow more large 
 and graphical. ' Tenerisque meos 
 inoidere amores Arboribus; cres- 
 cent illae, crescetis amores.' " — 
 Ibid. 
 
 " There is a man haunts the for- 
 est, that abuses our young plants 
 with carving Rosalind on their 
 barks ; hangs odes upon hawthorns, 
 and elegies on brambles ; all, for- 
 sooth, deifying the name of Rosa- 
 lind ; if I could meet with that 
 fancy-monger, I would give him 
 some good counsel, for he seems to 
 have the quotidian of love upon 
 him." — As You Like It, iii. 2 
 (1623). 
 
 The Latin lines, quoted above by Bacon, are taken from 
 Virgil (Eel. x.). With the line preceding (in the original, 
 necessary to complete the sense), they may be translated as 
 follows : 
 
 " I prefer to endure hardships in a forest, in the haunts of wild 
 beasts, and carve my loves on young trees ; then, as the trees grow, 
 ye, my loves, will also grow." 
 
 It is to be noted that Shake-speare represents Orlando's 
 love-verses as haviag been carved on young trees, apparently 
 without serving any dramatic purpose in doing so ; the ex- 
 planation is found in Bacon, or in Virgil quoted by Bacon. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 3SZ 
 
 We now know, also, whence he derived the hint for plac- 
 ing wild beasts in the French Forest of Arden : he found it 
 in Virgil, in a sentence quoted in part by Bacon. 
 
 It appears, then, that both authors wrote of lovers' in- 
 scriptions on growing trees in a forest; that one did not 
 copy from the other; and that each had in niind at the 
 time, and made use of (mutatis mutandis) the same pas- 
 sage in Virgil's Bucolics. 
 
 700 
 
 ACTION AND HIS HOUNDS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Jove shield your iusband from 
 
 his hounds to-day ; 
 'T is pity they should take him for 
 
 a stag." 
 
 Titus Andronicus,ii. 3 (1600). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Actaeon, having unawares and 
 by chance seen Diana naked, was 
 turned into a stag, and torn to 
 pieces by his own hounds.'' — 
 Wisdom o/the Ancients (1609). 
 
 701 
 
 UNICORN 
 
 " The unicorn's horn has lost its 
 reputation; yet it still stands as 
 high as hartshorn, the bone of the 
 stag's heart, ivory and the Kke." — 
 Sylva Sylvarum (1622-25). 
 
 " Sebastian. Now I will believe 
 That there are unicorns ; that in 
 
 Arabia, 
 There is one tree, the phcenix, 
 
 throne ; one phoenix 
 At this hour reigning there. 
 Antonio. I '11 believe both ; 
 
 And what does else want credit, 
 
 come to me. 
 And I '11 be sworn 't is true." 
 
 TTie Tempest, iii. 3 (1623). 
 
 Bacon compares the unicorn's horn as a medicine with 
 hartshorn and ivory; Shake-speare compares the unicorn 
 itself with the phoenix. They treat the myth with equal 
 tenderness. 
 
 23 
 
354 
 
 BACON AND SHAKE^SPEARE 
 
 702 
 
 THESEUS AND ARIADNE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 "Didst thou not lead Mm [The- 
 seus] through the glimmering 
 night, 
 
 And make him with fair Aegl6 
 
 break his faith 
 With Ariadne and Antiopa 1 " 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, ii. 
 2 (1600). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Bacchus took to wife Ariadne 
 whom Theseus had abandoned and 
 deserted. . . . That part of the 
 allegory is especially noble which 
 represents Bacchus as lavishing 
 his love upon one whom another 
 had cast oflf. For most certain it 
 is that passion ever seeks and as- 
 pires after that which experience 
 has rejected." — Wisdom of the An- 
 cients (1609). 
 
 703 
 
 OSSA, PELION, AND OLYMPUS 
 
 "These three be the stages of 
 knowledge, and are to them that 
 are depraved no better than the 
 giants' hills." — Advancement of 
 Learning (1603-5). 
 
 "Now pUe your dust upon the 
 
 quick and dead, 
 Till of this flat a mountain you 
 
 have made, 
 To o'ertop old Pelion, or the skyish 
 
 head 
 Of blue Olympus. 
 
 If thou prate of mountains, let 
 them throw 
 
 MiUions of acres on us, tiU ovir 
 ground, 
 
 Singeing his pate against the burn- 
 ing zone. 
 
 Make Ossa like a wart." 
 
 Hamlet, v. 1 (1604). 
 
 To show what he meant by " giants' hills," Bacon quoted 
 the following lines from Virgil : 
 
 " Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam, 
 Scilicet atque Ossce frondosum involvere Olympum." 
 
 [" Mountain on mountain thrice they strove to heap, 
 Olympus, Ossa, piled on Pelion's steep." 
 
 Dryden's Translation.'] 
 
PARALLELISMS 355 
 
 704 
 
 POMP AND GLOKT 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Vain pomp and glory of this " This matter of pomp, -which is 
 
 world, I hate ye." heaven to some, is hell to me." — 
 
 King Henry VIII., iii. 2 (1623). Letter to Buckingham (1617). 
 
 This is further evidence that Bacon, in writing the famous 
 soliloquy on fallen greatness in ' Henry VIII.,' drew from 
 the depths of his own experience after his downfall in 1621. 
 Like Wolsey, he had been Lord Chancellor of England, and, 
 also Hke Wolsey, had been ignominiously hurled from power, 
 the latter event happening only two years before the drama, 
 containing the soliloquy, first appeared in print. 
 
 We find other traces of Bacon in Wolsey's speech. 
 "Swimming on bladders" was one of his favorite images. 
 Our parallelism, No. 609, is based upon it. Dividing a 
 man's life, or the career of a state, into several distinct 
 periods of development was another of his very marked 
 characteristics. Instances of it will be given in our 
 next. 
 
 705 
 
 PEEIODS OF DEVELOPMENT 
 
 " This is the state of man : to-day " In the youth of a state, arms 
 
 he puts forth do flourish ; in the middle age of 
 
 The tender leaves of hope ; to- a state, learning ; and then both of 
 
 morrow blossoms, them together for a time; in the 
 
 And bears his blushing honors declining age of a state, mechan- 
 
 thick upon him ; ical arts and merchandise. 
 
 The third day comes a frost, a " Learning hath his infancy, when 
 
 killing frost ; it is but beginning and almost child- 
 
 And when he thinks, good easy ish ; then his youth, when it is 
 
 man, full surely luxuriant and juvenile ; then his 
 
 His greatness is a-ripening, nips strength of years, when it is solid 
 
 his root, and reduced; and lastly, his old 
 
 And then he faUs, as I do." age, when it waxeth dry and 
 
 Ibid, exhaust." — Essay of Vicissitude 
 of Things (1625). 
 
356 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 706 
 
 FAT OXEN 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " It is the pasture lards the " Draft oxen, put into good pas- 
 
 rother's sides.'' — Timon of Athens, ture, recover the flesh of young 
 iv. 3 (1623). \i%&l"—Sylva SylvarumO-Q'ii-'i.b). 
 
 707 
 
 PEOTEUS HELD BY HIS SLEBYES 
 
 "Adriana. Come, I will fasten on " Then it is like that this Pro- 
 
 this sleeve of thine. teus of matter, being held by the 
 
 sleeves, will turn and change into 
 
 Dromio S. I am transform'd, mas- many metamorphoses." — Ibid. 
 
 ter, am I not 1 
 Ant. S. I think thou art, in mind, 
 
 and so am I. 
 Dromio S. Nay, master, both in 
 
 mind and in my shape. 
 Ant. S. Thou hast thine own 
 
 form. 
 Dromio S. No, I am an ape. 
 Luciana. If thou art chang'd to 
 
 aught, 't is to an ass." 
 Comedy of Errors, ii. 2 (1623). 
 
 Proteus was a sea-god who possessed the gift of prophecy, 
 but was reluctant to exercise it for the benefit of mortals. 
 Those who would consult him had first to surprise and bind 
 him ; for, assuming various forms, now a lion, now a serpent, 
 a tiger, a boar, a tree, even fire and water, he would thus en- 
 deavor, by the bewildering rapidity of his transformations, 
 to terrify the captor and escape. Homer, Ovid, Virgil, and 
 Hyginus give full accoimts of this extraordinary being, but 
 the only detail in the process of his capture, suggested by 
 them or by either of them, was in the use of a chain. Bacon 
 and Shake-speare, however, here agree in stating, contrary to 
 the whole tenor of the myth, that Proteus was seized and 
 held Jy the sleeves. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 357 
 
 708 
 
 CHOPINE 
 
 From, Shakespeare 
 
 "Your ladyship is nearer to 
 
 heaven, than when I saw you last, 
 
 by the altitude of a chopine." — 
 
 Hamlet, ii. 2 (1603). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Item, no knight of this order 
 shall be inquisitive towards any 
 lady . . . whether with caie-tak- 
 ing she have added half a foot to 
 her stature." — Gesta Grayorum 
 (1594). 
 
 Bacon was the principal promoter of the Christmas revels 
 at Gray's Inn. A chopine was a high-heeled shoe worn by 
 ladies to keep the feet from the wet. 
 
 709 
 
 THE BACK 
 
 "And like this unsubstantial pa- "The clouds above, which we 
 
 geant faded, call the rack." — Sylva Sylvarum 
 
 Leave not a rack behind." (1622-25). 
 The Tempest, v. 2 (1623). 
 
 The commentators have expended much time on this 
 word "rack." Eichard Grant White thought he closed 
 the controversy by deciding that, according to modern 
 usage, we should read wreck. 
 
 710 
 
 THE LABORS OF HERCULES 
 
 " I will, in the interim, imder- 
 take one of Hercules' labors." — 
 Much Ado, ii. 1 (1600). 
 "Leave that labor to great Her- 
 cules, 
 And let it be more than Alcides' 
 twelve." 
 Taming of the Shrew, i. 2 (1623). 
 "For valor, is not Love a Her- 
 cules, 
 Still climbing trees in the Hes- 
 perides ? " 
 Lov^i Labor '« Lost, iv. 3 (1598). 
 
 " Of examples enough ; — except 
 we should add the labors of Her- 
 cules." — An Advertisement touch- 
 ing an Holy War (1622). 
 
3S8 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 " As Hercule* 
 Did shake down mellow fruit." 
 
 Coriolanug, iv. 6 (1623). 
 
 " Well done, Hercules ! now thou 
 
 cnishest the snake." 
 
 Love's Labor 's Lost, v. 1 (1598). 
 
 Great Hercules is presented by 
 
 this imp, 
 Whose club kill'd Cerberus, that 
 three-headed canus." 
 
 Ibid,, V. 2. 
 
 " Nay, mother. 
 
 Resume that spirit, when you were 
 
 wont to say, 
 If you had been the wife of Her- 
 cules, 
 Six of his labors you 'd have 
 done." 
 
 Coriolanus, iv. 1 (1623). 
 
 Bacon's Sapientia Veterum is an elaborate exposition of 
 Greek myths. 
 
 rii 
 
 PtXSE-BEATS AS MEASURES OF TIME 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Ariel. I drink the air before me, " To try exactly the time where- 
 
 and return in sound is delated, let a man stand 
 
 Or e'er your pulse twice beat." in a steeple and have with him a 
 
 The Tempest, v. 1 (1623). taper; and let some veil be put 
 
 before the taper; and let another 
 
 man stand in a field a mile oS. 
 
 Then let him in the steeple strike 
 
 the bell, and in the same instant 
 
 withdraw the veil ; and so let him 
 
 in the field tell by his pulse what 
 
 distance of time there is between 
 
 the light seen and the sound 
 
 heard." — Sylva Sylvarum (1622- 
 
 25). 
 
 Bacon mentions many occasions when time was measured 
 by pulse-beats. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 369 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " How sweet the moonlight sleeps 
 
 upon this bank! 
 Here we will sit and let the sounds 
 
 of music 
 Creep in our ears ; soft stillness, 
 
 and the night 
 Become the touches of sweet 
 
 harmony.'' 
 Merchant of Venice, v. 1, (16O0). 
 " D. Pedro. Come, shall we hear 
 
 this music 1 
 Claudia. Yea, my good lord. How 
 
 stUl the evening is, 
 As. hush'd on purpose to grace 
 
 harmony ! " 
 
 Much Ado, ii. 3 (1600). 
 
 712 
 SOUNDS BY NIGHT 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Sounds are sweeter in the 
 night than in the day." — Sylva 
 Sulmmm (1622-25). 
 
 713 
 
 CHOIE OP ECHOES 
 
 " 'Ah me,' she cries, and twenty 
 
 times 'Woe, woe,' 
 And twenty echoes twenty times 
 
 cry so." 
 
 Fernts and Adonis (1593). 
 
 " Speaking, at the one end [of 
 the chapel], I did hear it return 
 the voice thirteen several times ; 
 and I have heard of others, that it 
 would return it sixteen times. . . . 
 In this echo of so many returns, 
 upon the matter, you hear above 
 twenty words for three." — Ibid. 
 
 " And still the choir of echoes answer so." — Shakespeare. 
 
 " They must needs make (as it were) a choir of echoes." — Bacon. 
 
 714 
 
 MINEKVA, BENT OF GENIUS 
 
 .' Bianca. Sir, to your pleasure " Man's actions [should] be free 
 humbly I subscribe ; and voluntary, that nothing be 
 
 My books, my instrumentSt shall done invito Minerva." ►— Ibid. 
 be my company. 
 
 On them to look, and practise by 
 myself. 
 
36o BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Lucentio. Hark, Tranio ! thou 
 mayat hear Minerva speak. 
 
 Baptista. Gentlemen, content ye; 
 
 I am resolv'd. 
 Go in, Bianca. 
 And for I know, she taketh most 
 
 delight 
 In music, instruments, and poetry." 
 Taming of the Shrew, i. 1 
 
 (1623). 
 
 It was an old proverb that a man can do nothing against 
 the bent of his genius, or (as it was expressed) against 
 Minerva, thus: 
 
 Tu nihil invita dices faciesque Minerva. 
 
 Hence in Bianca's love of literature and music Minerva is 
 said to speak. 
 
 715 
 
 POISONS AND SWELLING OF BODY 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "If they had swallow'd poison, "Upon aU poisons followeth 
 't would appear swelling." — Sylva Sylvarum (1622- 
 
 By external swelling." 25). 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, v. 2 
 (1623). 
 
 716 
 UABTLEMAS 
 
 "And how doth the martlemas, " Smoke preserveth flesh, as we 
 your master ? " see in bacon, and neat's tongue, 
 
 S King Henry 7F., ii. 2 (1600). and martlemas beef." — Ibid. 
 
 Martlemas or Martinmas (11 November) was ,the day for 
 kiUing cattle and hogs. Shake-speare alludes to Falstaff's 
 corpulence and age. 
 
PARALLELISMS 361 
 
 717 
 
 WICK IN FLAMES 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " There lives within the very flame "We will therefore speak of 
 
 of love bodies inflamed ; . . . and of a 
 
 A kind of wick." wick that provoketh inflamma- 
 
 Hamlet, iv. 7 (1604). tion."— SyZra Sylvarum (1622-25). 
 
 718 
 
 WAX AND TALIOW CANDLES 
 
 " Chief Justice. You are as a candle, " Wax candles last longer than 
 the better part burnt out. taUow candles." — Ibid. 
 
 Falstaff. A wassail candle, my 
 lord ; all tallow ; if I did say 
 of wax, my growth would ap- 
 prove the truth." 
 2 King Henry IV., i. 2 (1600). 
 
 719 
 ODOES AND CEUSHED FLOWERS 
 
 " The canker-blooms have full as " Most odors smell best broken 
 
 deep a dye or crushed ; but flowers pressed or 
 
 As the perfumed tincture of the beaten do lose [exhale] the fresh- 
 roses ; ness and sweetness of their odor." 
 —Ibid. 
 
 They live unwoo'd, and unre- "Virtue is like precious odors, 
 
 spectedfade; most fragrant when they are in- 
 
 Die to themselves. Sweet roses do censed or crushed." — Essay of 
 
 not so; Adversity (1625). 
 
 Of their sweet deaths are sweetest 
 odors made." 
 
 Sonnet 54 (1609). 
 
 720 
 
 PRICKING PLANTS 
 
 "He that sweetest rose will find, "As terebration doth meliorate 
 
 Must find love's prick." fruit, so upon like reason doth let- 
 
 As You Like It, iii. 2 (1623). ting of plants' blood ; as pricking 
 
 vines or other trees, after they 
 be of some gi'owth, and thereby 
 letting forth gum or trees. . . . 
 
362 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 It is reported that by this artifice 
 bitter almonds have been turned 
 into sweet." — Sylva Sylvarum 
 (1622-25). 
 
 721 
 
 MOTIOK AND SENSE 
 
 From Shalce-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Sense sure you have, " The ancients could not con- 
 
 Else could you not have motion." ceive how there can be motion 
 Hajniet, iiL i (1604:). without sense." — De Augmentis 
 (1622). 
 
 For exposition of this singular paxallelism, see 'Francis 
 Bacon Our Shake-speare,' p. 19. 
 
 722 
 
 EEVEEENCE 
 
 " Though mean and mighty, rotting "Keverence is that wherewith 
 Together, have one dust, yet rev- princes are girt from God." — 
 
 erence, Essay of Seditions and Troiibles 
 
 (That angel of the world) doth (1607-12). 
 
 make distinction 
 Of place 'tween high and low." 
 
 Cymbeline, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
 723 
 
 AFBICA, BKEEDING M0N8TEES 
 
 " Not Afrie owns a serpent I abhor "It ia held [as a] proverb. 
 
 More than thy fame and envy." 'Africa is always breeding some 
 
 Coriolanus, i, S (\&2,Z). kind of monster.'" — Sylva Syl- 
 varum (1622-25). 
 
 724 
 JUSTICES OF THE PEACE AND CUSTOS EOTTJIiORTTM 
 
 " Slender. In the county of Gloster, " Others there are of that num- 
 
 juttiee of the peace and coram, her called justices of the peace and 
 
 Shallow. Ay, cousin, and cust-a- quorum. . . . The chief of them 
 
 lorum. ia called custos rotulorum." — Office 
 
 Slender. Ay, and rotolorum, too." of Constables (1608). 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 1 
 (1602). 
 
PARALLELISMS j,^;^ 
 
 725 
 GAELIC 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Eat no onions nor garlic, for we "The more fetid juice of the 
 
 are to utter sweet breath." earth goeth into the garlic." — 
 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, iv. Sylva Sylvarum (1622-25). 
 2 (1600). 
 
 726 
 
 HONET-DEW IN LILIES 
 
 " As doth the honey-dew " Plowers that have deep sockets 
 
 Upon a gather'd Uly." do gather in the bottom a kind of 
 
 Titus Artdronicus, iii. 1 (1600). honey, as honeysuckles, lilies, and 
 
 the like." — /Ittf. 
 
 727 
 
 FLAVOR or BEEF AND MUTTON AFFECTED BY ANIMALS' FOOD 
 
 " Though they feed " Where kine feed upon wild 
 
 On sweetest flowers, yet they garlic, their milk tasteth plainly 
 
 poison breed." of the garlic ; and the flesh of 
 
 Pericles, i. 2 (1609). muttons is better tasted where the 
 
 sheep feed upon wild thyme, and 
 
 other wholesome herbs; and honey 
 
 in Spain smelleth (apparently) of 
 
 the rosemary or orange from 
 
 whence the bee gathereth it." — 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Bacon gives several other instances of the natural effects 
 on animals of various kinds of food, deriving therefrom a 
 rale which Shake-speare, while citing an exception to it, had 
 evidently studied and approved. 
 
 728 
 
 TBANSMUTATION OF SPECIES 
 
 "Lepidus. What manner o' thing " We see that in living creatures 
 
 is your crocodile ? that come of putrefaction, there is 
 
 Anthony. It is shaped, sir, like much transmutation of one into 
 itself, and it is as broad as it hath another, as caterpillars turn into 
 breadth; it is just so high as it is, flies. And it should seem prob- 
 and moves with it own organs ; it able that whatsoever creature, 
 
364 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 lives by that which nourisheth it ; having life, is generated without 
 
 and the elements once out of it, seed, that creature will change out 
 
 it transmigrates." — Anthony and of one species into another." — 
 
 Cleopatra, ii. 7 (1623). Sylva Sylvarum. (1622-25). 
 
 " Your serpent of Egypt is bred "All creatures, made of putre- 
 
 now out of your mud by the opera- faction, are of uncertain shape." — 
 
 tion of your sun ; so is your croco- Ibid. 
 dile." — Ibid. 
 
 Anthony's remarks on the crocodile, made to an intoxi- 
 cated person, must not be taken too seriously, and yet, that 
 the speaker had in miad the transmutation of species as laid 
 down by Bacon, is quite certain. Indeed, he bases the theory 
 on the same ground as Bacon does ; namely, that the animal 
 is the product of putrefaction. He even jests over its " un- 
 certain shape." 
 
 Bacon believed in vegetable transmutation, also, instancing 
 the following : 
 
 "Another disease is the putting forth of wild oats, whereinto com 
 oftentimes (especially barley) doth degenerate. It happeneth chiefly 
 from the weakness of the grain that is sown ; for, if it be either too old 
 or mouldy, it will bring forth wild oats." — Sylva Sylvarum. 
 
 729 
 
 MUSHKOOMS 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Whose pastime " Mushrooms come up so bas- 
 
 is to make midnight mushrooms." tily, as in a night." — Ibid. 
 The Tempest, v. 1 (1623). 
 
 730 
 
 STBAWBEREIES GROWING IN SHADE 
 
 "The strawberry grows underneath "Shade, to some firuits, con- 
 
 the nettle." duceth to make them large and 
 
 King Henry V., i. 1 (1623). prosperous, more than sun; as in 
 
 strawberries." — Ibid. 
 
 731 
 
 ITEDLAB 
 
 " Touchstone. Truly, the tree " Men have entertained a con- 
 
 yields bad fruit. ceit that sheweth prettily, namely : 
 
PARALLELISMS 365 
 
 Rosalind. I '11 graff it with you, that if you graft a late coming fruit 
 and then I shall graflf it with a upon a stock of a fruit-tree that 
 medlar ; then it wiU be the earliest cometh early, the graft will bear 
 fcuit i' the country; for you'll be fruit early; as a peach upon a 
 rotten ere you be half ripe, and cherry; and contrariwise, if an 
 that 's the right virtue of the early coming fruit upon a stock of 
 medlar." a fruit-tree that cometh late, the 
 
 4* Fow ZiAre 7t, iii. 2 (1623). graft will bear fruit late; as a 
 
 cherry upon a peach. But these 
 are but imaginations, and untrue. 
 The cause is, for that the scion 
 over-ruleth the stock quite, and 
 the stock is but passive only, and 
 giveth aliment, but no motion, to 
 the graft." — Sylva Sylvarum. 
 
 The medlar is a fruit that is eaten only after it has begun 
 
 to decay. Consequently Eosalind, proposing to graft a tree 
 
 with Touchstone, (a medlar, who will be rotten before he is 
 
 half ripe) claims that she wiU then have the " earliest fruit 
 
 i' the country." She knows that the "scion over-ruleth 
 
 the stock." 
 
 732 
 
 MIND AND FACE TO AGREE 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "False face must hide what the " Contradict not your words by 
 false heart doth know." your looks." — Advancement of 
 
 Macbeth, i. 7 (1623). Learning (1603-5). 
 
 733 
 
 THE EOMAKS, SHEEP 
 
 " He would not be a wolf " Cato, the censor, said that the 
 
 But that he sees the Eomans are Romans were like sheep." — Ibid. 
 but sheep." 
 
 Julius CcEsar, i. 3 (1623). 
 
 734 
 
 MAKING HASTE TO BE EICH 
 
 " Injurious time now with a rob- " He who hastens to be rich 
 
 ber's haste shall not be innocent." — Essay 
 
 Crams his rich thievery up." of Riches (1625). 
 Troilus and Cressida, iv. 4(1623). 
 
366 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 735 
 EICHBS, THE BAGGAGE OF VIETtJE 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Like an ass whose back with " I cannot call riches better than 
 
 ingots bows, the baggage of virtue." — Essay of 
 
 Thou bear'st thy heavy riches but Riches (1607-12). 
 a journey." 
 Measure for Measure, iii. 1 (1623). 
 
 736 
 MUSIC OF THE DYING SWAN 
 
 " I wiU play the swan, "The song of the swan." — 
 And die in music." Promus (1594-96). 
 
 Othello, V. 2 (1623). 
 " He makes a swan-Uke end, 
 Fading in music." 
 Merchant of Venice, iii. 2 (1600). 
 
 The following passage was not in the play, as printed in 
 1622, but added in the Folio edition, one year later and seven 
 years after the death of WiUiam Shakspere of Stratford : 
 
 " Emilia. What did thy song bode, lady ? 
 Hark ! canst thou hear me 1 I wiU play the swan, 
 And die in music. \^Singing.'\ Willow, willow, willow." 
 
 737 
 
 THE BEST COUNSELLOKS AEE THE DEAD 
 
 " Hamlet [jiointing to dead body of " The best counsellors are the 
 Polonius~\. This counsellor dead." — Essay of Counsel (1607- 
 
 Is now most still, most secret, and 12). 
 most grave, 
 
 Who was in life a foolish, prating 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 4 (1604). 
 
 738 
 
 TO BE OR NOT TO BE 
 
 "To be or not to be, that is the "We must now institute an 
 question.'' enquiry concerning Existence and 
 
 Hamlet, ui. 1 (1604). Non-existence." — Abecedarium 
 Natures (posthumous). 
 
PARALLELISMS 367 
 
 Bacon's tract, entitled Ahecedarium Naturce, with the 
 exception of a small fragment containing the title, has 
 been lost. With many other of the Chancellor's posthu- 
 mous papers it was taken to Holland soon after his 
 decease, and for some imknown reason not published. Isaac 
 Gruter, living at Utrecht in (circa) 1657, was its last known 
 custodian. 
 
 739 
 
 IGNORANT JUDGMENTS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Disparage not the faith thou dost " They speak ill of those things 
 
 not know." of which they are ignorant." — 
 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, ii. Promus (1594-96). 
 2 (1600). 
 
 740 
 
 MEECT IN LIONS 
 
 " Brother, you have a vice of mercy " Lions also are said to be no 
 
 in you, longer savage toward those who 
 
 Which better fits a lion than a yield and prostrate themselves.'' — 
 
 man." Meditationes Sacrce (1597). 
 TroUus and Cressida, v. 3 (1609). 
 
 741 
 
 HONEST WRONGS 
 
 " I '11 devise some honest slanders " An honest man in these days 
 To stain my cousin with." must needs be more honest than 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing, ni. 1 in ages heretofore, propter antipe- 
 (1600). ristasin." — Colors of Good and 
 
 "Let us about it; it is admi- Evil (1597). 
 rable pleasures, and fery honest 
 knaveries." — Merry Wives of 
 Windsor, iv. 4 (1602). 
 
 Bacon entered into an elaborate and subtle explanation of 
 what an " honest slander " or an " honest knavery " can be. 
 It is an act committed imder the pressure of circumstances, 
 this being the meaning of the Greek word used by him for 
 the purpose. That is, to deceive Falstaff and make him the 
 
368 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 butt of ridicule, to rescue Benedick from an unfortunate 
 love-affair by slandering temporarily the object of Ms pas- 
 sion, became conditionally justifiable. Actions, sucb as 
 these, are made honest by overpowering evUs exerting 
 force from without. It is a reaction from contraries. 
 
 742 
 
 LICENSE 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Lucio. Why, how now, Claudio ! " We are all the worse for 
 
 whence comes this restraint ? license." — Apothegm. 
 Claudio, From too much liberty, 
 
 my Lucio, liberty. 
 As surfeit is the father of much 
 
 fast. 
 So every scope by the immoderate 
 
 use 
 Turns to restraint." 
 
 Measure for Measure, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 The apothegm we have quoted is the reply given to the 
 Queen by Sir Nicholas Bacon (father of Francis), one 
 day, when she asked his opinion of one of the Monopoly 
 Licenses. A family pun. 
 
 743 
 
 MXrSICAL CONCOKD 
 
 " Music do I hear ? " In music, I ever loved easy 
 
 Ha, ha ! keep time. How sour airs, that go full all the parts 
 
 sweet music is, together ; and not these strange 
 
 When time is broke and no pro- points of accord and discord." — 
 
 portion kept! " Letter to Robert Cecil (1594). 
 
 King Richard II., v. 4 (1597). 
 
 744 
 
 JUGGLBES 
 
 " Away . . . , you basket-hUt stale " Do you not mark that jugglers 
 juggler I " are no longer in request when their 
 
 Z King Henry IV., ii. 4 (1600). tricks and sleights are once per- 
 ceived ? " — Essex Device (1594). 
 
PARALLELISMS 369 
 
 745 
 
 YOUNG THORNS 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " What 1 can so young a thorn begin "A thorn is gentle when it is 
 
 to prick ? " young." — Promus (1594^96). 
 5 King Henry VI., v. 5 (1623). 
 
 746 
 
 ROMANS CONQUER BY SITTIN'G DOWN" 
 " Lieutenant. Sir, I beseech you, " The Roman conquers by sit- 
 
 think you, be 'U carry Rome 1 ting down." — Ibid. 
 
 Aufidius. All places yield to 
 
 him ere he sits down." — Corio- 
 
 lanus, iv. 7 (1623). 
 
 " Csesar sits down in Alexandria." 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, iii. 11 
 
 (1623). 
 
 747 
 
 THE PEOPLE LIKE FLATTERY 
 
 " I will, sir, flatter my sworn " The people like to be flat- 
 brother, the people ; 't ia a con- tered." — Praise of Knowledge 
 dition they account gentle.'' — (1592). 
 Coriolanus, ii. 3 (1623). 
 
 748 
 
 BENEVOLENCE TAX 
 
 " And daily new exactions are " This tax (caUed a Benevo- 
 devis'd, leuce) was devised by Edward the 
 
 As blanks, benevolences, and I wot Fourth, for which he sustained 
 not what." much envy. It was abolished by 
 
 King Richard II., ii. 1 (1597). Richard the Third by act of Par- 
 liament, to ingratiate himself with 
 the people ; for so it was not in the 
 time of King Edward the Fourth, 
 But in this way he raised exceed- 
 ing great sums." — History of 
 Henry VII. (1621). 
 
 Bacon illustrates the exactions imder this tax, thus : 
 
 " The Commissioners who were to levy the Benevolence [were 
 instructed] that, if they met with any that were sparing, they 
 
 24 
 
370 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 should tell them they must needs have, hecause they laid up ; and 
 if they were spenders, they must needs have, hecause it was seen 
 in their port and manner of living ; so neither kind came amiss.'' 
 
 749 
 
 POSTHUMOUS TAME 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " He liv.ea in fame that died in vir- 
 tue's cause." 
 Titus Andronicus, i. 2 (1600). 
 
 FLIES IN 
 
 " You are like one that supersti- 
 tiously 
 
 Doth swear to the gods, that win- 
 ter kills the flies.'' 
 
 Pericles, iv. 3 (1609). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " In the case of persons who 
 suffer for religion, the words which 
 they speak at their death, like the 
 song of the dying swan, have a 
 wonderful effect and impression 
 upon men's minds, and dwell long 
 after in their memory and feelings." 
 — Wisdom of the Ancients (1609). 
 
 750 
 
 WINTER 
 
 " Those that interchange from 
 worms to flies in the summer, and 
 from flies to worms in the winter, 
 have heen kept in boxes four years 
 at the least." — Sylva Sylvarum 
 (1622-25). 
 
 751 
 
 SETTING TEETH ON EDGE 
 
 " That would set my teeth nothing 
 on edge." 
 1 Henry IV., iii. 1 (1598). 
 
 " As for the setting of the teeth 
 on edge, we see plainly what an 
 intercourse there is between the 
 teeth and the organ of the hearing 
 by the taking of the end of a bow 
 between the teeth, and striking 
 upon the string." — Ibid. 
 
 " She swoons 
 bleed." 
 
 Hamlet, v. 2 (1604) 
 
 752 
 
 SWOONING AT SIGHT OF BLOOD 
 
 to see them 
 
 " Many, upon the seeing of others 
 bleed, themselves are ready to faint, 
 as if they bled." — /Jirf.' 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 371 
 
 753 
 
 LOOKING DOWN FKOM GEEAT HEIGHTS 
 
 Frcym Shakespeare 
 
 " How fearful 
 
 And dizzy 't is, to cast one's eyes so 
 low! 
 
 The crows, and chouglis, that wing 
 the midway air, 
 
 Show scarce so gross as beetles; 
 hall way down 
 
 Hangs one that gathers samphire ; 
 dreadful trade ! 
 
 Methiiiks he seems no bigger than 
 his head ; 
 
 The fishermen, that walk upon the 
 beach, 
 
 Appear like mice ; and yond tall 
 anchoring bark, 
 
 Diminish'd to her cock ; her cock, 
 a buoy. 
 
 Almost too small for sight ; the 
 murmuring surge, 
 
 That on the unnumber'd idle peb- 
 bles chafes. 
 
 Cannot be heard so high. — I '11 
 look no more, 
 
 Lest my braia turn, and the defi- 
 cient sight 
 
 Topple down headlong." 
 
 King Lear, iv. 6 (1608). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " If a man be upon an high 
 place, without rails or good hold, 
 except he be used to it, he is ready 
 to fall ; for imagining a fall, it put- 
 teth his spirits into the very action 
 of afall." — Sylva Sylvarum (1622- 
 25). 
 
 754 
 
 EFFECT OF WINE-DEINKING 
 
 '•' The conquering wine hath steep'd 
 
 our sense 
 In soft and delicate Lethe." 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, ii. 7 
 
 (1623). 
 
 " It is written of Epicurus that 
 after his disease was judged des- 
 perate he drowned his stomach and 
 senses with a large draft and in- 
 gurgitation of wine ; whereupon 
 the epigram was made, ' He 
 drowned in wine the bitterness of 
 the Stygian waters.' " — The Ad- 
 vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
372 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 755 
 
 JUSTIFIABLE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " ' Let me not live,' quoth he, 
 
 ' After my flame lacks oil, to be 
 the snuff 
 
 Of younger spirits, whose appre- 
 hensive senses 
 
 All but new things disdain ; whose 
 judgments are 
 
 Mere fathers of their garments ; 
 whose constancies 
 
 Expire before their fashions. ' This 
 he wish'd ; 
 
 I, after him, do after him wish too. 
 
 Since I nor wax, nor honey, can 
 bring home, 
 
 I quickly were dissolved from my 
 hive, 
 
 To give some laborers room." 
 
 All's Well, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 SUICIDE 
 
 From Bacon 
 " I have given the rule, where 
 a man cannot fitly play his own 
 part ; if he have not a friend, he 
 may quit the stage." — Essay of 
 Friendship (1625). 
 
 756 
 KERNELS OF THE POMEGRANATE 
 
 " Go to, sir; you were beaten in " Like the pomegranate, full of 
 Italy for picking a kernel out of many kernels." — De Augmentis 
 a pomegranate." — .4Zrs Well, ii. (1622). 
 3 (1623). 
 
 757 
 
 TO TEST DIRECTION OF WINDS 
 
 "Plucking the grass, to know "We usually try which way 
 
 where sits the wind." the wind bloweth by casting up 
 
 Merchant of Venice, i. 1 (1600). grass." — Ibid. 
 
 758 
 
 SALAMANDER 
 
 " I have maintained that salaman- 
 der of yours with fire this two-and- 
 thirty years." — 1 King Henry IV., 
 iii. 3 (1598). 
 
 "There is an ancient received 
 tradition of the salamander, that 
 it Uveth in the fire." — Sylva 
 Sylvarum (1622-25). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 373 
 
 759 
 
 INFLUENCES OF THE MOON 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 1. " The moon 's an arrant thief, 
 And her pale fire she snatches 
 from the sun." 
 Timon of Athens, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
 2. "Rotten humidity; below, thy 
 
 sister's orb 
 Infect the air ! " 
 
 Hid. 
 
 3. " Therefore the moon, the 
 
 governess of floods, 
 Pale in her anger, washes all the air." 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream, iL 
 
 2 (1600), 
 " The moon, methinks, looks with 
 
 a watery eye." 
 
 Ibid., iii. 1. 
 "That I, being govern'd by the 
 
 moon, 
 May send forth plenteous tears to 
 
 drown the world." 
 King Richard III., ii. 2 (1597). 
 
 4. "It is the very error of the moon; 
 She comes more near the earth than 
 
 she was wont, 
 And makes men mad." 
 
 Othello, V. 2 (1622). 
 
 From Bacon 
 "The influences of the moon 
 (most observed) are four : 
 
 1. " The drawing forth of heat. 
 
 2. "The inducing of putrefac- 
 tion. 
 
 3. " The increase of moisture. 
 
 4. " The eiciting of the motions 
 of spirits. The great instance is 
 in lunacies." — Sylva Sylvarum 
 (1622-25). 
 
 760 
 FOBTUNB AND NATCTEB 
 
 " Now thou goest from Fortune's 
 oflSce to Nature's : Fortune reigns 
 in gifts of the world, not in the 
 lineaments of Nature." — As You 
 Like It, i. 2 (162.3). 
 
 "It cannot be denied, but out- 
 ward accidents conduce much to 
 fortune ; favor, opportunity, death 
 of others, occasion fitting virtue." 
 — Essay of Fortune (1607-12). 
 
 761 
 
 USE OF MONET IN CIVIIi WAES 
 
 " Cade. I thank you, good " The records of all times do 
 people; there shall be no money; concur to falsify the conceit that 
 
374 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 all shall eat and drink on my 
 
 score." — 2 King Henry VI., iv. 2 
 
 (1623). 
 
 Clifford. Spare England ! for it ia 
 
 your native coast. 
 Henry hath money, you are strong 
 
 and manly. 
 God on our side, doubt not of 
 
 victory. 
 All. A CliflFord ! a CliflFord ! we 'U 
 
 follow the king." 
 
 Ibid., iv. 8. 
 
 wars are decided, not by the sharp- 
 est sword, but by the greatest 
 purse. . . . Which is true [of civil 
 wars only], for that civil wars 
 cannot be between people of differ- 
 ing valor ; and again, because in 
 them men are as oft bought as 
 vanquished." — 0/the True Great- 
 men of the Kingdom of Britain 
 (c. 1608). 
 
 The references to money in the speeches of Cade and 
 Clifford, as of special use in a civil war, were not in the 
 earlier editions of the play, 1594, 1600, 1619 ; they appear 
 for the first time in the foHo of 1623, for which the play 
 was revised after 1619.^ It seems that, according to the 
 dramatist, as well as according to Bacon, it is money that 
 determines the issue of a civil, as distinguished from a 
 foreign war. 
 
 762 
 
 WISDOM AND FOLLY 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " To be direct and honest is not 
 safe. 
 
 Honesty 's a fool, 
 And loses that it works for." 
 
 Othello, iii. 3 (1622). 
 
 " Corruption wins not more than 
 
 honesty." 
 
 King Henry VIII., iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 " Kich honesty dwells like a 
 
 miser, sir, in a poor house, as your 
 
 pearl in your foul oyster." — As 
 
 You Like It, v. 4 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " There be not two more fortu- 
 nate properties than to have a 
 little of the fool, and not too much 
 of the wise." — Essay of Fortune 
 (1607-12). 
 
 1 See 'Francis Bacon Our Shake-speare,' Chapter III. 
 
PARALLELISMS 375 
 
 763 
 
 LEADEN SWOEDS 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Wounds like a leaden sword." " To slay with a leaden sword." 
 
 Love's Labor 's Lost, v. 2 (1598). — Promus (1594-96). 
 " To you our swords have leaden 
 points." 
 
 Juliiis Ccesar, iii. 1 (1623). 
 
 764 
 
 COLOQUINTIDA 
 
 " The food that to him now is as " Some apothecaries, upon stamp- 
 luscious as locusts shall be to Mm ing of coloquintida, have been put 
 shortly as bitter as coloquintida." into a great scouring by the vapor 
 — OrteHo, i. 3 (1622). on\j." — Sylva Sylvarum (1622- 
 
 25). 
 
 765 
 LEES AND DEEGS 
 
 " Would drink up " To drink the lees and dregs of 
 
 The lees and dregs of a flat tamed Perkins' intoxication." — History 
 
 piece." of Henry VII. (1621). 
 Troilus and Cressida, iv. 1 (1609). 
 
 766 
 
 PEEFUMES 
 
 " Purple the sails, and so perfumed " There be some perfumes, pre- 
 
 that scribed by the writers of natural 
 
 The winds were love-sick with magic, which procure pleasant 
 
 them." dreams. " — Sylva Sylvarum (1622- 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, ii. 2 25). 
 (1623). 
 
 767 
 love's keepsakes 
 
 " Give me your gloves, I '11 wear " It helpeth to continue love, if 
 
 them for your sake ; one wear a ring or a bracelet, of 
 
 And, for your love, I 'U take this the hair of the party beloved ; per- 
 
 ring from you." haps a glove, or other Uke favor, 
 
 Merchant of Venice, iv. 2 (1600). may as well do it." — Ibid. 
 
376 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 " Cressida. O ! you shall be eipos'd, 
 
 my lord, to dangers, 
 As infinite as imminent ! but 1 '11 
 
 be true. 
 Troilus. And I '11 grow friend 
 
 with danger. Wear this 
 
 sleeve. 
 Cressida. And you this glove. 
 Troilus. But yet, be true." 
 Troilus and Cressida, iv. 4 (1609). 
 
 768 
 
 ■WONDEE, DIVINE 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Ferdinand. My prime request, " Contemplation of the creatures 
 
 Which I do last pronounce, is — of God hath for end (as to the 
 
 0, you wonder ! natures of the creatures them- 
 
 If you be maid or no ? selves) knowledge, but as to the 
 
 Miranda. No wonder, sir ; nature of God, no knowledge, but 
 
 But certainly a maid." wonder, which is nothing else but 
 
 The Tempest, i. 2 (1623). contemplation broken off, or losing 
 
 " Caliban [to Stephana^ I pry- itself." — Of the Interpretation of 
 
 thee, be my god. . . . Nature (posthumous). 
 
 Trinculo. A most ridiculous 
 monster, to make a wonder of a 
 poor drunkard." — Ibid., ii. 2. 
 
 The dramatist applies the term " wonder " to Miranda and 
 Stephano in the same sense in which Bacon applies it in the 
 passage cited above ; that is, not only to what is beyond the 
 sphere of our knowledge, but also to what is divine. This is 
 Bacon's formal definition of the word. 
 
 769 
 
 COMMON AND SEVERAL 
 
 " Boyet. So you grant pasture for " There is no beast that if you 
 ni8. [Offering to kiss her. take him from the common and 
 Maria. Not so, gentle beast, put him into the several, but he 
 My lips are no common, though will wax fat." — Apothegms (post- 
 several they be." humous). 
 Love's Labor 's Lost, ii. I (1598). 
 
PARALLELISMS 377 
 
 770 
 
 GOLD TRIED BY THE TOUCHSTONE 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Holding out gold that's by the "Chilon would say, that gold 
 
 touchstone tried." was tried with the touchstone." — 
 
 Pericles, ii. 2 (1609). Apothegms (posthumous). 
 
 771 
 
 GALEN, A QUACK 
 
 " The most sovereign prescrip- " Galen was a man of very nar- 
 tion in Galen is but empLricutic." row mind, false to experience, and 
 Coriolanus, ii. 1 (1623.) the emptiest of reasoners." — Tem- 
 poris Partus Masculus (c. 1585). 
 
 An empirical physician is one who bases the methods of 
 his practice wholly on his own observations, without any 
 scientific training or knowledge. Bacon says (Advance- 
 ment of Learning), that it is an error to commit any per- 
 son to the care of empirics. Burton classes empirics with 
 mountebanks. The dramatist himself makes one of his 
 characters express the same opinion, thus : 
 
 " We must not 
 So stain our judgment, or corrupt our hope, 
 To prostitute our past-cure malady 
 To empirics," 
 
 AlVs Well,VL. 1 (1623). 
 
 Galen was the most celebrated of ancient medical writers. 
 He practised the profession of medicine iu Eome, where by 
 his great learning and imparaUeled success he won the 
 double title of " wonder-speaker " " and wonder-worker." 
 Marcus Aurelius was one of his admirers. For more than 
 a thousand years after his death his authority in medical 
 science was supreme throughout Europe; and yet Bacon 
 and Shake-speare both denounced him as a quack. 
 
 772 
 CjESAe's ambition 
 "Caesar's ambition "He [Caesar] allowed neither 
 
 (Which sweU'd so much that it country, nor religion, nor services, 
 did almost stretch nor kindred, nor friendships, to be 
 
378 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 The sides o' the world) against all 
 
 color, here 
 Did put the yoke upon 's." 
 
 Cymleline, iii. 1 (1623). 
 
 any hindrance or bridle to his pur- 
 poses." — Imago Civilis Julii Cm- 
 saris (c. 1601). 
 
 773 
 
 VIETUES AND VICES BALANCED IN C^SAE 
 
 From Shalce-speare 
 "He is a soldier fit to stand by 
 
 CsBsax, 
 And give direction; and do but 
 
 see his vice; 
 'T is to his virtue a just equinox, 
 The one as long as the other." 
 
 Othello, ii. 3 (1622). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " It was in the business of war 
 that Caesar's ability was most con- 
 spicuous ; and so great it was that 
 he could not only lead an army 
 but make one. ... To pleasures 
 he was naturally inclined, and in- 
 dulged freely in them ; but he so 
 governed his pleasures that they 
 were no hindrance to his interest 
 and main business, and his mind 
 was rather invigorated than made 
 languid by them." — Ibid. 
 
 774 
 cuckold's hoens 
 
 "Fear not, man; we'U tip thy 
 horns with gold." 
 
 Much Ado, V. 4 (1600). 
 
 " By my troth (said Sir Henry 
 Sidney) take her home and take 
 the money; and then, whereas 
 other cuckolds wear their horns 
 plain, you may wear yours gilt." — 
 Apothegms (posthumous). 
 
 775 
 
 StriTEEING MANY DEATHS 
 
 " Mark the sequel, Master 
 Brook : I suffered the pangs of 
 three several deaths." — The Merry 
 Wives of Windsor, iii. 5 (1602). 
 "Bohemia stops his ears, and 
 
 threatens them 
 With divers deaths in death." 
 
 The Winter's Tale, v. 1 (1623). 
 
 " If wishes might find place, I 
 would die together, and not my 
 mind often, and my body once." 
 — Essay of Death (posthumous). 
 
PARALLELISMS 379 
 
 776 
 
 THINGS AT THE WORST 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Things at the worst will cease, or " When things are at the period 
 
 else dimb upward." of ill, they turn again." — Promus 
 
 Macbeth, iv. 2 (1623). (1594-96). 
 
 777 
 
 GOOD MOREOW 
 
 " Good morrow, cousin." " Good morrow." — Promus 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, i. 1 (1597). (1694^96). 
 " Good morrow to my ghostly 
 confessor.'' 
 
 IMd., ii. 3 (1597). 
 " So soon to bid good morrow to 
 my bed." 
 
 Ibid. 
 " Good-morrow, gentlemen." 
 
 Ibid., ii. 4 (1597). 
 
 Bacon devoted a part of one of the folios in his Promus to 
 the subject of salutations. We give a few of them, reduced 
 to modern orthography, and in the order in which they are 
 entered : 
 
 " Good morrow. 
 Good soir, 
 Good travel, 
 Good haste. 
 Good matin. 
 Good betimes, 
 Bon jour. 
 
 Good day to me and good morrow to you, 
 I have not said all my prayers till I have bid you good 
 morrow." 
 
 It is evident that Bacon was making an effort in 1594-96 
 to introduce salutations of this kind into English speech. It 
 is also evident that several of the above came from France, 
 where they were in common use, and where Bacon had spent 
 
38o BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 three years in early life. The Promus was a private 
 record, unknown and inaccessible to the public for more than 
 two hundred years after it was written ; and yet, in the very 
 next year ('Eomeo and Juliet,' 1597), these foreign salutations 
 began to appear, and continued to appear iu great profusion, 
 in the Shake-speare plays. " Good morrow," which, it is 
 believed, had been used but once before in England, as a 
 salutation, occurs one hundred and fifteen times in them • 
 "good day," fifteen times; "good even" (soir), twelve times; 
 and " good morning," twice. For " good dawning," also as a 
 salutation, see parallelism No. 268. 
 Dr. Abbott happily says : 
 
 " On the lines of this suggestive principle Francis Bacon pursues 
 his experimental path, whether the experiments be great or small — 
 sowing, as Nature sows, superfluous seeds, in order that out of the 
 conflict the strongest may prevail." — Preface to Mrs. Henry Potfi 
 Edition of the Promus, p. ix. 
 
 778 
 From, Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 WATEE KUNS TO THE OCEAN 
 
 " And then his state " Water runs to the ocean." — 
 Empties itself, as doth an inland Promus (1594-96). 
 
 brook, 
 Into the main of waters." 
 Merchant of Venice, v. 1 (1600). 
 
 "We will 
 
 . . . like a bated and retired flood 
 . . . calmly run on in obedience, 
 Even to our ocean, our great King 
 John." 
 
 King John, v. 4 (1623). 
 
 779 
 
 PATIENCE 
 
 " How poor are they that have not " He who has not patience ha? 
 patience." nothing." — Promus (1594r-96). 
 
 Othello, ii. 3 (1622). 
 
PARALLELISMS 381 
 
 780 
 
 FOKGITENESS OF INJURIES AN EVIL 
 
 From, Shdke-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Mercy is not itself that oft looks " He that pardons his enemy, 
 
 so ; the sheriff shall have his goods." 
 
 Pardon is still the nurse of second — Promus (1594-96). 
 
 ■woe." " He who shows mercy to his 
 
 Measure for Measure, ii. 1(1623). enemy denies it to himself." — 
 
 "Mercy but murders, pardoning De Augmentis (1622). 
 
 those that kOl." " Nothing is so popular as the 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, iii. 1 (1597). forgiveness of enemies, but this it 
 
 " HI mayst thou thrive, if thou was which, whether it were virtue 
 
 grant any grace ! " or not, cost Caesar his life." — 
 
 King Richard II., v. 3 (1597). Imago Civilis Julii Ccesaris (c. 
 
 " Nothing emboldens sin so much 1601). 
 
 as mercy." 
 
 Timon of Athens, iii. 4 (1623). 
 "What! wouldst thou have a ser- 
 pent sting thee twice ? ' 
 Merchant of Venice, iv. 1 (1600). 
 
 This sentiment is found in Euripides, from whose tragedies 
 the dramatist drew so much. 
 
 781 
 
 VICISSITUDE 
 
 " O God! that one might read the " Vicissitude is in aU things." — 
 book of fate, Promus (1594-96). 
 
 And see the revolution of the times 
 
 Make mountains level, and the 
 continent, 
 
 Weary of solid firmness, melt itself 
 
 Into the seal and, other times, to 
 see 
 
 The beachy girdle of the ocean 
 
 Too wide for Neptune's hips ; how 
 chances mock. 
 
 And changes fiU the cup of altera- 
 tion 
 
 With divers liquors ! " 
 2 King Henry IV., iii. 1 (1600). 
 
382 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 782 
 
 EXAMPLES OF MISEKT IN OTHEKS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " When we our betters see bearing 
 
 our woes, 
 We scarcely think our miseries our 
 
 foes. 
 Who alone suffers, sufifers most i' 
 
 the mind. 
 Leaving free things and happy 
 
 shows behind; 
 But then the mind much sufferance 
 
 doth o'erskip, 
 When grief hath mates and bearing 
 
 fellowship. 
 How light and portable my pain 
 
 seems now, 
 When that which makes me bend 
 
 makes the king bow." 
 
 King Lear, iii. 6 (1608). 
 " It easeth some, though none it 
 
 ever cur'd, 
 To think their dolor others have 
 
 endur'd." 
 
 Lucrece (1594). 
 " Comfort me, boy ; what great 
 
 men have been in love 1 " 
 Love's Labor 's Lost, i. 2 (1598). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Amongst consolations it is not 
 the least to represent to a man's 
 self like examples of calamity in 
 others. For examples give a 
 quicker impression than argu- 
 ments ; and besides, they certify 
 to U6 that which the Scripture 
 also tendereth for satisfaction, that 
 no new thing is happened unto us. 
 This they do the better, by how 
 much the examples are liker in 
 circumstances to our own case; 
 and more especially if they fall 
 upon persons that are greater and 
 worthier than ourselves. For as it 
 savoreth of vanity to match our- 
 selves highly in our own conceit, 
 so on the other side it is a good 
 sound conclusion that if our betters 
 have sustained the like events, we 
 have the less cause to be grieved." 
 
 — Letter to Bishop Andrews (1622). 
 " This even becomes pleasant in 
 
 comparison with another's grief." 
 
 — Promus (1594-96). 
 
 Mr. Euggles brings out the force of this extraordinary 
 parallelism by rearrangement in detail, thus: 
 
 " When we our betters see bearing 
 
 our woes, 
 We scarcely think our miseries our 
 
 foes." 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 " Who alone suffers, suffers most in 
 
 the mind. 
 Leaving free things and happy 
 
 shows behind. 
 
 "If our betters have sustained 
 the like events, we have the leas 
 cause to be grieved." — Bacon. 
 
 " Amongst consolations it is not 
 the least to represent to a man's 
 self like examples of calamity in 
 others." — Ibid. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 3^3 
 
 But then the mind much suffeiance 
 
 doth o'erskip 
 When grief hath mates and bearing 
 fellowship." 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 " How light and portable my pain 
 
 seems now, 
 When that which makes me bend 
 makes the king bow." 
 
 Ibid. 
 "Re childed, as I father'd." 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 "More especially if they fall 
 upon persons that are greater and 
 worthier than ourselves." — Bacon. 
 
 " This they do the better, by how 
 much the examples are liker in 
 circumstance to our own." — Ibid. 
 
 The Plays of Shakespeare, founded on Literary Forms, pages SS7, 228. 
 
 783 
 
 EEPKOTTNG A SCOENEK 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " He that instructs a scomer 
 gets to himself shame." — Ad- 
 vancement of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " He that a fool doth very wisely hit 
 Doth very foolishly, although he 
 
 smart, 
 Not to seem senseless of the bob 
 
 [jeer]." 
 As You Like It, ii. 7 (1623). 
 
 In the second edition of the ' Advancement ' (1623), Bacon 
 enlarges further on this singular subject, thus : 
 
 "When a man informs and instructs a scorner, in the first place 
 he loses his time ; secondly, the attempt is laughed at by others as 
 a vain thing and labor misapplied ; and lastly, the scorner despises 
 the knowledge which he has received." 
 
 784 
 
 POVEETT IN WEALTH 
 
 « Having all, so wanteth in his " Wealth made me poor." — 
 store, Promtw (1594-96). 
 
 That, cloy'd with much, he pineth 
 stm for more." 
 
 Lucrece (1594). 
 
384 BACON JND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 785 
 
 SOUTH WIND BRINGING EAIN 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 "Like foggy south, puffing with 
 wind and rain." 
 As You Like It, iii. 5 (1623). 
 " Like the south, 
 Borne with black vapor." 
 
 S King Henry IV., ii. 4 (1600). 
 " Turning hia face to the dew- 
 dropping south." 
 Romeo and Juliet, i. 4 (1597). 
 "From the spongy south to this 
 part of the west.'' 
 
 Cynibeline, iv. 2 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 "The south wind with us is 
 rainy ; the north wind clear. The 
 former collects and nurtures clouds ; 
 the latter breaks and dissipates 
 them. Poets, therefore, in their 
 descriptions of the deluge repre- 
 sent the north wind as at that time 
 imprisoned, and the south wind let 
 loose with full powers." — Historia 
 Ventorum (1622). 
 
 Another view of the south wind is presented in our next. 
 
 786 
 
 SOUTH WIND PESTILENTIAL 
 
 "All the contagion of the south 
 
 wind light on you, 
 You shames of Rome ! You herd of 
 
 — Boils and plagues 
 Plaster you o'er ; that you may be 
 
 abhorr'd 
 Further than seen, and one infect 
 
 another 
 Against the wind a mile ! " 
 
 Coriolanus, i. 4 (1623). 
 " The south-fog rot him ! " 
 
 Cymheline, ii. 3 (1623). 
 
 " In the south wind the breath 
 of man is more oflfeusive, the appe- 
 tite of animals is more depressed, 
 pestilential diseases are more fre- 
 quent, catarrhs common, and men 
 are more dull and heavy." — Ihid. 
 
 787 
 
 POMPET'S war AGAINST PIRATES 
 
 " Pompey. I must 
 
 Rid all the sea of pirates." 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, ii. 6 
 (1623). 
 
 " The Piratical War which was 
 achieved by Pompey the Great was 
 his truest and greatest glory." — 
 An Advertisement touching an Holy 
 War (1622). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 385 
 
 788 
 
 SILENT LETTERS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " I abhor sucli fanatical phan- 
 tasms, such insociable and point- 
 device companions ; such rackers 
 of orthography, as to speak dout, 
 fine, when he should say doubt; 
 det, when he should pronounce 
 debt, — d, e, b, t, not d, e, t ; he clep- 
 eth a calf, caulf; half, haulf; 
 neighbour, vacatur nehour ; neigh, 
 abbreviated ne. This is abhomi- 
 nable (which he would call abomi- 
 nable), it insinuateth me of insanie: 
 ne intelligis, dominef to make 
 frantic, lunatic." — Lovers Labor 's 
 Lost, Y. 1 (1598). 
 
 From Bacon 
 "What! when a letter is de- 
 frauded of its rightful sound ? " — 
 Promus (1594-96). 
 
 789 
 
 ULTSSES 
 
 " Deceive more slyly than Ulysses 
 
 could." 
 
 3 King Henry VI., m. 2 (1623). 
 
 " As Ulysses and stout Diomede, 
 
 With sleight and manhood stole to 
 
 Ehesus' tents." 
 
 Ibid., iv. 2 (1623). 
 " The mild glance that sly Ulysses 
 lent." 
 
 Lucrece (1595). 
 "That same dog-fox, Ulysses." 
 TroUus and Cressida, v. 4 
 (1609). 
 
 "Ulysses, deceitful in speech." 
 -Ibid. 
 
 " Trust none ; 
 
 For oaths are straws, men's faiths 
 are wafer-cakes." 
 King Henry V., ii. 3 (1600). 
 25 
 
 790 
 
 FAITH 
 
 " There is no sound faith any- 
 where." — Ibid. 
 
386 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 791 
 
 LOVED AFTEK DEATH 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " For so it falls out, 
 That what we have we prize not to 
 
 the worth, 
 Whiles we enjoy it ; but being 
 
 lack'd and lost, 
 Why, then we rack the value ; then 
 
 we find 
 The virtue that possession would 
 
 not show us. 
 Whiles it was ours." 
 
 Much Ado, iv. 1 (1600). 
 "I shall be lov'd when I am 
 lack'd." 
 
 Coriolanus, iv. 1 (1623). 
 " She 's good, being gone.'' 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, i. 2 
 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 "When he ia dead, he will be 
 loved." — Promts (1594-96). 
 
 " Suum cuique is ( 
 justice." 
 Titus Andronicus, i. 2 (1600), 
 
 792 
 SUTJM CTHQUE 
 Roman " Suum cuique " [To every man 
 
 his own]. — Ibid. 
 
 793 
 GALEN AND PAEACELSTJS 
 
 ' So I say — both of Galen and 
 Paracelsus." 
 
 All 's Well, ii. 3 (1623). 
 
 " Galen's compositions and Para- 
 celsus' separations." — Ibid. 
 
 794 
 
 bush while 
 another catches the bird." — Ibid. 
 
 BEATING THE BUSH FOE A BIED 
 
 " The flat transgression of a " To beat the 
 schoolboy, who, being overjoy'd 
 with finding a bird's nest, shows it 
 his companion, and he steals it." — 
 MiKh Ado about Nothing, ii. 1 
 (1600). 
 
PARALLELISMS 387 
 
 795 
 
 THE CAT IN THE ADAGE 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " Live a coward in thine own " The cat would eat fish, but she 
 esteem, will not wet her foot." — Promus 
 
 Letting ' I dare not ' wait upon ' I (1 594-96). 
 
 would,' 
 Like the poor cat in the adage." 
 
 Macbeth, i. 7 (1623). 
 
 This is a French proverb — Ze chat aime lepoisson, mais 
 il n'aime pas a mouiller lapatte — the cat loveth fish, but she 
 loveth not to wet her paw. It appeared in an English collec- 
 tion of proverbs for the first time, so far as we know, in 1629, 
 or six years after the publication of ' Macbeth.' Bacon had 
 lived in France. 
 
 796 
 
 WILL AND WISH 
 
 " So the maid that stood in the " He had rather have his will 
 way for my wish shall show me than his wish." — Ibid. 
 the way to my will." — King 
 Henry V., v. 2 (1623). 
 
 797 
 
 QUESTION IN CHEAPSIDE 
 
 " What lack you ? " " They have a better question in 
 
 King John, iv. 1 (1623). Cheapside, ' What lack you ' ? " — 
 Ibid. 
 
 798 
 
 POETEY FEIGNING 
 
 "The truest poetry is the most " Poets invent much." — Ibid. 
 feigning." 
 As You Like It, iii. 3 (1623). 
 
 799 
 
 LOAN 
 
 " Loan oft loses both itself and " He who loans to a friend loses 
 friend." double." — Ibid. 
 
 Hamlet, i. 3 (1604). 
 
j88 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 800 
 
 THE MAGISTRATE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Lear. See how yond justice 
 rails upon yond thief. Hark, in 
 thine ear ; change places, and, han- 
 dy-dandy, which is the justice, 
 ivhich is the thief? — Thou hast 
 seen a farmer's dog bark at a 
 beggar ? 
 
 Gloucester. Ay, sir. 
 Lear. And the creature run 
 from the cur ? There thou might' st 
 behold the great image of authority ; 
 a dog's obey'd in office." — King 
 Lear, iv. 6 (1608). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " The magistrate determines the 
 lan." — Promus (1594-96). 
 
 801 
 
 REPUTATION DEPENDENT ON RANK 
 
 " That in a captain's but a choleric 
 
 word 
 Which in the soldier is flat blas- 
 phemy." 
 Measure for Measure, ii. 2 (1623). 
 "Faults that are rich are fair." 
 
 Timon of Athens, i. 2 (1623). 
 " ! what a world of vile ill- 
 
 favor'd faults 
 Looks handsome in three hundred 
 
 pounds a year ! " 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, ui. 4 
 
 (1602). 
 " Let the candied tongue lick 
 
 absurd pomp, 
 And crook the pregnant hinges of 
 
 the knee, 
 Where thrift may follow fawning." 
 Hamlet, iii. 2 (1604). 
 " The learned pate 
 Ducks to the golden fool." 
 
 Timon of Athens, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
 "We think that a rich man is 
 always right." —Promus (1594-96). 
 
 " The fortunate have even three 
 months' children." — Ibid. 
 
PARALLELISMS 389 
 
 802 
 IN THE DOORWAY 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Achilles stands i' th' entrance of " Beautiful in the doorway." — 
 his tent." Promus (1594-96). 
 
 Troilus and Cressida,m. 3 (1609). 
 " They pass'd by me, 
 As misers do by beggars, neither 
 
 gave to me 
 Good word nor look. What ! are 
 my deeds forgot ? " 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 It was a saying among the Greeks that a man's popularity 
 is measured by the degree of deference shown to him by 
 passers-by, while he is standing in his doorway. Bacon's 
 entry in the Promus to this effect is quoted from Aristopha- 
 nes. Accordingly in the play Ulysses advises the Greeks 
 to pass Achilles, standing iu the entrance of his tent, with 
 averted looks, in order to show the sulking warrior his loss 
 of popularity in the army. 
 
 803 
 
 THE SUN AND TAPERS 
 
 " With taper light " To help the sun with lanterns." 
 
 To seek the beauteous eye of heaven — Promus (1594r-96). 
 
 to garnish." " This work, shining in itseK, 
 
 King John, iv. 2 (1623). needs no taper." — Amendment of 
 the Laws (1616). 
 
 804 
 BULL-BBAEING MILO 
 " Por thy vigor, " He who shall have carried the 
 
 Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield calf will carry the bull." — Promus 
 To sinewy Ajax." (1594-96). 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, ii. 3 (1609). 
 
 Both authors refer to the athlete Milo, who, having made 
 a practice of carrying a calf while it was young, continued 
 to do so after it had become full grown. 
 
390 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 805 
 IGNORANCE 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " 0, thou monater ignorance! "Better unborn than untaught." 
 
 How cleform'd dost thou look 1 " — Promus (1594-96). 
 
 Love's Labor's Lost, iv. 2 (1598). 
 " There is no darkness but igno- 
 rance." 
 
 Twelfth Night, iv. 2 (1623). 
 
 " The common curse of mankind, 
 
 folly and ignorance." 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, ii. 3 (1609). 
 
 " Ignorance is the curse of God." 
 
 Z King Henry VI., iv. 7 (1623). 
 
 806 
 
 NO CONSULTATION BEFORE ALTARS 
 
 " Cease, cease these jars, and rest " There should be no consulta- 
 
 your minds in peace ! tion before the altar." — Ibid. 
 
 Let 's to the altar." 
 
 1 Henry VI., i. 1 (1623). 
 
 807 
 
 MEAN PEOPLE ATTEMPTING GREAT THINGS 
 " What may this mean, "We, mean people, attempt 
 
 That we . . . fools of nature, great things." — I'bid. 
 
 So horridly to shake our disposition 
 With thoughts beyond the reaches 
 of our souls ? " 
 
 Hamlet, i. 4 (1603). 
 " I am very proud, revengeful, 
 ambitious, with more offences at 
 my beck than I have thoughts to 
 put them in, imagination to give 
 them shape, or time to act them 
 in. What should such fellows as 
 I do, crawling between heaven and 
 eaxthi " — Ibid., iii. 1. 
 
 808 
 SUFFERANCE GIVING EASE 
 " Of sufferance comes ease." " Of sufferance cometh ease." — 
 
 1 King Henry IV., v. 4 (1600). Ibid. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 39^ 
 
 809 
 KEPENTANCE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " ! my offence is rank, it smells 
 
 to heaven ; 
 It hath the primal curse upon 't, 
 A brother's murder 1 — Pray can I 
 
 not, 
 Though inclination be as sharp as 
 
 will; 
 My stronger guilt defeats my strong 
 
 intent ; 
 And, like a man to double business 
 
 bound, 
 I stand in pause where I shall first 
 
 begin, 
 And both neglect. What if this 
 
 cursed hand 
 Were thicker than itself with broth- 
 er's blood, 
 Is there not rain enough in the 
 
 sweet heavens 
 To wash it white as snow 1 Whereto 
 
 serves mercy. 
 But to confront the visage of of- 
 fence t 
 And what 's in prayer, but this two- 
 fold force, — 
 To be forestalled, ere we come to 
 
 fall, 
 Or pardon'd, being down ? Then, 
 
 I '11 look up ; 
 My fault is past. But, 0! what 
 
 form of prayer 
 Can serve my turn 7 Forgive me 
 
 my foul murder ? — 
 That cannot be; since I am still 
 
 possess'd 
 Of those effects for which I did the 
 
 murder. 
 My crown, mine own ambition, and 
 
 my queen. 
 
 From Bacon 
 "He that has the principles of 
 virtue deeply seated in his nature 
 would repent [having committed a 
 crime], but he knows not how." — 
 Promus (1594-96). 
 
39^ 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 What then ? what rests ? 
 Try what repentance can 1 what 
 
 can it not ? 
 Yet what can it, when one cannot 
 repent ? " 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 3 (1604). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Cast aside bombast and words 
 a foot-and-a-half long." — Promus 
 (1594-96). 
 
 810 
 BOMBASTIC WORDS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " ! they have lived long on the 
 alms-basket of words. I marvel 
 thy master hath not eaten thee for 
 a word ; for thou art not so long by 
 the head as honorificalnlitudinitati- 
 hus." 1 — Love's Labor 's Lost, v. 1 
 (1598). 
 
 ' ' Rosalind. Answer me in one 
 word. 
 
 Celia. You must borrow me 
 Gargantua's mouth first; 'tis a 
 word too great for any mouth of 
 this age's size." — As You Like It, 
 iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 811 
 FOREIGN "WARS 
 
 " Be it thy course to busy giddy " Have recourse to a foreign war 
 
 minds 
 With foreign quarrels." 
 2 King Henry IV., iv. 5 (1600). 
 
 to appease parties at home." — 
 lUd. 
 
 812 
 GIVE WORDS TO LOSERS 
 
 ' Losers wiU have leave " Always let losers have their 
 
 To ease their stomachs with their 
 bitter tongues." 
 Titus Andronicus, iii. 1 (1600). 
 
 words." — Ibid. 
 
 1 For the history of this famous word, see supra, page 127 et seq. 
 
PARALLELISMS 2^3 
 
 813 
 THINGS UNSEEN DO NOT AFFECT US 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " There may be in the cup " That the eye seeth not, the 
 A spider steep'd, and one may heart rueth not." — Promus (1594- 
 
 drink, depart, 96). 
 
 And yet partake no venom, for his 
 
 knowledge 
 Is not infected ; but if one present 
 The abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, 
 
 make known 
 How he hath drunk, he cracks his 
 
 gorge, his sides, 
 With violent hefts." 
 
 Winter's Tale, ii. 1 (1623). 
 
 814 
 PRUDENCE 
 
 "Hold your tongue " The prudent man conceals his 
 Good prudence." knowledge." — Ibid. 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, iii. 5 (1597). 
 " 'T is wisdom to conceal our mean- 
 ing." 
 S King Henry VI., iv. 7 (1623). 
 
 815 
 THINGS DONE 
 
 ♦ ' What 's done cannot be undone." " Things done cannot be undone." 
 Macbeth, v. 1 (1623). —Ibid. 
 
 816 
 
 EAR AND VOICE 
 
 " Give every man thine ear, but " Let every man be swift to hear, 
 few thy voice." slow to speak." — Ibid. 
 
 Hamlet, i. 3 (1604). 
 
 817 
 
 FOEGETTIITG 
 
 "Thou canst not teach me to "The art of forgetting." — Ibid. 
 forget." 
 Romeo and Juliet, 1. 2 (1599). 
 
394 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 818 
 
 LEISURE 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon, 
 
 " We bring forth weeds, " Leisure breeds evil thoughts." 
 When our quick minds lie still." — Promus (1594-96). 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, i. 2 
 (1623). 
 
 819 
 A box's love 
 
 " He 's mad that trusts in a boy's " A boy's love doth not endure." 
 love." — Ibid. 
 
 King Lear, iii. 6 (1608). 
 
 820 
 LOTE, A FOOL 
 
 " So true a fool is love." " A lover always commits some 
 
 Sonnet 57 (1609). foUy." — Ibid. 
 
 821 
 LOOKING AT A KING 
 
 " Every cat and dog, " A cat may look on a king." 
 And little mouse, every unworthy — Ibid. 
 
 thing, 
 Live here in heaven, and may look 
 on her." 
 Romeo and Juliet, iii. 3 (1597). 
 
 VALOE 
 
 " That 's a valiant flea that dare " He had need be a wily mouse 
 
 eat his breakfast on the lip of a should breed in a cat's ear." — 
 
 lion." — Kinff Henry V., iii. 7 Ibid. 
 (1623). 
 
 823 
 FRIENDS TO BEASTS 
 
 "Nature teaches beasts to know " The cat knows whose lips she 
 
 their friends." licks." — Ibid. 
 
 Coriolanus, ii. 1 (1623). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 395 
 
 From Bacon 
 " When one good follows 
 upon another, a man loses his 
 balance." —Promu* (1594-96). 
 
 824 
 JOYS, OVERTHROWING 
 From Shake-speare 
 " I am giddy ; expectation whirls 
 
 me round. 
 The imaginary relish is so sweet 
 That it enchants my sense, what 
 
 will it be. 
 When that the watery palate tastes 
 
 indeed 
 Love's thrice-reputed nectar ? 
 
 Death, I fear me, 
 Swoimding destruction; or some 
 
 joy too fine, 
 Too-subtle potent, and too sharp 
 in sweetness, 
 
 of my ruder 
 
 For the capacity 
 
 powers. 
 I fear it much ; and I do fear 
 
 besides, 
 That I shall lose distinction in my 
 
 joys-" 
 Troilus and Cressida, iiL 2 
 (1609). 
 
 HAPPIEST 
 
 825 
 LIFE IN 
 
 IGNORANCE 
 
 " We were, fair queen, 
 
 Two lads, that thought there was 
 no more behind. 
 
 But such a day to-morrow as to- 
 day. 
 
 And to be boy eternal. . . . 
 
 We were a twin'd lambs, that did 
 frisk i' the sun, 
 
 And bleat the one at the other ; 
 what we chang'd 
 
 Was innocence for innocence. We 
 knew not 
 
 The doctrine of ill-doing, nor 
 dream'd 
 
 That any did." 
 
 Winter's Tale, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 " The happiest life is in knowing 
 nothing." — Ibid. 
 
396 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 826 
 SORROWS, SCHOOLMASTERS 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " To wilful men, " Our sorrows are our schooL 
 The injuries that they themselves masters." — Promus (1594-96). 
 
 procure 
 Must be their schoolmasters." 
 
 King Lear, ii. 4 (1608). 
 
 " Grive ' sorrow leave awhile to 
 tutor me." 
 King Richard II., iv. 1 (1608). 
 
 827 
 
 THE HORSE AND THE GRASS 
 
 "Ay, sir, but while the grass "While the grass grows, the 
 
 grows — the proverb is something horse starveth." — Ibid. 
 musty.'' — Hamlet, iii. 2 (1604) 
 
 dm 
 
 FIGHTING SHADOWS 
 
 " He will fence with his own shad- "To fight with a shadow." — 
 ow." Ibid. 
 
 Merchant of Venice, i. 2 (1600). 
 
 829 
 PROTIDENCE NOISELESS 
 
 " The inaudible and noiseless foot " The gods have woolen feet." 
 of time." — Ibid. 
 
 AU 's Well, V. 3 (1623). 
 
 830 
 
 WASTEFUL EXCESS 
 
 "What fool hath added water to "To dig a well by the river's 
 the sea ? " side." — Ibid. 
 
 Titus Andronicus, iii. 1 (1600). 
 
 831 
 DILUCULO SUEGBBE 
 " Diluculo surgere, thou know'st." " Dilucnlo surgere saluberrimum 
 
 Twelfth Night, ii. 8 (1623). est." — /M. 
 
PARALLELISMS 397 
 
 832 
 
 TRIENDSHIP BETWEEN SUPEEIOES AND INFEEIOES 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Timon. Had I a steward " There is little friendship in 
 
 So true, so just, and now so com- the world, and least of all between 
 
 fortable ? equals, which was wont to be mag- 
 
 It almost turns my dangerous nifled. That that is, is between 
 
 nature mild. superior and inferior, whose for- 
 
 Let me behold thy face. Surely, tunes may comprehend the one 
 
 this man the other." — Essay of Followers 
 
 "Was born of woman ... I do and Friends (1597-98). 
 
 proclaim 
 One honest man — mistake me not, 
 
 but one. 
 No more, I pray, and he 's a stew- 
 ard." 
 
 Timon of Athens, iv. 3 (1623). 
 
 When Timon lost his wealth all his friends forsook him, 
 with one exception. Shake-speare emphasizes the character 
 of this exception — "and he's a steward" — evidently in 
 view of the theory enunciated by Bacon, that enduring 
 friendships can exist only between superiors and inferiors. 
 
 It is possible that Bacon may have had in mind the extraor- 
 dinary fidehty of his own steward. Sir Thomas Meautys, 
 "one of the noblest of the noble order of loyal servants — 
 loyal to the fuU extent of his means and abilities — in 
 adversity as in prosperity, in disgrace as in honor — loyal 
 through life and beyond it — superstitis cultor, defundi ad- 
 mirator — the creditor who never ceased to be a friend." — 
 Spedding's Life and Letters of Francis Bacon, vii. 323. 
 
 833 
 
 STUMBLING AT THE THEESHOLD 
 
 " Many men that stumble at the " To stumble at the threshold." 
 
 threshold — Promus (1594-96). 
 
 Are well foretold that danger lurks 
 within." 
 3 King Henry VI., iv. 7 (1623). 
 
398 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 834 
 
 ALL 'S WELL 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " All 's well that ends well." " All 's well that ends well." — 
 
 AU's Well that Ends Well (1623). Promus (1594-96). 
 
 Bacon's Promus entry, quoted above, lends no support to 
 the theory that the play, mentioned by Meres as ' Love's 
 Labor's Won,' was identical with 'All's Well that Ends 
 Well.' 
 
 835 
 OLD AGE, ODIOUS 
 "Age, I do abhor thee." " Thou, odious old age." — Ibid. 
 
 Passionate Pilgrim (1599). 
 
 836 
 
 BITING THE BRIDLE 
 
 "The iron bit he crushes 'tween " To bite the bridle." — Ibid. 
 
 his teeth. 
 Controlling what he was controlled 
 
 with." 
 
 Venus and Adonis (1593). 
 
 837 
 
 THOUGHT IS FREE 
 
 " Thought is free." " Thought is free." — Ibid. 
 
 The Tempest, iii. 2 (1623). 
 Twelfth Night, i. 3 (1623). 
 " Thoughts are no subjects." 
 Measure for Measure,^. 1 (1623). 
 
 838 
 
 JESTS LIE IN THE EAR 
 
 " A jest's prosperity lies in the ear " A man must tell you tales and 
 
 Of him that hears it, never in the find you ears." — Ibid. 
 
 tongue 
 Of him that makes it." 
 
 Love's Labor 'sLost, v. 2 (1598). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 399 
 
 839 
 god's blessing and the warm sun 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " Thou out of heaven's benediction " Out of God's blessing into the 
 com'st to the warm sun." warm sun." — Promus (1594-96). 
 
 King Lear, ii. 2 (1608). 
 
 840 
 INSTRUCTION THROUGH THE SENSES 
 
 " To split the ears of the igno- 
 rant, who for the most part are 
 capable of nothing but inexpli- 
 cable dumb-shows and noise." 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 2 (1603). 
 
 " Whilst the minds of men con- 
 tinued rude and without practice 
 in matters of subtlety and specu- 
 lation, and in a manner incapable 
 of receiving such things as do not 
 directly fall under and strike the 
 senses." — Preface to the Wisdom 
 of the Ancients (1609). 
 
 The same class of people is referred to in these two 
 passages, persons to whom truth must be taught through 
 the senses (i. e. sight and hearing) rather than through 
 abstractions and generalities of thought. 
 
 841 
 
 SECRET STUDIES 
 
 These being all my " Men, eminent in virtue, often 
 
 " Prospero 
 
 study. 
 The government I cast upon my 
 
 brother, 
 And to my state grew stranger, 
 
 being transported 
 And rapt in secret studies." 
 
 Tempest, i. 2 (1623). 
 
 abandon their fortunes willingly, 
 that they may have leisure for 
 higher pursuits." — A dvancement 
 of Learning (1603-5). 
 
 Mr. James EusseU Lowell asks, " In Prospero shall we not 
 recognize the artist himself ? " Without doubt, as we have 
 already shown (' Francis Bacon our Shake-speare,' 52) ; but 
 what " secret studies " can we attribute to the reputed poet 
 from Stratford ? On the other hand, Bacon declared that in 
 
400 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Ms studies he was following the guidance of none, nor even 
 communicating his thoughts "to a single individual." — 
 Novum Organum. 
 
 842 
 
 WOMAN, ILL OE WELL AT HEE OPTION 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " I am quickly ill and well, " A woman is ill when she 
 
 So Anthony loves.'' ' pleases, and when she pleases, she 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, i. 2 is well." — Promus (1594-96). 
 (1623). 
 
 843 
 QUAEEELS 
 " In the managing of quarrels " For quarrels they are with care 
 you may say he is wise ; for either and discretion to be avoided." — 
 he avoids them with great discre- Essay of Travel (1625). 
 tion, or undertakes them with a 
 most Christian-like care." — Much 
 Ado, ii. 3 (1600). 
 " Beware of entrance to a quarrel." 
 Hamlet, i. 3 (1603). 
 
 844 
 
 UNDEE THE AEM-PITS 
 
 "Mercutio. Why the devil came "Things done under the arm- 
 
 you between us ? pits." — Promus (1594-96). 
 
 I was hurt under your arm." 
 Romeo and Juliet, iii. 1 (1597). 
 " Bomeo he cries aloud, 
 'Hold, friends ! friends, part! 'and, 
 
 swifter than his tongue, 
 His agile arm beats down their 
 
 fatal points. 
 And 'twixt them rushes; under- 
 neath whose arm 
 An envious thrust from Tybalt hit 
 
 the life 
 Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt 
 fled." Ibid. 
 
 Bacon quotes from Erasmus an old proverb to the effect 
 that things done under the arm or arm-pits are odious. This 
 
PARALLELISMS 401 
 
 was in 1594-96. In 1597 tlie tragedy of 'Eomeo and 
 Juliet ' makes its appearance, with a conspicuous instance 
 of a deed of this kiad made use of in the plot. Mercutio 
 and Tybalt, members respectively of the rival houses of 
 Montague and Capulet, are engaged in a street brawl. 
 Eomeo rushes in between them, strikes down their swords 
 and orders them to desist. Mercutio, being Eomeo's friend, 
 evidently complies at once, but Tybalt, full of the ancient 
 rancor and partly hidden by Eomeo's body from view, takes 
 advantage of the situation and with a sudden and imexpected 
 thrust under Eomeo's arm kills his antagonist. The drama- 
 tist styles this act as " envious " or shameful, in exact 
 accordance vrith the proverb to which he twice refers. 
 
 MS 
 FRIEND, A MIEBOB 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Tou go not till I set up a glass " There is no better glass than 
 
 Where you may see the inmost an old friend." — Promus (1594- 
 part of you." 96). 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 4 (1604). 
 
 846 
 5 NO CONFIDENCE IN PBINCES 
 
 " O, how wretched " Put no confidence in princes." 
 Is that poor man that hangs on — IMd. 
 princes' favors ! " 
 King Henry VIII., iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 847 
 
 STIR NO EMBEBS 
 
 "Your speech is passion; "Stir no evil that is well settled." 
 But, pray you, stir no embers up." — Ibid. 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, ii. 2 
 
 (1623). 
 
 848 
 
 ntNOCENOB 
 
 « The trust I have is in mine inno- " Innocence is its own defence." 
 cence." — I^^- 
 
 S King Henry VI., iv. 4 (1623). 
 
 26 
 
402 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 849 
 CHARACTER OF KING HBNET VI 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 " When thou com'st to kneel at " King Henry VI., that innocent 
 
 Henry'3 feet, prince." — History of Henry VII. 
 
 Thou may'st bereave him of his (1621). 
 wits." 
 1 King Henry VI., v. 3 (1623). 
 
 The term " innocent," here applied to Henry VI., means 
 imbecile or half-witted. 
 
 850 
 
 SWEETS AND SOUBS 
 
 " But sweetest things turn sourest 
 
 by their deeds ; 
 Lilies that fester smell far worse 
 than weeds." 
 
 Sonnet 94 (1609). 
 " The sweets we wish for turn to 
 loathed sours." 
 
 Lucrece (1594). 
 
 " Things, sweet to taste, prove in 
 
 digestion sour." 
 
 King Richard II., i. 3 (1597). 
 
 " This intrusion shall, 
 
 Now seeming sweet, convert to 
 
 bitter gall." 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, i. 5 (1597). 
 
 " The food that to him now is as 
 
 luscious as locusts shall be to him 
 
 shortly as bitter as coloquintida." • 
 
 — Othello, i. 3 (1622). 
 
 " The vinegar of sweet wine." — 
 Promus (1594-96). 
 
 " Beware of the vinegar of sweet 
 wine." — Ibid. 
 
 " The best things are in their 
 corruption the worst; the sweetest 
 wine makes the sharpest vinegar." 
 — Charge against Somerset (1616). 
 
 851 
 FEOST BURNS 
 
 "Frost itself as actively doth "Frost bums." — Promus (I59i- 
 burn." 96). 
 
 Hamlet, iii. 4 (1604). 
 
 ^ " Some apothecaries, upon stamping of colonquintida, have been put into 
 I great scouring by the vapor only." — Bacon's Natural History. 
 
PARALLELISMS 403 
 
 852 
 
 TOTJTHFDL LOVE 
 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 " It cannot be that Desdemona " Love is nourished on young 
 should long continue her love to flesh." — PromiM (1594-96). 
 the Moor, . . . nor he his to her ; 
 . . . she must change for youth." 
 — Othello, i. 3 (1622). 
 
 853 
 APPETITE 
 
 " As if increase of appetite had " Appetite comes by eating." — 
 grown by what it fed on.'' Ihid. 
 
 Hamlet, i. 2 (1604). 
 
 854 
 
 FEAST AND FEAT 
 
 " The latter end of a fray and the " Better coming to the ending 
 beginning of a feast." of a feast than to the beginning of 
 
 1 King Henry IV., iv. 2 (1598). a fray." — IHd. 
 
 855 
 TEUE TO one's SELF 
 
 " To thine own self be true." " I prefer nothing but that they 
 
 Hamlet, i. 3 (1603). be true to themselves, and I true 
 " Whate'er it be, be thou still like to myself." — Ibid. 
 thyself." 
 3 King Henry VI., iv. 7 (1623). 
 "This rich praise, that you alone 
 are you." 
 
 ' Sonnet 84 (1609). 
 " While I remain above the ground, 
 
 you shall 
 Hear from me still ; and never of 
 
 me aught 
 But what is like me formerly." 
 
 Coriolanus, iv. 1 (1623). 
 
 " I am Anthony yet." 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra, m. 2 (1623). 
 
 " Make me but like my thoughts." 
 
 All's TfeZZ, iii. 1 (1623). 
 
404 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 856 
 
 SPEAKING TREASON BEHIND CLOSED DOORS 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Aumerle. Then give me leave 
 
 that I may turn the key. 
 That no man enter till my tale be 
 
 done. 
 Bolinghroke. Have thy desire. 
 
 [^Aumerh locks the door. 
 York [within]. My liege, beware ! 
 
 look to thyself ! 
 Thou hast a traitor in thy presence 
 
 there." 
 
 King Richard II., v. 3 (1597). 
 "O villainy! Ho! let the door be 
 
 lock'd ! 
 Treachery ! seek it out." 
 
 Hamlet, v. 2 (1604). 
 
 IVom Bacon 
 
 " Shut the door, for I mean to 
 speak treason." — Promus (1594- 
 96). 
 
 857 
 
 STUMBLING IN HASTE 
 
 "Stumble with haste." "He stumbles who makes too 
 
 Love's Labor 's Lost, ii. 1 (1598). ! much haste." — Ibid. 
 " They stumble that run fast." 
 Romeo and Juliet, ii. 3 (1599). 
 
 858 
 C.ffi)SAE AND HIS FORTUNE 
 
 " Now am I like that proud insult- " As Csesar said to the pilot of 
 
 ing ship 
 
 Which Csesar and his fortune bare 
 at once." 
 
 1 Henry VI., i. 2 (1623). 
 
 the ship, to strengthen his courage, 
 'you bear Caesar and his for- 
 tune.' " — Be Augmentis (1622). 
 
 859 
 NEIGHBORS 
 
 " Our bad neighbor makes us early " He who has a good neighbor 
 
 stirrers." 
 
 King Henry V., iv. 1 (1623). 
 
 has a good morning." — Promus 
 (1594-96). 
 
PARALLELISMS 405 
 
 860 
 
 FUNERAL BELL 
 
 From Skdke-speare From Bacon 
 
 " \A hell rings. " The pope is decrepit, and the 
 
 I go, and it is done ; the hell in- hell goeth for him." — Essay of 
 
 vitea me. Beaih (posthumous). 
 
 Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a 
 
 kneU 
 That summons thee to heaven, or 
 to heU." 
 
 Macbeth, ii. 1 (1623). 
 
 861 
 
 SLEEPme SPEECH 
 
 " Speed. She doth talk in her " If you wUl give me leave to 
 
 sleep. awake you, when I think your 
 
 Launce. It 's no matter for that, discourses do hut sleep, I will keep 
 
 so she sleep not in her talk." — watch." — An Advertisement touch- 
 
 The Two Gentlemen of Verona, ing an Holy War (1622). 
 
 iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 862 
 
 TURKISH TREATMENT OF WOMEN 
 
 " Wine loved I deeply ; dice " A people [Turks] that is with- 
 
 dearly ; and in woman out-paia- out natural affection, and, as the 
 
 moured the Turk." — King Lear, Scriptures saith, that regardeth not 
 
 iii. 4 (1608). the desires of women." — Ibid. 
 
 863 
 
 philosopher's stone and HOLT WARS 
 
 "Falstaff. It shall go hard, but " I was ever of opinion that the 
 I will make him a philosopher's Philosopher's Stone and an Holy 
 two stones to me." — S King Henry, War were but the rendez-vous of 
 IV., iii. 2 (1600). cracked brains, that wore their 
 
 feather in their head instead of 
 their hat." — Speech of Pollio. 
 Ibid. 
 
4o6 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 The above-given passage from Bacon is part of a fictitious 
 debate composed by him on the subject of a holy war. 
 Among the opinions expressed by the different speakers were 
 naturally some that were contrary to Bacon's own, while 
 others were in agreement with him. Pollio in a single sen- 
 tence gives one of each of these two kinds. He condemns 
 the theory of the Philosopher's stone, as Bacon does, and 
 accordingly we find that theory ridiculed in Shake-speare. 
 He also condemns all holy wars, but such condemnation has 
 no place in the dramas of Shake-speare, for Bacon, with some 
 qualifications, approved of them. 
 
 864 
 
 DRESS DISTINGUISHING RANK 
 
 From Shake-speare 
 
 " I think the king is but a man, 
 as I am ; the violet smells to him, 
 as it doth to me ; the element 
 shows to him, as it doth to me ; 
 all his senses have but human con- 
 ditions ; his ceremonies laid by, in 
 his nakedness he appears but a 
 man." — King Henry V., iv. 1 
 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " It was no mean apprehension 
 of Lucian, who says of Menip- 
 pus, that in his travels through 
 hell he knew not the kings of the 
 earth from other men ; . . . for- 
 getting how unclothedly they 
 came hither." — Essay of Death 
 (posthumous). 
 
 865 
 
 PLEBEIANS 
 
 " More of your conversation 
 would infect my brain, being the 
 herdsmen of the beastly Plebeians." 
 — Coriolanus, ii. 1 (1623). 
 
 " Now, to say that the king 
 cannot grant or erect any office de 
 novo, no man, I think, will be such 
 a plebeian (I mean both in science 
 and honor) as so to affirm." — De 
 Rege InconsuUo (1616). 
 
 The contempt for plebeians, shown in the play of ' Corio- 
 lanus,' is found in every utterance of Bacon pertaining to 
 them. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 407 
 
 866 
 
 COUNTIES PALATINE 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Nerissa. Then there is the 
 county Palatine. 
 
 Portia. In truth, I know it is a 
 sin to be a mocker ; but he I why, 
 he hath a horse better than the 
 Neapolitan's, a better bad habit of 
 frowning than the count Palatine." 
 — The Merchant of Venice, i. 2 
 (1600). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " If the king will erect a county 
 Palatine (which is a little model of 
 a monarchy subordinate), what a 
 number of o£5ces are incident to 
 the same ! " — De Rege Inconsulto 
 (1616). 
 
 There were originally three of these counties Palatine in 
 England, but they had been either extinguished or their un- 
 reasonable privileges abridged, before the time of Shake- 
 speare. The dramatist's familiarity with this peculiar and 
 recondite kind of jurisdiction, however, is indicated by his 
 play on the name given to the nobleman by the maid. 
 
 867 
 
 JACK CADE 
 
 " He that will teU me that the 
 king's right shall be tried between 
 J. S. and J. D., I wiU think him 
 alike of kin to Jack Cade or 
 Jack Straw."— J6id. 
 
 " Idem. I present your grace a 
 traitor's head. 
 
 The head of Cade, whom I in com- 
 bat slew. 
 
 King Henry. The head of Cade ? 
 Great God, how just art thou ! 
 
 I let me view his visage being 
 dead. 
 
 That, living, wrought me such ex- 
 ceeding trouble." 
 2 King Henry VI., v. 1 (1623). 
 
 John Cade was a reformer, and, among the many reformers 
 who have sacrificed their lives in the cause of the Eng- 
 
4o8 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 lish people against injustice and oppression of rulers, 
 especially entitled to honor. Perhaps no other man in 
 the history of the country has ever taken arms in opposi- 
 tion to government with claims so moderate and reasonable, 
 or prosecuted them in a manner so prudent, as he did. And 
 yet Bacon and Shake-speare alike lavished their powers of 
 ridicule and sarcasm upon his memory. 
 
 868 
 
 CRUSADES 
 
 From Shake-speare 
 " I '11 make a voyage to the Holy 
 
 Land, 
 To -wash this blood oflf from my 
 guilty hand." 
 
 King Richard II., v. 6 (1597). 
 " Therefore, friends, 
 As far as to the sepulchre of Christ, 
 (Whose soldier now, under whose 
 
 blessed cross 
 We are impressed and engag'd to 
 
 fight) 
 Forthwith a power of English shall 
 we levy." 
 1 King Henry IV., L 1 (1598). 
 
 From Bacon 
 " There is no such enterprise at 
 this day for secular greatness and 
 terrene honor as a war upon infi- 
 dels. . . . It is my opinion that a 
 war upon the Turk is more worthy 
 than upon any other gentiles, in- 
 fidels, or savages, that either have 
 been or are now, both in point of 
 religion and in point of honor." — 
 An Advertisement touching an Holy 
 War (1622). 
 
 869 
 
 LAW OF 
 "Suffolk. Please it your majesty, 
 
 this is the man 
 That doth accuse his master of high 
 treason. 
 Horner. I never said nor thought 
 any such matter. God is my wit- 
 ness, I am falsely accused by the 
 villain. 
 King Henry. Away with them to 
 
 prison ; and the day 
 Of combat shall be the last of next 
 month." 
 S King Henry VI., i. 3 (1594). 
 
 COMBAT 
 
 " There is as well a judgment 
 and recovery by war and arms, as 
 by law and course of justice. For 
 war is a tribunal-seat, wherein God 
 giveth the judgment, and the trial 
 is by battle or duel, as in the case 
 of private right." — Post-Nati 
 Speech (1608). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 409 
 
 "[STAey fight, and Peter strikes 
 down his master. 
 Homer. Hold, Peter, hold ! I con- 
 fess, I confess treason." 
 
 S King Henry VI., ii. 3. 
 
 Both authors approve the law of combat, or the settle- 
 ment of questions of private right between individuals in 
 the same manner as nations barbarously do still, by appeals 
 to force. 
 
 870 
 
 BLACK 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Coal-black is better than another 
 
 hue, 
 In that it scorns to bear another 
 
 hue; 
 For all the water in the ocean 
 Can never turn the swan's black 
 
 legs to white." 
 
 Titus Andronicus, iv. 2 (1600). 
 
 871 
 TO-MOKEOW 
 
 From Bacon 
 " Black will take no other hue." 
 Promus (1594-96). 
 
 " To-morrow, and to-morrow, and 
 
 to-morrow. 
 Creeps in this petty pace from day 
 
 to day, 
 To the last syllable of recorded 
 
 time." 
 
 Macbeth, v. 5 (1623). 
 
 " We ought to be creatures of 
 to-day, by reason of the shortness 
 of life, not of to-morrow ; but as he 
 says, seizing the present time; for 
 to-morrow will have its turn and 
 become to-day." — Mediiationes 
 Sacra (1597). 
 
 872 
 
 LIMITATION OF CAKE 
 
 "Care is no cure, but rather 
 
 corrosive, 
 For things that are not to be 
 remedied." 
 1 King Henry VI., iii. 3 (1623). 
 " Things past redress are now with 
 me past care." 
 King Richard II., ii. 3 (1597). 
 
 " We dwell on our cares longer 
 than is necessary for just delibera- 
 tion and decision. For which of 
 us is there who cares only so much 
 as is necessary that he may know 
 what to do, or know that he can do 
 nothing? and does not turn the 
 same things over and over in 
 
4IO 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 " What a plague means my niece, 
 to take the death of her brother 
 thus ? I am sure care 's an enemy 
 to life." — Twelfth, Night, i. 3 
 (1623). 
 " Past care is still past cure." 
 
 Love's Labor '« Lost, v. 2 (1598). 
 
 his mind, and hang uselessly in 
 the same circle of cogitations, till 
 he lose himself in them ? " — Med- 
 itationes Sacrm (1597). 
 
 873 
 
 MINOTATJK AND THE LABTKINTH 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " But, Suffolk, stay ; 
 Thou may'st not wander in that 
 
 labyrinth; 
 There Minotaurs and ugly trea- 
 sons lurk." 
 I King Henry VL, v. 3 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 "The unhappy and infamous 
 birth of the monster Minotaurus, 
 which devoured the ingenuous 
 youth, was owing to the wicked 
 industry and pernicious genius of 
 this man. Then to conceal the 
 first mischief he added another, 
 and for the security of the pest 
 devised and constructed the laby- 
 rinth, a work wicked in its end 
 and destination." — Wisdom of the 
 Ancients (1609). 
 
 874 
 
 GYPSIES 
 
 " That handkerchief 
 Did an Egyptian to my mother 
 
 give; 
 She was a charmer ; and could 
 
 almost read 
 The thoughts of people; she told 
 
 her, while she kept it, 
 'T would make her amiable, and 
 
 subdue my father 
 Entirely to her love ; but if she 
 
 lost it, 
 Or made a gift of it, my father's eye 
 Should hold her loathed, and his 
 
 spirits should hunt 
 After new fancies." 
 
 Othello, iii. 4 (1623). 
 
 "Where vagabonds be found 
 in the realm, calling themselves 
 Egyptians, it is felony." — A 
 Preparation for the Union of Laws 
 (1608). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 411 
 
 875 
 
 PUNISHMENTS OF MEN AND WOMEN FOR TREASON 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Bolingbroke. Madam, sit you 
 
 and fear not; whom we raise, 
 We will make fast within a hal- 
 
 low'd verge. 
 [Here they perform the ceremonies, 
 
 belonging, and make the circle. 
 Spirit. Adsum. 
 Margery Jourdain. Aamath ! 
 By the eternal God, whose name 
 
 and power 
 Thou tremblest at, answer that I 
 
 shall ask; 
 For tiU thou speak, thou shalt not 
 
 pass from hence. 
 Spirit. Ask what thou wilt. That 
 
 1 had said and done ! 
 Bolingbroke. First, of the King. 
 
 What shall of him become t 
 Spirit. The duke yet lives, that 
 
 Henry shall depose ; 
 But him outlive, and die a violent 
 
 death. 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Where a man doth compass or 
 imagine the death of the king, if 
 it appear by any overt act, it is 
 treason. 
 
 In treason, the corporal punish- 
 ment is by hanging ; and in women, 
 by burning." — Union of Laws 
 (1608). 
 
 King Henry [To Margiry Jour- 
 dain and the others']. 
 You four, from hence to prison 
 
 back again ; 
 From thence, unto the place of 
 
 execution; 
 The witch in Smithfleld shall be 
 
 burned to ashes. 
 And you three shall be strangled 
 
 on the gallows." 
 2 King Henry VI., i. 4 ; ii. 3 
 
 (1623). 
 
412 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 876 
 
 PRIVILEGE OP SANCTUABT 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " Hastings. On what occasion, God 
 he knows, not I, 
 
 The Queen, your mother, and youi 
 brother York, 
 
 Have taken sanctuary; the tender 
 prince 
 
 Would fain have come with me to 
 meet your grace, 
 
 But by his mother was perforce 
 withheld. 
 
 Buckingham. Fie ! what an indi- 
 rect and peevish course 
 
 Is this of hers. — Lord Cardinal, 
 will your grace 
 
 Persuade the] Queen to send the 
 Duke of York 
 
 Unto his princely brother pres- 
 ently ? 
 
 If she deny, Lord Hastings, go 
 with him. 
 
 And from her jealous arms pluck 
 
 him perforce." 
 King Richard III., iii. 1 (1597). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 "At Exeter the king consulted 
 with his counsel, whether he should 
 offer life to Perkin if he would quit 
 the sanctuary and voluntarily sub- 
 mit himself. The counsel were 
 divided in opinion. Some advised 
 the king to take him out of sanc- 
 tuary perforce." — History of Henry 
 VII. (1621). 
 
 877 
 
 FAULTS OP RtTLEES 
 
 " Heaven forbid 
 That kings should let their ears 
 hear their faults hid." 
 
 Pericles, i. 2 (1609). 
 
 " Pace, the bitter fool, was not 
 suffered to come at the Queen, be- 
 cause of hia bitter humor. Yet 
 at one time some persuaded the 
 Queen that he should come to her. 
 So he was brought to her, and the 
 Queen said : ' Come on, Pace, now 
 we shall hear of our faults.' Saith 
 Pace, ' I do not use to talk of that 
 that all the town talks of.'" — 
 Apothegms (posthumous). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 413 
 
 878 
 
 DEUCALION, PROGENITOR OF THE HUMAN RACE 
 
 From Bacon 
 " The poets relate that when the 
 inhabitants of the old world were 
 utterly extinguished by the uni- 
 versal deluge, none remained ex- 
 cept Deucalion and Pyrrha.'" — 
 Wisdom of the Ancients (1609). 
 
 Deucalion was thus, according to both authors, the com- 
 mon ancestor of the human race. 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 " Yet you must be saying, Mar- 
 cius is proud; who in a cheap 
 estimation is worth all your prede- 
 cessors since Deucalion." — Corio- 
 lanus, ii. 1 (1623). 
 
 879 
 
 TWO WORLDS 
 
 "Let the frame of things dis- 
 joint, both the worlds suffer.'' — 
 Macbeth, iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 " To this point I stand, 
 That both the worlds I give to 
 
 negligence, 
 Let come what comes ; only 1 11 be 
 
 reveng'd 
 Most thoroughly for my father." 
 Hamlet, iv. 5 (1604). 
 
 " It would be disgraceful if, 
 while the regions of the material 
 globe — that is, of the earth, of the 
 sea, and of the stars, — have been 
 in our times laid widely open 
 and revealed, the intellectual globe 
 should remain shut up within the 
 narrow limits of old discoveries." 
 — Novum Organum (1620). 
 
 " It is the perfect law of the 
 inquiry of truth, ' that nothing be 
 in the globe of matter which has 
 not its parallel in the globe of 
 crystal or the understanding.' " — 
 De Augmenlis (1622). 
 
 What Shake-speare meant by " both worlds " is explained 
 in Bacon. One of the latter's tracts is called ' A Descrip- 
 tion of the Intellectual Globe.' 
 
 880 
 EDUCATION OF THE DRAMATIST 
 
 "Shallow. Sir, I dare say, my 
 cousin WUliam is become a good 
 scholar. He is at Oxford still, is 
 he not ? 
 
 Silence. Indeed, sir, to my cost. 
 
 " This work I knew not to 
 whom to dedicate rather than to 
 the Society of Gray's Inn, the 
 place whence my father was called 
 to the highest place of justice, and 
 
414 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Shallow. He must then to the where myself have lived." — Ar- 
 inns of court shortly. guments of Law (1616). 
 
 The very same day did I fight 
 with one Sampson Stockfish, a 
 fruiterer, behind Gray's Inn." — 
 S King Henry IV., iii. 2 (1600). 
 
 The course of study recommended by Justice Shallow — 
 from the Universities to the Inns of Court — was the one 
 actually pursued by Bacon. And it was the one which the 
 anonymous author of a book, entitled ' Polymanteia,' and pub- 
 lished in Cambridge in 1595, tells us was also pursued by 
 the poet who wrote the ' Venus and Adonis.' That the latter 
 could by any possibility have been William Shakspere of 
 Stratford will not be contended. No person by that name 
 was ever matriculated at either of the universities or en- 
 rolled at one of the Inns of Court. And yet, as this con- 
 temporary in the book above-mentioned publicly assures 
 us, the author of the poem, 'Venus and Adonis,' was so 
 matriculated or so enrolled. Whoever he may have been, 
 therefore, it is beyond all question that he was personally 
 known by a pseudonym. And that pseudonym, as the 
 writer of the book also tells us, was Shakespeare. 
 
 881 
 
 SYLLOGISMS 
 
 From Shakespeare From Bacon 
 
 "Anything that's mended is "I therefore reject the syllo- 
 
 but patched: virtue that trans- gism ; and that not only as regards 
 
 gresses is but patched with sin ; principles (for to principles the 
 
 and sin that amends is but patched logicians themselves do not apply 
 
 with virtue. If that this simple it), but also as regards middle 
 
 syllogism will serve, so ; if it will propositions ; which, though ob- 
 
 not, what remedy ? As there is tainable no doubt by the syllo- 
 
 no true cuckhold but calamity, gism, are, when so obtained, barren 
 
 so beauty 's a flower." — Twelfth of works, remote from practice, and 
 
 Night, i. 5 (1623). altogether unavailable for the ac- 
 tive department of the sciences." 
 — Plan of the Instauratio (1620). 
 
PARALLELISMS 415 
 
 What Bacon condemns as a false method of reasoning 
 Shake-speare faithfully illustrates. 
 
 882 
 PROPHESYING THE FUTURE FROM THE PAST 
 From Shake-speare From Bacon 
 
 "There is a history in all men's "Whereas this is added in the 
 
 lives, fable, that Proteus was a prophet 
 
 Figuring the nature of the times and knew the three times [past, 
 deceas'd, present, and future] ; this agrees 
 
 The which ohserv'd, a man may well with the nature of matter; 
 prophesy, for if a man knew the conditions. 
 
 With a near aim, of the main affections, and processes of matter, 
 chance of things, he would certainly comprehend 
 
 As yet not come to life." the sum and general issue (for I 
 
 2 King Henry IV., iii. 1 (1600). do not say that his knowledge 
 
 would extend to the parts and 
 singularities) of all things, past, 
 present, and to come." — Wisdom 
 of the Ancients (1609). 
 
 The difference between these two passages lies wholly in 
 the application ; the thought is the same. That is to say, 
 full knowledge of all the antecedents of the present state 
 of things, whether in nature (as Bacon says) or in human 
 life (as Shake-speare says), would enable a man to predict 
 the future. 
 
 It is noticeable also that the same slight limitation of this 
 prophetic power is given in both : 
 
 " A man [thus equipped] may prophesy of the main chance of things 
 with a near aim.'' — Shake-speare. 
 
 "I do not say that his knowledge would extend to the parts and 
 singularities." — Bacon, 
 
 883 
 
 MELTING OF THE BODY AT DEATH 
 
 "0, that this too, too solid flesh "Melting of the body is the 
 
 would melt, work of the vital spirits alone, 
 
 Thaw, and resolve itself into a when they are excited by heat ; 
 
 dew." for then, though under confine- 
 
 Hamlet, i. 2 (1603). ment, they necessarily expand and 
 
4i6 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 " Have I not hideous death within 
 
 my view, 
 Retaining but a quantity of life 
 Which bleeds away, even as a form 
 
 of wax 
 Eesolveth from its figure 'gainst 
 
 the fire?" 
 
 King John, v. 4 (1623). 
 
 make the grosser parts, the flesh 
 soft and fusible, as in the case of 
 metals and wax." — History of Life 
 and Death (1623). 
 
 Bacon believed that all vital spirit is compounded of flame 
 and air. " Flame," he said, " is a momentary, air a perma- 
 nent, substance ; the living spirits of animals are of a middle 
 nature between them." He therefore took the ground that 
 continuity of life depends upon the proper equilibrium exist- 
 ing between these two substances in the spirit ; and that if 
 from any cause the inflammatory element should become 
 excessive, then the body would melt and death ensue. Not 
 only is this singular conception common to both authors, but 
 also the same simile, derived from the nature of wax, to illus- 
 trate it. 
 
 884 
 
 KNOWING one's SELF 
 
 From Shahe-speare 
 
 "Know yourself." 
 
 As You Like It, iii. 5 (1628). 
 
 " Cruel are the times when we are 
 
 traitors 
 And do not know ourselves.'' 
 
 Macbeth, iv. 2 (1628). 
 
 "I have liiuch ado to know my- 
 self." 
 Merchant of Venice, i. 1 (1600). 
 
 " Duke. I pray you, sir, of 
 what disposition was the Duke ? 
 
 Escalus. One that, above all 
 other strifes, contended especially 
 to know himself." — Measure for 
 Measure, iii. 2 (1623). 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Know thyself." 
 
 — Promus (1594-96). 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 417 
 
 " I profit in the knowledge of my- 
 self." 
 
 Twelfth Night, v. 1 (1623). 
 
 "Servant. Wliat are we, Ape- 
 mantus ? 
 
 Apem. Asse3. 
 
 Serv. Why 1 
 
 Apem. That you ask me what 
 you are, and do not know your- 
 selves." — Timon of Athens, ii. 2 
 (1623). 
 
 885 
 
 HOPE 
 
 From Bacon 
 
 " Hope befits not man ; it makes 
 the mind light, frothy, unequal, 
 wandering." 
 
 "It was an idle fiction of the 
 poets to make hope the antidote of 
 human diseases." — Meditationes 
 Sacra (1597). 
 
 From Shakespeare 
 
 " It never yet did hurt 
 To lay down likelihoods and forms 
 of hope." 
 
 S Henry IV., i. 3 (1600). 
 
 " Duke. So, then, you hope of par- 
 don from Lord Angelo ? 
 
 Claudio. The miserable have no 
 other medicine, 
 
 But only hope. 
 
 I have hope to live, and am pre- 
 pared to die. 
 
 Duke. Be absolute 1 for death; 
 either death or life 
 
 Shall thereby be the sweeter." 
 
 Measure firr Measure, iii. 1 (1623). 
 
 Of all the sentiments of the human heart, one of the most 
 highly valued is hope. It has almost always been regarded 
 as a blessing. Shelley says that " Hope and Youth are the 
 children of one mother. Love ; " Whittier, that it is " God's 
 special gift to all ; " Keats, that it is of " celestial sweetness ; " 
 and Sam Johnson, that " where there is no hope, there can 
 be no endeavor." What more terrible inscription could have 
 
 1 That is, be certain ; a Latinism. 
 
 27 
 
41 8 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 been placed over the door of the infernal regions than that 
 which Dante reports : 
 
 " All hope abandon, ye who enter here.'' 
 
 Singularly enough, however, Francis Bacon, during the 
 greater part of his life and to within a short time of his 
 death, condemned the sentiment of hope. He sought for 
 himself and for mankind absolute veracity, or freedom from 
 every kind of delusion. He said : 
 
 " In hope there seems to be no use. For what avails the antici- 
 pation of good ? If the good turn out less than you hoped for, 
 good though it be, yet because it is not so good, it seems to you 
 more like a loss than a gain, by reason of the over-hope. If the 
 event be equal to the hope, then the flower of it, having been by 
 that hope already gathered, you find it stale and almost distasteful. 
 If the good be beyond the hope, then no doubt there is a sense of 
 gain ; but had it not been better to gain the whole by hoping not 
 at aU than the difference by hoping too little ? And such is the 
 effect of hope in prosperity. But in adversity it enervates the 
 true strength of the mind. For matter of hope cannot always be 
 forthcoming ; and if it fail, though but for a moment, the whole 
 strength and support of the mind goes with it. Moreover the 
 mind suffers in dignity, when we endure evil only by self-decep- 
 tion and looking another way, and not by fortitude and judgment. 
 And therefore it was an idle fiction of the poets to make Hope the 
 antidote of human diseases, because it mitigates the pain of them ; 
 whereas it is in fact an inflammation and exasperation of them 
 rather, multiplying and making them break out afresh." — Medita- 
 tiones Sacrce (1597). 
 
 The same peculiar and exceptional repugnance to hope is 
 several times expressed in Shake-speare. In ' Measure for 
 Measure,' for example, the Duke enjoins Claudio, who lies in 
 prison under prospect of immediate death, " Be absolute for 
 death," that is, be certain of death, entertain no hope ; for 
 
 then — 
 
 " either death or life 
 Shall thereby be the sweeter." 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 419 
 
 To show at a glance the great variety and scope of the 
 foregoing parallelisms, as well as for ease of reference, we 
 now recapitulate them by their headings : 
 
 INDEX OF PAEALLELISMS 
 
 [Ifumerals denote number of parallelism.] 
 
 Abstemiousness, 597. 
 Accents of Words, 561. 
 Accidents of Life, 580. 
 Accusation, Silence under, 126. 
 Actseon and his Hounds, 700. 
 Actaeon turned into a Stag, 538. 
 Action and Imagination, 508. 
 Action is Eloquence, 452. 
 Actium, Battle of, 620. 
 Actor forgetting his Part, 224. 
 Acts not to be judged by Effects, 
 
 249. 
 Adam, Penalty of, 353. 
 Adamant, 322. 
 Address in Court, 154. 
 Adonis' Gardens, 480. 
 Advantage of Time, 334. 
 .aiolus. Kingdom of, 628. 
 .^tna burning, 679. 
 Affection and Reason, 449. 
 Africa breeding Monsters, 723. 
 Age and Youth, 380. 
 Age, deforming Mind, 129. 
 Age, old, Bodies wrinkled in, 111. 
 Age, old, Premature, 496. 
 Agents, Repudiation of, by Princes, 
 
 123. 
 Aims in Life, 606. 
 Air for Homes, 473. 
 Air in the Earth, 629. 
 Air poisoned by foul Breaths, 445. 
 All 's well that ends well, 834. 
 Altars, no Consultation before, 806. 
 Anathema from Christ, 351. 
 Anaxarchus, 12. 
 Ands and Ifs, 301. 
 
 Angels, Fall of the, 99. 
 Anger, a temporary Madness, 203. 
 Anger, affecting the Heart, 159. 
 Anger, gaining Time in, by Count- 
 ing, 127. 
 Anger, Eefrainings of, to gain Time, 
 
 227. 
 Anger, Suppressions of, 385. 
 Animation suspended by Drugs, 
 
 173. 
 Anthony and Love, 381. 
 Anticipations of Mind, 450. 
 Antipodes, 557. 
 Antiquity, Youth of the World, 
 
 263. 
 Anvils, Truth forged on, 288. 
 Apothecary Shop, 302. 
 Apparitions, 166. 
 Appetite, growing by what it feeds 
 
 on, 853. 
 ApplaiTse of Rabble, 567. 
 Archery, 660. 
 Archery, White in, 669. 
 Ariadne and Theseus, 702. 
 Ariel, a Spirit, 456. 
 Arion among Dolphins, 231. 
 Aristotle, Misquotation from, 69. 
 Arm-pits, under the, 844. 
 Arms of Kings long, 343. 
 Army commanded from a Litter, 
 
 582. 
 Arrows, Parthian, 290. 
 Art and Nature, Relations between, 
 
 342. 
 Art progressive, 469. 
 Art, subject to Nature, 294. 
 
420 BACON JND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Ashes of Fortune, 319. 
 Astrology, 241. 
 Atalanta's Speed, 541. 
 Atom, Dimensions of an, 645. 
 Axletree of the Earth, 560. 
 
 Backgrounds dark, 337. 
 
 Bacon and Hog, 251. 
 
 Bacon's Knowledge, Extent of, 240. 
 
 Bacon's Portfolio, 636. 
 
 BaU., Death an Arrest without, 105. 
 
 Banishment of Women from Court, 
 
 143. 
 Bashfulness and Stage-playing, 
 
 593. 
 Basilisk, 273. 
 Bastinado, 141. 
 Beasts knowing Friends, 823. 
 Beating Bush for Bird, 794. 
 Beauty is Virtue, 583. 
 Beauty, personal, and Virtue, 156. 
 Bees, Kings of, 3. 
 Beggars, no Choosers, 314. 
 Behavior, a Garment, 75. 
 Beings, Human, Sport for the Gods, 
 
 100. 
 Bell, funeral, 860. 
 Bellerophon's Letters, 185. 
 Belly, Rehellion against, 191. 
 Benefit of Clergy, 459. 
 Benefits, Caution in conferring, 
 
 352. 
 Benevolence Tax, 748. 
 Bermoothes, 481. 
 Bestriding the Sea, 275. 
 Better seldom comes, 625. 
 Bird, heating Bush for, 794. 
 Birth, crying at, 197. 
 Blabbing, 71. 
 Black, 870. 
 
 Bladders, swimming on, 609. 
 Blessing of God and warm Sun, 
 
 839. 
 Blood, Circulation of the, 85. 
 Blood, swooning at Sight of, 752. 
 Bodies, Conservation of, 262. 
 
 Bodies, spirits in Inanimate, 589. 
 
 Bodies wrinkled in old Age, 111. 
 
 Body and Soul, League of, 209. 
 
 Body of Man, a musical Instru- 
 ment, 418. 
 
 Body with King, and King with 
 Body, 43. 
 
 Bolt, Fool's, 395. 
 
 Bombastic Words, 810. 
 
 Books, more durable than Monu- 
 ments, 266. 
 
 Bosphorus, Current through, 94. 
 
 Boys' Love, 819. 
 
 Branding Hands, 623. 
 
 Breaths poisoning Air, 445. 
 
 Brewer's Horse, 354. 
 
 Bridle, biting the, 836. 
 
 Broken Music, 388. 
 
 Brokerage, Royal, 362. 
 
 Brothels, 664. 
 
 Brownists, 95. 
 
 Brutes, Sympathy with, 516. 
 
 Brutus, Marcus, bastard Son of 
 Caesar, 413. 
 
 Burning Glasses, destructive Uses 
 of, 389. 
 
 Burning Glasses, Heat from, 680. 
 
 Bull-bearing Milo, 804. 
 
 Butterflies, chasing, 9. 
 
 Buyer's Price, 564. 
 
 Cade, Jack, 867. 
 
 Csesar, Augustus, and Marc An- 
 thony, 16. 
 
 Csesar, Julius, and his Fortune, 
 858. 
 
 Csesar, Julius, affected by Flattery, 
 247. 
 
 Csesar, Julius, Ambition of, 772. 
 
 Csesar, Julius, Assassination of, 
 653. 
 
 Csesar, Julius, a Tyrant, 617. 
 
 Csesar, Julius, Darkness at Death 
 of, 652. 
 
 Csesar, Julius, declining the Crown, 
 58. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 421 
 
 Csesar, Julius, desiring Title of 
 King, 639. 
 
 Csesar, Julius, Downfall of, due to 
 Envy, 11. 
 
 Csesar, Julius, Father of Marcus 
 Brutus, 413. 
 
 Csesar, Julius, Nobility of, 412. 
 
 Caesar, Julius, self-centred Char- 
 acter of, 10. 
 
 Csesar, Julius, Self-confidence of, 
 248. 
 
 Csesar, Julius, Star of, 383. 
 
 Caesar, Julius, Virtues and Vices 
 balanced in, 773. 
 
 Csesar, Julius, warned by Augu- 
 rers, 451. 
 
 Cade, Jack, 867. 
 
 Cambridge University, 397. 
 
 Cannibals, 696. 
 
 Carduus Benedictus, 295. 
 
 Care, Limitation of, 872. 
 
 Carrion, Honey in, 107. 
 
 Casks, empty. Sounds from, 366. 
 
 Castor and PoUux, 91. 
 
 Cat in Adage, 795. 
 
 Centaurs, 670. 
 
 Chalking the Way, 2. 
 
 Chameleon changing Colors, 327. 
 
 Chameleon, feeding on Air, 326. 
 
 Chance, Divinity in, 67. 
 
 Chaos, 647. 
 
 Chaos and Love, 553. 
 
 Character in Eyes and Faces, 513. 
 
 Character, small Defects in, 110. 
 
 Charge to Constables, 236. 
 
 Charybdis and Scylla, 543. 
 
 Chasing a Butterfly, 9. 
 
 Cheapening One's Self, 128. 
 
 Cheapside, Question in, 797. 
 
 Cherry, double, 329. 
 
 Cherubim, 546. 
 
 Children, governing Parents, 89. 
 
 Children, humane Influences of, 
 578. 
 
 Children of good Parents, disap- 
 pointing, 23. 
 
 Children of same Parents, Differ- 
 ences among, 439. 
 
 Children, Possession of, the highest 
 Felicity, 512. 
 
 Choice second, 53. 
 
 Chopine, 708. 
 
 Cicero's ' De Oratore,' 626. 
 
 Ciphers, a Figure among, 257. 
 
 Circe, 577. 
 
 Circe's Drugs, 683. 
 
 Circumlocution, 46. 
 
 Civet, 671. 
 
 Civil War, a Fever, 378. 
 
 Civil Wars, Money in, 761. 
 
 Clergy, Benefit of, 459. 
 
 Cloud, not every one a Storm, 183. 
 
 Cockatrice, 429. 
 
 CoflFer of Darius, 222. 
 
 Coloquintida, 764. 
 
 Combat, Law of, 869. 
 
 Comedy of Errors, 596. 
 
 Common and several, 769. 
 
 Common Lands, Enclosure of, 417. 
 
 Common People, beastly, 14. 
 
 Commonplace Books, 264. 
 
 Compass, Points of, 613. 
 
 Complexions, 235. 
 
 Composite Beings, 250. 
 
 Concord and Discord, 130. 
 
 Concord musical, 743. 
 
 Condemned for Virtues, 144. 
 
 Confidences, inviting, 73. 
 
 Conflagration of the World, 655. 
 
 Conjectures at Home, 331. 
 
 Conjunction of Planets, 165. 
 
 Conscience, 364. 
 
 Consent, 115. 
 
 Conservation of Bodies, 262. 
 
 Constables, Charge to, 236. 
 
 Constancy, Foundation of Virtues, 
 255. 
 
 Constancy in Vice, 211. 
 
 Consultation, no, before Altars, 
 806. 
 
 Contemplative Studies, 594. 
 
 Corn-flowers, 13. 
 
422 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Corpses, human, Kepugnance to, 
 
 228. 
 Corruptions in Peace, 339. 
 Coughing, not to be hid, 150. 
 Council and Counsel, 390. 
 Counsellors, the Dead are the best, 
 
 737. 
 Countenance, reflecting Mind, 501. 
 Counties Palatine, 866. 
 Country Fruits, 118. 
 Courage, Excess of, 515. 
 Court, Address in, 154. 
 Court, Women banished from, 143. 
 Courts, Equity, 122. 
 Cowards and Death, 368. 
 Creeds, Fashion in, 271. 
 Crime, suggested by Opportunity, 
 
 298. 
 Cripple and Hare, 421. 
 CrocodUes shedding Tears, 20. 
 Crusades, 868. 
 Cuckold's Horns, 774. 
 Cimning Device, 192. 
 Cupid as Indian Prince, 411. 
 Cupid, as Infant, blind, naked, 
 
 ■winged, and an Archer, 559. 
 Cupid, Parentage of, 648. 
 Cushions, 430. 
 
 Custom, subduing Nature, 506. 
 Custom, the Ape of Nature, 306. 
 Custom, Tyranny of, 579. 
 Cyclops, forging Thunderbolts, 
 
 537. 
 Cyclops, gigantic Size of, 685. 
 
 Daedalus, 207. 
 
 Daffodils, 535. 
 
 Dancing with heavy Shoes, 609. 
 
 Darius, Coffer of, 222. 
 
 Dark Period in both Lives, 112. 
 
 Darkness, Egyptian, 212. 
 
 Dawning, good, 268. 
 
 Dead Bodies, Repugnance to, 228. 
 
 Deafness, hard to cure, 4. 
 
 Death, an Arrest without Bail, 105. 
 
 Death and Cowards, 368. 
 
 Death and Envy, 576. 
 Death, a Redeemer, 574. 
 Death-bed Utterances, 65. 
 Death, being inevitable, must be 
 
 endured, 453. 
 Death, fear of, more terrible than 
 
 Death, 369. 
 Death, Fear of, strange, 77- 
 Death of Henry V., premature, 
 
 180. 
 Death, living in Fear of, 624. 
 Death, loved after, 791. 
 Death, Melting of the Body at, 
 
 883. 
 Death painless, 40. 
 Death, Presages of, 1. 
 Death, Self-torture in Prospect of, 
 
 49. 
 Deaths, suffering many, 775. 
 Deceit, Sinon Prototype of, 376. 
 Defects, small, in Character, 110. 
 Deformity of Mind in Age, 129. 
 Deformity of Richard III., 59. 
 Degrees in Citizenship, 379. 
 Delays, Importance of, 335. 
 Deliberation, 587. 
 Depopulation of Towns, 483. 
 Deucalion, 878. 
 Development in Periods, 705. 
 Device, a cunning, 192. 
 Dew, 682. 
 
 Diagnosis, a medical, 394. 
 Diluculo surgere, 831. 
 Disappointed Life, 113. 
 Discord and Concord, 130. 
 Discourse of Reason, 407. 
 Discovery, South Sea of, 659. 
 Disease, mental. Remedies for, 311. 
 Disembowelling, Punishment for 
 
 Treason, 643. 
 Dissection of Minds, 437. 
 Divide and define, 491. 
 Divination, 38. 
 Divination induced by Fasting and 
 
 Prayer, 358. 
 Divinity hedging a King, 188. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 423 
 
 Divinity in Chance, 67. 
 
 Doing and saying, 627. 
 
 Dole, happy, 517. 
 
 Dolphins and Arion, 231. 
 
 Doorway, in the, 802. 
 
 Doubt, 503. 
 
 Doves, Dish of, 581. 
 
 Dramatist, Education of the, 880. 
 
 Dreams, prophetic, 448. 
 
 Dress, distinguishing Rank, 864. 
 
 Drowning vs. Gallows, 282. 
 
 Drugs, 253. 
 
 Drugs, Circe's, 683. 
 
 Drugs, suspending Animation, 173. 
 
 Duelling, Book on, 487. 
 
 Duelling forbidden by Turks, 132. 
 
 Dyspepsia, 375. 
 
 Eagles, long-lived, 698. 
 
 Ear and Voice, 816. 
 
 Early and late, 78. 
 
 Earth, Axletree of, 560. 
 
 Earth, a dead Body, 650. 
 
 Earth, Fire in, 646. 
 
 Echoes, 279. 
 
 Echoes, Choir of, 713. 
 
 Eclipse of Life, 97. 
 
 Education of the Dramatist, 880. 
 
 Eels affected by Thunder, 340. 
 
 Egyptian Darkness, 212. 
 
 Elder-flowers, 588. 
 
 Elder-tree and Vine, 6. 
 
 Elements, the four, 548. 
 
 Elixir, 134. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, her Character, 
 308. 
 
 Elizabeth and Love, 489. 
 
 Elizabeth, a Phoenix, 571. 
 
 Elizabeth's Death, turning of For- 
 tune's Wheel, 204. 
 
 Elm and Vine, 260. 
 
 Eloquence is Action, 452. 
 
 Embers, stir no, 847. 
 
 Emblems, 90. 
 
 Enclosure of common Lands, 417. 
 
 Encyclopaedia, 267. 
 
 End, the promised, 566. 
 
 Endymion and the Moon, 328. 
 
 Enemies and Friends, 283. 
 
 Enemy, Kisses of, 545. 
 
 England and France, 615. 
 
 England and Scotland, 179. 
 
 England's Wall and Bulwarks, 270. 
 
 Entails, barred by fee simple, 457. 
 
 Envy, a Devil, 193. 
 
 Envy and Death, 576. 
 
 Envy and Pride, 374. 
 
 Epicureans, 551. 
 
 Epicurus and Auguries, 414. 
 
 Equity Courts, 122. 
 
 Error, Approval of, 55. 
 
 Errors, Comedy of, 596. 
 
 Evil and Good, relative Duration 
 
 of, 426. 
 Evil Eeports, like Darts, 475. 
 Evils, self-inflicted, 465. 
 Excess wasteful, 830. 
 Eye, human, 19. 
 Eyes, Love in, 146. 
 
 Face, a beautiful, 425. 
 
 Face, painting of the, 178. 
 
 Faith, 790. 
 
 Faith, like Odors of Flowers, 347. 
 
 Fame, posthumous, 749. 
 
 Fan, winnowing with, 384. 
 
 Fashion in Creeds, 271. 
 
 Favorites of Princes, screens, 360. 
 
 Faults of Eulers, 877. 
 
 Fear, 79. 
 
 Fear, ignoble, 210. 
 
 Fear of Death, 77. 
 
 Fear of Loss, 80. 
 
 Feast and Fray, 854. 
 
 Feasts and Vigils, 569. 
 
 Fee simple, barring Entails, 457. 
 
 Ferdinand and Henry VIIL, 692. 
 
 Fever, Civil War a, 378. 
 
 Fine and Recovery, 488. 
 
 Fire in the Earth, 646. 
 
 Fireside Talk, 152. 
 
 Fire, Trial by, 140. 
 
424 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Fish, cold-blooded, 635. 
 
 Flames, Wick in, 717. 
 
 Flattery, pleasing to People, 747. 
 
 Fleas, 164. 
 
 Flies in Winter, 750. 
 
 Flowers according to Season, 522. 
 
 Flowers, Music, and Love, 206. 
 
 Flowers, Odors of, like Faith, 347. 
 
 Foil, 256. 
 
 Followers, stripping Men of Wings, 
 
 444. 
 Folly and Fortune, 552. 
 Folly and Wisdom, 762. 
 Food of Animals, affecting their 
 
 Flesh, 727. 
 Fool among Fools, 464. 
 Fool, the, and the Wise Man, 221. 
 Fool, Liberty of a, 277. 
 Fools, 151. 
 Fool's Bolt, 395. 
 Forgetting, Art of, 817. 
 Forgiveness better than Vengeance, 
 
 172. 
 Forgiveness of Injuries, an Evil,780. 
 Fortune and Folly, 552. 
 Fortune and Nature, 760. 
 Fortune, Ashes of, 319. 
 Fortune-telling Tricks, 214. 
 Fortune's Wheel, 601. 
 France and England, 615. 
 Friend, a Mirror, 845. 
 Friend, another One's Self, 441. 
 Friends and Enemies, 283. 
 Friends, Kecognition of, after long 
 
 Absence, 41. 
 Friends to Beasts, 823. 
 Friends with Friends. 568. 
 Friendship, 93. 
 Friendship between Superiors and 
 
 Inferiors, 832. 
 Frost burns, 851. 
 Fruits, Country, 118. 
 Funeral Bell, 860. 
 
 Gad's Hill, Robbery on, 521. 
 Gain, every Way a, 570. 
 
 Galen and Paracelsus, 793. 
 Galen, a Quack, 771. 
 Gallows vs. Drowning, 282. 
 Gardens, Knots in, 232. 
 Gardens of Adonis, 480. 
 Garlic, 725. 
 
 Garments, Honors like, 135. 
 Geocentric Theory of Solar System, 
 
 435. 
 Gesticulation, 137. 
 Gesticulation, Language of, 562. 
 Glasses, burning, 389. 
 Gloucester's Conspiracy, early Date 
 
 of, 690. 
 God's Blessing and the warm Sun, 
 
 839. 
 Gold, all that glisters is not, 318. 
 Gold, Chinese, 684. 
 Gold, Manufacture of, 672. 
 Gold, Metal easily wrought, 447. 
 Gold tried by Touchstone, 770. 
 Good and Evil, comparative, 372. 
 Good and Evil, relative Duration 
 
 of, 426. 
 GoodfeUow, Eobin, 76. 
 Good in Eveiything, 519. 
 Goodness, Excess of, 479. 
 Good morrow, 777. 
 Government by Minors, 139. 
 Grafting old Trees, 658. 
 Gratitude, 555. 
 Gravity, terrestrial, 42. 
 Greater and less, 120. 
 Green, Sea-water, 663. 
 Grief for Others, 424. 
 Gross and palpable, 470. 
 Gypsies, 874. 
 
 Hamlet's Indecision, 540. 
 Happiness, in Opinion of Others, 
 
 518. 
 Happiness in the Mean, 199. 
 Hare and Cripple, 421. 
 Harping on a String, 396. 
 Haste slowly, 502. 
 Haste to be rich, 734. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 425 
 
 Hatred, 278. 
 
 Heart, Window of the, 357. 
 Heat, Materiality of, 82. 
 Heights, h)okiiig down from great, 
 
 753. 
 Henry V., premature Death of, 180. 
 Henry VI., Character of, 849. 
 Henry VII. and his Wife Elizabeth, 
 
 633. 
 Henry VII., crowned by Stanley, 
 
 416. 
 Henry VH., Prophecy concerning, 
 
 162. 
 Henry VIH. and Katharine, 619. 
 Henry VHL, Divorce of, 686. 
 Henry VIH. and Ferdinand, 692. 
 Hercules, Labors of, 710. 
 Hereditary Monarchs, 117. 
 Hog and Bacon, 251. 
 Holes, peeping through small, 345. 
 Holy-water, 336. 
 Honey-dew, 5. 
 Honey-dew in LUies, 726. 
 Honey in Carrion, 107. 
 Honorificabilitudinitatibus, 8. 
 Honors Uke Garments, 135. 
 Hope, 885. 
 Horse, Brewer's, 354. 
 Horse and Grass, 827. 
 Horse, training of, like Mind, 205. 
 Humor and the vital Spirit, 86. 
 Husbands controlled by Wives, 
 
 292. 
 Husbands miudered by Wives, 511. 
 Hypocrisy, Pride lacking in, 124. 
 
 Ice, Impressions in, 202. 
 Ifs and Ands, 301. 
 Ignorance, 805. 
 
 Images in mind. Distortion of, 520. 
 Imagination and Action, 508. 
 Imposthumations, 233. 
 Indiscreticm in Speech, 72. 
 Infusions, medical, 642. 
 Inheritance of Land, 463. 
 Innocence, Trust in, 848. 
 
 Incense on Altars, 507. 
 Insomnia in Kings, 510. 
 Instruction in Schools, 476. 
 Instruction through the Senses, 
 
 840. 
 Intentions good, without Acts, 56. 
 Interest Money, 226. 
 Invisible, Walking, 216. 
 Iron, Soldiers are, 174. 
 Ivy on Trees, 317. 
 
 James I., Character of, 309. 
 James I. and Scotland, 43. 
 James I., Solomon, 665. 
 Jealousy, Cure of, 505. 
 Jealousy, a Sentinel, 514 
 Jests in the Ear, 838. 
 Jests, Subjects for, 355. 
 Job, Patience of, 697. 
 Joys, Efifect of sudden, 595. 
 Joys, overthrowing Mind, 824. 
 Judgments, ignorant, 739. 
 Jugglers, 744. 
 Jupiter assuming Forms of Beasts, 
 
 67. 
 Justice and Mercy, 121. 
 Justices of Peace, and Custos 
 
 Kotulorum, 724. 
 
 Kent, County of, 312. 
 Killing Tyrants, lawful, 603. 
 Kings as Brokers, 362. 
 Kings, bestowing Wards in Mar- 
 riage, 468. 
 Kings hedged by Divinity, 188. 
 Kings feared and loved, 547. 
 Kings, long Arms of, 343. 
 Kings, Insomnia of, 510. 
 Kings, Obedience to, 440. 
 Kings, Oath of, 544. 
 Kings, Suspicions of, 272. 
 Kisses of an Enemy, 545. 
 Knots in Gardens, 232. 
 Knots in Trees, 230. 
 Knowledge, base, 103. 
 Knowledge, Cure of Suspicion, 498. 
 
426 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Knowledge, Extent of Bacon's, 240. 
 Knowledge, Praise of, 423. 
 Knowledge, Remembrance, 87. 
 Knowledge required to ask Ques- 
 tions, 668. 
 Knowledge, universal, 240. 
 Know thyself, 884. 
 
 Land, Inheritance of, 463. 
 
 Lands, common. Enclosure of, 417. 
 
 Language of Gestures, 562. 
 
 Law of Comhat, 869. 
 
 Law, Salic, 163. 
 
 Laws, obsolete, 47. 
 
 League of Body and Soul, 209. 
 
 Lees, 419. 
 
 Lees and Dregs, 765. 
 
 Leisure, 818. 
 
 Letter Trick, a, 81. 
 
 Letters, Bellerophon's, 185. 
 
 Letters of the Alphabet, silent, 788. 
 
 License, 742. 
 
 Lies, crediting one's own, 54. 
 
 Lies, Means of ascertaining Truth, 
 
 74. 
 Lie there, my Art, 237. 
 Life, Accidents of, 580. 
 Life, Aims in, 606. 
 Life, a Trifle, 7. 
 Life, a disappointed, 113. 
 Life, Duties of, 656. 
 Life eclipsed, 97. 
 Life in Ignorance, happiest, 825. 
 Life of Man, a Span, 365. 
 Life, Tedium of, 486. 
 Life, useless, 402. 
 Light and Sound, 285. 
 Lime-twigs, 422. 
 Lions, Mercy in, 740. 
 Litter, commanding Armies from a, 
 
 582. 
 Little Things, 106. 
 Liver, Seat of Sensuality, 434. 
 Loan, losing double, 799. 
 Looking at a King, 821. 
 Losers, give Words to, 812. 
 
 Love, a Boy's, 819. 
 
 Love, a Folly, 27. 
 
 Love, a Fool, 820. 
 
 Love and Chaos, 553. 
 
 Love and Marc Anthony, 381. 
 
 Love and Self-love, 410. 
 
 Love, a Madness, 26. 
 
 Love bewitches, 35. 
 
 Love, comparative, 274. 
 
 Love creeping before it goes, 30. 
 
 Love fatal to worldly Success, 29. 
 
 Love, Flowers, and Music, 208. 
 
 Love, hostUe to Fortune, 37. 
 
 Love incompatible with Wisdom, 
 32. 
 
 Love in Eyes, 146. 
 
 Love, Language of, hyperbolical, 
 33. 
 
 Love, moderate, 31. 
 
 Love, not to be hid, 687. 
 
 Love's Keepsakes, 767. 
 
 Love, Soldiers given to, 36. 
 
 Love, strong Characters not sus- 
 ceptible of, 28. 
 
 Love, the first God, 131. 
 
 Love unreciprocated, treated with 
 Contempt, 34. 
 
 Love Verses on Trees, 699. 
 
 Love, Witchcraft in, 461. 
 
 Love, without Cause, 238. 
 
 Love, Youthful, 852. 
 
 Loved after Death, 791. 
 
 Lunacy, 676. 
 
 Lust, 155. 
 
 Madness, Method in, 149. 
 
 Magic, 148. 
 
 Magistrate, determiuing the Man, 
 
 800. 
 Mandrake and Mandragora, 693. 
 Man, FaU of, 408. 
 Man's Body, a musical Instrument, 
 
 418. 
 Man's Life, a Span, 365. 
 Man, a God to Man, 630. 
 Man, a Picture, 367. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 427 
 
 Man in Solitude, a Beast, 442. 
 
 Marigold, 147. 
 
 Marriage of Mind and physical 
 Nature, 492. 
 
 Martlemas, 716. 
 
 Matrimony and Money, 382. 
 
 Matter and Words, 186. 
 
 Mean, Happiness in the, 199. 
 
 Mean Persons, 661. 
 
 Mean Persons, attempting great 
 Things, 807. 
 
 Measures and Weights, 462. 
 
 Meats affected by Animals' Food, 
 727. 
 
 Meats, choleric, 96. 
 
 Meats, sweet, 320. 
 
 Medea, 641. 
 
 Medical Diagnosis, 394. 
 
 Medical Infusions, 642. 
 
 Medicine v. Surgery, 297. 
 
 Medicines for the Mind, 153. 
 
 Medlar, 731. 
 
 Medusa, 536. 
 
 Melting of the Body at Death, 883. 
 
 Men busiest when alone, 472. 
 
 Men, old, miserly, 605. 
 
 Mental Diseases, Kemediesfor, 311. 
 
 Men weak, doing great Things, 
 499. 
 
 Mercy and Justice, 121. 
 
 Mercy, Gates of, 259. 
 
 Mercy in Lions, 740. 
 
 Misery, Examples of, in Others, 782. 
 
 Metempsychosis, 482. 
 
 Method in Madness, 149. 
 
 Microcosm, 296. 
 
 Milo, Bull-bearing, 804. 
 
 Mind and Face to agree, 732. 
 
 Mind and physical Nature, Mar- 
 riage of, 492. 
 
 Miud, Anticipation of, 450. 
 
 Mind, deformed by Age, 129. 
 
 Mind, Dissection of, 437. 
 
 Mind, Distortion of Images in, 520. 
 
 Mind, Influence of, upon the Body. 
 403. 
 
 Mind, Medicines for, 153. 
 Mind, Mirror of Nature, 386. 
 Mind, Painting of, 289. 
 Mind, reflected in Countenance, 
 
 501. 
 Mind, Tables of the, 119. 
 Mind, trained like a Horse, 205. 
 Minerva, Bent of Genius, 714. 
 Mines, Truth hid in, 287. 
 Minors governing, 139. 
 Minotaur and the Labyrinth, 873. 
 Miracles in Adversity, 145. 
 Misanthrope, a Beast, 363. 
 Moles, 246. 
 
 Monarchs, hereditary, 117. 
 Monarchs, not accountable to 
 
 Others, 170. 
 Money in Civil Wars, 761. 
 Money makes Matrimony, 382. 
 Monsters, 651. 
 
 Monument, an enduring, 359. 
 Moon and Saturn, 644. 
 Moon, Influences of the, 759. 
 Moon, Man in the, 640. 
 Moon's Influence on Vegetation, 
 
 495. 
 More, Sir Thomas, 7. 
 Morrow, Good, 777. 
 Motion and Sense, 721. 
 Mountebanks, 504. 
 Muck, the World's, 25. 
 Multiplicity and Unity, 572. 
 Multitude, beastly, 14. 
 Murdered Man's Wounds, 190. 
 Mushrooms, 729. 
 Musical Instruments, automatic, 
 
 265. 
 Music and Poetry, 550. 
 Music, broken, 388. 
 Music, Love, and Flowers,' 206. 
 Music of the dying Swan, 736. 
 Music, Power of, 136. 
 Music, sweet, affecting the Spirits, 
 
 332. 
 Musical Concord, 743. 
 Musings by Night, 234. 
 
428 
 
 BACON JND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Nails, driving of, 83. 
 
 Names, Proper, Signifieancy of, 
 436. 
 
 Narcissus, Beauty of, 638. 
 
 Narcissus, Flowers of, 497. 
 
 Nature, Account of, to be rendered, 
 371. 
 
 Nature and Art, Eelations between, 
 342. 
 
 Nature and Custom, 306. 
 
 Nature and Fortune, 760. 
 
 Nature, Custom, the Ape of, 306. 
 
 Nature, furnishing Models for hu- 
 man Society, 373. 
 
 Nature, Human, Herbs or Weeds 
 in, 350. 
 
 Nature, Mind a Mirror of, 386. 
 
 Nature, Persistence of, 269. 
 
 Nature, Secrets of, 674. 
 
 Nature, subdued by Custom, 506. 
 
 Nature superior to Art, 294. 
 
 Nature, Vice by, 404. 
 
 Nature's Benefits, a Loan, 468. 
 
 Natures, unsuspecting, 454. 
 
 Navigation, 158. 
 
 Nearest Way, the Foulest, 405. 
 
 Neighbors, 859. 
 
 Nemesis, 529. 
 
 Nero's Passion for the Lute, 598. 
 
 Nightly Musings, 234. 
 
 Nile, Overflowing of the, 632. 
 
 Nothing comes from Nothing, 346. 
 
 Noxious in Studies, 50. 
 
 Oath, a King's, 544. 
 
 Obedience to Rulers, taught by 
 Bees, 116. 
 
 Obedience to Rulers, a Law of Na- 
 ture, 440. 
 
 Obeying by Commanding, 292. 
 
 Obligations, turning Estates into, 
 313. 
 
 Ocean, Water nms to the, 778. 
 
 Odors and crushed Flowers, 719. 
 
 Odors, Raining of, 415. 
 
 Oil in Whales, 637. 
 
 Old Age and Youth, 380. 
 
 Old Age, Abhorrence of, 835. 
 
 Old Age, premature, 496. 
 
 Old Men miserly, 605. 
 
 Olympus, 703. 
 
 Opiates, 39. 
 
 Opinion, 533. 
 
 Opinion determining Value, 432. 
 
 Opportunity, 341. 
 
 Opportunity, suggesting Crime, 
 
 298. 
 Orpheus and the Power of Music, 
 
 136. 
 Orpheus and the Thracian Women, 
 
 208. 
 Ossa, Pelion, and Olympus, 703. 
 Oxen, fat, 706. 
 
 Painting the Face, 178. 
 Painting the Mind, 289. 
 Palatine Counties, 866. 
 Palpable and gross, 470. 
 Pannonians, Armies of, 592. 
 Paracelsus and Galen, 793. 
 Parasites, 532. 
 Pardoning, 780. 
 Parents, Children of good, 23. 
 Parents governed by Children, 89. 
 Parentage, Differences among Chil- 
 dren of same, 439. 
 Parrots laughing, 200. 
 Parthian Arrows, 290. 
 Passions, Conflict of, 198. 
 Patience, 779. 
 
 Patience, Essential to long life, 62. 
 Peace, a Lethargy, 667. 
 Peace, Corruptions in, 339. 
 Pearls, hailing, 305. 
 Pedants, 531. 
 
 Peeping through small Holes, 345. 
 Pegasus and Theseus, 527. 
 Pelion, 703. 
 Perfumes, 766. 
 
 Period, a dark one in Life, 112. 
 Periods of Development, 705. 
 Persecution, Religious, 66. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 429 
 
 Perseus and Pegasus, 527. 
 Perspectives, 239. 
 Persuasion, Art of, 286. 
 Phantasm at Philippi, 428. 
 Philosophers and the Toothache, 
 
 109. 
 Philosopher's Stone and Holy 
 
 Wars, 863. 
 Physician, the true, 254. 
 Physiognomy, 15. 
 Pilots iu calm Weather, 427. 
 Piracy, literary, 303. 
 Pity, 524. 
 
 Planets, Conjunction of, 165. 
 Planets, Predominance of, 602. 
 Planets, reign consecutively, 649. 
 Plants, pricking, 720. 
 Plants, Sex in, 361. 
 Plebeians, 865. 
 Pluto and Plutus, 393. 
 Poetry, Abandonment of, 409. 
 Poetry and Music, 550. 
 Poetry, divine, 549. 
 Poetry, feigned History, 324. 
 Poetry, feigning, 798. 
 Poetiy, a Plant without Seed, 44. 
 Poets, best Delineators of Passions, 
 
 604. 
 Points of the Compass, 613. 
 Poison in Sauces, 215. 
 Poisons, Effect of, on the Body, 
 
 715. 
 Pomegranates, Kernels of, 756. 
 Pomp and Glory, 704. 
 Pompey, Command of the Sea by, 
 
 175. 
 Pompey, Dissimulation of, 176. 
 Pompey's War against Pirates, 787. 
 Portfolio, Bacon's, 636. 
 Portraying Another, as in a Glass, 
 
 467. 
 Posterity, Writing for, 455. 
 Posthumous Fame, 749. 
 Poverty in Wealth, 784. 
 Praemunire, 344. 
 Praise, a Glass, 366. 
 
 Praise, excessive, 243. 
 
 Praise, false, 194. 
 
 Praise harmful, 616. 
 
 Praise in Presence, 600. 
 
 Praise of Self, 304. 
 
 Presages of Death, 1. 
 
 Presumption, 51. 
 
 Priam and his Children, 585. 
 
 Pricking Plants, 720. 
 
 Pride and Envy, 374. 
 
 Pride lacking Hypocrisy, 124. 
 
 Pride, Swelliag of, like Venom, 
 
 526. 
 Prince's Favorites, Screens, 360. 
 Princes, no Confidence in, 846. 
 Princes repudiating evil Agents, 
 
 123. 
 Princes' Speeches, 474. 
 Prison of the Thoughts, 299. 
 Prison, the World a, 219. 
 Prognostics, 556. 
 Prometheus, Discoverer of Fire, 
 
 677. 
 Prometheus tied to Caucasus, 542. 
 Promised End, 566. 
 Prophecy concerning Henry VII., 
 
 162. 
 Prophesying the Future, 882. 
 Protestations, 108. 
 Proteus changing Shapes, 528. 
 Proteus held by the Sleeves, 707. 
 Proud Man devouring himself, 169. 
 Proverb, a Spanish, 74. 
 Prudence, 814. 
 
 Pulse-beats, Measures of Time, 711. 
 Pursuit better than Attainment, 
 
 104. 
 Purveyorship Grievances, 466. 
 Putrefaction, breeding Organisms, 
 
 21. 
 Putrefaction, Origin of Life from, 
 
 22. 
 Pygmalion's Image, 300. 
 
 Quarrels, 843. 
 
 Quarrels over Trifles, 168. 
 
43° 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Question in Cheapside, 797. 
 Questions, Knowledge required to 
 
 ask, 668. 
 Quicksilver, 321. 
 
 Eabble, Applause of, 567. 
 
 Rack, 709. 
 
 Eaiabow sweetening the Ground, 
 
 695. 
 Ranks and Degrees in States, 379. 
 Rarity, Cause of Wonder, 338. 
 Rats forsaking a House, 611. 
 Reading and Spelling, 666. 
 Reason and Affection, 449. 
 Reason, Discourse of, 407. 
 Rebellion against the Belly, 191. 
 Recognition of Friends after long 
 
 Separation, 41. 
 Reflection of Virtue, 63. 
 Region, Rack, and Silence, 92. 
 Repentance impossible, 809. 
 Repugnance to dead Bodies, 228. 
 Repudiation of Agents, 123. 
 Reputation dependent on Rank, 
 
 801. 
 Reputation, Loss of, 370. 
 Results of Acts not Grounds for 
 
 Judgments, 249. 
 Reverence, 722. 
 
 Richard III., as Murderer, 689. 
 Richard III., Deformity of, 59. 
 Riches, Baggage of Virtue, 735. 
 Riches, Distribution of, 182. 
 Rich, making haste to be, 734. 
 Rise and Fall, 523. 
 Robbery on Gad's HiU, 521. 
 Robin Groodfellow, 76. 
 Romans, conquering by sitting 
 
 down, 746. 
 Romans, like Sheep, 733. 
 Roses, Wars of the, 688. 
 Rulers, Faults of, 877. 
 Rulers, frequent Change of, a 
 
 Disadvantage, 181. 
 Rulers, Obedience to, 116. 
 Rumor, 157. 
 
 Sabbath and Sabbaoth, 406. 
 
 Salamander, 758. 
 
 Saffron, 276. 
 
 Salic Law, 163. 
 
 Sanctuary, Privileges of, 876. 
 
 Saturn and Moon, 644. 
 
 Sauces, Poison in, 215. 
 
 Saying and doing, 627. 
 
 Scotland and England, 179. 
 
 Schools, Instruction in, 476. 
 
 Scomer, Reproving a, 783. 
 
 Scrap-books, 264. 
 
 Screens, Prince's Favorites, 360. 
 
 Scylla and Charybdis, 543. 
 
 Scytala, 573. 
 
 Sea, Command of, by Pompey, 175. 
 
 Sea of Troubles, 333. 
 
 Secret Studies, 841. 
 
 Seeds, 398. 
 
 Self-contempt, 195. 
 
 Self-praise, 304. 
 
 Seller's Price, 563. 
 
 Sense and Motion, 721. 
 
 Senses, Instruction through the, 
 
 840. 
 Sensuality in the Liver, 434. 
 Several and Common, 769. 
 Sex in Plants, 361. 
 Shadows, Fighting, 828. 
 Ship on lee Shore, 158. 
 Silence, 387. 
 Silence eloquent, 608. 
 Silence inducing Trust, 70. 
 Silence under Accusation, 126. 
 Silent Letters of the Alphabet, 788. 
 Sin by Law, 530. 
 Sinon, Prototype of Deceit, 376. 
 Slander, 201. 
 
 Sleep, a Nourishment, 433. 
 Sleeping Speech, 861. 
 Snares legal, 622. 
 Snow-balls, 291. 
 
 Snow-water, Effect on Throat, 330. 
 Solar System, Geocentric Theory 
 
 of, 435. 
 Soldiers, given to Love, 36. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 431 
 
 Soldiers, Iron, 174. 
 Soldiers, Sinews of War, 618. 
 Solitude, Man in, 442. 
 Solomon, Wisdom of, 675. 
 Solyman's Campaigns ia Persia, 
 
 631. 
 Sonnet, 678. 
 
 Sorrow, Expression of, 242. 
 Sorrows, our Schoolmasters, 826. 
 Soul and Body, League of, 209. 
 Soul, compounded of Flame and 
 
 Air, 456. 
 Soul, Location of, 17. 
 Souls, Two, in every Man, 261. 
 Sound and Light, 285. 
 Sounds by Night, 293. 
 Sounds from empty Casks, 366. 
 Sounds, Sympathy in, 252. 
 Sours and Sweets, 850. 
 Southampton, 114. 
 South Sea of Discovery, 659. 
 South Wind, bringing Rain, 785. 
 South Wind, pestilential, 786. 
 Span, the Life of Man a, 365. 
 Spartans, cipher Message of, 573. 
 Species, Transmutation of, 728. 
 Speculations, vain, 484. 
 Speech, a Rod, 610. 
 Speech, sleeping, 861. 
 Spelling and Reading, 666. 
 Spheres, Harmony of the, 60. 
 Spiders' Webs, 558. 
 Spirit, mastering, 16. 
 Spirits affected by sweet Music, 
 
 332. 
 Spirits in inanimate Bodies, 589. 
 Sport for the Gods, 100. 
 Stage-playing and Bashfulness, 
 
 593. 
 Stage, the World, 133. 
 Stanley, Sir William, crowning 
 
 Henry VII., 416. 
 Star, Csesar's, 383. 
 Star-Chamber, 280. 
 Stars are Fires, 446. 
 Stars, a Show, 196. 
 
 Stars, like Frets, 315. 
 
 Step-mothers, 84. 
 
 Stings in Words, 565. 
 
 Stoics, 575. 
 
 Stone, Wood turning into, 657. 
 
 Stones, valued according to Fancy, 
 
 443. 
 Storms, Waters swelling before, 
 
 316. 
 Strawberries, growing in Shade, 
 
 730. 
 String, harping on, 396. 
 Studies, contemplative, 594. 
 Studies noxious, 50. 
 Studies, secret, 841. 
 Studies, to follow Inclination, 591. 
 Stumbling at the Threshold, 833. 
 Stumbling in Haste, 857. 
 Sufferance gives Ease, 808. 
 Suicide justifiable, 755. 
 Suits, to grant and to deny, 68. 
 Sultan, slaying his Brothers, 391. 
 Sun and Tapers, 803. 
 Sun, Fountain of Light, 681. 
 Sun, Motions of, 654. 
 Surgery vs. Medicine, 297. 
 Suspicion, Cure of, 498. 
 Suspicion in Kings, 272. 
 Suspicious Persons, 160. 
 Suum cuique, 792. 
 Swan, Music of the dying, 736. 
 Sweating Sickness, 691. 
 Sweets and Sours, 850. 
 Swimming on Bladders, 609. 
 Swooning at Sight of Blood, 752. 
 Sword, the, a Pleader, 310. 
 Swords of Lead, 763. 
 Sylla, Character of, 599. 
 SyUogisms, 881. 
 
 Tables of the Mind, 119. 
 Tales for Old and Young, 478. 
 Talk by Fireside, 152. 
 Tapers and the Sun, 803. 
 Tasted, chewed, swallowed, and 
 digested, 325. 
 
432 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Tedium of Life, 486, 
 Teeth on Edge, 751. 
 Telepathy, 244. 
 Tempests and Wars, 377. 
 Terebration of Trees, 161. 
 Theatre and World, 662. 
 Thebes, frequent Capture of, 634. 
 Theseus and Ariadne, 702. 
 Things at the Worst, 776. 
 Things done, 815. 
 Things unnoticed, 431. 
 Things unseen do not affect us, 
 
 813. 
 Thorns, young, 745. 
 Thought, a Prison, 299. 
 Thought is free, 837. 
 Thrasonical Behavior, 213. 
 Throat, Effect on, of drinking 
 
 Snow Water, 330. 
 Thunder, affecting Eels, 340. 
 Thunder, Cause of, 673. 
 Tickling, 694. 
 Time, Advantage of, 334. 
 Time, devouring, 493. 
 Time, noiseless, 829. 
 Time, Office of, to disclose Truth, 
 
 460. 
 Time, our Interpreter, 218. 
 Time, wisest of aU Things, 621. 
 Timon's Tree, 281. 
 Titan's Rays, 539. 
 Toad's Head, Jewel in, 102. 
 To be, or not to be, 738. 
 To-morrow, 871. 
 
 Tooth-ache and Philosophers, 109. 
 Tops of Virtues, 258. 
 Towns, Depopulation of, 483. 
 Transmutation of Species, 728. 
 Travel, Affectations of, 225. 
 Travel, educational Influence of, 
 
 125. 
 Treason, speaking behind Doors, 
 
 856. 
 Treason, Punishments of Men and 
 
 Women for, 643, 875. 
 Trees, Ivy on, 317. 
 
 Trees, grafting old, 658. 
 
 Trees, Terebration of, 161. 
 
 Trees, Knots in, 230. 
 
 Trees, Love- verses on, 699. 
 
 Trees, wounded, 161. 
 
 Trial by Eire, 140. 
 
 Trifles, quarrelling over, 168. 
 
 Troubles, Sea of, 333. 
 
 Troy, inside and without, 284, 
 
 True to one's Self, 855. 
 
 Trust, induced by Silence, 70. 
 
 Truth, forged on Anvils, 288. 
 
 Truth, hid in Mines, 287. 
 
 Truth, sovereign, 471. 
 
 Truth, telling a Lie to find, 74 . 
 
 Tuning Instruments, 612. 
 
 Turks, forbidding Duelling, 132. 
 
 Turks, the, common Enemies of 
 
 Mankind, 349. 
 Turks, Treatment of Women by, 
 
 862. 
 Two Worlds, 879. 
 Typhon, 554. 
 Tyrants, killing of, lawful, 603. 
 
 Ulysses, 789. 
 
 Unicom, 701. 
 
 Union, 138. 
 
 Unity and Multiplicity, 572. 
 
 Unsuspecting Natures, 454. 
 
 Useless Lives, 402. 
 
 Vacuum, 48. 
 
 Valor, 822. 
 
 Vanity, 177. 
 
 Vapor, 525. 
 
 Vegetation, Moon's Influence on, 
 
 495. 
 Velocity and Weight, 438. 
 Vengeance, Forgiveness better 
 
 than, 172. 
 Verbosity, 307. 
 Vice by Nature, 404. 
 Vice, Constancy in, 211. 
 Vice in Garb of Virtue, 229. 
 Vicissitudes, 781. 
 
PARALLELISMS 
 
 433 
 
 Vigils and Feasts, 569. 
 
 Vine and Elder-tree, 6. 
 
 Vine and Elm-tree, 260. 
 
 Violets, white, 24. 
 
 Virtue, a Cause of Ruin, 607. 
 
 Virtue and Beauty, 156. 
 
 Virtue, Assumption of, 98. 
 
 Virtue is Beauty, 583. 
 
 Virtue, not Praise, one's proper 
 
 Aim, 245. 
 Virtue, Reflection of, 63. 
 Virtue, the Garb of Vice, 229. 
 Virtues, condemned for, 144. 
 Virtues, Tops of, 258. 
 Vivisection, 142. 
 Voice and Ear, 816. 
 
 Walls and Bulwarks of England, 
 270. 
 
 Walk, invisible, 216. 
 
 Walking Woods, 217. 
 
 War, Chances in, 88. 
 
 War, civil, a Fever, 378. 
 
 Wards, bestowed by Kings in Mar- 
 riage, 458. 
 
 Wars and Tempests, 377. 
 
 Wars, civil. Use of Money in, 761. 
 
 Wars, foreign, 811. 
 
 Wars, holy, 863. 
 
 Wars of the Roses, 688. 
 
 Warwick, wind-changing, 184. 
 
 Watchmen, 171. 
 
 Water runs to the Ocean, 778. 
 
 Water-spouts, 101. 
 
 Waters, swelling before Storms, 
 316. 
 
 Wax Candles, 718. 
 
 Wax, tempering of, 420. 
 
 Wealth despised by the Poor, 586. 
 
 Wealth in a State, an Evil, 534. 
 
 Wealth, Poverty in, 784. 
 
 Weed, 399. 
 
 Weight and Velocity, 438. 
 
 Weights and Measures, 462. 
 
 Whales, Oil in, 637. 
 
 Wheel of Fortune, 601. 
 
 Wheel, Death of Elizabeth, turn- 
 ing of, 204. 
 
 Wheels, World running on, 64. 
 
 Wick in Flames, 717. 
 
 Wife, controlling Husband, 292. 
 
 WiU and Wish, 796. 
 
 Wills, Repugnance to making, 392. 
 
 Wind, a Broom, 61. 
 
 Wind, east, 614. 
 
 Wind, ill, 590. 
 
 Wind, south, bringing Rain, 785. 
 
 Wind south, pestilential, 786. 
 
 Window of the Heart, 357. 
 
 Winds, testing Direction of, 757. 
 
 Wine, a Devil, 348. 
 
 Wine-drinking, Effect of, 754. 
 
 Wine, good, needing no Bush, 401. 
 
 Winnowing with Fan, 384. 
 
 Wisdom and Folly, 762. 
 
 Wisdom and her Children, 477. 
 
 Wisdom, Pretence of, 220. 
 
 Wise Man and Fool, 221. 
 
 Witchcraft in Love, 461. 
 
 Witches, 167. 
 
 Witches' Cauldron, 490. 
 
 Witches, operating through inter- 
 mediate Agents, 509. 
 
 Wives murdering Husbands, 511. 
 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, 323. 
 
 Woman, a Composite, 18. 
 
 Woman, ill or well, at her Option, 
 842. 
 
 Woman, Nature of, 52. 
 
 Women, banished from Court, 143. 
 
 Women, how treated by Turks, 
 862. 
 
 Wonder, caused by Rarity, 338. 
 
 Wonder, divine, 768. 
 
 Wonder, Duration of a, 223. 
 
 Wood, turning to Stone, 657. 
 
 Woods walking, 217. 
 
 Word, a long, 8. 
 
 Words, Accents of, 561. 
 
 Words and Matter, 186. 
 
 Words, sounding, but signifying 
 nothing, 189. 
 
 23 
 
434 
 
 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 Words, Stings in, 565. 
 
 Words to Losers, 812. 
 
 Working others for Selfish Ends, 
 
 485. 
 World, the, a Prison, 219. 
 World, final Conflagration of, 655. 
 World, formed from Atoms, 500. 
 World, the, a Stage, 133. 
 World, the, a Theatre, 662. 
 Worlds, two, 879. 
 Worst, Things at the, 776. 
 Wounds of the murdered, bleeding 
 
 afresh, 190. 
 
 Wrinkling of Bodies in old Age, 
 
 111. 
 Writing for Posterity, 455. 
 Writing for the Future, 187. 
 Wrong in high Places, 494. 
 Wrongs, honest, 741. 
 Wrongs, when justifiable, 45. 
 
 Youth and old Age, 380. 
 Youth, Divineness in, 584. 
 Youth of the World, our Antiquity, 
 263. 
 
 The citations, given under our parallelisms, are taken 
 from the respective vrorks of the two authors, in number as 
 follows : 
 
 Shake-speaee 
 
 The Tempest 38 
 
 The Two Gentlemen of Verona 22 
 
 The Merry Wives of Windsor 18 
 
 Measure for Measure ... 29 
 
 The Comedy of Errors . . 6 
 
 Much Ado About Nothing . 17 
 
 Love's Labor '% Lost ... 36 
 
 A Midsummer-Night's Dream 29 
 
 The Merchant of Venice . . 42 
 
 As You Like It 43 
 
 The Taming of the Shrew . 16 
 
 All 'a Well that Ends Well . 23 
 
 Twelfth Night 23 
 
 The Winter's Tale .... 19 
 
 King John 17 
 
 King Richard II 21 
 
 First Part of King Henry IV. 16 
 
 Second Part of King Henry -^j^^jg number 
 
 IV 31 
 
 King Henry V 42 
 
 First Part of King Henry VI. 16 
 Second Part of King Henry 
 
 VI 24 
 
 Bacon 
 
 Novum Organum .... 15 
 Advancement of Learning 
 
 (first edition, 1605). . . 128 
 Advancement of Learning 
 
 (second edition, 1623) . . 107 
 
 Sylva Syl varum .... 105 
 
 History of Henry VII. . . 33 
 
 The Essays 138 
 
 New Atlantis 5 
 
 The Apothegms .... 19 
 
 Philosophical Tracts ... 41 
 
 Law Tracts 28 
 
 Wisdom of the Ancients . . 45 
 
 Speeches 73 
 
 Letters 60 
 
 Miscellanies 88 
 
 Promus 126 
 
 . 1,010 
 
PARALLELISMS 435 
 
 Shake-spearb Bacon 
 
 Third Part of King Henry VI. 27 
 
 King Richard III 26 
 
 King Henry VIII 24 
 
 Troilus and Cressida ... 57 
 
 Coriolanus 45 
 
 Titus Andronicus .... 28 
 
 Romeo and Juliet .... 35 
 
 Timon of Athens .... 36 
 
 Julius Ceesar 53 
 
 Macbeth 35 
 
 Hamlet 84 
 
 King Lear 35 
 
 Othello 35 
 
 Anthony and Cleopatra . . 39 
 
 CymbeUne 29 
 
 Pericles 14 
 
 Venus and Adonis .... 4 
 
 Lucrece 8 
 
 Sonnets 48 
 
 The Passionate Pilgrim . . 5 
 
 The Phoenis and Turtle . . 
 
 Whole number of passages 
 
 cited, respectively . .1,191 
 
 No comment on the above table seems to be needed, 
 except perhaps in regard to the Promus. The Promus bears 
 two dates, namely : December 5, 1594, at which time, or there- 
 abouts, it was begmi, and January 27, 1595-96, when (prob- 
 ably after a brief interval) work upon it was resumed. 
 Between these two dates, or within less than one year and 
 two months after the book was started, very nearly three- 
 quarters of all the entries made in it, or (to speak more 
 exactly) twelve hundred and twenty-nine out of one thou- 
 sand six hundred and fifty-three, were written.* That is to 
 say, the memorandum book was nearly completed before the 
 Shake-speare plays, with two exceptions, came from the 
 
 1 Ninety-three were entered previously to the first-named date. 
 
436 BACON AND SHAKESPEARE 
 
 press. The exceptions were ' King John ' (1591), and 
 the Second Part of ' King Henry VI. (1594), from neither 
 of which is drawn, however, a single parallelism given by 
 us herein. The earliest printed play in which any of the 
 foregoing passages have been found bears date 1597. 
 
 It follows, then, not that Bacon made use of the Plays for 
 his memorandum book, but that the dramatist made use of 
 the memorandum book for his Plays. But the memorandum 
 book, or Promus, was Bacon's private property, not known 
 to his contemporaries, and not printed until 1883, or two 
 hundred and fifty-seven years after his death.^ These paral- 
 lelisms are, therefore, either the independent product of two 
 minds (which is practically impossible) or the common 
 product of one, and that one, necessarily. Bacon's. 
 
 The argument from parallelisms in general may be stated 
 thus : one parallelism has no significance ; five parallelisms 
 attract attention ; ten suggest inquiry ; twenty raise a pre- 
 sumption ; fifty establish a probability ; one hundred dissolve 
 every doubt. 
 
 Eespecting the foregoing list, in particular, it is important 
 to remember that the two authors whose sentiments are here 
 compared stood at the opposite ends of the social scale, as 
 unlike in environment and natural views of life as it was 
 possible for them to be. The one, an aristocrat ; the other, 
 a plebeian. The one, the first subject of the realm ; the 
 other, attached to a profession in which all were by law 
 vagabonds. The one, highly educated at home and abroad ; 
 the other, as shown by the record of his life, whoUy uned- 
 ucated. The one, belonging to a family of illustrious states- 
 men and scholars ; the other, to one whose members, so far 
 as our knowledge of them extends, were illiterate and inex- 
 pressibly vulgar. The one, the profoundest writer of his age 
 
 '1 Mrs. Henry Pott'a "Bacon's Promus." Boston, Houghton, Mifflin & 
 
 Co., 1883. 
 
PARALLELISMS 437 
 
 on innumerable points in philosophy, science, art, law, govern- 
 ment, and manners and customs of society, such as we find, 
 here, there, and everywhere, in the Plays ; the other, recog- 
 nized by three of his fellow-townsmen as a business man 
 only; by three, perhaps four, of contemporary playwrights 
 in London as an impostor ; but to all others of his generation 
 of whom we have any report, apparently unknown.^ That 
 two diverse personalities of this kind could have been poised 
 on the same intellectual centre, and developed, as our paral- 
 lelisms show that, on the generally accepted theory of 
 authorship, they must have been developed, along identical 
 lines of thought in almost every conceivable direction, is, to 
 our mind at least, simply incredible. 
 
 " The wonderful parallelisms must and will be wrought out and 
 followed out to such fair conclusions as they shall be found to 
 force honest minds to adopt." — Oliver WENnELL Holmes. 
 
 1 For facts supporting these statements, see our "Bacon w. Shakspere," 
 8th ed., Chapter II. 
 
INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 [The numerals denote number of parallelism in which name occurs.] 
 
 Abbott, Edwaed A., 116, 777. 
 
 Aoosta, 557. 
 
 .ffischylus, 119, 490. 
 
 Alderson, E. S., 379. 
 
 Alger, William E., 69. 
 
 Anaximenes, 650. 
 
 ApeUes, 18. 
 
 Aristotle, 5, 69, 525, 597, 645, 646. 
 
 Augustine, St., 22, 115, 217. 
 
 Aurelius, Marcus, 771. 
 
 Bacon, Nicholas, 199, 742. 
 Bengough, Edmund, 362. 
 Blackstone, 488. 
 Bodley, Sir Thomas, 2. 
 Boener, Peter, 234. 
 Bradley, Heniy, 1. 
 Brown, Eobert, 95. 
 Brutus, 274, 413. 
 Burleigh, Lord, 237. 
 
 CaiSALPiNtrs, 361. 
 
 Caldicott, Thomas, 227. 
 
 Campbell, Lord Chief Justice, 236, 
 
 457, 459, 462. 
 Chappell, William, 388. 
 Carew, SirG., 114. 
 Cardanus, 1, n., 341. 
 Camappe, 1. 
 Castle, Edward J., 310. 
 Caxton, William, 390, 407. 
 Cecil, Robert, 114. 
 Chaucer, 322. 
 Cicero, 115, 175, 196, 626. 
 Cibber, CoUey, 390. 
 Coke, Sir Edward, 121, 236. 
 Copernicus, 267, 435. 
 Copus, 1, 11. 
 
 Cotgrave, 390. 
 Coverdale, Miles, 322, 890. 
 Cranfield, Lord, 24. 
 Creighton, C, 1. 
 
 Dante, 8, 110, 193, 885. 
 Davidson, Thomas, 1. 
 Democritus, 645. 
 Diogenes Laertius, 12, 414. 
 Dionysius, 546. 
 Dixon, Hepworth, 411. 
 Dixon, Theron S. E., 68, n., 447, 458. 
 Donnelly, Ignatius, 109, 384, 385, 
 
 391, 392, 422, 425, 426, 430, 432, 
 
 433. 
 Douce, Francis, 1. 
 Dryerre, Henry, 8, n. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 37, 114, 308, 
 
 410, 411, 489, 653. 
 EUacombe, Henry N., 24. 
 Elze, Carl, 85. 
 Epicurus, 414, 551. 
 Erasmus, 20, 42, 69, 341, 844. 
 Essex, Earl of, 7, 114, 274, 411, 483, 
 
 653. 
 Euripides, 540, 780. 
 
 Plokio, 407. 
 Ford, John, 390. 
 Fumess, Horace H., 407. 
 FumivaU, Frederic J., 274. 
 
 Galen, 1, 85, 771. 
 Gervinus, Georg G., 37. 
 Gibbon, Edward, 58. 
 Gower, John, 322. 
 Gruter, Isaac, 738. 
 
440 
 
 INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 Hakluyt, Richard, 91. 
 
 Harvey, "William, 85, 142. 
 
 Heraclitus, 650. 
 
 Herodicus, 597. 
 
 Heywood, Thomas, 390. 
 
 Hilliard, Nicholas, 289. 
 
 Hippocrates, 1, 85. 
 
 Holinshed, 59, 162, 163. 
 
 Holmes, Nathaniel, 16, 47, 58, 85, 
 
 120, 466, 469, 492, 493. 
 Homer, 490, 707. 
 Hudson, Henry N., 110, 151. 
 Hunter, Joseph, 1. 
 Huon, 148. 
 Hyginus, 707. 
 
 IsADORB, St., 22. 
 
 James, George, 157, 160, 161, 166, 
 
 303, 571, 588. 
 James I., 43, 121, 309, 665. 
 Johnson, Samuel, 24, 227, 354, 885. 
 Jonson, Ben, 187, 289. 
 
 Keats, John, 885. 
 Knight, Charles, 115, 353. 
 
 Lowell, James Eussell, 841. 
 Luoan, 490. 
 Lucian, 281. 
 Lucretius, 129. 
 
 Magellan, Ferdinand, 557. 
 
 Main, David M., 92. 
 
 Mallory, 390. 
 
 Marbeck, John, 390. 
 
 Massey, Gerald, 164. 
 
 Matthew, Sir Toby, 11, 172, 684. 
 
 Meautys, Sir Thomas, 832. 
 
 Montaigne, Michel, 534. 
 
 Moore, Col. H. L., 38, n., 204, 484, 
 
 485. 
 More, Sir Thomas, 7, 59, n., 217. 
 Musatns, Albertus, 8. 
 
 NioHOL, John, 9. 
 
 Nicholas, 890. 
 
 North, Sir Thomas, 58. 
 
 Ovid, 490, 707. 
 
 Paeaoblsits, 85. 
 
 Perkins, William, 390. 
 
 Phaedrus, 341. 
 
 Philip, 103. 
 
 Plato, 19, 87, 115, 217, 645. 
 
 Pliny, 6, 12, 40, 91, 118. 
 
 Plutarch, 58, 80, 166, 191, 274, 281, 
 
 413, 653. 
 Pompey, 175, 176. 
 Porta, 6. 
 
 Pope, Alexander, 333. 
 Pott, Mrs. Henry, 777. 
 Publilius Syrus, 32, 292. 
 Purchas, 684. 
 
 Eabblais, 1, n., 841. 
 Raleigh, Sir "Walter, 8, n. 
 Eawley, "William, 58. 
 Reynolds, Samuel H., 233. 
 Roe, J. E., 373. 
 
 Euggles, Henry J., 81, 851, 356, 
 501, 782. 
 
 Sandys, George, 632. 
 
 Sappho, 1. 
 
 Sayer, Elizabeth Price, 110. 
 
 Seneca, 490. 
 
 Servetus, 85. 
 
 Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 885. 
 
 Sidney, Sir PhUip, 191. 
 
 Solyman, 631. 
 
 Smith, John, 390. 
 
 Somerset, Earl and Countess, 215. 
 
 Southampton, 114. 
 
 Spedding, James, 8, »., 60, 114, 217, 
 
 263, 292, 411, n., 662, 832. 
 Stanley, Sir "William, 416. 
 Staunton, Howard, 466, ■«. 
 Steele, Sir Richard, 390. 
 Steevens, George, 354. 
 Stronach, George, 8, n. 
 Suetonius, 413. 
 
 Tacitits, 54. 
 Tennyson, Alfred, 86. 
 Thales, 650. 
 Themistocles, 175. 
 Theobald, Lewis, 353. 
 Theobald, Robert M., 25, 145. 
 
INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 441 
 
 Timotheus, 51. 
 Titus, 118. 
 
 Udall, Nicholas, 390. 
 Upton, Prebendary, 60, 490. 
 
 Valeeius Maximits, 12. 
 Vergil, Polydore, 59, n. 
 ViUiers, 360. 
 
 Virgil, 3, 79, 157, 376, 383, 490, 
 699, 703, 707. 
 
 Wakd, Sbth, 390. 
 Warwick, 184. 
 Weever, John, 274. 
 
 White, Richard G., 492, 709. 
 
 Whittier, John G., 885. 
 
 Wigston, W. F. C, 174, 175, 183, 
 
 192, 196, 200, 243, 247, 372, 374, 
 
 381, 431, 441, 514. 
 WilUams, Sir E., 390. 
 Wilkes, George, 14. 
 Windle, Mrs. C. F. A., 393. 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, 704. 
 Wordsworth, 227. 
 Wright, Aldis A., 388. 
 Wyclif, 322, 390. 
 
 Zeitxis, 18.