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 ESSAYS, 
 
 MORAL, ECONOMICAL, 
 
 AND 
 
 POLITICAL. 
 
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 ESSAYS 
 
 MORAL, ECONOMICAL, 
 
 POLITICAL. 
 
 Entered 
 
 1'^ J 
 FRJNWtS BACON, 
 
 BARON OF VERULAM, 
 
 AND 
 
 VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR T.PAYNE, MEWS GATE, 
 
 1801. 
 

 ^>v 
 
 S. HAMILTON, PRINTFR, FALCON-COURT. 
 
 West. Bes. *>.» 
 
 (^ 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The illustrious Author of these Essays is so 
 generally known as a man and a writer, that 
 any particular account of him on the present 
 occasion would be superfluous. To dwell, 
 indeed, on the incidents of my Lord Bacon's 
 life would be an unpleasant and mortifying 
 task : for ever must it be deplored by the lover 
 of literature and his species, that the possessor 
 of this extraordinary intellect should have 
 been exposed to the dangers of a situation 
 to which his firmness was unequal ; and, with- 
 drawn from the retirement of his study, where 
 he was the first of men, should have been 
 thrown into the tumult of business, where he 
 discovered himself to be among the last. The 
 superiority, it is true, of his talents rendered 
 him every where eminent ; and when we see 
 him acting at court, in the senate, at the bar, 
 
11 
 
 or on the bench, we behold an engine of 
 mighty force, sufficient, as it would appear, to 
 move the world : but when we carry our re- 
 search into his bosom, we find nothing there but 
 the ebullition and froth of some common or cor- 
 rupt passions ; and we are struck with the con- 
 trast between the littleness within, and the exhi- 
 bition of energy without. But peace be to the 
 failings of this wonderful man ! they who alone 
 were affected by them, his contemporaries and 
 himself, have long since passed to their account; 
 and existing no more as the statesman or the 
 judge, he survives to us only in his works as the 
 father of experimental physics, and a great lu- 
 minary of science. 
 
 In his literary character he must always 
 be contemplated with astonishment; and we 
 cannot sufficiently wonder at the riches or 
 the powers of his mind; at that penetration 
 which no depth could elude ; that comprehen- 
 sion for which no object was too large; that 
 vigour which no labour could exhaust; that 
 memory which no pressure of acquisitions 
 could subdue. By his two great works, " On 
 " the Advancement of Learning," and " The 
 " New Organ of the Sciences/' written amid 
 
Ill 
 
 the distraction of business and of cares, sufficient 
 of themselves to have occupied the whole, of any 
 other mind, did this mighty genius first break 
 the shackles of that scholastic philosophy which 
 had long crushed the human intellect ; and, di- 
 verting the attention from words to things, from 
 theory to experiment, demonstrate the road to 
 that height of science on which the moderns 
 are now seated, and which the ancients were 
 unable to reach. 
 
 But these grand displays of his genius and 
 knowledge are now chiefly regarded as they 
 present to the curious an illustrious evidence 
 of the powers of the human mind. Having 
 awakened and directed the exertions of Eu- 
 rope, the usefulness of these writings has in a 
 great degree been superseded by the labours 
 of the subsequent adventurers in science; who, 
 pursuing the track marked out for them by 
 their great master, have found it opening into 
 a region of clear and steady light. Of the 
 ether works of this great man, which were 
 objects of admiration to his own times, the 
 following Essays are perhaps the only ones 
 which retain much of their pristine popularity. 
 His law treatises have always been restricted by 
 
iv 
 
 their subject within the line of a professional 
 circle : of his state papers and speeches the 
 power has expired with the interest of those 
 events to which they were attached ; and his 
 History of Henry the Seventh, blemished as it is 
 with something more than those defects of style 
 which, from the example and patronage, of a 
 pedant king, then began to infect the purity of 
 our composition, is in these days consulted only 
 by the few. 
 
 But these Essays, written at a period of 
 better taste, and on subjects of immediate 
 importance to the conduct of common life, 
 " such as come home to men's business and 
 " bosoms/' are still read with pleasure, and 
 continue to possess, in the present age, nearly 
 as much estimation as they did in that which 
 witnessed their first publication. From the 
 circumstance of their having engaged his at- 
 tention at different and remote intervals of his 
 life, they appear to have shared a more than 
 common portion of their great author's regard ; 
 and they are evidently composed in his happiest 
 manner, and with the full stretch of his powers. 
 In them we are presented with all the wisdom 
 which the deepest erudition could recover from 
 
the gulph of buried ages ; and with all that also 
 which the most sagacious and accurate obser- 
 vation could select from the spectacle of the 
 passing scene : in them we behold imagination 
 and knowledge equally successful in their ex- 
 ertions; this as the contributor of truths, and 
 that as opening her affluent wardrobe for their 
 dress ; one like the earth throwing out of her 
 bosom the organized forms of matter, and the 
 other like the sun arraying them in an endless 
 variety of hues. 
 
 Of the Essay, that most agreeable and 
 perhaps most useful vehicle of instruction, my 
 Lord Bacon must be considered, at least in our 
 own country, as the inventor; and to the suc- 
 cess of his attempt may be ascribed that nu- 
 merous race of writers, to whose short and 
 entertaining lessons the public mind may be re- 
 garded as principally indebted for its present 
 cultivation and refinement. 
 
 Thus strongly recommended by their in- 
 trinsic worth, these Essays possess also an addi- 
 tional and accidental value, from the circum- 
 stance of their constituting all which, in some 
 sense, remains of their admirable author. His 
 other works, as it has been already remarked, 
 
VI 
 
 are in fact extinct to the many, and now ge- 
 nerally known only as a mighty name : and the 
 writer of these shorter compositions, the great 
 Lord Bacon, may not improperly be considered 
 as shrunk, like the ashes of an Alexander in a 
 golden urn, within the limits of this little but 
 sterling volume. 
 
ESSAYS OR COUNSELS, 
 
 CIVIL AND MORAL. 
 
 TO MR. ANTHONY BACON, 
 
 My dear Brother. 
 
 Loving and beloved brother, I do now like 
 some that have an orchard ill neighboured, 
 that gather their fruit before it is ripe, to pre- 
 vent stealing. These fragments of my con- 
 ceits were going to print : to labour the stay 
 of them had been troublesome, and subject to 
 interpretation; to let them pass had been to 
 adventure the wrong they might receive by 
 untrue copies, or by some garnishment which 
 it might please any that should set them forth 
 to bestow upon them ; therefore I held it best 
 discretion to publish them myself, as they 
 passed long ago from my pen, without any 
 further disgrace than the weakness of the 
 author; and as I did ever hold, there might 
 be as great a vanity in retiring and withdraw- 
 ing men's conceits, (except they be of some 
 
via 
 
 nature,) from the world, as in obtruding them: 
 so in these particulars I have played myself the 
 inquisitor, and find nothing to my understand- 
 ing in them contrary or infectious to the state 
 of religion or manners, but rather, as I sup- 
 pose, medicinable : only I disliked now to put 
 them out, because they will be like the late 
 new halfpence, which though the silver were 
 good, yet the pieces were small ; but since 
 they would not stay with their master but 
 would needs travel abroad, I have preferred 
 ihem to you "that are next myself; dedicating 
 them, such as they are, to our love, in the 
 depth whereof, I assure you, I sometimes 
 wish your infirmities translated upon myself, 
 that her majesty might have the service of so 
 active and able a mind ; and I might be with 
 excuse confined to these contemplations and 
 studies, for which I am fittest : so commend I 
 you to the preservation of the Divine Majesty. 
 
 Your entire loving brother, 
 
 Fran. Bacon. 
 
 From my chamber at Gray's Inn, 
 this 30th of January 1597. 
 
IX 
 
 To my loving Brother, 
 SIR JOHN CONSTABLE, KT. 
 
 My last Essays I dedicated to my dear brother, 
 Mr. Anthony Bacon, who is with God. Look- 
 ing amongst my papers this vacation, I found 
 others o£ the same nature ; which if I myself 
 shall not suffer to be lost, it seemeth the world 
 will not, by the often printing of the former. 
 Missing my brother, I found you next ; in 
 respect of bond both of near alliance, and of 
 straight friendship and society, and particularly 
 of communication in studies ; wherein I must 
 acknowledge myself beholding to you : for as 
 my business found rest in my contemplations, 
 so my contemplations ever found rest in your 
 loving conference and judgment : so wishing 
 you all good, I remain 
 
 Your loving brother and friend, 
 
 l6l2. Fka. Bacon. 
 
X 
 
 TO THE 
 
 Right Honourable my tery good Lord 
 THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, 
 
 His Grace Lord High Admiral of England. 
 
 Excellent Lord, 
 
 Solomon says, " A good name is as a precious 
 " ointment ;" and I assure myself such will your 
 Grace's name be with posterity : for your for- 
 tune and merit both have been eminent ; and 
 you have planted things that are like to last. I 
 do now publish my Essays ; which, of all my 
 other works, have been most current : for that, 
 as it seems, they come home to men's business 
 and bosoms. I have enlarged them both in 
 number and weight ; so that they are indeed 
 a new work : I thought it therefore agreeable 
 to my affection and obligation to your Grace, 
 to prefix your name before them both in Eng- 
 lish and Latin: for I do conceive, that the 
 Latin volume of them, being in the universal 
 language, may last as long as books last. 
 My Instauration I dedicated to the King ; my 
 
XI 
 
 History of Henry the Seventh, which I have 
 now translated into Latin, and my portions of 
 Natural History, to the Prince ; and these I de- 
 dicate to your Grace, being of the best fruits, 
 that, by the good increase which God gives to 
 my pen and labours, I could yield. God lead 
 your Grace by the hand. 
 
 Your Grace's most obliged 
 
 And faithful servant, 
 
 Fr. St. Alban. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Of Truth 1 
 
 Death 5 
 
 Unity in Religion 8 
 
 Revenge 16 
 
 Adversity 18 
 
 Simulation and Dissimulation 20 
 
 Parents and Children 25 
 
 Marriage and Single Life 28 
 
 Envy 31 
 
 Love 40 
 
 Great Place 43 
 
 Boldness 49 
 
 Goodness, and Goodness of Nature 52 
 
 A King 56 
 
 Nobility - 60 
 
 Seditions and Troubles 63 
 
 Atheism - 75 
 
 Superstition 79 
 
 Travel 82 
 
 Empire 86 
 
 Counsel • • 94 
 
 Delays 102 
 
 Cunning 104 
 
 Wisdom for a Man's Self 110 
 
 Innovations • • 1 13 
 
 Dispatch 115 
 
 Seeming Wise 118 
 
 Friendship • 120 
 
 Expense * . 133 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Of The True Greatness of Kingdoms and 
 
 Estates . . 135 
 
 Regimen of Health 151 
 
 Suspicion . 154 
 
 Discourse 156 
 
 Plantations 159 
 
 Riches .. . 164- 
 
 Prophecies 170 
 
 Ambition 175 
 
 Masques and Triumphs 178 
 
 Nature in Men 181 
 
 Custom and Education 184 
 
 Fortune 187 
 
 Usury 190 
 
 Youth and Age 196 
 
 Beauty 199 
 
 Deformity 201 
 
 Building 204 
 
 Gardens 211 
 
 Negociating . . 222 
 
 Followers and Friends . . . 225 
 
 " Suitors 227 
 
 Studies 231 
 
 Faction . . . . , 233 
 
 Ceremonies and Respects 236 
 
 Praise . 239 
 
 Vain Glory 242 
 
 Honour and Reputation . 245 
 
 Judicature 248 
 
 Anger 255 
 
 Vicissitude of Things 258 
 
 A Fragment of an Essay on Fame 268 
 
 S. Hamilton, Printer, Falcon Court, Fleet Street, London. 
 
ESSAYS 
 
 CIVIL AND MORAL. 
 
 OF TRUTH. 
 
 What is truth ? said jesting Pilate, and would 
 not stay for an answer. Certainly there be that 
 delight in giddiness, and count it a bondage to 
 fix a belief, affecting free-will in thinking, as 
 well as in acting; and, though the sects of 
 philosophers of that kind be gone, yet there 
 remain certain discoursing wits which are of 
 the same veins, though there be not so much 
 blood in them as was in those of the ancients. 
 But it is not only the difficulty and labour 
 which men take in finding out of truth ; nor 
 again, that, when it is found, it imposeth upon 
 men's thoughts that doth bring lies in favour ; 
 
 B 
 
but a natural, though corrupt love of the lie 
 itself. One of the later school of the Grecians 
 examineth the matter, and is at a stand to think 
 what should be in it, that men should love lies, 
 where neither they make for pleasure, as with 
 poets ; nor for advantage, as with the merchant ; 
 but for the lie's sake. But I cannot tell : this 
 same truth is a naked and open daylight, that 
 doth not shew the masques, and mummeries, 
 and triumphs of the world half so stately and 
 daintily as candlelights. Truth may perhaps 
 come to the price of a pearl, that sheweth best 
 by day ; but it will not rise to the price of a dia- 
 mond or carbuncle, that sheweth best in varied 
 lights. A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure. 
 Doth any man doubt, that if there were taken 
 out of men's minds vain opinions, flattering 
 hopes, false valuations, imaginations as one 
 would, and the like, but it would leave the 
 minds of a number of men poor shrunken 
 things, full of melancholy and indisposition, 
 and unpleasing to themselves ? One of the 
 fathers, in great severity, called poesy " vinum 
 " daemonum," because it filleth the imagina- 
 tion, and yet it is but with the shadow of a lie. 
 But it is not the lie that passeth through the 
 
mind, but the lie that sinketh in and settleth 
 in it, that doth the hurt, such as we spake of 
 before. But howsoever these things are thus" 
 in men's depraved judgments and affections* 
 yet truth, which only doth judge itself, teach- 
 eth that the inquiry of truth, which is the 
 love-making, or wooing of it ; the knowledge 
 of truth, which is the presence of it ; and the 
 belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, is 
 the sovereign good of human nature. The 
 first creature of God, in the works of the days, 
 was the light of the sense; the last was the 
 light of reason ; and his Sabbath work, ever 
 since, is the illumination of his Spirit. First 
 he breathed light upon the face of the matter, 
 or chaos ; then he breathed light into the face 
 of man ; and still he breatheth and inspireth 
 light into the face of his chosen. The poet 
 that beautified the sect, that was otherwise 
 inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently well, 
 " It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to 
 " see ships tost upon the sea: a pleasure to stand 
 " in the window of a castle, and to see a battle, 
 " and the adventures thereof below : but no 
 " pleasure is comparable to the standing upon 
 " the vantage ground of truth (a hill not to be 
 
" commanded, and where the air is always clear 
 " and serene), and to see the errors and wan- 
 " derings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale 
 " below :" so always that this prospect be with 
 pity, and not with swelling or pride. Certainly, 
 it is heaven upon earth to have a man's mind 
 move in charity, rest in providence, and turn 
 upon the poles of truth. 
 
 To pass from theological and philosophical 
 truth to the truth of civil business, it will be 
 acknowledged, even by those that practise it 
 not, that clear and round dealing is the honour 
 of man's nature, and that mixture of falsehood 
 is like allay in coin of gold and silver, which 
 may make the metal work the better, but it 
 embaseth it : for these winding and crooked 
 courses are the goings of the serpent ; which 
 goeth basely upon the belly, and not upon the 
 feet. There is no vice that doth so cover a 
 man with shame as to be found false and per- 
 fidious : and therefore Montaigne saith pret- 
 tily, when he inquired the reason why the 
 word of the lie should be such a disgrace, and 
 such an odious charge, "If it be well weigh - 
 " ed, to say that a man lieth, is as much as 
 H to say that he is brave towards God, and a 
 
11 coward towards men: for a lie faces God, and 
 " shrinks from man." Surely the wickedness 
 of falsehood and breach of faith cannot possibly 
 be so highly expressed as in that it shall be 
 the last peal to call the judgments of God upon 
 the generations of men : it being foretold, that 
 when " Christ cometh," he shall not " find 
 faith upon earth." 
 
 OF DEATH. 
 
 Men fear death as children fear to go in the 
 dark ; and as that natural fear in children is 
 increased with tales, so is the other. Certainly 
 the contemplation of death, as the wages of 
 sin and passage to another world, is holy and 
 religious; but the fear of it, as a tribute due 
 unto nature, is weak. Yet in religious medi- 
 tations there is sometimes mixture of vanity 
 and of superstition. You shall read in some of 
 the friars' books of mortification, that a ■man- 
 should think with himself what the pain is, if 
 he have but his finger's end pressed, or tor- 
 tured, and thereby imagine what the pains, of 
 death are when the whole body is corrupted 
 
and dissolved ; when many times death passeth 
 with less pain than the torture of a limb ; for 
 the most vital parts are not the quickest of 
 sense : and by him that spake only as a phi- 
 losopher and natural man, it was well said, 
 " Pompa mortis magis terret quam mors ipsa." 
 Groans, and convulsions, and a discoloured 
 face, and friends weeping, and blacks, and 
 obsequies, and the like, shew death terrible. 
 It is worthy the observing, that there is no 
 passion in the mind of man so weak, but it 
 mates and masters the fear of death ; and there- 
 fore death is no such terrible enemy when a 
 man hath so many attendants about him that 
 can win the combat of him. Revenge triumphs 
 over death ; love slights it; honour aspireth to 
 it; grief flieth to it; fear pre-occupieth it; 
 nay, we read, after Otho the emperor had slain 
 himself, pity (which is the tenderest of affec- 
 tions) provoked many to die out of mere com- 
 passion to their sovereign, and as the truest 
 sort of followers. Nay, Seneca adds, niceness 
 and satiety ; " Cogita quamdiu eadem feceris; 
 " mori velle, non tantum fortis, aut miser, sed 
 " etiam fastidiosus potest." A man would die, 
 though he were neither valiant nor miserable, 
 
only upon a weariness to do the same thing so 
 oft over and over. It is no less worthy to ob- 
 serve how little alteration in good spirits the 
 approaches of death make ; for they appear to 
 be the same men till the last instant. Augustus 
 Csesar died in a compliment : " Li via, conjugii 
 " nostri memor, vive et vale :" Tiberius in dissi- 
 mulation, as Tacitus saith of him, "JamTi- 
 " berium vires et corpus, non dissimulatio, dese- 
 u rebant:" Vespasian in a jest, sitting upon the 
 stool, " Ut puto Deus iio :" Galba with a sen- 
 tence, " Feri, si ex re sit populi Romani," 
 holding forth his neck : Septimius Severus in 
 dispatch, " Adeste, si quid mihi restat agendum/' 
 and the like. Certainly the Stoics bestowed 
 too much cost upon death, and by their great 
 preparations made it appear more fearful. Bet- 
 ter, saith he, " qui flnem vitae extremum inter 
 ** munera ponat naturae/' It is as natural to die 
 as to be born ; and to a little infant, perhaps, 
 the one is as painful as the other. He that 
 dies in an earnest pursuit is like one that is 
 wounded in hot blood ; who, for the time, 
 scarce feels the hurt ; and therefore a mind fixed 
 and bent upon somewhat that is good doth 
 avert the dolours of death : but, above all, be- 
 
8 
 
 lieve it, the sweetest canticle is, " Nunc dimit- 
 " tis/' when a man hath obtained worthy ends 
 and expectations. Death hath this also, that it 
 openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguish- 
 ed! envy, " Extinctus amabitur idem." 
 
 OF UNITY IN RELIGION, 
 
 Religion being the chief band of human so- 
 ciety, it is a happy thing when itself is well 
 contained within the true band of unity. The 
 quarrels and divisions about religion were evils 
 unknown to the heathen. The reason was, be- 
 cause the religion of the heathen consisted ra- 
 ther in rites and ceremonies than in any con- 
 stant belief: for you may imagine what kind 
 of faith theirs was, when the chief doctors and 
 fathers of their church were the poets. But 
 the true God hath this attribute, that he is a 
 jealous God ; and therefore his worship and 
 religion will endure no mixture, nor partner. 
 We shall therefore speak a few words concern- 
 ing the unity of the church ; what are the 
 fruits thereof ; what the bounds ; and what the 
 means. 
 
The fruits of unity (next unto the well- 
 pleasing of God, which is all in all) are two; 
 the one towards those that are without the 
 church ; the other towards those that are 
 within. For the former, it is certain, that 
 heresies and schisms are of all others the great- 
 est scandals ; yea more than corruption of man- 
 ners : for as in the natural body a wound or 
 solution of continuity is worse than a corrupt 
 humour, so in the spiritual: so that nothing 
 doth so much keep men out of the church, and 
 drive men out of the church, as breach of 
 unity; and, therefore, whensoever it comethto 
 that pass that one saith, "ecce in deserto," an- 
 other saith, " ecce in penetralibus ;" that is, 
 when some men seek Christ in the conventicles 
 of heretics, and others in an outward face of a 
 church, that voice had need continually to 
 sound in men's ears, "nolite exire," "go not 
 out." The doctor of the Gentiles (the propriety 
 of whose vocation drew him to have a special 
 care of those without) saith, "If an heathen 
 " come in, and hear you speak with several 
 "tongues, will he not say that you are mad? 2 ' 
 and, certainly, it is little better: when atheists 
 and profane persons do hear of so many dis- 
 
10 
 
 cordant and contrary opinions in religion, it 
 doth avert them from the church, and maketh 
 them "to sit down in the chair of the scorners." 
 It is but a light thing to be vouched in so 
 serious a matter, but yet it expresseth well the 
 deformity. There is a master of scoffing that, 
 in his catalogue of books of a feigned library, 
 sets down this title of a book, "The morris- 
 " dance of heretics:" for, indeed, every sect of 
 them hath a diverse posture or cringe by them- 
 selves, which cannot but move derision in world- 
 lings and depraved politics, who are apt to con- 
 temn holy things. 
 
 As for the fruit towards those that are 
 within, it is peace, which containeth infinite 
 blessings : it establisheth faith ; it kindleth cha- 
 rity : the outward peace of the church distilleth 
 into peace of conscience, and it turneth the 
 labours of writing and reading of controversies 
 into treaties of mortification and devotion. 
 
 Concerning the bonds of unity, the true 
 placing of them importeth exceedingly. There 
 appear to be two extremes : for to certain 
 zealots all speech of pacification is odious. 
 46 Is it peace, Jehu ?" " What hast thou to do 
 " with peace ? turn thee behind me." Peace is 
 
11 
 
 not the matter, but following and party. Con- 
 trariwise, certain Laodiceans and lukewarm 
 persons think they may accommodate points 
 qf religion by middle ways, and taking part of 
 both, and witty reconcilements, as if they 
 would make an arbitrament between God and 
 man. Both these extremes are to be avoided ; 
 which will be done if the league of Christians, 
 penned by our Saviour himself, were in the two 
 cross clauses thereof soundly and plainly ex- 
 pounded: " He that is not with us is against 
 "us;" and again, " He that is not against us 
 "is with us;" that is, if the points fundamen- 
 tal, and of substance in religion, were truly 
 discerned and distinguished from points not 
 merely of faith, but of opinion, order, or good 
 intention. This is a thing may seem to many a 
 matter trivial, and done already; but if it were 
 done less partially, it would be embraced more 
 generally. 
 
 Of this I may give only this advice, ac- 
 cording to my small model. Men ought to 
 take heed of rending God's church by two 
 Junds of controversies ; the one is, when the 
 matter of the point controverted is too small 
 and light, not worth the heat and strife about 
 
12 
 
 it, kindled only by contradiction; for, as it is 
 noted by one of the fathers, Christ's coat in^ 
 deed had no seam, but the church's vesture 
 was of divers colours ; whereupon he saith, 
 *1 in veste varietas sit, scissura non sit/' they 
 be two things, unity and uniformity : the other 
 is when the matter of the point controverted 
 is great, but it is driven to an over-great sub- 
 til ty and obscurity, so that it become th a thing 
 rather ingenious than substantial. A man that 
 is of judgment and understanding shall some- 
 times hear ignorant men differ, and know well 
 within himself that those which so differ mean 
 one thing, and yet they themselves would never 
 agree: and if it come so to pass in that di- 
 stance of judgment which is between man and 
 man, shall we not think that God above, that 
 knows the heart, doth not discern that frail 
 men, in some of their contradictions, intend 
 the same thing, and accepteth of both? The 
 nature of such controversies is excellently ex- 
 pressed by St. Paul in the warning and precept 
 that he giveth concerning the same, " devita 
 " profanes vocum novitates, et oppositiones 
 " falsi nominis sciential." Men create oppo- 
 sitions which are not, and put them into new, 
 
13 
 
 terms so fixed, as whereas the meaning ought 
 to govern the term, the term in effect govern- 
 eth the meaning. There be also two false 
 peaces, or unities ; the one, when the peace is 
 grounded but upon an implicit ignorance ; for 
 all colours will agree in the dark : the other, 
 when it is pieced up upon a direct admission of 
 contraries in fundamental points : for truth 
 and falsehood in such things are like the iron 
 and clay in the toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image ; 
 they may cleave, but they will not incorpo- 
 rate. 
 
 Concerning the means of procuring unity, 
 men must beware that, in the procuring or 
 muniting of religious unity, they do not dis- 
 solve and deface the laws of charity and of 
 human society. There be two swords amongst 
 Christians, the spiritual and temporal ; and both 
 have their due office and place in the mainte- 
 nance of religion : but we may not take up the 
 third sword, which is Mahomet's sword, or like 
 unto it ; that is, to propagate religion by wars, 
 or by sanguinary persecutions to force con- 
 sciences ; except it be in cases of overt scandal, 
 blasphemy, or intermixture of practice against 
 the state ; much less to nourish seditions ; t® 
 
14- 
 
 authorise conspiracies and rebellions ; to put 
 the sword into the people's hands, and the like, 
 tending to the subversion of all government, 
 which is the ordinance of God : for this is but 
 to dash the first table against the second ; and 
 so to consider men as Christians, as we forget 
 that they are men. Lucretius the poet, when 
 he beheld the act of Agamemnon, that could 
 endure the sacrificing of his own daughter, ex- 
 claimed, 
 
 " Tantnm religio potuit fuadere malorum!" 
 
 What would he have said if he had known 
 of the massacre in France, or the powder trea- 
 son of England ? He would have been seven 
 times more epicure and atheist than he was: 
 for as the temporal sword is to be drawn with 
 great circumspection in cases of religion, so it 
 is a thing monstrous to put it into the hands 
 of the common people ; let that be left unto 
 the anabaptists, and other furies. It was 
 great blasphemy when the devil said, " I will 
 "ascend and be like the Highest;" but it is 
 greater blasphemy to personate God, and bring 
 him in saying, " I will descend, and be like the 
 "prince of darkness:" and what is it better 
 
15 
 
 to make the cause of religion to descend to 
 the cruel and execrable actions of murdering 
 princes, butchery of people, and subversion of 
 states and governments ? Surely this is to bring 
 down the Holy Ghost, instead of the likeness of 
 a dove, in the shape of a vulture or raven ; and 
 to set out of the bark of a Christian church a 
 flag of a bark of pirates and assassins : therefore 
 it is most necessary that the church by doctrine 
 and decree; princes by their sword; and all 
 learnings, both Christian and moral, as by their 
 mercury rod do damn, and send to hell for ever 
 those facts and opinions tending to the support 
 of the same, as hath been already in good part 
 done. Surely in councils concerning religion, 
 that council of the Apostle would be prefixed, 
 " Ira hominis non implet justitiam Dei:" and it 
 was a notable observation of a wise father, and 
 no less ingenuously confessed, that those which 
 held and persuaded pressure of consciences were 
 commonly interested therein themselves for their 
 own ends. 
 
16 
 
 OF REVENGE. 
 
 Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the 
 more man's nature runs to, the more ought law 
 to weed it out : for as for the first wrong, it 
 doth but offend the law, but the revenge of 
 that wrong putteth the law out of office. Cer- 
 tainly in taking revenge a man is but even 
 with his enemy ; but in passing it over he is 
 superior; for it is a prince's part to pardon: 
 and Solomon, I am sure, saith, " It is the 
 " glory of a man to pass by an offence/' That 
 which is past is gone and irrevocable, and wise 
 men have enough to do with things present 
 and to come ; therefore they do but trifle with 
 themselves that labour in past matters. There 
 is no man doth a wrong for the wrong's sake, 
 but thereby to purchase himself profit, or plea- 
 sure, or honour, or the like; therefore why 
 should I be angry with a man for loving him- 
 self better than me? And if any man should 
 do wrong merely out of ill nature, why, yet 
 it is but like the thorn or briar, which prick 
 and scratch because they can do no other. The 
 most tolerable sort of revenge is for those 
 
17 
 
 wrongs which there is no law to remedy : but, 
 then, let a man take heed the revenge be such 
 as there is no law to punish, else a man's 
 enemy is still beforehand, and it is two for 
 one. Some when they take revenge are de- 
 sirous the party should know when it cometh : 
 this is the more generous ; for the delight 
 seemeth to be not so much in doing the hurt 
 as in making the party repent : but base and 
 crafty cowards are like the arrow that flieth in 
 the dark. Cosmus, duke of Florence, had a 
 desperate saying against perfidious or neglect- 
 ing friends, as if those wrongs were unpardon- 
 able. " You shall read," saith he, " that we are 
 " commanded to forgive our enemies, but you 
 M never read that we are commanded to forgive 
 " our friends/* But yet the spirit of Job was in 
 a better tune : " Shall we," saith he, " take good 
 " at God's hands, and not be content to take 
 " evil also?" and so of friends in a proportion. 
 This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge 
 keep* his own wounds green, which otherwise 
 would heal and do well. Public revenges are 
 for the most part fortunate ; as that for the 
 death of Caesar ; for the death of Pertinax ; for 
 the death of Henry the Third of France ; and 
 c 
 
18 
 
 many more : but in private revenges it is not so ; 
 nay rather, vindicative persons live the life of 
 witches ; who, as they are mischievous, so end 
 they unfortunate. 
 
 OF ADVERSITY. 
 
 It was an high speech of Seneca, (after the 
 manner of the Stoics), that the good things 
 which belong to prosperity are to be wished, 
 but the good things that belong to adversity 
 are to be admired : " Bona rerum secundarum 
 " optabilia, adversarum mirabilia." Certainly 
 if miracles be the command over nature, they 
 appear most in adversity. It is yet a higher 
 speech of his than the other, (much too high 
 for a heathen), " It is true greatness to have in 
 " one the frailty of a man, and the security of 
 " a God:" " Vere magnum habere fragilitatem 
 " hominis, securitatem Dei." This would have 
 done better in poesy, where transcendencies 
 are more allowed; and the poets, indeed, have 
 been busy with it : for it is in effect the thing 
 which is figured in that strange fiction of the 
 ancient poets, which seemeth not to be with- 
 
19 
 
 out mystery, nay, and to have some approach 
 to the state of a Christian, " that Hercules, 
 " when he went to unbind Prometheus, (by 
 " whom human nature is represented), sailed 
 " the length of the great ocean in an earthen 
 " pot or pitcher, lively describing Christian re- 
 " solution, that saileth in the frail bark of the 
 " flesh through the waves of the world." But 
 to speak in a mean, the virtue of prosperity is 
 temperance ; the virtue of adversity is forti- 
 tude, which in morals is the more heroical 
 virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old 
 Testament; adversity is the blessing of the 
 New, which carrieth the greater benediction 
 and the clearer revelation of God's favour. 
 Yet even in the Old Testament, if you listen 
 to David's harp, you shall hear as many herse- 
 like airs as carols ; and the pencil of the Holy 
 Ghost hath laboured more in describing the 
 afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solo- 
 mon. Prosperity is not without many fears 
 and distastes; and adversity is not without 
 comforts and hopes. We see in needleworks 
 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 
 
20 
 
 a lightsome ground : judge therefore of the 
 pleasure of the heart by. the pleasure of the eye. 
 Certainly virtue is like precious odours, most 
 fragrant when they are incensed or crushed ; for 
 prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity 
 doth best discover virtue. 
 
 OF SIMULATION AND DISSIMU- 
 LATION. 
 
 Dissimulation is but a faint kind of policy or 
 wisdom ; for it asketh a strong wit and a strong 
 heart to know when to tell truth, and to do it : 
 therefore it is the weaker sort of politicians that 
 are the great dissemblers. 
 
 Tacitus saith, " Livia sorted well with the 
 " arts of her husband, and dissimulation of her 
 "son; attributing arts or policy to Augustus, 
 " and dissimulation to Tiberius :" and again, 
 when Mucianus encourageth Vespasian to take 
 arms against Vitellius, he saith, " We rise not 
 " against the piercing judgment of Augustus, 
 " nor the extreme caution or closeness of Ti- 
 " berius :" these properties of arts or policy* 
 
21 
 
 and dissimulation or closeness, are indeed habits 
 and faculties several, and to be distinguished; 
 for if a man have that penetration of judgment 
 as he can discern what things are to be laid 
 open, and what to be secreted, and what to be 
 shewed at half lights, and to whom and when, 
 (which indeed are arts of state, and arts of life, 
 as Tacitus well calleth them), to him a habit 
 of dissimulation is a hinderance and a poorness. 
 But if a man cannot obtain to that judgment, 
 then it is left to him generally to be close and 
 a dissembler ; for where a man cannot choose 
 or vary in particulars, there it is good to take 
 the safest and wariest way in general, like 
 the going softly by one that cannot well see. 
 Certainly the ablest men that ever were have 
 had all an openness and frankness of dealing, 
 and a name of certainty and veracity : but 
 then they were like horses well managed, for 
 they could tell passing well when to stop or 
 turn; and at such times wlien they thought 
 the case indeed required dissimulation, if then 
 they used it, it came to pass, that the former 
 opinion, spread abroad, of their good faith and 
 clearness of dealing made them almost invi- 
 sible. 
 
22 
 
 There be. three degrees of this hiding and 
 veiling of a man's self; the first, closeness, re- 
 servation, and secrecy, when a man leaveth 
 himself without observation, or without hold to 
 be taken, what he is; the second, dissimulation 
 in the negative, when a man lets fall signs and 
 arguments, that he is not that he is; and the 
 third, simulation in the affirmative, when a man 
 industriously and expressly feigns and pretends 
 to be that he is not. 
 
 For the first of these, secrecy, it is indeed 
 the virtue of a confessor ; and assuredly the 
 secret man heareth many confessions, for who 
 will open himself to a blab or a babbler? But 
 if a man be thought secret, it inviteth disco- 
 very, as the more close air sucketh in the more 
 open : and as in confession the revealing is not 
 for worldly use, but for the ease of a man's 
 heart, so secret men come to the knowledge of 
 many things in that kind; while men rather 
 discharge their minds than impart their minds. 
 In few words, mysteries are due to secrecy. 
 Besides (to say truth) nakedness is uncomely, 
 as well in mind as in body; and it addeth no 
 small reverence to men's manners and actions 
 if they be not altogether open. As for talkers 
 
23 
 
 and futile persons, they are commonly vain and 
 credulous withal : for he that talketh what he 
 knoweth will also talk what he knoweth not; 
 therefore set it down, that an habit of secrecy 
 is both politic and moral : and in this part it is 
 good that a man's face give his tongue leave 
 to speak ; for the discovery of a man's self by 
 the tracts of his countenance is a great weak- 
 ness, and betraying by how much it is many 
 times more marked and believed than a man's 
 words. 
 
 For the second, which is dissimulation, it 
 foiloweth many times upon secrecy by a ne- 
 cessity; so that he that will be secret must Ue 
 a dissembler in some degree : for men are too 
 cunning to suffer a man to keep an indifferent 
 carriage between both, and to be secret with- 
 out swaying the balance on either side. They 
 will so beset a man with questions, and draw 
 him on, and pick it out of him, that without 
 an absurd silence he must shew an inclination 
 one way; or if he do not, they will gather as 
 much by his silence as by his speech. As for 
 equivocations or oraculous speeches, they can- 
 not hold out long. So that no man can be se- 
 cret, except he give himself a little scope of 
 
24 
 
 dissimulation, which is as it were but the skirts 
 or train of secrecy. 
 
 But for the third degree, which is simula- 
 tion and false profession, that I hold more 
 culpable and less politic, except it be in great 
 and rare matters : and therefore a general 
 custom of simulation (which is this last degree) 
 is a vice rising either of a natural falseness or 
 fearfulness, or of a mind that hath some main 
 faults; which, because a man must needs dis- 
 guise, it maketh him practise simulation in 
 other things, lest his hand should be out of 
 use. 
 
 The great advantages of simulation and 
 dissimulation are three : first, to lay asleep op- 
 position, and to surprise; for where a man's 
 intentions are published, it is an alarm to call 
 up all that are against them : the second is to 
 reserve to a man's self a fair retreat ; for if a 
 man engage himself by a manifest declaration, 
 he must go through, or take a fall : the third 
 is the better to discover the mind of another ; 
 for to him that opens himself men will hardly 
 shew themselves adverse ; but will (fair) let 
 him go on, and turn their freedom of speech 
 to freedom of thought; and therefore it is a 
 
25 
 
 good shrewd proverb of the Spaniard, " Tell a 
 " lie and rind a troth ;" as if there were no way 
 of discovery but by simulation. There be also 
 three disadvantages to set it even; the first, that 
 simulation and dissimulation commonly carry 
 with them a shew of fearfulness, which, in any 
 business, doth spoil the feathers of round flying 
 up to the mark ; the second, that it puzzleth and 
 perplexeth the conceits of many that perhaps 
 would otherwise co-operate with him, and makes 
 a man walk almost alone to his own ends ; the 
 third and greatest is, that it depriveth a man of 
 one of the most principal instruments for action, 
 which is trust and belief. The best composition 
 and temperature is, to have openness in fame 
 and opinion ; secrecy in habit ; dissimulation in 
 seasonable use ; and a power to feign, if there 
 be no remedy. 
 
 OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN. 
 
 The joys of parents are secret, and so are their 
 griefs and fears ; they cannot utter the one, nor 
 they will not utter the other. Children sweeten 
 labours, but they make misfortunes more bit- 
 
26 
 
 ter : they increase the cares of life, but they 
 mitigate the remembrance of death. The per- 
 petuity by generation is common to beasts ; but 
 memory, merit, and noble works, are proper to 
 men: and surely a man shall see the noblest 
 works and foundations have proceeded from 
 childless men, which have sought to express 
 the images of their minds where those of their 
 bodies have failed ; so the care of posterity is 
 most in them that have no posterity. They that 
 are the first raisers of their houses are most 
 indulgent towards their children ; beholding 
 them as the continuance, not only of their kind, 
 but of their work ; and so both children and 
 creatures. 
 
 The difference in affection of parents to- 
 wards their several children is many times 
 unequal, and sometimes unworthy, especially 
 in the mother; as Solomon saith, "A wise 
 " son rejoiceth the father, but an ungracious 
 " son shames the mother/' A man shall see, 
 where there is a house full of children, one or 
 two of the eldest respected, and the youngest 
 made wantons ; but in the midst some that 
 are as it were forgotten, who many times, 
 nevertheless, prove the best. The ill liberality 
 
27 
 
 of parents in allowance towards their children 
 is an harmful error ; makes them base ; ac- 
 quaints them with shifts ; makes them sort 
 with mean company; and makes them surfeit 
 more when they come to plenty : and there- 
 fore the proof is best when men keep their 
 authority towards their children, but not their 
 purse. Men have a foolish manner, (both pa- 
 rents, and schoolmasters, and servants,) in 
 creating and breeding an emulation between 
 brothers during childhood, which many times 
 sorteth to discord when they are men, and 
 disturbeth families. The Italians make little 
 difference between children and nephews, or 
 near kinsfolks ; but so they be of the lump 
 they care not, though they pass not through 
 their own body ; and, to say truth, in nature 
 it is much a like matter; insomuch that we 
 see a nephew sometimes resembleth an uncle 
 or a kinsman more than his own parents, as 
 the blood happens. Let parents choose be- 
 times the vocations and courses they mean 
 their children should take, for then they are 
 most flexible; and let them not too much 
 apply themselves to the disposition of their 
 children, as thinking they will take best to 
 
28 
 
 that which they have most mind to. It is true-, 
 that if the affection or aptness of the children 
 be extraordinary, then it is good not to cross 
 it; but generally the precept is good, " opti- 
 " mum elige, suave et facile illud faciet con- 
 " suetudo." Younger brothers are commonly 
 fortunate, but seldom or never where the elder 
 are disinherited. 
 
 OF MARRIAGE AND SINGLE 
 LIFE. 
 
 He that hath a wife and children hath given 
 hostages to fortune ; for they are impediments 
 to great enterprizes, either of virtue or mis- 
 chief. Certainly the best works, and of great- 
 est merit for the public, have proceeded from 
 the unmarried or childless men ; which, both 
 in affection and means, have married and en- 
 dowed the public. Yet it were great reason 
 that those that have children should have 
 greatest care of future times, unto which they 
 know they must transmit their dearest pledges. 
 Some there are, who though they lead a single 
 
29 
 
 life, yet their thoughts do end with themselves, 
 and account future times impertinences; nay, 
 there are some other that account wife and 
 children but as bills of charges ; nay more, 
 there are some foolish, rich, covetous men that 
 take a pride in having no children, because 
 they may be thought so much the richer ; for, 
 perhaps, they have heard some talk, " Such an 
 " one is a great rich man," and another except 
 to it, " Yea, but he hath a great charge of 
 " children," as if it were an abatement to his 
 riches : but the most ordinary cause of a single 
 life is liberty, especially in certain self-pleasing 
 and humorous minds, which are so sensible of 
 every restraint as they will go near to think their 
 girdles and garters to be bonds and shackles. 
 Unmarried men are best friends, best masters, 
 best servants ,; but not always best subjects, 
 for they are light to run away ; and almost all 
 fugitives are of that condition. A single life 
 doth well with churchmen, for charity will 
 hardly water the ground where it must first 
 fill a pool. It is indifferent for judges and 
 magistrates; for if they be facile and corrupt, 
 you shall have a servant H\e times worse than 
 a wife. For soldiers, I find the generals com- 
 
30 
 
 monly in their hortatives put men in mind of 
 their wives and children ; and I think the de- 
 spising of marriage among the Turks maketh 
 the vulgar soldier more base. Certainly wife 
 and children are a kind of discipline of hu- 
 manity ; and single men, though they be many 
 times more charitable because their means are 
 less exhaust, yet, on the other side, they are 
 more cruel and hardhearted, (good to make 
 severe inquisitors), because their tenderness is 
 not so oft called upon. Grave natures, led by 
 custom, and therefore constant, are commonly 
 loving husbands, as was said of Ulysses, " ve- 
 l r tulam suam praetulit immortalitati." Chaste 
 women are often proud and fro ward, as pre- 
 suming upon the merit of their chastity. It is 
 one of the best bonds, both of chastity and 
 obedience, in the wife, if she think her hus- 
 band wise, which she will never do if she find 
 him jealous. Wives are young men's mis- 
 tresses ; companions for middle age, and old 
 men's nurses ; so as a man may have a quarrel 
 to marry when he will : but yet he was re- 
 puted one of the wise men that made answer 
 to the question when a man should marry, " A 
 " young man not yet, an elder man not at all/' 
 
31 
 
 It is often seen that bad husbands have very- 
 good wives ; whether it be that it raiseth the 
 price of their husbands' kindness when it comes, 
 or that the wives take a pride in their patience; 
 but this never fails if the bad husbands were of 
 their own choosing, against their friends' con- 
 sent, for then they will be sure to make good 
 their own folly. 
 
 OF ENVY. 
 
 There be none of the affections which have 
 been noted to fascinate or bewitch, but love 
 and envy : they both have vehement wishes ; 
 they frame themselves readily into imagina- 
 tions and suggestions ; and they come easily 
 into the eye, especially upon the presence of 
 the objects, which are the points that conduce 
 to fascination, if any such thing there be. We 
 see, likewise, the Scripture calleth envy an 
 evil eye ; and the astrologers call the evil in- 
 fluences of the stars evil aspects ; so that still 
 there seemeth to be acknowledged in the act 
 of envy an ejaculation or irradiation of the 
 eye : nay, some have been so curious as to 
 
32 
 
 note, that the times, when the stroke or percus- 
 sion of an envious eye doth most hurt, are when 
 the party envied is beheld in glory or triumph ; 
 for that sets an edge upon envy : and besides, at 
 such times the spirits of the person envied do 
 come forth most into the outward parts, and so 
 meet the blow. 
 
 But leaving these curiosities, (though not 
 unworthy to be thought on in fit place), we 
 will handle what persons are apt to envy others ; 
 what persons are most subject to be envied 
 themselves ; and what is the difference between 
 public and private envy. 
 
 A man that hath no virtue in himself ever 
 envieth virtue in others : for men's minds will 
 either feed upon their own good, or upon 
 others' evil ; and who wanteth the one will 
 prey upon the other ; and whoso is out of 
 hope to attain to another's virtue will seek to 
 come at even hand by depressing another's for- 
 tune. 
 
 A man that is busy and inquisitive is com- 
 monly envious ; for to know much of other 
 men's matters cannot be, because all that ado 
 may concern his own estate ; therefore it must 
 needs be that he taketh a kind of play-pleasure 
 
33 
 
 in looking upon the fortunes of others; neither 
 Can he that mindeth but his own business find 
 much matter for envy ; for envy is a gadding 
 passion, and walketh the streets, and doth not 
 keep home : " Non est curiosus, quin idem sit 
 " malevolus." 
 
 Men of noble birth are noted to be envious 
 towards new 7 men when they rise; for the dir 
 stance. is altered, and it is like a deceit of the 
 eye, that when others come on they think them- 
 selves go back. 
 
 Deformed persons and eunuchs, and old men 
 W3#*3g&te, are envious; for he that cannot 
 possibly mend his own case will do what he can 
 to impair another's ; except these defects light 
 upon a very brave and heroical nature which 
 thinketh to make his natural w r ants part of his 
 honour : in that it should be said, " That an 
 €t eunuch or a lame man did such great matters ;" 
 affecting the honour of a miracle, as it was in 
 Narses the eunuch, and Agesilaus and Tamber-* 
 lane, that w T ere lame men. 
 
 The same is the case of men that rise after 
 calamities and misfortunes ; for they are as men 
 fallen out with the times, and think other men's 
 harms a redemption of their own sufferings. 
 
 D 
 
S4> 
 
 They that desire to excel in too many mat- 
 ters, out of levity and vain glory, are ever en- 
 vious, for they cannot want work ; it being im- 
 possible, but many, in some one of those things, 
 should surpass them ; which was the character of 
 Adrian the emperor, that mortally envied poets, 
 and painters, and artificers, in works wherein he 
 had a vein to excel. 
 
 Lastly, near kinsfolks and fellows in office, 
 and those that have been bred together, are more 
 apt to envy their equals when they are raised; 
 for it doth upbraid unto them their own for- 
 tunes, and pointeth at them, and cometh oft- 
 ener into their remembrance, and incurreth 
 likewise more into the note of others; and 
 envy ever redoubleth from speech and fame. 
 Cain's envy was the more vile and malignant 
 towards his brother Abel, because, when his 
 sacrifice was better accepted, there was nobody 
 to look on. Thus much for those that are apt 
 to envy, 
 
 Concerning those that are more or less sub- 
 ject to envy. First, persons of eminent virtue 
 when they are advanced are less envied; for 
 their fortune seemeth but due unto them, and 
 no man envieth the payment of a debt, but 
 
35 
 
 rewards and liberality rather. Again, envy is 
 ever joined with the comparing of a man's self; 
 and where there is no comparison, no envy; and 
 therefore kings are not envied but by kings. 
 Nevertheless it is to be noted, that unworthy 
 persons are most envied at their first coming in, 
 and afterwards overcome it better ; whereas con- 
 trariwise, persons of worth and merit are most 
 envied when their fortune continueth long ; for 
 by that time, though their virtue be the same, 
 yet it hath not the same lustre, for fresh mea 
 grow up to darken it. 
 
 Persons of noble blood are less envied in 
 their rising ; for it seemeth but right done to 
 their birth: besides, there seemeth not much 
 added to their fortune ; and envy is as the sun- 
 beams, that beat hotter upon a bank or steep 
 rising ground than upon a flat : and, for the 
 same reason, those that are advanced by degrees 
 are less envied than those that are advanced 
 suddenly, and " per saltum." 
 
 Those that have joined with their honour 
 great travels, cares, or perils, are less subject tQ 
 envy; for men think that they earn their ho- 
 nours hardly, and pity them sometimes; and 
 pity ever healeth envy ; wherefore you shall 
 
33 
 
 observe, that the more deep and sober sort of 
 politic persons in their greatness are ever be- 
 moaning themselves what a life they lead, 
 chanting a "quanta patimur;" not that they 
 feel it so, but only to abate the edge of envy : 
 but this is to be understood of business that is 
 laid upon men, and not such as they call unto 
 themselves; for nothing increaseth envy more 
 than an unnecessary and ambitious ingrossing 
 of business ; and nothing doth extinguish envy 
 more than for a great person to preserve all 
 other inferior officers in their full rights and pre-* 
 eminences of their places ; for by that means 
 there be so many screens between him and 
 envy. 
 
 Above all, those are most subject to envy 
 which carry the greatness of their fortunes in 
 an insolent and proud manner; being never well 
 but while they are shewing how great they are, 
 either by outward pomp, or by triumphing over 
 all opposition or competition : whereas wise men 
 will rather do sacrifice to envy, in suffering 
 themselves sometimes of purpose to be crossed 
 and overborne in things that do not much con- 
 cern them. Notwithstanding so much is true, 
 that the carriage of greatness in a plain and 
 
37 
 
 open manner, (so it be without arrogancy and 
 vain glory,) doth draw less envy than if it be 
 in a more crafty and cunning fashion ; for in 
 that course a man doth but disavow fortune, 
 and seemeth to be conscious of his own want 
 in worth, and doth but teach others to envy 
 him. 
 
 Lastly, to conclude this part, as we said in 
 the beginning that the act of envy had some- 
 what in it of witchcraft, so there is no other 
 cure of envy but the cure of witchcraft; and 
 that is, to remove the lot (as they call it), and 
 to lay it upon another; for which purpose, the 
 wiser sort of great persons bring in ever upon 
 the stage somebody upon whom to derive the 
 envy that would come upon themselves ; some- 
 times upon ministers and servants; sometimes 
 upon colleagues and associates, and the like; 
 and for that turn there are never wanting some 
 persons of violent and undertaking natures, who, 
 so they may have power and business, will take 
 it at any cost. 
 
 Now to speak of public envy : there is yet 
 some good in public envy, whereas in private 
 there is none; for public envy is as an ostra- 
 cism, that eclipseth men when they grow too 
 
38 
 
 great; and therefore it is a bridle also to great 
 ones to keep them within bounds. 
 
 This envy, being in the Latin word " in- 
 t* vidia," goeth in the modern languages by the 
 name of discontentment; of which we shall 
 speak in handling sedition. It is a disease in 
 a state like to infection : for as infection spread- 
 eth upon that which is sound and tainteth it, 
 so when envy is gotten once into a state it 
 traduceth even the best actions thereof, and 
 turneth them into an ill odour; and therefore 
 there is little won by intermingling of plau- 
 sible actions ; for that doth argue but a weak- 
 ness and fear of envy, which hurteth so much 
 the more, as it is likewise usual in infections, 
 which if you fear them you call them upon 
 you. 
 
 This public envy seemeth to beat chiefly 
 Upon principal officers or ministers, rather than 
 upon kings and estates themselves. But this 
 is a sure rale, that if the envy upon the mi- 
 nister be great when the cause of it in him is 
 small; or if the envy be general in a manner 
 upon all the ministers of an estate, then the 
 envy (though hidden) is truly upon the state 
 itself. And so much of public envy or dis- 
 
39 
 
 contentment, and the difference thereof from 
 private envy, which was handled in the first 
 place. 
 
 We will add this in general, touching the 
 affection of envy, that of all other affections it 
 is the most importune and continual ; for of 
 other affections there is occasion given but now 
 and then; and therefore it was well said, " In- 
 " vidia festos dies non agit:" for it is ever 
 working upon some or other. And it is also 
 noted, that love and envy do make a man pine, 
 which other affections do not, because they are 
 not so continual. It is also the vilest affection, 
 and the most depraved ; for which cause it is 
 the proper attribute of the devil, who is called, 
 " The envious man, that sovveth tares amongst 
 "the wheat by night;" as it always cometh to 
 pass that envy worketh subtilly, and in the dark, 
 and to the prejudice of good things, such as is 
 the wheat* 
 
40 
 
 OF LOVE, - 
 
 The stage is more beholding to love than the 
 life of man ; for as to the stage, love is even 
 matter of comedies, and now and then of tra- 
 gedies; but in life it doth much mischief; 
 sometimes like a siren, sometimes like a fury. 
 You may observe, that amongst all the great 
 and worthy persons (whereof the memory re- 
 maineth, either ancient or recent,) there is not 
 one that hath been transported to the mad 
 degree of love; which shews that great spirits 
 and great business do keep out this weak pas- 
 sion. You must except, nevertheless, Marcus 
 Antonius, the half partner of the empire of 
 Rome, and Appius Claudius, the decemvir and 
 lawgiver; whereof the former was indeed a 
 voluptuous man, and inordinate; but the lat- 
 ter was an austere and wise man : and there- 
 fore it seems (though rarely) that love can 
 find entrance, not only into an open heart, 
 but also into a heart well fortified, if watch 
 be not well kept. It is a poor saying of Epi- 
 curus, " Satis magnum alter altcri theatrum 
 V 1 sumus; v as if man, made for the contem- 
 
41 
 
 plation of heaven and all noble objects, should 
 do nothing but kneel before a little idol, and 
 make himself subject, though not of the 
 mouth, (as beasts are), yet of the eye, which 
 was given him for higher purposes. It is a 
 strange thing to note the excess of this passion, 
 and how it braves the nature and value of 
 things by this, that the speaking in a perpetual 
 hyperbole is comely in nothing but in love : 
 neither is it merely in the phrase ; for whereas 
 it hath been well said, "That the arch flat- 
 " terer, with whom all the petty flatterers have 
 " intelligence, is a man's self;" certainly the 
 lover is more ; for there was never proud man 
 thought so absurdly well of himself as the 
 lover doth of the person loved ; and therefore 
 it was well said, " That it is impossible to love 
 " and to be wise." Neither doth this weakness 
 appear to others only, and not to the party 
 loved, but to the loved most of all, except the 
 love be reciprocal ; for it is a true rule, that 
 love is ever rewarded either with the recipro- 
 cal, or with an inward and secret contempt, 
 by how much the more men ought to beware 
 of this passion, which loseth not only other 
 things, but itself. As for the other losses, the- 
 
42 
 
 poet's relation doth well figure them : " That 
 "he that preferred Helena quitted the gifts of 
 u Juno and Pallas ;" for whosoever esteemeth 
 too much of amorous affection, quitteth both 
 riches and wisdom. This passion hath its floods 
 in the very times of weakness, which are, great 
 prosperity, and great adversity, though this lat- 
 ter hath been less observed ; both which times 
 kindle love and make it more fervent, and 
 therefore shew it to be the child of folly. They 
 do best, who, if they cannot but admit love, 
 yet make it keep quarter, and sever it wholly 
 from their serious affairs and actions of life ; 
 for if it check once with business, it troubleth 
 men's fortunes, and maketh men that they can 
 no ways be true to their own ends. I know 
 not how, but martial men are given to love : 
 I think it is, but as they are given to wine ; 
 for perils commonly ask to be paid in plea- 
 sures. There is in man's nature a secret in- 
 clination and motion towards love of others, 
 which, if it be not spent upon some one or a 
 few, doth naturally spread itself towards many, 
 and maketh men become humane and chari- 
 table, as it is seen sometime in friars. Nuptial 
 love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth 
 
43 
 
 it; but wanton love corrupteth and em- 
 baseth it. 
 
 OF GREAT PLACE. 
 
 Men in great place are thrice servants; ser- 
 vants of the sovereign or state, servants of 
 fame, and servants of business ; so as they 
 have no freedom, neither in their persons, nor 
 in their actions, nor in their times. It is a 
 Strange desire to seek power and to lose li- 
 berty; or to seek power over others, and to 
 lose power over a man's self. The rising unto 
 place is laborious, and by pains men come to 
 greater pains ; and it is sometimes base, and by 
 indignities men come to dignities. The stand- 
 ing is slippery, and the regress is either a 
 downfal, or at least an eclipse, which is a me- 
 lancholy thing : " Cum no'n sis qui fueris, 
 " non esse cur velis vivere ?" Nay, retire men 
 cannot when they would, neither will they 
 when it were reason ; but are impatient of 
 privateness even in age and sickness, which 
 require the shadow ; like old townsmen, that 
 will be still sitting at their street door, though 
 
44 
 
 thereby they offer age to scorn. Certainly 
 great persons had need to borrow other men's 
 opinions to think themselves happy ; for if 
 they judge by their own feeling, 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 : for they are 
 the first that find their own griefs, though 
 they be the last that find their own faults. 
 Certainly, men in great fortunes are strangers 
 to themselves, and while they are in the puzzle 
 of business they have no time to tend their 
 health either of body or mind : " Illi mors 
 " gravis incubat, qui notus nimis omnibus, 
 " ignotus moritur sibi/' In place there is li- 
 cense to do good and evil ; whereof the latter 
 is a curse : for in evil the best condition is not 
 to will ; the second not to can. But power to 
 do good is the true and lawful end of aspi- 
 ring ; for good thoughts (though God accept 
 them), yet towards men are little better than 
 good dreams, except they be put in act ; and 
 that cannot be without power and place, as 
 the vantage and commanding ground. Merit 
 
45 
 
 and good works is the end of man's motion; 
 and conscience of the' same is the accomplish- 
 ment of man's rest : for if a man can be par- 
 taker of God's theatre, he shall likewise be 
 partaker of God's rest: " Et conversus Deus, 
 " ut aspiceret opera, quae fecerunt manus sua?, 
 " vidit quod omnia essent bona nimis ;" and 
 then the sabbath. In the discharge of thy 
 place set before thee the best examples ; for 
 imitation is a globe of precepts ; and after a 
 time set before thee thine own example, and 
 examine thyself strictly whether thou didst not 
 best at first. Neglect not also the examples of 
 those that have carried themselves ill in the 
 same place ; not to set off thyself by taxing 
 their memory, but to direct thyself what to 
 avoid. Reform, therefore, without bravery or 
 scandal of former times and persons ; but yet 
 set it down to thyself, as well to create good 
 precedents as to follow them. Reduce things 
 to the first institution, and observe wherein 
 and how they have degenerated : but yet ask 
 counsel of both times ; of the ancient time 
 what is best; and of the latter time what is 
 fittest. Seek to make thy course regular, that 
 men may . know beforehand what they may 
 
46 
 
 expect: but be not too positive and peremp- 
 tory ; and express thyself well when thou di- 
 gressest from thy rule. Preserve the right of 
 thy place, but stir not questions of jurisdiction; 
 and rather assume thy right in silence, and 
 " de facto/' than voice it with claims and 
 challenges. Preserve likewise the rights of 
 inferior places ; and think it more honour to 
 direct in chief than to be busy in all. Em- 
 brace and invite helps and advices touching 
 the execution of thy place ; and do not drive 
 away such as bring thee information as med- 
 dlers, but accept of them in good part. The 
 vices of authority are chiefly four ; delays, 
 corruption, roughness, and facility. For delay* 
 give easy access ; keep times appointed ; go 
 through with that which is in hand, and in- 
 terlace not business but of necessity. For cor- 
 ruption, do not only bind thine own hands 
 or thy servants' hands from taking, but bind 
 the hands of suitors also from offering ; for 
 integrity used doth the one ; but integrity 
 professed, and with a manifest detestation of 
 bribery, doth the other ; and avoid not only 
 the fault, but the suspicion. Whosoever is 
 found variable, and changeth manifestly with- 
 
47 
 
 out manifest cause giveth suspicion of corrup- 
 tion : therefore, always, when thou changest 
 thine opinion or course, profess it plainly, and 
 declare it, together with the reasons that move 
 thee to change, and do not think to steal it. 
 A servant or a favourite, if he be inward, and 
 no other apparent cause of esteem, is com- 
 monly thought but a by-way to close corrup- 
 tion. For roughness, it is a needless cause of 
 discontent ; severity breedeth fear, but rough- 
 ness breedeth hate. Even reproofs from au- 
 thority ought to be grave, and not taunting. 
 As for facility, it is worse than bribery; for 
 bribes come but now arid then ; but if impor- 
 tunity or idle respects lead a man, he shall 
 never be without; as Solomon saith, " To 
 " respect persons it is not good, for such a man 
 " will transgress for a piece of bread ." It is 
 most true that was anciently spoken, " A place 
 " sheweth the man ; and it sheweth some to 
 u the better, and some to the worse :" u omnium 
 " consensu, capax imperii, nisi imperasset," 
 saith Tacitus of Galba ; but of Vespasian he 
 saith, " solus imperantium, Vespasianus mu- 
 46 tatus in melius y" though the one was meant 
 of sufficiency, the other of manners and affes- 
 
48 
 
 tion. It is an assured sign of a worthy and 
 generous spirit, whom honour amends ; for 
 honour is, or sho'ulsL be, the place of virtue ; 
 and as in nature things move violently to their 
 place, and calmly in their place, so virtue in 
 ambition is violent, in authority settled and 
 calm. All rising to great place is by a winding 
 stair; and if there be factions, it is good to 
 side a man's self whilst he is in the rising, and 
 to balance himself when he is placed. Use 
 the memory of thy predecessor fairly and ten- 
 derly; for if thou dost not, it is a debt will 
 sure be paid when thou art gone. If thou 
 have colleagues, respect them ; and rather call 
 them when they look not for it, than exclude 
 them when they have reason to look to be 
 called. Be not too sensible or too remem- 
 bering of thy place in conversation and pri- 
 vate answers to suitors; but let it rather be 
 said, " When he sits in place he is another 
 " man." 
 
4S) 
 
 OF BOLDNESS. 
 
 It is a trivial grammar school text, but yet 
 worthy a wise man's consideration. Question 
 was asked of Demosthenes, what was the chief 
 part of an orator ? he answered, action : what 
 next ? action : what next again ? action. He 
 said it that knew it best, and had by nature 
 himself no advantage in that he commended. 
 A strange thing, that that part of an orator 
 which is but superficial, and rather the virtue 
 of a player, should be placed so high above 
 those other noble parts of invention, elocution, 
 and the rest; nay almost alone, as if it were 
 all in all. But the reason is plain. There is 
 in human nature generally more of the fool 
 than of the wise ; and therefore those faculties 
 by which the foolish part of men's minds is 
 taken are most potent. Wonderful like is the 
 case of boldness in civil business; what first? 
 boldness : what second and third ? boldness. 
 And yet boldness is a child of ignorance and 
 .baseness, far inferior to other parts : but, ne- 
 vertheless, it doth fascinate, and bind hand and 
 foot those that are either shallow in judgment 
 
 E 
 
5b 
 
 or weak in courage, which are the greatest 
 part; yea, and prevaileth with wise men at 
 weak times : therefore we see it hath done 
 wonders in popular states, but with senates and 
 princes less; and more ever upon the first en- 
 trance of bold persons into action, than soon 
 after; for boldness is an ill keeper of promise. 
 Surely as there are mountebanks for the na- 
 tural body, so are there mountebanks for the 
 politic body; men that undertake great cures, 
 and perhaps have been lucky in two or three 
 experiments, but want the grounds of science, 
 and therefore cannot hold out: nay, you shall 
 see a bold fellow many times do Mahomet's mi- 
 racle. Mahomet made the people believe that 
 he would call an hill to him, and from the top 
 of it offer up his prayers for the observers of his 
 law. The people assembled : Mahomet called 
 the hill to come to him again and again; and 
 when the hill stood still he was never a whit 
 abashed, but said, " If the hill will not come to 
 " Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill." So 
 these men, when they have promised great mat- 
 ters, and failed most shamefully, yet (if they 
 have the perfection of boldness) they will but 
 slight it over, and make a turn, and no more 
 
51 
 
 ado. Certainly to men of great judgment bold 
 persons are sport to behold; nay, and to the 
 vulgar also boldness hath somewhat of the 
 ridiculous : for if absurdity be the subject of 
 laughter, doubt you not but great boldness is 
 seldom without some absurdity ; especially it 
 is a sport to see when a bold fellow is out of 
 countenance, for that puts his face into a most 
 shrunken and wooden posture, as needs it must : 
 for in bash fulness the spirits do a little go and 
 come; but with bold men, upon like occasion, 
 they stand at a stay ; like a stale at chess, where 
 it is no mate, but yet the game cannot stir : but 
 this last were fitter for a satire, than for a se- 
 rious observation. This is well to be weighed, 
 that boldness is ever blind ; for it seeth not 
 dangers and inconveniences : therefore it is ill 
 in counsel, good in execution; so that the right 
 use of bold persons is, that they never command 
 in chief, but be seconds, and under the direction 
 of others : for in counsel it is good to see dan- 
 gers, and in execution not to see them, except 
 they be very great, 
 
52 
 
 OF GOODNESS AND GOODNESS 
 OF NATURE. 
 
 I take goodness in this sense, the affecting of 
 the weal of men, which is that the Grecians 
 call Philanthropia ; and the word humanity 
 (as it is used) is a little too light to express 
 it. Goodness I call the habit, and goodness of 
 nature the inclination. This, of all virtues 
 and dignities of the mind, is the greatest, being 
 the character of the Deity ; and without it 
 man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, 
 no better than a kind of vermin. Goodness 
 answers to the theological virtue charity, and 
 admits no excess but error. The desire of 
 power in excess caused the angels to fall ; the 
 desire of knowledge in excess caused man to 
 fall : but in charity there is no excess, neither 
 can angel or man come in danger by it. The 
 inclination to goodness is imprinted deeply in 
 the nature of man ; insomuch, that if it issue 
 not towards men, it will take unto other liv- 
 ing creatures ; as it is seen in the Turks, a 
 cruel people, who, nevertheless, are kind to 
 
53 
 
 beasts, and give alms to dogs and birds ; inso- 
 much, as Busbechius reporteth, a Christian 
 boy in Constantinople had like to have been 
 stoned for gagging in a waggishness a long- 
 billed fowl. Errors, indeed, in this virtue of 
 goodness or charity, may be committed. The 
 Italians have an ungracious proverb, "Tanto 
 " buon, che val niente;" " So good, that he is 
 " good for nothing :*' and one of the doctors of 
 Italy, Nicolas Macchiavel, had the confidence 
 to put in writing, almost in plain terms, "That 
 " the Christian faith had given up good men 
 " in prey to those that are tyrannical and un- 
 " just ;" which he spake, because, indeed, there 
 was never law, or sect, or opinion, did so much 
 magnify goodness as the Christian religion 
 doth : therefore, to avoid the scandal, and the 
 danger both, it is good to take knowledge of 
 the errors of an habit so excellent. Seek the 
 good of other men, but be not in bondage to 
 their faces or fancies ; for that is but facility 
 or softness, which taketh an honest mind pri- 
 soner. Neither give thou iEsop's cock a gem, 
 who would be better pleased and happier if 
 he had a barley-corn. The example of God 
 teacheth the lesson truly ; " He sendeth his 
 
54 
 
 '- rain, and maketh his sun to shine upon the 
 " just and unjust;" but he doth not rain wealthy 
 nor shine honour and virtues upon men equal- 
 ly : common benefits are to be communicated 
 with all, but peculiar benefits with choice* 
 And beware how in making the portrait thou 
 breakest the pattern : for divinity maketh the 
 love of ourselves the pattern ; the love of our 
 neighbours but the portraiture : u Sell all thou 
 " hast, and give it to the poor, and follow 
 " me :" but sell not all thou hast, except thou 
 come and follow me ; that is, except thou 
 have a vocation wherein thou mayest do as 
 much good with little means as with great; 
 for otherwise, in feeding the streams thou 
 driest the fountain. Neither is there only a 
 habit of goodness directed by right reason; 
 but there is in some men, even in nature, a 
 disposition towards it ; as, on the other side, 
 there is a natural malignity : for there be 
 that in their nature do not affect the good of 
 others. The lighter sort of malignity turneth 
 but to a crossness, or frowardness, or aptness 
 to oppose, or difficilness, or the like ; but the 
 deeper sort to envy, and mere mischief. Such 
 men, in other men's calamities, are, as it were. 
 
DO 
 
 in season, and are ever on the loading part : 
 not so good as the dogs that licked Lazarus' 
 sores, but like flies that are still buzzing upon 
 any thing that is raw ; misanthropi, 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 : such dispositions 
 are the very errors of human nature, and yet 
 they are the fittest timber to make great poli- 
 tics of; like to knee timber that is good for 
 ships that are ordained to be tossed, but not 
 for building houses that shall stand firm. The 
 parts and signs of goodness are many. If a 
 man be gracious and courteous to strangers, 
 it shews he is a citizen of the world, and that 
 his heart is no island cut off from other lands, 
 but a continent that joins to them: if he be 
 compassionate towards the afflictions of others, 
 it shews that his heart is like the noble tree 
 that is wounded itself when it gives the balm : 
 if he easily pardons and remits offences, it 
 shews that his mind is planted above injuries, 
 so that he cannot be shot : if he be thankful 
 for small benefits, it shews that he weighs 
 men's minds, and not their trash : but, above 
 all, if he have St. Paul's perfection, that he 
 
56 
 
 would wish to be an anathema from Christ, for 
 the salvation of his brethren, it shews much of 
 a divine nature, and a kind of conformity with 
 Christ himself. 
 
 OF A KING. 
 
 1. A king is a mortal god on earth, unto 
 whom the living God hath lent his own name 
 as a great honour; but withal told him, he 
 should die like a man, lest he should be 
 proud, and flatter himself that God hath 
 with his name imparted unto him his nature 
 also. 
 
 2. Of all kind of men God is the least be- 
 holding unto them ; for he doth most for them, 
 and they do ordinarily least for him. 
 
 3. A king that would not feel his crown too 
 heavy for him, must wear it every day : but if 
 he think it too light, he knoweth not of what 
 metal it is made. 
 
 4. He must make religion the rule of go- 
 vernment, and not to balance the scale ; for he 
 that casteth in religion only to make the scales- 
 even, his own weight is contained in those cha-^ 
 
57 
 
 racters, " Mene mene, tekel upharsin," " He is 
 " found too light, his kingdom shall be taken 
 " from him." 
 
 5. And that king that holds not religion 
 the best reason of state is void of all piety and 
 justice, the supporters of a king. 
 
 6. He must be able to give counsel himself, 
 but not rely thereupon ; for though happy events 
 justify their counsels, yet it is better that the 
 evil event of good advice be rather imputed to 
 a subject than a sovereign. 
 
 7. He is the fountain of honour, which 
 should not run with a waste pipe, lest the cour- 
 tiers sell the water, and then (as papists say of 
 their holy wells) it loses the virtue. 
 
 S. He is the life of the law, not only as he 
 is " lex loquens" himself, but because he ani- 
 mateth the dead letter, making it active towards 
 all his subjects, " praemio et poena/' 
 
 9. A wise king must do less in altering his 
 laws than he may ; for new government is ever 
 dangerous ; it being true in the body politic, as 
 in the corporal, that " omnis subita immutatio 
 " est periculosa :" and though it be for the bet- 
 ter, yet it is not without a fearful apprehension ; 
 for he that changeth the fundamental laws of a 
 
58 
 
 kingdom thinketh there is no good title to it 
 crown but by conquest. 
 
 10. A king that setteth to sale seats of justice 
 oppresseth the people ; for he teacheth his j udges 
 to sell justice ; and " precio parata precio ven- 
 " ditur justitia." 
 
 11. Bounty and magnificence are virtues 
 very regal, but a prodigal king is nearer a 
 tyrant than a parsimonious ; for store at home 
 draweth not his contemplations abroad ; but 
 want supplieth itself of what is next, and 
 many times the next way : a king herein 
 must be wise, and know what he may justly 
 do. 
 
 12. That king which is not feared is not 
 loved ; and he that is well seen in his craft must 
 as well study to be feared as loved ; yet not 
 loved for fear, but feared for love. 
 
 13. Therefore, as he must always resemble 
 him whose great name he beareth, and that as 
 in manifesting the sweet influence of his mercy 
 on the severe stroke of his justice sometimes, so 
 in this not to suffer a man of death to live ; for, 
 besides that the land doth mourn, the restraint 
 of justice towards sin doth more retard the af- 
 fection of love than the extent of mercy doth 
 
59 
 
 inflame it ; and sure where love is [ill] bestowed, 
 fear is quite lost. 
 
 14. His greatest enemies are his flatterers; 
 for though they ever speak on his side, yet their 
 words still make against him. 
 
 15. The love which a king oweth to a 
 Weal public should not be restrained to any 
 one particular; yet that his more special favour 
 do reflect upon some worthy ones is somewhat 
 necessary, because there are few of that capa- 
 city. 
 
 16\ He must have a special care of five 
 things, if he would not have his crown to be 
 but to him " infelix felicitas :" 
 
 first, that " simulata sanctitas" be not in the 
 church ; for that is " duplex iniquitas :" 
 
 secondly, that " inutilis sequitas" sit not 
 in the chancery ; for that is " inepta miseri- 
 " cordia :" 
 
 thirdly, that " utilis iniquitas" keep not 
 the exchequer ; for that is " crudele latro- 
 " cinium :" 
 
 fourthly, that " fidelis temeritas" be not 
 his general ; for that will bring but " serani 
 " poenitentiam :" 
 
 fifthly, that " infidelis prudentia" be not 
 
60 
 
 his secretary ; for that is " anguis sub viridi 
 " herbl" 
 
 To conclude ; as he is of the greatest power, 
 so he is subject to the greatest cares, made the 
 servant of his people, or else he were without a 
 calling at all. 
 
 He then that honoureth him not is next 
 an atheist, wanting the fear of God in his 
 heart. 
 
 OF NOBILITY. 
 
 We will speak of nobility first as a portion of 
 an estate, then as a condition of particular 
 persons. A monarchy, where there is no no- 
 bility at all, is ever a pure and absolute ty- 
 ranny, as that of the Turks ; for nobility 
 attempers sovereignty, and draws the eyes of 
 the people somewhat aside from the line royal : 
 but for democracies they need it not ; and they 
 are commonly more quiet, and less subject to 
 sedition, than where there are stirps of nobles ; 
 for men's eyes are upon the business, and not 
 upon the persons ; or, if upon the persons, it 
 is for the business sake, as fittest, and not for 
 
61 
 
 flags and pedigree. We see the Switzers last 
 well, notwithstanding their diversity of religion 
 and of cantons; for utility is their bond, and 
 not respects. The united provinces of the Low 
 Countries in their government excel ; for where 
 there is an equality the consultations are more 
 indifferent, and the payments and tributes more 
 cheerful. A great and potent nobility addeth 
 majesty to a monarch, but diminisheth power; 
 and putteth life and spirit into the people, 
 but presseth their fortune. It is well when 
 nobles are not too great for sovereignty nor 
 for justice ; and yet maintained in that height, 
 as the insolency of inferiors may be broken 
 upon them before it come on too fast upon 
 the majesty of kings. A numerous nobility 
 causeth poverty and inconvenience in a state, 
 for it is a surcharge of expence ; and besides, 
 it being of necessity that many of the nobility 
 fall in time to be weak in fortune, it maketh 
 a kind of disproportion between honour and 
 means. 
 
 As for nobility in particular persons, it 
 is a reverend thing to see an ancient castle or 
 building not in decay, or to see a fair timber 
 tree sound and perfect; how much more to 
 
62 
 
 behold an ancient noble family, which hath 
 stood against the waves and weathers of time ? 
 for new nobility is but the act of power, but 
 ancient nobility is the act of time. Those that 
 are first raised to nobility are commonly more 
 virtuous, but less innocent, than their descend- 
 ants; for there is rarely any rising but by a 
 commixture of good and evil arts: but it is 
 reason the memory of their virtues remain to 
 their posterity, and their faults die with them- 
 selves. Nobility of birth commonly abateth 
 industry; and he that is not industrious envieth 
 him that is : besides, noble persons cannot go 
 much higher ; and he that standeth at a stay 
 when others rise, can hardly avoid motions of 
 envy. On the other side, nobility extinguished! 
 the passive envy from others towards them, 
 because they are in possession of honour. Cer- 
 tainly, kings that have able men of their nobility 
 shall find ease in employing them, and a better 
 slide into their business ; for people naturally 
 bend to them as born in some sort to com? 
 mand« 
 
63 
 
 OF SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES. 
 
 Shepherds of people had need know the calen- 
 dars of tempests in state, which are commonly 
 greatest when things grow to equality ; as na- 
 tural tempests are greatest about the equinoctial ; 
 and as there are certain hollow blasts of wind 
 and secret swellings of seas before a tempest, so 
 are there in states: 
 
 "IUe etiam csrcos instare tumultus 
 
 Saepe monet, fraudesque et operta tumcscere bella/* 
 
 Libels and licentious discourses against the state, 
 when they are frequent and open ; and in like 
 sort false news often running up and down to 
 the disadvantage of the state, and hastily em*- 
 braced, are amongst the signs of troubles. Virgil, 
 giving the pedigree of Fame, saith she was sister 
 to the giants : 
 
 "Illam Terra parens, ira irritata Deorum, 
 Extremam (ut perhibent) Coco Enceladoque sororem 
 Progenuit." JEneid.1V. 177. 
 
 As if fames were the relics of seditions past; 
 but they are no less indeed the preludes of 
 
64* 
 
 seditions to come. Howsoever he noteth it 
 right, that seditious tumults, and seditious 
 fames, differ no more but as brother and sister, 
 masculine and feminine ; especially if it come 
 to that, that the best actions of a state, and the 
 most plausible, and which ought to give greatest 
 contentment, are taken in ill sense and tra- 
 duced ; for that shews the envy great, as Taci- 
 tus saith, " conflata magna invidia, seu bene, 
 u seu male, gesta premunt." Neither doth it 
 follow, that because these fames are a sign of 
 troubles, that the suppressing of them with too 
 much severity should be a remedy of troubles ; 
 for the despising of them many times checks 
 them best, and the going about to stop them 
 doth but make a wonder long-lived. Also that 
 kind of obedience which Tacitus speaketh of 
 is to be held suspected; " Erant in officio, sed 
 " tamen qui mallent mandata imperantium in- 
 *' terpretari, quam exequi ;" disputing, excusing, 
 cavilling upon mandates and directions, is a 
 kind of shaking off the yoke and assay of dis- 
 obedience; especially if in those disputings they 
 which are for the direction speak fearfully and 
 tenderly, and those that are against iVaudaei- 
 ously^ 
 
G5 
 
 Also, as Machiavel noteth well, when 
 princes, that ought to be common parents, 
 make themselves as a party and lean to a side, 
 it is as a boat that is overthrown by uneven 
 weight on the one side : as was well seen in 
 the time of Henry the Third of France ; for 
 first himself entered league for the extirpation 
 of the protestants, and presently after the same 
 league was turned upon himself : for when the 
 authority of princes is made but an accessary 
 to a cause, and that there be other bands 
 that tie faster than the band of sovereignty, 
 kings begin to be put almost out of posses- 
 sion. 
 
 Also, when discords, and quarrels, and fac- 
 tions are carried openly and audaciously, it is a 
 sign the reverence of government is lost; for the 
 motions of the greatest persons in a government 
 ought to be as the motions of the planets under 
 " primum mobile/' (according to the old opi- 
 nion,) which is, that every of them is carried 
 swiftly by the highest motion, and softly in their 
 own motion ; and, therefore, when great ones 
 in their own particular motion move violently, 
 and, as Tacitus expresseth it well, " liberius 
 " quam ut imperantium meminissent/' it is a 
 
66 
 
 sign the orbs are out of frame ; for reverence is 
 that wherewith princes are girt from God, who 
 threateneth the dissolving thereof; " solvam 
 " cingula regum." 
 
 So when any of the four pillars of govern- 
 ment are mainly shaken, or weakened, (which 
 are religion, justice, counsel, and treasure,) 
 men had need to pray for fair weather. But 
 let us pass from this part of predictions, (con- 
 cerning which, nevertheless, more light may 
 be taken from that which followeth,) and let 
 us speak first of the materials of seditions, then 
 of the motives of them, and thirdly of the re- 
 medies. 
 
 Concerning the materials of sedition, it is 
 a thing well to be considered ; for the surest 
 way to prevent seditions, (if the times do bear 
 it,) is to take away the matter of them ; for 
 if there be fuel prepared, it is hard to tell 
 whence the spark shall come that shall set it 
 on fire. The matter of seditions is of two 
 kinds, much poverty and much discontent- 
 ment- It is certain, so many overthrown 
 estates, so many votes for troubles. Lucan 
 noteth well the state of Rome before the civil 
 war. 
 
67 
 
 4i Hinc usura vorax, rapidumque in tempore fcenus, 
 u Hinc concussa fides, et multis utile btllum.• , 
 
 This same " multis utile bellum" is an assured 
 and infallible sign of a state disposed to sedi- 
 tions and troubles ; and if this poverty and 
 broken estate in the better sort be joined with 
 a want and necessity in the mean people, the 
 danger is imminent and great ; for the rebel- 
 lions of the belly are the worst. As for discon- 
 tentments, they are in the politic body like to 
 humours in the natural, which are apt to gather 
 a preternatural heat and to enflame ; and let no 
 prince measure the danger of them by this, 
 whether they be just or unjust; for that were 
 to imagine people to be too reasonable, who do 
 often spurn at their own good ; nor yet by this, 
 whether the griefs whereupon they rise be in 
 fact great or small ; for they are the most dan- 
 gerous discontentments where the fear is greater 
 than the feeling: " Dolendi modus, timendi 
 " non item :" besides, in great oppressions, the 
 same things that provoke the patience do 
 withal mate the courage ; but in fears it is not 
 so : neither let any prince or state be secure 
 concerning discontentments because they have 
 been often, or have been long, and yet no 
 
68 
 
 peril hath ensued; for as it is true that every 
 vapour or fume doth not turn into a storm, 
 so it is nevertheless true, that storms, though 
 they blow over divers times, yet may fall at 
 last; and as the Spanish proverb noteth well, 
 " The cord breaketh at the last by the weakest 
 "pull." 
 
 The causes and motives of seditions are 
 innovation in religion, taxes, alteration of laws 
 and customs, breaking of privileges, general 
 oppression, advancement of unworthy persons, 
 strangers, dearths, disbanded soldiers, factions 
 grown desperate; and whatsoever in offending 
 people joineth and knitteth them in a common 
 cause. 
 
 For the remedies there may be some ge- 
 neral preservatives, whereof we will speak : as 
 for the just cure, it must answer to theparticur- 
 lar disease; and so be left to counsel rather than 
 rule. 
 
 The first remedy or prevention is to remove 
 by all means possible that material cause of 
 sedition whereof we speak, which is want and 
 poverty in the estate ; to which purpose serveth 
 the opening and well balancing of trade ; the 
 cherishing of manufactures; the banishing of 
 
69 
 
 idleness; the repressing of waste and excess by 
 sumptuary laws ; the improvement and hus- 
 banding of the soil ; the regulating of prices of 
 things vendible; the moderating of taxes and 
 tributes, and the like. Generally it is to be fore- 
 seen that the population of a kingdom, (espe- 
 cially if it be not mown down by wars,) do not 
 exceed the stock of the kingdom which should 
 maintain them : neither is the population to be 
 reckoned only by number ; for a smaller number 
 that spend more and earn less do wear out an 
 estate sooner than a greater number that live 
 lower and gather more : therefore the multiply- 
 ing of nobility and other degrees of quality, in 
 an over-proportion to the common people, doth 
 speedily bring a state to necessity ; and so doth 
 likewise an overgrown clergy, for they bring 
 nothing to the stock ; and in like manner when 
 more are bred scholars than preferments can 
 take off. 
 
 It is likewise to be remembered, that, foras- 
 much as the increase of any estate must be upon 
 the foreigner, (for whatsoever is somewhere 
 gotten is somewhere lost,) there be but three 
 things which one nation selleth unto another ; 
 the commodity as nature yieldeth it ; the 
 
70 
 
 manufacture ; and the vecture or carriage : so 
 that if these two wheels go, wealth will flow 
 as in a spring tide : and it cometh many times 
 to pass, that " materiam superabit opus/ 7 that 
 the work and carriage is more worth than the 
 material, and enricheth a state more : as is 
 notably seen in the Low Country men, who 
 have the best mines above ground in the 
 world. 
 
 Above all things good policy is to be used, 
 that the treasure and monies in a state be not 
 gathered into few hands ; for, otherwise, a state 
 may have a great stock and yet starve : and mo- 
 ney is like muck, not good except it be spread. 
 This is done chiefly by suppressing, or, at the 
 least, keeping a strait hand upon the devour- 
 ing trades of usury, ingrossing, great pasturages, 
 and the like. 
 
 For removing discontentments, or, at least, 
 -the danger of them, there is in every state (as 
 we know) two portions of subjects, the nobles 
 and the commonalty. When one of these is 
 discontented, the danger is not great; for com- 
 mon people are of slow motion if they be not 
 excited by the greater sort ; and the greater 
 sort are of small strength, except the multitude 
 
7 1 
 
 be apt and ready to move of themselves : then 
 is the danger when the greater sort do but wait 
 for the troubling of the waters amongst the 
 meaner, that then they may declare themselves. 
 The poets feign that the rest of the gods would 
 have bound Jupiter, which he hearing of, by 
 the counsel of Pallas, sent for Briareus with his 
 hundred hands to come in to his aid — an em- 
 blem, no doubt, to shew how safe it is for 
 monarchs to make sure of the good will of com- 
 mon people. 
 
 To give moderate liberty for griefs and dis- 
 contentments to evaporate, (so it be without 
 too great insolency or bravery,) is a safe way ; 
 for he that turneth the humours back, and 
 maketh the wound bleed inwards, endanger- 
 eth malign ulcers and pernicious imposthuma- 
 tions. 
 
 The part of Epimethcus might well become 
 Prometheus in the case of discontentments, 
 for there is not a better provision against 
 them.. Epimetheus, when griefs and evils flew 
 abroad, at last shut the lid, and kept hope 
 in the bottom of the vessel. Certainly, the 
 politic and artificial nourishing and entertain- 
 ing of hopes, and carrying men from hopes 
 
72 
 
 to hopes is one of the best antidotes against 
 the poison of discontentments : and it is a 
 certain sign of a wise government and proceed- 
 ing when it can hold men's hearts by hopes, 
 when it cannot by satisfaction; and when it 
 can handle things in such manner as no evil 
 shall appear so peremptory, but that it hath 
 some outlet of hope ; which is the less hard 
 to do, because both particular persons and 
 factions are apt enough to flatter themselves, 
 or, at least, to brave that which they believe 
 not. 
 
 Also the foresight and prevention that there 
 be no likely or fit head whereunto discontented 
 persons may resort, and under whom they may 
 join, is a known but an excellent point of 
 caution. I understand a fit head to be one 
 that hath greatness and reputation, that hath 
 confidence with the discontented party, and 
 upon whom they turn their eyes, and that is 
 thought discontented in his own particular; 
 which kind of persons are either to be won and 
 reconciled to the state, and that in a fast and 
 true manner ; or to be fronted with some other 
 of the same party that may oppose them, and 
 so divide the reputation. Generally, the dividing 
 
73 
 
 and breaking of all factions and combinations 
 that are adverse to the state, and setting them 
 at distance, or, at least, distrust among them- 
 selves, is not one of the worst remedies ; for it 
 is a desperate case, if those that hold with the 
 proceeding of the state be full of discord and 
 faction, and those that are against it be entire 
 and united. 
 
 I have noted that some witty and sharp 
 speeches which have fallen from princes have 
 given fire to seditions. Caesar did himself 
 infinite hurt in that speech, " Sylla nescivit 
 " literas, non potuit dictare ;" for it did ut- 
 terly cut off that hope which men had enter- 
 tained, that he would at one time or other 
 give over his dictatorship. Galba undid him- 
 self by that speech, " Legi a se militem, non 
 " emi ;" for it put the soldiers out of hope of 
 the donative. Probus, likewise, by that speech, 
 " Si vixero, non opus erit amplius Romano 
 " imperio militibus," a speech of great despair 
 for the soldiers ; and many the like. Surely, 
 princes had need in tender matter and tick- 
 lish times to beware what they say, especi- 
 ally in these short speeches, which fly abroad 
 like darts, and are thought to be shot out of 
 
74 
 
 their secret intentions; for as for large dis- 
 courses, they are flat things, and not so much 
 noted. 
 
 Lastly, let princes against all events not 
 be without some great person, one or rather 
 more, of military valour, near unto them, for 
 the repressing of seditions in their beginnings; 
 for without that there useth to be more tre- 
 pidation in court upon the first breaking out 
 of troubles than were fit ; and the state run- 
 neth the danger of that which Tacitus saith, 
 u atque is habitus animorum fuit, ut pessimum 
 " facinus auderent pauci, plures vellent, omnes 
 " paterentur :" but let such military persons 
 be assured and well reputed of, rather than 
 factious and popular ; holding also good cor- 
 respondence with the other great men in the 
 state, or else the remedy is worse than the 
 disease. 
 
75 
 
 OF ATHEISM. 
 
 I Had rather believe all the fables in the le- 
 gend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than 
 that this universal frame is without a mind : 
 and, therefore, God never wrought miracle to 
 convince atheism, because his ordinary works 
 convince it. It is true that a little philosophy 
 inclineth man's mind to atheism; but depth in 
 philosophy bringeth men's minds about to re- 
 ligion; for while the mind of man looketh 
 upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes 
 rest in them, and go no farther; but when it 
 beholdeth the chain of them confederate and 
 linked together, it must needs fly to Provi- 
 dence and Deity : nay, even that school which 
 is most accused of atheism doth most demon- 
 strate religion ; that is, the school of Leucippus, 
 and Democritus, and Epicurus: for it is a 
 thousand times more credible, that four mu- 
 table elements and one immutable fifth essence, 
 duly and eternally placed, need no God, than 
 that an army of infinite small portions, or 
 seeds unplaced, should have produced this 
 order and beauty without a divine marshal. 
 
7<? 
 
 The Scripture saith, "The fool hath said in 
 " his heart, there is no God:" it is not said, 
 " The fool hath thought in his heart;" so as 
 he rather saith it by rote to himself, as that 
 he would have, than that he can thoroughly 
 believe it, or be persuaded of it; for none deny 
 there is a God, but those for whom it maketh 
 that there were no God. It appeareth in no- 
 thing more, that atheism is rather in the lip 
 than in the heart of man, than by this, that 
 atheists will ever be talking of that their opi- 
 nion, as if they fainted in it within themselves, 
 and would be glad to be strengthened by the 
 consent of others: nay more, you shall have 
 atheists strive to get disciples, as it fareth with 
 other sects ; and, which is most of all, you 
 shall have of them that will suffer for atheism, 
 and not recant ; whereas, if they did truly think 
 that there were no such thing as God, why 
 should they trouble themselves ? Epicurus is 
 charged, that he did but dissemble for his 
 credit's sake when he affirmed there were 
 blessed natures, but such as enjoyed themselves 
 Avithout having respect to the government of 
 the world ; wherein they say he did tempo- 
 rize, though in secret he thought there was 
 
77 
 
 no God: but certainly he is traduced, for his 
 words are noble and divine; " Non Deos vulgi 
 " negare profanum ; sed vulgi opiniones cliis 
 " applicare profanum/' Plato could have said 
 no more; and, although he had the confidence 
 to deny the administration, he had not the 
 power to deny the nature. The Indians of the 
 West have names for their particular gods, 
 though they have no name for God ; as if the 
 heathens should have had the names Jupiter, 
 Apollo, Mars, &c. but not the word Deus ; 
 which shews, that even those barbarous people 
 have the notion, though they have not the 
 latitude and extent of it : so that against 
 atheists the very savages ta*ke part with the 
 very subtilest philosophers. The contemplative 
 atheist is rare, a Diagoras, a Bion, a Lucian 
 perhaps, and some others; and yet they seem 
 to be more than they are ; for that all that 
 impugn a received religion or superstition are 
 by the adverse part branded with the name of 
 atheists : but the great atheists indeed are hy- 
 pocrites, which are ever handling holy things, 
 but without feeling; so as they must needs be 
 cauterized in the end. The causes of atheism 
 are, divisions in religion, if they be many; 
 
78 
 
 for any one main division addeth zeal to both 
 sides, but many divisions introduce atheism: 
 another is, scandal of priests, when it is come 
 to that which St. Bernard saith, "nonestjam 
 " dicere, ut populus, sic sacerdos; quia nee sic 
 u populus, ut sacerdos :" a third is, a custom 
 of profane scoffing in holy matters, which 
 doth by little and little deface the reverence 
 of religion ; and, lastly, learned times, especially* 
 with peace and prosperity; for troubles and 
 adversities do more bow men's minds to re- 
 ligion. They that deny a God destroy man's 
 nobility; for certainly man is of kin to the 
 beasts -by his body; and, if he be not of kin to 
 God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble 
 creature. It destroys likewise magnanimity, 
 and the raising of human nature; for take an 
 example of a dog, and mark what a generosity 
 and courage he will put on when he finds 
 himself maintained by a man, who to him is 
 instead of a God, or " rnelior natura;" which 
 courage is manifestly such as that creature, 
 without that confidence of a better nature 
 than his own, could never attain. So man, 
 when he resteth and assureth himself upon 
 divine protection and favour, gathereth a force 
 
19 
 
 and faith which human nature in itself could 
 not obtain; therefore, as atheism is in all re- 
 spects hateful, so in this, that it depriveth 
 human nature of the means to exalt itself 
 above human frailty. As it is in particular 
 persons, so it is in nations: never was there 
 such a state for magnanimity as Rome; of this 
 state hear what Cicero saith, " Quam volu- 
 " mus, licet, patres conscripti, nos ameraus, 
 " tamen nee numero Hispanos, nee robore Gal- 
 " los, nee calliditate Poenos, nee artibus Grae- 
 u cos, nee denique hoc ipso hujus gentis et 
 " terras domestico nativoque sensu Italos ipsos 
 " et Latinos; sed pietate, ac religione, atque 
 " hac una sapientia, quod deorum immorta- 
 u lium numine omnia regi, gubernarique per- 
 " speximus, omnes gentes nationesque superavi- 
 " mus/' 
 
 OF SUPERSTITION. 
 
 It were better to have no opinion of God a$ 
 all, than such an opinion as is unworthy of 
 him; for the one is unbelief, the other is con- 
 tumely : and certainly superstition is the re- 
 
80 
 
 proach of the Deity. Plutarch saith well to 
 that purpose; " Surely/' saith he, "I had ra- 
 " ther a great deal men should say there was 
 6 no such man at all as Plutarch, than that 
 " they should say that there was one Plutarch 
 " that would eat his children as soon as they 
 u were born/' as the poets speak of Saturn: 
 and, as the contumely is greater towards God> 
 so the clanger is greater towards men. Atheism 
 leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural 
 piety, to laws, to reputation; all which may 
 be guides to an outward moral virtue, though 
 religion were not ; but superstition dismounts 
 all these, and erecteth an absolute monarchy 
 in the minds of men : therefore atheism did 
 never perturb states ; for it makes men wary 
 of themselves, as looking no farther, and we 
 see the times inclined to atheism (as the time 
 of Augustus Caesar) were civil times: but su- 
 perstition hath been the confusion of many 
 states, and bringeth in a new "primum mo- 
 " bile/' that ravisheth all the spheres of go- 
 vernment. The master of superstition is the 
 people, and in all superstition wise men follow 
 fools; and arguments are fitted to practice in 
 a reversed order. It was gravely said by some 
 
8i 
 
 of the prelates in the council of Trent, where 
 the doctrine of the schoolmen bare great sway, 
 that the schoolmen were like astronomers, which 
 did feign eccentrics and epicycles, and such en- 
 gines of orbs to save the phenomena, though 
 they knew there were no such things ; and in 
 like manner, that the schoolmen had framed a 
 number of subtile and intricate axioms and 
 theorems, to save the practice of the church. 
 The causes of superstition are pleasing and sen- 
 sual rites and ceremonies ; excess of outward 
 and pharisaical holiness; over-great reverence of 
 traditions, which cannot but load the church ; 
 the stratagems of prelates for their own am- 
 bition and lucre ; the favouring too much of 
 good intentions, which openeth the gate to 
 conceits and novelties ; the taking an aim at 
 divine matters by human, which cannot but 
 breed mixture of imaginations ; and, lastly, bar- 
 barous times, especially joined with calamities 
 and disasters. Superstition without a veil is a 
 deformed thing; for as it addeth deformity to 
 an ape to be so like a man, so the similitude of 
 superstition to religion makes it the more de- 
 formed : and, as wholesome meat corrupteth to 
 little worms, so good forms and orders corrupt 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 into a number of petty observances. There is 
 a superstition in avoiding superstition, when 
 men think to do best if they go farthest from 
 the superstition formerly received; therefore care 
 should be had that, (as it fareth in ill purgings,) 
 the good be not taken away with the bad, which 
 commonly is done when the people is the re- 
 former. 
 
 OF TRAVEL. 
 
 Travel in the younger sort is apart of educa- 
 tion ; in the elder a part of experience. He 
 that travelleth into a country, before he hath 
 some entrance into the language, goeth to 
 school, and not to travel. That young men 
 travel under some tutor, or grave servant, I 
 allow well ; so that he be such a one that hath 
 the language, and hath been in the country 
 before ; whereby he may be able to tell them 
 what things are worthy to be seen in the coun- 
 try where they go, what acquaintances they 
 are to seek, what exercises or discipline the 
 place yieldeth ; for else young men shall go 
 hooded, and look abroad little. It is a strange 
 
S3 
 
 thing, that in sea voyages, where there is no- 
 thing to be seen but sky and sea, men should 
 make diaries ; but in land travel, wherein so 
 much is to be observed, for the most part they 
 omit it ; as if chance were fitter to be re- 
 gistered than observation : let diaries, therefore, 
 be brought in use. The things to be seen and 
 observed are the courts of princes, especially 
 when they give audience to ambassadors ; the 
 courts of justice while they sit and hear causes ; 
 and so of consistories ecclesiastic ; the churches 
 and monasteries, with the monuments which 
 are therein extant ; the walls and fortifications 
 of cities and towns ; and so the havens and 
 harbours, antiquities and ruins, libraries, col- 
 leges, disputations, and lectures where any are; 
 shipping and navies ; houses and gardens of 
 state and pleasure near great cities ; armories, 
 arsenals, magazines, exchanges, burses, ware- 
 houses, exercises of horsemanship, fencing, 
 training of soldiers, and the like ; comedies, 
 such whereunto the better sort of persons do 
 resort; treasuries of jewels and robes ; cabinets 
 and rarities ; and to conclude, whatsoever is 
 memorable in the places where they go ; after 
 till which the tutors or servants ought to make 
 
84 
 
 diligent inquiry. As for triumphs, masks, feasts, 
 weddings, funerals, capital executions, and 
 such shews, men need not to be put in mind 
 of them; yet are they not to be neglected. If 
 you will have a young man to put his travel 
 into a little room, and in short time to gather 
 much, this you must do : first, as was said, he 
 must have some entrance into the language 
 before he goeth ; then he must have such a 
 servant or tutor as knoweth the country, as 
 was likewise said : let him carry with him 
 also some card or book describing the country 
 where he travelleth, which will be a good key 
 to his inquiry ; let him keep also a diary ; 
 let him not stay long in one city or town, more 
 or less as the place deserveth, but not long ; 
 nay, when he stayeth in one city or town, let 
 him change his lodging from one end and 
 part of the town to another, which is a great 
 adamant of acquaintance ; let him sequester 
 himself from the company of his countrymen, 
 and diet in such places where there is good 
 company of the nation where he travelleth ; 
 let him upon his removes from one place to 
 another procure recommendation to some per- 
 son of quality residing in the place whither 
 
85 
 
 he removeth, that he may use his favour in 
 those things he desireth to see or know : thus 
 he may abridge his travel with much profit. 
 As for the acquaintance which is to be sought 
 in travel, that which is most of all profitable 
 is acquaintance with the secretaries and em- 
 ployed men of ambassadors ; for so in travel- 
 ling in one country he shall suck the experi- 
 ence of many : let him also see and visit emi- 
 nent persons in all kinds which are of great 
 name abroad, that he may be able to tell how 
 the life agreeth with the fame : for quarrels, 
 they are with care and discretion to be avoid- 
 ed ; they are commonly for mistresses, healths, 
 place, and words : and let a man beware how 
 he keepeth company with choleric and quarrel- 
 some persons ; for they will engage him into 
 their own quarrels. When a traveller return- 
 eth home, let him not leave the countries 
 where he hath travelled altogether behind 
 him ; but maintain a correspondence by letters 
 with those of his acquaintance which are of 
 most worth; and let his travel appear rather 
 in his discourse, than in his apparel or gesture ; 
 and in his discourse let him be rather advised 
 in his answers, than forward to tell stories: 
 
8(3 
 
 and let it appear that he doth not change his 
 country manners for those of foreign parts ; 
 but only prick in some flowers of that he hath 
 learned abroad into the customs of his own 
 country. 
 
 OF EMPIRE. 
 
 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 make their minds the less 
 clear : and this is one reason also of that ef- 
 fect which the Scripture speaketh of, " That 
 " the king's heart is inscrutable;" for multi- 
 tude of jealousies, and lack of some predomi- 
 nant desire, that should marshal and put in 
 order all the rest, maketh any man's heart 
 hard to find or sound. Hence it comes like- 
 wise, that princes many times make them- 
 selves desires, and set their hearts upon toys ; 
 sometimes upon a building ; sometimes upon 
 
87 
 
 erecting of an order ; sometimes upon the ad* 
 vancing of a person ; sometimes upon obtain- 
 ing excellency in some art, or feat of the hand ; 
 as Nero for playing on the harp ; Domitian 
 for certainty of the hand with the arrow; 
 Commodus for playing at fence ; Caracalla for 
 driving chariots, and the like. This seemeth 
 incredible unto those that know not the prin- 
 ciple, that the mind of man is more cheered 
 and refreshed .by profiting in small things, 
 than by standing at a stay in great. We see 
 also that kings that have been fortunate con- 
 querors in their first years, it being not possible 
 for them to go forward infinitely, but that 
 they must have some check or arrest in their 
 fortunes, turn in their latter years to be su- 
 perstitious and melancholy ; as did Alexander 
 the Great, Dioclesian, and in our memory 
 Charles the Fifth, and others ; for he that is 
 used to go forward, and findeth a stop, falleth 
 out of his own favour, and is not the thing he 
 .was. 
 
 To speak now of the true temper of em- 
 pire, it is a thing rare and hard to keep; for 
 both temper and distemper consist of con- 
 traries : but it is one thing to mingle con- 
 
traries, another to interchange them. The an- 
 swer of Apollonius to Vespasian is full of excel- 
 lent instruction. Vespasian asked him, What was 
 Nero's overthrow ? lie answered, Nero could 
 touch and tune the harp well, but in govern- 
 ment sometimes he used to wind the pins too 
 high, sometimes to let them down too low ; and 
 certain it is, that nothing destroyeth authority 
 so much as the unequal and untimely inter- 
 change of power pressed too far, and relaxed 
 too much. 
 
 This is true, that the wisdom of all these 
 latter times in princes' affairs is rather fine 
 deliveries, and shifting of dangers and mis- 
 chiefs, when they are near, than solid and 
 grounded courses to keep them aloof : but 
 this is but to try masteries with fortune;, 
 and let men beware how they neglect and 
 suffer matter of trouble to be prepared ; for 
 no man can forbid the spark, nor tell whence 
 it may come. The difficulties in princes' busi- 
 ness are many and great ; but the greatest 
 difficulty is often in their own mind ; for it is 
 common with princes, (saith Tacitus,) to will 
 contradictories; " Sunt plerumque regum vo- 
 " Imitates vehcinentes, et. inter sc conlrarice*" 
 
89 
 
 for it is the solecism of power to think to 
 command the end, and yet not to endure the 
 means. 
 
 Kings have to deal with their neighbours, 
 their wives, their children, 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 
 dangers, if care and circumspection be not 
 used. 
 
 First, for their neighbours there can no 
 general rule be given, (the occasions are so 
 variable,) save one which ever holdeth; which 
 is, that princes do keep due centinel, that none 
 of their neighbours do overgrow so, (by in- 
 crease of territory, by embracing of trade, by 
 approaches, or the like,) as they become more 
 able to annoy them than they were ; and this 
 is generally the work of standing counsels to 
 foresee and to hinder it. During that trium- 
 virate of kings, king Henry the Eighth of Eng- 
 land, Francis the First, king of France, and 
 Charles the Fifth emperor, there was such a 
 watch kept, that none of the three could win- 
 a. palm of ground, but the other two would 
 straightways balance it, either by confederation,. 
 
90 
 
 or, if need were, by a war; and would not 
 in any wise take up peace at interest : and 
 the like was done by that league, (which, 
 Guicciardini saith, was the security of Italy,) 
 made between Ferdinando, king of Naples, 
 Lorenzius Medices, and Ludovicus Sforsa, po- 
 tentates, the one of Florence, the other of 
 Milan. Neither is the opinion of some of the 
 schoolmen to be received, that a war cannot 
 justly be made, but upon a precedent injury 
 or provocation ; for there is no question, but 
 a just fear of an imminent danger, though 
 there be no blow given, is a lawful cause of a 
 war. 
 
 For their wives, there are cruel examples 
 of them. Livia is infamed for the poisoning 
 of her husband; Roxolana, Solyman's wife, was 
 the destruction of that renowned prince, Sultan 
 Mustapha, and otherwise troubled his house 
 and succession; Edward the Second of Eng- 
 land's queen had the principal hand in the 
 deposing and murder of her husband. This 
 kind of danger is then to be feared chiefly 
 when the wives have plots for the raising of 
 their own children, or else that they be advou- 
 Iresses. 
 
91 
 
 For their children, the tragedies likewise 
 of dangers from them have been many; and 
 generally the entering of fathers into suspicion 
 of their children hath been ever unfortunate. 
 The destruction of Mustapha, (that we named 
 before,) was so fatal to Solyman's line, as the 
 succession of the Turks from Solyman until this 
 day is suspected to be untrue, and of strange 
 blood ; for that Selymus the Second was thought 
 to be supposititious. The destruction of Cris- 
 pus, a young prince of rare towardness, by 
 Constantinus the Great, his father, was in like 
 manner fatal to his house, for both Constantinus 
 and Constance, his sons, died violent deaths ; 
 and Constantius, his other son, did little better, 
 who died indeed of sickness, but after that 
 Julianus had taken arms against him. The 
 destruction of Demetrius, son to Philip the Se- 
 cond of Macedon, turned upon the father, who 
 died of repentance: and many like examples 
 there are, but few or none where the fathers 
 had good by such distrust, except it were where 
 the sons were up in open arms against them ; 
 as was Selymas the First against Bajazet, and 
 the three sons of Henry the Second king of 
 England. 
 
92 
 
 For their prelates, when they are proud and 
 great there is also danger from them ; as it was 
 in the times of Anselmus and Thomas Beckett, 
 archbishops of Canterbury, who with their cro- 
 siers did almost try it with the king's sword ; and 
 yet they had to deal w r ith stout and haughty 
 kings, William Rufus, Henry the First, and 
 Henry the Second. The danger is not from 
 that state, but where it hath a dependence of 
 foreign authority; or where the churchmen 
 come in, and are elected, not by the collation 
 of the king, or particular patrons, but by the 
 people. 
 
 For their nobles, to keep them at a distance 
 it is not amiss ; but to depress them may make 
 a king more absolute, but less safe, and less able 
 to perform any thing that he desires. I have 
 noted it in my history of king Henry the Seventh 
 of England, who depressed his nobility, where^ 
 upon it came to pass that his times w T ere full 
 of difficulties and troubles; for the nobility, 
 though they continued loyal unto him, yet did 
 they not co-operate with him in his business ; 
 so that in effect he was fain to do all things 
 himself. 
 
 For their second nobles, there is not much 
 
93 
 
 danger from them, being a body dispersed : 
 they may sometimes discourse high, but that 
 doth little hurt; besides, they are a counter- 
 poise to the higher nobility, that they grow 
 not too potent; and, lastly, being the most 
 immediate in authority with the common 
 people, they do best temper popular commo- 
 tions. 
 
 For their merchants, they are "vena porta;" 
 and if they flourish not, a kingdom may have 
 good limbs, but will have empty veins, and 
 nourish little. Taxes and imposts upon them 
 do seldom good to the king's revenue, for that 
 that he wins in the hundred he loseth in the 
 shire ; the particular rates being increased, but 
 the total bulk of trading rather decreased. 
 
 For their commons, there is little danger 
 from them, except it be where they have great 
 and potent heads ; or where you meddle with 
 the point of religion, or their customs, or means 
 of life. 
 
 For their men of war, it is a dangerous state 
 where they live and remain in a body, and are 
 used to donatives, whereof we see examples in 
 the j anizaries and praetorian bands of Rome ; but 
 trainings of men, and arming them in several 
 
places, and under several commanders, and 
 without donatives, are things of defence and no 
 danger. 
 
 Princes are like to heavenly bodies, which 
 cause good or evil times; and which have much 
 veneration, but no rest. All precepts concern- 
 ing kings are in effect comprehended in those 
 two remembrances, " memento quod es homo ;" 
 and " memento quod es Deus, or vice Dei;" the 
 one bridleth their power, and the other their 
 will. 
 
 OF COUNSEL. 
 
 The greatest trust between man and man is 
 the trust of giving counsel; for in other con- 
 fidences men commit the parts of life, their 
 lands, their goods, their children, their credit, 
 some particular affair; but to such as they 
 make their counsellors they commit the whole : 
 by how much the more they are obliged to all 
 faith and integrity. The wisest princes need 
 not think it any diminution to their great- 
 ness, or derogation to their sufficiency, to rely 
 upon counsel. God himself is not without. 
 
95 
 
 but hath made it one of the great names 
 of his blessed son, " The Counsellor ." Solo- 
 mon hath pronounced that, " in counsel is sta- 
 " bility." Things will have their first or 
 second agitation: if they be not tossed upon 
 the arguments of counsel, they will be tossed 
 upon the waves of fortune ; and be full of in- 
 constancy, doing and undoing, like the reeling 
 of a drunken man. Solomon's son found the 
 force of counsel, as his father saw the ne- 
 cessity of it; for the beloved kingdom of God 
 was first rent and broken by ill counsel ; upon 
 which counsel there are set for our instruction 
 the two marks whereby bad counsel is for 
 ever best discerned, that it was young counsel 
 for the persons, and violent counsel for the 
 matter. 
 
 The ancient times do set forth in figure 
 both the incorporation and inseparable con- 
 junction of counsel with kings, and the wise 
 and politic use of counsel by kings: the one, 
 in that they say Jupiter did marry Metis, 
 which signifieth counsel; whereby they in- 
 tend that sovereignty is married to counsel ; 
 the other in that which followeth, which was 
 thus: they say, after Jupiter was married to 
 
96 
 
 Metis, she conceived by him and was with 
 child, but Jupiter suffered her not to stay till 
 she brought forth, but eat her up ; whereby he 
 became himself with child, and was delivered 
 of Pallas armed out of his head. Which mon- 
 strous fable containeth a secret of empire, how 
 kings are to make use of their council of state : 
 that first, they ought to refer matters unto 
 them, which is the first begetting or impregna- 
 tion; but when they are elaborate, moulded., 
 and shaped in the womb of their council, and 
 grow ripe and ready to be brought forth, that 
 then they suffer not their council to go through 
 with the resolution and direction, as if it de- 
 pended on them ; but take the matter back 
 into their own hands, and make it appear to 
 the world, that the decrees and final directions, 
 (which, because they come forth with prudence 
 and power, are resembled to Pallas armed,) 
 proceeded from themselves; and not only from 
 their authority, but, (the more to add repu- 
 tation to themselves,) from their head and de- 
 vice. 
 
 Let us now speak of the inconveniences of 
 counsel, and of the remedies. The inconveni- 
 ences that have been noted in calling and using 
 
m 
 
 counsel, are three : first, the revealing of affairs, 
 whereby they become less secret: secondly, the 
 weakening of the authority of princes, as if 
 they were less of themselves : thirdly, the dan- 
 ger of being unfaithfully counselled, and more 
 for the good of them that counsel, than of 
 him that is counselled ; for which inconveni- 
 ences, the doctrine of Italy, and practice of 
 France in some kings' times, hath introduced 
 cabinet councils ; a remedy worse than the dis- 
 ease. 
 
 As to secrecy, princes are not bound to 
 communicate all matters with all counsellors, 
 but may extract and select; neither is it neces- 
 sary that he that consulteth what he should 
 do should declare what he will do ; but let 
 princes beware that the unsecreting of their 
 affairs comes not from themselves: and, as 
 for cabinet councils, it may be their motto, 
 " plenus rimarum sum :" one futile person, that 
 maketh it his glory to tell, will do more hurt 
 than many that know it their duty to con- 
 ceal. It is true there be some affairs which 
 require extreme secrecy, which will hardly go 
 beyond one or two persons besides the king: 
 neither are those counsels unprosperous; for, 
 
 H 
 
9$, 
 
 besides the secrecy, they commonly go on con* 
 stantly in one spirit of direction without dis- 
 traction : but then it must be a prudent king, 
 such as is able to grind with a hand-mill ; and 
 those inward counsellors had need also be wise 
 men, and especially true and trusty to the king's 
 ends; as it was with king Henry the Seventh of 
 England, who in his greatest business imparted 
 himself to none, exceptit were to Morton and 
 Fox. 
 
 For weakening of authority the fable shew- 
 eth the remedy : nay, the majesty of kings is 
 rather exalted than diminished when they are 
 in the chair of council ; neither was there ever 
 prince bereaved of his dependances by his coun- 
 cil, except where there hath been either an 
 over-greatness in one counsellor, or an over-strict 
 combination in divers, which are things soon 
 found and holpen. 
 
 For the last inconvenience, that men will 
 counsel with an eye to themselves; certainly, 
 "non inveniet fidem super terrain, " is meant 
 of the nature of times, and not of all particular 
 persons. There be that are in nature faithful 
 and sincere, and plain and direct, not crafty 
 and involved: let princes, above all, draw to. 
 
99 
 
 themselves such natures. Besides, counsellors 
 are not commonly so united, but that one 
 ^counsellor keepeth centinel over another; so 
 that if any do counsel out of faction or private 
 ends, it commonly comes to the king's ear : 
 but the best remedy is, if princes know their 
 counsellors as well as their counsellors know 
 Aem: 33D& 
 
 " Principis est virtus maxima nosse suos." 
 
 And, on the other side, counsellors should not 
 be too speculative into their sovereign's person. 
 The true composition of a counsellor is, rather 
 to be skilful in their master's business, than in 
 bis nature; for then he is like to advise him, 
 and not to feed his humour. It is of singular 
 use to princes if they take the opinions of 
 their council both separately and together; for 
 private opinion is more free, bat opinion before 
 others is more reverend. In private, men are 
 more bold in their own humours; and in con- 
 sort, men are more obnoxious to others' hu- 
 mours ; therefore it is good to take both; and 
 of the inferior sort, rather in private, to pre- 
 serve freedom; of the greater, rather in consort, 
 to preserve respect. It is in vain for princes to 
 
100 
 
 take' counsel concerning matters, if they take 
 no counsel likewise concerning persons ; for 
 all matters are as dead images ; and the life 
 of the execution of affairs rcsteth in the good 
 choice of persons: neither is it enough to con- 
 sult concerning persons, " secundum genera," 
 as in an idea or mathematical description, 
 what the kind and character of the person 
 should be ; for the greatest errors are committed, 
 and the most judgment is shewn, in the choice 
 of individuals. It was truly said, " optimi con- 
 " siliarii mortui ;" " books will speak plain when 
 " counsellors blanch;'' therefore it is good to 
 be conversant in them, specially the books of 
 such as themselves have been actors upon the 
 stage. 
 
 The councils at this day in most places are 
 but familiar meetings, where matters are ra- 
 ther talked on than debated ; and they run 
 too swift to the order or act of council. It 
 were better that in causes of weight the 
 matter were propounded one day and not 
 Spoken to till the next day; "in nocte con- 
 " silium:" so was it done in the commission of 
 union between Scotland and England, which 
 was a grave and orderly assembly. I com- 
 
101 
 
 mend set days for petitions ; for both it gives 
 the suitors more certainty for their attendance, 
 and it frees the meetings for matters of estate, 
 that they may " hoc agere." In choice of 
 committees for ripening business for the coun- 
 cil, it is better to choose indifferent persons, 
 than to make an indifferency by putting in 
 those that are strong on both sides. I com- 
 mend also standing commissions; as for trade, 
 for treasure, for war, for suits, for some pro- 
 vinces ; for where there be divers particular 
 councils, and but one council of state, (as it ig 
 in Spain,) they are, in effect, no more than 
 standing commissions, save that they have 
 greater authority. Let such as are to inform 
 councils out of their particular professions, (as 
 lawyers, seamen, mintmen, and the like,) be 
 first heard before committees; and then, as 
 occasion serves, before the council; and let 
 them not come in multitudes, or in a tribu- 
 nitious manner; for that is to clamour coun- 
 cils, not to inform them. A long table and 
 a square table, or seats about the walls, seem 
 things of form, but are things of substance ; 
 for at a long table a few at the upper end, in 
 effect, sway all the business; but in the other 
 
102 
 
 form there is more use of the counsellors* 
 opinions that sit lower. A king, when he 
 presides in council, let him beware how he 
 opens his own inclination too much in that 
 which he propoundeth ; for else counsellors 
 will but take the wind of him, and instead of 
 giving free counsel, will sing him a song of 
 "placebo/' 
 
 OF DELAYS. 
 
 Fortune is like the market, where many 
 times, if you can stay a little, the price will 
 fall; and again, it is sometimes like Sibylla's 
 offer, which at first ofrereth the commodity at 
 •full, then consumeth part and part, and still 
 holdeth up the price ; for occasion, (as it is in 
 the common verse,) turneth a bald noddle after 
 she hath presented her locks in front, and no 
 hold taken ; or, at least, turneth the handle of 
 the bottle first to be received, and after the 
 belly, which is hard to clasp. There is surely 
 no greater wisdom than well to time the be- 
 ginnings and onsets of things. ' Dangers are no 
 more light, if they once seem light; and more 
 
103 
 
 dangers have deceived men than forced them : 
 nay, it were better to meet some dangers half 
 way, though they come nothing near, than to 
 keep too long a watch upon their approaches ; 
 for if a man watch too long, it is odds he will 
 fall asleep. On the other side, to be deceived 
 with too long shadows, (as some have been 
 when the moon was low and shone on their 
 enemies' back,) and so to shoot off before the 
 time ; or to teach dangers to come on by over- 
 early buckling towards them, is another ex- 
 treme. The ripeness or unripeness of the oc- 
 casion, (as we said,) must ever be well weighed; 
 and generally it is good to commit the be- 
 ginnings of all great actions to Argos with his 
 hundred eyes, and the ends to Briareus with his 
 hundred hands ; first to watch, and then to 
 speed : for the helmet of Pluto, which maketh 
 the politic man go invisible, is secrecy in the 
 council, and celerity in the execution ; for when 
 things are once come to the execution, there is 
 no secrecy comparable to celerity ; like the mo- 
 tion of a bullet in the air, which flieth so swift 
 as it outruns the eye. 
 
104 
 
 OF CUNNING. 
 
 We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wis- 
 dom ; and, certainly, there is great difference 
 between a cunning man and a wise man, not 
 only in point of honesty, but in point of abi- 
 lity. There be that can pack the cards, and yet 
 cannot play well ; so there are some that are 
 good in canvasses and factions, that are other- 
 wise w r eak men. Again, it is one thing to un- 
 derstand persons, and another thing to under- 
 stand matters ; for many are perfect in men's 
 humours that are not greatly capable of the 
 real part of business, which is the constitution 
 of one that hath studied men more than books. 
 Such men are fitter for practice than for coun- 
 sel, and they are good but in their own ally : 
 turn them to new men, and they have lost their 
 aim ; so as the old rule to know a fool from a 
 wise man, " Mitte ambos nudos ad ignotos, et 
 " videbis," doth scarce hold for them ; and, be- 
 cause these cunning men are like haberdashers 
 of small wares, it is not amiss to set forth their 
 .shop. 
 
105 
 
 It is a point of cunning to wait upon him 
 with whom you speak with your eyes, as the 
 Jesuits give it in precept ; for there be many 
 wise men that have secret hearts and transparent 
 countenances : yet this would be done with a 
 demure abasing of your eye sometimes, as the 
 Jesuits also do use. 
 
 Another is, that when you have any thing 
 to obtain of present dispatch, you entertain and 
 amuse the party with whom you deal with 
 some other discourse, that he be not too much 
 awake to make objections. I knew a coun- 
 sellor and secretary that never came to queen 
 Elizabeth of England with bills to sign, but 
 he would always first put her into some dis- 
 course of estate, that she might the less mind 
 the bills. 
 
 The like surprise may be made by moving 
 things when the party is in haste, and cannot 
 stay to consider advisedly of that is moved. 
 
 If a man would cross a business that he 
 doubts some other would handsomely and ef- 
 fectually move, let him pretend to wish it 
 well, and move it himself in such sort as may 
 foil it. 
 
 The breaking off in the midst of that one 
 
106 
 
 was about to say, as if he took himself up, breeds 
 a greater appetite in him, with whom you con- 
 fer, to know more. 
 
 And because it works better when any thing 
 seemeth to begotten from you by question, than 
 if you offer it of yourself, you may lay a bait 
 for a question by shewing another visage and 
 countenance tha^ you are wont; to the end, 
 to give occasion for the party to ask what the 
 matter is of the change, asNehemiah did, " And 
 " I had not before that time been sad before the 
 " king." 
 
 In things that are tender and unpleasing it 
 is good to break the ice by some whose words are 
 of less weight, and to reserve the more weighty 
 voice to come in as by chance, so that he may 
 be asked the question upon the other's speech ; 
 as Narcissus did in relating to Claudius the mar- 
 riage of Messalina and Silius. 
 
 In things that a man would not be seen in 
 himself, it is a point of cunning to borrow the 
 name of the world; as to say, " The world says/ 7 
 or, " There is a speech abroad." 
 
 I knew one that, when he wrote a letter, he 
 would put that which was most material in the 
 postscript,, as if it had been a bye-matter. 
 
107 
 
 I knew another that, when he canV to have 
 speech, he would pass over that thay he in- 
 tended most; and go forth, and come back 
 again, and speak of it as of a thing that he had 
 almost forgot. 
 
 Some procure themselves to be surprised at 
 such times as it is like the party that they 
 work upon will suddenly come upon them, 
 and to be found with a letter in their hand, or 
 doing somewhat which they are not accustom- 
 ed, to the end they may be apposed of those 
 things which of themselves they are desirous to 
 utter. 
 
 It is a point of cunning to let fall those 
 words in a man's own name which he would 
 have another man learn and use, and thereupon 
 take advantage. I knew two that were com- 
 petitors for the secretary's place in queen Eli- 
 zabeth's time, and yet kept good quarter be- 
 tween themselves, and would confer one with 
 another upon the business ; and the one of 
 them said, that to be a secretary in the decli- 
 nation of a monarchy was a ticklish thing, and 
 that he did not affect it : the other straight 
 caught up those words, and discoursed with 
 divers of his friends,- that he- had no reason to 
 
108 
 
 desire to be Secretary in the declination of a 
 monarchy. The first man took hold of it, and 
 found means it was told the queen; who, hear- 
 ing of a declination of a monarchy, took it so 
 ill, as she would never after hear of the other's 
 suit. 
 
 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 ; and to 
 say truth, it is not easy, when such a matter 
 passed between two, to make it appear from 
 which of them it first moved and began. 
 
 It is a way that some men have to glance 
 and dart at others by justifying themselves by 
 negatives; as to say, " This I do not;" asTigel- 
 linus did towards Burrhus, " Se non diversas 
 " spes, sed incolumitatem imperatoris simplici- 
 u ter spectare." 
 
 Some have in readiness so many tales and 
 stories, as there is nothing they would insinu- 
 ate, but they can wrap it into a tale; which 
 serveth both to keep themselves more on guard, 
 and to make others carry it with more plea- 
 sure. 
 
 It is a good point of cunning for a man to 
 
109 
 
 shape the answer he would have in his own 
 words and propositions ; for it makes the other 
 party stick the less. 
 
 It is strange how long some men will lie in 
 wait to speak somewhat they desire to say; and 
 how far about they will fetch, and how many 
 other matters they will beat over to come near 
 it: it is a thing of great patience, but yet of 
 much use. 
 
 A sudden, bold, and unexpected question 
 doth many times surprise a man, and lay him 
 open. Like to him, that, having changed his 
 name, and walking in Paul's, another suddenly 
 came behind him and called him by his true 
 name, whereat straightways he looked back. 
 
 But these small wares and petty points of 
 cunning are infinite, and it were a good deed 
 to make a list of them ; for that nothing doth 
 more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass 
 for wise. 
 
 But certainly some there are that know the 
 resorts and falls of business, that cannot sink 
 into the main of it ; like a house that hath 
 convenient stairs and entries, but never a fair 
 room : therefore you shall see them find out 
 pretty looses in the conclusion, but are no ways 
 
110 
 
 able to examine or debate matters ; and yet 
 commonly they take advantage of their inabi- 
 lity, and would be thought wits of direction. 
 Some build rather upon the abusing of others, 
 and, (as we now say,) putting tricks upon 
 them, than upon soundness of their own pro- 
 ceedings : but Solomon saith, " Prudens ad- 
 " vertit ad gressus suos : stultus divertit ad. 
 " dolos." 
 
 OF WISDOM FOR A MAN'S SELF. 
 
 An ant is a wise creature for itself, but it is 
 a. shrewd thing in an orchard or garden ; and, 
 certainly, men that are great lovers of them- 
 selves waste the public. Divide with reason 
 between self-love and society ; and be so true 
 to thyself, as thou be not false to others, espe- 
 cially to thy king and country. It is a poor 
 centre of a man's actions, himself. It is right 
 earth ; for that only stands fast upon his own 
 centre; whereas all things that have affinity 
 with the heavens, move upon the centre of , 
 another which they benefit. The referring of 
 
Ill 
 
 all to a man's self, is more tolerable in a sove-. 
 reign prince, because themselves are not only . 
 themselves, but their good and evil is at the 
 peril of the public fortune : but it is a despe- 
 rate evil in a servant to a prince, or a citizen 
 in a republic ; for whatsoever affairs pass such 
 a man's hands, he crooketh them to his own < 
 ends ; which must needs be often eccentric to 
 the ends of his master or state : therefore let ; 
 princes or states choose such servants as have 
 not this mark ; except they mean their service 
 should be made but the accessary. That which 
 maketh the effect more pernicious is, that all 
 proportion is lost; it were disproportion enough 
 for the servant's good, to be preferred before 
 the master's; but yet it is a greater extreme, 
 when a little good of the servant shall carry 
 things against a great good of the master's: 
 and yet that is the case of bad officers, trea- 
 surers, ambassadors, generals, and other false 
 and corrupt servants; which set a bias upon 
 their bowl of their own petty ends and envies, 
 to the overthrow of their masters' great and 
 important affairs : and for the most part, the 
 good such servants receive is after the model 
 of their own fortune ; but the hurt they sell 
 
112 
 
 for that good is after the model of their ma- 
 sters' fortune : and certainly it is the nature of 
 extreme self-lovers, as they will set an house on 
 lire, and it were but to roast their eggs ; and yet 
 these men many times hold credit with their 
 masters, because their study is but to please 
 them, and profit themselves ; and for either 
 respect they will abandon the good of their 
 affairs. 
 
 Wisdom for a man's self is in many branches 
 thereof a depraved thing : it is the wisdom of 
 rats, that will be sure to leave a house some- 
 what before it fall : it is the wisdom of the fox, 
 that thrusts out the badger, who digged and 
 made room for him : it is the wisdom of croco- 
 diles, that shed tears when they would devour. 
 But that which is specially to be noted is, that 
 those which, (as Cicero says of Pompey,) are, 
 " sui amantes sine rivali," are many times un- 
 fortunate : and whereas they have all their time 
 sacrificed to themselves, they become in the end 
 themselves sacrifices to the inconstancy of for- 
 tune, whose wings they thought by their self- 
 wisdom to have pinioned. 
 
113 
 
 OF INNOVATIONS. 
 
 As the births of living creatures at first are ill 
 shapen, so are all innovations, which are the 
 births of time ; yet, notwithstanding, as those 
 that first bring honour into their family are 
 commonly more worthy than most that succeed, 
 so the first precedent, (if it be good,) is seldom 
 attained by imitation; for ill, to man's nature 
 as it stands perverted, hath a natural motion 
 strongest in continuance ; but good, as a forced 
 motion, strongest at first. Surely every medicine 
 is an innovation, and he that will not apply new 
 remedies must expect new evils ; for time is the 
 greatest innovator : and if time of course alter 
 things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel 
 shall not alter them to the better, what shall 
 be the end ? It is true, that what is settled by 
 custom, though it be not good, yet at least it 
 is fit : and those things which have long gone 
 together, are, as it were, confederate within 
 themselves ; whereas new things piece not so 
 well ; but, though they help by their utility, 
 yet they trouble by their inconformity : besides, 
 they are like strangers, more admired, and less 
 
 i 
 
114 
 
 favoured. All this is true if time stood still ; 
 which contrariwise moveth so round, that a fro- 
 ward retention of custom is as turbulent a thing 
 as an innovation ; and they that reverence too 
 much old times are but a scorn to the new. It 
 /'were good, therefore, that men in their inno- 
 vations would follow the example of time itself, 
 which indeed innovateth greatly, but quietly 
 and by degrees scarce to be perceived ; for other- 
 wise, whatsoever is new is unlocked for; and 
 ever it mends some, and pairs others : and he 
 that is holpen takes it for a fortune, and thanks 
 the time; and he that is hurt for a wrong, and 
 imputeth it to the author. It is good also not 
 to try experiments in states, except the necessity 
 be urgent, or the utility evident ; and well to 
 beware that it be the reformation that draweth 
 on the change, and not the desire of change 
 that pretendeth the reformation; and, lastly, 
 that the novelty, though it be not rejected, yet 
 beheld for a suspect; and, as the Scripture saith, 
 " That we make a stand upon the ancient way, 
 " and then look about us, and discover what is 
 " the straight and right way, and so to walk 
 4 < in it." 
 
115 
 
 OF DISPATCH. 
 
 Affected dispatch is one of the most danger- 
 ous things to business that can be ; it is like- 
 that which the physicians call predigestion, or 
 hasty digestion ; which is sure to fill the body 
 full of crudities, and secrete seeds of diseases : 
 therefore measure not dispatch by the times of 
 sitting, but by the advancement of the business : 
 and as, in races, it is not the large stride, or 
 high lift, that makes the speed ; so, in business, 
 the keeping close to the matter, and not taking 
 of it too much at once, procureth dispatch. It 
 is the care of some only to come off speedily 
 for the time, or to contrive some false periods 
 of business, because they may seem men of di- 
 spatch : but it is one thing to abbreviate by con- 
 tracting, another by cutting off ; and business 
 so handled at several sittings or meetings goeth 
 commonly backward and forward in an un- 
 steady manner. I knew a wise man that had it 
 for a by-word, when he saw men hasten to a 
 conclusion, " Stay a little, that we may make an 
 " end the sooner." 
 
116 
 
 On the other side, true dispatch is a rich 
 thing : for time is the measure of business, as 
 money is of wares ; and business is bought at a 
 dear hand where there is small dispatch. The 
 Spartans and Spaniards have been noted to be 
 of small dispatch, " Mi venga la muerte de 
 " Spagna ; v " Let my death come from Spain;" 
 for then it will be sure to be long in coming. 
 
 Give good hearing to those that give the first 
 information in business, and rather direct them 
 in the beginning than interrupt them in the 
 continuance of their speeches ; for he that is put 
 out of his own order will go forward and back- 
 ward, and be more tedious while he waits upon 
 his memory, than he could have been if he had 
 gone on in his own course : but sometimes it is 
 seen, that the moderator is more troublesome 
 than the actor. 
 
 Iterations are commonly loss of time : but 
 there is no such gain of time as to iterate often 
 the state of the question ; for it chaseth away 
 many frivolous speeches as it is coming forth. 
 Long and curious speeches are as fit for dispatch 
 as a robe or mantle with a long train is for 
 race. Prefaces, and passages, and excusations, 
 and other speeches of reference to the person, 
 
117 
 
 are great wastes of time ; and though they seem 
 to proceed of modesty, they are bravery. Yet 
 beware of being too material when there is any 
 impediment or obstruction in men's wills ; for 
 pre-occupation of mind ever requireth preface of 
 speech, like a fomentation to make the unguent 
 enter. 
 
 Above all things, order, and distribution, 
 and singling out of parts, is the life of dispatch ; 
 so as the distribution be not too subtile : for he 
 that doth not divide will never enter well into 
 business; and he that divideth too much will 
 never come out of it clearlv. To choose time 
 is to save time ; and an unseasonable motion is 
 but beating the air. There be three parts of 
 business, the preparation, the debate or exami- 
 nation, and the perfection; whereof, if you look 
 for dispatch, let the middle only be the work 
 of many, and the first and last the work of 
 few. The proceeding upon somewhat con- 
 ceived in writing doth for the most part facili- 
 tate dispatch ; for though it should be wholly 
 rejected, yet that negative is more pregnant of 
 direction than an indefinite, as ashes are more 
 generative than dust. 
 
18 
 
 OF SEEMING WISE. 
 
 It hath been an opinion that the French are 
 wiser than they seem, and the Spaniards seem 
 wiser than they are : but howsoever it be be- 
 tween nations, certainly it is so between man 
 and man; for as the apostle saith of godliness, 
 " Having a shew of godliness, but denying the 
 " power thereof ;'■ so certainly there are in 
 points of wisdom and sufficiency, that do no- 
 thing or little very solemnly ; " magno conatu 
 " nugas." It is a ridiculous thing, and fit for 
 a satire to persons of judgment, to see what 
 shifts these formalists have, and what prospec- 
 tives to make superficies to seem body that 
 hath depth and bulk. Some are so close and 
 reserved as they will not shew their wares but 
 by a dark light, and seem always to keep back 
 somewhat ; and when they know within them- 
 selves they speak of that they do not well 
 know, would nevertheless seem to others to 
 know of that which they may not well speak. 
 Some help themselves with countenance and 
 gesture, and are wise by signs ; as Cicero saith 
 
119 
 
 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 ; " Respondes, al- 
 " tero ad frontem sublato, altero ad mentum 
 u depresso supercilio, crudelitatem tibi non 
 " placere." Some think to bear it by speaking 
 a great word, and being peremptory; and go 
 on, and take by admittance that which they 
 cannot make good. Some, whatsoever is be- 
 yond their reach, will seem to despise or make 
 light of it as impertinent or curious; and so 
 would have their ignorance seem judgment. 
 Some are never without a difference, and com- 
 monly by amusing men with a subtilty, blanch 
 the matter; of whom A. Gellius saith, " Ho- 
 " minem deli rum, qui verborum minutiis re- 
 " rum frangit pondera." Of w r hich kind also 
 Plato in his Protagoras bringeth in Prodicus in 
 scorn, and maketh him make a speech that 
 consisteth of distinctions from the beginning 
 to the end. Generally such men in all de- 
 liberations find ease to be of the negative 
 side, and affect a credit to object and foretell 
 difficulties : for when propositions are denied, 
 there is an end of them ; but if they be allow- 
 ed, it requireth a new work ; which false point 
 
120 
 
 of wisdom is the bane of business. To. con- 
 clude, there is no decaying merchant, or in- 
 ward beggar, hath so man)' tricks to uphold the 
 credit of their wealth as these empty persons 
 have to maintain the credit of their suffici- 
 ency. Seeming wise men may make shift to 
 get opinion ; but let no man choose them for 
 employment; for certainly you were better 
 take for business a man somewhat absurd than 
 over-formal. 
 
 OF FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 It had been hard for him that spake it to 
 have put more truth and untruth together in 
 few words than in that speech, " Whosoever 
 " is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast 
 " or a god ;" for it is most true, that a natural 
 and secret hatred and aversation towards so- 
 ciety in any man hath somewhat of the savage 
 beast ; but it is most untrue, that it should have 
 any character at all of the divine nature, ex- 
 cept it proceed, not out of a pleasure in soli- 
 tude, but out of a love and desire to sequester 
 a man's self for a higher conversation : such as 
 
121 
 
 is found to have been falsely and feignedly in 
 some of the heathen; as Epimenides the Can- 
 dian, Numa the Roman, Empedocles the Sici- 
 lian, and Apollonius of Tyana; and truly and 
 really in divers of the ancient hermits, and holy 
 fathers of the church. But little do men per- 
 ceive what solitude is, and how far it extend- 
 eth; for a crowd is not company, and faces are 
 but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling 
 cymbal where there is no love. The Latin 
 adage meeteth with it a little ; " magna civitas, 
 " magna solitudo;" because in a great town 
 friends are scattered, so that there is not that 
 fellowship, for the most part, which is in less 
 neighbourhoods: but we may go farther, and 
 affirm most truly, that it is a mere and miserable 
 solitude to want true friends, without which 
 the world is but a wilderness ; and even in this 
 sense also of solitude, whosoever in the frame 
 of his nature and affections is unfit for friend- 
 ship, he taketh it of the beast, and not from 
 humanity. 
 
 A principal fruit of friendship is the case 
 and discharge of the fulness of the heart, 
 which passions of all kinds do cause and in- 
 duce. We know diseases of stoppings and 
 
122 
 
 suffocations are the most dangerous in the body ; 
 and it is not much otherwise in the mind : you 
 may take sarza to open the liver, steel to open 
 the spleen, flower of sulphur for the lungs, 
 castoreum for the brain; but no receipt open- 
 eth the heart but a true friend, to whom you 
 may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspi- 
 cions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the 
 heart to oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or 
 confession. 
 
 It is a strange thing to observe how high 
 a rate great kings and monarchs do set upon 
 this fruit of friendship whereof we speak ; so 
 great, as they purchase it many times at the 
 hazard of their own safety and greatness: for 
 princes, in regard of the distance of their for- 
 tune from that of their subjects and servants, 
 cannot gather this fruit, except, (to make 
 themselves capable thereof,) they raise some 
 persons to be as it were companions and almost 
 equals to themselves, which many times sorteth 
 to inconvenience. The modern languages give 
 unto such persons the name of favourites, or 
 privadoes, as if it were matter of grace or 
 conversation; but the Roman name attaineth 
 the true use and cause thereof, naming them 
 
123 
 
 "■' participes curarum;" for it is that which 
 tieth the knot: and we see plainly that this 
 hath been done, not by weak and passionate 
 princes only, but by the wisest and most poli- 
 tic that" ever reigned, who have oftentimes 
 joined to themselves some of their servants, 
 whom both themselves have called friends, and 
 allowed others likewise to call them in the 
 same manner, using the word which is received 
 between private men. 
 
 L. Sylla, when he commanded Rome, raised 
 Pompey, (after surnamed the Great,) to that 
 height, that Pompey vaunted himself for 
 Sylla' s over-match; for when he had carried 
 the consulship for a friend of his against the 
 pursuit of Sylla, and that Sylla did a little 
 resent thereat, and began to speak great, Pom- 
 pey turned upon him again, and in effect bade 
 him be quiet; for that more men adored the 
 sun rising than the sun setting. With Julius 
 Caesar, Decimus Brutus had obtained that in- 
 terest, as he set him down in his testament for 
 heir in remainder after his nephew; and this 
 was the man that had power with him to draw 
 him forth to his death ; for when Caesar would 
 have discharged the senate in regard of some 
 
124 
 
 ill presages, and specially a dream of Calphur- 
 nia, this man lifted him gently by the arm out 
 of his chair, telling him he hoped he would not 
 dismiss the senate till his wife had dreamed a 
 better dream : and it seemeth his favour was 
 so great, as Antonius, in a letter which is re- 
 cited verbatim in one of Cicero's Philippics, 
 called him " venefica," " witch;" as if he had 
 enchanted Caesar. Augustus raised Agrippa, 
 (though of mean birth,) to that height, as, 
 when he consulted with Maecenas about the 
 marriage of his daughter Julia, Maecenas took 
 the liberty to tell him, that he must either 
 marry his daughter to Agrippa, or take awaj* - 
 his life; there was no third way, he had 
 made him so great. With Tiberius Caesar, 
 Sejanus had ascended to that height, as they 
 two were termed and reckoned as a pair of 
 friends. Tiberius, in a letter to him, saith, 
 " haec pro amicitia nostra non occultavi;" and 
 the whole senate dedicated an altar to friend- 
 ship, as to a goddess, in respect of the great 
 dearness of friendship between them two. 
 The like, or more, was between Septimius 
 Severus and Plautianus; for he forced his 
 eldest son to marry the daughter of Plautianus, 
 
125 
 
 and would often maintain Plautianus in doing 
 affronts to his son: and did write also in a 
 letter to the senate by these words, " I love 
 " the man so well, as I wish he may over-live 
 " me." Now, if these princes had been as a 
 Trajan, or a Marcus Aurelius, a man might 
 have thought that this had proceeded of an 
 abundant goodness of nature ; but being men 
 so wise, of such strength and severity of mind, 
 and so extreme lovers of themselves, as all 
 these were, it proveth most plainly that they 
 found their own felicity, (though as great as 
 ever happened to mortal men,) but as an half 
 piece, except they might have a friend to 
 make it entire; and yet, which is more, they 
 were princes that had wives, sons, nephews; 
 and yet all these could not supply the comfort 
 of friendship. 
 
 It is not to be forgotten what Commineus 
 observeth of his first master, duke Charles the 
 Hardy, namely, that he would communicate 
 his secrets with none; and least of all, those 
 secrets which troubled him most. Whereupon 
 he goeth on, and saith, that towards his latter 
 time that closeness did impair and a little 
 perish his understanding. Surely Commineus 
 
12(5 
 
 might have made the same judgment also, if it 
 had pleased him, of his second master, Lewis 
 the Eleventh, whose closeness was indeed his 
 tormentor. The parable of Pythagoras is dark, 
 but true; " cor ne edito," " eat not the heart/' 
 Certainly, if a man would give it a hard phrase, 
 those that want friends to open themselves 
 unto are cannibals of their own hearts : but 
 one thing is most admirable, (wherewith I will 
 conclude this first fruit of friendship,) which 
 is, that this communicating of a man's self to 
 his friend works two contrary effects; for it 
 redouble th joys, and cutteth griefs in halves : 
 for there is no man that imparteth his joys to 
 his friend, but he joyeth the more; so no 
 man that imparteth his griefs to his friend, 
 but he grieveth the less. So that it is, in truth, 
 of operation upon a man's mind of like virtue 
 as the alchymists use to attribute to their stone 
 for man's body, that it worketh all contrary 
 effects, but still to the good and benefit of na- 
 ture: but yet, without praying in aid of al- 
 chymists, there is a manifest image of this in 
 the ordinary course of nature ; for in bodies 
 union strengthened and cherisheth any na- 
 tural action; and, on the other side, weakeneth 
 
and dulleth any violent impression ; and even 
 so is it of minds. 
 
 The second fruit of friendship is healthful 
 and sovereign for the understanding as the 
 first is for the affections; for friendship maketh 
 indeed a fair day in the affections from storm 
 and tempests, but it maketh daylight in the 
 understanding out of darkness and confusion 
 of thoughts: neither is this to be understood 
 only of faithful counsel, which a man receiveth 
 from his friend; but before you come to that, 
 certain it is, that whosoever hath his mind 
 fraught with man}* thoughts, his wits and un- 
 derstanding do clarify and break up in the 
 communicating and discoursing with another; 
 he tosseth his thoughts more easily; he mar- 
 shalleth them more orderly; he seeth how 
 they look when they are turned into words; 
 finally, he waxeth wiser than himself; and 
 that more by an hour's discourse than by a 
 day's meditation. It was well said by The- 
 raistocles to the King of Persia, " That speech 
 " was like cloth of Arras, opened and put 
 " abroad:" whereby the imagery doth appear 
 in figure ; whereas in thoughts they lie but as 
 in packs. Neither is this second fruit of friend- 
 
128 
 
 ship in opening the understanding, restrained 
 only to such friends as are able to give a man 
 counsel, (they indeed are best,) but even with- 
 out that a man learneth of himself, and bringeth 
 his own thoughts to light, and whetteth his 
 wits as against a stone which itself cuts not. 
 In a word, a man were better relate himself to 
 a statue or picture than to suffer his thoughts 
 to pass in smother. 
 
 Add now, to make this second fruit of 
 friendship complete, that other point which 
 lieth more open and falleth within vulgar 
 observation ; which is faithful counsel from a 
 friend. Heraclitus saith well in one of his 
 enigmas, " Dry light is ever the best :" and 
 certain it is, that the light that a man receiveth 
 by counsel from another is drier and purer than 
 that which cometh from his own understand- 
 ing and judgment; which is ever infused and 
 drenched in his affections and customs. So as 
 there is as much difference between the counsel 
 that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth 
 himself, as there is between the counsel of a 
 friend and of a flatterer ; for there is no such 
 flatterer as is a man's self, and there is no such 
 remedy against flattery of a man's self as the 
 
129 
 
 liberty of a friend. Counsel is of two sorts; 
 the one concerning manners, the other con- 
 cerning business: for the first, the best pre- 
 servative to keep the mind in health is the 
 faithful admonition of a friend. The calling of 
 a man's self to a strict account is a medicine 
 sometimes too piercing and corrosive; read- 
 ing good books of morality is a little flat 
 and dead ; observing our faults in others is 
 sometimes improper for our case; but the best 
 receipt, (best I say to work, and best to take,) 
 is the admonition of a friend. It is a strange 
 thing to behold what gross errors and extreme 
 absurdities many, (especially of the greater 
 sort,) do commit for want of a friend to tell 
 them of them, to the great damage both of 
 their fame and fortune ; for, as St. James saith, 
 they are as men " that look sometimes into 
 " a glass and presently forget their own shape 
 " and favour :" as for business, a man may 
 think, if he will, that two eyes see no more 
 than one; or, that a gamester seeth always 
 more than a looker on; or, that a man in 
 anger is as wise as he that hath said over the 
 four and twenty letters; or, that a musket 
 may be shot off as well upon the arm as upon 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 a rest ; and such other fond and high imagi- 
 nations to think himself all in all: but when 
 all is done, the help of good counsel is that 
 which setteth business straight; and if any 
 man think that he will take counsel, but it 
 shall be by pieces; asking counsel in one 
 business of one man, and in another business 
 of another man; it is well, (that is to say, 
 better perhaps than if he asked none at all,) 
 but he runneth two dangers ; one, that he shall 
 not be faithfully counselled; for it is a rare 
 thing, except it be from a perfect and entire 
 friend, to h&ve counsel given, but such as shall 
 be bowed and crooked to some ends which he 
 hath that giveth it: the other, that he shall 
 have counsel given, hurtful and unsafe, (though 
 with good meaning,) and mixt partly of mis- 
 chief and partly of remedy; even as if you 
 would call a physician that is thought good 
 for the cure of the disease you complain of, 
 but is unacquainted with your body ; and, 
 therefore, may put you in a way for a present 
 cure, but overthroweth your health in some 
 other kind, and so cure the disease and kill 
 the patient : but a friend that is wholly ac- 
 quainted with a man's estate, will beware, by 
 
131 
 
 furthering any present business, how he dash- 
 eth upon other inconvenience ; and, there- 
 fore, rest not upon scattered counsels; they 
 will rather distract and mislead, than settle and 
 direct. 
 
 After these two noble fruits of friendship, 
 (peace in the affections and support of the 
 judgment,) followeth the last fruit, which is, 
 like the pomegranate, full of many kernels; I 
 mean aid and bearing a part in all actions and 
 occasions. Here the best way to represent to 
 life the manifold use of friendship is to cast 
 and see how many things there are which a 
 man cannot do himself; and then it will ap- 
 pear that it was a sparing speech of the an- 
 cients to say, U that a friend is another him- 
 " self; for that a friend is far more than him- 
 " self/' Men have their time, and die many 
 times in desire of some things which they 
 principally take to heart; the bestowing of a 
 child, the finishing of a work, or the like. 
 If a man have a true friend he may rest almost 
 secure that the care of those things will con- 
 tinue after him; so that a man hath, as it 
 were, two lives in his desires. A man hath a 
 body, and that body is confined to a place ; but 
 
132 
 
 where friendship is, all offices of life are, as it 
 were, granted to him and his deputy ; for he 
 may exercise them by his friend. How many 
 things are there which a man cannot with any 
 face or comeliness say or do himself? A man 
 can scarce allege his own merits with mo- 
 desty, much less extol them; a man cannot 
 sometimes brook to supplicate or beg; and a 
 number of the like: but all these things are 
 graceful in a friend's mouth, which are blush- 
 ing in a man's own. So again, a man's person 
 hath many proper relations which he cannot 
 put off. A man cannot speak to his son but 
 as a father; to his wife but as a husband; to 
 his enemy but upon terms : whereas a friend 
 may speak as the case requires, and not as it 
 sorteth to the person: but to enumerate these 
 things were endless ; 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. 
 
133 
 
 OF EXPENSE, 
 
 Riches are for spending, and spending for ho- 
 nour and good actions ; therefore extraordinary 
 expense must be limited by the worth of the 
 occasion: for voluntary undoing may be as 
 well for a man's country as for the kingdom 
 of heaven; but ordinary expense ought to be 
 limited by a man's estate, and governed with 
 such regard as it be within his compass : and 
 not subject to deceit and abuse of servants; and 
 ordered to the best shew, that the bills may be 
 less than the estimation abroad. Certainly, if 
 a man will keep but of even hand, his ordi- 
 nary expenses ought to be but to the half of 
 his receipts ; and if he think to wax rich, but 
 to the third part. It is no baseness for the 
 greatest to descend and look into their own 
 estate. Some forbear it, not upon negligence 
 alone, but doubting to bring themselves into 
 melancholy, in respect they shall find it broken: 
 but wounds cannot be cured without searching. 
 He that cannot look into his own estate at ail 
 had need both choose well those whom he 
 
13* 
 
 employeth, and change them often; for new 
 are more timorous and less subtile. He that 
 can look into his estate but seldom, it be- 
 hoveth him to turn all to certainties. A man 
 had need, if he be plentiful in some kind of ex- 
 pense, to be as saving again in some other: as 
 if he be plentiful in diet, to be saving in ap- 
 parel ; if he be plentiful in the hall, to be 
 saving in the stable, and the like: for he that is 
 plentiful in expenses of all kinds will hardly be 
 preserved from decay. In clearing of a man's 
 estate he may as well hurt himself in being 
 too sudden, as in letting it run on too long ; 
 for hasty selling is commonly as disadvari- 
 tageable as interest. Besides, he that clears aV 
 once will relapse; for, finding himself out of 
 straits, he will revert to his customs : but he 
 that cleareth by degrees induceth a habit of 
 frugality, and gaineth as well upon his mind 
 as upon his estate. Certainly, who hath a state 
 to repair may not despise small things ; and, 
 commonly, it is less dishonourable to abridge 
 petty charges than to stoop to petty gettings. 
 A man ought warily to begin charges, which 
 once begun will continue ; but in matters that 
 return not he may be more magnificent. 
 
135 
 
 ON THE TRUE GREATNESS OF KING- 
 DOMS AND ESTATES. 
 
 The speech of Themistocles the Athenian, 
 which was haughty and arrogant in taking 
 so much to himself, had been a grave and wise 
 observation and censure, applied at large to 
 others. Desired at a feast to touch a lute, he 
 said, " he could not riddle, but yet he could 
 u make a small town a great city." These 
 words, (holpen a little with a metaphor,) may 
 express two differing abilities in those that 
 deal in business of estate ; for, if a true survey 
 be taken of counsellors and statesmen, there 
 may be found, (though rarely,) those which 
 can make a small state great, and yet cannot 
 fiddle: as, on the other side, there will be 
 found a great many that can fiddle very cun- 
 ningly, but yet are so far from being able to 
 make a small state great, as their gift lieth the 
 other way; to bring a great and flourishing 
 estate to ruin and decay : and, certainly, those 
 degenerate arts and shifts, whereby many 
 counsellors and governors gain both favour 
 
136 
 
 with their masters and estimation with the 
 vulgar, deserve no better name than fiddling ; 
 being things rather pleasing for the time, and 
 graceful to themselves only, than tending to 
 the weal and advancement of the state which 
 they serve. There are also, (no doubt,) coun- 
 sellors and governors which may be held suf- 
 ficient, " negotiis pares," able to manage af- 
 fairs, and to keep them from precipices and 
 manifest inconveniences ; which, nevertheless, 
 are far from the ability to raise and amplify an 
 estate in power, means, and fortune : but be 
 the workmen what they may be, let us speak 
 of the work ; that is, the true greatness of 
 kingdoms and estates ; and the means thereof. 
 An argument fit for great and mighty princes 
 to have in their hand ; to the end, that neither 
 by over-measuring their forces they lose them- 
 selves in vain enterprises ; nor, on the other 
 side, by undervaluing them, they descend to 
 fearful and pusillanimous counsels. 
 
 The greatness of an estate in bulk and 
 territory doth fall under measure ; and the 
 greatness of finances and revenue doth fall 
 under computation. The population may ap- 
 pear by musters ; and the number and great- 
 
137 
 
 ness of cities and towns by cards arid maps : 
 but yet there is not any thing, amongst civil 
 affairs, more subject to error than the right 
 valuation and true judgment concerning the 
 power and forces of an estate. The kingdom 
 of heaven is compared, not to any great kernel 
 or nut, but to a grain of mustard seed ; which 
 is one of the least grains, but hath in it a pro- 
 perty and spirit hastily to get up and spread. 
 So are there states great in territory, and yet 
 not apt to enlarge or command; and some 
 that have but a small dimension of stem, and 
 yet apt to be the foundations of great mon- 
 archies. 
 
 Walled towns, stored arsenals and armories, 
 goodly races of horses, chariots of war, ele- 
 phants, ordnance, artillery, and the like; all 
 this is but a sheep in a lion's skin, except the 
 breed and disposition of the people be stout and 
 warlike. Nay, number itself in armies im- 
 porteth not much, where the people is of weak 
 courage; for, as Virgil saith, "It never trou- 
 " bles a wolf how many the sheep be/' The 
 army of the Persians, in the plains of Arbela, 
 was such a vast sea of people as it did some- 
 what astonish the commanders in Alexander's 
 
138 
 
 army, who came to him therefore, and wished 
 him to set upon them by night ; but he an- 
 swered, he would not pilfer the victory ; and 
 the defeat was easy. When Tigranes the 
 Armenian, being encamped upon a hill with 
 four hundred thousand men, discovered the 
 army of the Romans, being not above four teen- 
 thousand, marching towards him, he made him- 
 self merry with it, and said, " Yonder men are 
 " too many for an embassage, and too few for 
 " a fight :" but before the sun set he found 
 them enow to give him the chace with infinite 
 slaughter. Many are the examples of the great 
 odds between number and courage : so that a 
 man may truly make a judgment, that the 
 principal point of greatness in any state is to 
 have a race of military men. Neither is money 
 the sinews of war, (as it is trivially said,) 
 where the sinews of men's arms in base and 
 effeminate people are failing; for Solon said 
 well to Croesus, (when in ostentation he shew- 
 ed him his gold,) " Sir, if any other come 
 " that hath better iron than you, he will be 
 46 master of all this gold." Therefore let any 
 prince or state think soberly of his forces, ex- 
 cept his militia of natives be of good and 
 
139 
 
 valiant soldiers ; and let princes, on the other 
 side, that have subjects of martial disposition, 
 know their own strength, unless they be other- 
 wise wanting unto themselves. As for mer- 
 cenary forces, (which is the help in this case,) 
 all examples shew that, whatsoever estate or 
 prince doth rest upon them, he may spread his 
 feathers for a time, but he will mew them soon 
 after. 
 
 The blessing of Judah and Issachar will 
 never meet; that the same people or nation 
 should be both the lion's whelp and the ass 
 between burdens : neither will it be, that a 
 people overlaid with taxes should ever become 
 valiant and martial. It is true that taxes 
 levied by consent of the estate do abate men's 
 courage less ; as it hath been seen notably in 
 the exercises of the Low Countries ; and, in 
 some degree, in the subsidies of England : for 
 you must note that we speak now of the 
 heart and not of the purse ; so that, although 
 the same tribute and tax, laid by consent or 
 by imposing, be all one to the purse, yet it works 
 diversely upon the courage. So that you may 
 conclude, that no people overcharged with tri- 
 bute is fit for empire. 
 
140 
 
 Let states that aim at greatness take heed 
 how their nobility and gentlemen do multiply- 
 too fast ; for that maketh the common subject 
 grow to be a peasant and base swain, driven 
 out of heart, and, in effect, but a gentleman's 
 labourer. Even as you may see in coppice 
 woods ; if you leave your staddles too thick, 
 you shall never have clean underwood, but 
 shrubs and bushes. So in countries, if the 
 gentlemen be too many, the commons will be 
 base ; and you will bring it to that, that not 
 the hundred poll will be fit for an helmet; 
 especially as to the infantry, which is the 
 nerve of an army : and so there will be great 
 population and little strength. This which I 
 speak of hath been no where better seen than 
 by comparing of England and France; whereof 
 England, though far less in territory and po- 
 pulation, hath been, nevertheless, an over- 
 match ; in regard the middle people of Eng- 
 land make good soldiers, which the peasants 
 of France do not: and herein the device of 
 king Henry the Seventh, (whereof I have 
 spoken largely in the history of his life,) was 
 profound and admirable ; in making farms and 
 houses of husbandry of a standard; that is, 
 
141 
 
 maintained with such a proportion of land unto 
 them as may breed a subject to live in conve- 
 nient plenty, and no servile condition ; and tp 
 keep the plough in the hands of the owners, 
 and not mere hirelings : and thus indeed you 
 shall attain to Virgil's character which he gives 
 to ancient Italy : 
 
 " Terra potens armis atque ubere glebse." 
 
 ■i 
 
 Neither is that state, (which, for any thing I 
 know, is almost peculiar to England, and hardly 
 to be found any where else, except it be per- 
 haps in Poland,) to be passed over; I mean 
 the state of free servants and attendants upon 
 noblemen and gentlemen, which are no ways 
 inferior unto the yeomanry for arms ; and 
 therefore, out of all question, the splendor and 
 .magnificence, and great retinues, and hospi- 
 tality of noblemen and gentlemen received into 
 custom, do much conduce unto martial great- 
 ness : whereas, contrariwise, the close and re- 
 served living of noblemen and gentlemen causeth 
 a penury of military forces. 
 
 By all means it is to be procured, that the 
 trunk of Nebuchadnezzar's tree of monarchy 
 be great enough to bear the branches and the 
 
142 
 
 boughs; that is, that the natural subjects of 
 the crown or state bear a sufficient proportion 
 to the stranger subjects that they govern ; 
 therefore all states that are liberal of natura- 
 lization towards strangers are fit for empire : 
 for to think that an handful of people can, with 
 the greatest courage and policy in the world, 
 embrace too large extent of dominion, it may 
 hold for a time, but it will fail suddenly. The 
 Spartans were a nice people in point of natu- 
 ralization ; whereby, while they kept their 
 compass, they stood firm ; but when they did 
 spread, and their boughs were become too 
 great for their stem, they became a windfall 
 upon the sudden. Never any state was, in 
 this point, so open to receive strangers into 
 their body as were the Romans; therefore it 
 sorted with them accordingly, for they grew 
 to the greatest monarchy. Their manner was 
 to grant naturalization, (which they called 
 " jus civitatis,") and to grant it in the highest 
 degree, that is, not only " jus commercii, jus 
 " connubii, jus hoereditatis f but also, "jus 
 " suffragii, and jus honorum ;* and this not to 
 singular persons alone, but likewise to whole 
 families ; yea, to cities, and sometimes to na- 
 
143 
 
 tions. Add to this, their custom of plantation 
 of colonies, whereby the Roman plant was 
 removed into the soil of other nations; and, 
 putting both constitutions together, you will 
 say, that it was not the Romans that spread 
 upon the world, but it was the world that 
 spread upon the Romans ; and that was the 
 sure way of greatness. I have marvelled 
 sometimes at Spain, how they clasp and con- 
 tain so large dominions with so few natural 
 Spaniards : but sure the whole compass of 
 Spain is a very great body of a tree, far above 
 Rome and Sparta at the first ; and, besides, 
 though they have not had that usage to natu- 
 ralize liberally, yet they have that which is 
 next to it ; that is, to employ, almost indiffe- 
 rently, all nations in their militia of ordinary 
 commands; yea, and sometimes in their highest 
 soldiers : nay, it seemeth at this instant, they 
 are sensible of this want of natives, as by 
 the pragmatical sanction, now published, ap- 
 peareth. 
 
 It is certain, that sedentary and within-door 
 arts, and delicate manufactures, (that require 
 rather the finger than the arm,) have in their 
 nature a contrariety to a military disposition ; 
 
144 
 
 and generally all warlike people are a little 
 idle, and love danger better than travail ; nei- 
 ther must they be too much broken of it, if 
 they shall be preserved in vigour : therefore it 
 was great advantage in the ancient states of 
 Sparta, Athens, Rome, and others, that they 
 had the use of slaves, which commonly did rid 
 those manufactures ; but that is abolished, in 
 greatest part, by the Christian law. That which 
 cometh nearest to it is, to leave those arts 
 chiefly to strangers, (which for that purpose 
 are the more easily to be received,) and to 
 contain the principal bulk of the vulgar na- 
 tives within those three kinds, tillers of the 
 ground, free servants, and handicraftsmen of 
 strong and manly arts ; as smiths, masons, 
 carpenters, &c. not reckoning professed sol- 
 diers. 
 
 But, above all, for empire and greatness it 
 importeth most, that a nation do profess arms 
 as their principal honour, study, and occupa- 
 tion; for the things which we formerly have 
 spoken of are but habilitations towards arms ; 
 and what is habilitation without intention and 
 act ? Romulus, after his death, (as they report 
 or feign,) sent a present to the Romans, that 
 
145 
 
 above all they should intend arms, and then 
 they should prove the greatest empire of the 
 world. The fabric of the state of Sparta was 
 wholly, (though not wisely,) framed and com- 
 posed to that scope and end ; the Persians 
 and Macedonians had it for a flash ; the 
 Gauls, Germans, Goths, Saxons, Normans, and 
 others, had it for a time ; the Turks have it 
 at this day, though in great declination. Of 
 Christian Europe they that have it are, in 
 effect, only the Spaniards: but it is so plain, 
 that every man profiteth in that he most in- 
 tendeth, that it needeth not to be stood upon: 
 it is enough to point at it ; that no nation 
 which doth not directly profess arms may 
 look to have greatness fall into their mouths : 
 and, on the other side, it is a most certain 
 oracle of time, that those states that continue 
 long in that profession, (as the Romans and 
 Turks principally have done,) do wonders; 
 and those that have professed arms but for an 
 age have, notwithstanding, commonly attained 
 that greatness in that age which maintained 
 them long after, when their profession and ex- 
 ercise of arms hath grown to decay. 
 
 Incident to this point is for a state to have 
 
146 
 
 those laws or customs which may reach forth 
 unto them just occasions, (as may be pretend- 
 ed,) of war ; for there is that justice imprinted 
 in the nature of men, that they enter not upon 
 wars, (whereof so many calamities do ensue,) 
 but upon some, at the least specious, grounds 
 and quarrels. The Turk hath at hand, for 
 cause of war, the propagation of his law or 
 sect, a quarrel that he may always command. 
 The Romans, though they esteemed the ex- 
 tending the limits of their empire to be great 
 honour to their generals when it was done, 
 yet they never rested upon that alone to begin 
 a war : first, therefore, let nations that pretend 
 to greatness have this, that they be sensible of 
 wrongs, either upon borderers, merchants, or 
 politic ministers, and that they sit not too long 
 upon a provocation ; secondly, let them be 
 pressed and ready to give aids and succours to 
 their confederates, as it ever was with the 
 Romans ; insomuch, as if the confederates had 
 leagues defensive with divers other states, and 
 upon invasion offered did implore their aids 
 severally, yet the Romans would ever be the 
 foremost, and leave it to none other to have 
 the honour. As for the wars which were 
 
147 
 
 anciently made on the behalf of a kind of 
 party, or tacite conformity of estate, I do 
 not see how they may be well justified : as 
 when the Romans made a war for the liberty 
 of Graecia ; or, when the Lacedaemonians and 
 Athenians made wars to set up or pull down 
 democracies and oligarchies ; or, when wars 
 were made by foreigners under the pretence of 
 justice or protection, to deliver the subjects of 
 others from tyranny and oppression^ and the 
 like. Let it suffice, that no estate expect to 
 be great that is not awake upon any just oc- 
 casion of arming. 
 
 No body can be healthful without exercise, 
 neither natural body nor politic : and, cer- 
 tainly, to a kingdom or estate a just and ho- 
 nourable war is the true exercise. A civil 
 war, indeed, is like the heat of a fever ; but 
 a foreign war is like the heat of exercise, and 
 serveth to keep the body in health ; for in a 
 slothful peace both courages will effeminate, 
 and manners corrupt : but howsoever it be for 
 happiness, without all question for greatness, 
 it maketh to be still for the most part in arms ; 
 and the strength of a veteran army, (though 
 it be a chargeable business,) always on foot, is 
 
148 
 
 that which commonly giveth the law; or, at 
 least, the reputation amongst all neighbour 
 states, as may be well seen in Spain; which 
 hath had, in one part or other, a veteran army 
 almost continually, now by the space of sixscore 
 years. 
 
 To be master of the sea is an abridgment 
 of a monarchy. Cicero, writing to Atticus of 
 Pompey his preparation against Caesar, saith, 
 " Consilium Pompeii plane Themistocleum est; 
 " putat enim, qui mari potitur, eum rerum 
 " potiri •" and, without doubt, Pompey had 
 tired out Caesar, if upon vain confidence he 
 had not left that way. We see the great 
 effects of battles by sea : the battle of Actium 
 decided the empire of the world ; the battle of 
 Lepanto arrested the greatness of the Turk. 
 There be many examples where sea rights have 
 been final to the war ; but this is when princes 
 or states have set up their rest upon the bat- 
 tles : but thus much is certain, that he that 
 commands the sea is at great liberty, and may 
 take as much and as little of the war as he 
 will ; whereas those that be strongest by land 
 are many times, nevertheless, in great straits. 
 Surely, at this day, with us of Europe, the 
 
149 
 
 vantage of strength at sea, (which is one of 
 the principal dowries of this kingdom of Great 
 Britain,) is great ; both because most of the 
 kingdoms of Europe are not merely inland, 
 but girt with the sea most part of their compass ; 
 and because the wealth of both Indies seems in 
 great part but an accessary to the command 
 of the seas. 
 
 The wars of latter ages seem to be made in 
 the dark in respect of the glory and honour 
 which reflected upon men from the wars in 
 ancient time. There be now, for martial en- 
 couragement, some degrees and orders of chi- 
 valry, which, nevertheless, are conferred pro- 
 miscuously upon soldiers and no soldiers, and 
 some remembrance perhaps upon the escut- 
 cheon, and some hospitals for maimed soldiers, 
 and such like things : but in ancient times the 
 trophies erected upon the place of the victory ; 
 the funeral laudatives and monuments for those 
 that died in the wars ; the crowns and garlands 
 personal ; the style of emperor, which the great 
 kings of the world after borrowed ; the tri- 
 umphs of the generals upon their return ; the 
 great donatives and largesses upon the disband- 
 ing of the armies, were things able to inflame 
 
150 
 
 all men's courages; but, above all, that of the 
 triumph amongst the Romans was not pageants 
 or gaudery, but one of the wisest and noblest 
 institutions that ever was; for it contained 
 three things, honours to the general, riches to 
 the treasury out of the spoils, and donatives 
 to the army : but that honour, perhaps, were 
 not fit for monarchies, except it. be in the 
 person of the monarch himself, or his sons; 
 as it came to pass in the times of the Roman 
 emperors, who did impropriate the actual tri- 
 umphs to themselves and their sons for such 
 wars as they did achieve in person ; and left 
 only for wars achieved by subjects some tri- 
 umphal garments and ensigns to the ge- 
 neral. 
 
 To conclude: no man can by care taking, 
 (as the Scripture saith,) " add a cubit to his 
 " stature, " in this little model of a man's body; 
 but in the great frame of kingdoms and com- 
 monwealths it is in the power of princes or 
 estates to add amplitude and greatness to their 
 kingdoms ; for by introducing such ordinances > 
 constitutions, and customs, as we have now 
 touched, they may sow greatness to their post- 
 erity and succession : but these things are 
 
151 
 
 commonly not observed, but left to take their 
 chance. 
 
 OF REGIMEN OF HEALTH. 
 
 There is a wisdom in this beyond the rules 
 of physic : a man's own observation what he 
 finds good of, and what he finds hurt of, is 
 the best physic to preserve health ; but it is a 
 safer conclusion to say, " This agree th not well 
 " with me, therefore I will not continue it;" 
 than this, " I find no offence of this, therefore 
 " I may use it :" for strength of nature in youth 
 passeth over many excesses which are owing a 
 man till his age. Discern of the coming on 
 of years, and think not to do the same things 
 still; for age will not be defied. Beware of 
 sudden change in any great point of diet, 
 and, if necessity enforce it, fit the rest to it ; 
 for it is a secret both in nature and state, that 
 it is safer to change many things than one. 
 Examine thy customs of diet, sleep, exercise, 
 apparel, and the like; and try in any thing 
 thou shalt judge hurtful, to discontinue it by 
 little and little ; but so, as if thou dost find 
 
152 
 
 any inconvenience by the change, thou come 
 back to it again ; for it is hard to distinguish 
 that which is generally held good and whole- 
 some from that which is good particularly, 
 and fit for thine own body. To be free- 
 minded and cheerfully disposed at hours of 
 meat, and of sleep, and of exercise, is one of 
 the best precepts of long lasting. As for the 
 passions and studies of the mind, avoid envy, 
 anxious fears, anger fretting inwards, subtile 
 and knotty inquisitions, joys and exhilarations 
 in excess, sadness not communicated. Enter- 
 tain hopes, mirth rather than joy, variety of 
 delights, rather than surfeit of them; wonder 
 and admiration, and therefore novelties; studies 
 that fill the mind with splendid and illustrious 
 objects, as histories, fables, and contemplations 
 of nature. If you fly physic in health alto- 
 gether, it will be too strange for your body 
 when you shall need it; if you make it too 
 familiar, it will work no extraordinary effect 
 when sickness cometh. I commend rather 
 some diet for certain seasons^ than frequent 
 use of physic, except it be grown into a cus- 
 tom ; for those diets alter the body more, and 
 trouble it less. Despise no new accident in 
 
153 
 
 your body, but ask opinion of it. In sickness, 
 respect health principally ; and in health, ac- 
 tion : for those that put their bodies to endure 
 in health may in most sicknesses, which are 
 not very sharp, be cured only with diet and 
 tendering. Celsus could never have spoken 
 it as a physician, had he not been a wise man 
 withal, when he giveth it for one of the great 
 precepts of health and lasting, that a man do 
 vary and interchange contraries; but with an 
 inclination to the more benign extreme : use 
 fasting and full eating, but rather full eating; 
 watching and sleep, but rather sleep; sitting 
 and exercise, but rather exercise, and the like : 
 so shall nature be cherished, and yet taught 
 masteries. Physicians are some of them so 
 pleasing and conformable to the humour of the 
 patient, as they press not the true cure of the 
 disease; and some other are so regular in pro- 
 ceeding according to art for the disease, as they 
 respect not sufficiently the condition of the 
 patient. Take one of a middle temper; or, 
 if it may not be found in one man, combine 
 two of either sort; and forget not to call as 
 well the best acquainted with your body, as the 
 best reputed of for his faculty. 
 
154 
 
 OF SUSPICION. 
 
 Suspicions amongst thoughts are like bats 
 amongst birds, they ever fly by twilight: 
 certainly they are to be repressed, or, at "the 
 least, well guarded : for they cloud the mind, 
 they lose friends, and they check with business, 
 whereby business cannot go on currently and 
 constantly : they dispose kings to tyranny, hus- 
 bands to jealousy, wise men to irresolution and 
 melancholy : they are defects, not in the heart 
 but in the brain ; for they take place in the 
 stoutest natures ; as in the example of Henry 
 the Seventh of England; there was not a more 
 suspicious man nor a more stout : and in such 
 a composition they do small hurt, for com- 
 monly they are not admitted but with exami- 
 nation, whether they be likely or no ; but in 
 fearful natures they gain ground too fast. 
 There is nothing makes a man suspect much, 
 more than to know little ; and, therefore, men 
 should remedy suspicion by procuring to know 
 more, and not to keep their suspicions in smo- 
 ther. What would men have ? Do they think 
 
155 
 
 those they employ and deal with are saints ? 
 do they not think they will have their own 
 ends, and be truer to themselves than to them ? 
 therefore there is no better way to moderate 
 suspicions, than to account upon such suspi- 
 cions as true, and yet to bridle them as false : 
 for so far a man ought to make use of suspi- 
 cions as to provide, as if that should be true 
 that he suspects, yet it may do him no hurt. 
 Suspicions that the mind of itself gathers are 
 but buzzes ; but suspicions that are artificially 
 nourished, and put into men's heads by the 
 tales and whisperings of others, have stings. 
 Certainly the best mean to clear the way in 
 this same wood of suspicions is frankly to com- 
 municate them with the party that he suspects; 
 for thereby he shall be sure to know more of 
 the truth of them than he did before ; and 
 withal shall make that party more circumspect 
 not to give farther cause of suspicion : but this 
 would not be done to men of base natures ; for 
 they, if they find themselves once suspected, 
 will never be true. The Italian says, " So- 
 " spetto licentia fede ;" as if suspicion did give 
 a passport to faith; but it ought rather to kin- 
 dle it to discharge itself, 
 
 Che c-iccctmaitcrccle 
 
156 
 
 OF DISCOURSE. 
 
 Some in their discourse desire rather commen- 
 dation of wit, in being able to hold all argu- 
 ments, than of judgment, in discerning what 
 is true ; as if it were a praise to know what 
 might be said, and not what should be thought. 
 Some have certain common places and themes, 
 wherein they are good, and want variety ; 
 which kind of poverty is for the most part 
 tedious, and, when it is once perceived, ridi- 
 culous. The honourablest part of talk is to 
 give the occasion ; and again to moderate and 
 pass to somewhat else, for then a man leads 
 the dance. It is good in discourse and speech 
 of conversation to vary and intermingle speech 
 of the present occasion with arguments, ta^s 
 with reasons, asking of questions with telling 
 of opinions, and jest with earnest; for it is a 
 dull thing to tire, and, as we say now, to jade 
 any thing too far. As for jest, there be cer- 
 tain things which ought to be privileged from 
 it; namely, religion, matters of state, great 
 persons, any man's present business of im- 
 
157 
 
 portance, and any case that deserveth pity; yet 
 there be some that think their wits have been 
 asleep, except they dart out somewhat that is 
 piquant, and to the quick : that is a vein which 
 would be bridled : 
 
 ft Parce puer ftimulis, et fortius utere 1005." 
 
 And, generally, men ought to find the diffe- 
 rence between saltness and bitterness. Cer- 
 tainly, he that hath a satirical vein, as he 
 maketh others afraid of his wit, so he had 
 need be afraid of others' memory. He that 
 questioneth much shall learn much, and con- 
 tent much ; but especially if he apply his 
 questions to the skill of the persons whom he 
 asketh; for he shall give them occasion to 
 please themselves in speaking, and himself 
 shall continually gather knowledge: but let 
 his questions not be troublesome, for that is 
 fit for a poser; and let him be sure to leave 
 other men their turns to speak : nay, if there 
 be any that would reign and take up all the 
 time, let him find means to take them off, 
 and bring ethers on; as musicians use to do 
 with those that dance too long galliards. If 
 you dissemble sometimes your knowledge of 
 
158 
 
 that you are thought to know, you shall be 
 thought another time to know that you know 
 not. Speech of a man's self ought to be sel- 
 dom, and well chosen. I knew one was wont 
 to say in scorn, " He must needs be a wise man, 
 " he speaks so much of himself:" and there is 
 but one case wherein a man may commend 
 himself with good grace, and that is in com- 
 mending virtue in another ; especially if it be 
 such a virtue whereunto himself pretendeth. 
 Speech of touch towards others should be 
 sparingly used; for discourse ought to be as 
 a field, without coming home to any man. I 
 knew two noblemen of the west part of Eng- 
 land, whereof the one was given to scoff, but 
 kept ever royal cheer in his house ; the other 
 would ask of those that had been at the other's 
 table, " Tell truly, was there never a flout or 
 " dry blow given Y f to which the guest would 
 answer, " Such and such a thing passed;" the 
 lord would say, " I thought he would mar a 
 " good dinner." Discretion of speech is more 
 than eloquence ; and to speak agreeably to 
 him with whom we deal is more than to speak 
 in good words, or in good order. A good 
 continued speech without a good speech of 
 
159 
 
 interlocution shews slowness; and a good re- 
 ply or second speech, without a good settled 
 speech, sheweth shallowness and weakness. 
 As we see in beasts, that those that are weakest 
 in the course are yet nimblest in the turn ; as 
 it is betwixt the greyhound and the hare. To 
 use too many circumstances ere one come to 
 the matter is wearisome ; to use none at all is 
 blunt. 
 
 OF PLANTATIONS. 
 
 Plantations are amongst ancient, primitive, 
 and heroical works. When the world was 
 young it begat more children ; but now it is 
 old it begets fewer: for I may justly account 
 new plantations to be the children of former 
 kingdoms. I like a plantation in a pure soil ; 
 that is, where people are not displanted to the 
 end to plant in others ; for else it is rather an 
 extirpation than a plantation. Planting of 
 countries is like planting of woods; for you 
 must make account to lose almost twenty years' 
 profit, and expect your recompense in the end : 
 for the principal thing that hath been the 
 
160 
 
 destruction of most plantations hath been the 
 base and hasty drawing of profit in the first 
 years. It is true, speedy profit is not to be 
 neglected as far as may stand with the good 
 of the plantation, but no farther. It is a 
 shameful and unblessed thing to take the scum 
 of people and wicked condemned men, to be 
 the people with whom you plant ; and not 
 only so, but it spoileth the plantation; for they 
 will ever live like rogues, and not fall to work, 
 but be lazy, and do mischief, and spend vic- 
 tuals, and be quickly weary, and then certify 
 over to their country to the discredit of the 
 plantation. The people wherewith you plant 
 ought to be gardeners, ploughmen, smiths, 
 carpenters, joiners, fishermen, fowlers, with 
 some few apothecaries, surgeons, cooks, and 
 bakers. In a country of plantation first look 
 about what kind of victual the country yields 
 of itself to hand ; as chesnuts, walnuts, pine- 
 apples, olives, dates, plums, cherries, wild 
 honey, and the like, and make use of them. 
 Then consider what victual, or esculent things 
 there are, which grow speedily, and within 
 the year; as parsnips, carrots, turnips, onions, 
 raddish, artichokes of Jerusalem, maise, and 
 
161 
 
 the like : for wheat, barley, and oats, they ask 
 too much labour ; but with pease and beans 
 } r ou may begin ; both because they ask less 
 labour, and because they serve for meat as 
 well as for bread ; and of rice likewise cometh 
 a great increase, and it is a kind of meat. 
 Above all, there ought to be brought store of 
 biscuit, oatmeal, flower, meal, and the like, 
 in the beginning, till bread may be had. For 
 beasts or birds, take chiefly such as are least 
 subject to diseases, and multiply fastest ; as 
 swine, goats, cocks, hens, turkeys, geese, 
 house-doves, and the like. The victual in 
 plantations ought to be expended almost as 
 in a besieged town; that is, with certain al- 
 lowance: and let the main part of the ground 
 employed to gardens or corn be to a common 
 stock; and to belaid in, and stored up, and 
 then delivered out in proportion ; besides some 
 spots of ground that any particular person will 
 manure for his own private. Consider, like- 
 wise, what commodities the soil where the 
 plantation is doth naturally yield, that they 
 may some way help to defray the charge of 
 the plantation; so it be not, as was said, to 
 the untimely prejudice of the main business; 
 
 M 
 
16 C 2 
 
 as it hath fared with tobacco in Virginia. 
 Wood commonly aboundeth but too much ; 
 and therefore timber is fit to be one. If there 
 be iron ore, and streams whereupon to set the 
 mills, iron is a brave commodity where wood 
 aboundeth. Making of bay-salt, if the climate 
 be proper for it, would be put in experience : 
 growing silk likewise, if any be, is a likely 
 commodity: pitch and tar, where store of firs 
 and pines are, will not fail ; so drugs and sweet 
 woods, where they are, cannot but yield great 
 profit; soap ashes likewise, and other things 
 that may be thought of: but moil not too 
 much under ground, for the hope of mines is . 
 very uncertain, and useth to make the planters 
 lazy in others. For government, let it be in 
 the hands of one assisted with some counsel; 
 and let them have commission to exercise mar- 
 tial laws with some limitation; and, above all, 
 let men make that profit of being in the wil- 
 derness, as they have God always, and his 
 service, before their eyes : let not the govern- 
 ment of the plantation depend upon too many 
 counsellors and undertakers in the country 
 that planteth, but upon a temperate number ; 
 and let those be rather noblemen and gentle- 
 
163 
 
 men, than merchants; for they look ever to 
 the present gain : let there be freedom from 
 custom till the plantation be of strength ; and 
 not only freedom from custom, but freedom to 
 carry their commodities where they may make 
 their best of them, except there be some special 
 cause of caution. Cram not in people, by send- 
 ing too fast company after company ; but ra- 
 ther hearken how they waste, and send supplies 
 proportionably ; but so as the number may live 
 well in the plantation, and not by surcharge 
 be in penury. It hath been a great endanger- 
 ing to the health of some plantations that they 
 have built along the sea and rivers, in marish 
 and unwholesome grounds : therefore, though 
 you begin there to avoid carnage and other 
 like discommodities, yet build still rather up- 
 wards from the streams, than along. It con- 
 cerneth likewise the health of the plantation 
 that they have good store of salt with them, 
 that they may use it in their victuals when it 
 shall be necessary. If you plant where savages 
 are, do not only entertain them with trifles and 
 gingles, but use them justly and graciously, 
 with sufficient guard nevertheless; and do not 
 win their favour by helping them to invade 
 
164 
 
 their enemies, but for their defence it is not 
 amiss; and send oft of them over to the coun- 
 try that plants, that they may see a better 
 condition than their own, and commend it 
 when they return. When the plantation grows 
 to strength, then it is time to plant with wo- 
 men as well as with men ; that the plantation 
 may spread into generations, and not be ever 
 pierced from without. It is the sinfullest 
 thing in the world to forsake or destitute a 
 plantation once in forwardness; for, besides 
 the dishonour, it is the guiltiness of blood of 
 many commiserable persons. 
 
 OF RICHES. 
 
 I cannot call riches better than the baggage 
 of virtue; the Roman word is better, " im- 
 " pedimenta;" for as the baggage is to an 
 army, so are riches to virtue; it cannot be 
 spared nor left behrnd, but it hindereth the 
 march ; yea, and the care of it sometimes 
 loseth or disturbeth the victory : of great 
 riches there is no real use, except it be in the 
 distribution ; the rest is but conceit : so saith 
 
165 
 
 Solomon; " Where much is, there are many 
 " to consume it; and what hath the owner 
 " but the sight of it with his eyes?" The per- 
 sonal fruition in any man cannot reach to 
 feel great riches: there is a custody of them; 
 or a power of dole and donative of them ; or 
 a fame of them ; but no solid use to the owner. 
 Do you not see what feigned prices are set 
 upon little stones and rarities ? and what works 
 of ostentation are undertaken, because there 
 might seem to be some use of great riches? 
 But then you will say they may be of use to 
 buy men out of dangers or troubles; as Solo- 
 mon saith, " Riches are as a strong hold in 
 *' the imagination of the rich man/' But this 
 is excellently expressed, that it is in imagina- 
 tion, and not always in fact; for, certainly, 
 great riches have sold more men than they 
 have bought out. Seek not proud riches, but 
 such as thou mayest get justly, use soberly, 
 distribute cheerfully, and leave contentedly; 
 yet have no abstract or friarly contempt of 
 them; but distinguish, as Cicero saith well of 
 Rabirius Posthumus, " in studio rei amplifi- 
 u canda? apparebat, non avaritiaa praedam, sed 
 " instrumentum bonitati quoeri." Hearken also 
 
166 
 
 to Solomon, and beware of hasty gathering of 
 riches; " Qui festinat ad divitias, non erit 
 " insons." The poets feign, that when Plutus, 
 (which is riches,) is sent from Jupiter, he 
 limps, and goes slowly ; but when he is sent 
 from Pluto, he runs, and is swift of foot; 
 meaning, that riches gotten by good means 
 and just labour pace slowly; but when they 
 come by the death of others, (as by the course 
 of inheritance, testaments, and the like,) they 
 come tumbling upon a man : but it might be 
 applied likewise to Pluto taking him for the 
 devil; for when riches come from the devil, 
 (as by fraud, and oppression, and unjust means,) 
 they come upon speed. The ways to enrich 
 are many, and most of them foul : parsimony 
 is one of the best, and yet is not innocent ; for 
 it withholdeth men from works of liberality 
 and charity. The improvement of the ground 
 is the most natural obtaining of riches ; for it 
 is our great mother's blessing, the earth ; but 
 it is slow ; and yet, where men of great wealth 
 do stoop to husbandry, it multiplieth riches 
 exceedingly. I knew a nobleman in England 
 that had the greatest audits of any man in my 
 time; a great grazier, a great sheep master, a 
 
161 
 
 great timber man, a great collier, a great corn 
 master, a great lead man, and so of iron, and 
 a number of the like points of husbandry ; so 
 as the earth seemed a sea to him in respect of 
 the perpetual importation. It was truly observed 
 by one, " That himself came very hardly to a 
 " little riches, and very easily to great riches ;" 
 for when a man's stock is come to that, that 
 he can expect the prime of markets, and over- 
 come those bargains, which for their greatness 
 are few men's money, and be partner in the 
 industries of young men, he cannot but in- 
 crease mainly. The gains of ordinary trades 
 and vocations are honest, and furthered by two 
 things, chiefly, by diligence, and by a good 
 name for good and fair dealing; but the gains 
 of bargains are of a more doubtful nature, 
 when men shall wait upon others' necessity ; 
 broke by servants and instruments to draw 
 them on; put off others cunningly that would 
 be better chapmen, and the like practices, 
 which are crafty and naught: as for the chop- 
 ping of bargains, when a man buys not io hold 
 but to sell over again, that commonly grind- 
 eth double, both upon the seller and upon the 
 buyer. Sharings do greatly enrich if the 
 
168 
 
 hands be well chosen that are trusted. Usury 
 is the certainest means of gain, though one of 
 the worst, as that whereby a man doth eat his 
 bread, " in sudore vultus alieni;" and besides, 
 doth plough upon Sundays : but yet certain 
 though it be, it hath flaws ; for that the scri- 
 veners and brokers do value unsound men to 
 serve their own turn. The fortune, in be- 
 ing the first in an invention or in a privilege, 
 doth cause sometimes a wonderful overgrowth 
 in riches; as it was with the first sugar man 
 in the Canaries : therefore, if a man can play 
 the true logician, to have as well judgment as 
 invention, he may do great matters, especially 
 if the times be fit: he that resteth upon gains 
 certain shall hardly grow to great riches; and 
 he that puts all upon adventures doth often- 
 times break and come to poverty : It is good, 
 therefore, to guard adventures with certainties 
 that may uphold losses. Monopolies, and co- 
 emption of wares for re-sale, where they are not 
 restrained, are great means to enrich ; especially 
 if the party have intelligence what things are 
 like to come into request, and so store himself 
 before hand. Riches gotten by service, though 
 it be of the best rise, yet when they are gotten 
 
169 
 
 by flattery, feeding humours, and other servile 
 conditions, they may be placed amongst the 
 worst. As for fishing for testaments and ex- 
 ecutorships, (as Tacitus saith of Seneca, " tes- 
 " tamenta et orbos tanquam indagine capi,") 
 it is yet worse, by how much men submit 
 themselves to meaner persons than in service. 
 Believe not much them that seem to despise 
 riches, for they despise them that despair of 
 them; and none worse when they come to 
 them. Be not penny-wise : riches have wings, 
 and sometimes they fly away of themselves ; 
 sometimes they must be set flying to bring in 
 more. Men leave their riches either to their 
 kindred, or to the public; and moderate por- 
 tions prosper best in both. A great estate left 
 to an heir is as a lure to all the birds of prey 
 round about to seize on him, if he be not the 
 better stablished in years and judgment: like- 
 wise, glorious gifts and foundations are like 
 sacrifices without salt ; and but the painted 
 sepulchres of alms, which soon will putrefy 
 and corrupt inwardly : therefore measure not 
 thine advancements by quantity, but frame 
 them by measure : and defer not charities till 
 death ; for, certainly, if a man weigh it rightly, 
 
170 
 
 he that doth so is rather liberal of another 
 man's than of his own. 
 
 OF PROPHECIES. 
 i 
 
 I mean not to speak of divine prophecies, nor 
 of heathen oracles, nor of natural predictions; 
 but only of prophecies that have been of cer- 
 tain memory, and from hidden causes. Saith 
 the Pythonissa to Saul, " To-morrow thou and 
 44 thy son shall be with me." Virgil hath these 
 verses from Homer : 
 
 u At domus iEnese cunctis dominabitur oris, 
 
 Et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab illis." JEn. iii. 97. 
 
 A prophecy as it seems of the R.oman empire. 
 Seneca the tragedian hath these verses : 
 
 - a Venient annis 
 
 Saecula seris, quibus oceanus 
 Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens 
 Pateat tellus, Tiphysque novos 
 Detegat orbes ; nee sit terris 
 Ultima Thule :" 
 
 a prophecy of the discovery of America. The 
 daughter of Polycrates dreamed that Jupiter 
 
171 
 
 bathed her father, and Apollo anointed him ; 
 and it came to pass that he was crucified in an 
 open place, where the sun made his body run 
 with sweat, and the rain washed it. Philip 
 of Macedon dreamed he sealed up his wife's 
 belly ; whereby he did expound it, that his 
 wife should be barren : but Aristander the 
 soothsayer told him his wife was with child, 
 because men do not use to seal vessels that are 
 empty. A phantasm that appeared to M- 
 Brutus in his tent, said to him : " Philippis 
 " iterum me videbis/' Tiberius said to Galba, 
 " Tu quoque, Galba, degustabis imperium." 
 In Vespasian's time there went a prophecy 
 in the East, that those that should come forth 
 of Judea should reign over the world ; which 
 though it may be was meant of our Saviour, 
 yet Tacitus expounds it of Vespasian. Domi- 
 tian dreamed, the night before he was slain, 
 that a golden head was growing out of the 
 nape of his neck ; and indeed the succession 
 that followed him, for many years, made 
 golden times. Henry the Sixth of England 
 said of Henry the Seventh, when he was a lad, 
 and gave him water, " This is the lad that 
 M shall enjoy the crown for which we strive." 
 
172 
 
 When I was in France, I heard from one 
 Dr. Pena, that the queen mother, who was 
 given to curious arts, caused the king her 
 husband's nativity to be calculated under a 
 false name ; and the astrologer gave a judg- 
 ment, that he should be killed in a duel ; at 
 which the queen laughed, thinking her hus- 
 band to be above challenges and duels : but 
 he was slain upon a course at tilt, the splinters 
 of the staff of Montgomery going in at his 
 bever. The trivial prophecy which I heard 
 when I was a child, and queen Elizabeth was 
 in the flower of her years, was, 
 
 ft When hemp is spun, 
 England's done :" 
 
 whereby it was generally conceived, that after 
 the princes had reigned which had the prin- 
 cipal letters of that word hemp, (which were 
 Henry, Edward, Mary, Philip, and Elizabeth,) 
 England should come to utter confusion ; which, 
 thanks be to God ! is verified only in the change 
 of the name ; for that the king's style is now 
 no more of England, but of Britain. There 
 was also another prophecy before the year of 
 eighty-eight, which I do not well understand. 
 
173 
 
 There shall be seen upon a cay, 
 Between the baugh and the May, 
 The black fleet of Norway. 
 When that that is come and gone, 
 England buiJd houses of lime and stone, 
 For after wars shall you have none." 
 
 It was generally conceived to be meant of the 
 Spanish fleet that came in eighty-eight ; for 
 that the king of Spain's surname, as they say, 
 is Norway. The prediction of Regiomon- 
 tanus, 
 
 " Octogesimus octavus mirabilis annus:" 
 
 was thought likewise accomplished in the 
 sending of that great fleet, being the greatest 
 in strength, though not in number, of all that 
 ever swam upon the sea. As for Cleon's 
 dream, I think it was a jest : it was, that he 
 was devoured of a long dragon ; and it was 
 expounded of a maker of sausages, that trou- 
 bled him exceedingly. There are numbers of 
 the like kind ; especially if you include dreams 
 and predictions of astrology : but I have set 
 down these few only of certain credit, for 
 example. My judgment is, that they ought 
 
174 
 
 all to be despised, and ought to serve but for 
 winter talk by the fire side. Though when I 
 say despised, I mean it as for belief; for other- 
 wise, the spreading or publishing of them is in 
 no sort to be despised; for they have done 
 much mischief; and I see many severe laws 
 made to suppress them. That that hath given 
 them grace and some credit consisteth in 
 three things : First, that men mark when they 
 hit, and never mark when they miss ; as they 
 do, generally, also of dreams. The second is, 
 that probable conjectures or obscure tradi- 
 tions many times turn themselves into pro- 
 phecies ; while the nature of man, which co- 
 veteth divination, thinks it no peril to foretell 
 that which indeed they do but collect : as 
 that of Seneca's verse ; for so much was then 
 subject to demonstration, that the globe of the 
 earth had great parts beyond the Atlantic, 
 which might be probably conceived not to be 
 all sea ?■ and adding thereto the tradition in 
 Plato's Timaeus, and his Atlanticus, it might 
 encourage one to turn it to a prediction. The 
 third and last, (which is the great one,) is that 
 almost all of them, being infinite in number, 
 have been impostures, and, by idle and crafty 
 
175 
 
 brains, merely contrived and feigned, after the 
 event past. 
 
 OF AMBITION. 
 
 Ambition is like choler, which is an humour 
 that maketh men active, earnest, full of ala- 
 crity, and stirring, if it be not stopped; but if 
 it be stopped, and cannot have its way, it be- 
 cometh adust, and thereby malign and ve- 
 nomous : so ambitious men, if they find the 
 way open for their rising, and still get forward, 
 they are rather busy than dangerous ; but if 
 they be checked in their desires, they become 
 secretly discontent, and look upon men and 
 matters with an evil eye, and are best pleased 
 when things go backward ; which is the worst 
 property in a servant of a prince or state : 
 therefore it is good for princes, if they use 
 ambitious men, to handle it so, as they be still 
 progressive, and not retrograde; which, be- 
 cause it cannot be without inconvenience, it 
 is good not to use such natures at all ; for if 
 they rise not with their service they will take 
 order to make their service fall with them, 
 
176 
 
 But since we have said it were good not to use 
 men of ambitious natures, except it be upon 
 necessity, it is fit we speak in what cases they 
 are of necessity. Good commanders in the 
 wars must be taken, be they never so ambi- 
 tious ; for the use of their service dispenseth 
 with the rest ; and to take a soldier without 
 ambition is to pull off his spurs. There is 
 also great use of ambitious men in being 
 -screens to princes in matters of danger and 
 envy ; for no man will take that part, except 
 he be like a seeled dove, that mounts and 
 mounts, because he cannot see about him. 
 There is use also of ambitious men in pulling 
 down the greatness of any subject that over- 
 tops; as Tiberius used Macro in the pulling 
 down of Sejanus. Since therefore they must be 
 used in such cases, there restcth to speak how 
 they are to be bridled, that they may be less 
 dangerous : there is less danger of them if they 
 be of mean birth than if they be noble ; and 
 if they be rather harsh of nature, than gracious 
 and popular ; and if they be rather new raised, 
 than grown cunning and fortified in their 
 greatness. It is counted by some a weakness 
 in princes to have favourites ; but it is, of all 
 
177 
 
 others, the best remedy against ambitious great 
 ones; for when the way of pleasuring and dis- 
 pleasuring lieth by the favourite, it is impossi- 
 ble any other should be over-great. Another 
 means to curb them is to balance them by 
 others as proud as they : but then there must 
 be some middle counsellors to keep things 
 steady; for without that ballast the ship will 
 roll too much. At the least, a prince may 
 animate and inure some meaner persons to be, 
 as it were, scourges to ambitious men. As for 
 the having of them obnoxious to ruin, if they 
 be of fearful natures, it may do well ; but if 
 they be stout and daring, it may precipitate 
 their designs, and prove dangerous. As for 
 the pulling of them down, if the affairs require 
 it, and that it may not be done with safety 
 suddenly, the only way is, the interchange con- 
 tinually of favours and disgraces, whereby they 
 may not know what to expect, and be, as it 
 were, in a wood. Of ambitions, it is less 
 harmful the ambition to prevail in great things, 
 than that other to appear in every thing ; for 
 that breeds confusion, and mars business : but 
 yet it is less danger to have an ambitious man 
 stirring in business, than great in dependences. 
 
178 
 
 He that secketh to be eminent amongst able 
 men hath a great task ; but that is ever good 
 for the public : but he that plots to be the only 
 figure amongst cyphers is the decay of a whole 
 age. Honour hath three things in it ; the 
 vantage ground to do good; the approach to 
 kings and principal persons; and the raising 
 of a man's own fortunes. He that hath the 
 best of these intentions, when he aspireth, is 
 an honest man; and that prince, that can dis- 
 cern of these intentions in another that a- 
 spireth, is a wise prince. Generally let princes 
 and states choose such ministers as are more 
 sensible of duty than of rising, and such as 
 love business rather upon conscience than upon 
 bravery ; and let them discern a busy nature 
 from a willing mind. 
 
 OF MASQUES AND TRIUMPHS. 
 
 These things are but toys to come amongst such 
 serious observations ; but yet, since princes will 
 have such things, it is better they should be 
 graced with elegancy, than daubed with cost. 
 Dancing to song is a thing of great state and 
 
I7£> 
 
 pleasure. I understand it that the song be 
 in quire, placed aloft, and accompanied with 
 some broken music ; and the ditty fitted to the 
 device. Acting in song, especially in dialogues, 
 hath an extreme good grace ; I say acting, not 
 dancing ; (for that is a mean and vulgar thing ;) 
 and the voices of the dialogue would be strong 
 and manly, (a base, and a tenor; no treble;) 
 and the ditty high and tragical, not nice or 
 dainty. Several quires placed one over against 
 another, and taking the voice by catches an- 
 them-wise, give great pleasure. Turning dances 
 into figure is a childish curiosity: and gene- 
 rally let it be noted, that those things which 
 I here set down are such as do naturally 
 take the sense, and not respect petty wonder- 
 ments. It is true, the alterations of scenes, 
 so it be quietly and without noise, are things 
 of great beauty and pleasure; for they feed and 
 relieve the eye before it be full of the same 
 object. Let the scenes abound with light, 
 especially coloured and varied ; and let the 
 masquers, or any other that are to come down 
 from the scene, have some motions upon the 
 scene itself before their coming down; for it 
 draws the eye strangely, and makes it with 
 
180 
 
 great pleasure to desire to see that it cannot 
 perfectly discern* Let the songs be loud and 
 cheerful, and not chirpings or pulings : let the 
 music likewise be sharp and loud, and well- 
 placed. The colours that shew best by candle- 
 light are white, carnation, and a kind of sea- 
 water green; and ouches, or spangs, as they 
 are of no great cost, so they are of most glory.. 
 As for rich embroidery, it is lost and not dis- 
 cerned. Let the suits of the masquers be grace- 
 ful, and such as become the person when the 
 vizards are off; not after examples of known 
 attires; Turks, soldiers, mariners, and the like. 
 Let anti-masques not be long ; they have been 
 commonly of fools, satyrs, baboons, wild men, 
 antics, beasts, spirits, witches, asthiopes, pyg- 
 mies, turquets, nymphs, rustics, cupids, statues 
 moving, and the like. As for angels, it is not 
 comical enough to put them in anti-masques ; 
 and any thing that is hideous, as devils, giants, 
 is, on the other side, as unfit;, but chiefly, let 
 the music of them be recreative, and with some 
 strange changes. Some sweet odours suddenly 
 coming forth, without any drops falling, are 
 in such a company, as there is steam and 
 heat, things of great pleasure and refreshment* 
 
181 
 
 Double masques, one of men, another of ladies, 
 addeth state and variety ; but all is nothing, 
 except the room be kept clear and neat. 
 
 For justs, and tourneys, and barriers, the 
 glories of them are chiefly in the chariots, 
 wherein the challengers make their entry ; 
 especially if they be drawn with strange 
 beasts; as lions, bears, camels, and the like; 
 or in the devices of their entrance, or in 
 bravery of their liveries, or in the goodly fur- 
 niture of their horses and armour. But enough 
 of these toys. 
 
 OF NATURE IN MEN. 
 
 Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, 
 seldom extinguished. Force maketh nature 
 more violent in the return; doctrine and dis- 
 course maketh nature less importune ; but cus- 
 tom only doth alter and subdue nature. He 
 that seeketh victory over his nature, let him 
 not set himself too great nor too small tasks ; 
 for the first will make him dejected by often 
 failings, and the second will make him a small 
 proceeder, though by often prevailings : and at 
 
182 
 
 the first, let him practise with helps, as swim- 
 mers do with bladders or rushes ; but after a 
 time, let him practise with disadvantages, as 
 dancers do with thick shoes ; for it breeds 
 great perfection if the practice be harder than 
 the use. Where nature is mighty, and there- 
 fore the victory hard, the degrees had need be, 
 first to stay and arrest nature in time; like to 
 him that would say over the four and twenty 
 letters when he was angry ; then to go less in 
 quantity; as if one should, in forbearing wine, 
 come from drinking healths to a draught at a 
 meal; and, lastly, to discontinue altogether: 
 but if a man have the fortitude and resolution 
 to enfranchise himself at once, that is the best: 
 
 " Oplimus ille animi vindex, lsedentia pectus 
 Vincula qui rupit, dedoluitque semel." 
 
 Neither is the ancient rule amiss, to bend na- 
 ture as a wand to a contrary extreme, whereby 
 to set it right : understanding it where the con- 
 trary extreme is no vice. Let not a man force 
 a habit upon himself with a perpetual conti- 
 nuance, but with some intermission ; for both 
 the pause reinforceth the new onset; and, if a 
 man that is not perfect be ever in practice, he 
 
183 
 
 shall as well practise his errors as his abilities, 
 and induce one habit of both ; and there is no 
 means to help this but by seasonable inter- 
 mission : but let not a man trust his victory 
 over his nature too far ; for nature will lie 
 buried a great time, and yet revive upon the 
 occasion or temptation ; like as it was with 
 /Esop's damsel, turned from a cat to a woman, 
 who sate very demurely at the board's end till 
 a mouse ran before her : therefore let a man 
 either avoid the occasion altogether, or put 
 himself often to it, that he may be little moved 
 with it. A man's nature is best perceived in 
 privateness; for there is no affectation in pas- 
 sion; for that putteth a man out of his precepts, 
 and in a new case or experiment, for there cus- 
 tom leaveth him. They are happy men whose 
 natures sort with their vocations ; otherwise 
 they may say, " multum incola fuit anima 
 " mea," when they converse in those things 
 they do not affect. In studies, whatsoever a 
 man commandeth upon himself, let him set 
 hours for it; but whatsoever is agreeable to 
 his nature, let him take no care for any set 
 times ; for his thoughts will fly to it of them- 
 selves, so as the spaces of other business or 
 
184 
 
 studies will suffice. A man's nature runs ei- 
 ther to herbs or weeds ; therefore let him 
 seasonably water the one, and destroy the 
 other. 
 
 OF CUSTOM AND EDUCATION. 
 
 Men's thoughts are much according to their 
 inclination; their discourse and speeches ac- 
 cording to their learning and infused opinions ; 
 but their deeds are after as they have been ac- 
 customed : and therefore, as Machiavel well 
 noteth, (though in an evil-favoured instance,) 
 there is no trusting to the force of nature, nor 
 to the bravery of words, except it be corrobo- 
 rate by custom. His instance is, that for the 
 achieving of a desperate conspiracy a man 
 should not rest upon the fierceness of any 
 man's nature, or his resolute undertakings; 
 but take such an one as hath had his hands 
 formerly in blood : but Machiavel knew not 
 of a friar Clement, nor a Ravillac, nor a 
 Jaureguy, nor a Baltazar Gerard ; yet his rule 
 holdeth still, that nature, nor the engagement 
 of words, are not so forcible as custom. Only 
 
185 
 
 Superstition is now so well advanced, that men 
 of the first blood are as firm as butchers by- 
 occupation; and votary resolution is made 
 equipollent to custom, even in matter of blood. 
 In other things the predominancy of custom 
 is every where visible, insomuch as a man 
 would wonder to hear men profess, protest, 
 engage, give great words, and then do just as 
 they have done before, as if they were dead 
 images and engines moved only by the wheels 
 of custom. We see also the reign or tyranny 
 of custom what it is. The Indians, (I mean 
 the sect of their wise men,) lay themselves 
 quietly upon a stack of wood, and so sacrifice 
 themselves by fire : nay, the wives strive to 
 be burned with the corpse of their husbands. 
 The lads of Sparta of ancient time were wont 
 to be scourged upon the altar of Diana, with- 
 out so much as queching. I remember, in 
 the beginning of queen Elizabeth's time of 
 England, an Irish rebel condemned put up a 
 petition to the deputy that he might be hanged 
 in a wyth, and not in an halter, because it had 
 been so used with former rebels. There be 
 monks in Russia, for penance, that will sit a 
 whole night in a vessel of water till they be 
 
180 
 
 engaged with hard ice. Many examples may 
 be put of the force of custom, both upon mind 
 and body ; therefore, since custom is the prin- 
 cipal magistrate of man's life, let men by all 
 means endeavour to obtain good customs. Cer- 
 tainly, custom is most perfect when it begin- 
 neth in young years : this we call education, 
 which is, in effect, but an early custom. So 
 we see, in languages, the tongue is more pliant 
 to all expressions and sounds, the joints are 
 more supple to all feats of activity and motions 
 in youth, than afterwards; for it is true, the 
 late learners cannot so well take the ply, ex- 
 cept it be in some minds that have not suffered 
 themselves to fix, but have kept themselves 
 open and prepared to receive continual amend- 
 ment, which is exceeding rare : but if the 
 force of custom, simple and separate, be great, 
 the force of custom, copulate and conjoined 
 and collegiate, is far greater; for there exam- 
 ple teacheth, company comforteth, emulation 
 quickeneth, glory raiseth; so as in such places 
 the force of custom is in its exaltation. Cer- 
 tainly, the great multiplication of virtues upon 
 human nature resteth upon societies well or- 
 dained and disciplined ; for commonwealths 
 
187 
 
 and good governments do nourish virtue grown, 
 but do not much mend the seeds : but the mi- 
 sery is, that the most effectual means are now 
 applied to the ends least to be desired. 
 
 OF FORTUNE. 
 
 It cannot be denied but outward accidents 
 conduce much to fortune ; favour, opportu- 
 nity, death of others, occasion fitting virtue : 
 but chiefly, the mould of man's fortune is 
 in his own hands; " Faber quisque fortunce 
 " suae," saith the poet; and the most frequent 
 of external causes is, that the folly of one 
 man is the fortune of another; for no man 
 prospers so suddenly as by others' errors; " ser- 
 " pens nisi serpentem comederit non fit draco. " 
 Overt and apparent virtues bring forth praise ; 
 but there be secret and hidden virtues that 
 bring forth fortune ; certain deliveries of a 
 man's self which have no name. The Spanish 
 name, "disemboitura," partly expresseth them, 
 when there be not stonds nor restiveness in a 
 man's nature, but that the wheels of his mind 
 keep way with the wheels of his fortune ; for 
 
188 
 
 so Livy, (after he had described Cato Major 
 in these words, " In illo viro, tantum robur 
 f ■ corporis et animi fuit, ut quocunque loco 
 " natus esset, fortunam sibi facturus vide- 
 " retur,") falleth upon that that he had, 
 " versatile ingenium -J 9 therefore, if a man look 
 sharply and attentively, he shall see fortune; 
 for though she be blind, yet she is not invisi- 
 ble. The way of fortune is like the milky 
 way in the sky; which is u meeting or knot 
 of a number of small stars, not seen asunder, 
 but giving light together : so are there a 
 number of little and scarce discerned virtues, 
 or rather faculties and customs, that make 
 men fortunate. The Italians note some of 
 them, such as a man would little think: 
 When they speak of one that cannot do amiss, 
 they will throw in into his other conditions, 
 that he hath " Poco di matto;" and, certainly, 
 there be not two more fortunate properties, 
 than to have a little of the fool, and not too 
 much of the honest : therefore extreme lovers 
 of their country, or masters, were never for- 
 tunate : neither can they be ; for when a man 
 placeth his thoughts without himself, he goeth 
 not his own way. An hasty fortune maketh 
 
189 
 
 an enterpriser and remover ; (the French hath 
 it better, " entreprenant," or " remuant;") but 
 the exercised fortune maketh the able man. 
 Fortune is to be honoured and respected, and 
 it be but for her daughters, Confidence and 
 Reputation; for those two felicity breedeth ;. 
 the first within a man's self; the latter in 
 others towards him. All wise men, to decline 
 the envy of their own virtues, use to ascribe 
 them to Providence and Fortune ; for so they 
 may the better assume them : and, besides, it- 
 is greatness in a man to be the care of the 
 higher powers. So Caesar said to the pilot in. 
 the tempest, " Caesarem portas, et fortunam 
 " ejus/'' So Sylla chose the name of " Felix/* 
 and not of " Magnus :" and it hath been noted, 
 that those that ascribe openly too much to 
 their own wisdom and policy end unfortunate- 
 It is written, that Timotheus, the Athenian^ 
 after he had, in the account he gave to the- 
 state of his government, often interlaced this 
 speech, " And in this fortune had no part/' 
 never prospered in any thing he undertook 
 afterwards. Certainly there be whose for- 
 tunes are like Homer's verses, that have a 
 slide and easiness more than the verses of other 
 
190 
 
 poets; as Plutarch saith of Timoleon's fortune 
 in respect of that of Agesilaus, or Epaminon- 
 das: and that this should be, no doubt it is 
 much in a man's self. 
 
 OF USURY. 
 
 Many have made witty invectives against 
 usur}\ They say, that it is pity the devil 
 should have God's part, which is the tithe ; 
 that the usurer is the greatest sabbath-breaker, 
 because his plough goeth every Sunday ; that 
 the usurer is the drone that Virgil speaketh 
 of: 
 
 " Ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent;" 
 
 that the usurer break eth the first law that was 
 made for mankind after the fall ; which was, 
 " in sudore vultus tui comedes panem tuum ;" 
 not, " in sudore vultus alicni ;" that usurers 
 should have orange-tawny bonnets, because they 
 do judaize ; that it is against nature for mo- 
 ney to beget money, and the like. I say this 
 onty, that usury is a " concessum propter du- 
 " ritiem cordis :." for since there must be bor- 
 
191 
 
 rowing and lending, and men are so hard of 
 heart as they will not lend freely, usury must 
 be permitted. Some others have made su- 
 spicious and cunning propositions of banks, 
 discovery of men's estates, and other inven- 
 tions ; but few have spoken of usury usefully. 
 It is good to set before us the incommodities 
 and commodities of usury, that the good may 
 be either weighed out, or culled out : and 
 warily to provide, that, while we make forth 
 to that which is better, we meet not with that 
 which is worse. 
 
 The discommodities of usury are, first, that 
 it makes fewer merchants; for were it not for 
 this lazy trade of usury, money would not lie 
 still, but would in great part be employed upon 
 merchandizing; which is the " vena porta" 
 of wealth in a state : the second, that it makes 
 poor merchants ; for as a farmer cannot hus- 
 band his ground so well if he sit at a great rent, 
 so the merchant cannot drive his trade so well 
 if he sit at great usury : the third is incident 
 to the other two ; and that is, the decay of 
 customs of kings or estates, which ebb or flow 
 with merchandizing: the fourth, that it bring- 
 eth the treasure of a realm or state into a few 
 
192 
 
 hands ; for the usurer being at certainties, and 
 others at uncertainties, at the end of the game 
 most of the money will be in the box ; and 
 ever a state flourisheth when wealth is more 
 equally spread : the fifth, that it beats down 
 the price of land; for the employment of mo- 
 ney is chiefly either merchandizing, or pur- 
 chasing ; and usury waylays both : the sixth, 
 that it doth dull and damp all industries, im- 
 provements, and new inventions, wherein mo- 
 ney would be stirring, if it were not for this 
 slug : the last, that it is the canker and ruin of 
 many men's estates, which in process of time 
 breeds a public poverty. 
 
 On the other side, the commodities of usury 
 are first, that howsoever usury in some respect 
 hindereth merchandizing, yet in some other it 
 advanceth it ; for it is certain that the greatest 
 part of trade is driven by young merchants 
 upon borrowing at interest; so as if the usurer 
 cither call in, or keep back his money, there 
 will ensue presently a great stand of trade : 
 the second is, that, were it not for this easy 
 borrowing upon interest, men's necessities would 
 draw upon them a most sudden undoing, in 
 that they would be forced to sell their means, 
 
19; 
 
 (be it lands or goods,) far under foot; and so^ 
 whereas usury doth but gnaw upon them, bad 
 markets would swallow them quite up. As for 
 mortgaging, or pawning, it will little mendt 
 the matter ; for either men will not take pains 
 without use; or if they do, they will look pre- 
 cisely for the forfeiture. I remember a cruel 
 monied man in the country, that would say, 
 " The devil take this usury, it keeps us from 
 " forfeitures of mortgages and bonds/' The 
 third and last is, that it is a vanity to conceive 
 that there would be ordinary borrowing with- 
 out profit ; and it is impossible to conceive the 
 number of inconveniences that will ensue if 
 borrowing be cramped : therefore to speak of 
 the abolishing of usury is idle; all states have 
 ever had it in one kind or rate or other : so as 
 that opinion must be sent to Utopia. 
 
 To speak now of the reformation and re- 
 glement of usury ; how the discommodities of 
 it may be best avoided, and the commodities 
 retained. It appears, by the balance of com- 
 modities and discommodities of usury, two 
 things are to be reconciled ; the one, that the 
 tooth of usury be grinded, that it bite not too 
 much; the other, that there be left open a 
 o 
 
194 
 
 means to invite monied men to lend to the 
 merchants for the continuing and quickening 
 of trade. This cannot be done, except you in- 
 troduce two several sorts of usury, a less and a 
 greater; for if you reduce usury to one low 
 rate, it will ease the common borrower, but 
 the. merchant will be to seek for money : and 
 it is to be noted, that the trade of merchandize 
 being the most lucrative, may bear usury at a 
 great rate; other contracts not so. 
 
 To serve both intentions, the way w r ould 
 be briefly thus : that there be two rates of 
 usury ; the one free and general for all ; the 
 other under license only to certain persons, 
 and in certain places of merchandizing. First, 
 therefore, let usury in general be reduced to 
 five in the hundred; and let that rate be pro- 
 claimed ,to be free and current ; and let the 
 state shut itself out to take any penalty for the 
 same: this will preserve borrowing from any 
 general stop or dryness ; this will ease infinite 
 borrowers in the country ; this will . in good 
 part raise the price of land, because land pur- 
 chased at sixteen years purchase will yield six 
 in the hundred and somewhat more, whereas 
 this rate of interest yields but five : this by 
 
195 
 
 like reason will encourage and edge industrious 
 and profitable improvements, because many 
 will rather venture in that kind, than take five 
 in the hundred, especially having been used to 
 greater profit. Secondly, let there be certain 
 persons licensed to lend to known merchants 
 upon usury at a high rate ; and let it be with 
 the cautions following ; let the rate be, even 
 with the merchant himself, somewhat more 
 easy than that he used formerly to pay ; for by 
 that means all borrowers shall have some ease 
 by this reformation, be he merchant or who- 
 soever; let it be no bank, or common stock, 
 but every man be master of his own money ; 
 not that I altogether dislike banks, but they 
 will hardly be brooked in regard of certain 
 suspicions. Let the state be answered some 
 small matter for the license, and the rest left 
 to the lender; for if the abatement be but 
 small, it will no whit discourage ihe lender; 
 for he, for example, that took before ten or 
 nine in the hundred, will sooner descend to 
 eight in the hundred, than give over his trade 
 of usury, and go from certain gains to gains of 
 hazard. Let these licensed lenders be in num- 
 ber indefinite, but restrained to certain prin- 
 
196 
 
 cipal cities and towns of merchandizing ; for 
 then they will be hardly able to colour other 
 men's monies in the country ; so as the license 
 of nine will not suck away the current rate of 
 five ; for no man will lend his monies far off, 
 nor put them into unknown hands. 
 
 If it be objected that this doth in a sort au- 
 thorise usury, which before was in some places 
 but permissive, the answer is, that it is better 
 to mitigate usury by declaration, than to suffer 
 it to rage by connivance. 
 
 OF YOUTH AND AGE. 
 
 A man that is young in years may be old in 
 hours, if he have lost no time ; but that hap- 
 peneth rarely. Generally, youth is like the 
 first cogitations, not so wise as the second : for 
 there is a youth in thoughts as well as in ages ; 
 and yet the invention of young men is more 
 lively than that of old ; and imaginations 
 stream into their minds better, and, as it were, 
 more divinely. Natures, that have much heat, 
 and great and violent desires and perturbations, 
 are not ripe for action till they have passed the 
 
197 
 
 meridian of their years : as it was with Julius 
 Caesar and Septimius Severus : of the latter of 
 whom it is said, " juventutem egit, erroribus, 
 " imo furoribus plenam ; w and yet he was the 
 ablest emperor, almost, of all the list : but re- 
 posed natures may do well in youth, as it is 
 seen in Augustus Caesar, Cosmus duke of 
 Florence, Gaston de Fois, and others. On the 
 other side, heat and vivacity in age is an ex- 
 cellent composition for business. Young men 
 are fitter to invent than to judge ; fitter for 
 execution than for counsel ; and fitter for new 
 projects, than for settled business; for the ex- 
 perience of age, in things that fall within the 
 compass of it, directeth them; but* in new 
 things abuseth them. The errors of young 
 men are the ruin of business ; but the errors 
 of aged men amount but to this, that more 
 might have been done, or sooner. Young men, 
 in the conduct and manage of actions, embrace 
 more than they can hold ; stir more than they 
 can quiet; fly to the end, without consideration 
 of the means and degrees ; pursue some few 
 principles which they have chanced upon ab- 
 surdly ; care not to innovate, which draws 
 unknown inconveniences ; use extreme reme- 
 
198 
 
 dies at first ; and that, which doubleth all er- 
 rors, will not acknowledge or retract them, 
 like an unready horse, that will neither stop 
 nor turn. Men of age object too much, con- 
 sult too long, adventure too little, repent too 
 soon, and seldom drive business home to the 
 full period, but content themselves with a 
 mediocrity of success. Certainly it is good 
 to compound employments of both; for that 
 will be good for the present, because the vir- 
 tues of either age may correct the defects of 
 both; and good for succession, that young men 
 may be learners, while men in age are actors ; 
 and, lastly, good for external accidents, because 
 authority followeth old men, and favour and 
 popularity youth : but for the moral part, per- 
 haps, youth will have the pre-eminence, as age 
 hath for the politic. A certain rabbin upon 
 the text, " Your young men shall see visions, 
 " and your old men shall dream dreams/' in- 
 ferreth, that young men are admitted nearer to 
 God than old, because vision is a clearer reve- 
 lation than a dream : and, certainly, the more 
 a man drinketh of the world, the more it in- 
 toxicateth ; and age doth profit rather in the 
 powers of understanding, than in the virtues 
 
199 
 
 of the will and affections. There be some 
 have an over-early ripeness in their years, 
 which fadeth betimes ; these are, first, such as 
 have brittle wits, the edge whereof is soon 
 turned ; such as was Hermogenes the rheto- 
 rician, whose books are exceeding subtile, who 
 afterwards waxed stupid : a second sort is of 
 those that have some natural dispositions, which 
 have better grace in youth than in age ; such 
 as is a fluent and luxuriant speech ; which be- 
 comes youth well, but not age : so Tully saith 
 of Hortensius, " idem manebat, neque idem 
 " decebat :" the third is of such as take too 
 high a strain at the first ; and are magnani- 
 mous, more than tract of years can uphold ; as 
 was Scipio Africanus, of whom Livy saith in 
 effect, " ultima primis cedebant." 
 
 OF BEAUTY. 
 
 Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set ; and 
 surely virtue is best in a body that is comely, 
 though not of delicate features ; and that hath 
 rather dignity of presence, than beauty of 
 aspect : neither is it almost seen, that very 
 
200 
 
 beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue y 
 as if nature were rather busy not to err, than 
 in labour to produce excellency; and there- 
 fore they prove accomplished, but not of great 
 spirit ; and study rather behaviour than virtue. 
 But this holds not always ; for Augustus Cae- 
 sar, Titus Vespasianus, Philip le Bel of France, 
 Edward the Fourth of England, Alcibiades of 
 Athens, Ismael the sophy of Persia, were all 
 high and great spirits ; and yet the most beau- 
 tiful men of their times. In beauty, that of 
 favour is more than that of colour ; and that 
 of decent and gracious motion more than that 
 of favour. That is the best part of beauty 
 which a picture cannot express ; no, nor the 
 first sight of the life. There is no excellent 
 beauty that hath not some strangeness in the 
 proportion. A man cannot tell whether Apel- 
 les, or Albert Durer, were the more trifler ; 
 whereof the one would make a personage by 
 geometrical proportions ; the other, by taking 
 the best parts out of divers faces, to make one 
 excellent. Such personages, I think, would 
 please no body but the painter that made 
 them : not but I think a painter may make a 
 better face than ever was ; but he must do it 
 
201 
 
 by a kind of felicity, (as a musician that maketh 
 an excellent air in music,) and not by rule. A 
 man shall see faces, that, if you examine them 
 part by part, you shall find never a good ; and 
 yet altogether do well. If it be true, that the 
 principal part of beauty is in decent motion, 
 certainly it is no marvel, though persons in 
 years seem many times more amiable ; " pul- 
 " chrorum autumnus pulcher f for no youth 
 can be comely but by pardon, and considering 
 the youth as to make up the comeliness. Beauty 
 is as summer-fruits, which are easy to corrupt, 
 and cannot last ; and, for the most part, it 
 makes a dissolute youth, and an age a little out 
 of countenance ; but yet certainly again, if 
 it light well, it maketh virtues shine, and vices 
 blush. 
 
 OF DEFORMITY. 
 
 Deformed persons are commonly 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 af- 
 " fection f and so they have their revenge of 
 
202 
 
 nature. Certainly there is a consent between 
 the body and the mind, and where nature 
 erreth in the one, she ventureth in the other ; 
 " ubi peccat in uno, periclitatur in altero :" but 
 because there is in man an election touching 
 the frame of his mind, and a necessity in the 
 frame of his body, the stars of natural incli- 
 nation are sometimes obscured by the sun of 
 discipline and virtue ; therefore it is good to 
 consider of deformity, not as a sign which is 
 more deceivable, but as a cause which seldom 
 faileth of the effect. Whosoever hath any 
 thing fixed in his person that doth induce con- 
 tempt, hath also a perpetual spur in himself 
 to rescue and deliver himself from scorn ; there- 
 fore all deformed persons are extreme bold; 
 first, as in their own defence, as being ex- 
 posed to scorn ; but in process of time by a 
 general habit. Also it stirreth in them indus- 
 try, and especially of this kind, to watch and 
 observe the weakness of others, that they may 
 have somewhat to repay. Again, in their su- 
 periors, it quencheth jealousy towards them, 
 as persons that they think they may at plea- 
 sure despise ; and it laycth their competitors 
 and emulators asleep, as never believing they 
 
203 
 
 should be in possibility of advancement till 
 they see them in possession : so that upon the 
 matter, in a great wit, deformity is an advan- 
 tage to rising. Kings in ancient times, (and 
 at this present in some countries,) were wont 
 to put great trust in eunuchs, because they that 
 are envious towards all are more obnoxious 
 and officious towards one : but yet their trust 
 towards them hath rather been as to good spials, 
 and good whisperers, than good magistrates and 
 officers : and much like is the reason of de- 
 formed persons. Still the ground is, they will, 
 if they be of spirit, seek to free themselves 
 from scorn; which must be either by virtue or 
 malice : and, therefore, let it not be marvelled 
 if sometimes they prove excellent persons; as 
 w r as Agesilaus, Zanger the son of Solyman, 
 iEsop, Gasca president of Peru; and Socrates 
 may go likewise amongst them, with others^ 
 
204 
 
 OF BUILDING. 
 
 Houses are built to live in, and not to look 
 on ; therefore let use be preferred before uni- 
 formity, except where both may be had. 
 Leave the goodly fabrics of houses, for beauty 
 only, to the enchanted palaces of the poets, 
 who build them with small cost. He, that 
 builds a fair house upon an ill seat, commit- 
 teth himself to prison : neither do I reckon it 
 an ill seat only, where the air is unwholesome, 
 but likewise where the air is unequal ; as you 
 shall see many fine seats set upon a knap of 
 ground, environed with higher hills round 
 about it, whereby the heat of the sun is pent 
 in, and the wind gathereth as in troughs ; so 
 as you shall have, and that suddenly, as great 
 diversity of heat and cold as if you dwelt in 
 several places. Neither is it ill air only that 
 maketh an ill seat; but ill ways, ill markets; 
 and, if you will consult with Momus, ill neigh- 
 bours. I speak not of many more ; want of 
 water ; want of wood, shade, and shelter ; want 
 of fruitfulness, and mixture of grounds of se- 
 
205 
 
 veral natures; want of prospect; want of level 
 grounds ; want of places at some near distance 
 for sports of hunting, hawking, and races ; too 
 near the sea, too remote ; having the commo- 
 dity of navigable rivers, or the discommodity 
 of their overflowing; too far off from great 
 cities, which may hinder business ; or too near 
 them, which lurcheth all provisions, and maketh 
 every thing dear ; where a man hath a great 
 living laid together, and where he is scanted ; 
 all which, as it is impossible perhaps to find 
 together, so it is good to know them, and 
 think of them, that a man may take as many 
 as he can; and, if he have several dwellings, 
 that he sort them so, that what he wanteth in 
 the one, he may find in the other. Lucullus 
 answered Pompey well, who, when he saw his 
 stately galleries and rooms so large and light- 
 some in one of his houses, said, " Surely an 
 " excellent place for summer, but how do you 
 " in winter ?" Lucullus answered, " Why do 
 " you not think me as wise as some fowls are, 
 " that ever change their abode towards the 
 " winter ?" 
 
 To pass from the seat to the house itself, 
 we will do as Cicero doth in the orator's art, 
 
20<S , 
 
 who writes books De Oratore, and a book he 
 entitles Orator; whereof the former delivers 
 the precepts of the art, and the latter the per- 
 fection. We will therefore describe a princely 
 palace, making a brief model thereof: for it is 
 strange to see, now in Europe, such huge build- 
 ings as the Vatican and Escurial and some 
 others be, and yet scarce a very fair room in 
 them. 
 
 First, therefore, I say you cannot have a 
 perfect palace, except you have two several 
 sides ; a side for the banquet, as is spoken of 
 in the book of Esther, and a side for the 
 household; the one for feasts and triumphs, 
 and the other for dwelling. I understand both 
 these sides to be not only returns, but parts of 
 the front ; and to be uniform without, though 
 severally partitioned within; and to be on both 
 sides of a great and statety tower in the midst 
 of the front, that, as it were, joineth them 
 together on either hand. I would have, on the 
 side of the banquet in front, one only goodly 
 room above stairs, of some forty foot high; and 
 under it a room for a dressing or preparing 
 place, at times of triumphs, On the other 
 side, which is the household side, I wish it di- 
 
207 
 
 vided at the first into a hall and a chapel, (with 
 a partition between,) both of good state and 
 bigness ; and those not to go all the length, 
 but to have at the farther end a winter and a 
 summer parlour, both fair ; and under these 
 rooms a fair and large cellar sunk under ground \ 
 and likewise some privy kitchens, with but- 
 teries and pantries, and the like. As for the 
 tower, I would have it two stories, of eighteen 
 foot high a-piece above the two wings ; and 
 goodly leads upon the top, raised with statues 
 interposed ; and the same tower to be divided 
 into rooms as shall be thought fit. The stairs 
 likewise to the upper rooms, let them be upon 
 a fair open newel, and finely railed in with 
 images of wood cast into a brass colour; and 
 a very fair landing place at the top. But this 
 to be, if you do not point any of the lower 
 rooms for a dining place of servants ; for, other- 
 wise, you shall have the servants' dinner after 
 your own ; for the steam of it will come up as 
 in a tunnel ; and so much for the front : only 
 I understand the height of the first stairs to be 
 sixteen foot, which is the height of the lower 
 room. 
 
 Beyond this front is there to be a fair court., 
 
208 
 
 but three sides of it of a far lower building 
 than the front; and in all the four corners of 
 that court fair stair-cases, cast into turrets on 
 the outside, and not within the row of build- 
 ings themselves : but those towers are not to 
 be of the height of the front, but rather pro- 
 portionable to the lower building. Let the 
 court not be paved, for that striketh up a great 
 heat in summer, and much cokl in winter; but 
 only some side alleys with a cross, and the 
 quarters to graze, being kept shorn, but not 
 too near shorn. The row of return on the 
 banquet side, let it be all stately galleries ; in 
 which galleries let there be three, or five, fine 
 cupolas in the length of it, placed at equal 
 distance, and fine coloured windows of several 
 works : on the household side, chambers of 
 presence and ordinary entertainments, with 
 some bed-chambers ; and let all three sides be 
 a double house, without thorough lights on 
 the sides, that you may have rooms from the 
 sun, both for forenoon and afternoon. Cast 
 it also, that you may have rooms both for sum- 
 mer and winter ; shady for summer, and warm 
 for winter. You shall have sometimes fair 
 houses so full of glass that one cannot tell 
 
209 
 
 where to become to be out of the sun or cold. 
 For embowed windows, I hold them of good 
 use; (in cities, indeed, upright do better, in re- 
 spect of the uniformity towards the street ;) for 
 they be pretty retiring, places for conference ; 
 and, besides, they keep both the wind and sun 
 off; for that which would strike almost through 
 the room doth scarce pass the window : but 
 let them be but few, four in the court, on the 
 sides only. 
 
 Beyond this court, let there be an inward 
 court of the same square and height, which is 
 to be environed with the garden on all sides ; 
 and, in the inside, cloistered on all sides upon 
 decent and beautiful arches as high as the first 
 story : on the under story towards the garden, 
 let it be turned to a grotto, or place of shade 
 or estivation ; and only have opening and win- 
 dows towards the garden, and be level upon the 
 floor, no whit sunk under ground, to avoid all 
 dampishness : and let there be a fountain or some 
 fair work of statues in the midst of this court, 
 and to be paved as the other court was. These 
 buildings to be for privy lodgings on both sides, 
 and the end for privy galleries; whereof you 
 must foresee that one of them be for an iufir- 
 p 
 
210 
 
 mary, if the prince or any special person should 
 be sick, with chambers, bed-chamber, " an- 
 " tecamera," and " recamera," joining to it; 
 this upon the second story. Upon the ground 
 story, a fair gallery, open, upon pillars; and 
 upon the third story likewise an open gallery 
 upon pillars, to take the prospect and freshness 
 of the garden. At both corners of the farther 
 side, by way of return, let there be two deli- 
 cate or rich cabinets, daintily paved, richly 
 hanged, glazed with crystalline glass, and a 
 rich cupola in the midst ; and all other ele- 
 gancy that may be thought upon. In the upper 
 gallery, too, I wish that there may be, if the 
 place will yield it, some fountains running in 
 divers places from the wall, with so.me fine 
 avoidances. And thus much for the model 
 of the palace; save that you must have, be- 
 fore you come to the front, three courts ; a 
 green court plain, with a wall about it; a 
 second court of the same, but more garnished 
 with little turrets, or rather embellishments 
 upon the wall ; and a third court, to make a 
 square with the front, but not to be built, nor 
 yet enclosed with a naked wall, but enclosed 
 with terraces leaded aloft, and fairly garnished 
 
211 
 
 on the three sides; and cloistered on the inside 
 with pillars, and not with arches below. As 
 for offices, let them stand at distance, with; 
 some low galleries to pass from them to the 
 palace itself. 
 
 OF GARDENS. 
 
 God Almighty first planted a garden ; and, in- 
 deed, it is the purest of human pleasures ; it is 
 the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man ; 
 without which buildings and palaces are but 
 gross handyworks : and a man shall ever see, 
 that, when ages grow to civility and elegancy, 
 men corac to build stately, sooner than to 
 garden finely ; as if gardening were the greater 
 perfection. I do hold it, in the royal ordering 
 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. For 
 December and January, and the latter part 
 of November, you must take such things as 
 are green all winter; holly; ivy; bays; ju- 
 niper; cypress trees; yew; pines; fir-trees; 
 rosemary; lavender; periwinkle, the white, the 
 
212 
 
 purple, and the blue ; germander ; flags ; orange 
 trees; lemon trees, and myrtles, if they be 
 stoved ; and sweet marjoram warm set. There 
 followeth, for the latter part of January and 
 February, the mezereon tree, which then blos- 
 soms ; crocus vernus, both the yellow and the 
 grey ; primroses ; anemonies ; the early tulip ; hy- 
 acinthus orientalis ; chamai'ris ; fritellaria. For 
 March there come violets, especially the single 
 blue, which are the earliest; the early daffo- 
 dil ; the daisy ; the almond tree in blossom; the 
 peach tree in blossom ; the cornelian tree in 
 blossom ; sweet-briar. In April follow the 
 double white violet ; the wall-flower ; the stock- 
 gilliflower ; the cowslip ; flower-de-luces ; and 
 lilies of all natures ; rosemary-flowers ; the tu- 
 lip ; the double peony ; the pale daffodil ; the 
 French honeysuckle; the cherry tree in blos- 
 som ; the Damascene and plum trees in blossom ; 
 the white thorn in leaf; the lilac tree. In 
 May and June come pinks of all sorts, espe- 
 cially the blush pink ; roses of all kinds, ex- 
 cept the musk, which comes later; honey- 
 suckles ; strawberries ; bugloss ; columbine ; the 
 French marygold ; flos Africanus ; cherry tree in 
 fruit; ribes; figs in fruit; rasps; vine flowers;. 
 
213 
 
 lavender in flowers ; the sweet satyrian, with 
 the white flower ; herba muscaria ; lilium con- 
 vallium ; the apple tree in blossom. In July 
 come gilliflowers of all varieties ; musk roses ; 
 the lime tree in blossom ; early pears and 
 plums in fruit; gennitings; codlins. In August 
 come plums of all sorts in fruit; pears; apricots; 
 berberies ; fllberds ; muskmelons; monks-hoods 
 of all colours. In September come grapes ; ap- 
 ples ; poppeys of all colours; peaches; meloco- 
 tones ; nectarines ; cornelians ; wardens ; quinces. 
 In October and the beginning of November 
 come services ; medlars ; bullaces : roses cut or 
 removed to come late; hollyoaks; and such 
 like. These particulars are for the climate of 
 London: but my meaning is perceived, that 
 you may have " ver perpetuum," as the place 
 affords. 
 
 And because the breath of flowers is far 
 sweeter in the air, (where it comes and goes, 
 like the warbling of music,) than in the hand, 
 therefore nothing is more fit for that delight, 
 than to know what be the flowers and plants 
 that do best perfume the air. Roses, damask 
 and red, are fast flowers of their smells ; so 
 that you may walk by a whole row of them, 
 
214 
 
 and find nothing of their sweetness ; yea, 
 though it be in a morning's dew. Bays, like- 
 wise, yield no smell as they grow, rosemary 
 little, nor sweet marjoram ; that which, above 
 all others, yields the sweetest smell in the air, 
 is the violet ; especially the white double, vio- 
 let, which comes twice a year, about the mid- 
 dle of April, and about Bartholomew-tide. 
 Next to that is the musk-rose; then the straw- 
 berry leaves dying, with a most excellent cor- 
 dial smell; then the flower of the vines; it 
 is a little dust, like the dust of a bent, 
 which grows upon the cluster in the first 
 coming forth ; then sweet-briar, then wall- 
 flowers, which are very delightful to be set 
 under a parlour or lower chamber window ; 
 then pinks and gilliflowers, especially the 
 matted pink and clove gilliflower ; then the 
 flowers of the lime tree ; then the honey- 
 suckles, so they be somewhat afar off. Of 
 bean-flowers I speak not, because they are 
 field flowers: but those which perfume the 
 air most delightfully, not passed by as the rest, 
 but being trodden upon and crushed, arc 
 three : that is, burnet, wild thyme, and water- ' 
 mints ; therefore you are to set whole alleys of 
 
215 
 
 them, to have the pleasure when you walk or 
 tread. 
 
 For gardens, (speaking of those which are 
 indeed prince-like, as we have done of build- 
 ings,) the contents ought not well to be under 
 thirty acres of ground, and to be divided into 
 three parts ; a green in the entrance, a heath 
 or desert in the going forth, and the main 
 garden in the midst, besides alleys on both 
 sides; and I like well, that four acres of 
 ground be assigned to the green, six to the 
 heath, four and four to either side, and twelve 
 to the main garden. The green hath two 
 pleasures ; the one, because nothing is more 
 pleasant to the eye than green grass kept 
 finely shorn ; the other, because it will give 
 you a fair alley in the midst, by which you 
 may go in front upon a stately hedge, which is 
 to inclose the garden : but because the alley- 
 will be long, and, in great heat of the year or 
 day, you ought not to buy the shade in the 
 garden by going in the sun through the green, 
 therefore you are, of either side the green, to 
 plant a covert alley, upon carpenter's work, 
 about twelve foot in height, by which you may 
 go in shade into the garden. As for the 
 
216 
 
 making of knots or figures with divers co- 
 loured garths, that they may lie under the 
 windows of the house on that side which the 
 garden stands, they be but toys ; you may see 
 as good sights many times in tarts. The 
 garden is best to be square, encompassed on 
 all the four sides with a stately arched hedge ; 
 the arches to be upon pillars of carpenter's 
 work, of some ten foot high, and six foot 
 broad ; and the spaces between of the same 
 dimension with the breadth of the arch. Over 
 the arches let there be an entire hedge of 
 some four foot high, framed also upon car- 
 penter's work ; and upon the upper hedge, 
 over every arch, a little turnet, with a belly 
 enough to receive a cage of birds; and over 
 every space between the arches some other 
 little figure, with broad plates of round co- 
 loured glass gilt, for the sun to play upon : but 
 this hedge I intend to be raised upon a bank, 
 not steep, but gently slope, of some six foot, 
 set all with flowers. Also I understand, that 
 this square of the garden should not be the 
 whole breadth of the ground, but to leave on 
 either side ground enough for diversity of side 
 alleys, unto which the two covert alleys of 
 
217 
 
 the green may deliver you; but there must be 
 no alleys .with hedges at either end of this great 
 enclosure ; not at the hither end, for letting your 
 prospect upon this fair hedge from the green ; 
 nor at the farther end, for letting your prospect 
 from the hedge through the arches upon the 
 heath. 
 
 For the ordering of the ground within the 
 great hedge, I leave it to variety of device; 
 advising, nevertheless, that whatsoever form 
 you cast it into first, it be not too busy or full 
 of work: wherein I, for my part, do not like 
 images cut out in juniper or other garden stuff; 
 they be for children. Little low hedges, round 
 like welts, with some pretty pyramids, I like 
 well ; and in some places fair columns upon 
 frames of carpenter's work. I would also have 
 the alleys spacious and fair. You may have 
 closer alleys upon the side grounds, but none 
 in the main garden. I wish also, in the very 
 middle, a fair mount, with three ascents and 
 alleys, enough for four to walk abi'east; which 
 I would have to be perfect circles, with- 
 out any bulwarks or embossments; and the 
 whole mount to be thirty feet high ; and 
 some fine banqueting house, with some chim- 
 
218 
 
 neys neatly cast, and without too much 
 glass „ 
 
 For fountains, they are a great beauty and 
 refreshment; but pools mar all, and make the 
 garden unwholesome, and full of flies and frogs. 
 Fountains I intend to be of two natures; the 
 one that sprinkleth or spouteth water ; the 
 other a fair receipt of water of some thirty or 
 forty feet square, but without fish, or slime, or 
 mud. For the first, the ornaments of images, 
 gilt or of marble, which are in use, do well : 
 but the main matter is so to convey the water, 
 as it never stay either in the bowls or in the 
 cistern; that the water be never by rest dis- 
 coloured, green or red, or the like, or gather 
 any mossiness or putrefaction; besides that it 
 is to be cleansed every day by the hand : also 
 some steps up to it, and some fine pavement 
 about it do well. As for the other kind of 
 fountain, which we may call a bathing pool, it 
 may admit much curiosity and beauty, where- 
 with we will not trouble ourselves ; as, that the 
 bottom be finely paved, and with images ; the 
 sides likewise; and withal embellished with 
 coloured glass, and such things of lustre; en- 
 compassed also with fine rails of low statues : 
 
219 
 
 but the main point is the same which we 
 mentioned in the former kind of fountain; 
 which is, that the water be in perpetual mo- 
 tion, fed by a water higher than the pool, and 
 delivered into it by fair spouts, and then dis- 
 charged away under ground by some equality 
 of bores, that it stay little ; and for fine devices 
 of arching water without spilling, and making 
 it rise in several forms, (of feathers, drinking 
 glasses, canopies, and the like,) they be pretty 
 things to look on, but nothing to health and 
 sweetness. 
 
 For the heath, which was the third part 
 of our plot, I wish it to be framed as much as 
 may be to a natural wildness. Trees I would 
 have none in it, but some thickets made only 
 of sweetbriar and honeysuckle, and some wild 
 vine amongst ; and the ground set with violets, 
 strawberries, and primroses; for these are sweet, 
 and prosper in the shade; and these are to 
 be in the heath here and there, not in any 
 order. I like also little heaps, in the nature of 
 mole-hills, (such as are in wild heaths), to be 
 set, some with wild thyme ; some with pinks ; 
 some with germander, that gives a good flower 
 to the eye ; some with periwinkle ; some with 
 
220 
 
 violets; some with strawberries; some with 
 cowslips; some with daisies; some with red 
 roses; some with lilium convallium ; some with 
 sweet-williams red ; some with bear's foot, and 
 the like low flowers, being withal sweet and 
 sightly : part of which heaps to be with stand- 
 ards of little bushes pricked upon their top, 
 and part without : the standards to be roses, 
 juniper, holly, berberries, (but here and there, 
 because of the smell of their blossom,) red cur- 
 rants, gooseberries, rosemary, bays, swectbriar, 
 and such like ; but these standards to be kept 
 with cutting, that they grow not out of 
 course. 
 
 For the side grounds, you are to fill them 
 with variety of alleys private, to give a full 
 shade ; some of them wheresoever the sun be. 
 You are to frame some of them likewise for 
 shelter, that when the wind blows sharp you 
 may walk as in a gallery : and those alleys must 
 be likewise hedged at both ends, to keep out 
 the wind ; and these closer alleys must be ever 
 finely gravelled, and no grass, because of going 
 wet. In many of these alleys, likewise, you are 
 to set fruit trees of all sorts, as well upon the 
 walls as in ranges ; and this should be generally 
 
221 
 
 observed, that the borders wherein you plant 
 your fruit trees be fair and large and low, and 
 not steep; and set with fine flowers, but thin 
 and sparingly, lest they deceive the trees. At 
 the end of both the side grounds I would have 
 a mount of some pretty height, leaving the wall 
 of the enclosure breast high to look abroad into 
 the fields. 
 
 For the main garden, I do not deny but there 
 should be some fair alleys, ranged on both sides 
 with fruit trees, and some pretty tufts of fruit 
 trees and arbours with seats, set in some decent 
 order; but these to be by no means set too 
 thick, but to leave the main garden so as it be 
 not close, but the air open and free. For as for 
 shade, I would have you rest upon the alleys of 
 the side grounds, there to walk, if you be dis- 
 posed, in the heat of the year or day ; but to 
 make account, that the main garden is for the 
 more temperate parts of the year, and, in the 
 heat of summer, for the morning and the even- 
 ing, or overcast days. 
 
 For aviaries, I like them not, except they 
 be of that largeness as they may be turfed, and 
 have living plants and bushes set in them ; that 
 the birds may have more scope and natural 
 
222 
 
 nestling, and that no foulness appear on the 
 floor of the aviary. So I have made a plat- 
 form of a princely garden, partly by precept, 
 partly by drawing ; not a model, but some ge- 
 neral lines of it; and in this I have spared for 
 no cost : but it is nothing for great princes, that, 
 for the most part taking advice with workmen, 
 with no less cost set their things together ; and 
 sometimes add statues and such things for state 
 and magnificence, but nothing to the true plea- 
 sure of a garden. 
 
 OF NEGOTIATING. 
 
 It is generally better to deal by speech than 
 by letter ; and by the mediation of a third, 
 than by a man's self. Letters are good, when 
 a man would draw an answer by letter back 
 again ; or when it may serve for a man's justi- 
 fication afterwards to produce his own letter; 
 or where it may be in danger to be inter- 
 rupted, or heard by pieces. To deal in person 
 is good when a man's face breedeth regard, as 
 commonly with inferiors; or in tender cases, 
 where a man's eye upon the countenance of 
 
223 
 
 him, with whom he speaketh, may give him a 
 direction how far to go ; and generally where 
 a man will reserve to himself liberty, either to 
 disavow or to expound. In choice of instru- 
 ments, it is better to choose men of a plainer 
 sort, that are like to do that that is committed 
 to them, and to report back again faithfully 
 the success, than those that are cunning to 
 contrive out of other men's business somewhat 
 to grace themselves, and will help the matter 
 in report for satisfaction sake. Use also such 
 persons as affect the business wherein they are 
 employed, for that quickeneth much ; and 
 such as are fit for the matter; as bold men 
 for expostulation, fair-spoken men for per- 
 suasion, crafty men for inquiry and observa- 
 tion, froward and absurd men for business that 
 doth not well bear out itself. Use also such 
 as have been lucky, and prevailed before in 
 things wherein you have employed them ; for 
 that breeds confidence, and they will strive to 
 maintain their prescription. It is better to 
 sound a person, with whom one deals, afar ofF ? 
 than to fall upon the point at first ; except you 
 mean to surprise him by some short question. 
 It is better dealing with men in appetite, than 
 
224 
 
 with those that are where they would be. If 
 a man deal with another upon conditions, the 
 start of first performance is all ; which a man 
 cannot reasonably demand, except either the 
 nature of the thing be such which must go 
 before ; or else a man can persuade the other 
 party, that he shall still need him in some other 
 thing ; or else that he be counted the honester 
 man. All practice is to discover, or to work. 
 Men discover themselves in/ trust ; in passion ; 
 at unawares ; and of necessity, when they would 
 have somewhat done, and cannot find an apt 
 pretext. If you would work any man, you 
 must either know his nature and fashions, and 
 so lead him ; or his ends, and so persuade him; 
 or his weakness and disadvantages, and so awe 
 him ; or those that have interest in him, and 
 so govern him. In dealing with cunning per- 
 sons, we must ever consider their ends to in- 
 terpret their speeches ; and it is good to say 
 little to them, and that which they least look 
 for. In all negotiations of difficulty, a man 
 may not look to sow and reap at once ; but 
 must prepare business, and so ripen it by 
 degrees. 
 
225 
 
 OF FOLLOWERS AND FRIENDS. 
 
 Costly followers are not to be liked; lest 
 while a man maketh his train longer, he make 
 his wings shorter. I reckon to be costly, not 
 them alone which charge the purse, but which 
 are wearisome and importune in suits. Ordi- 
 nary followers ought to challenge no higher 
 conditions than countenance, recommendation, 
 and protection from wrongs. Factious follow- 
 ers are worse to be liked, which follow not 
 upon affection to him with whom they range 
 themselves, but upon discontentment conceived 
 against some other ; whereupon commonly en- 
 sueth that ill intelligence that we many times 
 .see between great personages. Likewise glo- 
 rious followers, who make themselves as trum- 
 pets of the commendation of those they follow, 
 are full of inconvenience; for they taint busi- 
 ness through want of secrecy ; and they export 
 honour from a man, and make him a return in 
 envy. There is a kind of followers, likewise, 
 which are dangerous, being indeed espials; 
 which inquire the secrets of the house, and 
 Q 
 
22(5 
 
 bear tales of them to others; yet such men 
 many times are in great favour ; for they are 
 officious, and commonly exchange tales. The 
 following by certain estates of men, answerable 
 to that which a great person himself professeth, 
 (as of soldiers to him that hath been employed 
 in the wars, and the like,) hath ever been a 
 thing civil, and well taken even in monar- 
 chies; so it be without too much pomp or 
 popularity : but the most honourable kind of 
 following is to be followed as one that appre- 
 hendeth to advance virtue and desert in all 
 sorts of persons ; and yet where there is no 
 Eminent odds in sufficiency, it is better to take 
 with the more passable, than with the more 
 able; and, besides, to speak truth in base 
 times, active men are of more use than vir- 
 tuous. It is true, that in government it is 
 good to use men of one rank equally ; for to 
 countenance some extraordinarily is to make 
 them insolent, and the rest discontent; because 
 they may claim a due: but contrariwise in 
 favour, to use men with much difference and 
 election is good ; for it maketh the persons 
 preferred more thankful, and the rest more 
 officious ; because all is of favour. It is good 
 
227 
 
 discretion not to make too much of any man 
 at the first; because one cannot hold out that 
 proportion. To be governed, (as we call it,) 
 by one, is not safe ; for it shews softness, and 
 gives a freedom to scandal and disreputation ; 
 for those that would not censure, or speak ill 
 of a man immediately, will talk more boldly 
 of those that are so great with them, and 
 thereby wound their honour^ yet to be dis- 
 tracted with many is worse ; for it makes men 
 to be of the last impression, and full of change. 
 To take advice of some few friends is ever 
 honourable; for lookers-on many times see 
 more than gamesters; -and the vale best dis- 
 covered the hill. There is little friendship in 
 the world, and least of all between equals, 
 which was wont to be magnified. That that 
 is, is between superior and inferior, whose for- 
 tunes may comprehend the one the other. 
 
 OF SUITORS. 
 
 Many ill matters and projects are undertaken ; 
 and private suits do putrefy the public good. 
 Many good matters are undertaken with bad 
 
228 
 
 minds; I mean not only corrupt minds, but 
 crafty minds, that intend not performance. 
 Some embrace suits which never mean to deal 
 effectually in them ; but if they see there may 
 be life in the matter by some other mean, they 
 will be content to win a thank, or take a se- 
 cond reward, or, at least, to make use in the 
 mean time of the suitor's hopes. Some take 
 hold of suits only for an occasion to cross some 
 other; or to make an information, whereof 
 they could not otherwise have apt pretext, 
 without care what become of the suit when 
 that turn is served ; or, generally, to make 
 other men's business a kind of entertainment 
 to bring in their own : nay, some undertake 
 suits with a full purpose to let them fall; to 
 the end to gratify the adverse party or com- 
 petitor. Surely there is in some sort a right 
 in every suit ; either a right of equity, if it be 
 a suit of controversy ; or a right of desert, if 
 it be a suit of petition. If affection lead a 
 man to favour the wrong side in justice, let 
 him rather use his countenance to compound 
 the matter, than to carry it. If affection lead 
 a man to favour the less worthy in desert, let 
 him do it without depraving or disabling the 
 
2 C 29 
 
 better descrver. In suits which a man doth 
 not well understand, it is good to refer them 
 to some friend of trust and judgment, that may 
 report whether he may deal in them with ho- 
 nour ; but let him choose well his referendaries, 
 for else he may be led by the nose. Suitors 
 are so distasted with delays and abuses, that 
 plain dealing in denying to deal in suits at 
 first, and reporting the success barely, and in 
 challenging no more thanks than one hath 
 deserved, is grown not only honourable, but 
 also gracious. In suits of favour, the first 
 coming ought to take little place ; so far forth 
 Consideration may be had of his trust, that if 
 intelligence of the matter could not otherwise 
 have been had but by him, advantage be not 
 taken of the note, but the party left to his 
 other means; and in some sort recompensed 
 for his discovery. To be ignorant of the value 
 of a suit, is simplicity ; as well as to be ig- 
 norant of the right thereof, is want of con- 
 science. Secrecy in suits is a great mean of 
 obtaining ; for voicing them to be in forward- 
 ness, may discourage some kind of suitors ; but 
 doth quicken and awake others : but timing of 
 the suit is the principal; timing I say, not 
 
230 
 
 only in respect of the person, that should grant 
 it, but in respect of those which are like to 
 cross it. Let a man, in the choice of his mean, 
 rather choose the fittest mean, than the greatest 
 mean; and rather them that deal in certain 
 things, than those that are general. The re- 
 paration of a denial is sometimes equal to the 
 first grant, if a man shew himself neither de- 
 jected nor discontented. " Iniquum petas, ut 
 " sequum feras," is a good rule where a man 
 hath strength of favour : but, otherwise, a maa 
 were better rise in his suit ' r for he that would 
 have ventured at first to have lost the suitor, 
 will not, in the conclusion, lose both the suitor 
 and his own former favour. Nothing is thought 
 so easy a request to a great person, as his let- 
 ter ; and yet, if it be not in a good cause, it is 
 so much out of his feputation. There are no 
 worse instruments than these general contrivers- 
 of suits ; for they are but a kind of poison and 
 infection to public proceedings. 
 
231 
 
 OF STUDIES. 
 
 Studies serve for delight; for ornament, and 
 for ability. Their chief use for delight is in 
 privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in 
 discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment 
 and disposition of business : for expert men can 
 execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one 
 by one : but the general counsels, and the plots 
 and marshalling of affairs, come best from those 
 that are learned. To spend too much time in 
 studies is sloth ; to use them too much for 
 ornament, is affectation; to make judgment 
 wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scho- 
 lar : they perfect nature, and are perfect by 
 experience : for natural abilities are like na- 
 tural plants, that need pruning by study ; and 
 studies themselves do give forth directions too 
 much at large, except they be bounded in by 
 experience. Crafty men contemn studies, 
 simple men admire them, and wise men use 
 them ; for they teach not their own use ; but 
 that is a wisdom without them, and above 
 them> won by observation. Read not to con- 
 
232 
 
 tradict and confute, nor to believe and take for 
 granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to 
 weigh and consider. Some books are to be 
 tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few 
 to be chewed and digested : that is, some books 
 are to be read only in parts ; others to be read, 
 but not curiously : and some few to be read 
 wholly, and with diligence and attention. 
 Some books also may be read by deputy, and 
 extracts made of them by others; but that 
 would be only in the less important argu- 
 ments, and the meaner sort of books; else 
 distilled books are, like common distilled wa- 
 ters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full 
 .man ; conference a ready man ; and writing 
 an exact man ; and, therefore, if a man write 
 little, he had need have a great memory ; if he 
 confer little, he had need have a present wit ; 
 and if he read little, he had need have much 
 cunning, to seem to know that he doth not* 
 Histories make men wise; poets witty; the 
 mathematic subtile ; natural philosophy deep ; 
 moral, grave ; logic and rhetoric, able to con- 
 tend; " Abeunt studia in mores :" nay, there 
 is no stond or impediment in the wit, but may 
 be wrought out by fit studies : like as diseases 
 
233 
 
 of the body may have appropriate exercises ; 
 bowling is good for the stone and reins ; shoot- 
 ing for the lungs and breast ; gentle walking 
 for the stomach; riding for the head, and the 
 like ; so if a man's wit be wandering, let him 
 Study the mathematics ; for in demonstrations, 
 if his wit be called away never so little, he 
 must begin again ; if his wit be not apt to 
 distinguish or find differences, let him study 
 the schoolmen; for they are " Cymini sec- 
 " tores;" if he be not apt to beat over matters, 
 and to call upon one thing to prove and illus- 
 trate another, let him study the lawyers' cases : 
 so every defect of the mind may have a special 
 receipt. 
 
 OF FACTION. 
 
 Many have an opinion not wise, that for a 
 prince to govern his estate, or for a great person 
 to govern his proceedings, according to the re- 
 spect to factions, is a principal part of policy ; 
 whereas, contrariwise, the chiefest wisdom is, 
 either in ordering those things which are ge- 
 neral, and wherein men of several factions do 
 
234 
 
 nevertheless agree, or in dealing with corre- 
 spondence to particular persons, one by one : 
 but I say not, that the consideration of factions 
 is to be neglected. Mean men, in their rising, 
 must adhere; but great men, that have strength 
 in themselves, were better to maintain them- 
 selves indifferent and neutral : yet even in be- 
 ginners, to adhere so moderately, as he be a 
 man of the one faction, which is most passable 
 with the other, commonly giveth best way* 
 The lower and weaker faction is the firmer in 
 conjunction; and it is often seen, that a few 
 that are stiff do tire out a greater number 
 that are more moderate. When one of the 
 factions is extinguished, the remaining subdi- 
 vided; as the faction between Lucullus and 
 the rest of the nobles of the senate, (which they 
 called " optimates/') held out a while against 
 the faction of Pompey and Caesar ; but when 
 the senate's authority was pulled down, Caesar 
 and Pompey soon after brake. The faction or 
 party of Antonius and Octavianus Caesar, 
 against Brutus and Cassius, held out likewise 
 for a time ; but when Brutus and Cassius were 
 overthrown, then soon after Antonius and 
 Octavianus brake and subdivided. These ex- 
 
235 
 
 amples are of wars, but the same holdeth in 
 private factions, and, therefore, those that are 
 seconds in factions, do many times, when the 
 faction sub divideth, prove principals; but many- 
 times also they prove cyphers and cashier- 
 ed ; for many a man's strength is in opposi- 
 tion ; and when that faileth, he groweth out 
 of use. It is commonly seen, that men once 
 placed take in with the contrary faction to 
 that by which they enter ; thinking, belike, that 
 they have the first sure, and now are ready for 
 a new purchase. The traitor in faction lightly 
 goeth away with it ; for when matters have 
 stuck long in balancing, the winning of some 
 one man casteth them, and he getteth all thfr 
 thanks. The even carriage between two fac- 
 tions proceedeth not always of moderation, 
 but of a trueness to a man's self, with end to 
 make use of both. Certainly in Italy they hold 
 it a little suspect hi popes, when they have often 
 in their mouth " Padre commune;" and take 
 it to be a sign of one that meaneth to refer all 
 to the greatness of his own house. Kings had 
 need beware how they side themselves, and 
 make themselves as of a faction or party ; for 
 leagues within the state are ever pernicious to 
 
236 
 
 monarchies ; for they raise an obligation para- 
 mount to obligation of sovereignty, and make 
 the king, " tanquam unus ex nobis ;" as was 
 to be seen in the league of France. When 
 factions are carried too high and too violently, 
 it is a sign of weakness in princes, and much 
 to the prejudice both of their authority and 
 business. The motions of factions under kings 
 ought to be like the motions, (as the astrono- 
 mers speak,) of the inferior orbs ; which may 
 have their proper motions, but yet still are 
 quietly carried by the higher motion of " pri- 
 w mum mobile." 
 
 OF CEREMONIES AND RESPECTS. 
 
 He that is only real had need have exceeding 
 great parts of virtue; as the stone had need to 
 be rich that is set without foil : but if a man 
 mark it well, it is in praise and commendation 
 of men, as it is in gettings and gains ; for the 
 proverb is true, " That light gains make heavy 
 u purses ;" for light gains come thick, whereas 
 great come but now and then : so it is true, 
 that small matters win great commendation, 
 
237 
 
 because they are continually in use and in 
 note ; whereas the occasion of any great virtue 
 cometh but on festivals : therefore it doth much 
 add to a man's reputation, and is, (as queen 
 Isabella said,) like perpetual letters commen- 
 datory, to have good forms ; to attain them, 
 it almost sufficeth not to despise them ; for so 
 shall a man observe them in others ; and let 
 him trust himself with the rest : for if he la- 
 bour too much to express them, he shall lose 
 their grace ; which is to be natural and un- 
 affected. Some men's behaviour is like a verse, 
 wherein every syllable is measured : how can 
 a man comprehend great matters, that break- 
 eth his mind too much to small observations ? 
 Not to use ceremonies at all, is to teach others 
 not to use them again ; and so diminisheth re- 
 spect to himself; especially they be not to be 
 omitted to strangers and formal natures : but 
 the dwelling upon them, and exalting them 
 above the moon, is not only tedious, but doth 
 diminish the faith and credit of him that 
 speaks ; and, certainly, there is a kind of con- 
 veying of effectual and imprinting passages 
 amongst compliments, which is of singular use 
 if a man can hit upon it. Amongst a man's 
 
238 
 
 peers, a man shall be sure of familiarity ; and 
 therefore it is good a little to keep state ; 
 amongst a man's inferiors, one shall be sure 
 of reverence ; and therefore it is good a little 
 to be familiar. He that is too much in any- 
 thing, so that he giveth another occasion of 
 society, maketh himself cheap. To apply one- 
 self to others is good; so it be with demon- 
 stration, that a man doth it upon regard, and 
 not upon facility. It is a good precept, gene- 
 rally in seconding another, yet to add some- 
 what of one's own; as if you will grant his 
 opinion, let it be with some distinction ; if you 
 will follow his motion, let it be with condi- 
 tion; if you allow his counsel, let it be with 
 alleging farther reason. Men had need be- 
 ware how they be too perfect in compliments ; 
 for be they never so sufficient otherwise, their 
 ^nviers will be sure to give them that attribute, 
 to the disadvantage of their greater virtues* 
 It is loss also in business to be too full of re- 
 spects, or to be too curious in observing times 
 and opportunities. Solomon saith, " He that 
 41 considereth the wind shall not sow, and he 
 u that looketh to the clouds shall not reap/* 
 A wise man will make more opportunities 
 
239 
 
 than he finds. Men's behaviour should be like 
 their apparel ; not too strait or point device*, 
 but free for exercise or motion. 
 
 OF PRAISE, 
 
 Praise is the reflection of virtue; but it is as 
 the glass or body which giveth the reflection : 
 if it be from the common people, it is com- 
 monly false and nought, and rather followeth 
 vain persons, than virtuous ; for the common 
 people understand not many excellent virtues : 
 the lowest virtues draw praise from them, the 
 middle virtues work in them astonishment or 
 admiration; but of the highest virtues they 
 have no sense or perceiving at all ; but shews, 
 and " species virtutibus similes/' serve best 
 with them. Certainly, fame is like a river, 
 that beareth up things light and swollen, and 
 drowns things weighty and solid ; but if per- 
 sons of quality and judgment concur, then it 
 is, (as the Scripture saith,) " Nomen bonum 
 " instar unguenti fragrantis ;" it filleth all 
 round about, and will not easily away ; for the 
 odours of ointments are more durable that 
 
240 
 
 those of flowers. There be so many false 
 points of praise, that a man may justly hold it 
 in suspect. Some praises proceed merely of 
 flattery; and if he be an ordinary flatterer, 
 he will have certain common attributes, which 
 may serve every man ; if he be a cunning flat- 
 terer, he will follow the arch-flatterer, which 
 is a man's self, and wherein a man thinketh 
 best of himself, therein the flatterer will up- 
 hold him most : but if he be an impudent flat- 
 terer, look wherein a man is conscious to him- 
 self that he is most defective, and is most out 
 of countenance in himself, that will the flat- 
 terer entitle him to perforce, " spreta consci- 
 " entia." Some praises come of good wishes 
 and respects, which is a form due in civility to 
 kings and great persons, "laudando pra^cipere;" 
 when by telling men what they are, the}' re- 
 present to them what they should be. Some 
 men are praised maliciously to their hurt, 
 thereby to stir envy and jealousy towards them; 
 " pessimum genus inimicorum laudantium:" 
 insomuch as it was a proverb amongst the 
 Grecians that, " He that was praised to his 
 " hurt, should have a push rise upon his nose;" 
 as we say, that a blister will rise upon one's 
 
241 
 
 tongue that tells a lie ; certainly, moderate 
 praise, used with opportunity, and not vulgar, 
 is that which doth the good. Solomon saith, 
 " He that praiseth his friend aloud rising early, 
 " it shall be to him no better than a curse/' 
 Too much magnifying of man or matter doth 
 irritate contradiction, and procure envy and 
 scorn. To praise a man's self cannot be de- 
 cent, except it be in rare cases ; but to praise a 
 man's office or profession, he may do it with 
 good grace, and with a kind of magnanimity. 
 The cardinals of Rome, which are theologues 
 and friars and schoolmen, have a phrase of 
 notable contempt and scorn towards civil busi- 
 ness ; for they call all temporal business of 
 wars, embassages, judicature, and other em- 
 ployments, shirrerie, which is under sheriffries, 
 as if they were but matters for under-sheriffs 
 and catchpoles ; though many times those 
 under-sheriffries do more good than their high 
 speculations. St. Paul, when he boasts of him-, 
 self, doth oft interlace, " I speak like a fool;" 
 but speaking of his calling, he saith, " magnifi- 
 " cabo apostolatum meum." 
 
c 24r2 
 
 OF VAIN GLORY. 
 
 It was prettily devised of y£sop ; the fly sat 
 upon the axle-tree of the chariot wheel, and 
 said, "What a dust do I raise ?" So are there 
 some vain persons, that, whatsoever goeth alone 
 or moveth upon greater means, if they have 
 never so little hand in it, they think it is they 
 that carry it. They that are glorious must 
 needs be factious ; for all bravery stands upon 
 comparisons. They must needs be violent to 
 make good their own vaunts: neither can they 
 be secret, and therefore not effectual; but ac- 
 cording to the French proverb, " bcaucoup de 
 •" bruit, peu de fruit/* " much bruit, little 
 " fruit." Yet, certainly, there is use of this 
 quality in civil affairs : where there is an opi- 
 nion and fame to be created, either of virtue 
 or greatness, these men are good trumpeters. 
 Again, as Titus Livius noteth in the case of 
 Antiochus and the /Etolians, there are some- 
 times great effects of cross lies; as if a man 
 that negotiates between two princes, to draw 
 them to join in a war against the third, doth 
 
243 
 
 extol the forces of either of them above mea- 
 sure, the one to the other: and sometimes, he 
 that deals between man and man raiseth his 
 own credit with both, by pretending greater 
 interest than he hath in either: and in these, 
 and the like kinds, it often falls out, that some- 
 what is produced of nothing ; for lies are suffi- 
 cient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on 
 substance. In military commanders and sol- 
 diers vain glory is an essential point ; for as 
 iron sharpens iron, so by glory one courage 
 sharpeneth another. In cases of great enter- 
 prize upon charge and adventure, a composition 
 of glorious natures doth put life into business ; 
 and those, that are of solid and sober natures, 
 have more of the ballast than of the sail. In 
 fame of learning the flight will be slow withr 
 out some feathers of ostentation ; " Qui de 
 " contemnenda gloria libros scribunt, nomen 
 " suura inscribunt." Socrates, Aristotle, Galen, 
 were men full of ostentation: certainly vain 
 glory helpeth to perpetuate a man's memory ; 
 and virtue was never so beholden to human 
 nature, as it received its due at the second 
 hand. Neither had the fame of Cicero, Seneca, 
 Plinius Secundus, borne her age so well if it 
 
244 
 
 .had not been joined with some vanity in them- 
 selves ; like unto varnish, that makes ceilings 
 not only shine, but last. But all this while, 
 when I speak of vain glory, I mean not of that 
 property that Tacitus doth attribute to Muci- 
 anus; " Omnium, qua? dixerat feceratque, arte 
 " quadam ostentator :" for that proceeds not of 
 vaniry, but of natural magnanimity and dis- 
 cretion ; and, in some persons, is not only 
 comely, but gracious: for excusations, cessions, 
 modesty itself well governed, are but arts of 
 ostentation; and amongst those arts there is 
 none better than that which Plinius Secundus 
 speaketh of; which is to be liberal of praise 
 and commendation to others, in that wherein a 
 man's self hath any perfection : for saith Pliny 
 very wittily, " In commending another you do 
 " yourself right ;" for he that you commend is. 
 either superior to you in that you commend, 
 or inferior ; if he be inferior, if he be to be 
 commended, you much more ; if he be superior, 
 jf he be not to be commended, you much less, 
 glorious. Men are the scorn of wise men, the 
 admiration of fools, the idols of parasites, and 
 the slaves of their own vaunts. 
 
245 
 
 OF HONOUR AND REPUTATION. 
 
 The winning of honour is but the revealing of 
 a man's virtue and worth without disadvan- 
 tage; for some in their actions do woo and 
 affect honour and reputation ; which sort of 
 men are commonly much talked of, but in- 
 wardly little admired : and some, contrariwise, 
 darken their virtue in the shew of it ; so as 
 they be undervalued in opinion. If a man 
 perform that which hath not been attempted 
 before, or attempted and given over, or hath 
 been atchieved, but not with so good circum- 
 stance, he shall purchase more honour than 
 by effecting a matter of greater difficulty, or 
 virtue, wherein he is but a follower. If a man 
 so temper his actions, as in some one of them 
 he doth content every faction or combination 
 of people, the music will be the fuller. A man 
 is an ill husband of his honour that entereth 
 into any action, the failing wherein may dis- 
 grace him more than the carrying of it through 
 can honour him. Honour that is gained and 
 broken upon another hath the quickest rerlec- 
 
tion, like diamonds cut with faseets; and, 
 therefore, let a man contend to excel any com- 
 petitors of his in honour, in out-shooting them 
 if he can in their own bow. Discreet fol- 
 lowers and servants help much to reputation ; 
 " Omnis fama a domesticis emanat." Envy, 
 which is the canker of honour, is best distin- 
 guished by declaring a man's self in his ends, 
 rather to seek merit than fame ; and by at- 
 tributing a man's successes rather to divine 
 Providence and felicity, than to his own vir- 
 tue or policy. The true marshalling of the 
 degrees of sovereign honour are these : in the 
 first place are " conditores imperiorum," foun- 
 ders of states and commonwealths ; such as 
 were Romulus, Cyrus, Caesar, Ottoman, Is- 
 mael: in the second place are " legislators," 
 lawgivers ; which are also called second foun- 
 ders, or " perpetui principes," because they go- 
 vern by their ordinances after they are gone; 
 such were Lycurgus, Solon, Justinian, Edgar, 
 Alphonsus of Castile, the wise, that made the 
 " Siete patridas:" in the third place are " li- 
 " bcratores," or " salvatores ;" such as com- 
 pound the long miseries of civil wars, or de- 
 liver their countries from servitude of strangers 
 
247 
 
 or tyrants; as Augustus Caesar, Vespasianus, 
 Aurelianus, Theodoricus, king Henry the Se- 
 venth of England, king Henry the Fourth of 
 France: in the fourth place are " propaga- 
 " tores/' or " propugnatores imperii;" such as 
 in honourable wars enlarge their territories, or 
 make noble defence against invaders : and in 
 the last place are " patres patriae/' which 
 reign justly, and make the times good wherein 
 they live ; both which last kinds need no ex- 
 amples, they are in such number. Degrees 
 of honour in subjects are first, "participes cu- 
 " rarum," those upon whom princes do dis- 
 charge the greatest weight of their affairs; 
 their right hands, as we call them : the next 
 are, " duces belli/' great leaders; such as are 
 princes lieutenants, and do them notable ser- 
 vices in the wars : the third are, " gratiosi/' 
 favourites ; such as exceed not this scantling, 
 to be solace to the sovereign, and harmless to 
 the people: and the fourth, " negotiis pares ;" 
 such as have great places under princes, and 
 ^execute their places with sufficiency. There 
 is an honour, likewise, which may be ranked 
 amongst the greatest, which happeneth rarely; 
 that is, of such as sacrifice themselves to death 
 
248 
 
 or danger for the good of their country; as 
 was M. Regulus, and the two Deeii. 
 
 OF JUDICATURE. 
 
 Judges ought to remember that their office is 
 "jusdicere," and not " jus dare;" to inter- 
 pret law, and not to make law, or give law : 
 else will it be like the authority claimed by 
 the church of Rome; which, under pretext of 
 exposition of Scripture, doth not stick to add 
 and alter; and to pronounce that which they 
 do not find, and by shew of antiquity to in- 
 troduce novelty. Judges ought to be more 
 learned than witty, more reverend than plau- 
 sible, and more advised than confident. Above 
 all things, integrity is their portion and proper 
 virtue. Cursed, (saith the law,) " Is he that 
 " removcth the landmark." The mislayer of 
 a mere stone is to blame ; but it is the unjust 
 judge that is the capital remover of landmarks 
 when he defineth amiss of lands and property. 
 One foul sentence doth more hurt than many 
 foul examples ; for these do but corrupt the 
 stream, the other corrupteth the fountain : so 
 
249 
 
 saith Solomon ; " Fons turbatus, et vena cor- 
 " rupta est Justus cadens in causa sua coram 
 " adversario." The office of judges may have 
 reference unto the parties that sue, unto the 
 advocates that plead, unto the clerks and mi- 
 nisters of justice underneath them, and to the 
 sovereign or state above them. 
 
 First, for the causes or parties that sue. 
 There be, (saith the Scripture,) u that turn 
 " judgment into wormwood;" and surely there 
 be also that turn it into vinegar ; for injustice 
 maketh it bitter, and delays make it sour. 
 The principal duty of a judge is to suppress 
 force and fraud ; whereof force is the more 
 pernicious when it is open ; and fraud when 
 it is close and disguised. Add thereto con- 
 tentious suits, which ought to be spewed out, 
 as the surfeit of courts. A judge ought to pre- 
 pare his way to a just sentence, as God useth 
 to prepare his way, by raising valleys and taking 
 down hills : so when there appeareth on either 
 side an high hand, violent prosecution, cunning 
 advantages taken, combination, power, great 
 counsel, then is the virtue of a judge seen to 
 make inequality equal ; that he may plant his 
 judgment as upon an even ground. " Qui for- 
 
250 
 
 " titer emungit, elicit sanguinem ;" and where 
 the wine-press is hard wrought, it yields a harsh 
 wine that tastes of the grape-stone. Judges 
 -must beware of hard constructions, and strained 
 inferences ; for there is no worse torture than 
 the torture of laws: especially in case of laws 
 penal, they ought to have care, that that which 
 was meant for terror be not turned into ri- 
 gour; and that they bring not upon the people 
 that shower whereof the Scripture speaketh, 
 " Pluet super eos laqueos;" for penal laws 
 pressed are a shower of snares upon the peo- 
 ple : therefore let penal laws, if they have 
 been sleepers of long, or if they be grown unfit 
 for the present time, be by wise judges con- 
 fined in the execution; " Judicis officium est, 
 " ut res, ita tempora rerum," &c. In causes 
 of life and death judges ought, (as far as the 
 law permitteth,) in justice to remember mercy, 
 and to cast a severe eye upon the example, but 
 a merciful eye upon the person. 
 
 Secondly, for the advocates and counsel 
 that plead. Patience and gravity of hearing 
 is an essential part of justice; and an over- 
 speaking judge is no well-tuned cymbal. It is 
 no grace to a judge first to find that which 
 
251 
 
 he might have heard in due time from the 
 bar; or to shew quickness of conceit in cut- 
 ting off evidence or counsel too short; or to 
 prevent information by questions, though per- 
 tinent. The parts of a judge in hearing are 
 four: to direct the evidence; to moderate 
 length, repetition, or impertinency of speech ; 
 to recapitulate, select, and collate the material 
 points of that which hath been said; and to 
 give the rule or sentence. Whatsoever is above 
 these is too much, and proceedeth either of 
 glory and willingness to speak, or of impa- 
 tience to hear, or of shortness of memory, or 
 of want of a stayed and equal attention. It is 
 a strange thing to see that the boldness of ad- 
 vocates should prevail with judges ; whereas 
 they should imitate God, in whose seat they sit; 
 who represseth the presumptuous, and giveth 
 grace to the modest: but it is more strange 
 that judges should have noted favourites, which 
 cannot but cause multiplication of fees, and 
 suspicion of by-ways. There is due from the 
 judge to the advocate some commendation and 
 gracing where causes are well handled and 
 fair pleaded, especially towards the sid^ which 
 obtaineth not; for that upholds in tie client 
 
252 
 
 the reputation of his counsel, and beats down 
 in him the conceit of his cause. There is 
 likewise due to the public a civil reprehension 
 of advocates where there appeareth cunning 
 counsel, gross neglect, slight information, in- 
 discreet pressing, or an over-bold defence : and 
 let not the counsel at the bar chop with the 
 judge, nor wind himself into the handling of 
 the cause anew after the judge hath declared 
 his sentence ; but, on the other side, let not the 
 judge meet the cause halfway, nor give occa- 
 sion to the party to say, his counsel' or proofs 
 were not heard. 
 
 Thirdly, for that that concerns clerks and 
 ministers. The place of justice is an hallowed 
 place ; and, therefore, not only the bench, but 
 the footpace and precincts and purprise thereof 
 ought to be preserved without scandal and cor- 
 ruption ; for, certainly, grapes (as the Scrip- 
 ture saith) " will not be gathered of thorns 
 u or thistles;" neither can justice yield her 
 fruit with sweetness amongst the briars and 
 brambles of catching and polling clerks and 
 ministers. The attendance of courts is subject 
 to four bad instruments: first, certain persons 
 that are sowers of suits; which make the court 
 
253 
 
 swell, and the country pine : the second sort 
 is of those that engage courts in quarrels of 
 jurisdiction, and are not truly " amici curiae/' 
 but u parasiti curia?," in puffing a court up 
 beyond her bounds for their own scraps and 
 advantages ; the third sort is of those that 
 may be accounted the left hands of courts ; 
 persons that are full of nimble and sinister 
 tricks and shifts, whereby they pervert the 
 plain and direct courses of courts, and bring 
 justice into oblique lines and labyrinths : and 
 the fourth is the poller and exacter of fees ; 
 which justifies the common resemblance of the 
 courts of justice to the bush, whereunto while 
 the sheep flies for defence in weather, he is 
 sure to lose part of his fleece. On the other 
 side, an ancient clerk, skilful in precedents, 
 wary in proceeding, and understanding in the 
 business of the court, is an excellent finger of a 
 court, and doth many times point the way to 
 the judge himself. 
 
 Fourthly, for that which may concern the 
 sovereign and estate. Judges ought, above all, 
 ■ to remember the conclusion of the Roman 
 twelve tables; " Salus populi supremalex;" 
 and to know that laws, except they be in order 
 
254 
 
 to that end, are but things captious, and ora- 
 cles not well inspired : therefore it is an happy 
 thing in a state when kings and states do often 
 consult with judges ; and again, when judges 
 do often consult with the king and state : the 
 one, when there is matter of law intervenient 
 in business of state; the other, when there is 
 some consideration of state intervenient in mat- 
 ter of law ; for many times the things deduced 
 to judgment may be " meum" and " tuum," 
 when the reason and consequence thereof may 
 trench to point of estate : I call matter of 
 estate not only the parts of sovereignty, but 
 whatsoever introduceth any great alteration, 
 or dangerous precedent ; or concerneth mani- 
 festly any great portion of people : and let no 
 man weakly conceive that just laws and true 
 policy have any antipathy ; for the}* are like 
 the spirits and sinews, that one moves with the 
 other. Let judges also remember, that Solo- 
 mon's throne was supported by lions on both 
 sides: let them be lions, but yet lions under 
 the throne ; being circumspect that they do 
 not check or oppose any points of sovereignty. 
 Let not judges also be so ignorant of their own 
 right, as to think there is not left to them, as a 
 
255 
 
 principal part of their office, a wise use and 
 application of laws ; for they may remember 
 what the Apostle saith of a greater law than 
 theirs ; " Nos scimus quia lex bona est, modo 
 u quis ea utatur legitime/' 
 
 OF ANGER. 
 
 To seek to extinguish anger utterly is but a 
 bravery of the Stoics. We have better oracles : 
 M Be angry, but sin not: let not the sun go 
 " down upon your anger." Anger must be 
 limited and confined, both in race and in time. 
 We will first speak how r the natural inclina- 
 tion and habit, " to be angry/' may be at- 
 tempted and calmed ; secondly, how the par- 
 ticular motions of anger may be repressed,. or r 
 at least, refrained from doing mischief; thirdly^ 
 how to raise anger, or appease anger in an- 
 other. 
 
 For the first, there is no other way but to 
 meditate and ruminate well upon the effects 
 of anger, how it troubles man's life : and the- 
 best time to do this, is to look back upon 
 anger when the fit is thoroughly over* Seneca 
 
25(5 
 
 saith well, " that anger is like rain, which 
 " breaks itself upon that it falls/' The Scrip- 
 ture exhorteth us, " to possess our souls in 
 " patience :" whosoever is out of patience, is 
 out of possession of his soul. Men must not 
 turn bees ; 
 
 " Animasque in vulnere ponunt." 
 
 Anger is certainly a kind of baseness ; as it 
 appears well in the weakness of those subjects 
 in whom it reigns ; children, women, old folks, 
 sick folks. Only men must beware that they 
 carry their anger rather with scorn than with 
 fear ; so that they may seem rather to be above 
 the injury than below it; which is a thing 
 easily done, if a man will give law to himself 
 in it. 
 
 For the second point, the causes and motives 
 of anger are chiefly three : first, to be too sen- 
 sible of hurt : for no man is angry that feels 
 not himself hurt ; and, therefore, tender and 
 delicate persons must needs be oft angry, they 
 have so many things to trouble them, which 
 more robust natures have little sense of: the 
 next is, the apprehension and construction of 
 the injury offered to be, in the circumstances 
 
257 
 
 thereof, full of contempt; for contempt is thai 
 which putteth an edge upon anger as much 
 or more than the hurt itself; and, therefore, 
 when men are ingenious in picking out circum- 
 stances of contempt, they do kindle their anger 
 much : lastly, opinion of the touch of a man's 
 reputation doth multiply and sharpen anger ; 
 wherein the remedy is that a man should 
 have, as Gonsalvo w r as wont to say, " telam 
 " honoris crassiorem." But in all retrainings of 
 anger it is the best remedy to win time, and 
 to make a man's self believe that the opportu- 
 nity 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. 
 
 To contain anger from mischief, though it 
 take hold of a man, there be two things where- 
 of you must have special caution : the one, of 
 extreme bitterness of w r ords, especially if they 
 be aculeate and proper; for " communia male- 
 " dicta" are nothing so much : and again, that 
 in anger a man reveal no secrets ; for that makes 
 him not fit for society : the other, that you do 
 not peremptorily break off in any business in a, 
 fit of anger ; but howsoever you shew bitterness, 
 do not act any thing that is not revocable. 
 
258 
 
 For raising and appeasing anger in another, 
 it is done chiefly by choosing of times, when 
 men are forwardest and worst disposed to in- 
 cense them ; again, by gathering, (as was 
 touched before,) all that you can find out to 
 aggravate the contempt : and the two remedies 
 are by the contraries : the former to take good 
 times, when first to relate to a man an angry 
 business, for the first impression is much; and 
 the other is, to sever, as much as may be, the 
 construction of the injury from the point of 
 •contempt ; imputing it to misunderstanding, 
 fear, passion, or what you will. 
 
 OF VICISSITUDE OF THINGS. 
 
 Solomon saith " there is no new thing uptm 
 " the earth :" so that as Plato had an imagi- 
 nation that all knowledge was but remem- 
 brance; so Solomon giveth his sentence, " that 
 u all novelty is but oblivion :" whereby you 
 may see, that the river of Lethe runneth as 
 well above ground as below. There is an 
 abstruse astrologer that saith, if it were not 
 for two things that are constant, (the one is, 
 
259 
 
 that the fixed stars ever stand at like distance 
 one from another, and never come nearer to- 
 gether nor go farther asunder ; the other, that 
 the diurnal motion perpetually keepeth time,) 
 no individual would last one moment : certain 
 it is, that the matter is in a perpetual flux, and 
 never at a stay. The great winding-sheets that 
 bury all things in oblivion are two ; deluges 
 and earthquakes. As for conflagrations and 
 great droughts, they do not merely dispeople, 
 but destroy. Phaeton's car went but a day ; 
 and the three year's drought, in the time of 
 Elias, was but particular, and left people alive. 
 As for the great burnings by lightnings, which 
 are often in the West Indies, they are but nar- 
 row ; but in the other two destructions, by 
 deluge and earthquake, it is further to be 
 noted that the remnant of people, which hap 
 to be reserved, are commonly ignorant and 
 mountainous people, that can give no account 
 of the time past; so that the oblivion is all 
 one, as if none had been left. If you consider 
 well of the people of the West Indies, it is 
 very probable that they are a newer, or a 
 younger people than the people of the old 
 world: and it is much more likely that the 
 
260 
 
 destruction, that hath heretofore been there, 
 was not by earthquakes, (as the ^Egyptian 
 priest told Solon concerning the island of At- 
 lantis, that it was swallowed by an earth- 
 quake,) but rather, that it was desolated by a 
 particular deluge ; for earthquakes are seldom 
 in those parts : but on the other side, they have 
 such pouring rivers, as the rivers of Asia, and 
 Africa, and Europe, are but brooks to them. 
 Their Andes likewise, or mountains, are far 
 higher than those with us; whereby it seems 
 that the remnants of generation of men were, 
 in such a particular deluge, saved. As for the 
 observation that Machiavel hath, that the jea- 
 lousy of sects doth much extinguish the me- 
 mory of things; traducing Gregory the Great, 
 that he did what in him lay to extinguish all 
 heathen antiquities ; I do not find that those 
 zeals do any great effects, nor last long : as 
 it appeared in the succession of Sabinian, who 
 did revive the former antiquities. 
 
 The vicissitude or mutations in the superior 
 globe are no fit matter for this present argu- 
 ment. It. may be Plato's great year, if the 
 world should last so long, would have some 
 effect, not in renewing the state of like indi- 
 
261 
 
 viduals, (for that is the fume of those that 
 conceive the celestial bodies have more ac- 
 curate influences upon these things below 
 than indeed they have,) but in gross. Comets, 
 out of question, have likewise power and ef- 
 fect over the gross and mass of things : but 
 they are rather gazed upon, and waited upon 
 in their journey, than wisely observed in their 
 effects; especially in their respective effects; 
 that is, what kind of comet, for magnitude, co- 
 lour, version of the beams, placing in the region 
 of heaven, or lasting, produceth what kind of 
 effects. 
 
 There is a toy, which I have heard, and I 
 would not have it given over, but waited upon 
 a little. They say it is observed in the Low 
 Countries, (I know not in what part,) that 
 every five and thirty years the same kind and 
 suit of years and weathers comes about again; 
 as great frosts, great wet, great droughts, warm 
 winters, summers with little heat, and the like ; 
 and they call it the prime : it is a thing I do 
 the rather mention, because, computing back- 
 wards, I have found some concurrence. 
 
 But to leave these points of nature, and to 
 come to men. The greatest vicissitude of 
 
2&2 
 
 things amongst men, is the vicissitude of sects 
 and religions; for those orbs rule in men's minds 
 most. The true religion is built upon the rock ; 
 the rest are tossed upon the waves of time. To 
 speak therefore of the causes of new sects, and 
 to give some counsel concerning them, as far as 
 the weakness of human judgment can give stay 
 to so great revolutions. 
 
 When the religion formerly received is 
 rent by discords ; and when the holiness of 
 the professors of religion is decayed and full 
 of scandal; and withal the times be stupid, i- 
 gnorant, and barbarous, you may doubt the 
 springing up of a new sect : if then also there 
 should arise any extravagant and strange spirit 
 to make himself author thereof; all which 
 points held when Mahomet published his law. 
 If a new sect have not two properties, fear it 
 not, for it will not spread : the one is the sup- 
 planting, or the opposing of authority esta- 
 blished ; for nothing is more popular than 
 that; the other is the giving licence to plea- 
 sures and a voluptuous life : for as for specu- 
 lative heresies, (such as were in ancient times 
 the Arians, and now the Arminians,) though 
 they work mightily upon men's wits, yet they 
 
263 
 
 do not produce any great alterations in states ; 
 except it be by the help of civil occasions. 
 There be three manner of plantations of new 
 sects : by the power of signs and miracles ; by 
 the eloquence and wisdom of speech and per- 
 suasion ; and by the sword. For martyrdoms, 
 I reckon them amongst miracles; because they 
 seem to exceed the strength of human nature : 
 and I ma} 7 do the like of superlative and ad- 
 mirable holiness of life. Surely there is no 
 better way to stop the rising of new sects and 
 schisms, than to reform abuses ; to compound 
 the smaller differences ; to proceed mildly, and 
 not with sanguinary persecutions ; and rather 
 to take off the principal authors, by winning 
 and advancing them, than to enrage them by 
 violence and bitterness. 
 
 The changes and vicissitude in wars are 
 man} 7 ; but chiefly in three things ; in the seats 
 or stages of the war, in the weapons, and in 
 the manner of the conduct. Wars, in ancient 
 time, seemed more to move from east to west ; 
 for the Persians, Assyrians, Arabians, Tartars, 
 (which were the invaders,) were all eastern 
 people. It is true, the Gauls were western ; 
 but we read but of two incursions of theirs ; 
 
264 
 
 the one to Gallo-Graecia, the other to Rome : 
 but east and west have no certain points of 
 heaven; and no more have the wars, either 
 from the east or west, any certainty of obser- 
 vation ; but north and south are fixed ; and it 
 hath seldom or never been seen that the far 
 southern people have invaded the northern, but 
 contrariwise; whereby it is manifest, that the 
 northern tract of the world is in nature the 
 more martial region; be it in respect of the 
 stars of that hemisphere, or of the great conti- 
 nents that are upon the north ; whereas the 
 south part, for aught that is known, is almost 
 all sea ; or, (which is most apparent,) of the 
 cold of the northern parts, which is that which, 
 without aid of discipline, doth make the bodies 
 hardest, and the courage warmest. 
 
 Upon the breaking and shivering of a great 
 state and empire, you may be sure to have 
 wars; for great empires, while they stand, do 
 enervate and destroy the forces of the natives 
 which they have subdued, resting upon their 
 own protecting forces; and then, when they 
 fail also, all goes to ruin, and they become a 
 prey : so was it in the decay of the Roman 
 empire, and likewise in the empire of Al- 
 
265 
 
 maigne, after Charles the Great, every bird 
 taking a feather; and were not unlike to be- 
 fal to Spain, if it should break. The great 
 accessions and unions of kingdoms do likewise 
 stir up wars: for when a state grows to an 
 over power, it is like a great flood that will 
 be sure to overflow ; as it hath been seen 
 in the states of Rome, Turkey, Spain, and 
 others. Look when the world hath fewest 
 barbarous people, but such as commonly will 
 not marry or generate except they know means 
 to live, (as it is almost every where at this 
 day, except Tartary,) there is no danger of 
 inundations of people: but when there be 
 great shoals of people, which go on to popu- 
 late without foreseeing means of life and sus- 
 tentation, it is of necessity that once in an age 
 or two they discharge a portion of their people 
 upon other nations, which the ancient north- 
 ern people were wont to do by lot; casting 
 lots what part should stay at home, and 
 what should seek their fortunes. When a 
 warlike state grows soft and effeminate, they 
 may be sure of a war: for commonly such 
 states are grown rich in the time of their 
 degenerating; and so the prey inviteth, 
 
266 
 
 and their decay in valour encourage th a 
 war. 
 
 As for the weapons, it hardly falleth under 
 rule and observation: yet we see even they 
 have returns and vicissitudes; for certain it is, 
 that ordnance was known in the city of the 
 Oxydracae in India; and was that which the 
 Macedonians called thunder and lightning 
 and magic; and it is well known that the 
 use of ordnance hath been in China above two 
 thousand years. The conditions of weapons 
 and their improvement are, first, the fetching 
 afar off; for that outruns the danger, as it is 
 seen in ordnance and muskets : secondly, the 
 strength of the percussion ; wherein likewise 
 ordnance do exceed all arietations, and ancient 
 inventions : the third is, the commodious use of 
 them ; as that they may serve in all weathers ; 
 that the carriage may be light and manageable, 
 and the like. 
 
 For the conduct of the war : at the first, 
 men rested extremely upon number : they did 
 put the wars likewise upon main force and 
 valour, pointing days for pitched fields, and so 
 trying it out upon an even match ; and they 
 ware more ignorant in ranging and arraying 
 
2(57 
 
 their battles. After they grew to rest upon 
 number rather competent than vast ; they grew 
 to advantages of place, cunning diversions, and 
 the like ; and they grew more skilful in the or- 
 dering of their battles. 
 
 In the youth of a state, arms do flourish ; 
 in the middle age of a state, learning; and 
 then both of them together for a time : in the 
 declining age of a state, mechanical arts and 
 merchandize. Learning hath its infancy, when 
 it is but beginning, and almost childish; then 
 its youth, when it is luxuriant and juvenile; 
 then its strength of years, when it is solid and 
 reduced ; and lastly, its old age, when it waxeth 
 dry and exhaust: but it is not good to look too 
 long upon these turning wheels of vicissitude, 
 lest we become giddy : as for the philology of 
 them, that is but a circle of tales, and therefore 
 not fit for this writing. 
 
2(58 
 
 A FRAGMENT OF AN ESSAY ON 
 FAME. 
 
 The poets make Fame a monster: they describe 
 her in part finely and elegantly, and in part 
 gravely and sententiously : they say, Look how 
 man}- feathers she hath, so many eyes she hath 
 underneath, so many tongues, so many voices, 
 she pricks up so many ears. 
 
 This is a flourish: there follow excellent 
 parables, as that she gathereth strength in 
 going; that she goeth upon the ground, and 
 yet hideth her head in the clouds ; that in the 
 day-time she sitteth in a watch-tower, and 
 flyeth most by night; that she mingleth things 
 done with things not done ; and that she is a 
 terror to great cities : but that which passeth 
 all the rest is, they do recount that the earth, 
 mother of the giants that made war against 
 Jupiter and were by him destroyed, thereupon 
 in anger brought forth Fame; for certain it is, 
 that rebels, figured by the giants and seditious 
 fames and libels, are but brothers and sisters, 
 masculine and feminine; but now if a man 
 
c 269 
 
 can tame this monster, and bring her to feed 
 at the hand, and govern her, and with her fly 
 at other ravening fowl and kill them, it is some- 
 what worth : but we are infected with the 
 style of the poets. To speak now in a sad and 
 serious manner : there is not in all the politics 
 a place less handled, and more worthy to be 
 handled, than this of fame ; we will therefore 
 speak of these points : what are false fames ; 
 and what are true fames ; and how they may 
 be best discerned; how fames may be sown 
 and raised ; how they may be spread and mul- 
 tiplied ; and how they may be checked and 
 laid dead ; and other things concerning the 
 nature of fame. Fame is of that force, as 
 there is scarcely any great action wherein it 
 hath not a great part, especially in the war, 
 Mucianus undid Vitellius by a fame that he 
 scattered, that Vitellius had in purpose to re- 
 move the legions of Syria into Germany, and 
 the legions of Germany into Syria ; whereupon 
 the legions of Syria were infinitely inflamed. 
 Julius Caesar took Pompey unprovided, and 
 laid asleep his industry and preparations by a 
 fame that he cunningly gave out, how Caesar's 
 own soldiers loved him not, and, being wearied 
 
270 
 
 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 suc- 
 cession of her son Tiberius by continually giving 
 out that her husband Augustus was upon reco- 
 very and amendment ; and it is an usual thing 
 with the bashaws to conceal the death of the 
 great Turk from the janizaries and men of war, 
 to save the sacking of Constantinople, and other 
 towns, as their manner is. Themistocles made 
 Xerxes, king of Persia, post apace out of Gracia, 
 by giving out that the Grecians had a purpose 
 to break his bridge of ships which he had made 
 athwart the Hellespont. There be a thousand 
 such like examples, and the more they are the 
 less they need to be repeated, because a man 
 meeteth with them every where : therefore let 
 all wise governors have as great a watch and 
 care over fames as they have of the actions and 
 designs themselves. 
 
 THE REST WAS NOT FINISHED. 
 
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