IVI/\ol lLK NEGA TIVE NO 91-80112-1 MICROFILMED 1992 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as part of the "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project JJ Funded by the WMENT FOR THE Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library ■ COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ^ ^ The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code - concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material... Col^mbia University Library reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. AUTHOR: BACON, FRANCIS, VISCOUNT ST. ALBANS TITLE: THE ESSAYS, OR, COUNSELS, CIVIL AND PLACE: LONDON DA TE : 1853 COLUMBIA UNIVERSllT LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET Master Negative # Original Material as Inlmed - Existing Bibliographic Record 1Q2B13 L7 Essays. 1853. Bacon^ Francis, viscoimt St. Albans, l56l-l626. The Essays, or. Counsels, civil and moral| "witn a table of the Colours of good and evil Rev. from the early copies, with the references now first supplied, and a few notes, t)j Thomas Karkby..^ London, Parker, 13,$3» • • • XT/, 1?0 p. 17^ cm. Restrictions on Use; ' ) FILM SIZE ff. /^ TECMNICAL MICROFORM DATA REDUCTION RATIO: ^X IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA IIA' IB IIB DATE FILMED:/^^ 7^^^2^ ^ INITIALS %ij ITEMED BY: RFi SEARClfpUBljCATIONS, IN C WO ODBRIDGErCT K V fmin Association for information and Image Wanagemeot 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter 1 2 3 mmm ii i i 1 1 I ' iiiilmi 1 m i I i I I I I 6 M HIIIIIIIHIIIIIII 8 10 n 12 13 14 15 mm LLUUi lUiilLlJ I i i i i i i 1 2 1.25 i i i i i i t 1 iiiiiiin i I I i i t i 4 U^ 2.8 2.5 15. 3.2 2.2 ^ m «f |4£ •UfakU 2.0 1.8 4 -. 16 mum i i i I 1 S I I I -T> MONUFflCTURED TO RUM STflNDORDS BY RPPLIED IMRGE. INC. -" ■:*f CDluinliia alititifrsffti* iiUlirCiiriUlIrivPark LIBRARY THE ESSAYS I I OE COUNSELS, CIVIL AND MORAL, R'lTH A TABLE OF THE COLOURS OF GOOD AND EVIL. BY FEANCIS BACON, ' . • VISCOUNT ST. ALBAN. REVISED FROM THE EARLY COPIES, WITH THE REFERENCES NOW FIRST SUPPLIED, AND A FEW NOTES, BY THOMAS MAEKBY, M.A. > LONDON: JOHN W. PARKER AND SON, WEST STRAND. MDCCCLIII. i PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. By the same Editor, BACON'S ADVANCEMENT OF LEAENING, 2s. HOOKEE'S ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. Part I. Is. 6rf. e A 5 • • • * .U« '\- .\ ^^ • « % • • « * • • .(N THE ready sale which the edition of the Advancement of Learning issued last year has met with, encourages the publishers to reprint the Essays of Bacon on a similar plan. I wish I could hope that the Advancementhdidi been introduced into the class of schools for the benefit of which the edition was more particularly intended, but I fear there is no reason for thinking this to have been the case. While those to whom is committed the education of the youth, who will hereafter occupy the highest and lowest positions in the social scale, have been called upon by the Government to render a strict account of their steward- ship, no opportunity has hitherto been taken of ascertain- ing how the teachers of the children of the middle classes fulfil their task. On the one hand, a royal commission makes a searching inquiry into the reverues, discipline, and teaching of our Universities, and returns have been demanded from all the great endowed schools ; on the other, inspectors are constantly travelling through the length and breadth of the land, to see that the parish schools are efficiently managed, with results, though mixed, yet on the whole, as I believe, useful and \ valuable ; but no commissioners or inspectors have yet ^ found their way into the numerous body of private A 2 ^ 14527U IV Preface hy tJie Editor, schools for the sons of farmers and tradesmen which exist throughout the kingdom.^ Yet it would be easy to show that it is of the highest importance to the com- monwealth to take heed that these schools be no less than any others * seminaries of sound learning and re- ligious education.' j?heir scholars will hereafter occupy the relation of employers to the great bulk of the labour- ing classes, and it will be a bad business, if, as seems likely to happen in many country parishes, the ploughman should one day prove a better educated man than his master. Nor does the want of permanent endowment furnish any reason why private schools should be exempt from all inspection. The right of the nation to inter- fere with bodies possessing endowments is grounded, I apprehend, not upon the mere fact of their possessing property, but upon their having public duties to perform ; and it will scarcely be denied that all schoolmasters dis- charge a high duty to the State. The imperative need of a measure which would compel the masters of private schools to undergo some trial of their ability to discharge the task they take upon themselves, is shown by simply describing the present state of things. Any man having a little capital at his command to take and furnish a house and grounds of moderate size, may forthwith set up a school and place ' IX would be very useful, with a view to ascertaining the present state of education among the classes indicated, if a member of the House of Commons would procure a return from all private schools of the number of teachers, scholars, subjects of study, books read, &c. A regular inquiry into their condition could hardly be considered an undue interference with the rights of the subject. The legislators of Queen Elizabeth's reign clearly went on the principle that all kinds of schools and colleges were responsible to the State. r Prejace hy the Editor, v himself at the head of it ; no testimony, no proof what- ever of his fitness for the task is demanded. It may be said that he will not succeed unless he has the energy and skill to fulfil his duties properly. But this is very doubtful. The persons whose sons he hopes to have under his care, are for the most part but indifferent judges of literary attainments; and being often grossly ignorant themselves, are likely to care less about the mental progress than the physical comforts of their children. That this is actually the case, may be seen by casting one's eye down a column of scholastic advertisements in the Times. The same authority will likewise show, what indeed is notorious enough, that many owners of private schools are not only deplorably wanting in good taste and scholarship, but wholly blind to the tremendous moral responsibility of their calling. To good teachers in private schools, of whom there are many, no greater boon can be conceived than an opportunity of proving their capacity. At present they labour under a very great disadvantage. They have no status, they belong to no recognised body.^ They cannot, in general, like the masters in the great public schools, point to university distinctions as a proof 2 An effort has been made of late by some gentlemen who prefer the title of preceptor to the good old English schoolmaster to esta- blish a corporate body. It may be noticed, by-the-bye, that a letter was addressed by the authorities of the college in question to the Cambridge University Commission. Although the learned persons from whom the document proceeded do not appear to have perceived all the bearings of the question they raise, yet the letter in some points of view 0a>i/a (TweroXcriv, and will therefore repay perusal. It may be found in the appendix to the report of the Com- missioners. <\. I ■ *l> vi Preface hy the Editor, of their powers, or to tlie fact of their having been care- fully chosen by well qualified judges out of a large number of candidates for the post. Nor have they the advantage of that sort of unofficial inspection which is usually invited by those heads of schools whose connexion with the universities enables them to induce distinguished men to conduct their annual examinations.^ Indeed the con- dition of the latter class of seminaries is generally matter of great notoriety, not only from the reports of the yearly examiners, but from the good or ill success of their pupils at Oxford and Cambridge, and it may be questioned whether any system of official inquiry could be devised which would answer the purpose better. And since the practice is almost universal, and not only not opposed, but, in point of fact, invited by the masters themselves, we may take it for granted that it is conducive to their material interests. Again, a parish schoolmaster may distinguish himself at Battersea or St. Mark's ; he will have full justice done to his labours in the report of the government inspector ; he knows, in short, that he will be judged by competent men and recompensed according to his true worth. Why should the master of a school adapted to the wants of a class of boys between these extremes, be wholly debarred from all those advantages, merely because he has not had a university education, or been connected with any of the training institutions ? There is another point in which a system of inspection is very desirable. The course of study ought to be arranged and limited according to the wants and capacities of the 3 Even at Eton, the closest of all foundations, the posers and examiners for the Newcastle Scholarship are often strangers to the place. J. 4 A # ^ h* Preface hy tJie Editor. ^i^ boys, and a stop put to the abominable system of puffing, which compels masters to promise in their advertisements that every boy shall learn everything. Surely it is time that people should be made to understand that the chief object of school education is to show boys how to learn and think for themselves, by soundly teaching them the elements ot a few branches of study .^ Suggestion is all that can be expected or desired of a schoohnaster, and a spirit of self- dependence in research, with a good insight into the proper method of approaching a difficult subject, will be far more valuable to his scholars than any crude mass of facts got up by rote, however wide the field may be over which they range. The tendency of the present day is to turn the attention of boys to too many subjects, and to compress the period of education into too narrow limits. The merits of then- masters are therefore apt to be measured by the number of subjects taught and the short- ness of time in which the race through them is accom- plished. But it should be borne in mind that masters can supply neither intelligence nor industry ; and the best master is not he who makes the most show of learning, but he who induces the largest number of boys to make the * It is worth remark that so far as my opportunities of ohservation have extended, I have found that the works of English writers are invariably excluded from schools where the classics are not read. A short time since I had occasion to make inquiry into the books used in a large school where no Greek was taught, and only the rudiments of Latin. No English book was regularly read. A collection of short extracts from writers in poetry and prose was in the hands of most of the boys, and about a dozen were occasionally examined in a few pages of an historical work. Not even the Bible or Shakspeare were ever read aloud in class. Yet the prospectus contained a long list of sciences. \ VUl Preface hy the Editor. fullest use they can of the several abilities with which it has pleased God to endow them. Before dismissing the book it will be as well to give a short account of it. In the year 1597, Bacon, then a rising barrister, published a thin octavo containing Meditationes Sacra), a Table of the Colours of Good and Evil, and ten Essays. In 1612 he reprinted the Essays, increased to thirty-eight (forty are named in the index, but two were not written), and, finally, in 1625 he again issued them * newly written,' and now fifty-eight in number. This was the last edition printed in the author's lifetime, and he seems to have superintended it himself with the greatest care, as might be expected when he was dismissing his favourite work finally corrected and en- larged. I have to repeat what I have before remarked, that it is surprising to find with what freedom the text has been tacitly altered. I am very far from saying that an editor ought never to make any change in the received text, but surely, as a matter of honesty, he ought to note the slightest alteration in the margin; more especially in dealing with a work which has received such careful super- vision from its author. Even Mr. Basil Montagu's edition is very far from rigidly correct ; indeed it is a book of little value, and costs an enormous sum. De 7nortuis nil nisi bonum, therefore I shall not say more about it. But it ought to be clearly understood that to tamper with an author's text without indicating the changes made, ought not to be merely called injudicious, but branded with shame as highly dishonest. The Colours of Good and Evil were not reprinted by the author in Enghsh after the year 1597, but he incor- 41^1 i ^ IK r ^ ^ \ l*^ 4 U Preface hy the Editor, IX porated them almost literally into the De Augmentis. It would have been more proper, therefore, to have printed them with the Advancement of Learning, but as publishing considerations rendered that inconvenient, I have added them here. The references are given to the most important quotations, for which I am alone responsible. T. M. London, June^ 1853. THE TABLE. •<»>»* i p 4' i; PAGE ...^^ Of Truth 1625 II. Of Death 1612; enlarged 1625 - III. Of Unity in Religion Of Religion 1612; re- written 1625 IX- Of Revenge ...r^. 1625 V) Of Adversity .r..... 1625 Of Simulation and Dissimulation .;;■. 1625... Of Parents and Children ... 1612 ; enlarged 1625... Of Marriage and Single Life 1612; slightly enlarged 1625 , Of Envy 1625 Of Love 1612; rewritten 1625 Of Great Place 1612 ; slightly enlarged 1625... XII. Of Boldness ......... 1625 XIII. Of Goodness Ttnd Goodness of Nature 1612; enlarged 1625 XIV. Of Nobility 1612; rewritten 1625 Of Seditions and Troubles... 1625 Of Atheism 1612; slightly enlarged 1625 ... XVII. Of Superstition.vi. 1612; slightly enlarged 1625 ... XVIIL Of Travel 1625 *^- XIX. Of Empire 1612 ; much enlarged 1625 ... XX. Of Counsels 1612; enlarged 1625 XXL OfDelays 1625 ., - XXIL Of Cunning 1612; rewritten 1625 XXIII. Of WisdomforaMan'sSelf...l612 ; enlarged 1625... XXIV. Of Innovations ...1625 XXV. Of Dispatch ......1612 -ja^KL Of Seeming Wise.f^ 1612 - --..M^XVIj/Of Friendship..t... 1612; rewritten 1625 XXVIIL Of Expense 1597; enlarged 1612; and again 1625 1^ 14 16 20 21 24 26 28 29 35 37 38 40 44 48 48 52 53 54 55 56 63 ,__- '! X T"T- Index. PAGE XXIX. Of the true Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates ...1612; enlarged 1625 64 XXX. Of Regimen of Health... 1597 ; enlarged 1612 ; again 1625 * 71 XXXI. Of Suspicion 1625 73 /kXXII. Of Discourse 1597 ; slightly enlarged 1612 ; again 1625 73 Of Plantations 1625 75 Of Riches 1612; much enlarged 1625... 78 XXXV. Of Prophecies 1625 80 V XXXVI. Of Ambition 3612; enlarged 1625 83 XXXVII. Of Masques and Triumphs ... 1625 85 XXXVIII. Ot Nature in Men. 1612; enlarged 1625 86 XXXIX. Of Custom and Education... 1612 ; enlarged 1625 87 XL. Of Fortune 1612 ; slightly enlarged 1625 89 XLI. Of Usury 1625 91 ^ XLII. Of Youth and Age.. 1612 ; slightly enlarged 1625 94 XLIII. Of Beauty 1612; slightly enla ged 1625 95 XLIV. Of Deformity 1612; somewhat altered 1625 96 Of Building 1625 97 Of Gardens 1625 101 Of Negociating .... 1597 ; enlarged 1612; very slightly altered 1625 106 XLVIII. Of Followers and Friends ... 1597; slightly en- larged 1625 107 XLJX. Of Suitors 1597; enlarged 1625 108 Of Studies 1597; enlarged 1625 110 Of Faction 1597; much enlarged 1625... Ill LIT. Of Ceremonies and Respects ... 159? ; enlarged 1625 112 LIII. Of Praise 1612; enlarged 1625 113 LIV. Of Vain Glory 1612 115 LV. Of Honour and Reputation ... 1597; omitted 1612; republished 1625 116 LVI. Of Judicature 1612 118 LVII. Of Anger 1625 121 LVIII. Of Vicissitude of Things... 1625 123 A Fragment of an Essay of Fame 128 Of the Colours of Good and Evil \l\ V' (• -vl I ^ THE EPISTLE DEDICATORIE. [1597.J TO M. ANTHONY BACON, HIS DEAEE BBOTHEE. \.If^r'' ^^"^ ^T*^ ^^?^^^^' ^ '^o '^o^e lil^e some that haue an orcharde ill-neighbored, that gather their fruit before it is ripe, to preuent stealing. These fragments of my eonceites were gomg to print : to labour the stale of them bad bm troublesome, and subject to interpretation : to let them passe had beene to adventure the wrong they mouffht receiue by untrue coppies, or by some garnishment which it mought please any one that should set them forth to be- ' ^^Z-ir^ ^'"' r/'''^''^f ^ ^^^^ i* ''^«t discreation to publish them myselfe aUfeej^pasaei.Wagoe from my m», without any further disgrace the£rtK~#eaHes-8e' or ae author And as I did euer hold, there mought be as great a vanitie in retiring and withdrawing men's eonceites (except they bee of some nature) from the world, as in ob- truding them : so in these particulars I have played myselfe the inqmsitor, and find nothing to my ynderstanding in tbem contrane or mfectious to the state of Religiol or Manners, but rather (as I suppose) medicinable. Only I chshked now to put them out, because they wiU bee like the late new halfe-pence, which ihoughUhe siluer were good, yet the peices were small. \ But sJhce they would not stay with their Master, buf'would aeedes trauaile abroade, I haue preferred them to you that are next myselfe ; Dedieatmg them, such as they are, to our loue, lu the depth whereof (I assure you) I sometimes wish your infarmities translated upon myselfe, that her Maiestie mought haue the seruice of so active and able a mind • and i mought be with excuse confined to these contemplations and studies, for which I am fittest : so commend I you to the preseruation of the Diuine Maiestie. From mv chamber at Graies Inne, this 30th of Januarie, 1597. Your entire louing brother, Fean. Bacon. A -^ xiv Prefatory Epistles, TO MY LOUING BBOTHEE, SIE JOHN CONSTABLE, KNIGHT. My last Essaies I dedicated to my deare brother Master Anthony Bacon, who is with God. Looking amongst my papers this vacation, I found others of the same nature : which if I myselfe shall not suffer to be lost, it seemeth the world will not ; by the often printing of the former. Miss- ing my brother, I found you next ; in respect of bond, both of neare alliance, and of straight friendship and societie, and particularly of communication in studies ; wherein I must acknowledge myselfe beholding to you. For as my business found rest in my contemplations, so my contem- plations ever found rest in your louing conference and judgment. So wishing you all good, I remaine Your louing brother andfriend^ A y Prefatory Epistles, XV them (being in the Vniuersall Language) may last as long as Bookes last. My Instauration I dedicated to the King; my Historie of Henry the Seuenth (which I haue now translated into Latine) and my Portions of Naturall History, to the Prince; and these I dedicate to your Ghace; Being of the best Fruits, that, by the good Encrease which God gives to my Pen and Labours, 1 could yeeld. God lead your Grace by the Hand. Your Graces most obliged andfaithfull Seruanf, 1625. Fb. St. Alban. 1612. Fea. Bacon. TO THE EIGHT HONOEABLE MY VEEY GOOD LO. THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM his geace, lo. high admieal of england. Excellent Lo. Salomon sales, a good name is as a precious oyntment; and I assure myselfe such will your Grace's name bee with Posteritie. For your Fortune and Merit both haue been Eminent. And you haue planted Things that are Hke to last. I doe now publish my Essay es ; which of all my other workes, haue beene most Currant ; for that, as it seemes they come home to Men's Businesse and Bosomes. I haue enlarged them both in number and weight, so that they are indeed a New Worke. I thought it, therefore, agree- able to my Affection, and Obligation to your Grace, to prefix your name before them both in English and in Latine. For I doe conceiue, that the Latine Volume of { i \ \ v \ ESSAYS. } 4 «, ^ T I. OF TRUTH. XT HAT is trutli? said jesting Pilate, and would not n stay for an answer. ' Certainly there be that dehght in eiddiness, and count it a bondage to fix a belief; attect- ine 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 m 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 ac^ain, that when it is found, it imposeth upon mens thoughts, that doth bring lies in favour; but a natural, though corrupt love of tie lie itself. One of the later schools of the Grecians' examineth the matter, and is at a stand to think what should be in it, that men^sWdJ^ lies, wjifire fleiUierlhejumafee.for Pl^^f e^^^, f ,f,f; ^ for advantage, as with the merchant; but for the he s sake But I cannot tell: this same truth is a naked and .men dav-light, that doth not show the masques, and mummeries, and triumphs of the world half so stately and daintily as candle-hghts. Truth may perhaps come to the Sr ce oY a pearl, that showeth best by day; but it will not rise to the price of a diamond or carbuncle, thai showeth best in varied lights. Amixtureofahe doth ever add Pleasure Doth any ma^TRSETtEannriere were takeH 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 fuU of melancholy, and mdisposition, and unpleasmg to tfem^elves? One of the fathers,' in great severity. 1 Job. xviii. 38. ' Probably he means the Sceptics. » Perhaps he was thinking of S. Augustme. Vid. Aug. Confe,>. i. 25, 26. B • / 3 Essays, I I called poesy, vimim dcemonum, because it filleth the imagi- nation, and jet it is but with the shadow of a lie. But it IS not the lie that passeth tlirough 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, teacheth that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making or wooing of it; the know- ledge 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 Hght of reason; land his sabbath work ever siace 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 other- wise inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently well. It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea; apleasure to stand in thetvindow of a castle, and to see a battle, and the adventures thereof heloic : hut no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage- ground of truth (a hill not to be commanded, and where the air is aliuays clear and serene), and to see the errors, and wanderinas, 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 mmd move in charity, rest in Providence, and turn upon the poles of truth. To pass from theological and philosophical truth to th? truth of civil business, it will be acknowledged, even by those who practise it not, that clear and round dealing IS the honour of man's nature, and that mixture of false- hood IS like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may makejiie 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 leet. There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame as to be found false and perfidious: and therefore Montaigne saith prettily, when he inquired the reasc -vhy the word of the lie should be such a disgrace, and such an J r aake th ( these wi * Lucret. ii. init, Comp. Ado, of Learning, i. 8. 5. il r i \ V Of Truth, S odious charge ? Saith he, If it be well weighed, to say _ that a man lieth, is as much as to say, that he is brave "^ towards God, and a coward towards men.'^ For a he faces r God, and shrinks from man. Surely the wickedness of falsehood and breach of faith cannot possibly be so hi2:aly 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 w^hen Christ cometh, he shall not find faith upon the earth.^ II. 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 meditations 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 tortured, 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 philosopher and natural man, it was well said, Fompa mortis maqis terret, quam mors ipsa J Groans, and con- vulsions, and a discoloured face, and friends weeping, and blacks and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible. It is worthy the observing, that there is no passion m the mind of man so weak, but it mates and masters the fear ot death: and therefore death is no such terrible enemy when a man hath so many attendants about him that can win the combat of him. Eevenge triumphs oyer death ; love slights it; honour aspireth to it; grief flieth to it; tear pre-occupatethit; nay, we read, after Otho the emperor Ld slain himself, pity (which is the tenderest of affections) provoked many to die out of mere compassion to tlieir \ 5 jEssais ii 18 * ^^^^® ^^"^- ^• ^ No doubt he* means Seneca, but I cannot find the passage m his writings. There is an expression in a letter to Lucihus (24) tolle istam pompam ^c, which might have suggested it. B 2 / ^ Essays. sovereign, and as the truest sort of followers.^ Nay beneca adds niceness and satiety: Cogita quamdiu eadem Jecerts; mori velle, non tantum fortis, aut miser, sed etiam JasUdtosus 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 observe how little alteration in good spirits the ap- proaches of death make; for they appear to be the same men till the last instant. Augustus Caesar died in a com- pliment : Lima, conjugii nostri memor vive, et vale} Tibe- rius in dissimulation, as Tacitus saith of him. Jam Tiberium vires et corpus, non dissimulatio deserebant:^ Vespasian in 8 jest, sitting upon the stool, Ut puto Deus fio :'' Galba with a sentence, i; > . V >4 Of Unity in Religion. 5 and ceremonies than in any constant 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 mix- ture nor partner. We shall therefore speak a few words concerning 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 greatest scandals ; yea, more than corruption of manners. For as in the natural body a wound or solution of continuity is w^orse 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 cometh to pass that one saith, eccein deserto, another 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? ^ And certainly it is little better, when atheists and profane persons do hear of so many discordant 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 ot a feigned library, sets down this title of a book, The Morns Dance of Heretics.'* For, indeed, every sect of them hath a diverse posture, or cringe, by themselves, which cannot but move derision in worldlings and depraved politics, who are apt to contemn holy things. ' .^i- .. • As for the fruit towards those that are withm, it is peace ; which containeth infinite blessings : it establisheth faith ; it kindleth charity; the outward peace of the church ® Exod. XX. 5. 3 Ps. i. 1. * Matth. xxiv. 26. ^ 1 Cor. xiv. 23. * Rabelais, Pantag. ii. 7. Essays, distilleth into peace of conscience, and it turneth tlie labours of writing and reading controversies into treatises of mortification and devotion. ^ - c Concerning the bounds of unity; tbe true placing ot them importeth exceedingly. There appear to be two ex- tremes. For to certain zealants all speech of pacihcation is odious. Is it peace, Jehitl—Wliat hast thou to do with peace^ turn thee behind me} Peace is not the matver, but following and party. Contrariwise, certain Laodiceans and lukewarm persons think they may accommodate points ot relicrion by middle ways, and taking part of both, and witty reconcilements; as if they would make an arbitrement be- tween 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 expounded : 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 fundamental, and of substance in religion, were truly discerned and distinguished from points not merely of faith, but ot opinion, order, or good intention. This is a thing may seem to many a matter trivial, and done already; but it it were done less partially, it would be embraced more ^^Of this I may give only this advice, according to my small model. Men ought to take heed of rendmg God's church by two kinds of controversies. The one is, when the matter of the point controverted is too small and light, not worth the heat and strife about it, kindled only by con- tradiction; for, as it is noted by one of the fathers, Chnst s coat indeed had no seam, but the church's vesture was of divers colours ; whereupon he saith, 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 subtility and obscurity, so that it becometh a thing rather ingenious than substantial. A man that is of judgment and understanding shall sometimes 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 5 2 Kings ix. 17. 6 Matth. xii. 30, and Mark ix. 40. 25.7. See Jdv, of Learning^ ii. ( r* s * ' /» "> V- > Of Unity in Religion. 1 BO to pass in that distance of judgment vrhicli i^ 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 exceUently expressed by St. Paul, in the warning and precept that ne ^iveth concerning the same, devitaprofanasvocum novitates et oppositiones falsi nominis scientim? Men create opposi- t on^which are not. and put them into ^ew terms sofixed as whereas the meaning ought to govern the term the term in effect governeth the meaning. There be also two fal^peaces, or'unities.: the one. -^i- ^be PC.ST^:^ hut uDon an implicit ignorance ; for all colours wUl agree in tlTdarl: the^ther^hen it is pieced "P -P^ w* admission of contraries in fundamental points. For truth ^nd falsehood, in such things, are hke tbe iron an^ cky in the toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image ;^ they may cleave, but thev will not incorporate. , Concerning the means of procurmg l^^^^ty' ^^^,.^^^* heware that in the procuring or muniting of religious unity they do Bot dissolve and deface the laws of chanty anfh'uS society. There be two -ords amongst Chr- tians. the spiritual and the temporal ; and both have their due office and place in the maintenance of religion Uut we mav not tXe up the third sword, which is Mahomet s Sd or Uke unto it : that is. to propagate rehgion by tars or bv sanguinary persecutions to force consciences; Ixce^t it be in cases of" overt scandal, blasphemy, or inter- ^xtare of practice against the state; much less to nourish Tedft^Dns to authorise conspiracies and rebellions; to put bfsXd St^the people's Lnds and the f^^t-f^^^*;, 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 tW thev are men. Lucretius the poet, when he beheld iKcto'f Agamemnon, that could endure the sacrificing of his own daughter, exclaimed : Tantum rclligio potuit suadere malorum.» What would he have said, if he had known of the onlTn -France or the powder treason of England? Twould hav'e C sTven tiLs more epicure and atheist 7 1 Tim. vi. 20. 8 Dan. ii. 33. 9 Lucret. i. 95. 8 Essays, than he was. For as the temporal sword is to be drawn with ^eat circumspection in cases of religion, so it is a thincr 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 he like the prince of darkness. And what is it better, 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, m 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 opmions tending to the support of the same, as hath been already in good part done. Surely in councils concerning religion, that counsel 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 con- fessed, that those which held and persuaded pressure of consciences were commonly interested therein themselves for their own ends. Of Revenge, 9 IV. OF REVENGE. Eevenge 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 hy an offence? That' which is past is gone and irrevocable ; and wise men have enoudi 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 ^ Isai. xiv. 14. Cf. Adv, of Learning, \\, 22, 17. 2 James i. 20. a Prov. xix. il. >^' thereby to purchase himself profit, or pleasure, or honour, or the like. Therefore why should I be angry with a man for loving himself better than me ? And if any man should do wrong merely out of ill-nature ; why, yet it is but like the thorn or brier, which prick and scratch because they can do no other. The most tolerable sort of revenge is for those 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 whence 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 neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were unpardonable. You shall read, saith he, that we are commanded to forgive our enemies ; hut you 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 he content to take evil also 1 ^ and so of friends in a proportion. This ia certain, that a man that studieth revenge, keeps 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 many more. Eut in private revenges it is not so ; nay rather vindic- tive persons live the life of witches ; who, as they are mis- chievous, so end they unfortunate. V. OF ADVERSITY. It was a 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 ad- versity are to be admired: Bona rerum secundarum optahilia, adversarum mirabilia} Certainly, if miracles be the command over nature, they appear most in adversity. It is yet a higher speeph of his than the other (much too high for a heathen) -fit is true greatness to have in one I * Job ii. 10. * Sea. Ad Lucil. 66. 10 Essays. ^ 0/ Simulation and Dissimulation, 11 the frailty of a man, and tlie security of a Godjf Vere Tnagnum, liahere fragilitatem hominis, securitaiem Dei,^ This would have done better in poesy, wheu transcen- dences are more allowed. And the poets, indeed, have been bui?y 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 without mystery ; nay, and to' have some approach to the state of a Christian: that Hercules, \^hen 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 resolu- tion, that saileth in the frail bark of the flesh thorough the waves of the world/ But to speak in a mean : the virtue of prosperity is temperance ; the virtue of adversity is fortitude : which in morals is the more heroical virtue. 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 herselike airs as carols : and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath laboured more in de- scribing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes ; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. We see in needle-works and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground : judge, therefore, of the pleasure of the heart by the plea- sure of the eye. Certainly virtue is like precious odours, most fragrant where they are incensed, or crushed ; for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue. VI. OF SIMULATION AND DISSIMULATION. 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 politics that are the great dissemblers. Tacitus saith, Livia sorted well with the arts of her ® Sen. Ad Lucih 53. ' ApoUod. Dear, Orig, 11. 4 hmhand, 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 Aiigustus, nor the extreme caution or closeness of Tiberius.^ These properties of arts or poKcy, and dis- simulation 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 shown at half lights, and to whom and when (which, in- deed, are arts of state, and arts of life, as Tacitus well calleth them), to him a habit of dissimulation is a hin- drance and a poorness. But if a man cannot obtain to that judgment, chen 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 when they thought the ease 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 m- visible There be three degrees of this hiding and veiling of a man's self. The first, closeness, reservation, and secrecy ; when a man leaveth himself without observation, or with- out hold to be taken, what he is. The second dissimula- tion 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 mdustriously 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 ^fb or a babbler P But if a man be thought secret, it mvitetli dis- covery • as the more close air sucketh in the more open : and, as in confession, the reveahng is not for worldly use, but for the ease of a man's heart ; so secret men come to the 8 Tac. Ann, v. 1. 8 Hist, ii. 76. 12 Essays, .\\ Of Simulation and Dissimulation. 13 knowledge of many things in tliat kind ; while men rather discharge their mmds than impart their minds. In few words, mysteries are due to secrecy. Besides (to say truth) nakedness is uncomely, as well in mind as body ; and it addeth no small reverence to men's manners and actions, if they be not altogether open. As for talkers, and futilepersons, 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 a 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 weakness 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 followeth many times upon secrecy by a necessity : so that he that will be secret must be 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, without 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 show 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 cannot hold out long. So that no man can be secret, except he give himself a little scope of dissimu- lations, which is, as it were, but the skirts, or train of secrecy. But for the third degree which is simulation and false profession, that I hold more culpable, and less politic, ex- cept 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 fearfuluess, or of a mind that hath some main faults ; which, because a man must needs disguise, it maketh him practise simula- tion in other things, lest his hand should be out of ure. The advantages of simulation and dissimulation are three. First, to lay asleep opposition, 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 re- serve 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 A "^ V s' \ hardly show themselves adverse ; but will (fair) let him go on, and turn their freedom of speech to freedom of thought. And, therefore, it is a good shrewd proverb of the Spaniard, Tell a lie, and find a truth} As if there were no way of discovery but by simulation. There be also three disadvantages to set it even. The first, that simu- lation and dissimulation commonly carry with them a show 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, per- haps, would otherwise cooperate 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 sea- sonable use ; and a power to feign, if there be no remedy. VII. OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN. 1. 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 bitter: they increase the cares of life, but they mitigate the remembrance of death. The perpetuity 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 menjTwhich 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: creature^. The difference in affection of parents towards their several children, is many times unequal, and sometimes unworthy; especially in the mother; as Solomon saith; A wise son rejoiceth the father, hut 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, -^-^--xa «»» ^ A, L, II. xxiii. 14. * Prov. x. 1. V 14 Essays, Of Marriage and Single Life, 15 and the youngest made wantons; but in the midst some that are, as it were, forgotten who many times never- theless prove the best. The illiberality of parents, in allowance towards their children, is a harmful error; makes them base; acquaints them with shifts; makes them sort with mean company ; and makes them surfeit more when they come to plenty: and therefore the proof is best when men keep their authority towards their chil- dren, but not their purse. Men have a foolish manner (both parents, and schoolmasters, and servants), in creating and breeding an emulation between brothers during child- hood, which many times sorteth to discord when they are jmen, 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 imcle, or a kinsman, more than his own parent, as the blood happens. {Let parents choose betimes the vocations and courses they mean their chil- dren' 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 that \jghich 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, optimum elige, suave et facile illud faciei consuetudo. Younger brothers are commonly fortunate; but seldom or never where the elder are disinherited. VIIT. OF MARRIAGE AND SINGLE LIFE. He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune ; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the best works, and ^ of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the [^unmarried or childless men ; which, both in affection and means, have married and endowed the public. Yet it were great reason that those that have children should have greatest care of future times ; unto T^ hich they know they must transmit their dearest pledges. Some there are, who though they lead a single life, yet their thoughts do end with themselves, and account future times imperti- nences. Nay, there are some other, that account wife and /4 I 4 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 a one is a great rich man; and another except to it. Yea, hut 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 I 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 five times worse than a wife. For soldiers, I find the generals commonly, in their hortatives, put men in mind of their wives and children. And I think the despising of marriage amongst the Turks ma^eth the vulgar soldier more base. jfCertainly, wife and children are a kind of discipline of humanity ; and single men, though they may be many times more charitable, because their means are less exhaust ; yet, on the other side, they are more cruel and hard-hearted (good to make severe inquisitors), because their tenderness is not so oft called upon.V Grave natures, led by custom, and therefore constant, are commonly loving husbands ; as was said of Ulysses, vetulam suam prcetulit immortalitati? Chaste women are often proud and froward, as presuming 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|>and wise; which she will never do if she find him jealous.\ Wives are young men's mistresses; companions for middle age; and old men's nurses. So as a man may have a quarref to marry when he will. But yet he was reputed 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} It is often seen, that bad husbands have very good wives : whether it be that it raiseth the price of their husband's kindness when it comes; or that Plut. Gryll. 1. * Thales. Vid. Diog. Laert. i. 26. 16 Essays. Of Envy. 17 the wives take a pride in their patience. But this never fails, if the bad husbands were of their own choosing, against their friends' consent; for then they will be sure to make good their own folly. IX. OF ENVY. There be none of the affections which have been noted to fascinate, or bewitch, but love and envy. They both have vehement wislies; they frame themselves readily into imaginations and suggestions; and they come easily into the eye, especially upon the presence of the objects; which are the points tliat 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 influences of the stars evil aspects : so that still there seemeth to be acknowledged, in the act of envy, an ejaculation, or irra- diation of the eye. I*^ay, some have been so curious as to note, that the times, when the stroke or percussion 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 shall 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 w ho wanteth the one will prey upon the other ; ^d whoso, is out of hope to attain to another's virtue wilB seek to come at even hand by depressing another's fortune. A man that is busy and inquisitive is commonly 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 plav pleasure 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} * Cf. Plut. de Curios. 1. ( .i^ ^ « i >* Men of noble birth are noted to be envious towards new men when they rise ; for the distance is altered ; and it is like a deceit of the eye, that when others come on they think themselves go back. Deformed persons and eunuchs, and old men and bastards 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 wants part of his honour; in that it should be said, that a 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 Tamerlane, that were lame men. The same is the case of men who 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. They that desire to excel in too many matters, out of levity and vain glory, are ever envious ; for they cannot want work ; it being impossible, but many, in some one of those things, should surpass them. Which was the cha- racter 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 fortunes, and pointeth at them, and cometh oftener 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 subject to envy : first, persons of eminent virtue, when they are ad- vanced, are less envied. For their fortune seemeth but due unto them ; and no man envieth the payment of a debt, but 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. • Spartian Fit, Adrian 15. C 18 Essays. that unwortliy persons are most envied at their first coming in, and afterwards overcome it better; whereas, contrariwise, 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 men grow up that 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 so 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 to envy: for men think that they earn their honours hardly, and pity them sometimes ; and pity ever healeth envy : wherefore you shall observe, that the more deep and sober sort of politic persons, in their greatness, are ever bemoaning 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 engrossing 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 showing 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 them- selves, sometimes of purpose, to be crossed and overborne in things that do not much concern them. Notwithstand- ing so much is true; that the carriage of greatness in a plain and 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 teach others to envy him. Lastly, to conclude this part; as we said in the be- / Of Envy. 19 5 - "• lr( tr I.'* .1 * I t ^i ^ 4 ^ i *^. \ ginning, that the act of envy had somewhat in it of witch- craft ; 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 some- body upon whom to derive the envy that would come upon themselves; sometimes upon ministers and servants, some- times 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 ostracism, that eclipseth men when they grow too great: and therefore it is a bridle also to great ones to keep them within bounds. This envy, being in the Latin word invidia, 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 spreadeth upon that which is sound, and tainteth it; so, when envy is gotten once into a state, it traduceth even the best actions thereof, and turneth them into an ill odour. And therefore there is little won by intermingling of plausible actions: for that doth argue but a weakness 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 prin- cipal officers or ministers, rather than upon kings and es- tates themselves. But this is a sure rule, that if the envy upon the minister 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 discontentment, and the difierence 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, Invidia 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 thev are not so continual. It is also the vilest affection, ^ c 2 I I 20 Essays. and tlie most depraved ; for wliieh cause it is the proper attribute of the devil, who is called, the envious man that soweth tares amongst the wheat hy night? As it always cometh to pass, that envy worketh subtiUy, and in the dark ; and to the prejudice of good things, such as is the wheat. X. OF LOVE. The stage is more beholding to love than the life of man. For as to the stage, love is ever matter of comedies, and , now and then of tragedies ; but in life it doth much .mischief; sometimes like a siren, sometimes hke a tury. You may observe, that amongst all the great and worthy * persons (whereof the memory remaineth, either ancient or ' recent), there is not one that hath been transported to the mad degree of love ; which shows that great spirits and ffreat business do keep out this weak passion. You must except, nevertheless, Marcus Antonius, the half partner ot the empire of Eome ; and Appius Claudius, the decemvir and law-giver ; whereof the former was indeed a volup- tuous man, and inordinate ; but the latter was an austere and wise man: and therefore 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 Epicurus; Satis magnum alter alteri theatrum sumiis:^ as if man, made for the contemplation of heaven, and all noble objects, should do nothmg but kneel before a Uttle 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 nothmg but m love. Neither is it merely in the phrase ; for whereas it hatli been well said, That the arch flatterer, with whom all the petty flatterers have intelligence, is a mans 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 A ' Matth. xiii. 24. » Sen. Epkt. Mor. 1. 7. (-^. •£. 1- iii- 6.) 1 i % %1 4 f^ f 0/ Love. 21 to love and to he 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 reciproque. For it is a true rule, that love is ever rewarded, either with the reciproque, 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 poet's relation doth well figure them : That he that j)ref erred Helena, quitted the gifts of Juno and Pallas : - for whosoever esteemeth too much of amorous affection j* quitteth both riches and wisdom. This passion hath its^. floods in the very times of weakness, which are, great prosperity and great adversitjr; though this latter hath been less observed; both which times kindle love, and make it more fervent, and therefore show 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, andmaketh 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 pleasures. There is in man's nature a secret , inclination and motion towards love of others, which, it it be not spent upon some one or a few, doth naturally spread itself towards many; and maketh men become humane and charitable ; as it is seen sometimes m friars. JSuptial love maketh mankind ; friendly love perfecteth it ; but wanton love corrupteth and embaseth it. j ■*■ XI. OF GREAT PLACE. Men in ereat place are thrice servants : servants of the sovereign or state ; servants of fame; and servants of business. So as tliey have no freedom, neither in their persons nor in their actions, nor m their times. It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty ; or to seek powe? over others, and to lose power over a man s sell. The rising unto place is laborious: and by pams men come to create? pains; and it is sometimes base; and by m- dignities men come to dignities. The standmg is shppery, 1 9 Amare et sapere vix Beo conceditur. {A. L. ii prooe. 15.) Pub. Syr. Sent. 15. y 22 Essays, and the regress is either a downfal, or at least an eclipse, which is a melancholy thing. Cum non 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, wliich require the shadow : like old townsmen, that will be still sitting at their street door, though 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 rt : 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 gnefs ; 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 niinis omnibus, Ignotus moritur sibiJ In place there is licence 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 aspiring. 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 or commanding ground. Merit and good works is the end of man's motion ; and conscience of the same is the ac- complishment of man's rest. For if a man can be partaker of God's theatre, he shall likewise be partaker of God's rest. Et conversus Deiis, ut adspiceret opera qucB fecerunt nianus suce, 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 1 Sen. T/fi/est. ii. 401. « Gen. i. 31. ) ^ [^ Hi w ^, •^ •^I ^ ^^<^ <^n i t And yet boldness is a child of ignorance and baseness, far inferior to other parts. But nevertheless, it doth fascinate, and bind hand and foot those that are either shallow in judg- ment 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 entrance of bold persons into action, than soon after ; for boldness is an ill keeper of promise. Surely, as there are mountebanks for the natural 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, vou shall see a bold fellow many times do Mahomet's miracle. Mahomet made the people believe that he would call a 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 a.:^ain 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 matters 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 ado. Certainly to men of great judgment, bold persons are a 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 bashfulness 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 serious 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 dangers ; and in execution not to see them, except they be very great. 2G Essays, XIII. 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 ex- press 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 vermJn. 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 im- printed deeply in the nature of man : insomuch, that if it issue not towards men, it will take unto other living crea- tures ; as it is seen in the Turks, a cruel people, who nevertheless are kind to beasts, and give alms to dogs and birds : insomuch, as Busbechius reporteth, a Christian boy in Constantinople had like to have been stoned for gagging in a waggishnefes a long-billed fowl. Errors, indeed, in this virtue of goodness or charity, may be committed. The Italians have an ungracious proverb ; Tanto huon die vol niente^ so good, that he is good for nothing. And one of the doctors of Italy, Nicholas Machiavel, had the confi- dence 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 unjust :^ which he spake, because, in- deed, there was never law, or sect, or opmion 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 a 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 prisoner. Neither give thou -<^sop's cock a gem, who would be better pleased and happier if he had had a barley-corn. The example of God teacheth the lesson truly: He sendeth his rain^ and maketh his sun to shine upon the just and the unjust;'' but he doth not rain wealth, nor shine honour and virtues upon men equally. Common ^ f ■*"' 1 Of Goodness, and Goodness of Nature. Sii benefits are to be communicate with all; but peculiar benefits with choice. And beware how in making the portraiture thou breakest the pattern : for divinity maketh the love of ourselves the pattern, the love of our neigh- bours but the portraiture. 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 voca- tion wherein thou mayst 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 good- ness 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 tl^ere be that in their nature do not affect the good of others. The lighter sort of malignity turneth but to a crossness, or froward- ness, or aptness to oppose, or diflScileness, or the like ; but the deeper sort to envy, and mere mischief Such men in other men's calamities are, as it were, 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 politics 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 shows 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 afflic- tions of others, it shows 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 shows that his mindis planted above injuries, so that he cannot be shot. If he be thankful for small benefits, it shows that he weighs men's minds, and not their trash. But, above all, if he have Saint Paul's perfection, that he would wish to be an anathema from Christ, for the salvation of his brethren,^ it shows much of a divine nature, and a kind of conformity with Christ himself. ® Vid. Disc. sop. Liv. ii. 2. ' Matth. V. 45. « Mark x. 21. * Rom. ix. 3. -0 Essays, Of Nobility. 29 XIV. 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 nobility at all, is ever a pure and absolute tyranny, 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 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 dimi- nisheth power ; and puttetn 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 main- tained 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 ex- pense ; 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 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 descendants; 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, X > iJ ,*' \ .■\ V noHe persons cannot go much higher; and lie that standeth at a stay when others rise, can hardly avoid motions ot envv On the other side, nobility extingmsheth the passive envy from others towards them, because they are in posses- sion of honour. Certainly, kings that have able men of their nobility shall find ease in employing them, and a better sUde into their business; for people naturaUy bend to them as born in some sort to command. XV. OP SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES. Shepherds of people had need knowthe calendars of tern- Bests in state, which are commonly greatest when things ?row to equality; as natural tempests are greatest about the equinoctia. And as there are certain hoUo^v blasts of winfand secret swelUngs of seas, before a tempest, so are there in states : lUe etiam Cfficos instare tumultus Sape monet, fraudesque et operta tumescere bella. Libels and licentious discourses against t^^e ^tate, when they are frequent and open; and la, like sort false news often running up and down, to the disadvantage of State and hastily embraced, are amongst the signs of Irouble?' Virgil, giving the pedigree of Fame, saith she was sister to the giants : lUam Terra parens, ira irritata Deorum, Eitremam (ut perhibent) Cso Enceladoque sororem Progenuit.' A a if fames were the relics of seditions past ; but they nrfno C^s indeed the preludes of seditions to come. How- soever he noteth it right, that seditious tumults and seditious fames dfffer no morl but as brother and sister, masculme aTfeSne; especially if it come to that, that the best actions of a state, and the most plausible, and winch ought to S greatest contentment, are taken in Ul ^en^e, ajid traduced for that shows the envy great as Tacitus saith. Jo^ata magna invidia, seu bene, seu male, gesta ^premunt? .r. ^ ' A(Kv. ' Virff. ^n. iv. 179. : JSiu?Ses sStre aceepta et inviso -mel prin.pi seu beue seu Sacta pra^minuit. Tac. HiH. i. 7. (Walther.) I <30 Essays, V Of Seditions and Troubles. 31 Neither doth it follow, that because these fames are a sign of troubles, that the suppressing of them with too rnuch 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 irn/pe- rantium mandata interpretari, quam exsequi ;^ disputing, excusing, cavilling upon mandates and directions, is a kind of shaking off the yoke, and assay of disobedience: espe- cially if in those disputings they which are for the direc- tion speak fearfully and tenderly ; and those that are against it audaciously. 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 un- even 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 possession. Also, when discords, and quarrels, and factions 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 \mdiev primum mobile, according to the old opinion, 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 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.^ A So when any of the four pillars of government 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 (concerning which, nevertheless, more light may be taken f V \t M from that which followeth), and let us speak first of the Materials of seditions ; then of the motives of them; and thirdly of the remedies. Concerning the materials of seditions, it is a thmg well to be considered ; for the surest way to prevent sedi- tions (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 discontentment. It is certain, so many overthrown estates, so many votes for troubles. Lucan noteth well the state of Rome before the civil war : Hinc usura vorax, rapidumque in tempore foeuus, Hinc concussa fides, et multis utile bellum.« This same multis utile bellum is an assured and in- fallible sign of a state disposed to seditions and troubles. And if this poverty and broken estate, in the better sort be loined with a want and necessity in the mean people, the danger is imminent and great. For the rebellions of the belly are the worst. As for discontentments, they are in the politic body like to humours in the natural, which are apt to gather a preternatural heat and to inflame. 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 dangerous discontentments where the fear is greater than the feeling, dolendi modus, timendi non item. Besides, m great oppres- sions, the same things that provoke the patience, do withal mate' the courage : but in fears it is not so. ISTeither let any prince, or state, be secure concerning discontentments, because they have been often, or have been long, and yet no peril hath ensued ; for as it is true that every vapour, or ftime, 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 wealcest 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 Tac. Hist, ii. 39. * Job xii. 18. 6 Lucaa. Fhars. i. 181. 32 Essays. Of Seditions and Troubles, 38 / . persons, strangers, dearths, disbanded soldiers, factions ; ^ grown desperate ; and whatsoever in offending people ' ^oineth and knitteth them in a common cause. f For the remedies ; there may be some general preser- Tatives, whereof we will speak ; as for the just cure, it must answer to the particular disease : and so be left to coimsel rather than rule. The first remedy, or prevention, is to remove, by all means possible, that material cause of sedition whereof we spake; 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 idleness; the repressing of waste and excess by sumptuary laws ; the improvement and husbanding of the soil, the regulating of prices of things vendible ; the moderating of taxes and tributes, and the like. Generally, it is to be foreseen that the population of a kingdom (especially 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 Hve lower and gather more ; therefore the multiplying of nobility, and other degrees of quality, in an over proportion to the com- mon 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, for as 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 manufacture • and the vecture, or carriage. So that, if these three wheelsgo', wealth will flow as in a spring tide. And it cometh many times to pass, that materiam superahit opus J that the work and carriage is worth more than the material, and enricheth a state more ; as is notably seen in the Low Countrymen, who have the best mines above ground in the world. Above all things, good policy is to be used, that the treasure and monies m a state be not gathered into few hands : for, otherwise, a state may have a great stock, and \ r *f i V - .^^ 1 I. 'i ' Ovid. Mel. ii. 5. A yet starve. And money is like muck, not good except it be spread. This is done chiefly by suppressing, or, at the least, keeping a straight hand upon the devouring trades of usury, engrossing,^ great pasturages, and the like. For removing discontentments, or at least the danger of them ; there is in every state (as we know) two por- tions of subjects, the noblesse and the commonalty. When one of these is discontent, the danger is not great ; for common 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 be apt and ready to move of themselves. Then is the danger, when the greater sort do but wait for the troubhng 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 emblem, no doubt, to show how safe it is for monarchs to make sure of the good will of common people. To give moderate liberty for griefs and discontentments 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, endangereth ulcers and pernicious imposthumations. The part of Epimetheus might well become Prome- theus, 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 pohtic and artificial nourishing and entertaining of hopes, and carry- ing men from hopes to hopes, is one of the best antidotes against the poison of discontentments. And it is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men's hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction: and when it can handle things in such a manner as no evil shall appear so peremptory but that it hath some outlet of 8 Sometimes printed engrossing great pasturages. But by en- grossing is meant the trade of engrossers— m(in ^^llo buy up all that can be got of a particular commodity, then raise the price. By great pasturages is meant turning corn land into pasture. Of this prac- tice great complaints had been made for near a century before Bacon s time; and a law passed to prevent it. See Lord Herbert of Cher- burv's Histoiy of Henry VIII. , ^ .. . , 9 Horn. //. i. 398. A. L. u. iv. 4. I 34- Essays, Of Seditions and Troubles, 35 % hope : whicli is the less hard to do, because both particular persons and factions are apt enouf]jh 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 confi- dence with the discontented party; and upon whona 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 and breaking of all factions and combinaiions that are adverse to the state, and setting them at distance, or at least distrust amongst themselves, 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. Cajsar did himself infinite hurt in that speech; Sylla nescivit literas, nonpotuit diet are, ^ for it did utterly cut off that hope which men had entertained, that he would at one time or other give over his dictatorship. Galba undid him- self by that speech, legi a se militem, 7ion emi;^ for it put the soldiers out of hope of the donative. Probus, likewise, by that speech ; si vixero, non opus erit amjdius Romano imperio militibus :''^ a speech of great despair for the soldiers, and many the like. Surely princes had need, in tender matters and ticklish times, to beware what they say; espe- cially in these short speeches, which fly abroad like darts, and are thought to be shot out of their secret intentions. For as for large discourses, 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 trepidation in court upon the first breaking out of troubles * Suet. vit. C. Jul. Cces. 77. i. and cf. J. L. i. vii. 12. 2 Tac. Hist. i. 5. ' Flav. Von. vit. Frob. 20. 1 i I u U than were fit. And the state runneth the danger of that which Tacitus saith, atqueis habitus animorumfuit ut peS' si mum f acinus auderent pauci plures vellent omnes pate^ rentur,"^ But let such military persons be assured, and well reputed of, rather than factious and popular ; holding also good correspondence with the other great men in the state; or else the remedy is worse than the disease. XVI. OF ATHEISM.* I had rather believe all the fables in the legend, 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 religion : for while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no further ; but when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate, and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity. Nay, even that school which is most accused of atheism, doth most demonstrate rehgion ; that is, the school of Leucippus, and Democritus, and Epicurus. For it is a thousand times more credible, that four mutable 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. 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 beheve 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 nothing 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 opinion, 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 * Hist. i. 28. * T^ere is a discourse under this title in the Meditationes Sacra but no similarity between the two. ® Psal. xiv. 1. d2 / "^^ * 36 Essays, \ 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 them- jselves ? Epicurus is charged, that he did but dissemble for nis credit's sake, when he affirmed there were blessed natures, but such as enjoyed themselves without having respect to the government of the world. Wherein they say he did temporize, though in secret he thought there was no God. But certainly he is traduced ; for his words are noble and divine : Non Deos vulgineg are prof anum, sed vulgi opiniones Diis 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, etc., but not the word Deus ; which shows 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 take part with the very subtilest philoso- phers. 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 rehgion, or superstition, are, by the adverse part, branded with the name of atheists. But the great atheists indeed are hypocrites ; which are ever handling holy tilings, 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; for any one main division addeth zeal to botli sides; but many divisions introduce atheism. Another is scandal of priests ; when it is come to that which St. Bernard saith, non est jam dicere ut populus sic sacerdos; quia nee sic 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 religion. 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 him- ' Diog. Laert. x. 123. %. \ -;— - i Of Atheism. 37 self maintained by a man ; who to him is instead of a God, or meltor 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 and faith, which human nature in itself could not obtain. Therefore, as atheism is in aU respects natetul, 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 Eome. Of this state hear what Gicero saith ; Qluam volumus, licet, Patres conscripti, nos amemus; tamen nee numero Hispanos, nee rohore Gallos, nee calliditate Posnos, nee artibus GrcBcos, nee denique hoc ipso hujus gentis et terrce domestico nativoque sensu Italos tpsos et Latinos; sed pietate, ac religione, at que liac unx sapientic, quod Beorum immortalium numine omnia regi, guhernarique perspeximus, omnes gentes, nationesque super- avimus,^ XVII. OF SUPERSTITION. It were better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an opinion as is unworthy of him ; for the one is unbelief, the other is contumely: and certainly superstition is the reproach of the Deity. Plutarch saith well to that purpose : Surely, saith he, I had rather a great deal men should say there was no such man at all as Plutarch, than that they should say there was one Plutarch that would eat his children as soon as they were horn,^ as the poets speak of Saturn. And, as the contumely is greater towards God, 80 the danger 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 dis- mounts 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 superstition hath been the confusion of many states ; and bringeth m a new primum mobile, that ravisheth all the spheres of govern- ment. The master of superstition is the people ; and in m * Cic. de Ear, Res^, 9. Plut. De Superstit, x. I 38 -z: L .1 J^ssays. Of Travel 39 all superstition wise men follow fools ; and artrnments are fitted to practice in a reversed order. It was gravely said by some of the prelates in the council of Trent, where the doctrine of the schoolmen bare ffreat sway, that the school- men were hke astronomers, which did feign eccentrics and epycicles, and such engines of orbs, to save the phsenomena, 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 sensual rites and ceremonies : excess of outward and pha- risaical holiness : over great reverence of traditions, which cannot but load the church : the stratagems of prelates for their own ambition 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, barbarous 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 deformed. And, as wholesome meat corrupteth to little worms, so good forms and orders corrupt into a number of petty observances. There is a superstition in avoiding superstition, when men think to do best if they go furthest from the superstition formerly received : there- fore care would 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 reformer. XVIII. OF TRAVEL. Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education ; 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 imder some tutor, or grave servant, I allow well ; so that lie 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 country where they go, what acquaintances they are to seek, what exer- cises or discipline the place yieldeth. For else young men shall go hooded, and look abroad little. It is a strange thing that in sea voyages, whore there is nothing to be seen^but sky and sea, men should make diaries ; but in land i« f i travel, wherein so much is to be observed, for the most part they omit it ; as if chance were fitter to be registered than observation. Let diaries, therefore, be brought inl use. The things to be seen and observed are : the courts of princes, especially when they give audience to ambas- sadors : 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 80 the liavens and harbours ; antiquities and ruins ; libraries, colleges, disputations, and lectures, where any are ; ship- ping and navies ; houses and gardens of state and pleasure, near great cities ; armories, arsenals, magazines, exchanges, burses, warehouses ; exercises of horsemanship, fencing, training of soldiers, and the like ; comedies, such where- unto 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 all which the tutors or servants ought to make diligent inquiry. As for triumphs, masks, feasts, weddings, funerals, capital executions, and such shows, 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 coun- trymen, and diet in such places where tnere is good com- pany of the nation where he travelleth. Let him, upon Lis removes from one place to another, procure recommen- dation to some person of quality residing in the place whither he removeth; and 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 profit- able is acquaintance with the secretaries and employed men of ambassadors ; for so in travelling in one country he 40 Essays. shall suck the experience of many. Let hira also see and visit eminent persons in all kinds, which are of great name abroad, that he may be able to tell how the life a^reeth with the fame. For quarrels, they are with care and dis- cretion to be avoided ; they are commonly for mistresses, healths, pi 'ice, and words. And let a man beware how he keepeth company with choleric and quarrelsome persons ; for they will eno^aofe him into their own quarrels. When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind him ; but main- tain a correspondence by letters with those of his acquaint- ance which are of most worth. And let his travel appear rather in discourse than in his apparel or gesture ; and in his discourse let him be rather advised in his answers than forward to tell stories : and let it appear that he doth not chanu^e 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. XIX, 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 drsire, which makes their minds more languishing ; and have many representations of perils and shadows, which makes their minds the less clear. And this is one reason also of that effect which the scripture speaketh of, that the kings heart is inscrutable} For multitude of jealousies, and lack of some predominant desire, that should marshal and put in order all the rest, maketh any man's heart hard to find or sound. Hence it comes, likewise, that princes many times make themselves desires, and set their hearts upon toys; sometimes upon a building; sometimes upon erecting of an order ; sometimes upon the advancing of a person ; sometimes upon obtaining excellence in some art, or feat of the hand ; as Nero for playing on the harp • Domitian for certainty of the hand with the arrow ; Coml modus for playing at fence ; Caracalla for driving chariots; and the like. This seemeth incredible unto those that know not the principle, that the mind of man is more cheered and refreshed by profiting in small things, than by ' Prov. XXV. 3. ■y "• % t ^ Of Emjyire. standing at a stay in great. We see also that kings that have been fortunate conquerors 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 superstitious and melancholy : as did Alexander the Great, Diocletian, 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 empire : it is a thing rare and hard to keep; for both temper and distemper consist of contraries ; but it is one thing to mingle con- traries, another to interchange them. The answer of Apollonius to Vespasian is full of excellent instruction : Vespasian asked him, what was Nero's overthrow ? He answered, Nero could touch and tune the harp well, but in government sometimes he used to wind the pins too high, sometimes to let them down too low.^ And certam it is, that nothing destroyeth authority so much as the unequal and untimely interchange 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 shiftings of dangers and mischiefs, 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 diflSculties in princes' business are many and great ; but the ^ o-reatest difficulty is often in their own mind. For it is i common with princes (saith Tacitus) to will contradictories. i Sunt plerumque regum voluntates vehementes, et inter se ♦ contraricB.^ For it is the solecism of power to think to ' command the end, and yet not to endure the mean. ' 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 com- ^ nons, and their men of war ; and from all these arise r iangers, if care and circumspection be not used. t First, for their neighbours ; there can no general rule ' )e given (the occasions are so variable), save one, which ei. !1 c 2 Philost. vit. Apoll Tyan. v. 28. » Quoted rightly A. L. ii. xxii. 5. from Sallust {B, J. 113.) / Essays. t ever holdeth, which is, that princes do keep due sentinel, that none of their neighbours do overgrow so (by increase of territory, by embracing of trade, by approaches, or the like), as they become more able to annoy them than they were. And tliis is generally the work of standing counsels to foresee and to hinder it. Durino^ that triumvirate of kings, king Henry the Eighth of England, Francis the J 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 straightwhys balance it, either by confederation, 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 Medicis, and Ludovicus Sforza, potentates, 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 England'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 advoutresses. ' For their children, the tragedies likewise of dangers from them have been many : and generally the entering of^ the 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 bo imtrue, and of strange blood ; for that Selymus the Second ^ was thought to be supposititious. The destruction of JP Crispus, 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 I deaths ; and Constantius, his other son, did little better. I who died indeed of sickness, but after that Julianus had taken arms against him. The destruction of Demetrius, son to Philip the Second of Macedon, turned upon the( )i > # ^ \ Of Empire, 43 father, who died of repentance. And many like examples tJiere 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 Selymus the First against En Tand ^^""^^ ^^""^ of Henry the Second king of For their prelates, when they are proud and great, there IS also danger from them; as it was in the times of Anselmus and Ihomas Becket, archbishops of Canterbury, WHO with their crosiers did almost try it with the kin/'s sword, and yet they had to deal with stout and haughty kings William Eufus, Henry the First, and Henry the second. I he danger is not from that state, but where it iiatJi a dependence of foreign authority; or where the ciiurclimen come in and are elected, not by the collation of tJie king or particular patrons, but by the people. -tor 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 anything 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 were full of difficulties and troubles ; for the nobility, though they continued loyal unto him, yet did they not cooperate with him m his business. So that in effect he was fain to do aU thincrg himself. ^ For their second nobles, there is not much danger trom them, bemg a body dispersed. Thev may sometimes discourse high, but that doth little hurt: besides, they are a counterpoise 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 commotions. For their merchants, they are vena porta; and if they flourish not, a kingdom may have good limbs, but will they empty veins, and nourish little. Taxes and imposts upon them do seldom good to the king's revenue ; for that which he wins m the hundred he leeseth 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 44. Essays, Of Counsel, 45 they live and remain in a body, and are used to donatives, whereof we see examples in the janizaries and praBtorian bands of Eome ; but traininj^s of men, and armino; 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 concerning kings are in effect com- prehended 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. XX. OF COUNSEL. The greatest trust between man and man is the trust of giving counsel. For in other confidences 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 greatness, or derogation to their sufficiency to rely upon counsel. God himself is not without ; but hath made it one of the great names of his blessed Son, The Coun- seJlor.* Solomon hath pronounced that in counsel is stability} 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 inconstancy, doing and undoing, like the reeling of a drunken man. Solomon's son found the force of counsel, as his father saw the necessity 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 in- corporation and inseparable conjunction 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 intend that sovereignty ^^ I I ►A is married to counsel ; the other in that which folio we th, which was thus : they say, after Jupiter was married to 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 monstrous 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 beget- ting or impregnation; 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 depended on them ; but take the matter back into their own hands, and make it appear to the world, that the de- crees 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 reputation to themselves) from their head and device. Let us now speak of the inconveniences of counsel, and of the remedies. The inconveniences that have been noted in calling and using counsel are three. First, the revealing off affairs, whereby they become less secret. Secondly, the weakening of the authority of princes, as if they were less of themselves. Thirdly, the danger of being unfaith- fully counselled, and more for the good of them that counsel than of him that is counselled. For which inconveniences, the doctrine of Italy, and practice of France in some kings' times, hath introduced cabinet councils ; a remedy worse than the disease. As to secresy, princes are not bound to communicate all matters with all counsellors, but may extract and select. Neither is it necessary, 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 rimarumsum:^ one futile person that maketh it his glory to tell will do more hurt than many that know it their duty to conceal. 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 * Isai. ix. 6. * Prov. XX. 18. A. • Hesiod. Tkeo^. 886. 7 Ter. JEun, I. ii. 25. 46 Essays, counsels nnprosperous ; for, besides the secrecy, tliey com- monly go on constantly in one spirit of direction without distraction. But then it must be a prudent king, such as is able to grind with a hand mill ; and those inward coun- sellors 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, except it were to Morton and Fox. For weakening of authority ; the fable showeth 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 dependencies by his council, except w4iere there hath been either an over great- ness 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 terram^ is meant of the nature of times, and not of all par- ticular persons. There be that are in nature faithful and sincere, and plain and direct ; not crafty and involved : let princes, above all, draw to themselves such natures. JBesides, counsellors are not commonl}^ so united, but that one counsellor keepeth sentinel 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 them : Principis est virtus maxima nosse suos. And on the other side, counsellors should not be too speculative into their sovereign's person. The true com- position of a counsellor is rather to be skilful in his master's business than in his nature ; for then he is like to advise him, and not to feed his humour. It is of sintmlar use to princes if they take the opinions of their council both separately and together ; for private opinion is more free, but opinion before others is more reverend. In private, men are more bold in their own humours; and in consort men are more obnoxious to others' humours ; therefore it is good to take both : and of the inferior sort rather in private, to preserve freedom ; and of the greater, rather m consort, to preserve respect. It is in vain for princes to take counsel concerning matters, if they take no counsel ® Luke xviii. 8. Of Counsel, 47 <: '-.J N likewise concerning, persons; for all matters are as dead images ; and the life of the execution of affairs resteth in the good choice of persons. Neither is it enough to con- sult concerning persons, secundum genera, as in an idea of mathematical description, what the kind and character the person should be ; for the greatest errors are committed, and the most judgment is shown, in the choice of in- dividuals. It was truly said, optimi con^iliarii mortui: books will speak plain when counsellors blanch. There- fore 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 rather 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 pro- pounded one day and not spoken to till the next day ; in node consilium^ So was it done in the commission of union between England and Scotland ; which was a grave and orderly assembly. I commend set days for petitions : for both it gives the suitors more certainty for their atten- dance ; and it frees the meetings for matters of estate, that they may Jioc agere. In choice of committees for ripeniog business for the council, it is better to choose indifferent persons than to make an indifferency by putting in those that are strong on both sides. I commend also, standing commissions ; as for trade, for treasure, for war, for suits, for some provinces ; for w^here there be divers particular councils, and but one council of estate (as it is in Spain), they are, in efiect, 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, mint-men, 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 tribunitious manner ; for that is to clamour councils, 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 form there is more use of the counsellors' opinions that sit lower. A king, w^hen he presides in council, let him beware how he opens his own inclination too much in that which he pro- * iv vvKTi (iovXrj. Gaisf. Far, Gr. B. 359. 48 Essays. poundeth : for else counsellors will but take the wind of him, and instead of giving free counsel, will sing him a song o^ placebo, XXI. OF DELAYS. Fortune is like the market, where many times, if you can stay a little, the price will fall. And again, it is some- times like Sibylla's offer, which at first oflereth the com- modity 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 tjie beginnings and onsets of things. Dangers are no more light, if they once seem light : and more 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 extreme. The ripeness or unripeness of the occasion (as we said), must ever be well weighed ; and generally it is good to commit the beginnings of all great actions to Argus with his hundred eyes, and the ends to Eriareus 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 counsel, and celerity in the execution. For when things are once come to the execution, there is no secrecy comparable to celerity ; like the motion of a bullet in the air, which flieth so swift as it outruns the eye. XXII. OF CUNNING. We take cunning for a sinister, or crooked wisdom ; and certainly there is a great difference between a cunning \ k ii — • \ ^V <^ f * Phsedr. viii. « Horn. IL V. 845. Of Cunning, ^ man and a wise man, not only in point of honesty, but in pomt of ability. 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 otherwise weak men Agam, it IS one thing to understand persons, and another thmg to understand matters ; for many are perfect in men's humours, that are not greatly capable of the real part of busmess ; which is the constitution of one that hath studied men more than books. Such men are fitter for practice than for counsel, and they are good but in their own alley • 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 amhos nudos ad ignotos, et videhis, doth scarce hold for them. And, because these cunning men are like haberdashers of small wares, it is not amiss to set forth their shop. It is a point of cunning to wait upon him with whom you speak with your eye, 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 anything 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 ^.ngland with bills to sign, but he would always first put her into some discourse 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 effectually 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 was about to say, as if he took himself up, breeds a greater appetite m him, with whom you confer, to know more. And because it works better when anything seemeth to be gotten from you by question than if you offer it of yourself, you may lay a bait for a question by showing another visage and countenance than you are wont ; to the end, to give occasion for the party to ask what the'matter V \ 60 Essays, ^ i is of the cliaDge, as JSTehemiah 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 marriage 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, 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 by-matter. I knew another that when he came to have speech, he would pass over that that he intended most ; and go forth and come back again, and speak of it as 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 sud- denly come upon them ; and to be found with a letter in their hand, or doing somewhat which they are not accus- tomed ; 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 competitors for the secretary's place in queen Eliza- beth's time, and yet kept good quarter between themselves, and would confer one with another upon the business ; and the one of them said, that to be a secretary in the declination 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 desire to be secretary in the declination of a monaix?hy. The first man took hold of it, and found means it was told the queen ; who, hearing 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 Of Cunnirt^. 51 I 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. i j . 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; as Tigellinus did towards Burrhus, Se^ non diversas spes, sed incolumitatem imperatoris simpliciter spectare? . j , • Some have in readiness so many tales and stories, as there is nothing they would insinuate, but they can wrap it into a tale ; which serveth both to keep themselves more in guard, and to make others carry it with more pleasure. . « . i ^i. It is a good point of cunning for a man to 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 he m wait to speak somewhat they desire to say; and how far about they wiU fetch, and how many other matters they will beat over to come near it ; it is a thing of a 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 m I^auis, another suddenly came behind him and called him by his true name, whereat straightways he looked back. But these small wares and petty points ot cunning are infinite, and it were a good deed to i^ake a hst ot them ; for that nothing doth more hurt in a state than ttiat cunnins: men pass for wise. , , ^i x But certainly some there are that know the resorts and falls of business, that cannot sink into the mam ot it ; Hke a house that hath convenient stairs and entries but never a fair room. Therefore you shaU see them find out pretty looses in the conclusion, but are no ways able to examine or debate matters. And yet commonly they take advantage of their inability, and would be thought wits of direction. Some build rather upon the abusmg of others, and (as we now say) putting tricks upon them, than upon soundness of their own proceedings: but Solomon saith, Frudens advertit ad gressus suos: stultus divertit ad doCos, ' Nehem. ii. 1. * Vid. Tac. Jnn. xi. 29, seq. 5 Tacit. Jnn. xiv. 57. « Prov. xiv. 13. £ 2 52 Essays, I XXIII. OF WISDOM FOR A MANS SELF. An ant is a wise creature for itself; but it is a shrewd thin^ in an orchard or garden. And certainly men that are great lovers of themselves waste the public. Divide witR reason between self-love and society ; and be so true to thyself as thou be not false to others ; especially to thy king and country. It is a poor centre of a man's actions, himself. It is right earth. Por 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 all to a man's self is more tolerable in a sovereign prince, because themselves are not only themselves, but their good and evil is at the peril of the public fortune. But it is a desperate evil in a servant to a prince, or a citizen in a republic. For whatsoever afiairs pass such a man's hands, he crooketh them to his own ends : w^hichmust 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 pro- portion is lost : it were disproportion enough for the servants 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, treasurers, ambas- sadors, 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 master's 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 for that good is after the model of their master's fortune. And certainly it is the nature of extreme self lovers, as they will set a house on fire, 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. 2. Wisdom for a man's self is, in many branches thereof, a depraved thing : it is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a house somewhat before it fall. It is the wisdom of the fox, that thrusts out the badger, who digged Of Wisdom for a Mans Sdf 63 ji \ and made room for him. It is the wisdom of crocodiles, that shed tears when they would devour. But that which is specially to be noted is, that those which (as Cicero says of tompey) are sui amantes sine rivali,'^ are many times unfortunate ; and whereas they have all their time sacrificed to themselves, they become in the end themselves sacrifices to the inconstancy of fortune, whose wings they thought by their self-wisdom to have pinioned. XXIV. OF INNOVATIONS. As the births of living creatures at first are ilhshapen, 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, thev are like strangers, more admired, and less favoured. All this is true, if time stood still ; which, contrariwise, moveth so round that a froward 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 innovations 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 unlooked 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, ^ Jd. Qu. Fr. iii. 8, \ J - ^ \ h^t Essays. or thn utility evident ; and well to beware that it be tlie reformation that draweth on the chanore, and not the desire of chani^e that pretendeth the reformation. And lastly, that the novelty, thouj^h it be not rejected, yet be held for a suspect : and, as the Scripture saith, That we malce a stand upon the ancient icay and then look about us, and dis- cover what is the straight and right way^ and so to walk in it? XXV. OF DISPATCH. Affected dispatch is one of the most dangerous things to business that can be. It is lilce that whicli the physicians call predigestion, or hasty digestion ; which is sure to fill the body full of crudities, and secret seeds of diseases. There- fore 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 dispatch. But it is one thing to abbre- viate by contracting, another by cutting off: and business so handled at several sittings, or meetings, goeth commonly backward and forward in an unsteady manner. I knew a wise mau^ that had it for a by-word, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion, ^tay a little, that we may make an end the sooner. 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, 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 infor- mation 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 backward, and be more tedious while he waits upon his memory, than he could have been if he had gone on in his t^ V r: ■ ^ -^X \ Of Dispatch. 55 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 ques- tion ; for it chaseth away many a frivolous speech 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 a race. Prefaces, and passages, and excusations, and other speeches of reference to the person, 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 clearly. To choose time is to save time ; and an unseasonable motion is but beatmg the air. There be three parts of business : the preparation, the debate or examination, and the perfection. Whereof, it you look for dispatch, let the middle only be the work ot many, and the first and last the work of few. The pro- ceeding upon somewhat conceived in writing doth lor the most part facilitate dispatch: for though it should be wholly rejected, yet that negative is more pregnant ot direction than an indefinite ; as ashes are more generative than dust. XXVI. 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 between nations, certainly it is so between man and man. For as the apostle saith of godli- ness, ^aw^^ a show of godliness, hut denying the power thereof;^ so certainly there are in points of wisdom and sufficiency that do nothing 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 prospectives to make superficies to seem body that hath depth and bulk. Some are so close and ® Jerem. vi. 16. Cf. A. L. I. iv. 1. ^ Sir Araias Paulet. ' 2 Tim. iii. 5. i / 56 Essays, reserved as they will not show their wares but by a dark light, and seem always to keep back somewhat; and when they know within themselves 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 them- selves with countenance and gesture, and are wise by signs ; as Cicero saith of Piso, that when he answered him he fetched one of his brows up to his forehead, and bent the other down to his chin; respondes, altero adfrontem sub- latOy altero ad mentum depresso supercilio, crudelitatem tibi non placere? Some think to bear it by speaking a freat word, and being peremptory ; and go on, and take y admittance that which they cannot make good. Some, whatsoever is beyond 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 commonly by amusing men with a subtilty blanch the matter ; of whom Aulus Gellius saith, hominem delirum, qui verborum minutiis rerum frangit pondera? Of which 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 dehberations 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 thev be allowed, it requireth a new work : which false point of wisdom is the bane of business. To conclude, there is no decaying merchant, or inward beggar, hath so many tricks to uphold the credit of their wealth, as these empty persons have to maintain the credit of their sufficiency. Seeming wise men may make shift to get opinion; but let no man choose them for employment; for certainly, vou were better take for busi- ness a man somewhat absurd than over formal. XXVII. 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 2 In Pis. 6. • I cannot find this expression in Aulus Gellius. Quintilian (x. 1.) says of Seneca : Rerum pondera miyiutissimis sententiis fregii, Cf. A, X. I. iv. 5. * Plat. Frotag. i. 33?. I Of Friendship. 57 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 society, 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, except it proceed, not out of a pleasure in solitude, but out of a love and desire to sequester a man's self for a higher conversation : such as is found to have been falsely and feignedly in some of the heathen, as Epimenides the Candian, Numa the Eoman, Empedocles the Sicilian, and Apollonius of Tyana ; and truly and really in divers of the ancient hermits and holy fathers of the church. But little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth ; 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 further, 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 affec- tions is unfit for friendship, he taketh it of the beast, and not from humanity. A principal fruit of friendship is the ease and discharge of the fulness and swellings of the heart, which passions of all kinds do cause and induce. We know diseases of stop- pings and suffocations are the most dangerous in the body ; and it is not much othei-wise in the mmd : you may take sarza to open the liver; steel to open the spleen ; flour of sulphur for the lungs; castoreum for the brain; but no receipt openeth the heart but a true friend, to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or confession. 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 fortune from that of their subjects and servants, cannot gather this fruit, s Aristot. Pollt. i. 1. Cf. A, L, II. xx. 8. ^'- 63 Essays, except (to make themselves capable thereof) they raise some persoDs 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 i\\e Eoman name attaineth the true use and cause thereof, n^immg ilieva participes cur a rum, -.iox it is that which tieth the knot. And we see plainly that this liath been done, not by weak and passionate princes only, but by the wisest and most politic 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, u^^ing the word which is received between private men. L. Sylla when he commanded Eome, raised Pompey (after surnamed the Great) to that height that Pompey vaunted himself for Sylla's overmatch. For when he had carried the consulship for a friend of his, against the pursuit of Sylla, and that Sylla did a httle resent thereat, and began to speak great, Pompey turned upon him a«^ain, and in effect bade him be quiet ; for that more men adored the Pun rising than the sun setting.^ With JuUus Ca'sar, Decimus Brutus had obtained that interest, 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 dravr him forth to his death. For when Caesar would have discharged the senate, in regard of some ill passages, and specially a dream of Calfurnia, this man lifted him gently bv 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 seemed his favour was so great, as Antonius, in a letter, which is recited verbatim in one of Cicero's Philippics, calleth him venefica, — * witch;' as if he had enchanted Ca?sar.^ Augustus raised Agrippa (though of mean birth) to that height, as, when he con- sulted 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 away his life; there was no third way, he had made him so great. With Tiberius Caesar, Sejanus had ascended to that height as • Platarch (vit. Pomp. 19) relates that Pompey said this upon Sylla's refusal to e^ive him a triumph. ' Plut. viL J. Cas. 64. s cic. FhUijp. xiii. H. • \ V ■^^K 1^ Of Friendship. 59 they two were termed and reckoned as a pair of friends. Tiberius, in a letter to him, saith, hceo pro amicitia nostra non occultavi:^ and the whole senate dedicated an altar to Friendship, as to a goddess, in respect of the great dear- ness 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, 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 overlive 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, t 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 a ^ 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 ; yet all these could not supply they comfort of friendship. It is not to be forgotten what Comineus observeth of his first master, duke Charles the Hardy, namely, that he would communicate his secrets with none ; and least of all those secrets which troubled him most. Whereupon he goeth on, and saith, that towards his latter time that close- ness did impair and a little perish his understanding. Surely Comineus might have made the same judgment also, if it had pleased him, of his second master, Louis 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 re- doubleth joys, and cutteth griefs in halves; for there is no man that imparteth his joys to his friend, but he joyeth the more ; and no man that imparteth his griefs to his friend, but he grieveth the less. So that it is, in truth, of opera- ^ Vid. Tac. Ann. iv. 40. ' Dio Cass. Ixxv. 2 p]^t.^ ^g Educai. Puer, 17. / ,f 1/ 60 Essays. f tion upon a man's mind of like virtue as tlie alcliymists use to attribute to their stone for man's body ; that it worketh all contrary effects, but still to the good and benefit of nature. But yet, without praying in aid of alcliymists, there is «- manifest image of this in the ordinary course of nature. For, in bodies, union strengtheneth and cherisheth any natural 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 maketli indeed a fair day in the affections from storm and tempests ; but it maketh daylight in the under- standing, 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 many thoughts, his wits and understanding do clarify and break up, in the communicating and dis- coursing with another: he tosseth his thoughts more easily; he marshalleth them more orderly; heseeth 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 Themistocles to the king of Persia, that speech was like cloth of Arras, opened and put abroad ; whereby Uie imagery doth appear in figure, whereas in thoughts they lie but as in packs. ^ Neither is this second fruit of friendsliip, in opening the understanding, restrained only to such friends as are able to give a man counsel (they indeed are best) : but even without 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 statua or picture, than to suffer his thoughts to pass in smother. Add now, to make this second fruit of friendship com- plete, 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 under- 3 Plut. vit. Themut 28. * Ap. Stob. Serm. v. 120. Vid. A. L, i. 3. < - Lk ( ? > i Of Friendship. 61 standing and judgment; which is ever infused and drenched in his affections and customs. So as there is as much dif- ference 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 liberty of a friend. Counsel is of two sorts ; the one concerning manners, the other concerning business. For the first; the best preservative 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 sometime too piercing and corrosive; reading good books of morality is a httle 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 admo- nition 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 for- tune. 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, it 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 a rest; and such other fond and high imaginations, 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 have 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 mixed partly of mischief, and partly of remedy: even as if you would call a physician, that is thought good for the cure of the disease you com- * James i. 23. N-N •^- 63 Essa7/p. ♦ , 0/ Expense. 63 plain of, but is unacquainted with your body; and, there- fore, may put you in the way for present cure, but over- throweth your health in some other kind ; and so cure the disease, and kill the patient. But a friend, that is wholly acquainted with a man's estate, will beware, by furthering any present business, how he dasheth upon other inconve- nience. And, therefore, rest not upon scattered counsels : for 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 ana see how many things there are which a man cannot do himself; and then it will appear that it was a sparing speech of the ancients, to say, that a friend is another himself; for that a friend is far more than himself. 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 hnishing 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 continue 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 where friendship is, allofhces 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 comehness, say or do himself? A man can scarce allege his own merits with modesty, 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 blushing 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 j I requires, and not as it sorteth with the person. But to I 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. 1 1/ ) f .. i t XXVIII. OF EXPENSE. Eiches are for spending; and spending for honour 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 show, that the bills may be less than the estimation abroad. Certainly, if a man wdllkeep but of even hand, his ordinary expenses ought to be but to the ha]f 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 all had need both choose well those whom he employ eth, and change them often : for new are more timorous and less subtle. He that can look into his estate but seldom, it behoveth him to turn all to certainties. A man had need, if he be plentiful in some kind of expense, to be as saving again in some other. As if he be plentiful in diet, to be saving in apparel: if he be plentiful in the hall, to be saving in the stable: and the like. For he that is plentiful m ex- penses 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 sydden, as in letting it run on too long : for hasty selling is commonly as disadvantageable as interest. Besides, he tkat clears at 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. /' 64 Essays, XXIX. OF THE TRUE GREATNESS OF KINGDOMS AND ESTATES. The speecli of Themistocles, the Athenian, which was haughty and arrogant, in taking so much to himself, had been a grave and wise observation and censure, appHed at large to others. Desired at a feast to touch a lute, ne said, He could not fiddle, but yet he could make a small town a great city.^ These words (holpen a little with a metaphor) may express two different abilities in those that deal in business of estate. For, if a true survey be taken of coun- sellors and statesmen, there may be found (thougli 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 cunningly, but yet are so far from being able to make a small state great, as their gift lieththe 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 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 sufficient, negotiis pares, able to manage afiairs, and to keep them from preci- pices 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 themselves in vain enterprises ; nor, on the other sicle, 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 « Plut. vit Themist. ad init. Cf. A. L. I. iii. 7. < J 1 8 0/ Kingdoms and Estates^^ 65 appear by musters; and the number and greatness of cities and towns by cards and maps; but yet there is notTnT Sf vduS ^^^r^' -^^"t ^--- tlanX' IBZt T *°'i tJ-ue judgment concerning the power pared not%or "'***"; i ^he kingdom of hef.en is^rm- pared, not to any great kernel, or nut, but to a erain of mustard-seed;^ which is one of the least grabs but hath are there states great m territory, and yet not ant to f enlarge or command : and some that have but a small , g^t'^mCLrthir' '''' ''' ''' *° '^ ''^ ^''-^'^i- o" rae^I^ofi.nrT\ '^T*^ arsenals, and armories, goodly ' lerT and th/ liV. 'Iwl?^ ^^l' ^l^P^^t^' ordnance! artl SLTiTlih'- ^'V^'-' '' >•"* * '^^"P ''' a lioii's skin, except the breed and disposition of the people be sfmit and warlike. Jfay, number itself in armiesSorteth not , . much, where the people are of weak courage; fo^as Vi^gi sa th. It never troubles the wolf how mam the sheep be^ V . The army of the Persians, in the plains of ArbelT wis such a vast sea of people as did somewhat astonih The forTZ ' '^^l^^^^der's army, who came to him, there! fore, and wished him to set upon them by night • but he wrrsv^wf ^ T°' P"^^'*^.^ '''"'^- ^''^ *»^« defeat was easy.9 When Tigranes, the Armenian, beine en- camped upon a hill with four hundred thousand me J dk- ihZ A^^ ^""jy °^^^' Eomans, being not above fourteen wi?hT« 'r''''i""i*^T^'^' ^™' ^' ^^de himself merry with It and said, • Yonder men are too many for an am- bassage, and too few for a fight.' But, before the sun s^ sWhter .M "'"'*'' ^,&' ^™ *^« «^*«« ^itJ^ infinite slBAighter. 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. JSTeitheJ is money the sinews of war (as it is trivially said), where the smews of men's arms in base and efieminate people are &: ^""^ ^' *?^ ?^^^ ^'i^ ^'^ CrcBsus (when Si o^stenTa! Wh bJ?*''^-^'^ ^'^ ^'' ^°''*l' ' ^''•' '^^"^y «tl»er come that S ' T^ '7" ^^'^ ^°"' ^« ^"' be master of all this gom. Iherefore, let any prmce or state think soberly of ' Matth. xiii 31. ' Vid. J. L. i. vii. 11, r " Virg. Eel. vii. 51. ' Plut. vit. Lucull, 27. \ 66 Essays. Of Kingdoms and Estates. 67 his forces, except liis militia of natives be of good and valiant soldiers. And let princes, on the other side, that have subjects of martial disposition, know their own strength, unless they be otherwise wanting unto themselves. As for mercenarv forces (which is the help in this case), all examples show 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 excises of the Low Countries ; and, in some degree, in the subsidies of England. For, vou 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 tribute is fit for empire. Let states that aim at greatness take heed how their nobility and gentlemen do multiply too fast ; forthat maketh the common subject grow to be a peasant and base swain, driven out of heart, and, in efiect, but the 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 hundredth poll will be fit for a helmet; especially as to the infantry, which is the nerve of an army : and so there will be great popula- tion and Httle 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 territoiy and population, hath been (nevertheless) an overmatch; in regard the middle people of England 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 fife), was profound and admirable ; in making farms and houses of husbandry of a standard ; that is, maintained with such a proportion of land unto them as 2 Gen. xhx. 9. 14. 4> V V < # J m \ . ■*\ '* - -<, \ -' " \ i; may breed a subject to live in convenient plenty, and no servile condition ; and to 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 glebae.^ Neither is that state (which, for anything I know, is almost peculiar to England, and hardly to be found any- where else, except it be, perhaps, in Poland) to be passed over; I mean the state of free servants and attendants upon noblemen and gentlemen, who are no ways inferior unto the yeomanry for arms. And, therefore, out of all question, the splendour, and magnificence, and great re- tinues, the hospitality of noblemen and gentlemen received into custom, doth much conduce unto martial greatness : whereas, contrariwise, the close and reserved 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 branches and the boughs ; that is, that the natural subjects of the crown or state bear a sufficient proportion to the strange subjects that they govern. Therefore all states that are liberal of naturalization towards strangers are fit for empire. For to think that a 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 naturalization ; 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^'w* commercii^ jus connuhii, jus hceredi- tatis: 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 nations. Add to » Virg. JEn. i. 535. r 2 * Dan. iv. 10, seq. ? I 68 Essays, this their custom of plantation of colonies, uherebj the Eoman plant was removed into the soil of other nations ; and, putting both constitutions together, you will say, that it was not the Eomans that spread upon the world, but it was the world that spread upon the Eomans; and that was the sure way of greatness. I have marvelled sometimes at Spain, how they clasp and contain 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 Eome and Sparta at the first. And, besides, though they have not had that usage to naturalize liberally, yet they have that which is next to it; that is, to employ, almost indifferently, all nations in their militiaof ordinary soldiers; yea, and some- times in their highest commands. Nay, it seemeth at this instant, they are sensible of this want of natives; as by the Pragmatical Sanction, now published, appeareth. It is certain, that sedentary and within-door arts, and dehcate manufiactures (that require rather the finger than the arm) have in their nature a contrariety to a military disposition. And generally all warlike people are a Httle idle, and love danger better than travail: neither must they be too much broken of it, if they shall be preserved in vigour. Therefore it was great advantage in the ancient states ofSparta, Athens, Eome, and others, that they hadthe use of slaves, which commonly did rid those manufactures. Eut 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 natives ^vithin those three kinds ; tillers of the ground, free servants, and handicraftsmen of strong and manly arts, as smiths, masons, carpenters, &c., not reckoning professed soldiers. But, above all, for empire and greatness it importeth most, that a nation do profess arms as their principal honour, study, and occupation. For the things which we formerly have spoken of are but habilitations towards arms : and what is habilitation without intention and act P Eomulus, after his death (as they report or feign), sent a present to the Eomans, that above all they should intend arms, and then thev should prove the greatest empire of the world. The fabric of the state of Sparta was wholly (though not wisely) framed and composed to that scope and end. The Persians and Macedonians had it for a flash. The Gauls, Germans, Goths, Saxons, JS'ormans, and others^ \. > \^ •^• ► M Of Kingdoms and Estates. 69 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 intendeth, 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 Eomans and Turks principally have done) do wonders : and those that have professed arms but for an age have nothwith- standing commonly attained that greatness in that age which maintained them long after, when their profession and exercise of arms hath grown to decay. Incident to this point is for a state to have those laws or customs which may reach forth unto them just occasions (as may be pretended) 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 upom 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 Eomans though they esteemed the extending 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 prest and ready to give aids and succours to their confederates ; as it ever was with the Eomans : insomuch, as if the confederates had leagues defensive with divers other states, and, upon invasion offered, did implore their aids severally, yet the Eomans would ever be the foremost, and leave it to none other to have the honour. As for the wars, which were anciently made on the behalf of a kind of party, or tacit conformity of estate, I do not see how they may be well justified : as when the Eomans 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 suflBce, that no estate expect to be great, that is not awake upon any just occasion of arming. 70 Essays. Of Kingdoons and Estates. 71 No body can be healthful without exercise, neither natural body nor politic : and, certainly to a kingdom or estate a just and honourable 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, botli courages will effemi- nate and manners corrupt ; but howsoever it be for hap- piness, 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 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 six score years. To be master of the sea is an abridgment of a monarchy. Cicero, writing to Atticus of Pompey's preparation against Caesar, saith. Consilium Pompeii jq lane Themistocleum est: futat enimy quimari potituTyeumrerum potiri;^ and, with- out doubt, Pompey had tired out Cajsar, if upon vain con- fidence 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 great- ness of the Turk. There be many examples, where sea- fights have been final to the war : but this is when princes or states have set up their rest upon the battles. 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 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 king- doms 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 to the glory and honour which reflected upon men from the wars in ancient time. There be now, for martial encouragement, some degrees and orders of chivalry, which, nevertheless, are conferred promiscuously upon soldiers and no soldiers ; and some remembrance, perhaps, upon * Ad AH. X. 8. >y ^ ^ % 1 r .t tie escutcW. and ..™ t»'Pi'^' J",° j°t ^Z Hvpfand moauments for those that died m the wars ; the ill! tn inflame all men's courages ; but, above aU, that ot £ trlumDramonSt the Eomans was not pageants or Itde y but oToTthe wisest and noblest institutions that f ^er wis For it contained three things ; honour to the /enerarriches to the treasury out of the spoils, and dona- t^v^fto the army. But that Honour, perhaps, were not fit r monlrS^except it be in the person o ^^^ ^ Sf:i=^4o^aSpCpr^S^^ SThemsSves and their sons, for such wars as they did a man s body , '^f • "^^'^he ^^er of princes, or estates, XXX. OF REGIMEN OF HEALTH. There is a wisdom in i^^^^^^l^ ^':i otKhat man's own observation ^^at he finds gooao he finds hurt of, is he best pbysic to preserv ^^^ '' : rreLritilTnotlo^nu^ t rnlhis. I find of nature in yo^\^-jf ^Ki^e^lf tr^omtg on of owmg a ^'^n tfil his age. ^^^^ j^. ^^111; forage years, and tbmk not to do the same « .^ I^iingV^y'tS^gXrue^^-e thy customs 72 Essays, of diet, sleep, exercise, apparel, and the like ; and try, in anything thou shalt judge hurtful, to discontinue it by little and little ; but so, as if thou dost find any inconve- nience by the change, thou come back to it again ; for it is hard to distinguish that which is generally held good and wholesome from that which is good particularly, and fit for thine own body. To be free-minded and cheerfully-dis- posed at hours of meat and 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. En- tertain 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 contempla- tions of nature. If you fly physic in health altogether, 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 custom ; for those diets alter the body more, and trouble it less. Despise no new accident in your body, but ask opinion of it. In sickness, respect heaJth principally : and in health, action ; for those that put their bodies to endure in health, may, in most sick- nesses 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 mas- teries.^ Physicians are some of them so pleasing and con- formable to the humour of the patient, as they press not the true cure of the disease ; and some other are so regular in proceeding according to art for the disease, as they respect not suflSciently 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 re- puted of for his faculty. ) \ •• $ If Of Suspicion, XXXI. OF SUSPICION. 73 • Celsus de Med. i. 1. 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 busmess, whereby business cannot go on currently and constantly. They dispose kings to tyranny, husbands 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 commonly they are not admitted but with ex- amination, whether they be likely or no; but in fearful natures they gain ground too fast. There i? -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 smother. What would men have? Do they think those tjiey em- ploy and deal with are saints? Do they not thmk they will have their own ends, and be truer to themselves than to them P Therefore there is no better way to moderate suspicions, than to account upon such suspicions as true, and yet to bridle them as false : for so far a man ought to make use of suspicions as to provide, as if that should be true that he suspects, yet it may do him no hurt, bus- picions 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 means to clear the way in this same wood of suspicion is frankly to communicate them with the party that he suspects; for thereby hf shall be Ture to know more of the truth of them than he did before ; and withal shall make that party more circumspect, not to give further cause of suspicion ; but tl^J.« .^"'^l'^ "f* ^« done to men of base natures ; for they, if they find them- selves once suspected, will never be true. The Italian says, Sospetto licenUa fede, as if suspicion did give a passport to faith ; but it ought rather to kindle it to dis- charge itself. XXXII. OF DISCOURSE. Some in their discourse desire rather commendation of wit, in being able to hold all arguments, than of judgment ^A 74 Essays. in discerning wliat 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, ana when it is once perceived, ridiculous. 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 ; tales with reason ; 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 " anything too far. As for jest, there be certain things which ought to be privileged from it; namely, religion, matters of state, great persons, any man's present business of im- 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. Parce, puer, stimulis, et fortius utere loris.' And, generally, men ought to find the difference between saltness and bitterness. Certainly, 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 content 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 them- selves 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 others on: as musicians use to do with those that dance too long galliards. If you dissemble sometimes your knowledge of 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 seldom, and well chosen. I knew, one was wont to say in scorn, he must needs he 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 commending virtue in Ovid. Met. ii. 127. i i #^ • . .•x V Of Discmirse, 75 another; especially if it be such a virtue whereunto hmi- self 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 England, 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?' To which the guest would answer, * Such and such a thmg passed.' The Lord would say, a thought he would mar a good dinner.' Discretion of speech is more than elo- quence ; 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 mter- locution, shows slowness; and a good reply, or second speech, without a good settled speech, showeth shallowness and weakness. As we see in beasts, that those that are weakest in the course, are yet nimblest in turn; as it is be- twixt the greyhound and the hare. To use too many cir- cumstances, ere one come to the matter, is wearisome; to use none at all is blunt. XXXIII. OF PLANTATIONS. Plantations are amongst ancient, primitive, and heroical works. When the world was young it begat more child- ren- but now it is old it begets fewer: for I may justly account new plantations to be the children of former kmg- doms 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 leese almost twenty years profit, and expect your recompense in the end. For the principal thin- that hath been the 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 it may stand with the good of the plantation, but no farther. It is a shameful and unblessed thing to take the scum ot people and wicked condemned men, to be the people witli whom you plant ; and not only so, but it spoileth the plan- tation • for they wiU ever five like rogues, and not tall to work but be lazy, and do mischief, and spend victuals, and be auickly weary, and then certify over to their country to the discredit of the plantation. The people wherewith you .•mmm i 76 Essays, plant ou^lit to be gardeners, plouorlimen, labourers, 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, radish, artichokes of Jerusalem, maize, and the like. For wheat, barley, and oats, they ask too much labour : but with peas and beans you 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, flour, meal, and the like, in the beginning, till bread may be had. For beasts or birds, take chiefly such as are least subject to disease, and multiply fastest : as swine, goats, cocks, hens, turkeys, geese, house-doves, and the like. The victual in planta- tions ought to be expended almost as in a besieged town ; that is, with certain allowance. And let the main part of the ground employed to gardens or corn be to a common stock ; and to be laid 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 likewise, what commodities the soil where the Elantation is doth naturally yield, that they may some way elp to defray the charge of the plantation : so it be not, as was said, to the untimely prejudice of the main business: as it hath fared with tobacco in Virginia. Wood com- monly aboundeth but too much ; and therefore timber is fit to be one. If there be iron ure, 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, like- wise, 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 ^ Mr. Montagu adds the word ^/.y^here, and Dr. Spiers follows him. It is surprising to find needless words inserted without a shadow of authority. The edition of 1625 is so carefully printed, that no alteration ought to he made without the strongest reasons. ri % ^ m «,> '* > 1 0/ Plantations, 77 of. But moil not too much under ground ; for the hope of mines is very uncertain, and useth to make the planters lazy in other things. For government, let it be m the hands of one, assisted with some counsel: and let them have commission to exercise martial laws, with some limita- tion. And, above all, let men make that profit of being m the wilderness, as they have God always and His service before their eyes. Let not the government of the planta- tion depend upon too many counsellors and undertakers m the country that planteth, but upon a temperate number; and let those be rather noblemen and gentlemen than merchants : for they look ever to the present gam. Let there be freedoms from custom, till the plantation be ot 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 sending too fast company atter company : but rather 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 renury. It hath been a great endangering to the healtH of some plantations, that they have built along the sea and rivers, in marish and unwholesome grounds. Iheve- fore, though you begin there to avoid carriage and other like discommodities, yet build still rather upwards from the streams than along. It concerneth 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 shaU be necessary. If you plant where savages are, do not only entertain them with trifles and gmgles, but use them justly and graciously, with sufficient guard nevertheless : and do not win their favour by helping them to mvade their enemies, but for their defence it is not amiss: and send oft of them over to the country 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 women as weU as with ^en ; that the plantation may spread into generations and not be ever pieced from without. It is the smfullest thing in the world to forsake or destitute a plantation once in forwardness: for, beside the dishonour, it is the gmltiness of blood of many commiserable persons. 78 Essays. Of Riches. 79 XXXlV. OF RICHES. I cannot call riches better than the baggage of virtue ; the Eoman word is better, impedimenta. For as the baggage is to an army, so is riches to virtue. It cannot be spared nor left behind, 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 Solomon, where much is, there are many to consume it; and what hath the owner hut the sight of it with his eyes'P The personal 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 osten- tation 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 Solomon saith, riches are as a strong hold in the ima- gination of the rich man.^ But this is excellently ex- pressed, that it is in imagination, and not always in fact. JFor, certainly, great riches have sold more men than they have bought out. Seek not proud riches, but such as thou may est get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contentedly. Yet have no abstract nor friarly con- tempt of them ; but distinguish, as Cicero saith well of Rabirius Posthumus, in studio rei amplificandcB apparehat non avaritice prcedam, sed instrumentum honitati quceri? Hearken also to Solomon, and beware of hasty gathering of riches ; Quifestinat 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 9 Eccl. V. 11. * Cic. p. Rabir. 2. ^ Prov. X. 15. Cf. xxviii. 11. ' Prov. xxviii. 22. i \^ •1 s J ^ 1 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's ; 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 great timber- man, a great coUier, a great corn-master, a great lead-man, and so of iron, and a number of the like points of hus- bandry : 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 overcome those bargains which for their great- ness are few men's money, and be partner in the industries of younger men, he cannot but increase 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 chopping of bargains, when a man buys not to hold, but to sell over again, that commonly grindeth double, both upon the seller and upon the buyer. Sharings do greatly enrich, if the 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 sudorevultus alieni: and, besides, doth plough upon Sundays. But yet certain though it be, it hath flaws: for that the scriveners and brokers do value unsound men to serve their own turn. The fortune in being 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 ujpon adventures, doth often- '•* ^ so Essays. times break and come to poverty : it is good, therefore, to guard adventures with certainties that may uphold losses. Monopolies, and coemption of wares for resale, \^ here 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 beforehand. Hiches gotten by service, though it be of the best rise, yet when they are gotten by flattery, feeding humours, and other servile conditions, they may be placed amongst the worst. As for fishing for testaments and executorships (as Tacitus saith of Seneca, testamenta et orhos tanquam indagine capi"*) it is yet w-orse, 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 portions 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 established in years and judgment. Like- wise, glorious gifts and foundations are like sacrifices w ithout 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, he that doth so, is rather liberal of another man's than of his own. XXXV. OF PROPHECIES. I mean not to speak of divine prophecies, nor of heathen oracles, nor of natural predictions: but only of prophecies that have been of certain memory, and from hidden causes. Saith. the Pythonissa to Saul,^ ' To-morrow thou and thy sons shall be with me.' Virgil hath these verses from Homer: At domus iEneaj cunctis dorainabitiir oris, Et nati natorum, et qui nasceutur ab illis.^ * Tacit. Au?i. xiii. 42. ^ u£/i. iii. 97. * 1 Sam. xxviii. 19. '/f 1^ 0/ Prophecies. 81 A prophecy, as it seems, of the Eoman empire. Seneca, the tragedian, hath these verses: Venient annis Saecula seris, quibus Oceanus Vinciila reruni laxet, et ingens Pateat Tellus, Tethysque novos Detegat orbes ; nee sit terris Ultima Thule :' a prophecy of the discovery of America. The daughter of Polycrates dreamed that Jupiter 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 that his wife was with child, because men do not use to seal vessels that are enipty.9 ^ phantasm that appeared to M. Brutus in his tent, said to him, Fhilippis iterum me videhis} Tiberius said to Galba, Tu quoque, Galba, degustahis imperium.^ In Vespasian's time there went a prophecy in the East, that those that should come forth of Judas should reign over the world ; which though it may be was meant of our Saviour, yet Tacitus expounds it of Vespasian.^ Domitian 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 shall enioy the crown for which we strive. 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 judgment, that he should be killed in a duel; at which the queen laughed, thinkmg her husband to be above challenges and duels : but he was slam upon a course at tilt, the splinters ot the staff of Mont- gomery going in at his beaver. The trivial prophecy which 7 Sen. Med. ii. 375. » riut. vit. Alex. 2. « Suet. vit. Gall. 4. * Suet. vit. Domit. 23. 8 Herod, iii. 124. 1 Appian. Bell. Civ. iv. 134. 3 Eist. v. 13. a 82 Essays. I heard when I was a child, and queen Elizabeth was in the flower of her years, was, When hempe is spun England's done : whereby it was generally conceived, that after the princes had reigned which had the principal letters of that word hempe (which were Henry, Edward, Mary, Philip, and Elizabeth), England should come to utter confusion ; which, thanks be to God, is verified in the change of the name ; for the king's style is no more of England but of Britain. There was also another prophecy before the year of eighty-eight, which I do not well understand. There shall be seen upon a day, Between the Baugh and the May, The black fleet of Norway. "When that that is come and gone, England build 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 Kegiomontanus, 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 troubled 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 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 otherwise, 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. Eirst, that men mark when they hit, and never mark when they miss; as Vid, Aristoph. E^uit, 195, seq. J UK M / I ♦f \ '• ^' ik ^ >/ t « 0> Of Prophecies, 83 they do generally also of dreams. The second is, that probable conjectures, or obscure traditions many times turn themselves into prophecies: while the nature of man, which coveteth divination, thinks it no peril to foretell that which indeed they do but collect: as that of Seneca's verse. Eor 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 Timajus, 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 brains merely contrived and feigned after the event passed. XXXVI. OF AMBITION. Ambition is like choler, which is a humour that maketh men active, earnest, full of alacrity, and stirring, if it be not stopped. But if it be stopped, and cannot have its way, it becometh adust, and thereby malign and venomous. 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 ambi- tious men, to handle it so as they be still progressive, and not retrograde, which, because it cannot be without incon- venience, 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. 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 ambitious: for the use of their service dispenseth with the rest; and to take a soldier without ambition is to puU ofi* his spurs. There is also ereat use of ambitious men in being screens to princes m matters of danger and envy: for no man will take that part except he be like a seeled dove, that mounts and ® Critias. a2 84 Essays, mounts because he cannot see about him. There is use also of ambitious men in pulling down the greatness of any subject that overtops; as Tiberius used Macro in the pulling down of Sejanus. Since, therefore, they must be used iu such cases, there resteth 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 thev be rather harsh of nature than gracious and popular: and if they be rather new raised, than grown eunmng and fortified in their greatness. It is counted by some a weakness in princes to have favourites; but it is, of all others, the best remedy against ambitious great ones. For when the way of pleasuring and displeasuring lieth by the favourite, it is impossible 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 with- out that ballast the ship will roll too much. At the least, a prmce 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 ajQTairs require it, and that It may not be done with safety suddenly, the only way IS the interchange continually 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 everything; for that breeds confusion, and mars business: but yet it is less danger to have an ambitious man stirring in business, than great in dependencies He that seeketh 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 ciphers 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 iiath the best of these intentions, when he aspireth is an honest man; and that prince, that can discern of these intentions in another that aspireth, is a wise prince Gene- rally let princes and states choose such ministers as are more sensible of duty than of rising; and such as love busi- ness rather upon conscience than upon bravery and let them discern a busy nature from a wilhng mind ■I ^- r ^. »v 4j f I ^\ V ^ ^v ^ ^ VI • , V( i c 4 i Of Masques and Triumphs, - 85 XXXVII. 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 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 bass 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 anthem wise, give great pleasure. Turning dances into figure is a childish curiosity; and generally 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 great pleasure to desire to see that it cannot perfectly discern. Let the songs be loud and cheerful, and not chirpings or pulmgs. Let the music likewise be sharp and loud, and well placed. The colours that show best by candle-hght are white, carnation, and a kind of sea-water green ; and oes,^ 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 graceful, and such as become the person when the vizars are off: not after examples of known attires ; Turks, soldiers, mariners, and the like. Let antimasques not be long ; they have been commonly of fools, satyrs, baboons, wild men, antics, beasts, sprites, witches, Ethiopes, pigmies, turquets, nymphs, rustics, Cupids, statues moving, and the like. As ' Montagu and Spiers take the liberty of altering this word to ouches. 86 Essays, for angels, it is not comical enougli to put them in anti- masques ; and anything 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. 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 the bravery of their liveries, or in the goodly furniture of their horses and armour. But enough of these toys. XXXVIIT. OF NATURE IN MEN. Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished. Force maketh nature more violent in re- turn ; doctrine and discourse maketh nature less importune but custom 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 sma 1 proceeder, though by often prevailings. And, at the- farst, let him practice with helps, as swimmers do with bladders, or rushes; but, after a time, let him practice^ 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 therefore 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 ffo less in quantity: as if one should, in forbearing wine come trom 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 ueSu : Optimiis ille animi vindex, laedentia pectus Vincula qui rupit, dedoluitque semel.*' Of Nature in Men, 87 ® Ovid. R. Amor, 293. *.• f "> y Mr 'l\ V r Neither is the ancient rule amiss, to bend nature as a wand to a contrary extreme, whereby to set it right : un- derstanding it where the contrary extreme is no vice. Let not a man force a habit upon himself with a perpetual con- tinuance, 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 shall as well practice his errors as his abilities, and induce one habit of both; and there is no means to help this but by seasonable intermissions. 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 ^sop's damsel, turned from a cat to a woman, who sat very de- murely 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 passion, for that putteth a man out of his precepts ; and in a new case or experiment, for there custom leaveth him. They are happy men whose natures sort with their vocations; otherwise they may say, multum incolafuit anima Tnea, 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 themselves ; so as the spaces of other business or studies will suffice. A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds; therefore let him seasonably water the one, and destroy the other. XXXIX. OF CUSTOM AND EDUCATION. Men's thoughts are much according to their inclination ; their discourse and speeches according to their learning and infused opinions; but their deeds are after as they have been accustomed. 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 corroborate by custom.^ His instance is, that for the achieving of a desperate conspiracy, a man should » Vid. Bisc, sop, Liv, iii. 6. \ 88 Essays, not rest upon the fierceness of any man's nature, or his resolute undertakings ; but take such a one as hath had his hands formerly in blood. But Machiavel knew not of a friar Clement, nor a Eavaillac, nor a Jaureguy, nor a Baltazar Gerard ;i yet this rule holdeth still, that nature, nor the engagement of words, are not so forcible as custom. Only 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 everywhere 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 tht> corpses of their husbands. The lads ot feparta, of ancient time, were wont to be scourged upon the altar of Diana, without so much as queching.^ I re- member in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's time of Jl^ngland, an Irish rebel condemned put up a petition to the deputy that he might be hanged in a withe, and not in a halter, because it had been so used with former rebels Ihere be monks in Eussia, for penance that will sit a whole night in a vessel of water, till they be engaged with hard ice. Many examples may be put of the force of custom, both upon mind and body. Therefore, since custom IS the principal magistrate of man's life, let men by all means endeavour to obtain good customs. Certainlv custom IS most perfect when it beginneth in young vears • this we call education, which is, in effect, but an earlv custom, bo we see, in languages the tone is more pliant to all expressions and sounds, the joints are more supple to all feats of activity and motions in youth than after- wards ; tor it is true, the late learners cannot so well take the ply except It be in some minds that have not suffered themselves to fix, but have kept themselves open and Of Custom and Education, 89 HpnrT TTT 1 .Qof i^^' ^"xt^^ ^^^'^ P'^^°"« «^^^^"^ assassinated SanYp H^hI >^^^ Henry IV. of France (1610), and the Prince of rAf^^l^-^^^A,''^^^'^ ^'^^ Jaureguy bad attempted in 1582 ' Vid. Cic. TusciiL Bisj). ii. 14. r f! i i 'J \-lM. y prepared to receive continual amendment, which is exceed- ing 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 example teacheth, company comforteth, emulation quickeneth, glory raiseth ; so as in such places the force of custom is in his exalta- tion. Certainly, the great multiplication of virtues upon human nature resteth upon societies well ordained and dis- ciplined. For commonwealths and good governments do nourish virtue grown, but do not much mend the seeds. But the misery is, that the most effectual means are now applied to the ends least to be desired. XL. OF FORTUNE. It cannot be denied but outward accidents conduce much to fortune : favour, opportunity, death of others, occasion fitting virtue. But chiefly the mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands. Faher quisque fortunce suce, 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 other's errors. Serpens, nisi serpentem comederit, non fit draco. Overt and apparent virtues bring forth praises : but there be secret and hidden virtues that bring forth fortunes, certain deliveries of a man's self, which have no name. The Spanish name, desemhoUura, 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 so Livy after he had described Cato Major in these words, In illo viro tantum rohur corporis et animifuit, ut quocum- 3 Dr. Spiers quotes a passage from the treatise He 'Rejnihlica Ordinanda, in which this adage is found, and attributed to Appius. As Bacon quotes that work more than once in the Advancement of Learni7ig, there can be no doubt he had read it. But from his language in another place {Adv. of Learn, ii. 23, 8), I am inclined to think that he had forgotten where he had met with the phrase, and thought it had grown out of a passage in Plautus {Trin. ii. 2, 87). The point is of no consequence, except as an example of his neglect or inability to verify his quotations. Most probably, like many men of tenacious memory, he was better able to recall the w^ords of a passage that had struck him than the name of the book whence it came. 90 Essays, Of Usury, n fore if «\nL T , , ^'^ , "^ versatile ingenium. TLere &ne fTiVsfef V'^, attentive^ he sball see is a meetinn: or tnot of. ^ "l^lken nay n the sky ; which asunder, but rivin"°Lh ^7°;? '^ <'^«™''" ^^^^s ; not seen of little and f cVrcf &l^}'-\ ^"^ ^''^ ^^^^^ ^ "'^'"ber and custo^l E^atrnloSTe' Ve^T,''^^"'"^^ in into'^liL other condtioTH ^'^ ^^T^ 'l'^^'^^^ ^^^'^^ and, certainly there bfnotfwo ^' ^'^^'^ ^'^'^'^ '^'^ ^««<'' than to have a little of ?bi fn i ""J fo'-'unate properties, Fortune s to be honouredlH °^ T^/^^' ^^^ ^^le man. her daughters. ConEe ^nd 32 on'"2 tV '"f -^^ felicity breedeth • tlie fir=f ' ;^, -^Pn^ation ; lor those two in others towards 1 m ^11 w 1"° ** '"^^ « /^If ; the latter of their own virtues use i^ I!' TV ^"'^^''' **»« ^"^7 and Fortune for so' tW^ ascribe them to Providenci and, besides, it1^.:reSss^n^^! ^f^f T"""^' t^em : higher powers, sf C^sar ^afd to th". 'l ^' ■^tr''^ ""^ ^^^ name o( Felix, and not Sfl^.^ VJ i^'^*"'!*^" noted, that those that ascribe Xnly too much 'to »'''' own wisdom and nnlinTr ^r,^ k^^^J ^^^ mucli to their that Timoth^us the A henian ^ft , "^f^'j -^^ ^« ^""ea he gave to the state nfi' "''" ^'^ ^*''' '^ *be account this^speeS, Jirft1/l-li'^„!7^7™^°t. often interlaced in anything he uS^Sterwir^^^^^^^^^^ whose fortune are like TTomot^J ^- 9f Mainly there be and easiness more than TbJ v^'"''''/''^!^^^^ ^ «"de Plutarch saith of Ti^on's fortuT/i °^ ''''^'l l"''' = «« Agesilaus or Epaminondas « Zah V^'.f.^P''?* of that of doubt it is mucfi^a man's self '^^ *^^' '^^^'^^ ^e. no Plut. vit. Cccs. 38. • Vii. Ti.oL 36. ' "''"'• ^^''- ^^- 'f )f'J V f a ^ f H .X.' rV XLI. OF USURY. Many have made witty invectives against nsury. 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 prsesepibus arcent ;' that the usurer breaketh the first law that was made for mankind after the fall, which was, in sudore vultus tut comedes jpanem tuum;^ not, in sudore vultus alieni; that usurers sliould ]iave orange-tawny bonnets, because they do judaize; that it is against nature for money to \ beget money, and the like. I say this only, that usury is a concessum propter duritiem cordis:^ for since there must be borrowing and lending, and men are so hard of heart as they will not lend freely, usury must be permitted. Some others have made suspicious and cunning propositions of banks, discovery of men's estates, and other inventions ; 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 make fewer merchants. For were it not for this lazy trade of usury, money would not lie still, but it 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 husband 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 bringeth the treasure of a realm or state into a few hands ; for the usurer being at certainties, and the other at uncertainties, ? Geor^. iv. 168. 8 Gen. iii. 19. » Matth. xix. 8. 92 Essays. Of Usury. 93 at the end of the game most of tlie money Tvill be in the box; and ever a state flourisheth when wealth J more land for the employment of money is chiefly either mer chandizinj. or purchasing ; and nsu^ waylayl both The mS's and^^°*^^"" ^'^ ^'^^' ^' industries improve- ments, and new mrentions, wherein monev would ht> tt"::a"lkeranr;uy°of'°^ *''^ ''''•'■ ^be Ta^t. Zut is' ct'^o^l^^.^teTa^uE^po^^^^ '''^'''' ^'^^^ - P- On the other side, the commodities of usury are- first ^at howsoever usury in some respect hinderS merchan: dizing yet m some other it advancethit; for it Tcertahi that the greatest part of trade is driven by youn^ mer chants upon borrowing at interest ; so as ^ifX usurer either call m, or keep back his money, there wfll ensup presently a great stand of trade. Th^ second s tZ ^c" s ti^ltliV ^"^ ''T.^^^"^ uponlnit mt's' necessities « ould draw upon them a most sudden undoinxr m that they would be forced to sell their means Sf/ Jands or goods) far under foot, and so, XreaTusurv dot Su tir "iffo'^"' ^'^ "^^"^^^^ -ouirswX7ttm Tend tL mattir' T'^^'f'^^' ^^ P^^^i'^g. it will little 1 J 1 ,. '*' ^^'^t 't IS a van ty to conceive that i^^^l I^sSlh"''^'"'^'^ ''"T™^ ^'^l^^^t profi a'ni it i fm! possible to conceive the number of nconveniences thT l{tC'Zvi°'^''T^^' ''^''T^- Therefore to speak •hadiin^l' i!"^."^"'^"^'' '^^''- ^" states have ever Kent to mo^fa' "'"^^ "" ''^'^^^ ^^ '' '^^' opinionm"" To speak now of the reformation and redem^nf ^f ■usury :liow the discommodities of it may be btlt S.H and the commodities retained. It appears hv tt several sorts of usury, : ts\;Tr'g^:a"terX^?F ^^ • I ■J I ■-w» \ r'*¥^ 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 good rate ; other contracts not so. To serve both intentions, the way would 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 proclaimed 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 bor- rowers in the country ; this will, in good part, raise the price of land, because land purchased at sixteen years' pur- chase will yield six in the hundred, and somewhat more, whereas this rate of interest yields but five ; this by 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 per- sons licensed to lend to known merchants upon usury, at a higher 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 reforma- tion, be he merchant or whosoever. Let it be no bank, or common stock, but every man be master of his own money: not that I altogether mislike banks, but they will hardly be brooked, in regard of certain suspicions. Let the state be answered some small matter for the Hcense, and the rest left to the lender ; for if the abatement be but small, it will no whit discourage the 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 this trade of usury, and go from certain gains to gains of hazard. Let these licensed lenders be in number mdefinite, but restrained to certain principal cities and towns of merchandizing: for then they will be hardly able to colour other men's monies in the country; so as the hcense of nine will not suck away the current rate of five; for no man will send his monies far ofi*, nor put them into unknown hands. . If it be objected that this doth m a sort authorize usury, I 94 Essays. Of Youth arid Age, 95 wMcli before was in some places but permissive; the an- swer IS, that It IS better to mitigate usury by declaration tJian to suiter it to rage by connivance. XLII. OF YOUTH AND AGE. A man tliat is young in years may be old in hours, if he have lost no time. But that happeneth rarely. Generally, jr. ^ '' J'''"./^" ^y'^ cogitations, not so^ wise a^ th^e second. For there is a youth in thoughts as well as in ages ; and yet the invention of young men is more lively Uian 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 thTw^-""'' f fu''?* "P^ ^°" ^'^"*'° till they have passed the meridian of their years: as it was with Julius Casar and Septimius Severus Of the latter of whom it is said! juventutum eatt errorthm, imo furoribus, ^lenam.^ And yet he was tJie ablest emperor almost of all the list But reposed natures may do well in youth, as is s'een hi Augustus Caesar, Cosmos Duke of Fforene;, Gaston de Foi^ and others. On the other side, heat and ;ivacity in aae?s an excel ent composition for business. Y on J men Z fitter to invent than to judge ; fitter for execution Than for ''^'%r^^ ^"^" ^"^ new projects than for settled busT ness. For the experience of age, in things that fall within IbuseThXm "'tI' '"■"•*^*'J. *^<""' ^"* -^ ^'^ tiling abuseth them. The errors of young men are the ruin of business; but the errors of age'd men amount but to his that more might have been done, or sooner Youn.; men in the conduct and manage of Actions, embrace S than they can hold ; stir more than they can quiet Cto the end, without consideration of the means and desrrJes pursue some few principles which they have chanced ut>o' absurdly; care not to innovate, which^ draws unknotnT conveniences ; use extreme remedies at first and ?,?/ which doubleth aU errors, will not acknowledg; or retract them; like an unready horse, that will neither stop nor turn. Men of age object too much, consult too W adventure too httle, repent too soon, and seldom S lw"ir2!^°*™ ''"•"■'''° -oun.u^.,^ et criminum habuit. Spartian. vit. Sev. ♦ I, / ! ( i { if.' business home to the full period ; but content themselves with a mediocrity of success. Certainly it is good to com- pound employments of both ; for that will be good for the present, because the virtues 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, Tastly, good for extern accidents, because authority followeth old men, and favour and popularity youth. But for the moral part, perhaps, youth will have the pre-eminence, as age hath for the politic. A certain rabbin upon the text, Yoii?^ young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams,^ inferreth that young men are admitted nearer to God than old, because vision is a clearer revela- tion than a dream : and, certainly, the more a man drinketh of the world, the more it intoxicateth ; and age doth profit rather in the powers of understanding than in the virtues, 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 rhetorician whose books are exceeding subtle, 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 becomes youth well, but not age : so TuUy saith of Hor- tensius, Idem manehat, neque idem decehat ;^ the third is of such as take too high a strain at the first ; and are magnanimous more than tract of years can uphold ; as was Scipio Africanus, of whom Livy saith in effect, Ultima primis cedehant^ XLIII. 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 deli- cate features ; and that hath rather dignity of presence than beauty of aspect. JN'either is it almost seen, that very beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue ; as if nature were rather busy not to err, than in labour to pro- duce excellency. And therefore they prove accomplished, but not of great spirit ; and study rather behaviour than « Joel ii. 28. A. L. I, iii. 3. « Cic. Brut. 95. A. L. II. xxiii. 28. * Livy xxxviii. 53. ^1^ ' fc"^ ' '♦. 95 Essays, virtue. But this holds not always ; for Augustus Caesar, 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 beautiful men of their tim.e8. 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 Apelles 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 nobody 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 by a kind of fehcity (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 ; pulchrorum autumnus pulcher ; for no youth can be comely but by pardon, and considering the youth as to make up the comeUness. 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. XLIV. 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 affection:^ and so they have their revenge of nature. Certainly there is a consent between the body and the mind, and where nature erreth in the one, she ventureth in the other : uhi peccat in uno, jpericlitatur in altera. But because there is in man an election, touching ^ Rom. i. 31 . 1 1 i ■I ^ f: I K i'^ ¥ K*' r Of Def(yrmity. 97 the frame of his mind, and a necessity in the frame of his body, the stars of natural inclination are some- times obscured by the sun of discipline and virtue ; there- fore 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 anythmg fixed in his person that doth induce contempt, hath also a per- petual spur in himself to rescue and deliver himself from scorn ; therefore, all deformed persons are extreme bold. First,' as in their own defence, as being exposed to scorn, but in process of time by a general habit. Also it stirreth in them industry, and especially of this kind, to watch and observe the weakness of others, that they may have somewhat to repay. Again, in their superiors, it quencheth jealousy towards them, as persons that they think they may at pleasure despise : and it layeth their competitors and emulators asleep ; as never behevmg they should be in possibility of advancement till they see them in possession : so that upon the matter, in a great wit, de- formity is an advantage to rising. Kings, m 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 to- wards 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 deformed 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 mahce : and, therefore, let it not be marvelled, if sometimes they prove excellent per- sons ; as was AgesUaus, Zanger the son of Solyman,^sop, Gasca, president of Peru ; and Socrates may go likewise amongst them, with others. XLV. OF BUILDING. Houses are built to live in, and not to look on ; there- fore let use be preferred before uniformity, except where both may be haS. Leave the goodly fabrics of houses, for beauty only, to the enchanted pa aces of the poets who build them with small cost. He that builds a fair house ujon an ill seat committeth himself to prison. Neither do I reckon it an iU 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 \%^ 93 Essays. hiffher hlUs round about it ; wliereby the heat of the sun is pent in, and the wind gathereth as in troughs ; so as you shall have, and that suddenly, as peat diversity of heat and cold as if you dwelt in several places. Neither is it ill air only that maketh ill seat ; but ill ways, ill markets, and if you consult with Momus, ill neighbours. 1 speak not of many more ; want of water, want of wood, shade, and shelter, want of fruitfulness, and mixture of grounds of several natures ; want of prospect, want of level grounds, want of places at some near distance for sports ot hunting, hawking, and races; too near the sea, too remote ; having the commodity of navigable rivers, or the discommodity ot their overflowing ; too far ofi* from great cities which may hinder business ; or too near them, which lurcheth all provisions, and maketh everything 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 wantetli 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 lightsome, in one of his houses, said. Surely an excellent place for summer, hut Jioiodoyoum winter ? Lucullus answered. Why, do you not think me as wise as some fold are, that ever change their abode towards the winter!^ ., .„ -n j^ «„ To pass from the seat to the house itself we will do as Cicero doth in the orator's art, who writes books De Oratore, and a book he entitles Orator; whereof the former delivers the precepts of the art, and the atter the perfection. We will, therefore, describe a princely palace, making a brief model thereof : for it is strange to see, now in Europe, such huge buildings as the Vatican and Escurial, and some others be, and yet scarce a very fair room m First therefore, I say, you cannot have perfect a palace, except you have two several sides ; a side lor the banquet, as is spoken of m 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, I -4 « Plut. vit. LuculL 39. " t1 ^^ ^) \ I > > > ■> f Of Building, 99 ( though severally partitioned within ; and to be on both sides of a great and stately 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 divided 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 butteries, and pantries, and the like. As for the tower, I would have it two stories, of eighteen foot high apiece above the two wings ; and goodly leads upon the top railed in 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 and 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, otherwise, 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 under- stand 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, 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 buildings themselves. But those towers are not to be of the height of the front, but rather proportionable to the lower build- ing. Let the court not be paved, for that striketh up a great heat in summer, and much cold 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 gome 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. H 2 100 Essays, Cast it also, that you may have rooms botli for summer and winter, shady for summer, and warm for winter. You shall have sometimes fair houses so full of glass that one cannot tell where to become to be out of the sun or cold. Por embowed window^s, I hold them of good use (in cities, indeed, upright do better, in respect of the uniformity to- vrards 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 archjs, 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 windows 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 infirmary, if the prince or any special person should be sick, with chambers, bed-chamber, aniicamera 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 w^ay of return, let there be two delicate or rich cabinets, daintily paved, richlv hanged, glazed with crystalhne glass, and a rich cupola in the midst ; and all other elegancy 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 some fine avoidances. And thus much for the model of the palace ; save that you must have, before 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 w;ith the front, but not to be built, nor yet enclosed with a naked wall, but enclosed with terraces leaded aloft, and fairlv garnished on the three sides ; and cloistered on the inside with pillars, and not with arches t A ?= ^> < 'i4 It r 0/ Ga/rdens, 101 below. As for offices, let them stand at distance, with some low galleries to pass from them to the palace itself. XLVI. OF GARDENS. God Almighty first planted a garden; and, indeed, it is the purest ^f human pleasures. It is the greatest refresh- ment to the spirits of man; without w^hich buildings and palaces are but gross handiworks : and a man shall ever see, that, when ages grow to civility and elegancy, men come 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 ouglit to be gardens for alf 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, juniper, cypress- trees, yew, pine-apple-trees, fir-trees, rosemary, lavender; periwinkle, the white, the purple, and the blue ; germander, flags ; orange-trees, lemon-trees, and myrtles, if they be stoved;' and sweet marjoram warm set. There foUoweth, for the latter part of January and February, the mezereon tree, which then blossoms ; crocus vernus, both the yellow and the grey; primroses, anemonies, the early tulip, the hyacinthus orientalis, chamairis, fritellaria. For March there come violets, especially the single blue, which are the earliest; the yellow daffodil, the daisy, the almond-tree in blossom, the peach-tree in blossom, the cornelian- tree in blossom, sweet brier. In April follow the double white violet, the wall-flower, the stock gilliflower, the cow^slip, flower-de-luces, and lilies of all natures, rosemary flower, the tulip, the double peony, the pale daffodil, the French honeysuckle, the cherry-tree in blossom, the damson and ?lum-trees in blossom, the white thorn in leaf, the lilac-tree, n May and June come pinks of all sorts, especially the blush pink: roses of all kinds, except the musk, which comes later; honeysuckles, strawberries, bugloss, colum- bine, the French marigold, flos Africanus,' cherry-tree in fruit, ribes, figs in fruit, rasps, vine-flowers, lavender in flowers, the sweet satyrian, with the white flower ; herba muscaria, liHum convallium, the apple-tree in blossom. In \ 7 The edition of 1625 has stirred, but as I find the common read- ing, stovedy in that of 1629, which there is reason to think was superintended by Rawley, I have retained it in the text. 102 Eseays, July come ^illiflowers of all varieties, musk-roses, the lime- tree in blossom, early pears, and plums in fruit, gennitings, quodlms. In August come plums of all sorts in fruit, pears, apricocks, barberries, filberds, musk melons, monks hoods of all colours. In September come grapes, apples, poppies of all colours, peaches, melocotones, nectarines,' cornelians, wardens, quinces. In October and the begin- ning of November come services, medlars, bullaces, roses cut or removed to come late, holly oaks, 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. Eoses, damask and red, are fast ' flowers of their smells; so that you may walk by a whole row of them, and find nothing of their sweetness : yea, though it be in a morning's dew. Bays, likewise, 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 violet which comes twice a year, about the middle of April, and about Bartholomew-tide. Next to that is the musk-rose • then the strawberry-leaves dying, with^ a most excellent cordial smell; then the flower of the vines; it is a little dust like the dust of a bent, which grows upon the cluster m the first coming forth ; then sweet brier, then wall- flowers, which are very delightful to be set under a parlour or lower chamber window; then pinks, especially the matted pmk, and clove gilliflower ; then the flowers of the Hme- tree; then the honey -suckles, so they be somewhat afar 2 1 1 n ^^^^ flowers I speak not, because they are field-flowers. But those which perfume the air most delightfully, not passed by as the rest, but beintr trodden upon and crushed, are three, that is, burnet, wild thyme and water-mmts. Therefore you are to set whole alleys of them, to have the pleasure when you walk or tread. For gardens (speaking of those which are indeed pri'nce- hke, as we have done of buildings), the contents ouo^ht 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 ' Ed. 1C25 which; 1629 with. ii* t- % 1 "^} K^ 1 ■| t (1 < V 'I I- . A- > 1- i ;> [' I Of Gardens. lOS 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 enclose 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 thorough the green; therefore you are of either side the green to plant a covered alley, upon carpenter's work, about twelve foot in height by which you may go in shade into the garden. As for the making of knots, or . figures, with divers coloured earths, that they may lie / under the windows of the house on that side on 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 dimensions with the breadth of the arch. Over the arches let there be an entire hedge of some four foot high, framed also upon carpenter's work; and upon the upper hedge, over every arch, a little turret, 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 coloured 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 covered alleys of 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 further end, for lettmg 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-stufi*; they be for 104 Essays. shildren. 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 abreast; which I would have to be perfect circles, without any bulwarks ; or embossments ; and the whole mount to be thirty foot \ nigh, and some fine banqueting-house, with some chimneys ^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 lull 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 foot 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 to convey the water as it never stay, either in the bowls or in the cistern ;' that the water be never by rest discoloured, green or red] or the like, or gather any mossiness or putrefaction! iJesides that, it is to be cleansed every day by the hand Also some steps up to it, and some fine pavement about it doth well. As for the other kind of fountain, which we may caU a bathing pool, it may admit much curiosity and beauty, wherewith 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; encompassed also with fine rails of low statuas. But the main point is the same which we mentioned in the former kind of fountain; which is, that the water be in perpetual motion, fed by a water higher than the pool, and delivered into it by fair spouts, and then discharged 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 (ot teathers, drinking glasses, canopies, and the like), they be pretty thmgs to look on, but nothing to health and sweetness. For the heath, which was the third part of our plot I wished 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 sweet brier and honey-suckle, and some wild vine amongst; and the ground set with violets strawberries, and primroses. For these are sweet, and i ^S } 4 r I \ / r ' {\.' I > \ \ ' fA .It if} Of Gardens, 105 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 with some wild thyme, some with pinks, some with germander, that gives a good flower to the eye ; some with periwinkle, some with 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 standards of little bushes pricked upon their top, and part without. The standards to be roses, juniper, holly, barberries (but here and there, because of the smell of their blossom), red currants, gooseberries, rosemary, bays, sweet brier, 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 like- wise 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 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 disposed, 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 evening, 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 1 u 106 Essays, scope and natural nestlinor, and that no foulness appear on the floor of the aviary. So I have made a platform of a princely garden, partly by precept, partly by drawing; not a model, but some general 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 work- men, with no less cost set their things together, and some- times add statues, and such things, for state and magnifi- cence, but nothing to the true pleasure of a garden. XLVII. 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 danger to be interrupted, 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 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 instruments, 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 satisfac- tion 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 expostula- tion, fair-spoken men for persuasion, crafty men for in- quiry and observation, froward and absurd men for busi- ness 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 with those that are where they would be. If a man deal with another upon conditio! s, the start of first performance is all : which a man cannot reasonably M'i i> A ; -J > * i^ t ■ Jl /> Of Negotiating, 107 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 them- selves 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 persons, we must ever consider their ends to interpret 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 busmess, and so ripen it by degrees. XLVIII. 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 m suits. Ordinary followers ought to challenge higher conditions than countenance, recommendation, and protection trom wrongs. Factious followers 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 ensueth that ill mteili- jrence that we many times see between great personages. Likewise glorious followers, who make themselves as trumpets of the commendation of those they follow, are full of inconvenience; for they taint business through want of secrecy; and they export honour from a man, and make him a return in envy. There is a kind of followers like- wise which are dangerous, being indeed espials; wJiicli inquire the secrets of the house, and bear tales ot them to others; yet such men many times are m great favour; for they are officious, and commonly exchange tales, llie following by certain estates of men, answerable to that which a great person himself professeth (as of so diers to him that hath been employed in the wars, and the like), hath ever been a thing civil, and well taken even m r 108 Essays, Of Suitors. 109 monarchies, so it be without too much pomp or popularity. But the most honourable kind of following is to be followed as one that apprehendeth to advance virtue and desert in all sorts of persons. And yet, where there is no eminent odds in suflBciency, it is better to take with the more pass- able than with the more able; and besides, to speak truth, in base times active men are of more use tlian virtuous. It is true, that in government it is good to use men of one rank equally: for to countenance some extraordinarily is to make tliem 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 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 shows softness and gives a freedom to scandal and disreputation; for those that would not censure, or speak ill of a man immediately, wiU talk more boldly of those that are so great with them, and thereby wound their honour. Yet to be distracted with many is worse; for it makes men to be of the last impres- sion, 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 discovereth 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 fortimes may comprehend the one the other. XLIX. OF SUITORS. Many ill matters and projects are undertaken; and pri- vate suits do putrefy the public good. Many good matters are undertaken with bad 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 maybe life in the matter by some other mean, they will be content to win a thank, or take a second reward, or, at least, to make use in the meantime of the suitor's hopes. Some take hold of suits only for an occasion to cross some other ; or to make an in- formation, whereof they could not otherwise have apt pretext; without care what become of the suit when that i '-rj 7 4. i turn is served : or generally to make other men's busmess 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 competitor, burely, 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 ot 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 wunte- nance to compound the matter than to carry it. If aflection lead a man to favour the less worthy in desert, let him do it without depraving or disabling the better deserver. 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 honour: but let him choose well his referendaries, for else he may be led bv 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 chaUenging no more thanks than one hath deserved, is grown not only honourable but also gracious. In suites of favour, the farst coming ought to take little place, so far forth considera- tion may be had of his trust, that if intelligence of the matter could not otherwise have heen 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 sim- S cS'^s well as to be ignorant of the right thereof is want of conscience. Secrecy in suits is a great mean of obtaining ; for voicing them, to be m forwardness, may discouraie some kinl of suitors but doth quicken and awake others. But timing of the smt is the Fincipa; timing I say, not only in respect of the person who should grant it, but in respect of those which are like t^ 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 reparation of a denial is sometimes equal to the first grant ; if a man show himself neither dejected nor discontented. Iniquumpetas ut aquumferas, is a good rule, where a man hath strength of favour: but otherwise, a man were better rise in his suit; for he that would have ventured at first to have lost the suitor, will not, m the conclusion, lose both arsuitor and his own former favour. Nothing is thought so easy a request to a great person as his letter; and yet, if it be not m a good cause, it is so much out of his repu- 110 JEssays. tation. There are no worse instruments than these general contrivers of suits; for they are but a kind of poison and infection to public proceedings. L. OF STUDIES. Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for deligiit 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 I ornament is affectation; to make judgment wholly by ^ their rules is the humour of a scholar. \ Thejr perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural 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. Eead not to contradict 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 arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distill^ books are, like common distilled waters, flashy things. \Seading maketh a full man: conference a ready man; ancTwriting 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. His- tories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Aheunt studia in mores; nay, there is no stond or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies: like as diseases of the body Z_„#.i«** >«■ tjl I I •I I .\ ^^' 11 f \ ' H. •'I 1. 1 ] "A im \ \\ 1 I »)*.li *K " I > V i i Of Studies. Ill may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins, shooting 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 mathe- matics; 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 difference, let him study the school- men, for they are Cymini sectores.^ If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases; so every defect of the mind may have a special receipt. LI. 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 respect of factions is a principal part of pohcy ; whereas,' contrariwise, the chietest wisdom is either in ordering those things which are general, and wherein men of several factions do neverthe- less ao-ree; or in dealing with correspondence to particular persoSs, one by one. But I say not, that the consideration of factions is to be neglected. Mean men, m their rismg, must adhere; but great men, that have strength m them- selves were better to maintain themselves mdilierent and neutral. Yet even in beginners, to adhere so moderately, as he be a man of the one faction, which is most passable with the other, commonly giveth best way. i he 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, ^^^^en one ot the factions is extinguished, the remaimng subdivideth: as the faction between LucuUus and the rest of the nobles of the senate (which they called opttmates) held out awhile asainst the faction of Pompey and C^sar: but when the senate's authority was puUed down, Csesar and Pompey soon after brake. The faction or party of Antonius and Octavianus Casar, 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 examples are of wars, but the 9 Vid. J. L. i. vii. 7. y^ .-^ m It 112 Essays, same lioldeth in private factions. And therefore those that are seconds in factions do many times, when the faction subdivideth, prove principals : but many times also they prove ciphers and cashiered : for many a man's strength is in opposition ; 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 their 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 the thanks. The even carriao:e between two factions proceedeth not always of modera- tion, 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 in popes, when they have often in their mouth Fadre 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 them- selves as of a faction or party ; for leagues within the state are ever pernicious to monarchies ; for they raise an obliga- tion paramount 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 astronomers speak) of the inferior orbs ; which may have their proper motions, but yet still are quietly carried by the higher motion oiprimum mobile. LII. 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 gams. For the proverb is true That light gains make heavy purses ; for light gains come thick, whereas great come but now and then. So it is true, that small matters win great com- mendation, 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 reputa- tion, and is (as Queen Isabella said) like perpetual letters ^ ^ i { ?■ 1,1 I i I f 1 V \ \ *i lit Of Ceremonies and Respects, 113 commendatory, 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 labour too much to express them, he shall lose their grace ; which is to be natural and unaffected. Some men's behaviour is like a verse, wherein every syllable is measured: how can a man comprehend great matters that breaketh his mind too much to small observa- tions ? Not to use ceremonies at all is to teach others not to use them again; and so diminish respect to himself: especially they are 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 conveying of effectual and imprintmg passages amongst compliments, which is of singular use, if a man can hit upon it. Amongst a man's peers, a man shall be sure of famiharity; 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 satiety, maketh himself cheap. To apply one's self to others is good ; so it be with demonstration, that a man doth it upon regard and not facility. It is a good precept generally in seconding another, yet to add somewhat 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 condition ; if you allow his counsel, let it be with alleging further reason. Men had need beware how they be too perfect in compli- ments; for be they never so sufficient otherwise, their enviers 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 respects, or to be too curious in observing times and opportunities. Solomon saith, he that consider^th the wind shall not sow, and he that looketh to the clouds shall not reap.^ A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. Men's behaviour should be like their apparel, not too strait or point device, but free for exercise or motion. LIII. OF PRAISE. Praise is the reflection of virtue. But it is as the glass, or body which giveth the reflection. If it be from common ' Eccl. xi. 4. X 114 Essays. people It IS commonly false and naught, and rather foJloweth 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 In'nT ^^^ T.-^° ''• '"w^" perceiving at all : but slows andspenes virtutthm similes serve best with them Cer- tainly, fame is like a river, that bearcth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty ancTsolidT but if persons of quality and judgment concur, then it is (as he It filleth all round about, and will not easily away f for the odours of ointments are more durable than those of flowers Sfl 1 u'°. "^"^ ^^''^ Pc?'*^*^ «f P'-'^i^e that a man may justly hold It a suspect. Some praises proceed merely o7 flattery ; and if he be an ordinary flatterer, he will have certam common attributes which may serve ^very man ^f he be a cunning flatterer, he will follow the archfl™tte;er J^hich IS a man's self; and wherein a man thinketh best of himself, therein the flatterer will uphold him most; but if he be an impudent flatterer, look wherein a man is con scious to himself that he is most defective, and ismost out of countenance in himself, that will the flatterer enMeHm to perforce, spreta conscientia. Some praises come of good wishes and respects, which is a form due in civility to kfngs and great persons, laudando pracipere; when LSI «Tnnl J'f '""^^ '''' '^'y ^^P-^'^'^t to them wYat he? W +1. K ^T^ ."'^'^ ^'^ P''^'«'^<^ maliciously to tS hurt, thereby to stir envy and jealousy towards them • pessimum gems immicomm laudanUum; insomuch as it was a proverb among the Grecians, that. V^a< he that las praised to his hurt should have a push rise upon hhnose- as we say. that a blister will rise upon one's ton "ue that tells a he Certainly, moderate praise, used wKppor tunity, and not vulgar, is that which doth the good E mon ^^^ih, he that praiseth his friend aloud, rishg early It shall be to him no better than a curse.' Too much mil' nifying of man or matter doth irritate contrad^tbn an^d" aecent, except it be in rare cases : but to praise a man's office or profession, he may do it with good grace and wfth a kmd of" magnanimity. I'he cardinals%f Home VWch ^e Of Praise. 115 f S \ 2 Eccl. vii. 1, ' Prov. xxvii. 14. \ i ) y f *- ./ \ i ■'s ^ theologues, and friars and sclioolmen, have a phrase of notable contempt and scorn towards civil business ; for they call all temporal business of wars, embassages, judi- cature, and other employments, 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 himself, he doth oft interlace, / speak like a fool;"^ but speaking of his calling, he saith, magnificaho ajpostaltum meum} LIV. OF VAIN-GLORY. It was prettily devised of ^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 uj)on the 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 according to the French proverb, heaucoup de bruit peu de fruit; — much bruit little fruit. Yet certainly there is use of this quality in civil affairs. Where there is an opinion 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 ^tolians,^ there are some- times great effects of cross lies ; as if a man tliat negotiates between two princes, to draw them to join in a war against the third, doth extol the forces of either of them above measure, 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 somewhat is produced of nothing : for lies are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on substance. In military commanders and soldiers, vain-glory is an essentialpoint; for as iron sharpens iron, so by glory one courage sharpeneth another. In cases of great enterprise upon charge and adventure, a composition of glorious natures doth put life into business ; and those that are of solid and sober na- * 2 Cor. xi. 2, 3. * ftom. xi. 13. « Vid. Liv. xxxvii. 48. i2 116 Essays. \ ,t tures, have more of the ballast than of the sail In fam^ oltiSof'o'ft*"^"?^ sW without s'ome feaSerrof nomfnluun. £TJ' 5^'!"''*^"'^* gloria lihros scribunt, nomen suum tnscnbuntJ Socrates, Aristotle, Galen were men full of ostentation. Certainly, vain-glorr helDcth to EZl r'". \"'"° ' '""'"'''•y' anl virtufvrfs never 80 beholden to human nature, as it received it<. r1„l, ,f t^ second hand Neither had the Va^e of ctro Seneca -Plinius Secundus borne her a^rp en w^ii \p w^ u j oerieca, Joined with some ^^^yt' ti:r::zii:'^::Lr.^:2 i>ertj that Tacitus doth attribute to C-ian ,, ?^* ^'''^ qu. di.erat fecerat,ue, arte q^X^M^^tTZl datipn to others, in that whe ein a man^s elf h"!'"'"'"''''- fection. For saith Pliny verv wftHlV ' °^ ??'*' another you do yourself rlht^lXlll /'* commendina is eithef superior to vnf in J^\ ^ *''''* 5^°" commencf, ferior; if iL^ bTfnferio^r^f L*K^*/7 commend, or in- much 'more f if\f beTApi^, '^^f he t TtT f' ^^"^ mended, vou m\ioh Ir^aa r^i^ • ^^ ^^ ^^ com- wisemenft1.eTdtitTion?nboT.ril^? ^^^ "°™ ^^ and the slaves of their own vaunts.' ""^ "^^^^''^^^ = LV. OF HONOUR AND REPUTATION. . ihe winmng of honour is but the reveaJin,. r.f » ,v, • virtues and -worth wifl.r,„t a- j revealing ol a man s their actions do woo ind J ft^"'^^'^- *'<^'' «o^e in which sort of men ar^ cLf^f ''°°?'" ^"*^ reputation ; wardly little arfmired AnT ^ '""''' ^""^^^^ ^f' but in: their virtue in thTshot o^ff /'''"'k contrariwise, darken opinion. If a man pXm hat wl.H^hu"'^'^''''^"''^^'! i'l "St^^d^^^^, t-hafh . J ^'^- ^^"^^^ ^^>J0. i. 15. «^^.^x. 80. ^.Z.ii.xxiii. 2. ' Plin. ^/j^. vi. 1 7. ti V^'i i I ^^i*. •V ^ ♦ r^. ,?' 0/* Honour and Reputation, 117 difficulty or virtue, wKerein he is but a follower. If a man so temper his actions, as in some one of them lie 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 faiHng wherein may disgrace him more than the carrying of it through can honour him. Honour that is gained and broken upon another hath the quickest reflection; like diamonds cut with facets; and therefore let a man contend to excel any competitors of his in honour, in outshooting them, if he can, in their own bow. Discreet followers and servants help much to reputation : Omnisfama a domesticis emanat} Envy, which is the canker of honour, is best distinguished by declaring a man's self in his ends, rather to seek merit than fame; and by attributing a man's successes rather to divine Providence and felicity than to his own virtue or policy. The true marshalling of the degrees of sovereign honour are these. In the first place are conditores im- periorum, founders of states and commonwealths ; such as were Eomulus, Cyrus, Caesar, Ottoman, Ismael. In the second place are legislatores, lawgivers ; which are also called second founders, or perpetui principes, because they govern by their ordinances after they are gone : such w^ere Lycurgus, Solon, Justinian, Edgar, Alphonsus of Castile, the Wise, that made the Siete paHidas. In the third place are liheratores, or salvatores ; such as compound the long miseries of civil wars, or deliver their countries from servitude of strangers or tyrants; as Augustus Caesar, Vespasianus, Aurelianus, Theodoricus, King Henry the Seventh of England, King Henry the Jfourth of France. In the fourth place are propagatores^ or propugnatores imperii, such as in honourable wars enlarge their terri- tories, or make noble defence against invaders. And in the last place are patres patrice, which reign justly, and make the times good wherein they live. Both which last kinds need no examples, they are in such number. Degrees of honour in subjects are; first participes cur arum, those upon whom princes do discharge the greatest weight of their affairs: their right hands, as we may call them. The next are duces belli, great leaders; such as are princes* lieutenants, and do them notable services in the wars. The third are gratiosi, favourites; such as exceed not this * Q. Cic. de Feiit. Consul, v. 17. {A. L. ii. xxiii. 15.) 7 118 I Essays. Of Judicature. 119 scantling; to be so ace 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 hkewise whfch may be ranked amongst the greatest, which happeneth rarely Srtl!'' ''^^^'^Sf^ f^^^fice themselves to Seath or dange^ two Dedi. '°'^*'^' "^ ^"^ ^- ^^"^"^"«' ^'i ^^^ liVI. OP JUDICATURE. anSfT^]** to remember that their office i8>. dicere, oril I J'^'/T' *•?, l°tfrpret law, and not to make law tK ^""T'^t^ ^^' '}>^ like the authority claimedTy the church of Eome ; which under pretext of exposition of scripture doth not stick to add anddter, and to pronounce that which they do not find, and by show of ant^SS to introduce novelty. Judges ought to be more learned tLa conSdeT' fbT'^S */l^" P'^^V^ible ; and more advfsed han proper vLf'^ '" ^^'°^!l ?.*"^,"*^ ^^ ^^^'^ P^^ion and bnt rt^?^ The mislayer of a mere stone is to blame- but It 18 the unjust judge that is the capital remover of land-marks, when he defineth amiss of lands and pTopertv One foul sentence doth more hurt than many foul exaS" me rountam. feo saitli So bmon. Fons turhnfn^, ^/ ., J Ihe office of judges may have reference unto the mrtfes that sue; unto the advocates that plead unto the^H^Z and ministers of justice underneath them and to T'- sovereign or state above them. ' ^ *^® (Jthkl% *^! ''T.f "'■ ?*'■*'<'« tl^at «"«• There be S'S dut oVi'^^' '^\''''^' -akrit'TouT'Thl Ml SforcJifth.''^^" ''' ^ ^"PP'""^^ ^°'-''« ^^i fraud! frl,,^ tV •! • , ™°'"'' pernicious when it is open ■ and or courts. A judge ought to prepare his way to a just 3 Beu!^.r 1? ''%Tz%r'''> i^i-v^r em. v^. Z. ii. ■^^t ^5 « " ' I* * '>. >, W- I »v sentence, as God nseth to prepare his way, by raising valleys and taking down hills; so when there appeareth on either side a high hand, violent prosecution, cunning ad- vantages 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 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 construc- tions, and strained inferences; for there is no worse torture than the torture of laws. Specially in case of laws penal, they ought to have care that that which was meant for terror be not turned into rigour; and they that 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 people. 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 confined in the execution: Judicis officium est, ut res, ita tempora rerum, &e.8 In causes of life and death judges ought (as far as the law permitteth), in justice to remember merc;^; 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 he might have heard in due time from the bar; or to show quickness of conceit in cutting ofi" evidence or counsel too short, or to prevent information by questions, though pertinent. The parts of a judge in hearing are four : to direct the evidence ; to moderate length, repetition, or im- pertinency of speech; to recapitulate, select, and colJate 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 or willingness to speak, or of impatience 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 advocates should prevail with judges; whereas they should imitate God, in whose « Prov. XXX. 33. ^ Ps. xi. 6. » Ovid. Trist. I. i. 37. » Ps. cl. 5. (Pray er-Book Version.) vV ■■% -' w 120 Essays, seat they sit, who represseth the presumptuous, and o^iveth grace to the modest. But it is more straa^e, that judges should have noted favourites, which cannot but cause mul- tiplication of fees, and suspicion of by-wajs. There is due from the judge to the advocate some comraeudation and gracing, where causes are well handled and fair pleaded; especially towards the side which obtaineth not; for that upholds in the client 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, slio^ht information, indiscreet 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 half way, nor give occasion 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 foot-pace and precincts, and purprise thereof ought to be preserved without scandal and corruption; for, certainly, grapes (as the Scripture ^di!\t\)) will not he qathered of thorns or thistles;^ neither can justice yield her fruit with sweetness amongst the briers 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 swell, and the country pine. The second sort is of those that engage courts in quar- rels of jurisdiction, and are not truly amicl curicB, but parasiti curice, in puffing a court up beyond her bounds for their own scraps and advantage. The third sort is of those that may be accounted the left hands of courts ; per- sons 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 vreather, he is sure to lose part of his fleece. On the other side, an ancient clerk, skilful in precedents, wary in pro- > ^ -^\h V) ' Matt, vii. IG. Of Judicature, 121 ceeding, 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 Eoman Twelve tables, Salus populi suprema lex: and to know that laws, except they be in order to that end, are but things captious, and oracles not well inspired. Therefore it is a 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 con- sideration of state intervenient in matter 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 manifestly any great portion of people. And let no man weakly conceive that just laws, and true policy, have any antipathy; for they are like the spirits and sinews, that one moves with the other. Let judges also remember, that Solomon'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 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 quls ea uiatiir legitime j^ LVII. OF ANGER. To seek to extinguish anger utterly is but a bravery of the Stoics. We have better oracles : Be angry, hut 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 the natural inclination and habit, to be angry, may be attempered and calmed. Secondly, * 1 Kings X. 20. 3 1 Tim i. 8. * Eph. iv. 26. 122 Essays. how the particular motions of anger may be repressed, or at least refrained from doing mischief'; thirdly, how to raise anger or appease anger in another. For the first ; there is no other way but to meditate and rummate 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 thorouglily over. Seneca saith well th&t anger is like ruin, which breaks itself upon that it falls. Ihe Scripture exhorteth us to possess our souls in patience.^ Whosoever is out of patience is out of posses- eion of his soul. Men must not turn bees ; .... animasquc in vulnere ponunt.' Anger is certainly a kind of baseness ; as it appears well m the weakness of those subjects in whom it reiffns • children women, old folks, sick folks. Only men must beware that they carry their anger rather with scorn than with tear ; 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 sensible of hurt • lor no man is angrv 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 injurv offered to be in the circumstances thereof full of contempt. For eon- tempt 18 that which putteth an edge upon anger, as much, or more than the hurt itself. And therefore ^hen men are ingenious m picking out circumstances of contempt they do kmdle their anger much. Lastly, opinion of the touch, of a mans reputation doth multiply and sharpen anger. Wherein the remedy is that a man should have as Gonsalvo was wont to ^■e.y,telam honoris erassiorem? But in all refrainings of anger, it is the best remedy to win time; and to make a man's self believe that the oppor- tunity of his revenge is not yet come : but that he foresees a time for it; and so to still himself in the meantime and reserve it. ' ^ To contain anger from mischief, though it take hold * Sen. D^ /r^. i. 1. ^ Virg. Georff. iv. 238. 1( ^^/ ..%i» m\ Of Anger, 123 of a man, there be two things whereof you must have special caution : the one, of extreme bitterness of words ; especially if they be aculeate and proper ; for communia maledicta 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 show bitterness, do not act anything that is not revocable. For raising and appeasing anger in another ; it is done chiefly by choosing of times, when men are frow^ardest and worst disposed, to incense them. Again, by gathering (as was touched before) all that you can find out to aggra- vate 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. LVIII. OF VICISSITUDE OF THINGS. Solomon saith. There is no neio thing upon the earth? So that as Plato had an imagination that all knowledge was but remembrance ;^ so Solomon giveth his sentence, that all novelty is but oblivion. Whereby yoa 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, that the fixed stars ever stand at like distance one from another, and never come nearer together nor go further 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 obUvion 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 years drought in the time of EUas was but par- ticular, and left people alive. As for the great burnings ''Luke xxi. 19 * A. L, ii. XX. 12. 9 Eccl. i. 9. * Vid. Adv. of Learn. Bedic, 2 J.L.ii. V. 3. \ 124 Essays. Of Vicissitude of Things. 125 by lightnings, which are often in the West Indies, ther are but narrow But in the otlier two destructions, by deJuge and earthquake, it is further to be noted, that the remnant ot people winch hap to be reserved are commonly Ignorant and mountainous people, that can give no account ot the time past ; so that the oblivion is all one as if none liad 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 destruction that hath hereto- ■ .??j*o ^® ^^^ ''*^* ^y earthquakes (as the Egyptian priest told Solon concerning the island of Atlantis," that it was swallowed by an earthquake), but rather, that it was desolated by a particular deluge. For earthquakes are seldom in those parts. But, on the other side, they have Buch pouring rivers, as the rivers of As.a and Africa and Jiurope are but brooks to them. Their Andes likewise or mountains, are far higher than those with us ; whereby It seems, that the remnants of generations of men were in 11 .t Pf .*i<''^JY 'leluge saved. As for the observation that Machiavel hath, that the jealousy of sects doth much extinguish the memory of things ;^ traducing Gregory the (^reat, that he did what in him lay to extinguish all Jieathen 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 anti- quities. The vicissitude, or mutations, in the superior globe are no fit matter for this present argument. It mav be llato s great year,s if the world shouW last so long, would have some efiect; not in renewing t^ state of like indi- viduals (for that is the fume of thosp that conceive the celestial bodies have more accurate infltience upon these things below than indeed they have), but in gross. Comets, out ot question, have likewise power ^nd effect over the gross and mass of things: but they are rather gazed upon in their journey than wisely observed in their effects- especialhr m their respective efiects; that is, what kind of comet for magnitude, colour, version of the beams teindVeffeltr '^ '' '^^^^^' ""^ '^'"^"^ P-<^"-t^ ' Vid. Plat. 2^m, iii. 24, seq. * Mach. Disc. Sop. Liv. ii. 5 * Plat. Tcm. iii. 38, seq. " > ^ m,. ^ «*J T ■>-■ * .» ^■ There is a toy whicli 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 backwards, I have found some concurrence. But to leave these points of nature, and to come to men. The greatest vicissitude of 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 dis- cords ; and when the holiness of the professors of religion is decayed and full of scandal; and withal the times be stupid, ignorant, 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 pubhshed his law. ,If a new sect have not two properties, fear it not; for it will not spread. The one is the supplanting or the opposing of authority established : for nothing is more popular than that. The other is the giving license to Pleasures and a voluptuous life. For as for speculative eresies (such as were in ancient times the Arians, and now the Arminians) though they work mightily upon men's wits, yet they do not produce any great alterations * in states; except it be by the help of civil occasions. There be three manners of plantations of new sects : by the power of signs and miracles: by the eloquence and wisdom of speech and persuasion: and by the sword. For martyrdoms, I reckon them amongst miracles; because they seem to exceed the strength of human nature: and I may do the like of superlative and admirable 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 san- guinary persecutions, and rather to take off the principal authors, by winning and advancing them, than to enrage them by violence and bitterness. 126 Essays, Of Vicissitude of Things. 127 The changes and vicissitudes in wars are many, 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 ; the one to Gallo-Gra^cia, the other to Eome. 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 observation. 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 continents that are upon the north: whereas the south part, for aught that is known, is almost all sea ; or (which 18 most apparent) of the cold of the northern parts, which is that which without aid of discipline doth make the bodies hardest and the courages 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 Almaigne, after Charles the Great, every bird taking a feather ; and were not unlike to befall to Spain, if it should break. The great accessions and unions of king- doms do likewise stir up wars. For when a state grows to an overpower, it is like a great flood that will be sure to overflow. As it hath been seen in the states of Eome, Turkey, Spain, and others. Look when the world hath fewest barbarous peoples, but such as commonly will not marry or generate, except they know means to live (as it is almost everywhere 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 populate, without foreseeing means of life and sustentation, it is of necessity that once in an age or two they discharge a portion of their people upon other nations: which the ancient northern people were wont to do by lot : casting lots what part should stay at home, and what should seek their ^ 41; f fortunes. When a warlike state grows soft and efle- minate, 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, and their decay in valour encou- rageth a war. As for the weapons, it hardly falleth under rule and ob- servation : yet we see even they have returns and vicissi- tudes. For certain it is, that ordnance was known in the city of the Oxydraces, 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 improvements are ; first, the fetching afar ofi"; for that outruns the danger: as it is seen in ordnance and muskets. Secondly, the strength of the per- cussion, 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 ex- tremely 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 were more ignorant in ranging and arraying 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 ordering 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 merchandise. Learning hath its infancy, when it is but beginning, and almost childish ; then his youth, when it is luxuriant and juvenile ; then his strength of years, when it is solid and reduced : and, lastly, his 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. L^ 128 A Fragment of an Essay of Fame. 129 A FRAGMENT OP AN ESSAY OF FAME. The poets make Fame a monster: they describe her in part finely and elegantly, and in part gravely and senten- tiously: thev say, look how many 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 daytime she sitteth in a watch-tower, and flieth 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 hira 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, mascuhne and feminine: but now if a man can tame this monster, and bring her to feed at the hand and govern her, and with her fly other ravening fowl and kill them, it is somewhat 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 multiplied ; 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, eppecially m the war. Mucianus undid Vitellius by a fame that he scattered, that Vitellius had in purpose to remove the legions of Syria into Germany, and the legions of Germany into Syria; where- i r *- V. 1> \ upon the legions of Syria were infinitely inflamed.^ Julius Csesar 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 with the wars and laiden with the spoils of Gaul, would forsake him as soon as he came into Italy .^ Li via settled all things for the succession of her son Tiberius by con- tinual giving out that her husband Augustus was upon recovery and amendment^ and it is a 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 Constan- tinople and other towns, as their manner is. Themistocles made Xerxes king of Persia post apace out of Grsecia, 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 everywhere: 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 of the Essay of Fame was not finished. « Tacit. HisL ii. 80. ^ Tacit. A7in, i. 5. 7 Cses. de Bell Civ. i. 6. s Vid. Herod, viii. 108, 109. *c \ II ^ ij r\\ '^ OF THE O COLOURS OP GOOD AND EVIL: I - A FRAGMENT. \ (I O i. £2 i lu * « , .T I TO THE LORD MOUNTJOYE .♦ T SEND you the last part of the best book of Aristotle ! of Stagira, who, as your lordship knoweth, goeth for the best author. But, saving the civil respect which is due to a received estimation, the man bemg a Grecian and of a hasty wit, having hardly a discerning patience, much less a teaching patience, hath so delivered the matter as i am glad to do the part of a good house hen, which, with- out any strangeness, will sit upon pheasant's eggs. A^d yet, perchance, some that shall compare my lines with Aristotle's lines, will muse by what art, or rather by what revelation, I could draw these conceits out of that place. But I, that should know best, do freely acknowledge that I had my light from him; for where he gave me not matter to perfect, at the least he gave me occasion to invent. Wherein as I do him right, being myself a man that am as free from envying the dead in contemplation, as trom envyinff the living in action or fortune : so yet, neverthe- less, still I say, and I speak it more largely than before, that in perusing the writings of this person so much cele- brated, whether it were the impediment of his wit, or that he did it upon glory and affectation to be subtle, as one that if he had seen his own conceits clearly and perspi- cuously delivered, perhaps would have been out ot love with them himself; or else upon policy, to. keep hunselt close, as one that had been a challenger of all the world, and had raised infinite contradiction : to what cause soever it is to be ascribed, I do not find him to dehver and unwrap himself weU of that he seemeth to conceive, nor to be a master of his own knowledge. Neither do 1, lor my part also, though I have brought in a new manner ot handUng this argument, to make it pleasant and lightsome, pretend so to have overcome the nature of the subject, but that the fuU understanding and use of it will be somewhat dark, and best pleasing to the taste of such wits as are patient to stay tie digesting and soluting unto themselves of that which is sharp and subtle. Which was the cause, ioined with the love and honour I bear your lordship, as the person I know to have many virtues and an excellent order of them, which moved me to dedicate this wntmg to your lordship after the ancient manner : choosing both a friend, and one to whom I conceived the argument was agreeable. ♦ Not originally prefixed to the work. It is Jound in the " Remains" published by Stephens, and there is a MS. of it m tHe British Museum. (Montagu.) In deliberatives, the point is, what is good, and what 18 evil ; and of good what is greater ; and of evU what IS less. So that the persuader's labour is to make things appear good or evil, and that in an higher or lower degree; which as It may be performed by true and sohd reasons, so it may be represented also by colours, popularities, and circumstances, which are of such force as they sway the ordinary judgment either of a weak man or of a wise man not fuUy and considerately attending and pondering the matter. Besides their power to alter the nature of the subject m appearance, and so to lead to error, they are ot no less use to quicken and strengthen the opinions and persuasions which are true: for reasons plainly delivered and always after one manner, especiaUy with fine and tastidious minds, enter but heavily and dully; whereas if they be varied, and have more life and vigour put into them by these forms and insinuations, they cause a stronger apprehension, and many times suddenly win the mind to a resolution. Lastly, to make a true and safe judgment nothmg can be of greater use and defence to the mind than the discovering and reprehension of these colours showing m what cases they hold and in what they deceive- which, as it cannot be done, but out of a verv universal knowledge of the nature of things; so being performed it 80 cleareth man's judgment and election, as it is the less apt to slide into any error. ■»* 4 A Table of the Colours (or Appearances) of Good and Evil; and their Degrees, as Places of Persuasion, and Dissuasion, and their several Fallaxes, and the Elenchs of them. 1. Cui ccBtercB partes vel sectce secundas unanimiter deferunt, cum singulcB principatum sihi vindicent, melior reliquis videtur. Nam prim as quceque ex zelo videtur sumere ; secundas autem ex vero et merito trihuere. Since all partieSy or sects, challenge the pre-eminence of the first place to themselves ; that, to which all the rest with one consent give the second place, seems to he better than the others. For every one seems to talce the first place out of zeal to itself hut to give the second where it is really due, SO Cicero went about to prove the sect of Academics, which suspended all asseveration, for to be the best. For, saith he, ask a Stoic which philosophy is true, he will prefer his own: then ask him, which approacheth next the truth, he will confess, the Academics.. So deal with the Epicure, that will scant endure the Stoic to he in sight oj him ; so soon as he hath placed himself, he will place the Academics next him} So, if a prince took divers competitors to a place, and examined them severally, whom next themselves they would chiefly commend; it were like the ablest man should have the most second votes. The fallax of this colour happeneth oft in respect of envy; for men are accustomed, after themselves, and their own fashion, to incline to them which are softest, and are least in their way, in despite and derogation of them, that hold them hardest to it. So that this colour of meliority and pre-eminence is a sign of enervation and weakness. Cic. Acad, apud Augustin. c. Acad. iii. 7. i ^ 136 A Table of the Colours of Good and Evil, 137 2. Cujus excellentia, vel exsuperantia melior; id toto genere melius. That kind is altogether best, whose excellence or pre- eminence is best, A PPEETAINING to this are the forms : Let us not ^. I wander in generalities. Let us compare particular with particular^ &c. This appearance, though it seem of strength, rather logical than rhetorical, yet is very oft a fallax. Sometimes because some things are in kind very casual, which if they escape, prove excellent, so that the kind is inferior, because it is so subject to peril ; but that, which is excellent, being proved, is superior. As the blossom of March, and the blossom of May, whereof the French verse goeth: Bourgeon de Mars, enfant de Paris, Si un eschape, il en vaut dix. So that the blossom of May is generally better than the blossom of March; and yet the best blossom of March is better than the best blossom of May. Sometimes, because the nature of some kinds is to be more equal, and more indifferent, and not to have very distant degrees, as hath been noted in the warmer climates, the people are generallv more wise, but in the northern climate the wits of chief are greater. So in many armies, if the matter should be tryed by duel between two champions, the victory should go on the one side ; and yet, if it be tried by the gross, it would go of the other side. For excellencies go as it were by chance, but kinds go by a more certain nature, as by discipline in war. Lastly, many kinds have much refuse, which counter- vail that which they have excellent; and therefore gene- rally metal is more precious than stone, and yet a diamond is more precious than gold. 3. Quod ad veritatem refertur, majus est, quam quod ad opinionem. Modus autem et probatio ejus, quod ad opi- nionem pertinet, hcec est: Quod quis, si clam putaret fore, facturus non esset. That which hath relation to truth is greater than that which refers to opinion. But the measure and try at of that, which belongs to opinion, is this: That which a man would not do, if he thought it would not be known. \\L CO tlie Epicures say to the Stoics felicity placed in O virtue; that it is like the felicity of a player, who, if he were left of his auditory, and their applause, would straight be out of heart and countenance; and therefore they call virtue, bonum theatrale. But of riches the poet saitH, .« Populus me sibilat, at mihi plaudo : And of pleasure, . . . . Grata sub imo Gaudia corde premens, vultu simulante Pudorem. The fallax of this colour is somewhat subtil, though the answer to the example be ready: For virtue is not chosen propter auram popularem, for the applause of people ; but contrariwise, maxime omnium teipsum reverere, so as a virtuous man will be virtuous in solitudme, and not only in theatro, though percase it will be more strong by glory and fame, as an heat which is doubled by reflection. But that denieth the supposition, it doth not reprehend the fallax, whereof the reprehension is, allow that virtue (such as is ioined with labour and conflict) would not be f hosen, but for fame and opinion ; yet it foUoweth not that the chief motive of the election should not be real, and lor itself- for fame may be only causa impulsiva, and not causa constituens, or efficiens. As if there were two horses, and the one would do better without the spur than the other : but a-ain, the other with the spur would far exceed the doing of the former, giving him the spur also; yet the latter will be iudged to be the better horse: and the form, as to say Tush the life of this horse is but in the spur, will not serve i to a wise iudgment: for, since the ordinary instrument Tf horslmanship is the spur, and that it is no matter of impediment nor burthen, the horse is not to be accounted ihe lesT of, which will not do weU without the spur, but the other is to be reckoned rather a deUcacy than a virtue: 80 dory and honour are the spurs to virtue: and, although virtue would languish without them, yet smce they be Ilway 8 It hand to attend virtue, virtue is not to be said S fess, chosen for itself, because it needed the spur of fame and reputation. And therefore that position, iV^.^a e)usrei, quod propter opinionem, et non propter veritatem 2 Hor. Sat. I. i. 66. 138 A Table of tlie Colours V of Good and Evil. 139 eligitur, hcec est ; quod quis, si clam putaret Jbrey Jacturus nan esset. 4. Quod rem integram servat, honum : quod sine receptu est malum. Nam se recipere nan posse, imjpotentice genus est: potentia autem honum. That, which keeps a matter safe and entire, is good : hut what is destitute, and unprovided of a retreat, is had. For, whereas all ability of acting is good, not to he able to withdraw ones self, is a kind of impotency, HEEEOF uEsoi) framed the fable of the two frogs, that consulted together in the time of drought (when many plashes that they had repaired to were dry,) what was to be done : and the one propounded to go down into a deep well, because it was like the water would not fail there ; but the other answered, yea, but if it do fail, how shall we get up again ? And the reason is, that human actions are so uncertain, and subject to perils, as that seemeth the best course which hath the most passages out of it. Appertaining to this persuasion, the forms are,^o^ shall engage your self; on the other side, tantum, quantum voles, sumes ex fortuna, you shall keep the matter in your own hands. The reprehension of it is, that proceeding and resolving in all actions is necessary. Eor, as he saith well, not to resolve, is to resolve; and many times it breeds as many necessities, and engageth as far as in some other sort, as to resolve. So it is but the covetous man's disease translated into power; for the covetous man will enjoy nothing, because he will have his full store, and possibility to enjoy the more; so by this reason, a man should execute nothing, because he should be still in- difierent , and at liberty to execute any thing. Besides necessity and this samejacta est alea, hath many times an advantage; because it awaketh the powers of the mind, and strengthneth endeavour, Cceieris pares, necessitate certe superiores istis. f. 5 Quod ex plurihus constat et divisihilibus, est majus ' quam quod ex paucioribus, et magis unum: nam omnia per partes considerata majora videntur; quare et piura- litaspartium magnitudinem prce sefert. Fortius autem operatur pluralitas partium, si ordo ahstt: nam tnductt similitudinem infiniti, et impedit comprehensionem. That, which consists of more parts, and those dimsihle, is greater, and more one, than what is made up of fewer; for all things, when they are looked upon piece-meal, seem greater; whence also a plurality of parts make shew of a bulk considerable, which a plurality of parts effects more strongly, if they be in no certain order; for it then resembles an infinity, and hinders the comprehending oj them. THIS colour seemetL palpable, for it is not plurality of parts, without majority of parts, tliat maketh the total greater ; yet, nevertheless, it often carries the mind away; yea, it deceiveth the sense; as it seemeth to the eye a shorter distance of way, if it be aU dead and con- tinued, than if it have trees, or buildings, or any other marks whereby the eye may divide it. So when a great monied man hath divided his chests, and coins and bags, he seemeth to himself richer than he was. And therefore the way to amphfy anything is to break it, and to make an anatomy of it in several parts, and to examine it acceding to several circumstances. And this maketh the greater shew if it be done without order, for confusion maketh things muster more. And besides, what is set down by order and division, doth demonstrate, that nothing is left out or omitted but all is there: whereas, if it be without order, both the mind comprehendeth less that which is set down! and besides it leaveth a suspicion, as if more might be said than is expressed. ■ . ei- +i,„+ ;= +^ \.^ This colour deceiveth, if the mind of him that is to be persuaded, do of itself overconceive or prejudge of the greatness of any thing ; for then the breaking of it will make it seem less, because it makes it to appear more Tcord ng to the truth. And therefore, if a man be in sickness or pain, the time will seem longer without a clock, or hourglass^ th^n with it: for the mind doth value every moment^; aid then the hour doth rather sum up the moments than divide the day. So in a dead plain the way seemeth the longer, because the eye hath precon- 140 A Table of the Colours of Good and Evil, 141 ceived it shorter, than the truth : and the frustrating of that maketh it seem longer than the truth. Therefore, if any man have an over-great opinion of anything, then if another think, by breaking it into several considerations, he shall make it seem greater to him, he will be deceived. And therefore, in such cases, it is not safe to divide, but to extol the entire still in general. Another case, wherein this colour deceiveth, is, when the matter broken, or divided, is not comprehended by the sense or mind at once in respect of the distracting or scattering of it; and being entire, and not divided, is comprehended. As an hundred pounds in heaps of five pounds will shew more than in one gross heap, so as the heaps be all upon one table to be seen at once, otherwise not; or flowers, growing scattered in divers beds, will show more, than if they did grow in one bed, so as all those beds be within a plot, that they be object to view at once; otherwise not. And therefore men, whose living lieth together in one shire, are commonly counted greater landed, than those whose livings are dispersed, though it be more, because of the notice and comprehension. A third case, wherein this colour deceiveth, which is not so projjerly a case of reprehension, as it is a counter colour, being in ejQTect as large as the colour it self is, Omnis compositio indigentice cujusdam videtur esse jparticeps, because, if one thing would serve the turn, it were ever best, but the defect and imperfection of things hath brought in that help to piece them up: as it is said, Martha, Martha, attendis ad plurima, unum sufficit? So likewise hereupon ^Esop formed the fable of the fox and the cat : whereas the fox bragged what a number of shifts and devices he had to get from the hounds ; and the cat said, she had but one, which was to climb a tree ; which in proof was better worth than all the rest; whereof the proverb grew, Multa novit Vulpes, sed Felis unum magnum. And in the moral of this fable, it comes likewise to pass, that a good sure friend is a better help at a pinch, than all the stratagems and policies of a man's own wit. So it falleth out to be a common error in negotiating; whereas men ( I #, *>J have many reasons to induce or persuade, they strive commonly to utter, and use them all at once, which weakeneth them. For it argueth, as was said, a needmess in every of the reasons by itself, as if one did not trust to any of them, but fled from one to another, helping himselt only with that, Et quse non prosunt singula, multa juvant.* Indeed, in a set speech in an assembly, it is expected a man should use all his reasons in the case hehandleth: but in private persuasions it is always a great error. A fourth case wherein this colour may be reprehended is in respect of that same vis unitafortior, according to the tale of the French king, who, when the emperor s am- bassador had recited his master's style at large, which con- sisteth of many countries and dominions, the J^ rencJi kmg willed his chanceUor or other minister, to repeat over France as many times as the other had recited the several dominions; intending it was equivalent with them all, and more compacted and united. , . , ^, . . There is also appertaining to this colour another point, whv breaking of a thing doth help it ; not bj way of adding a shew of magnitude unto it, but a note of excellency and rarity: whereof the forms are, Where you shaUfind such a concurrence? Great, hut not complete: for it seems a less work of nature or fortune, to make anythmg m his kind greater than ordinary, than to make a strange com- ^^Yet^if it be narrowly considered, this colour will be reprehended, or encountred, by imputing to all excel- lencies in compositions a kind of poverty, or at least a casualty or ieopardy: for from that which is excellent m greatness somewhat may be taken or there may be a decay, and yet sufficiency left; but from that which hath his pnce in composition if you take away any thmg, or any part do fail, all is disgraced. * Ovid. JK. A, 420. ^ Luke X. 41. 143 A Table of the Colours of Good and Evil. 143 6. Cujus privatio bona, malum: cujusprivatio mala, bonum. ^ That, whose privation (or, the want of which) is good, IS in itself evil: that whose privation {or, the want thereof) IS an evil, is in itself good, f I ^HE forms to make it conceived, that that was evil, X which IS changed for the better, are, He that is in hell thinks there is no other Heaven, Satis quercus; Acorns were good, till bread was found, &c. And of the other side, the forms to make it conceived that that was good which was changed for the worse, are; Bona magis carendo quam fruendo sentimus. Bona a tergoformosissima : Good things never appear in their full beauty, till they turn their back, and be going away, &c. The reprehension of this colour is, that the good or evil which IS removed, may be esteemed good or evil com- paratiyely : and not positively or simply. So that if the privation be good, it follows not, that the former condition was evil, but less good: for the flower or blossom is a positive good; although the remove of it to give place to the fruit be a comparative good. So in the tale of ^sop, when the old fainting man in the heat of the day cast down his burthen, and called for death; and when death came to know his will with him, said. It was for nothing, but to help him up with his burthen again : it doth not follow that because death, which was the privation of the burthen' was ill, therefore the burthen was good. And in this part the ordinary form of malum necessarium, aptly reprehended this colour: forprivatio mail necessarii est mala, and yet that doth not convert the nature of the necessary evil, but it 18 evil. "^ Again it cometh sometimes to pass, that there is an equality in the change or privation, and (as it were) a dilemma bom, or a dilemma mali, so that the corruption ot the one good is a generation of the other. Sorti pater aequus utrique est :* And contrary, the remedy of the one evil, is the occasion and commencement of another; as in Scylla and Charybdis. ' Virg. uEn. x. 450. -'-» 7. Quod bono vicinum, bonum: quod a bono remotum, malum. What is near to good, is good ; what is at distance from good, is evil. QUCH is the nature of things, that things contrary, and O distant in nature and quality are also severed and disjoined in place; and things like and consenting in quality are placed, and as it were quartered together: for partly in regard of the nature to spread, multiply, and infect in similitude; and partly in regard of the nature to break, expel, and alter that which is disagreeable aad contrary, most things do either associate, and draw near to themselves the like, or at least assimilate to themselves that which approacheth near them, and do also drive away, chase, and exterminate their contraries And that is the reason commonly yielded, why the middle region of the air should be coldest; because the sun and stars are either hot bv direct beams, or by reflection The direct beams heat the upper region; the reflected beams from the earth and seas heat the lower region.^ That which is in the midst, being furthest distant in place from these two regions of heat, are most distant in nature that is coldest, which is that they term cold, or hot, per antiperistasin, that is, en- vironing by contraries; which was pleasantly taken hold of bv him, who said, that an honest man in these days must needs be more honest than in ages heretofore, i^roj^feraw- tiperistasin, because the shutting of him m the midst ot contraries must needs make the honesty stronger, and more compact in itself. The reprehension of this colour is: ,.,.,, First, Many things of amplitude m their kind do as it were engross to themselves all, and leave that which is next them most destitute. As the shoots, or underwood, that grow near a great and spread tree, is the most pined and sWbby woolof the field; because the great tree doth deprive and deceive them of the sap and nounshment. So he saith well, Divitis servi maxime servi, and the com- parison was pleasant of him, that compared courtiers attendant in the courts of princes, without great place or office, to fasting-days, which were next the holy-days but otherwise were the leanest days in all the week. « Cf. Aristot. Meteor, i. 12. 144 A Table oftlie Colours Another repreliension is, that things of greatness and predominancy, thouo^h they do not extenuate the things adjoining in substance, yet they drown them, and obscure them in shew and appearance. And therefore the astro- nomers say; that, whereas in all other planets conjunction is the perfectest amity, the sun contrariwise is good by as- pect, but evil by conjunction. A third reprehension is, because evil approacheth to good, sometimes for concealment, sometimes for protection ; and good to evil for conversion and reformation. So hypocrisy draweth near to religion for covert and hiding itself. Ssepe latet vitium proximitate boni.^ And sanctuary men, which were commonly inordinate men, and malefactors, were wont to be nearest to priests, and prelates, and holy men : for the majesty of good things is such, as the confines of them are revered. On the other side, our Saviour charged with nearness of publicans and rioters, said, The physician approacheth the sick rather than the whole. ^ 8. Quod quis culpa sua co7itraxit, majus malum : quod ah externis imponitur, minus malum. That, which a man hath procured hy his own default, is a greater mischief {or evil) ; that, tvhich is laid on hy others, is a lesser evil, ''FHE reason is, because the sting and remorse of the X mind accusing itself doubleth all adversity : con- trariwise, the considering and recording inwardly that a man is clear and free from fault and just imputation, doth- attemper outward calamities. For if the evil be in the sense and in the conscience both, there is a gemination of it: but if evil be in the one, and comfort in the other, it is a kind of compensation. So the poets in tragedies do make the most passionate lamentations, and those that forerun final despair, to be accusing, questioning, and torturing of a man*s self. Seque unum clamat causamque caputque malorum.* ' Ovid. J. A. ii. 662. » Matt. ix. 12. ® Virg. ^n. xii. 600. Se causam clamat crimenque caputque y » T^<^ of Good and Evil. 145 « « And contrariwise, the extremities of worthy persons have WaSated in the consideration of their own good desS Besides, when the evil cometh from without the™left a kind of evaporation of grief, if it come by human in urv, either by indignation, and meditating of rev™n"e frSurselves, or by e'pecti^ng or fore-concemng^ E Nemesis and retribution wiil take hold of the authors nf o,.r hurt- or, if it be by fortune or accident, yet there is left a kind of expostulation against the divine powers. Atquc Dcos atque Astra vocat crudelia Mater :' But, where the evil is derived from a man's own fault, there all strikes deadly inwards and suffocateth. The renrehension of this colour is: Rrst In respect of hope: for reformation o oi^ f^^H is iw nostra potestate, but amendment of our fortune • J^W k Tot- therefore Demosthenes in many of his orTtfoL saih thus To^e people of Athens; that M favZrZard to the time past, is the worst point and Having reyarw j-^ j ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ rrtr t^l tZli Even this, thatly your Iti^olution, and rnisgovernuentymr affairs are arown to this declination and decay: for, had, you usea ^Ind ordered vour means and forces to the best, and done your Tc^tsm^ay to the full; and notwithstanding your mat- ^tersshoJd have gone backward in this manner as they d^; iZeZd been J hope left of recovery or rfara^^.J^ iZtitr^rsS,'^eZZ17Ie%^^^^^ ZtntS%tter'than that to accuse a man's self and 'tltVreS'-S'rf this colour is in respect of the weU blarinrof ev^s, wherewith a man can charge nobody but himself, which maketh them the less. Leve fit, quod bene fertur onus :» A.,^ therefore many natures, that are either extremely toe no otier .Uiit, but to bear it out well, .«d to make malorum. , V V.J V 9% ' Deraosth. Phhp. A. 40. 3 0vd. Jm.\M. 10. .^. '* 146 A Table oftJie Colours the least of it. For, as we see, when sometimes a fault is committed, and before it be known who is to blame, much ado IS made of it;* but after, if it appear to be done by a son, or by a wife, or by a near friend, then it is light made ot: so much more, when a man must take it upon himself. And therefore it is commonly seen, that women which marry husbands of their own choosing against their friends' consents, if they be never so ill-used, yet you shaU seldom see them complain, but to set a good face on it. 0. Quod opera et virtute 7iostra partum est, majus ho- num : quod ah alieno heneficio, vel ah indulgentia For- tunes, delatum est, minus honum. That which is gotten by our own pains and industry is a greater good; that which comes hy another man's courtesy, or the indulgence of Fortune, is a lesser good. ^HE reasons are, i- First, the future hope: because in the favour of others or the good winds of fortune, we have no state or certainty; m our endeavours or abihties we have. So as when they have purchased us one good fortune, we have them as ready, and better edged and environed to procure another. ^ The forms be : You have won this hy play. You have not only the water hut you have the receipt: you can make it again, if it he lost, &c. -^ ^ Next, because these properties which we enjoy by the benefit of others, carry with them an obligation, which seemeth a kind of burthen : whereas the other, which derive from ourselves are like the freest patents, absque aliquo inde reddendo. And if they proceed from fortune or providence, yet they seem to touch us secretly with the reverence of the divine powers, whose favours we taste and therefore work a kind of religious fear and restraint- whereas in the other kind, that comes to pass, which the prophet speaketh, Lmtantur, exaltant, immolant plaais suis et sacrtficant reti suo. Thirdly, because that, which cometh unto us without our own virtue, yieldeth not that commendation and reputation, for actions of great fehcity may draw wonder, but praise less; as Cicero said to Caesar, Quce miremur, kabemus; qucB laudemus, expectamus^ * Cic. /?. Marcell, 9. ^Vt% • f \ V of Good and Evil. 147 Fourthly, because the purchases of our own industry are joineS commonly with labour and stnfe; ^t^ch ™an edge and appetite, and makes the fruition of our desires more pleasant. Suavis ctbus a venatu. On the other side, there be ^^r counter-colours to this colour, rather than reprehensions ; because they be as large ''Ftt!te"aufe tlicity seemeth to be a character of th. favour and love of the Divine Powers; and accordingly works both of confidence in our selves, and respect and rthority from others. And this felicity extendeth to mtny casual things, whereunto the care and virtue of man cannot extend, and therefore seemeth to be at large Z"d As when C^isar said to the sailer; Co'sarem portas valour- it had been small comfort against a tempest, otherwise than if it might seem upon ment to induce ^■"NTxt, whatsoever is done by virtue and industxy, seems to be done by a kind of habit and art; and therefore open Z be Sate^d and followed, whereas fehcity is immitable. g, we generally see, that things of nature seem more excellent than things of art,because they be inimitable; for, Ouod imitahile est, potentia quadam vuUatumest. %hirCfelicity eommendlth those thmgs ^hich«>meth without our own labour: for they seem gitts, and the Sers seem pennyworths. Whereupon Plutarch saith cWantlv of^tfc acts of Timoleon, who was so fortunate, compaSj with the acts of Agesilaus and Epaminondas IZuh^were like Homer's verses; they ran so easily, and ITwell^ And therefore it is the word we give unto Poesie, termfng it a happy vein ; because facihty seemeth ever to ''XurthTyl'thrslme pr.ter spera, .el e^ectatumAoi^ increase the price and pleasure of many things ; and this cannot be fncident to tLse things that proceed from our own care, and compass. 5 Plut. Cas. 38. 6 Plut. Timol. 36. 148 A Table of the Colours of Good and EviL 149 10. Gradus privationis major videtur quam grains dimi' nutionis: et rursus, gradus inceptionis major videtur quam gradus incrementi : The degree of privation seems greater than the degree of diminution : and again, the degree of inception (or beginning) seerns greater than the degree of increase, IT is a position in the mathematics, that there is no pro- portion between somewhat and nothing : therefore the degree of nullity and quiddity, or act, seemeth larger than the degrees of increase and decrease. As to a monoculus, it IS more to lose one eye, than to a man that hath two eyes. So, if one have lost divers children, it is more grief to him to lose the Last, than all the rest: because he is spcs gregis. And therefore Sibylla, when she brought her three books, and had burned two, did double the whole price of both the other;^ because the burning of that had been aradus privationis, and not diminutionis. This colour is reprehended, —first, in those things, the use and service whereof resteth in sufficiency, competency, or determinate quantity: as if a man be to pay one hundred pounds upon a penalty, it is more to him to want twelve pence, than after that twelve pence supposed to be wanting, to want ten shillings more. So the decay of a man's estate seems to be most touched in the degree when he first grows behind, more than afterwards when he proves nothing worth. And hereof the common forms are: 8era infundoparsimonia:^ and, as good never a whit as never the better, &c. It is reprehended also in respect of that notion, Cor- ruptio unius, generatio alterius:^ So that Gradus pri- vationis, is many times less matter, because it gives the cause and motive to some new course. As when De- mosthenes reprehended the people for hearkening to the conditions offered by King Philip, being not honourable nor equal, he saith, They were but elements of their sloth and zveaknessj which if they were taken away, necessity Aul. GcU. 't^oct, Att. i. 19. 8 llrsiod. f>y. k, r)^. 367 » Aristot. Be Gen. et Corr, i. 3. 4 tf ii I would teach them stronger resolutions. So Doctor Hector was wont to say to the dames of London, when they complained they were they could not tell how, but yet they could not endure to take any medicme, he would tell them, their way was only to be sick ; for then they would be glad to take any medicine. Thirdly: this colour may be reprehended m respect that the degree of decrease is more sensitive than the degree of privation ; for in the mind of men, gradus dimi- nutionis, the degree of decrease, may work a wavering between hope and fear, and keep the mmd m suspense, from settlmg and accommodating in patience and resolu- tion. Hereof the common forms are ; Better cry out, than always ache; make or mar, &c. For the second branch of this colour, it depends upon the same general reason: hence grew the common place of extolling the beginning of everything ; Dimidiurn facti qui bene coepit habet. This made the astrologers so idle, as to judge of man's nature and destiny by the constellation of the moment ot his nativity or conception. This colour is reprehended, because many inceptions are but (as Epicurus termeth them) tentamenta, that is, im- perfect offers and essays, which vanish, and come to no substance without an iteration; so as, m such cases, the second degree seems the worthiest ; as the body-horse in the cart, that draweth more than the fore-horse. Hereot the common forms are; T/ie second blow makes the fray. The second word makes the bargain. Alter principium dedit, alter modum abstulit, &c. . Another reprehension of this colour, is m respect ot defatigation, which makes perseverance of greater dignity than inception : for chance or instinct of nature may cause inception : but settled aff'ection, or judgment, maketh the continuance. , , . i ^i • i • i Thirdly : this colour is reprehended m such things which have a natural course and inclination contrary to an incep- tion • So that the inception is continually evacuated, and .rets no start ; but there behoveth perpetua mceptw, as in the common forms: Non progredi, est regredt. Q,ui non proficit, deficit. Bunnim against the hill; Bowing against the stream. For if it l.e with the stream or with the 150 A Table oftlie Colours of Good and Evil. hill, then the degree of inception is more than all the rest. Fourthly, this colour is to be understood of Gradus inceptionis a poientia ad actum comjparatasy cum gradu ab actu ad incrementum. For other, major videtur gradus ab imjpotentia ad potentiam, quam a potentia ad actum. DEO GLORIA. (H PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION, A NEW ANNOTATED EDITION OF THE ENGLISH POETS EDITED BY ROBERT BELL, AUTHOR OF • THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA,* ' LIVES OF THE ENGLISH POETS,' ETC. f. n^HE necessity for a revised and carefully Annotated ^ Edition of the EngUsh Poets may be found in the fact, that no such publication exists. The only CoUections we possess consist of naked and frequently imperfect Texts, put forth without sufficient literary supervision. Inde- pendently of other defects, these voluminous Collections are incomplete as a whole, from their omissions of many Poets whose works are of the highest interest, while the total absence of critical and illustrative Notes renders them comparatively worthless to the Student of our National Literature. , ^ , , > . A few of our Poet<^ ha^e \ehn edited iieparptely by^ men well qualified for the imdei!'takiiig,*andsereci5jd Specimens have appeared, acc9mp9-nied by notices, which, as far as they go, answer the^ifr|)oae.f(tr \Clfioh tjiey were inte;\ded. But these do not supply tlie want wbioh .iS. Mt of a Com- plete Body of English Poetry, edited ^throughout with judgment and integrity, avid-cgmtiiimg' 'those: featilres of research, typographical ^leg?^ce, •a'rad/elceinomy caprice, [which the present age demands. The Edition now proposed will be distinguished from ill preceding Editions in many important respects. It will include the works of several Poets entirely omitted from ♦ H ANNOTATED EDITION OF THE ENGLISH POETS. previous Collections, especially those stores of Lyrical and Ballad Poetry in which our Literature is richer than that of any other country, and which, independently of their *, poetical claims, are peculiarly interesting as Illustrations f of Historical Events and National Customs. ^ By the exercise of a strict principle of selection, this Edition will be rendered intrinsically more valuable than any of its predecessors. The Text will in all instances be scrupulously collated, and accompanied by Biographical, Critical, and Historical Notes. An Introductory Volume will present a succinct account | of English Poetry from the earliest times down to Chaucer, with whose works the Collection will commence. Occa- sional volumes will be introduced, in which Specimens will be given of the Minor Poets, with connecting Notices and Commentaries. The important materials gathered from previously unexplored sources by the researches of the last quarter of a century will be embodied wherever they may be available in the general design; and by these means it is hoped that the Collection will be made of greater f completeness than any that has been hitherto attempted, and that it will be rendered additionally acceptable as comprising in its course a Continuous History of English Poetry. By the arrangements that will be adopted, the Works of all the p\incipcil*Poet8 may-lDe purchased separately and indepondbnify. of the'r^sfet.. »Tlie Oocasional Volumes, con- taining, according to circumstances, the Poetry of a par- tic uja^i* Pferiod;— such ^s*^ that .of :ihe! Commonwealth, the ^ Eesloration^ .\ot . tlje* . Jacbbite * relies, — or that may be specially devoted to historical and critical details, will also be readeced com qlete ih themselves^ II The Work mil he issued i^'Montfihj Volumes, Foolscap Octavo Due Notice will be given of the time and order of publication. London: JOH^. .V. PARKER AND SON, West Strand. 1 l"^ 31 A V ♦ ^i| f i I i--*f iB^,^'->,-»*-it''*r- '-^^ -■'"■■' f' 'r' ' X '. T^y^-TjppQ » 1 ^ **!♦.*'>• *. A t K r ( 132313 i LV U COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY L 0021106843 BRITTLE ro NAT PHOTOCO'V Wl 86 1939 L*jiai^ r«r*!fi?ses3Bia:j.*sjjtsac:f' ■*, • ^ *^t