_Bacon a Poet_ (Vol. iv., p. 474.).--Whether Lord Bacon was, or was not,
the author of the well-known lines noted and queried by R. CS., I will
leave the intended editor of Hackneyed Quotations to decide, hoping that
he will soon make his appearance as public umpire in all such cases.
Whether Lord Bacon was, or was not, really _a poet_, I will leave to the
decision of those who are conversant with the glorious works of his mind
_and imagination_.
But I have something to say to the note with which R. CS. follows up his
query:--"Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Bacon, and Bacon the Sculptor, are the
only conspicuous men of the name, and none of them, that I know, wrote
verses."
This must not go unchallenged in the truthful pages of "NOTES AND
QUERIES." "Pray, Sir," said a lady to me once, with a very complimentary
air, "though no great Latin scholar, may I not judge by your name that
you are a descendant of THE GREAT FRIAR BACON?" To which I could only
reply, "Madam, I have never yet discovered the bend sinister on our
escutcheon." From that proud moment I have been penetrated with the
profoundest respect for the name of Roger; and I cannot patiently see
the biggest pig of our sty namelessly consigned to oblivion in the pages
of "NOTES AND QUERIES". Pray assure R. CS. that the three Bacons of whom
he makes mention are _not_ "the only conspicuous men of the name." And
as to the rest, "none of them that I know wrote verses," I beg to refer
him to Lord Bacon's _Metrical Version of the Psalms_, vol. iv. p. 489.
of his Works, ed. 1740.