FOOTNOTES:

[1] By B. Montagu. Appendix, note 3, 1.

[2] Baconiana, 201.

[3] Bacon’s Apophthegms.

[4] It is not surprising that ladies then received an education rare

in our own times. It should be remembered that in the sixteenth

century Latin was the language of courts and schools, of diplomacy,

politics, and theology; it was the universal language, and there was

then no literature in the modern tongues, except the Italian; indeed

all knowledge, ancient and modern, was conveyed to the world in the

language of the ancients. The great productions of Athens and Rome

were the intellectual all of our ancestors down to the middle of the

sixteenth century.

[5] _Prospetto delle Memorie aneddote dei Lincei da_ F. Cancellieri.

Roma, 1823. This fact is quoted by Monsieur Cousin, in a note to his

_Fragments de Philosophie Cartésienne_.

[6] Sir Robert Cecil.

[7] Gray’s Inn is one of the four Inns or companies for the study of

law.

[8] King’s or Queen’s Counsel are barristers that plead for the

government; they receive fees but no salary; the first were appointed

in the reign of Charles II. Queen’s Counsel extraordinary was a title

peculiar to Bacon, granted, as the patent specially states, _honoris

causa_.

[9] Letter to Lord Burleigh.

[10] The Solicitor-General is a law-officer inferior in rank to the

Attorney-General, with whom he is associated in the management of the

law business of the crown. He pleads also for private individuals, but

not against government. He has a small salary, but very considerable

fees. The salary in Bacon’s time was but seventy pounds.

[11] Bacon was, like other courtiers, in the habit of presenting the

Queen with a New Year’s gift. On one occasion, it was a white satin

petticoat embroidered with snakes and fruitage, as emblems of wisdom

and beauty. The donors varied in rank from the Lord Keeper down to the

dust-man.

[12] Essays.

[13] The Attorney-General is the public prosecutor on behalf of the

Crown, where the state is actually and not nominally the prosecutor.

He pleads also as a barrister in private causes, provided they are not

against the government. As he receives a fee for every case in which

the government is concerned, his emoluments are considerable; but he

has no salary. His official position secures to him the best practice

at the bar. The salary was, in Bacon’s time, but 81_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ per

annum; but the situation yielded him six thousand pounds yearly.

[14] Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy.

[15] Essay xvi.

[16] Decisions being given against the parties is no proof of

uncorruptness; it is always the party who loses his suit that

complains; the gainer receives the price of his bribe, and is silent.

[17] The exactions of his servants appear to have been very great;

their indulgence in every kind of extravagance, and the lavish

profuseness of his own expenses, were the principal causes of his ruin.

Mallet relates that one day, during the investigation into his conduct,

the Chancellor passed through a room where several of his servants were

sitting; as they arose from their seats to greet him, “Sit down, my

masters,” exclaimed he, “your rise hath been my fall.”

[18] Essay xi.

[19] Macaulay’s Essays.

[20] He was not, as has been erroneously supposed, stripped of his

titles of nobility; this was proposed; but it was negatived by the

majority formed by means of the bishops.

[21] The Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles the First, was before he

ascended the throne the patron of Bacon, who said of him in his will,

“my most gracious sovereign, who _ever when he was prince_ was my

patron.”

[22] The Seasons.

[23] Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of

England.

[24] Bracton is one of the earliest writers of English law. He

flourished in the thirteenth century. The title of his work is _De

Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ_, first printed in 1569.

[25] The woods on his estate of Gorhambury.

[26] Of the Interpretation of Nature.

[27] Ibid.

[28] New Atlantis.

[29] Advancement of Learning.

[30] Edinburgh Review.

[31] Essays.

[32] Advancement of Learning.

[33] Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy.

[34] Tattler, No. 267.

[35] Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the fifteenth,

sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries.

[36] Montaigne says, in his author’s address to the reader:—

“_Ie veulx qu’on m’y veoye en ma façon simple, naturelle et ordinaire,

sans estude et artifice; car c’est moi que je peinds._” He says again

elsewhere: “_Ie n’ay pas plus faict mon livre, que mon livre m’a faict;

livre consubstantiel à son aucteur, d’une occupation propre, membre de

ma vie, non d’une occupation et fin tierce et estrangiere, comme touts

aultres livres_.” (Livre ii. ch. xviii.)

[37] Introduction to the Encyclopædia.

[38] Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the fifteenth,

sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries.

[39] Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the 15th, 16th, and

17th centuries.

[40] No. 267.

[41] Essays.

[42] He refers to the following passage in the Gospel of St. John,

xviii. 38: “Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said

this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in

him no fault at all.”

[43] He probably refers to the “New Academy,” a sect of Greek

philosophers, one of whose moot questions was, “What is truth?” Upon

which they came to the unsatisfactory conclusion, that mankind has no

criterion by which to form a judgment.

[44] Perhaps he was thinking of St. Augustine.—See _Aug. Confess._ i.

25, 26.

[45] “The wine of evil spirits.”

[46] Genesis i. 3: “And God said, Let there be light, and there was

light.”

[47] At the moment when “The Lord God formed man out of the dust of

the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man

became a living soul.”—_Genesis_ ii. 7.

[48] Lucretius, the Roman poet and Epicurean philosopher, is alluded

to.—_Lucret._ ii. _init._ Comp. _Adv. of Learning_, i. 8, 5.

[49] He refers to the sect which followed the doctrines of Epicurus.

The life of Epicurus himself was pure and abstemious in the extreme.

One of his leading tenets was, that the aim of all speculation should

be to enable men to judge with certainty what course is to be chosen,

in order to secure health of body and tranquillity of mind. The

adoption, however, of the term “pleasure,” as denoting this object,

has at all periods subjected the Epicurean system to great reproach;

which, in fact, is due rather to the conduct of many who, for their own

purposes, have taken shelter under the system in name only, than to

the tenets themselves, which did not inculcate libertinism. Epicurus

admitted the existence of the Gods, but he deprived them of the

characteristics of Divinity, either as creators or preservers of the

world.

[50] Lord Bacon has either translated this passage of Lucretius from

memory or has purposely paraphrased it. The following is the literal

translation of the original: “’Tis a pleasant thing, from the shore,

to behold the dangers of another upon the mighty ocean, when the

winds are lashing the main; not because it is a grateful pleasure

for any one to be in misery, but because it is a pleasant thing to

see those misfortunes from which you yourself are free: ’tis also

a pleasant thing to behold the mighty contests of warfare, arrayed

upon the plains, without a share in the danger; but nothing is there

more delightful than to occupy the elevated temples of the wise, well

fortified by tranquil learning, whence you may be able to look down

upon others, and see them straying in every direction, and wandering in

search of the path of life.”

[51] Michael de Montaigne, the celebrated French Essayist. His _Essays_

embrace a variety of topics, which are treated in a sprightly and

entertaining manner, and are replete with remarks indicative of strong

native good sense. He died in 1592. The following quotation is from

the second book of the _Essays_, c. 18: “Lying is a disgraceful vice,

and one that Plutarch, an ancient writer, paints in most disgraceful

colors, when he says that it is ‘affording testimony that one _first_

despises God, and then fears men;’ it is not possible more happily to

describe its horrible, disgusting, and abandoned nature; for, can we

imagine anything more vile than to be cowards with regard to men, and

brave with regard to God?”

[52] St. Luke xviii. 8: “Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh,

shall he find faith upon the earth?”

[53] A portion of this _Essay_ is borrowed from the writings of Seneca.

See his _Letters to Lucilius_, B. iv. Ep. 24 and 82.

[54] “The array of the death-bed has more terrors than death itself.”

This quotation is from Seneca.

[55] He probably alludes to the custom of hanging the room in black

where the body of the deceased lay, a practice much more usual in

Bacon’s time than at the present day.

[56] Tacit. Hist. ii. 49.

[57] Ad Lucil. 77.

[58] “Reflect how often you do the same things; a man may wish to die,

not only because either he is brave or wretched, but even because he is

surfeited with life.”

[59] “Livia, mindful of our union, live on, and fare thee well.”—_Suet.

Aug. Vit._ c. 100.

[60] “His bodily strength and vitality were now forsaking Tiberius, but

not his duplicity.”—_Ann._ vi. 50.

[61] This was said as a reproof to his flatterers, and in spirit is not

unlike the rebuke administered by Canute to his retinue.—_Suet. Vespas.

Vit._ c. 23.

[62] “I am become a Divinity, I suppose.”

[63] “If it be for the advantage of the Roman people, strike.”—_Tac.

Hist._ i. 41.

[64] “If aught remains to be done by me, dispatch.”—_Dio Cass._ 76, _ad

fin._

[65] These were the followers of Zeno, a philosopher of Citium, in

Cyprus, who founded the Stoic school, or “School of the Portico,” at

Athens. The basis of his doctrines was the duty of making virtue the

object of all our researches. According to him, the pleasures of the

mind were preferable to those of the body, and his disciples were

taught to view with indifference health or sickness, riches or poverty,

pain or pleasure.

[66] “Who reckons the close of his life among the boons of nature.”

Lord Bacon here quotes from memory; the passage is in the tenth Satire

of Juvenal, and runs thus:—

“Fortem posce animum, mortis terrore carentem,

Qui spatium vitæ extremum inter munera ponat

Naturæ”—

“Pray for strong resolve, void of the fear of death, that reckons the

closing period of life among the boons of nature.”

[67] He alludes to the song of Simeon, to whom the Holy Ghost had

revealed, “that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s

Christ.” When he beheld the infant Jesus in the temple, he took

the child in his arms and burst forth into a song of thanksgiving,

commencing, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,

according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”—_St.

Luke_ ii. 29.

[68] “When dead, the same person shall be beloved.”—_Hor. Ep._ ii. 1,

14.

[69] “Behold, he is in the desert.”—_St. Matthew_ xxiv. 26.

[70] “Behold, he is in the secret chambers.”—_Ib._

[71] He alludes to 1 Corinthians xiv. 23: “If, therefore, the whole

church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and

there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not

say that ye are mad?”

[72] Psalm i. 1: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel

of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the

seat of the scornful.”

[73] This dance, which was originally called the Morisco dance is

supposed to have been derived from the Moors of Spain; the dancers in

earlier times blackening their faces to resemble Moors. It was probably

a corruption of the ancient Pyrrhic dance, which was performed by

men in armor, and which is mentioned as still existing in Greece, in

Byron’s “Song of the Greek Captive:”—

“You have the Pyrrhic dance as yet.”

Attitude and gesture formed one of the characteristics of the dance. It

is still practised in some parts of England.—_Rabelais, Pantag._ ii. 7.

[74] 2 Kings ix. 18.

[75] He alludes to the words in Revelation, c. iii. v. 14, 15, 16: “And

unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things

saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the

creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor

hot.—I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Laodicea was a city of Asia

Minor. St. Paul established the church there which is here referred to.

[76] St. Matthew xii. 30.

[77] “In the garment there may be many colors, but let there be no

rending of it.”

[78] “Avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science,

falsely so called.”—1 _Tim._ vi. 20.

[79] He alludes to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, significant of the

limited duration of his kingdom.—See _Daniel_ ii. 33, 41.

[80] Mahomet proselytized by giving to the nations which he conquered,

the option of the Koran or the sword.

[81] “To deeds so dreadful could religion prompt.” The poet refers

to the sacrifice by Agamemnon, the Grecian leader, of his daughter

Iphigenia, with the view of appeasing the wrath of Diana.—_Lucret._ i.

95.

[82] He alludes to the massacre of the Huguenots, or Protestants, in

France, which took place on St. Bartholomew’s day, August 24, 1572,

by the order of Charles IX. and his mother, Catherine de Medici. On

this occasion about 60,000 persons perished, including the Admiral De

Coligny, one of the most virtuous men that France possessed, and the

main stay of the Protestant cause.

[83] More generally known as “The Gunpowder Plot.”

[84] Isa. xiv. 14.

[85] Allusion is made to the “caduceus,” with which Mercury, the

messenger of the Gods, summoned the souls of the departed to the

infernal regions.

[86] “The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”—_James_

i. 20.

[87] He alludes to Cosmo de Medici, or Cosmo I., chief of the Republic

of Florence, the encourager of literature and the fine arts.

[88] Job ii. 10.—“Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall

we not receive evil?”

[89] By “public revenges,” he means punishment awarded by the state

with the sanction of the laws.

[90] He alludes to the retribution dealt by Augustus and Anthony to the

murderers of Julius Cæsar. It is related by ancient historians, as a

singular fact, that not one of them died a natural death.

[91] Henry III. of France was assassinated in 1599, by Jacques Clement,

a Jacobin monk, in the frenzy of fanaticism. Although Clement justly

suffered punishment, the end of this bloodthirsty and bigoted tyrant

may be justly deemed a retribution dealt by the hand of an offended

Providence; so truly does the Poet say:—

“neque enim lex æquior ulla

Quam necis artifices arte perire suâ.”

[92] Sen. Ad Lucil. 66.

[93] Ibid. 53.

[94] Stesichorus, Apollodorus, and others. Lord Bacon makes a similar

reference to this myth in his treatise “On the Wisdom of the Ancients.”

“It is added with great elegance, to console and strengthen the minds

of men, that this mighty hero (Hercules) sailed in a cup or ‘urceus,’

in order that they may not too much fear and allege the narrowness

of their nature and its frailty; as if it were not capable of such

fortitude and constancy; of which very thing Seneca argued well, when

he said, ‘It is a great thing to have at the same time the frailty of a

man, and the security of a God.’”

[95] Funereal airs. It must be remembered that many of the Psalms of

David were written by him when persecuted by Saul, as also in the

tribulation caused by the wicked conduct of his son Absalom. Some of

them, too, though called “The Psalms of David,” were really composed

by the Jews in their captivity at Babylon; as, for instance, the 137th

Psalm, which so beautifully commences, “By the waters of Babylon there

we sat down.” One of them is supposed to be the composition of Moses.

[96] This fine passage, beginning at “Prosperity is the blessing,”

which was not published till 1625, twenty-eight years after the first

Essays, has been quoted by Macaulay, with considerable justice, as a

proof that the writer’s fancy did not decay with the advance of old

age, and that his style in his later years became richer and softer.

The learned critic contrasts this passage with the terse style of the

Essay of Studies (Essay 50), which was published in 1597.

[97] Tac. Ann. v. 1.

[98] Tac. Hist. ii. 76.

[99] A word now unused, signifying the “traits,” or “features.”

[100] A truth.—_A. L._ II. xxiii. 14.

[101] Proverbs x. 1: “A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish

son is the heaviness of his mother.”

[102] Petted—spoiled.

[103] This word seems here to mean “a plan,” or “method,” as proved by

its results.

[104] Ends in.

[105] There is considerable justice in this remark. Children should be

taught to do what is right for its own sake, and because it is their

duty to do so, and not that they may have the selfish gratification of

obtaining the reward which their companions have failed to secure, and

of being led to think themselves superior to their companions. When

launched upon the world, emulation will be quite sufficiently forced

upon them by stern necessity.

[106] “Select _that course of life_ which is the most advantageous;

habit will soon render it pleasant and easily endured.”

[107] His meaning is, that if clergymen have the expenses of a family

to support, they will hardly find means for the exercise of benevolence

toward their parishioners.

[108] “He preferred his aged wife Penelope to immortality.” This

was when Ulysses was entreated by the goddess Calypso to give up

all thoughts of returning to Ithaca, and to remain with her in the

enjoyment of immortality.—_Plut. Gryll._ 1.

[109] “May have a pretext,” or “excuse.”

[110] Thales, _Vide_ Diog. Laert. i. 26.

[111] So prevalent in ancient times was the notion of the injurious

effects of the eye of envy, that, in common parlance, the Romans

generally used the word “_præfiscini_,”—“without risk of enchantment,”

or “fascination,” when they spoke in high terms of themselves. They

supposed that they thereby averted the effects of enchantment produced

by the evil eye of any envious person who might at that moment possibly

be looking upon them. Lord Bacon probably here alludes to St. Mark vii.

21, 22: “Out of the heart of men proceedeth—deceit, lasciviousness, an

evil eye.” Solomon also speaks of the evil eye, Prov. xxiii. 6, and

xxviii. 22.

[112] To be even with him.

[113] “There is no person a busybody, but what he is ill-natured too.”

This passage is from the Stichus of Plautus.

[114] Narses superseded Belisarius in the command of the armies of

Italy, by the orders of the Emperor Justinian. He defeated Totila, the

king of the Goths (who had taken Rome), in a decisive engagement, in

which the latter was slain. He governed Italy with consummate ability

for thirteen years, when he was ungratefully recalled by Justin the

Second, the successor of Justinian.

[115] Tamerlane, or Timour, was a native of Samarcand, of which

territory he was elected emperor. He overran Persia, Georgia,

Hindostan, and captured Bajazet, the valiant Sultan of the Turks, at

the battle of Angora, 1402, whom he is said to have inclosed in a

cage of iron. His conquests extended from the Irtish and Volga to the

Persian Gulf, and from the Ganges to the Grecian Archipelago. While

preparing for the invasion of China, he died, in the 70th year of his

age, A. D. 1405. He was tall and corpulent in person, but was maimed in

one hand, and lame on the right side.

[116] Spartian Vit. Adrian, 15.

[117] Comes under the observation.

[118] “By a leap,” _i. e._ over the heads of others.

[119] “How vast _the evils_ we endure.”

[120] He probably alludes to the custom of the Athenians, who

frequently ostracized or banished by vote their public men, lest they

should become too powerful.

[121] From _in_ and _video_,—“to look upon;” with reference to the

so-called “evil eye” of the envious.

[122] “Envy keeps no holidays.”

[123] See St. Matthew xiii. 25.

[124] Beholden.

[125] He iniquitously attempted to obtain possession of the person of

Virginia, who was killed by her father Virginius, to prevent her from

falling a victim to his lust. This circumstance caused the fall of the

Decemviri at Rome, who had been employed in framing the code of laws

afterwards known as “The Laws of the Twelve Tables.” They narrowly

escaped being burned alive by the infuriated populace.

[126] “We are a sufficient theme for contemplation, the one for the

other.”—_Sen. Epist. Mor._ 1. 7. (A. L. l. iii. 6.) Pope seems,

notwithstanding this censure of Bacon, to have been of the same opinion

with Epicurus:—

“Know then thyself, presume not God to scan,

The proper study for mankind is man.”

_Essay on Man_, Ep. ii. 1. 2.

Indeed, Lord Bacon seems to have misunderstood the saying of Epicurus,

who did not mean to recommend man as the sole object of the bodily

vision, but as the proper theme for mental contemplation.

[127] Amare et sapere vix Deo conceditur.—_Pub. Syr. Sent._ 15. (A. L.

ii. proœ. 10.)

[128] He refers here to the judgment of Paris, mentioned by Ovid in his

Epistles, of the Heroines.

[129] Montaigne has treated this subject before Bacon, under the title

of _De l’incommodité de la Grandeur_. (B. iii. ch. vii.)

[130] “Since you are not what you were, there is no reason why you

should wish to live.”

[131] “Death presses heavily upon him, who, well known to all others,

dies unknown to himself.”—_Sen. Thyest._ ii. 401.

[132] “And God turned to behold the works which his hands had made, and

he saw that everything was very good.”—See _Gen._ i. 31.

[133] “As a matter of course.”

[134] Too great easiness of access.

[135] Predilections that are undeserved.

[136] Proverbs xxviii. 21. The whole passage stands thus in our

version: “He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent. To

have respect of persons is not good; for, for a piece of bread, that

man will transgress.”

[137] “By the consent of all he was fit to govern, if he had not

governed.”

[138] “Of the emperors, Vespasian alone changed for the better _after

his accession_.”—_Tac. Hist._ i. 49, 50 (A. L. ii. xxii. 5).

[139] Plut. vit. Demosth. 17, 18.

[140] It is not improbable that this passage suggested Pope’s beautiful

lines in the _Essay on Man_, Ep. i. 125-28.

“Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes,

Men would be angels, angels would be gods.

Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell,

Aspiring to be angels, men rebel.”

[141] Auger Gislen Busbec, or Busbequius, a learned traveller, born at

Comines, in Flanders, in 1522. He was employed by the Emperor Ferdinand

as ambassador to the Sultan Solyman II. He was afterwards ambassador to

France, where he died, in 1592. His “Letters” relative to his travels

in the East, which are written in Latin, contain much interesting

information. They were the pocket companion of Gibbon, and are highly

praised by him.

[142] In this instance the stork or crane was probably protected, not

on the abstract grounds mentioned in the text, but for reasons of state

policy and gratitude combined. In Eastern climates the cranes and dogs

are far more efficacious than human agency in removing filth and offal,

and thereby diminishing the chances of pestilence. Superstition, also,

may have formed another motive, as we learn from a letter written from

Adrianople, by Lady Montagu, in 1718, that storks were “held there in

a sort of religious reverence, because they are supposed to make every

winter the pilgrimage to Mecca. To say truth, they are the happiest

subjects under the Turkish government, and are so sensible of their

privileges, that they walk the streets without fear, and generally

build their nests in the lower parts of the houses. Happy are those

whose houses are so distinguished, as the vulgar Turks are perfectly

persuaded that they will not be that year attacked either by fire or

pestilence.” Storks are still protected, by municipal law, in Holland,

and roam unmolested about the market-places.

[143] Nicolo Machiavelli, a Florentine statesman. He wrote “Discourses

on the first Decade of Livy,” which were conspicuous for their

liberality of sentiment, and just and profound reflections. This work

was succeeded by his famous treatise, “Il Principe,” “The Prince;”

his patron, Cæsar Borgia, being the model of the perfect prince there

described by him. The whole scope of this work is directed to one

object—the maintenance of power, however acquired. Though its precepts

are no doubt based upon the actual practice of the Italian politicians

of that day, it has been suggested by some writers that the work was

a covert exposure of the deformity of the shocking maxims that it

professes to inculcate. The question of his motives has been much

discussed, and is still considered open. The word “Machiavellism” has,

however, been adopted to denote all that is deformed, insincere, and

perfidious in politics. He died in great poverty, in the year 1527.

[144] _Vide_ Disc. Sop. Liv. ii. 2.

[145] St. Matthew v. 45. “For he maketh his sun rise on the evil and on

the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

[146] This is a portion of our Saviour’s reply to the rich man who

asked him what he should do to inherit eternal life: “Then Jesus

beholding him, loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest:

go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou

shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow

me.”—_St. Mark_ x. 21.

[147] See St. Luke xvi. 21.

[148] Timon of Athens, as he is generally called (being so styled by

Shakspeare in the play which he has founded on his story), was surnamed

the “Misanthrope,” from the hatred which he bore to his fellow-men.

He was attached to Apemantus, another Athenian of similar character

to himself, and he professed to esteem Alcibiades, because he foresaw

that he would one day bring ruin on his country. Going to the public

assembly on one occasion, he mounted the rostrum, and stated that he

had a fig-tree, on which many worthy citizens had ended their days

by the halter; that he was going to cut it down for the purpose of

building on the spot, and therefore recommended all such as were

inclined, to avail themselves of it before it was too late.

[149] A piece of timber that has grown crooked, and has been so cut

that the trunk and branch form an angle.

[150] He probably here refers to the myrrh-tree. Incision is the method

usually adopted for extracting the resinous juices of trees; as in the

India-rubber and gutta-percha trees.

[151] “A votive,” and, in the present instance, a “vicarious offering.”

He alludes to the words of St. Paul in his Second Epistle to Timothy

ii. 10: “Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they

may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal

glory.”

[152] Consideration of, or predilection for, particular persons.

[153] The Low Countries had then recently emancipated themselves from

the galling yoke of Spain. They were called the Seven United Provinces

of the Netherlands.

[154] This passage may at first sight appear somewhat contradictory;

but he means to say, that those who are first ennobled will commonly be

found more conspicuous for the prominence of their qualities, both good

and bad.

[155] Consistent with reason and justice.

[156] The periods of the Equinoxes.

[157] “He often warns, too, that secret revolt is impending, that

treachery and open warfare are ready to burst forth.”—_Virg. Georg._ i.

465.

[158] “Mother Earth, exasperated at the wrath of the Deities, produced

her, as they tell, a last birth, a sister to the giants Cœus, and

Enceladus.”—_Virg. Æn._ iv. 179.

[159] “Great public odium once excited, his deeds, whether good or

whether bad, cause his downfall.” Bacon has here quoted incorrectly,

probably from memory. The words of Tacitus are (_Hist._ B. i. C. 7):

“Inviso semel principe, seu bene, seu male, facta premunt,”—“The ruler

once detested, his actions, whether good or whether bad, cause his

downfall.”

[160] “They attended to their duties; but still, as preferring rather

to discuss the commands of their rulers, than to obey them.”—_Tac.

Hist._ ii. 39.

[161] He alludes to the bad policy of Henry the Third of France, who

espoused the part of “The League,” which was formed by the Duke of

Guise and other Catholics for the extirpation of the Protestant faith.

When too late he discovered his error, and finding his own authority

entirely superseded, he caused the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal De

Lorraine, his brother, to be assassinated.

[162] “The primary motive power.” He alludes to an imaginary centre of

gravitation, or central body, which was supposed to set all the other

heavenly bodies in motion.

[163] “Too freely to remember their own rulers.”

[164] “I will unloose the girdles of kings.” He probably alludes here

to the first verse of the 45th chapter of Isaiah: “Thus saith the Lord

to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue

nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before

him the two-leaved gates.”

[165] “Hence devouring usury, and interest accumulating in lapse

of time; hence shaken credit, and warfare, profitable to the

many.”—_Lucan. Phars._ i. 181.

[166] “Warfare profitable to the many.”

[167] “To grief there is a limit, not so to fear.”

[168] “Check,” or “daunt.”

[169] This is similar to the proverb now in common use: “’Tis the last

feather that breaks the back of the camel.”

[170] The state.

[171] Though sumptuary laws are probably just in theory, they have been

found impracticable in any other than infant states. Their principle,

however, is certainly recognized in such countries as by statutory

enactment discountenance gaming. Those who are opposed to such laws

upon principle, would do well to look into Bernard Mandeville’s

“Fable of the Bees,” or “Private Vices Public Benefits.” The Romans

had numerous sumptuary laws, and in the Middle Ages there were many

enactments in this country against excess of expenditure upon wearing

apparel and the pleasures of the table.

[172] He means that they do not add to the capital of the country.

[173] At the expense of foreign countries.

[174] “The workmanship will surpass the material.”—_Ovid, Met._ B. ii.

l. 5.

[175] He alludes to the manufactures of the Low Countries.

[176] Like manure.

[177] Sometimes printed _engrossing, great pasturages_. By

_engrossing_, is meant the trade of _engrossers_—men who 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

practice great complaints had been made for near a century before

Bacon’s time, and a law passed to prevent it.—See _Lord Herbert of

Cherbury’s History of Henry VIII._

[178] The myth of Pandora’s box, which is here referred to, is related

in the _Works and Days_ of Hesiod. Epimetheus was the personification

of “Afterthought,” while his brother Prometheus represented

“Forethought,” or prudence. It was not Epimetheus that opened the box,

but Pandora—“All-gift,” whom, contrary to the advice of his brother, he

had received at the hands of Mercury, and had made his wife. In their

house stood a closed jar, which they were forbidden to open. Till her

arrival, this had been kept untouched; but her curiosity prompting her

to open the lid, all the evils hitherto unknown to man flew out and

spread over the earth, and she only shut it down in time to prevent the

escape of Hope.

[179] “Sylla did not know his letters, _and so_ he could not dictate.”

This saying is attributed by Suetonius to Julius Cæsar. It is a play

on the Latin verb _dictare_, which means either “to dictate,” or “to

act the part of Dictator,” according to the context. As this saying was

presumed to be a reflection on Sylla’s ignorance, and to imply that by

reason thereof he was unable to maintain his power, it was concluded

by the Roman people that Cæsar, who was an elegant scholar, feeling

himself subject to no such inability, did not intend speedily to yield

the reins of power.—_Suet. Vit. C. Jul. Cæs._ 77, i. and _Cf._ _A. L._

i. vii. 12.

[180] “That soldiers were levied by him, not bought.”—_Tac. Hist._ i. 5.

[181] “If I live, there shall no longer be need of soldiers in the

Roman empire.”—_Flav. Vop. Vit. Prob._ 20.

[182] “And such was the state of feeling, that a few dared to

perpetrate the worst of crimes; more wished to do so; all submitted to

it.”—_Hist._ i. 28.

[183] He probably alludes to the legends or miraculous stories of the

saints; such as walking with their heads off, preaching to the fishes,

sailing over the sea on a cloak, &c. &c.

[184] This is a book that contains the Jewish traditions, and the

rabbinical explanations of the law. It is replete with wonderful

narratives.

[185] This passage not improbably contains the germ of Pope’s famous

lines:—

“A little learning is a dangerous thing;

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.”

[186] A philosopher of Abdera; the first who taught the system of

atoms, which was afterwards more fully developed by Democritus and

Epicurus.

[187] He was a disciple of the last-named philosopher, and held the

same principles; he also denied the existence of the soul after death.

He is considered to have been the parent of experimental philosophy,

and was the first to teach, what is now confirmed by science, that the

Milky Way is an accumulation of stars.

[188] Spirit.

[189] Psalm xiv. 1, and liii. 1.

[190] To whose (seeming) advantage it is; the wish being father to the

thought.

[191] “It is not profane to deny _the existence of_ the deities of the

vulgar; but, to apply to the divinities the received notions of the

vulgar, is profane.”—_Diog. Laert._ x. 123.

[192] He alludes to the native tribes of the continent of America and

the West Indies.

[193] He was an Athenian philosopher, who, from the greatest

superstition, became an avowed atheist. He was proscribed by the

Areiopagus for speaking against the gods with ridicule and contempt,

and is supposed to have died at Corinth.

[194] A Greek philosopher, a disciple of Theodorus the atheist, to

whose opinions he adhered. His life was said to have been profligate,

and his death superstitious.

[195] Lucian ridiculed the follies and pretensions of some of the

ancient philosophers; but though the freedom of his style was such as

to cause him to be censured for impiety, he hardly deserves the stigma

of atheism here cast upon him by the learned author.

[196] “It is not for us now to say, ‘Like priest like people,’ for

the people are not even so _bad_ as the priest.” St. Bernard, abbot

of Clairvaux, preached the second Crusade against the Saracens, and

was unsparing in his censures of the sins then prevalent among the

Christian priesthood. His writings are voluminous, and by some he has

been considered as the latest of the fathers of the Church.

[197] “A superior nature.”

[198] “We may admire ourselves, conscript fathers, as much as we

please; still, neither by numbers _did we vanquish_ the Spaniards,

nor by bodily strength the Gauls, nor by cunning the Carthaginians,

nor through the arts the Greeks, nor, in fine, by the inborn and

native good sense of this _our_ nation, and this _our_ race and soil,

the Italians and Latins themselves; but through our devotion and

our religious feeling, and this, the sole _true_ wisdom, the having

perceived that all things are regulated and governed by the providence

of the immortal Gods, have we subdued all races and nations.”—_Cic. de.

Harus. Respon._ 9.

[199] The justice of this position is, perhaps, somewhat doubtful. The

superstitious man _must_ have _some_ scruples, while he who believes

not in a God (if there is such a person), _needs_ have _none_.

[200] Time was personified in Saturn, and by this story was meant its

tendency to destroy whatever it has brought into existence.—_Plut. de

Superstit._ x.

[201] The primary motive power.

[202] This Council commenced in 1545, and lasted eighteen years.

It was convened for the purpose of opposing the rising spirit of

Protestantism, and of discussing and settling the disputed points of

the Catholic faith.

[203] Irregular or anomalous movements.

[204] An epicycle is a smaller circle, whose centre is in the

circumference of a greater one.

[205] To account for.

[206] Synods, or councils.

[207] At the present day called _attachés_.

[208] He probably means the refusing to join on the occasion of

drinking healths when taking wine.

[209] Something to create excitement.

[210] “The heart of kings is unsearchable.”—_Prov._ v. 3.

[211] Commodus fought naked in public as a gladiator, and prided

himself on his skill as a swordsman.

[212] Making a stop at, or dwelling too long upon.

[213] After a prosperous reign of twenty-one years, Diocletian

abdicated the throne, and retired to a private station.

[214] After having reigned thirty-five years, he abdicated the thrones

of Spain and Germany, and passed the last two years of his life in

retirement at St. Just, a convent in Estremadura.

[215] Philost. vit. Apoll. Tyan. v. 28.

[216] “The desires of monarchs are generally impetuous and conflicting

among themselves.”—Quoted rightly, _A. L._ ii. xxii. 5, from _Sallust_

(B. J. 113).

[217] He was especially the rival of the Emperor Charles the Fifth,

and was one of the most distinguished sovereigns that ever ruled over

France.

[218] An eminent historian of Florence. His great work, which is here

alluded to, is, “The History of Italy during his own Time,” which is

considered one of the most valuable productions of that age.

[219] Spoken badly of. Livia was said to have hastened the death of

Augustus, to prepare the accession of her son Tiberius to the throne.

[220] Solyman the Magnificent was one of the most celebrated of the

Ottoman monarchs. He took the Isle of Rhodes from the Knights of St.

John. He also subdued Moldavia, Wallachia, and the greatest part of

Hungary, and took from the Persians Georgia and Bagdad. He died A. D.

1566. His wife Roxolana (who was originally a slave called Rosa or

Hazathya), with the Pasha Rustan, conspired against the life of his

son Mustapha, and by their instigation this distinguished prince was

strangled in his father’s presence.

[221] The infamous Isabella of Anjou.

[222] Adulteresses.

[223] He, however, distinguished himself by taking Cyprus from the

Venetians in the year 1571.

[224] He was falsely accused by his brother Perseus of attempting to

dethrone his father, on which he was put to death by the order of

Philip, B. C. 180.

[225] Anselm was Archbishop of Canterbury in the time of William Rufus

and Henry the First. Though his private life was pious and exemplary,

through his rigid assertion of the rights of the clergy he was

continually embroiled with his sovereign. Thomas à Becket pursued a

similar course, but with still greater violence.

[226] The great vessel that conveys the blood to the liver, after it

has been enriched by the absorption of nutriment from the intestines.

[227] This is an expression similar to our proverb, “Penny-wise and

pound-foolish.”

[228] A subdivision of the shire.

[229] The Janizaries were the body-guards of the Turkish sultans, and

enacted the same disgraceful part in making and unmaking monarchs, as

the mercenary Prætorian guards of the Roman Empire.

[230] “Remember that thou art a man.”

[231] “Remember that thou art a God.”

[232] “The representative of God.”

[233] Isaiah ix. 6: “His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor,

The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

[234] Prov. xx. 18: “Every purpose is established by counsel: and with

good advice make war.”

[235] The wicked Rehoboam, from whom the ten tribes of Israel revolted,

and elected Jeroboam their king.—See 1 _Kings_ xii.

[236] Hesiod, Theog. 886.

[237] The political world has not been convinced of the truth of this

doctrine of Lord Bacon; as cabinet councils are now held probably by

every sovereign in Europe.

[238] “I am full of outlets.”—_Ter. Eun._ I. ii. 25.

[239] That is, without a complicated machinery of government.

[240] Master of the Rolls and Privy Councillor under Henry VI., to

whose cause he faithfully adhered. Edward IV. promoted him to the See

of Ely, and made him Lord Chancellor. He was elevated to the See of

Canterbury by Henry VII., and in 1493 received the Cardinal’s hat.

[241] Privy Councillor and Keeper of the Privy Seal to Henry VII.,

and, after enjoying several bishoprics in succession, translated to

the See of Winchester. He was an able statesman, and highly valued by

Henry VII. On the accession of Henry VIII. his political influence was

counteracted by Wolsey; on which he retired to his diocese, and devoted

the rest of his life to acts of piety and munificence.

[242] Before mentioned, relative to Jupiter and Metis.

[243] Remedied.

[244] “He shall not find faith upon the earth.” Lord Bacon probably

alludes to the words of our Saviour, St. Luke xviii. 8: “When the Son

of man cometh, shall he find faith upon the earth?”

[245] He means to say, that this remark was only applicable to a

particular time, namely, the coming of Christ. The period of the

destruction of Jerusalem was probably referred to.

[246] “’Tis the especial virtue of a prince to know his own men.”

[247] In his disposition, or inclination.

[248] Liable to opposition from.

[249] “According to classes,” or, as we vulgarly say, “in the lump.”

Lord Bacon means that princes are not, as a matter of course, to take

counsellors merely on the presumption of talent, from their rank and

station; but that, on the contrary, they are to select such as are

tried men, and with regard to whom there can be no mistake.

[250] “The best counsellors are the dead.”

[251] “Are afraid” to open their mouths.

[252] “Night-time for counsel.”—ἐν νυκτὶ βουλή. _Gaisf. Par. Gr._ B.

359.

[253] On the accession of James the Sixth of Scotland to the throne of

England in 1603.

[254] A phrase much in use with the Romans, signifying, “to attend to

the business in hand.”

[255] A tribunitial or declamatory manner.

[256] “I’ll follow the bent of your humor.”

[257] The Sibyl alluded to here is the Cumæan, the most celebrated, who

offered the Sibylline Books for sale to Tarquin the Proud.

“At this time, an unknown woman appeared at court, loaded with nine

volumes, which she offered to sell, but at a very considerable price.

Tarquin refusing to give it, she withdrew and burnt three of the nine.

Some time after she returned to court, and demanded the same price for

the remaining six. This made her looked upon as a mad woman, and she

was driven away with scorn. Nevertheless, having burnt the half of what

were left, she came a third time, and demanded for the remaining three

the same price which she had asked for the whole nine. The novelty of

such a proceeding, made Tarquin curious to have the books examined.

They were put, therefore, into the hands of the augurs, who, finding

them to be the oracles of the Sybil of Cumæ, declared them to be an

invaluable treasure. Upon this the woman was paid the sum she demanded,

and she soon after disappeared, having first exhorted the Romans to

preserve her books with care.”—_Hooke’s Roman History._

[258] Bald head. He alludes to the common saying: “Take time by the

forelock.”

[259] Phæd. viii.

[260] Hom. Il. v. 845.

[261] Packing the cards is an admirable illustration of the author’s

meaning. It is a cheating exploit, by which knaves, who, perhaps, are

inferior players, insure to themselves the certainty of good hands.

[262] “Send them both naked among strangers, and _then_ you will see.”

[263] This word is used here in its primitive sense of “retail

dealers.” It is said to have been derived from a custom of the

Flemings, who first settled in this country in the fourteenth century,

stopping the passengers as they passed their shops, and saying to them,

“Haber das, herr?”—“Will you take this, sir?” The word is now generally

used as synonymous with linen-draper.

[264] To watch.

[265] State.

[266] Discussing matters.

[267] He refers to the occasion when Nehemiah, on presenting the wine,

as cup-bearer to King Artaxerxes, appeared sorrowful, and, on being

asked the reason of it, entreated the king to allow Jerusalem to be

rebuilt.—_Nehemiah_ ii. 1.

[268] This can hardly be called a marriage, as, at the time of the

intrigue, Messalina was the wife of Claudius; but she forced Caius

Silius, of whom she was deeply enamored, to divorce his own wife,

that she herself might enjoy his society. The intrigue was disclosed

to Claudius by Narcissus, who was his freedman, and the pander to his

infamous vices; on which Silius was put to death. Vide _Tac. Ann._ xi.

29, _seq._

[269] To speak in his turn.

[270] Be questioned upon.

[271] Kept on good terms.

[272] Desire it.

[273] “That he did not have various hopes in view, but solely the

safety of the emperor.” Tigellinus was the profligate minister of Nero,

and Africanus Burrhus was the chief of the Prætorian Guards.—_Tac.

Ann._ xiv. 57.

[274] As Nathan did, when he reproved David for his criminality with

Bathsheba.—2 _Samuel_ xii.

[275] Use indirect stratagems.

[276] He alludes to the old Cathedral of St. Paul, in London, which, in

the sixteenth century, was a common lounge for idlers.

[277] Movements, or springs.

[278] Chances, or vicissitudes.

[279] Enter deeply into.

[280] Faults, or weak points.

[281] “The wise man gives heed to his own footsteps; the fool turneth

aside to the snare.” No doubt he here alludes to Ecclesiastes xiv. 2,

which passage is thus rendered in our version: “The wise man’s eyes are

in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness.”

[282] Mischievous.

[283] It must be remembered that Bacon was not a favorer of the

Copernican system.

[284] “Lovers of themselves without a rival.”—_Ad. Qu. Fr._ iii. 8.

[285] Remedy.

[286] Adapted to each other.

[287] Injures or impairs.

[288] A thing suspected.

[289] He probably alludes to Jeremiah vi. 16: “Thus saith the Lord,

Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the

good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”

[290] That is, by means of good management.

[291] It is supposed that he here alludes to Sir Amyas Paulet, a very

able statesman, and the ambassador of Queen Elizabeth to the court of

France.

[292] Quotations.

[293] Apologies.

[294] Boasting.

[295] Prejudice.

[296] 2 Tim. iii. 5.

[297] “Trifles with great effort.”

[298] “With one brow raised to your forehead, the other bent downward

to your chin, you answer that cruelty delights you not.”—_In Pis._ 6.

[299] “A foolish man, who fritters away the weight of matters by

finespun trifling on words.”—Vide _Quint._ x. 1.

[300] Plat. Protag. i. 337.

[301] Find it easier to make difficulties and objections than to

originate.

[302] One really in insolvent circumstances, though to the world he

does not appear so.

[303] He here quotes from a passage in the _Politica_ of Aristotle,

book i. “He who is unable to mingle in society, or who requires

nothing, by reason of sufficing for himself, is no part of the state,

so that he is either a wild beast or a divinity.”

[304] Epimenides, a poet of Crete (of which Candia is the modern name),

is said by Pliny to have fallen into a sleep which lasted 57 years.

He was also said to have lived 299 years. Numa pretended that he was

instructed in the art of legislation by the divine nymph Egeria, who

dwelt in the Arician grove. Empedocles, the Sicilian philosopher,

declared himself to be immortal, and to be able to cure all evils.

He is said by some to have retired from society that his death might

not be known, and to have thrown himself into the crater of Mount

Ætna. Apollonius of Tyana, the Pythagorean philosopher, pretended to

miraculous powers, and after his death a temple was erected to him at

that place. His life is recorded by Philostratus; and some persons,

among whom are Hierocles, Dr. More, in his Mystery of Godliness, and

recently Strauss, have not hesitated to compare his miracles with those

of our Saviour.

[305] “A great city, a great desert.”

[306] Sarsaparilla.

[307] A liquid matter of a pungent smell, extracted from a portion of

the body of the beaver.

[308] “Partakers of cares.”

[309] Plutarch (_Vit. Pomp._ 19) relates that Pompey said this upon

Sylla’s refusal to give him a triumph.

[310] Plut. Vit. J. Cæs. 64.

[311] Cic. Philip. xiii. 11.

[312] “These things, by reason of our friendship, I have not concealed

_from you_.”—Vide _Tac. Ann._ iv. 40.

[313] Dio Cass. lxxv.

[314] Such infamous men as Tiberius and Sejanus hardly deserve this

commendation.

[315] Philip de Comines.

[316] Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, the valiant antagonist of

Louis XI. of France. De Comines spent his early years at his court,

but afterwards passed into the service of Louis XI. This monarch was

notorious for his cruelty, treachery, and dissimulation, and had all

the bad qualities of his contemporary, Edward IV. of England, without

any of his redeeming virtues.

[317] Pythagoras went still further than this, as he forbade his

disciples to eat flesh of any kind whatever. See the interesting

speech which Ovid attributes to him in the fifteenth book of the

Metamorphoses. Sir Thomas Browne, in his Pseudoxia (_Browne’s Works_,

Bohn’s Antiq. ed. vol. i. p. 27, _et seq._), gives some curious

explanations of the doctrines of this philosopher.—_Plut. de Educat.

Puer._ 17.

[318] Tapestry. Speaking hypercritically, Lord Bacon commits an

anachronism here, as Arras did not manufacture tapestry till the middle

ages.

[319] Plut. Vit. Themist. 28.

[320] Ap. Stob. Serm. v. 120.

[321] James i. 23.

[322] He alludes to the recommendation which moralists have often

given, that a person in anger should go through the alphabet to

himself, before he allows himself to speak.

[323] In his day, the musket was fixed upon a stand, called the “rest,”

much as the gingals or matchlocks are used in the East at the present

day.

[324] From debts and incumbrances.

[325] Plut. Vit. Themist. ad init.

[326] “Equal to business.”

[327] He alludes to the following passage, St. Matthew xiii. 31:

“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven

is like to a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took and sowed in his

field; which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it

is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of

the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.”

[328] Virg. Ecl. vii. 51.

[329] Vide. _A. L._ i. vii. 11.

[330] He was vanquished by Lucullus, and finally submitted to

Pompey.—_Plut. Vit. Lucull._ 27.

[331] He alludes to the prophetic words of Jacob on his death-bed,

Gen. xlix. 9, 14, 15: “Judah is a lion’s whelp; ... he stooped down,

he couched as a lion, and as an old lion.... Issachar is a strong ass

couching down between two burdens: And he saw that rest was good, and

the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and

became a servant unto tribute.”

[332] Sums of money voluntarily contributed by the people for the use

of the sovereign.

[333] Young trees.

[334] “A land strong in arms and in the richness of the soil.”—_Virg.

Æn._ i. 535.

[335] He alludes to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, which is mentioned

Daniel iv. 10; “I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and

the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the

height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end

of all the earth: the leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof

much, and in it was meat for all; the beasts of the field had shadow

under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and

all flesh was fed of it.”

[336] “Right of citizenship.”

[337] “Right of trading.”

[338] “Right of intermarriage.”

[339] “Right of inheritance.”

[340] “Right of suffrage.”

[341] “Right of honors.”

[342] Long since the time of Lord Bacon, as soon as these colonies

had arrived at a certain state of maturity, they at different periods

revolted from the mother country.

[343] The laws and ordinances promulgated by the sovereigns of Spain

were so called. The term was derived from the Byzantine empire.

[344] Qualifications.

[345] Attend to.

[346] For a short or transitory period.

[347] Be in a hurry.

[348] It was its immense armaments that in a great measure consumed the

vitals of Spain.

[349] “Pompey’s plan is clearly that of Themistocles; for he believes

that whoever is master of the sea will obtain the supreme power.”—_Ad

Att._ x. 8.

[350] Encomiums.

[351] St. Matthew vi. 27; St. Luke xii. 25.

[352] The effects of which must be felt in old age.

[353] Of benefit in your individual case.

[354] Any striking change in the constitution.

[355] Take medical advice.

[356] Incline rather to fully satisfying your hunger.

[357] Celsus _de Med._ i. 1.

[358] To hope the best, but be fully prepared for the worst.

[359] “Suspicion is the passport to faith.”

[360] A censure of this nature has been applied by some to Dr. Johnson,

and possibly with some reason.

[361] To start the subject.

[362] Requires to be bridled.

[363] He quotes here from Ovid: “Boy, spare the whip, and tightly grasp

the reins.”—_Met._ ii. 127.

[364] One who tests or examines.

[365] The galliard was a light active dance, much in fashion in the

time of Queen Elizabeth.

[366] Hits at, or remarks intended to be applied to, particular

individuals.

[367] A slight or insult.

[368] A sarcastic remark.

[369] The old term for colonies.

[370] He perhaps alludes covertly to the conduct of the Spaniards in

extirpating the aboriginal inhabitants of the West India Islands,

against which the venerable Las Casas so eloquently but vainly

protested.

[371] Of course, this censure would not apply to what is primarily

and essentially a convict colony; the object of which is to drain the

mother country of its impure superfluities.

[372] Times have much changed since this was penned, tobacco is now the

staple commodity, and the source of “the main business” of Virginia.

[373] To labor hard.

[374] Marshy; from the French _marais_, a marsh.

[375] Gewgaws, or spangles.

[376] He alludes to Ecclesiastes v. 11, the words of which are somewhat

varied in our version: “When goods increase, they are increased that

eat them; and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the

beholding of them with their eyes?”

[377] “The rich man’s wealth is his strong city.”—_Proverbs_ x. 15;

xviii. 11.

[378] “In his anxiety to increase his fortune, it was evident that not

the gratification of avarice was sought, but the means of doing good.”

[379] “He who hastens to riches will not be without guilt.” In our

version the words are: “He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be

innocent.”—_Proverbs_ xxviii. 22.

[380] Pluto being the king of the infernal regions, or place of

departed spirits.

[381] Rent-roll, or account taken of income.

[382] Wait till prices have risen.

[383] “In the sweat of another’s brow.” He alludes to the words of

Genesis iii. 19: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.”

[384] Planter of sugar-canes.

[385] “Wills and childless persons were caught _by him_, as though with

a hunting-net.”—_Tacit. Ann._ xiii. 42.

[386] “Pythoness,” used in the sense of witch. He alludes to the witch

of Endor, and the words in Samuel xxviii. 19. He is, however, mistaken

in attributing these words to the witch: it was the spirit of Samuel

that said, “To-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.”

[387] “But the house of Æneas shall reign over every shore, both his

children’s children, and those who shall spring from them.”—_Æn._ iii.

97.

[388] “After the lapse of years, ages will come in which Ocean shall

relax his chains around the world, and a vast continent shall appear,

and Tiphys shall explore new regions, and Thule shall be no longer the

utmost verge of earth.”—_Sen. Med._ ii. 375.

[389] He was king of Samos, and was treacherously put to death by

Orœtes, the governor of Magnesia, in Asia Minor. His daughter, in

consequence of her dream, attempted to dissuade him from visiting

Orœtes, but in vain.—_Herod._ iii. 124.

[390] Plut. Vit. Alex. 2.

[391] “Thou shalt see me again at Philippi.”—_Appian Bell. Civ._ iv.

134.

[392] “Thou, also, Galba, shalt taste of empire.”—_Suet. Vit. Gall._ 4.

[393] Hist. v. 13.

[394] Suet. vit. Domit. 23.

[395] Catherine de Medicis, the wife of Henry II. of France, who died

from a wound accidentally received in a tournament.

[396] James I. being the first monarch of Great Britain.

[397] “The eighty-eighth will be a wondrous year.”

[398] “Aristophanes, in his Comedy of the Knights, satirizes Cleon, the

Athenian demagogue. He introduces a declaration of the oracle, that

the Eagle of hides (by whom Cleon was meant, his father having been a

tanner), should be conquered by a serpent, which Demosthenes, one of

the characters in the play, expounds as meaning a maker of sausages.

How Lord Bacon could for a moment doubt that this was a mere jest, it

is difficult to conjecture. The following is a literal translation of a

portion of the passage from The Knights (l. 197): “But when a leather

eagle with crooked talons shall have seized with its jaws a serpent,

a stupid creature, a drinker of blood, then the tan-pickle of the

Paphlagonians is destroyed; but upon the sellers of sausages the deity

bestows great glory, unless they choose rather to sell sausages.”

[399] This is a very just remark. So-called strange coincidences, and

wonderful dreams that are verified, when the point is considered, are

really not at all marvellous. We never hear of the 999 dreams that are

not verified, but the thousandth that happens to precede its fulfilment

is blazoned by unthinking people as a marvel. It would be a much more

wonderful thing if dreams were not occasionally verified.

[400] Under this name he alludes to the Critias of Plato, in which an

imaginary “terra incognita” is discoursed of under the name of the “New

Atlantis.” It has been conjectured from this by some, that Plato really

did believe in the existence of a continent on the other side of the

globe.

[401] Hot and fiery.

[402] With the eyes closed or blindfolded.

[403] He was a favorite of Tiberius, to whose murder by Nero he was

said to have been an accessary. He afterwards prostituted his own wife

to Caligula, by whom he was eventually put to death.

[404] Liable to.

[405] Chirpings like the noise of young birds.

[406] Jewels or necklaces.

[407] Spangles, or O’s of gold or silver. Beckmann says that these were

invented in the beginning of the seventeenth century. See Beckmann’s

Hist. of Inventions (Bohn’s Stand. Lib.), vol. i. p. 424.

[408] Or antic-masques. These were ridiculous interludes dividing the

acts of the more serious masque. These were performed by hired actors,

while the masque was played by ladies and gentlemen. The rule was,

the characters were to be neither serious nor hideous. The “Comus” of

Milton is an admirable specimen of a masque.

[409] Turks.

[410] “He is the best asserter _of the liberty_ of his mind, who bursts

the chains that gall his breast, and at the same moment ceases to

grieve.”—This quotation is from _Ovid’s Remedy of Love_, 293.

[411] “My soul has long been a sojourner.”

[412] “The wish is father to the thought,” is a proverbial saying of

similar meaning.

[413] _Vide_ Disc. Sop. Liv. iii. 6.

[414] Jacques Clement, a Dominican friar, who assassinated Henry III.

of France, in 1589. The sombre fanatic was but twenty-five year of

age; and he had announced the intention of killing with his own hands

the great enemy of his faith. He was instigated by the Leaguers, and

particularly by the Duchess of Montpensier, the sister of the Duke of

Guise.

[415] He murdered Henry IV. of France, in 1610.

[416] Philip II. of Spain having, in 1582, set a price upon the head

of William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, the leader of the Protestants,

Jaureguy attempted to assassinate him, and severely wounded him.

[417] He assassinated William of Nassau, in 1584. It is supposed that

this fanatic meditated the crime for six years.

[418] A resolution prompted by a vow of devotion to a particular

principle or creed.

[419] He alludes to the Hindoos, and the ceremony of Suttee, encouraged

by the Brahmins.

[420] Flinching.—_Vide_ Cic. Tuscul. Disp. ii. 14.

[421] “Every man is the architect of his own fortune.” Sallust, in his

letters “De Republicâ Ordinandâ,” attributes these words to Appius

Claudius Cæcus, a Roman poet whose works are now lost. Lord Bacon,

in the Latin translation of his Essays, which was made under his

supervision, rendered the word “poet” “comicus;” by whom he probably

meant Plautus, who has this line in his “Trinummus” (Act ii, sc. 2):

“Nam sapiens quidem pol ipsus fingit fortunam sibi,” which has the same

meaning, though in somewhat different terms.

[422] “A serpent, unless it has devoured a serpent, does not become a

dragon.”

[423] Or “desenvoltura,” implying readiness to adapt one’s self to

circumstances.

[424] Impediments, causes for hesitation.

[425] “In that man there was such great strength of body and mind,

that, in whatever station he had been born, he seemed as though he

should make his fortune.”

[426] “A versatile genius.”

[427] “A little of the fool.”

[428] “Thou carriest Cæsar and his fortunes.”—_Plut. Vit. Cæls._ 38.

[429] “The Fortunate.” He attributed his success to the intervention of

Hercules, to whom he paid especial veneration.

[430] “The Great.”—_Plut. Syll._ 34.

[431] A successful Athenian general, the son of Conon, and the friend

of Plato.

[432] Fluency, or smoothness.

[433] Lord Bacon seems to use the word in the general sense of “lending

money upon interest.”

[434] “Drive from their hives the drones, a lazy race.”—_Georgics_, b.

iv. 168.

[435] “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.”—_Gen._ iii.

19.

[436] “In the sweat of the face of another.”

[437] In the middle ages the Jews were compelled, by legal enactment,

to wear peculiar dresses and colors; one of these was orange.

[438] “A concession by reason of hardness of heart.” He alludes to the

words in St. Matthew xix. 8.

[439] See note to Essay xix.

[440] Hold.

[441] The imaginary country described in Sir Thomas More’s political

romance of that name.

[442] Regulation.

[443] Be paid.

[444] Our author was one of the earliest writers who treated the

question of the interest of money with the enlightened views of a

statesman and an economist. The taking of interest was considered, in

his time, immoral.

Laws on this matter are extremely ancient. Moses forbids the Jews to

require interest of each other. “Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy

brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is

lent upon usury:

“Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou

shalt not lend upon usury.”—_Deut._ xxiii. 19, 20.

Among the Greeks, the rate of interest was settled by agreement between

the borrower and the lender, without any interference of the law. The

customary rate varied from ten to thirty-three and one third per cent.

The Romans enacted laws against usurious interest; but their legal

interest, admitted by the law of the Twelve Tables, was, according to

some, twelve per cent., or, to others, one twelfth of the capital, i. e.

eight and one third per cent. Justinian reduced it to six per cent.

In England, the legal rate of interest was, in Henry the Eighth’s

reign, ten per cent. It was reduced, in 1624, to eight per cent. It

was further diminished, in 1672, to six per cent. And definitively, in

1713, fixed at five per cent., the ordinary rate of interest throughout

Europe. In France, the rates of interest have been nearly similar at

the same periods.

[445] “He passed his youth full of errors, of madness even.”—_Spartian.

Vit. Sev._

[446] He was nephew of Louis the Twelfth of France, and commanded the

French armies in Italy against the Spaniards. After a brilliant career,

he was killed at the battle of Ravenna, in 1512.

[447] Joel ii. 28, quoted Acts ii. 17.

[448] He lived in the second century after Christ, and is said to have

lost his memory at the age of twenty-five.

[449] “He remained the same, but _with the advance of years_ was not so

becoming.”—_Cic. Brut._ 95.

[450] “The close was unequal to the beginning.” This quotation is not

correct; the words are: “Memorabilior prima pars vitæ quam postrema

fuit,”—“The first part of his life was more distinguished than the

latter.”—_Livy_ xxxviii. ch. 53.

[451] By the context, he would seem to consider “great spirit” and

“virtue” as convertible terms. Edward IV., however, has no claim to be

considered as a virtuous or magnanimous man, though he possessed great

physical courage.

[452] Features.

[453] “The autumn of the beautiful is beautiful.”

[454] By making allowances.

[455] Rom. i. 31; 2 Tim. iii. 3.

[456] “Where she errs in the one, she ventures in the other.”

[457] Spies.

[458] Solyman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Turks.

[459] Site.

[460] Knoll.

[461] Have a liking for cheerful society. Momus being the god of mirth.

[462] Eats up.

[463] Plut. Vit. Lucull. 39.

[464] A vast edifice, about twenty miles from Madrid, founded by Philip

II.

[465] Esth. i. 5; “The King made a feast unto all the people that were

present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days,

in the court of the garden of the king’s palace.”

[466] The cylinder formed by the small end of the steps of winding

stairs.

[467] The funnel of a chimney.

[468] Where to go.

[469] Bow, or bay, windows.

[470] Flush with the wall.

[471] Antechamber.

[472] Withdrawing-room.

[473] Watercourses.

[474] Pine trees.

[475] Kept warm in a greenhouse.

[476] The damson, or plum of Damascus.

[477] Currants.

[478] An apple that is gathered very early.

[479] A kind of quince, so called from “cotoneum,” or “cydonium,” the

Latin name of the quince.

[480] The fruit of the cornel-tree.

[481] The warden was a large pear, so called from its keeping well.

Warden-pie was formerly much esteemed in this country.

[482] Perpetual spring.

[483] Flowers that do not send forth their smell at any distance.

[484] A species of grass of the genus argostis.

[485] The blossoms of the bean.

[486] Bring or lead you.

[487] Impeding.

[488] Causing the water to fall in a perfect arch, without any spray

escaping from the jet.

[489] Lilies of the valley.

[490] In rows.

[491] Insidiously subtract nourishment from.

[492] To consider or expect.

[493] Love, are pleased with.

[494] It is more advantageous to deal with men whose desires are not

yet satisfied, than with those who have gained all they have wished

for, and are likely to be proof against inducements.

[495] In the sense of the Latin “gloriosus,” “boastful,” “bragging.”

[496] Professions or classes.

[497] Weakness, or indecision of character.

[498] He probably alludes to the ancient stories of the friendship

of Orestes and Pylades, Theseus and Pirithoüs, Damon and Pythias,

and others, and the maxims of the ancient philosophers. Aristotle

considers that equality in circumstances and station is one requisite

of friendship. Seneca and Quintus Curtius express the same opinion.

It seems hardly probable that Lord Bacon reflected deeply when

he penned this passage, for between equals, jealousy, the most

insidious of all the enemies of friendship, has the least chance of

originating. Dr. Johnson says: “Friendship is seldom lasting but

between equals, or where the superiority on one side is reduced by some

equivalent advantage on the other. Benefits which cannot be repaid,

and obligations which cannot be discharged, are not commonly found

to increase affection; they excite gratitude indeed, and heighten

veneration, but commonly take away that easy freedom and familiarity of

intercourse, without which, though there may be fidelity, and zeal, and

admiration, there cannot be friendship.”—_The Rambler_, No. 64.

[499] In such a case, gratitude and admiration exist on the one hand,

esteem and confidence on the other.

[500] Lowering, or humiliating.

[501] Referees.

[502] Disgusted.

[503] Giving no false color to the degree of success which has attended

the prosecution of the suit.

[504] To have little effect.

[505] To this extent.

[506] Of the information.

[507] “Ask what is exorbitant, that you may obtain what is moderate.”

[508] This formed the first essay in the earliest edition of the work.

[509] Attentively.

[510] Vapid: without taste or spirit.

[511] “Studies become habits.”

[512] “Splitters of cummin-seeds;” or, as we now say, “splitters of

straws,” or “hairs.” Butler says of Hudibras:—

“He could distinguish and divide

A hair ’twixt south and southwest side.”

[513] Causes one side to preponderate.

[514] “The common father.”

[515] “As one of us.” Henry the Third of France, favoring the league

formed by the Duke of Guise and Cardinal De Lorraine against the

Protestants, soon found that, through the adoption of that policy, he

had forfeited the respect of his subjects.

[516] See a note to Essay 15.

[517] Of Castile. She was the wife of Ferdinand of Arragon, and was the

patroness of Columbus.

[518] The words in our version are: “He that observeth the

wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not

reap.—_Ecclesiastes_ xi. 1.

[519] Exact in the extreme. Point-de-vice was originally the name of a

kind of lace of very fine pattern.

[520] “Appearances resembling virtues.”

[521] “A good name is like sweet-smelling ointment.” The words

in our version are, “A good name is better than precious

ointment.—_Ecclesiastes_ vii. 1.

[522] “Disregarding _his own_ conscience.”

[523] “To instruct under the form of praise.”

[524] “The worst kind of enemies are those who flatter.”

[525] A pimple filled with “pus,” or “purulent matter.” The word is

still used in the east of England.

[526] The words in our version are: “He that blesseth his friend with a

loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to

him.”—_Proverbs_ xxvii. 14.

[527] In other words, to show what we call an _esprit de corps_.

[528] Theologians.

[529] 2 Cor. xi. 23.

[530] “I will magnify my apostleship.” He alludes to the words in

Romans xi. 13: “Inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify

mine office.”

[531] Vaunting, or boasting.

[532] Noise. We have a corresponding proverb: “Great cry and little

wool.”

[533] A high or good opinion.

[534] _Vide_ Liv. xxxvii. 48.

[535] By express command.

[536] “Those who write books on despising glory, set their names in

the title-page.” He quotes from Cicero’s “Tusculanæ Disputationes,”

b. i. c. 15, whose words are; “Quid nostri philosophi? Nonne in

his libris ipsis, quos scribunt de contemnendâ gloriâ, sua nomina

inscribunt.”—“What do our philosophers do? Do they not, in those very

books which they write on despising glory, set their names in the

title-page?”

[537] Pliny the Younger, the nephew of the elder Pliny, the naturalist.

[538] “One who set off every thing he said and did with a certain

skill.” Mucianus was an intriguing general in the times of Otho and

Vitellius.—_Hist._ xi. 80.

[539] Namely, the property of which he was speaking, and not that

mentioned by Tacitus.

[540] Apologies.

[541] Concessions.

[542] Plin. Epist. vi. 17.

[543] Boastful.

[544] “All fame emanates from servants.”—_Q. Cic. de Petit. Consul._ v.

17.

[545] “Founders of empires.”

[546] He alludes to Ottoman, or Othman I., the founder of the dynasty

now reigning at Constantinople. From him, the Turkish empire received

the appellation of “Othoman,” or “Ottoman” Porte.

[547] “Perpetual rulers.”

[548] Surnamed the Peaceful, who ascended the throne of England A. D.

959. He was eminent as a legislator, and a rigid assertor of justice.

Hume considers his reign “one of the most fortunate that we meet with

in the ancient English history.”

[549] These were a general collection of the Spanish laws, made by

Alphonso X. of Castile, arranged under their proper titles. The work

was commenced by Don Ferdinand his father, to put an end to the

contradictory decisions in the Castilian courts of justice. It was

divided into seven parts, whence its name “Siete Partidas.” It did not,

however, become the law of Castile till nearly eighty years after.

[550] “Deliverers,” or “preservers.”

[551] “Extenders,” or “defenders of the empire.”

[552] “Fathers of their country.”

[553] “Participators in cares.”

[554] “Leaders in war.”

[555] Proportion, dimensions.

[556] “Equal to their duties.”

[557] “To expound the law.”

[558] “To make the law.”

[559] The Mosaic law. He alludes to Deuteronomy xxvii. 17. “Cursed be

he that removeth his neighbor’s landmark.”

[560] “A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled

fountain and a corrupt spring.”—_Proverbs_ xxv. 26.

[561] “Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in

the earth.”—_Amos_ v. 7.

[562] “He who wrings the nose strongly brings blood.” _Proverbs_ xxx.

33: “Surely, the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the

wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood; so the forcing of wrath

bringeth forth strife.”

[563] “He will rain snares upon them.” Psalm xi. 6: “Upon the wicked he

shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and an horrible tempest.”

[564] Strained.

[565] “It is the duty of a judge to consider not only the facts, but

the circumstances of the case.”—_Ovid. Trist._ I. i. 37.

[566] Pliny the Younger, Ep. B. 6, E. 2, has the observation:

“Patientiam ... quæ pars magna justitiæ est;” “Patience, which is a

great part of justice.”

[567] Is not successful.

[568] Makes him to feel less confident of the goodness of his cause.

[569] Altercate, or bandy words with the judge.

[570] “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles!”—_St.

Matthew_ vii. 16.

[571] Plundering.

[572] “Friends of the court.”

[573] “Parasites,” or “flatterers of the court.”

[574] Which were compiled by the decemvirs.

[575] “The safety of the people is the supreme law.”

[576] “Mine.”

[577] “Yours.”

[578] He alludes to 1 Kings x. 19, 30: “The throne had six steps, and

the top of the throne was round behind; and there were stays on either

side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays.

And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the

six steps.” The same verses are repeated in 1 Chronicles ix. 18, 19.

[579] “We know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.”—1

_Timothy_ i. 8.

[580] A boast.

[581] In our version it is thus rendered: “Be ye angry, and sin not;

let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”—_Ephesians_ iv. 26.

[582] Sen. De Ira i. 1.

[583] “In your patience possess ye your souls.”—_Luke_ xvi. 19.

[584] “And leave their lives in the wound.” The quotation is from

Virgil’s Georgics, iv. 238.

[585] Susceptibility upon.

[586] “A thicker covering for his honor.”

[587] Pointed and peculiarly appropriate to the party attacked.

[588] “Ordinary abuse.”

[589] “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and

that which is done, is that which shall be done; and there is no

new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said,

See, this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before

us.”—_Ecclesiastes_ i. 9, 10.

[590] In his Phædo.

[591] “There is no remembrance of former things: neither shall there be

any remembrance of things that are to come, with those that shall come

hereafter.”—_Ecclesiastes_ i. 11.

[592] “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead,

said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand,

there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my

word.”—1 _Kings_ xvii. 1. “And it came to pass after many days, that

the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show

thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.”—1 _Kings_

xviii. 1.

[593] Confined to a limited space.

[594] The whole of the continent of America then discovered is included

under this name.

[595] Limited.

[596] _Vide_ Plat. Tim. iii. 24, seq.

[597] Mach. Disc. Sop. Liv. ii. 2.

[598] Sabinianus of Volaterra was elected Bishop of Rome on the death

of Gregory the Great, A. D. 604. He was of an avaricious disposition,

and thereby incurred the popular hatred. He died in eighteen months

after his election.

[599] This Cicero speaks of as “the great year of the mathematicians.”

“On the Nature of the Gods,” B. 4, ch. 20. By some it was supposed to

occur after a period of 12,954 years, while, according to others, it

was of 25,920 years’ duration.—_Plat. Tim._ iii. 38, seq.

[600] Conceit.

[601] Observed.

[602] A curious fancy or odd conceit.

[603] The followers of Arminius, or James Harmensen, a celebrated

divine of the 16th and 17th centuries. Though called a heresy by Bacon,

his opinions have been for two centuries, and still are, held by a

large portion of the Church of England.

[604] A belief in astrology, or at least the influence of the stars was

almost universal in the time of Bacon.

[605] Germany.

[606] Charlemagne.

[607] When led thither by Alexander the Great.

[608] Striking.

[609] Application of the “aries,” or battering-ram.

[610] This fragment was found among Lord Bacon’s papers, and published

by Dr. Rawley in his Resuscitatio.

[611] Tac. Hist. ii. 80.

[612] Cæs. de Bell. Civ. i. 6.

[613] Tac. Ann. i. 5.

[614] _Vide_ Herod. viii. 108, 109.

[615] Varro distributes the ages of the world into three periods; viz:

the unknown, the fabulous, and the historical. Of the former, we have

no accounts but in Scripture; for the second, we must consult the

ancient poets, such as Hesiod, Homer, or those who wrote still earlier,

and then again come back to Ovid, who, in his Metamorphoses, seems,

in imitation perhaps of some ancient Greek poet, to have intended a

complete collection, or a kind of continued and connected history of

the fabulous age, especially with regard to changes, revolutions, or

transformations.

[616] Most of these fables are contained in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and

Fasti, and are fully explained in Bohn’s Classical Library translation.

[617] Homer’s Hymn to Pan.

[618] Cicero, Epistle to Atticus, 5.

[619] Ovid, Metamorphoses, b. ii.

[620] This refers to the confused mixture of things, as sung by Virgil:—

“Namque canebat uti magnum per inane coacta

Semina terrarumque animæque marisque fuissent;

Et liquidi simul ignis; ut his exordia primis

Omnia, et ipse tener mundi concreverit orbis.”—

_Ecl._ vi. 81.

[621] This is always supposed to be the case in vision, the

mathematical demonstrations in optics proceeding invariably upon the

assumption of this phenomenon.

[622]

“Torva leæna lupum sequitur, lupus ipse capellam:

Florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella.”

_Virgil_, _Ecl._ ii. 63.

[623] Ovid, Rem. Amoris, v. 343. Mart. Epist.

[624] Psalm xix. 1.

[625] Syrinx, signifying a reed, or the ancient pen.

[626] Ovid, Metam. b. iv.

[627] Thus it is the excellence of a general, early to discover what

turn the battle is likely to take; and looking prudently behind, as

well as before, to pursue a victory so as not to be unprovided for a

retreat.

[628] It may be remembered that the Athenian peasant voted for the

banishment of Aristides, because he was called the Just. Shakspeare

forcibly expresses the same thought:—

“Let me have men about me that are fat;

Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o’ nights:

Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;

He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.”

If Bacon had completed his intended work upon “Sympathy and Antipathy,”

the constant hatred evinced by ignorance of intellectual superiority,

originating sometimes in the painful feeling of inferiority, sometimes

in the fear of worldly injury would not have escaped his notice.

[629] Thus we see that Orpheus denotes learning; Eurydice, things,

or the subject of learning; Bacchus, and the Thracian women, men’s

ungoverned passions and appetites, &c. And in the same manner all the

ancient fables might be familiarly illustrated, and brought down to the

capacities of children.

[630]

“Quod procul a nobis flectat Fortuna gubernans;

Et ratio potius quam res persuadeat ipsa.”

[631] Proteus properly signifies primary, oldest, or first.

[632] Bacon nowhere speaks with such freedom and perspicuity as under

the pretext of explaining these ancient fables; for which reason they

deserve to be the more read by such as desire to understand the rest of

his works.

[633] As she also brought the author himself.

[634]

“—————cadit Ripheus, justissimus unus,

Qui fuit ex Teucris, et servantissimus æqui:

Diis aliter visum.”—_Æneid_, lib. ii.

[635] Te autem mi Brute sicut debeo, amo, quod istud quicquid est

nugarum me scire voluisti.

[636]

“Regina in mediis patrio vocat agmina sistro;

Necdum etiam geminos a tergo respicit angues.”

_Æneid_, viii. 696.

[637] Ovid’s Metamorphoses, b. iii., iv., and vi.; and Fasti, iii. 767.

[638] “Declinat cursus, aurumque volubile tollit.”

[639] The author, in all his physical works, proceeds upon this

foundation, that it is possible, and practicable, for art to obtain the

victory over nature; that is, for human industry and power to procure,

by the means of proper knowledge, such things as are necessary to

render life as happy and commodious as its mortal state will allow. For

instance, that it is possible to lengthen the present period of human

life; bring the winds under command: and every way extend and enlarge

the dominion or empire of man over the works of nature.

[640] “All-gift.”

[641] Viz: that by Pandora.

[642]

“Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,

Quique metus omnes et inexorabile fatum

Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari.”

_Georg._ ii. 490.

[643] _De Augmentis Scientiarum_, sec. xxviii. and supplem. xv.

[644] An allusion which, in Plato’s writings, is applied to the

rapid succession of generations, through which the continuity of

human life is maintained from age to age; and which are perpetually

transferring from hand to hand the concerns and duties of this fleeting

scene. Γεννῶντες τε καὶ ἐκτρέφοντες παῖδας, κάθαπερ λαμπάδα τὸν βίον

παραδιδόντες ἄλλοις ἐξ ἄλλων—Plato, Leg. b. vi. Lucretius also has the

same metaphor:—

“Et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt.”

[645] Eccles. xii. 11.

[646] This is what the author so frequently inculcates in the _Novum

Organum_, viz: that knowledge and power are reciprocal; so that to

improve in knowledge is to improve in the power of commanding nature,

by introducing new arts, and producing works and effects.

[647]

“Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento:

Hæ tibi erunt artes.”

_Æneid_, vi. 851.

[648]

“Sive recens tellus, seductaque nuper ab alta

Æthere, cognati retinebat semina cœli.”—_Metam._ i. 80.

[649] Many philosophers have certain speculations to this purpose.

Sir Isaac Newton, in particular, suspects that the earth receives its

vivifying spirit from the comets. And the philosophical chemists and

astrologers have spun the thought into many fantastical distinctions

and varieties.—See Newton, _Princip._ lib. iii. p. 473, &c.

[650] This policy strikingly characterized the conduct of Louis XIV.,

who placed his generals under a particular injunction, to advertise

him of the success of any siege likely to be crowned with an immediate

triumph, that he might attend in person and appear to take the town by

a _coup de main_.

[651] The one denoted by the river Achelous, and the other by

Terpsichore, the muse that invented the cithara and delighted in

dancing.

[652]

“Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus;

Rumoresque senum severiorum

Omnes unius estimemus assis.”—_Catull. Eleg._ v.