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diff --git a/36650.txt b/36650.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c00a2f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/36650.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6620 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of Francis Bacon, by William T. Smedley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mystery of Francis Bacon + +Author: William T. Smedley + +Release Date: July 7, 2011 [EBook #36650] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY OF FRANCIS BACON *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + The Mystery + of + Francis Bacon + + _WILLIAM T. SMEDLEY_ + + + + [Illustration: FRANCIS BACON AT 9 YEARS OF AGE. + _From the bust at Gorhambury._] + + + + THE MYSTERY + OF + FRANCIS BACON + + + BY + WILLIAM T. SMEDLEY. + + + Ad D.B. + + "Si bene qui latuit, bene vixit, tu bene vivis: + Ingeniumque tuum grande latendo patet." + --_John Owen's Epigrammatum_, 1612. + + + LONDON: + ROBERT BANKS & SON, + RACQUET COURT, FLEET STREET E.C. + + 1912. + + + + + "_But such is the infelicity and unhappy disposition + of the human mind in the course of invention that it + first distrusts and then despises itself: first will + not believe that any such thing can be found out; and + when it is found out, cannot understand how the world + should have missed it so long._" + + --"NOVUM ORGANUM," Chap. CX. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + Preface 5 + CHAPTER + I.--Sources of Information 9 + II.--The Stock from which Bacon Came 14 + III.--Francis Bacon, 1560 to 1572 19 + IV.--At Cambridge 25 + V.--Early Compositions 29 + VI.--Bacon's "Temporis Partus Maximus" 36 + VII.--Bacon's First Allegorical Romance 47 + VIII.--Bacon in France, 1576-1579 52 + IX.--Bacon's Suit on His Return to England, 1580 62 + X.--The "Rare and Unaccustomed Suit" 76 + XI.--Bacon's Second Visit to the Continent and After 82 + XII.--Is it Probable that Bacon left Manuscripts Hidden Away? 94 + XIII.--How the Elizabethan Literature was Produced 98 + XIV.--The Clue to the Mystery of Bacon's Life 103 + XV.--Burghley and Bacon 114 + XVI.--The 1623 Folio Edition of Shakespeare's Plays 123 + XVII.--The Authorised Version of the Bible, 1611 126 + XVIII.--How Bacon Marked Books with the Publication of + Which He Was Connected 132 + XIX.--Bacon and Emblemata 140 + XX.--Shakespeare's Sonnets 148 + XXI.--Bacon's Library 156 + XXII.--Two German Opinions on Shakespeare and Bacon 161 + XXIII.--The Testimony of Bacon's Contemporaries 170 + XXIV.--The Missing Fourth Part of "The Great Instauration" 177 + XXV.--The Philosophy of Bacon 187 + Appendix 193 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Is there a mystery connected with the life of Francis Bacon? The average +student of history or literature will unhesitatingly reply in the +negative, perhaps qualifying his answer by adding:--Unless it be a +mystery that a man with such magnificent intellectual attainments could +have fallen so low as to prove a faithless friend to a generous +benefactor in the hour of his trial, and, upon being raised to one of +the highest positions of honour and influence in the State, to become a +corrupt public servant and a receiver of bribes to pervert justice.--It +is one of the most remarkable circumstances to be found in the history +of any country that a man admittedly pre-eminent in his intellectual +powers, spoken of by his contemporaries in the highest terms for his +virtues and his goodness, should, in subsequent ages, be held up to +obloquy and scorn and seldom be referred to except as an example of a +corrupt judge, a standing warning to those who must take heed how they +stand lest they fall. Truly the treatment which Francis Bacon has +received confirms the truth of the aphorism, "The evil that men do lives +after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." + +It is not the intention in the following brief survey of Bacon's life to +enter upon any attempt to vindicate his character. Since his works and +life have come prominently before the reading public, he has never been +without a defender. Montagu, Hepworth Dixon, and Spedding have, one +after the other, raised their voices against the injustice which has +been done to the memory of this great Englishman; and although +Macaulay, in his misleading and inaccurate essay,[1] abounding in +paradoxes and inconsistencies, produced the most powerful, though +prejudiced, attack which has been made on Bacon's fame, he may almost be +forgiven, because it provided the occasion for James Spedding in +"Evenings with a Reviewer," to respond with a thorough and complete +vindication of the man to whose memory he devoted his life. There rests +on every member of the Anglo-Saxon race an obligation--imposed upon him +by the benefits which he enjoys as the result of Francis Bacon's +life-work--to read this vindication of his character. Nor should mention +be omitted of the essay by Mr. J. M. Robertson on "Francis Bacon" in his +excellent work "Pioneer Humanists." All these defenders of Bacon treat +their subject from what may be termed the orthodox point of view. They +follow in the beaten track. They do not look for Bacon outside his +acknowledged works and letters. Since 1857, however, there has been +steadily growing a belief that Bacon was associated with the literature +of the Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods, and that he deliberately +concealed his connection with it. That this view is scouted by what are +termed the men of letters is well-known. They will have none of it. They +refuse its claim to a rational hearing. But, in spite of this, as years +go on, the number of adherents to the new theory steadily increases. The +scornful epithets that are hurled at them only appear to whet their +appetite, and increase their determination. Men and women devote their +lives with enthusiasm to the quest for further knowledge. They dig and +delve in the records of the period, and in the byeways of literature. +Theories which appear extravagant and untenable are propounded. Whether +any of these theories will come to be accepted and established beyond +cavil, time alone can prove. But, at any rate, it is certain that in +this quest many forgotten facts are brought to light, and the general +stock of information as to the literature of the period is augmented. + +In the following pages it is sought to establish what may be termed one +of these extravagant theories. How far this attempt is successful, it is +for the reader to judge. Notwithstanding all that may be said to the +contrary, by far the greater part of Francis Bacon's life is unknown. An +attempt will be made by the aid of accredited documents and books to +represent in a new light his youth and early manhood. It is contended +that he deliberately sought to conceal his movements and work, although, +at the same time, he left the landmarks by which a diligent student +might follow them. In his youth he conceived the idea that the man +Francis Bacon should be concealed, and be revealed only by his works. +The motto, "_Mente videbor_"--by the mind I shall be seen--became the +guiding principle of his life. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Attention is drawn to one of the inaccuracies in "An Introduction to +Mathematics," by A. W. Whithead, Sc.D., F.R.S., published in the Home +University Library of Modern Knowledge. The author says: "Macaulay in +his essay on Bacon contrasts the certainty of mathematics with the +uncertainty of philosophy, and by way of a rhetorical example he says, +'There has been no re-action against Taylor's theorem.' He could not +have chosen a worse example. For, without having made an examination of +English text-books on mathematics contemporary with the publication of +this essay, the assumption is a fairly safe one that Taylor's theorem +was enunciated and proved wrongly in every one of them." + + + + +THE MYSTERY + +OF + +FRANCIS BACON. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +SOURCES OF INFORMATION. + + +The standard work is "The Life and Letters of Francis Bacon," by James +Spedding, which was published from 1858-1869. It comprises seven +volumes, with 3,033 pages. The first twenty years of Bacon's life are +disposed of in 8 pages, and the next ten years in 95 pages, of which 43 +pages are taken up with three tracts attributed to him. There is +practically no information given as to what should be the most important +years of his life. The two first volumes carry the narrative to the end +of Elizabeth's reign, when Bacon had passed his fortieth year. There is +in them a considerable contribution to the history of the times, but a +critical perusal will establish the fact that they add very little to +our knowledge of the man, and they fail to give any adequate idea of how +he was occupied during those years. In the seven volumes 513 letters of +Bacon's are printed, and of these no less than 238 are addressed to +James I. and the Duke of Buckingham, and were written during the last +years of his life. The biographies by Montagu and Hepworth Dixon are +less pretentious, but contain little more information. + +The first published Life of Bacon appears to have been unknown to all +these writers. In 1631 was published in Paris a translation of the +"Sylva Sylvarum," as the "Histoire Naturelle de Mre. Francois Bacon." +Prefixed to it is a chapter entitled "Discours sur la vie de Mre. +Francois Bacon, Chancelier D'Angleterre." Reference will be made to this +important discourse hereafter. It is sufficient for the present to say +that it definitely states that during his youth Bacon travelled in Italy +and Spain, which fact is to-day unrecognised by those who are accepted +as authorities on his life. In 1647 there was published at Leyden a +Dutch translation of forty-six of Bacon's Essays--the "Wisdom of the +Ancients" and the "Religious Meditations." The translation is by Peter +Boener, an apothecary of Nymegen, Holland, who was in Bacon's service +for some years as domestic apothecary, and occasional amanuensis, and +quitted his employment in 1623. Boener added a Life of Bacon which is a +mere fragment, but contains testimony by a personal attendant which is +of value. In 1657 William Rawley issued a volume of unpublished +manuscripts under the title of "Resuscitatio," and to these he added a +Life of the great Philosopher. Rawley is only once mentioned by Bacon. +His will contains the sentence: "I give to my chaplain, Dr. Rawleigh, +one hundred pounds." Rawley was born in 1590. When he became associated +with his master is not known, but it could only have been towards the +close of his life. Bacon appears to have reposed great confidence in +him. In 1627,[2] the year following Bacon's death, he published the +"Sylva Sylvarum." This must have been in the press before Bacon's death. +Rawley subsequently published other works, and was associated with Isaac +Gruter during the seventeenth century in producing on the continent +various editions of Bacon's works. + +Rawley's account of Bacon's life is meagre, and, having regard to the +wealth of information which must have been at his disposal, it is a very +disappointing production. Still, it contains information which is not to +be found elsewhere. How incomplete it is may be gathered from the fact +that there is no reference in it to Bacon's fall. + +In 1665 was published a volume, "The Statesmen and Favourites of England +since the Reformation." It was compiled by David Lloyd. The biographies +of the Elizabethan statesmen were written by someone who was closely +associated with them, and who appears to have had exceptional +opportunities of obtaining information as to their opinions and +characters.[3] As to how these lives came into Lloyd's possession +nothing is known. Prefixed to the biographies are two pages containing +"The Lord Bacon's judgment in a work of this nature." The chapter on +Bacon is a most important contribution to the subject, but it also +appears to have escaped the notice of Spedding, Hepworth Dixon, and +Montagu. In 1658 Francis Osborn, in Letters to his son, gives a graphic +description of the Lord Chancellor. Perhaps one can better picture Bacon +as he was in the strength of his manhood from Osborne's account of him +than from any other source. Thomas Bushell, another of Bacon's household +dependents, published in 1628 "The First Part of Youth's Errors." In a +letter therein addressed to Mr. John Eliot, he has left contributions to +our stock of knowledge. There are also some miscellaneous tracts written +by him, and published about the year 1660, which contain references to +Bacon. + +Fuller's Worthies (1660) gives a short account of his life and +character, eulogistic but sparse. In 1679 was published "Baconiana," or +Certain Genuine Remains of Sir Francis Bacon, &c., by Bishop Tennison, +but it contains no better account of his life. Winstanley's Worthies +(1684) relies entirely on Rawley's Life, which is reproduced in it. +Aubrey's brief Lives were written about 1680. There are references to +Bacon in Arthur Wilson's "History of the Reign of James I."; in "The +Court of James I.," by Sir W. A.; in "Simeon D'Ewes' Diary"; and, +lastly, in his "Discoveries," Ben Jonson contributes a high eulogy on +Bacon's character and attainments. + +In 1702 Robert Stephens, the Court historiographer, published a volume +of Bacon's letters, with an introduction giving some account of his +life; and there was a second edition in 1736. In 1740 David Mallet +published an edition of Bacon's works, and wrote a Life to accompany it. +This was subsequently printed as a separate volume. As a biography it is +without interest, as it contains no new facts as to his life. + +In 1754 memoirs of the reign of Queen Elizabeth from the year 1581 to +her death appeared, edited by Dr. Thomas Birch. These memoirs are +founded upon the letters of the various members of the Bacon family. In +1763 a volume of letters of Francis Bacon was issued under the same +editor. + +Such are the sources of information which have come down to us in +biographical notices. + +In the British Museum, the Record Office, and elsewhere are the +originals of the letters and the manuscripts of some of the tracts which +Spedding has printed. + +The British Museum also possesses two books of Memoranda used by Bacon. +The Transportat is entirely, and the Promus is partly, in his +handwriting. Beyond his published works, that is all that so far has +been available. + +Spedding remarks[4]: "What became of his books which were left to Sir +John Constable and must have contained traces of his reading, we do not +know, but very few appear to have survived." + +Happily, Spedding was wrong. During the past ten years nearly 2,000 +books which have passed through Bacon's hands have been gathered +together. These are copiously annotated by him, and from these +annotations the wide range and the methodical character of his reading +may be gathered. Manuscripts which were in his library, and at least +four common-place books in his handwriting, have also been recovered. +Particulars of these have not yet been made public, but the advantage of +access to them has been available in the preparation this volume. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] There are copies of this work bearing date 1626, the year in which +Bacon died. + +[3] The concluding paragraph of the Epistle to the Reader is as follows: +"It's easily imaginable how unconcerned I am as to the fate of this Book +either in the History, or the Observations, since I have been so +faithful in the first, that it is not my own, but the Historians; and so +careful in the second that they are not mine, but the Histories." + +[4] "Life and Letters," Vol. VII., page 552. + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE STOCK FROM WHICH BACON CAME. + + +"A prodigy of parts he must be who was begot by wise Sir Nicholas Bacon, +born of the accomplished Mrs. Ann Cooke," says an early biographer. + +Nicholas Bacon is said to have been born at Chislehurst, in Kent, in +1509. He was the second son of Robert Bacon, of Drinkstone, in Suffolk, +Esquire and Sheep-reeve to the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds. It is believed +that he was educated at the abbey school. He speaks of his intimacy with +Edmund Rougham, a monk of that house, who was noted for his wonderful +proficiency in memory. He was admitted to the College of Corpus Christi, +Cambridge, and took the degree of B.A. in 1526-7. He went to Paris soon +afterwards, and on his return studied law at Gray's Inn, being called to +the Bar in 1533, and admitted ancient in 1536. He was appointed, in +1537, Clerk to the Court of Augmentations. In 1546 he was made Attorney +of the Court of Wards and Liveries, and continued as such under Edward +VI. Upon the accession of Mary he conformed to the change of religion +and retained his office during her reign. Nicholas Bacon and William +Cecil, each being a widower, had married sisters. When Elizabeth came to +the throne Cecil became her adviser. He was well acquainted with +Nicholas Bacon's sterling worth and great capacity for business, and +availed himself of his advice and assistance. The Queen delivered to +Bacon the great seal, with the title of Lord Keeper, on the 22nd +December, 1558, and he was sworn of the Privy Council and knighted. By +letters patent, dated 14th April, 1559, the full powers of a Chancellor +were conferred upon him. In 1563 he narrowly escaped the loss of his +office for alleged complicity in the issue of a pamphlet espousing the +cause of the House of Suffolk to the succession. He was restored to +favour, and continued as Lord Keeper until his death in 1579. The Queen +visited him at Gorhambury on several occasions. Sir Nicholas Bacon, in +addition to performing the important duties of his high office in the +Court of Chancery and in the Star Chamber, took an important part in all +public affairs, both domestic and foreign, from the accession of +Elizabeth until his death. He first married Jane, daughter of William +Fernley, of West Creting, Suffolk, by whom he had three sons and three +daughters. For his second wife he married Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony +Cooke, by whom he had two sons, Anthony and Francis. It is of more +importance for the present purpose to know what type of man was the +father of Francis Bacon. The author of the "Arte of English Poesie" +(1589) relates that he came upon Sir Nicholas sitting in his gallery +with the works of Quintillian before him, and adds: "In deede he was a +most eloquent man and of rare learning and wisdome as ever I knew +England to breed, and one that joyed as much in learned men and good +witts." This author, speaking of Sir Nicholas and Burleigh, remarks, +"From whose lippes I have seen to proceede more grave and naturall +eloquence then from all the oratours of Oxford and Cambridge." + +In his "Fragmenta Regalia" Sir Robert Naunton describes him as "an +archpeece of wit and wisdom," stating that "he was abundantly facetious +which took much with the Queen when it was suited with the season as he +was well able to judge of his times." Fuller describes him as "a man of +rare wit and deep experience," and, again, as "a good man, a grave +statesman, and a father to his country." Bishop Burnet speaks of him as +"not only one of the most learned and pious men, but one of the wisest +ministers this nation ever bred." The observations of the author of "The +Statesmen and Favourites of England in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth" are +very illuminating. "Sir Nicholas Bacon," he says, "was a man full of wit +and wisdome, a gentleman and a man of Law with great knowledge therein." +He proceeds: "This gentleman understood his Mistress well and the times +better: He could raise factions to serve the one and allay them to suit +the others. He had the deepest reach into affairs of any man that was at +the Council table: the knottiest Head to pierce into difficulties: the +most comprehensive Judgement to surround the merit of a cause: the +strongest memory to recollect all circumstances of a Business to one +View: the greatest patience to debate and consider; (for it was he that +first said, let us stay a little and we will have done the sooner:) and +the clearest reason to urge anything that came in his way in the Court +of Chancery.... Leicester seemed wiser than he was, Bacon was wiser than +he seemed to be; Hunsden neither was nor seemed wise.... Great was this +Stateman's Wit, greater the Fame of it; which as he would say, _being +nothing, made all things_. For Report, though but Fancy, begets Opinion; +and Opinion begets substance.... He neither affected nor attained to +greatness: _Mediocria firma_, was his principle and his practice. When +Queen Elizabeth asked him, _Why his house was so little?_ he answered, +_Madam, my house is not too little for me, but you have made me too big +for my House. Give me_, said he, _a good Estate rather than a great one. +He had a very Quaint saying and he used it often to good purpose_, That +he loved the Jest well but not the loss of his Friend.... He was in a +word, a Father of his country and of _Sir Francis Bacon_." + +Before speaking of Lady Ann Bacon, it is necessary to give some account +of her father, Sir Anthony Cooke. He was a great-grandson of Sir Thomas +Cooke, Lord Mayor of London, and was born at Giddy Hall, in Essex. Again +the most valuable observations on his character are to be found in "The +Lives of Statesmen and Favourites" before referred to. The author states +that Sir Anthony "was one of the Governors to King Edward the sixth when +Prince, and is charactered by Mr. Camden _Vir antiqua serenitate_. He +observeth him also to be happy in his Daughters, learned above their Sex +in Greek and Latine: namely, Mildred who married William Cecil, Lord +Treasurer of England; Anne who married Nichlas Bacon, Lord Chancellor of +England; Katherine who married Henry Killigrew; Elizabeth who married +Thomas Hobby, and afterwards Lord Russell, and Margaret who married +Ralph Rowlet." + +"Gravity," says this author, "was the Ballast of Sir Anthony's Soul and +General Learning its leading.... Yet he was somebody in every Art, and +eminent in all, the whole circle of Arts lodging in his Soul. His +Latine, fluent and proper; his Greek, critical and exact; his Philology +and Observations upon each of these languages, deep, curious, various +and pertinent: His Logic, rational; his History and Experience, general; +his Rhetorick and Poetry, copious and genuine; his Mathematiques, +practicable and useful. Knowing that souls were equal, and that Women +are as capable of Learning as Men, he instilled that to his Daughters at +night, which he had taught the Prince in the day, being resolved to have +Sons by education, for fear he should have none by birth; and lest he +wanted an Heir of his body, he made five of his minde, for whom he had +at once a _Gavel-kind_ of affection and of Estate." + +"Three things there are before whom (was Sir Anthony's saying) I cannot +do amis: 1, My Prince; 2, my conscience; 3, my children. Seneca told his +sister, That though he could not leave her a good portion, he would +leave her a good pattern. Sir Anthony would write to his Daughter +_Mildred, My example is your inheritance and my life is your +portion_.... + +"He said first, and his Grandchilde my Lord Bacon after him, That the +Joys of Parents are Secrets, and so are their Griefs and Fears.... Very +providently did he secure his eternity, by leaving the image of his +nature in his children and of his mind in his Pupil.... The books he +advised were not _many_ but _choice_: the business he pressed was not +reading, but digesting.... Sir John Checke talked merrily, Dr. Coxe +solidly and Sir Anthony Cooke weighingly: A faculty that was derived +with his blood to his Grandchilde Bacon." + +Such then was the father of Lady Anne Bacon. She and her sisters were +famous as a family of accomplished classical scholars. She had a +thorough knowledge of Greek and Latin. An Apologie ... in defence of the +Churche of England by Dr. Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, was translated by +her from the Latin and published in 1564. Sir Anthony had been exiled +during Mary's reign, for his adherence to the Protestant faith. His +daughter, Anne, inherited, not only his classical accomplishments, but +his strong Puritan faith and his hatred of Popery. Francis Bacon +describes her as "A Saint of God." There is a portrait of her painted by +Nathaniel Bacon, her stepson, in which she appears standing in her +pantry habited as a cook. In feature Francis appears to have resembled +his mother. He "had the same pouting lip, the same round head, the same +straight nose and Hebe chin." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +FRANCIS BACON, 1560 TO 1572. + + +In the registry of St. Martin's will be found this entry: Mr. Franciscus +Bacon 1560 Jan 25 (_filius D'm Nicho Bacon Magni Angliae sigilli +custodis_)." Rawley in his "Life of the Honourable Author" says: +"Francis Bacon, the glory of his age and nation, was born in York House +or York Place, in the Strand, on the two and twentieth day of January in +the year of our Lord 1560." He relates that "His first and childish +years were not without some mark of eminency; at which time he was +endued with that pregnancy and towardness of wit, as they were pressages +of that deep and universal apprehension which was manifest in him +afterward." "The Queen then delighted much to confer with him, and to +prove him with questions unto whom he delivered himself with that +gravity and maturity above his years that Her Majesty would often term +him '_Her young Lord Keeper_.' Being asked by the Queen how old he was +he answered with much discretion, being then but a boy[5] that he was +two years younger than Her Majesty's happy reign, with which answer the +queen was much taken." In the "Lives of the Statesmen and Favourites of +Queen Elizabeth" there is reference to the early development of his +mental and intellectual faculties. The author writes:--"He had a large +mind from his Father and great abilities from his Mother; His parts +improved more than his years, his great fixed and methodical memory, his +solide judgement, his quick fancy, his ready expression, gave assurance +of that profound and universal comprehension of things which then +rendered him the observation of great and wise men; and afterwards the +wonder of all." The historian continues:--"He never saw anything that +was not noble and becoming," "at twelve his industry was above the +capacity and his minde beyond the reache of his contemporaries." + +This boy so marvellously endowed was brought up in surroundings which +were ideal for his development. His father, a man of erudition, a wit +and orator, occupying one of the highest positions in the country, his +mother a lady of great classical accomplishments, who had enjoyed the +benefits of an education and training by her father, that eminent +scholar, Sir Anthony Cooke, and, lastly, there was this man--his +grandfather--living within riding distance from his home. It seems +inevitable that the natural powers of young Francis must have excited a +keen interest in the old tutor of Edward VI., who had devoted his +evenings to imparting to his daughters what he had taught the Prince +during the day, so that if he left behind him no heirs of his body, he +might leave heirs of his mind. The boy Francis was, indeed, a worthy +heir of his mind, and it is impossible to believe otherwise than that +Sir Anthony Cooke would throw himself heart and soul into the education +of his grandchild, but no statement or tradition has come down to this +effect. It may be, however, that a sentence which has already been +quoted from "The Lives of Statesmen and Favourites" is intended to imply +that Francis was the pupil of Sir Anthony: "He said first and his +Grandchilde my Lord Bacon after him, That the Joys of Parents are +Secrets, and so their Griefs and Fears.... Very providently did he +secure his Eternity, by leaving the image of his nature in his Children +and of his mind in his Pupil." The pupil referred to was not Edward VI., +for he died twenty-three years before Sir Anthony, and he could not, +therefore, have left the image of his mind in the young King. Following +directly after the sentence "He said first and his Grandchilde Lord +Bacon after him" it is possible that the reference may be to the boy +Francis. Certainly Sir Anthony "would secure his eternity" if he left +the image of his mind in his "Grandchilde." In any case the prodigious +natural powers of the boy were placed in an environment well suited for +their full development. + +The historian says that "at twelve his industry was above the capacity +and his mind beyond the reache of his Contemporaries." Who were the +contemporaries alluded to? Those of his own age, or those who were +living at the time? A boy of twelve, he excelled others in his great +industry and the wide range of his mind. This industry appears to have +accompanied him through life, for Rawley states that "he would ever +interlace a moderate relaxation of his mind with his studies, as walking +or taking the air abroad in his coach or some other befitting +recreation; and yet he would lose no time, inasmuch as upon the first +and immediate return he would fall to reading again, and so suffer no +movement of time to slip from him without some present improvement." It +is a remarkable fact on which too much stress cannot be laid that in the +two Lives of Bacon, scanty as they are, by contemporary writers, his +exceptional industry is pointed out. There are certainly no visible +fruits of this industry. + +Although there is no definite information as to what was the state of +Francis Bacon's education at twelve, there is testimony as to that of +some of his contemporaries. Three instances will suffice. + +Philip Melancthon (whose family name was Schwartzerd) was born in 1497. +His education was at an early age directed by his maternal grandfather, +John Reuter. After a short stay at a public school at Bretten he was +removed to the academy at Pforzheim. Here, under the tutorship of John +Reuchlin, an elegant scholar and teacher of languages, he acquired the +taste for Greek literature in which he subsequently became so +distinguished. Here his genius for composition asserted itself. Amongst +other poetical essays in which he indulged when eleven years of age, he +wrote a humorous piece in the form of a comedy, which he dedicated to +his kind friend and instructor, Reuchlin, in whose presence it was +performed by the schoolfellows of the youthful author. After a residence +of two years at Pforzheim, Philip matriculated at the University of +Heidelberg on the 13th October, 1509, being eleven years and nine months +old. Young as he was, he appears to have been employed to compose most +of the harangues that were delivered in the University, besides writing +some pieces for the professors themselves. Here, at this early age, he +composed his "Rudiments of the Greek Language," which were afterwards +published. + +Agrippa d'Aubigne was born in 1550 and died in 1630. At six years of age +he read Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. When ten years he translated the +Crito. Italian and Spanish were at his command. + +Thomas Bodley was born in 1544 and died in 1612. In the short +autobiography which he left he makes the following statement as to how +far his education had advanced when his father decided to fix his abode +in the city of Geneva in 1556:-- + + "I was at that time of twelve yeares age but through my fathers + cost and care sufficiently instructed to become an auditour of + _Chevalerius_ in Hebrew, of _Berealdus_ in Greeke, of _Calvin_ and + _Beza_ in Divinity and of some other Professours in that + University, (which was newly there erected) besides my domesticall + teachers, in the house of Philibertus Saracenus, a famous Physitian + in that City with whom I was boarded; when Robertus Constantinus + that made the Greek Lexicon read Homer with me." + +Bodley was undoubtedly proficient in French, for Calvin and Beza +lectured in French. The "Institution of the Christian Religion," +Calvin's greatest work, although published in Latin in 1536, was +translated by him into French, and issued in 1540 or 1541. This +translation is one of the finest examples of French prose. Bodley's +English was probably very poor, and for a very good reason--there was no +English language worthy of comparison with the languages of France, +Italy, or Spain. It had yet to be created. + +It is fair to assume that at twelve years of age Francis Bacon was as +proficient in languages as were Philip Melancthon, Agrippa d'Aubigne, or +Thomas Bodley at that age. He, therefore, had at least a good knowledge +of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and such English as there was. + +Another class of evidence is now available. It has already been stated +that a large number of Bacon's books have been recovered, copiously +annotated by him. Some of these books bear the date when the annotations +were made. For the most part the marginal notes appear to be aids to +memory, but in many cases they are critical observations of the text. +These are, however, dealt with in a subsequent chapter. + +Gilbert Wats, in dedicating to Charles I. his interpretation of "The +Advancement of Proficiency of Learning" (1640), makes a statement which +throws light on the course of Bacon's studies, and this strongly +supports the present contention. He says:-- + + "He (Bacon) after he had survaied all the Records of Antiquity, + after the volume of men, betook himselfe to the study of the volume + of the world; and having conquerd whatever books possest, set upon + the Kingdome of Nature and carried that victory very farre." + +Speaking of him as a boy his biographer[6] describes his memory as +"fixed and methodical," and in another place he says "His judgment was +solid yet his memory was a wonder." + +The extent of his reading at this time had been very wide. He had +already taken all knowledge to be his province, and was with that +industry which was beyond the capacity of his contemporaries rapidly +laying the foundations which subsequently justified this claim. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] Lloyd states that this occurred when he was seven years of age. + +[6] "The Lives of Statesmen and Favourites of Elizabeth." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +AT CAMBRIDGE. + + +Francis Bacon went to reside at Trinity College, Cambridge, in April, +1573, being 12 years and 3 months of age. While the plague raged he was +absent from the end of August, 1574, until the beginning of March +following. He finally left the University at Christmas, 1575, about one +month before his fifteenth birthday. + +Rawley says he was there educated and bred under the tuition of Dr. John +Whitgift,[7] then master of the College, afterwards the renowned +Archbishop of Canterbury, a prelate of the first magnitude for sanctity, +learning, patience, and humility; under whom he was observed to have +been more than an ordinary proficient in the several arts and sciences. + +Amboise, in the "Discours sur la vie de M. Bacon," prefixed to the +"Histoire Naturelle," Paris, 1631, says: "Le jugement et la memoire ne +furent jamais en aucun home au degre qu'ils estoient en celuy-cy; de +sorte qu'en bien peu de temps il se rendit fort habile en toutes les +sciences qui s'apprennent au College. Et quoi que deslors il fust juge +capable des charges les plas importantes, nean-moins pour ne tomber +dedans la mesme faute que sont d'ordinaire les jeunes gens de son +estoffe, qui par une ambition trop precipitee portent souvent au +maniement des grandes affaires un esprit encore tout rempli des crudites +de l'escole, Monsieur Bacon se voulut acquerir cette science, qui rendit +autres-fois Ulysse si recommandable et luy fit meriter le nom de sage, +par la connoissance des moeurs de tant de nations diverses." That is all +that can be said about his career at Cambridge except that Rawley adds: + + "Whilst he was commorant in the University, about sixteen years of + age (as his lordship hath been pleased to impart unto myself), he + first fell into the dislike of the philosophy of Aristotle; not for + the worthlessness of the author, to whom he would ever ascribe all + high attributes, but for the unfruitfulness of the way; being a + philosophy (as his lordship used to say) only strong for + disputations and contentions, but barren of the production of works + for the benefit of the life of man; in which mind he continued to + his dying day." + +As Bacon left Cambridge at Christmas, 1575, before he was 15 years of +age, Rawley's recollection must have been at fault when he mentions the +age of 16 as that when Bacon formed this opinion. + +There is another account of this incident in which it is stated that +Francis Bacon left Cambridge without taking a degree as a protest +against the manner in which philosophy was taught there. In the preface +to the "Great Instauration" Bacon repeats his protest: "And for its +value and utility, it must be plainly avowed that that wisdom which we +have derived principally from the Greeks is but like the boyhood of +knowledge and has the characteristic property of boys: it can talk but +it cannot generate: for it is fruitful of controversies but barren of +works." + +This is merely a re-statement of the position he took up when at +Cambridge. So this boy set up his opinion against that of the recognised +professors of philosophy of his day, against the whole authority of the +staff of the University, on a fundamental point on the most important +question which could be raised as to the pursuit of knowledge. It is not +too much to say that he had at this time covered the whole field of +knowledge in a manner more thorough than it had ever been covered +before, and with his mind, which was beyond the reach of his +contemporaries, he began to lay down those laws which revolutionised all +thought and have become the accepted method by which the pursuit of +knowledge is followed. + +It is necessary again to seek for parallels to justify the position +which will be claimed for Francis Bacon at this period. + +Philip Melancthon affords one and James Crichton another. At Heidelberg +Melancthon remained three years. He left when he was 15, the principal +cause of his leaving being disappointment at being refused a higher +degree in the University solely, it is alleged, on account of his youth. +In September, 1512, he was entered at the University of Tubingen, where, +in the following year, before he was 17 years of age, he was created +Doctor in Philosophy or Master of Arts. He then commenced a course of +public lectures, embracing an extraordinary variety of subjects, +including the learned languages, rhetoric, logic, ethics, mathematics, +and theology. Here in 1516 he put forth his revision of the text of +Terence. Besides he entered into an undertaking with Thomas Anshelmus to +revise all the books printed by him. He bestowed great labour on a large +work in folio by Nauclerus, which he appears to have almost entirely +re-written. + +So much romance has been thrown around James Crichton that it is +difficult to obtain the real facts of his life. Sir Thomas Urquhart, in +"Discovery of a Most Exquisite Jewel," published in 1652, gives a +biography which is, without doubt, mainly apocryphal. Certain facts, +however, are well established. He was born in the same year as was Bacon +(1560). At 10 years of age he entered St. Andrew's University, and in +1575 (the year Bacon left Cambridge) took his degree, coming out third +in the first class. In 1576 he went to France, as did Bacon--to Paris. +In the College of Navarre he issued a universal challenge. This he +subsequently repeated at Venice with equal success; that is, to all men, +upon all things, in any of twelve languages named. The challenge is +broad and formal. He pledged himself to review the schoolmen, allowed +his opponents the privilege of selecting their topics--mathematics, no +less than scholastic lore--either from branches publicly or privately +taught, and promised to return answers in logical figure or in numbers +estimated according to their occult power, or in any of a hundred sorts +of verse. He is said to have justified before many competent witnesses +his magnificent pretensions. + +What Philip Melancthon was at fifteen, what James Crichton was at +sixteen, Francis Bacon may have been. All the testimony which his +contemporaries afford, especially having regard to his after life, +justify the assertion that in knowledge and acquirements he was at least +their equal. + +About eighteen months later his portrait was painted by Hilliard, the +Court miniature painter, who inscribed around it, as James Spedding +says, the significant words--the natural ejaculation, we may presume, of +the artist's own emotion--"_Si tabula daretur digna animum mallem._" If +one could only find materials worthy to paint his mind. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] Dr. Whitgift was a man of strong moral rectitude, yet in 1593 he +became one of its sponsors on the publication of "Venus and Adonis." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +EARLY COMPOSITIONS. + + +It is at this stage that the mystery of Francis Bacon begins to develop. +Every channel through which information might be expected appears to be +blocked. Besides a few pamphlets, in the production of which little time +would be occupied, there came nothing from his pen until 1597 when, at +the age of 37, the first edition of the essays was published--only ten +short essays containing less than 6,000 words. In 1605, when 45, he +addressed to James I. the "Two Books on the Advancement of Learning," +containing less than 60,000 words. It would require no effort on Bacon's +part to write either of these volumes. He could turn out the "Two Books +of the Advancement of Learning" with the same facility that a leader +writer of the _Times_ would write his daily articles. He was to all +intents and purposes unoccupied. Until 1594 he had not held a brief, and +he never had any practice at the Bar worth considering. He was a member +of Parliament, but the House seldom sat, and never for long periods. +Bacon's life is absolutely unaccounted for. It is now proposed, by the +aid of the literature of the period from 1576 to 1620, and with the help +of information derived from his own handwriting, to trace, step by step, +the results of his industry, and to supply the reason for the +concealment which he pursued. + +There is an entry in the Book of Orders of Gray's Inn under date 21st +November, 1577, that Anthony and Francis Bacon (who had been admitted +members 27th June, 1576, "_de societate magistrorum_") be admitted to +the Grand Company, _i.e._, to the Degree of Ancients, a privilege to +which they were entitled as sons of a judge. From a letter subsequently +written by Burghley, it is known that one Barker was appointed as their +tutor of Law. Apparently it was intended that they should settle down to +a course of legal training, but this plan was abandoned, at any rate, as +far as Francis was concerned. Sir Amias Paulet, who was Chancellor of +the Garter, a Privy Counsellor, and held in high esteem by the Queen,[8] +was about to proceed to Paris to take the place of Dr. Dale as +Ambassador at the Court of France. There is a letter written from +Calais, dated 25th September, 1576, from Sir Amias to Lord Burghley, in +which this paragraph appears: "My ordinary train is no greater than of +necessity, being augmented by some young gentlemen, whereof one is Sir +Nicholas Throgmorton's son, who was recommended to me by her Majesty, +and, therefore, I could not refuse him. The others are so dear to me and +the most part of them of such towardness, as my good hope of their doing +well, and thereafter they will be able to serve their Prince and +country, persuades me to make so much to excuse my folly as to entreat +you to use your favour in my allowance for my transportations, my +charges being increased by these extraordinary occasions." + +Francis Bacon was one of this group of young gentlemen. Rawley states +that "after he had passed the circle of the liberal arts, his father +thought fit to frame and mould him for the arts of state; and for that +end sent him over into France with Sir Amyas Paulet then employed +Ambassador lieger into France." + +There are grounds for believing that Bacon's literary activity had +commenced before he left England. There is abundant evidence to prove +that it was the custom at this period for authors who desired to conceal +their authorship to substitute for their own names, initials or the +names of others on the title-pages. Two instances will suffice: "The +Arte of English Poesie" was published in 1589, but written several years +previously. The author says:--"I know very many notable Gentlemen in the +Court that have written commendably, and suppressed it agayne, or els +suffred it to be publisht without their owne names to it as if it were a +discredit for a Gentleman to seeme learned, and to shew himself amorous +of any learned Art." There is a bare-faced avowal of how names were +placed on title-pages in a letter which exists from Henry Cuffe to Mr. +Reynolds. Cuffe, an Oxford scholar of distinction, was a close companion +and confidant of Essex. After the capture and sacking of Cadiz by Essex +and Howard, the former deemed it important that his version of the +affair should be the first to be published in England. Cuffe, therefore, +started off post haste with the manuscript, but was taken ill on his +arrival at Portsmouth, and could not proceed. He despatched the +manuscript by a messenger with a letter to "Good Mr. Reynoldes," who was +a private Secretary of Essex. He was to cause a transcript to be made +and have it delivered to some good printer, in good characters and with +diligence to publish it. Reynoldes was to confer with Mr. Greville +(Fulke Greville, afterwards Lord Brooke) "whether he can be contented to +suffer the two first letters of his name to be used in the inscription." +"If he be unwilling," adds Cuffe, "you may put R.B. which some no doubt +will interprete to be Beale, but it skills not." That this was a common +practice is admitted by those acquainted with Elizabethan literature. If +any of Bacon's writings were published prior to the trifle which +appeared in 1597 as Essaies, his name was suppressed, and it would be +probable some other name would appear on the title-page. There is a +translation of a classical author, bearing date 1572, which is in the +Baconian style, but which need not be claimed for him without further +investigation. + +The following suggestion is put forward with all diffidence, but after +long and careful investigation. Francis Bacon was the author of two +books which were published, one before he left England, and the other +shortly after. The first is a philosophical discourse entitled "The +Anatomie of the Minde." Newlie made and set forth by T.R. Imprinted at +London by I.C. for Andrew Maunsell, 1576, 12mo. The dedication is +addressed to Master Christopher Hatton, and the name of Tho. Rogers is +attached to it. There was a Thomas Rogers who was Chaplain to Archbishop +Bancroft, and the book has been attributed to him, apparently only +because no other of the same name was known. There was published in 1577 +a translation by Rogers of a Latin book "Of the Ende of the World, etc." +and there are other translations by him published between then and 1628. +There are several sermons, also, but the style of these, the matter, and +the manner of treatment are quite distinct from those of the book under +consideration. There is nothing of his which would support the +assignment to him of "The Anatomie of the Mind." It is foreign to his +style. + +Having regard to the acknowledged custom of the times of putting names +other than the author's on title-pages, there is no need for any apology +for expressing doubt as to whether the book has been correctly placed to +the credit of the Bishop Bancroft's chaplain. In the address To the +Reader the author says: "I dyd once for my profite in the Universitie, +draw into Latin tables, which since for thy profite (Christian Reader) +at the request of a gentleman of good credite and worship, I have +Englished and published in these two books." There is in existence a +copy of the book with the printer's and other errors corrected in +Bacon's own handwriting. + +Bearing date 1577, imprinted at London for Henri Cockyn, is an octavo +book styled, _"Beautiful Blossoms" gathered by John Byshop from the best +trees of all kyndes, Divine, Philosophicall, Astronomicall, +Cosmographical, Historical and Humane that are growing in Greece, +Latium, and Arabia, and some also in vulgar orchards as wel fro these +that in auncient time were grafted, as also from them which with skilful +head and hand beene of late yeare's, yea, and in our dayes planted: to +the unspeakable, both pleasure and profite of all such as wil vouchsafe +to use them._ On the title-page are the words, "The First Tome," but no +further volume was published. As to who or what John Byshop was there is +no information available. His name appears on no other book. The preface +is a gem of musical sounding words. It contains the sentence, "let them +pass it over and read the rest which are all as plaine as Dunstable +Way." Bacon's home was within a few miles of Dunstable Way, which was +the local term for the main road. + +It is impracticable here to give at length the grounds upon which it is +believed that Francis Bacon was the author of these two books. Each of +them is an outpouring of classical lore, and is evidently written by +some young man who had recently assimilated the writings of nearly every +classical author. In this respect both correspond with the manner of +"The French Academie," to which the attention of the reader will shortly +be directed, whilst in "The Anatomie of the Minde" the treatment of the +subject is identical with that in the latter. Failing actual proof, the +circumstantial evidence that the two books are from the same pen is +almost as strong as need be. + +Some time in October, 1576, Sir Amyas Paulet would reach Paris, +accompanied by Bacon. The only fragment of information which is given by +his biographers of any occurrence during his stay there is obtained from +Rawley. He states that "Sir Amias Paulet after a while held him fit to +be entrusted with some message, or advertisement to the Queen, which +having performed with great approbation, he returned back into France +again with intention to continue for some years there." In his absence +in France, his father, the Lord Keeper, died. This was in February, +1578-9. If he returned shortly after news of his father's death reached +him, his stay on the Continent would cover about two and a-half years. +As to what he was doing nothing is known, but Pierre Amboise states that +"France, Italy, and Spain as the most civilised nations of the whole +world were those whither his desire for Knowledge carried him." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] It was to Sir Amias that the custody of Mary Queen of Scots was +committed. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +BACON'S "TEMPORIS PARTUS MAXIMUS." + + +Francis Bacon was at Blois with Sir Amias Paulet in 1577. In the same +year was published the first edition of the first part of "Academie +Francoise par Pierre de la Primaudaye Esceuyer, Seignor dudict lieu et +de la Barree, Gentilhomme ordinaire de la chambre du Roy." The +dedication, dated February, 1577 (_i.e._, 1578) is addressed, "Au +Tres-chrestien Roy de France et de Polongne Henry III. de ce nom." The +first English translation, by T. B., was "published in 1586[9], +imprinted at London by Edmund Bollifant for G. Bishop and Ralph +Newbery." Other parts of "The Academy" followed at intervals of years, +but the first and only complete edition in English bears date 1618, and +was printed for Thomas Adams. Over the dedication is the well-known +archer emblem. It is a thick folio volume, with 1,038 pages double +columns. It may be termed the first Encyclopaedia which appeared in any +language, and is, perhaps, one of the most remarkable productions of the +Elizabethan era. Little is known of Pierre de la Primaudaye. The +particulars for his biography in the "Biographie Nationale" seem to have +been taken from references made to the author in the "French Academie" +itself. In the French Edition, 1580, there is a portrait of a man, and +under it the words "Anag. de L'auth. Par la priere Dieu m'ayde." The +following is an extract from the dedication:-- + + "The dinner of that prince of famous memorie, was a second table of + Salomon, vnto which resorted from euerie nation such as were best + learned, that they might reape profit and instruction. Yours, Sir, + being compassed about with those, who in your presence daily + discourse of, and heare discoursed many graue and goodly matters, + seemeth to be a schoole erected to teach men that are borne to + vertue. And for myselfe, hauing so good hap during the assemblie of + your Estates at Blois, as to be made partaker of the fruit gathered + thereof, it came in my mind to offer vnto your Maiestie a dish of + diuers fruits, which I gathered in a Platonicall garden or orchard, + otherwise called an ACADEMIE, where I was not long since with + certaine yoong Gentlemen of Aniou my companions, discoursing + togither of the institution in good maners, and of the means how + all estates and conditions may liue well and happily. And although + a thousand thoughts came then into my mind to hinder my purpose, as + the small authoritie, which youth may or ought to haue in counsell + amongst ancient men: the greatnes of the matter subject, propounded + to be handled by yeeres of so small experience; the forgetfulness + of the best foundations of their discourses, which for want of a + rich and happie memorie might be in me: my iudgement not sound + ynough, and my profession vnfit to set them downe in good order: + briefly, the consideration of your naturall disposition and rare + vertue, and of the learning which you receiuve both by reading good + authors, and by your familiar communication with learned and great + personages that are neere about your Maiestie (whereby I seemed to + oppose the light of an obscure day, full of clouds and darkness, to + the bright beames of a very cleere shining sonne, and to take in + hand, as we say, to teach Minerua). I say all these reasons being + but of too great weight to make me change my opinion, yet calling + to mind manie goodlie and graue sentences taken out of sundry + Greeke and Latine Philosophers, as also the woorthie examples of + the liues of ancient Sages and famous men, wherewith these + discourses were inriched, which might in delighting your noble mind + renew your memorie with those notable sayings in the praise of + vertue and dispraise of vice, which you alwaies loued to heare: and + considering also that the bounty of Artaxerxes that great Monarke + of the Persians was reuiued in you, who receiued with a cheerfull + countenance a present of water of a poore laborer, when he had no + need of it, thinking to be as great an act of magnanimitie to take + in good part, and to receiue cheerfully small presents offered with + a hartie and good affection, as to giue great things liberally, I + ouercame whatsoeuer would haue staied me in mine enterprise." + +It appears, therefore, that the author by good hap was a visitor at the +Court of Henry III. when at Blois; that he was there studying with +certain young gentlemen of Anjou, his companions; that he was a youth, +and of years of small experience; that his memory might not be +sufficiently rich and happy, his judgment not enough, and his profession +unfit in recording the discourses of himself and his companions. + +"The Author to the Reader" is an essay on Philosophy, every sentence in +which seems to have the same familiar sound as essays which subsequently +appeared under another name. The contents of the several chapters are +enumerated thus: "Of Man," "Of the Body and Soule," etc. + +The first chapter contains a description of how the "Academie" came +about. An ancient wise gentleman of great calling having spent the +greater part of his years in the service of two kings, and of his +country, France, for many and good causes had withdrawn himself to his +house. He thought that to content his mind, which always delighted in +honest and vertuous things, he could not bring greater profit to the +Monarchie of France, than to lay open and preserve and keep youth from +the corruption which resulted from the over great license and excessive +liberty granted to them in the Universities. He took unto his house four +young gentlemen, with the consent of their parents who were +distinguished noblemen. After he had shown these young men the first +grounds of true wisdom, and of all necessary things for their salvation, +he brought into his house a tutor of great learning and well reported of +his good life and conversation, to whom he committed their instruction. +After teaching them the Latin tongue and some smattering of Greek he +propounded for their chief studies the moral philosophy of ancient sages +and wise men, together with the understanding and searching out of +histories which are the light of life. The four fathers, desiring to see +what progress their sons had made, decided to visit them. And because +they had small skill in the Latin tongue, they determined to have their +children discourse in their own natural tongue of all matters that might +serve for the instruction and reformation of every estate and calling, +in such order and method as they and their master might think best. It +was arranged that they should meet in a walking place covered over with +a goodly green arbour, and daily, except Sundays, for three weeks, +devote two hours in the morning and two hours after dinner to these +discourses, the fathers being in attendance to listen to their sons. So +interesting did these discussions become that the period was often +extended to three or four hours, and the young men were so intent upon +preparation for them that they would not only bestow the rest of the +days, but oftentimes the whole night, upon the well studying of that +which they proposed to handle. The author goes on to say:--"During which +time it was my good hap to be one of the companie when they began their +discourses, at which I so greatly wondered that I thought them worthy to +be published abroad." From this it would appear that the author was a +visitor, privileged, with the four fathers and the master, to listen to +the discourses of these four young men. But, a little further on the +position is changed; one of the four young men is, without any +explanation, ignored, and his father disappointed! For the author takes +his place, as will be seen from the following extract:-- + + "And thus all fower of us followed the same order daily until + everie one in his course had intreated according to appointment, + both by the precepts of doctrine, as also by the examples of the + lives of ancient Sages and famous men, of all things necessary for + the institution of manners and happie life of all estates and + callings in this French Monarchie. But because I knowe not whether, + in naming my companions by their proper names, supposing thereby to + honour them as indeede they deserve it, I should displease them + (which thing I would not so much as thinke) I have determined to do + as they that play on a Theater, who under borrowed maskes and + disguised apparell, do represent the true personages of those whom + they have undertaken to bring on the stage. I will therefore call + them by names very agreeable to their skill and nature: the first + ASER which signifieth _Felicity_: the second AMANA which is as much + to say as _Truth_: the third ARAM which noteth to us _Highness_; + and to agree with them as well in name as in education and + behaviour. I will name myself ACHITOB[10] which is all one with + _Brother of goodness_. Further more I will call and honour the + proceeding and finishing of our sundry treatises and discourses + with this goodlie and excellent title of Academie, which was the + ancient and renowned school amongst the Greek Philosophers, who + were the first that were esteemed, and that the place where Plato, + Xenophon, Poleman, Xenocrates, and many other excellent personages, + afterward called Academicks, did propound & discourse of all things + meet for the instruction and teaching of wisdome: wherein we + purposed to followe them to our power, as the sequele of our + discourses shall make good proofe." + +And then the discourses commence. + +"Love's Labour's Lost" was published in 1598, and was the first quarto +upon which the name of Shakespeare was printed. The title-page states +that it is "newly corrected and augmented," from which it may be +inferred that there was a previous edition, but no copy of such is +known. The commentators are in practical agreement that it was probably +the first play written by the dramatist. + +There are differences of opinion as to the probable date when it was +written. Richard Grant White believes this to be not later than 1588, +Knight gives 1589, but all this is conjecture. + +The play opens with a speech by Ferdinand:-- + + "Let Fame that all hunt after in their lives, + Live registred upon our brazen Tombes, + And then grace us, in the disgrace of death: + When spight of cormorant devouring time, + Th' endevour of this present breath may buy: + That honour which shall bate his sythes keene edge, + And make us heyres of all eternitie. + Therefore brave Conquerours, for so you are, + That warre against your own affections, + And the huge Armie of the worlds desires. + Our late Edict shall strongly stand in force, + Navar shall be the wonder of the world. + Our Court shall be a little Achademe, + Still and contemplative in living Art. + You three, Berowne, Doumaine, and Longavill, + Have sworne for three yeeres terme, to live with me, + My fellow Schollers, and to keepe those statutes + That are recorded in this schedule heere. + Your oathes are past, and now subscribe your names; + That his owne hand may strike his honour downe, + That violates the smallest branch heerein: + If you are arm'd to doe, as sworne to do, + Subscribe to your deepe oathes, and keepe it to." + +Four young men in the French "Academie" associated together, as in +"Love's Labour Lost," to war against their own affections and the whole +army of the world's desires. Dumaine, in giving his acquiescence to +Ferdinand, ends:-- + + "To love, to wealth, to pompe, I pine and die + With all these living in Philosophie." + +Philosophie was the subject of study of the four young men to the +"Academie." + +Berowne was a visitor, for he says:-- + + "I only swore to study with your grace + And stay heere in your Court for three yeeres' space." + +Upon his demurring to subscribe to the oath as drawn, Ferdinand +retorts:-- + + Well, sit you out: go home, Berowne: adue." + +To which Berowne replies:-- + + No, my good lord; I have sworn to stay with you." + +Achitob was a visitor at the Academie in France. There are other points +of resemblance, but sufficient has been said to warrant consideration of +the suggestion that the French "Academie" contains the serious studies +of the four young men whose experiences form the subject of the play. + +The parallels between passages in the Shakespeare plays and the French +"Academie" are numerous, but they form no part of the present +contention. + +One of these may, however, be mentioned. In the third Tome the following +passage occurs[11]:-- + + Psal. xix.: "It is not without cause that the Prophet said (The + heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth sheweth the workes + of his handes) For thereby he evidently teacheth, as with the + finger even to our eies, the great and admirable providence of God + their Creator; even as if the heavens should speake to anyone. In + another place it is written (Eccles. xliii.): (This high ornament, + this cleere firmament, the beauty of the heaven so glorious to + behold, tis a thing full of Majesty)." + +On turning to the revised version of the Bible it will be found that the +first verse is thus translated: "The pride of the height, the cleare +firmament the beauty of heaven with his glorious shew." The rendering of +the text in "The French Academy" is strongly suggestive of Hamlet's +famous soliloquy. "This most excellent canopy, this brave o'erhanging +firmament, this majestical roof fritted with golden fire, why it appears +to me no other than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours." The +author has forsaken the common-place rendering of the Apocrypha, and has +adopted the same declamatory style which Shakespeare uses. It is +strongly reminiscent of Hamlet's famous speech, Act II., scene ii. + +Only one of the Shakespeare commentators makes any reference to the +work. The Rev. Joseph Hunter, writing in 1844, points out that the +dramatist in "As You Like It," describing the seven ages of man, follows +the division made in the chapter on "The Ages of Man" in the +"Academie."[12] + +The suggestion now made is that the French "Academie" was written by +Bacon, who is represented in the dialogues as Achitob--the first part +when he was about 18 years of age, that he continued it until, in 1618, +the complete work was published. In the dedication the author describes +himself as a youth of immature experience, but the contents bear +evidence of a wide knowledge of classical authors and their works, a +close acquaintance with the ancient philosophies, and a store of general +information which it would be impossible for any ordinary youth of such +an age to possess. But was not the boy who at 15 years of age left +Cambridge disagreeing with the teaching there of Aristotle's philosophy, +and whose mental qualities and acquirements provoked as "the natural +ejaculation of the artist's emotion" the significant words, "_Si tabula +daretur digna animum mallem_," altogether abnormal? + +Was the "French Academie" Bacon's _temporis partus maximus_? It is only +in a letter written to Father Fulgentio about 1625 that this work is +heard of. Bacon writes: "Equidem memini me, quadraginta abhinc annis, +juvenile opusculum circa has res confecisse, quod magna prorsus fiducia +et magnifico titulo 'Temporis Partum Maximum' inscripsi."[13] + +Spedding says: "This was probably the work of which Henry Cuffe (the +great Oxford scholar who was executed in 1601 as one of the chief +accomplices in the Earl of Essex's treason) was speaking when he said +that 'a fool could not have written it and a wise man would not.' +Bacon's intimacy with Essex had begun about thirty-five years before +this letter was written." + +Forty years from 1625 would carry back to 1585, the year preceding the +date of publication of the first edition in English. If Cuffe's remark +was intended to apply to the "French Academy," it is just such a +criticism as the book might be expected to provoke. + +The first edition of "The French Academie" in English appeared in 1586, +the second in 1589, the third (two parts) in 1594, the fourth (three +parts) in 1602, the fifth in 1614 (all quartos), then, in 1618, the +large folio edition containing the fourth part "never before published +in English." It appears to have been more popular in England than it was +in France. Brunet in his 1838 edition mentions neither the book nor the +author, Primaudaye. The question as to whether there was at this time a +reading public in England sufficiently wide to absorb an edition in +numbers large enough to make the publication of this and similar works +possible at a profit will be dealt with hereafter. In anticipation it +may be said that the balance of probabilities justifies the conjecture +that the issue of each of these editions involved someone in loss, and +the folio edition involved considerable loss. + +A comparison between the French and English publications points to both +having been written by an author who was a master of each language +rather than that the latter was a mere translation of the former. The +version is so natural in idiom and style that it appears to be an +original rather than a translation. In 1586 how many men were there who +could write such English? The marginal notes are in the exact style of +Bacon. "A similitude"--"A notable comparison"--occur frequently just as +the writer finds them again and again in Bacon's handwriting in volumes +which he possesses. The book abounds in statements, phrases, and +quotations which are to be found in Bacon's letters and works. + +One significant fact must be mentioned. The first letter of the text in +the dedication in the first English translation is the letter S. It is +printed from a wood block (Fig. I.). Thirty-nine years after (in 1625) +when the last edition of Bacon's Essays--and, with the exception of the +small pamphlet containing his versification of certain Psalms, the last +publication during his life--was printed, that identical wood block +(Fig. II.) was again used to print the first letter in the dedication +of that book. Every defect and peculiarity in the one will be found in +the other. A search through many hundreds of books printed during these +thirty-nine years--1586 to 1625--has failed to find it used elsewhere, +except on one occasion, either then, before, or since. + +Did Bacon mark his first work on philosophy and his last book by +printing the first letter in each from the same block?[14] + + [Illustration: _Fig. I._ + + The first letter in the text of the dedication of the 1st edition of + the English translation of the "French Academie," =1586=. Printed at + London by G. Bollifant. The block is also used in a similar manner + in the 2nd edition, =1589=. Londini Impensis, John Bishop.] + + [Illustration: _Fig. II._ + + The first letter in the text of the dedication of the =1625= edition + of Bacon's Essays, printed in London, by John Haviland.] + + _Both letters were printed from the same block._ + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] In the "Gesta Grayorum" one of the articles which the Knights of the +Helmet were required to vow to keep, each kissing his helmet as he took +his vow, was "Item--every Knight of this Order shall endeavour to add +conference and experiment to reading; and therefore shall not only read +and peruse 'Guizo,' 'The French Academy,' 'Galiatto the Courtier,' +'Plutarch,' 'The Arcadia,' and the Neoterical writers from time to +time," etc. The "Gesta Grayorum," which was written in 1594, was not +published until 1687. The manuscript was probably incorrectly read as to +the titles of the books. "Galiatto," apparently, should be "Galateo," +described in a letter of Gabriel Harvey as "The Italian Archbishop brave +Galateo." The "Courtier" is the Italian work by Castiglione which was +Englished by Sir Thomas Hoby. "Guizo" should be "Guazzo." Stefano +Guazzo's "Civil Conversation"--four books--was Englished by G. Pettie +and Young. + +[10] "Hit" is used by Chaucer as the past participle of "Hide." The name +thus yields a suggestive anagram, "Bacohit." + +[11] 1618 Edition, page 712. + +[12] In addition to this and to the "Gesta Grayorum" (1692) I have only +been able to find two references to "The French Academy" in the works of +English writers. + +J. Payne Collier, in his "Poetical Decameron," Vol. II., page 271, draws +attention to the epistle "to the Christian reader" prefixed to the +second part, and suggests that the initials T.B. which occur at the end +of the dedicatory epistle stand for Thomas Beard, the author of "Theatre +of God's Judgments." Collier does not appear to have read "The French +Academy." Dibdin, in "Notes on More's Utopia," says, "But I entreat the +reader to examine (if he be fortunate enough to possess the book) "The +French Academy of Primaudaye," a work written in a style of peculiarly +impressive eloquence, and which, not very improbably, was the foundation +of Derham's and Paley's "Natural Theology." + +[13] "It being now forty years as I remember, since I composed a +juvenile work on this subject which with great confidence and a +magnificent title I named "The greatest birth of Time." + +[14] The block was used on page 626 of the 1594 quarto edition of +William Camden's "Britannia," published in London by George Bishop, who +was the publisher of the 1586, 1589, and 1594 editions of "The French +Academy." There is a marginal note at the foot of the imprint of the +block commencing "R. Bacons." Francis Bacon is known to have assisted +Camden in the preparation of this work. The manuscript bears evidence of +the fact in his handwriting. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +BACON'S FIRST ALLEGORICAL ROMANCE. + + +There is another work which it is impossible not to associate with this +period, and that is John Barclay's "Argenis." It is little better known +than is "The French Academy," and yet Cowper pronounced it the most +amusing romance ever written. Cardinal Richelieu is said to have been +extremely fond of reading it, and to have derived thence many of his +political maxims. It is an allegorical novel. It is proposed now only to +mention some evidence connected with the "Argenis" which supports the +contention that the 1625 English edition contains the original +composition, and that its author was young Francis Bacon. + +The first edition of the "Argenis" in Latin was published in 1621. The +authority to the publisher, Nicholas Buon, to print and sell the +"Argenis" is dated the 21st July, 1621, and was signed by Barclay at +Rome. The Royal authority is dated on the 31st August following. + +Barclay's death took place between these dates, on the 12th of August, +at Rome. It is reported that the cause of death was stone, but in an +appreciation of him, published by his friend, Ralph Thorie, his death is +attributed to poison. + +The work is an example of the highest type of Latinity. So impressed was +Cowper with its style that he stated that it would not have dishonoured +Tacitus himself. A translation in Spanish was published in 1624, and in +Italian in 1629. The Latin version was frequently reprinted during the +seventeenth and eighteenth centuries--perhaps more frequently than any +other book. + +In a letter dated 11th May, 1622, Chamberlain, writing to Carleton, +says: "The King has ordered Ben Jonson to translate the 'Argenis,' but +he will not be able to equal the original." On the 2nd October, 1623, +Ben Jonson entered a translation in Stationers' Hall, but it was never +published. About that time there was a fire in Jonson's house, in which +it is said some manuscripts were destroyed; but it is a pure assumption +that the "Argenis" was one of these. + +In 1629 an English translation appeared by Sir Robert Le Grys, Knight, +and the verses by Thomas May, Esquire. The title-page bears the +statement: "The prose upon his Majesty's command." There is a Clavis +appended, also stated to be "published at his Majesties command." It was +printed by Felix Kyngston for Richard Mughten and Henry Seile. In the +address to "The understanding Reader" Le Grys says, "What then should I +say? Except it were to entreate thee, that where my English phrase doth +not please thee, thou wilt compare it with the originall Latin and mend +it. Which I doe not speak as thinking it impossible, but as willing to +have it done, for the saving me a labour, who, if his Majesty had not so +much hastened the publishing it, would have reformed some things in it, +that did not give myselfe very full satisfaction." + +In 1622 King James ordered a translation of the "Argenis." In 1629[15] +Charles I. was so impatient to have a translation that he hastened the +publication, thus preventing the translator from revising his work. +Three years previously, however, in 1625--if the date may be relied +on--there was published as printed by G. P. for Henry Seile a +translation by Kingesmill Long. James died on the 25th March, 1625. The +"Argenis" may not have been published in his lifetime; but if the date +be correct, three or four years before Charles hastened the publication +of Le Grys's translation, this far superior one with Kingesmill Long's +name attached to it could have been obtained from H. Seile. Surely the +publisher would have satisfied the King's impatience by supplying him +with a copy of the 1625 edition had it been on sale. The publication of +a translation of the "Argenis" must have attracted attention. Is it +possible that it could have been in existence and not brought to the +notice of the King? There is something here that requires explanation. +The Epistle Dedicatorie of the 1625 edition is written in the familiar +style of another pen, although it bears the name of Kingesmill Long. The +title-page states that it is "faithfully translated out of Latine into +English," but it is not directly in the Epistle Dedicatorie spoken of as +a translation. The following extract implies that the work had been +lying for years waiting publication:-- + + "This rude piece, such as it is, hath long lyen by me, since it was + finished; I not thinking it worthy to see the light. I had always a + desire and hope to have it undertaken by a more able workman, that + our Nation might not be deprived of the use of so excellent a + Story: But finding none in so long time to have done it; and + knowing that it spake not _English_, though it were a rich jewell + to the learned Linguist, yet it was close lockt from all those, to + whom education had not given more languages, than Nature Tongues: I + have adventured to become the key to this piece of hidden Treasure, + and have suffered myselfe to be overruled by some of my worthy + friends, whose judgements I have alwayes esteemed, sending it + abroad (though coursely done) for the delight and use of others." + +Not a word about the author! The translations, said to be by Thomas May, +of the Latin verses in the 1629 are identical with those in the 1625 +edition, although Kingesmill Long, on the title-page, appears as the +translator. Nothing can be learnt as to who or what Long was. + +Over lines "Authori," signed Ovv: Fell:[16] in the 1625 edition is one +of the well-known light and dark A devices. This work is written in +flowing and majestic English; the 1629 edition in the cramped style of +translation. + +The copy bearing date 1628, to which reference has been made, belonged +to John Henry Shorthouse. He has made this note on the front page: "Jno. +Barclay's description of himself under the person of Nicopompus Argenis, +p. 60." This is the description to which he alludes:-- + + "Him thus boldly talking, Nicopompus could no longer endure: he was + a man who from his infancy loved Learning; but who disdaining to be + nothing but a booke-man had left the schooles very young, that in + the courts of Kings and Princes, he might serve his apprenticeship + in publicke affairs; so he grew there with an equall abilitie, both + in learning and imployment, his descent and disposition fitting him + for that kind of life: wel esteemed of many Princes, and especially + of Meleander, whose cause together with the rest of the Princes, he + had taken upon him to defend." + +This description is inaccurate as applied to John Barclay, but in every +detail it describes Francis Bacon. + +A comparison has been made between the editions of 1625 and 1629 with +the 1621 Latin edition. It leaves little room for doubting that the 1625 +is the original work. Throughout the Latin appears to follow it rather +than to be the leader; whilst the 1629 edition follows the Latin +closely. In some cases the word used in the 1625 edition has been +incorrectly translated into the 1621 edition, and the Latin word +re-translated literally and incorrectly in view of the sense in the 1629 +edition. But space forbids this comparison being further followed; +suffice it to say that everything points to the 1625 edition being the +original work. + +As to the date of composition much may be said; but the present +contention is that "The French Academie," "The Argenis," and "Love's +Labour's Lost" are productions from the same pen, and that they all +represent the work of Francis Bacon probably between the years 1577 and +1580. At any rate, the first-named was written whilst he was in France, +and the others were founded on the incidents and experience obtained +during his sojourn there. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[15] One copy of this edition bears the date 1628. + +[16] Probably Owen Felltham, author of "Felltham's Resolves." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +BACON IN FRANCE, 1576-1579. + + +This brilliant young scholar landed with Sir Amias Paulet at Calais on +the 25th of September, 1576, and with him went straight to the Court of +Henry III. of France. It is remarkable that neither Montagu, Spedding, +Hepworth Dixon, nor any other biographer seems to have thought it worth +while to consider under what influences he was brought when he arrived +there at the most impressionable period of his life. Hepworth Dixon, +without stating his authority, says that he "quits the galleries of the +Louvre and St. Cloud with his morals pure," but nothing more. And yet +Francis Bacon arrived in France at the most momentous epoch in the +history of French literature. This boy, with his marvellous +intellect--the same intellect which nearly half a century later produced +the "Novum Organum"--with a memory saturated with the records of +antiquity and with the writings of the classical authors, with an +industry beyond the capacity and a mind beyond the reach of his +contemporaries, skilled in the teachings of the philosophers, with +independence of thought and a courage which enabled him to condemn the +methods of study followed at the University where he had spent three +years; this boy who had a "beam of knowledge derived from God" upon him, +who "had not his knowledge from books, but from some grounds and notions +from himself," and above and beyond all who was conscious of his powers +and had unbounded confidence in his capacity for using them; this boy +walked beside the English Ambassador elect into the highest circles of +French Society at the time when the most important factors of influence +were Ronsard and his confreres of the Pleiade. He had left behind him in +his native country a language crude and almost barbaric, incapable of +giving expression to the knowledge which he possessed and the thoughts +which resulted therefrom. + +At this time there were few books written in the English tongue which +could make any pretence to be considered literature: Sir Thomas Eliot's +"The Governor," Robert Ascham's "The Schoolmaster," and Thomas Wright's +"Arts of Rhetoric," almost exhaust the list. Thynne's edition, 1532, and +Lidgate's edition, 1561, of Chaucer's works are not intelligible. Only +in the 1598 edition can the great poet be read with any understanding. +The work of re-casting the poems for this edition was Bacon's, and he is +the man referred to in the following lines, which are prefixed to it:-- + + +_The Reader to Geffrey Chaucer._ + + _Rea._--Where hast thou dwelt, good Geffrey al this while, + Unknown to us save only by thy bookes? + + _Chau._--In haulks, and hernes, God wot, and in exile, + Where none vouchsaft to yeeld me words or lookes: + Till one which saw me there, and knew my friends, + Did bring me forth: such grace sometimes God sends. + + _Rea._--But who is he that hath thy books repar'd, + And added moe, whereby thou are more graced? + + _Chau._--The selfe same man who hath no labor spar'd, + To helpe what time and writers had defaced: + And made old words, which were unknoun of many, + So plaine, that now they may be knoun of any. + + _Rea._--Well fare his heart: I love him for thy sake, + Who for thy sake hath taken all this pains. + + _Chau._--Would God I knew some means amends to make, + That for his toile he might receive some gains. + But wot ye what? I know his kindnesse such, + That for my good he thinks no pains too much: + And more than that; if he had knoune in time, + He would have left no fault in prose nor rime. + +There is a catalogue of the library of Sir Thomas Smith[17] on August 1, +1566, in his gallery at Hillhall. It was said to contain nearly a +thousand books. Of these only five were written in the English language. +Under Theologici, K. Henry VIII. book; under Juris Civilis, Littleton's +Tenures, an old abridgement of Statutes; under Historiographi, Hall's +Chronicles, and Fabian's Chronicles and The Decades of P. Martyr; under +Mathematica, The Art of Navigation. The remainder are in Greek, Latin, +French, and Italian. Burghley's biographer states that Burghley "never +read any books or praiers but in Latin, French, or Italian, very seldom +in Englishe." + +At this time Francis Bacon thought in Latin, for his mother tongue was +wholly insufficient. There is abundant proof of this in his own +handwriting. Under existing conditions there could be no English +literature worthy of the name. If a Gentleman of the Court wrote he +either suppressed his writings or suffered them to be published without +his name to them, as it was a discredit for a gentleman to seem learned +and to show himself amorous of any good art. Here is where Spedding +missed his way and never recovered himself. Deep as is the debt of +gratitude due to him for his devoted labours in the preparation of +"Bacon's Life and Letters" and in the edition of his works, it must be +asserted that he accomplished this work without seeing Francis Bacon. +There was a vista before young Bacon's eyes from which the practice of +the law and civil dignities were absent. He arrived at the French Court +at the psychological moment when an object-lesson met his eyes which had +a more far-reaching effect on the language and literature of the +Anglo-Saxon race than any or all other influences that have conspired to +raise them to the proud position which to-day they occupy. It is +necessary briefly to explain the position of the French language and +literature at this juncture. + +The French Renaissance of literature had its beginning in the early +years of the sixteenth century. It had been preceded by that of Italy, +which opened in the fourteenth century, and reached its limit with +Ariosto and Tasso, Macchiavelli and Guicciardini during the sixteenth +century. Towards the end of the fifteenth century modern French poetry +may be said to have had its origin in Villon and French prose in +Comines. The style of the former was artificial and his poems abounded +in recurrent rhymes and refrains. The latter had peculiarities of +diction which were only compensated for by weight of thought and +simplicity of expression. Clement Marot, who followed, stands out as one +of the first landmarks in the French Renaissance. His graceful style, +free from stiffness and monotony, earned for him a popularity which even +the brilliancy of the Pleiade did not extinguish, for he continued to be +read with genuine admiration for nearly two centuries. He was the +founder of a school of which Mellia de St. Gelais, the introducer of the +sonnet into France, was the most important member. Rabelais and his +followers concurrently effected a complete revolution in fiction. +Marguerite of Navarre, who is principally known as the author of "The +Heptameron," maintained a literary Court in which the most celebrated +men of the time held high place. It was not until the middle of the +sixteenth century that the great movement took place in French +literature which, if that which occurred in the same country three +hundred years subsequently be excepted, is without parallel in literary +history. + +The Pleiade consisted of a group of seven men and boys who, animated by +a sincere and intelligent love of their native language, banded +themselves together to remodel it and its literary forms on the methods +of the two great classical tongues, and to reinforce it with new words +from them. They were not actuated by any desire for gain. In 1549 Jean +Daurat, then 49 years of age, was professor of Greek at le College de +Coqueret in Paris. Amongst those who attended his classes were five +enthusiastic, ambitious youths whose ages varied from seventeen to +twenty-four. They were Pierre de Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay, Remy +Belleau, Antoine de Baif, and Etienne Jodelle. They and their Professor +associated themselves together and received as a colleague Pontus de +Tyard, who was twenty-eight. They formed a band of seven renovators, to +whom their countrymen applied the cognomen of the Pleiade, by which they +will ever be known. Realising the defects and possibilities of their +language, they recognised that by appropriations from the Greek and +Latin languages, and from the melodious forms of the Italian poetry, +they might reform its defects and develop its possibilities so +completely that they could place at the service of great writers a +vehicle for expression which would be the peer if not the superior of +any language, classical or modern. It was a bold project for young men, +some of whom were not out of their teens, to venture on. That they met +with great success is beyond question; the extent of that success it is +not necessary to discuss here. The main point to be emphasised is that +it was a deliberate scheme, originated, directed, and matured by a group +of little more than boys. The French Renaissance was not the result of a +spontaneous bursting out on all sides of genius. It was wrought out with +sheer hard work, entailing the mastering of foreign languages, and +accompanied by devotion and without hope of pecuniary gain. The +manifesto of the young band was written by Joachim de Bellay in 1549, +and was entitled, "La Defense et Illustration de la langue Francaise." +In the following year appeared Ronsard's Ode--the first example of the +new method. Pierre de Ronsard entered Court life when ten years old. In +attendance on French Ambassadors he visited Scotland and England, where +he remained for some time. A severe illness resulted in permanent +deafness and compelled him to abandon his profession, when he turned to +literature. Although Du Bellay was the originator of the scheme, Ronsard +became the director and the acknowledged leader of the band. His +accomplishments place him in the first rank of the poets of the world. +Reference would be out of place here to the movement which was after his +death directed by Malherbe against Ronsard's reputation and fame as a +poet and his eventual restoration by the disciples of Sainte Beuve and +the followers of Hugo. It is desirable, however, to allude to other +great Frenchmen whose labours contributed in other directions to promote +the growth of French literature. Jean Calvin, a native of Noyon, in +Picardy, had published in Latin, in 1536, when only twenty-seven years +of age, his greatest work, both from a literary and theological point of +view, "The Institution of the Christian Religion," which would be +accepted as the product of full maturity of intellect rather than the +firstfruits of the career of a youth. What the Pleiade had done to +create a French language adequate for the highest expression of poetry +Calvin did to enable facility in argument and discussion. A Latin +scholar of the highest order, avoiding in his compositions a tendency to +declamation, he developed a stateliness of phrase which was marked by +clearness and simplicity. Theodore Beza, historian, translator, and +dramatist, was another contributor to the literature of this period. +Jacques Amyot had commenced his translations from "Ethiopica," treating +of the royal and chaste loves of Theagenes and Chariclea three years +before Du Bellay's manifesto appeared. Montaigne, referring to his +translation of Plutarch, accorded to him the palm over all French +writers, not only for the simplicity and purity of his vocabulary, in +which he surpassed all others, but for his industry and depth of +learning. In another field Michel Eyquem Sieur de Montaigne had arisen. +His moral essays found a counterpart in the biographical essays of the +Abbe de Brantome. Agrippa D'Aubigne, prose writer, historian, and poet; +Guillaume de Saluste du Bartas, the Protestant Ronsard whose works were +more largely translated into English than those of any other French +writer; Philippes Desportes and others might be mentioned as forming +part of that brilliant circle of writers who had during a comparatively +short period helped to achieve such a high position for the language and +literature of France. + + * * * * * + +In 1576, when Francis Bacon arrived in France, the fame of the Pleiade +was at its zenith. Du Bellay and Jodelle were dead, but the fruit of +their labours and of those of their colleagues was evoking the +admiration of their countrymen. The popularity of Ronsard, the prince of +poets and the poet of princes, was without precedent. It is said that +the King had placed beside his throne a state chair for Ronsard to +occupy. Poets and men of letters were held in high esteem by their +countrymen. In England, for a gentleman to be amorous of any learned art +was held to be discreditable, and any proclivities in this direction had +to be hidden under assumed names or the names of others. In France it +was held to be discreditable for a gentleman not to be amorous of the +learned arts. The young men of the Pleiade were all of good family, and +all came from cultured homes. Marguerite of Navarre had set the example +of attracting poets and writers to her Court and according honours to +them on account of their achievements. The kings of France had adopted +a similar attitude. During the same period in England Henry VIII., Mary, +and Elizabeth had been following other courses. They had given no +encouragement to the pursuit of literature. Notwithstanding the +repetition by historians of the assertion that the good Queen Bess was a +munificent patron of men of letters, literature flourished in her reign +in spite of her action and not by its aid. + +Bacon implies this in the opening sentences of the second book of the +"Advancement of Learning." He speaks of Queen Elizabeth as being "a +sojourner in the world in respect of her unmarried life, rather than an +inhabitant. She hath indeed adorned her own time and many waies enricht +it; but in truth to Your Majesty, whom God hath blest with so much +Royall issue worthy to perpetuate you for ever; whose youthfull and +fruitfull Bed, doth yet promise more children; it is very proper, not +only to iradiate as you doe your own times, but also to extend your +Cares to those Acts which succeeding Ages may cherish, and Eternity +itself behold: Amongst which, if my affection to learning doe not +transport me, there is none more worthy, or more noble, than the +endowment of the world with sound and fruitfull Advancement of Learning: +For why should we erect unto ourselves some few authors, to stand like +Hercules Columnes beyond which there should be no discovery of +knowledge, seeing we have your Majesty as a bright and benigne starre to +conduct and prosper us in this Navigation." As Elizabeth had been +unfruitful in her body, and James fruitful, so had she been unfruitful +in encouraging the Advancement of Learning, but the appeal is made to +James that he, being blessed with a considerable issue, should also have +an issue by the endowment of Learning. + +What must have been the effect on the mind of this brilliant young +Englishman, Francis Bacon, when he entered into this literary atmosphere +so different from that of the Court which he had left behind him? There +was hardly a classical writer whose works he had not read and re-read. +He was familiar with the teachings of the schoolmen; imbued with a deep +religious spirit, he had mastered the principles of their faiths and the +subtleties of their disputations. The intricacies of the known systems +of philosophies had been laid bare before his penetrating intellect. +With the mysteries of mathematics and numbers he was familiar. What had +been discovered in astronomy, alchemy and astrology he had absorbed; +however technical might be a subject, he had mastered its details. In +architecture the works of Vitruvius had been not merely read but +criticised with the skill of an expert. Medicine, surgery--every +subject--he had made himself master of. In fact, when he asserted that +he had taken all knowledge to be his province he spoke advisedly and +with a basis of truth which has never until now been recognised. The +youth of 17 who possessed the intellect, the brain and the memory which +jointly produced the "Novum Organum," whose mind was so abnormal that +the artist painting his portrait was impelled to place round it "the +significant words," "_si tabula daretur digna, animum mallem_," who had +taken all knowledge to be his province, was capable of any achievement +of the Admirable Crichton. And this youth it was who in 1576 passed from +a country of literary and intellectual torpor into the brilliancy of the +companionship of Pierre de Ronsard and his associates. It is one of the +most stupendous factors in his life. Something happened to him before +his return to England which affected the whole of his future life. It +may be considered a wild assertion to make, but the time will come when +its truth will be proved, that "The Anatomie of the Minde," "Beautiful +Blossoms," and "The French Academy," are the product of one mind, and +that same mind produced the "Arte of English Poesie," "An Apology for +Poetrie," by Sir John Harrington, and "The Defense of Poetry," by Sir +Philip Sydney. The former three were written before 1578 and place the +philosopher before the poet; the latter three were written after 1580 +and place the poet--the creator--before the philosopher. Francis Bacon +had recognised that the highest achievement was the act of creation. +Henceforth he lived to create. + +Sir Nicholas Bacon died on or about the 17th of February, 1578-9. How or +where this news reached Francis is not recorded, but on the 20th of the +following March he left Paris for England, after a stay of two and +a-half years on the Continent. He brought with him to the Queen a +despatch from Sir Amias Paulet, in which he was spoken of as being "of +great hope, endued with many and singular parts," and one who, "if God +gave him life, would prove a very able and sufficient subject to do her +Highness good and acceptable service."[18] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[17] Sir Thomas Smith (1512-1577) was Secretary of State under Edward +VI. and Elizabeth--a good scholar and philosopher. He, when Greek +lecturer and orator at Cambridge, with John Cheke, introduced, in spite +of strong opposition, the correct way of speaking Greek, restoring the +pronunciation of the ancients. + +[18] State Paper Office; French Correspondence. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +BACON'S SUIT ON HIS RETURN TO ENGLAND, 1580. + + +Spedding states that the earliest composition of Bacon which he had been +able to discover is a letter written in his 20th year from Grays Inn. +From that time forward, he continues, compositions succeed each other +without any considerable interval, and in following them we shall +accompany him step by step through his life. What are the compositions +which Spedding places as being written but not published up to the year +1597, when the first small volume of 10 essays containing less than +6,000 words was issued from the press? These are they:-- + + Notes on the State of Christendom[19] (date 1580 to 1584). + + Letter of Advice to the Queen (1584-1586). + + An Advertisement touching the Controversies of the Church of + England (1586-1589). + + Speeches written for some Court device, namely, Mr. Bacon in praise + of Knowledge, and Mr. Bacon's discourse in praise of his Sovereign + (1590-1592). + + Certain observations made upon a libel published this present year, + 1592. + + A true report of the Detestable Treason intended by Dr. Roderigo + Lopez, 1594. + + Gesta Grayorum, 1594, parts of which are printed by Spedding in + type denoting doubtful authorship. + + Bacon's device, 1594-1598. + + Three letters to the Earl of Rutland on his travels, 1595-1596. + +That is all! These are the compositions which follow each other without +considerable interval, and by which we are to accompany him step by step +through those seventeen years which should be the most important years +in a man's life! He could have turned them out in ten days or a +fortnight with ease. We expect from Mr. Spedding bread, and he gives us +a stone! + +This brilliant young man, who, when 15 years of age, left Cambridge, +having possessed himself of all the knowledge it could afford to a +student, who had travelled in France, Spain and Italy to "polish his +mind and mould his opinion by intercourse with all kinds of foreigners," +how was he occupying himself during what should be the most fruitful +years of his life? Following his profession at the Bar? His affections +did not that way tend. Spedding expresses the opinion that he had a +distaste for his profession, and, writing of the circumstances with +which he was surrounded in 1592, says: "I do not find that he was +getting into practice. His main object still was to find ways and means +for prosecuting his great philosophical enterprise." What was this +enterprise? "I confess that I have as vast contemplative ends as I have +moderate means," he says, writing to Burghley, "for I have taken all +knowledge to be my province." This means more than mere academic +philosophy. + +In 1593, when Bacon was put forward and upheld for a year as a candidate +for the post of Attorney-General, Spedding writes of him; "He had had +little or no practice in the Courts; what proof he had given of +professional proficiency was confined to his readings and exercises in +Grays Inn.... Law, far from being his only, was not even his favourite +study; ... his head was full of ideas so new and large that to most +about him they must have seemed visionary." + +Writing of him in 1594 Spedding says: "The strongest point against +Bacon's pretensions for the Attorneyship was his want of practice. His +opponents said that 'he had never entered the place of battle.'[20] +Whether this was because he could not find clients or did not seek them +I cannot say." In order to meet the objection, Bacon on the 25th +January, 1593-4, made his first pleading, and Burghley sent his +secretary "to congratulate unto him the first fruits of his public +practice." + +There is one other misconception to be corrected. It is urged that Bacon +was, during this period, engrossed in Parliamentary life. From 1584 to +1597 five Parliaments were summoned. Bacon sat in each. In his +twenty-fifth year he was elected member for Melcombe, in Dorsetshire. In +the Parliament of 1586 he sat for Taunton, in that of 1588 for +Liverpool, in that of 1592-3 for Middlesex, and in 1597 for Ipswich. + +But the sittings of these Parliaments were not of long duration, and the +speeches which he delivered and the meetings of committees upon which he +was appointed would absorb but a small portion of his time. It must be +patent, therefore, that Spedding does not account for his occupations +from his return to England in 1578 until 1597, when the first small +volume of his Essays was published. + +During the whole of this period Bacon was in monetary difficulties, and +yet there is no evidence that he was living a life of dissipation or +even of extravagance. On the contrary, all testimony would point to the +conclusion that he was following the path of a strictly moral and +studious young man. On his return to England he took lodgings in Coney +Court, Grays Inn. There Anthony found him when he returned from abroad. + +There are no data upon which to form any reliable opinion as to the +amount of his income at this time. Rawley states that Sir Nicholas Bacon +had collected a considerable sum of money which he had separated with +intention to have made a competent purchase of land for the livelihood +of his youngest son, but the purchase being unaccomplished at his death, +Francis received only a fifth portion of the money dividable, by which +means he lived in some straits and necessities in his younger years. It +is not clear whether the "money dividable" was only that separated by +Sir Nicholas, or whether he left other sums which went to augment the +fund divisible amongst the brothers. His other children were well +provided for. Francis was not, however, without income. Sir Nicholas had +left certain manors, etc., in Herts to his sons Anthony and Francis in +tail male, remainder to himself and his heirs. Lady Ann Bacon had vested +an estate called Markes, in Essex, in Francis, and there is a letter, +dated 16th April, 1593, from Anthony to his mother urging her to concur +in its sale, so that the proceeds might be applied to the relief of his +brother's financial position.[21] + +Lady Bacon lived at Gorhambury. She was not extravagant, and yet in 1589 +she was so impoverished that Captain Allen, in writing to Anthony, +speaking of his mother, Lady Bacon, says she "also saith her jewels be +spent for you, and that she borrowed the last money of seven several +persons." Whatever her resources were, they had by then been exhausted +for her sons. Anthony was apparently a man of considerable means. He was +master of the manor and priory of Redburn, of the manor of Abbotsbury, +Minchinbury and Hores, in the parish of Barley, in the county of +Hertford; of the Brightfirth wood, Merydan-meads, and Pinner-Stoke +farms, in the county of Middlesex.[22] + +But within a few years after his return to England Anthony was borrowing +money wherever he could. Mother and brother appear to have exhausted +their resources and their borrowing capabilities. There is an account +showing that in eighteen months, about 1593, Anthony lent Francis L373, +equivalent to nearly L3,000 at to-day's value. In 1597 Francis was +arrested by the sheriff for a debt of L300, for which a money-lender had +obtained judgment against him, and he was cast into the Tower. Where had +all the money gone? There is no adequate explanation. + + * * * * * + +The first letter of Francis Bacon's which Spedding met with, to which +reference has already been made, is dated 11th July, 1580, to Mr. +Doylie, and is of little importance. The six letters which follow--all +there are between 1580 and 1590[23]--relate to one subject, and are of +great significance. The first is dated from Grays Inn, 16th September, +1580, to Lady Burghley. In it young Francis, now 19 years of age, makes +this request: "That it would please your Ladyship in your letters +wherewith you visit my good Lord to vouchsafe the mention and +recommendation of my suit; wherein your Ladyship shall bind me more unto +you than I can look ever to be able to sufficiently acknowledge." + +The next letter--written on the same day--is addressed to Lord Burghley. +Its object is thus set forth:-- + + "My letter hath no further errand but to commend unto your Lordship + the remembrance of my suit which then I moved unto you, whereof it + also pleased your Lordship to give me good hearing so far forth as + to promise to tender it unto her Majesty, and withal to add in the + behalf of it that which I may better deliver by letter than by + speech, which is, that although it must be confessed that the + request is rare and unaccustomed, yet if it be observed how few + there be which fall in with the study of the common laws either + being well left or friended, or at their own free election, or + forsaking likely success in other studies of more delight and no + less preferment, or setting hand thereunto early without waste of + years upon such survey made, it may be my case may not seem + ordinary, no more than my suit, and so more beseeming unto it. As I + force myself to say this in excuse of my motion, lest it should + appear unto your Lordship altogether undiscreet and unadvised, so + my hope to obtain it resteth only upon your Lordship's good + affection towards me and grace with her Majesty, who methinks + needeth never to call for the experience of the thing, where she + hath so great and so good of the person which recommendeth it." + +What was this suit? Spedding cannot suggest any explanation. He says: +"What the particular employment was for which he hoped I cannot say; +something probably connected with the service of the Crown, to which the +memory of his father, an old and valued servant prematurely lost, his +near relationship to the Lord Treasurer, and the personal notice which +he had himself received from the Queen, would naturally lead him to +look.... The proposition, whatever it was, having been explained to +Burghley in conversation, is only alluded to in these letters. It seems +to have been so far out of the common way as to require an apology, and +the terms of the apology imply that it was for some employment as a +lawyer. And this is all the light I can throw upon it." Subsequently +Spedding says the motion was one[24] "which would in some way have made +it unnecessary for him to follow 'a course of practice,' meaning, I +presume, ordinary practice at the Bar." + +Another expression in the letter makes it clear that the object of the +suit was an experiment. The Queen could not have "experience of the +thing," and Bacon solicited Burghley's recommendation, because she would +not need the experience if he, so great and so good, vouched for it. + +Burghley appears to have tendered the suit to the Queen, for there is a +letter dated 18th October, 1580, addressed to him by Bacon, commencing: + + "Your Lordship's comfortable relation to her Majesty's gracious + opinion and meaning towards me, though at that time your leisure + gave me not leave to show how I was affected therewith, yet upon + every representation thereof it entereth and striketh so much more + deeply into me, as both my nature and duty presseth me to return + some speech of thankfulness." + +Spedding remarks thereon: "It seems that he had spoken to Burghley on +the subject and made some overture, which Burghley undertook to +recommend to the Queen; and that the Queen, who though slow to bestow +favours was careful always to encourage hopes, entertained the motion +graciously and returned a favourable answer. The proposition, whatever +it was, having been explained to Burghley in conversation, is only +alluded to in these letters." + +Spedding dismisses these three letters in 22 lines of comment, which +contain the extracts before set out. He regards the matter as of slight +consequence, and admits that he can throw no light upon it. But he +points out that it was "so far out of the common way as to require an +apology." Surely he has not well weighed the terms of the apology when +he says they "imply that it was for some employment as a lawyer." + +There had been a conversation between Bacon and Burghley during which +Bacon had submitted a project to the accomplishment of which he was +prepared to devote his life in the Queen's service. It necessitated his +abandoning the profession of the law. Apparently Burghley had +remonstrated with him, in the manner of experienced men of the world, +against forsaking a certain road and avenue to preferment in favour of +any course rare and unaccustomed. Referring in his letter to this, +Bacon's parenthetical clause beginning "either being well left or +friended," etc., is confession and avoidance. In effect he says:--Few +study the common laws who have influence; few at their own free +election; few desert studies of more delight and no less preferment; and +few devote themselves to that study from their earliest years. Since +there are few who, having my opportunities, devote themselves to the +study of the common laws, my position in so doing would not be an +ordinary one, no more than is my suit. Therefore, why should I, having +your [Burleigh's] influence to help me, sacrifice my great intellectual +capabilities fitting me to accomplish my great contemplative ends? Why +should I sacrifice them to a study of the common laws? + +The sentence may be otherwise construed, but in any case it involves an +apology for the abandonment of the profession which had been chosen for +him. + +The next letter is addressed to the Right Honourable Sir Francis +Walsingham, principal secretary to her Majesty, and is dated from Grays +Inn, 25th of August, 1585. Spedding's comment on it is as follows:-- + + "For all this time, it seems, the suit (whatever it was) which he + had made to her through Burghley in 1580 remained in suspense, + neither granted nor denied, and the uncertainty prevented him from + settling his course of life. From the following letter to + Walsingham we may gather two things more concerning it: it was + something which had been objected to as unfit for so young a man; + and which would in some way have made it unnecessary for him to + follow 'a course of practice'--meaning, I presume, ordinary + practice at the Bar." + +This is the letter:-- + + "It may please your Honour to give me leave amidst your great and + diverse business to put you in remembrance of my poor suit, leaving + the time unto your Honour's best opportunity and commodity. I think + the objection of my years will wear away with the length of my + suit. The very stay doth in this respect concern me, because I am + thereby hindered to take a course of practice which, by the leave + of God, if her Majesty like not my suit, I must and will follow: + not for any necessity of estate, but for my credit sake, which I + know by living out of action will wear. I spake when the Court was + at Theball's to Mr. Vice-Chamberlain,[25] who promised me his + furderance; which I did lest he mought be made for some other. If + it may please your Honour, who as I hear hath great interest in + him, to speak with him in it, I think he will be fast mine." + +Spedding remarks: "This is the last we hear of this suit, the nature and +fate of which must both be left to conjecture. With regard to its fate, +my own conjecture is that he presently gave up all hope of success in +it, and tried instead to obtain through his interest at Court some +furtherance in the direct line of his profession." + +He adds: "The solid grounds on which Bacon's pretensions rested had not +yet been made manifest to the apprehension of Bench and Bar; his mind +was full of matters with which they could have no sympathy, and the shy +and studious habits which we have seen so offend Mr. Faunt would +naturally be misconstrued in the same way by many others."[26] + +This passage refers to a letter to Burghley dated the 6th of the +following May, _i.e._, 1586, from which it will be seen that the last +had not been heard of the motion. Burghley had been remonstrating with +Bacon as to reports which had come to him of his nephew's proceedings. +Bacon writes:-- + + "I take it as an undoubted sign of your Lordship's favour unto me + that being hardly informed of me you took occasion rather of good + advice than of evil opinion thereby. And if your Lordship had + grounded only upon the said information of theirs, I mought and + would truly have upholden that few of the matters were justly + objected; as the very circumstances do induce in that they were + delivered by men that did misaffect me and besides were to give + colour to their own doings. But because your Lordship did mingle + therewith both a late motion of mine own and somewhat which you had + otherwise heard, I know it to be my duty (and so do I stand + affected) rather to prove your Lordship's admonition effectual in + my doings hereafter than causeless by excusing what is past. And + yet (with your Lordship's pardon humbly asked) it may please you to + remember that I did endeavour to set forth that said motion in such + sort as it mought breed no harder effect than a denial, and I + protest simply before God that I sought therein an ease in coming + within Bars, and not any extraordinary and singular note of + favour." + +May not the interpretation of the phrase "I sought therein an ease in +coming within Bars" be "I sought in that motion a freedom from the +burden (or necessity) of coming within Bars." The phrase "an ease in" is +very unusual, and unless it was a term used in connection with the Inns +it is difficult to see its precise meaning. In other words, he sought an +alternative method to provide means for carrying out his great +philosophical enterprise. + +There is an interval of five years before the next and last letter of +the six was written. It is undated, but an observation in it shows that +it was written when he was about 31 years of age, thus fixing the date +at 1591. + +From an entry in Burghley's note book,[27] dated 29 October, 1589, it +appears that in the meantime a grant had been made to Bacon of the +reversion of the office of Clerk to the Counsel in the Star Chamber. +This was worth about L1,600 per annum and executed by deputy, but the +reversion did not fall in for twenty years, so it did not affect the +immediate difficulty in ways and means. + +There are occasional references to Francis in Anthony's correspondence +which show that the brothers were residing at Grays Inn, but nothing is +stated as to the occupation of the younger brother. + +At this time, according to Spedding,[28] who, however, does not give his +authority, Francis had a lodge at Twickenham. Many of his letters are +subsequently addressed from it, and three years later he was keeping a +staff of scriveners there. + +The last letter is addressed to Lord Burghley, who is in it described by +Bacon as "the second founder of my poor estate," and contains the +following:-- + + "I cannot accuse myself that I am either prodigal or slothful, yet + my health is not to spend nor my course to get. Lastly, I confess + that I have as vast contemplative ends as I have moderate civil + ends: for I have taken all knowledge to be my province. This + whether it be curiosity or vain glory, or (if one takes it + favourably) _philanthropia_, is so fixed in my mind as it cannot be + removed. And I do easily see, that place of any reasonable + countenance doth bring commandment of more wits than of a man's + own, which is the thing I greatly affect. And for your Lordship, + perhaps you shall not find more strength and less encounter in any + other. And if your Lordship shall find now, or at any time, that I + do seek or affect any place, whereunto any that is nearer to your + Lordship shall be concurrent, say then that I am a most dishonest + man. And if your Lordship will not carry me on, I will not do as + Anaxagoras did, who reduced himself with contemplation unto + voluntary poverty; but this I will do, I will sell the inheritance + that I have, and purchase some lease of quick revenue, or some + office of gain that shall be executed by deputy, and so give over + all care of service and become some sorry bookmaker, or a true + pioneer in that mine of truth, which he said lay so deep. This + which I have writ to your Lordship is rather thoughts than words, + being set down without all art, disguising or reservation." + +The suit has been of no avail. Once more Bacon appeals (and this is to +be his final appeal) to his uncle. He is writing thoughts rather than +words, set down without art, disguising or reservation. But if his +Lordship will not carry him along he has definitely decided on his +course of action. The law is not now even referred to. If the object of +the suit was not stated in 1580, there cannot be much doubt now but that +it had to do with the making of books and pioneer work in the mine of +truth. For ten years Francis Bacon had waited, buoyed up by +encouragements and false hopes. Now he decides to take his fortune into +his own hands and rely no more on assistance either from the Queen or +Burghley. + +One sentence in the letter should be noted: "If your Lordship shall find +now, or at any time, that I do seek or affect any place whereunto any +that is nearer unto your Lordship shall be concurrent, say then that I +am a most dishonest man." Surely this was an assurance on Bacon's part +that he did not seek or affect to stand in the way of the one--the only +one, Robert Cecil--who stood nearer to Burghley in kinship. + +It therefore appears evident from the foregoing facts:-- + +(1) That Francis Bacon at 17 years of age was an accomplished scholar; +that his knowledge was abnormally great, and that his wit, memory, and +mental qualities were of the highest order--probably without parallel. + +(2) That in the year 1580, when 19 years old, he sought the assistance +of Burghley to induce the Queen to supply him with means and the +opportunity to carry out some great work upon the achievement of which +he had set his heart. The work was without precedent, and in carrying it +out he was prepared to dedicate to her Majesty the use and spending of +his life. + +(3) That for ten years he waited and hoped for the granting of his suit, +which was rare and unaccustomed, until eventually he was compelled to +relinquish it and rely upon his own resources to effect his object. + +(4) But he desired to command other wits than his own, and that could be +more easily achieved by one holding place of any reasonable countenance. +He therefore sought through Burleigh place accompanied by income, so +that he might be enabled to achieve the vast contemplative ends he had +in view. + +(5) That during the years 1580 to 1597, in which he claims that he was +not slothful, there is no evidence of his being occupied in his +profession or in State affairs to any appreciable extent, and yet there +do not exist any acknowledged works as the result of his labours. Rawley +states that Bacon would "suffer no moment of time to slip from him +without some present improvement." + +(6) He received pecuniary assistance from his uncle, Lord Burghley. He +strained the monetary resources of his mother and brother, which were +not inconsiderable, to the utmost, exhausted his own, and heavily +encumbered himself with debts, and yet he was not prodigal or +extravagant. + +(7) Money and time he must have to carry out his scheme, which, if one +takes it favourably, might be termed philanthropia, and he therefore +decided that, failing obtaining some sinecure office, he would sell the +inheritance he had, purchase some lease of quick revenue or office of +gain that could be executed by a deputy, give over all care of serving +the State, and become some sorry bookmaker or a true pioneer in the mine +of truth. + +(8) Spedding says, "He could at once imagine like a poet and execute +like a clerk of the works"; but whatever his contemplative ends were +there is nothing known to his biographers which reveals the result of +his labours as clerk of the works. + +(9) If he carried out the course of action which he contemplated it is +clear that he decided to do so without himself appearing as its author +and director. From 1580 to 1590 something more was on his mind than the +works he published after he had arrived at sixty years of age. "I am no +vain promiser," he said. Where can the fulfilment of his promise be +found? Can his course be followed by tracing through the period the +trail which was left by some great and powerful mind directing the +progress of the English Renaissance? + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[19] Spedding prints this in small type, being doubtful as to the +authorship. + +[20] That is, never held a brief. + +[21] I am indebted to Mr. Harold Hardy for this interesting information. +There is an entry in the State Papers, 1608, Jan. 31: Grant at the suit +of Sir Francis Bacon to Sir William Cooke, Sir John Constable, and three +others, of the King's reversion of the estates in Herts above referred +to. Sir Nicholas, to whom it had descended from the Lord Keeper, +conveyed the remainder to Queen Elizabeth her heirs and successors "with +the condition that if he paid L100 the grant should be void, which was +apparently done to prevent the said Sir Francis to dispose of the same +land which otherwise by law he might have done." When Lady Anne conveyed +the Markes estate to Francis it was subject to a similar condition, +namely, that the grant was to be null and void on Lady Ann paying ten +shillings to Francis. This condition made it impossible for Francis to +dispose of his interest in the estate, hence Anthony's request in the +letter above referred to. It is obvious that his relatives considered +that Francis was not to be trusted with property which he could turn +into money. There was evidently some heavy strain on his resources which +caused him to convert everything he could into cash. + +[22] "Story of Lord Bacon's Life." Hepworth Dixon, p. 28. + +[23] The two letters of 16th September, 1580, and that of 15th October, +1580, are taken from copies in the Lansdowne collection. That of the 6th +May, 1586, is in the same collection, and is an original in Bacon's +handwriting. The letter of 25th August, 1585, is also in his +handwriting, and is in the State Papers, Domestic. The letter without +date, written to Burghley presumably in 1591, is from the supplement to +the "Resuscitatio," 1657. + +[24] "Life and Letters," Vol. I. p. 57. + +[25] This was Sir Christopher Hatton. + +[26] "Life and Letters," Vol I. p. 59. + +[27] Cott. MSS. Tit. CX. 93. + +[28] "Life and Letters," Vol. I., p. 110. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE RARE AND UNACCUSTOMED SUIT. + + +What was this rare and unaccustomed suit of which the Queen could have +had no experience and which, according to Spedding, would make it +unnecessary for Bacon to follow "ordinary practice at the bar"? +Historians and biographers have founded on this suit the allegation that +from his earliest years Bacon was a place hunter, entirely ignoring the +fact, which is made clear from the letter to Walsingham written four +years after the application was first made, that he had resolved on a +course of action which, if her Majesty liked not his suit, by the leave +of God he must and would follow, not for any necessity of estate, but +for his credit sake. Here was a young man of twenty years of age, +earnestly urging the adoption of a scheme which he had conceived, and +which he feared Burghley might consider indiscreet and unadvised. +Failing in obtaining his object, as will be proved by definite evidence, +undertaking at the cost of Thomas Bodley and other friends a course of +travel to better fit him for the task he had mapped out as his life's +work--returning to England and, four years after his first request had +been made, renewing his suit--grimly in earnest and determined to carry +the scheme through at all costs, with or without the Queen's aid. This +is not the conduct of a mere place hunter. If these letters be read +aright and the reasonable theory which will be advanced of the nature of +the suit be accepted--all efforts to suggest any explanation having +hitherto, as Spedding admits, proved futile--a fresh light will be +thrown upon the character of Francis Bacon, and the heavy obligation +under which he has placed his countrymen for all ages will for the +first time be recognised. + +In the seven volumes of "Bacon's Life and Letters" there is nothing to +justify the eulogy on his character to which Spedding gave utterance in +the following words:--"But in him the gift of seeing in prophetic vision +what might be and ought to be was united with the practical talent of +devising means and handling minute details. He could at once imagine +like a poet and execute like a clerk of the works. Upon the conviction +_This must be done_ followed at once _How_ may it be done? Upon that +question answered followed the resolution to try and do it." But +although Spedding fails to produce any evidence to justify his +statement, it is nevertheless correct. More than that, the actual +achievement followed with unerring certainty, but Spedding restricts +Bacon's life's work to the establishment of a system of inductive +philosophy, and records the failure of the system. + +William Cecil was a man of considerable classical attainments, although +these were probably not superior to those of Mildred Cooke, the lady who +became his second wife. He was initiated into the methods of +statesmanship at an early age by his father, Richard Cecil, Master of +the Robes to Henry VIII. Having found favour with Somerset, the +Protector of Edward VI., he was, when 27 years of age, made Master of +Requests. When Somerset fell from power in 1549 young Cecil, with other +adherents of the Protector, was committed to the Tower. But he was soon +released and was rapidly advanced by Northumberland. He became Secretary +of State, was knighted and made a member of the Privy Council. Mary +would have continued his employment in office had he not refused her +offers on account of his adhesion to the Protestant faith. He mingled +during her reign with men of all parties and his moderation and cautious +conduct carried him through that period without mishap. On Elizabeth's +accession he was the first member sworn upon the Privy Council, and he +continued during the remainder of his life her principal Minister of +State. Sagacious, deliberate in thought and character, tolerant, a man +of peace and compromise, he became the mainstay of the Queen's +government and the most influential man in State affairs. Whilst he +maintained a princely magnificence in his affairs, his private life was +pure, gentle and generous. This was the man to whom the brilliant young +nephew of his wife and the son of his old friend, Sir Nicholas Bacon, +disclosed, some time during the summer of 1580, his scheme, of which +there had been no experience, and entrusted his suit, which was rare and +unaccustomed. The arguments in its favour at this interview may have +followed the following outline:-- + +I need not remind you of my devotion to learning. You know that from my +earliest boyhood I have followed a course of study which has embraced +all subjects. I have made myself acquainted with all knowledge which the +world possesses. To enable me to do this I mastered all languages in +which books are written. During my recent visit to foreign lands, I have +recognized how far my country falls behind others in language, and +consequently in literature. I would draw your special attention to the +remarkable advance which has been made in these matters in France during +your lordship's lifetime. When I arrived there in 1576 I made myself +acquainted with the principles of the movement which had been carried +through by Du Bellay, Ronsard, and their confreres. They recognized that +their native language was crude and lacking in gravity and art. First by +obtaining a complete mastery of the Greek and Latin languages, as also +of those of Italy and Spain, they prepared themselves for a study of the +literatures of which those languages, with their idioms and +peculiarities, form the basis. Having obtained this mastery they +reconstructed their native language and gave their country a medium by +which her writers might express their thoughts and emotions. They have +made it possible for their countrymen to rival the poets of ancient +Greece and Rome. They and others of their countrymen have translated the +literary treasures of those ancient nations into their own tongue, and +thereby enabled those speaking their language, who are not skilled in +classical languages, to enjoy and profit by the works of antiquity. Your +lordship knows well the deficiencies of the language of our England, the +absence of any literature worthy of the name. In these respects the +condition of affairs is far behind that which prevailed in France even +before the great movement which Ronsard and Du Bellay initiated. I do +not speak of Italy, which possesses a language melodious, facile, and +rich, and a literature which can never die. + +I know my own powers. I possess every qualification which will enable me +to do for my native tongue what the Pleiade have done for theirs. I ask +to be permitted to give to my country this great heritage. Others may +serve her in the law, others may serve her in affairs of state, but your +Lordship knows full well that there are none who could serve her in this +respect as could I. You are not unmindful of the poorness of my estate. +This work will not only entail a large outlay of money but it +necessitates command of the ablest wits of the nation. This is my suit: +that her Majesty will graciously confer on me some office which will +enable me to control such literary resources and the services of such +men as may be necessary for the accomplishment of this work; further, +that she may be pleased from time to time to make grants from the civil +list to cover the cost of the work. I need not remind your Lordship what +fame will ever attach to her Majesty and how glorious will be the +memory of her reign if this great project be effected in it. Your +Lordship must realise this because you and her Ladyship, my aunt, are by +your attainments qualified to appreciate its full value. My youth may be +urged as an objection to my fitness for such a task, but your Lordship +knows full well--none better--that my powers are not to be measured by +my years. This I will say, I am no vain promiser, but I am assured that +I can accomplish all that I contemplate. The Queen hath such confidence +in the soundness of your judgment that she will listen to your advice. +My prayer to you therefore is that it may please your Lordship both +herein and elsewhere to be my patron and urge my suit, which, although +rare and unaccustomed, may be granted if it receives your powerful +support. + +The suit was submitted to the Queen, but without result. Probably it was +not urged with a determination to obtain its acceptance in spite of any +objections which might be raised by the Queen. Five years after, Bacon, +still a suppliant, wrote to Walsingham: "I think the objection to my +years will wear away with the length of my suit." Cautious Lord Burghley +would give full weight to the force of this objection if it were +advanced by the Queen. He loved this boy, with his extraordinary +abilities, but he had such novel and far-reaching ideas. He appeared to +have no adequate reverence for his inferior superiors. On leaving +Cambridge he had arrogantly condemned its cherished methods of imparting +knowledge. Before power was placed in his hands the use he might make of +it must be well weighed and considered. What effect might the +advancement of Francis Bacon have on Robert Cecil's career? Granted that +the contentions of the former were sound, and the object desirable, +should not this work be carried out by the Universities? Never leap +until you know where you are going to alight was a proverb the +soundness of which had been proved in Lord Burghley's experience. What +might be the outcome if this rare and unaccustomed suit were granted? +Better for the Queen, who, though slow to bestow favours, was always +ready to encourage hopes, to follow her usual course. She might +entertain the motion graciously and return a favourable answer and let +it rest there. And so it did. + +Then there was a happening which has remained unknown until now. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +BACON'S SECOND VISIT TO THE CONTINENT AND AFTER. + + +In the "Reliquiae Bodleianae," published in 1703, is a letter written +without date by Thomas Bodley to Francis Bacon. This letter does not +appear to have been known to Mallett, Montague, Dixon, Spedding, or any +of Bacon's biographers. It had been lost sight of until the writer +noticed it and reproduced it in _Baconiana_. This is the letter:-- + + MY DEAR COUSIN,--According to your request in your letter (dated + the 19th October at Orleans, I received here the 18th of December), + I have sent you by your merchant L30 (the thirty is written thus + 30 l) sterling for your present supply, and had sent you a greater + sum, but that my extraordinary charge this year _hath utterly + unfurnished me_. And now, cousin, though I will be no _severe_ + exactor of the account, either of your money or time, yet for the + love I bear you, I am very desirous, both to satisfy myself, and + your friends how you prosper in your travels, and how you find + yourself bettered thereby, either in knowledge of God, or of the + world; the rather, because the Days you have already spent abroad, + are now both sufficient to give you Light, how to fix yourself and + end with counsel, and accordingly to shape your course constantly + unto it. Besides, it is a vulgar scandal unto the travellers, that + few return more religious (narrow, _editor_) than they went forth; + wherein both my hope and Request is to you, that your principal + care be to hold your Foundation, and to make no other use of + informing your self in the corruptions and superstitions of other + nations, than only thereby to engage your own heart more firmly to + the Truth. You live indeed in a country of two several professions, + and you shall return a Novice, if you be not able to give an + account of the Ordinances, strength, and progress of each, in + Reputation, and Party, and how both are supported, ballanced and + managed by the state, as being the contrary humours, in the Temper + of Predominancy whereof, the Health or Disease of that Body doth + consist. These things you will observe, not only as an + _English_-man, whom it may concern, to what interest his country + may expect in the consciences of their Neighbours; but also, as a + Christian, to consider both the beauties and blemishes, the hopes + and dangers of the _church_ in all places. Now for the world, I + know it _too_ well, to persuade you to dive into the practices + thereof; rather stand upon your own guard, against all that attempt + you there unto, or may practise upon you in your Conscience, + Reputation, or your Purse. Resolve, no Man is wise or safe, but he + that is honest: And let this Persuasion turn your studies and + observations from the Complement and Impostures of the debased age, + to more real grounds of wisdom, gathered out of the story of Times + past, and out of the government of the present state. Your guide to + this, is the knowledge of the country and the people among whom ye + live; For the country though you cannot see all places, yet if, as + you pass along, you enquire carefully, and further help yourself + with Books that are written of the cosmography of those parts, you + shall sufficiently gather the strength, Riches, Traffick, Havens, + Shipping, _commodities_, vent, and the wants and disadvantages of + places. Wherein also, for your good hereafter, and for your + friends, it will befit to note their buildings, Furnitures, + Entertainments; all their Husbandry, and ingenious inventions, in + whatsoever concerneth either Pleasure or Profit. + + For the people, your traffick among them, while you learn their + language, will sufficiently instruct you in their Habilities, + Dispositions, and Humours, if you a little enlarge the Privacy of + your own Nature, to seek acquaintance with the best sort of + strangers, and _restrain_ your _Affections_ and Participation, for + your own countrymen of whatsoever condition. + + In the story of France, you have a _large and pleasant Field_ in + three lines of their Kings, to observe their alliances and + successions, their _Conquests_, their wars, _especially with us_; + their Councils, their treaties; and all Rules and examples of + experiences and Wisdom, which may be Lights and Remembrances to you + hereafter, to Judge of all occurants both at home and abroad. + + Lastly, for the Government, your end _must not be like an_ + Intelligencer, to spend all your time in fishing after the present + News, Humours, Graces, _or_ Disgraces of Court, which happily may + change before you come home; but your better and more constant + ground will be, to know the Consanguinities, Alliances, and Estates + of their Princes; Proportion between the Nobility and Magistracy; + the Constitutions of their Courts of Justice; the state of the + Laws, as well for the making as the execution thereof; How the + Sovereignty of the King infuseth itself into all Acts and + Ordinances; how many ways they lay Impositions and Taxations, and + gather Revenues to the _Crown_. + + What be the Liberties and Servitudes of all degrees; what + Discipline and Preparations for wars; what Invention for increase + of Traffick at home, for multiplying their commodities, encouraging + Arts and Manufactures, or of worth in any kind. Also what + establishment, to prevent the _Necessities_ and _Discontentment_ of + _People_, To cut off suits at Law, and Duels, to suppress thieves + and all Disorders. + + To be short, because my purpose is not to bring all your + Observations to Heads, but only by these few to let you know what + manner of Return your Friends expect _from you_; let me, for all + these and all the rest, give you this one Note, which I desire you + to observe as the Counsels of a Friend, _Not_ to spend your + Spirits, and the _precious_ time of your Travel, in a Captious + Prejudice and censuring of all things, nor in an Infectious + Collection of base Vices and Fashions of Men and Women, or general + corruption of these times, which will be of use only Among + Humorists, for Jests and Table-Talk: but rather strain your Wits + and Industry soundly to instruct your-self in all things between + _Heaven and Earth_ which may tend to Virtue, Wisdom, and Honour, + and which may make your life more profitable to your country, and + yourself more comfortable to your friends, and acceptable to God. + And to conclude, let all these Riches be treasured up, not only in + your memory, where time may lessen your stock; but rather in good + writings, and Books of Account, which will _keept_ them safe for + your use hereafter. + + And if in this time of your liberal Traffick, you will give me any + advertizement of your commodities in these kinds, I will make you + as liberal a Return from my self and your Friends here, as I shall + be able. + + And so commending all your good Endeavours, to him that must either + _wither_ or _prosper_ them, I very kindly bid you farewel. + + Your's to be commanded, THOMAS BODLEY. + +Spedding prints this letter (Vol. II. p. 16) commencing with the words, +"Yet for the love I bear," to the end, with the exception of the last +sentence, as a letter written probably by Bacon for Essex to send to the +Earl of Rutland. He identifies it as "the letter which the compiler of +Stephens' Catalogue took for a letter addressed by Bacon to Buckingham," +which he says it could not be. The original is at Lambeth (MSS. 936, fo. +218). The seal remains, but the part of the last sheet which contained +the signature on one side, and the superscription on the other, has been +torn off. The letter commences, "_My good Lord_," and ends, "_Your +Lordship's in all duty to serve you_." It would appear, therefore, that +someone had access to Bodley's letter to Bacon, and, approving its +contents, used its contents a second time. + +There are two palpable deductions to be drawn from this letter: (1) That +Bacon was on a journey through _several_ countries to obtain knowledge +of their customs, laws, religion, military strength, shipping, and +whatsoever concerneth pleasure or profit. There is a striking +correspondence between Bodley's advice and the description of Bacon's +travels found in the "Life" prefixed to "L'Histoire Naturelle." (2) That +Bacon was being supported by Bodley and other of his friends, who +desired him to keep a record of all that he observed and learnt, and to +report from time to time as he progressed, and in return, said Bodley, +"I will make you as liberal a return from myself and your friends here +as I shall be able." This letter was written from England, and there is +a paragraph in Bodley's "Life," written by himself, which makes it +possible to fix the year:-- + + "My resolution fully taken I departed out of England anno 1576 and + continued very neare foure yeares abroad, and that in sundry parts + of Italy, France, and Germany. A good while after my return to wit, + in the yeare 1585 I was employed by the Queen," etc. + +If this letter was written between 1576 and 1579 it would appear strange +that Bodley and others should be providing Bacon with money for his +travels, and requiring reports from him, whilst his father, Sir Nicholas +Bacon, was alive and prosperous. No such difficulty, however, arises, +for the letter, being sent from England, could not have been written +between the date of Bacon's first departure for France in 1576 and his +return on his father's death in 1579, for during the whole of that time +Bodley was abroad. It is stated in it that Bacon wrote from Orleans a +letter dated 19th October, the year not being given. This could not be +in 1580, for Bacon wrote to Lord Burghley from Gray's Inn on the 18th +October, 1580. Spedding commences the paragraph immediately following +this letter by saying, "From this time we have no further news of +Francis Bacon till the 5th of April, 1582," and although he does not +reproduce the letter, he relies on a letter from Faunt to Anthony Bacon, +to which that date is attributed in Birch's " Memorials," Vol. I. page +22. In it Faunt refers to having seen Anthony's mother and his brother +Francis. Faunt left Paris for England on the 22nd March, 1582. This +letter was written on the 15th of the following month, so no trace has +been found of Francis being in England between 18th October, 1580, and +5th of April, 1582. Bodley's letter, must, therefore, have been written +in December, 1581, when Bacon was abroad making a journey through +several countries. From the foregoing facts it is impossible to form any +other conclusion. Now for the first time this journey has been made +known. There is a letter amongst the State papers in the Record Office, +dated February, 1581, written by Anthony Bacon to Lord Burghley, +enclosing a note of advice and instructions for his brother Francis. +Anthony was an experienced traveller, and was then abroad. It reads as +though he was sending advice and instructions to his younger brother, +who was about to start on travels through countries with which Anthony +was familiar. If so, Francis would leave England early in March, +1581--that is, if he had not left before this letter was received by +Burghley. + +Having established beyond reasonable doubt the fact of this journey, a +new and remarkable suggestion presents itself. Spedding, when dealing +with the year 1582, prints "Notes on the State of Christendom,"[29] with +the following remarks:-- + + "If that paper of notes concerning 'The State of Europe' which was + printed as Bacon's in the supplement to Stephens' second collection + in 1734, reprinted by Mallet in 1760, and has been placed at the + beginning of his political writings in all editions since 1563, be + really of his composition, this is the period of his life to which + it belongs. I must confess, however, that I am not satisfied with + the evidence or authority upon which it appears to have been + ascribed to him." + +Robert Stephens, who was Historiographer Royal in the reign of William +and Mary, states that the Earl of Oxford placed in his hands some +neglected manuscripts and loose papers to see whether any of the Lord +Bacon's compositions lay concealed there and were fit for publication. +He found some of them written, and others amended, with his lordship's +own hand. He found certain of the treatises had been published by him, +and that others, certainly genuine, which had not, were fit to be +transcribed if not divulged. Spedding states that he has little doubt +that this paper on the state of Europe was among these manuscripts and +loose papers, for the editor states that the supplementary pieces (of +which this was one) were added from originals found among Stephens' +papers. The original is now among the Harleian MSS. in the British +Museum. Spedding thus describes it:-- + + "The Harleian MS. is a copy in an old hand, probably contemporary, + but not Francis Bacon's. A few sentences have been inserted + afterwards by the same hand, and two by another which is very like + Anthony Bacon's; none in Francis's. The blanks have all been filled + up, but no words have been corrected, though it is obvious that in + some places they stand in need of correction. + + "Certain allusions to events then passing (which will be pointed + out in their place) prove that the original paper was written, or + at least completed, in the summer of 1582, at which time Francis + Bacon was studying law in Gray's Inn, while Anthony was travelling + in France in search of political intelligence and was in close + correspondence with Nicholas Faunt, a secretary of Sir Francis + Walsingham's, who had spent the previous year in France, Germany, + Switzerland, and the north of Italy, on the same errand; and was + now living about the English Court, studying affairs at home, and + collecting and arranging the observations which he had made abroad, + 'having already recovered all his writings and books which he had + left behind him in Italy and in Frankfort' (see Birch's 'Memoirs,' + I. 24), and it is remembered that if this paper belonged to Anthony + Bacon, it would naturally descend at his death to Francis and so + remain among his manuscripts, where it is supposed to have been + found. + + "Thus it appears that the external evidence justifies no inference + as to the authorship, and the only question is whether the _style_ + can be considered conclusive. To me it certainly is not. But as + this is a point upon which the reader should be allowed to judge + for himself, and as the paper is interesting in itself and + historically valuable and has always passed for Bacon's, it is here + printed from the original though (to distinguish it from his + undoubted compositions) in a smaller type." + +Spedding's difficulty in accepting this paper as from Bacon's pen really +lay in the fact that from the internal evidence it is obvious that it +was written by one who had himself travelled through, at any rate, some +of the countries described. The results of personal observation are +again and again apparent. According to Spedding, Bacon was in 1581-1582 +studying law at Gray's Inn; according to Bodley he was on the Continent +making observations for his future guidance. The reader can judge of the +value of the external evidence. It is not conclusive, but the draft +being found amongst papers which were unquestionably Bacon's writings +and being adopted as Bacon's and published as such by those who found +it, the balance of probabilities is distinctly in favour of its being +his. As to the internal evidence much may be said. It corresponds as +closely as it is possible with Bodley's requirements as set forth in his +letter of December. It is exactly "the manner of return" Bodley wrote to +Francis "your friends expect from you." "And," he added, "if in this +time of your liberal Traffick, you will give me any advertisement of +your commodities in these kinds, I will make you as liberal a return +from myself and your friends here as I shall be able." + +The date agrees with that of Bacon's second visit to the Continent. In +Spedding's Life and Letters it occupies twelve and a-half pages, of +which five are occupied by descriptions of Italy, one of Austria, two of +Germany (chiefly a recital of names and places), two of France, +three-quarters of Spain, one and three-quarters of Portugal, Poland, +Denmark, and Sweden. This may have been Bacon's itinerary in 1581-2. + +Italy is treated with considerable detail and was undoubtedly described +from personal observation, as were France and Spain. In a less degree +the description of Austria, Poland and Denmark produces this impression; +in a still smaller degree Portugal and Sweden, and it is quite absent +from the description of Germany. Florence, Venice, Mantua, Genoa, Savoy, +are dealt with in most detail. Rawley states that it was Bacon's +intention to have stayed abroad some years longer when he was called +home by the death of his father, to find himself left in straightened +circumstances. Then followed his ineffectual suit, which he still +persisted in. Bodley evidently was, if not the instigator, at any rate +the paymaster for this second journey. Anthony's letter of February, +1581, points to Burghley as a participator in the project. He would +assist not only out of kindly feeling, but the journey would at any rate +get this ambitious, determined young man out of the way for a time, and +possibly the journey might get this unaccustomed suit out of his mind. +Thus it came about. + +From Faunt's letters, Spedding says we derive what little information we +have with regard to Francis's proceedings from 1583 to 1584. "From them +we gather little more than that he remained studying at Gray's Inn, +occasionally visiting his mother at Gorhambury, or going with her to +hear Travers at the Temple and occasionally appearing at the Court." + +But the suit was not abandoned, for there is the letter of 25th August, +1585, to Walsingham, when Bacon writes: "I think the objection of my +years will wear away with the length of my suit. The very stay doth in +this respect concern me, because I am thereby hindered to take a course +of practice which by the leave of God, if her Majesty like not of my +suit, I must and will follow: not for any necessity of estate, but for +my credit sake, which I know by living out of action will wear." + +Again, the old, "rare and unaccustomed suit" of which the Queen could +have had no experience! Either the persuasive powers of Burghley had +failed or he had not exerted them. Probably the latter, because the +troublesome, determined young man is now worrying Walsingham and Hatton +to urge its acceptance with the Queen. The purport of the foregoing +extract effectually precludes the possibility of this suit referring to +his advancement at the bar. For five years it has been proceeding--he +has been indulging in hopes which have been unfulfilled. Now he will +wait no longer, but he will adopt a course which, if her Majesty like +not his suit, by the leave of God he must and will follow, not for any +necessity of making money but because he feels impelled to it by a +sense of responsibility which he must fulfil. Walsingham and Hatton do +not appear to have helped the matter forward. There was little +probability of them succeeding in influencing the Queen where Burghley +had failed. There was still less probability of them attempting to +influence her if Burghley objected. Had this suit referred to +advancement in the law it would have been granted with the aid of +Burghley's influence years before. Had it referred to some ordinary +office of State, friends so powerful as Burghley, Walsingham and Hatton +could and would have obtained anything within reason for this brilliant +young son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, for there was no complication with +Essex until after 1591. But this rare and unaccustomed suit of which +there had been no experience was another matter. + +Six more years pass, and although there is now no suit to the Queen +there is the same idea prevailing in the letter to Burghley--a seeking +for help to achieve some great scheme upon which Bacon's mind was so +fixed "as it cannot be removed," "whether it be curiosity, vainglory or +nature, or (if one take it favourably) philanthropia." Still he required +the command of more wits than of a man's own, which is the thing he did +greatly affect. Still his course was not to get. Still the determination +to achieve the object without help, if help could not be obtained--to +achieve it by becoming some sorry bookmaker or a pioneer in that mine of +truth which Anaxagoras said lay so deep. This is emphasised. These are +"thoughts rather than words, being set down without all art, disguising +or reservation." + +There are two significant sentences in this letter written to Burghley +when Bacon was 31 years of age. He describes Burghley as "the second +founder of my poor estate," and, further, he uses the expression "And if +your Lordship will not carry me on." What can these allusions mean but +that Burghley had been rendering financial assistance to his nephew? If +the theory here put forward as to the nature of the suit be correct, the +object was one which would have Burghley's cordial support. That he had +expressed approval of it must be deduced from the letter of the 16th of +September, 1580. The object was one which, without doubt, would find +still warmer support from Lady Mildred. But the suit was so +unprecedented that it is not to be wondered at that Burghley did not try +to force it through. The work was going forward all the time--slowly for +lack of means and official recognition. Burghley, generous in his +nature, lavish in private life, might, however, be expected to help a +work which he would be glad to see carried to a successful conclusion. + +Had he been less cautious and let young Francis have his head, what +might not have happened! But there was always the fear of letting this +huge intellectual power forge ahead without restraint. It was, however, +working out unseen its scheme and that, too, with Burghley's help and +that of others. The period from 1576 to 1623--only 47 years--sees the +English language developed from a state of almost barbaric crudeness to +the highest pitch which any language, classical or modern, has reached. +There was but one workman living at that period who could have +constructed that wonderful instrument and used it to produce such +magnificent examples of its possibilities. It is as reasonable to take +up a watch keeping perfect time and aver that the parts came together by +accident, as to contend that the English language of the Authorised +Version of the Bible and the works of Shakespeare were the result of a +general up-springing of literary taste which was diffused amongst a few +writers of very mediocre ability. The English Renaissance was conceived +in France and born in England in 1579. It ran its course and in 1623 +attained its maturity; but when Francis Bacon was no more--he who had +performed that in our tongue which may be preferred either to insolent +Greece or haughty Rome--"things daily fall, wits grow downward, and +eloquence grows backward: so that he may be named and stand as the mark +and [Greek: achme] of our language." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[29] "Life and Letters," Vol. I., page 16. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +IS IT PROBABLE THAT BACON LEFT MANUSCRIPTS HIDDEN AWAY? + + +It is difficult to leave this subject without some reference to the +articles which have appeared in the press and magazines referring to the +suggestion that there were left concealed literary remains of Bacon +hitherto undiscovered. + +In an article which recently appeared in a Shakespearean journal, a +writer who evidently knows little about the Elizabethan period said: +"But why should Bacon want to bury manuscripts, anyhow? Who does bury +manuscripts? Besides, they had been printed and were, therefore, rubbish +and waste paper merely." The manuscript of John Harrington's translation +of Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso" may be seen in the British Museum. It is +beautifully written on quarto paper. It was, apparently, the fair copy +sent to the printer from which the type was to be set up. Be this as it +may, it was undoubtedly a copy upon which Bacon marked off the verses +which are to go on each page and set out the folio of each page and the +printer's signature which was to appear at the bottom. It also contains +instructions to the printer as to the type to be used. This manuscript +was not considered "rubbish and waste paper merely." + +Francis Bacon has again and again insisted upon the value of history. In +the "Advancement of Learning" he points out to the King "the indignity +and unworthiness of the history of England as it now is, in the main +continuation thereof." No man appreciated as did Bacon the importance in +the history of England of the epoch in which he lived. That a truthful +relation of the events of those times would be invaluable to posterity +he knew full well. He of all men living at that time was best qualified +to write such a history. He recognised that there were objections to a +history being written, or, at any rate, published, wherein the actions +of persons living were described, for he said "it must be confessed that +such kind of relations, specially if they be published about the times +of things done, seeing very often that they are written with passion or +partiality, of all other narrations, are most suspected." It is hardly +conceivable that Bacon should have failed to provide a faithful history +of his own times for the benefit of posterity, or, at any rate, that he +should have failed to preserve the materials for such a history. Neither +the history nor such materials are known to be in existence. Supposing +Bacon had prepared either the one or the other, what could he do with +it? Hand it to Rawley with instructions for it to be printed? With a +strong probability, if it were a faithful history, that it would never +be published, but that it would be destroyed, he would never take such a +risk. There would only be one course open to him. To conceal it in some +place where it would not be likely to be disturbed, in which it might +remain in safety, possibly for hundreds of years. And then leave a clue +either in cypher or otherwise by which it might be recovered. + +It is by no means outside the range of possibility that Bacon as early +as 1588 had opened a receptacle for books and manuscripts which he +desired should go down to posterity, and fearing their loss from any +cause, he carefully concealed them, adding to the store from time to +time. If he did so he left a problem to be solved, and arranged the +place of concealment so that it could only be found by a solution of the +problem. + +The emblems on two title-pages of two books of the period are very +significant. "Truth brought to Light and discovered by Time" is a +narrative history of the first fourteen years of King James' reign. One +portion of the engraved title-page represents a spreading tree growing +up out of a coffin, full fraught with various fruits (manuscripts and +books) most fresh and fair to make succeeding times most rich and rare. +In the Emblem (Fig. III.) now reproduced, which is found on the +title-page of the first edition of "New Atlantis," 1627,[30] Truth +personified by a naked woman is being revealed by Father Time, and the +inscription round the device is "_Tempore patet occulta veritas_--in +time the hidden truth shall be revealed." + +Then, in further confirmation of this view, there is the statement of +Rawley in his introduction to the "Manes Verulamiani." Speaking of the +fame of his illustrious master he says, "Be this moreover enough, to +have laid, as it were, the foundations, in the name of the present age. +Every age will, methinks, adorn and amplify this structure, but to what +age it may be vouchsafed to set the finishing hand--this is known only +to God and the Fates." + + [Illustration: _Fig. III._ + + _From the Title Page of "New Atlantis," 1627._] + + [Illustration: _Fig. IV._ + + _From the Title Page of Peacham's "Minerva Britannia," 1612._] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[30] There is a copy bearing date 1626. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +HOW THE ELIZABETHAN LITERATURE WAS PRODUCED. + + +The half century from 1576 to 1625 stands by itself in the history of +the literature of this country. During that period not only was the +English language made, not only were there produced the finest examples +of its capacities, which to-day exist, but the knowledge and wisdom +possessed by the classical writers, the histories of the principal +nations of the world, practically everything that was worth knowing in +the literature which existed in other countries were, for the first +time, made available in the English tongue. And what is still more +remarkable, these translations were printed and published. These works +embraced every art and subject which can be imagined. Further, during +this period there were issued a large number of books crowded with +information upon general subjects. The names on the title-pages of many +of these works are unknown. It is astonishing how many men as to whom +nothing can be learnt, appear about this time to have written one book +and one book only. + +These translations were published at a considerable cost. For such +works, being printed in the English language, purchasers were +practically confined to this country, and their number was very limited. +The quantity of copies constituting an edition must have been small. It +is impossible to believe that the sale of these books could realise the +amount of their cost. + +Definite information on this point is difficult to obtain, for little is +known as to the prices at which these books were sold. + +It appears from the "Transcripts of the Stationers' Registers" that the +maximum number of copies that went to make up an edition was in the +interest of the workman fixed at 1,250 copies, so that if a larger +number were required the type had to be re-set for each additional 1,250 +copies. Double impressions of 2,500 were allowed of primers, catechisms, +proclamations, statutes and almanacs. But the solid literature which +came into the language at this period would not be required in such +quantities. The printer was not usually the vendor of the books. The +publisher and bookseller or stationer carried on in most cases a +distinct business. + +Pamphlets, sermons, plays, books of poems, formed the staple ware of the +stationer. The style of the book out of which the stationer made his +money may be gathered from the following extract from _The Return from +Parnassus_, Act I, scene 3:-- + + _Ingenioso._--Danter thou art deceived, wit is dearer than thou + takest it to bee. I tell thee this libel of Cambridge + has much salt and pepper in the nose: it will + sell sheerely underhand when all those bookes of + exhortations and catechisms lie moulding on thy + shopboard. + + _Danter._--It's true, but good fayth, M. Ingenioso, I lost by your + last booke; and you know there is many a one that pays + me largely for the printing of their inventions, but + for all this you shall have 40 shillings and an odde + pottle of wine. + + _Ingenioso._--40 shillings? a fit reward for one of your reumatick + poets, that beslavers all the paper he comes by, and + furnishes the Chaundlers with wast papers to wrap + candles in: ... it's the gallantest Child my invention + was ever delivered off. The title is, a Chronicle of + Cambridge Cuckolds; here a man may see, what day of + the moneth such a man's commons were inclosed, and when + throwne open, and when any entayled some odde crownes + upon the heires of their bodies unlawfully begotten; + speake quickly, ells I am gone. + + _Danter._--Oh this will sell gallantly. Ile have it whatsoever it + cost, will you walk on, M. Ingenioso, weele sit over a + cup of wine and agree on it. + +The publication of such works as Hollingshed's "Chronicles," North's +"Plutarch's Lives," Grimston's "History of France," and "The French +Academy," could not have been produced with profit as the object. A +large body of evidence may be brought forward to support this view, but +space will only permit two examples to be here set forth. + +In the dedication to Sir William Cecil, of Hollingshed's "Chronicles," +1587, the writer says: + + Yet when the volume grew so great as they that were to defraie the + charges for the impression were not willing to go through with the + whole, they resolved first to publish the histories of England, + Scotland, and Ireland with their descriptions. + +John Dee spent most of the year 1576 in writing a series of volumes to +be entitled "General and Rare Memorials pertayning to the perfect Art of +Navigation." In 1577 the first volume was ready for the press. In June +he had to borrow L40 from one friend, L20 from another, and L27 upon +"the chayn of gold." In the following August John Day commenced printing +it at his press in Aldersgate. The title was "The British Monarchy or +Hexameron Brytannicum," and the edition consisted of 100 copies. + +The second volume, "The British Complement," was ready in the following +December. It was never published. Dee states in his Diary that the +printing would cost many hundreds of pounds, as it contained tables and +figures, and he must first have "a comfortable and sufficient +opportunity or supply thereto." This he was unable to procure, so the +book remained in manuscript.[31] + +Books of this class were never produced with the object of making +profit. The proceeds of sale would not cover the cost of printing and +publishing, without any provision for the remuneration of the translator +or author. Why were they published, and how was the cost provided? + +There was, however, another source of revenue open to the author of a +book. Henry Peacham, in "The Truth of our Time," says:-- + + "But then you may say, the Dedication will bee worth a great + matter, either in present reward of money, or preferment by your + Patrones Letter, or other means. And for this purpose you prefixe a + learned and as Panegyricall Epistle as can," etc. + +It is beyond question that an author usually obtained a considerable +contribution towards the cost of the production of a book from the +person to whom the dedication was addressed. A number of books published +during the period from 1576 to 1598 are dedicated to the Queen, to the +Earl of Leicester, and to Lord Burghley. One can only offer a suggestion +on this point which may or may not be correct. If Francis Bacon was +concerned in the issue of these translations and other works, and +Burghley was assisting him financially, it is probable that Burghley +would procure grants from the Queen in respect of books which were +dedicated to her, and would provide funds towards the cost of such books +as were dedicated to himself. "The Arte of English Poesie" was written +with the intention that it should be dedicated to the Queen, but there +was a change in the plans, and Burghley's name was substituted. When +Bacon, in 1591, is threatening to become "a sorry bookmaker," he +describes Burghley as the second founder of his poor estate, and uses +the expression, "If your Lordship will not carry me on," which can only +mean that as to the matter which is the subject of the letter, Burghley +had not merely been assisting but carrying him. The evidence which +exists is strong enough to warrant putting forward this theory as to the +frequency of the names of the Queen and Burghley on the dedications. + +The Earl of Leicester desired to have the reputation of being a patron +of the arts, and was willing to pay for advertisement. He was the +Chancellor of Oxford University, and evidently recognised the value of +printing, for in 1585 he erected, at his own expense, a new printing +press for the use of the University. If he paid at all for dedications +he would pay liberally. But, of course, the Queen, Burghley, and +Leicester were accessible to others besides Bacon, and the argument goes +no further than that towards the production of certain books upon which +their names appear the patrons provided part of the cost. The +recognition of this fact, however, does not detract from the importance +of the expressions used by Bacon in his letter to Burghley. + +There is abundant testimony to the fact that it was the custom, during +the Elizabethan age, for an author to suppress his own name, and on the +title-page[32] substitute either the initials or name of some other +person. The title-pages of this period are as unreliable as are the +names or initials affixed to the dedications and epistles "To the +Reader." + +In 1624 was published "The Historie of the Life and Death of Mary Stuart +Queene of Scotland." The dedication is signed Wil Stranguage. In 1636 it +was reprinted, the same dedication being signed W. Vdall. There are +numerous similar instances. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[31] "John Dee," by Charlotte Fell Smith, 1909. Constable and Co., Ltd. + +[32] See page 31. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE CLUE TO THE MYSTERY OF BACON'S LIFE. + + +The theory now put forward is based upon the assumption that Francis +Bacon at a very early age adopted the conception that he would devote +his life to the construction of an adequate language and literature for +his country and that he would do this remaining invisible. If he was the +author of "The Anatomie of the Mind," 1576, and of "Beautiful Blossoms," +1577, he must have adopted this plan of obscurity as early as his +sixteenth year. It is possible, however, that it may be shown that at a +date still earlier he had decided upon this course. This, however, is +beyond doubt--that if Francis Bacon was associated in any way with the +literature of England from 1570 to 1605, with the exception of the small +volume of essays published in 1597, he most carefully concealed his +connection with it. + +"Therefore, set it down," he says in the essay Of Simulation and +Dissimulation, "that a habit of secrecy is both politic and moral," and +in _Examples of the Antitheta_,[33] "Dissimulation is a compendious +wisdome." Here again is the same idea: "Beside in all wise humane +Government, they that sit at the helme, doe more happily bring their +purposes about, and insinuate more easily things fit for the people by +pretexts, and oblique courses; than by ... downright dealing. Nay (which +perchance may seem very strange) in things meerely naturall, you may +sooner deceive nature than force her; so improper and selfeimpeaching +are open direct proceedings; whereas on the other side, an oblique and +an insinuating way, gently glides along, and compasseth the intended +effect."[34] + +It is noteworthy that Bacon had a quaint conceit of the Divine Being +which he was never tired of repeating. In the preface to the +"Advancement of Learning" (1640), the following passage occurs:-- + + "_For of the knowledges which contemplate the works of Nature, the + holy Philosopher hath said expressly_; that the glory of God is to + conceal a thing, but the glory of the King is to find it out: _as + if the Divine Nature, according to the innocent and sweet play of + children, which hide themselves to the end they may be found; took + delight to hide his works, to the end they might be found out; and + of his indulgence and goodness to mankind, had chosen the Soule of + man to be his Play-fellow in this game_." + +Again on page 45 of the work itself he says:-- + + "For so he (King Solomon) saith expressly, _The Glory of God is to + conceale a thing, but the Glory of a King is to find it out_. As if + according to that innocent and affectionate play of children, the + Divine Majesty took delight to hide his works, to the end to have + them found out, and as if _Kings_ could not obtain a greater + Honour, then to be God's play-fellowes in that game, especially + considering the great command they have of wits and means, whereby + the investigation of all things may be perfected." + +Another phase of the same idea is to be found on page 136. + +In the author's preface to the "Novum Organum" the following passage +occurs:-- + + "Whereas of the sciences which regard nature the Holy Philosopher + declares that 'it is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but it is + the glory of the King to find it out.' Even as though the Divine + Nature took pleasure in the innocent and kindly sport of children + playing at hide and seek, and vouched-safe of his kindness and + goodness to admit the human spirit for his play fellow in that + game." + +In almost identical words Bacon suggests the same conception in "In +Valerius Terminus" and in "Filum Labyrinthi." + +In the Epistle Dedicatorie of "The French Academie" and elsewhere the +author is insisting on the same idea that "He (God) cannot be seene of +any mortal creature but is notwithstanding known by his works." + +The close connection of Francis Bacon with the works (now seldom +studied) of the Emblem writers is vouched for by J. Baudoin. + +Oliver Lector in "Letters from the Dead to the Dead" has given examples +of his association with the Dutch and French emblem writers. Three +Englishmen appear to have indulged in this fascinating pursuit--George +Whitney (1589), Henry Peacham (1612), and George Withers (1634). From +the Baconian point of view Peacham's "Minerva Britannia" is by far the +most interesting. The Emblem on page 34 is addressed "To the most +judicious and learned, SIR FRANCIS BACON Knight." On the opposite leaf, +paged thus, .33,[35] the design represents a hand holding a spear as in +the act of shaking it. But it is the frontispiece which bears specially +on the present contention. The design is now reproduced (Fig. IV). A +curtain is drawn to hide a figure, the hand only of which is protruding. +It has just written the words "MENTE VIDEBOR"--"By the mind I shall be +seen." Around the scroll are the words "Vivitur ingenio cetera mortis +erunt"--one lives in one's genius, other things shall be (or pass away) +in death. + +That emblem represents the secret of Francis Bacon's life. At a very +early age, probably before he was twelve, he had conceived the idea that +he would imitate God, that he would hide his works in order that they +might be found out--that he would be seen only by his mind and that his +image should be concealed. There was no haphazard work about it. It was +not simply that having written poems or plays, and desiring not to be +known as the author on publishing them, he put someone else's name on +the title-page. There was first the conception of the idea, and then the +carefully-elaborated scheme for carrying it out. + +There are numerous allusions in Elizabethan and early Jacobean +literature to someone who was active in literary matters but preferred +to remain unrecognised. Amongst these there are some which directly +refer to Francis Bacon, others which occur in books or under +circumstances which suggest association with him. It is not contended +that they amount to direct testimony, but the cumulative force of this +evidence must not be ignored. In some of the emblem books of the period +these allusions are frequent. + +Then there is John Owen's epigram appearing in his "Epigrammatum," +published in 1612. + +AD. D.B. + + "Si bene qui latuit, bene vixit, tu bene vivis: + Ingeniumque tuum grande latendo patet." + + "Thou livest well if one well hid well lives, + And thy great genius in being concealed is revealed." + +D. is elsewhere used by Owen as the initial of Dominus. The suggestion +that Ad. D.B. represents Ad Dominum Baconum is therefore reasonable. + +Thomas Powell published in 1630 the "Attourney's Academy." The book is +dedicated "To True Nobility and Tryde learning beholden To no Mountaine +for Eminence, nor supportment for Height, Francis, Lord Verulam and +Viscount St. Albanes." Then follow these lines:-- + + "O Give me leave to pull the Curtaine by + That clouds thy Worth in such obscurity. + Good Seneca, stay but a while thy bleeding, + T' accept what I received at thy Reading: + Here I present it in a solemne strayne, + And thus I pluckt the Curtayne backe again." + +In the "Mirrour of State and Eloquence," published in 1656, the +frontispiece is a very bad copy of Marshall's portrait of Bacon prefixed +to the 1640 Gilbert Wat's "Advancement of Learning." Under it are these +lines:-- + + "Grace, Honour, virtue, Learning, witt, + Are all within this Porture knitt + And left to time that it may tell, + What worth within this Peere did dwell." + +The frontispiece previously referred to of "Truth brought to Light and +discovered by Time, or a discourse and Historicall narration of the +first XIIII. yeares of King James Reign," published in 1651, is full of +cryptic meaning and in one section of it there is a representation of a +coffin out of which is growing + + "A spreading Tree + Full fraught with various Fruits most fresh and fair + To make succeeding Times most rich and rare." + +The fruits are books and manuscripts. The volume contains speeches of +Bacon and copies of official documents signed by him. + +The books of the emblem writers are still more remarkable. "Jacobi +Bornitii Emblemata Ethico Politica," 1659, contains at least a dozen +plates in which Bacon is represented. A suggestive emblem is No. 1 of +Cornelii Giselberti Plempii Amsterodarnum Monogrammon, bearing date +1616, the year of Shakespeare's death. It is now reproduced (Fig. V.). +It will be observed that the initial letters of each word in the +sentence--_Obscaenumque nimis crepuit Fortuna Batavis appellanda_--yield +F. Bacon. There are in other designs figures which are evidently +intended to represent Bacon. Emblem XXXVI. shows the inside of a +printer's shop and two men at work in the foreground blacking and fixing +the type. Behind is a workman setting type, and standing beside him, +apparently directing, or at any rate observing him, is a man with the +well-known Bacon hat on. + +The contention may be stated thus:--Francis Bacon possessed, to quote +Macaulay, "the most exquisitely constructed intellect that has ever been +bestowed on any of the children of men." Hallam described him as "the +wisest, greatest of mankind," and affirmed that he might be compared to +Aristotle, Thucydides, Tacitus, Philippe de Comines, Machiavelli, +Davila, Hume, "all of these together," and confirming this view Addison +said that "he possessed at once all those extraordinary talents which +were divided amongst the greatest authors of antiquity." At twelve years +of age in industry he surpassed the capacity, and, in his mind, the +range of his contemporaries, and had acquired a thorough command of the +classical and modern languages. "He, after he had survaied all the +Records of Antiquity, after the volumes of men, betook himself to the +volume of the world and conquered whatever books possest." Having, +whilst still a youth, taken all knowledge to be his province, he had +read, marked, and absorbed the contents of nearly every book that had +been printed. How that boy read! Points of importance he underlined and +noted in the margin. Every subject he mastered--mathematics, geometry, +music, poetry, painting, astronomy, astrology, classical drama and +poetry, philosophy, history, theology, architecture. + +Then--or perhaps before--came this marvellous conception, "Like God I +will be seen by my works, although my image shall never be +visible--_Mente videbor_. By the mind I shall be seen." So equipped, and +with such a scheme, he commenced and successfully carried through that +colossal enterprise in which he sought the good of all men, though in a +despised weed. "This," he said, "whether it be curiosity or vainglory, +or (if one takes it favourably) philanthropia, is so fixed in my mind as +it cannot be removed." + +Translations of the classics, of histories, and other works were made. +In those he no doubt had assistance by the commandment of more wits than +his own, which is a thing he greatly affected. Books came from his +pen--poetry and prose--at a rate which, when the truth is revealed, will +literally "stagger humanity." Books were written by others under his +direction. He saw them through the press, and he did more. He had his +own wood blocks of devices, some, at any rate, of which were his own +design, and every book produced under his direction, whether written by +him or not, was marked by the use of one or more of these wood blocks. +The favourite device was the light A and the dark A. Probably the first +book published in England which was marked with this device was _De Rep. +Anglorum Instauranda libri decem, Authore Thoma Chalonero Equite, +Anglo_. This was printed by Thomas Vautrollerius,[36] and bears date +1579. + +Vautrollier, and afterwards Richard Field, printed many of the books in +the issue of which Bacon was concerned from 1579 onwards. Henry +Bynneman, and afterwards his assignees Ralph Newbery and Henry Denham +and George Bishop, who was associated with Denham, were also printing +books issued under his auspices, and later Adam Islip, George Eld and +James Haviland came in for a liberal share of his patronage. + +The cost of printing and publishing must have been very great. If the +facts ever come to light it will probably be found that Burghley was +Bacon's mainstay for financial support. It will also be found that Lady +Anne Bacon and Anthony Bacon were liberal contributors to the funds, and +that the cause of Francis Bacon's monetary difficulties and consequent +debts was the heavy obligation which he personally undertook in +connection with the production of the Elizabethan literature. + +In the Dedications, Prefaces, and Epistles "To the Reader" also Francis +Bacon's mind may be recognised. When Addison wrote of Bacon, "One does +not know which to admire most in his writings, the strength of reason, +force of style, or brightness of imagination," his words might have been +inspired by these prefixes to the literature of this period. When once +the student has made himself thoroughly acquainted with Bacon's style of +writing prefaces he can never fail to recognise it, especially if he +reads the passages aloud. The Epistle Dedicatorie to the 1625 edition of +Barclay's "Argenis," signed Kingesmill Long, is one of the finest +examples of Baconian English extant. Who but the writer of the +Shakespeare plays could have written that specimen of musical language? +To hear it read aloud gives all the enjoyment of listening to a fine +composition of music. It is the same with the Shakespeare plays; only +when they are read aloud can the richness and charm of the language they +contain be appreciated. + +Bacon's work can never be understood by anyone who has not realised the +marvellous character of the mind of the boy, his phenomenal industry, +and the fact that "he could imagine like a poet and execute like a clerk +of the works." It has been suggested that he had a secret Society, by +the agency of which he carried through his works, but it is difficult +to find any evidence that such a Society existed. It may be that he had +helpers without there having been anything of the nature of a Society. + +From 1575 to 1605 (thirty years) with the exception of the trifles +published as Essays in 1597, there are no acknowledged fruits of his +work to which his name is attached. Even the two books of the +"Advancement of Learning," published in 1605, would have made little +demands on his time. Edmund Burke said: "Who is there that hearing the +name of Bacon does not instantly recognise everything of genius the most +profound, of literature the most extensive, of discovery the most +penetrating, of observation of human life the most distinguished and +refined." For such a man to write "The two books" would be no hard or +lengthy task. + +The wonder is that Francis Bacon should have attached his name to the +1597 edition of the essays. He had written and published under other +names tomes of essays of at least equal merit. In Aphorism 128 of the +"Novum Organum" Bacon says, "But how sincere I am in my profession of +affection and goodwill towards the received sciences my published +writings, especially the books on the Advancement of Learning, +sufficiently shew." What are the published writings referred to? The +only works which bore his name were the incomplete volume of the Essays +and the "Wisdom of the Ancients," to neither of which the words quoted +are applicable. + +Anthony Bacon, writing to Lady Anne in April, 1593, referring to her +"motherly offer" to help Francis out of debt by being content to bestow +the whole interest in an estate in Essex, called Markes, said +"beseeching you to believe that being so near and dear unto me as he is, +it cannot but be a grief unto me to see a mind that hath given so +sufficient proof of itself in having brought forth many good thoughts +for the general to be overburdened and cumbered with a care of clearing +his particular estate." + +In 1593 nothing had been published under Bacon's name, and there is not +any production of his known which would justify Anthony's remark. What +was his motive in selecting this insignificant little volume of essays +whereby to proclaim himself a writer? One can understand his object in +addressing James in _The Two Books of the Advancement of Learning_. He +obtained in 1606, as Peacham has it, "preferment by his Patrone's +letter" by being appointed Solicitor-General. + +During all this period--1575 to 1605--"the most exquisitely constructed +mind that has ever been bestowed on any of the children of men" appears +to have been dormant. Take the first three volumes of Spedding's "Life +and Letters," and carefully note all that is recorded as the product of +that mind during the years when it must have been at the zenith of its +power and activity. All the letters and tracts accredited to Bacon in +them which have come down to us would not account for six months--not +for three months--of its occupation. + +The explanation that he was building up his great system of inductive +philosophy is quite inadequate. Rawley speaks of the "Novum Organum" as +having been in hand for twelve years. This would give 1608 as the year +when it was commenced. The "Cogitata et Visa," of which it was an +amplification, was probably written in 1606 or 1607, for on the 17th +February, 1607-8, Bodley writes acknowledging the receipt of it and +commenting on it. + +Rawley says that it was during the last five years of Bacon's life that +he composed the greatest part of his books and writings both in English +and Latin, and supplies a list which comprises all his acknowledged +published works except the "Novum Organum" and the Essays. + +In "The Statesmen and Favourites of England since the Reformation," it +is stated that the universal knowledge and comprehension of things +rendered Francis Bacon the observation of great and wise men, and +afterward the wonder of all. Yet it is remarkable how few are the +references to him amongst his contemporaries. Practically the only one +that would enable a reader to gain any knowledge of his personality is +Francis Osborn, who, in letters to his son, published in 1658, describes +him as he was in the last few years of his life. No one has left data +which enables a clear impression to be formed of Francis Bacon as he was +up to his fortieth year. The omission may be described as a conspiracy +of silence. How exactly the circumstances appear to fit in with the +first line of John Owen's epigram to Dominus B., published in +1612!--"Thou livest well if one well hid well lives"; and if the +suggestion now put forward be correct that Bacon deliberately resolved +that his image and personality should never be seen, but only the fruits +of his mind--the issues of his brain, to use Rawley's expression--how +apt is the second line of the epigram: "And thy great genius in being +concealed, is revealed." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[33] "Of the Advancement of Learning," 1640, page 312. + +[34] "Of the Advancement of Learning," 1640, pages 115, 116. + +[35] 33 is the numerical value of the name "Bacon." The stop preceding +it denotes cypher. + +[36] Vautrollier was a scholar and printer who came to England from +Paris or Roan about the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, and first +commenced business in Blackfriars. In 1584 he printed _Jordanus Brunus_, +for which he was compelled to fly. In the next year he was in Edinburgh, +where, by his help, Scottish printing was greatly improved. Eventually +his pardon was procured by powerful friends, amongst whom was Thomas +Randolph. In 1588 Richard Field, who was apprenticed to Vautrollier, +married Jakin, his daughter, and on his death in 1589 succeeded to the +business. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +BURGHLEY AND BACON. + + +There was published in 1732 "The Life of the Great Statesman William +Cecil, Lord Burghley." The preface signed by Arthur Collins states:-- + + The work I have for several years engaged in, of treating of those + families that have been Barons of this Kingdom, necessarily induced + me to apply to our Nobility for such helps, as might illustrate the + memory of their ancestors. And several Noblemen having favour'd me + with the perusal of their family evidences, and being recommended + to the Right Honourable the present Earl of Exeter, his Lordship + out of just regard to the memory of his great Ancestor, was pleased + to order the manuscript Life of the Lord Burghley to be + communicated to me. + + Which being very old and decayed and only legible to such who are + versed in ancient writings it was with great satisfaction that I + copied it literatim. And that it may not be lost to the world, I + now offer it to the view of the publick. It fully appears to be + wrote in the reign of Queen Elizabeth soon after his Lordship's + death, by one who was intimate with him, and an eye witness of his + actions for the last twenty-five years. It needs no comment to set + it off; that truth and sincerity which shines through the whole, + will, I don't doubt have the same weight with the Readers as it had + with me and that they will be of opinion it's too valuable to be + buried in oblivion. + +This "Life of Lord Burghley" is referred to by Nares and other of his +biographers as having been written by "a domestic." It contains about +16,000 words and is the most authentic account extant of the great +statesman's life. The narrative is full, but the observations on the +character and habits of Burghley are by far the most important feature. +The method of treatment of the subject is after Bacon's style; the Life +abounds with phrases and with tricks of diction, which enable it to be +identified as his. The concluding sentences could only have been written +with Bacon's pen:-- + + And so leaving his soule with God, his fame to the world, and the + truth to all charitable mynds, I leave the sensure to all judicious + Christians, who truly practising what they professe, will better + approve, and more indifferentlie interpret it, than envie or malice + can disprove it. The best sort will ever doe right, the worst can + but imagine mischief and doe wrong; yet this is a comfort, the more + his virtues are troden downe, the more will theire brightnes + appeare. Virtus vulnerata virescit. + +In 1592 the "Responsio ad edictum Reginae Angliae" of the Jesuit Parsons +had appeared, attacking the Queen and her advisers (especially +Burghley), to whom were attributed all the evils of England and the +disturbances of Christendom. The reply to this was entrusted to Francis +Bacon, who responded with a pamphlet entitled "Certain observations upon +a libel published this present year, 1592." It was first printed by Dr. +Rawley in the "Resuscitatio" in 1657. At the time it was written it was +circulated largely in manuscript, for at least eight copies, somewhat +varying from each other, have been preserved.[37] It is quite possible +that it was printed at the time, but that no copy has survived. +Throughout the whole work there are continual references to Burghley. +Chapter VI. is entirely devoted to his defence and is headed "Certain +true general notes upon the actions of the Lord Burghley." Either "The +Life" and the "Observations on a Libel" are by the same writer or the +author of the former borrowed the latter very freely. + +It is to be regretted that the original manuscript of the "Life" cannot +now be found. In 1732 it was at Burghley House. Application has been +made to the present Marquis of Exeter for permission to inspect it, but +his Lordship's librarian has no knowledge of its existence. If it could +be examined it is probable that if the text was not in Bacon's +handwriting some notes or alterations might be recognised as his. The +writer says he was an eye witness of Burghley's life and actions +twenty-five years together--that would be from 1573 to 1598, which would +well accord with the present contention. If Bacon was the author it +throws considerable light on his relations with Burghley and establishes +the fact that they were of the most cordial and affectionate character. +It is reported that Bacon said that in the time of the Burghleys--father +and son--clever or able men were repressed, and mainly upon this has +been based the impression that Burghley opposed Francis Bacon's +progress. + +Burghley's biographer refers to this report. He writes: "He was careful +and desirous to furder and advaunce men of quality and desart to be +Councellors and officers to her Majesty wherein he placed manie and +laboured to bring in more ... yet would envy with her slaunders report +he hindered men from rising; but howe true it is wise men maie judge, +for it was the Queene to take whom she pleased and not in a subject to +preferree whom he listed." + +It will eventually be proved that such a report conveys an incorrect +view. In the letter of 1591,[38] addressed to Burghley, Bacon +says:--"Besides I do not find in myself so much self-love, but that the +greater parts of my thoughts are to deserve well (if I were able) of my +friends and namely of your Lordship; who being the Atlas of this +Commonwealth, the honour of my house, and the second founder of my poor +estate, I am tied by all duties, both of a good patriot, and of an +unworthy kinsman, and of an obliged servant, to employ whatsoever I am +to do your service," and later in the letter he employs the phrase, +"And if your Lordship will not carry me on," and then threatens to sell +the inheritance that he has, purchase some quick revenue that may be +executed by another, and become some sorry bookmaker or a pioneer in +that mine of truth which Anaxagoras said lay so deep. + +Again, in a letter to Burghley, dated 31st March, 1594, he +says:--"Lastly, that howsoever this matter may go, yet I may enjoy your +lordship's good favour and help as I have done in regard to my private +estate, which as I have not altogether neglected so I have but +negligently attended and which hath been bettered only by yourself (the +Queen except) and not by any other in matter of importance." Further on +he says: "Thus again desiring the continuance of your Lordship's +goodness as I have hitherto found it on my part sought also to deserve, +I commend," etc. + +It is very easy, with little information as to Bacon's actions and +little knowledge of the period, to form a definite opinion as to the +relations of Bacon and Burghley. The more information as to the one and +knowledge of the other one gets, the more difficult does it become to +arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. Here was the son of Elizabeth's +great Lord Keeper, the nephew of her trusted minister, himself from his +boyhood a _persona grata_ with the Queen, of brilliant parts and great +wisdom--if he had been a mere place-hunter his desires could have been +satisfied over and over again. There was some condition of circumstance, +of which nothing has hitherto been known, which prevented him from +obtaining the object of his desires. That he had a definite object, and +had mapped out a course by which he hoped to achieve it, is evident from +his letters[39] already quoted. It is equally clear that the course he +sought to pursue entailed his abandoning the law as a profession. Either +he would only have such place as he desired, and on his own terms, or +he was known to be following some course which, although not distasteful +to his close friends, caused him to be held in suspicion, if not +distrust, by the courtiers with whom Elizabeth was surrounded. Every +additional fact that comes to light seems to point to the truth being +that through his life Burghley was Francis Bacon's staunch friend and +supporter. Upon Sir Nicholas Bacon's death Burghley appears with Bodley +to have been maintaining Bacon in his travels abroad. Upon his return to +England Burghley gave him financial support in his great project. In +1591 there was a crisis--someone had been spending money for the past +twelve years freely in making English literature. That cannot be +gainsaid. Burghley appears to have pulled up and remonstrated; hence +Bacon's letter containing the threat before referred to. It is +significant that it was immediately after this letter was written that +Bacon's association with Essex commenced. Bacon would take him and +Southampton into his confidence and seek their help. Essex was just the +man to respond with enthusiasm. Francis introduced Anthony to him. The +services of the brothers were placed at his disposal, and he undertook +to manage the Queen. The office of Attorney-General for Francis would +meet the case. "It was dangerous in a factious age to have my Lord Essex +his favour," says the biographer before quoted.[40] + +That Burghley was favourable to his appointment as Attorney-General two +letters written by Francis to Lord Keeper Puckering in 1594 testify. In +the first Bacon writes: "I pray your Lordship to call to remembrance my +Lord Treasurer's kind course, who affirmed directly all the rest to be +unfit. And because _vis unita fortior_ I beg your Lordship to take a +time with the Queen when my Lord Treasurer is present." + +In a second letter he writes: "I thought good to remember your good +Lordship and to request you as I touched in my last that if my Lord +Treasurer be absent your Lordship would forbear to fall into my business +with her Majesty lest it mought receive some foil before the time when +it should be resolutely dealt in." + +Only Burghley was found to support Essex's advocacy, and on the whole +this was not to be wondered at. Such an appointment, to say the least, +would have been an experiment. Possibly Essex was the stumbling-block, +but it may be that the real objection on the part of the Queen and her +advisers was that Bacon was known to be so amorous of certain learned +arts, so much given over to invention, that the consensus of opinion was +that he was thereby unfitted to hold an important office of the State. +Or it may be that he was discredited by his suspected or known +association with certain printers. There was some reason of which no +explanation can now be traced. + +It has been suggested that in 1591 there was a crisis in Bacon's life. +That is evident from the letter to Burghley written in that year. John +Harrington's translation of "Orlando Furioso" was published about this +time. The manuscript, which is in a perfect condition, is in the British +Museum, and has been marked in Bacon's handwriting throughout. The +pagination and the printer's signature are placed at the commencement of +the stanzas to be printed on each page, and there are instructions to +the printer at the end which are not in his hand. + +There are good grounds for attributing the notes at the end of each +chapter to Bacon. + +It is very improbable that Sir John Harrington had the classical +knowledge which the writer of these notes must have possessed. There is +a letter written by him to Sir Amias Pawlett, dated January, 1606-7. He +is relating an interview with King James, and says: "Then he (the king) +enquyrede muche of lernynge and showede me his owne in such sorte as +made me remember my examiner at Cambridge aforetyme. He soughte muche to +knowe my advances in philosophie and utterede profounde sentences of +Aristotle and such lyke wryters, whiche I had never reade and which some +are bolde enoughe to saye others do not understand." It would be +difficult to mention any classical author with whose works the writer of +these notes was not familiar, or to believe that "Epigrams both Pleasant +and Serious" (1615) came from the pen of that writer. + +At the end of the thirty-seventh chapter the following note occurs: "It +was because she (Porcia) wrote some verses in manner of an Epitaph upon +her husband after his decease: In which kind, that honourable Ladie +(widow of the late Lord John Russell) deserveth no lesse commendation, +having done as much for two husbands. And whereas my author maketh so +great bost only of one learned woman in Italie, I may compare (besides +one above all comparison that I have noted in the twentith booke) three +or foure in England out of one family, and namely the sisters of that +learned Ladie, as witness that verse written by the meanest of the foure +to the Ladie Burlie which I doubt if Cambridge or Oxford can mend." + + The four Si mihi quem cupio cures Mildreda She wrote to + daughters of remitti Lady Burlie + Sir Anthonie Tu bona, tu melior, tu mihi sola to send a + Cooke-- soror; kinsman of + Ladie Burlie, Sin mali cessando retines, & trans hers into + Ladie Russell, mare mittis, Cornwall, + Lady Bacon, Tu mala, tu peior, tu mihi nulla where she + Mistress soror. dwelt, and to + Killygrew. Is si Cornubiam, tibi pax sit & stop his going + omnia laeta, beyond sea. + Sin mare Ceciliae nuncio bella. + Vale.[41] + +The writer of the Latin verse was _not_ Ladie Russell, and it was +written _to_ Ladie Burlie, so she must either be Ladie Bacon or Mistress +Killigrew. It is not an improbable theory that Ladie Bacon was writing +to her sister Mildred, who had, through her husband, power either to +send Francis to Cornwall or permit him to be sent away over the seas. + +There is a copy of Machiavelli's "History of Florence," 1595, with +Bacon's notes in the margins.[42] + +At the end is a memorandum giving the dates when the book was read "in +Cornwall at," and then follow two words, the second of which is "Lake," +but the first is undecipherable. + +Is it possible that Lady Anne Bacon had a house in Cornwall which +Francis Bacon, inheriting after her death, was in the habit of visiting +for retirement? But this is conjecture. + +The following point is of interest. In the "Life of Burghley" (1598) it +is said that: "Bookes weare so pleasing to him, as when he gott libertie +to goe unto his house to take ayre, if he found a book worth the +openinge, he wold rather loose his ridinge than his readinge; and yet +ryding in his garden walks upon his litle moile was his greatest +Disport: But so soone as he came in he fell to his readinge againe or +els to dispatchinge busines." + +Rawley, in his "Life of Bacon" (1657), attributes an exactly similar +habit to the philosopher, and almost in identical phrase: "For he would +ever interlace a moderate relaxation of his mind with his studies as +walking, or taking the air abroad in his coach or some other befitting +recreation; and yet he would lose no time, inasmuch as upon his first +and immediate return he would fall to reading again, and so suffer no +moment of time to slip from him without some present improvement." + +It is difficult to approach any phase of the life of Bacon without being +confronted with what appears to be evidence of careful preparation to +obscure the facts. This observation does not result from imagination or +prejudice; Bacon's movements are always enshrouded in mystery. +Investigation and research will, however, eventually establish as a fact +that there was a closer connection between Burghley and Bacon than +historians have recognised, and that they had a strong attachment for +each other. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[37] Harl. MSS., 537, pp. 26 and 71; additional MSS., 4,263, p. 144; +Harl. MSS., 6,401; Harl. MSS., 6,854, p. 203; Cambridge Univ. Lib., Mm. +V. 5; Cotton MSS., Tit., Chap. VII., p. 50 b; Harl. MSS., 859, p. 40; +Cotton MSS., Jul., F. VI., p. 158. + +[38] See page 72. + +[39] See pages 70, 72. + +[40] See Appendix. + +[41] If you, O Mildred, will take care to send back to me him whom + I desire, + You will be my good, my more than good, my only sister; + But if, unfortunately, by doing nothing you keep him back and + send him across the sea, + You will be bad, more than bad, nay no sister at all of mine. + If he comes to Cornwall, peace and all joys be with you, + But if he goes by sea to Sicily I declare war. Farewell. + +[42] One note on this book contains an interesting historical fact +hitherto unknown. On page 279 the text states: "Among the Conspirators +was Nicholo Fedini whom they employed as Chauncellor, he persuaded with +a hope more certaine, revealed to Piero, all the practice argreed by his +enemies, and delivered him a note of all their names." Bacon has made +the following note in the margin: "Ex (_i.e._, Essex) did the like in +England which he burnt at Shirfr Smiths house in fenchurch Street." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE 1623 FOLIO EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS. + + +Sir Sydney Lee has written[43]:--"As a specimen of typography, the First +Folio is not to be commended. There are a great many contemporary folios +of larger bulk far more neatly and correctly printed. It looks as though +Jaggard's printing office was undermanned. The misprints are numerous, +and are especially conspicuous in the pagination." In the same year was +published "The Theater of Honour and Knighthood," translated from the +French of Andreu Favine. William Jaggard was the printer. It is a large +folio volume containing about 1,200 pages, and is referred to as being +issued by Jaggard as an example of the printer's art to maintain his +reputation, which had suffered from the apparently careless manner in +which the Shakespeare Folio was turned out. Both books contain the same +emblematic head-pieces and tail-pieces. There are, however, some +considerable mispaginations in "The Theater of Honour." Mispaginations +were not infrequent in Elizabethan and Jacobean literature, but it is +quite possible that they were not unintentional. The most glaring +instance is to be found in the first Edition of "The Two Bookes of +Francis Bacon--Of the Proficience and Advancement in Learning, Divine +and Humane," published by Henrie Tomes (1605). Each leaf (not page) is +numbered. The 45 leaves of the first book are correctly numbered. In the +second book there is no number on leaf 6. Leaf 9 is numbered 6, the +right figure being printed upside down; 30 is numbered 33; from 31 to +70 the numbering is correct, and then the leaves are numbered as +follows:--70, 70, 71, 70, 72, 74, 73, 74, 75, 69, 77, 78, 79, 80, 77, +74, 74, 69, 69, 82, 87, 79, 89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 99, 97, 99, 94, 100, +99, 102, 103, 103, 93, 106, and on correctly until the last page, 118, +except that 115 is numbered 105. + +It is impossible to attribute this mispagination to the printer's +carelessness. This was the first work published bearing Bacon's name, +excepting the trifle of essays published in 1597. There does not appear +to have been any hurry in its production. It is quite a small volume, +and yet the foregoing remarkable mispaginations occur. There must be +some purpose in this which has yet to be found out. + +The 1623 Shakespeare Folio will be found to be one of the most perfect +examples of the printer's art extant, because no work has been produced +under such difficult conditions for the printer. There are few mistakes +in pagination or spelling which are not intentional. The work is a +masterpiece of enigma and cryptic design. The lines "To the Reader" +opposite to the title-page are a table or code of numbers. The same +lines and the lettering on the title-page form another table. The +ingenuity displayed in this manipulation of words and numbers to create +analogies is almost beyond the comprehension of the human mind. The +mispaginations are all intentional and have cryptic meanings. The acme +of wit is the substitution of 993 for 399 on the last page of the +tragedies; a hundred has been omitted in "Hamlet," 257 following 156, +and other errors made in order to obtain this result on the last page. +The manner in which the printer's signatures have been arranged with the +pages is equally wonderful. The name William Shakespeare must have been +created without reference to him of Stratford, who possibly bore or had +assigned to him a somewhat similar name. A great superstructure is built +up on the exact spelling of the words William Shakespeare. The year +1623 was specially selected for the issue of the complete volume of the +plays, because of the marvellous relations which the numbers composing +it bear to the names William Shakespeare and Francis Bacon, to the year +1560, in which the birth of Bacon is registered, and to 1564 and 1616, +the reputed dates of the birth and death of the Stratford man. Nor do +the wonders end here. The use of numerical analogies has been carried +into the construction of the English language. All this, and much more, +will be made manifest when the work of Mr. E. V. Tanner comes to be +investigated and appreciated. He has made the greatest literary +discovery of all time. The wonder is how it has been possible for anyone +to pierce the veil and reveal the secrets of the volume. The value of +the Shakespeare Folio 1623 will be enhanced. It will stand alone as the +greatest monument of the achievements of the human intellect. + +To any literary critic who should honour this book by noticing it, +it is probable the foregoing statements may seem extravagant and +untrustworthy. To such the request is now made that before making any +comment he will inspect the proof of the foregoing statements which are +in the writer's possession. The dramas of Shakespeare are, by universal +consent, placed at the head of all literature. The invitation is now +put forth in explicit terms, and facilities are offered for the +investigation of the truth, or otherwise, of every statement made in +the foregoing paragraph. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[43] "A Life of Shakespeare," 1589, 2nd Edition, p. 308. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE AUTHORIZED VERSION OF THE BIBLE, 1611. + + +Is it not strange that there is no mention of any connection of Francis +Bacon with this work? There was a conference held at Hampton Court +Palace before King James on January, 1603, between the Episcopalians and +Puritans. John Rainoldes urged the necessity of providing for his people +a uniform translation of the Bible. Rainoldes was the leader of the +Puritans, a person of prodigious reading and doctrine, and the very +treasury of erudition. Dr. Hall, Bishop of Norwich, reports that "he +alone was a well furnished library, full of all faculties, of all +studies, of all learning--the memory and reading of that man were near a +miracle." The King approved the suggestion and commissioned for that +purpose fifty-four of the most learned men in the universities and other +places. There was a "careful selection of revisers made by some unknown +but very competent authority." The translators were divided into six +bands of nine each, and the work of translation was apportioned out to +them. A set of rules was drawn up for their guidance, which has happily +come down to modern times--almost the only record that remains of this +great undertaking. These concise rules have a homogeneity, breadth and +vigour which point to Bacon as their author. Each reviser was to +translate the whole of the original allocated to his company; then they +were to compare their translations together, and, as soon as a company +had completed its part, it was to communicate the result to the other +companies, that nothing might pass without the general consent. If any +company, upon the review of the translation so sent, differed on any +point, they were to note their objection and state their reasons for +disagreement. If the differences could not be adjusted, there was a +committee of arbitration which met weekly, consisting of a +representative from each company, to whom the matter in dispute was +referred. If any point was found to be very obscure, letters were to be +addressed, by authority, to learned persons throughout the land inviting +their judgment. The work was commenced in 1604. Rainoldes belonged to +the company to whom Isaiah and the prophets were assigned. He died in +1607, before the work was completed. During his illness his colleagues +met in his bedroom so that they might retain the benefit of his +learning. Only forty-seven out of the fifty-four names are known. When +the companies had completed their work, one complete copy was made at +Oxford, one at Cambridge, and one at Westminster. Those were sent to +London. Then two members were selected from each company to form a +committee to review and polish the whole. The members met daily at +Stationers' Hall and occupied nine months in their task. Then a final +revision was entrusted to Dr. Thomas Bilson and Dr. Miles Smith, and in +1609 their labours were completed and the result was handed to the King. +Many of the translators have left specimens of their writing in +theological treatises, sermons, and other works. A careful perusal of +all these available justifies the assertion that amongst the whole body +there was not one man who was so great a literary stylist as to be able +to write certain portions of the Authorised Version, which stamp it as +one of the two greatest examples of the English language. Naturally the +interest centres on Dr. Thomas Bilson and Dr. Miles Smith, to whom the +final revision was entrusted. There are some nine or ten theological +works by the former and two sermons by the latter. Unless the theory of +a special divine inspiration for the occasion be admitted, it is clear +that neither Bilson nor Miles Smith could have given the final touches +to the Bible. And now a curious statement has come down to us. In 1609 +the translators handed their work to the King, and in 1610 he returned +it to them completed. James was incapable of writing anything to which +the term beautiful could be applied. What had happened to the +translators' work whilst it was left in his hands? + +James had an officer of state at that time of whom a contemporary +biographer wrote that "he had the contrivance of all King James his +Designs, until the match with Spain." It will eventually be proved that +the whole scheme of the Authorised Version of the Bible was Francis +Bacon's. He was an ardent student not only of the Bible, but of the +early manuscripts. St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and writers of theological +works, were studied by him with industry. He has left his annotations in +many copies of the Bible and in scores of theological works. The +translation must have been a work in which he took the deepest interest +and which he would follow from stage to stage. When the last stage came +there was only one writer of the period who was capable of turning the +phrases with that matchless style which is the great charm of the +Shakespeare plays. Whoever that stylist was, it was to him that James +handed over the manuscripts which he received from the translators. That +man then made havoc of much of the translation, but he produced a result +which, on its literary merits, is without an equal. + +Thirty years ago another revision took place, but, notwithstanding the +advantages which the revisers of 1880 had over their predecessors of +1611, their version has failed to displace the older version, which is +too precious to the hearts of the people for them to abandon it. + +Although not one of the translators has left any literary work which +would justify the belief that he was capable of writing the more +beautiful portions of the Bible, fortunately Bacon has left an example +which would rather add lustre to than decrease the high standard of the +Bible if it were incorporated in it. As to the truth of this statement +the reader must judge from the following prayer, which was written after +his fall, and which was described by Addison as resembling the devotion +of an angel rather than a man:-- + + _Remember, O Lord, how Thy servant hath walked before Thee; + remember what I have first sought, and what been principal in mine + intentions. I have loved Thy assemblies; I have mourned for the + divisions of Thy Church; I have delighted in the brightness of Thy + sanctuary._ + + _This vine, which Thy right hand hath planted in this nation, I + have ever prayed unto Thee that it might have the first and the + latter rain, and that it might stretch her branches to the seas and + to the floods._ + + _The state and bread of the poor and oppressed have been precious + in mine eyes. I have hated all cruelty and hardness of heart. I + have, though in a despised weed, procured the good of all men._ + + _If any have been mine enemies, I thought not of them, neither hath + the sun almost set upon my displeasure; but I have been as a dove, + free from superfluity of maliciousness._ + + _Thy creatures have been my books, but Thy scriptures much more. I + have sought Thee in the courts, fields, and gardens, but I have + found Thee in Thy temples._ + + _Thousand have been my sins and ten thousand my transgressions, but + Thy sanctifications have remained with me, and my heart, through + Thy grace, hath been an unquenched coal upon Thine altar._ + + _O Lord, my strength, I have since my youth met with Thee in all my + ways, by Thy fatherly compassions, by Thy comfortable + chastisements, and by Thy most visible providence. As Thy favours + have increased upon me, so have Thy corrections, so that Thou hast + been ever near me, O Lord; and ever, as Thy worldly blessings were + exalted, so secret darts from Thee have pierced me, and when I have + ascended before men, I have descended in humiliation before Thee._ + + _And now, when I thought most of peace and honour, Thy hand is + heavy upon me, and hath humbled me according to Thy former + lovingkindness, keeping me still in Thy fatherly school, not as a + bastard but as a child. Just are Thy judgments upon me for my sins, + which are more in number than the sands of the sea, but have no + proportion to Thy mercies; for what are the sands of the sea to the + sea? Earth, heavens, and all these are nothing to Thy mercies._ + + _Besides my innumerable sins, I confess before Thee that I am + debtor to Thee for the gracious talent of Thy gifts and graces, + which I have neither put into a napkin, nor put it (as I ought) to + exchangers, where it might have made most profit, but misspent it + in things for which I was least fit so that I may truly say my soul + hath been a stranger in the course of my pilgrimage._ + + _Be merciful unto me, O Lord, for my Saviour's sake, and receive me + into Thy bosom or guide me in Thy ways._ + +There is another feature about the first editions of the Authorised +Version which arrests attention. In 1611 the first folio edition was +published. The design with archers, dogs and rabbits which is to be +found over the address "To the Christian Reader" which introduces the +genealogies is also to be found in the folio edition of Shakespeare over +the dedication to the most noble and Incomparable paire of Brethren, +over the Catalogue and elsewhere. Except that the mark of query which is +on the head of the right hand pillar in the design in the Bible is +missing in the Shakespeare folio, and the arrow which the archer on the +right hand side is shooting contains a message in the design used in +the Bible and is without one in the Shakespeare folio. + +In the 1612 quarto edition of the Authorised Version on the title-page +of the Genealogies are two designs; that at the head of the page is +printed from the identical block which was used on the title-page of the +first edition of "Venus and Adonis," 1593, and the first edition of +"Lucrece," 1594. At the bottom is the design with the light A and dark +A, which is over the dedication to Sir William Cecil in the "Arte of +English Poesie," 1589. An octavo edition, which is now very rare, was +also published in 1612. On the title-page of the Genealogies will be +found the design with the light A and dark A which is used on several of +the Shakespeare quartos and elsewhere. (Figure XXI.) + +The selection of these designs was not made by chance. They were +deliberately chosen to create similitudes between certain books, and +mark their connection with each other. + +The revised translation of the Bible was undertaken as a national work. +It was carried out under the personal supervision of the King, but every +record of the proceedings has disappeared. The British Museum does not +contain a manuscript connected with the proceedings of the translators. +In the Record Office have been preserved the original documents +referring to important proceedings of that period. The parliamentary, +judicial, and municipal records are, on the whole, in a complete +condition, but ask for any records connected with the Authorised Version +of the Bible and the reply is: "We have none." And yet it is reasonable +to suppose that manuscripts and documents of such importance would be +preserved. Where are they to be found? + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +HOW BACON MARKED BOOKS WITH THE PUBLICATION OF WHICH HE WAS CONNECTED. + + +At a very early period in the history of printing, the custom was +introduced of placing on title-pages, at the heads and ends of the +chapters, emblematical designs. In English printed books these are +seldom to be found until the latter half of the 16th century. + +An investigation of the books of the period reveals the fact that the +same blocks were used by different printers. Articles have been written +on the migration of printer's blocks, but, so far, no explanation has +been offered as to any object other than decoration for which these +blocks were used. + +Among other designs in use between 1576 and 1640 are a number of +variants of a device in which a light A and a dark A form the most +conspicuous points. Camden, in his "Remaines Concerning Britaine," 1614, +commences a chapter on "Impresses," at the head of which the device is +found, thus:--"An Imprese (as the Italians call it) is a device in +picture with his Motto, or Word, borne by noble and learned personages, +to notifie some particular conceit of their owne: as Emblemes (that we +may omitte other differences) doe propound some general instructions to +all." Then follow a number of examples, and amongst them this:-- + + "Variete and vicissitude of humane things he seemed to shew which + parted his shield, Per Pale, Argent & Sables and counter-changeably + writte in the Argent, Ater and in the Sables Albus." + + But even if the light A and dark A are used in the design of the + head-piece to represent Albus and Ater it does not afford any + satisfactory explanation as to why they are so used. + +In MDCXVI. was published "Les Emblemes Moraulx et Militaires du Sieur +Jacob De Bruck Angermundt Nouvellement mis en Lumiere A Strasbourg, Par +Jacob de Heyden Graveur." + +In Emblem No. 18, now reproduced, the light A and the dark A will be +found in the branch of the tree which the man is about to cut off. +(Figure VI.)[44] + +Another Emblem does not contain the light A and dark A, but the bark of +the trunk and branches of the tree on the design exhibit a strong +contrast between the dark and light, which feature is represented in +most of the title-pages of books in which the device is found. (Figure +VII.) + +Mr. Charles T. Jacob, Chiswick Press, London, who is the author of +"Books and Printing" (London, 1902), and several works on typography, +referring to an article on the migration of woodblocks, said:-- + + It is a well-known fact to Bibliographers that the same blocks were + sometimes used by different printers in two places quite far apart, + and at various intervals during the seventeenth and eighteenth + centuries. That the same blocks were employed is apparent from a + comparison of technical defects of impressions taken at different + places, and at two periods. There was no method of duplication in + existence until stereotyping was first invented in 1725; even then + the details were somewhat crude, and the process being new, it met + with much opposition and was practically not adopted until the + early part of the nineteenth century. Electrotyping, which is the + ideal method of reproducing woodblocks, was not introduced until + 1836 or thereabouts. Of course, it was quite possible to re-engrave + the same design, but absolute fidelity could not be relied on by + these means, even if executed by the same hand. + +The earliest date which appears on a book in which the head-piece, +containing the device of the light A and dark A is found, is 1563. The +book is "De Furtivis Literarum Notis Vulgo. De Ziferis," Ioan. Baptista +Porta Neapolitano Authore. Cum Privilegio Neapoli, apud Ioa. Mariam +Scotum. MDLXIII. (Figure VIII.) + +It is only used once--over the dedication Ioanni Soto Philippi Regis. +There is no other head-piece in the book. John Baptist Porta was, with +the exception of Trithemius, whom he quotes, the first writer on +cyphers. At the time at which he wrote cypher-writing was studied in +every Court in Europe. It is significant that this emblematic device is +used in the earliest period in which head-pieces were adopted, in a book +which is descriptive and is in fact a text-book of the art of +concealment. This has, however, now been proved to be a falsely dated +book. + +The first edition of this work was published in Naples in 1563 by Ioa. +Marius Scotus, but this does not contain the A A design. In 1591 the +book was published in London by John Wolfe; this reprint was dedicated +to Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. After the edition had been +printed off, the title-page was altered to correspond with the 1563 +Naples publication. The dedication was taken out, and a reprint of the +original dedication was substituted, and over this was placed the A A +head-piece; then an edition was struck off, and, until to-day, it has +been sold and re-sold as the first edition of Baptista Porta's work. It +is difficult to offer any explanation as to why this fraud was +committed. + +The first occasion upon which this device was used appears to be in a +book so rare that no copy of it can be found, either in the British +Museum or the Bodleian Library. Unfortunately, in the copy belonging to +the writer, the title-page and the two first pages are missing. The work +is called "Hebraicum Alphabethum Jo. Bovlaese." It is a Hebrew Grammar, +with proof-sheets added. It is interleaved with sheets of English-made +paper, containing Bacon's handwriting. Bound up with it is another +Hebrew Grammar, similarly interleaved, called "Sive compendium, +quintacunque Ratione fieri potuit amplessimum, Totius linguae," published +in Paris in 1566. The book ends with the sentence: "Ex collegio +Montis--Acuti 20 Decembris 1576"; then follow two pages in Hebrew, with +the Latin translation over it, headed "Decem Praecepta decalogi Exod." +Over this is the design containing the light A and the dark A, and the +squirrel and rabbits. (Figure IX.) One thing is certain, that the copy +now referred to was in the possession of Bacon, and that the interleaved +sheets of paper contain his handwriting, in which have been added page +by page the equivalents of the Hebrew in Greek, Chaldaeic, Syriac and +Arabic. + +In 1577 Christophor Plantin published an edition of Andrea Alciat's +"Emblemata." On page 104 is Emblem No. 45, "In dies meliora." This has +been re-designed for the 1577 edition. It contains at the back the +pillars of Hercules, with a scroll around bearing the motto: "Plus +oltre." These pillars stand on some arches, immediately in front of +which is a mound or pyramid, two sides of which are seen. On one is to +be found the light A and on the other the dark A. The design was +appropriated by Whitney, and appears on page 53 in the 1586 edition of +his Emblems. From this time forth, A A devices are to be found in +numbers of books published in England, and on some published on the +Continent. Amongst the former are the first editions of "Venus and +Adonis," "Lucrece," the "Sonnets," the quarto editions of Shakespeare's +plays, the folio edition (1623) of his works, and the first quarto and +octavo editions (1612) of the Authorised Version of the Bible. + +There are fourteen distinct designs, in all of which, varying widely in +other respects, the light A and the dark A constitute the outstanding +figure. The use of the two letters so shaded must have had a special +significance. In nearly every case it will be observed that the letter A +is so drawn as to make the letter C on the inside. Was its significance +of general knowledge amongst printers and readers, or was it an +earmarking device used by one person, or by a Society? + +A possible interpretation of the use of the light and dark shading, is +that the book in which it is used contains more than is revealed; that +is to say, the overt and the concealed. + +A copy of "AEsopiphrygis vita et fabellae cum latina interpretatione" +exists, date 1517. The book is annotated by Bacon. On one side is the +Greek text and on the opposite page the Latin translation. On pages 102 +and 103 are two initial letters printed from blocks of the letter A. +These are coloured so that the one on the left hand side is a light A, +and that on the opposite page a dark A. + +There are other designs which are used apparently as part of a scheme. +The identical block (Figure X.) which was used at the top of the title +page of "Venus and Adonis" (1593) and "Lucrece" (1594) did service on +the title page of the Genealogies in the quarto edition of the +Authorised Version of the Bible, 1612. This design was, so far as can be +traced, only used twice in the intervening nineteen years--on "An +Apologie of the Earl of Essex to Master Anthony Bacon," penned by +himself in 1598, and printed by Richard Bradocke in 1603, and in 1607, +on the "World of Wonders," printed by Richard Field. It was of this book +that Caldecott, the bibliophile and Shakespearean scholar, wrote: "The +phraseology of Shakespeare is better illustrated in this work than in +any other book existing." The design which is found on the title page of +the "Sonnets of Shakespeare," 1609, is found also in the first edition +of Napier's "Mirifici Logarithmorum," 1611, but printed from a +different block. The design with archers shooting at the base of the +central figure is to be found in a large number of the folio editions of +the period. Amongst these are the Authorised Version of the Bible, 1611, +the "Novum Organum," 1620, and the 1623 edition of Shakespeare's works. + +There are other designs which are usually found accompanying the light A +and dark A and the other devices before referred to. + +These designs were first brought into use from 1576 and practically +cease to appear about 1626. Afterwards they are seldom seen except in +books bearing Bacon's name, and eventually they lapse. The last use of +an A A device is over the life of the author in the second volume of an +edition of Bacon's Essays edited by Dr. William Willymott, published by +Henry Parson in 1720. After an interval of about 60 years a new design +is made, which is not one of those employed by Bacon. + +By means of these devices a certain number of books may be identified as +forming a class by themselves. + +There is another feature connected with them which is of special +interest. One man appears to have contributed to all the books thus +marked--either the dedication, the preface,[45] or the lines "To the +Reader"; in some cases all three. It may be urged in opposition to this +view that in those days there was a form in which dedications and +prefaces were written, and that this was more or less followed by many +writers, but this contention will not stand investigation. There are +tricks of phrasing and other peculiarities which enable certain literary +productions to be identified as the work of one man. Some of the finest +Elizabethan literature is to be found in the prefaces and dedications +in these books. + +The theory now put forth is that Francis Bacon was directing the +production of a great quantity of the Elizabethan literature, and in +every book in the production of which he was interested, he caused to be +inserted one of these devices. He kept the blocks in his own custody; he +sent them out to a printer when a book was approved by him for printing. +On the completion of the work, the printer returned the blocks to Bacon +so that they could be sent elsewhere by him as occasion required. + +The most elaborate of the AA designs is Figure XII., and the writer has +only found it in one volume. It is "Le Historie della Citta Di +Fiorenza," by M. Jacopo, published in Lyons by Theobald Ancelin in 1582. + +"Exact was his correspondence abroad and at home, constant his Letters, +frequent his Visits, great his obligations," states the contemporary +biographer, speaking of Francis Bacon. It is difficult to arrive at the +exact meaning of these words. There is little correspondence with those +abroad remaining, no record of visits, no particulars of the great +obligations into which he entered. In the dedication of the 1631 edition +of the "Histoire Naturelle" to Monseigneur de Chasteauneuf, the author +speaking of Bacon writes:--"Le Chancelier, qu'on a fait venir tant de +fois en France, n'a point encore quitte l'Angleterre avec tant de +passion de nous decouvrir ses merveilles que depuis qu'il a sceu le rang +dont on avoit reconnu vos vertus." + +These frequent visits to France are unrecorded elsewhere, but here is +definite testimony that they were made. + +There are good grounds for believing that Bacon was throughout his life, +until their deaths, in constant communication with Christophor Plantin +(1514-1589), Aldus Manutius, Henry Stephen (1528-1598), and also with +Robert Stephens the third (1563-1640). All these men were not only +printers, but brilliant scholars and writers. If search be made, it is +quite possible that correspondence or other evidence of their friendship +may come to light. Be that as it may, there were undoubtedly a number of +books published on the continent between 1576 and 1630 which in the +sparta upon them bear testimony to Bacon's association with their +publication. + +The following are instances of where the several designs which are +reproduced may be found. They however occur in many other volumes. + + Figure IX.--"The Arte of English Poesie," 1589. + " XIII.--"Orlando Furioso," 1607. + " XIV.--Spencer's "Fairie Queen." + " XV.--"Florentine History translation," 1595, and 1636 edition + of Barclay's "Argenis." + " XI.--"Sonnets." + " XVI.--Simon Pateriche's translation of "Discourse against + Machiavel." + " XVII.--Lodge's translation of "Seneca," 1614. + " XVIII.--Shakespeare Folio, 1623. + " XIX.--"Daemonologie," 1603. + " XX.--Alciat's "Emblems," published in Paris, 1584. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[44] Plates Nos. VI. to XXI. will be found after the Appendix. + +[45] In the "Advancement of Learning" Bacon says that Demosthenes +went so far in regard to the great force that the entrance +and access into a cause had to make a good impression that he +kept in readiness a stock of prefaces. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +BACON AND EMBLEMATA. + + +In "Shakespeare and the Emblem Writers" the Rev. Henry Green endeavours +to show the similarities of thought and expression between the great +poet and the authors of Emblemata, but the line of enquiry which he +there opened does not appear to have been followed by subsequent +writers. To-day the Emblemata literature is a _terra incognita_ except +to a very few students, and yet it is full of interest, romance, and +mystery. Emblem literature may be said to have had its origin with +Andrea Alciat, the celebrated Italian jurisconsult, who was famous for +his great knowledge and power of mind. In 1522 he published at Milan an +"Emblematum Libellus," or Little Book of Emblems. Green says: "It +established, if it did not introduce, a new style of emblem literature, +the classical in the place of the simply grotesque and humorous, or of +the heraldic and mythic." The first edition now known to exist was +published at Augsburg in 1531, a small octavo containing eighty-eight +pages with ninety-seven emblems, and as many woodcuts. It was from time +to time augmented, and passed through many editions. For some years the +Emblemata appears to have been produced chiefly by Italians, with a few +Frenchmen. Until the last half of the sixteenth century the output of +books of this character was not large. Thenceforth for the next hundred +years the creation of emblems became a popular form of literary +exercise. The Italians continued to be prolific, but Dutch, French, and +German scholars were but little behind them. There were a few Englishmen +and Spaniards who also practised the art. + +In 1905 was published a book called "Letters from the Dead to the Dead," +by Oliver Lector. In it attention is drawn to the remarkable features of +some of the books on emblems printed during Bacon's life, and to the +evidence that he was in some manner connected with the publication of +many of these volumes. The author claims this to be especially the case +with the "Emblemata Moralia et Bellica," 1615, of Jacob de Bruck, of +Angermundt, and the "Emblemata Ethic Politica" of J. Bornitius. + +The emblem pictures for the most part appear to be picture puzzles. In +the "Critique upon the Mythology of the Ancients" Bacon says:-- + + "It may pass for a farther indication of a concealed and secret + meaning, that some of these fables are so absurd and idle in their + narration as to proclaim and shew an allegory afar off. A fable + that carries probability with it may be supposed invented for + pleasure, or in imitation of history; but, those that would never + be conceived or related in this way, must surely have a different + use." + +If this line of reasoning be applied to the illustrations in the emblem +books, it is clear that they conceal some hidden meaning, for they are +apparently unintelligible, and the accompanying letterpress does not +afford any illumination. + +Jean Baudoin was the translator of Bacon's "Essaies" into the French +language (1626). Baudoin published in 1638-9 "Recueil D'Emblemes divers +avec des Discours Moraux, Philos. et Polit." In the preface he says: +"Le grand chancelier Bacon m'ayant fait naitre l'envie de travailler +a ces emblemes ... m'en a fourni les principaux que j'ai tires de +l'explication ingenieuse qu'il a donnee de quelques fables et de ses +autres ouvrages." Here is definite evidence of Bacon's association with +a book of emblems. + +The first volume of Emblemata in which traces of Bacon's hand are to +be found is the 1577 edition of Alciat's "Emblems," published by the +Plantin Press, with notes by Claude Mignault. It is in this edition, in +Emblem No. 45, "In dies meliora," that for the first time the light A +and the dark A is to be found. In previous editions this device is +absent. For this volume a new design has been engraved in which it +appears. + +In the emblem books written in Italian Bacon does not appear to have +been concerned, unless an exception be made of Ripa's "Iconologia," a +copy of which contains his handwriting and initials. In some way he had +control of a large number of those written in Latin, and bearing names +of Dutch, French, and some Italian authors, and also of several written +in Dutch and of the English writers. The field is a very wide one, and +only a few of the principal examples can be mentioned. + +The most important work is the "Emblemata Moralia et Bellica" of Jacob a +Bruck, of Angermundt, 1615. "Argentorati per Jacobum ab Heyden." With +many of the designs in this volume Oliver Lector has dealt fully in +"Letters from the Dead to the Dead,"[46] before referred to. There is +another volume bearing the name of Jacob a Bruck, published in 1598. +Only one copy of this book is known to be in existence, and that is in +the Royal Library of St. Petersburg. + +The "Emblemata Ethico Politica of Jacobus Bornitius, 1659, Moguntiae," is +remarkable because many of the engravings contain portraits of Bacon, +namely, in Sylloge Prima, Plates Nos. vii., xxiii., xliv., xlv., xlvix.; +and in Sylloge II., Plates ix. and xxxvi. Oliver Lector says: "I have +not met with an earlier edition of Bornitius than 1659. My conjecture, +however, is that the manuscript came into the hands of Gruter with other +of Bacon's published by him in the year 1653." + +There are two productions of Janus Jacobus Boissardus in which Bacon's +hand may be recognised--"Emblemes Latines avec l'Interpretation +Francoise du I. Pierre Ioly Messin. Metis, 1588," and "Emblematum liber. +Ipsa Emblemata ab Auctore delineata: a Theodoro de Bry sculpta et nunc +recens in lucem edita," 1593, Frankfort. Two editions of the latter were +printed in the same year. The title-pages are identical, and the same +plates have been used throughout, but the letterpress is in Latin in the +one, and in French in the other. In both, the dedications are addressed +in French to Madame de Clervent, Baronne de Coppet, etc. The dedication +of the former bears the name Jan Jacques Boissard at the head, and +addresses the lady as "que come estes addonnee a la speculation des +choses qui appartiennent a l'instruction de l'ame." The dedication of +the latter is signed Ioly, who explains that he has translated the +verses into French, so that they may be of more service to the +dedicatee. + +Otho Van Veen enjoys the distinction of having had Rubens for a +disciple. A considerable number of emblem books emanated from him. In +1608 were published at Antwerp two editions of his "Amorum Emblemata." +In one copy the verses are in Latin, German, and French, and in the +other in Latin, English, and Italian. There are commendatory verses in +the latter, two of which are by Daniel Heinsius and R. V., who was +Robert Verstegen, the author of "A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence +in Antiquities." The dedication is "To the most honourable and worthie +brothers William Earle of Pembroke, and Phillip Earle of Montgomerie, +patrons of learning and chevalrie," who are "the most noble and +incomparable paire of brethren" to whom the 1623 Shakespeare Folio was +dedicated. In this volume Bacon has left his marks. + +"Emblemata door Zacharias Heyns," published in Rotterdam in 1625, +comprises four books bound together. The inscriptions over the plates +are in Latin. The letterpress, which is in Dutch and French, apparently +bears very little reference to the illustrations. + +Johannis de Brunes I.C. Emblemata of Sinne-Werck, Amsterdam, 1624, is +written in Dutch. Emblem VIII. contains an indication that the number +1623 is a key. + +The "Silenus Alcibiades sive Proteus" was published at Middleburgh in +1618. There is no author's name on the title-page, but the Voor-reden, +written in Dutch, is signed J. Cats. Attached to two of the preliminary +complimentary verses are the names of Daniel Heyns and Josuah Sylvester, +the translator of "Du Bartas." The verses are in Latin, Dutch, and +French. Immediately following the title-page is a preface in Latin, +signed by Majores de Baptis. Over this is the familiar emblem containing +the archers, rabbits, and dogs, with the note of query on the right-hand +side, and the message on the arrow. This volume is one of the most +remarkable of the emblem books. The Latin preface is autobiographical. +If the writer can be identified as the author of "Venus and Adonis," it +becomes one of the most important contributions to his biography. + +In 1616, the year of Shakespeare's death, was published at Amsterdam a +book bearing on its title-page the inscription: "Cornelii Giselberti +Plempii Amsterodamum Monogrammon." It contains fifty illustrations, with +Latin verses attached. Emblem I. is reproduced (Fig. V.) On reference to +it, it will be seen that Fortune stands on a globe, and with one hand is +pushing off from the pinnacle of fame a man dressed as a player with a +feather in his hat; with the other hand she is raising up a man who is +wearing the Bacon hat, but whose face is hidden. The prophecy expressed +by the emblem is now being fulfilled. It will be seen that the initial +letters of each word in the sentence of the letterpress--Obscaenumque +nimis crepuit, Fortuna Batavis appellanda--yield F. Bacon. Bacon's +portrait is found in several of the illustrations in this book. Other +emblem writers whose works bear traces of Bacon's co-operation are +G. Rollenhagen, J. Camerius, J. Typotius, D. Hensius. + + [Illustration: _Fig. V._ + + _En Fortuna: manu quos rupem ducit in altam, + Praecipites abigit: carnificina Dea est. + Firma globo imponi voluerunt fata caducam, + Ipsa quoque ut posset risus, & esse iocus. + Olim unctos Saly qui praesiliere per utres, + Ridebant caderet si qua puella male. + O quam saepe sales, plausumque merente ruina, + Erubuit vitium fors inhonest a suum! + Obscaenumque nimis crepuit, Fortuna Batavis + Appellanda; sono, quo sua curta vocant. + Quoque sono veteres olim sua furta Latini: + Vt nec, Homere, mali nomen odoris ames._ + + C. PLEMPII. + EMBLEMATA + EMBL. I.] + +There yet remain to be mentioned two English emblem writers. A "Choice +of Emblems" by Geffrey Whitney was published in 1586 by Francis +Raphelengius in the house of Christopher Plantin at Leyden. The +dedication is to Robert Earle of Leicester. There are only from fifteen +to twenty original designs out of 166 illustrations. The remainder are +taken from other emblem writers, chiefly from Alciat, Sambucus, Paradin, +and Hadrian Junius. On page 53 is the design headed "In dies meliora" +found in the 1577 edition of Alciat, but the letterpress, which is in +English, is quite different from the Latin verse attached to it in the +Alciat. + +The "Minerva Britanna" of Henry Peacham was published in 1612. The +emblem on the title-page[47] represents the great secret of Francis +Bacon's life, and on page .33 is an emblem in which the name Shakespeare +is represented. The volume is full of devices which will amply repay a +careful study. + +Apart from any connection which Bacon may have had with this remarkable +class of books, they are of great interest to the student of the +Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. They contain pictorial representations +full of information as to the habits and customs of the people. With the +exception of Whitney's "Choice of Emblems," a facsimile reprint of which +was published in 1866, edited by the Rev. Henry Green, no reprint of any +of these curious books has been issued. As the original editions of many +of them are very rare, and of none of them plentiful, their study is a +matter of difficulty, and few students find their way to this +fascinating field of research. How close Bacon's connection was with the +writers of these books, or with their publishers, it is difficult to +say, but there is considerable evidence that in some way he was able to +introduce into every one of the books here enumerated, and many others, +some plates illustrative of his inductive philosophy. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[46] Bernard Quaritch, 1905. + +[47] See page 105. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. + + +"Shakespeare's Sonnets never before Imprinted," have afforded +commentators material for many volumes filled with theories which to the +ordinary critical mind appear to have no foundation in fact. Chapters +have been written to prove that Mr. W. H., the only begetter of the +Sonnets, was Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, and chapters have +been written to prove that he was no such person, but that William +Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, was the man intended to be designated. +Theories have been elaborated to identify the individuals represented by +the Rival Poet and the dark Lady. Not one of these theories is supported +by the vestige of a shred of testimony that would stand investigation. +There has not come down any evidence that Shakspur, of Stratford, knew +either the Earl of Southampton, the Earl of Pembroke or Marie Fitton. +The truth is that Mr. W. H. was _Shakespeare_, who _was_ the only +begetter of the Sonnets, and the proof of this statement will in due +time be forthcoming. It may be well to try and read some of the Sonnets +as they stand and endeavour to realise what is the obvious meaning of +the printed words. + +The key to the Sonnets will be found in No. 62. The language in which it +is written is explicit and capable of being understood by any ordinary +intellect. + + "Sinne of selfe-love possesseth al mine eie + And all my soule, and al my every part; + And for this sinne there is no remedie, + It is so grounded inward in my heart. + Me thinkes no face so gratious is as mine, + No shape so true, no truth of such account, + And for my selfe mine owne worth do define, + As I all other in all worth's surmount + But when my glasse shewes me my selfe indeed + Beated and chopt with tand antiquitie, + Mine own selfe love quite contrary I read + Selfe, so selfe loving were iniquity. + Tis thee (my-selfe) that for myself I praise + Painting my age with beauty of thy daies." + +The writer here states definitely that he is dominated by the sin of +self-love; it possesseth his eye, his soul, and every part of him. There +can be found no remedy for it; it is so grounded in his heart. No face +is so gracious as is his, no shape so true, no truth of such account. He +defines his worth as surmounting that of all others. This is the frank +expression of a man who not only believed that he was, but knew that he +was superior to all his contemporaries, not only in intellectual power, +but in personal appearance. Then comes an arrest in the thought, and he +realises that time has been at work. He has been picturing himself as he +was when a young man. He turns to his glass and sees himself beated and +chopt with tanned antiquity; forty summers have passed over his +brow.[48] + +Francis Bacon at forty years of age, or thereabouts, unmarried, +childless, sits down to his table, Hilliard's portrait before him, with +pen in hand, full of self-love, full of admiration for that beautiful +youth on whose counterfeit presentment he is gazing. His intellectual +triumphs pass in review before him, most of them known only to himself +and that youth--his companion through life. That was the Francis Bacon +who controlled him in all his comings and goings--his ideal whom he +worshipped. If he could have a son like that boy! His pen begins to move +on the paper-- + + "From fairest creatures we desire increase + That thereby beauty's rose might never die, + But as the riper should by time decrease + His tender heire might bear his memory." + +The pen stops and the writer's eye wanders to the miniature:-- + + "But _thou_[49] contracted to thine own bright eyes." + +And so the Sonnets flow on, without effort, without the need of +reference to authorities, for the great, fixed and methodical memory +needs none. + +How natural are the allusions-- + + "Thou art thy mother's glasse and she in thee + Calls backe the lovely Aprill of her prime." + + * * * * * + + "Be as thy presence is, gracious and kind, + Or to thyselfe at least kind hearted prove. + Make thee another self, for love of me + That beauty may still live in thine or thee." + + * * * * * + + "Let those whom nature hath not made for store, + Harsh, featureless and rude, barrenly perish; + Look, whom she best indow'd she gave the more; + Which bountious guift thou shouldst in bounty cherrish; + She carv'd thee for her seale, and ment therby + Thou shouldst print more, not let that coppy die." + + * * * * * + + "O that you were yourselfe, but love you are + No longer yours, then you yourselfe here live, + Against this cunning end you should prepare, + And your sweet semblance to some other give + . . . . + Who lets so faire a house fall to decay + . . . . + O none but unthrifts, deare my love you know + You had a Father, let your Son say so." + + * * * * * + + "But wherefore do not you a mightier waie + Make warre uppon this bloodie tirant Time? + And fortifie your selfe in your decay + With meanes more blessed, then my barren rime? + Now stand you on the top of happie houres + And many maiden gardens, yet onset, + With virtuous wish would beare you living flowers + Much liker than your painted counterfeit: + + * * * * * + + Who will beleeve my verses in time to come + If it were fil'd with your most high deserts? + Though yet heaven knows, it is but as a tombe + _Which hides your life_, and shewes not halfe your parts: + If I could write the beauty of your eyes + And in fresh numbers number all your graces, + The age to come would say this Poet lies, + Such heavenly touches nere toucht earthly faces. + So should my papers (yellowed with their age) + Be scorn'd, like old men of lesse truth than tongue, + And your true rights be termd a Poets rage + And stretched miter of an Antique song. + But were some childe of yours alive that time, + You should live twise, in it and in my rime." + + * * * * * + + "Yet doe thy worst, ould Time, dispight thy wrong + My love shall in my verse ever live young." + +He realises that he no longer answers Ophelia's description: + + "The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's eye, tongue, sword: + The expectancy and rose of the fair state + The glass of fashion and the mould of form, + The observed of all observers.... + That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth." + +But he cannot forget what he has been, he cannot realise that he is no +longer the brilliant youth whose miniature he has before him, with the +words inscribed around, "Si tabula daretur digna animum mallem"--If +materials could be found worthy to paint his mind ("O could he but have +drawn his wit") and then with a burst of poetic enthusiasm he +exclaims:-- + + "Tis thee (myselfe) that for myselfe I praise, + Painting my age with beauty of thy daies." + +This is the common experience of a man as he advances in life. So long +as he does not see his reflection in a glass, if he tries to visualize +himself, he sees the youth or young man. Only in his most pessimistic +moments does he realise his age. + +There is no longer any difficulty in understanding Shakespeare's +Sonnets. They were addressed by "Shakespeare," the poet, to the +marvellous youth who was known under the name of Francis Bacon, and they +were written, with Hilliard's portrait placed on his table before him. + +In that age (please God it may be the present age), which is known only +to God and to the fates when the finishing touch shall be given to +Bacon's fame,[50] it will be found that the period of his life from +twelve to thirty-five years of age surpassed all others, not only in +brilliant intellectual achievements, but for the enduring wealth with +which he endowed his countrymen. And yet it was part of his scheme of +life that his connection with the great renaissance in English +literature should lie hidden until posterity should recognise that work +as the fruit of his brain:--"Mente Videbor"--"by the mind I shall be +seen." + +How lacking all his modern biographers have been in perception! + +Every difficulty in those which are termed the procreation Sonnets +disappears with the application of this key. Only by it can Sonnet 22 be +made intelligible:-- + + "My glass shall not persuade me I am old, + As long as youth and thou are of one date; + But when in thee time's furrow I behold, + Then look, I death my days would expirate + For all that beauty that doth cover thee + Is but the steady raiment of my heart. + Which in my breast doth live, as thine in me. + How can I then be older than thou art? + O, therefore, love, be of thyself so wary + As I, not for myself, but for thee will; + Bearing thy heart, which I will keep so chary + As tender nurse her babe from faring ill. + Presume not on thy heart when mine is slain; + Thou gavest me thine, not to give back again." + +But nearly every Sonnet might be quoted in support of this view. +Especially is it of value in bringing an intelligent and allowable +explanation to Sonnets 40, 41, and 42, which now no longer have an +unsavoury flavour. + +Sonnet No. 59 is most noteworthy, because it implies a belief in +re-incarnation. Shakespeare expresses his longing to know what the +ancients would have said of his marvellous intellect. If he could find +his picture in some antique book over 500 years old, see an image of +himself as he then was, and learn what men thought of him! + + "If their bee nothing new, but that which is + Hath beene before, how are our braines begulld, + Which laboring for invention, beare amisse + The second burthen of a former child? + Oh that record could with a back-ward looke, + Even of five hundredth courses of the Sunne, + Show me your image in some antique booke, + Since minde at first in carrecter was done, + That I might see what the old world could say + To this composed wonder of your frame; + Whether we are mended, or where better they, + Or whether revolution be the same. + Oh sure I am, the wits of former daies, + To subjects worse have given admiring praise." + +There is the same idea in Sonnet 71, which suggests that in some future +re-incarnation Bacon might read Shakespeare's praises of him. + +Conjectures as to who was the rival poet may be dispensed with. The +following rendering of Sonnet No. 80 makes this perfectly clear:-- + + "O how I (_the poet_) faint when I of you (_F.B._) do write, + Knowing a better spirit (_that of the philosopher_) doth use your name + And in the praise thereof spends all his might + To make me tongue tied, speaking of your fame! + (_Shakespeare never refers to Bacon or vice-versa_) + But since your (_F.B.'s_) worth wide as the ocean is, + The humble as the proudest sail doth bear, + My saucy bark (_that of the poet_) inferior far to his (_that of the + philosopher_), + On your broad main doth wilfully appear. + Your shallowest help will hold me (_the poet_) up afloat + Whilst he (_the philosopher_) upon your soundless deep doth ride." + +It is impossible to do justice to this subject in the space here +available. By the aid of this key every line becomes intelligible. The +charm and beauty of the Sonnets are increased tenfold. Every unpleasant +association of them is removed. No longer need Browning say, "If so the +less Shakespeare he." + +These are not "Shakespeare's sug'rd[51] Sonnets amongst his private +friends" to which Meres makes reference. They are to be found elsewhere. + +If there had been an intelligent study of Elizabethan literature from +original sources the authorship of the Sonnets would have been revealed +long ago. It was a habit of Bacon to speak of himself as some one apart +from the speaker. The opening sentence of _Filum Labyrinthi, Sivo Forma +Inquisitiones_ is an example. _Ad Filios_--"Francis Bacon thought in +this manner." Prefixed to the preface to Gilbert Wats' interpretation of +the "Advancement of Learning" is a chapter commencing, "Francis Lo +Verulam consulted thus: and thus concluded with himselfe. The +publication whereof he conceived did concern the present and future +age." + +Nothing that has been written is more perfectly Baconian in style and +temperament than are the Sonnets. They breathe out his hopes, his +aspirations, his ideals, his fears, in every line. He knew he was not +for his time. He knew future generations only would render him the fame +to which his incomparable powers entitled him. He knew how far he +towered above his contemporaries, aye, and his predecessors, in +intellectual power. His hopes were fixed on that day in the distant +future--to-day--when for the first time the meshes which he wove, behind +which his life's work is obscured, are beginning to be unravelled. + +The most sanguine Baconian, in his most enthusiastic moments, must fail +adequately to appreciate the achievements of Francis Bacon and the +obligations under which he has placed posterity. But Bacon knew--and he +alone knew--their full value. It was fitting that the greatest poet +which the world had produced should in matchless verse do honour to the +world's greatest intellect. It was a pretty conceit. Only a master mind +would dare to make the attempt. The result has afforded another example +of how his great wit, in being concealed, was revealed. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[48] Sonnet No. 2. + +[49] _'Tis thee myselfe_, Sonnet 62. + +[50] See Rawley's Introduction to "Manes Verulamiana." + +[51] The expression "sugr'd Sonnets" refers to verses which were written +with coloured ink to which sugar had been added. When dry the writing +shone brightly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +BACON'S LIBRARY. + + +In the "Advancement of Learning" Bacon refers to the annotations of +books as being deficient. There was living at the end of the sixteenth +and beginning of the seventeenth century a scholar through whose hands +at least several thousand books passed. He appears to have made a +practice of annotating in the margins every book he read. The chief +purpose, however, of the notes, apparently, was to aid the memory, for +in some books nearly every name occurring in the text is carried into +the margin without comment. The notes are also accompanied by scrolls, +marks, and brackets, which support the contention that they are the work +of one man. The annotation of books was not a common practice then, nor +has it been since. If a reader takes up a hundred books in a second-hand +book shop he will probably not find more than one containing manuscript +notes, and not one in five hundred in which the annotations have been +systematically carried through. There does not appear to have been any +other scholar living at that time, with the exception of this one, who +was persistently making marginal notes on the books he read. + +Spedding writes: "What became of his (Bacon's) books, which were left to +Sir John Constable and must have contained traces of his reading, we do +not know; but very few appear to have survived." + +Mrs. Pott, in "Francis Bacon and his Secret Society," draws attention to +the mystery as to the disappearance of Bacon's library. "Which is a +mystery," she adds, "although the world has been content to take it +very apathetically. Where is Bacon's library? Undoubtedly the books +exist and are traceable. We should expect them to be recognisable by +marginal notes; yet those notes, whether in pencil or in ink, may have +been effaced. If annotated, Bacon and his friends would not wish his +books to attract public attention." And further on: "It is probable that +the latter (_i.e._, the books) will seldom or never be found to bear his +name or signature." And again: "Yet it may reasonably be anticipated +that some at least are 'noted in the margin,' or that some will be found +with traces of marks which were guides to the transcriber or amanuensis +as to the portions which were to be copied for future use in Bacon's +collections or book of commonplaces." Mrs. Pott's words were written in +a spirit of true prophecy. + +The collecting together of these books originated with that +distinguished Baconian scholar, Mr. W. M. Safford. For years past he has +been steadily engaged in reconstituting Bacon's Library. The writer has +had the privilege of being associated with him in this work during the +past three years. A collection of nearly two thousand volumes has been +gathered together. The annotations on the margins of these books are +unquestionably the work of one man, and that man, or rather boy and man, +was undoubtedly Francis Bacon. The books bear date from 1470 to 1620. It +is impossible to enumerate them all here, but they include the works of +Seneca, Aristotle, Plato, Horace, Alciat, Lucanus, Dionysius, Catullus, +Lactinius, Plutarch, Pliny, Aristophanes, Plautus, Cornelius Agrippa, +Cicero, Vitruvius, Euclid, Virgil, Ovid, Lucretius, Apuleius, Salust, +Tibullus, Isocrates, and hundreds of other classical writers; St. +Augustine, St. Jerome, Calvin, Beza, Beda, Erasmus, Martin Luther, J. +Cammerarius, Sir Thomas Moore, Machiavelli, and other more modern +writers. + +The handwriting varies,[52] but there is a particular hand which is +found accompanied by a boy's sketches. There are drawings of full-length +figures, heads of men and women, animals, birds, reptiles, ships, +castles, cathedrals, cities, battles, storms, etc. The writing is a +strong, clerkly student's hand. There is a passage in "Hamlet," Act V., +scene ii., which is noteworthy. Hamlet, speaking to Horatio, says:-- + + "I sat me down + Devised a new commission; wrote it fair; + I once did hold it, as our statists do, + A baseness to write fair, and labour'd much + How to forget that learning; but, Sir, now + It did me yeomans service." + +The nature of this statement is so personal that it could only have been +written as the result of experience. Hamlet had been taught, when young, +to write a hand so fair that he was capable of producing a fresh +commission which would pass muster as the work of a Court copyist. The +annotation of these books possessed the same qualification. In the +margins of these books are abundant references in handwriting to the +whole range of classical authors. + +A copy of the "Grammatice Compendium" of Lactus Pomponius, a very rare +book printed by De Fortis in Venice in 1484, contains on the margins the +boy's scribble and drawings, besides a number of manuscript notes. It +bears traces of his reading probably at eight years of age. A large +folio volume entitled "T. Livii Palvini Latinae Historiae Principis +Decades Tres," published by Frobenius in 1535, is a treasure. It is most +copiously annotated and embellished with sketches. The notes are usually +in Latin, but interspersed with Greek and sometimes with English. +Obviously the writer thought in Latin, and the character of the +drawings justifies the assumption that, at the time, his age would be +from ten to fourteen years. + +The most remarkable reference to these annotations is to be found in the +"Rape of Lucrece." The fifteenth stanza is as follows:-- + + "But she that never cop't with straunger eies, + Could picke no meaning from their parling lookes, + _Nor read the subtle shining secrecies + Writ in the glassie margents of such bookes_, + Shee toucht no unknown baits, nor feared no hooks, + Nor could shee moralize his wanton sight + More than his eies were opend to the light." + +It would be difficult to conceive a more inappropriate simile for the +lustful looks in Tarquin's eyes than "the subtle shining secrecies, writ +in the glassie margents of such books." That this is lugged in for a +purpose outside the object of the poem is manifest. How many readers of +"Lucrece" would know of such a practice? Nay. If it did exist, was not +its use very rare? + +But the margin of the verse itself yields a subtle shining secret! The +initial letters of the lines are B, C, N, W, Sh, N, M. It is only +necessary to supply the vowels--BACoN, W. Sh., NaMe. Sh is on line 103, +which is the numerical value of the word Shakespeare. The numerical +value of Bacon is 33. In view of this the line 33 is significant:--"Why +is Colatine the publisher?" The use of the word _publisher_ here is +quite inappropriate. It is introduced for some reason outside the +purpose of the text. + +The "Rape of Lucrece" commences with Bacon's monogram and, as the late +Rev. Walter Begley pointed out, ends with his signature. + +The theory now advanced is that when Bacon read a book he made marginal +notes in it--the object being mainly to assist his memory, but the +critical notes are numerous. It does not follow that all these books +constituted his library. He would read a book and it having served his +purpose he would dispose of it. Some books no doubt he would retain and +these would form his library. + +The annotations are chiefly in Latin, but some are in Greek, some in +Hebrew, French and Spanish. When these have been examined and translated +the meaning of the phrase that he had taken all knowledge to be his +province will be better understood. Rawley says: "He read much and that +with great judgment and rejection of impertinences incident to many +authors." + +The writer having examined annotations, many and varied, of books in his +library, and having enjoyed the privilege of free access to those +collected by Mr. Safford, ventures to assert that much of the ripe +learning of the Shakespeare plays can be traced therein to its proper +origin. Amongst the former is a copy of Alciat's Emblems, 1577, in the +early part profusely annotated. Ben Jonson in his "Discoveries" has +incorporated the translation of a portion of one of the Emblems and _has +also incorporated a portion of the annotations from this very book_. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[52] Edwin A. Abbot, in his work, "Francis Bacon," p. 447, writes, +"Bacon's style (as a writer) varied almost as much as his handwriting." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +TWO GERMAN OPINIONS ON SHAKESPEARE AND BACON. + + +Dr. G. G. Gervinus, the eminent German Historian and Professor +Extraordinary at Heidelberg, published in 1849 his work, "Shakespeare +Commentaries." This was years before any suggestion had been made that +Bacon was in any way connected with the authorship of the Shakespearean +dramas. + +In the Prospectus of "The New Shakespeare Society," written in 1873, Dr. +F. J. Furnivall says:-- + + "The profound and generous 'Commentaries' of Gervinus--an honour to + a German to have written, a pleasure to an Englishman to read--is + still the only book known to me that comes near the true treatment + and the dignity of its subject, or can be put into the hands of the + student who wants to know the mind of Shakespeare." + +The book abounds with references to Bacon. From the Preface to the last +chapter Gervinus appears to have Bacon continually suggested to him by +the thoughts and words of Shakespeare. + +In the Preface, after speaking of the value accruing to German +literature by naturalizing Shakespeare "even at the risk of casting +our own poets still further in the shade," he says:-- + + "A similar benefit would it be to our intellectual life if his + famed contemporary, Bacon, were revived in a suitable manner, in + order to counterbalance the idealistic philosophy of Germany. For + both these, the poet as well as the philosopher, having looked + deeply into the history and politics of their people, stand upon + the level ground of reality, notwithstanding the high art of the + one and the speculative notions of the other. By the healthfulness + of their own mind they influence the healthfulness of others, while + in their most ideal and most abstract representations they aim at a + preparation for life _as it is_--for _that_ life which forms the + exclusive subject of all political action." + +In the chapter on "His Age," written prior to 1849, the Professor pours +out the results of a profound study of the writings attributed to both +men in the following remarkable sentences:-- + + "Judge then how natural it was that England, if not the birthplace + of the drama, should be that of dramatic legislature. Yet even this + instance of favourable concentration is not the last. Both in + philosophy and poetry everything conspired, as it were, throughout + this prosperous period, in favour of two great minds, Shakespeare + and Bacon; all competitors vanished from their side, and they could + give forth laws for art and science which it is incumbent even upon + present ages to fulfil. As the revived philosophy, which in the + former century in Germany was divided among many, but in England at + that time was the possession of a single man, so poetry also found + one exclusive heir, compared with whom those later born could claim + but little. + + "That Shakespeare's appearance upon a soil so admirably prepared + was neither marvellous nor accidental is evidenced even by the + corresponding appearance of such a contemporary as Bacon. Scarcely + can anything be said of Shakespeare's position generally with + regard to mediaeval poetry which does not also bear upon the + position of the renovator Bacon with regard to mediaeval philosophy. + Neither knew nor mentioned the other, although Bacon was almost + called upon to have done so in his remarks upon the theatre of his + day. It may be presumed that Shakespeare liked Bacon but little, if + he knew his writings and life; that he liked not his ostentation, + which, without on the whole interfering with his modesty, recurred + too often in many instances; that he liked not the fault-finding + which his ill-health might have caused, nor the narrow-mindedness + with which he pronounced the histrionic art to be infamous, + although he allowed that the ancients regarded the drama as a + school for virtue; nor the theoretic precepts of worldly wisdom + which he gave forth; nor, lastly, the practical career which he + lived. Before his mind, however, if he had fathomed it, he must + have bent in reverence. For just as Shakespeare was an interpreter + of the secrets of history and of human nature, Bacon was an + interpreter of lifeless nature. Just as Shakespeare went from + instance to instance in his judgment of moral actions, and never + founded a law on single experience, so did Bacon in natural science + avoid leaping from one experience of the senses to general + principles; he spoke of this with blame as anticipating nature; and + Shakespeare, in the same way, would have called the + conventionalities in the poetry of the Southern races an + anticipation of human nature. In the scholastic science of the + middle ages, as in the chivalric poetry of the romantic period, + approbation and not truth was sought for, and with one accord + Shakespeare's poetry and Bacon's science were equally opposed to + this. As Shakespeare balanced the one-sided errors of the + imagination by reason, reality, and nature, so Bacon led philosophy + away from the one-sided errors of reason to experience; both with + one stroke, renovated the two branches of science and poetry by + this renewed bond with nature; both, disregarding all by-ways, + staked everything upon this 'victory in the race between art and + nature.' Just as Bacon with his new philosophy is linked with the + natural science of Greece and Rome, and then with the latter period + of philosophy in western Europe, so Shakespeare's drama stands in + relation to the comedies of Plautus and to the stage of his own + day; between the two there lay a vast wilderness of time, as + unfruitful for the drama as for philosophy. But while they thus led + back to nature, Bacon was yet as little of an empiric, in the + common sense, as Shakespeare was a poet of nature. Bacon prophesied + that if hereafter his commendation of experience should prevail, + great danger to science would arise from the other extreme, and + Shakespeare even in his own day could perceive the same with + respect to his poetry; Bacon, therefore, insisted on the closest + union between experience and reason, just as Shakespeare effected + that between reality and imagination. While they thus bid adieu to + the formalities of ancient art and science, Shakespeare to conceits + and taffeta-phrases, Bacon to logic and syllogisms, yet at times it + occurred that the one fell back into the subtleties of the old + school, and the other into the constrained wit of the Italian + style. Bacon felt himself quite an original in that which was his + peculiar merit, and so was Shakespeare; the one in the method of + science he had laid down, and in his suggestions for its execution, + the other in the poetical works he had executed, and in the + suggestions of their new law. Bacon, looking back to the waymarks + he had left for others, said with pride that his words required a + century for their demonstration and several for their execution; + and so too it has demanded two centuries to understand Shakespeare, + but very little has ever been executed in his sense. And at the + same time we have mentioned what deep modesty was interwoven in + both with their self-reliance, so that the words which Bacon liked + to quote hold good for the two works:--'The kingdom of God cometh + not with observation.' Both reached this height from the one + starting point, that Shakespeare despised the million, and Bacon + feared with Phocion the applause of the multitude. Both are alike + in the rare impartiality with which they avoided everything + one-sided; in Bacon we find, indeed, youthful exercises in which he + endeavoured in severe contrasts to contemplate a series of things + from two points of view. Both, therefore, have an equal hatred of + sects and parties; Bacon of sophists and dogmatic philosophers, + Shakespeare of Puritans and zealots. Both, therefore, are equally + free from prejudices, and from astrological superstition in dreams + and omens. Bacon says of the alchemists and magicians in natural + science that they stand in similar relation to true knowledge as + the deeds of Amadis to those of Caesar, and so does Shakespeare's + true poetry stand in relation to the fantastic romance of Amadis. + Just as Bacon banished religion from science, so did Shakespeare + from Art; and when the former complained that the teachers of + religion were against natural philosophy, they were equally against + the stage. From Bacon's example it seems clear that Shakespeare + left religious matters unnoticed on the same grounds as himself, + and took the path of morality in worldly things; in both this has + been equally misconstrued, and Le Maistre has proved Bacon's lack + of Christianity, as Birch has done that of Shakespeare. Shakespeare + would, perhaps, have looked down just as contemptuously on the + ancients and their arts as Bacon did on their philosophy and + natural science, and both on the same grounds; they boasted of the + greater age of the world, of more enlarged knowledge of heaven, + earth, and mankind. Neither stooped before authorities, and an + injustice similar to that which Bacon committed against Aristotle, + Shakespeare _perhaps_ has done to Homer. In both a similar + combination of different mental powers was at work; and as + Shakespeare was often involuntarily philosophical in his + profoundness, Bacon was not seldom surprised into the imagination + of the poet. Just as Bacon, although he declared knowledge in + itself to be much more valuable than the use of invention, insisted + throughout generally and dispassionately upon the practical use of + philosophy, so Shakespeare's poetry, independent as was his sense + of art, aimed throughout at bearing upon the moral life. Bacon + himself was of the same opinion; he was not far from declaring + history to be the best teacher of politics, and poetry the best + instructor in morals. Both were alike deeply moved by the picture + of a ruling Nemesis, whom they saw, grand and powerful, striding + through history and life, dragging the mightiest and most + prosperous as a sacrifice to her altar, as the victims of their own + inward nature and destiny. In Bacon's works we find a multitude of + moral sayings and maxims of experience, from which the most + striking mottoes might be drawn for every Shakespearian play, aye, + for every one of his principal characters (we have already brought + forward not a few proofs of this), testifying to a remarkable + harmony in their mutual comprehension of human nature. Both, in + their systems of morality rendering homage to Aristotle, whose + ethics Shakespeare, from a passage in Troilus, may have read, + arrived at the same end as he did--that virtue lies in a just + medium between two extremes. Shakespeare would also have agreed + with _him_ in this, that Bacon declared excess to be 'the fault of + youth, as defect is of age;' he accounted 'defect the worst, + because excess contains some sparks of magnanimity, and, like a + bird, claims kindred of the heavens, while defect, only like a base + worm, crawls upon the earth.' In these maxims lie at once, as it + were, the whole theory of Shakespeare's dramatic forms and of his + moral philosophy." + +DR. KUNO FISCHER, the distinguished German critic and historian of +philosophy, in a volume on Bacon, published in 1856, writes:-- + +The same affinity for the Roman mind, and the same want of sympathy with +the Greek, we again find in Bacon's greatest contemporary, whose +imagination took as broad and comprehensive a view as Bacon's intellect. +Indeed, how could a Bacon attain that position with respect to Greek +poetry that was unattainable by the mighty imagination of a Shakspeare? +For in Shakspeare, at any rate, the imagination of the Greek antiquity +could be met by a homogeneous power of the same rank as itself; and, as +the old adage says, "like comes to like." But the age, the spirit of the +nation--in a word, all those forces of which the genius of an individual +man is composed, and which, moreover, genius is least able to +resist--had here placed an obstacle, impenetrable both to the poet and +the philosopher. Shakspeare was no more able to exhibit Greek characters +than Bacon to expound Greek poetry. Like Bacon, Shakspeare had in his +turn of mind something that was Roman, and not at all akin to the Greek. +He could appropriate to himself a Coriolanus and a Brutus, a Caesar and +an Antony; he could succeed with the Roman heroes of Plutarch, but not +with the Greek heroes of Homer. The latter he could only parody, but his +parody was as infelicitous as Bacon's explanation of the "Wisdom of the +Ancients." Those must be dazzled critics indeed who can persuade +themselves that the heroes of the Iliad are excelled by the caricatures +in "Troilus and Cressida." The success of such a parody was poetically +impossible; indeed, he that attempts to parody Homer shows thereby that +he has not understood him. For the simple and the naive do not admit of +a parody, and these have found in Homer their eternal and inimitable +expression. Just as well might caricatures be made of the statues of +Phidias. Where the creative imagination never ceases to be simple and +naive, where it never distorts itself by the affected or the unnatural, +there is the consecrated land of poetry, in which there is no place for +the parodist. On the other hand, where there is a palpable want of +simplicity and nature, parody is perfectly conceivable; nay, may even be +felt as a poetical necessity. Thus Euripides, who, often enough, was +neither simple nor naive, could be parodied, and Aristophanes has shown +us with what felicity. Even AEschylus, who was not always as simple as he +was grand, does not completely escape the parodising test. But Homer is +safe. To parody Homer is to mistake him, and to stand so far beyond his +scope that the truth and magic of his poetry can no longer be felt; and +this is the position of Shakespeare and Bacon. The imagination of Homer, +and all that could be contemplated and felt by that imagination, namely, +the classical antiquity of the Greeks, are to them utterly foreign. We +cannot understand Aristotle without Plato; nay, I maintain that we +cannot contemplate with a sympathetic mind the Platonic world of ideas, +if we have not previously sympathised with the world of the Homeric +gods. Be it understood, I speak of the _form_ of the Platonic mind, not +of its logical matter; in point of doctrine, the Homeric faith was no +more that of Plato than of Phidias. But these doctrinal or logical +differences are far less than the formal and aesthetical affinity. The +conceptions of Plato are of Homeric origin. + +This want of ability to take an historical survey of the world is to be +found alike in Bacon and Shakspeare, together with many excellencies +likewise common to them both. To the parallel between them--which +Gervinus, with his peculiar talent for combination, has drawn in the +concluding remarks to his "Shakespeare," and has illustrated by a series +of appropriate instances--belongs the similar relation of both to +antiquity, their affinity to the Roman mind, and their diversity from +the Greek. Both possessed to an eminent degree that faculty for a +knowledge of human nature that at once pre-supposes and calls forth an +interest in practical life and historical reality. To this interest +corresponds the stage, on which the Roman characters moved; and here +Bacon and Shakspeare met, brought together by a common interest in these +objects, and the attempt to depict and copy them. This point of +agreement, more than any other argument, explains their affinity. At the +same time there is no evidence that one ever came into actual contact +with the other. Bacon does not even mention Shakspeare when he +discourses of dramatic poetry, but passes over this department of poetry +with a general and superficial remark that relates less to the subject +itself than to the stage and its uses. As far as his own age is +concerned, he sets down the moral value of the stage as exceedingly +trifling. But the affinity of Bacon to Shakspeare is to be sought in his +moral and psychological, not in his aesthetical views, which are too much +regulated by material interests and utilitarian prepossessions to be +applicable to art itself, considered with reference to its own +independent value. However, even in these there is nothing to prevent +Bacon's manner of judging mankind, and apprehending characters from +agreeing perfectly with that of Shakspeare; so that human life, the +subject-matter of all dramatic art, appeared to him much as it appeared +to the great artist himself, who, in giving form to this matter, +excelled all others. Is not the inexhaustible theme of Shakspeare's +poetry the history and course of human passion? In the treatment of this +especial theme is not Shakspeare the greatest of all poets--nay, is he +not unique among them all? And it is this very theme that is proposed by +Bacon as the chief problem of moral philosophy. He blames Aristotle for +treating of the passions in his rhetoric rather than his ethics; for +regarding the artificial means of exciting them rather than their +natural history. It is to the natural history of the human passions that +Bacon directs the attention of philosophy. He does not find any +knowledge of them among the sciences of his time. "The poets and writers +of histories," he says, "are the best doctors of this knowledge; where +we may find painted forth with great life how passions are kindled and +incited; and how pacified and refrained; and how again contained from +act and further degree; how they disclose themselves; how they work; how +they vary; how they gather and fortify; how they are inwrapped one +within another; and how they do fight and encounter one with another; +and other the like particularities."[53] Such a lively description is +required by Bacon from moral philosophy. That is to say, he desired +nothing less than a natural history of the passions--the very thing that +Shakspeare has produced. Indeed, what poet could have excelled +Shakspeare in this respect? Who, to use a Baconian expression, could +have depicted man and all his passions more _ad vivum_? According to +Bacon, the poets and historians give us copies of characters; and the +outlines of these images--the simple strokes that determine +characters--are the proper objects of ethical science. Just as physical +science requires a dissection of bodies, that their hidden qualities and +parts may be discovered, so should ethics penetrate the various minds of +men, in order to find out the eternal basis of them all. And not only +this foundation, but likewise those external conditions which give a +stamp to human character--all those peculiarities that "are imposed upon +the mind by the sex, by the age, by the region, by health and sickness, +by beauty and deformity, and the like, which are inherent and not +external; and, again, those which are caused by external +fortune"[54]--should come within the scope of ethical philosophy. In a +word, Bacon would have man studied in his individuality as a product of +nature and history, in every respect determined by natural and +historical influences, by internal and external conditions. And exactly +in the same spirit has Shakespeare understood man and his destiny; +regarding character as the result of a certain natural temperament and a +certain historical position, and destiny as a result of character. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[53] "Advancement of Learning," II. "De Augment. Scient.," VII. 3. + +[54] "Advancement of Learning," II. For the whole passage compare "De +Augment. Scient.," VII. 3. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE TESTIMONY OF BACON'S CONTEMPORARIES. + + +A distinguished member of the Bench in a recent post-prandial address +referred to Bacon as "a shady lawyer." Irresponsible newspaper +correspondents, when attacking the Baconian theory, indulge in epithets +of this kind, but it is amazing that any man occupying a position so +responsible as that of an English judge should, either through ignorance +or with a desire to be considered a wit, make use of such a term. + +Whatever may have been Francis Bacon's faults, one fact must stand +unchallenged--that amongst those of his contemporaries who knew him +there was a consensus of opinion that his virtues overshadowed any +failings to which he might be subject. + +The following testimonies establish this fact:-- + +Let BEN JONSON speak first: + + "Yet there happened in my time one noble speaker, who was full of + gravity in his speaking. His language (where he could spare or pass + a jest) was nobly censorious. No man ever spake more neatly, more + pressly, more weightily, or suffered less emptiness, less idleness, + in what he uttered. No member of his speech, but consisted of his + own graces. His hearers could not cough, or look aside from him, + without loss. He commanded where he spoke; and had his judges angry + and pleased at his devotion. No man had their affections more in his + power. The fear of every man that heard him was, lest he should make + an end," and, after referring to Lord Ellesmere, Jonson + continues:-- + + "But his learned and able (though unfortunate) successor, (_i.e._, + Bacon) is he who hath filled up all numbers, and performed that in + our tongue, which may be compared or preferred either to insolent + Greece, or haughty Rome. In short, within his view, and about his + times, were all the wits born, that could honour a language, or help + study. Now things daily fall, wits grow downward, and eloquence + grows backward: so that he may be named, and stand as the mark and + [Greek: akoe] of our language. + + "My conceit of his person was never increased toward him by his + place, or honours: but I have and do reverence him, for the + greatness that was only proper to himself, in that he seemed to me + ever, by his work, one of the greatest men, and most worthy of + admiration, that had been in many ages. In his adversity I ever + prayed God would give him strength; for greatness he could not want. + Neither could I condole in a word or syllable for him, as knowing no + accident could do harm to virtue, but rather help to make it + manifest." + +SIR TOBY MATTHEW describes Francis Bacon as + + "A friend unalterable to his friends; + A man most sweet in his conversation and ways"; + +and adds: + + "It is not his greatness that I admire, but his virtue." + +THOMAS BUSHEL, his servant, in a letter to Mr. John Eliot, printed in +1628, in a volume called "The First Part of Youth's Errors," says: + + "Yet lest the calumnious tongues of men might extenuate the good + opinion you had of his worth and merit, I must ingenuously confess + that my selfe and others of his servants were the occasion of + exhaling his vertues into a darke exlipse; which God knowes would + have long endured both for the honour of his King and the good of + the Commonaltie; had not we whom his bountie nursed, laid on his + guiltlesse shoulders our base and execrable deeds to be scand and + censured by the whole senate of a state, where no sooner sentence + was given, but most of us forsoke him, which makes us bear the badge + of Jewes to this day. Yet I am confident there were some Godly + Daniels amongst us.... As for myselfe, with shame I must acquit the + title, and pleade guilty; which grieves my very soule, that so + matchlesse a Peer should be lost by such insinuating caterpillars, + who in his owne nature scorn'd the least thought of any base, + unworthy, or ignoble act, though subject to infirmites as ordained + to the wisest." + +In FULLER'S "Worthies" it is written: + + "He was a rich Cabinet filled with Judgment, Wit, Fancy and Memory, + and had the golden Key, Elocution, to open it. He was singular in + singulis, in every Science and Art, and being In-at-all came off + with Credit. He was too Bountifull to his Servants, and either too + confident of their Honesty, or too conniving at their Falsehood. + 'Tis said he had 2 Servants, one in all Causes Patron to the + Plaintiff, the other to the Defendant, but taking bribes of both, + with this Condition, to restore the Mony received, if the Cause went + against them. Such practices, tho' unknown to their Master, cost him + the loss of his Office." + +In "The Lives of Statesmen and Favourites of Elizabeth's Reign" it is +said:-- + + "His religion was rational and sober, his spirit publick, his love + to relations tender, to Friends faithful, to the hopeful liberal, to + men universal, to his very Enemies civil. He left the best pattern + of Government in his actions under one king and the best principles + of it in the Life of the other." + +The following is a translation from the discourse on the life of Mr. +Francis Bacon which is prefixed to the "Histoire Naturelle," by PIERE +AMBOISE, published in Paris in 1631: + + "Among so many virtues that made this great man commendable, + prudence, as the first of all the moral virtues, and that most + necessary to those of his profession, was that which shone in him + the most brightly. His profound wisdom can be most readily seen in + his books, and his matchless fidelity in the signal services that he + continuously rendered to his Prince. Never was there man who so + loved equity, or so enthusiastically worked for the public good as + he; so that I may aver that he would have been much better suited to + a Republic than to a Monarchy, where frequently the convenience of + the Prince is more thought of than that of his people. And I do not + doubt that had he lived in a Republic he would have acquired as much + glory from the citizens as formerly did Aristides and Cato, the one + in Athens, the other in Rome. Innocence oppressed found always in + his protection a sure refuge, and the position of the great gave + them no vantage ground before the Chancellor when suing for justice. + + "Vanity, avarice, and ambition, vices that too often attach + themselves to great honours, were to him quite unknown, and if he + did a good action it was not from the desire of fame, but simply + because he could not do otherwise. His good qualities were entirely + pure, without being clouded by the admixture of any imperfections, + and the passions that form usually the defects in great men in him + only served to bring out his virtues; if he felt hatred and rage it + was only against evil-doers, to shew his detestation of their + crimes, and success or failure in the affairs of his country brought + to him the greater part of his joys or his sorrows. He was as truly + a good man as he was an upright judge, and by the example of his + life corrected vice and bad living as much as by pains and + penalties. And, in a word, it seemed that Nature had exempted from + the ordinary frailities of men him whom she had marked out to deal + with their crimes. All these good qualities made him the darling of + the people and prized by the great ones of the State. But when it + seemed that nothing could destroy his position, Fortune made clear + that she did not yet wish to abandon her character for instability, + and that Bacon had too much worth to remain so long prosperous. It + thus came about that amongst the great number of officials such as a + man of his position must have in his house, there was one who was + accused before Parliament of exaction, and of having sold the + influence that he might have with his master. And though the probity + of Mr. Bacon was entirely exempt from censure, nevertheless he was + declared guilty of the crime of his servant and was deprived of the + power that he had so long exercised with so much honour and glory. + In this I see the working of monstrous ingratitude and unparalleled + cruelty--to say that a man who could mark the years of his life + rather by the signal services that he had rendered to the State than + by times or seasons, should have received such hard usage for the + punishment of a crime which he never committed; England, indeed, + teaches us by this that the sea that surrounds her shores imparts to + her inhabitants somewhat of its restless inconstancy. This storm did + not at all surprise him, and he received the news of his disgrace + with a countenance so undisturbed that it was easy to see that he + thought but little of the sweets of life since the loss of them + caused him discomfort so slight." Thus ended this great man whom + England could place alone as the equal of the best of all the + previous centuries." + +PETER BOENER, who was private apothecary to Bacon for a time, wrote in +1647 a Life, of portions of which the following are translations:-- + + "But how runneth man's future. He who seemed to occupy the highest + rank is alas! by envious tongues near King and Parliament deposed + from all his offices and chancellorship, little considering what + treasure was being cast in the mire, as afterwards the issue and + result thereof have shown in that country. But he always comforted + himself with the words of Scripture--nihil est novi; that means + 'there is nothing new.' Because so is Cicero by Octavianus; + Calisthenes by Alexander; Seneca (all his former teachers) by Nero; + yea, Ovid, Lucanus, Statius (together with many others), for a small + cause very unthankfully the one banished, the other killed, the + third thrown to the lions. But even as for such men banishment is + freedom--death their life, so is for this author his deposition a + memory to greater honour and fame, and to such a sage no harm can + come. + + * * * * * + + "Whilst his fortunes were so changed, I never saw him--either in + mien, word or acts--changed or disturbed towards whomsoever; _ira + enim hominis non implet justitiam Dei_, he was ever one and the + same, both in sorrow and in joy, as becometh a philosopher; always + with a benevolent allocution--_manus nostrae sunt oculatae, credunt + quod vident_.... A noteworthy example and pattern for everyone of + all virtue, gentleness, peacefulness, and patience." + +FRANCIS OSBORN, in his "Advice to a Son," writes:-- + + "And my memory neither doth nor (I believe possible ever) can direct + me towards an example more splendid in this kind, than the Lord + Bacon Earl of St. Albans, who in all companies did appear a good + Proficient, if not a Master in those Arts entertained for the + Subject of every ones discourse. So as I dare maintain, without the + least affectation of Flattery or Hyperbole, That his most casual + talk deserveth to be written, As I have been told his first or + foulest Copys required no great Labour to render them competent for + the nicest judgments. A high perfection, attainable only by use, and + treating with every man in his respective profession, and what he + was most vers'd in. So as I have heard him entertain a Country Lord + in the proper terms relating to Hawks and Dogs. And at another time + out-Cant a London Chirurgeon. Thus he did not only learn himself, + but gratifie such as taught him; who looked upon their Callings as + honoured through his Notice; Nor did an easie falling into Arguments + (not unjustly taken for a blemish in the most) appear less than an + ornament in Him: The ears of the hearers receiving more + gratification, than trouble; And (so) no less sorry when he came to + conclude, than displeased with any did interrupt him. Now this + general Knowledge he had in all things, husbanded by his wit, and + dignifi'd by so Majestical a carriage he was known to own, strook + such an awful reverence in those he question'd, that they durst not + conceal the most intrinsick part of their Mysteries from him, for + fear of appearing Ignorant, or Saucy. All which rendered him no less + Necessary, than admirable at the Council Table, where in reference + to Impositions, Monopolies, &c. the meanest Manufacturers were an + usual Argument: And, as I have heard, did in this Baffle, the Earl + of Middlesex, that was born and bred a Citizen &c. Yet without any + great (if at all) interrupting his other Studies, as is not hard to + be Imagined of a quick Apprehension, in which he was Admirable." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE MISSING FOURTH PART OF "THE GREAT INSTAURATION." + + +It has been urged by critics that Bacon, whilst professing to take all +knowledge for his province, ignored one-half of it--that half which was +a knowledge of himself; that to him the external world was everything, +the internal nothing. All that Nature revealed was external; nothing +that was internal was of much importance. + +It must be remembered that all that we have of Bacon's was written as he +was passing into the "vale of life." Of his early productions nothing +has come down to the present times under his own name. The following +extracts from his acknowledged works establish two facts:--(1) That the +foregoing criticism is unfounded, for he placed the study of man's mind +and character above all other enquiries. (2) That he had prepared +examples, being "actual types and models, by which the entire process of +the mind and the whole fabric and order of invention from the beginning +to the end in certain subjects and those various and remarkable should +be set, as it were, before the eyes." Where are these works to be found? + +Bacon never tires of quoting from the Roman poet the line-- + + "Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci," + +which, in an Elizabethan handwriting, may be seen in a contemporary +volume thus rendered-- + + "He of all others fittest is to write + Which with some profit allso ioynes delight." + +He repeats in different forms, until the reiteration becomes almost +tedious, the following incident:-- + + "And as Alexander Borgia was wont to say, of the expedition of the + French for Naples, that they came with chalk in their hands to + marke up their lodgings not with weapons to fight; so we like + better, that entry of truth, which comes peaceably where the Mindes + of men, capable to lodge so great a guest, are signed, as it were, + with chalke; than that which comes with Pugnacity, and forceth + itselfe a way by contentions and controversies." + +The same idea is embodied in the following example of the antitheta:-- + + "A witty conceit is oftentimes a convoy of a Truth which otherwise + could not so handsomely have been ferried over." + +In the "Advancement of Learning," Lib. II., again the same view is +insisted on:-- + + "Besides in all wise humane Government, they that sit at the helme, + doe more happily bring their purposes about, and insinuate more + easily things fit for the people, by pretexts, and oblique courses; + than by downe-right dealing. Nay (which perchance may seem very + strange) in things meerely naturall, you may sooner deceive nature, + than force her; so improper, and selfe impeaching are open direct + proceedings; whereas on the other side, an oblique and an insinuing + way, gently glides along and compasseth the intended effect." + +One other fact must be realised before the full import of the quotations +about to be made can be appreciated. In the "Distributio Operis" +prefixed to the "Novum Organum" the following significant passage +occurs[55]:-- + + "For as often as I have occasion to report anything as deficient, + the nature of which is at all obscure, so that men may not perhaps + easily understand what I mean or what the work is which I have in + my head, I shall always (provided it be a matter of any worth) take + care to subjoin either directions for the execution of such work, + or else a portion of the work itself executed by myself as a sample + of the whole: thus giving assistance in every case either by work + or by counsel." + +In the "Advancement of Learning," Book II., chap. i., it is written: + + "That is the truest Partition of humane Learning, which hath + reference to the three Faculties of Man's soule, which is the feat + of Learning. History is referred to Memory, Poesy to the + Imagination, Philosophy to Reason. By Poesy, in this place, we + understand nothing else, but feigned History, or Fables. As for + Verse, that is only a style of expression, and pertaines to the Art + of Elocution, of which in due place." + + "Poesy, in that sense we have expounded it, is likewise of + Individuals, fancied to the similitude of those things which in + true History are recorded, yet so as often it exceeds measure; and + those things which in Nature would never meet, nor come to passe, + Poesy composeth and introduceth at pleasure, even as Painting doth: + which indeed is the work of the Imagination." + +And in the same book, Chapter XIII.:-- + + "Drammaticall, or Representative Poesy, which brings the World upon + the stage, is of excellent use, if it were not abused. For the + Instructions, and Corruptions, of the Stage, may be great; but the + corruptions in this kind abound, the Discipline is altogether + neglected in our times. For although in moderne Commonwealths, + Stage-plaies be but estimed a sport or pastime, unlesse it draw + from the Satyre, and be mordant; yet the care of the Ancients was, + that it should instruct the minds of men unto virtue. Nay, wise + men and great Philosophers, have accounted it, as the Archet, or + musicall Bow of the Mind. And certainly it is most true, and as it + were, a secret of nature, that the minds of men are more patent to + affections, and impressions, Congregate, than solitary." + +The third chapter of Book VII. of the "De Augmentis" is devoted to +emphasising the importance of a knowledge of the internal working of the +mind and of the disposition and character of men. The following extracts +are of special moment:-- + + "Some are naturally formed for contemplation, others for business, + others for war, others for advancement of fortune, others for love, + others for the arts, others for a varied kind of life; so among the + poets (heroic, satiric, tragic, comic) are everywhere interspersed, + representations of characters, though generally exaggerated and + surpassing the truth. And this argument touching the different + characters of dispositions is one of those subjects in which the + common discourse of men (as sometimes, though very rarely, happens) + is wiser than books." + +The drama as the only vehicle through which this can be accomplished at +once suggests itself to the reader. But in order to emphasize this point +he proceeds-- + + "But far the best provision and material for this treatise is to + be gained from the wiser sort of historians, not only from the + commemorations which they commonly add on recording the deaths of + illustrious persons, but much more from the entire body of history + as often as such a person enters upon the stage." + +Bacon becomes still more explicit. He continues:-- + + "Wherefore out of these materials (which are surely rich and + abundant) let a full and careful treatise be constructed. Not, + however, that I would have their characters presented in ethics (as + we find them in history, or poetry, or even in common discourse) in + the shape of complete individual portraits, but rather the several + features and simple lineaments of which they are composed, and by + the various combinations and arrangements of which all characters + whatever are made up, showing how many, and of what nature these + are, and how connected and subordinated one to another; that so we + may have a scientific and accurate dissection of minds and + characters, and the secret dispositions of particular men may be + revealed; and that from a knowledge thereof better rules may be + framed for the treatment of the mind. And not only should the + characters of dispositions which are impressed by nature be + received into this treatise, but those also which are imposed upon + the mind by sex, by age, by region, by health and sickness, by + beauty and deformity and the like; and again, those which are + caused by fortune, as sovereignty, nobility, obscure birth, riches, + want, magistracy, privateness, prosperity, adversity and the like." + +Shortly after follows this remarkable pronouncement. + + "But to speak the truth the poets and writers of history are the + best doctors of this knowledge,[56] where we may find painted forth + with great life and dissected, how affections are kindled and + excited, and how pacified and restrained, and how again contained + from act and further degree; how they disclose themselves, though + repressed and concealed; how they work; how they vary; how they are + enwrapped one within another; how they fight and encounter one with + another; and many more particulars of this kind; amongst which this + last is of special use in moral and civil matters; how, I say, to + set affection against affection, and to use the aid of one to + master another; like hunters and fowlers who use to hunt beast with + beast, and catch bird with bird, which otherwise perhaps without + their aid man of himself could not so easily contrive; upon which + foundation is erected that excellent and general use in civil + government of reward and punishment, whereon commonwealths lean; + seeing these predominant affections of fear and hope suppress and + bridle all the rest. For as in the government of States it is + sometimes necessary to bridle one faction with another, so is it in + the internal government of the mind." + +In his "Distributio Operis" Bacon thus describes the missing fourth part +of his "Instauratio Magna":-- + + "Of these the first is to set forth examples of inquiry and + invention[57] according to my method exhibited by anticipation in + some particular subjects; choosing such subjects as are at once the + most noble in themselves among those under enquiry, and most + different one from another, that there may be an example in every + kind. I do not speak of these precepts and rules by way of + illustration (for of these I have given plenty in the second part + of the work); but I mean actual types and models, by which the + entire process of the mind and the whole fabric and order of + invention from the beginning to the end in certain subjects, and + those various and remarkable, should be set as it were before the + eyes. For I remember that in the mathematics it is easy to follow + the demonstration when you have a machine beside you, whereas, + without that help, all appears involved and more subtle than it + really is. To examples of this kind--being, in fact, nothing more + than an application of the second part in detail and at large--the + fourth part of the work is devoted." + +The late Mr. Edwin Reed has, in his "Francis Bacon our Shakespeare," +page 126, drawn attention to a remarkable circumstance. In 1607 Bacon +had written his "Cogitata et Visa," which was the forerunner of his +"Novum Organum." It was not published until twenty-seven years after his +death, namely, in 1653, by Isaac Gruter, at Leyden. In 1857 Mr. Spedding +found a manuscript copy of the "Cogitata" in the library of Queen's +College at Oxford. This manuscript had been corrected in Bacon's own +handwriting. It contained passages which were omitted from Gruter's +print. Spedding did not realise the importance of the omitted passages, +but Mr. Edwin Reed has made this manifest. The following extract is +specially noteworthy, the portion printed in italics having been omitted +by Gruter:-- + + "... So he thought best, after long considering the subject and + weighing it carefully, first of all to prepare _Tabulae Inveniendi_ + or regular forms of inquiry; in other words, a mass of particulars + arranged for the understanding, and to serve, as it were, for an + example and almost visible representation of the matter. For + nothing else can be devised that would place in a clearer light + what is true and what is false, or show more plainly that what is + presented is more than words, and must be avoided by anyone who + either has no confidence in his own scheme or may wish to have his + scheme taken for more than it is worth. + + "_But when these Tabulae Inveniendi have been put forth and seen, he + does not doubt that the more timid wits will shrink almost in + despair from imitating them with similar productions with other + materials or on other subjects; and they will take so much delight + in the specimen given that they will miss the precepts in it. + Still, many persons will be led to inquire into the real meaning + and highest use of these writings, and to find the key to their + interpretation, and thus more ardently desire, in some degree at + least, to acquire the new aspect of nature which such a key will + reveal. But he intends, yielding neither to his own personal + aspirations nor to the wishes of others, but keeping steadily in + view the success of his undertaking, having shared these writings + with some, to withhold the rest until the treatise intended for the + people shall be published._" + +Now what conclusions may be drawn from the foregoing extracts? Bacon +attached the greatest importance to the consideration of the internal +life of man. He affirms that dramaticall or representative poesy, which +brings the world upon the stage, is of excellent use if it be not +abused. The discipline of the stage was neglected in his time, but the +care of the ancients was that it should instruct the minds of men unto +virtue, and wise men and great philosophers accounted it as the musical +bow of the mind. He has devoted the fourth part of his "Instauratio +Magna" to setting forth examples of inquiry and invention, choosing such +subjects as are at once the most noble in themselves and the most +different one from another, that there may be an example in every kind. +He is not speaking of precepts and rules by way of interpretation, but +actual types and models by which the entire process of the mind, and the +whole fabric and order of invention, should be set, as it were, before +the eyes. + +Not only should the characters of dispositions which are impressed by +nature be received into this treatise, but those also which are imposed +upon the mind by sex, by age, by region, by health and sickness, by +beauty and deformity, and the like; and, again, those that are caused by +fortune, as sovereignty, nobility, obscure birth, riches, want, +magistracy, privateness, prosperity, adversity, and the like. + +_The fourth part of Bacon's "Great Instauration" is missing._ The above +requirements are met in the Shakespeare plays. Could the dramas be more +accurately described than in the foregoing extracts? + +From a study of the plays let a list be made out of the qualifications +which the author must have possessed. It will be found that the only +person in whom every qualification will be found who has lived in any +age of any country was Francis Bacon. Any investigator who will devote +the time and trouble requisite for an exhaustive examination of the +subject can come to no other conclusion. + +One cannot without feeling deep regret recognise that we have to turn to +a foreigner to give "reasons for the faith which we English have in +Shakespeare." It was a German, Schlegel, who discovered the great +dramatist, and to-day we must turn to his "Lectures on the Drama" for +the most penetrating description of his plays. The following is a +translation of a passage which in describing the plays almost adopts the +words Bacon uses in the foregoing passages as to the scope and object of +the fourth part of his "Great Instauration." + +"Never, perhaps, was there so comprehensive a talent for the delineation +of character as Shakespeare's. It not only grasps the diversities of +rank, sex, and age, down to the dawnings of infancy; not only do the +king and the beggar, the hero and the pickpocket, the sage and the idiot +speak and act with equal truth; not only does he transport himself to +distant ages and foreign nations, and portray in the most accurate +manner, with only a few apparent violations of costume, the spirit of +the ancient Romans, of the French in their wars with the English, of the +English themselves during a great part of their history, of the Southern +Europeans (in the serious part of many comedies), the cultivated society +of that time, and the former rude and barbarous state of the North; his +human characters have not only such depth and precision that they cannot +be arranged under classes, and are inexhaustible, even in conception; +no, this Prometheus not merely forms men, he opens the gates of the +magical world of spirits, calls up the midnight ghost, exhibits before +us his witches amidst their unhallowed mysteries, peoples the air with +sportive fairies and sylphs; and these beings, existing only in +imagination, possess such truth and consistency that even when deformed +monsters like Caliban, he extorts the conviction that if there should be +such beings they would so conduct themselves. In a word, as he carries +with him the most fruitful and daring fancy into the kingdom of nature; +on the other hand, he carries nature into the regions of fancy, lying +beyond the confines of reality. We are lost in astonishment at seeing +the extraordinary, the wonderful, and the unheard of in such intimate +nearness." + +"If Shakespeare deserves our admiration for his characters he is equally +deserving of it for his exhibition of passion, taking this word in its +widest signification, as including every mental condition, every tone +from indifference or familiar mirth to the wildest rage and despair. He +gives us the history of minds, he lays open to us in a single word a +whole series of preceding conditions. His passions do not at first stand +displayed to us in all their height, as is the case with so many tragic +poets who, in the language of Lessing, are thorough masters of the legal +style of love. He paints, in a most inimitable manner, the gradual +progress from the first origin. 'He gives,' as Lessing says, 'a living +picture of all the most minute and secret artifices by which a feeling +steals into our souls; of all the imperceptible advantages which it +there gains, of all the stratagems by which every other passion is made +subservient to it, till it becomes the sole tyrant of our desires and +our aversions.' Of all poets, perhaps, he alone has portrayed the mental +diseases--melancholy, delirium, lunacy--with such inexpressible, and in +every respect definite truth, that the physician may enrich his +observations from them in the same manner as from real cases." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[55] A Translation by Spedding, "Works," Vol. IV., p. 23. + +[56] The knowledge touching the affections and perturbations which are +the diseases of the mind. + +[57] Tabulae inveniendi. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE PHILOSOPHY OF BACON. + + +To attempt anything of the nature of a review of Bacon's acknowledged +works is a task far too great for the scope of the present volume. To +attempt a survey of the whole of his works would require years of +diligent study, and would necessitate a perusal of nearly every book +published in England between 1576 and 1630. Not that it is suggested +that all the literature of this period was the product of his pen or was +produced under his supervision, but each book published should be read +and considered with attention to arrive at a selection. + +There has been no abler judgment of the acknowledged works than that +which will be found in William Hazlitt's "Lectures on the Literature of +the Age of Elizabeth." Lecture VII. commences with an account of the +"Character of Bacon's Works." + +It may not, however, be out of place here to try and make plain in what +sense Bacon was a philosopher. + +In Chapter CXVI. of the "Novum Organum" he makes his position clear in +the following words:-- + + "First then I must request men not to suppose that after the + fashion of ancient Greeks, and of certain moderns, as Telesius, + Patricius, Severinus, I wish to found a new sect in philosophy. For + this is not what I am about; nor do I think that it matters much to + the fortunes of men what abstract notions one may entertain + concerning nature and the principles of things; and no doubt many + old theories of this kind can be revived, and many new ones + introduced; just as many theories of the heavens may be supposed + which agree well enough with the phenomena and yet differ with + each other. + + "For my part, I do not trouble myself with any such speculative and + withal unprofitable matters. My purpose on the contrary, is to try + whether I cannot in very fact lay more firmly the foundations and + extend more widely the limits of the power and greatness of man ... + I have no entire or universal theory to propound." + +So the idea that there was what is termed a system of philosophy +constructed by Bacon must be abandoned. What justification is there for +calling him the father of the Inductive Philosophy? + +It is difficult to answer this question. Spedding admits that Bacon was +not the first to break down the dominion of Aristotle. That followed the +awakening throughout the intellectual world which was brought about by +the Reformation and the revival of learning. Sir John Herschel justifies +the application to Bacon of the term "The great Reformer of Philosophy" +not on the ground that he introduced inductive reasoning, but because of +his "keen perception and his broad and spirit-stirring, almost +enthusiastic announcement of its paramount importance, as the Alpha and +Omega of science, as the grand and only chain for linking together of +physical truths and the eventual key to every discovery and +application." + +Bacon was 60 years of age when his "Novum Organum" was published. It was +founded on a tract he had written in 1607, which he called "Cogitata et +Visa," not printed until long after his death. He had previously +published a portion of his Essays, the two books on "The Advancement of +Learning" and "The Wisdom of the Ancients." Just at the end of his life +he gave to the world the "Novum Organum," accompanied by "The +Parasceve." Certainly it was not understood in his time. Coke described +it as only fit to freight the Ship of Fools, and the King likened it +"to the peace of God which passeth all understanding." It is admittedly +incomplete, and Bacon made no attempt in subsequent years to complete +it. It is a book that if read and re-read becomes fascinating. Taine +describes it as "a string of aphorisms, a collection as it were of +scientific decrees as of an oracle who foresees the future and reveals +the truth." "It is intuition not reasoning," he adds. The wisdom +contained in its pages is profound. An understanding of the +interpretation of the Idols and the Instances has so far evaded all +commentators. Who can explain the "Latent Process"? But the book +contains no scheme of arrangement. Therein is found a series of +desultory discourses--full of wisdom, rich in analogies, abundant in +observation and profound in comprehension. From here and there in it +with the help of the "Parasceve" one can grasp the intention of the +great philosopher. + +In Chapter LXI. he says:--"But the course I propose for the discovery of +sciences is such as leaves but little to the acuteness and strength of +wits, but places all wits and understandings on a level." How was this +to be accomplished? By the systemization of labour expended on +scientific research. A catalogue of the particulars of histories which +were to be prepared is appended to the "Parasceve." It embraces every +subject conceivable. In Chapter CXI. he says, "I plainly confess that a +collection of history, natural and experimental, such as I conceive it, +and as it ought to be, is a great, I may say a royal work, and of much +labour and expense." + +In the "Parasceve" he says:--"If all the wits of all the ages had met or +shall hereafter meet together; if the whole human race had applied or +shall hereafter apply themselves to philosophy, and the whole earth had +been or shall be nothing but academies and colleges and schools of +learned men; still without a natural and experimental history such as I +am going to prescribe, no progress worthy of the human race could have +been made or can be made in philosophy and the sciences. Whereas on the +other hand let such a history be once provided and well set forth and +let there be added to it such auxiliary and light-giving experiments as +in the very course of interpretation will present themselves or will +have to be found out; and the investigation of nature and of all +sciences will be the work of a few years. This therefore must be done or +the business given up." + +To carry out this work an army of workers was required. In the +preparation of each history some were to make a rough and general +collection of facts. Their work was to be handed over to others who +would arrange the facts in order for reference. This accomplished, +others would examine to get rid of superfluities. Then would be brought +in those who would re-arrange that which was left and the history would +be completed. + +From Chapter CIII. it is clear that Bacon contemplated that eventually +all the experiments of all the arts, collected and digested, _should be +brought within one man's knowledge and judgment_. This man, having a +supreme view of the whole range of subjects, would transfer experiments +of one art to another and so lead "to the discovery of many new things +of service to the life and state of man." + +Nearly three hundred years have passed since Bacon propounded his +scheme. The arts and sciences have been greatly advanced. They might +have proceeded more rapidly had the histories been prepared, but since +his time there has arisen no man who has taken "all knowledge to be his +province"--no man who could occupy the position Bacon contemplated. + +The method by which the induction was to be followed is described in +Chapter CV. There must be an analysis of nature by proper rejections +and exclusions, and then, after a sufficient number of negatives, a +conclusion should be arrived at from the affirmative instances. "It is +in this induction," Bacon adds, "that our chief hope lies." + +Bacon's new organ has never been constructed, and all wits and +understandings have not yet been placed on a level. + +We come back to the mystery of Francis Bacon, the possessor of the most +exquisite intellect that was ever bestowed on any of the children of +men. As an historian, he gives us a taste of his quality in "Henry VII." +In the Essays and the "Novum Organum," sayings which have the effect of +axioms are at once striking and self-evident. But he is always +desultory. In perceiving analogies between things which have nothing in +common he never had an equal, and this characteristic, to quote +Macaulay, "occasionally obtained the mastery over all his other +faculties and led him into absurdities into which no dull man could have +fallen." His memory was so stored with materials, and these so diverse, +that in similitude or with comparison he passed from subject to subject. +In the "Advancement of Learning" are enumerated the deficiencies which +Bacon observed, _nearly the whole of which were supplied during his +lifetime_. + +The "Sylva Sylvarum" is the most extraordinary jumble of facts and +observations that has ever been brought together. It is a literary +curiosity. The "New Atlantis" and other short works in quantity amount +to very little. Bacon's life has hitherto remained unaccounted for. In +the foregoing pages an attempt has been made to offer an intelligible +explanation of the work to which he devoted his life, namely, to supply +the deficiencies which he had himself pointed out and which retarded the +advancement of learning. + +Hallam has said of Bacon: "If we compare what may be found in the sixth, +seventh, and eighth books of the 'De Augmentis,' and the various short +treatises contained in his works on moral and political wisdom and on +human nature, with the rhetoric, ethics, and politics of Aristotle, or +with the historians most celebrated for their deep insight into civil +society and human character--with Thucydides, Tacitus, Phillipe de +Comines, Machiavel, David Hume--we shall, I think, find that one man may +almost be compared with all of these together." + +Pope wrote: "Lord Bacon was the greatest genius that England, or perhaps +any other country, ever produced." If an examination, more thorough than +has hitherto been made, of the records and literature of his age +establishes beyond doubt the truth of the suggestions which have now +been put forward, what more can be said? This at any rate, that to him +shall be given that title to which he aspired and for which he was +willing to renounce his own name. He shall be called "The Benefactor of +Mankind." + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +Sir Thomas Bodley left behind him a short history of his life which is +of a fragmentary description. One-fourth of it is devoted to a record of +how much he suffered in permitting Essex to urge his advancement in the +State. The following is the passage:-- + + "Now here I can not choose but in making report of the principall + accidents that have fallen unto me in the course of my life, but + record among the rest, that from the very first day I had no man + more to friend among the Lords of the Councell, than was the Lord + Treasurer Burleigh: for when occasion had beene offered of + declaring his conceit as touching my service, he would alwaies tell + the Queen (which I received from her selfe and some other + ear-witnesses) that there was not any man in _England_ so meet as + myselfe to undergoe the office of the Secretary. And sithence his + sonne, the present Lord Treasurer, hath signified unto me in + private conference, that when his father first intended to advance + him to that place, his purpose was withall to make me his + Colleague. But the case stood thus in my behalf: before such time + as I returned from the Provinces united, which was in the yeare + 1597, and likewise after my returne, the then Earle of _Essex_ did + use me so kindly both by letters and messages, and other great + tokens of his inward favours to me, that although I had no meaning, + but to settle in my mind my chiefest desire and dependance upon the + Lord _Burleigh_, as one that I reputed to be both the best able, + and therewithall the most willing to worke my advancement with the + Queene, yet I know not how, the Earle, who fought by all devices to + divert her love and liking both from the Father and the Son (but + from the Sonne in speciall) to withdraw my affection from the one + and the other, and to winne mee altogether to depend upon himselfe, + did so often take occasion to entertaine the Queene with some + prodigall speeches of my sufficiency for a Secretary, which were + ever accompanied with words of disgrace against the present Lord + Treasurer, as neither she her selfe, of whose favour before I was + thoroughly assured, took any great pleasure to preferre me the + sooner, (for she hated his ambition, and would give little + countenance to any of his followers) and both the Lord _Burleigh_ + and his Sonne waxed jealous of my courses, as if under hand I had + beene induced by the cunning and kindnesse of the Earle of _Essex_, + to oppose my selfe against their dealings. And though in very truth + they had no solid ground at all of the least alteration in my + disposition towards either of them both, (for I did greatly respect + their persons and places, with a settled resolution to doe them any + service, as also in my heart I detested to be held of any faction + whatsoever) yet the now Lord Treasurer, upon occasion of some + talke, that I have since had with him, of the Earle and his + actions, hath freely confessed of his owne accord unto me, that his + daily provocations were so bitter and sharpe against him, and his + comparisons so odious, when he put us in a ballance, as he thought + thereupon he had very great reason to use his best meanes, to put + any man out of hope of raising his fortune, whom the Earle with + such violence, to his extreame prejudice, had endeavoured to + dignifie. And this, as he affirmed, was all the motive he had to + set himselfe against me, in whatsoever might redound to the + bettering of my estate, or increasing of my credit and countenance + with the Queene. When I hae thoroughly now bethought me, first in + the Earle, of the slender hold-fast that he had in the favour of + the Queene, of an endlesse opposition of the cheifest of our + Statesmen like still to waite upon him, of his perillous, and + feeble, and uncertain advice, as well in his owne, as in all the + causes of his friends: and when moreover for my selfe I had fully + considered how very untowardly these two Counsellours were affected + unto me, (upon whom before in cogitation I had framed all the + fabrique of my future prosperity) how ill it did concurre with my + naturall disposition, to become, or to be counted either a stickler + or partaker in any publique faction, how well I was able, by God's + good blessing, to live of my selfe, if I could be content with a + competent livelyhood; how short time of further life I was then to + expect by the common course of nature: when I had, I say, in this + manner represented to my thoughts my particular estate, together + with the Earles, I resolved thereupon to possesse my soule in peace + all the residue of my daies, to take my full farewell of State + imployments, to satisfie my mind with that mediocrity of worldly + living that I had of my owne, and so to retire me from the Court, + which was the epilogue and end of all my actions and endeavours of + any important note, till I came to the age of fifty-three." + +The experience of Bodley and Bacon appears to have been identical. It +certainly materially strengthens the case of those who contend that +Bacon's conduct to Essex was not deserving of censure on the ground of +ingratitude for favours received from him. + +The words which Robert Cecil addressed to Bodley, namely, that "he had +very great reason to use his best meanes, to put any man out of hope of +raising his fortune whom the Earle with such violence, to his extreame +prejudice had endeavoured to dignifie," would with equal force have been +applied to Bacon's case. The drift of Bodley's account of the matter +points to his feeling that Essex's conduct had not been of a +disinterested character, and suggests that he felt the Earle had been +making a tool of him. + +The effect of this was that Bodley adopted the course which Bacon +threatened to adopt when refused the office of Attorney-General, +solicited for him by Essex--he took a farewell of State employments and +retired from the Court to devote himself to the service of his "Reverend +Mother, the University of Oxford," and to the advancement of her good. +To this end he became a collector of books, whereas Bacon would have +become "some sorry book-maker or a true pioner in that mine of truth +which Anaxagoras said lay so deep." + + +ROBERT BANKS AND SON, RACQUET COURT, FLEET STREET. + + + [Illustration:_ Figure VI._] + + [Illustration: _Figure VII._] + + [Illustration: _Figure VIII._] + + [Illustration: _Figure IX._] + + [Illustration: _Figure XX._] + + [Illustration: THE XXXVIII. BOOKE. + + THE ARGVMENT + + _Marfisa doth present herselfe before + King Charles, and in his presence is baptized: + Astolfo doth Senapos sight restore, + By whom such hardie feats are enterprised, + That Agramant therewith molested sore + Is by Sobrino finally aduised, + To make a challenge on Rogeros hed, + To end the troubles that the warre had bred._ + + _Figure XIII._ + + _Figure XIV._] + + [Illustration: _Figure X._] + + [Illustration: _Figure XV._] + + [Illustration: _Figure XI._] + + [Illustration: _Figure XII._] + + [Illustration: _Figure XXI._ + + THE GENEALOGIES RECORDED IN THE SACRED SCRIPTVRES, + ACcording to euery FAMILY and TRIBE. + + WITH + + The Line of our Sauiour IESVS CHRIST obserued from _Adam_ + to the blessed VIRGIN MARY. + + _By_ + I. S. + + CVM PRIVILEGIO.] + + [Illustration: _Figure XVI._] + + [Illustration: _Figure XVII._] + + [Illustration: _Figure XVIII._] + + [Illustration: _Figure XIX._] + + + * * * * * + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + + +1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_. + +2. Passages in bold are indicated by =bold=. + +3. Long "s" has been modernized. + +4. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest +paragraph break. + +5. Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end of the chapters +in which they are referenced. + +6. The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version +these letters have been replaced with transliterations. + +7. Certain words use oe ligature in the original. + +8. The following misprints have been corrected: + "obain" corrected to "obtain" (page 27) + "Shakespere" corrected to "Shakespeare" (page 39) + "Bodly" corrected to "Bodley" (page 85) + "Shakepeare's" corrected to "Shakespeare's" (page 107) + "commenceed" corrected to "commenced" (page 108) + "Proecepta" corrected to "Praecepta" (page 135) + "deficiences" corrected to "deficiencies" (page 191) + "numercial" corrected to "numerical" (footnote 35) + +9. Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies in +spelling, hyphenation, and ligature usage have been retained. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of Francis Bacon, by William T. 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