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 THE 
 
 ESSAYS OF LORD BACON 
 
 WITH 
 
 CRITICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES, 
 
 AND AN EXAMPLE, WITH ANSWERS, 
 
 OF A 
 CNIVERSITY MIDDLE-CLASS EXAMINATION PAPER ON THE ESSAYS, 
 
 BY THE REV. JOHN HUNTER, M.A. 
 
 NEW EDITION. 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 39 PATERNOSTER ROW. LONDON 
 NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 
 IS 97 
 
 All rights rtservtJt
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ' THE word ESSAY,' says Archbishop Whately, ' has 
 been considerably changed in its application since 
 the days of Bacon. By an Essay was originally 
 meant according to the obvious and natural sense 
 of the word a slight sketch, to be filled up by the 
 reader ; brief hints, designed to be followed out ; 
 loose thoughts on some subject, thrown out without 
 much regularity, but sufficient to suggest further in- 
 quiries and reflections. Any more elaborate, regular, 
 and finished composition, such as in our days often 
 bears the title of an Essay, our ancestors called a 
 treatise, tractate, dissertation, or discourse! 
 
 It was, indeed, evidently a main purpose of Bacon's 
 Essays ' to suggest further inquiries and reflections.' 
 In a Dedication to the Prince of Wales, which he 
 intended to prefix to the edition of 1612, but with- 
 drew on account of the Prince's death, he calls them 
 ' certain brief notes, set down rather significantly than 
 curiously : ' ' dispersed meditations : ' ' grains of salt, 
 that will rather give you an appetite, than offend you
 
 vi Preface. 
 
 with satiety.' In the edition of 1625 we meet with 
 many things culled from his other writings ; and, in his 
 Dedication of that edition to the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham, he describes the Essays as ' being of the best 
 fruits that, by the good increase which God gives to 
 my pen and labours, I could yield.' The original 
 edition in 1597, consisting of only ten Essays, was 
 the author's earliest publication : the edition of 1625 
 was his last In the interval the Essays had been 
 growing both in number and length. In 1612 they 
 were increased to thirty-eight; in 1625 to fifty-eight. 
 The illustrious writer died in the following year. 
 
 In Bacon's life-time, the Essays were the most 
 popular of his writings, and he judged rightly that 
 they would ever be so, and took much pains to render 
 them more and more worthy of acceptance. In the 
 Dedication of 1625 he writes : ' I do now publish my 
 Essays, which of all my other works have been most 
 current : for that, as it seems, they come home to men's 
 business and bosoms. I have* enlarged them, both in 
 number and weight, so that they are indeed a new 
 
 work I do conceive that the Latin volume of 
 
 them (being in the universal language) may last as 
 long as books last.' 
 
 The Latin translation of the Essays was not by 
 Bacon himself, but was executed under his general 
 supervision by other hands. Dr. Racket, Bishop of 
 Lichfield, Ben Jonson, and Thomas Hobbes of 
 Malmesbury, are the only persons known with any
 
 Preface. vii 
 
 certainty to have been engaged in this work. The 
 Latin version is characterised by general elegance, 
 and occasional ingenuity ; but as it frequently takes 
 liberties with the original, in expunging, interpolating, 
 and otherwise altering (though in some few of these 
 instances Bacon himself may have been the innovator), 
 and also in several places misinterprets Bacon's 
 meaning, we cannot think that he revised it very 
 carefully. On the other hand, it is a very great help 
 in enabling us to apprehend the sense in which many 
 phrases and forms of expression were understood in 
 Bacon's time ; and on this account I have, in the 
 present volume, made frequent reference to it The 
 title which he gave to it is Sermones Fideles, sive 
 Interiora Rerum. 
 
 On the merits of Bacon's Essays, Mr. Singer quotes 
 Dugald Stewart as thus speaking of them, in 1815 : 
 ' Under the same head of Ethics, may be mentioned 
 the small volume to which Bacon has given the title 
 of Essays : the best known and most popular of his 
 works. It is also one of those where the superiority 
 of his genius appears to the greatest advantage ; the 
 novelty and depth of his reflections often receiving a 
 strong relief from the triteness of his subject. It may 
 be read from beginning to end in a few hours ; and 
 yet, after the twentieth perusal, one seldom fails to 
 remark in it something overlooked before. This, 
 indeed, is a characteristic of all Bacon's writings, and 
 is only to be accounted for by the inexhaustible
 
 viii Preface. 
 
 aliment they furnish to our own thoughts, and the 
 sympathetic activity they impart to our torpid facul- 
 ties.' 
 
 The design of the present edition of the Essays is 
 not to be regarded as implying an entire dissent from 
 the opinion of Archbishop Whately, who, after re- 
 marking that Bacon is, ' especially in his Essays, the 
 most suggestive author that ever wrote,' says that 
 'the cultivated readers of Bacon do not want expan- 
 sions of an author whose compactness and fulness are 
 his greatest charms ; and that it is doing mischief to 
 those who would find in this suggestiveness, if left 
 to themselves, a valuable mental discipline.' It has 
 not been my aim to make expansion of Bacon's 
 suggestive compactness, but chiefly to secure many of 
 his terms and phrases from being misunderstood, to 
 explain his less obvious or less familiar allusions, to in- 
 dicate the authorities quoted by him, and to give such 
 general illustrations as are likely to interest the 
 student, without lessening the reflective exercise of 
 his mind. The Essays still remain, and are intended 
 to remain, a study, after all the aid I have here 
 given. Only I have sought to arrest, now and then, 
 and prompt young readers, who may too easily sup- 
 pose that they understand the terms in which Bacon 
 expresses himself, and who may thus be led to mis- 
 interpret his thought, or to dig in a direction that will 
 fail to find it. 
 
 I have been particularly careful to avoid inaccuracy
 
 Preface. ix 
 
 in the text of the Essays, several modern editions 
 being faulty in this respect. I have followed the 
 original copies, modernizing, however, the spelling, 
 and, what was very much wanted, rectifying the 
 punctuation. No such liberty has been taken as that 
 of substituting beholden for beholding, interested for 
 interessed, its for /its, &c. The few archaisms of the 
 author should certainly be preserved as characteristics 
 of his time and style. Nor has any attempt been 
 made to correct the grammar of the ' loose thoughts, 
 thrown out without much regularity.' Wherever we 
 find ' Priscian a little scratched, 'twill serve'* to 
 convey the author's meaning perspicuously enough, 
 sometimes, indeed, the more perspicuously. 
 
 In conclusion, I have to state that my thanks are 
 due to an accomplished scholar, the Rev. G. W. Cox, 
 for his kind revision of this work before it was passed 
 fo: press, and for several suggestions by which I was 
 enabled to improve my own performance. 
 
 J. HUNTER. 
 
 J-ONEON : Sept. 9, 1873. 
 
 * Love's Lab. Lost, v. I.
 
 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORIE 
 
 TO M. ANTHONY BACON, 
 
 HIS DEARE BROTHER. 
 
 LOUING and beloued brother, I doe nowe like some that haue 
 an orcharde ill neighbored, that gather their fruit before it is 
 ripe, to preuent stealing. These fragments of my conceite 
 were going to print : to labour the staie of them had bin 
 troublesome, and subject to interpretation: to let them passe 
 had beene to adventure the wrong they mought receive by 
 vntrue coppies, or by some garnishment which it mought 
 please any one that should set them forth to bestow vpon 
 them ; therefore I held it best discreation to publish them 
 my selfe, as they passed long agoe from my pen, without any 
 further disgrace then the weaknesse of the Author. And as I 
 did euer hold, there mought be as great a vanitie in retiring and 
 withdrawing men's conceites (except they bee of some nature) 
 from the world, as in obtruding them : so in these particulars I 
 have played my selfe the inquisitor, and find nothing to my 
 vnderstanding in them contrarie or infectious to the state ol 
 Religion or manners, but rather (as I suppose) medicinable. 
 Only I disliked now to put them out, because they will bee 
 like the late new halfe-pence, which though the siluer were good, 
 yet the peeces were small. But since they would not stay 
 with their Master, but would needes trauaile abroade, I haue
 
 xii Prefatory Epistles. 
 
 preferred them to you that are next my selfe ; Dedicating them, 
 such as they are, to our loue, in the depth whereof (I assure 
 you) I sometimes wish your infirmities translated vpon my selfe, 
 that her Majestie mought haue the seruice of so actiue and able 
 a mind; and I mought be with excuse confined to these con- 
 templations and studies, for which I am fittest: so commend I 
 you to the preseruation of the Divine Majestie. From my 
 Chamber at Graies Inne, this 30. of Januarie. 1597. 
 
 Your entire louing brother, 
 
 FRAN. BACON. 
 
 TO MY LOUING BROTHER, 
 
 SIR JOHN CONSTABLE, KNIGHT. 
 
 MY last Essaies I dedicated to my deare brother Master An- 
 thony Bacon, who is with God. Looking amongst my papers 
 this vacation, I found others of the same nature: which if I 
 my selfe shall not surfer to be lost, it seemeth the world will not ; 
 by the often printing of the former. Missing my brother, I 
 found you next; in respect of bond, both of neare alliance, and 
 of straight friendship and societie, and particularly of com- 
 munication in studies ; wherein I must acknowledge my selfe 
 beholding to you. For as my business found rest in my con- 
 templations, so my contemplations euer found rest in your louing 
 conference and judgement. So wishing you all good, I remaine 
 
 1612. 
 
 Your louing brother and friend, 
 
 FRA. BACON.
 
 Prefatory Epistles. xiii 
 
 TO THE 
 RIGHT HONORABLE MY VERY GOOD LO. 
 
 THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM 
 
 HIS GRACE, 
 
 LO. HIGH ADMIRAL OF ENGLAND. 
 EXCELLENT Lo. 
 
 SALOMON saies, a good name is as a precious oyntment; and 
 I assure myselfe such wil your Graces name bee with Pos- 
 teritie. For your Fortune and Merit both haue been Eminent. 
 And you haue planted Things that are like to last. I doe now 
 publish my Essayes; which of all my other workes, haue beene 
 most Currant ; for that, as it seemes, they come home to Mens 
 Businesse and Bosomes. I haue enlarged them both in num- 
 ber and weight, so that they are indeed a New Worke. I 
 thought it, therefore, agreeable to my Affection, and Obligation 
 to your Grace, to prefix your name before them both in English 
 and in Latine. For I doe conceiue, that the Latine Volume of 
 them (being in the Vniuersall Language) may last as long as> 
 Bookes last. My Instauration I dedicated to the King; my 
 Historic of Henry the Seuenth (which I haue now also translated 
 into Latine) and my Portions of Naturall History, to the Prince; 
 and these I dedicate to your Grace; Being of the best Fruits, 
 that, by the good Encrease which God giues to my Pen and 
 Labours, I could yeeld. Godlea.de your Grace by the Hand. 
 
 Your Graces most obliged andfaithfull Servant, 
 
 FR. ST. ALBAN. 
 1625.
 
 THE TABLE. 
 
 FAUT 
 
 L Of Truth 1625 I 
 
 II. Of Death 1612 ; enlarged 1625 6 
 
 III. Of Unity in Religion Of Religion, 1612; re- 
 
 written 1625 9 
 
 IV. Of Revenge 1625 17 
 
 V. Of Adversity 1625 19 
 
 VI. Of Simulation and Dissimulation 1625 21 
 
 VII. Of Parents and Children. ..1612; enlarged 1625 26 
 
 VIII. Of Marriage and Single Life. ..1612 ; slightly en- 
 larged 1625 28 
 
 IX. Of Envy 1625 31 
 
 X. Of Love 1612 ; rewritten 1625 37 
 
 XL Of Great Place 1612; slightly enlarged 1625... 40 
 
 XII. Of Boldness 1625 45 
 
 XIII. Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature.. .1612 ; en- 
 
 larged 1625 48 
 
 XIV. Of Nobility 1612 ; rewritten 1625 51 
 
 XV. Of Seditions and Troubles... 1625 53 
 
 XVI. Of Atheism 1612 ; slightly enlarged 1625 63 
 
 XVII. Of Superstition 1612 ; slightly enlarged 1625 68 
 
 XVIII. Of Travel 1625 71 
 
 XIX. Of Empire 1612; much enlarged 1625 74 
 
 XX. Of Counsel 1612 ; enlarged 1625 82 
 
 XXL Of Delays 1625 89 
 
 XXII. Of Cunning 1612 ; rewritten 1625 90 
 
 XXIII. Of Wisdom for a Man's Self.. .1612 ; enlarged 1625... 97 
 
 XXIV. Of Innovations 1625 99 
 
 XXV. Of Despatch 1612 101 
 
 XXVI. Of Seeming Wise ...1612 103 
 
 XXVII. Of Friendship 1612 ; rewritten 162$ 105 
 
 XXVIII. Of Expense 1597 ; enlarged 1612 ; and again 
 
 1625 117
 
 xvi The Table. 
 
 PACK 
 
 XXIX. Of the true Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates. ..1612 ; 
 
 enlarged 1625 118 
 
 XXX. Of Regimen of Health. ..1597; enlarged 1612; again 
 
 1625 132 
 
 XXXI. Of Suspicion 1625 134 
 
 XXXII. Of Discourse 1597 ; slightly enlarged 1612; 
 
 again 1625 136 
 
 XXXIII. Of Plantations 1625 138 
 
 XXXIV. Of Riches 1612; much enlarged 1625 142 
 
 XXXV. Of Prophecies 1625 148 
 
 XXXVI. Of Ambition 1612 ; enlarged 1625 152 
 
 XXXVII. Of Masques and Triumphs... 1 625 155 
 
 XXXVIII. Of Nature in Men 1612 ; enlarged 1625 158 
 
 XXXIX. Of Custom and Education.. .1612 ; enlarged 1625 160 
 
 XL. Of Fortune 1612 ; slightly enlarged 1625 163 
 
 XLI. Of Usury 1625 166 
 
 XLII. Of Youth and Age.. 1612 ; slightly enlarged 1625 171 
 
 XLIII. OfBeauty 1612 ; slightly enlarged 1625 173 
 
 XLIV. Of Deformity 1612 ; somewhat altered 1625... 175 
 
 XLV. Of Building 1625 177 
 
 XLVI. Of Gardens 1625 ... 182 
 
 XLVII. Of Negotiating 1597; enlarged 1612; very 
 
 slightly altered 1625 190 
 
 XLVIII. Of Followers and Friends... 1597 ; slightly enlarged 
 
 1625 192 
 
 XLIX. Of Suitors '597; enlarged 1625 194 
 
 L. Of Studies 1597; slightly enlarged 1612; 
 
 and again 1625 197 
 
 LI. Of Faction ^597; much enlarged 1625 199 
 
 LIT. Of Ceremonies and Respects... 1597 ; enlarged 1625... 201 
 
 LIII. Of Praise 1612; enlarged 1625 204 
 
 LIV. Of Vain Glory 1612 206 
 
 LV. Of Honour and Reputation... 1 597 ; omitted 1612 ; 
 
 republished 1625 208 
 
 LVI. Of Judicature 1612 211 
 
 LVII. Of Anger 1625 216 
 
 LVIII. Of Vicissitude of Things... 1625 218 
 
 A P'ragment of an Essay of Fame 225 
 
 EXAMINATION PAPER, with Answers 229
 
 ESSAYS. 
 
 I. OF TRUTH. 
 
 WHAT is truth? said jesting 1 Pilate, and would not stay 
 for an answer. 2 Certainly there be that delight in giddi- 
 ness, and count it a bondage to fix a belief; affecting 3 
 free-will in thinking as well as in acting. And though 
 the sects of philosophers of that kind 4 be gone, yet there 
 remain certain discoursing wits, 5 which are of the same 
 
 1 Jesting] In derision. Lat. derisor, as a mocker. 
 
 8 And would not stay, &C.] John xviii. 38, ' Pilate saith unto him, 
 What is truth ? And when he had said this, he went out,' &c. 
 
 * Affecting] Having a liking for. 
 
 4 The sects, drv.] The Pyrrhonists, or Sceptics, and the disciples of 
 their historian Sextus Empiricus. 
 
 4 Certain discoursing wits] Individual arguing minds. Discourse 
 often signified the power, or process, of deriving knowledge by con- 
 clusion from premises, as distinguished from intuition. Hence Milton, 
 P. L. v. 487-9, speaks of 'Reason discursive or intuitive." Bishop 
 Reynolds, in his treatise On the Passions (1640), ch. xxxvii., speaking 
 of different means and powers of knowing, says, ' In regard of perfection, 
 [there is] Intuitive knowledge, as that of angels, whereby they know 
 things by the view, and Discursive, as that of men, whereby we know 
 things by ratiocination.' Again, ch. xl., 'As it [the will] hath not 
 judgment to discover an end, so neither hath it discourse to judge of the 
 right means whereby that may be attained.' Compare Shakspeare, 
 Hamlet, iv. 4, 'Sure, -He that made us with such large discourse, 
 looking before an! after ;' and Chill ingworth's Religion of Protestanlx.
 
 2 Essays 
 
 veins, 1 though there be not so much blood in them as was in 
 those of the ancients. But it is not only the difficulty and 
 labour which men take in finding out of truth, nor again, that 
 when it is found, it imposeth upon 2 men's thoughts, that doth 
 bring lies in favour ; but a natural, though cornipt, love of the 
 lie itself. 3 One of the later school of the Grecians 4 examineth 
 the matter, and is at a stand to think what should be in it, 
 that men should love lies, where neither they make for 
 pleasure, as with poets. ; nor for advantage, as with the 
 merchant ; but for the lie's sake. But I cannot tell : 5 this 
 
 Pref. 3, ' An understanding man, and one that can distinguish between 
 d iscourse and sophistry ;' andagain, 12, 'What is discourse, but drawing 
 conclusions out of premises by good consequence ? ' So in Ford's 
 Lady's Trial f iii. 3, ' We through madness frame strange conceits in 
 our discoursing brains.' Discourse of reason was a familiar phrase. 
 Thus, in Massinger*s Unnatural Combat, ii. i, 'It adds to my calamity 
 that I have discourse of reason.' So Bacon himself, in the Advance- 
 ment, I., 'Martin Luther, conducted, no doubt, by a higher providence, 
 but in discourse of reason, finding, '&c. ; and Shakspeare 
 
 ' O Heaven ! a beast, that wants discourse of reason, 
 Would have mourned longer.' Ha*'i. \. 2. 
 
 1 Of the same veins] Of the same humour or disposition. The vena 
 ingenii of Horace suggested this, Od. ii. 18, ' Ingeni benigna vena." 
 So in Art. Poet., 409 
 
 ' Ego nee studium, sine divite vena, 
 Nee rude quid possit, video, ingenium.' 
 
 2 Imposeth ufoit] Lays restraint upon. 
 
 3 Love of ttie lie itself] Rev. xxii. 15, ' And whosoever loveth and 
 maketh a lie.' Jerem. v. 31, 'The prophets prophesy falsely, and the 
 priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so.' 
 
 4 One of the later school, drv.] Lucian, in his Philopseudes, makes 
 Tychiades say, ' I speak of them who, without any necessity, pre- 
 fer falsehood before truth, being delighted therewith. I would fain 
 know what it is that induceth them to such affection.' Translation, 
 fdited by Dry den, 1711. 
 
 * Icanr^t tell.] Lat Nescio quomodo. So Shaksp. Rich. III. t, 3--
 
 Of Truth. 3 
 
 same truth is a naked and open day-light, that doth not 
 show the masques, and mummeries, and triumphs 1 of the 
 world half so stately and daintily 2 as candle-lights. Truth 
 may perhaps come to the price of a pearl, that showeth bes- 
 by day ; but it will not rise to the price of a diamond or 
 carbuncle, that showeth best in varied lights. A mixture of 
 a lie doth ever add pleasure. Doth any man doubt, that if 
 there were taken out of men's minds vain opinions, flattering 
 hopes, false valuations, imaginations as one would, 3 and the 
 like, but it would leave the minds of a number of men pooi 
 shrunken things, full of melancholy and indisposition, and 
 unpleasing to themselves? One of the Fathers, in great 
 severity, called poesy vinum dcemonumf because it fiileth 
 the imagination, and yet it is but with the shadow of a lie. 
 But it is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the 
 lie that sinketh in and settleth in it, that doth the hurt, such 
 as we spake of before. But howsoever 5 these things are 
 thus in men's depraved judgments and affections, yet truth, 
 
 ' I cannot tell : the world is grown so bad 
 That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch.' 
 
 1 Triumphs} This word denoted processional pageants and other 
 festal shows exhibited by torchlight. In Shakspeare's I K. Henry IV. 
 iii. 3, FalstafT, referring to the red nose of Bardolph, says to him, ' O, 
 thou art a perpetual triumph, an everlasting bonfire-light !' The title 
 of Bacon's 37th Essay is ' Of Masques and Triumphs.' 
 
 2 Daintily} Nicely ; prettily. 
 
 3 As one would} According to one's wishes. 
 
 * One of the Fattiers, &c.] Bacon very often quoted from memory, 
 and his verbal memory was often at fault. It has not been ascertained 
 that any of the Fathers calls poetry vinum damonum, the wine of devils ; 
 but Jerome, iu one of his letters to Damasus, says, ' Dccmonum cibus 
 est carmina poetaium,' and Augustine, in his Confessions, \. 1 6, calls 
 poetry 'vinum erroris.' In the AJrancetiictit t II., our author says, 
 ' Did not one of the Fathers, in great indignation, call poesy vinum 
 jiCHtcnttm, because it increaseth temptations, perturbations, and vain 
 opinions?' 
 
 4 Km-soever} Howsoever it be that. 
 
 tt 2
 
 4 Essays. 
 
 which only doth judge itself, 1 teacheth, that the inquiry of 
 truth, which is the love-making or wooing of it, the know- 
 ledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of 
 truth, which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of 
 human nature. 2 
 
 The first creature of God, in the works of the days, was 
 the light of the sense ; the last was the light of reason ; and 
 his sabbath work ever since is the illumination of his Spirit. 
 First he breathed light upon the face of the matter, or 
 chaos; then he breathed light into the face of man ; and 
 still he breatheth and inspireth light 3 into the face of his 
 chosen. The poet that beautified the sect that was other- 
 wise inferior to the rest, 4 saith yet excellently well, // is a 
 pleasure to stand upon the store, and to see ships tossed 
 upon the sea ; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, 
 and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below : but 
 no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage- 
 ground of truth (a hill not to be commanded, and where the 
 air is always clear and serene}, and to see the errors, and 
 wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below:* 
 
 1 Only doth judge itself] Is the only judge of its own merit. 
 
 1 Teacheth, &c.] The Truth, which is the Word of God, teaches 
 that seeking after Truth, finding it, and having our thoughts, words, 
 and deeds as the offspring of our love of it, is the ' summum bonum,' or 
 supreme good, of man. 
 
 3 Inspireth light] That is, the light of Truth. 
 
 4 The poet, &c.~\ The poet here meant is Lucretius, and the sect of 
 which he was an ornament is that of Epicurus, a Greek philosopher, 
 who taught that pleasure is the ' summum bonum ' of human nature. 
 
 4 // is a pleasure, &"c.] This is from Lucretius, De Rerum NaturA, 
 ii. I, but is a very loose paraphrase of the original. Towards the 
 close of Bk. I. of the Advancement there is another adaptation of the 
 passage. The following are the words of Lucretius : 
 
 ' Suave mari magno, turbantibus aequora ventis, 
 E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem : . . . 
 Suave etiam belli certamina magna men,
 
 Of Truth. 5 
 
 so ' always that this prospect be with pity, and not with 
 swelling or pride. Certainly it is heaven upon earth to have 
 a man's mind move in charity, rest in Providence, and turn 
 upon the poles of truth. 
 
 To pass from theological and philosophical truth to the 
 truth of civil business : It will be acknowledged, even by 
 those that practise 'it not, that clear and round dealing 2 is 
 the honour of man's nature, and that mixture of falsehood 
 is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may make the 
 metal work the better, but it embaseth it : for these winding 
 and crooked courses are the goings of the serpent ; which 
 goeth basely upon the belly, and not upon the feet. There 
 is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame, as to be 
 found false and perfidious ; and therefore Montaigne 3 saith 
 prettily, when he inquired the reason why the word of the 
 lie 4 should be such a disgrace, and such an odious charge : 
 
 Per campos instructa, tua sine parte pericli ; 
 Sed nil dulcius est, bene quam munita tenere, 
 Edita doctrina sapientum, templa serena, 
 Despicere unde queas alios, passimque videre 
 Errare atque viam palantes quaerere vitre. ' 
 
 The passage may be thus translated : It is pleasant to behold from the 
 land the arduous struggling of another upon the great deep, when the 
 winds are tossing the waves ; ... it is also pleasant to behold the 
 great conflicts of war between marshalled hosts on the plains, yourself 
 having no share in the clanger. But nothing is more delightful than to 
 occupy the well-fortified and quiet temples reared by the learning of the 
 wise, from whence you can look down on others, and see them straying 
 in every direction, and wandering about to find the path of life. 
 
 1 So] Provided. So was often used for if or provided ; thus, Shak- 
 speare, Tarn, of Shrew, iv. 3, ' I care not what, so it be wholesome 
 food.' 
 
 3 Round dealing] Direct, straight-forward dealing. 
 
 * Montaigne] A celebrated French Essayist, who died in 1592. 
 
 4 The -word of the lu\ Charging with falsehood was called giving the 
 lie, and was sometimes accompanied with smiting on the mouth. (Set 
 Acts xxiii. 2.)
 
 6 Essays. 
 
 Saith he, If it be well weighed, to say that a man tieth, is as 
 much as to say, that he is brave towards God, and a coward 
 towards men. 1 For a lie faces God, and shrinks from man. 
 Surely the wickedness of falsehood and breach of faith 
 cannot possibly be so highly expressed, as in that it shall be 
 the last peal to call the judgments of God upon the gene- 
 rations of men : it being foretold that, when Christ cometh, 
 he shall not find Faith upon the earth? 
 
 II. OF DEATH. 
 
 Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark : and 
 as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is 
 the other. Certainly, the contemplation of death, as the 
 wages of sin and passage to another world, is holy and 
 religious ; but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature, 
 is weak. Yet in religious meditations there is sometimes 
 mixture of vanity and of superstition. You shall read in 
 some of the friars' books of mortification, that a man should 
 
 1 To say that a man lieth, <Sr.] Montaigne's words (ssats, ii. 18) 
 ' Que peut on imaginer plus vilain que d'etre couard a 1'endroit des 
 homines et brave a 1'endroit de Dieu ? ' were a comment on a quota- 
 tion he had just made from Plutarch's Lysander, where, according to 
 North's translation, it is said, ' He that deceiveth his enemy, and 
 breaketh his oath to him, showeth plainly that he feare'.h him, but that 
 he careth not for God.' 
 
 To give one the lie was to impute to him a cowardice that was afraid 
 to speak truth, and, in a serious case, challenged him to vindicate his 
 reputation by the duello, as an appeal to Providence. Fuller, in his 
 Profane State, ch. xii. , says, ' He that is called a liar to his face is also 
 called a coward in the same breath, if he swallows it ; and the party 
 charged doth conceive that if he vindicates his valour, his truth will be 
 given him into the bargain.' 
 
 2 When Christ cometh, erv.] Luke xviii. 8, ' Nevertheless, when 
 the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth ? '
 
 Of Death. 7 
 
 think with himself what the pain is, it he have but his finger's 
 end pressed, or tortured, and thereby imagine what the 
 pains of death are, when the whole body is corrupted and 
 dissolved ; when l many times death passeth with less pain 
 than the torture of a limb ; for the most vital parts are not 
 the quickest of sense. And by him that spake only as a 
 philosopher and natural man, it was well said, Pompa mortis 
 magis terret quam mors ipsa' 1 Groans, and convulsions, 
 and a discoloured face, and friends weeping, and blacks, and 
 obsequies, and the like, show death terrible. 3 It is worthy 
 the observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man 
 so weak, but it mates 4 and masters the fear of death : and 
 therefore death is no such terrible enemy, when a man hath 
 so many attendants about him that can win the combat 
 of him. Revenge triumphs over death ; love slights it ; 
 honour aspireth to it ; grief flieth to it ; fear pre-occupateth 
 it ; nay, we read, after Otho the emperor had slain himself, 9 
 
 1 Wheii\ Whereas in point of fact. 
 
 Pompa mortis, &c.~\ The parade of death terrifies more than 
 death itself. Bacon has been supposed to refer here to Seneca as the 
 ' Philosopher and natural man ; ' hut no such passage has been traced to 
 that author. In a sermon of Latimer's, preached before King Edward 
 VI., I find the words Horror mortis gravior ipsA morte introduced as a 
 familiar saying ; and perhaps Bacon quoted inaccurately. 
 
 * Groans and convulsions, S*c.] This was probably suggested by a 
 passage in Montaigne's Essays, i. 19, ' Je crois a la verite que ce sont 
 ces mines et appareils effroyables de quoi nous 1'entourons qui nous 
 font plus de peur qu'elle,' &c. ; that is, I really believe that it is those 
 frightful looks and apparatus with which we surround death that cause 
 to us greater fear than death itself, &c. Roger Ascham, in his Toxo- 
 fhilus, Bk. I., says, 'Fear is ever worse than the thing feared, as is 
 partly proved by the communication of Cyrus and Tigranes the king's 
 son of Armenia, in Xenophon.' (Cyrop. III. i. 23.) 
 
 Blacks means black drapery, hangings, c. 
 4 Mates~\ Confounds ; checkmates. 
 
 4 After Otho, &*t.] Tacitus, Hist. ii. 49. Otho stabbed himself, when 
 the defeat of his forces at Bed riacum deprived him of all hope of success.
 
 3 Essays. 
 
 pity (which is ' the tenderest of affections) provoked 2 many 
 to die out of mere compassion to their sovereign, and as 
 the truest sort of followers. Nay, Seneca 3 adds niceness 
 and satiety : Cogita quamdiu eadem feceris ; mori velle, 11011 
 tantum fortis, aut miser, sed etiatr, fustidiostis potest* A man 
 would die, though he were neither valiant nor miserable, 
 only upon a weariness to do the same thing so oft over and 
 over. It is no less worthy to observe, how little alteration 
 in good spirits 8 the approaches of death make ; for they 
 appear to be the same men till the last instant. Augustus 
 Caesar died in a compliment, Livia, conjugii nostri memor 
 vive, et vale : 6 Tiberius in dissimulation, as Tacitus saith of 
 him,_/iz;# Tibci-ium vires et corpus, non dissimulatio, dcserebant ? 
 Vespasian in a jest, sitting upon the stool, Ut puto, Deusjio? 
 Galba with a sentence, 9 Peri, si ex re sit populi Romani,^ 
 holding forth his neck : Septimius Severus in despatch, 
 Adeste, si quid mihi restat agendum ; * ' and the like. Certainly 
 
 1 Which is] Though it is. 
 
 I Provoked] Excited. 
 
 " Seiiecd] A celebrated Roman philosopher and moralist, who put 
 nimself to death by the command of Nero, A.p. 65. 
 
 4 Cogita quamdiu, &*c.] Seneca, Epist. ad Lucil. 77. Reflect 
 ho\v long you shall have done the same things over and over again ; a 
 man may wish to die not only as being brave or wretched, but even a* 
 being cloyed and weary. 
 
 s /;/ good spirits} The Latin has In animo generoso et forti. 
 
 " Livia, conjgii\ Suetonius, Aug. 99. Livia, live mindful of out 
 union, and fare thee well. 
 
 7 Jam Tiberium, drv.] Tacitus, Anna!, vi. 50. Bodily vigour and 
 life were now forsaking Tiberius, but dissimulation was not. 
 
 * Ut puto, cSrv.] Suetonius, Vesp. 23. I am becoming a god, I sup- 
 pose. This was meant as a rebuke to his flatterers. 
 
 9 A sentence] A maxim or pithy saying was called a sentence. 
 
 10 Feri, si ex re, &c.} Tacitus, Hist. i. 41. Strike, if it be for tho 
 advantage of the Roman people. 
 
 II Adeste, &>c.] Dion Cassius, 76, ad fin. Come on, if anything 
 yet remains to be done by me.
 
 Of Unity in Religion. 9 
 
 the Stoics bestowed too much cost upon death, and by their 
 great preparations made it appear more fearful. 1 Better 
 saith he qui finem vitce extremum inter mimera ponit naturce? 
 It is as natural to die as to be born ; and to a little infant, 
 perhaps, the one is as painful as the other. He that dies in 
 an earnest pursuit is like one that is wounded in hot blood ; 
 who, for the time, scarce feels the hurt ; and therefore, a 
 mind fixed and bent upon somewhat that is good doth avert 
 the dolours of death : but, above all, believe it, the sweetest 
 canticle is, Nunc dimitlis? when a man hath obtained worthy 
 ends and expectations. Death hath this also, that it openeth 
 the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth envy : Extinctus 
 amabitur idem* 
 
 III. OF UNITY IN RELIGION. 
 
 Religion being the chief band of human society, it is a 
 happy thing when itself is well contained within the true 
 
 1 The Stoics bestcnved, &<:.] Compare the Advancement, II. ' It 
 seemeth to me, that most of the doctrines of the philosophers are more 
 fearful and cautionary than the nature of things requireth. So have they 
 increased the fear of death in offering to cure it. For when they would 
 nave a man's whole life to be but a discipline or preparation to die, they 
 must needs make men think that it is a terrible enemy, against whom 
 there is no end of preparing.' The sect of the Stoics was founded by 
 Zeno, and was so called from the Swa, or porch, at Athens, in which 
 he taught. The Stoics aimed at the ascertainment and enjoyment of 
 virtue, and inculcated indifference to outward sources of pleasure and 
 pain. 
 
 * Better saith he, &c.] The sequel of the above quotation from the 
 Advancement is, 'Better saith the poet, Qui spatium vita extremum 
 inter nmnera ponit natural Tftis is from Juvenal, Sat. x. 357. Bacon 
 here uses the pronoun he as the antecedent to the Latin relative : Better 
 saith he who reckons the close of life among the boons of nature. In 
 Juvenal the antecedent is Fortem animurn, and the verb is ponat. 
 
 * Nunc dimittii\ The song of Simeon : Luke ii. 29. 
 
 4 Extinctus t 6-v.] Horace, Ep. II. i. 14. He shall even be beloved 
 when dead
 
 io Essays. 
 
 band of unity. 1 The quarrels and divisions about religion 
 were evils unknown to the heathen. The reason was, 
 because the religion of the heathen consisted rather in rites 
 and ceremonies than in any constant belief : for you may 
 imagine what kind of faith theirs was, when the chief Doctors 2 
 and Fathers of their church were the poets. But the true 
 God hath this attribute, that he is a jealous God; and there- 
 fore his worship and religion will endure no mixture nor 
 partner. 3 We shall therefore speak a few words concerning 
 the unity of the church : what are the fruits thereof ; what 
 the bounds ; and what the means. 
 
 The fruits of unity (next unto the well pleasing of God, 
 which is all in all) are two : the one, towards those that are 
 without the church, the other, towards those that are within. 
 For the former : it is certain that heresies and schisms are 
 of all others the greatest 4 scandals ; yea, more than corrup- 
 tion of manners. For as in the natural body a wound or 
 solution of continuity is worse than a corrupt humour, so in 
 the spiritual. So that nothing doth so much keep men out 
 of the church, and drive men out of the church, as breach 
 of unity ; and, therefore, whensoever it cometh to pass that 
 one saith, ecce in deserto, another saith, ecce in petidralibus ; 5 
 
 1 The true band of unit y*\ Lat. Verce unitatis et charitatis vinculis. 
 
 2 Doctors} Teachers. 
 
 8 He is a jealous God, drY.] Exod. xx. 5 ; Isai. xlii. 8, ' I am the 
 lxrd : that is my name ; and my glory will I not give to another.' > 
 
 4 Of all others the greatest} So in the Advancement, Bk. 1., and also 
 in Shakspeare's Mids. N. Dream, v. I, we have 'The greatest error of 
 all the rest.' In such expressions of does not mean out of, but as com- 
 pared with ; so that Milton's well-kno>vn comparison between our first 
 parents and their descendants, ' Adam, the goodliest man of men since 
 bom,' &c. (P. L. iv. 323), does not involve so great a licence of speech 
 as has often been supposed. 
 
 * Ecce in deserto, &*?.] Matt. xxiv. 26, ' If they shall say unto you, 
 Behold, he is in the desert : go not forth ; Behold, he is in the secret 
 chambers : believe it not.' Bacon quoted from the Vulgate.
 
 Of Unity in Religion. 1 1 
 
 that is, when some men seek Christ in the conventicles of 
 heretics, and others in an outward face of a church, that 
 voice had need continually to sound in men's ears, nolite 
 sxire, go not out. The doctor of the Gentiles' (the propriety 
 of whose vocation drew him to have a special care of those 
 without) 2 saith, If an heathen come m, and hear you speak 
 with several tongues, will he not say that you are mad? z 
 And certainly it is little better, when atheists and profane 
 persons do hear of so many discordant and contrary opinions 
 in religion : it doth avert them from the church, and maketh 
 them to sit down in the chair of the scorncrs.* It is but a 
 light thing 5 to be vouched 6 in so serious a matter, but yet it 
 expresseth well the deformity : there is a master of scoffing, 7 
 that, in his catalogue of books of a feigned library, sets 
 down this title of a book, The Morris Dance of Heretics. 8 
 
 1 The doctor of the Gentiles] St. Paul. I Tim. ii. 7, 'A teacher of 
 the Gentiles in faith and verity.' See also 2 Tim. i. n. 
 
 * The propriety, &v.] The special nature, &c. Gal. ii. 7, 'The 
 gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of 
 the circumcision was unto Peter.' 
 
 3 If an heathen come in, 6-v.] i Cor. xiv. 23, ' If therefore the 
 whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with 
 tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will 
 they not say that ye are mad ? ' 
 
 4 To sit dawn, <2rv.] Ps. i., ' Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 
 4 It is but a light thing} Viz. the circumstance he is about to mention 
 
 respecting the title of a book. Compare the beginning of the 1 2th 
 Essay. 
 
 * To be vouched] To be referred to. Lat. Ut citelur. 
 
 7 A master of scoffing] Rabelais, the most distinguished of French 
 humorists. 1 483 - 1 5 5 3. 
 
 8 The Morns-dance of Heretics} The reference is to the catalogue of 
 the books of the library of St. Victor, in Rabelais' satirical romance of 
 Pantagruel, ii. 7. In the name Morris-dance, as in Morris-pike, the 
 word Morris is a corruption of Moorish. The Morris, or Morisco, 
 dance was characterised by ludicrous postures and extravagant gesticu- 
 lations. In Shakspeare's 2 Hen. VI. iii. I, York says, I have seen 
 him caper upright like a wild Morisco.'
 
 1 2 Essays. 
 
 For, indeed, every sect of them hath a diverse posture, or 
 cringe, 1 by themselves, which cannot but move derision in 
 worldlings and depraved politics, 2 who are apt to contemn 
 holy things. 
 
 As for the fruit towards those that are within : it is peace ; 
 which containeth infinite blessings : It establisheth faith ; it 
 kindleth charity. The outward peace of the church distilleth 
 into peace of conscience ; and it turneth the labours of 
 writing and reading of controversies into treatises of mortifi- 
 cation and devotion. 
 
 Concerning the bounds cs unity : the true placing of them 
 importeth exceedingly. 3 There appear to be two extremes. 
 For to certain zealants 4 all speech of pacification is odious. 
 fs it peace, ye/iu ? What hast thou to do with peace ? turn 
 tfiee behind me.^ Peace is not the matter, but following and 
 party. Contrariwise, certain Laodiceans and lukewarm 
 persons 6 think they may accommodate points of religion 
 by middle ways, and taking part of both, and witty" reconcile- 
 ments ; as if they would make an arbitrement between God 
 and man. Both these extremes are to be avoided ; which 
 will be done, if the league of Christians, penned by our 
 Saviour himself, were, in the two cross clauses thereof, 
 soundly and plainly expounded : He that is not with us is 
 against us; and again, He that is not against us is with us;* 
 that is, if the points fundamental and of substance 9 in 
 
 1 Cringe] Lat. Gestus deformitatem. 
 
 2 Depraved politics] Depraved politicians, or men of depraved policy. 
 Lat. politici degeneres. 
 
 3 Importeth exceedingly] Is exceedingly important. 
 
 4 Zealants] Zealots. 
 
 * Is it peace, &c.~] 2 Kings ix. 18. 
 
 * Laodiceans, &>f.] See Rev. iii. 14-16. 
 
 7 \Vitty~] Ingenious. 
 
 8 He that is not, &*<:.] Matt. xii. 30, ' He that is not with me is 
 against me.' Luke ix. 50, ' He that is not against us is for us.' 
 
 9 Of substance"] Essential.
 
 Of Unity in Religion. 13 
 
 religion, were truly discerned and distinguished from points 
 not merely of faith, 1 but of opinion, order, or good intention. 
 This is a thing may seem 2 to many a matter trivial, and 
 done already ; 3 but if it were done less partially, 4 it would 
 be embraced more generally. 
 
 Of this I may give only this advice, according to my small 
 model : 5 Men ought to take heed of rending God's church 
 by two kinds of controversies. The one is, when the matter 
 of the point controverted is too small and light, not worth 
 the heat and strife about it, kindled only by contradiction ; 
 for, as it is noted by one of the Fathers, 6 Christ's coat indeed 
 had no seam, but the church's vesture was of divers colours ; 
 whereupon he saith, in vcste varietas sit, scissura non sit ; 7 
 
 1 Not merely offaith~\ Which are not purely of faith. Compare the 
 Advancement, II. ' Of the fundamental points, our Saviour penneth 
 the league thus : He that is not with us is against its ; but of points not 
 fundamental, thus : He that is not against us is with us. ' 
 
 May seem] That may seem. The suppression of a relative subject 
 is not now approved. In Bacon and Shakspeare it is very common. 
 
 s Done already] Lat. In quo tjuis actum agat, that is, in which one 
 would take needless pains. 
 
 4 Less partially] Lat. Minors partium studio. 
 
 4 Model} Measure or capacity. Lat. Captfts. 
 
 6 As it is noted, dr.] The Father here referrrecl to is St. Bernard, 
 Ad Guillel. Abbat. Apologia : ' And thus it will be thought that there 
 is no peace, no agreement whatever, in the Church as a whole, which 
 indeed is diversified by so many dissimilar observances, as being that 
 queen which in the Psalm (xlv.) is said to be wrapped round with 
 varieties.' (Circumamicta varictatibus is the expression of St. Bernard. 
 and also that in the Vulgate. The Psalter, ver. jo, has 'The queen in 
 a vesture of gold wrought about with divers colours.) Farther on St. 
 Bernard says, 'Christ left, as a token of inheritance to His Church, His 
 own coat, namely the coat of many threads, without seam, woven from 
 the top throughout.' See John xix. 23. Compare the Advancement, 
 II. ' We see the coat of our Saviour was entire without seam, and so 
 is the doctrine of the Scriptures in itself; but the garment of the Church 
 was of diverse colours, and yet not divided.' 
 
 7 In veste varietas, &"c.] In the vesture there may be various colours, 
 hut let there be no rending of it. Bacon often quoted this sentiment.
 
 14 Essays. 
 
 they be two things, 1 unity and uniformity. The other is, 
 when the matter of the point controverted is great, but it is 
 driven to an over great subtility and obscurity, so that it 
 becometh a thing rather ingenious than substantial. A 
 man that is of judgment and understanding shall sometimes 
 hear ignorant men differ, and know well within himself, that 
 those which so differ mean one thing, and yet thoy them- 
 selves would never agree. And if it come so to pass in that 
 distance of judgment 2 which is between man and man, 
 shall we not think that God above, that knows the heart, 
 doth not discern 3 that frail men, in some of their contra- 
 dictions, intend the same thing, and accepteth of both ? 
 The nature of such controversies is excellently expressed 
 by St Paul, in the warning and precept that he giveth con- 
 cerning the same, Devita profanas vocum novitates, et opposi- 
 tiones falsi nominis sciential Men create oppositions which 
 are not, and put them into new terms so fixed, as whereas 
 the meaning ought to govern the term, the term in effect 
 governeth the meaning. 5 There be also two false peaces, 
 or unities : the one, when the peace is grounded but upon 
 an implicit ignorance ; for all colours will agree in the dark : 
 the other, when it is pieced up upon a direct admission of 
 contraries in fundamental points. For truth and falsehood, 
 
 1 They be two things] They are two distinct things. 
 
 - That distance of judgment] That comparatively small difference of 
 intellectual power. 
 
 3 Doth not discern] This should be doth discern. Lat. D.'itm satis 
 perspicere. 
 
 4 Devita profanas, &>c.] Avoid profane verbal novelties, and oppo- 
 sitions of science falsely so called (I Tim. vi. 20). Bacon, commenting 
 on this in the Advancement, I., says St. Paul 'assigneth two marks 
 and badges of suspected and falsified science : the one, the novelty and 
 strangeness of terms ; the other, 1 he strictness of positions, which of 
 necessity doth induce oppositions, and so questions and altercations. ' 
 
 * Men create oppositions, &*c.] He refers chiefly to the Schoolmen.
 
 Of Unity in Religion. 1 5 
 
 in such tilings, are like the iron and clay in the toes ol 
 Nebuchadnezzar's image; 1 they may cleave, but they will 
 not incorporate. 
 
 Concerning the means of procuring unity : men must 
 beware that in the procuring or muniting of religious unity, 
 they do not dissolve and deface the laws of charity and of 
 human society. There be two swords amongst Christians, 
 the spiritual and temporal ; and both have their due 
 office and place in the maintenance of religion. But we 
 may not take up the third sword, which is Mahomet's sword, 
 or like unto it : that is, to propagate religion by wars, or by 
 sanguinary persecutions to force consciences ; except it be 
 in cases of overt scandal, blasphemy, or intermixture of 
 practice 2 against the State : much less to nourish seditions ; 
 to authorise conspiracies and rebellions ; to put the sword 
 into the people's hands, and the like; tending to the sub- 
 version of all government, whicn is tne ordinance of God 3 
 For this is but to dash the First Table 4 against the Second ; 
 and so to consider men as Christians, as we forget 5 that 
 they are men. Lucretius the poet, when he beheld the act 
 of Agamemnon, that could endure the sacrificing of his own 
 daughter, exclaimed : Tantutn rcligio potiiit suadcre ma- 
 lornm* What would he have said, if he had known of 
 the massacre in France, 7 or the powder treason of England ? 
 
 1 Nebuchadnezzar's image] Dan. ii. 33. 
 
 2 Practice] Plotting ; machination. Formerly a common meaning 
 of the term. 
 
 8 The ordinance of God] Rom. xiii. i, 'The powers that be are 
 ordained of God.' 
 
 4 The First Table} The Table of the first four Commandments. 
 
 * As we forget] That we forget ; as to forget. 
 
 ' Tantum religio, &*t.] Lucretius, i. 95. Could religion prompt 
 such wicked deeds? Iphigenia was given up by her father as a sacrifice 
 to appease the wrath of Diana ; but the relenting goddess rescued her. 
 
 7 The massacre in France] The massacre of the Huguenots on St. 
 Bartholomew's day, August 24th, 1572, by order of Charles IX.
 
 1 6 Essays. 
 
 He would have been seven times more epicure 1 and atheist 
 than he was. For as the temporal sword is to be drawn 
 with great circumspection in cases of religion, so it is a thing 
 monstrous to put it into the hands of the common people , 
 let that be left unto the anabaptists 2 and other furies. It 
 was great blasphemy, when the devil said, / will ascend a7id 
 be I ike the Highest ;* but it is greater blasphemy to personate 
 God, and bring him in saying, I will descend and be like the 
 Prince of darkness. And what is it better, to make the cause 
 of religion to descend to the cruel and execrable actions of 
 murdering princes, butchery of people, and subversion of 
 States and Governments ? Surely this is to bring down the 
 Holy Ghost, instead of the likeness of a dove, in the shape 
 of a vulture or raven ; and to set out of 4 the bark of a 
 Christian church a flag of a bark of pirates and assassins.* 
 Therefore it is most necessary that the church by doctrine 
 and decree, princes by their sword, and all learnings, both 
 Christian and moral, as by their Mercury rod, 6 do damn, 
 
 1 Epicure] Epicurean. 
 
 z The anabaptists} He alludes to the insurrectionary conduct of the 
 anabaptists in Saxony and Westphalia, in 1525 and 1532. They were 
 so named from being re-baptizers of persons who had been baptized in 
 infancy. At the periods referred to, these fanatics, political as well as 
 religious, rose in rebellion against the government, asserting the un- 
 warrantableness of all civil rule, and of all taxation, and committed the 
 most violent atrocities. 
 
 1 I will ascend, &>c.] Isai. xiv. 14. 
 
 4 To set out of\ To set up from ; to raise or hoist from. Gosson. 
 in his School of Abuse, says ' I have set out the flag of defiance.' 
 
 * Assassins] The Assassins were a secret military and religious 
 order, called also Ismaelites, which was formed in Persia in the eleventh 
 century. What we now call assassination v/as so expressly allowed, and 
 so commonly practised by them, that the Crusaders introduced the name 
 assassin into Europe, as a general appellative for a secret murderer. 
 
 As by their Mercury rod] This alludes to the caduceus with 
 which Mercury summoned the souls of the dead to the infernal regions. 
 He was the god of eloquence and the patron of learning.
 
 Of Revenge. \ 7 
 
 and send to hell for ever, those facts l and opinions tending 
 to the support of the same, as hath been already in good 
 part done. Surely in counsels concerning religion, that 
 counsel of the apostle would be prefixed, 2 Ira hominis non 
 implet justitiam JDci.' A And it was a notable observation of 
 a wise Father, and no less ingenuously confessed, that those 
 which held and persuaded 4 pressure of consciences, were 
 commonly interessed* therein themselves for their own ends. 
 
 IV. OF REVENGE. 
 
 Revenge is a kind of wild justice, 6 which the more man's 
 nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out For as 
 for the first wrong, it doth but offend the law; but the 
 revenge of that wrong putteth the law out of office. 
 
 1 facfs] Deeds. Formerly a common meaning. So Milton, P. L. 
 ii. 124, ' He who most excels in fact of arms ;' ix. 928, ' Perhaps the 
 fact is not so heinous now ;' xi. 457, 'The bloody fact will be avenged.' 
 The term was generally applied to evil deeds. In Shakspeare's Mac- 
 beth, iii. 6, the murder of Duncan is called ' damned fact.' 
 
 7 Would be prefixed} Ought to have the first place. Would be, for 
 should be, or requires to be, is often met with in our older literature. 
 There are several other examples of it in these Essays. Seep. 70, note 4. 
 
 3 Ira hominis, &*c.] The wrath of man does not fulfil the righteous- 
 ness of God. (James i. 20.) 
 
 4 Pirsuaded] Urged, or advised. Compare 2 Cor. v. n, 
 ' Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.' So 
 Shakspeare, Two Gent i. I, ' Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus ; ' 
 Merry Wives, i. I, ' Sir Hugh, persuade me not ; ' Meas. for Meas. v. 
 l, ' How I persuaded, how I prayed and kneeled.' 
 
 4 Interessed] This is from the French interesser ; it often occurs in 
 old authors. Shirley has it in The Maid's Revenge, i. I, ' Where 
 such a noble count is interessed ; ' and Shakspeare in K. Lear, i. I 
 
 The vines of France and milk of Burgundy 
 Strive to be interessed.' 
 
 Wi2djmti{e\ The metaphor here is from wild flowers. 
 
 C
 
 F JJ Assays. 
 
 Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his 
 snemy ; but in passing it over he is superior : for it is a 
 prince's part to pardon. And Solomon, I am sure, saith, // 
 is the glory of a man to pass by an offence. 1 That which is 
 past is gone and irrevocable ; and wise men have enough to 
 do with things present and to come : therefore they do but 
 trifle with themselves, that labour in past matters. There is 
 no man doth 2 a wrong for the wrong's sake ; but thereby to 
 purchase himself profit, or pleasure, or honour, or the like. 
 Therefore why should I be angry with a man for loving 
 himself better than me ? Anil if any man should do wrong 
 merely out of ill-nature, why, yet it is but like the thorn or 
 brier, which prick and scratch because they can do no other. 3 
 The most tolerable 4 sort of revenge is for those wrongs 
 which there is no law to remedy : but then, let a man take 
 heed the revenge be such as there is no law to punish ; else 
 a man's enemyis still beforehand, 5 and it is two for one. Some, 
 when they take revenge, are desirous the party should know 
 whence it cometh : this is the more generous ; for the 
 delight seemeth to be, not so much in doing the hurt, as in 
 making the party repent : but base and crafty cowards arc 
 like the arrow that flieth in the dark. Cosmus, Duke of 
 Florence, 6 had a desperate 7 saying against perfidious or 
 neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were unpardonable. 
 You shall read, saith he, that we are commanded to forgive 
 our enemies; but you never read that we are commanded to 
 
 1 It is t/ie glory, &*<:.] Prov. xix. n. 
 * There is no man doth} See p. 13, note 2. 
 
 * They can do no other} It is their nature to do so. Lat. Natiird 
 sud utuntur. 
 
 * Tolerable} Allowable. 
 
 5 Is still beforehand} Is still a gainer. Lat. Lucrumfacit. 
 
 1 Cosmus, Duke of Florence} Cosmo de' Medici, Duke of Florence, 
 and afterwards Grand Duke of Tuscany, died in 1574. He was a liht- 
 r.tl patron of literature and the fine arts. 
 
 * Z?ttfera(t] Frantic.
 
 Of Adversity. ig 
 
 forgive our friends. But yet the spirit of Job was in a better 
 tune. Shall we, saith he, take good at God's hands, and not 
 be content to take evil also? 1 and so of friends in a proportion. 
 This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge, keeps his 
 own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well. 
 Public revenges 2 are for the most part fortunate ; as that 
 for the death of Caesar ; 3 for the death of Pertinax ; 4 for the 
 death of Henry the Third of France : s and many more. 
 But in private revenges it is not so ; nay, rather vindictive 
 persons live the life of witches ; who, as they are mischie- 
 "ous, so end they unfortunate. 
 
 V. OF ADVERSITY. 
 
 It was a "high speech of Seneca (after the manner of the 
 Stoics), that the good things which belong to prosperity 
 are to be wished; but the good things that belong to ad- 
 versity are to be admired: 6 Bona rerum secundarum optabilia, 
 adversarum mirabilia." 1 Certainly, if miracles be the com- 
 
 1 Shall we ', <Srv.] Job ii. 10. 
 
 1 Public revenges} Penalties legally decreed by the state. 
 
 1 That for the death of desar] He alludes to the issue of the batik 
 .it Philippi, and the accession of Augustus to sovereign power. 
 
 4 The death of Pertinax} Pertinax was the successor of the emperor 
 Commodus, but reigned only about three months. He was murdered 
 by some of the turbulent Prcetorians, A.D. 193. Severus afterwards put 
 the murderers to death, and disarmed and banished the Praetorians. 
 
 * The death of Henry the Third, &c.\ The Latin has Cadem Hen- 
 fici Quarti, magni illius Gallia regis. Henry III. of France was 
 assassinated, in 1589, by Jacques Clement, a fanatical Jacobin monk 
 His successor, Henry IV., not, however, generally acknowledged king 
 I 11 1598, was stabbed to death, in his carriage, by Ravaillac, in 1610. 
 Henry IV. was as remarkable for good qualities as his predecessor for 
 tyranny and profligacy. 
 
 Admired} Wondered at. The verb to admire formerly signified 
 to wonder at, whether approvingly or otherwise. 
 
 ' ona rentm, drv. | Ad Lucil. 66. 
 C 'i
 
 20 Essays. 
 
 mand over nature, they appear most in adversity. It is yet 
 a. higher speech of his than the other (much too high for a 
 heathen) : it is true greatness to have in one l the frailty of a 
 man, and the security of a God : Vcrc magnum, habei'efra- 
 gilitatem hominis, securitatem Dei? This would have done 
 better in poesy, where transcendences are more allowed. 
 And the poets, indeed, have been busy with it ; for it is, in 
 effect, the thing which is figured in that strange fiction of the 
 ancient poets, 3 which seemeth not to be without mystery ; 
 nay, and to have some approach to the state of a Christian : 
 that Hercules, when he went to unbind Prometheus (by 
 whom human nature is represented), sailed the length of the 
 great ocean in an earthen pot or pitcher : lively describing 
 Christian resolution, that saileth in the frail bark of the 
 flesh thorough the waves of the world. 4 But to speak in a 
 mean: 5 the virtue of prosperity is temperance ; the virtue of 
 adversity is fortitude : which in morals is the more heroical 
 virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament ; 
 adversity is the blessing of the New: 6 which carrieth the 
 greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of God's 
 favour. Yet even in the Old Testament, if you listen to 
 
 1 In one\ At once ; together. 
 
 * Vere magnum, <Srt.] Ad Lucil. 53. Bacon omits simul after 
 habere ; but, in his translation, represents it by the expression ' in one. ' 
 
 3 The ancient poets} Apollodorus, Stesichorus, &c, 
 
 4 Hercules, -when he -went, 6<r.] Compare our author's Wisdom of 
 the Ancients (Prometheus) : ' It is elegantly added, for the consolation 
 and confirmation of men's minds, that this noble hero crossed the ocean 
 in a cup or pan, lest, peradventure, they might too much fear that the 
 straits and frailty of their nature will not be capable of this fortitude and 
 constancy. Of which very thing Seneca, well conceived, when he taxd, 
 Magnum est habere simul fragilitatem hominis et securitatem Dei.' 
 
 4 But to speak in a meatf\ Lat. Verum ut a granditate verborum ad 
 inediocritatem detcendamus. 
 
 * l'rospe-.-ity is the blessing, &t.] Compare Deut. xxviii. 1-13, with 
 Matt. v. I-I2.
 
 Of Simulation and Dissimulation. 2 1 
 
 David's harp, you shall hear as many hearselike 1 airs as 
 carols: and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath laboured more 
 in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of 
 Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and dis- 
 tastes ; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. 
 We see in needle-works and embroideries, it is more pleasing 
 to have a lively work upon a sad 2 and solemn ground, than 
 to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome 
 ground : judge, therefore, of the pleasure of the heart by the 
 pleasure of the eye. Certainly virtue is like precious odours, 
 most fragrant where they are incensed, 3 or crushed ; for 
 prosperity doth best discover 4 vice, but adversity doth best 
 discover virtue. 
 
 VI. OF SIMULATION AND DISSIMULATION. 
 
 Dissimulation is but a faint kind of policy, or wisdom ; for 
 it asketh 5 a strong wit and a strong heart to know when to 
 tell truth, and to do it : therefore it is the weaker sort of 
 politics 6 that are the great dissemblers. 
 
 Tacitus saith, Livia sorted well 7 with the arts of her hus- 
 
 ' Hearse-like} Funereal. * Sad} Dull. 
 
 * Incensed} Burnt ; made to exhale perfume by burning. 
 
 4 Discover} Show. The concluding portion of this Essay, from 
 1 Prosperity is the blessing,' was added in 1625, when the author was 
 in his 65th year, and is referred to by Macaulay as a proof that Bacon's 
 fancy did not decay with the approach of old age. 
 
 * It asketh} It requires. So used again in the loth and 33rd Essays. 
 Compare Milton's Sams. Agon. 65, ' Each apart would ask a life to 
 wail ; ' Shakspeare's Mids. N. Dr. i. 2, ' That will ask some tears in the 
 true performing of it ; ' Chaucer's Merchant's Tale, ' And all this asketh 
 leisure to enquere.' 
 
 * Politics} Politicians. Fr. politiques. 
 
 * Livia sorted -well, &c.\ Tacitus, Ann. v. I, 'Cum artibus mariti 
 limula'.ione filii bete CDmposita.' Sorted is suited.
 
 22 Essays. 
 
 band, and dissimulation of her son; attributing arts or policy 
 to Augustus, and dissimulation to Tiberius. And again, 
 when Mucianus encourageth Vespasian to take arms against 
 Vitellius, he saith, We rise not against the piercing judgment 
 of Augustus, nor the extreme caution or closeness of Tiberius.* 
 These properties of arts or policy, and dissimulation or 
 closeness, are, indeed, habits and faculties several, 2 and to 
 be distinguished. For if a man have that penetration of 
 judgment, as 3 he can discern what things are to be laid open, 
 and what to be secreted, and what to be showed at half 
 lights, and to whom, and when (which, indeed, are arts of 
 State, and arts of life, as Tacitus well calleth them), 4 to him 
 a habit of dissimulation is a hindrance arid a poorness. 
 But if a man cannot obtain to 5 that judgment, then it is left 
 to him generally to be close, and a dissembler. For where 
 a man cannot choose or vary in particulars, there it is good 
 to take the safest and wariest way in general ; like the going 
 softly by 6 one that cannot well see. Certainly the ablest 
 men that ever were, have had all an openness and frankness 
 of dealing, and a name of certainty 7 and veracity ; but then 
 they were like horses well managed; 8 for they could tell 
 
 1 We rise not, <5rY.] Tacitus, Hist. ii. 76, ' Non ad versus divi 
 Augusti acerrimam mentem, nee adversus Tiberii cautissimam senectu- 
 tern.' 
 
 2 Several'} Of different minds. * As} That, or as that. 
 
 4 As Tacitus well calleth them} Ann. iii. 70. ' Egregium publicum 
 et bonas domi artes.' 
 
 s Obtain to} Attain to. So in the Advancement, I., ' In the degrees 
 of human honour amongst the heathen, it was the highest to obtain to a 
 veneration and adoration as a God ; ' and Sir Ph. Sydney, in his 
 Apology for Poetry, says, ' The poets have obtained to the high top of 
 their profession." 
 
 By} Past. 
 
 * A name of certainty} The credit of sincerity. 
 
 8 Well managed] Well trained. From the Fr. mat'cgf, a nuing- 
 bouse. Lat. Bene docti et domiti.
 
 Of Simulation and Dissimulation. 23 
 
 passing well ! when to stop or turn : and at such times when 
 they thought the case indeed required dissimulation, if then 
 they used it, it came to pass that the former opinion spread 
 abroad of their good faith and clearness of dealing made 
 them almost invisible. 
 
 There be three degrees of this hiding and veiling of a 
 man's self. The first, closeness, reservation, and secrecy ; 
 when a man leaveth himself without observation, or without 
 hold to be taken, what he is. 2 The second, dissimulation 
 in the negative : when a man lets fall signs and arguments, 3 
 that he is not that he is. And the third, simulation in the 
 affirmative ; when a man industriously 4 and expressly feigns 
 and pretends to be that he is not. 
 
 For the first of these, secrecy: It is indeed the virtue of a 
 confessor ; and assuredly the secret man heareth many con- 
 fessions ; for who will open himself to a blab or a babbler ? 
 But if a man be thought secret, it inviteth discovery ; 6 as the 
 more close air suckcth in the more open : and as, in confes- 
 sion, the revealing is not for worldly use, but fo*: the ease of 
 a man's heart ; so secret men come to the knowledge of 
 many things in that kind ; while men rather discharge 6 their 
 minds than impart their minds. In few words, mysteries 
 are due to secrecy. Besides (to say truth) nakedness is 
 uncomely, as well in mind as body ; and it addeth no small 
 reverence to men's manners and actions, if they be not 
 
 1 Passing well] Surpassingly or exceedingly well ; very readily. 
 So Shakspeare, Two Gent. iv. 4, 'Is she not passing fair?" Oth. i. 3, 
 ' 'T was passing strange ; ' Ham. ii. 2, ' The which he loved passing 
 well.' 
 
 * Without observation, &c.] Without anything for observation, or 
 without anything tangible as to what he is. 
 
 3 Arguments} Indications. 
 
 4 Industriously] Laboriously ; with painstaking. 
 
 * Itwiteth discovery] Encourages disclosure. To discover formerly 
 jften meant to reveal or show. 
 
 * Dtschargt\ . Disburden ; exonerate.
 
 altogether open. As for talkers, and futile persons, they are 
 commonly vain 1 and credulous withal. For he that talketh 
 what he knoweth will also talk what he knoweth not. 
 Therefore set it down, that a habit of secrecy is both politic 
 and moral. 2 And in this part it is good that a man's face 
 give his tongue leave to speak. 3 For the discover}'- of a 
 man's self by the tracts of his countenance, is a great weak- 
 ness and betraying ; by how much it is, many times, more 
 marked and believed than a man's words. 4 
 
 For the second, which is dissimulation ; it followeth many 
 times upon secrecy by a necessity : so that he that will be 
 secret must be a dissembler in some degree. For men are 
 too cunning to suffer a man to keep an indifferent carriage 
 between both, and to be secret, without swaying the balance 
 jn either side. They will so beset a man with questions, 
 and draw him on, and pick it out of him, that, without an 
 absurd silence, he must show an inclination one way ; or if 
 he do not, they will gather as much by his silence as by his 
 speech. As for equivocations, or oraculous speeches, 5 they 
 
 ' Vain\ Light ; silly. 2 Moral] Right. 
 
 3 Give his tongue, &c.~\ Let speaking be reserved for his tongue 
 only. Lat. Ut vultus suus litigate officium non prteripiat. 
 
 4 The discovery, &v.] The revealing of a man's self by the traits or 
 features of his countenance, &c. This reminds us of the maxim in Sir 
 Henry Wooton's Letter to the author of Cotmis : ' I pension, stretti ct II 
 'iso sciollo * will go safely over the whole world.' Compare the Act- 
 'ancement, II., 'That more trust be given to countenances and deeds 
 i han to words : and, in words, rather to sudden passages and surprised 
 words than to set and purposed words. Neither let that be feared 
 which is said, frontinulla fides (Juvenal, Sat. ii. 8) ; which is meant of 
 a general outward behaviour, and not of the private and subtile motions 
 and labours of the countenance and gesture.' 
 
 5 Oraculous speeches] Ambiguous speeches, as the oracular responses 
 often were : ex. gr. that given to Pyrrhus, Aio te, Aiacida, Romanes 
 vi*icere posse, I say that you, grandson of ^acus, the Romans are able 
 
 The thoughts close and tin. countenance loose.
 
 Of Simulation and Dissimulation. 25 
 
 cannot hold out long. So that no man can be secret, except 
 he give himself a little scope of dissimulation, which is, as it 
 were, but the skirts or train of secrecy. 
 
 But for the third degree, which is simulation and false 
 profession, that I hold more culpable, and less politic, except 
 it be in great and rare matters. And, therefore, a general 
 custom of simulation (which is this last degree) is a vice 
 rising either of a natural falseness, or fearfulness, or of a 
 mind that hath some main faults ; which because a man 
 must needs disguise, it maketh him practise simulation in 
 other things, lest his hand should be out of ure. 1 
 
 The advantages of simulation and dissimulation are three. 
 First, to lay asleep opposition, and to surprise. For where 
 a man's intentions are published, it is an alarum to call up 
 all that are against them. The second is, to reserve to a 
 man's self a fair retreat : for if a man engage himself by a 
 manifest declaration, he must go through, or take a fall. 
 The third is, the better to discover the mind of another. 
 For to him that opens himself, men will hardly show them- 
 selves adverse ; but will (fair) let him go on, 2 and turn their 
 freedom of speech to freedom of thought. And, therefore, 
 it is a good shrewd proverb 3 of the Spaniard, Tell a tie, and 
 
 to conquer. So Croesus was encouraged to pass the river Halys, when 
 he was told that he would thereby destroy a great empire. He supposed 
 Persia to be meant ; but the empire which he destroyed was his own. 
 
 1 Out of ure] Out of practice. Ure is from the Fr. cetevrc, as 
 manure is from manoeuvre. Hence our verb to inure. So in the Ad. 
 vancement, II., 'No other method than that which brute beasts are 
 capable of, and do put in ure ; ' in North's Plutarch, ' Lycurgus taking 
 singular pleasure and delight in his mind to see his notable laws put in 
 ure ;' in Gosson's School of Abuse, ' To sweep motes from their kirtles, 
 to keep their fingers in ure ; ' and again, ' Oftentimes he slew one or 
 other at home, to keep his fingers in ure.' 
 
 2 Will (fair) let him go on] Lat. Assentabitur potius. 
 
 ' A good shrewd proi'erb\ A very shrewd or mischievous proverb.
 
 26 Essays. 
 
 find a troth : ! as if there were no way of discover}- but by 
 simulation. There be also three disadvantages to set it 
 even. 2 The first, that simulation and dissimulation com- 
 monly carry with them a show of fearfulness, which, in any 
 business, doth spoil the feathers of round flying up to the 
 mark. 3 The second, that it puzzleth and perplexeth the 
 conceits 4 of many that, perhaps, would otherwise co-operate 
 with him; and makes a man walk almost alone to his own 
 ends. The third and greatest is, that it depriveth a man of 
 one of the most principal instruments for action, which is 
 trust and belief. The best composition and temperature 5 
 is : to have openness in fame and opinion ; G secrecy in habit ; 
 dissimulation in seasonable use ; and a power to feign, if 
 there be no remedy. 
 
 VII. OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN. 
 
 The joys of parents are secret, and so are their griefs 
 and fears ; they cannot utter the one, nor they will not 7 
 utter the other. Children sweeten labours ; but they make 
 misfortunes more bitter : they increase the cares of life ; but 
 
 1 Find a troth\ Bring out a truth. Compare the Advancement, II., 
 ' They open themselves ; especially if they be put to it with a counter- 
 dissimulation, according to the proverb of Spain, Di menlira, y sacams 
 verdad.' Singer says, 'The Spanish proverb is Decir mentira para 
 sacar verdad, and is applied to those who simulate to know ihings of 
 which they are ignorant.' 
 
 2 To set it even] To make an equipoise for it. 
 
 * Doth spoil the feathers, &*f.] Spoils the feathers for flying directly 
 up to the mark. An allusion to archery. See p. 5, note 2. 
 
 4 Conceits] Conceptions. 
 
 * Temperature] Temperament. * Opinion] Reputation. 
 
 ' Nor tliey will not] Such double negation is often met with in old 
 writers. Thus in Shakspeare's Merck, of Ven. iv. I, ' So can I give no 
 reason, nor I will not ; ' K. John, v. 7, ' This England never did, n jr 
 never shall."
 
 Of Parents and Children. 27 
 
 they mitigate the remembrance of death. 1 The perpetuity 
 by generation is common to beasts ; but memory, merit, 
 and noble works are proper to men : and surely a man shall 
 see the noblest works and foundations have proceeded from 
 childless men, which have sought to express the images of 
 their minds, where those of their bodies have failed : so the 
 care of posterity is most in them that have no posterity. 
 They that are the first raisers of their houses are most 
 indulgent towards their children ; beholding them as the 
 continuance, not only of their kind, but of their work ; and 
 so both children and creatures. 2 
 
 The difference in affection of parents towards their several 
 children, is many times unequal, and sometimes unworthy ; 
 especially in the mother ; as Solomon saith, A wise son 
 rejoiceth the father, but an ungracious son shames the mother? 
 A man shall see, where there is a house full of children, one 
 or two of the eldest respected, and the youngest made 
 wantons ; 4 but in the midst, some that are, as it were, for- 
 gotten, who many times nevertheless prove the best. The 
 illiberality of parents, in allowance towards their children, 
 is a harmful error ; makes them base ; acquaints them with 
 shifts ; makes them sort with mean company ; and makes 
 them surfeit more when they come to plenty : and therefore 
 the proof is best when men keep their authority towards 5 
 their children, but not their purse. Men have a foolish 
 manner (both parents, and schoolmasters, and servants), in 
 
 1 They mitigate the remembrance of death\ See p. 29, note I. 
 
 * Creatures] Things created ; persons made by them. 
 
 * A wise son, &>c.] Prov. x. I, 'A wise son maketh a glad father, 
 but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.' Bacon's comment on 
 this in the Advancement, II., is : ' Here is distinguished, that fathers 
 have most comfort of the good proof of their sons ; but mothers have 
 most discomfort of their ill proof, because women have little discerning 
 of virtue, but of fortune.' 
 
 4 Made wantons} Made play-things ; petted. 
 8 Towards} With respect to.
 
 28 Essays. 
 
 creating and breeding an emulation between brothers during 
 childhood, which many times sorteth ' to discord when they 
 are men, and disturbeth families. The Italians make little 
 difference between children and nephews, or near kinsfolk , 
 but so 2 they be of the lump, they care not though they pass 
 not through their own body. And, to say truth, in nature 
 it is much a like matter ; insomuch that we see a nephew 
 sometimes resembleth an uncle, or a kinsman, more than 
 his own parent, as the blood happens. Let parents choose 
 betimes the vocations and courses they mean their children 
 should take ; for then they are most flexible : and let them 
 not too much apply themselves to the disposition 3 of their 
 children, as thinking they will take best to that which they 
 have most mind to. It is true, that if the affection or aptness 
 of the children be extraordinary, then it is good not to cross 
 it ; but generally the precept is good, optimum elige, suave et 
 facile illud faciet consuetudot Younger brothers are commonly 
 fortunate ; but seldom or never where the elder are disin- 
 herited. 
 
 VIII. OF MARRIAGE AND SINGLE LIFE. 
 
 He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to 
 fortune ; for they are. impediments to great enterprises, 
 either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the best works, and 
 of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the 
 unmarried or childless men ; which, both in affection and 
 
 1 Sorteth] Conduces. 2 So] Provided. See p. 5, note I. 
 
 * Apply tJiemselves, &c. ] Accommodate themselves to, or study, the 
 disposition. So in the Advancement, I., it is said of learned men ' that 
 they fail sometimes in applying themselves to particular persons ; ' and 
 ayain : ' Not that I can tax or condemn the morigeration or application 
 of learned men to men in fortune.' 
 
 4 Optimum elige, &c. ] Choose what is most advantageous, habit will 
 make it agreeable and easy. This was a maxim of Pythagoras.
 
 Of Mnrriage and Single Life. 2<5 
 
 means, have married and endowed the public. Yet it were 
 great reason that those that have children should have 
 greatest care of future times ; unto which they know they 
 must transmit their dearest pledges. 1 Some there are, who 
 though they lead a single life, yet their thoughts do end 
 with themselves, and account future times impertinences. 2 
 Nay, there are some other, that account wife and children 
 but as bills of charges. Nay more, there are some foolish 
 rich covetous men, that take a pride in having no children, 
 because they may be thought so much the richer. For, 
 perhaps, they have heard some talk, Such a one is a great 
 rich man ; and another except to it, Yea, but he hath a great 
 charge of children : as if it were an abatement to his riches. 
 But the most ordinary cause of a single life is liberty ; 
 especially in certain self-pleasing and humorous minds, 3 
 which are so sensible of every restraint, as 4 they will go 
 near to think their girdles and garters to be bonds and 
 shackles. Unmarried men are best friends, best masters, 
 best servants ; but not always best subjects ; for they are 
 light to run away ; and almost all fugitives are of that 
 condition. A single life doth well with churchmen ; 5 for 
 
 1 Yet it -were, <SrY.] Compare the Advancement, beginning of Bk. 
 II. 'Those which are fruitful in their generations, and have in them- 
 selves the foresight of immortality in their descendants, should likewise 
 be more careful of the good estate of future times, unto which they know 
 they must transmit and commend over their dearest pledges.' (See 
 Cicero's Ttfst. Qu<st. i. 38.) 
 
 2 Impertinences} Not pertaining to them ; no concern of theirs. 
 
 3 Humorous minds] Minds swayed by a predominating humour. 
 The human disposition was supposed to be constituted by the four tem- 
 peraments or complexions, phlegm, blood, choler, and melancholy, 
 variously compounded of the four elements. A person in whom some 
 mood predominated was called humorous. Thus in Shaksp. K. John, 
 5ii. I, Fortune is called ' her humorous ladyship ; ' in As You Like It, L 2, 
 'The duke is humorous,' that is, moody, or ill-natured. 
 
 4 As} That. Churchmen} Clergymen.
 
 3O Essays. 
 
 charity will hardly water the ground where it must first fill a 
 pool. It is indifferent for judges and magistrates : for if 
 they be facile and corrupt, you shall have a servant five 
 times worse than a wife. For soldiers, I find the generals 
 commonly, in their hortatives, put men in mind of their 
 wives and children. And I think the despising of marriage 
 amongst the Turks maketh the vulgar soldier > more base. 
 Certainly, wife and children are a kind of discipline of 
 humanity; and single men, though they be many times 
 more charitable, because their means are less exhaust ; yet, 
 on the other side, they are more cruel and hard-hearted 
 (good to make severe inquisitors), because their tenderness 
 is not so oft called upon. Grave natures, led by custom, 
 and therefore constant, are commonly loving husbands ; as 
 was said of Ulysses, vetulam suam prtztiilit immortalitati? 
 Chaste women are often proud and froward, as presuming 
 upon the merit of their chastity. It is one of the best bonds 
 both of chastity and obedience in the wife, if she think her 
 husband wise ; which she will never do if she find him 
 jealous. Wives are young men's mistresses ; companions 
 for middle age ; and old men's nurses. So as a man may 
 have a quarrel to marry when he will. 3 But yet he was 
 rt-puted one of the wise men, that made answer to the 
 question, when a man should marry : A young man not yet, 
 
 1 Vulgar soldier] Common soldier. 
 
 Vetulam suam, &c.~\ He preferred his old spouse to a condition 
 .if immortality. Cicero says it was Ithaca which Ulysses preferred to 
 ine immortality offered by Calypso. (De Orat. i. 44). 
 
 1 So as a man, &f.] So that a man may have a cause, or plea, &c. 
 The noun quarrel was sometimes used for cause. In Shaksp. Macb. i. 
 :, we have ' And Fortune on his damned quarrel smiling ; ' in Latimer's 
 Sermons there are several instances, as in the Serm. for Christmas Day, 
 To live and die in God's quarrel.' For quarrel the Lat. has ansa, 
 that is, a handle, figuratively, an occasion. In Coles's Latin Dictionary 
 we have Quarrel '= Causa, Lis
 
 Of Envy. 3 r 
 
 an elder man not at all. 1 It is often seen, that bad husbands 
 have very good wives : whether it be that it raiseth the 
 price of their husbands' kindness when it comes ; or that 
 the wives take a pride in their patience. But this 2 never 
 fails, if the bad husbands were of their own choosing, against 
 their friends' consent ; for then they will be sure to make 
 good 3 their own folly. 
 
 IX. OF ENVY. 
 
 There be none of the affections which have been noted 
 to fascinate, or bewitch, but love and envy. They both 
 have vehement wishes ; they frame themselves readily into 
 imaginations and suggestions ; and they come easily into 
 the eye, especially upon the presence of the objects : which 
 are the points that conduce to fascination, if any such thing 
 there be. We see likewise, the Scripture calleth envy an 
 evil eye ; 4 and the astrologers call the evil influences of the 
 stars evil aspects : so that still there seemeth to be acknow- 
 ledged, in the act of envy, an ejaculation, 3 or irradiation of 
 the eye. Nay, some have been so curious as to note, that 
 the times when the stroke or percussion of an envious eye 
 doth most hurt, are, when the party envied is beheld in 
 
 1 A young man, &*c.} Thales of Miletus, one of the seven wise 
 men of Greece, when first urged by his mother to marry, said, ' It is 
 too soon for me ; ' when he was older she renewed the entreaty, and 
 he answered, 'It is now too late.' The other sages were Solon of 
 Athens, Bias of Priene, Chilo of Sparta, Pittacus of Mitylene, Cleobulus 
 of Rhodes, and Periander of Corinth. 
 
 2 This] This patience. 
 
 * Make good\ Maintain, or bear out ; avoid seeming to repent. 
 
 4 An evil eye] Envy, from the Lat. invidia, denotes a looking with 
 jealous ill-will on some superiority in another. Matth. xx. 15, 'Is 
 thine eye evil because I am good ? ' 
 
 * An ejaculation} A darting glance.
 
 $'4 Assays. 
 
 glory or triumph ; for that sets an edge upon envy : and 
 besides, at such times, the spirits ! of the person envied do 
 come forth most into the outward parts, and so meet the 
 blow. 
 
 But leaving these curiosities (though not unworthy to be 
 thought on in fit place), we will handle, what persons are 
 apt to envy others ; what persons are most subject to be 
 envied themselves; and what is the difference between 
 public and private envy. 
 
 A man that hath no virtue in himself, ever envieth virtue 
 in others. For men's minds will either feed upon their own 
 good, or upon others' evil ; and who wanteth the one, will 
 prey upon the other : and whoso is out of hope to attain to 
 another's virtue, will seek to come at even hand 2 by de- 
 pressing another's fortune. 
 
 A man that is busy and inquisitive is commonly envious : 
 for to know much of other men's matters cannot be because 
 all that ado may concern his own estate : therefore it must 
 needs be that he taketh a kind of play pleasure 3 in looking 
 upon the fortunes of others ; neither can he that mindeth 
 but his own business find much matter for envy. For envy 
 is a gadding passion, and walketh the streets, and doth not 
 keep home : Non est curiosus, quin idem sit malevolus.* 
 
 Men of noble birth are noted to be envious towards new 
 men 5 when they rise, for the distance is altered; and it is 
 
 1 The spirits] Bacon entertained the medical opinion of his day, that 
 the arteries were used for the transmission of the vital spirits. Shaksp. 
 Love's Lab. Lost, iv. 3, says, ' Universal plodding prisoas up the nimble 
 spirits in the arteries.' 
 
 2 To come at even hand} To be even; to make up for it 
 1 Play-pleasure} Pleasure like that of seeing a play. 
 
 4 Non est curwsus, 6r . ] No one is a busybody without being male- 
 volent. The passage is from the Stichus of Plautus. 
 
 3 Nfw men] Among the Romans novus homo denoted a aiac lately 
 ennobled, not being of a noble family.
 
 Of Envy. 35 
 
 like a deceit of the eye, that when others come on they 
 think themselves go back. 
 
 Deformed persons, and eunuchs, and old men, ani 
 bastards, are envious : for he that cannot possibly mend his 
 own case, will do what he can to impair another's ; except 
 these defects light upon a very brave and heroical- nature, 
 which thinketh to make his natural wants part of his honour: 
 in that it should be said, that a eunuch, or a lame man, did 
 such great matters ; affecting 1 the honour of a miracle: as 
 it was in Narses 2 the eunuch, and Agesilaus 3 and Tamer- 
 lane, 4 that were lame men. 
 
 The same is the case of men who rise after calamitic.' 
 and misfortunes ; for they are as men fallen out with the 
 times, and think other men's harms a redemption of their 
 own sufferings. 
 
 They that desire to excel in too many matters, out of 
 levity and vain glory, are ever envious ; for they cannot 
 want work ; it being impossible but many, in some one of 
 those things, should surpass them : Which was the charac- 
 ter of Adrian the emperor, that mortally envied poets and 
 painters, and artificers in works wherein he had a vein 8 to 
 excel. 
 
 Lastly, near kinsfolks and fellows in office, and those that 
 have been bred together, are more apt to envy their equals 
 
 1 Affecting] Desiring ; aiming at. 
 
 2 Narses] By order of the emperor Justinian, Narses superseded 
 Belisarius in the command of the armies of Italy. He defeated Totila, 
 king of the Goths. 
 
 3 Agesilaus] King of Sparta. In North's Plutarch we read that 
 'his life and courage was the more commendable in him, for that 
 men saw that notwithstanding his lameness he refused no pain nor 
 labour.' 
 
 4 Tamerlane] Tamerlane, or Timour, ruler of Turkestan, died ir 
 1405. His capital was Samaicand. 
 
 ' A vein] A humour, or liking. 
 I)
 
 34 Essays. 
 
 when they are raised. For it doth upbraid unto them their 
 own fortunes, and pointeth at them, and cometh oftener 
 into their remembrance, and incurreth likewise more into 
 the note of others ; ' and envy ever redoubleth from speech 
 and fame. Cain's envy was the more vile and malignant 
 towards his brother Abel, because, when his sacrifice was 
 better accepted, there was nobody to look on. Thus much 
 for those that are apt to envy. 
 
 Concerning those that are more or less subject to envy : 
 First, persons of eminent virtue, when they are advanced, 
 are less envied. For their fortune seemeth but due unto 
 them ; and no man envieth the payment of a debt, but 
 rewards and liberality rather. Again, envy is ever joined 
 with the comparing of a man's self ; and where there is no 
 comparison, no envy ; and therefore kings are not envied 
 but by kings. Nevertheless, it is to be noted, that unworthy 
 persons are most envied at their first coming in, and after- 
 wards overcome it better ; whereas, contrariwise, persons of 
 worth and merit are most envied when their fortune conti- 
 nueth long. For by that time, though their virtue be the 
 same, yet it hath not the same lustre ; for fresh men grow 
 up that darken it. 
 
 Persons of noble blood are less envied in their rising ; for 
 it seemeth but right done to their birth. Besides, there 
 seemeth not so much added to their fortune ; and envy is as 
 the sun-beams, that beat hotter upon a bank or steep rising 
 ground than upon a flat. And, for the same reason, those 
 that are advanced by degrees are less envied, than those 
 that are advanced suddenly, and/<?r saltum? 
 
 Those that have joined with their honour great travails, 
 cares, or perils, are less subject to envy : for men think that 
 they earn their honours hardly, and pity them sometimes ; 
 and pity ever healeth envy : wherefore you shall observe, 
 that the more deep and sober sort of politic persons, in 
 
 1 Incurreth, &*c.] Also comes more under the notice of others. 
 * Per sa!tuni\ By a leap (over the heads of others).
 
 Of Envy. 35 
 
 their greatness, are ever bemoaning themselves what a life 
 they lead, chanting a quanta patimur : l not that they feel it 
 so, but only to abate the edge 2 of envy. But this is to be 
 understood of business that is laid upon men, and not such 
 as they call unto themselves. For nothing increaseth envy 
 more, than an unnecessary and ambitious engrossing of 
 business : and nothing doth extinguish envy more, than for 
 a great person to preserve all other inferior officers in their 
 full rights and pre-eminences of their places : for, by that 
 means, there be so many screens between him and envy. 
 
 Above all, those are most subject to envy which carry the 
 greatness of their fortunes in an insolent and proud manner : 
 being never well but while they are showing how great they 
 are, either by outward pomp, or by triumphing over all 
 opposition or competition ; whereas wise men will rather do 
 sacrifice 3 to envy, in suffering themselves, sometimes of 
 purpose, to be crossed and overborne in things that do not 
 much concern them. Notwithstanding, so much is true: 
 that the carriage of greatness in a plain and open manner 
 (so 4 it be without arrogancy and vain-glory), doth draw less 
 envy than if it be in a more crafty and cunning fashion. 
 For in that course a man doth but disavow fortune, and 
 seemeth to be conscious of his own want in worth, and doth 
 but teach others to envy him. 
 
 Lastly, to conclude this part: As we said in the beginning, 
 that the act of envy had somewhat in it of witchcraft ; so 
 there is no other cure of envy but the cure of witchcraft : 
 
 1 Quanta patimur} How great our troubles are. 
 
 2 Abate the edge] Blunt the edge, Lat. aciein retundant. To bate, 
 or rebate, Fr. battre, to beat down, often signifies, in old authors to 
 make blunt the edge or point of a weapon. Compare Shakspeare, 
 Ham. iv. 7, ' You may choose a sword unbated ; ' Love's Lot. Lost, 
 i. I, ' Honour which shall bate his scythe's keen edge ;' and Meat, for 
 Meas. i. 4, ' Rebate and blunt his natural edge.' 
 
 * Do sacrifice] Make some sacrifice. 
 4 So] Provided. Seep. 5, note I. 
 D 2
 
 36 Essays. 
 
 and that is, to remove the lot 1 (as they call it), and to lay u 
 upon another. For which purpose, the wiser sort of great 
 persons bring in ever upon the stage 2 somebody upon whom 
 to derive the envy that would come upon themselves : 
 sometimes upon ministers and servants, sometimes upon 
 colleagues and associates, and the like : and, for that turn, 3 
 there are never wanting some persons of violent and under- 
 taking 4 natures, who, so they may have power and business, 
 will take it at any cost 
 
 Now, to speak of public envy : There is yet some good in 
 public envy, whereas in private there is none. For public 
 envy is as an ostracism, that eclipseth men when they grow 
 too great ; and therefore it is a bridle also to great ones to 
 keep them within bounds. 
 
 This envy, being in the Latin word tnvidia, goeth in the 
 modern languages by the name of discontentment ; of which 
 we shall speak in handling sedition. It is a disease in a 
 State like to infection ; for as infection spreadeth upon 
 that which is sound, and tainteth it, so, when envy is 
 gotten once into a State, it traduceth even the best actions 
 thereof, and turneth them into an ill odour. And therefore 
 there is little won by intermingling of plausible actions : 5 for 
 that doth argue but a weakness and fear of envy, which 
 hurteth so much the more ; as it is likewise usual in infections, 
 which, if you fear them, you call them upon you. 
 
 This public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon principal 
 officers or ministers, rather than upon Kings and Estates 
 themselves. But this is a sure rule, that if the envy upon 
 
 1 To remove the lot] An allusion to crossing spells, by which the 
 doom allotted by witchcraft to one person was transferred to another. 
 
 1 Upon tJie stage] Into public view. 
 
 * For that turn] To serve that turn. 
 
 4 Undertaking} Venturesome. Lat. temeraricE. 
 
 ' Intermingling, &-v.] Intermingling of pleasing and popular action* 
 with these which have excited envy.
 
 Of Love. 37 
 
 the minister be great, when the cause of it in him is small ; 
 or if the envy be general, in a manner, upon all the ministers 
 of an Estate ; then the envy (though hidden) is truly upon 
 the State itself. And so much of public envy or discontent- 
 ment, and the difference thereof from private envy, which 
 was handled in the first place. 
 
 We will add this in general, touching the affection of envy : 
 that of all other affections it is the most importune ' and 
 continual. For of other affections there is occasion given 
 but now and then ; and therefore it was well said, Invidia 
 festos dies non agit? for it is ever working upon some or 
 other. And it is also noted, that love and envy do make a 
 man pine, which other affections do not, because they are 
 not so continual. It is also the vilest affection, and the 
 most depraved ; for which cause it is the proper attribute of 
 the devil, who is called the envious man, that soweth tares 
 amongst the wheat by night : 3 as it always cometh to pass, 
 that envy worketh subtilly, and in the dark, and to the 
 prejudice of good things, such as is the wheat 
 
 X. OF LOVE. 
 
 The stage is more beholding 4 to love than the life of 
 man. For as to the stage, love is ever matter of comedies, 
 and now and then of tragedies ; but in life it doth much 
 mischief; sometimes like a siren, sometimes like a fury. 
 
 1 Of all other affections, drv.] See p. IO note 4. Importune = impor- 
 tunate ; common in Spenser ; see F. Q. II. x. 15, and xi. 7. 
 
 2 Invidia festos, 6<r.] Envy keeps no holidays. 
 
 3 The envious man, &>c.] Matth. xiii. 25, ' While men slept, his 
 enemy cjme and sowed tares among the wheat.' 
 
 4 Beholding^ Held in obligation ; indebted. We now say be/widen. 
 This is no part of our present verb to behold, but a corrupted form of 
 gehcalden, participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb healdan, to hold. The 
 form beholding, for beholJen, occurs 'very often in our old literature.
 
 3S Essays. 
 
 You may observe, that amongst all the great and worthy 
 persons whereof the memory remaineth, either ancient or 
 recent, there is not one that hath been transported to the 
 mad degree of love : which shows that great spirits and 
 great business do keep out this weak passion. You must 
 except, nevertheless, Marcus Antonius, the half-partner of 
 the empire of Rome ; l and Appius Claudius, the decemvir 
 and law-giver ; 8 whereof the former was indeed a voluptuous 
 man, and inordinate ; but the latter was an austere and wise 
 man : and therefore it seems (though rarely) that love can 
 find entrance, not only into an open heart, but also into a 
 heart well fortified, if watch be not well kept. It is a poor 
 saying of Epicurus, Satis magnum alter altcri theatntm 
 sumus : 3 as if man, made for the contemplation of heaven, 
 and all noble objects, should do nothing but kneel before a 
 little idol, and make himself subject, though not of the 
 mouth 4 (as beasts are), yet of the eye, which was given him 
 for higher purposes. It is a strange thing to note the 
 excess of this passion; and how it braves 5 the nature and 
 value of things ; by this, 6 that the speaking in a perpetual 
 
 1 The half-partner, &c.~\ After the death of Julius Crcsar, a trium- 
 virate was formed by Antony, Octavianus, and Lepidus, which was 
 soon reduced to a duumvirate by the retirement of Lepidus. Antony's 
 passion for Cleopatra made him negligent of his most important duties, 
 and ruined his fortunes. He died by suicide in Egypt. 
 
 2 Appius Claudius, drY.] Virginius, it is said, killed his own daughter 
 Virginia, to prevent her being dishonoured by Claudius. This is the 
 alleged cause of the downfall of the Decemvirs, who had been employed 
 in framing the code of laws afterwards called ' The Laws of the Twelve 
 Tables.' 
 
 * Satis magnum, &*c.] We are to each other a large enough sphere 
 of contemplation. (Seneca, Epist. Moral, i. 7.) Bacon in the Ad- 
 vancement, Bk. L, calls this 'a speech for a lover, and not for a wise 
 man.' 
 
 4 Of the mouth] To be led or governed by the mouth. 
 
 * Braves] Sets at nought ; triumphs over. 
 
 * By this] Lat. V*i ///- ipso. L" ven in this ; insomuch.
 
 Of Love. 39 
 
 hyperbole is comely in nothing but in love. Neither is it 
 merely in the phrase ; for whereas it hath been well said, 
 that the arch-flatterer, with whom all the petty flatterers 
 have intelligence, 1 is a man's self? certainly the lover is 
 more. For there was never proud man thought so absurdly 
 well of himself as the lover doth of the person loved ; and 
 therefore it was well said, that // is impossible to love and it 
 wise. 3 Neither doth this weakness appear to others only, 
 and not to the party loved, but to the loved most of all : 
 except the love be reciproque. For it is a true rule, that 
 love is ever rewarded, either with the reciproque, or with an 
 inward and secret contempt. By how much the more men 
 ought to beware of this passion, which loseth not only- 
 other things, but itself. As for the other losses, the poet's 
 relation doth well figure them : that he that preferred Helena, 
 quitted t he gifts^of Juno and Pallas:* for whosoever esteemeth 
 too much of amorous affection quitteth both riches and 
 wisdom. This passion hath his 5 floods in the very times of 
 
 1 Have intelligence] Are in concert. Lat. conspirant. 
 
 * Is a man's self} It was Plutarch who said, ' Every man is himself 
 the first and greatest flatterer of himself .' So in the 27th Essay, ' There 
 is no such flatterer as is a man's self; ' and again in the 53rd Essay, 
 ' lie will follow the arch-flatterer, which is a man's self.' 
 
 J // is impossible, &*f.] ' Amare et sapere vix deo conceditur,' is one 
 of the apophthegms of Publius Syrus. In the A dvancement, Bk. II., 
 Bacon says, ' My hope is that, if my extreme love to learning carry me 
 too far, I may obtain the excuse of affection ; for that // is not granted 
 to man to love and to be wise. 1 So Shakspeare, Trail. &* Cress, iii. 2 
 
 1 For to be wise, and love, 
 Exceeds man's might ; that dwells with gods above.' 
 
 4 He that preferred, &*c.] He refers to the judgment of Paris. Ovid, 
 Heroid. xvi. The son of Priam, being chosen arbiter in a dispute as to 
 which of the goddesses, Juno. Minerva, and Venus, was the most beau- 
 tiful, decided in favour of Venus. 
 
 5 His] Its. His is the old neuter possessive. In the Bible iii 
 occurs only once (Levit. xxv. 5), and that by a misprint.
 
 40 Essays. 
 
 weakness, which are, great prosperity and great adversity ; 
 though this latter hath been less observed : both which 
 times kindle love, and make it more fervent, and therefore 
 show it to be the child of folly. They do best, who, if they 
 cannot but admit love, yet make it keep quarter, 1 and sever 
 it wholly from their serious affairs and actions of life : for if 
 it check 2 once with business, it troubleth men's fortunes, 
 and maketh men that they can no ways be true to their own 
 ends. I know not how, but martial men are given to love : 
 I think it is but as 3 they are given to wine ; for perils 
 commonly ask to be paid in pleasures. There is in man's 
 nature a secret inclination and motion towards love of others ; 
 which, if it be not spent upon some one or a few, doth 
 naturally spread itself towards many, and maketh men 
 become humane and charitable ; as it is seen sometime in 
 friars. Nuptial love maketh mankind ; friendly love per- 
 fecteth it ; but wanton love corrupteth and imbaseth 4 it. 
 
 XL OF GREAT PLACE. 
 
 Men in great Place 5 are thrice servants : servants of the 
 Sovereign or State ; servants of fame ; 6 and servants of busi- 
 ness. So as 7 they have no freedom, neither in their persons, 
 nor in their actions, nor in their times. It is a strange 
 
 1 Make it keep quarter] That is, order. Lat In ordinem redigunt. 
 Compare Shaksp. K. John, v. 5, ' Keep good quarter and good care 
 to-night ; ' Oth. ii. 3, ' Friends all but now, even now in quarter ; ' 
 Com. of Err. ii. I, ' So he would keep fair quarter with his bed.' 
 
 2 Check} Interfere. In the 3ist Essay he says of suspicions that 
 ' they check with business, whereby business cannot go on currently 
 and constantly.' 
 
 8 Put as] Just as. * Imbaseth] Degrades. 
 
 * In great Place] Lat. In magistratu coliocati. Place is official dig- 
 nity or authority. 
 
 fame] Reputation. T So as] So that
 
 Of Great Place. 41 
 
 desire, to seek power, and to lose liberty ; or to seek power 
 over others, and to lose power over a man's self. The 
 rising unto Place is laborious ; and by pains men come to 
 greater pains : and it is sometimes base, and by indignities 
 men come to dignities. The standing is slippery; and the 
 regress is either a downfal, or at least an eclipse, which is a 
 melancholy thing. Cum non sis <jui fueris, non esse air velis 
 vtvere. 1 Nay, retire men cannot when they would ; neither 
 will they when it were reason, 2 but are impatient of private- 
 ness even in age and sickness, which require the shadow : 3 
 nice old townsmen, that will be still sitting at their street 
 door, though thereby they offer age to scorn. Certainly, 
 great persons had need to borrow other men's opinions 4 to 
 think themselves happy ; for if they judge by their own feel- 
 ing, they cannot find it : but if they think with themselves 
 what other men think of them, and that other men would 
 fain be as they are, then they are happy, as it were, by re- 
 port ; when, perhaps, they find the contrary within. For 
 they are the first that find their own griefs, though they be 
 the last that find their own faults. Certainly, men in great 
 fortunes are strangers to themselves ; and while they are in 
 the puzzle of business they have no time to tend their health 
 either of body or mind. 
 
 Illi mors gravis incubat, 
 Qui, notus nimis omnibus, 
 Ignotus mcritur sibi. 4 
 
 1 Cunt non sis, &>c.] Cicero, Epist. Fam. That when you are not 
 what you have been, there is no reason why you should wish to live. 
 
 2 // were rea*uti\ It would be reasonable. Compare in Scripture, 
 Acts vi. 2, ' it is not reason that we should leave,' c. 
 
 * TJie shadow] The shade ; a quiet retreat. 
 
 4 To borrow, &-V. ] To adopt the opinions which other men have 
 of them. 
 
 4 Illi mors, <SrY.] Seneca, Thyest. ii. 401. ' Death presses heavily 
 on him who, very well known to all others, dies unknown to himself.'
 
 42 Essays. 
 
 In Place, there is licence to do good and evil ; whereof the 
 latter is a curse ; for in evil the best condition is not to will, 
 the second not to can. 1 But power to do good is the true 
 and lawful end of aspiring. For good thoughts, though God 
 accept them, yet towards men are little better than good 
 dreams, except they be put in act ; and that cannot be with- 
 out power and Place, as the vantage and commanding ground. 
 Merit and good works is the end of man's motion ; * and 
 conscience 3 of the same is the accomplishment of man's rest 
 For if a man can be partaker of God's theatre, 4 he shall like- 
 wise be partaker of God's rest. Et conversus Deus, ut ad- 
 spiceret opera quczfecerunt manus su&, vidit quod oninia essent 
 bona nimis ; 5 and then the sabbath. 6 In the discharge of thy 
 Place set before thee the best examples ; for imitation is a 
 globe of precepts. 7 And after a time set before thee thine 
 own example ; and examine thyself strictly whether thou 
 didst not best at first. Neglect not also the examples of 
 those that have carried themselves ill in the same Place : not 
 to set off thyself by taxing their memory; but to direct thy- 
 self what to avoid. Reform therefore without braver) 7 , 8 or 
 
 1 To can] To know how ; to be able. A. S. Cunnan, to know. 
 z Tlu end, <Sfc.] The proper object of man's labours. 
 
 3 Conscience] Consciousness. 
 
 * Theatre] Contemplation. See p. 38, note 4. Bacon refers to a 
 man that can contemplate his own works, as God did, and see that 
 they are good. The word theatre is the Greek 6earpoy, from 0oo/na<, 
 to behold. 
 
 4 Et conversus, &*c.] And God, having looked round rpon the 
 works which his hands created, saw that they all were very good. 
 Gen i. 31. 
 
 6 The sabbath~\ The word sabbath signifies rest. 
 
 7 A globe of precepts] One of the meanings of the Latin globits is a 
 crowd gathered round anything. Thus Virgil, ^n. x. 373, ' Qua 
 globus ille virum densissimus urget ;' and hence Milton. P. L. ii. 512, 
 ' Him round a globe of fiery Seraphim enclosed.' A globe of precepts is 
 a body or collection of counsels. 
 
 8 Bravery>\ Boasting ; ostentation ; elation.
 
 Of Great Place. 43 
 
 scandal of former times and persons ; but yet set it down * to 
 thyself as well to create good precedents as to follow them. 
 Reduce 2 things to the first institution, and observe wherein 
 and how they have degenerate ; but yet ask counsel of both 
 times : of the ancient time what is best ; and of the latter 
 time what is fittest. Seek to make thy course regular ; 3 that 
 men may know beforehand what they may expect : but be 
 not too positive and peremptory; and express thyself well 4 
 when thou digressest from thy rule. Preserve the right of 
 thy Place, but stir not questions of jurisdiction ; and rather 
 assume thy right in silence, and de facto? than voice it 6 with 
 claims and challenges. Preserve likewise the rights of in- 
 ferior Places ; and think it more honour to direct in chiet 
 than to be busy in all. Embrace and invite helps and 
 advices touching the execution of thy Place ; and do not 
 drive away such as bring thee information, as meddlers, 7 but 
 accept of them in good part. The vices of authority are 
 cnierly four : delays, corruption, roughness, and facility. 
 For delays : 8 give easy access ; keep times appointed; go 
 through with that which is in hand, and interlace not busi- 
 ness but of necessity. For corruption : do not only bind 
 thine own hands or thy servant's hands from taking, but 
 bind the hands of suitors also from offering. For integrity 
 used doth the one; but integrity professed, and with a 
 manifest detestation of bribery, doth the other : and avoid 
 not only the fault, but the suspicion. Whosoever is found 
 variable, and changeth manifestly without manifest cause, 
 
 1 Set it down] Propose ; prescribe. a Reduce} Refer. 
 
 Regular] An observance of rules. 
 
 Express thyself -well} Lat. Quid sit quod agas diligenter expone. 
 
 De facto} As a matter of fact. 
 
 Voite if\ Utter or assert it. 
 
 Do not drive away, <2rY. ] Do not. drive away, as meddlers or in- 
 trusive persons, such as bring, &c. 
 For delays} As regards, or with respect to, delays.
 
 44 Essays . 
 
 gtveth suspicion of corruption. Therefore, always, when 
 thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it plainly, and 
 declare it, together with the reasons that move thee to 
 change ; and do not think to steal it. 1 A servant or a 
 favourite, if he be inward, 2 and no other apparent cause of 
 esteem, is commonly thought but a by-way to close corrup- 
 tion. For roughness: it is a needless cause of discontent; 3 
 severity breedeth fear, but roughness breedeth hate. Even 
 reproofs from authority ought to be grave, and not taunting. 
 As for facility: 4 it is worse than bribery. 5 For bribes come 
 but now and then ; but if importunity or idle respects lead 
 a man, he shall never be without. As Solomon saith : To 
 respect persons is not good; for such a man will transgress for 
 a piece of bread? It is most true that was anciently spoken, 
 'A Place showeth the man ; ' 7 and it showeth some to the 
 better, and some to the worse : Omnium consensu, capax 
 
 1 To steal if\ That you can do such a thing stealthily. 
 
 " Inward} In your counsels or confidence ; intimate with you. 
 Compare Shakspeare, Rich. III. iii. 4, ' Who is most inward with the 
 noble duke?' and Meas. for Meas. iii. 2, ' I was an inward of his.' 
 
 3 Discontent} Ill-will. 
 
 4 Facility} Proneuess to yield or comply. 
 
 5 Bribeiy} The taking of bribes. In the Advancement, II. , he says, 
 ' A judge were better be a briber (that is, a taker of bribes) than a re- 
 specter of persons ; for a corrupt judge offendeth not so highly as a 
 facile.' In Larimer's 3rd Serm. before Edward VI. we have, 'All the 
 rulers are bribers.' 
 
 6 To respect persons, &*c.] Prov. xxviii. 21. 
 
 7 A Place s/unueth tlie man} Lat. Magistrate virum indicat. The 
 saying originated with some one of the seven sages of Greece. Epami- 
 nondas quoted and enlarged it, when his enemies thought to degrade 
 him by making him overseer of the customs, while others, inferior to 
 him in merit, were placed in higher offices. In Sir Thomas North's 
 paminondas, added to his translation of Plutarch's Lives, it is said, 
 ' He despised not this office, but did discharge it very faithfully ; for, 
 .said he, office or authority showeth not only what the man is, but also 
 the man what the office is.' (Plut. Pracc. Civ.)
 
 Of Boldness, 45 
 
 imperil y nisi imperasset, saith Tacitus of Galba ; but of 
 Vespasian he saith : solus imperantium, Vespasianus mutatus 
 in melius : J though the one was meant of sufficiency, the 
 other of manners and affection. 2 It is an assured sign of a 
 worthy and generous spirit, whom honour amends. For 
 honour is, or should be, the Place of virtue ; and as in nature 
 things move violently to their place, and calmly in their 
 place, so virtue in ambition is violent, in authority settled 
 and calm. All rising to great Place is by a winding stair ; 
 and if there be factions, it is good to side a man's self 3 whilst 
 he is in the rising, and to balance himself when he is placed. 
 Use the memory of thy predecessor fairly and tenderly ; for 
 if thou dost not, it is a debt will sure be paid when thou art 
 gone. If thou have colleagues, respect them, and rather 
 call them when they look not for it, than exclude them when 
 they have reason to look to be called. Be not too sensible, 
 or too remembering, of thy Place, in conversation and pri- 
 vate answers to suitors ; but let it rather be said, When he 
 sits in Place he is another man. 
 
 XII. OF BOLDNESS. 
 
 It is a trivial grammar-school text, 4 but yet worthy a wise 
 man's consideration : Question was asked of Demosthenes, 
 
 1 Omnium consensu, &c.} It was generally allowed that Galba was 
 capable of rule, unless he had ruled. Compared with all the preceding 
 emperors, Vespasian alone was changed for the better by becoming 
 emperor. Tacitus, Hist. i. 49, 5- 
 
 2 Affection} Disposition. 
 
 1 To side a man's self} This, perhaps, means to take the help of 
 some side support. The Latin, however, is Alteri parti adJucrere ; but 
 Wright says 'here the translator seems to have missed the point.' 
 
 4 ft is a trivial grammar-school text} Viz. what he is about to 
 mention. See p. n, note 5. Text here seems to mean a suggestive 
 saying or statement. The Latin has Tritum est dicterimn. (Gr.
 
 4<5 . Essays. 
 
 what was the chief part : of an orator? he answered, action : 
 what next ? action : what next again ? action. He said it 
 chat knew it best, and had by nature himself no advantage 
 in that he commended. A strange thing, that that part QJ 
 an orator which is but superficial, and rather the virtue of a 
 player, should be placed so high above those other noble 
 parts of invention, elocution, and the rest : nay, almost alone, 
 as if it were all in all. But the reason is plain. There is in 
 human nature generally more of the fool than of the wise, 
 and therefore those faculties by which the foolish part of 
 men's minds is taken, are most potent Wonderful like is 
 the case of boldness in civil business : What first ? boldness : 
 what second and third ? boldness. And yet boldness is a 
 child of ignorance and baseness, far inferior to other parts. 
 But, nevertheless, it doth fascinate, and bind hand and foot, 
 those that are either shallow in judgment or weak in courage, 
 which are the greatest part : yea, and prevaileth with wise 
 men at weak times ; therefore we see it hath done wonders 
 in popular States, 2 but with senates and princes less ; and 
 more 3 ever upon the first entrance of bold persons into 
 action, than soon after; for boldness is an ill keeper of 
 promise. Surely, as there are mountebanks 4 for the natural 
 body, so are there mountebanks for the politic body: men 
 that undertake great cures, and perhaps have been lucky in 
 two or three experiments, but want the grounds of science, 
 and therefore cannot hold out Nay, you shall see a bold 
 fellow many times do Mahomet's miracle. Mahomet made 
 the people believe that he would call a hill to him. and from 
 i he top of it offer up his prayers for the observers of his law. 
 
 1 Part] Qualification. 
 
 - Popular States} Democracies. 
 
 3 A nd morel And prevaileth more. 
 
 4 Mountebanks] A mountebank, from the Italian montare and oanco, 
 denotes one who mounts a bench or platform to proclaim the merits of 
 medicines which he sells.
 
 Of Boldness. 47 
 
 The people assembled; Mahomet called the hill to come 
 to him again and again : and when the hill stood still, he 
 was never a whit abashed, but said, ' If the hill will not 
 come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill.' So these 
 men, when they have promised great matters and failed 
 most shamefully, yet (if they have the perfection of bold- 
 ness), they will but slight it over, and make a turn, and no 
 more ado. Certainly, to men of great judgment bold 
 persons are a sport to behold ; nay, and to the vulgar also, 
 boldness hath somewhat of the ridiculous : for if absurdity 
 be the subject of laughter, doubt you not but great boldness 
 is seldom without some absurdity : especially it is a sport to 
 see when a bold fellow is out of countenance ; for that puts 
 his face into a most shrunken and wooden posture, 1 as needs 
 it must ; for in bashfulness the spirits do a little go and 
 come ; but with bold men, upon like occasion, they stand at 
 a stay, like a stale 2 at chess, where it is no mate, but yet 
 the game cannot stir : but this last were fitter for a satire, 
 than for a serious observation. This is well to be weighed, 
 that boldness is ever blind, 3 for it seeth not dangers and 
 inconveniences ; therefore it is ill in counsel, good in exe- 
 cution : so that the right use of bold persons is, that they 
 never command in chief, but be seconds, and under the 
 direction of others. For in counsel it is good to see 
 dangers ; and in execution not to see them, except they be 
 very great. 
 
 1 Wooden posture] Wooden here denotes blockish, or like that of a 
 blockhead. So in Shakspeare's I A". Hen. VI. v. 3, Suffolk calls the 
 king ' a wooden thing. ' 
 
 * A stale] A stalemate in chess is the position of the king whtn, 
 though not in check, he cannot move without being placed in check. 
 
 3 Boldness is ever blind} Bohn, in his Hand-Book of Proverbs, hcs, 
 ' Who so bold as blind Bayard ? 'A/naflfa jUr Opdffos, Ao-yio-jubj 5' 6Kvov 
 <(>4pfi : Ignorance breeds confidence ; consideration, slowness and wari- 
 ness.' (Thucyd. II. 40.)
 
 48 Essay*. 
 
 XIII. OF GOODNESS, AND GOODNESS OF 
 NA TURE. 
 
 I take goodness in this sense, the affecting of the weal of 
 men, which is that the Grecians call Philanthropia ; and 
 the word humanity (as it is used) is a little too light to express 
 it. Goodness I call the habit, and goodness of nature the 
 inclination. This, of all virtues and dignities of the mind, 
 is the greatest, being the character of the Deity ; and without 
 it man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, no better 
 than a kind of vermin. Goodness answers to the theological 
 virtue charity, and admits no excess but error. The desire 
 of power in excess caused the angels to fall ; the desire of 
 knowledge in excess caused man to fall : but in charity 
 there is no excess ; neither can angel or man come in 
 danger by it. The inclination to goodness is imprinted 
 deeply in the nature of man : insomuch, that if it issue not 
 lowards men, it will take unto other living creatures ; as it 
 is seen in the Turks, a "cruel people, who nevertheless are 
 kind to beasts, and give alms to dogs and birds : insomuch, 
 as Busbechius 1 reporteth, a Christian boy in Constantinople 
 had like to have been stoned for gagging in a waggishness a 
 long-billed fowl. 2 Errors, indeed, in this virtue of goodness 
 or charity, may be committed. The Italians have an un- 
 gracious proverb ; Tanto buon che val niente, so good, that 
 he is good for nothing. And one of the doctors of Italy, 
 
 1 Busbechius] Busbec, or Busbequius, a learned Fleming, v.-as am- 
 bassador of the emperor Ferdinand to the sultan Solyman II. (1554.) 
 
 * A Christian boy, <&^.] Bacon here does not remember rightly the 
 story in Busbec's Legationis Turcica Ep. The Lat. translation thus cor- 
 rects him : Aurifex quidam Veitetus, Byzantii agens, vix furorem populi 
 ejfugerit, quod avis cujusdam, rostri oblongi, fauces, inserto bacitlo, di- 
 duxisset : A certain Venetian goldsmith, living at Constantinople, with 
 difficulty escaped the rage of the people, for having distended, by the 
 insertion of a stick, the jaws of some long-billed bird.
 
 Of Goodness, and Goodness of Nature* 49 
 
 Nicholas Machiavel, 1 had the confidence to put in writing 
 almost in plain terms, That the Christian faith had given up 
 $ood men in prey to those that are tyrannical and unjust ; 2 
 which he spake, because, indeed, there was never law, 01 
 sect, or opinion, did so much magnify goodness as the 
 Christian religion doth. Therefore, to avoid the scandal 
 and the danger both, it is good to take knowledge of the 
 errors of a habit so excellent. Seek the good of other men ; 
 but be not in bondage to their faces and fancies : for that is 
 but facility or softness, which taketh an honest mind pri- 
 souor. Neither give thou ^sop's cock a gem, who would 
 be better pleased and happier if he had had a barley-corn. :1 
 The example of God teacheth the lesson truly : He sendelh 
 /n's rain, and maketh his sun to shine, upon the just and unjust;* 
 but he doth not rain wealth, nor shine honour and virtues, 
 upon men equally. Common benefits are to be commu- 
 nicate with all ; but peculiar benefits with choice. And 
 beware how in making the portraiture thou breakest the 
 pattern : for divinity maketh the love of ourselves the 
 pattern, 5 the love of our neighbours but the portraiture. 
 Sell all thou hast, and give it to the poor, and fj/loiv me : 6 but 
 
 1 Aiafhiavel] Machiavelli, a Florentine statesman, died in 1527. 
 His name is most noted for the policy of craft and artifice which he re- 
 commended in his treatise // Principe ('The Prince'). The word 
 Machiavcllism has come to denote political cunning, perfidiousness, and 
 persecution, in the maintenance of arbitrary power. 
 
 * That the Christian faith, &<:.] This is from Machiavel's Discorsi 
 sopra Livio (' Discourses on the First Decade of Livy '), ii. 2. 
 
 3 Neither give thou, &v.] He al udes to /lisop's fable of the cock 
 who, having found a gem on a dunghill, said that he would have been 
 much better pleased if it had been a grain of barley. 
 
 * He sendeth his rain, &Y.] Matt. v. 45. 
 
 5 Maketh the love, &c.] He here explains the form of the precept 
 'Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself;' in which the words as thy- 
 jv/X'express 'the pattern.' 
 
 * Sell all that thou hast, &f.] Mark x 21. 
 
 K
 
 50 Essays. 
 
 sell not all thou hast, except them come and follow me ; 
 that is, except thou have a vocation wherein thou mayest do 
 as much good with little means as with great : for otherwise, 
 in feeding the streams, thou driest the fountain. Neither is 
 there only a habit of goodness directed by right reason ; but 
 there is in some men, even in nature, a disposition towards 
 it : as, on the other side, there is a natural malignity. For 
 there be that in their nature do not affect 1 the good of 
 others. The lighter sort of malignity turneth but to a 
 crossness, or frowardness, or aptness to oppose, or difficile- 
 ness, or the like ; but the deeper sort to envy, and mere 2 
 mischief. Such men in other men's calamities are, as it 
 were, in season, 3 and are ever on the loading part : 4 not so 
 good as the dogs that licked Lazarus' sores, but like flies 
 that are still 5 buzzing upon any thing that is raw; misan- 
 thropi, that make it their practice to bring men to the 
 bough, 6 and yet have never a tree for the purpose in their 
 gardens, as Timon had. 7 Such dispositions are the very 
 
 1 AJfett] Have affection for ; seek, feel interested in. 
 
 * Mere] Pure ; absolute. 3 In season] In vigour. 
 
 4 On the loading part] On the oppressing side. Lat. Easqtie (cala- 
 mitates) semper aggravant. 
 
 5 Still\ Ever. 
 
 s To the bough\ To hang themselves. Lat. Ad suspendii raniuin. 
 There is an old proverbial saying, ' The father to the bough and the 
 son to the plough.' 
 
 ' As Timon had] Timon of Athens was called Misanthrope from 
 his hatred of human society. His story is the subject of one of Lucian's 
 Dialogues, and he is the hero of one of Shakspeare's plays. His ad- 
 dress to the Athenians isjthus reported in the Antonius of Sir Thomas 
 North's Plutarch : ' My lords of Athens, I have a little yard at my 
 house where there groweth a fig-tree, on the which many citizens have 
 hanged themselves ; and because I mean to make some building on the 
 place, I thought good to let you all understand it, that before the fig- 
 tree be cut down, if any of you be desperate, you may there in time go 
 hang yourselves.' See the last speech but one of Timon in Act v. Sc. I 
 of Shaks,peane' fSmtnt .of Athens.
 
 Of Nobility. 5 1 
 
 errors 1 of human nature, and yet they are the fittest timber 
 lo make great politics 2 of ; like to knee timber, 3 that is good 
 for ships that are ordained to be tossed, but not for building 
 houses that shall stand firm. The parts and signs of 
 goodness are many. If a man be gracious and courteous 
 to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world, and that 
 his heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a con- 
 tinent that joins to them. If he be compassionate towards 
 the afflictions of others, it shows that his heart is like the 
 noble tree that is wounded itself when it gives the balm. 4 
 If he easily pardons and remits offences, it shows that his 
 mind is planted above injuries, so that he cannot be shot. 
 If he be thankful for small benefits, it shows that he weighs 
 men's minds, and not their trash. But, above all, if he 
 have St. Paul's perfection, that he would wish to be an 
 anathema from Christ, for the salvation of his brethren, 5 it 
 shows much of a divine nature, and a kind of conformity 
 with Christ himself. 16 
 
 XIV. OF NOBILITY. 
 
 We wall speak of nobility, first as a portion of an Estate ; 7 
 then as a condition of particular persons. A monarchy 
 where there is no nobility at all, is ever a pure and absolute 
 yranny ; as that of the Turks : for nobility attempers sove- 
 
 1 Errors] Lat. Humana natures vomicas ft carcinomata. 
 
 2 Politics] Politicians. 
 
 * Knee limber] Naturally crooked timber. 
 
 4 Is -wounded itself, &-V.] He alludes to the medicinal juices obtained 
 by incision from the bark of the myrrh and other balsamic trees. 
 
 * An anathema, &c.] Rom. ix. 3, 'For I could wish that myself 
 were accursed from Christ for my brethren.' 
 
 ' Conformity -with Christ himself] He alludes to Christ having been 
 ' made a curse for us,' Gal. iii. 13. 
 
 * An Estate] A State or Commonwealth. 
 
 2
 
 52 Essays. 
 
 reignty, 1 and draws the eyes of the people somewhat aside 
 from the line royal. But for democracies they need it not ; 
 and they are commonly more quiet, and less subject to 
 sedition, than where there are stirps ' l of nobles ; for men's 
 eyes are upon the, business, and not upon the persons ; or 
 if upon the persons, it is for the business' sake, as fittest, 
 and not for flags and pedigree. We see the Switzers last 
 well, notwithstanding their diversity of religion and of 
 cantons ; for utility is their bond, and not respects. 3 The 
 United Provinces of the Low Countries 4 in their government 
 excel : for where there is an equality the consultations are 
 more indifferent, 5 and the payments and tributes more 
 cheerful. A great and potent nobility addeth majesty to a 
 monarch, but diminisheth power; and putteth life and spirit 
 into the people, but presseth 6 their fortune. It is well when 
 nobles are not too great for sovereignty nor for justice ; and 
 yet maintained in that height, as 7 the insolency of inferiors 
 may be broken upon them before it come on too fast upon 
 the majesty of kings. A numerous nobility causeth poverty 
 and inconvenience in a state, for it is a surcharge of expense : 
 and besides, it being of necessity that many of the nobility 
 fall in time to be weak in fortune, it maketh a kind of dis- 
 proportion between honour and means. 
 
 As for nobility in particular persons : It is a reverend 
 thing to see an ancient castle or building not in decay ; or 
 to see a fair timber-tree sound and perfect ; how much 
 more to behold an ancient noble family, which hath stood 
 against the waves and weathers of time. For new nobility 
 
 1 Attempers sovereignty} Lat. Dignitatem regalem diltiit. 
 
 2 Stirps] Pliual of stirp, a stock or race, from the Lat. stirps. 
 
 * Respects] Regard for persons. 
 
 4 The United Provinces, &e.] The Seven United Provinces of the 
 Netherlands threw off the yoke of Spain in 1579. 
 
 * Indifferent] Impartial ; without respect of persons. 
 
 6 Presseth] Depress^. ' As] That
 
 Of Seditions and Troubles. 53 
 
 is but the act of power ; but ancient nobility is the act of 
 time. Those that are first raised to nobility, are commonly 
 more virtuous, 1 but less innocent, than their descendants ; 
 for there is rarely any rising but by a commixture of good 
 and evil arts. But it is reason 2 the memory of their virtues 
 remain to their posterity, and their faults die with themselves. 
 Nobility of birth commonly abateth 3 industry ; and he that 
 is not industrious, envieth him that is. Besides, noble 
 persons cannot go much higher ; and he that standeth at a 
 stay when others rise, can hardly avoid motions 4 of envy. 
 On the other side, nobility extinguished^ the passive envy 
 from others towards them, because they are in possession of 
 honour. Certainly, kings that have able men of their 
 nobility shall find ease in employing them, and a better slide 
 into their business ; for people naturally bend to them as 
 born in some sort to command. 
 
 XV. OF SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES. 
 
 Shepherds of people had need know the calendars* of 
 tempests in State, which are commonly greatest when things 
 grow to equality ; as natural tempests are greatest about the 
 Equinoctia. 6 And as there are certain hollow blasts of wind, 
 and secret swellings of seas, before a tempest, so are there 
 in States : 
 
 Ille etiam crecos instare tumultus 
 Soepe monet, fraudesque ct operta tumescere bella. 7 
 
 1 Are commonly, &>c.] Have commonly higher virtues. Lat. Vir~ 
 tutttm dai-ittuline plcrumque posteris eminent. 
 
 2 // is reason] It is reasonable that. See p. 41, note 2. 
 
 3 Abatcth] Blunts. Compare Shakspeare, Ilamlct, i. 3, ' Borrowing 
 dulls the edge of husbandry ; ' and see p. 35, note 2. 
 
 4 Motions] Stirrings. * Calendars] Prognostics. 
 
 8 Equinoctia] The Equinoxes. /Equinoctia is a Latin plural. 
 T file etiam cacos, &<:,] Virgil, Gcorg. i. 465. He also frequently
 
 54 Essays. 
 
 Libels and licentious discourses against the State, when 
 they are frequent and open, and in like sort false news 
 often running up and down, to the disadvantage of the State, 
 and hastily embraced, are amongst the signs of troubles. 
 Virgil, giving the pedigree of Fame, saith she was sister to 
 the giants : 
 
 Illam Terra parens, ira irritata Deorum, 
 Extremam (ut perhibent) Caeo Enceladoque sororem 
 Progenuit. ' 
 
 As if fames were the relics of seditions past ; but they 
 are no less indeed the preludes of seditions to come. How- 
 soever, he noteth it right, that seditious tumults and seditious 
 fames differ no more but as brother and sister, masculine 
 and feminine ; especially if it come to that, that the best 
 actions of a State, and the most plausible, 2 and which ought 
 to give greatest contentment, are taken in ill sense, and 
 traduced : for that shows the envy great, as Tacitus saith, 
 conflata magnd invidia, sen bene seu male gesta premunt? 
 
 gives warning that tumults are secretly impending, and that treachery 
 and hidden hostility are ripening for an outbreak. 
 
 1 Illam Terra parens, &*c.] Virgil, sEn. iv. 178. Mother Earth, 
 as they relate, provoked by the wrath of the gods, produced her as the 
 last offspring, a sister to Cseus and Enceladus. In the Advancement, 
 II., Bacon says, ' In heathen poesy we see the exposition of fables doth 
 fall out sometimes with great felicity ; as in the fable that the giants 
 being overthrown in their war against the gods, the Earth, their mother, 
 in revenge thereof brought forth Fame : Illam Terra parens, &c. ex- 
 pounded that when princes and monarchies have suppressed actual and 
 open rebels, then the malignity of people, which is the mother of re- 
 bellion, doth bring forth libels, and slanders, and taxations of the 
 states, which is of the same kind with rebellion, but more feminine.' 
 
 2 Plausible] Praiseworthy. 
 
 3 Coujlatd mxond, drv.] Odium being once excited, his acts, 
 whether good or bad, are regarded as oppressive. The words of 
 Tacitus, however, are ' Inviso semel Principe, seu bene seu male facta 
 nrenvaut : ' The ruler being once hated, his acts, <&c. (Hist. i. 7.)
 
 Of Seditions and Troubles. 5 5 
 
 Neither doth it follow, that because these fames are a sign 
 of troubles, that 1 the suppressing of them with too much 
 severity should be a remedy of troubles. For the despising 
 of them many times checks them best; and the going about* 
 lo stop them doth but make a wonder long-lived. Also that 
 kind of obedience which Tacitus speaketh of is to be held 
 suspected : Erant in officio, sed tamen qui mallent impe- 
 rantium mandata intcrpretari, quam exsequi ; * disputing, 
 excusing, 4 cavilling upon mandates and directions, is a kind 
 of shaking off the yoke, and assay of 5 disobedience : espe- 
 cially if in those disputings they which are for the direction 
 speak fearfully and tenderly ; and those that are against it 
 audaciously. 
 
 Also, as Machiavel noteth well, when Princes, that ought 
 to be common parents, make themselves as a party, and 
 lean to a side, it is as a boat that is overthrown by uneven 
 weight on the one side ; as was well seen in the time of 
 Henry the Third of France : for first himself entered league 
 for the extirpation of the Protestants ; and presently after 
 the same league was turned upon himself. 6 For when the 
 authority of Princes is made but an accessary to a cause, 
 
 1 T/iat] The conjunction is here redundant. 
 
 - Going about} Seeking ; endeavouring. So, in Scripture, Johr 
 vii. 19, ' Why go ye about to kill me? ' 
 
 " ratit in officio, *Srv.] They were attentive to duties, but yet were 
 men who liked better to discuss the commands of their rulers than to 
 execute them. Bacon here again quotes from his memory ; the words 
 of Tacitus are: 'Miles alacer; qui tamen jussa ducum interpretari 
 quam exsequi mallet.' 
 
 4 xcusinjf] Assigning reasons against commands. 
 
 4 Assay of] Experimental attempt at. 
 
 " The same /itigiit, &*c.] He alludes to the league formed by the 
 Duke of Guise for the extirpation of the Protestants. The Duke and 
 the other chiefs of the league formed a plan to invest themselves with 
 supreme authority and to hold Henry in thraldom. The King shortly 
 afterwards caused the Duke of Guise and his brother, the Cardinal of 
 Lorraine, to be assassinated. (1588.)
 
 56 Essays. 
 
 and that there be other bands that tie faster than the band 
 of sovereignty, Kings begin to be put almost out of posses- 
 sion. 
 
 Also, when discords, and quarrels, and factions are carried 
 openly and audaciously, it is a sign the reverence of Govern- 
 ment is lost. For the motions of the greatest persons in a 
 Government ought to be as the motions of the planets under 
 primum mobile? according to the old opinion, which is, that 
 every of them is carried swiftly by the highest motion, and 
 softly in their own motion. And, therefore, when great 
 ones in their own particular motion move violently, and, as 
 Tacitus expresseth it well, liberius quam nt imperantium 
 meminissent? it is a sign the orbs are out of frame. For 
 reverence is that wherewith Princes are girt from God, who 
 threateneth the dissolving thereof : solvam cingnla regnm. 3 
 
 So when any of the four pillars of Government are mainly 
 shaken or weakened (which are religion, justice, counsel, 
 and treasure), men had need to pray for fair weather. But 
 let us pass from this part of predictions (concerning which, 
 
 1 Primum mobile] The primum mobile, or prime mover, in the 
 old astronomy, was the tenth sphere or heaven ; the first heaven was 
 that of the Moon, the second of Mercury, the third of Venus, the fourth 
 of the Sun, the fifth of Mars, the sixth of Jupiter, the seventh of Saturn, 
 the eighth of all the fixed stars, the ninth the crystalline heaven -to 
 which the Ptolemaics attributed a sort of lihration or shaking, to ac- 
 count for certain irregularities in the motion of the stars the tenth, the 
 primum mobile of a pure, clear substance, without stars, revolving 
 from east to west in twenty-four hours, and carrying with it all the lower 
 spheres, forcing them to make their own revolutions from west to east. 
 
 2 Liberius quam, i&t.] More freely than as though they had been 
 mindful of their rulers. In Tacitus, Ann. iii. 4, the words are 
 ' Prompting apertiusque quam ut meminisse imperitantium crederes : ' 
 more forwardly and openly than would allow you to think that they re- 
 membered their rulers. 
 
 3 Soh'atn cingula, dr>r.] I will loose the girdles of kings. Job xii. 
 18, ' He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle.' 
 IsaL xlv. I, ' I will loose the loins of kings.'
 
 Of Seditions and Troubles. 57 
 
 nevertheless, more light may be taken from that which 
 followeth), and let us speak first of the materials of seditions; 
 then of the motives of them ; and thirdly of the remedies. 
 
 Concerning the materials of seditions : It is a thing well 
 to be considered ; for the surest way to prevent seditions (if 
 the times do bear it) is to take away the matter of them. 
 For if there be fuel prepared, it is hard to tell whence the 
 spark shall come that shall set it on fire. The matter of 
 seditions is of two kinds : much poverty, and much discon- 
 tentment It is certain, so many overthrown estates, so 
 many votes for troubles. 1 Lucan 2 noteth well the state of 
 Rome before the civil war : 
 
 Hinc usura vorax, rapidumque in tempore fcenus ; 
 Ilinc concussa fides, et multis utile helium.* 
 
 This same multis ntile helium is an assured and infallible 
 sign of a state disposed to seditions and troubles. And if 
 this poverty and broken estate, in the better sort, be joined 
 with a want and necessity in the mean people, the danger 
 is imminent and great. For the rebellions of the belly are 
 the worst. As for discontentments, they are in the politic 
 body like to humours in the natural, which are apt to gather 
 a preternatural heat and to inflame. And let no Prince 
 measure the danger of them by this : whether they be just 
 or unjust ; for that were to imagine people to be too reason- 
 able ; who do often spurn at their own good ; nor yet by 
 this : whether the griefs whereupon they rise be in fact 
 
 1 So many, &v.] That all overthrown fortunes are so many motives 
 for seeking troubles. 
 
 - Lucan} A Roman poet, author of PAarsa/ia, an account of the 
 civil wars of Caesar and Pompey. 
 
 3 Hinc usura, &*.] Hence voracious usury, and interest coming 
 rapidly upon its time ; hence shaken credit, and war advantageous to a 
 great number. Phars. i. 181. Instead of rapidittn Lucan has irvidum, 
 avariciously eager.
 
 58 Essays. 
 
 great or small ; for they are the most dangerous discontent- 
 ments where 'the fear is greater than the feeling : dolenth 
 modus, timendi non item. 1 Besides, in great oppressions, the 
 same things that provoke the patience, do withal mate* the 
 courage ; but in fears it is not so. Neither let any Prince, 
 or State, be secure 3 concerning discontentments, because 
 they have been often, or have been long, and yet no peril 
 hath ensued ; for as it is true that every vapour or fume 
 doth not turn into a storm ; so it is nevertheless true, that 
 storms, though they blow over divers times, yet may fall at 
 last ; and, as the Spanish proverb noteth well, The cord 
 breaketh at the last by the weakest pull.* 
 
 The causes and motives of seditions are, innovation in 
 religion, taxes, alteration of laws and customs, breaking of 
 privileges, general oppression, advancement of unworthy 
 persons, strangers, dearths, disbanded soldiers, factions 
 grown desperate ; and whatsoever in offending people 
 joineth and knitteth them in a common cause. 
 
 For the remedies : There may be some general preserva- 
 tives, whereof we will speak ; as for the just cure, it must 
 answer to the particular disease, and so be left to counsel 
 rather than rule. 
 
 The first remedy, or prevention, is to remove, by all means 
 possible, that material cause of sedition whereof we spake ; 
 \\hich is, want and poverty in the Estate. To which purpose 
 serveth the opening and well balancing of trade ; the cherish- 
 ing of manufactures ; the banishing of idleness ; the re- 
 pressing of waste and excess by sumptuary laws ; the 
 
 1 Dolendi, &c.~\ The measure of grieving is not also that of fearing. 
 Pliny, Epist. viii. 17. * Mate} Confound. 
 
 3 Secure] Easy-minded ; heedless. Formerly a very common 
 meaning. Ben Jonson, in his Fortst, xi. says, ' Men may securely sin, 
 but safely never.' 
 
 * Tlie cord breaketh, erv.] There is a more familiar proverb of 
 similar import : 'It is the last straw that breaks tne camel's back.'
 
 Of Seditions and Troubles. 59 
 
 improvement and husbanding of the soil ; the regulating of 
 prices of things vendible ; the moderating of taxes and 
 tributes ; and the like. Generally, it is to be foreseen J that 
 the population of a kingdom (especially if it be not mown 
 down by wars) do not exceed the stock of the kingdom 
 which should maintain them. Neither is the population to 
 be reckoned only by number : for a smaller number that 
 spend more and earn less, do wear out an Estate sooner 
 than a greater number that live lower and gather more ; 
 therefore the multiplying of nobility, and other degrees of 
 quality, in an over proportion to the common people, doth 
 speedily bring a State to necessity : and so doth likewise an 
 overgrown clergy ; for they bring nothing to the stock : and 
 in like manner, when more are bred scholars than prefer- 
 ments can take off. 
 
 It is likewise to be remembered, that, for as much as the 
 increase of any Estate must be upon the foreigner (for what- 
 soever is somewhere gotten, is somewhere lost), there be but 
 three things which one nation selleth unto another : the 
 commodity as nature yieldeth it, the manufacture, and the 
 vecture or carriage. So that if these three wheels go, 
 wealth will flow as in a spring tide. And it cometh many 
 times to pass, that materiam snpcrabit opus? that the work 
 and carriage is worth more than the material, and enricheth 
 a State more ; as is notably seen in the Low-Country men, 
 who have the best mines above ground 3 in the world. 
 
 Above all things, good policy is to be used, that the 
 treasure and moneys in a State be not gathered into few 
 hands : for, otherwise, a State may have a great stock, and 
 yet starve. And money is like muck, not good except it be 
 
 ' It is to be foreseen} Precaution is to be used. 
 
 - Materiatn, <Sf.] The work will be worth more than the material 
 Ovid's words are ' Materiam superabat opus," Aftf. ii. 5. 
 
 * Atit:a nbyj* ground\ Manufactures.
 
 60 Essays. 
 
 spread. This is done chiefly by suppressing, or, at the least, 
 keeping a strait hand upon, the devouring trades of usury, 
 engrossing, 1 great pasturages, and the like. 
 
 For removing discontentments, or at least the danger of 
 them : There is in every State (as we know; two portions of 
 subjects, the noblesse and the commonalty. When one of 
 these is discontent, the danger is not great; for common 
 people are of slow motion, if they be not excited by the 
 greater sort ; and the greater sort are of small strength, 
 except the multitude be apt and ready to move of themselves. 
 Then is the danger, when the greater sort do but wait for 
 the troubling of the waters amongst the meaner, that then 
 they may declare themselves. The poets feign that the rest 
 of the gods would have bound Jupiter : which he hearing of, 
 by the counsel of Pallas sent for Briareus with his hundred 
 hands to come in to his aid. An emblem, no doubt, to 
 show how safe it is for monarchs to make sure of the good 
 will of common people. 
 
 To give moderate liberty for griefs and discontentments 
 to evaporate (so it be without too great insolency or bravery) 
 is a safe way. For he that turneth the humours back, and 
 maketh the wound bleed inwards, endangereth 2 malign 
 ulcers and pernicious imposthumations. 
 
 The part of Epimetheus 3 might well become Prometheus, 
 
 1 Engi-ossingl Monopolising. * EndangerftK\ Runs the risk of. 
 
 * Tlie part of Epimetheus\ That is, his shutting the lid of Pandora's 
 box. Prometheus having stolen fire from heaven to animate human 
 figures which he had formed of clay, Jupiter in revenge sent him Pan- 
 dora so called because the gods had contributed all their gifts to make 
 her more alluring. Prometheus rejected her, but his brother Epimetheus 
 received and married her. She had brought, as a present to her hus- 
 band, a beautiful box, which Epimetheus opened; whereupon there 
 issued from it a multitude of evils, which overspread the earth ; but 
 Hope remained at the bottom of the box when Epimetheus shut the 
 lid. What Bacon means by saying ' The part of Epimetheus might 
 well become Prometheus' is, that the former, by shutting the lid, showed
 
 Of Seditions and Troubles. 6 1 
 
 in the case of discontentments ; for there is not a bettei 
 provision against them. Epimetheus, when griefs and evils 
 flew abroad, at last shut the lid, and kept Hope in the 
 bottom of the vessel. Certainly the politic and artificial 
 nourishing and entertaining of hopes, and carrying men 
 from hopes to hopes, 1 is one of the best antidotes against 
 the poison of discontentments. And it is a certain sign of a 
 wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men's 
 hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction : and when 
 it can handle things in such manner, as no evil shall appear 
 so peremptory but that it hath some outlet of hope : which 
 is the less hard to do, because both particular persons and 
 factions are apt enough to flatter themselves, or at least to 
 brave that which they believe not. 
 
 Also, the foresight and prevention that there be no likely 
 or fit head whereunto discontented persons may resort, 
 and under whom they may join, is a known but an excellent 
 point of caution. I understand a fit head to be one that 
 hath greatness and reputation ; that hath confidence with 
 the discontented party ; and upon whom they turn their 
 eyes ; and that is thought discontented in his own parti- 
 cular : 2 which kind of persons are either to be won and 
 reconciled to the State, and that in a fast and true manner, 
 or to be fronted with some other of the same party that 
 may oppose them, and-so divide the reputation. Generally, 
 
 a kind of prudence not unlike his brother's. Our author, however, 
 appears not to have discerned the sarcastic import of the old story c^out 
 shutting up Hope, where she was of no earthly use. Prometheus would 
 have let her loose. Milton, P. L. iv. 716, calls Epimetheus ' the unwiser 
 son of Japhet.' 
 
 1 Carrying men from hopes to hopes\ This was familiarly called 
 beonng men in hand. 
 
 * In his ff:t'ti particular] For his own part ; in his own private 
 capacity. The phrase is of very common occurrence in our old authors. 
 The community were called 'the general."
 
 62 Essays. 
 
 the dividing and breaking of all factions and conibina 
 tions that are adverse to the State, and setting them at 
 distance, or at least distrust, amongst themselves, is not one 
 of the worst remedies. For it is a desperate case, if those 
 that hold with the proceeding of the State be full of dis- 
 cord and faction, and those that are against it be entire and 
 united. 
 
 I have noted, that some witty and sharp speeches which 
 have fallen from Princes, have given fire to seditions. 
 Caesar did himself infinite hurt in that speech : Sylla 
 nescivit liter as, non potuit dictare; 1 for it did utterly cut off 
 that hope which men had entertained, that he would at one 
 time or other give over his dictatorship. Galba undid him- 
 self by that speech : legi a se militem, non emi;* for it put 
 ihe soldiers out of hope of the donative. Probus, likewise, 
 by that speech : si vixero, non opus erit amplius Romano 
 imperio militibus ;* a speech of great despair for the soldiers; 
 and many the like. Surely Princes had need, in tender 
 matters and ticklish times, to beware what they say ; espe- 
 cially in these short speeches, which fly abroad like darts, 
 and are thought to be shot out of their secret intentions. 
 For as for large discourses, they are flat things, and not so 
 much noted. 
 
 1 Sylla nescivit, &*c."\ Sylla did not know his letters, he could not 
 dictate. This is from Suetonius, Jul. Cezs. 77, ' Syllam nescisse literas, 
 qui Dictaturam deposuerit.' That Sylla, not knowing his letters, gave 
 up dictating. Caesar intended word-play with dictaturam, which sig- 
 nifies either a dictation lesson to pupils, or the office of Dictator ; and 
 the fact with which Caesar jested was, that Sylla showed himself ig- 
 norant by giving up the Dictatorship, it being more perilous to lay down 
 than to assume such authority, for a Dictator might be called to account 
 for his conduct when he resigned his office. 
 
 2 Legi a se, <5<r.] That the soldiery were levied by him, not bought. 
 Tacitus, Hist. i. 5 ; and Plutarch's Lives, Galba. 
 
 3 Sivixero, &f.] If I live, the Roman empire shall cease to have 
 need of soldiers. Flavius Vopiscus, Profats, 20.
 
 Of Atheism. 6} 
 
 Lastly, let Princes, against all events, not be without some 
 great person, one or rather more, of military valour near 
 unto them, for the repressing of seditions in their beginnings. 
 For without that, there useth to be more trepidation in 
 court upon the first breaking out of troubles than were fit. 
 And the State runneth the danger of that which Tacitus 
 saith : atqne is habitus animornm fuit ut pessimum facinns 
 undercut pauci, plures vellent, omnes paterentur* But let 
 such military persons be assured, 2 and well reputed of. 
 rather than factious and popular ; holding also good corre- 
 spondence with the other great men in the State ; or else 
 the remedy is worse than the disease. 
 
 XVI. OF ATHEISM. 
 
 I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend, 3 and 
 the Talmud, 4 and the Alcoran, 5 than that this universal 
 frame is without a mind. And, therefore, God never 
 wrought miracle to convince 6 atheism, because his ordinary 
 
 1 Atqne is habitus, drV.] Tacitus, Hist. \. 28. And such was the 
 state of feeling, that a few had the daring to commit the most flagrant 
 atrocity, more wished it done, and all allowed it. 
 
 2 Assured] Made sure of; certified as trustworthy. 
 
 * The Legend} The Legenda Aurea, or Golden Legetui, containing 
 accounts of the saints and their miracles, written by Jacobus de Voragine, 
 a Dominican friar, afterwards Archbishop of Genoa. He died in 1292. 
 It was translated out of French, and printed by Caxton, in 1483. In 
 the first speech of the old play of Grim the Collier, St. Dunstan says 
 
 ' But whoso looks into the Golden Legend, 
 That sacred register of holy saints, 
 Shall find me by the pope canonised.' 
 
 4 The Talmud} The book containing the traditions and comments 
 of the Jewish Rabbins. 
 
 * Alcoran] The Koran, or Mohammedan Scriptures. 
 
 " Ccmince] Overcome. Compare Shakspeare, Macbttk, i. 7,
 
 6.| Essays. 
 
 works convince it. It is true, that a little philosophy 
 inclineth man's mind to atheism ; but depth in philosophy 
 bringeth men's minds about to religion : for while the mind 
 of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may some- 
 times rest in them, and go no further ; but when it beholdeth 
 the chain of them confederate and linked together, it must 
 needs fly to Providence and Deity. 1 Nay, even that school 
 which is most accused of atheism, doth most demonstrate 
 religion; that is, the school of Leucippus, 2 and Democritus, 3 
 and Epicurus. 4 For it is a thousand times more credible, 
 that four mutable elements and one immutable fifth essence/ 
 duly and eternally placed, need no God, than that an army 
 of infinite small portions or seeds unplaced/' should have 
 
 ' His two chamberlains I will with wine and wassail so convince ; ' iv. 
 3, ' Their malady convinces the great assay of art ; ' Cymbeline, i. 4, 
 'Convince the honour of my mistress;' ^penser's F. Q. III. ii. 21, 
 ' That treasons could bewray, or foes convince. 
 
 1 For while the mind of man, &v.] Compare the explanation in the 
 Advancement, f When the second causes, which are next unto the 
 senses, do offer themselves to the mind of man, if it dwell and stay there, 
 it may indure some oblivion of the highest cause ; but when a man 
 passeth on farther, and seeth the dependence of causes, and the works 
 of Providence, then, according to the allegory of the poets, he will 
 easily believe that the highest link of nature's chain must needs be tied 
 to the foot of Jupiter's chair.' 
 
 2 Leucippus} A Grecian philosopher, one of Zeno's pupils. He 
 originated the atomic philosophy, which was afterwards more fully ex- 
 pounded by Democritus and Epicurus. 
 
 3 Democritus} A disciple of Leucippus. lie was called the laugh- 
 ing philosopher, from his habit of laughing at the follies of mankind. 
 
 * Epicurus} See p. 4, note 4. 
 
 * Fiflk essence} Aristotle supposed that besides the four mutable 
 elements there was an ethereal and immutable quintessence, out of which 
 the stars and the heavens were formed. St-e Milton's /*. L. iii. 
 714-19. 
 
 * That an army, &c.} He alludes to the notion of the world 
 having been formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, as taught by the 
 forenamed philosophers.
 
 Of Atticism. 65 
 
 produced this order and beauty without a divine marshal. 
 The Scripture saith, The fool hath said in his heart, There is 
 no God: 1 it is not said, The fool hath thought in his heart: so 
 as 2 he rather saith it by rote to himself, as that 3 he would 
 have, than that he can thoioughly believe it, or be persuaded 
 of it. For none deny there is a God but those for whom it 
 maketh 4 that there were no God. It appeareth in nothing 
 more, that atheism is rather in the lip than in the heart of 
 man, than by this : that atheists will ever be talking of that 
 their opinion,* as if they fainted in it within themselves, and 
 would be glad to be strengthened by the consent of others ; 
 nay, more, you shall have atheists strive to get disciples, as 
 it fareth with other sects ; and, which is most of all, you 
 shall have of them that will suffer for atheism, and not 
 recant ; whereas, if they did truly think that there were no 
 such thing as God, why should they trouble themselves? 
 Epicurus is charged, that he did but dissemble for his 
 credit's sake, when he affirmed there were blessed natures, 
 but such as enjoyed themselves without having respect to 
 the government of the world. Wherein they say he did 
 temporise, though in secret he thought there was no God. 
 But certainly he is traduced ; for his words are noble and 
 divine : Non deos ntlgi negare profanum, sed rulgi opinioucs 
 diis applicare profanum* Plato 7 could have said no more. 
 
 1 The fool hath said, 6-v.] Psal. xiv. I. 
 
 1 As} That. ' That} What. // maketh} It is expedient. 
 
 4 That their opinion} We would now say that opinion (f theirs. 
 Compare Shakspeare, Ant. 6 Clcop. ii. 3, 'That thy spirit which keeps 
 thee ;' Jul. Cas. v. 5, ' For that our love of old.' The Prayer Book 
 has ' That Mis inestimable benefit." 
 
 8 Non deos, &-V.] Diogenes Laertius, x. 123. It is not profane to 
 deny the gods of the vulgar, but it is profane to attribute to the gods 
 the opinions of the vulgar. 
 
 7 Plato} A disciple of Socrates, and the founder of the Academic 
 philosophy. He died 347 B.C. 
 
 F
 
 66 Essays. 
 
 And, although he had the confidence to deny the adminis- 
 tration, 1 he had not the power to deny the nature. 2 The 
 Indians of the West 3 have names for their particular gods, 
 though they have no name for God : as if the heathens 
 should have had the names Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, &c., but 
 not the word Deus ; which shows that even those barbarous 
 people have the notion, though they have not the latitude 
 and extent of it. So that against atheists the very savages 
 take part with the very subtlest philosophers. The contem- 
 plative atheist is rare : a Diagoras, 4 a Bion, 5 a Lucian 6 per- 
 naps, and some others ; and yet they seem to be more than 
 they are ; for that all that impugn a received religion, or 
 superstition, are by the adverse part branded with the 
 name of atheists. But the great atheists indeed 7 are 
 hypocrites ; which are ever handling holy things, but with- 
 out feeling; so as they must needs be cauterized in the end. 8 
 The causes of atheism are : divisions in religion, if they be 
 many ; for any one main division addeth zeal to both sides ; 
 but many divisions introduce atheism. Another is scandal 
 
 1 To deny tJie administration] Epicurus represented the gods as 
 wholly engrossed with their own pleasures, and utterly negligent of the 
 world's affairs. 
 
 - Tlie nature] The existence of divine natures. 
 
 * The Indians of t lie West] The native tribes of America and the 
 West Indies. 
 
 4 Diagoras} An Athenian philosopher, banished from Athens for 
 contemning the superstitions of the Greeks. Died about 400 B.C. 
 
 4 Bion] A sophist of Scythia, noted for his satirical humour. Died 
 241 B.C. 
 
 6 Lucian] Lucian of Samosata in Syria, a Greek humourist of the 
 second century. He ridiculed the ancient philosophers, even Socrates and 
 Plato. Certain writings in which he was supposed to ridicule Christ 
 are not believed to be his ; and he is now generally exempted from the 
 charge of being an apostate from Christianity. 
 
 7 Indeed] Lat. Reverd ; that are in reality atheists. 
 
 Be cauterised, &r.] Become seared at last.
 
 Of Atheism. 67 
 
 of priests ; when it is come to that which St. Bernard l saith, 
 non estjam dicer e, ut populus sic sacerdos ; qnia ncc sic popnlu* 
 ut sacerdos* A third is, custom of profane scoffing in holy 
 matters ; which doth by little and little deface the reverence 
 of religion. And lastly, learned times, specially with peace 
 and prosperity : for troubles and adversities do more 
 bow men's minds to religion. They that deny a God 
 destroy man's nobility : for certainly man is of kin to the 
 beasts by his body ; and, if he be not of kin to God by his 
 spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature. It destroys like- 
 wise magnanimity, and the raising of human nature : for 
 take an example of a dog, and mark what a generosity and 
 courage he will put on when he finds himself maintained by 
 a man ; who to him is instead of a God, or melior natura ; 3 
 which courage is manifestly such as that creature, without 
 that confidence of 4 a better nature than his own, could 
 never attain. So man, when he resteth and assureth himself 
 upon divine protection and favour, gathereth a force and 
 faith, which human nature in itself could not obtain. There- 
 fore, as 5 atheism is in all respects hateful, so'' in this, that it 
 depriveth human nature of the means to exalt itself above 
 human frailty. As it is in particular persons, so it is in 
 nations : Never was there such a State for magnanimity as 
 Rome. Of this State hear what Cicero saith : Quant volumus, 
 licet, Patres ConscriJ>ti, nos amemus ; tamen ncc niimcro His- 
 fanos, nee robore Gallos, nee calliditate Pcenos, nee artibus 
 
 1 St. Bernard] Abbot of Clairvaux, an eminent theologian of the 
 twelfth century, who vehemently denounced the sins then prevalent 
 among the clergy. Died 1153. 
 
 * Non estjam, <&v.] Sermo ad Pastores. It is not for us now to 
 say, as are the people so is the priest, because as the priest is so are 
 net the people. 
 
 1 Melior natura} A superior nature. 
 
 Confidence of} Belief in. 
 
 4 As} While. So} It is especially so. 
 
 F2
 
 68 Essays. 
 
 Graxos, nee denique hoc ipso hujus gentis ei terra domestico 
 nativoque sensu Italos ipsos et Latinos ; sed pietate, ac religione. 
 atque hoc una sapientia, quod Deorum immortalium numine 
 omnia regi gubernarique perspeximus, omnes gentes, nationcsque 
 superavimus. 1 
 
 XVII. OF SUPERSTITION. 
 
 It were better to have no opinion of God at all, than such 
 an opinion as is unworthy of him : for the one is unbelief, 
 the other is contumely; and certainly superstition is the 
 reproach of the Deity. Plutarch 2 saith well to that pur- 
 pose : Surely, saith he, / had rattier a great deal men should 
 say tJiere was no such man at all as Plutarch, than that they 
 should say that tJicre was one Plutarch that would eat his 
 children as soon as they were born? as the poets speak of 
 Saturn. 4 And, as the contumely is greater towards God, so 
 the danger is greater towards men. Atheism leaves a man 
 to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, 5 to laws, to reputa- 
 tion ; all which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, 
 
 1 Quam volumus, &c. ] De Har. Resp. ix. Let us admire ourselves, 
 Conscript Fathers, as we please ; still we have not excelled the 
 Spaniards in number, nor the Gauls in bodily strength, nor the Cartha- 
 ginians in cunning, nor the Grecians in arts, nor, finally, the Italians and 
 Latins themselves even in this, the domestic and patriotic appreciation 
 of this nation and soil ; but we have excelled all races and nations in 
 piety, and religion, and in this special wisdom, that we have recognised 
 all things to be regulated and controlled by the spirit of the immortal 
 gods. 
 
 '* Plutarch\ An illustrious Greek biographer and moralist. 
 
 3 Surely, saith he, &.] De Superstit. x. 
 
 * As the poets, &c.] The poets feigned that Saturn devoured his 
 children as soon as they were born, Jupiter only, the youngest, ha ring 
 escaped. 
 
 * Natural piety\ The Latin word pietas denoted sense of duty 
 towards parents, &c. , as well as towards God.
 
 Of Superstition. 69 
 
 though religion were not ; l but superstition dismounts all 
 these, and erecteth an absolute monarchy in the minds of 
 men. Therefore atheism did never perturb States ; for it 
 makes men wary of themselves, as looking no further: 8 and 
 we see the times inclined to atheism (as the time of Augustus 
 Caesar) were civil times. 3 But superstition hath been the 
 confusion of many States ; and bringeth in a new/r////;// 
 mobile* that ravisheth all the spheres of government. The 
 master of superstition is the people; and in all superstition 
 wise men follow fools ; and arguments are fitted to practice 
 in a reversed ordei. 5 It was gravely said by some of the 
 prelates in the Council of Trent, 6 where the doctrine of the 
 Schoolmen 7 bare great sway, that the Schoolmen were like 
 astronomers, which did feign eccentrics and epicycles, and 
 such engines of orbs, to save the phenomena, 8 though they 
 
 1 Were not} Lat. Abesset, were absent. 
 
 2 As looking no farther} As minding nothing but themselves. 
 
 3 Civil times] Times when the thoughts and pursuits of men were 
 those of civilians, not of soldiers. The Lat. has Tempora tranquilla. 
 
 4 Piiinuin mobile} See p. 56, note I. 
 
 4 Arguments are fitted, &c.} He means that, by an inversion of 
 rational order, arguments are made conformable to existing practice, in- 
 stead of practice being regulated by arguments. 
 
 The Council of Trent} Trent is a town in the Tyrol. The 
 Tridentine Council lasted from 1545 to 1563. 
 
 7 The Schoolmen} So called because they taught in the schools of 
 divinity established by Charlemagne. They were philosophers and 
 divines of the Middle Ages, who adopted the principles of Aristotle, 
 and spent much time on points of nice and abstract speculation. 
 
 8 Eccentrics and epicycles, &c.} Apollonius, a mathematician of 
 Perga in Pamphylia, u.c. 242, was the first who attempted, by means 
 of cycles and epicyles, to account for the apparent stoppings and retro- 
 grade motions of the planets. Compare Milton, P. L. viii. 80 
 
 ' How they will wield 
 
 The mighty frame ; how build, unbuild, contrive, 
 To save appearances ; how gird the sphere 
 With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er, 
 Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb."
 
 ?o Essays. 
 
 knew there were no such things ; and, in like manner, that 
 the Schoolmen had framed a number of subtile and intricate 
 axioms and theorems to save the practice of the Church. 
 The causes of superstition are : pleasing and sensual l rites 
 and ceremonies ; excess of outward and pharisaical holiness ; 
 over-great reverence of traditions, which cannot but load 
 the Church ; the stratagems of prelates for their own ambition 
 and lucre; the favouring too much of good intentions, which 
 operieth the gate to conceits 2 and novelties ; the taking an 
 aim at divine matters by human, which cannot but breed 
 mixture of imaginations; 3 and, lastly, barbarous times, es- 
 pecially joined with calamities and disasters. Superstition 
 without a veil is a deformed thing ; for, as it addeth defor- 
 mity to an ape to be so like a man, so the similitude ot 
 superstition to religion makes it the more deformed. And 
 as wholesome meat corrupted! to little worms, so good forms 
 and orders corrupt into a number of petty observances. 
 There is a superstition in avoiding superstition, when men 
 think to do best if they go furthest from the superstition 
 formerly received ; therefore care would be had, 4 that (as it 
 fareth in ill purgings) the good be not taken away with the 
 bad ; which commonly is done when the people is the re- 
 former. 
 
 Richardson, in Explanatory Notes on Milton, says, ' To save appearances 
 is to defend the appearances from the attacks and objections which 
 would naturally arise, or to prevent their being made. Centric, or con- 
 centric, are spheres whose centre is the same with, and eccentric those 
 whose centres are different from, that of the earth. Cycle is a circle, 
 epicycle is a circle whose centre is upon the circumference of another 
 circle. Contrivances, expedients of the Ptolemaics, to save the apparent 
 difficulties in their system.' 
 
 1 Sensi4al] Addressed to the senses. 
 
 Conceits] In the Lat. version, l8f\o6priffKflcits, acts of will-worship; 
 from Col. ii. 23. 
 
 1 Mixture of imaginations] Lat. Phantasiarum male cohitrentium 
 mixturam. 
 
 * Would be had} Ought to be taken. See p. 17, note 2.
 
 Of Travel. 71 
 
 XVIII. 'OF TRAVEL. 
 
 Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education ; in the 
 elder, a part of experience. He that travelleth into a 
 country, before he hath some entrance 1 into the language, 
 goeth to school, and not to travel. That young men travel 
 under some tutor, or grave servant, I allow well ; 2 so that 
 he be such a one that hath the language, and hath been 
 in the country before ; whereby he may be able to tell them 
 what things are worthy to be seen in the country where they 
 go, what acquaintances-" 1 they are to seek, what exercises or 
 discipline the place yieldeth. For else young men shall go 
 hooded, and look abroad little. It is a strange thing that in 
 sea voyages, where there is nothing to be seen but sky and 
 sea, men should make diaries ; but in land travel, wherein 
 so much is to be observed, for the most part they omit it ; as 
 if chance were fitter to be registered than observation. 4 Let 
 diaries, therefore, be brought in use. '1 he things to be seen 
 and observed are : the courts of Princes, specially when 
 they give audience to ambassadors ; the courts of justice, 
 while they sit and hear causes, arid so of consistories eccle- 
 siastic ; the churches and monasteries, with the monuments 
 which are therein extant ; the walls and fortifications of cities 
 and towns, and so the havens and harbours ; antiquities and 
 ruins ; libraries, colleges ; disputations and lectures, where 
 any are ; shipping and navies ; houses and gardens of 
 state 8 and pleasure, near great cities; armouries, arsenals, 
 
 1 Hath some entrance] Lat. Aliquos fccerit progressus. 
 
 3 I fillmv well] I quite approve. So Shakspeare, 2 Heniy IV. iv. 
 2, ' I like them all, and d D allow them well ; ' Oth. \. 3, ' A substitute 
 of most allowed sufficienc}.' 
 
 * Acquaintances] Friendships. Lat. Amicitia; ft familiaritates. 
 
 * Observation] Lat. Qua; de itidustriA observantur : things that are 
 designedly observed. 
 
 Of state] Stately.
 
 72 Essays. 
 
 nagazines, exchanges, burses, 1 warehouses ; exercises of 
 horsemanship, fencing, training of soldiers, and the like; 
 comedies, such whereunto the better sort of persons do resort: 
 treasuries of jewels and robes ; cabinets and rarities : and, to 
 conclude, whatsoever is memorable in the places where they 
 go: after all which the tutors or servants ought to make diligent 
 inquiry. As for triumphs, 2 masques, feasts, weddings, funerals, 
 capital executions, and such shows, men need not to be put 
 in mind of them : yet are they not to be neglected. If you will 
 have a young man to put his travel into a little room, and in 
 short time to gather much, this you must do : first, as was said, 
 he must have some entrance into the language before he goeth: 
 then he must have such a servant, or tutor, as knoweth the 
 country, as was likewise said. Let him carry with him also 
 some card, or book, describing the country where he travel- 
 leth ; which will be a good key to his inquiry. Let him keep 
 also a diary. Let him not stay long in one city or town ; 
 more or less as the place deserveth, but not long : nay, when 
 he stayeth in one city or town, let him change his lodging 
 from one end and part of the town to another, which is 
 a great adamant 3 of acquaintance. Let him sequester him- 
 self from the company of his countrymen, and diet in such 
 places where there is good company of the nation where he 
 travelleth. Let him, upon his removes from one place to 
 another, procure recommendation to some person of quality 
 
 1 Burses] Public edifices where merchants meet for consultation. 
 
 2 Triumphs] Pageants or shows by torch-light. 
 
 3 Adamant] Loadstone ; means of attraction. The word adamant 
 often denotes the magnet or loadstone in old authors. Thus, in Cook's 
 Green 's Tu Qticyue, ' As true to thee as steel to adamant ; ' Shak- 
 speare, Trail. & Cress, iii. 2, ' As true as iron to adamant ; ' Mids. N. 
 Dream, ii. 2 
 
 ' You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant ; 
 But yet you draw not iron, for my heart 
 Is true as steel.'
 
 Of Travel. 73 
 
 residing in the place whither he removeth ; that he may 
 use his favour in those things he desireth to see or 
 know. Thus he may abridge his travel with much profit. 
 As for the acquaintance which is to be sought in travel, that 
 which is most of all profitable is acquaintance with the secre- 
 taries and employed men ' of ambassadors ; for so in travel- 
 ling in one country he shall suck the experience of many. 
 Let him also see and visit eminent persons in all kinds 
 which are of great name abroad, that he may be able to tell 
 how the life 2 agreeth with the fame. For quarrels, they are 
 with care and discretion to be avoided : they are commonly 
 for mistresses, healths, 3 place, and words. 4 And let a man 
 beware how he keepeth company with choleric and quarrel- 
 some persons ; for they will engage him into their own 
 quarrels. When a traveller returneth home, let him not 
 leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind 
 him ; but maintain a correspondence by letters with those 
 of his acquaintance which are of most worth. And let his 
 travel appear rather in his discourse than in his apparel 
 or gesture ; and in his discourse let him be rather advised 5 
 in his answers than forward to tell stories ; and let it 
 appear, that he doth not change his country manners for 
 those of foreign parts, 6 but only prick in some flowers of 
 
 1 Employed men] Such as we now call attaches, 
 
 The life] The person himself. The Latin translation has Os, vut- 
 ttts, ft corporis lineanienla et niotits. 
 
 3 Healths} Toasts. Lat. compotationes. 
 
 4 Place, and words] Lat. Prasidenliant, et verba contunutiosa ; right 
 of presiding, and abusive words. Timon, in Shakspeare's play, iii. 6, 
 says, ' Make not a city feast of it, to let the meat cool ere we can agree 
 upon the first place.' 
 
 4 Advised] Heedful ; discreet. 
 
 Change his country manners, <5rv. ] Shakspeare often ridiculed the 
 affectation common amongst those who had travelled on the Continent. 
 Tims, in As You Like ft. iv. I, 'Farewell, monsieur Traveller. Look
 
 74 Essays. 
 
 that 1 he hath learned abroad into the customs of his own 
 country. 
 
 XIX. OF EMPIRE. 
 
 It is a miserable state of mind, to have few things to desire 
 and many things to fear ; and yet that commonly is the case 
 of Kings, who being at the highest, want matter of desire, 
 which makes their minds more languishing ; and have many 
 representations 2 of perils and shadows, which makes their 
 minds the less clear. And this is one reason also of that 
 effect which the Scripture speaketh of, that the King's heart is 
 inscrutable? For multitude of jealousies, and lack of some 
 predominant desire, that should marshal and put in order 
 all the rest, maketh any man's heart hard to find or sound. 
 Hence it comes, likewise, that Princes many times make 
 themselves desires, and set their hearts upon toys; 4 some- 
 times upon a building ; sometimes upon erecting of an 
 
 you lisp and wear strange suits ; disable all the benefits of your own 
 country,' &c. 
 
 1 That} That which. 
 
 * Representations] Lat. phantasmata. 
 
 3 The Kings heart, &r.] Prov. xxv. 3, 'The heart of kings is un- 
 searchable.' Bacon was fond of referring to this proverb. In Massin- 
 ger's Emperor of the East, ii. I, Philanax, finding that he and others 
 had mistaken the Emperor's nature, says 
 
 ' We had forgot 'tis found in holy writ 
 That kings' hearts are inscrutable. ' 
 
 In the Advancement, II. , Bacon says, ' Princes being at the top of 
 human desires, they have for the most part no particular ends whereto 
 they aspire, by distance from which a man might take measure and 
 scale of the rest of their actions and desires ; which is one of the causes 
 that maketh their hearts more inscrutable.' 
 
 Toys} Trifles.
 
 Of Empire. 75 
 
 order ; ' sometimes upon the advancing of a person , some- 
 times upon obtaining excellence in some art, or feat of the 
 hand ; as Nero for playing on the harp ; 2 Domitian for 
 certainty of the hand with the arrow ; 3 Comrriodus for 
 playing at fence ; 4 Caracalla for driving chariots;* and the 
 like. This seemeth incredible unto those that know not the 
 principle, that the mind of man is move cheered and refreshed 
 by profiling 6 in small things, than by standing at a stay in 
 great. We see also that Kings that have been fortunate 
 conquerors in their first years, it being not possible for them 
 to go forward infinitely, but that they must have some check 
 or arrest in their fortunes, turn in their latter years to be 
 superstitious and melancholy : as did Alexander the Great, 7 
 Diocletian, s and in our memory Charles the Fifth, 9 and 
 
 1 Upon erecting of an order] Lat. Ad ordineni aliqitem nut collegium 
 instituendum. 
 
 Nero for playing, &c] Dion Cassius, Ixiii. I. 
 
 Domitian for certainty, &c.] Suetonius, Domitian, 19. 
 
 Comniodus for playing, drv.] Dion Cassius, Ixxii. IO, 22. 
 
 Caracalla for driving, <SrV.] Dion Cassius, Ixxvii. 10. 
 
 Profiting] Making progress. Lat progrediendo. This was 
 anciently a common meaning of the word. Thus Shakspeare, in As 
 You Like It, i. i, ' My brother Jaques he keeps at school, and report 
 speaks goldenly of his profit ; ' and in the Tempest, i. 2, ' Here have I, 
 thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit (i.e. to profit more) than other 
 princes can.' 
 
 7 As did Alexander the Great] ' After that Alexander had left his 
 trust and confidence in the gods, his mind was so troubled and afraid, 
 that no strange thing happened unto him, how little soever it was, but 
 he took it straight for a sign and prediction from the gods ; so that 
 his tent was always full of priests and soothsayers, that did nothing but 
 sacrifice and purify, and tend upon divinements.' North's Plutarch. 
 
 * Diocletian] This Roman emperor, after a prosperous reign of 
 twenty-one years, abdicated the crown, A. D. 304, and retired to a private 
 station at his native town, Salona, in Dalmatia. 
 
 9 Charles the Fifth] Emperor of Germany. After a reign of thirty- 
 seven years he resigned the imperial crown, in 1556, and retired to the
 
 76 Essays. 
 
 others ; for he that is used to go forward, and findeth a 
 stop, falleth out of his own favour, and is not the thing 
 he was. 
 
 To speak now of the true temper l of empire : it is a thing 
 rare and hard to keep ; for both temper and distemper con- 
 sist of contraries ; but it is one thing to mingle contraries, 
 another to interchange them. The answer of Apollonius 2 
 to Vespasian is full of excellent instruction : Vespasian 
 asked him, what was Nero's overthrow ? He answered, 3 
 Nero could touch and tune the harp well, but in government 
 sometimes he used to wind the pins too high, sometimes to 
 let them down too low. And certain it is, that nothing 
 destroyeth authority so much as the unequal and untimely 
 interchange of power pressed too far, and relaxed too 
 much. 
 
 This is true, that the wisdom of all these latter times in 
 Princes' affairs, is rather fine deliveries, 4 and shiftings of 
 dangers and mischiefs, when they are near, than solid and 
 grounded courses to keep them aloof. But this is but to try 
 masteries with fortune. And let men beware how they 
 neglect and suffer matter of trouble to be prepared ; for no 
 man can forbid the spark, nor tell whence it may come. 
 The difficulties in Princes' business are many and great ; 
 but the greatest difficulty is often in their own mind. For 
 it is common with Princes (saith Tacitus) to will contradic- 
 tories : Sunt plerumque regum voluntates vehementcs, et inter 
 
 monastery of Yuste in Estremadura, and there passed the last two 
 years of his life. 
 
 1 Temper} Commixture of qualities. 
 
 * Apolloniu$\ A Pythagorean philosopher, of Tyana in Cappadocia, 
 skilled in magic. 
 
 * He answered, <5rV.] Philostratus, Apoll. Tyan. v. 28. 
 
 4 Is rather fint deliveries} Lat. Ut conquirantur magis et aptentur 
 itmedia.
 
 Of Empire. 77 
 
 se contrarian. l For it is the solecism of power to think to 
 command the end, and yet not to endure the mean. 
 
 Kings have to deal with their neighbours, 2 their wives, 
 their children, their prelates or clergy, their nobles, their 
 second nobles or gentlemen, their merchants, their commons, 
 and their men of war ; and from all these arise dangers, if 
 care and circumspection be not used. 
 
 First, for their neighbours : there can no general rule be 
 given (the occasions are so variable), save one, which ever 
 holdeth, which is, that Princes do keep due sentinel, that 
 none of their neighbours do overgrow so (by increase of 
 territory, by embracing of trade, 3 by approaches, 4 or the 
 like), as 5 they become more able to annoy them than they 
 were. And this is generally the work of standing counsels 
 to foresee and to hinder it. During that triumvirate of 
 Kings, King Henry the Eighth of England, Francis the First, 
 King of France, and Charles the Fifth, emperor, 6 there was 
 such a watch kept that none of the three could win a palm 7 
 of ground, but the other two would straightways balance it, 
 either by confederation, or, if need were, by a war : and 
 would not in any wise take up * peace at interest. And the 
 
 1 Sunt p!erumque t <SrY.] The desires of kings are commonly both 
 vehement and incongruous. This is not from Tacitus, but from Sallust, 
 Bell. Jug. 113. The passage is referred to the right author in the Ad- 
 vancement, II. 
 
 * Their neighbours] Neighbouring States. 
 
 * By embracing of trade] Lat. Commercium ad se trahendo. 
 4 By approaches] Lat. Propius accedendo. 
 
 4 As] That. 
 
 6 Charles the fifth, emperor] The Latin version has Carolo Quinty 
 Hispano. As King of Spain he was Charles I. On the death of Maxi- 
 milian I., in 1519, Francis and Charles became competitors for the 
 empire. 
 
 7 A palm] A hand's breadth ; three inches. 
 
 1 Take up] Buy on credit. So in Shakspeare, 2 Hen. IV. \. a,
 
 78 Essays. 
 
 like was done by that league ' (which Guicciardini * saith was 
 the security of Italy), made between Ferdinando, King of 
 Naples, Lorenzius Medicis, 3 and Ludovicus Sforza, 4 poten- 
 tates, the one of Florence, the other of Milan. Neither is 
 the opinion of some of the Schoolmen 5 to be received, that 
 a war cannot justly be made, but upon a precedent injury 
 or provocation. For there is no question, but a just fear of 
 an imminent danger, though there be no blow given, is a 
 lawful cause of a war. 
 
 For their wives : there are cruel examples of them. Livia 
 is infamed 6 for the poisoning of her husband ; Roxolana, 
 Solyman's wife, 7 was the destruction of that renowned 
 prince, Sultan Mustapha, and otherwise troubled his house 
 
 ' If a man is thorough with them in honest taking up, then they must 
 stand upon security;' Much Ado, iii. 3, 'We are like to prove a goodly 
 commodity, being taken up of these men's bills ; ' 2 Hen. VI. iv. 7, 
 ' When shall we go to Cheapstde, and take up commodities upon our 
 bills ? ' In the last two of these passages word-play is intended between 
 legal bills or bonds and the weapons called brown bills. 
 
 1 That league] The league of 1485, designed chiefly against the 
 growing power of the Venetians. 
 
 Guicciardini] A Florentine and an eminent statesman, who died 
 in 1540. He wrote a History of Italy during his own Time. Bacon 
 here refers to the beginning of the History. 
 
 * Lorenzius Medicis] Lorenzo de' Medici, styled the 'Magnificent' 
 and the ' Father of Letters,' was chief of the republic of Florence, and 
 father of John de' Medici (Pope Leo X.) ; both were illustrious pro- 
 moters of literature and the fine arts in Italy in the sixteenth century. 
 
 4 Ludovicus Sforza] Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, died in cap- 
 tivity in 1508. He was a man of artful and crooked policy, but a liberal 
 patron of learning and the arts. 
 
 4 The Schoolmen] See p. 69, note 7. 
 
 6 Infamed} Regarded as infamous. Livia was said to have mur- 
 dered Augustus, to hasten the accession of her son Tiberius. 
 
 7 Solyman's wife] Soliman the ' Magnificent' was the most famous 
 of the Turkish sultans. His wife Roxolana instigated him to put to 
 death Mustapha and all the children of his other wives.
 
 Of Empire. 79 
 
 and succession ; Edward the Second of England his queen ' 
 had the principal hand in the deposing and murder of her 
 husband. This kind of danger is then to be feared chiefly 
 when the wives have plots for the raising of their own 
 children, or else that they be advoutresses. 2 
 
 For their children : the tragedies likewise of dangers from 
 them have been many : and generally the entering of the 
 fathers into suspicion of their children hath been eve: 
 unfortunate. The destruction of Mustapha (that we named 
 before) was so fatal to Solyman's line, as the succession of 
 the Turks from Solyman until this day is suspected to be 
 untrue, and of strange blood ; for that Selymus the Second 3 
 was thought to be supposititious. The destruction of 
 Crispus, 4 a young prince of rare towardness, by Constan- 
 tinus the Great, his father, was in like manner fatal to his 
 house ; for both Constantinus and Constans ; his sons, died 
 violent deaths; and Constantius, his other son, did little 
 better, who died indeed of sickness, but after that Julianus 
 had taken arms against him. The destruction of Demetrius, 6 
 son to Philip the Second of Macedon, turned upon the 
 father, who died of repentance. And many like examples 
 there are ; but few or none where the fathers had good by 
 
 1 Edward the Second of England hi* queen} The Saxon genitive 
 termination is was for some time erroneously supposed to be an abbre- 
 viation of his. In the Prayer Book we have ' for Jesus Christ His 
 sake ; in Roger Ascham's Toxophilus (30), ' Their excellency needeth 
 no man his praise.' Shakspeare has very few examples, and in these 
 the noun preceding the pronoun generally ends in s ; as in Henry V. i. 
 2, ' King Lewis his satisfaction.' So in Bacon's IVisJ. of the Atif., 
 ' Prometheus his scholars.' 
 
 2 Advoutresses} Adulteresses. 
 
 1 Selymus the Second} Selim II. succeeded his father, Soliman, in 
 1566. 
 
 4 Crispus} He was falsely accused of treason by his stepmother 
 Fausta, and Constantine ordered him to be beheaded, A.n. 326. 
 
 s Demetriut} He was falsely accused by his brother Perseus of an 
 attempt to dethrone their father.
 
 So Essays. 
 
 such ilistrust, except it were where the sons were up In 
 open arms against them ; as was Selymus the First against 
 Bajazet : and the three sons of Henry the Second, King of 
 England. 
 
 For their prelates : when they are proud and great, there 
 is also danger from them; as it was in the times of Anselmus ' 
 and Thomas Becket, 2 archbishops of Canterbury, who with 
 their crosiers did almost try it with the King's sword ; and 
 yet they had to deal with stout 3 and haughty Kings, William 
 Rufus, Henry the First, and Henry the Second. The danger 
 is not from that state 4 but where it hath a dependence of 
 foreign authority ; 5 or where the churchmen come in and 
 are elected, not by the collation 6 of the king, or particular 
 patrons, but by the people. 
 
 For their nobles : to keep them at a distance it is not 
 amiss; but to depress them may make a king more absolute, 
 but less safe, and less able to perform anything that he 
 desires. I have noted it in my History of King Henry the 
 Seventh of England, who depressed his nobility ; where- 
 upon it came to pass that his times were full of difficulties 
 and troubles ; for the nobility, though they continued loyal 
 unto him, yet did they not co-operate with him in his 
 business. So that in effect he was fain to do all things 
 himself. 
 
 For their second nobles : there is not much danger from 
 them, being a body dispersed. They ma\ sometimes dis- 
 course high, but that doth little hurt : besides, they are a 
 counterpoise to the higher nobility, that they grow not too 
 
 1 Anselmus] Anselm was archbishop during the reigns of William 
 Rufus and Henry I. 
 
 2 Thomas Becket} Archbishop in the reign of Henry II. 
 
 * Stout] High-minded. 
 
 4 That state] That order of men ; prelacy. 
 
 5 Hath a dependence of, &"c.] Is under the authority of Rome. 
 
 * Collation] Conferring.
 
 Of Empire. 81 
 
 potent : and, lastly, being the most immediate in authority 
 with the common people, they do best temper popular 
 commotions. 
 
 For their merchants : they are vena porta ; ' and if they 
 flourish not, a kingdom may have good limbs, but will have 
 empty veins, and nourish little. 8 Taxes and imposts upon 
 them do seldom good to the King's revenue ; for that which 
 he wins in the hundred 3 he leeseth 4 in the shire; the parti- 
 cular rates being increased, but the total bulk of trading 
 rather decreased. 
 
 For their commons : there is little danger from them, 
 except it be where they have great and potent heads ; 01 
 where you meddle with the point of religion, or their customs, 
 or means of life. 
 
 For their men of war : it is a dangerous State where they 
 live and remain in a body, and are used to donatives,* 
 whereof we see examples in the Janizaries 6 and Praetorian 
 bands of Rome ; 7 but trainings of men, and arming them in 
 several places and under several commanders, and without 
 donatives, are things of defence and no danger. 
 
 1 Vena Porta] ' The great vessel that conveys the blood to the liver, 
 after it has been enriched by the absorption of nutriment from the in- 
 testines.' DEVEY. Bacon, in his History of Henry* VII., says of that 
 monarch, ' Being a king that loved wealth and treasure, he could n^t 
 endure to have trade sick, nor any obstruction to continue in the gate 
 win which disperseth that blrod.' 
 
 2 Nourish little] Have scanty growth ; get little nourishment. 
 
 3 The hundred] This division of a shire is supposed to have consisted 
 originally of a hundred families. 
 
 4 Leeseth] Loseth. So Spenser, in the Shepherd's Calendar (Sept) 
 
 ' Yet better leave off with a little loss, 
 Than by much wrestling to leese the gross.' 
 * Donatives] Largesses. 
 
 6 The Janizaries] The body-guards of the Ottoman sovereigns. 
 
 7 Pratorian bands of Rome] The Cohortes Pnftorut, or bbdy-guaid 
 of the Roman emperors. See p. 19, note 4. 
 
 O
 
 82 Essays. 
 
 Princes are like to heavenly bodies, which cause good 01 
 ;vil times ; l and which have much veneration, but no rest. 
 All precepts concerning Kings are in effect comprehended in 
 those two remembrances : memento quod es homo ; and 
 memento quod es Dens, or vice Z>': 2 'the one bridleth theii 
 power, and the other their will. 
 
 XX. OF COUNSEL. 
 
 The greatest trust between ^man and man is the trust of 
 gi\ ing counsel. For in other, confidences men commit the 
 parts of life, their lands, their goods, their children, their 
 credit, some particular affair ; but to such as they make 
 their counsellors they commit the whole : by how much the 
 more they 3 are obliged to all faith and integrity. The wisest 
 Princes need not think it any diminution to their greatness, 
 or derogation to their sufficiency, to rely upon counsel. 
 God himself is not without ; but hath made it one of the 
 great names of his blessed Son, The - Counsellor .* Solomon 
 hath pronounced that in counsel is stability* Things 
 will have their first or second agitation : if they be not 
 tossed upon the arguments of counsel, they will be tossed 
 upon the waves of fortune ; and be full of inconstancy, 
 doing and urftioing, 6 like the reeling of a drunken man. 
 
 1 Which cause, <Sfc.] An allusion to the influence ascribed to the 
 planets in the old astrology. 
 
 2 Memento, &c.~\ Remember thou art 'a man ; *nd remember thou 
 art as God, or God's vicegerent. 
 
 3 They\ That is, the counsellors. 
 
 4 The Counsellor] Isai. rx. 6. 
 
 5 In counsel, &c.~\ Prov. xx. 1 8, ' Every purpose is established by 
 counsel.' 
 
 8 Doing and undoing] Lat. Modo texendce modo- rttexend/z, sometimes 
 to be woven, sometimes to be undone when woven : au allusion lo 
 Penelope's web.
 
 Of Counsel. 83 
 
 Solomon's son found the force of counsel, as his father 
 saw the necessity of it. For the beloved kingdom of 
 God was first rent and broken by ill counsel ; upon which 
 counsel there are set for our instruction the two marks 
 whereby bad counsel is for ever best discerned : that it was 
 young counsel for the persons ; and violent counsel for the 
 matter. 1 
 
 The ancient times do set forth in figure both the incorpo 
 ration and inseparable conjunction of counsel with Kings, 
 and the wise and politic use of counsel by Kings : the one 
 in that they say Jupiter did marry Metis, which signifieth 
 counsel ; whereby they intend that sovereignty is married 
 to counsel : the other in that which followeth, which was 
 thus : they say, after Jupiter was married to Metis, she 
 conceived by him and was with child ; but Jupiter suffered 
 her not to stay till she brought forth, but eat her up ; 
 whereby he became himself with child, and was delivered of 
 Pallas armed out of his head. Which monstrous 2 fable 
 containeth a secret of empire ; how Kings are to make use 
 of their Council of State : that first, they ought to refer 
 matters unto them, which is the first begetting or impreg- 
 nation ; but when they are elaborate, moulded, and shaped 
 in the womb of their Council, and grow ripe and ready to 
 be brought forth, that then they suffer not their Council to 
 go through with the resolution and direction, as* if it depended 
 
 1 For the beloved kingdom, &-V.] The kingdom of Rehohoam the son 
 of Solomon was 'rent and broken' when the majority of the tribes 
 made Jeroboam king of Israel, two tribes only, viz. those of Juclah and 
 Benjamin, remaining faithful to Rehoboam, who was now called king of 
 Judah. In I Kings xii. 13, it is said that Rehoboam 'answered the 
 people roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him , 
 and spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My 
 father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke ; my father 
 also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.' 
 
 * Monstrous] 'Which in its literal sense appears monstrously absir.u. 
 Si^his Wisdom of the Ancifttti, 30. 
 
 G 2
 
 84 Essays. 
 
 on them ; but take the matter back into their own hands, 
 and make it appear to the world, that the decrees and final 
 directions (which, because they come forth with prudence 
 and power, are resembled to Pallas armed) 1 proceeded 
 from themselves, and not only from their authority, but (the 
 more to add reputation to themselves) from their head and 
 device. 
 
 Let us now speak of the inconveniences of counsel, and 
 of the remedies. The inconveniences that have been noted 
 in calling and using counsel are three. First, the revealing 
 of affairs, whereby they become less secret ; secondly, the 
 weakening of the authority of princes, as if they were less 
 of themselves : 2 thirdly, the danger of being unfaithfully 
 counselled, and more for the good of them that counsel 
 than of him that is counselled. For which inconveniences, 
 tle doctrine of Italy, 3 and the practice of France in some 
 Kings' times, hath introduced Cabinet Councils ; 4 a remedy 
 worse than the disease. 
 
 As to secrecy : Princes are not bound to communicate 
 all matters with all counsellors, but may extract and select. 
 Neither is it necessary, that he that consulteth what he 
 should do, should declare what he will do. But let Princes 
 beware that the unsecreting of their affairs comes not from 
 themselves. And, as for Cabinet Councils, it may be their 
 motto, plenus rimarum sum .- 5 one futile person that maketh 
 
 1 Pallas armed] Minerva being the goddess of wisdom. 
 
 - Were less of tliemselves] Lat. Minus ex se penderent : depended less 
 on themselves. 
 
 3 Of Italy] Lat. Quorundam ex Italis. 
 
 * Cabinet councils} Lat. Consilia intenora, qua rttlgo vocantur Cabi- 
 nttti.' Singer says, ' By cabinet councils Bacon means private meetings 
 of selected advisers in the privy chamber of the king." 
 
 4 Plentts rimarum sum] I am full of holes. This is from Terence's 
 Etinuchus, I. ii. 25, and is part of Parmcno's answer to the question, 
 Can this fellow keep a secret ?
 
 Of Counsel. 85 
 
 it his glory to tell will do moie hurt than many that know 
 it their duty to conceal. It is true there be some affairs 
 \vhich require extreme secrecy, which will hardly go beyond 
 one or two persons besides the King : neither are those 
 counsels unprosperous ; for, besides the secrecy, they com- 
 monly go on constantly in one spirit of direction without 
 distraction. But then it must be a prudent King, such as 
 is able to grind with a hand-mill ; l and those inward 2 coun- 
 sellors had need also be wise men, and especially true and 
 trusty to the King's ends ; as it was with King Henry the 
 Seventh of England, who in his greatest business imparted 
 himself to none, except it were to Morton and Fox. 3 
 
 For weakening of authority : the fable showeth the 
 remedy. Nay, the majesty of Kings is rather exalted than 
 diminished when they are in the chair of Council ; neither 
 was there ever prince bereaved of his dependences 4 by his 
 Council, except where there hath been either an over-great- 
 ness in one counsellor, or an over-strict combination in 
 divers ; which are things soon found and holpen. 
 
 For the last inconvenience, that men will counsel with an 
 eye to themselves : certainly, non inveniet fidem super terrain* 
 
 1 Able to grind ivith a hand-mill] Lat. Proprio Afarte validtts : able 
 in his own strength or endeavours. 
 
 2 Inward] Intimate. See p. 44, note 2. 
 
 ' Morton and Fox\ John Morton was, in 1486, made Archbishop of 
 Canterbury ; in 1487, Lord Chancellor ; and, in 1493, a cardinal, lie 
 died in 1500. Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester and Secretary of 
 State, finding, shortly after the accession of Henry VIII., that VVolsey 
 engrossed that monarch's confidence, retired in disgust to his diocese, 
 and spent the rest of his life in works of munificence and piety. He 
 died in 1528. Morton was Bishop of Ely and Fox Bishop of Exeter 
 when they were first chosen privy councillors by Henry VII. 
 
 4 Bereaved of his dependences} Lat. Auctoritate stid iiniiiniutum: im- 
 paired in his authority. 
 
 5 Non inveiiiet, S-v.] He will not find faith on the earth. An 
 allusion to Luke xviii. 8. See p. 6, note a.
 
 86 Essays. 
 
 is meant of the nature 1 of times, and not of all particular 
 persons. There be that are in nature faithful and sincere, 
 and plain and direct ; not crafty and involved : let Princes, 
 above all, draw to themselves such natures. Besides, coun- 
 sellors are not commonly so united, but that one counsellor 
 keepeth sentinel over another ; so that if any do counsel 
 out of faction or private ends, it commonly comes to the 
 King's ear. But the best remedy is, if Princes know their 
 counsellors, as well as their counsellors know them : 
 Principis est virtus maxima nosse sues? And on the other 
 .side, counsellors should not be too speculative 3 into their 
 Sovereign's person. The true composition of a counsellor 
 is rather to be skilful in his master's business than in his 
 nature ; for then he is like to advise him, and not to 
 feed his humour. It is of singular use to Princes if they 
 take the opinions of their Council both separately and 
 together ; for private opinion is more free, but opinion 
 before others is more reverend. In private, men are more 
 bold in their own humours ; and in consort men are more 
 obnoxious 4 to others' humours ; therefore it is good to take 
 both : and of the inferior sort rather in private, to preserve 
 freedom ; of the greater rather in consort, to preserve 
 respect. It is in vain for Princes to take counsel concerning 
 matters, if they take no counsel likewise concerning persons; 
 for all matters are as dead images ; and the life of the 
 execution of affairs resteth in the good choice of persons. 
 Neither is it enough to consult concerning persons secundum 
 genera? as in an idea or mathematical description, what the 
 kind and character of the person should be ; for tlie greatest 
 
 1 Nature] General characteristic. 
 
 - Principis est, &*c.] Martial, viii. 15. It is the greatest virtue in a 
 prince to know those about him. 
 
 3 Speculative} Prying; inquisitive. 
 
 4 Obnoxious} Submissive. 
 
 Sccnndnin genera} According to kinds.
 
 Of Counsel. $7 
 
 errors are committed, and the most judgment is shown, in 
 the choice of individuals. It was truly said, optimi consiliarii 
 mortui :* books will speak plain when counsellors blanch. 2 
 Therefore it is good to be conversant in them, specially the 
 books of such as themselves have been actors upon the 
 stage. 
 
 The Councils at this day in most places are but familiar 
 meetings ; where matters are rather talked on than debated : 
 and they run too swift to the order or act of Council. It 
 were better that in causes of weight the matter were pro- 
 pounded one day and not spoken to 3 till the next day; in 
 node consilinm* So was it done in the Commission of Union 
 between England and Scotland ; 5 which was a grave and 
 orderly assembly. I commend set days for petitions : for 
 both it gives the suitors more certainty for their attendance ; 
 and it frees the meetings for matters of Estate, that they 
 may hoc agere? In choice of committees for ripening 
 
 1 Optimi, &C.] The dead are the best counsellors. This was a 
 saying of Alphonso of Arragon, who used to call himself a necromance 
 because he was so much in the habit of consulting the dead, that is, 
 books. 
 
 - Blanch] Shrink. Blench is the proper form. Thus, in Shak- 
 speare's Hamlet, ii. 2, ' If he but blench, I know my course ; ' Trail, 
 and Cress, i. I, ' Patience herself doth lesser blench at sufferance than 
 I do ;' and ii. l, 'There can be no evasion to blench from this, and to 
 stand firm by honour.' The Latin translator, misled by the word 
 blanch, writes forte in adulationem lapsuri sint. 
 
 a Spoken to] Lat. Tractaretur : treated; discussed. 
 
 4 In node consilium] Hence the proverb, ' Night is the mother of 
 thought.' 
 
 5 In the Commission, <SrY.] Lat. In Tractatu Unionis inter Delegates 
 Anglue et Scotia: in the Treaty of Union between the Commissioners 
 of England and Scotland. This was on the accession of James the 
 Sixth of Scotland to the throne of England in 1603. 
 
 6 live agere] Hoc agere and aliud agere were phrases familiarly used 
 by the Romans to denote, respectively, attending, to matters in hand and 
 attending to things irrelevant.
 
 88 Essays. 
 
 ousiness for the Council, it is better to choose indifferent 
 persons 1 than to make an indifferency by putting in those 
 that are strong on both sides. I commend also standing 
 Commissions ; 2 as for trade, for treasure, for war, for suits, 
 for some provinces ; for where there be divers particular 
 councils, and but one Council of Estate (as it is in Spain), 
 they are, in effect, no more than standing Commissions ; 
 save that they have greater authority. Let such as are to 
 inform Councils out of their particular professions (as lawyers, 
 seamen, mint-men, and the like), be first heard before com- 
 mittees ; and then, as occasion serves, before the Council. 
 And let them not come in multitudes, 3 or in a tribunitious 
 manner ; 4 for that is to clamour' Councils, not to inform 
 them. A long table and a square table, or seats about the 
 walls, seem things of form, but are things of substance : for 
 at a long table a few at the upper end, in effect, sway all the 
 business ; but in the other form there is more use of the 
 counsellors' opinions that sit lower. A King, when he pre- 
 sides in Council, let him beware how he opens his own incli- 
 nation too much in that which he propoundeth : for else 
 counsellors will but take the wind of him, 6 and instead of 
 giving free counsel, sing him a song of placebo. 1 
 
 1 Indifferent persons] Persons having no bias towards either side. 
 
 2 Standing Commissions] Lat. Delegations, non tantum temporaneas 
 out e re natd, sed etiam continuatas et perpetuas. 
 
 * In multitudes] He means multitudes of the same profession. 
 
 4 In a tribunitious manner] In a contentious or violent manner. 
 The Roman Tribuni Plebis were elected by the common people for tne 
 defence of their rights. 
 
 * To clamour] To harass with clamour. 
 
 * Will but take, &c.] Will just shape their course according to his 
 bent. Lat. Se ad nutum ejus applicabunt. 
 
 * Placebo] I will be obsequious. The song of Placebo is the >vesper 
 hymn for the dead Placebo Domino in regione vivorum, ' I will walk 
 before the J<rd in the land of the living,' Psalm cxvi. 9. .Chaucer, in
 
 Of Delays. 89 
 
 XXI. OF DELA YS. 
 
 Fortune is like the market, where many times, if you can 
 stay a little, the price will fall. And again, it is sometimes 
 like Sibylla's offer, 1 which at first offereth the commodity at 
 full, then consumeth part and part, and still holdeth up the 
 price. For Occasion (as it is in the common verse) turneth 
 a bald noddle after she hath presented her locks in front, 
 and no hold taken ; 2 or, at least, turneth the handle of the 
 bottle first to be received, and after the belly which is hard 
 
 the Parson's Tale (De Ir&\, says, 'Flatterers be the devil's chaplains, 
 that sing aye placebo? 
 
 1 Sibylla's offer] The Sibyls were certain women who professed to 
 be endowed with a prophetic spirit. The most celebrated of them was 
 the Cumaean Sibyl, so called from residing at Cunue in Italy. She 
 was said to live 1,000 years, by a grant of longevity from Apollo. One 
 of the Sibyls came to Tarquin the Proud with nine volumes, for which 
 she demanded a large sum of money. The king declined the offer, and 
 she having gone away and burned three of the books, returned and 
 offered him six for the same amount ; but he still refused ; whereupon 
 she burnt three more, and then asked the same for the remaining three. 
 Tarquin was now so astonished at the woman's behaviour that he 
 bought the books. They were preserved with great care, and consulted 
 with great solemnity, as by means of them the priests were thought 
 able to foretell the fate of the Roman empire. The number of the 
 Sibyls is uncertain. Shakspeare, in I f/en. VI. \. 2, speaks of ' the 
 nine Sibyls of old Rome,' but probably the nine Sibylline books are 
 meant. 
 
 * For Occasion, &C.] It was fabled of Time that he had hair on the 
 front part of his head, but that the back part was bald, signifying that 
 we may lay hold of time as it approaches, but cannot catch it when 
 fleeing from us. The verse to which Bacon refers is ' Fronte acpillata 
 est, post hasc Occasio calva;' the author of which seems to be unknown. 
 Hence the proverbial saying 'Take time by the forelock.' In Spenser's 
 F. Q. II. iv. 4, 10, Occasion is the name of a hag, the mother of Furor ; 
 and of her the poet says
 
 90 Essays. 
 
 to clasp. There is surely no greater wisdom than well to 
 time the beginnings and onsets of things. Dangers are no 
 more light, if they once seem light : and more dangers have 
 deceived men than forced them. Nay, it were better to 
 meet some dangers half way, though they come nothing 
 near, than to keep too long a watch upon their approaches ; 
 tor if a man watch too long, it is odds he will fall asleep. 
 On the other side, to be deceived with too long shadows 
 (as some have been when the moon was low and shone on 
 their enemies' back), and so to shoot off before the time ; 
 or to teach dangers to come on by over early buckling 
 towards them, is another extreme. The ripeness or unripe- 
 ness of the occasion (as we said) must ever be well weighed; 
 and generally it is good to commit the beginnings of all 
 great actions to Argus with his hundred eyes, and the ends 
 to Biiareus with his hundred hands : first to watch, and 
 then to speed. For the helmet of Pluto, 1 which maketh 
 the politic man go invisible, is secrecy in the counsel, and 
 celerity in the execution. For when things are once come 
 to the execution, there is no secrecy comparable to celerity; 
 like the motion of a bullet in the air, which flieth so swift 
 as 2 it outruns the eye. 
 
 XXII. OF CUNNING. 
 
 We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom ; and 
 certainly there is a great difference between a cunning man 
 
 1 1 ler locks, that loathly were and hoary gray, 
 Grew all afore, and loosely hung unrolled ; 
 But all behind was bald and worn away, 
 That none thereof could ever taken hold.' 
 
 1 Tlu helmet of Pluto] During the war of the gods and the Titans, 
 the Cyclops made a helmet which rendered the wearer invisible, and 
 they gave it to Pluto. 
 
 1 As} That
 
 Of Cunning. 91 
 
 and a wise man, not only in point of honesty, but in point 
 of ability. There be that can pack the cards, 1 and yet 
 cannot play well ; so there are some that are good in can- 
 vasses and factions, that are otherwise weak men. Again, 
 it is one thing to understand persons, and another thing to 
 understand matters; for many are perfect in men's humours, 2 
 that are not greatly capable of the real part of business ; 
 which is the constitution of one that hath studied men more 
 than books. Such men are fitter for practice 3 than for 
 counsel ; and they are good but: in their own alley : 4 turn 
 them to new men, and they have lost their aim; so as 5 the 
 old rule, to know a fool from a wise man, Mitte ambos nudos 
 ad ignotos, et vidcbisf doth scarce hold for them. And, 
 because these cunning men are like haberdashers 7 of small 
 wares, it is not amiss to set forth, their shop. 
 
 1 Pack the cants] Packing the cards was using such artifice in 
 shuffling them as to secure a good hand. The cheats who practised it 
 were often inferior players. To pack cards with another figuratively 
 signified to concert fraudulently ; thus in Shakspeare 
 
 ' Packed cards with Caesar, and false-played my glory 
 Unto an enemy's triumph." Ant. and Clcof>. iv. 14. 
 
 Perfect, &cJ\ Lat. In personarum aditibiu et temporibus z'ersttli. 
 Perfect often denoted assured or well informed. Thus in Shakspeare, 
 Cymb. iii. 2, 'I am perfect that the Pannonians and Dalmatians, for 
 their liberties, are now in arms ; ' Wint. Tale, iii. 3, ' Thou art perfect, 
 then, our ship hath touched upon the deserts of Bohemia ; ' and Math. 
 iv. 2, ' In your state of honour I am perfect." 
 
 J Practice} Lat. fragniaticis, 
 
 4 Alley] Walk, or path. 
 
 5 So as] So that. 
 
 6 Milte ambos, <5rv.] In one of Bacon's Apophthegms, this is put as 
 follows : ' One of the philosophers was asked, in what a wise man 
 differed from a fool? He answered, Send them both naked to thou 
 that know tfiem not, and you shall perceive.' The philosopher w.is 
 Atistippus. (J^iog- Laert. ii. 73). 
 
 ' Haberdashers] This name was anciently given to seli-rs of any 
 kind of small wares.
 
 92 Essays. 
 
 It is a point of cunning to wait upon l him with whom 
 you speak with your eye, as the Jesuits give it in precept ; 
 for there be many wise men that have secret hearts and 
 transparent countenances. Yet this would be done 2 with a 
 demure abasing of your eye sometimes, as the Jesuits also 
 do use. 
 
 Another is, that when you have anything to obtain oi 
 present despatch, you entertain and amuse the party with 
 whom you deal with some other discourse, that he be not 
 too much awake to make objections. I knew a counsellor 
 and secretary that never came to Queen Elizabeth of England 
 with bills to sign, but he would always first put her into 
 some discourse of Estate, 3 that she might the less mind the 
 bills. 
 
 The like surprise may be made by moving things when 
 the party is in haste, and cannot stay to consider advisedly 
 of that is moved. 4 
 
 If a man would cross a business that he doubts 5 some 
 other would handsomely and effectually move, let him 
 pretend to wish it well, and move it himself in such sort as 
 may foil it 
 
 The breaking off in the midst of that one was about to 
 say, as if he took himself up, breeds a greater appetite, in 
 him with whom you confer, to know more. 
 
 1 Wait uj>on\ Watch. The expression, in this sense, occurs again 
 in the 34th and 58th Essays. 
 
 2 Would be done} Requires to be done. See p. 1 7, note 2. 
 
 * Discourse of Estate} Lat. De rebus Status gravioribus sermones. 
 
 4 Of that is moved} Of that which is moved. The suppression of a 
 relative subject is not now approved. It was of frequent occurrence in 
 our older literature. 
 
 4 Doubts} Fears. In Spenser and Shakspeare we have many in- 
 stances of doubt meaning_/wr. Thus in the F. Q. III. v. 12, 'For 
 doubt of danger which mote him betide ; ' in the Merry Wives, i. 4, ' I 
 doubt he be not well, that he comes not home ; ' and in King John, v, 
 6, ' I doubt he will be dead or e'er I come.'
 
 Of Cunning. 93 
 
 And because it works better when anything seemeth to 
 be gotten from you by question than if you offer it of your- 
 self, you may lay a bait for a question by showing another 
 visage and countenance than you are wont ; to the end, to 
 give occasion for the party to ask what the matter is of the 
 change, as 'Nehemiah did : And I had not before that time 
 been sad before the king* 
 
 In things that are tender 2 and unpleasing, it is good to 
 break the ice by some whose words are of less weight, and 
 to reserve the more weighty voice to come in as by chance, 
 so that he may be asked the question upon the other's 
 speech ; as Narcissus did, in relating to Claudius the mar- 
 riage of Messalina and Silius. 3 
 
 In things that a man would not be seen in himself, it is a 
 point of cunning to borrow the name of the world ; as to 
 say, The world says, or There is a speech abroad. 
 
 I knew one that, when he wrote a letter, he would put 
 that which was most material in the postscript, as if it had 
 been a by-matter. 
 
 I knew another that, when he came to have speech, 4 he 
 would pass over that that he intended most, and go forth, 
 and come back again, and speak of it as a thing that he had 
 almost forgot. 
 
 Some procure themselves to be surprised, at such times as 
 it is like 5 the party that they work upon will suddenly 
 
 1 And I had not, <5rY.] Nehem. ii. I, ' Now I had not been before- 
 time sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is 
 thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick ? ' 
 
 - Tender] Delicate. The Lat. has ambiguis. 
 
 * As A r arcissus did, &*c.] Narcissus was a freedman of Claudius. 
 The marriage referred to was rather an intrigue between Messalina, the 
 emperor's wife, and Caius Silius, a consul, for which Silius was put to 
 death. Tacitus, Ann. xi. 30. 
 
 4 To have speech] To be admitted to conference. 
 
 Like} Likely that
 
 94 Essays. 
 
 come upon them; and to be found with a letter in their 
 hand, or doing somewhat which they are not accustomed ; 
 to the end they may be apposed l of those things which of 
 themselves they are desirous to utter. 
 
 It is a point of cunning, to let fall those words in a man's 
 own name which he would have another man learn and use, 
 and thereupon take advantage. I knew two that were 
 competitors for the secretary's place in Queen Elizabeth's 
 time, 8 and yet kept good quarter 3 between themselves, and 
 would confer one with another upon the business ; and the 
 one of them said, that to be a secretary in the declination 
 of a monarchy was a ticklish thing, and that he did not 
 affect it :* the other straight caught up those words, and 
 discoursed with divers of his friends, that he had no reason 
 to desire to be secretary in the declination of a monarchy. 
 The first man took hold of it, and found means it was told 
 the queen ; who, hearing of a declination of a monarchy, 
 took it so ill, as 5 she would never after hear of the other'? 
 suit.- 
 
 There is a cunning which we in England call The turning 
 of the cat in the pan ; 6 which is, when that which a man says 
 
 1 Be apposeil\ Have questions put to them. 
 
 * Two that -were competitors, &c.] Aldts Wright says Mr. Spedding 
 suggested to him that these were probably Sir Robert Cecil and Sir 
 Thomas Bodley. 
 
 3 Quarter} Order. See p. 40, note .1. 
 
 4 Affect it} Desire it. 
 s As} That. 
 
 Tfie turning of the cat, &c.~\ Singer says, 'It was originally, no 
 Joubt, CaU in the pan, but thus popularly corrupted. The allusion is 
 probably to the dexterous turning, or shifting the side, of a pancake, by 
 a sleight of hand familiar to cooks.' I have always interpreted the 
 proverbial saying in the same manner. Cafe, meaning a delicacy or 
 dainty, and Kate, a woman's name, were anciently pronounced as cat. 
 In Shakspeare's Taming of the Shrew, ii. I, Petruchio says, ' My super- 
 duiniy Kate, for dainties are all cates ; ' and, farther on in the same
 
 Of Cunning. 95 
 
 to another, he lays it as if another had said it to him ; and, 
 to say truth, it is not easy, when such a matter passed 
 netween two, to make it appear from which of them it first 
 moved and began. 
 
 It is a way that some men have, to glance 1 and dart 
 at others by justifying themselves by negatives ; as to say, 
 This I do not ; as Tigellinus did towards Burrhus, Se non 
 diver sas spes, sed incohimitatem Imperatoris simp licit er spectarc. 2 
 
 Some have in readiness so many tales and stories, as 3 
 there is nothing they would insinuate, but they can wrap 
 it into a tale ; which serveth both to keep themselves 
 more in guard, and to make others carry it with more 
 pleasure. 
 
 It is a good point of cunning for a man to shape the 
 answer he would have in his own words and propositions ; 
 for it makes the other party stick the less. 
 
 It is strange how long some men will lie in wait to speak 
 somewhat they desire to say ; and how far about they will 
 fetch, 4 and how many other matters they will beat over to 
 
 scene, he uses her name in a quibbling allusion to -wild cat, which 
 Gremio, in i. 2, had plainly called her : 
 
 ' For I am he am born to tame you, Kate, 
 And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate 
 Conformable, as other household Kates.' 
 
 The Latin translator, unable^ to account foE the saying, has Quod Angiico 
 .froi'frbio Felem in aheno vertere satis absunie dicitur. Coles's English' 
 Latin Dictionary gives To turn cat in fan = Stylnni invertere. 
 
 1 To glance} To shoot obliquely. 
 
 2 Se non diversas, <Sr*t: . ] Tacitus, Ann. xiv. 57. That he himself looked 
 not to diverse hopes, but simply to the safety of the emperor. Tigel- 
 linus was a profligate minister of Nero, and. Burrhtis a chief of the Prae- 
 torian guards. Both of them, by order of Nero, were put to death. 
 
 * As] That. 
 
 4 How jar about, &C.] Lat. Qttanlo cirtuLtu tUi . sustintant. To 
 fct'.h 'S to come round. Shakspeare's King Jo/in, iv. 2, has
 
 96 
 
 come near it ; it is a thing of a great patience, but yet of 
 much use. 
 
 A sudden, bold, and unexpected question doth many times 
 surprise a man, and lay him open. Like to him that having 
 changed his name, and walking in Paul's, 1 another suddenly 
 came behind him and called him by his true name, whereat 
 straightways he looked back. 
 
 But these small wares and petty points of cunning are 
 infinite, and it were a good deed to make a list of them ; for 
 that nothing doth more hurt in a State than that cunning 
 men pass for wise. 
 
 But certainly some there are that know the resorts and 
 falls 2 of business, that cannot sink into the main of it : like 
 a house that hath convenient stairs and entries, but never a 
 fair room. Therefore you shall see them find out pretty 
 looses 3 in the conclusion, but are no ways able to examine 
 or debate matters. And yet commonly they take advantage 
 of their inability, and would be thought wits of direction. 
 Some build rather upon the abusing of others, and (as we now 
 say) putting tricks upon them, than upon soundness of their 
 own proceedings : but Solomon saith, Prudens advertit ad 
 gressus suos : stidtus divertit ad dolos* 
 
 1 And, like a shifted wind unto a sail, 
 It makes the course of thoughts to fetch about.' 
 
 Compare Scripture, 2 Sam. v. 23, ' Fetch a compass behind them, and 
 come upon them ; ' Acts xxviii. 13, ' From thence we fetched a com- 
 pass, and came to Rhegium.' See also 2 Kings iii. 9. 
 
 1 Walking in Paul's] Old St. Paul's, which was open all day, was a 
 place of common resort for business or recreation. In Shakspeare's 
 2 Henry IV. ,. 2, Falstaff says of Barciolph, ' I bought him in Paul's.' 
 
 2 The resorts and falls] Lat. Periodos et pausas. 
 
 3 Pretty looses, &c.] Lat. In conclusionibus deliberationum commodos 
 quosdam exitus. 
 
 4 Pntdens advertit, &*c.] Prov. xiv. 8, 'The wisdom of the prudent 
 is to understand his way ; but the folly of fools is deceit.' 5ier also verse
 
 Of Wisdom for a blaits Self. 9; 
 
 XXIII. OF WISDOM FOR A MAWS SELF. 
 
 An ant is a wise creature for itself; but it isashiewd* 
 thing in an orchard or garden. And certainly men that ate 
 great lovers of themselves waste the Public. 51 Divide with 
 reason between self-love and society; 3 and be so true ' to thy- 
 self as thou be not false to others, specially to thy King and 
 country. It is a poor centre of a man's actions, himself. It 
 is right Earth. 5 For that only 6 stands fast upon his own 
 centre : 7 whereas all things that have affinity with the 
 heavens move upon the centre of another, which they benefit. 
 The referring of all to a man's self is more tolerable in a 
 sovereign Prince, because themselves are not only them 
 selves, but their good and evil is at the peril 8 of the 
 public fortune. But it is a desperate evil in a servant to a 
 Prince, or a citizen in a Republic. For whatsoever affairs 
 pass such a man's hands, he crooketh them to his own 
 ends : which must needs be often eccentric to the ends of 
 his master or State. Therefore let Princes or States choose 
 such servants as have not this mark; except they mean their 
 
 1 Shrewd] Mischievous. 
 7 Waste, the Public] Lat. Reipidlica noceant. 
 1 Society] Lat. Amorem Reipublica. 
 4 So true] In such a way true. 
 
 4 // is right Earth} It is thorough Earth. Lat. Recte terrestrem 
 iiaturani sapit. 
 
 * for that only] For the Earth alone. 
 
 7 His o-ivn centre] Its own centre. See p. 39, note 5. The Earth 
 was the central orb in the Ptolemaic astronomy. Bacon, in the Ad- 
 Tancernent, II., refers to the distinction between ' Sapere and Sibi sapere . 
 the one moving as it were to the circumference, the other to the centre.' 
 There is an old proverb on this subject : ' Nequicquam sapit qui 
 n in sibi sapit.' 
 
 * Is at the peril] Involves the good or evil.
 
 9& Essays. 
 
 service should be made but the accessary. That which 
 maketh the effect more pernicious is, that all proportion is 
 lost : it were disproportion enough for the servant's good to 
 be preferred before the master's ; but yet it is a greater 
 extreme, when a little good of the servant shall carry things 
 against a great good of the master's. And yet that is the 
 case of bad officers, treasurers, ambassadors, generals, and 
 other false and corrupt servants ; which set a bias l upon their 
 bowl, of their own petty ends and envies, to the overthrow 
 of their master's great and important affairs. And, for the 
 most part, the good such servants receive is after the model * 
 of their own fortune ; but the hurt they sell for that good is 
 after the model of their master's fortune. And certainly it 
 is the nature of extreme self-lovers, as 3 they will set a house 
 on fire, and it were 4 but to roast their eggs; and yet these 
 men many times hold credit with their masters, because 
 their study is but to please them, and profit themselves ; and 
 for either respect they will abandon the good of their 
 affairs. 
 
 Wisdom for a man's self is, in many branches thereof, 
 a depraved thing : it is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure 
 to leave a house somewhat before it fall. It is the wisdom 
 of the fox, that thrusts out the badger who digged and made 
 room for him. It is the wisdom of crocodiles, that shed 
 tears when they would devour. 5 But that which is specially 
 to be noted is, that those which (as Cicero says of Pompey) 
 
 1 A bias} A weight on one side of a bowl causing it to turn out of 
 the direct course. - 
 
 1 Tlu modet\ The measure : LaL modulo. 
 
 As] That. 
 
 4 And it were] Mere aitd is a corrupt form of the Saxon an, meaning 
 if. In old writings we often meet with the redundancy an if, or and if. 
 
 4 That shed tears, <Srv.] It was a vulgar belief that the crocodile 
 uttered tones like those of a crying child, in order to attract pitying 
 attention. Hence the proverbial expression ' crocodile's tears.'
 
 Of Innovations. 99 
 
 are sui atnantcs sine rivati, l are many times unfortunate ; 
 and whereas they have all their time sacrificed a to themselves, 
 they become in the end themselves sacrifices to the incon- 
 stancy of fortune, whose wings they thought by their self- 
 wisdom to have pinioned. 
 
 XXIV. OF INNOVATIONS. 
 
 As the births of living creatures at first are ill-shapen, so 
 are all innovations, which are the births of time ; yet not- 
 withstanding, as those that first bring honour into their 
 family are commonly more worthy than most that succeed, 3 
 so the first precedent (if it be good) is seldom attained 4 by 
 imitation. For ill to man's nature, as it stands perverted, 
 hath a natural motion strongest in continuance; 5 but good, 
 as a forced motion, strongest at first. Surely every medicine ti 
 is an innovation, and he that will not apply new remedies 
 must expect new evils ; for time is the greatest innovator : 
 and if time of course 7 alter things to the worse, and wisdom 
 and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be 
 the end ? It is true, that what is settled by custom, though 
 it be not good, yet at least it is fit; 8 and those things which 
 have long gone together are, as it were, confederate within 
 
 1 Sui amantes, &'c."\ Cicero, Ad Quint. Frat. iii. 8. Lovers of 
 themselves without a rival. 
 
 * Sacrificed] Done sacrifice. 
 
 * Are commonly more worthy, &*c.~\ Compare the I4th Essay, 'Those 
 that are first raised to nobility are commonly more virtuous, but lew 
 innocent, than their descendants.' 
 
 4 Attained} Equalled. 
 
 * Strongest in continuance} Lat. Qui processu ittvalescit, 
 
 * Medicine} Remedy. 
 
 7 Of course} I^at. Dccursu solo: by its mere course. 
 
 * Fit} Lat. Aftuin tcmporilnis. 
 
 II 2
 
 i oo Essays. 
 
 themselves; 1 whereas new things piece not 8 so well, but, 
 though they help by their utility, yet they trouble by their 
 inconformity. Besides, they are like strangers, more ad- 
 mired, and less favoured. 3 All this is true, if time stood 
 still ; which, contrariwise, moveth so round, 4 that a froward 
 retention of custom is as turbulent a thing as an innovation; 
 and they that reverence too much old times are but a scorn 
 to the new. It were good, therefore, that men in their 
 innovations would follow the example of time itself, which 
 indeed innovateth greatly, but quietly and by degrees scarce 
 to be perceived: for otherwise, whatsoever is new is unlocked 
 for; and ever it mends some and pairs 5 other: and he that 
 is holpen takes it for a fortune, and thanks the time ; and he 
 that is hurt for a wrong, and imputeth it to the author. It is 
 good also not to try experiments in States, except the neces- 
 sity be urgent, or the utility evident; and well to beware 
 that it be the reformation that draweth on the change, and 
 not the desire of change that pretendeth the reformation. 
 And lastly, that the novelty, though it be not rejected, yet 
 be held for a suspect: 6 and, as the Scripture saith, That we 
 make a stand upon the ancient way and then look about us, 
 and discover what is the straight and right way, and so to walk 
 in it? 
 
 ' Confederate within themselves] In agreement with each other. 
 7 Piece not] Do not conveniently eke out 
 
 3 Like strangers, &>c.] Like foreigners, more wondered at, and less 
 liked. 
 
 4 Mffveth so round] So revolves ; makes such revolutions. 
 
 * Pairs] Impairs. Fr. empirer. In Spenser's F. Q. I. vii. 41, we 
 have, ' No faith so fast (quoth she) but flesh does pair.-' 
 
 A suspec(\ A suspected thing. , , 
 
 7 TTiat we make a stand, &c.~\ Jerem. vi. 16, ' Stand ye in the 
 ways, and see, aud ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and 
 walk therein.'
 
 Of Despatch. 101 
 
 XXV. OF DESPATCH. 
 
 Affected despatch ! is one of the most dangerous things to 
 business that can be. It is like that which the physicians call 
 predigestion, or hasty digestion ; which is sure to fill the 
 body full of crudities and secret seeds of diseases. There- 
 fore measure not despatch by the times of sitting, but by the 
 advancement of the business. And as in races it is not the 
 large stride, or high lift, that makes the speed; so in business 
 the keeping close to the matter, and not taking of it too much 
 at once, procureth despatch. It is the care of some only to 
 come off speedily for the time ; or to contrive some false 
 periods of business, because 2 they may seem men of de- 
 spatch. But it is one thing to abbreviate by contracting, 
 another by cutting off: and business so handled at several 
 sittings, or meetings, goeth commonly backward and forward 
 in an unsteady manner. I knew a wise man 3 that had it 
 for a by-word, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion, 
 Stay a little, ihat we may make an end the sooner. 
 
 On the other side, true despatch is a rich thing. For time 
 is the measure of business, as money is of wares; and busi- 
 ness is bought at a dear hand where there is small despatch. 
 The Spartans and Spaniards have been noted to be of small 
 despatch : 4 Mi venga la muerte de Spagna, Let my death 
 come from Spain, for then it will be sure to be long in 
 coming. 
 
 1 Affected despatch] Despatch aimed at for its own sake. 
 
 z Because] In order that. The word with this meaning is still pro- 
 vincial English. 
 
 * A -wise matt] This, as we learn from one of the Apophthegms of 
 Bacon, was Sir Amias Paulett. He was Queen Elizabeth's ambassador 
 to the court of France. Bacon, in his sixteenth year, went to reside 
 for some time under his care at the French court. 
 
 4 Die Spartans, &c.] The dilatory habit of the Spartans is referred 
 to in Thucydides, i. 70, 84.
 
 IO2 
 
 Give good hearing to those that give the first information 
 in business, and rather direct them in the beginning than 
 interrupt them in the continuance of their speeches : for he 
 that is put out of his own order will go forward and back- 
 ward, and be more tedious while he waits upon his memory, 
 than he could have been if he had gone on in his own 
 course. But sometimes it is seen that the moderator is 
 more troublesome than the actor. 
 
 Iterations are commonly loss of time ; but there is no 
 such gain of time as to iterate often the state of the ques- 
 tion ; for it chaseth away many a frivolous speech as it is 
 coming forth. Long and curious speeches are as fit for 
 despatch as a robe or mantle with a long train is for race. 
 Prefaces, and passages, 1 and excusations, 2 and other speeches 
 of reference to the person, 3 are great wastes of time ; and 
 though they seem to proceed of modesty, they are bravery. 4 
 Yet beware of being too material 5 when there is any impe- 
 diment or obstruction in men's wills ; for preoccupation of 
 mind ever requireth preface of speech, like a fomentation to 
 make the unguent enter. 
 
 Above all things, order, and distribution, and singling out 
 of parts, is the life of despatch ; so as the distribution be 
 not too subtile : for he that doth not divide will never enter 
 well into business; and he that divideth too much will never 
 come out of it clearly. To choose time is to save time ; 
 and an unseasonable motion is but beating the air. There 
 be three parts of business : the preparation, the debate or 
 
 1 Passages] References to things that have passed or happened in 
 one's experience. The Latin version, however, has transitiones belles : 
 fine digressions. 
 
 '-' Excusations} Apologies. 
 
 * The person] That is, the speaker. Lat. Personam loquentis. 
 
 * Bravery} Ostentation. 
 
 * Of being too material} Of occupying discourse too exclusively 
 with the main subject. Lat. N't in ran if sain ab initio desceitdas.
 
 Of Seeming Wise. 103 
 
 examination, and the perfection. Whereof, if you look for 
 despatch, let the middle only be the work of many, and the 
 first and last the work of few. The proceeding upon some- 
 what conceived in writing doth for the most part facilitate 
 despatch : for though it should be wholly rejected, yet that 
 negative is more pregnant of direction that an indefinite ; as 
 fishes are more generative l than dust. 
 
 XXVI. OF SEEMING WISE. 
 
 It hath been an opinion, that the French are wiser than 
 they seem, and the Spaniards seem wiser than they are. 
 But howsoever it be between nations, certainly it is so between 
 man and man. For as the apostle saith of godliness, 
 Having a shout of godliness, but denying the p(nver thereof? 
 so certainly there are, 3 in points of wisdom and sufficiency, 
 that do nothing or little very solemnly: magno conatu nitgas* 
 It is a ridiculous thing, and fit for a satire to persons of 
 judgment, to see what shifts these formalists have, and what 
 prospectives 8 to make superficies to seem body that hath 
 depth and bulk. Some are so close and reserved as they 
 will not show their wares but by a dark light, and seem 
 always to keep back somewhat; and when they know within 
 themselves they speak of that they do not well know, would 
 nevertheless seem to others to know of that which they may 
 not well 6 speak. Some help themselves with countenance 
 
 1 Generative] Conducive to fertility. He alludes to the use of wood 
 ashes as manure. 
 
 2 Having a shou', <&V.] 2 Tim. iii. 5. 
 
 * There are] There are persons. 
 
 4 Magno, &*f.] Terence, Heaut. III. v. 8, ' Magno jam conatu mng- 
 nas nuas : ' mighty trifles with great effort. 
 
 * Prospectives] An allusion to perspective or stereoscopic glasses. 
 Wdl\ Lat. tutc safely
 
 fO4 . Essays. 
 
 and gesture, and are wise by signs ; as Cicero saith of Piso, 
 .hat when he answered him he fetched one of his brows up 
 to his forehead, and bent the other down to his chin : 
 Responses, altcro ad frontem sublato, altcro ad mentum depresso 
 snpercilio, crudditatem tibi non placere.^ Some think to bear 
 it 2 by speaking a great word, and being peremptory ; and 
 go on, and take by admittance 3 that which they cannot 
 make good. Some, whatsoever is beyond their reach, will 
 seem to despise or make light of it, as impertinent or 
 curious : and so would have their ignorance seem judgment. 
 Some are never without a difference, 4 and commonly by 
 amusing men with a subtilty blanch the matter; 5 of whom 
 A. Gellius saith, Homincm delirum, qui vei-borum minutits 
 rerum frangit pondera* Of which kind also Plato, in his 
 Protagoras, 7 bringeth in Prodicus in scorn, 8 and maketh him 
 make a speech that consisteth of distinctions from the 
 beginning to the end. Generally such men in all delibe- 
 rations find ease to be 9 of the negative side, and affect a 
 credit to object and foretell difficulties : for when propo- 
 
 1 Responses, fy=c.~\ Cicero, In Pisonem, 6. You answer, with one 
 eyebrow raised towards your forehead, and the other bent down towards 
 your chin, that cruelty displeases you. 
 
 2 To bear it] To prevail. 
 
 s By admittance} As granted, 
 4 A difference] A discrimination. 
 
 4 BLinch the matter] Blench, or start aside, from the main subject. 
 See p. 87, note 2. 
 
 * Hominem deliittm, &c.] . A doting man, that fritters away the 
 weight of things by detailed minuteness of words. This is not from 
 Aulus Gellius, but from Quintilian (Inst. Or. x. i), whose words are 
 'Si rerum pondera minutissimis sententiis non fregisset.' Aulus Gellius, 
 however, had no high opinion of Seneca's style. (See the Nodes Att. xii. 
 2.) Suetonius (Calig. 53) says that Caligula censured Seneca's writings 
 as being ' mere displays of learning, and like sand without lime,' 
 
 7 In his Protagoras] i. 337. 
 
 * In scorn] Lat. Per iron iam : satirically." .. 
 
 * 7(> be] In being.
 
 Of Friendship. 105 
 
 sitions are denied, there is an end of them ; but if they be 
 allowed, it requireth a new work: which false point 1 of 
 wisdom is the bane of business. To conclude : there is nc 
 decaying merchant, or inward beggar, 2 hath so many tricks 
 to uphold the credit of their wealth, as these empty persons 
 have to maintain the credit of their sufficiency. Seeming 
 wise men may make shift to get opinion ; 3 but let no man 
 choose them for employment; for certainly, you wers better 
 take 4 for business a man somewhat absurd 5 than over 
 formal. 
 
 XXVII. OF FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 It had been hard for him that spake it to have put more 
 truth and untruth together in few words, than in that speech, 
 ' Whosoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast 
 or a god.' 6 For it is most true, that a natural and secret 
 hatred and aversation towards society, in any man, hath 
 somewhat of the savage beast ; but it is most untrue, that it 
 should have any character at all of the divine nature, except 
 it proceed, not out of a pleasure in solitude, but out of a 
 love and desire to sequester a man's self for a higher con- 
 versation : 7 such as is found to have been falsely and 
 
 1 False point} Lat. Genus spurium. 
 
 2 Imoard beggar} One who hides poverty. 
 
 3 Opinion} Reputation. Lat. Opinionem vulgi. 
 
 4 You were better take] It were, or would be, better for you to take. 
 This was a common idiomatic corruption in Bacon's time. Thus in 
 Shakspeare, As You Like It, iii. 3, ' I were better to be married of him 
 than of another ; ' and iv. I, 'You were better speak first.' 
 
 4 Absurd} Inconsistent. 
 
 Whosoever, &v.] This is from Aristotle, Pol. i. 1. 
 v *. A higher tonversation} A higher intercourse. Lat. Altiortbus con- 
 icn>platwnibui. Phil. iii. 20, 'Our conversation is in heaven.'
 
 106 Essays. 
 
 feignedly in some of the heathen, as Epimenides the Candian, 
 Numa the Roman, Empedocles the Sicilian, 1 and Apollonius 
 of Tyana ; 2 and truly and really in divers of the ancient 
 hermits and holy fathers of the church. But little do men 
 perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth ; for a 
 crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, 
 and talk but a tinkling cymbal where there is no love. 3 
 The Latin adage meeteth with it a little, magna civitas, 
 magna solitude; 4 because in a great town friends are scat- 
 tered; so that there is not that fellowship, for the most part, 
 which is in less neighbourhoods. But we may go further, 
 and affirm most truly, that it is a mere and miserable soli- 
 tude to want true friends, without which the world is but a 
 wilderness : and even in this sense also of solitude, whoso- 
 ever in the frame of his nature and affections is unfit for 
 friendship, he taketh it of the beast, and not from humanity. 
 A principal fruit of friendship is the ease and discharge 
 of the fulness and swellings of the heart, which passions of 
 all kinds do cause and induce. We know diseases of stop- 
 pings and suffocations are the most dangerous in the body ; 
 
 ' Epimenides t &*c.] Epimenides, a poet and sage of Crete (now some- 
 times called Candia), was said to have passed about fifty years of his life 
 in a cave ; some say he slept all that time. Numa, the second king of 
 Rome, pretended to be from time to time divinely instructed in legisla- 
 tion by an invisible nymph, Egeria, in the grove of Aricia. Empedocles, 
 a Sicilian philosopher, affected to be thought immortal, and was said to 
 have for a long time secluded himself from society, and at last to have 
 thrown himself into the crater of Mount ^Etna, that his death might not 
 be known. 
 
 z Apollonius of Tyana] See p. 76, note 2. 
 
 ' But a tinkling cymbal, &*c.] I Cor. xiii. I, 'Though I speak 
 with the tongues of men and of angels,, and have not charity, I am be- 
 come as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.' 
 
 4 Magna civitas, &*c.] A great city is a great solitude. This adage 
 was a quotation by Strabo from a Greek comic poet, making word-play 
 with Megalopolis, the name of a town in Arcadia.
 
 Of Friendship. 107 
 
 and it is not much otherwise in the mind : you may take 
 sarza 1 to open 2 the liver, steel to open the spleen, flowers 
 of sulphur 3 for the lungs, castoreum 4 for the brain ; but no 
 receipt openeth the heart but a true friend, to whom you 
 may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, 
 and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to oppress it, in a kind 
 of civil* shrift or confession. 
 
 It is a strange thing to observe how high a rate great 
 Kings and Monarchs do set upon this fruit of friendship 
 whereof we speak : so great, as they purchase it many times 
 at the hazard of their own safety and greatness. For Princes, 
 in regard of the distance of their fortune from that of their 
 subjects and servants, cannot gather this fruit, except (to 
 make themselves capable thereof) they raise some persons 
 to be, as it were, companions, and almost equals to them- 
 selves; which many times sorteth 6 to inconvenience. The 
 modern languages give unto such persons the name of 
 favourites, or privadoes, 7 as if it were matter of grace or 
 conversation : 8 but the Roman name attaineth the true use 
 
 1 Sarza] An extract obtained from the root of sarsaparilla, a 
 climbing plant found chiefly in South America. Most species of the 
 plant have a prickly stem, whence the name sarza, Spanish zorza, z 
 bramble. Parilla means a vine, and refers to the climbing or twining 
 habit of the plant. 
 
 2 To open] To relieve. 
 
 3 Flmvers of sulphur] Sublimed sulphur ; a fine powder obtained by 
 vaporising and condensing brimstone. In old chemistry the fine 
 particles of sublimed substances were called flowers. 
 
 4 Castoreum} Castor ; a substance obtained from tke body of the 
 beaver. It has a bitter taste and a strong unpleasant smell. It b 
 used medicinally for the promotion of a healthy action of the nervous 
 system. 
 
 * Civil] Secular ; non-ecclesiastical. 
 
 Sorteth} Falls out ; turns out. 
 
 T Privadoes} Privado, Span., is a secret friend. 
 1 Conversation} Intercourse. See p. 105, note 7.
 
 1 08 Essays. 
 
 and cause thereof, naming them partidpes curarum ; l for it 
 is that which tieth the knot. And we see plainly that this 
 hath been done, not by weak and passionate 2 Princes only, 
 but by the wisest and most politic that ever reigned, who 
 have oftentimes joined to themselves some of their servants, 
 whom both themselves have called friends, and allowed 
 others likewise to call them in the same manner, using the 
 word which is received between private men. 
 
 L. Sylla when he commanded Rome, 3 raised Pompey 
 (after surnamed the Great) to that height that Pompey 
 vaunted himself for Sylla's overmatch. For when he had 
 carried the consulship for a friend of his, against the pur- 
 suit 4 of Sylla, and that Sylla did a little resent thereat, and 
 began to speak great, Pompey turned upon him again, and 
 in effect bade him be quiet ; for that more men adored the 
 sun rising than the sun setting. 5 With Julius Caesar, 
 Pecimus Brutus 6 had obtained that interest, as 7 he set him 
 
 1 Partidpes curarum] Sharers of cares. 
 
 2 Passionate] Emotional. 
 
 * Commanded Rome] Was Dictator of Rome. See p. 62, note I. 
 
 4 The pursuit] The solicitation or canvassing. Lat. ambitum : 
 fraudulent solicitation. Sylla desired the consulship for Catulus. 
 
 * For tliat more men, &c.] Plutarch, in the Life of Pompey, refers 
 this saying to the occasion of Sylla's refusal to allow Pompey a triumph. 
 ' Pompey required the honour of triumph, but Sylla denied it, alleging 
 that none could enter in triumph into Rome but Consuls or Praetors ; 
 and told him plainly that if he were bent to stand in it, he would resist 
 him. All this blanked not Pompey, who told him frankly again how 
 men did honour the rising, not the setting, of the sun : meaning there- 
 by how his own honour increased, and Sylla's diminished.' NORTH'S 
 Translation. It was after his triumph that Pompey procured the con- 
 sulship for. Lepidus. ' It spited Sylla to see him come so fast forward, 
 and to rise to so great credit ; notwithstanding, being ashamed to hinder 
 aim, he was contented to keep it to himself, until that Pompey by force, 
 cmd against Sylla's will, had brought Lepidus to be consul, by the help 
 and good will of the people that furthered his desire. ' Ibid. 
 
 * Decimus Prutm, &>c.] Shakspeare, in his piay of Julius C&sir,
 
 Of Friendship. 109 
 
 down in his testament for heir in remainder after his nephew. 1 
 And this was the man that had power with him to draw him 
 forth to his death. For when Caesar would have discharged 
 the senate, in regard of some ill presages, and specially a 
 dream of Calphurnia, 2 this man lifted him gently by the arm 
 out of his chair, telling him he hoped he would not dismiss 
 the senate till his wife had dreamed a better dream. And 
 it seemeth his favour was so great, as 3 Antonius, in a letter, 
 which is recited verbatim in one of Cicero's Philippics, 4 
 calleth him venefica, ' witch ; ' as if he had enchanted 
 Caesar. Augustus raised Agrippa 8 (though of mean birth) 
 to that height, as, 6 when he consulted with Maecenas 7 about 
 the marriage of his daughter Julia, Maecenas took the 
 liberty to tell him, that he must either marry his daughter to 
 Agrippa, or take away his life : there was no third way ; he 
 had made him so great. With Tiberius Caesar, Sejanus had 
 ascended to that height as they two were termed and reck- 
 oned as a pair of friends. Tiberius, in a letter to him, saith, 
 hac pro amicitia nostra 11011 occultavi ': 8 and the whole senate 
 dedicated an altar to Friendship, as to a goddess, in respect 
 of the great dearness of friendship between them two. The 
 1 ike, or more, was between Septimus Severus and Plautianus ; 
 
 has erred in supposing Marcus Brutus, instead of this Decimus Brutus, 
 to have been Caesar's special favourite ; and he has copied Plutarch's 
 mistake in writing Decius for Decimus. 
 
 1 His nephew] Octavius, afterwards Augustus Caesar, whose parents 
 were Octavius, a senator, and Accia, the sister of Julius Caesar. 
 
 * Calphurnia] Properly Calpurnia, Caesar's third wife. 
 
 * As] That. 
 
 One of Cicero's Philippics] xiii. 1 1. 
 
 * Agrippa] M. Vipsanius Agrippa, a distinguished Roman general. 
 He built the Pantheon at Rome. * As] That. 
 
 7 Macenas] Chief minister of Augustus, and an eminent patron of 
 learned men. 
 
 8 Hac pro amicitia, Src.] Tacitus, Ann. iv. 40. In consideration of 
 our friendship, I have not kept back from you these things.
 
 1 1 o Essays. 
 
 for he forced his eldest son to marry the daughter of Plau- 
 tianus, 1 and would often maintain Plautianus in doing 
 affronts to his son : and did write also, in a letter to the 
 senate, by these words : * I love the man so well, as I wish 
 he may overlive me.' 2 Now, if these Princes had been as a 
 Trajan, 3 or a Marcus Aurelius, 4 a man might have thought 
 that this had proceeded of an abundant goodness of nature; 
 but being men so wise, of such strength and severity of mind, 
 and so extreme lovers of themselves, as all these were, it 
 proveth most plainly, that they found their own felicity 
 (though as great as ever happened to mortal men) but as a 
 half piece, except they might have a friend to make it 
 entire ; and yet, which is more, they were Princes that had 
 vives, sons, nephews ; yet all these could not supply the 
 comfort of friendship. 
 
 It is not to be forgotten what Comineus 5 observeth of his 
 first master, Duke Charles the Hardy, namely, that he would 
 communicate his secrets with none ; and least of all those 
 secrets which troubled him most. Whereupon he goeth on, 
 and saith, that towards his latter time that closeness did 
 impair and a little perish his understanding. Surely Comi- 
 neus might have made the same judgment also, if it had 
 pleased him, of his second master, Louis the Eleventh, whose 
 closeness was indeed his tormentor. The parable of Pytha- 
 
 1 Forced his eldest son, &*c.] Forced Caracalla to marry Plautilla. 
 1 I love the man so well, &*c. ] Dio Cassius, Ixxv. 
 
 * Trajan] A Roman emperor, distinguished for his honesty and 
 benevolence. He died A. D. 117. 
 
 4 Aurelius] This Roman emperor was eminent for learning and 
 virtue. He died A. D. 161. 
 
 * Comineus] Philip de Comines, a French statesman, who was 
 taken into the service of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and 
 afterwards into that of Louis XI. He died in 1509. Comines may be 
 regarded as the first modern historian, in contrast with medieval 
 chroniclers like Froissart and Monstrelet.
 
 Of Friendship. \ i r 
 
 goras is dark, but true, Cor tie cdito, eat not the heart 1 
 Certainly if a man would give it a hard phrase, those that 
 want friends to open themselves unto are cannibals of their 
 own hearts: but one thing is most admirable 2 (wherewith I 
 will conclude this first fruit of friendship), which is, that this 
 communicating of a man's self to his friend works two 
 contrary effects ; for it redoubleth joys, and cutteth griefs in 
 halves; for there is no man that imparteth his joys to his 
 friend, but he joyeth the more ; and no man that imparteth 
 his griefs to his friend, but he grieveth the less. So that it 
 is, in truth, of operation upon a man's mind of like virtue as 
 the alchymists use to attribute to their stone 3 for man's body; 
 that it worketh all contrary effects, but still to the good and 
 benefit of nature. But yet, without praying in aid 4 of 
 
 1 Eat not the heart} Plutarch, De Educ. Puer. 17. Diogenes Laerl. 
 viii. 17, 1 8. 
 
 2 Most admirable] Most wonderful. Lat. Plant ad miraculutn 
 proxime accedit. In the Appendix to HowelFs Instructions for 
 Foreign Travel, we have ' He will admire how the whole people are 
 degenerated.' See p. 19, note 6. 
 
 3 Their stone} The philosopher's stone was a red powder by means 
 of which the adepts, or alchemists, pretended to transmute baser metals 
 into gold, and from which they also derived a liquor called the elixir of 
 life, or universal medicine. The stone was often called the medicine 
 and the powder of projection. In the Advancement, II., Bacon refers 
 to the chimerical notion ' that some grains of the medicine projected 
 should in a few moments of time turn a sea of quicksilver or other 
 material into gold.' Ben Jonson, in Every Man out of his Humour, \. 
 2, has ' I'll make admirable use i' the projection of my medicine upon 
 this lump of copper here.' There is a great deal on this subject in his 
 Alchemist, 
 
 4 Praying in aid} In is an adverb in this expression, which was a 
 forensic name of the act of petitioning the court to call in help from 
 another person interested in the cause. In the Advancement, II., 
 Bacon says, ' Whatsoever science is not consonant to presuppositions 
 must pray in aid of similitudes.' So in Shakspeare's Ant. and Cleop. 
 v. 2, ' A conqueror that will pray in aid for kindness ; ' and in Bolero's
 
 1 1 2 Essays. 
 
 alchymists, there is a manifest image of this in the ordinary 
 course of nature. For, in bodies, union strengthened and 
 cherisheth any natural action ; and, on the other side, 
 weakeneth and dulleth any violent impression; and even so 
 is it of minds. 
 
 The second fruit of friendship is healthful and sovereign 
 for the understanding, as the first is for the affections. For 
 friendship maketh indeed a fair day in the affections from 
 storm and tempests ; but it maketh daylight in the under- 
 standing, out of darkness and confusion of thoughts. 
 Neither is this to be understood only of faithful counsel 
 which a man receiveth from his friend; but before you come 
 to that, certain it is, that whosoever hath his mind fraught 
 with many thoughts, his wits and understanding do clarify 
 and break up, in the communicating and discoursing with 
 another : he tosseth his thoughts more easily; he marshalleth 
 them more orderly ; he seeth how they look when they are 
 turned into words; finally, he waxeth wiser than himself, and 
 that more by an hour's discourse than by a day's meditation. 
 It was well said by Themistocles to the King of Persia, that 
 speech was like cloth of arras, opened and put abroad ; 
 whereby the imagery doth appear in figure, whereas in 
 thoughts they lie but as in packs. 1 Neither is this second 
 fruit of friendship, in opening the understanding, restrained 
 only to such friends as are able to give a man counsel (they 
 
 Relations of the World, II., 'Of wheat and wine they have no such 
 plenty, but are glad to crave in aid of their neighbours to relieve their 
 wants. ' 
 
 1 That speech -was like, &>c.] 'Themistocles then answered him: 
 That men's words did properly resemble the stories and imagery in a 
 piece of arras ; for, both in the one and in the other, the goodly images 
 of either of them are seen, when they are unfolded and laid open ; con- 
 trariwise, they appear not, but are lost, when they are shut up and close 
 folded.' NORTH'S Plutarch (Themistocles).
 
 Of Friendship. 1 1 3 
 
 indeed are best) : but even without that a man learneth of 
 himself, and bringeth his own thoughts to light, and whetteth 
 his wits as against a stone, which itself cuts not. In a word, 
 a man were better relate 1 himself to a statua 3 or picture, 
 than to suffer his thoughts to pass in smother. 
 
 Add now, to make this second fruit of friendship complete, 
 that other point which lieth more open, and falleth within 
 vulgar observation ; which is, faithful counsel from a friend. 
 Heraclitus saith well in one of his enigmas, ' Dry light is 
 ever the best : ' 3 and certain it is, that the light that a man 
 receiveth by counsel from another, is drier and purer than 
 that which cometh from his own understanding and judg- 
 ment, which is ever infused and drenched in his affections 
 and customs. So as 4 there is as much difference between 
 the counsel that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth him- 
 self, as there is between the counsel of a friend and of a 
 
 1 A man wire better relate} It were better for a man to relate. See 
 p. 105, note 4. 
 
 * Statoia] This, as an Italian word, was a familiar term for a statue 
 in Bacon's time. It occurs again in the 37th and 45th Essays. So in 
 Shakspeare, Kick. III. iii. 7, ' But like dumb statuas or breathing 
 stones ; ' Jul. Ctes. iii. 2, ' Even at the base of Pompey's statua.' 
 
 1 Dry light, v&v.] In the Advancement, L, we have, 'Heraclitus 
 the profound said, Lumen siccum optima anima : ' Dry light is the best 
 soul; which I think Bacon must have quoted from a passage in the 
 Romulus of Plutarch, where we find the words airy^ ykp fop)) fax^ 
 apttmi. The passage is thus translated by Sir Thomas North : ' It is 
 that the philosopher Heraclitus meant, when he said, The dry light is the 
 best soul, which flieth out of the body as lightning doth out of the cloud ; 
 but that which is joined with the body, being full of corporal passions, 
 is a gross vapour,' &c. Heraclitus was styled the profound, or obscure, 
 because of the enigmatical style of his Treatise on Nature. He was 
 also called the weeping philosopher, from his habit of mourning over 
 thefolHes of mankind, as Democritiis was called the laughing philosopher, 
 from his habit of ridiculing them. 
 
 4 So as] So that. 
 
 t
 
 114 Essays. 
 
 flatterer. For there is no such flatterer as is a man's self; ' 
 and there is no such remedy against flattery of a man's self 
 as the liberty of a friend. Counsel is of two sorts : the one 
 concerning manners, the other concerning business. For 
 the first : the best preservative to keep the mind in health is 
 the faithful admonition of a friend. The calling of a man's 
 self to a strict account is a medicine sometime too piercing 
 and corrosive ; reading good books of morality is a little 
 flat and dead ; observing our faults in others is sometimes 
 improper for our case ; but the best receipt (best, I say, to 
 work, and best to take) is the admonition of a friend. It is 
 a. strange thing to behold what gross errors and extreme 
 absurdities many (especially of the greater sort) do commit, 
 for want of a friend to tell them of them, to the great 
 damage both of their fame and fortune. For, as St. James 
 saith, they are as men that look sometimes into a glass, and 
 presently forget their own shape and favour. 2 As for busi- 
 ness, a man may think, if he will, that two eyes see no more 
 than one ; or, that a gamester seeth always more than a 
 looker on ; or, that a man in anger is as wise as he that hath 
 said over the four and twenty letters ; s or, that a musket 
 ..nay be shot off as well upon the arm as upon a rest ; 
 and such other fond and high imaginations, to think 
 himself all in all. 4 But when all is done, the help ot 
 good counsel is that which setteth business straight ; and if 
 
 1 There is no such flatterer, drv.] See p. 39, note 2. 
 
 * They are as men, 6-v.] James i. 23, 'He is like unto a man be- 
 holding his natural face in a glass : for he beholdeth himself, and goeth 
 his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. ' Favour 
 is face or countenance. 
 
 3 He tkat hath said over, &*c.] This is again referred to in the 38th 
 Essay. The Latin alphabet consists of twenty-four letters. It is an 
 old counsel that a person in anger should count twenty, or repeat the 
 letters of the alphabet. 
 
 AU in all] All-sufficient.
 
 Of Friendship. 1 1 5 
 
 any man think that he will take counsel but it shall be by 
 pieces, asking counsel in one business of one man, and in 
 another business of another man : it is well (that is to say, 
 better perhaps than if he asked none at all), but he runneth 
 two dangers : one, that he shall not be faithfully counselled; 
 for it is a rare thing, except it be from a perfect and entire 
 friend, to have counsel given, but such as shall be bowed 
 and crooked to some ends which he hath that giveth it : 
 the other, that he shall have counsel given hurtful and 
 unsafe (though with good meaning), and mixed partly of 
 mischief, and partly of remedy : even as if you would call a 
 physician, that is thought good for the cure of the disease 
 you complain of, but is unacquainted with your body ; and 
 therefore, may put you in way for a present cure, but over- 
 throweth your health in some other kind ; and so cure the 
 disease and kill the patient. But a friend that is wholly ac- 
 quainted with a man's estate, will beware, by furthering any 
 present business, how he dasheth upon other inconvenience. 
 And, therefore, rest not upon scattered counsels : they will 
 rather distract and mislead than settle and direct. 
 
 After these two noble fruits of friendship (peace in the 
 affections, and support of the judgment), followeth the last 
 fruit, which is like the pomegranate full of many kernels : I 
 mean aid and bearing a part in all actions and occasions. 
 Here the best way to represent to life 1 the manifold use of 
 friendship is to cast 2 and see how many things there are 
 which a man cannot do himself; and then it will appear 
 that it was a sparing speech of the ancients, to say, that a 
 friend is another himself; 3 for that a friend is far more than 
 
 1 To life} To the life ; exactly. Lat. Ad wvum. 
 - To cast} To consider. 
 
 3 Another himself} Alluding to the &A\-s oirr&s of Aristotle, or the 
 alter idem of Cicero. 
 
 ia
 
 1 1 6 Assays. 
 
 himself. Men have their time, 1 and die many times in 
 desire of 2 some things which they principally take to heart : 3 
 the bestowing of a child, 4 the finishing of a work, or the 
 like. If a man have a true friend, he may rest almost secure 
 that the care of those things will continue after him ; so that 
 a man hath, as it were, two lives in his desires. A man hath 
 a body, and that body is confined to a place ; but where 
 friendship is, all offices of life are, as it were, granted to 
 him and his deputy ; for he may exercise them by his friend. 
 How many things are there which a man cannot, with 
 any face or comeliness, say or do himself? A man can 
 scarce allege his own merits with modesty, much less extol 
 them ; a man cannot sometimes brook to supplicate or 
 beg ; and a number of the like : but all these things are 
 graceful in a friend's mouth, which are blushing in a man's 
 own. So again, a man's person hath many proper relations 
 which he cannot put off. A man cannot speak to his son 
 but as a father, to his wife but as a husband, to his enemy 
 but upon terms ; 5 whereas a friend may speak as the case 
 requires, and not as it sorteth 6 with the person. But to 
 enumerate these things were endless ; I have given the rule 
 where a man cannot fitly play his own part ; 7 if he have not 
 a friend, he may quit the stage. 
 
 1 Men have their time] Job vii. I, ' Is there not an appointed time 
 to man upon earth ? ' 
 
 * In desire of] While desiring. 
 
 * Take to heart~\ Set their hearts upon. 
 
 4 The bestowing of a child} Lat. In collocatione filii in matrimonium. 
 To place, or dispose of, was anciently a very common meaning of be- 
 
 S&KV. 
 
 * Upon terms} Lat. Salvd dignitate. 
 6 // sorteth} It suits. 
 
 * Play his own parf\ An allusion to the stage.
 
 Of Expense. 
 
 XXVIII. OF EXPENSE. 
 
 Riches are for spending ; and spending for honour and 
 good actions. Therefore extraordinary expense must be 
 limited by the worth of the occasion; for voluntary undoing 1 
 may be as well for a man's country as for the kingdom of 
 heaven. But ordinary expense ought to be limited by a 
 man's estate, and governed with such regard, as it be within 
 his compass ; and not subject to deceit and abuse of 
 servants ; and ordered to the best show, 2 that the bills may 
 be less than the estimation abroad. Certainly, if a man will 
 keep but of even hand, 3 his ordinary expenses ought to be 
 but to the half of his receipts ; and if he think to wax rich, 
 but to the third part It is no baseness for the greatest to 
 descend and look into their own estate. Some forbear it, 
 not upon negligence alone, but doubting 4 to bring them- 
 selves into melancholy, in respect 5 they shall find it broken: 
 but wounds cannot be cured without searching. He that 
 cannot look into his own estate at all, had need both choose 
 well those whom he employeth, and change them often : for 
 new are more timorous and less subtle. He that can look 
 into his estate but seldom, it behoveth him to turn all 
 to certainties. 6 A man had need, if he be plentiful in some 
 kind of expense, to be as saving again in some other : as, 
 if he be plentiful in diet, to be saving in apparel ; if he be 
 plentiful in the hall, 7 to be saving in the stable ; and the like. 
 
 1 Voluntary undoing] Lat. Spontanea paupertas, 
 
 7 Ordered to the best show] So laid out, or planned, as to make the 
 best appearance. 
 
 1 Of even hand] Solvent. 
 
 4 Doubting] Fearing. See p. 92, note 5. 
 
 * In resfect] In case. 
 
 ' To turn all to certainties] To be sure of what he receives and 
 spends. 
 
 ' The hall] The dining-room.
 
 1 1 8 Essays. 
 
 tor he that is plentiful in expenses of all kinds will hardly 
 be preserved from decay. In clearing of a man's estate, 
 he may as well hurt himself in being too sudden, as in letting 
 it run on too long : for hasty selling is commonly as disad- 
 k r antageable as interest. Besides, he that clears at once will 
 relapse ; for finding himself out of straits, he will revert to 
 his customs : but he that cleareth by degrees induceth a 
 habit of frugality, and gaineth as well upon l his mind as upon 
 his estate. Certainly, who 2 hath a state to repair may not 
 despise small things ; and, commonly, it is less dishonourable 
 to abridge petty charges than to stoop to petty gettings. A 
 man ought warily to begin charges which once begun will 
 continue ; but in matters that return not 3 he may be more 
 magnificent. 
 
 XXIX. OF THE TRUE GREATNESS OF 
 KINGDOMS AND ESTATES. 
 
 The speech of Themistocles the Athenian, which was 
 haughty and arrogant in taking so much to himself, had 
 been a grave and wise observation and censure, applied at 
 large to others. Desired at a feast to touch a lute, he said, 
 He could not fiddle, but yet he could make a small town a 
 great city. 4 These words (holpen a little with a metaphor) 
 
 1 Upori\ In respect of. 
 8 Whd\ Whoever. 
 
 3 Return not] Are not of stated recurrence. 
 
 4 He could not fiddle, &c.] North's Plutarch (Themistocles) makes 
 him say, ' He had no skill to tune a harp, nor a viol, nor to play on a 
 psalterion ; but if they did put a city into his hands that was of small 
 name, weak, and little, he knew ways enough how to make it noble 
 strong, and great' In the Cimon of the same author, the account is, 
 that Themistocles ' being requested to play upon the cithern, answered, 
 he was never taught to sing, or play upon the cithern, howbeit lit 
 :ould make a poor village to become a rich and mighty city.' Cicero,
 
 Of Kingdoms and Estates. 1 19 
 
 may express two differing abilities in those that deal in 
 business of Estate. For, if a true survey be taken of coun- 
 sellors and statesmen, there may be found (though rarely) 
 those which can make a small State great, and yet cannot 
 fiddle; as, on the other side, there will be found a great 
 many that can fiddle very cunningly, 1 but yet are so far 
 from being able to make a small State great, as 2 their gift 
 lielh the other way : to bring a great and flourishing Estate 
 to ruin and decay. And, certainly, those degenerate arts 
 and shifts, whereby many counsellors and governors gain 
 both favour with their masters, and estimation with the 
 vulgar, deserve no better name than fiddling ; being things 
 rather pleasing for the time, and graceful to themselves only, 
 than tending to the weal and advancement of the State 
 which they serve. There are also (no doubt) counsellors 
 and governors which may be held sufficient, negotiis pares* 
 able to manage affairs, and to keep them from precipices 
 and manifest inconveniences, which, nevertheless, are far 
 from the ability to raise and amplify an Estate in power, 
 means, and fortune. But be the workmen what they may be. 
 let us speak of the work ; that is, the true greatness of King- 
 doms and Estates, and the means thereof : an argument 4 fit 
 for great and mighty Princes to have in their hand ; to the 
 end that neither by over-measuring their forces, they leese 5 
 themselves in vain enterprises ; nor, on the other side, by 
 undervaluing them, they descend to fearful and pusillanimous 
 counsels. 
 
 in his Tusc. Quest, i. 2, tells us that the Greeks regarded skill in music 
 as an important accomplishment, and tjiat Themistocles was deemed an 
 ignorant man, because at an entertainment he declined the lyre when 
 offered to him. See Erasmus, Aiiag. (Canere ad myrtuni). 
 1 Cunningly] Skilfully. 
 
 * As} That. 
 
 1 Negotiis pares] Tacitus, Ann. vi. 39, and xvi. 18. 
 
 * An argument} A subject. 
 
 * Lo-se} Lose. See p 81, note 4.
 
 1 20 Essays. 
 
 The greatness of an Estate in bulk and territory doth fall 
 under measure ; and the greatness of finances and revenue 
 doth fall under computation. The population may appear 
 by musters ; ! and the number and greatness of cities and 
 towns by cards and maps ; but yet there is not anything 
 amongst civil affairs more subject to error than the right 
 valuation and true judgment concerning the power and 
 forces of an Estate. The kingdom of heaven is compared, 
 not to any great kernel or nut, but to a grain of mustard- 
 seed ; 2 which is one of the least grains, but hath in it a 
 property and spirit hastily to get up and spread. So are 
 there States great in territory, and yet not apt to enlarge or 
 command: and some that have but a small dimension of 
 stem, and yet apt to be the foundation of great Monarchies. 
 
 Walled towns, stored arsenals and armories, goodly races 
 of horse, chariots of war, elephants, ordnance, artillery, and 
 the like : all this is but a sheep in a lion's skin, except the 
 breed and disposition of the people be stout and warlike 
 Nay, number itself in armies importeth 3 not much, where 
 the people are of weak courage ; for, as Virgil saith, // 
 never troubles the wolf how many the sheep be.* The army of 
 the Persians, in the plains of Arbela, 5 was such a vast sea 
 cf people as it did somewhat astonish the commanders in 
 Alexander's army ; who came to him, therefore, and wished 
 him to set upon them by night ; but he answered, he would 
 not pilfer the victory. 6 And the defeat was easy. When 
 
 1 By musters] By a census. 
 
 * Mustard seed] Matt. xiii. 31. s ImportetK\ Signifies. 
 4 It never troubles, &*c.] Eel. vii. 51- 
 
 * Arbela] A town of Assyria, where Alexander the Great defeated 
 Darius, B.C. 331. 
 
 " He would not pilfer, S<r.] Plutarch (Alexander) tells us that the 
 wish to attack the Persians by night was to prevent the dismay which 
 might be caused by the sight of so numerous a host in daylight ; but 
 that Alexander's motive in refusing to steal a victory was to make 
 Darius hopeless of succeeding in any subsequent resistance.
 
 Of Kingdoms and Estates. 121 
 
 Tigranes the Armenian, being encamped upon a hill with 
 four hundred thousand men, discovered the army of the 
 Romans, being not above fourteen thousand, marching 
 towards him, he made himself merry with it, and said, 
 ' Yonder men are too many for an ambassage, and too few 
 for a fight.' l But, before the sun set, he found them enow 
 to give him the chase with infinite slaughter. 2 Many are 
 the examples of the great odds between number and courage: 
 so that a man may truly make a judgment, that the principal 
 point of greatness, in any State, is to have a race of military 
 men. Neither is money the sinews of war (as it is trivially 
 said), where the sinews of men's arms in base and effeminate 
 people are failing. For Solon said well to Crcesus 3 (when 
 in ostentation he showed him his gold), ' Sir, if any other 
 come that hath better iron than you, he will be master of all 
 this gold.' 4 Therefore, let any Prince or State think soberly 
 of his forces, except his militia of natives be of good and 
 valiant soldiers. And let Princes, on the other side, that 
 have subjects of martial disposition, know their own strength, 
 unless they be otherwise wanting unto themselves. As for 
 mercenary forces (which is the help in this case), all examples 
 show, that whatsoever Estate or Prince doth rest upon 
 them, he may spread his feathers for a time, but he will 
 mew 8 them soon after. 
 
 The blessing of Judah and Issachar will never meet : 
 
 1 Yonder wen, <5rv.] ' If they come as ambassadors (quoth he) they 
 are very many,' but if they come as enemies they be very few.' NORTH'S 
 Plutarch (Luculltis). 
 
 * But before the sun set, 6ff,] Plutarch says it was on the following 
 day that Lucullus thus routed the Armenians. The word enow was 
 expressive of numerical quantity, thus differing from enough as many 
 does from much. 
 
 1 Solon saul well to Crcesus] Solon, an eminent lawgiver of Athens. 
 Crcesus, king of Lydia. 
 
 4 If any other come, &c.~\ Lucian's Dialogues (C/iaron, 7). 
 
 4 Afi-w] Cast.
 
 122 Essays. 
 
 that the same people or nation should be both the lion's 
 whelp and the ass between burdens ; l neither will it be, that 
 a people overlaid with taxes should ever become valiant and 
 martial. It is true that taxes, levied by consent of the 
 Estate, do abate men's courage less ; as it hath been seen 
 notably in the excises of the Low Countries ; and, in some 
 degree, in the subsidies of England. For, you must note, 
 that we speak now of the heart, and not of the purse ; so 
 that, although the same tribute and tax, laid by consent or 
 by imposing, be all one to the purse, yet it works diversely 
 upon the courage. So that you may conclude, that no 
 people overcharged with tribute is fit for empire. 
 
 Let States that aim at greatness take heed how their 
 nobility and gentlemen do multiply too fast ; for that maketh 
 the common subject grow to be a peasant and base swain, 
 driven out of heart, and, in effect, but the gentleman's 
 labourer. Even as you may see in coppice woods : if you 
 leave your staddles 2 too thick, you shall never have clean 
 underwood, but shrubs and bushes. So in countries, if the 
 
 1 The blessing of Judah, &c.\ Jacob blessing his sons said of one of 
 them ' Judah is a lion's whelp,' and of another 'Issachar is a strong 
 ass couching down between two burdens : And he saw that rest wa.-; 
 good, and the land that it was pleasant ; and bowed his shoulder to 
 bear, and became a servant unto tribute ' (Gen. xlix. 9, 14). The tribe 
 of Issachar had the most fertile part of Palestine, including the plain of 
 Esdraelon, which was the granary of the country ; and it probably paid 
 tribute of corn and other produce for exemption from military service. 
 The simile of the ' strong ass couching down between two burdens ' may 
 refer to the contributions which Issachar made to the tribes immediately 
 north and south of it. Issachar, however, was not devoid of patriotic 
 passion ; on the contrary, ' the princes of Issachar were with Deborah ' 
 in the battle against Jabin, when others ' abode among the sheepfolds 
 to hear the bleatings of flocks.' Judges v. 15, 16. 
 
 2 Staddles} Spenser (F. Q., 1. vi. 14) speaks of Old Silvanus 'his 
 weak steps governing and aged limbs on cypress stadle stout.' Staddles 
 are stems of young trees left standing in a copse when the underwood is 
 cut.
 
 Of Kingdoms and Estates. 123 
 
 gentlemen be too many, the commons will be base ; and 
 you will bring it to that, that not the hundred poll l will be 
 fit for a helmet ; especially as to the infantry, which is the 
 nerve of an army ; and so there will be great population 
 and little strength. This which I speak of hath been no 
 where better seen than by comparing of England and 
 France ; whereof England, though far less in territory and 
 population, hath been, nevertheless, an overmatch ; in 
 regard the middle people of England make good soldiers, 
 which the peasants of France do not. And herein the 
 device of king Henry the Seventh (whereof I have spoken 
 largely in the history of his life) was profound and admirable ; 
 in making farms and houses of husbandry of a standard ; 
 that is, maintained with such a proportion of land unto 
 them as may breed a subject to live in convenient plenty, 
 and no servile condition ; and to keep the plough in the 
 hands of the owners, and not mere hirelings. 8 And thus 
 indeed you shall attain to Virgil's character, which he gives 
 
 1 The hundred poll} The hundredth poll ; one head in a hundred. 
 So we haveyf/fe'M.r {or fifteenths where Holinshed says that Jack Cade 
 promised the people 'that neither fifteens should hereafter be demanded, 
 nor once any impositions or tax should be spoken of.' 
 
 * In making farms, &c. ] ' The ordinance was : That all houses of 
 husbandry that were used with twenty acres of ground and upwards, 
 should be maintained and kept up for ever ; together with a competent 
 proportion of land to be used ami occupied with them. By this means the 
 houses being kept up, did of necessity enforce a dweller; and the pro- 
 portion of land for occupation being kept up, did of necessity enforce 
 that dweller not to be a beggar 01 cottager, but a man of some substance, 
 that might keep hinds and servants, and set the plough on going. This 
 did wonderfully concern the might and mannerhood > f the kingdom, to 
 have farms as it were of a standard, sufficient to maintain an able body 
 out of penury, and did in effect amortise a great part of the lands of the 
 kingdom unto the hold and occupation of the yeomanry, or mi.ldlo 
 people, of a condition between gentlemen and cottagers or peasants.' 
 BACON'S Henry VII.
 
 ; 24 Essays. 
 
 to ancient Italy : Terra poteiis arm is atque ubere glebce. 1 
 Neither is that state (which, for anything I know, is almost 
 peculiar to England, and hardly to be found anywhere else, 
 except it be, perhaps, in Poland) to be passed over : I mean 
 the state of free servants and attendants upon noblemen 
 and gentlemen, which are no ways inferior unto the yeomanry 
 for arms. And, therefore, out of all question, the splendour, 
 and magnificence, and great retinues, and hospitality of 
 noblemen and gentlemen received into custom, doth much 
 conduce unto martial greatness : whereas, contrariwise, the 
 close and reserved living of noblemen and gentlemen 
 causeth a penury of military forces. 
 
 By all means it is to be procured, that the trunk of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar's tree 3 of monarchy be great enough to bear the 
 branches and the boughs ; that is, that the natural subjects 
 of the Crown or State bear a sufficient proportion to the 
 stranger subjects that they govern. Therefore all States that 
 are liberal of naturalisation towards strangers are fit for 
 empire. For to think that a handful of people can, with 
 the greatest courage and policy in the world, embrace too 
 large extent of dominion, it may hold for a time, but it will 
 fail suddenly. The Spartans were a nice 3 people in point of 
 naturalisation ; whereby, while they kept their compass, 4 
 they stood firm ; but when they did spread, and their 
 boughs were become too great for their stem, they became 
 i windfall upon the sudden. Never any State was, in this 
 point, so open to receive strangers into their body as were 
 the Romans ; therefore it sorted 5 with them accordingly, 
 
 1 Terra potens, <5^<r.] sn. i. 535. A land strong in soldiership 
 and in fertility of soil. 
 
 '- Nebuchadnezzar's tree] Dan. iv. 10. 
 
 1 Nice} Fastidious ; particular. 
 
 4 Kept their compass] Kept their proper bounds. Lat. Intra parvos 
 fimites dominati sunt. 
 
 4 Sorted} Turned out.
 
 Of Kingdoms and Estates. 125 
 
 for they grew to the greatest monarchy. Their manner was 
 to grant naturalisation (which they called jus civitatis\ and 
 to grant it in the highest degree, that is, not only jus 
 commercii, jus connubii,jus Juzreditatis: but alsoyV/j snffragii, 
 and jus honorum ; and this not to singular persons alone, 
 but likewise to whole families : yea, to cities, and sometimes 
 to nations. Add to this their custom of plantation 1 of 
 colonies, whereby the Roman plant was removed into the 
 soil of other nations ; and, putting both constitutions toge- 
 ther, you will say, that it was not the Romans that spread 
 upon the world, but it was the world that spread upon the 
 Romans ; and that was the sure way of greatness. I have 
 marvelled sometimes at Spain, how they clasp and contain 
 so large dominions with so few natural Spaniards : but sure 
 the whole compass of Spain is a very great body of a tree ; 
 far above Rome and Sparta at the first. And, besides, 
 though they have not had that usage to naturalise liberally, 
 yet they have that which is next to it, that is, to employ, 
 almost indifferently, all nations in their militia of ordinary 
 soldiers ; yea, and sometimes in their highest commands. 
 Nay, it seemeth at this instant, they are sensible of this 
 want of natives ; as by the Pragmatical Sanction, 8 now 
 published, appeareth. 
 
 It is certain, that sedentary and wi thin-door arts, and 
 delicate manufactures (that require rather the finger than 
 the arm), have in their nature a contrariety to a military 
 disposition. And generally all warlike people are a little 
 idle, and love danger better than travail : neither must they 
 
 1 Plantation] Settlement. 
 
 1 The Pragmatical Sanction] Pragmatic Sanction is a term derived 
 from the Byzantine empire, and denotes a royal or legislative ordinance 
 relating to affairs either of church or state. The Sanction to which 
 Bacon here refers was issued by Philip IV. in 1622, and, according to 
 Ellis, ' gave certain privileges to persons who married, and further 
 immunities to those who had six children.'
 
 1 26 Essays. 
 
 be too much broken of it, if they shall be preserved in 
 vigour. Therefore it was great advantage in the ancient 
 States of Sparta, Athens, Rome, and others, that they had 
 the use of slaves, which commonly did rid 1 those manufac- 
 tures. But that is abolished, in greatest part, by the Chris- 
 tian law. That which cometh nearest to it is, to leave those 
 arts chiefly to strangers (which, for that purpose, are the 
 more easily to be received), 2 and to contain the principal 
 bulk of the vulgar natives within those three kinds : tillers 
 of the ground, free servants, and handicraftsmen of strong 
 and manly arts, as smiths, masons, carpenters, &c., not 
 reckoning professed soldiers. 
 
 But, above all, for empire and greatness it importeth 3 
 most, that a nation do profess arms as their principal honour, 
 study, and occupation. For the things which we formerly 
 have spoken of are but habilitations 4 towards arms : and 
 what is habilitation without intention and act ? 5 Romulus, 
 after his death (as they report or feign), sent a present to 
 the Romans, that above all they should intend 6 arms, and 
 then they should prove the greatest empire of the world. 
 The fabric of the State of Sparta was wholly (though not 
 wisely) framed and composed to that scope and end. The 
 Persians and Macedonians had it for a flash. The Gauls, 
 Germans, Goths, Saxons, Normans, and others, had it for a 
 time. The Turks have it at this day, though in great 
 
 1 Rid} Take off ; dispose of ; provide for. 
 
 2 Are the more easily, &>c.} Ought to be welcomed with the greater 
 readiness. 
 
 * ImportetK\ Signifies. 
 
 4 Habilitations} Qualifications. 
 
 * Intention and act} Direction of the mind towards the thing, and 
 practice of it. 
 
 6 Intend} Prosecute. North's Plutarch (Romulus} relates that 
 Romulus appeared to Proculus, arr" said to him, ' Tell the Romans, that 
 they exercising prowess and temperancy shall be the mightiest and 
 greatest people of the world.'
 
 Of Kingdoms and Estates. 127 
 
 declination. Of Christian Europe they that have it are, in 
 effect, only the Spaniards. But it is so plain, that every 
 man profiteth 1 in that he most intendeth, 2 that it needeth 
 not to be stood upon : it is enough to point at it ; that no 
 nation which doth not directly profess arms, may look to 
 have greatness fall into their mouths. And, on the other 
 side, it is a most certain oracle of time, 3 that those States 
 that continue long in that profession (as the Romans and 
 Turks principally have done) do wonders : and those that 
 have professed arms but for an age have notwithstanding 
 commonly attained that greatness in that age which main- 
 tained them long after, when their profession and exercise 
 of arms hath grown to decay. 
 
 Incident to this point is for a State to have those laws or 
 customs which may reach forth unto them just occasions (as 
 may be pretended) of war. For there is that justice im- 
 printed in the nature of men, that they enter not upon wars 
 (whereof so many calamities do ensue) but upon some at 
 the least specious grounds and quarrels. 4 The Turk hath 
 at hand, for cause of war, tffe propagation of his law or sect, 
 a quarrel that he may always command. The Romans, 
 though they esteemed the extending the limits of their 
 empire to be great honour to their generals when it was 
 clone, yet they never rested upon that alone to begin a 
 war. First, therefore, let nations that pretend to greatness 
 have this, that they be sensible of wrongs, either upon bor- 
 derers, merchants, or politic ministers ; 8 and that they sit 
 
 1 ProfitelJi\ Lat. Proficere maxime : makes greatest progress. To 
 profit very often signified to make progress in study. In this sense, 
 it has been met with in the igth Essay, and occurs again in the 42110. 
 See p. 75, note 6. 
 
 '* Intendeth\ Bends his mind to. 
 
 * Oracle of time] Utterance of history. 
 
 4 Quarrels} Causes. Sue p. 30, no:c 3. 
 
 * PolitU ministers] Lat. Publicis ministris.
 
 1 28 Essays. 
 
 not too long upon a provocation. Secondly, let them be 
 prest 1 and ready to give aids and succours to their con- 
 federates ; as it ever was with the Romans : insomuch, as if* 
 the confederates had leagues defensive with divers other 
 States, and, upon invasion offered, did implore their aids 
 severally, yet the Romans would ever be the foremost, and 
 leave it to none other to have the honour. As for the wars 
 which were anciently made on the behalf of a kind of party, 
 or tacit conformity of Estate, 3 I do not see how they may be 
 well justified : as when the Romans made a war for the 
 liberty of Graecia, or when the Lacedaemonians and Athenians 
 made wars to set up or pull down democracies and oligar- 
 chies : or when wars were made by foreigners, under the 
 pretence of justice or protection, to deliver the subjects of 
 others from tyranny and oppression, and the like. Let it 
 suffice, that no Estate expect to be great, that is not awake 
 upon any just occasion of arming. 
 
 No body can be healthful without exercise, neither natural 
 body nor politic : and, certainly, to a Kingdom or Estate n 
 just and honourable war is the*true exercise. A civil war, 
 indeed, is like the heat of a fever ; but a foreign war is like 
 the heat of exercise, and serveth to keep the body in health ; 
 for, in a slothful peace, both courages will effeminate and 
 manners corrupt; but howsoever it be for happiness, without 
 all question for greatness, it maketh 4 to be still 5 for the 
 
 1 Prest] Prompt; alert. Old Fr. prest, Lat. prastns, r2idy. So in 
 Shakspeare's Merck of Ven. i. I, 'I am prest unto it ;' and in Spenser s 
 F. Q. II. viii. 28, ' To prolong the vengeance prest ; ' IV. iii. 2-2, 
 ' Who him affronting soon, to fight was ready prest. ' See p. 1 33, 
 note i. 
 
 * A* if\ That if. 
 
 * On the behalf, &c.] Lat. Propter Statuum conformitatcm quandam, 
 out correspondentiam tacitam. 
 
 4 It makctJi\ It is of advantage. 
 4 Still} Ev;r.
 
 Of Kingdoms and Estates. \ 29 
 
 most part in arms : and the strength of a veteran army 
 (though it be a chargeable business) always on foot, ' is that 
 which commonly giveth the law, or, at least, the reputation 
 amongst all neighbour States ; as may be well seen in Spain, 
 rhich hath had, in one part or other, a veteran army almost 
 continually, now by the space of six score years. 
 
 To be master of the sea is an abridgment of a monarchy.* 
 ( 'icero, writing to Atticus of Pompey his preparation 3 against 
 Caesar, saith, Consilium Pompeii plane Themistocleum est : 
 pntat enim, qui mari potitur, turn rerum potiri ;* and, with- 
 out doubt, Pompey had tired out Caesar, if upon vain con- 
 fidence he had not left 8 that way. We see the great effects 
 of battles by sea. The battle of Actium 6 decided the empire 
 of the world. The battle of Lepanto 7 arrested the greatness 
 of the Turk. There be many examples where sea-fights 
 have been final to the war : but this is when Princes or 
 
 1 Onfoo(\ Maintained in readiness. Lat. Sub vexillis. 
 
 * An abridgment of a monarchy] An epitome of sovereignty. 
 
 3 His preparation} Ste p. 79, note I. 
 
 4 Consilium Pompeii, drv.] Ad. Alt. x. 8. Pompey's plan is evi- 
 dently that of Themistocles, for he imagines that whoever is master oi 
 the sea is lord of everything. North's Plutarch states that Themistocle> 
 ' won the citizens by degrees to bend their force to sea, declaring unto 
 them how by land they were scant able to make head against their 
 equals, whereas by their power at sea they should not only defend 
 themselves from the barbarous people, but moreover be able to com- 
 mand all Greece." (Themistocles.) 
 
 * Left] Left off. 
 
 * Actium] A promontory of Epirus, near which Octavius (afterward? 
 the emperor Augustus) defeated Antony, B.C. 31. 
 
 : Of Lepanto] Lat. Ad Insulas Cursolares. The battle of Lepanto is 
 often called by Italian writers the battle of the Curzolari ; the Christian 
 fleet, under Don John of Austria, being stationed near these small 
 islands, in the Gulf of Patras, when met by the Turkish fleet from the 
 Gulf of Lepanto. The defeat of the Turks in this battle 1.1571) de- 
 stroyed completely their ascendancy in the Mediterranean. 
 
 K
 
 1 30 Essays. 
 
 States have set up their rest upon the battles. 1 But thus 
 much is certain, that he that commands the sea is at great 
 liberty, and may take as much and as little of the war as he 
 wilL Whereas those that be strongest by land are many 
 times, nevertheless, in great straits. Surely, at this day, 
 with us of Europe, the vantage of strength at sea (which is 
 one of the principal dowries of this kingdom of Great 
 Britain) is great ; both because most of the kingdoms of 
 Europe are not merely 2 inland, but girt with the sea most 
 part of their compass ; 3 and because the wealth of both 
 Indies seems, in great part, but an accessary to the command 
 of the seas. 
 
 The wars of latter ages seem to be made in the dark, in 
 respect of the glory and honour which reflected upon men 
 from the wars in ancient time. There be now, for martial 
 encouragement, some degrees and orders of chivalry, which, 
 nevertheless, are conferred promiscuously upon soldiers and 
 no soldiers ; and some remembrance, perhaps, upon the 
 scutcheon, and some hospitals for maimed soldiers, and 
 such like things. But in ancient times, the trophies erected 
 
 1 When Princes or States, &c.] Lat. Cumaletc htijusmodi praliorum 
 totius belli fortuna cominissa est : when the fortune of the whole war 
 lias been staked on the chance of this kind of warfare. Setting up one's 
 rest was language of the gaming table, meaning the staking of all one's 
 rest that is, remaining money on the chances of the game. Hence it 
 was applied to denote coming to a final determination how to act in 
 any crisis. Thus in Botero's Relations of the World, ii., 'The king 
 thought it no policy to play all his rest at once ; where he might have 
 lost more in one game than he had got in eight years ; ' Montaigne's 
 Essays (Cotton's Translation), ii. i? r 'I find my mind more put to it 
 to undergo the various troubling and tossing of doubt and consultation, 
 than to set up its rest, and to acquiesce in whatever shall happen after 
 the die is thrown.' Shakspeare now and thea plays with the expression : 
 as in the Merck, of Veil. ii. 2, 'I have set up my rest to run away.' 
 The phrase was borrowed from the French, jouer de son rate. 
 
 2 Merely] Entirely ; absolutely. 
 
 1 Compass] Boundary, or circuit.
 
 Of Kingdoms and Estates. \ 3 1 
 
 upon the place of the victory, the funeral laudatives 1 md 
 monuments for those that died in the wars, the crowns and 
 garlands personal, the style of Emperor 2 which the great 
 kings of the world after borrowed, the triumphs of the 
 generals upon their return, the great donatives and largesses 3 
 upon the disbanding of the armies, were things able to 
 inflame all men's courages ; but, above all, that of the 
 triumph amongst the Romans was not pageants, or gaudery, 
 but one of the wisest and noblest institutions that ever was. 
 Foi it contained three things : honour to the general, riches 
 to the treasury out of the spoils, and donatives to the army. 
 But that honour, perhaps, were not fit for Monarchies ; 
 except it be in the person of the Monarch himself or his 
 sons ; as it came to pass in the times of the Roman 
 Emperors, who did impropriate 4 the actual triumphs to 
 themselves and their sons, for such wars as- they did achieve 
 in person ; and left only for wars achieved by subjects some 
 triumphal garments and ensigns to the general. 
 
 To conclude : No man can by care-taking (as the Scrip- 
 ture saith) add a cubit to his stature, 5 in this little model 6 
 of a man's body ; but in the great frame of Kingdoms and 
 Commonwealths, it is in the power of Princes, or Estates, to 
 add amplitude and greatness to their Kingdoms. For by 
 introducing such ordinances, constitutions, and customs as 
 we have now touched, they may sow greatness to their 
 posterity and succession. But these things are co*nmonly 
 not observed, but left to take their chance. 
 
 1 Laudatives] Laudatory orations ; panegyrics. 
 
 J Emperor} Imperator in the ordinary sense of general, or com- 
 mander, was put after the name ; when adopted as the style of a 
 sovereign, it was a prsenomen. SUETONIUS, Jul. Ctes. 76. 
 
 3 Donatives and largesses] Gifts and bounties. See p. 133, note I. 
 
 4 Impropriate] Appropriate. The word now means, to place tlic 
 profits of ecclesiastical property in the hands of a layman. 
 
 4 No man can, <&v.] Matth. vi. 27. 
 Little model} Little measure or frame ; microcosm. 
 K. 2
 
 132 Essays. 
 
 XXX. OF REG f MEN OF HEALTH. 
 
 There is a wisdom in this beyond the rules of physic : a 
 man's own observation, what 1 he finds good of, and what he 
 finds hurt of, is the best physic to preserve health. But it 
 is a safer conclusion to say, This agreeth not well with me, 
 therefore I will not continue it ; than this, I find no offence 
 of this, therefore I may use it For strength of nature in 
 youth' passeth over many excesses which are owing a man 2 
 till his age. Discern of 3 the coming on of years, and think 
 not to do the same things still ; 4 for age will not be defied. 
 Beware of sudden change in any great point of diet, and, if 
 necessity enforce it, fit the rest to it ; for it is a secret both 
 in nature and State, that it is safer to change many things 
 than one. Examine thy customs of diet, sleep, exercise, 
 apparel, and the like ; and try, in anything thou shalt judge 
 hurtful, to discontinue it by little and little ; but so as, 5 if thoi- 
 dost find any inconvenience by the change, thou come back 
 to it again ; for it is hard to distinguish that which is 
 generally held good and wholesome from that which is good 
 particularly, and fit for thine own body. To be free-minded 6 
 and cheerfully-disposed at hours of meat 7 and of sleep, and 
 of exercise, is one of the best precepts of long-lasting. 8 As 
 for the passions and studies of the mind : avoid envy, 
 
 1 Observation -what} Observing what ; observation as to what. Set 
 p. 134, note 8. 
 
 - Are owing a man] Are not paid to a man; do not produce sensible 
 effects on a man. 
 
 Discern of] Have a discreet consideration of. 
 Still] Always. Anciently the usual meaning. 
 As] That 
 
 Free-minded] Void of anxiety. Lat. Vacua animo. 
 Meaf\ This term is still used in the north to denote food in 
 general. 
 
 Of long-lasting] Concerning the prolongation of life.
 
 Of Regimen of Health. 133 
 
 anxious fears, anger fretting inwards, subtle and knotty 
 inquisitions, joys and exhilarations in excess, sadness not 
 communicated. Entertain hopes, mirth rather than joy, 
 v-ariety of delights rather than surfeit of them ; wonder and 
 admiration, 1 and therefore novelties ; studies that fill the 
 mind with splendid and illustrious objects, as histories, 
 fables, and contemplations of nature. If you fly physic in 
 health altogether, it will be too strange for your body when 
 you shall need it. If you make it too familiar, it will work 
 no extraordinary effect when sickness cometh. I commend 
 rather some diet for certain seasons, than frequent use of 
 physic, except it be grown into a custom ; for those diets 
 alter the body more, and trouble it less. Despise no new 
 accident in your body, but ask opinion of it. In sickness, 
 respect health principally, and in health, action ; for those 
 that put their bodies to endure in health, may, in most 
 sicknesses which are not very sharp, be cured only with diet 
 and tendering. 8 Celsus 3 could never have spoken it as a 
 physician, had he not been a wise man withal, when he 
 giveth it for one of the great precepts of health and lasting, 
 that a man do vary and interchange contraries ; but with 
 an inclination to the more benign extreme: use 4 fasting and 
 full eating, but rather full eating ; watching and sleqj, but 
 rather sleep ; sitting and exercise, but rather exercise ; and 
 the like : so shall nature be cherished, and yet taught mas- 
 teries. Physicians are some of them so pleasing and con- 
 
 1 Wonder and admiration] Bacon often couples synonymes in this 
 way. Thus, in the 2gth Essay, ' Prest and ready;' 'Donatives and 
 largesses.' So in the Prayer Book, 'Assemble and meet together,' &c. 
 1 n ?uch instances the words are generally from different languages, and 
 one is intended to interpret the o'her. 
 
 '-' Tendering} Nursing. Lat. Cor ports regimine paulo exquisitiore. 
 
 * Celsus] A Latin physician, who lived about the time of Augustus. 
 The quotation following is from his treatise De MedicitiA, i. I. 
 
 4 Use] Practise-
 
 1 34 Essays. 
 
 formable to the humour of the patient, as 1 they press not 
 the true cure of the disease ; and some other are so regular 
 in proceeding according to art for the disease, as they respect 
 not sufficiently the condition of the patient. Take one of a 
 middle temper; or, if it may not be found in one man, 
 combine two of either sort ; 2 and forget not to call as well 
 the best acquainted with your body, as the best reputed of 
 for his faculty. 3 
 
 XXXI. OF SUSPICION. 
 
 Suspicions, amongst 4 thoughts, are like bats, amongst 
 birds ; they ever fly by twilight. Certainly they are to be 
 repressed, or at the least well guarded ; for they cloud the 
 mind, they leese 8 friends, and they check 6 with business, 
 whereby business cannot go on currently and constantly. 
 They dispose kings to tyranny, husbands to jealousy, wise 
 men to irresolution and melancholy. They are defects, not 
 in the heart, but in the brain, for they take place in the 
 stoutest 7 natures: as in the example of Henry the Seventh of 
 England; there was not a more suspicious man nor a more 
 stout : and in such a composition they do small hurt. For 
 commonly they are not admitted but with examination 
 whether they be 8 likely 9 or no ; but in fearful natures they 
 
 ' As] That. 
 
 2 Two of either sort} This should be One of either sort that is, one 
 of each sort. Compare John xix. 18, 'Two other with him, on either 
 side one.' 
 
 s I/is faculty} Lat. Arte sud. 
 
 4 Amongst] As a kind of. 
 
 * Leese\ Lose. See p. 81, note 4. 
 
 K Check] Interfere. See p. 40, note 2. 
 ' Stoutest] Boldest. 
 
 8 Whether they be, <&v.] As to whether, &c. This clause forms au 
 objective of respect to the noun examination. See p. 132, note I. 
 
 * Likely] Probably just.
 
 Of Suspicion. 135 
 
 gain ground too fast. There is nothing makes a man suspect 
 much, more than to know little ; and, therefore, men should 
 remedy suspicion by procuring to know more, and not to 
 keep their suspicions in smother. What would men have ? 
 Do they think those they employ and deal with are saints? 
 1 )o they not think they will have their own ends, and be 
 truer to themselves than to them ? Therefore there is no 
 better way to moderate suspicions, than to account upon 
 such suspicions as true, and yet to bridle them as false : for 
 so far a man ought to make use of suspicions as to provide, 
 as if 1 that should be true that he suspects, yet it may do him 
 no hurt. Suspicions that the mind of itself gathers are but 
 buzzes ; but suspicions that are artificially 2 nourished, 
 and put into men's heads by the tales and whisperings of 
 others, have stings. Certainly, the best mean t<~> clear the 
 way in this same wood of suspicions, is frankly to communi- 
 cate them with the party that he suspects ; for thereby he 
 shall be sure to know more of the truth of them than he did 
 before; and withal shall make that party more circumspect, 
 not to give further cause of suspicion ; but this would not 
 be 3 done to men of base natures ; for they, if they find 
 themselves once suspected, will never be true. The Italian 
 says, Sospetto licentia fedef as if suspicion did give a pass- 
 port to faith ; but it ought rather to kindle it to discharge 
 itself. 5 
 
 1 As if] That in case. 
 
 * Artificially] Lat. Externo artificio. 
 
 * IVoitld not be\ Ought not to be. See p. 17, note 2, and p. 92, 
 note 2. 
 
 4 Sospetto luentia fede\ Suspicion discharges fidelity. 
 
 4 To kindle it, &>c . ] To incite fidelity to discharge suspicion. Kindlt 
 in the sense of incite occurs in Shakspeare, As You Like It, i. 2, ' No- 
 thing remains, but that I kindle the boy thither ; ' compare Macbtth t 
 I 3, ' That, trusted home, might yet enkindle you urto the crown.
 
 1 36 Essays. 
 
 XXXII. OF DISCOURSE. 
 
 Some in their discourse desire rather commendation of 
 wit, in being able to hold ' all arguments, than of judgment 
 in discerning what is true ; as if it were a praise to know 
 what might be said, and not what should be thought. Some 
 have certain common-places 2 and themes, wherein they are 
 good, and want variety ; 3 which kind of poverty is for the 
 most part tedious, and when it is once perceived, ridiculous. 
 The honourablest part of talk is to give the occasion ; 4 and 
 again to moderate* and pass to somewhat else ; for then a 
 man leads the dance. It is good in discourse and speech 
 of conversation, to vary and intermingle speech of the 
 present occasion with arguments ; tales with reason ; asking 
 of questions with telling of opinions ; and jest with earnest : 
 for it is a dull thing to tire, and, as we say now, to jade 
 anything too far. As for jest, there be certain things which 
 ought to be privileged from it; namely, religion, matters 
 of State, great persons, any man's present business of impor- 
 tance, and any case that deserveth pity. Yet there be some 
 that think their wits have been asleep, except they dart out 
 somewhat that is piquant, and to the quick ; that is a vein 
 which would be bridled. 6 
 
 Parce, puer, stimulis, et fortius utere loris. T 
 
 1 To hold] To maintain. 
 
 2 Common-places] Loci communes are memorandums of common 
 topics or sources of argument, as laid down by the ancient rhetoricians 
 to serve for all occasions of discourse. 
 
 J Want variety] Lat. Ceztera steriles etjejuni. 
 
 4 To give the occasion] Lat. Ansam sermonis prtebere. See p. 30, 
 note 3. 
 
 5 To moderate] To restrain, or temper down. 
 
 ' A vein, drv.] A humour which requires to be kept in check. See 
 p. 2, note I, and p. 135, note 3. 
 
 ' Parce, puer, &c.] Ovid, Met. ii. 127. Be sparing, , my *, in 
 the use of the whip, and hold the reins tightly.
 
 Of Discourse. 137 
 
 And, generally, men ought to find the difference between 
 saltness and bitterness. Certainly, he that hath a satirical 
 vein, as he maketh others afraid of his wit, so he had need 
 be afraid of others' memory. He that questioneth much 
 shall learn much, and content much ; l but especially if he 
 apply his questions to the skill of the persons whom he 
 asketh ; for he shall give them occasion to please them- 
 selves in speaking, and himself shall continually gather 
 knowledge. But let his questions not be troublesome, for 
 that is fit for a poser ; and let him be sure to leave other 
 men their turns to speak. Nay, if there be any that would 
 reign and take up all the time, let him find means to take 
 them off, and to bring others on : as musicians use to do 
 with those that dance too long galliards. 2 If you dissemble 
 sometimes your knowledge of that you are thought to know, 
 you shall be thought another time to know that you know 
 not Speech of a man's self ought to be seldom, and well 
 chosen. I knew one was wont to say in scorn, he must 
 needs be a wise man, he speaks so much of himself \ and there 
 is but one case wherein a man may commend himself with 
 good grace, and that is in commending virtue in another ; 
 especially if it be such a virtue whereunto himself pretendeth. 
 Speech of touch towards 3 others should be sparingly used ; 
 for discourse ought to be as a field, without coming home 
 to any man. I knew two noblemen, of the west part of 
 England, whereof the one was given to scoff, but kept ever 
 royal cheer in his house ; the other would ask of those that 
 had been at the other's table, ' Tell truly, was there never a 
 flout or dry blow 4 given?' To which the guest would 
 
 1 Content much} Please in many cases. 
 
 3 Galliards] The light, active dance so called was much in fashion 
 in Bacon's time. Fr. gaillard, brisk, merry. 
 1 Of touch towards] Aiming to hit. 
 1 Dry bl<rw\ Scoffing hit. To dry-beat was to beat with a cane, or
 
 138 Essays. 
 
 answer, 'Such and such a thing passed.' The lord would 
 say, ' I thought he would mar a good dinner.' Discretion 
 of speech is more than eloquence ; and to speak agreeably ' 
 to him with whom we deal, is more than to speak in good 
 words, or in good order. A good continued speech, without 
 a good speech of interlocution, shows slowness ; and a good 
 reply, or second speech, without a good settled speech, 
 showeth shallowness and weakness. As we see in beasts, 
 that those that are weakest in the course, are yet nimblest 
 in the turn ; as it is betwixt the greyhound and the hare. To 
 use too many circumstances, 2 ere one come to the matter, is 
 wearisome ; to use none at all is blunt. 3 
 
 XXXIII. OF PLANTATIONS. 
 
 Plantations 4 are amongst ancient, primitive, and heroical 
 works. When the world was young it begat more children ; 
 but now it is old it begets fewer : for I may justly account 
 new plantations to be the children of former kingdoms. I 
 like a plantation in a pure 5 soil ; that is, where people arc 
 not displanted to the end to plant in others. For else it is 
 rather an extirpation than a plantation. Planting of coun- 
 
 other instrument not designed to shed blood ; hence also to attack in 
 word-play, wit-fence, or scurrility. In Shakspeare's Com. of Err. ii. 
 2. Dromio deprecates 'another dry basting ;' in Rom. and jful. iv. 5, 
 1'eter says, 'Then have at you with my wit : I will dry-beat you with 
 an iron wit, and put up my iron dagger ; ' and in Loves Lab. Lost, v. 2, 
 we have ' All dry-beaten with pure scoff. ' 
 
 1 Agreeably] In such a way as is adapted. 
 
 - Circumstances] Circumstantial details. 
 
 3 Blunt} Abrupt. 
 
 4 Plantations'} Colonies. 
 
 5 Pure] Clear ; free ; unoccupied. Compare the meaning of Jttr* 
 lu*.
 
 Of Plantations. 1 39 
 
 tries is like planting of woods ; for you must make account 
 to leese 1 almost twenty years' profit, and expect your recom- 
 pense in the end. For the principal thing that hath been 
 the destruction of most plantations hath been the base and 
 hasty drawing of profit in the first years. It is true, speedy 
 profit is not to be neglected, as far as may stand with the 
 good of the plantation, but no farther. It is a shameful and 
 unblessed thing to take the scum of people and wicked 
 Condemned men, to be the people with whom you plant ; 
 and not only so, but it spoileth the plantation ; for they will 
 ever live like rogues, and not fall to work, but be lazy, and 
 do mischief, and spend victuals, and be quickly weary, and 
 then certify* over to their country to the discredit of the 
 plantation. The people wherewith you plant ought to be 
 gardeners, ploughmen, labourers, smiths, carpenters, joiners, 
 fishermen, fowlers, with some few apothecaiies, surgeons, 
 cooks, and bakers. In a country of plantation, first look 
 about what kind of victual the country yields of itself to 
 hand : as chesnuts, walnuts, pine-apples, olives, dates, 
 plums, cherries, wild honey, and the like, and make use of 
 them. Then consider what victual, or esculent things there 
 are, which grow speedily, and within the year ; as parsnips, 
 carrots, turnips, onions, radish, artichokes of Jerusalem, 3 
 maize, and the like. For wheat, barley, and oats, they ask 4 
 too much labour : but with pease and beans you may begin ; 
 both because they ask less labour, and because they serve 
 for meat as well as for bread. And of rice likewise cometh 
 a great increase, and it is a kind of meat. Above all, there 
 
 1 To leesf] To lose. See p. 81, note 4. 
 
 * Certify] Send reports. 
 
 * Artichokes of Jerusalem} The original name, ot which this is a 
 corruption, is girasole artichokes, from the Ital. girasole, the sunflower : 
 firart signifying to turn, and sole the sun. 
 
 * AsA} Require. See p. <2i, note 5.
 
 140 Essays. 
 
 ought to be brought store of biscuit, 1 oatmeal, flour, meal.* 
 and the like, in the beginning, til 1 bread may be had. For 
 beasts or birds, take chiefly such as are least subject to 
 diseases, and multiply fastest : as swine, goats, cocks, hens, 
 turkeys, geese, house-doves, and the like. The victual in 
 plantations ought to be expended almost as in a besieged 
 town ; that is, with certain allowance. And let the main 
 part of the ground employed to gardens or corn be to a 
 common stock ; and to be laid in, and stored up, and then 
 delivered out in proportion ; besides some spots of ground 
 that any particular person will manure for his own private. 3 
 Consider likewise, what commodities the soil where the 
 plantation is doth naturally yield, that they may some way 
 help to defray the charge of the plantation : so it be not, as 
 was said, to the untimely prejudice of the main business : as 
 it hath fared with tobacco in Virginia. 4 Wood commonly 
 aboundeth but too much ; and therefore timber is fit to be 
 one. If there be iron ure, 5 and streams whereupon to set 
 the mills, iron is a brave 6 commodity where wood aboundeth. 
 
 1 Biscuit] Lat. Panis biscocti : bread that is twice baked. Our 
 word is from the French cuire (ait four), to bake. 
 
 * Meal] Lat. Farina omnigetitz. 
 
 J Manure for his own private] Private was often used to denote 
 private business or privacy in Bacon's time. Thus in Shakspeare, A'. 
 John, iv. 3, ' Whose private with me, of the Dauphin's love,' &c. ; and 
 Tw. Night, iii. 4, 'Let me enjoy my private.' To manure, from the 
 Fr. manceuvrer, literally, to work with the hand, signified to till or cul- 
 tivate ground by any kind of husbandry. Milton, P. L. iv. 62, applies 
 it, in an unusual way, to the work of pruning trees. 
 
 4 As it hath fared, &"c.] Tobacco was the chief thing cultivated by 
 the early colonists in Virginia, because of better wages being obtained 
 from this than from any other source of industry. 
 
 * Ure] Ore. The edition of 1625, in which this Essay first appeared, 
 is carefully printed ; but I have never met with ure for ore anywhere 
 else. 
 
 * Bravi\ Giand.
 
 Of Plantations. 141 
 
 Nfaking of bay salt, if the climate be proper for it, would be 
 put in experience. 1 Growing silk, 2 likewise, if any be, is a 
 likely* commodity : pitch and tar, where store of firs and 
 pines are, will not fail. So drugs and sweet woods, where 
 they are, cannot but yield great profit. Soap ashes, like- 
 wise, and other things that may be thought of. But moil 
 not too much under ground ; for the hope of mines is very 
 uncertain, and useth to make the planters lazy in other 
 things. For government, let it be in the hands of one, 
 assisted with some counsel : and let them have commission 
 to exercise martial laws, with some limitation. And. above 
 all, let men make that profit of being in the wilderness, as* 
 they have God always and His service before their eyes. 
 Let not the government of the plantation depend upon too 
 many counsellors and undertakers in the country that 
 planteth, 5 but upon a temperate number; and let those be 
 rather noblemen and gentlemen than merchants : for they 
 look ever to the present gain. Let there be freedoms from 
 custom, 6 till the plantation be of strength ; and not only 
 freedom from custom, but freedom to carry their commo- 
 dities where they may make their best of them, except there 
 be some special cause of caution. Cram not in people by 
 sending too fast company after company ; but rather 
 hearken 7 how they waste, and send supplies proportionably ; 
 but so as the number may live well in the plantation, and 
 not by surcharge be in penury. It hath been a great en- 
 
 Woitld be, &>c.] Ought to be tried. Sft p. 135, note 3. 
 
 Growing silk] Vegetable silk. 
 
 Likely] Fair-looking ; promising. 
 
 As] That. 
 
 Undertakers, drv.] Enterprising investers in the mother country. 
 
 Custom] Custom duties. 
 
 Hearken] Inquire. So in Shakspeare, Tarn, of Shr. i. 2, ' The 
 youngest daughter whom you hearken for;' 2 fieri. IV. ii. 4, 'Well, 
 hearken the end ; ' and Much Ado, v. i, ' Hearken after their offence ;' 
 and Ruh. III. i. I, ' He hearkens after prophecies and dream*.'
 
 1 42 Essays. 
 
 dangering to the health of some plantations, that they have 
 built along the sea and rivers, in marish ' and unwholesome 
 grounds. Therefore, though you begin there to avoid 
 carriage and other like discommodities, yet build still 2 rather 
 upwards from the streams than along. It concerneth 
 likewise the health of the plantation that they have good 
 store of salt with them, that they may use it in their victuals 
 when it shall be necessary. If you plant where savages are, 
 do not only entertain them with trifles and gingles, but use 
 them justly and graciously, with sufficient guard nevertheless; 
 and do not win their favour by helping them to invade 
 their enemies, but for their defence it is not amiss ; and send 
 oft of them over to the country that plants, that they may 
 see a better condition than their own, and commend it 
 when they return. When the plantation grows to strength, 
 then it is time to plant with women as well as with men ; 
 that the plantation may spread into generations, and not be 
 ever pieced 3 from without. It is the sinfullest thing in the 
 world to forsake or destitute 4 a plantation once in forward- 
 ness : for, besides the dishonour, it is the guiltiness of blood 
 of many commiserable 6 persons. 
 
 XXXIV. OF RICHES. 
 
 1 cannot call riches better than the baggage of virtue ; the 
 Roman word is better, impedimenta.* For as the baggage is 
 
 1 Marish] This is our old derivative from the Fr. marais. Spenser, 
 F. Q. V. x. 23, has ' Only these marishes and miry bogs ;' and Milton, 
 P. L. xii. 629, 'As evening mist, risen from a river, o'er the marish 
 glides.' 
 
 * Still] Always. 
 3 Pieced] Eked. 
 
 1 Destitute] Lat. Destituere, to abandon. 
 
 * Commiserable] To be commiserated ; pitiable. 
 
 * Impedimenta] This Latin term for baggage literally means hin- 
 drances of progress.
 
 Of RicJtes. 143 
 
 to an army, so is riches to virtue : it cannot be spared nor 
 left behind, but it hindereth the march ; yea, and the care 
 of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory. Of great 
 riches there is no real use, except it be in the distribu- 
 tion ; the rest is but conceit. 1 So saith Solomon, where 
 much is, there are many to consume it ; and what hath the 
 owner but the sight of it with his eyes ? 2 The personal frui- 
 tion in any man cannot reach to feel 3 great riches : there is 
 a custody of them ; 4 or a power of dole and donative of 
 them ; or a fame of them ; * but no solid use to the owner. 
 Do you not see what feigned prices 6 are set upon little 
 stones and rarities? and what works of ostentation are 
 undertaken, because there might seem to be some use ot 
 great riches ? But then you will say, they may be of use to 
 buy men out of dangers or troubles; as Solomon saith, 
 riches are as a strong hold in the imagination of the rich 
 man. 7 But this is excellently expressed, that it is in imagi- 
 nation, and not always in fact. For, certainly, great riches 
 have sold more men than they have bought out. Seek not 
 proud 8 riches ; but such as thou mayest get justly, use so- 
 berly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contentedly. Yet 
 have no abstract nor friarly 9 contempt of them; but dis- 
 
 1 Conceit] Conception ; fancy. 
 
 * Wliere much is, 6t.] Eccles. v. n, 'When goods increase, they 
 are increased that eat them ; and what good is there to the owners 
 thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?' 
 
 3 Reach to feel] Fully realise or comprehend. 
 
 4 Tlure is a custody of them} There is indeed the occupation of 
 taking care of them. 
 
 * A fame of t/iem] A reputation with respect to them. 
 
 * Feigned prices] Feigned values. 
 
 7 Riches are as, &t.] Prov. xviii. 1 1, 'The rich man's wealth is 
 his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit.' Compare x. 15. 
 
 * Proud] Splendid. One of the meanings of the Latin sufxrtnis. 
 
 ' Abstract nor friarly] Lat. fitstar monachi alifujus, aut a scctuo 
 : like some monk or recluse. In the Advancement, I., he
 
 1 44 Essays. 
 
 tinguish, as Cicero saith well of Rabirius Posthumus. in 
 studio ret amplificandcz apparebat non avariticz pnzdanr, sea 
 instrumentum bonitati quceri.* Hearken also to Solomon, 
 and beware of hasty gathering of riches ; Qui festinat ad 
 divitias, non erit insons* The poets feign, that when Plutus 
 (which is riches) is sent from Jupiter, he limps, and goes 
 slowly; but when he is sent from Pluto, he runs, and is 
 swift of foot : 3 meaning, that riches gotten by good means 
 and just labour pace slowly; but when they come by the 
 death of others (as by the course of inheritance, testaments, 
 and the like), they come tumbling upon a man : but it 
 mo ugh t 4 be applied likewise to Pluto, taking him for the devil. 
 For when riches come from the devil (as by fraud and op- 
 pression and unjust means), they come upon speed. The 
 ways to enrich are many, and most of them foul. Parsimony 
 is one of the best, and yet is not innocent : for it withholdeth 
 men from works of liberality and charity. The improvement 
 of the ground is the most natural obtaining of riches ; for it 
 is our great mother's blessing, the earth's ; but it is slow. 
 
 says, ' It were good to leave the common-place in commendation of 
 poverty to some friar to handle.' 
 
 1 /// studio, &><:.] Pro Rahir, 2. In his desire for increase of wealth 
 the thing sought was evidently not the gratification of avarice, but the 
 means of doing good. The Roman knight Rabirius was accused by the 
 senate of having lent an immense sum of money to Ptolemy Auletes, 
 King of Egypt. Cicero defended him, and with difficulty obtained his 
 acquittal. 
 
 - Qui festinat, &c.~\ Prov. xxviii. 20, 'He that maketh haste to be 
 rich shall not be innocent.' Compare verse 22. 
 
 1 The poets feign, &*<:.] In Lucian's Dialogues (Timon) Plutus, the 
 god of riches, questioned by Mercury, is represented as saying that he 
 does not always limp ; that when he is sent by Jupiter to anyone he 
 feels lame, and hardly arrives till old age has overtaken that individual ; 
 but when he is required to depart from anyone he becomes winged, 
 and flies more swiftly than any fowl ; that, however, when he suddenly 
 enriches men he has been sent to them not by Jupiter, but by Pluto. 
 
 4 Mougkt] The old past tense of may.
 
 Of Riches. 145 
 
 And yet, where men of great wealth do sU op to husbandry, 
 it multiplieth riches exceedingly. I knew a nobleman in 
 England that had the greatest audits of any man in my 
 time ; a great grazier, a great sheep-master, a great timber- 
 man, a great collier, a great corn-master, a great lead-man, 
 and so of iron, and a number of the like points of hus- 
 bandry : so as the earth seemed a sea to him in respect of 
 the perpetual importation. It was truly observed by one, 
 'That himself came very hardly to a little riches, and very 
 easily to great riches.' For when a man's stock is come to 
 that, that lie can expect * the prime of market, and over- 
 come 2 those bargains which for their greatness are few 
 men's money, 3 and be partner in the industries of younger 
 men, he cannot but increase mainly. 4 The gains of ordi- 
 nary trades and vocations are honest ; and furthered by two 
 things chiefly, by diligence, and by a good name for good 
 and fair dealing. But the gains of bargains are of a more 
 doubtful nature ; when men shall wait upon 5 others' neces- 
 sity, broke 6 by servants and instruments to draw them 7 on, 
 put off others cunningly that would be better chapmen, 8 and 
 the like practices, which are crafty and naught. 9 As for the 
 chopping 10 of bargains, when a man buys not to hold, but to 
 sell over again, that commonly grindeth double, both upon 
 the seller and upon the buyer. Sharings ll do greatly enrich, 
 
 1 Expect} Await. 
 
 2 Overcome} Successfully compete with. 
 
 s Few men's money} Within the compass of few men's means. 
 4 Mainly] Greatly. 
 
 ' Wait upon} Watch. See p. 92, note I. 
 
 8 Broke} Use intermediate agency. In Shakspeare, Alfs Well, iii. 
 5, we have 'And brokes with all that can in such a suit corrupt' 
 * Them} That is, the masters of those servants. 
 8 Be better chapmen} Give a better price. 
 8 Naught} Bad ; naughty. 
 
 10 Chopping} Barter. 
 
 11 Sharings} Partnerships. 
 
 L
 
 146 Essays. 
 
 if the hands be well chosen that are trusted. Usury is the 
 certainest means of gain, though one of the worst, as that 
 whereby a man doth eat his bread in sudore vultus alieni? 
 and, besides, doth plough upon Sundays. 2 But yet certain 
 though it be, it hath flaws : for that the scriveners 3 and 
 brokers 4 do value 5 unsound men to serve their own turn. 
 The fortune in being the first in an invention, or in a pri- 
 vilege, doth cause sometimes a wonderful overgrowth in 
 riches ; as it was with the first sugar-man in the Canaries : 6 
 therefore, if a man can play the true logician, to have as well 
 judgment as invention, he may do great matters, especially 
 if the times be fit. He that resteth " upon gains certain 
 shall hardly grow to great riches : and he that puts all upon 
 adventures, doth oftentimes break and come to poverty : it 
 is good, therefore, to guard adventures with certainties that 
 
 1 In sudore, &c.] In the sweat of another's brow. See the first 
 paragraph of the 4ist Essay. 
 
 2 Doth plough upon Sundays] This was one of the ' witty invectives 
 against usury' (4ist Essay) so often thrown out in Bacon's time. It 
 was urged that the sin of Sabbath-breaking was involved in making 
 money bear interest all the days of the week, and that it is improper 
 to charge any interest at all, as metal is naturally barren. Francis 
 Meres, in his Palladis Tamia (1598), says, 'Usury and increase by golii 
 and silver is unlawful, because against nature : nature hath made them 
 sterile and barren ; usury makes them procreative. ' A main con- 
 stituent of the plot in Shakspeare's Merch. of Ven. is disapproval of 
 interest on the part of Antonio, which is so artfully taken advantage of 
 by tht Jew when he hears Antonio say, 'For when did friendship take 
 a breed for barren metal of his friend?' (i. 3.) 
 
 3 Scriveners] Men employed to place money at interest. 
 
 4 flrokers] Negotiators. 
 
 * Value\ Ascribe sufficiency to. 
 
 6 The first sugar -man, &=c.] In the Canary Islands, at the com- 
 mencement of the 1 6th century, the cultivation of the sugar-cane, and 
 the making of sugar, first acquired commercial importance, and wer* 
 thence extended to the West India Islands and the Brazils. 
 
 * Resteth} Relies exclusively.
 
 Of Riclics. 147 
 
 may uphold losses. Monopolies, and coemption of wares 
 for resale, where they are not restrained, are great means to 
 enrich ; especially if the party have intelligence what things 
 are like to come into request, and so store himself before- 
 hand. Riches gotten by service, 1 though it be of the best 
 rise, 2 yet when they are gotten by flattery, feeding humours, 
 and other servile conditions, they may be placed amongst 
 the worst As for fishing for testaments and executorships 
 (as Tacitus saith of Seneca, testamenta et orbos tanquam in- 
 dagine capi^\ it is yet worse, by how much men suomit 
 themselves to 4 meaner persons than in service. Believe not 
 much them that seem to despise riches ; for they despise 
 them s that despair of them ; and none worse fi when they 
 come to them. Be not penny-wise : 7 riches have wings ; 
 and sometimes they fly away of themselves, sometimes they 
 must be set flying to bring in more. Men leave their riches 
 either to their kindred or to the public : and moderate por 
 tions prosper 8 best in both. A great state left to an heir is 
 as a lure to all the birds of prey round about to seize on him, 
 if he be not the better stablished in years and judgment. 
 Likewise, glorious gifts and foundations are like sacrifices 
 without salt ; and but the painted sepulchres of alms, which 
 soon will putrefy and corrupt inwardly. Therefore measure 
 
 1 By service} By service of the State. Lat. Per servitium Kegum out 
 Magnatum. 
 
 2 Though it be, &c.~\ Though such service be among the best means 
 to rise. 
 
 * Testamenta, &*c.] Annal. xiii. 42. Wills and orphans drawn as 
 it were into his net. 
 
 4 Submit themselves to] Depend on, or deal with. 
 
 * They despise them] They despise riches. 
 
 6 None worse] None despise riches less. The Latin version has, 
 tife/ne invenifs usquani tenadores: nor will you anywhere find more 
 grasping persons. 
 
 ' Penny-wise] Lat. In minutis ttnax. 
 
 * Prosper] Turn out. 
 
 1.3
 
 148 Essays. 
 
 not thine advancements l by quantity, but frame them by 
 measure ; and defer not charities till death, for certainly, if 
 a man weigh it rightly, he that doth so, is rather liberal of 
 another man's than of his own. 
 
 XXXV. OF PROPHECIES? 
 
 I mean not to speak of divine prophecies, nor of heathen 
 oracles, nor of natural predictions : 3 but only of prophecies 
 that have been of certain memory, and from hidden causes. 
 Saith the Pythonissa 4 to Saul, ' To-morrow thou and thy 
 sons shall be with me.' fi Homer 6 hath these verses : 
 
 At domus JEnex cunctis dominabitur oris, 
 Et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab illis : T 
 
 a prophecy, as it seems, of the Roman empire. Seneca 
 the tragedian hath these verses : 
 
 Venient annis 
 
 Saecula sens, quibus Oceanus 
 Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens 
 Pateat Tellus, Tethysque novos 
 Detegat orbes ; nee sit terris 
 Ultima Thule : 
 
 1 Advancements] Giving;. 
 
 2 Of Prophecies] This Er -ray is not in the Latin translation. 
 
 3 Natural predictions] Predictive tokens in nature. 
 
 4 The Pythonissa] A PyHioness is a woman 'possessed with a spirit 
 of divination ' (Acts xvi. i6J, so called from the Pythonissa, or Pythia, 
 the oracular priestess of Apollo's temple at Delphi. 
 
 * To-morrow, &*<:.] l Sam. xxviii. 19, 'To-morrow shall thou and 
 thy sons be with me. ' It was not the witch of Endor but the ghost of 
 Samuel that spoke these words to Saul. 
 
 6 Homer] This ought to be Virgil. 
 
 7 At Domus JLnecz, &c.] Virgil, ALH. iii. 97, ' But the house of 
 /'Eneas shall have dominion over all lands, even his grandsons and their 
 descendants.' 
 
 * I'enient annis, &.] Med. ii. 375. At a remote period of the
 
 Of Prophecies. U9 
 
 a prophecy of the discovery of America. The daughter of 
 Polycrates ' dreamed that Jupiter bathed her father, and 
 Apollo anointed him ; and it came to pass that he was cru- 
 cified in an open place, where the sun made his body run 
 with sweat, and the rain washed it. Philip of Macedon 
 dreamed he sealed up his wife's belly ; whereby he did ex- 
 pound it, that his wife should be barren; but Aristander, 
 the soothsayer, told him that his wife was with child, be- 
 cause men do not use to seal vessels that are empty. 2 A 
 phantasm that appeared to M. Brutus in his tent, said to 
 him, Philippis iterum me videbis? Tiberius said to Galba, 
 Tu quoque, Galba, degustabis imperium* In Vespasian's 
 time there went a prophecy in the East, 5 that those that 
 should come forth of Judaea should reign over the world ; 
 which though it may be was meant of our Saviour, yet 
 Tacitus expounds it of Vespasian. Domitian dreamed, the 
 night before he was skin, that a golden head was growing 
 out of the nape of his neck ; 6 and, indeed, the succession 
 that followed him for many years made golden times. 
 Henry the Sixth of England said of Henry the Seventh, 
 
 future a time will come when Ocean shall relax the restraints with 
 which he binds the globe, and a vast continent shall be laid open, and 
 the pilot shall discover new worlds, and Thule be no longer the farthest 
 limit of the earth. Tiphys was pilot in the Argonautic expedition. 
 
 1 Polycrates] Tyrant of Samos, put to death by Orcetes, governor of 
 Magnesia. Bacon here quotes from Herodotus, iii. 124. 
 
 2 Philip of Macedon dreamed, &v.] Plutarch, Alexander. 
 
 3 Philippis iterum, &>c.] Plutarch (Brutus and Julius Ctesar). Thou 
 shalt see me again at Philippi. Plutarch says it was the evil genius of 
 Brutus that thus addressed him. 
 
 * Tu quoque, Galba, &c.] Tacitus, Ann. vi. 26. Thou also, Galba, 
 shalt taste of empire. Suetonius (Galba, 4), with more probable accu- 
 racy, ascribes the prediction to Augustus, as Galba must have been very 
 young at the time. 
 
 4 A prophecy in the East, &><:.] Tacitus, Hist. v. 13 ; Suetonius, 
 fespasian, 4, 
 
 Domitian drramed, &*f.] Suetonius, Domitian, 23.
 
 Essays. 
 
 when he was a lad, and gave him water, ' This is the lad that 
 shall enjoy the crown for which we strive.' ' When I was 
 in France, I heard from one Dr. Pena, that the queen mother,* 
 who was given to curious arts, caused the king her husband's 
 nativity to be calculated under a false name : and the as- 
 trologer gave a judgment, that he should be killed in a duel ; 
 at which the queen laughed, thinking her husband to be 
 above challenges and duels : but he was slain upon a course 
 at tilt, the splinters of the staff of Montgomery going in at 
 his beaver. The trivial prophecy which I heard when I 
 was a child, and Queen Elizabeth was in the flower of her 
 
 years, was, 
 
 When hempe is spun, 
 England's done : 
 
 whereby it was generally conceived, that after the princes 
 had reigned which had the principal letters of that word 
 hempe (which were Henry, Edward, Mary, Philip, and 
 Elizabeth), England should come to utter confusion ; which, 
 thanks be to God, is verified only in the change of the name; 
 for that the king's style is now no more of England but of 
 Britain. There was also another prophecy, before the yeai 
 of 88, which I do not well understand : 
 
 There shall be seen upon a day, 
 Between the Baugh and the May, 
 The black fleet of Norway. 
 When that that is come and gone, 
 England build houses of lime and stone, 
 For after wars shall you have none. 
 
 1 Henry the Sixth, 6-Y.] Bacon, in his History of Henry VII., says 
 that the king ' was washing his hands at a great feast ' In Shakspeare's 
 3 Hen. VI. the king says 
 
 ' Come hither, England's hope : if secret powers 
 Suggest but truth to my divining thoughts, 
 This pretty lad will prove our country's bliss,' &c. 
 * The queen mother} Catherine de' Medicis, wife of Henry II. of 
 France,
 
 Of PropJiccid. 1 5 1 
 
 II was generally conceived to be meant of the Spanish fleet 
 that came in 88 : for that the King of Spain's surname, as 
 they say, is Norway. The prediction of Regiomontanus, 1 
 
 Octogesimus octavus mirabilis annus,* 
 
 vas thought likewise accomplished in the sending of that 
 great fleet, being the greatest in strength, though not in 
 number, of all that ever swam upon the sea. As for Cleon's 
 dream, 3 I think it was a jest ; it was, that he was devoured 
 of a long dragon, and it was expounded of a maker of 
 sausages, that troubled him exceedingly. There are num- 
 bers of the like kind : especially if you include dreams, and 
 predictions of astrology ; but I have set down these few 
 only of certain credit for example. My judgment is, that 
 they ought all to be despised, and ought to serve but for 
 winter-talk by the fire-side. Though when I say despised, 
 I mean it as for belief: for otherwise, the spreading or pub- 
 lishing of them is in no sort to be despised, for they have 
 done much mischief ; and I see many severe la-.vs made to 
 suppress them. That that hath given them grace, and 
 some credit, consisteth in three things. First, that men 
 mark when they hit, and never mark when they miss ; as 
 they do generally also of dreams. The second is, that 
 probable conjectures, or obscure traditions, many times 
 turn themselves into prophecies : while the nature of man, 
 which coveteth divination, thinks it no peril to foretell 
 that which indeed they do but collect : 4 as that of Seneca's 
 
 1 Regiomontanus] This Latin word signifies of kings mountain, that 
 is of Kbn'.gsberg, Johann Miiller, a native of Konigsberg, being so 
 called. His prophecy was written in German, and was translated into 
 Latin, but witli considerable alteration, by Braschuis. 
 
 * Octogesimus octavus, <Srv.] The 88th, a wonderful year. 
 
 1 Clean s dreani\ Bacon alludes to a passage in the Knights of 
 Aristophanes, 195, where Cleon the Athenian demagogue is satirized. 
 
 4 Collect} Guess, or conjecture.
 
 ($2 Essays. 
 
 verse. 1 For so much was then subject to demonstration, 
 that the globe of the earth had great parts beyond the 
 Atlantic, which might be probably conceived not to be all 
 sea : and adding thereto the tradition in Plato's Timaeus, 
 and his Atlanticus, 2 it might encourage one to turn it to a 
 prediction. The third and last (which is the great one), is, 
 that almost all of them, being infinite in number, have been 
 impostures, and by idle and crafty brains merely contrived 
 and feigned after the event passed. 
 
 XXXVI. OF AMBITION. 
 
 Ambition is like choler : which is a humour 3 that maketh 
 men active, earnest, full of alacrity, and stirring, if it be not 
 stopped ; but if it be stopped, and cannot have his way, it 
 becometh adust, 4 and thereby malign and venomous. So 
 ambitious men, if they find the way open for their rising, 
 and still get forward, they are rather busy than dangerous ; 
 but if they be checked in their desires, they become secretly 
 discontent, and look upon men and matters with an evil 
 eye ; B and are best pleased when things go backward ; 
 which is the worst property in a servant of a Prince or 
 State. Therefore it is good for Princes, if they use ambi- 
 tious men, to handle it so as they be still 6 progressive, and 
 not retrograde : which, because it cannot be without incon- 
 
 1 Seneca's verse] See p. 148. 
 
 2 His Atlanticus] Bacon here refers to Plato's Critias, of which the 
 Latin translation by Comarius is called Critias sive Atlanticus. In 
 this dialogue an imaginary land called Atlantis is discoursed of. 
 
 * Which is a humour] In the old humoral pathology, four humours, 
 blood, phlegm, choler, and melancholy, were supposed to constitute, by 
 their varying proportions, the various temperaments of individuals. 
 
 4 Adust] Infhmed. 
 
 4 An evil eye] Envy. See p. 31, note 4. 
 
 Still] Ever.
 
 Of Ambition. 153 
 
 vemenee, it is good not to use such natures at all. For if 
 they rise not with their service, they will take order 1 to 
 make their service fall with them. But since we have said, 
 it were good not to use men of ambitious natures, except it 
 be upon necessity, it is fit we speak 2 in what cases they are 
 of necessity. Good commanders in the wars must be taken, 
 be they never so ambitious : 3 for the use of their service 
 dispenseth with the rest ; and to take a soldier without 
 ambition is to pull off his spurs. There is also great use of 
 ambitious men in being screens to Princes in matters of 
 clanger and envy : for no man will take that part except he 
 be like a seeled dove, 4 that mounts and mounts because he 
 cannot see about him. There is use also of ambitious men 
 in pulling down the greatness of any subject that overtops ; 
 as Tiberius used Macro in the pulling down of Sejanus. 
 Since, therefore, they must be used in such cases, there 
 resteth to speak 5 how they are to be bridled, that they may 
 
 1 Take order] Take measures ; endeavour. 
 ' * Speak] State. 
 
 3 Be they never, &*c.] In expressions of this kind, ever (Lat. uicun- 
 aue) may be more correct than never ; it should be observed, however, 
 that the latter word is an abridgment of the phrase as never was. 
 
 4 A seeled dove] To seel the eyes of a hawk was to blind it by sewing 
 up the eyelids, that it might become accustomed to the hood. This 
 cruelty was sometimes practised on doves, which made them, when 
 let loose, soar almost perpendicularly like the lark, until they were 
 exhausted and dropped dead. In Shakspeare's Macbeth, iii. 2, we 
 have 
 
 ' Come, seeling night, 
 Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day.' 
 
 Ford, in the Broken Heart, which was written in 1633, seems to have 
 had Bacon's comparison in mind, where it is said 
 
 ' Ambition, like a seeled dove, mounts upward, 
 Higher and higher still, to perch on clouds, 
 But tumbles headlong down with heavier ruin.' ii. 2. 
 
 5 There resteth to speak] It remains for me to state. Fr. II me reste
 
 154 Essays. 
 
 be less dangerous. There is less danger of them if they be 
 of mean birth than if they be noble ; and if they be rather 
 harsh of nature than gracious and popular ; and if they be 
 rather new raised, than grown cunning and fortified in their 
 greatness. It is counted by some a weakness in Princes to 
 have favourites ; but it is, of all others, 1 the best remedy 
 against ambitious great ones. For when the way of plea- 
 suring 2 and displeasuring lieth by the favourite, it is impos- 
 sible any other should be over-great. Another means to 
 curb them is to balance them by others as proud as they. 
 But then there must be some middle counsellors, to keep 
 things steady ; for without that ballast the ship will roll too 
 much. At the least, a Prince may animate and inure some 
 meaner persons to be, as it were, scourges to ambitious men. 
 As for the having of them obnoxious to ruin : if they be of 
 fearful natures, it may do well ; but if they be stout ' and 
 daring, it may precipitate their designs, and prove dangerous. 
 As for the pulling of them down, if the affairs require it, and 
 that it may not be done with safety suddenly, the only way 
 ist the interchange continually of favours and disgraces; 4 
 whereby they may not know what to expect, and be, as it 
 were, in a wood. Of ambitions, it is less harmful, the 
 ambition to prevail in great things, than that other, to 
 appear in everything ; for that breeds confusion, and mars 
 business : but yet it is less danger to have an ambitious 
 man stirring in business, than great in dependences.* He 
 that seeketh to be eminent amongst able men hath a great 
 
 1 Of all others] Seep. 10, note 4. 
 
 1 Pleasuring Compare Shakspeare, Merry Wives, i. I, 'What I do 
 is to pleasure you ; ' Much. Ado, v. I, ' Draw, to pleasure us ; ' Merck. 
 i>f Veil. i. 3, ' Will you pleasure me ? ' 
 
 1 Stout] Bold. 
 
 * Disgraces] Disfavours. 
 
 * Gnat in dependences] Powerful in dependents or objects of patron- 
 Hje. L&t. Qui gratid d clientelis pallet.
 
 Of Ambition. 155 
 
 task ; but that is ever good for the public. But he that 
 plots to be the only figure amongst ciphers is the decay of 
 a whole age. Honour hath three things in it : the vantage- 
 ground to do good; 1 the approach to kings and principal 
 persons ; and the raising of a man's own fortunes. He that 
 hath the best of these intentions, when he aspireth, is an 
 honest man ; and that Prince that can discern of these 
 intentions in another that aspireth, is a wise Prince. Gene- 
 rally, let Princes and States choose such ministers as are 
 more sensible of duty than of rising; 2 and such as love 
 business rather upon conscience than upon bravery : 3 and 
 let them discern a busy nature from a willing mind. 
 
 XXXVII. OF MASQUES AND TRIUMPHS* 
 
 These things are but toys 8 to come amongst such serious 
 observations ; but yet, since Princes will have such things, 
 it is better they should be graced with elegancy than 
 daubed with cost. Dancing to song is a thing of great 
 state and pleasure. I understand it that the song be in 
 quire, 6 placed aloft, and accompanied with some broken 
 
 1 The vantage ground, drv.] Compare the passage in the nth 
 Essay, ' But power to do good is the true and lawful end of aspiring,' 
 &c. 
 
 2 More setisible of duty, <5rv.] More actuated or influenced by the 
 sense of duty than by the feeling of ambition. 
 
 3 Bravery} Ostentation. 
 
 4 Masques and triump1is\ Masques were dramatic performances in 
 ivhich the actors wore masks. Triumphs were precessional pageants 
 or shows by torchlight. This Essay is omitted in the Latin transla- 
 tion. 
 
 5 Toys} Trifles. 
 
 6 In quire} In choir.
 
 156 Essays. 
 
 music; 1 and the ditty fitted to the device. 2 Acting in song, 
 especially in dialogues, hath an extreme good grace ; I say 
 acting, not dancing (for that is a mean and vulgar thing) ; 
 and the voices of the dialogue would be 3 strong and manly 
 (a bass and a tenor, no treble), and the ditty high and tra- 
 gical, not nice or dainty. Several quires placed one over 
 against another, and taking the voice by catches, anthem 
 wise, give great pleasure. Turning dances into figure is a 
 childish curiosity ; and generally let it be noted, that those 
 things which I here set down are such as do naturally take 
 the sense, and not respect petty wonderments. It is true, 
 the alterations of scenes, so it be quietly and without noise, 
 are things of great beauty and pleasure ; for they feed and 
 relieve the eye before it be full of the same object. Let the 
 scenes abound with light, specially coloured and varied : 
 and let the masquers, or any other that are to come down 
 from the scene, have some -motions upon the scene itself 
 before their coming down ; for it draws the eye strangely, 
 and makes it with great pkasure to desire to see that it 
 cannot perfectly discern. Let the songs be loud and 
 cheerful, and not chirpings or pulings. Let the music 
 likewise be sharp and loud, and well placed. The colours 
 that show best by candle-light are white, carnation, and a 
 kind of sea-water green ; and oes, or spangs, 4 as they are of 
 
 ' Broken music} By this name the music of the harp, lute, and othei 
 stringed instruments was distinguished from that of wind instruments. 
 Shakspeare plays with the expression ; thus, in Trail, and Cress, iii. i, 
 'Fair prince, here is good broken music ;' As You Like It, i. 2, 'Is 
 there any else longs to see this broken music in hi- sides ; ' Henry V. 
 v. 2, ' Come, your answer in broken music ; for thy voice is music, and 
 thy English broken.' 
 
 2 The d'My fitted, &<:.] The words fitted to the nature of the diver- 
 sion. 
 
 3 Would be] Ought to be. See p. 135, note 3. 
 
 4 G~'s or spangs\ Circlets or spangles. Shakspeare frequently calls
 
 Of Masques and TriumpJis. 157 
 
 no great cost, so they are of most glory. 1 As for rich 
 embroidery, it is lost, and not discerned. Let the suits of 
 the masquers be graceful, and such as become the person 
 when the vizors are off: not after examples of known 
 attires; Turks, soldiers, mariners, and the like. Let anti- 
 masques 2 not be long; they have been commonly of fools, 
 satyrs, baboons, wild men, antics, beasts, sprites, witches, 
 Ethiopes, pigmies, Turquets, 3 nymphs, rustics, Cupids, 
 statuas 4 moving, and the like. As for angels, it is not 
 comical enough to put them in antimasques ; and anything 
 that is hideous, as devils, giants, is, on the other side, as 
 unfit. But chiefly, let the music of them be recreative, 
 and with some strange changes. Some sweet odours sud- 
 denly coining forth, without any drops falling, are, in such a 
 company, as there is steam and heat, things of great pleasure 
 and refreshment. Double masques, one of men, another of 
 ladies, addeth state and variety ; but all is nothing, except 
 the room be kept clear and neat. 
 
 For justs, and tourneys, and barriers : 5 the glories of them 
 are chiefly in the chariots wherein the challengers make 
 their entry ; especially if they be drawn with strange beasts, 
 as lions, bears, camels, and the like : or in the devices of 
 their entrance; or in the bravery 6 of their liveries; or in the 
 
 a circular shape an O. In Mitis. N. Dream, iii. 2, comparing Helena 
 with the stars, he says 
 
 ' Fair Helena, who more engilds the night 
 Than all yon fiery oes and eyes of light.' 
 1 Glory] Show ; splendour. 
 
 * Antimasques] These were interludes between the Acts of the prin- 
 cipal masque. 
 
 * Turquets] Turks. 
 
 4 Slatuas} This is the Italian word statua pluralised. See p. 113, 
 note 2, 
 
 * Harriets] The Palestra, for wrestling and other athletic perform- 
 ances. 
 
 * Bravery] Showiness.
 
 IS 3 Essays. 
 
 goodly furniture of their horses and armour. But enougn 
 of these toys. 
 
 XXXVIII. OF NATURE IN MEN. 
 
 Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom ex- 
 tinguished. Force maketh nature more violent in the return; 
 doctrine and discourse maketh nature less importune ; l but 
 custom only doth alter and subdue nature. He that seeketh 
 victory over his nature, let him not set himself too great nor 
 too small tasks ; for the first will make him dejected by 
 often failings, 2 and the second will make him a small pro- 
 seeder, though by often prevailings. And, at the first, let 
 him practise with helps, as swimmers do with bladders, or 
 rushes ; but, after a time, let him practise with disadvan- 
 tages, as dancers do with thick shoes. For it breeds great 
 perfection if the practice be harder than the use. Where 
 nature is mighty, and therefore the victory hard, the degrees 
 had need be : first to stay and arrest nature in time, like to 
 him that would say over the four and twenty letters when he 
 was angry; 3 then to go less in quantity, as if one should, 
 in forbearing 4 wine, come from drinking healths 5 to a 
 draught at a meal ; and, lastly, to discontinue altogether. 
 But if a man have the fortitude and resolution to enfranchise 
 himself at once, that is the best : 
 
 Optimus ille animi vindex, laedentia pectus 
 Vincula qui rupit, dedoluitque semel. 8 
 
 1 Importune} Importunate. 
 
 2 Often failings] Frequent failures. Often was anciently much 
 used as an adjective. In Scripture, I Tim. v. 23, we bave * thine often 
 infirmities.' 
 
 3 Like to him, &c.~\ See p. 114, note 3. 
 
 4 Forbearing} Intending to abstain from. Compare Shakspeare, 
 As You Like It, ii. 7, ' Then, but forbear your food a little while.' 
 
 4 Healt/ts} Toasts. See p. 73, note 3. 
 
 ' Optimus Ule. &V.] Ovid, Rented. Amor. 293. Ke is the best
 
 Of Nature in Men. I ^ 
 
 Neither is the ancient rule amiss, to bend nature as a wand 
 to a contrary extreme, whereby to set it right: understanding 
 it where the contrary extreme is no vice. Let not a man 
 force a habit upon himself with a perpetual continuance, but 
 with some intermission. For both the pause reinforceth the 
 new onset; and, if a man that is not perfect be ever in 
 practice, he shall as well practise his errors as his abilities, 
 and induce one habit of both ; and there is no means to help 
 this but by seasonable intermissions. But let not a man 
 trust his victory over his nature too far ; for nature will lie 
 buried a great time, and yet revive upon the occasion, or 
 temptation. Like as it was with ^Esop's damsel, turned 
 from a cat to a woman, who sat very demurely at the board's 
 end, till a mouse ran before her. Therefore, let a man either 
 avoid the occasion altogether, or put himself often to it, 
 that he may be little moved with it. A man's nature is best 
 perceived in privateness, for there is no affectation ; in 
 passion, for that putteth a man out of his precepts ; and in 
 a new case or experiment, for there custom leaveth him. 
 They are happy men whose natures sort 1 with their voca- 
 tions ; otherwise they may say, multum iiicola fuit anima 
 mea,- when they converse in those things they do not affect. 3 
 In studies, whatsoever a man commandeth upon himseF, 
 let him set hours for it ; but whatsoever is agreeable to his 
 nature, let him take no care for any set times, for his 
 thoughts will fly to it of themselves ; so as the spaces 4 of 
 other business or studies will suffice. A man's nature runs 
 
 deliverer of his mind, who has broken the bonds that gall his breas'., 
 and at once has rid himself of grief. 
 
 1 Sort] Suit ; agree. 
 
 8 Multiim incola, drv.] Psal. cxx. 6, ' My soul hath long dwelt with 
 him that hateth peace.' 
 
 s When they converse, &*c. ] When their occupation or engagement 
 ir, with those things which they do not like. 
 
 4 60 as the spaces] So that the intervals.
 
 I do Essays. 
 
 either to herbs or weeds; therefore let him seasonably water 
 the one, and destroy the other. 
 
 XXXIX. OF CUSTOM AND EDUCATION. 
 
 Men's thoughts are much according to their inclination ; 
 their discourse and speeches according to their learning and 
 infused opinions ; but their deeds are after ' as they have 
 been accustomed. And therefore, as Machiavel 2 well noteth 
 (though in an evil-favoured 3 instance), there is no trusting 
 to the force of nature, nor to the bravery of words, except 
 it be corroborate by custom. His instance is, that for the 
 achieving of a desperate conspiracy, a man should not rest 
 upon the fierceness of any man's nature, or his resolut^ 
 undertakings, but take such a one as hath had his hands 
 formerly in blood. But Machiavel knew not of a Friar 
 Clement, nor a Ravaillac, 4 nor a Jaureguy, nor a Baltazar 
 Gerard ; 5 yet this rule holdeth still, 6 that nature, nor the 
 engagement of words, 7 are not so forcible as custom. Only, 
 superstition is now so well advanced, that men of the first 
 blood 8 are as firm as butchers by occupation ; and votary 
 
 1 After] According. 
 
 2 Machiavel] See p. 49, note I. The quotation following is from 
 the Discourses on Livy, iii. 6. 
 
 3 Evil-favoured} Ill-favoured ; ugly. 
 
 4 A Friar Clement, nor a Ravaillac] See p. 19, note 5. 
 
 8 Nor a Jaureguy, nor a Baltazar Gerard] The Latin adds Ant 
 Guidone Faulxio. In 1582 John Jaureguy attempted the life of Wil- 
 liam of Nassau, Prince of Orange. Two years later the Prince was 
 shot by the fanatic Balthazar Gerard. 
 
 Holdeth still] Ever holds. 
 
 7 Nor the engagement of 'words'] Lat. Aut promts sorum fidem etfero- 
 dam. 
 
 * Men of the first blood] The Latin has Prima c'assis suarii. Bacon 
 evideni ly means those who for the first time are men of blood or mur- 
 derers.
 
 Of Custom and Education. 1 6 1 
 
 resolution ! is made equipollent to custom even in matter of 
 blood. In other things, the predominancy of custom is 
 everywhere visible; insomuch as a man would wonder to 
 hear men profess, protest, engage, give great words, and 
 then do just as they have done before : as if they were dead 
 images and engines, moved only by the wheels of custom. 
 We see also the reign or tyranny of custom, what it is. The 
 Indians (I mean the sect of their wise men) lay themselves 
 quietly upon a stack of wood, and so sacrifice themselves by 
 fire: 2 nay, the wives strive to be burned with the corpses of 
 their husbands. 3 The lads of Sparta, of ancient time, were 
 wont to be scourged upon the altar of Diana, without so 
 much as queching. 4 I remember, in the beginning of 
 Queen Elizabeth's time of England, an Irish rebel 5 con- 
 demned put up a petition to the deputy that he might be 
 hanged in a withe, and not in a halter, because it had been 
 so used with former rebels. There be monks in .Russia, 
 for penance, that will sit a whole night in a vessel of water, 
 till they be engaged with hard ice. Many examples may 
 be put of the force of custom, both upon rnind and body. 
 Therefore, since custom is the principal magistrate of man's 
 
 1 Votary resolution] Resolution consequent upon a solemn vow. 
 
 - The Indians, drv.] He found this in North's Plutarch (Alexander), 
 which says of Calanus, the Indian philosopher, that ' he laid him down 
 upon the wood-stack, covered his face, nor never stirred hand nor 
 foot, nor quitched when the fire took him, but did sacrifice himself in 
 this sort, as the manner of his country was that the wise men should so 
 sacrifice themselves.' 
 
 3 The wives _ strive, drv.] The suttees in India were formally 
 abolished in 1829, and very few instances of them have occurred since. 
 
 4 QiufAiiig] Stirring. See note 2, above. The Latin inaccurately 
 renders it by ejulatn aut gemittt ullo. Spenser wrote quick and quinclu. 
 Thus, in the F. Q. V. ix. 33, 'That once he could not move, nor quich 
 .it all ; ' and in the View of the State of Ireland, ' No part of all that 
 realme shall be able or dare so much as to quinche.' 
 
 4 An Irish rebel} He is supposed to refer to Brian O'Rourke, who, 
 however, was executed in 1597, a late year in Elizabeth's reitjn. 
 
 M
 
 1 62 Essays. 
 
 life, let men by all means endeavour to obtain good customs. 
 Certainly custom is most perfect when it beginneth in young 
 years : this we call education, which is, in effect, but an 
 early custom. So we see, in languages the tongue is more 
 pliant to all expressions and sounds, the joints are more 
 supple to all feats of activity and motions, in youth than 
 afterwards ; for it is true, that late learners * cannot so well 
 take the ply, 8 except it be in some minds that have not 
 suffered themselves to fix, but have kept themselves open 
 and prepared to receive continual amendment, which is 
 exceeding rare. But if the force of custom simple and 
 separate be great, the force of custom copulate, and con- 
 joined, and collegiate is far greater. For there example 
 teacheth, company comforteth, 3 emulation quickeneth, glory 
 raiseth ; so as in such places the force of custom is in his 4 
 exaltation. Certainly, the great multiplication 5 of virtues 
 upon human nature resteth upon societies well ordained and 
 disciplined. For commonwealths and good governments do 
 nourish virtue grown, but do not much mend the seeds. 
 But the misery is, that the most effectual means are now 
 applied to the ends least to be desired. 
 
 1 Late learners] The Lat. version has opsimathes, a Greek term from 
 'o$t late, and fj.af6a.vw to learn. 
 
 Take the ply] Take the bending ; be pliant. An allusion to the 
 training of boughs. So in the Advancement, IL, ' A conceit that they 
 can bring about occasions to their p!y.' 
 
 " Comforteth] Fortifies or strengthens. So in the Advancement, II., 
 water 'doth scatter and leese itself in 4he ground, except it be collected 
 into some receptacle, where k may by union comfort and sustain itself; ' 
 and in the History of Henry the Seventh, ' If ^neighbour princes should 
 patronise and comfort rebels against the law of nations and of leagues. ' 
 In Shakspeare, JVint. Ta/e, ii. 3, Paulina speaks of obsequious coun- 
 sellors comforting the \i\s of Leontes, that is, upholding or encouraging 
 his evil conduct. 
 
 4 His] Its. See p. 39, note 5. 
 
 * Tite great multiplifation] The Latin adds ft 4ftt ehymicorum iota- 
 bulo utar) ptwjectio, See p. 1 1 1, note J.
 
 Of Fortune. 163 
 
 XL. OF FORTUNE. 
 
 It cannot be denied but outward accidents conduce much 
 to fortune : favour, opportunity, death of others, occasion 
 fitting virtue. But chiefly the mould of a man's fortune is 
 in his own hands. Faber quisque fortunes sitce? saith the 
 poet. 2 And the most frequent of external causes is, that the 
 folly of one man is the fortune of another. For no man 
 prospers so suddenly as by others' errors. Serpens, nisi 
 serpentem comederit, non fit draco? Overt and apparent 4 
 virtues bring forth praise ; but there be secret and hidden 
 virtues that bring forth fortune, certain deliveries of a man's 
 self, 5 which have no name. The Spanish name, desemboltura, 
 partly expresseth them : when there be not stonds 6 noi 
 restiveness in a man's nature ; but that the wheels of his 
 mind keep way with the wheels of his fortune. For so 
 Livy, after he had described Cato Major in these words, 
 In illo viro tantum robur corporis ct animi fuit, ut quocumqnc 
 loco natus esset, fortunam sibi facturus videretur? falleth upon 
 
 1 Faber quisqite, &>f. ] Every man the architect of his own fortune. 
 
 2 Saith the poet\ The poet here meant may be Appius, of whom the 
 tract De RepubluA OrdinandA, generally attributed to Sallust, says, 
 ' Res docuit id verum esse, quod in carminibus Appius ait, Fabrum esse 
 quemque fortuna? But the Latin version has inquit Coniicus : and 
 probably Bacon thought the adage to have grown out of a passage in 
 the Trinumintis (ii. 2) of Plautus, for in the Advancement, II., he 
 writes ' Nam pol sapiens, saith the comical poet, Jingit fortunam siJi.- 
 and it grew to an adage, Faber quisque fortunes propriie. ' 
 
 * Serpens, nisi serpentem, &c. ] A serpent if it has not devoured a 
 serpent does not become a dragon. * Apparent] Manifest. 
 
 5 Deliveries of a man's se/f] Lat. Facultates se expedUndi. Power* 
 of adapting one's self. 
 
 Sfands] Obstacles, or resistances. Again used in the 5Oth Essay. 
 7 In illo viro, &*<:.] Livy, xxxix. 40. In that man there was such 
 
 vigour both of mind and body, that he seemed to be one that would 
 achieve fortune for himself wherever he might have been born. 
 
 M 2
 
 164 Essays. 
 
 that, 1 that he had versatile ingenium? Therefore, if a man 
 look sharply and attentively, he shall see fortune : for though 
 she be blind, yet she is not invisible. The way of fortune 
 is like the milken way in the sky; which is a meeting or 
 knot of a number of small stars, not seen asunder, but 
 giving light together. So are there a number of little and 
 scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs, 
 that make men fortunate. The Italians note some of them, 
 such as a man would little think. When they speak of one 
 that cannot do amiss, they will throw in into his other 
 conditions, 3 that he hath Poco di matto y 4 and, certainly, 
 there be not two more fortunate properties, than to have a 
 little of the fool, and not too much of the honest. Therefore 
 extreme lovers of their country or masters were never 
 fortunate; neither can they be, for when a man placeth 
 his thoughts without himself, he goeth not his own way. A 
 hasty fortune maketh an enterpriser and remover 5 (the 
 French hath it better, entreprenant, or remuanf); but the 
 exercised fortune 6 maketh the able man. Fortune is to be 
 honoured and respected, and it be 7 but for her daughters, 
 Confidence an4 Reputation ; for those two felicity breedeth : 
 the first within a man's self ; the latter in others towards 
 him. All wise men, to decline 8 the envy of their own 
 virtues, use to ascribe them to Providence and Fortune ; 
 for so they may the better assume them : and, besides, it is 
 greatness in a man to be the care of the higher Powers. So 
 Caesar said to the pilot in the tempest, Ctzsarem portas. et 
 
 1 Falleth upon (hat] Takes note of that. 
 
 2 Versatile ingenium] A versatile genius. 
 ' Conditions] Qualities. 
 
 4 Poco ai matto} A little of the fool. 
 
 5 Remover] Agitator. 
 
 * The exercised fortune] The fortune that has been attained through 
 persevering efforts. 
 
 7 And it be] An, or if, it be. See p. 98, note 4. 
 
 To decline] To repress.
 
 Of Forttme. 165 
 
 foitunam ejus.* So Sylla chose the name of Felix, and not 
 of Magnus, And it hath been noted, that those that ascribe 
 openly too much to their own wisdom and policy end 
 unfortunate. It is written, that Timotheus the Athenian, 
 after he had, in the account he gave to the State of his 
 government, often interlaced this speech, and in this Fortune 
 had no part, never prospered in anything he undertook 
 afterwards. 2 Certainly there be whose fortunes are like 
 Homer's verses, that have a slide and easiness more than 
 the verses of other poets : as Plutarch saith of Timoleon's 
 fortune in respect of that of Agesilaus or Epaminondas : s 
 and that this should be, no doubt it is much in a man's self. 
 
 1 Casarem portas, 6rv.] 'You carry Caesar and his fortune.' On the 
 occasion to which this refers, Caesar was passing in disguise from Mace- 
 donia to Italy during a storm. The ship-master fearing to proceed, 
 Caesar revealed himself, and said, ' Fear not, for thou hast Ccesar and 
 his fortune with thee.' The btory is in Plutarch's life of Julius Caesar. 
 Shakspeare's Henry VI. Part I. i. 2, makes the Maid of Orleans say 
 ' Now am I like that proud insulting ship, 
 Which Caesar and his fortune bare at once. ' 
 
 - Timotheus the Athenian, <SrV.] ' Sylla did not as Timotheus the 
 son of Conon had done : who, wh**n his adversaries did attribute his 
 noble deeds to the favour of Fortune, he took it in very ill part. 
 Wherefore one day when this Timotheus was returned from the wars 
 with great victories, after he had openly acquainted the Athenians with 
 the whole discourse of his doings in his voyage, he said unto them : 
 My lords of Athens, Fortune hath had no part bi all this which I have 
 told unto you. Hereupon the gods, it should seem, were so angry 
 with this foolish ambition of Timotheus, that he never afterwards did 
 any worthy thing, but all went utterly against the hair with him. But 
 Sylla, to the contrary, did not only patiently abide their words that said 
 he was a happy man and singularly beloved of Fortune, but also, 
 increasing this opinion, and glorying as at a special grace of the gods, 
 did attribute the honour of his doings unto Fortune.' North's Plutarch 
 (Sylla). 
 
 s As Plutarch saith, 6r.] ' Like as Antimachus' verses are full of 
 sinews and strength, and yet at this present we see they are things 
 greatly laboured and made with much pain ; and that contrariwise in
 
 1 66 Essays, 
 
 XLI. OF USURY. 
 
 Many have made witty invectives against usury. They 
 say that it is pity the devil should have God's part, which 
 is the tithe ; J that the usurer is the greatest sabbath-breaker, 
 because his plough goeth every Sunday ; that the usurer is 
 the drone that Virgil speaketh of: 
 
 Ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent ; 3 
 
 that the usurer breaketh the first law that was made foi 
 mankind after the fall, which was, in sudore vultus tui comedcs 
 panem tuum ; not, in sudore vultus alieni;* that usurers 
 should have orange-tawny bonnets, because they do judaise ; 4 
 that it is against nature for money to beget money ; 5 and the 
 
 Homer's verses, besides the passing workmanship and singular grace 
 in them, a man findeth at the first sight that they were easily made and 
 without great pain : even so in like manner, whosoever will compare 
 the painful bloody wars and battles of Epaminondas and Agesilaus with 
 the wars of Timoleon, in the which, besides equity and justice, there 
 is also great ease and quietness, he shall find that they have not been 
 Fortune's doings simply, but that they came of a most noble and for- 
 tunate courage. Yet he himself doth wisely impute it unto his good 
 hap and favourable fortune.' North's Plutarch (Timoleon). 
 1 The tithe} The tenth, or customary rate of 10 per cent. 
 
 - Igiiavum fucos, &*c.] Georg. iv. 168. They drive from their dwell- 
 ings the idle swarm of drones. 
 
 3 In sudore, &*c.] Gen. Hi. 19. lathe sweat of thy face shalt thou 
 eat thy bread ; not in the sweat of another man's face. See p. 146. 
 
 4 because they do judaise] Because they act like Jews. The Jews 
 were obliged by statute to wear orange-tawny or yellow caps ; more 
 anciently it was compulsory for every Jew from the age of seven to 
 wear on his outer garment a badge of yellow felt, six inches long and 
 three inches broad. 
 
 * That it is against nature, 6rt.] Francis Meres, in his Palladis 
 Tamiii (1598), says, ' Usury and increase by gold and silver is unlaw-
 
 Of Usury. 167 
 
 like. I say this only, that usury is a concessum propter duritiem 
 cordis : l for since there must be borrowing and lending, and 
 men are so hard of heart as 2 they will not lend freely, usury 
 must be permitted. Some others have made suspicious and 
 cunning propositions of banks, discovery 3 of men's estates, 
 and other inventions; but few have spoken of usury usefully. 
 It is good to set before us the incommodities and commo- 
 dities of usury, that the good may be either weighed out, or 
 culled out ; and warily to provide, that while we make forth 4 
 to that which is better, we meet not with that which is 
 worse. 
 
 The discommodities of usury are : first, that it makes fewer 
 merchants. For were it not for this lazy trade of usury, 
 money would not lie still, but would in great part be em- 
 ployed upon merchandising, which is the vena porta* of 
 wealth in a state. The second, that it makes poor merchants ; 
 for as a farmer cannot husband 6 his ground so well if he sit 7 
 at a great rent, so the merchant cannot drive his trade so 
 well if he sit at great usury. The third is incident to the 
 other two ; and that is, the decay of customs of Kings, or 
 States, which ebb or flow with merchandising. The fourth, 
 that it bringeth the treasure of a Realm or State into a few 
 hands ; for the usurer being at certainties, and others at 
 uncertainties, at the end of the game most of the money will 
 be in the box ; 8 and ever a State flourisheth when wealth is 
 
 ful, because against nature ; nature hath made them sterile and barren : 
 usury makes them procreative.' Compare what Antonio says in 
 Shakspeare, Merck, of Veil. \. 3, 'When did friendship take a brcol 
 for barren metal of his Iriend ? ' 
 
 1 A concessum, crv.J A concession because of the hardness of the 
 heart. He alludes to Matth. xix. 8. 
 
 * As} That. Discovery] The making known. 
 4 Make forth] Advance. * Vena Porta] .Sir p. 81, note I. 
 
 * Husband} Cultivate. ' Sit] Ocxupy, or hold. 
 
 * Will be in the box] Will be in the coffer of the idle usurer, The 
 1 atin version has prouie en/at, turns out to be the lender's.
 
 [68 Essays. 
 
 more equally spread. The fifth, that it beats down the 
 price ofland : for the employment of money is chiefly either 
 merchandising or purchasing ; and usury waylays both. The 
 sixth, that it doth dull and damp all industries, improve- 
 ments, and new inventions, wherein money would be stir- 
 ring, if it were not for this slug. The last, that it is the 
 canker and ruin of many men's estates, which in process of 
 time breeds a public poverty. 
 
 On the other side, the commodities of usury are : first, 
 that howsoever usury in some respect hindereth merchan- 
 dising, yet in some other it advanceth it ; for it is certain 
 that the greatest part of trade is driven by young merchants 
 upon borrowing at interest; so as 1 if the usurer either call 
 in, or keep back his money, there will ensue presently a 
 great stand 2 of trade. The second is ; that, were it not for 
 this easy borrowing upon interest, men's necessities would 
 draw upon them a most sudden undoing, in that they would 
 be forced to sell their means (be it lands or goods) far under 
 foot ; 3 and so, whereas usury doth but gnaw upon them, bad 
 markets would swallow them quite up. As for mortgaging, 
 or pawning, it will little mend the matter ; for either men 
 will not take pawns without use, 4 or if they do, they \\ill 
 look precisely 5 for the forfeiture. I remember a cruel 
 moneyed man in the country that would say, * The devil 
 
 1 So as] So that. 
 
 - Stand] Stoppage. 
 
 3 Underfoot} Under the mark ; below the level of its worth. 
 
 4 Use] Interest for use of money was so called. Thus in Shak- 
 speare, Meas. for Meas. i. I 
 
 ' Nature never lends 
 The smallest scruple of her excellence, 
 But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines 
 Herself the glory of a creditor, 
 Both thanks and use.' 
 
 Prensely] Strictly.
 
 Of Usury. \ 69 
 
 take this usury, it keeps us from forfeitures of mortgages and 
 bonds.' The third and last is, that it is a vanity to conceive 
 that there would be ordinary borrowing without profit ; and 
 it is impossible to conceive the number of inconveniences 
 that will ensue if borrowing be cramped. Therefore to 
 speak of the abolishing of usury is idle. All States have 
 ever had it in one kind of rate or other : so as l that opinion 
 must be sent to Utopia. 2 
 
 To speak now of the reformation and reglement 3 of 
 usury : how the discommodities of it may be best avoided, 
 and the commodities retained. It appears, by the balance 
 of commodities and discommodities of usury, two things are 
 to be reconciled ; the one, that the tooth of usury be grinded, 
 that it bite not too much ; the other, that there be left open 
 a means to invite moneyed men to lend to the merchants, 
 for the continuing and quickening of trade. This cannot be 
 done, except you introduce two several sorts of usury, a less 
 and a greater ; for if you reduce usury to one low rate, it 
 will ease the common borrower, but the merchant will be to 
 seek 4 for money. And it is to be noted, that the trade ot 
 merchandise, being the most lucrative, may bear usury at a 
 good rate; other contracts not so. 
 
 To serve both intentions, the way would be briefly thus : 
 that there be two rates of usury ; the one free and general 
 for all, the other under license only to certain persons, and in 
 certain places of merchandising. First, therefore, let usury 
 
 1 So as] So that. 
 
 2 Utopia} This term, from the Greek oi., not, and T<$TOJ, a place, 
 signifies nowhere, and was the name given by Sir Thomas More to an 
 imaginary country, blessed with perfect laws and institutions. 
 
 * fieglemetit} This is the French word for regulation. 
 
 * To seek} At a loss. So in the Advancement, I., 'Men bred in 
 learning are perhaps to seek in points of convenience and accommodating 
 for the present;' and in the old play of The Morning Ramble, v. i, 
 ' How we shall save our reputations to our several adversaries, when 
 they find us together, I am to seek.'
 
 170 Essay u. 
 
 in general be reduced to five in the hundred, and let that 
 rate be proclaimed to be free and current ; and let the State 
 shut itself out to take any penalty l for the same. This will 
 preserve borrowing from any general stop or dryness ; this 
 will ease infinite borrowers in the country ; this will, in good 
 part, raise the price of land, because land purchased at 
 sixteen years' purchase will yield six in the hundred, and 
 somewhat more, 2 whereas this rate of interest yields but five ; 
 this by like reason will encourage and edge industrious and 
 profitable improvements, because many will rather venture 
 in that kind than take five in the hundred, especially having 
 been used to greater profit. Secondly, let there be certain 
 persons licensed to lend to known merchants upon usury at 
 a higher rate ; and let it be with the cautions following. Let 
 the rate be, even with the merchant himself, somewhat more 
 easy than that he used formerly to pay ; for by that means 
 all borrowers shall have some ease by this reformation, be 
 he merchant or whosoever. Let it be no bank, or common 
 stock, but every man be master of his own money : not thai 
 I altogether mislike banks, but they will hardly be brooked. 
 in regard of certain suspicions. \\. the State be answered 
 some small matter 3 for the license, and the rest left to the 
 lender; for if the abatement be but small, it will no whit 
 discourage the lender ; for he, for example, that took before 
 ten or nine in the hundred, will sooner descend to eight in 
 the hundred than give over his trade of usury, and go from 
 certain gains to gains of hazard. Let these licensed lenders 
 be in number indefinite, but restrained to certain principal 
 cities and towns of merchandising : for then they will be 
 hardly able to colour other men's monies in the country; 4 
 
 1 Shut itself out, &>c.] Exclude itself, or abstain, from taking any 
 duty. 
 
 Six in the hundred, &v.] 6| per cent., viz. the i6th part of 100. 
 
 * Answered some smal! matter} Paid some small portion of the rate. 
 4 7o colour other men's monies, &*f.] To lend in their own name,
 
 Of Youth and Age 171 
 
 so as the license of nine will not suck away tne current rate 
 of five ; for no man will send his monies far off, nor put 
 them into unknown hands. 
 
 If it be objected 1 that this doth in a sort authorise usury, 
 which before was is some places but permissive : the answer 
 is, that it is better to mitigate usury by declaration, than to 
 suffer it to rage by connivance. 
 
 XLII. OF YOUTH AND AGE. 
 
 A man that is young in years may be old in hours, if he 
 have lost no time. But that happeneth rarely. Generally, 
 youth is like the first cogitations, not so wise as the second. 
 For there is a youth in thoughts as well as in ages ; and yet 
 the invention of young men is more lively than that of old ; 
 and imaginations stream into their minds better, and, as it 
 were, more divinely. Natures that have much heat, and 
 great and violent desires and perturbations, are not ripe for 
 action till they have passed the meridian of their years : as 
 it was with Julius Caesar and Septimius Severus. Of the 
 latter of whom it is said, juventutem egit erro ribvs, imofiirori- 
 bns, plenam? And yet he was the ablest emperor almost of 
 all the list. But reposed natures may do well in youth ; as 
 it is seen in Augustus Caesar, Cosmus, Duke of Florence, 3 
 Gaston de Foix, 4 and others. On the other side, heat and 
 
 or use the privilege of their license with the monies of other men living 
 out of the said towns. 
 
 1 If it be objected, drv.] This paragraph is omitted in the Latin 
 version. 
 
 - Jttventutfm, &>c. ] Spartian, vit. Sev. He spent a youth full of 
 errors, and even of frenzies. 
 
 3 Cosmns, Dttke of Florence] Cosmo I., a descendant of the Medici 
 family ; died in 1574. 
 
 1 Gaston de Foix} Nephew to Louis XII. ; killed at the battle oi 
 Ravenna in 1512.
 
 172 Essays. 
 
 vivacity in age is an excellent composition 1 for business 
 Young men are fitter to invent than to judge ; fitter for 
 execution than for counsel ; and fitter for new projects than 
 for settled business. For the experience of age, in things 
 that fall within the compass of it, directeth them ; but in 
 new things abuseth 2 them. The errors of young men are 
 the ruin of business ; but the errors of aged men amount 
 but to this, that more might have been done, or sooner. 
 Young men, in the conduct and manage of actions, embrace 
 more than they can hold ; stir more than they can quiet ; 
 fly to the end, without consideration of the means and 
 degrees; pursue some few principles which they have 
 chanced upon absurdly; 3 care not to innovate, which draws 
 unknown inconveniences ; use extreme remedies at first ; 
 and, that which doubleth all errors, will not acknowledge or 
 retract them ; like an unready 4 horse, that will neither stop 
 nor turn. Men of age object too much, consult too long, 
 adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive 
 business home to the full period, but content themselves 
 with a mediocrity of success. Certainly it is good to com- 
 pound employments of both ; for that will be good for the 
 present, because the virtues of either age may correct the 
 defects of both : and good for succession, that young men 
 may be learners, while men in age are actors : and, lastly, 
 good for extern accidents, because authority followeth old 
 men, and favour and popularity youth. But for the moral 
 part, perhaps, youth will have the pre-eminence, as age hath 
 for the politic. A certain rabbin upon the text, Your young 
 men shall see -visions, and your old men shall dream dreams,* 
 inferreth that young men are admitted nearer to God than 
 
 1 Composition] Temperament. 
 
 2 Abuseth\ Deceives, or misleads. 
 
 3 Pursue, drv.] Pursue absurdly some few principles, c. 
 
 * Unready] That does not readily obey the rein. 
 
 Your young men, &c.'\ Joel ii 28.
 
 Of Beauty. 173 
 
 old, because vision is a clearer revelation than a dream : 
 and, certainly, the more a man drinketh of the world, the 
 more it intoxicateth ; and age doth profit 1 rather in the 
 powers of understanding than in the virtues of the will and 
 affections. There be some have an over-early ripeness in 
 their years, which fadeth betimes : these are, first, such as 
 have brittle wits, the edge whereof is soon turned; such as 
 was Hermogenes 2 the rhetorician, whose books are exceeding 
 subtle, who afterwards waxed stupid : a second sort is of 
 those that have some natural dispositions which have better 
 grace in youth than in age ; such as is a fluent and luxuriant 
 speech; which becomes youth well, but not age; so Tully 
 saith of Hortensius, Idem manebat, neque idem decebat : z the 
 third is of such as take too high a strain at the first, and 
 are magnanimous more than tract of years 4 can uphold ; as 
 was Scipio Africanus, of whom Livy saith in effect, Ultima 
 primis cedebant. b 
 
 XLIII. OF BEAUTY. 
 
 Virtue is like a rich stone, best piain set; and surely 
 virtue is best in a body that is comely, though not of delicate 
 
 1 Doth profit] Improves. 
 
 3 Hermogenes\ He lived about the middle of the second century. 
 He is said to have lost all power of memory at the age of 24. 
 
 " Idem manebat, &*c.] Cicero, Rrut, 95, 'He continued the same, 
 but not appropriately so.' 
 
 * Tract of years] Gradual process of years. ' Tract of time ' (from 
 the Lat. tractus temporis) was anciently a familiar expression. Milton 
 has it in P. L. v. 498, ' Improved by tract of time.' Compare North's 
 Plutarch (Lucullus), ' The one by tract and delay, and the other by 
 speed and swiftness.' See p. 193, note 4. 
 
 4 Ultima primis cedebant] The last actions were inferior to the first 
 l.ivy (xxxviii. 53) says so in effect. His words are, ' Mcmorabilior
 
 r 74 Essays. 
 
 features, and that hath rather dignity of presence than 
 beauty of aspect Neither is it almost seen, that very 
 beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue ; as if nature 
 were rather busy not to err, than in labour to produce 
 excellency. And therefore they prove accomplished, but 
 not of great spirit ; and study rather behaviour than virtue. 
 But this holds not always ; for Augustus Caesar, Titus 
 Vespasianus, Philip le Bel of France, Edward the Fourth of 
 England, Alcibiades of Athens, Ismael the sophy of Persia, 
 were all high and great spirits, and yet the most beautiful 
 men of their times. In beauty, that of favour ' is more than 
 that of colour; and that of decent and gracious 2 motion 
 more than that of favour. That is the best part of beauty 
 which a picture cannot express ; no, nor the first sight of 
 the life. There is no excellent beauty that hath not some 
 strangeness in the proportion. A man cannot tell whether 
 Apelles or Albert Durer were the more trifler; whereof the 
 one would make a personage by geometrical proportions; 3 
 the other, by taking the best parts out of divers faces to 
 make one excellent. 4 Such personages, I think, would 
 please nobody but the painter that made them. Not but I 
 think a painter may make a better face than ever was ; but 
 he must do it by a kind of felicity (as a musician that maktth 
 
 priina pars vitre quam postrema fuit : ' the first part of his life was more 
 distinguished than the last. But Bacon's phrase is from Ovid : 
 
 'Coepisti melius quam desinis : ultima frimis 
 Ceduiit? Heroid. ix. 23. 
 
 1 favour] Feature. 
 
 2 Gracious] Graceful. 
 
 * The one would make, <&.] This refers to Albert Durer's treatise 
 De Symmetrid Partium Humani Corporis. 
 
 4 The otlier, by taking, <&.] This was not Apelles, but Zeuxis, 
 whom the people of Crotona requested to make a picture of Helen for 
 the temple of Juno. They sent him a number of the most beautiful of 
 tru-ir women, that ne might combine in his picture the excellences of 
 all. (Cicero, De Invent, ii.)
 
 Of Deformity. 175 
 
 ai\ excellent air in music) and not by rule. A man shall see 
 faces, that, if you examine them part by part, you shall find 
 never a good ; and yet all together do well. If it be true, 
 that the principal part of beauty is in decent motion, 
 certainly it is no marvel though persons in years seem many 
 times more amiable ; pulchrorum autumnus pulcher /' for no 
 youth can be comely but by pardon, 2 and considering the 
 youth as to make up the comeliness. Beauty is as summer 
 fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last ; and, for 
 the most part, it makes a dissolute youth, and an age a little 
 out of countenance ; 3 but yet certainly again, if it light well, 4 
 it maketh virtues shine and vices blush. 
 
 XLIV. OF DEFORMITY. 
 
 Deformed persons are commonly even with Nature ; for 
 AS Nature hath done ill by them,* so do they by Nature ; 
 being for the most part (as the Scripture saith) void of 
 natural affection :* and so they have their revenge of Nature. 
 Certainly there is a consent between the body and the mind, 
 and where Nature erreth in the one, she ventureth 7 in the 
 other : ubi peccat iu uno, periditatta- in attero. But because 
 there is in man an election touching the frame of his mind, 
 and a necessity in the frame of his body, the stars of natural 
 inclination are sometimes obscured by the sun of discipline 
 
 1 Pulchrorum auttunnus pulcJter] The autumn of fair ones is fair. 
 The Latin version introduces this with the words secundum illud mri- 
 pidis. 
 
 2 By pardon} By allowance being made for the time of life. 
 
 * Out of countenance] Melancholy. 
 
 4 If it light well] Lat. Si bene tollocetur. He means, if beauty 
 happen to be associated with a virtuous disposition. 
 
 5 By thttti\ Towards them. 
 
 * Void oj natural affection] Rom. i. 31 ; 2 Tim. iii. 3. 
 ' Ventureth] Runs a risk.
 
 1 76 Essays. 
 
 and virtue ; therefore it is good lo consider of deformity, 
 not as a sign, which is more deceivable, 1 but as a cause 
 which seldom faileth of the effect. Whosoever hath anything 
 fixed in his person that doth induce contempt, hath also a 
 perpetual spur in himself to rescue and deliver himself from 
 scorn ; therefore, all deformed persons are extreme bold : 
 first, as in their own defence, as being exposed to scorn ; 
 but in process of time by a general habit. Also it stirreth 
 in them industry, and especially of this kind, to watch and 
 observe the weakness of others, that they may have some- 
 what to repay. Again, in their superiors, it quencheth 
 jealousy towards them, as persons that they think they may 
 at pleasure despise : and it layeth their competitors and 
 emulators asleep, as never believing they should be in 
 possibility of advancement till they see them in possession : 
 so that upon the matter, 2 in a great wit deformity is an 
 advantage to rising. Kings, in ancient times (and at this 
 present in some countries), were wont to put great trust in 
 eunuchs ; because they that are envious towards all are 
 more obnoxious and officious 3 towards one. But yet their 
 trust towards them hath rather been as to good spials 4 and 
 good whisperers, than good magistrates and officers : and 
 much like is the reason of 5 deformed persons. Still the 
 ground 6 is, they will, if they be of spirit, seek to free them- 
 selves from scorn; which must be either by virtue or malice: 
 and, therefore, let it not be marvelled, if sometimes they 
 prove excellent persons; as was Agesilaus, Zanger the son 
 
 1 Deceivable} Deceiving. 
 
 2 Upon the matter} In regard to this matter. 
 
 3 Obnoxious and officious] Subject and ready to serve. 
 
 4 Spials] spia!s, or spials, meaning spies, is from the old French 
 espier, to spy. Both forms are of frequent occurrence in our old authors. 
 \Ve have espials in the 48th Essay. 
 
 4 Tke reason of] The reason respecting ; the account of. 
 The ground] The general rule.
 
 Of Building. 177 
 
 of Solyman, ^Esop, Gasca president of Peru ; and Socrates 
 may go likewise amongst them, with others. 
 
 XLV. OF BUILDING. 
 
 Houses are built to live in, and not to look on ; there- 
 fore let use be preferred before uniformity, except where 
 both may be had. Leave the goodly fabrics of houses, for 
 beauty only, to the enchanted palaces of the poets, who 
 build them with small cost. He that builds a fair house 
 upon an ill seat ' committeth himself to prison. Neither do 
 I reckon it an ill seat only where the air is unwholesome, 
 but likewise where the air is unequal ; as you shall see 
 many fine seats set upon a knap of ground, environed with 
 higher hills round about it; whereby the heat of the sun 
 is pent in, and the wind gathereth as in troughs; so as you 
 shall have, and that suddenly, as great diversity of heat 
 and cold as if you dwelt in several places. Neither is it 
 ill air only that maketh an ill seat, but ill ways, ill markets, 
 and, if you will consult with Momus, 2 ill neighbours. I speak 
 not of many more : want of water; want of wood, shade, 
 and shelter ; want of fruitfulness and mixture of grounds 
 of several natures ; want of prospect ; want of level grounds ; 
 want of places at some near distance for sports of hunting, 
 hawking, and races ; too near the sea, too remote ; having 
 the commodity 3 of navigable rivers, or the discommodity of 
 their overflowing ; too far off from great cities, which may 
 hinder business ; or too near them, which lurcheth 4 all 
 provisions, and maketh everything dear ; where a man 
 
 1 Seat] Site. 
 
 2 If you -iuill consult, &c.] If you will take amusement into conside- 
 ration. Momus was the god of mirth. 
 
 3 The commodity The advantage, or accommodation. 
 
 1 Lnrchftk] Swallo veth up. From the Lat. lurco, a glutton. 
 N
 
 1 78 Essays. 
 
 hath a great living laid together, and where he is scanted : 
 all which as it is impossible, perhaps, to find together, so 
 it is good to know them, and think of them, that a man 
 may take as many as he can ; and, if he have several 
 dwellings, that he sort them so that what he wanteth in 
 the one he may find in the other. Lucullus answerer. 
 Pompey well, who, when he saw his stately galleries, and 
 rooms so large and lightsome, in one of his houses, 1 said, 
 Surely an excellent place for summer, but how do you in 
 winter ? Lucullus answered, Why, do you not think me as 
 wise as some fowl are, that ei'er change t/ieir abode towards 
 the winter ? 
 
 To pass from the seat to the house itself, we will do as 
 Cicero doth in the orator's art, who writes books De 
 Oratore, and a book he entitles Orator ; whereof the 
 former delivers the precepts of the art, and the latter the 
 perfection. We will, therefore, describe a princely palace, 
 making a brief model thereof: for it is strange to see now 
 in Europe such huge buildings as the Vatican, and Escurial, 2 
 ?.nd some others be, and yet scarce a very fair 3 room in 
 them. 
 
 First, therefore, I say, you cannot have a perfect palace, 
 except you have two several sides : 4 a side for the banquet, 
 as is spoken of in the book of Esther, 5 and a side for the 
 household; the one for feasts and triumphs, 6 and the other 
 for dwelling. I understand both these sides to be not only 
 
 1 In one of his houses] Near Tusculum. Plutarch's Lives (Lucullus). 
 
 - 'j'/ie Vatican and Escurial] The Vatican, so named from one of 
 the seven hills on which Rome was built, is a cluster of buildings, con- 
 sisting of the papal palace, a museum, a library, &c. The Escurial, or 
 Escorial, is an immense palace in Spain, situated about 30 miles to the 
 north-west of Madrid. 
 
 3 fair] Fine ; handsome. 
 
 4 Sides} Wings. 
 
 * Esther] i. 5, 6. 
 
 Triumffe] Pageants. See p. 3, note I.
 
 Of Building. 179 
 
 returns,* but parts of the front; and to be uniform without, 
 though severally partitioned within ; and to be on both 
 sides of a great and stately tower in the midst of the front, 
 that, as it were, joineth them together on either hand. I 
 would have on the side of the banquet, in front, one only 
 goodly room, above stairs, of some forty foot high ; and 
 under it a room for a dressing or preparing place, at times 
 of triumphs. On the other side, which is the household 
 nide, I wish it divided at the first into a hall and a chapel 
 (with a partition between), both of good state and bigness: 
 and those not to go all the length, but to have at the 
 further end a winter and a summer parlour, both fair; and 
 under these rooms a fair and large cellar sunk under 
 ground; and likewise some privy kitchens, with butteries, 
 and pantries, and the like. As for the tower, I would 
 have it two stories, of eighteen foot high apiece above the 
 two wings; and a goodly leads upon the top railed with 
 statuas 2 interposed ; and the same tower to be divided into 
 rooms, as shall be thought fit. The stairs likewise to the 
 upper rooms, let them be upon a fair open newel, 3 and 
 finely railed in with images of wood cast into a brass colour: 
 and a very fair landing-place at the top. But this to be, if 
 you do not point any of the lower rooms for a dining-place 
 of servants ; for, otherwise, you shall have the servants' 
 dinner after your own : for the steam of it will come up 
 as in a tunnel. 4 And so much for the front ; only I under- 
 stand the height of the first stairs to be sixteen foot, which 
 is the height of the lower room. 
 
 1 Returns] Receding continuations of the style of the front 
 
 2 Statuas} Seep. 113, note 2. 
 
 * Newel] The vertical axis formed by the narrow ends of the steps 
 in a winding staircase. 
 
 4 Tunnel} Funnel of a chimney. Sc in Spenser's F. Q. II. ix. 29, 
 'And one great chimney, whose long Unnel thence the smoke forth 
 threw.' 
 
 X2
 
 i8o Essays. 
 
 Beyond this front is there to be a fair court, but three 
 sides of it of a far lower building than the front. And in 
 all the four corners of that court fair stair-cases, cast into 
 turrets on the outside, and not within the row of buildings 
 themselves. But those towers are not to be of the height 
 of the front, but rather proportionable to the lower build- 
 ing. Let the court not be paved, for that striketh up a 
 great heat in summer, and much cold in winter; but only 
 some side alleys with a cross, 1 and the quarters to graze, 2 
 being kept shorn, but not too near shorn. The row of 
 return 3 on the banquet side, let it be all stately galleries ; 
 in which galleries let there be three or five fine cupolas in 
 the length of it, placed at equal distance; and fine coloured 
 windows of several works. On the household side, 
 chambers of presence and ordinary entertainments, 4 with 
 some bed-chambers ; and let all three sides be a double 
 house, without thorough lights 5 on the sides, that you may 
 have rooms from the sun, 6 both for forenoon and afternoon. 
 Cast it 7 also that you may have rooms both for summer 
 and winter, shady for summer, and warm for winter. You 
 shall have sometimes fair houses so full of glass, that one 
 
 1 But only some side alleys, drv.] But let only walks be paved, viz. 
 side walks, and two intersecting middle walks. 
 
 2 To graze] To be in grass ; to be giassplats. 
 
 s T/ie row of return, &c.] The line of building forming that side of 
 the court which proceeds from the banquet side. 
 
 4 Entertainments] Receptions. Entertain used simply to mean 
 receive or admit. In Shakspeare's Com. of Err., iii. i, Antipholus 
 says, ' Mine own doors refuse to entertain me.' 
 
 s Without thorough lights] Lat. Non translucida. Thorough 01 
 through lights are opposite windows in a room. In the Advancement, 
 II., he says, 'This great building of the world had never thorough 
 lights made in it till the age of us and our fathers.' 
 
 6 From the sun] Away from, or out of, the sun. See the Editor's 
 Text-Bock of Eng. Grammar, p. 170, 24. 
 
 Catt it] Fashion it
 
 Of Building. 181 
 
 cannot tell where to become * to be out of the sun or cold. 
 For embowed windows, 2 I hold them of good use (in cities, 
 indeed, upright 3 do better, in respect of the uniformity to- 
 wards the street); for they be pretty retiring places for 
 conference ; and, besides, they keep both the wind and 
 sun off ; for that which would strike almost thorough th r. 
 room doth scarce pass the window. But let them be but 
 few, four in the court, on the sides only. 
 
 Beyond this court, let there be an inward court, of the 
 same square and height, which is to be environed with the 
 garden on all sides : and in the inside, cloistered on all 
 sides upon decent and beautiful arches, as high as the first 
 story. On the under story, towards the garden, let it be 
 turned to a grotto, or place of shade, or estivation ; 4 and 
 only have opening and windows towards the garden ; and 
 be level upon the floor, no whit sunk under ground, to 
 avoid all dampishness. And let there be a fountain, or 
 some fair work of statuas in the midst of this court; and 
 to be paved as the other court was. These buildings to 
 be for privy lodgings on both sides, and the end for privy 
 galleries; whereof you must foresee that one of them be 
 for an infirmary, if the Prince or any special person should 
 be sick, with chambers, bed-chamber, anticamera, and 
 rccamera? joining to it. This upon the second story. 
 Upon the ground story, a ftiir gallery, open, upon pillars ; 
 
 1 Where to become] Lat. Ubi te redpias : where to betake yourself ; 
 where to go. Compare Spenser, F. Q. I. x. 16, ' The dear Charissa, 
 where is she become ?' also III. iv. I, ' Where is the antique glory now 
 become ? ' and Shakspeare, 3 Hen. VI. ii. r, ' Where our right valiant 
 father is become ; ' iv. 4, Where is Warwick then become ? ' 
 
 2 Embowed windows] Bay windows. 
 
 3 Upright] Straight with the wall. 
 
 4 Estivation] Summer retreat. 
 
 4 Anticamfra and recamera] Antechamber and rear or inner 
 chamber.
 
 1 82 Essays. 
 
 and upon the third story likewise, an open gallery upon 
 pillars, to take the prospect and freshness of the garden. 
 At both corners of the further side, by way of return, 1 lei 
 there be two delicate or rich cabinets, 2 daintily 3 paved, 
 richly hanged, glazed with crystalline glass, and a rich 
 cupola in the midst; and all other elegancy that may be 
 thought upon. Jn the upper gallery too, I wish that there 
 may be, if the place will yield it, some fountains running in 
 divers places from the wall, with some fine avoidances. 4 And 
 thus much for the model of the palace; save that you must 
 have, before you come to the front, three courts : a green 
 court plain, with a wall about it; a second court of the 
 same, but more garnished with little turrets, or rather 
 embellishments, upon the wall; and a third court, to make 
 a square with the front, but not to be built, nor yet 
 enclosed with a naked wall, but enclosed with terraces 
 leaded aloft, and fairly garnished on the three sides; and 
 cloistered on the inside with pillars, and not with arches 
 below. As for offices, let them stand at distance, with some 
 low galleries to pass from them to the palace itself. 
 
 XLVI. OF GARDENS. 
 
 God Almighty first planted a garden; and, indeed, it is 
 the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refresh- 
 ment to the spirits of man ; without which buildings and 
 palaces are but gross handiworks : and a man shall ever 
 see, that, when ages grow to civility 5 and elegancy, men 
 come to build stately, sooner than to garden finely ; as if 
 
 By way of return] Lat. In solaria secundo : in the second story. 
 Cabinets] Lat. conclavia (cabinettos modemi vacant'). 
 Daintily] Elegantly. 
 
 Avoidances'] Conduits, for voiding or discharging the water. 
 Crvility\ Civilisation.
 
 Of Gardens. 1*3 
 
 gardening were the greater perfection. I do hold it, in the 
 royal ordering of gardens, there ought to be gardens for 
 all the months in the year ; in which, severally, things of 
 beauty may be then in season. For December and January, 
 and the latter part of November, you must take such things 
 as are green all winter: holly, ivy, bays, juniper; cypress- 
 trees, yew, pine-apple-trees, 1 fir-trees; rosemary, lavender; 
 periwinkle, the white, the purple, and the blue ; germander, 
 'Jags ; orange- trees, lemon- trees, and myrtles, if they be 
 stoved; 2 and sweet marjoram warm set. 3 There followeth, 
 for the latter part of January and February, the mezereon 
 tree, which then blossoms; crocus vernus, both the yellow 
 and the grey ; primroses, anemones, the early tulipa, the 
 hyacinthus orientalis, chamairis, fritellaria. For March 
 there come violets, especially the single blue, which are 
 the earliest; the yellow daffodil, the daisy ; the almond-tree 
 in blossom, the peach-tree in blossom, the cornelian-tree 
 in blossom ; sweet brier. In April follow the double white 
 violet, the wall-flower, the stock gilliflower, the cowslip, 
 flower-de-luces, 4 and lilies of all natures, rosemary flowers, 
 the tulipa, the double peony, the pale daffodil, the French 
 honeysuckle; the cherry-tree in blossom, the Damascene 5 and 
 plum-trees in blossom, the white thorn in leaf, the lilac-tree. 
 In May and June come pinks of all sorts, specially the 
 blush pink ; roses of all kinds, except the musk, which 
 comes later ; honeysuckles, strawberries, bugloss, colum- 
 bine, the French marigold, flos Africanus, cherry-tree in 
 fruit, ribes, 6 figs in fruit, rasps, vine-flowers, lavender in 
 
 Pine-applc-trecs\ Pine-trees. 
 
 Staved] Kept in hot-houses. 
 
 Warm set] Lat. Juxta parietem et versus so/em sctus. 
 
 Flower- de- Luces} The iris. Fr. Fletir de Us. 
 
 The Damascene] The damson, or Damascus plum. 
 
 Kibes] Currants.
 
 ( 84 Essays. 
 
 flowers, the sweet satyrian, with the white flower ; heiba 
 muscaria, 1 lilium convallium, the apple-tree in blossom. In 
 July come gilliflowers of all varieties, musk-roses, the lime- 
 tree in blossom, early pears, and plums in fruit, gennitings, 5 
 quodlins. 3 In August come plums of all sorts in fruit, 
 pears, apricocks, 4 barberries, filberds, musk melons, monks 
 hoods of all colours. In September come grapes, apples, 
 poppies of all colours, peaches, melocotones, 6 nectarines, 
 cornelians, wardens, 6 quinces. In October and the begin- 
 ning of November come services, medlars, bullaces, roses 
 cut or removed to come late, holly oaks, and such like. 
 These particulars are for the climate of London. But my 
 meaning is perceived that you may have ver perpetuum? as 
 the place affords. 
 
 And because the breath of flowers is far sweeter in the 
 air (where it comes and goes, like the warbling of music) 
 than in the hand, therefore nothing is more fit for that 
 delight, than to know what be the flowers and plants that 
 do best perfume the air. Roses, damask and red, are fast 
 flowers of their smells; 8 so that you may walk by a whole 
 row of them, and find nothing of their sweetness : yea, 
 though it be in a morning's dew. Bays, likewise, yield no 
 smell as they grow, rosemary little, nor sweet marjoram. 
 
 1 Ilerba muscaria] The fly-trap. 
 
 2 Gentiitings] A kind of apples that are early ripe. Properly 
 called jfuneatings, from being fit for use in June. 
 
 3 Quodlitis] Codlins. 
 
 4 Apricocks} Now called Apricots. 
 
 4 Melocotones\ Malum cotoneum, a kind of quince. 
 
 6 Wardens} So called from the French poire de garde, the pear laid 
 up in store. The warden or keeping-pear, was much used for pies. 
 In Shakspeare, Wint. Tale, iv. 2, the Clown says, 'I must have saffron 
 to colour the warden pies.' 
 
 7 Ver perpetnuin] A perpetual spring. 
 
 Art fast flowers, &>c.] Do not send out their odours to any distance. 
 Lat. Odoris sui sunt tenaces, nee aerem tingunt.
 
 Of Gardens. 185 
 
 That which, above all others, yields the sweetest smell in 
 the air, is the violet, specially the white double violet, 
 which comes twice a year, about the middle of April, and 
 about Bartholomew-tide. 1 Next to that is the musk-rose; 
 then the strawberry-leaves dying, with 2 a most excellent 
 cordial smell ; then the flower of the vines : it is a little 
 dust like the dust of a bent, 3 which grows upon the cluster 
 in the first coming forth ; then sweet brier, then wall- 
 flowers, which are very delightful to be set under a parlour or 
 lower chamber window; then pinks and gilliflowers, specially 
 the matted pink, and clove gilliflower; then the flowers 
 of the lime-tree ; then the honey-suckles, so they be some- 
 what afar off. Of bean flowers I speak not, because they 
 are field-flowers. But those which perfume the air most 
 delightfully, not passed by as the rest, but being trodden 
 upon and crushed, are three, that is, burnet, wild thyme, 
 and water-mints. Therefore you are to set whole alleys 
 of them, to have the pleasure when you walk or tread. 
 
 For gardens (speaking of those which are indeed prince- 
 like, as we have done of buildings), the contents ought not 
 well to be under thirty acres of ground, and to be divided 
 into three parts : a green in the entrance, a heath or desert 
 in the going forth, 4 and the main garden in the midst; 
 besides alleys on both sides. And I like well that four 
 acres of ground be assigned to the green, six to the heath, 
 four and four to either side, and twelve to the main garden. 
 The green hath two pleasures : the one, because nothing 
 is more pleasant to the eye than green grass kept finely 
 shorn; the other, because it will give you a fair alley in 
 
 1 Bartholomew-tide] St. Bartholomew's day is August 24th. 
 
 2 Wit)i\ So the edition of 1629 ; that of 1625 has which. The 
 Latin has qu<e emittunt ; the true reading, therefore, as Aldis Wright 
 thinks, is probably ' which yield.' 
 
 3 A bent] A species of grass. 
 
 1 In the going forth] In the outgoing.
 
 1 86 Essays. 
 
 the midst; by which you may go in front upon ! a stately 
 hedge, which is to enclose the garden. But because the 
 alley will be long, and, in great heat of the year, or day, 
 you ought not to buy the shade in the garden, by going in 
 the sun thorough the green ; therefore you are of either 
 side the green to plant a covered alley, upon carpenter's 
 work, about twelve foot in height, by which you may go in 
 shade into the garden. As for the making of knots, 2 or 
 figures, with divers coloured earths, that they may lie 
 \inder the windows of the house on that side which the 
 garden stands, they be but toys : you may see as good 
 sights many times in tarts. The garden is best to be 
 square, encompassed on all the four sides with a stately 
 arched hedge, the arches to be upon pillars of carpenter's 
 work, of some ten foot high, and six foot broad; and the 
 spaces between of the same dimensions with the breadth 
 of the arch. Over the arches let there be an entire hedge 
 of some four foot high, framed also upon carpenter's work ; 
 and upon the upper hedge, over every arch, a little turret, 
 with a belly enough to receive a cage of birds; and ovei 
 every space between the arches some other little figure, 
 with broad plates of round coloured glass, gilt, for the sun 
 to play upon. But this hedge I intend to be raised upon a 
 bank, not steep, but gently slope, 3 of some six foot, set all 
 
 1 Upon] Towards. 
 
 2 Knots\ These were intricate and fantastical figures in which 
 flower-beds were sometimes laid out. Compare Shakspeare, Rich. //. 
 iii. 4, ' I Jer hedges ruined, her knots disordered;' Love's Lab. Lost, L 
 I, 'Thy curious-knotted garden:' and Milton's P. L. iv. 241 : 
 
 ' Flowers worthy of Paradise, which not nice Art 
 In beds and curious knots, but Nature boon 
 Poured forth profuse.' 
 
 s Slope\ This was the ordinary adjective for sloping. So in Milton'i 
 P. L. iv. 261, ' Down the slope hills ; ' and Cotmu, 98, ' The slope 
 sun his upward beam shoots.'
 
 Of Gardens. it? 
 
 with flowers. Also I understand, that this square of the 
 garden should not be the whole breadth of the ground, but 
 to leave on either side ground enough for diversity of side 
 alleys, unto which the two covered alleys of the green 
 may deliver you; but there must be no alleys with hedges 
 at either end of this great enclosure; not at the hither end, 
 for letting l your prospect upon this fair hedge from the 
 green ; nor at the further end, for letting your prospect from 
 the hedge through the arches upon the heath. 
 
 For the ordering of the ground within the great hedge, 
 I leave it to variety of device; advising, nevertheless, that 
 whatsoever form you cast it 2 into, first it be not too busy, 
 or full of work: wherein I, for my part, do not like images 
 cut out in juniper or other garden-stuff: they be for 
 children. Little low hedges round like welts, 3 with some 
 pretty pyramids, I like well ; and in some places fair 
 columns, upon frames of carpenter's work. I would also 
 have the alleys spacious and fair. You may have closer 
 alleys upon the side grounds, but none in the main garden. 
 I wish also, in the very middle, a fair mount, with three 
 ascents and alleys, enough for four to walk abreast; which 
 I would have to be perfect circles, without any bulwarks 
 or embossments ; and the whole mount to be thirty foot 
 high ; and some fine banqueting-house, with some- chimneys 
 neatly cast, and without too much glass. 
 
 For fountains, they are a great beauty and refreshment; 
 but pools mar all, and make the garden unwholesome, and 
 full of flies and frogs. Fountains I intend to be of two 
 natures: the one that sprinkleth or spouteth water; the 
 other a fair receipt of water, of some thirty or forty foot 
 square, but without fish, or slime, or mud. For the first, 
 
 1 Letting} Hindering. So in Scripture, Exod. v. 4, ' Wherefore do 
 ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works?' Rom. i. 13, 
 ' Oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, but was let hitherto.' 
 
 * Cast it} Fashion it. ' Wilts] Edgings of cord.
 
 1 88 Essays. 
 
 the ornaments of images, gilt or of marble, which are m 
 use, do well : but the main matter is so to convey the water, 
 as ' it never stay, either in the bowls or in the cistern ; 
 that the water be never by rest discoloured, green or red, 
 or the like, or gather any mossiness or putrefaction. 
 Besides that, it is to be cleansed every day by the hand. 
 Also some steps up to it, and some fine pavement about it, 
 doth well. As for the other kind of fountain, which we 
 may call a bathing pool, it may admit much curiosity and 
 beauty, wherewith we will not trouble ourselves : as, that 
 the bottom be finely paved, and with images ; the sides 
 'ikewise ; and withal embellished with coloured glass, and 
 Kuch things of lustre; encompassed also with fine rails of 
 low statuas. But the main point is the same which we 
 mentioned in the former kind of fountain; which is, that 
 the water be in perpetual motion, fed by a water highet 
 than the pool, and delivered into it by fair spouts, and 
 then discharged away under ground by some equality of 
 bores, 2 that it stay little. And for fine devices, of arching 
 water without spilling, and making it rise in several forms 
 (of feathers, drinking glasses, canopies, and the like), they 
 be pretty things to look on, but nothing to health and 
 sweetness. 
 
 For the heath, which was the third part of our plot, I 
 wish it to be framed as much as may be to a natural 
 wildness. Trees I would have none in it, but some 
 thickets made only of sweet brier and honey-suckle, and 
 some wild vine amongst; and the ground set with violets, 
 strawberries, and primroses ; for these are sweet, and 
 prosper in the shade. And these to be in the heath here 
 and there, not in any order. I like also little heaps, in 
 the nature of mole-hills (such as are in wild heaths), to 
 be set some with wild thyme, some with pinks, some with 
 
 1 As} That. 
 
 2 Equality of bores] Conduits allowing discharge equal to the influx.
 
 Of Gardens. 189 
 
 germander, that gives a good flower to the eye; some with 
 periwinkle, some with violets, some with strawberries, some 
 with cowslips, some with daisies, some with red roses, some 
 with lilium convallium, some with sweet-williams red, some 
 with bear's foot, and the like low flowers, being withal sweet 
 and sightly. Part of which heaps to be with standards of 
 little bushes pricked upon their top, and part without. The 
 standards to be roses, juniper, holly, barberries (but here 
 and there, because of the smell of their blossom), red 
 currants, gooseberries, rosemary, bays, sweet brier, and such 
 like : but these standards to be kept with cutting, that they 
 grow not out of course. 
 
 For the side grounds, you are to fill them with variety of 
 alleys, private, to give a full shade ; some of them whereso- 
 ever the sun be. You are to frame some of them likewise 
 for shelter, that, when the wind blows sharp, you may walk 
 as in a gallery. And those alleys must be likewise hedged 
 at both ends, to keep out the wind ; and these closer alleys 
 must be ever finely gravelled, and no grass, because of 
 going wet. In many of these alleys likewise you are to set 
 fruit-trees of all sorts, as well upon the walls as in ranges. 
 And this would be 1 generally observed, that the borders 
 wherein you plant your fruit-trees be fair, and large, and 
 low, and not steep ; and set with fine flowers, but thin and 
 sparingly, lest they deceive the trees. 2 At the end of both 
 the side grounds I would have a mount of some pretty 
 height, leaving the wall of the enclosure breast high, to look 
 abroad into the fields. 
 
 For the main garden, I do not deny but there should be 
 some fair alleys ranged on both sides, with fruit trees ; and 
 some pretty tufts of fruit-trees, and arbours with seats, set in 
 some decent order; but these to be by no means set too 
 thick, but to leave the main garden so as it be not close, 
 
 ' Would be\ Ought to be. See p. 135, note 3. 
 
 * DueiiK the trees] Cheat or rob the trees of nourishment
 
 iyo Essays. 
 
 but the air open and free. For as for shade, I would have 
 you rest upon the alleys of the side grounds, there to walk, 
 if you be disposed, in the heat of the year or day ; but to 
 make account that the main garden is for the more tempe- 
 rate parts of the year, and, in the heat of summer, for the 
 morning and the evening, or overcast days. 
 
 For aviaries, I like them not, except they be of that 
 largeness as they may be turfed, and have living plants 
 and bushes set in them ; that the birds may have more 
 scope and natural nestling, and that no foulness appear in 
 the floor of the aviary. 
 
 So I have made a platform of a princely garden : partly by 
 precept; partly by drawing, not a model, but some general 
 lines of it. And in this I have spared for no cost : but it is 
 nothing for great Princes, that, for the most part, taking ad 
 vice with workmen, with no less cost set their things together, 
 and sometimes add statuas, and such things, for state and 
 magnificence, but nothing to the true pleasure of a garden. 
 
 XLVII. OF NEGOTIATING. 
 
 It is generuMy better to deal by speech than by letter ; 
 and by the mediation of a third than by a man's self. 
 Letters are good when a man would draw an answer by 
 letter back again ; or when it may serve for a man's justi- 
 fication afterwards to produce his own letter ; or where it 
 may be danger to be interrupted, or heard by pieces. To 
 deal in person is good when a man's face breedeth regard, 
 as commonly with inferiors ; or in tender cases, where a 
 man's eye, upon the countenance of him with whom he 
 speaketh, may give him a direction how far to go; and, 
 generally, where a man will reserve to himself liberty either 
 to disavow or to expound. Jn choice of instruments, it is
 
 Of Negotiating. 1 1 
 
 better to choose men of a plainer sort, that are like to do 
 that that is committed to them, and to report back again 
 faithfully the success, than those that are cunning to contrive 
 out of other men's business somewhat to grace themselves, 
 and will help the matter in report, for satisfaction sake. 1 
 Use also such persons as affect 2 the business wherein they 
 are employed, for that quickeneth much ; and such as are 
 fit for the matter: as bold men for expostulation, fair-spoken 
 men for persuasion, crafty men for inquiry and observation, 
 froward and absurd 3 men for business that doth not well 
 bear out itself. Use also such as have been lucky and 
 prevailed before in things wherein you have employed them, 
 for that breeds confidence ; and they will strive to maintain 
 their prescription. It is better to sound a person with 
 whom one deals afar off, than to fall upon the point at first; 
 except you mean to surprise him by some short question. 
 It is better dealing with men in appetite 4 than with those 
 that are where they would be. If a man deal with another 
 upon conditions, the start or first performance is all : which 
 a man cannot reasonably demand, except either the nature 
 of the thing be such which* must go before; or else a man 
 can persuade the other party, that he shall still need him in 
 some other thing; or else that he be counted the honester 
 man. All practice" is to discover or to work. Men discover 
 themselves in trust, 7 in passion, at unawares ; and of neces- 
 sity, when they would have somewhat done, and cannot find 
 
 1 Will help the matter, &Y.] Will report better than they have 
 heard, in order to give satisfaction to the employer. 
 
 * Affect] Like ; have an affection for. 
 
 * Absurd] Unreasonable. See p. 105, note 5. 
 
 4 In appetite] That are not yet satisfied with the promotion they 
 Lave got. 
 
 4 Which] That it ; as. 
 
 ' Practice] Lat. negotiatio. 
 
 ' Discover themselv:s, &(.] Reveal themselves in entrusting their 
 thrughts to others.
 
 192 Essays. 
 
 an apt pretext. If you would work any man, you must 
 either know his nature and fashions, and so lead him ; or 
 his ends, and so persuade him ; or his weakness and disad- 
 vantages, and so awe him; or those that have interest in 
 him, and so govern him. In dealing with cunning persons, 
 we must ever consider their ends, to interpret their speeches.; 
 and it is good to say little to them, and that which they 
 least look for. In all negotiations of difficulty, a man may 
 not look to sow and reap at once ; but must prepare busi- 
 ness, and so ripen it by degrees. 
 
 XLVIII. OF FOLLOWERS AND FRIENDS. 
 
 Costly followers are not to be liked ; lest while a man 
 maketh his train longer, he make his wings shorter. I 
 reckon to be costly, not them alone which charge the purse, 
 but which are wearisome and importune 1 in suits. Ordinary 
 followers ought to challenge no higher conditions than 
 countenance, recommendation, and protection from wrongs. 
 Factious followers are worse to be liked, which follow not 
 upon affection to him with whom they range themselves, 
 but upon discontentment conceived against some other : 
 whereupon commonly ensueth that ill intelligence 2 that we 
 many times see between great personages. Likewise glorious 3 
 followers, who make themselves as trumpets of the commen- 
 dation of those they follow, are full of inconvenience ; for 
 they taint business through want of secresy; and they export 
 honour from a man, and make him a return in envy. There 
 is a kind of followers likewise which are dangerous, being 
 indeed espials ; 4 which inquire the secrets of the house, 
 
 Importune] Importunate. 
 /// intelligence] Bad understanding. 
 Glorious] Lat. gloriosi, boaslfuL 
 Espials] Spies. See p. 1 76, note 4.
 
 Of Followers and Friends. 193 
 
 and bear tales of them to others ; yet such men many times 
 are in great favour ; for they are officious, 1 and commonly 
 exchange tales. The following by certain estates of men, 
 answerable to that which a great person himself professeth 
 (as of soldiers to him that hath been employed in the wars, 
 and the like), hath ever been a thing civil, 2 and well taken 
 even in monarchies, so it be without too much pomp or 
 popularity. But the most honourable kind of following is, 
 to be followed as one that apprehendeth to advance 3 virtue 
 and desert in all sorts of persons. And yet, where there is 
 no eminent odds in sufficiency, it is better to take with the 
 more passable than with the more able ; and besides, to 
 speak truth, in base times active men are of more use than 
 virtuous. It is true, that in government it is good to use 
 men of one rank equally : for to countenance some extra- 
 ordinarily is to make them insolent, and the rest discontent, 
 because they may claim a due. But contrariwise in favour, 
 to use men with much difference and election is good ; foi 
 it maketh the persons preferred more thankful, and the rest 
 more officious, because all is of favour. It is good discretion 
 not to make too much of any man at the first ; because one 
 cannot hold out that proportion. 4 To be governed (as we 
 call it) by one 8 is not safe ; for it shows softness, and gives 
 a freedom to scandal and disreputation ; for those that 
 would not censure 6 or speak ill of a man immediately, will 
 
 1 Officious] Ready to serve. 
 
 - A thing civil] A becoming thing. 
 
 * Apprehendeth to advance] Aims at advancing ; lays hold on, in 
 order to promote. 
 
 4 Because one cannot, &*.] Lat. Nam qua tract u temporis sequentur 
 vix istis initiis respondere fossunt. 
 
 * To be governed, <5rY.] To be influenced and directed, &c. Lat. 
 Fingi (quod aiunt) et regi ab antico aliquo. 
 
 Censure] Judge. Anciently the usual meaning. The verb is 
 here modified by the adverb ill. 
 
 O
 
 194 Essays. 
 
 talk more boldly of those that are so great with them,' and 
 thereby wound their honour. Yet to be distracted with 
 many is worse ; for it makes men to be of the last impres- 
 sion, 8 and full of change. To take advice of some few 
 friends is ever honourable ; for lookers-on many times see 
 more than gamesters ; and the vale best discovereth the 
 hill. There is little friendship in the world, and least of all 
 between equals, which was wont to be magnified. 3 That 
 that is, is between superior and inferior, whose fortunes may 
 comprehend the one the other. 
 
 XLIX. OF SUITORS. 
 
 Many ill matters and projects are undertaken ; and pri- 
 vate suits do putrefy the public good. Many, good matters 
 are undertaken with bad minds; I mean not only corrupt 
 minds, but crafty minds, that intend not .performance. 
 Some embrace suits 4 which. never mean to deal effectually 
 
 1 I Vith theni\ Here ' them ' is made to represent what Bacon lias 
 previously called a man. 
 
 2 Of the last impression] Swayed by the impression that has been 
 conveyed last to his mind. The Latin translator, as Aldis Wright 
 points out, seems to have misapprehended . Bacon's . phrase, giving 
 postrema (ut nunc loquuntiir) editionis. 
 
 3 And least of all, 6-Y,] He..alludes to the opinion of Aristotle, 
 Seneca, and others, and to such friends as Py lades and Orestes, Damon 
 and Pythias, &c. On this subject Johnson, .in The Rambler, No. 64, 
 says: ' Friendship is seldom lasting' but between- equals, or where the 
 superiority on one side is reduced by some equivalent advantage on the 
 other. Benefits which cannot be repaid, and obligations which cannot 
 be discharged, are not commonly found to increase affection ; they ex- 
 cite gratitude indeed, and heighten veneration, but commonly take 
 away that easy freedom and familiarity of intercourse without which, 
 though there may be fidelity, and zeal, and admiration, there cannot be 
 friendship. 
 
 4 Embrace sititt\ ' Lat. Pditiones in tuanus JKJS
 
 Of Suitors. 195 
 
 in them ; but if they see there may be life in the matter by 
 some other mean, 1 they will be content to win a thank, or 
 take a second reward, or, at least, to make use in the 
 meantime of the suitor's hopes. Some take hold of suits 
 only for an occasion to cross some other ; or to make an 
 information whereof they could not otherwise have apt 
 pretext; without care what become of the suit when that 
 turn is served : or generally to make other men's business 
 a kind of entertainment 1 ' to bring in their own. Nay, some 
 undertake suits with a full purpose to let them fall ; to the 
 end to gratify the adverse party, or competitor. Surely, 
 there is in some sort a right in every suit ; either a right 
 of equity, if it be a suit of controversy; or a right of desert, 
 if it be a suit of petition. If affection lead a man to favour 
 the wrong side in justice, let him rather use his countenance 
 to compound the matter than to carry it. If affection lead 
 a man to favour the less worthy in desert, let him do it 
 without depraving or disabling 3 the better deserver. In 
 suits which a man doth not well understand, it is good to 
 refer them to some friend of trust and judgment, that may 
 report whether he may deal in them with honour : but let 
 him choose well his referendaries, 4 for else he may be led 
 by the nose. Suitors are so distasted with delays and 
 abuses, 5 that plain dealing in denying 6 to deal in suits at 
 first, and reporting the success barely, 7 and in challenging 
 no more thanks than one hath deserved, is grown not only 
 
 1 There may be life, vSrv.] The matter may prosper through some 
 other agency. 
 
 8 Entertainment] Admission. 
 
 1 Depraving or disabling] Lowering or disparaging. Common 
 significations in our old literature. 
 
 4 His referendaries] His referees. 
 
 ' Abuses] Abusing of one's patience. Lat. Procrastinatiombus. 
 
 Denying] Refusing, or declining. 
 
 T Barely] Without any colouring ; simply according to fact. 
 02
 
 196 Essays. 
 
 honourable but also gracious. 1 In suits of favour, the first 
 coming ought to take little place : a so far forth consideration 
 may be had of his trust, 3 that if intelligence of the matter 
 could not otherwise have been had but by him, advantage 
 be not taken of the note, 4 but the party left to his other 
 means ; and in some sort recompensed for his disco very. * 
 To be ignorant of the value of a suit is simplicity; as well 
 as to be ignorant of the right thereof is want of conscience. 
 Secresy in suits is a great mean of obtaining ; for voicing 
 them : 6 to be in fonvardness may discourage some kind of 
 suitors, but doth quicken and awake others. Hut timing of 
 the suit is the principal ; timing I say, not only in respect 
 of the person that should grant it, but in respect of those 
 which are like to cross it. Let a man, in the choice of his 
 mean, rather choose the fittest mean than the greatest mean ; 
 and rather them that deal in certain things than those that 
 are general. The reparation of a denial 7 is sometimes equal 
 to the first grant ; if a man show himself neither dejected 
 nor discontented. Iniquum petas ut (Equum feras* is a good 
 rule, where a man hath strength of favour : but otherwise, a 
 man were better rise 9 in his suit ; for he that would have 
 ventured at first to have lost the suitor, 10 will not, in the 
 
 1 Gracious] Graceful. 
 
 '* To take little place] To have little preference. 
 s Consideration may be had, 6*-.] Acknowledgment may be made 
 on account of what he has confided. 
 
 4 The note] The notice, or communication. 
 
 5 Discovery] Information. 
 
 8 For voicing them] As for proclaiming them, or making a 
 boast of them. So Shakspeare, Timon, iv. 3, ' Is this the Athenian 
 minion whom the world voiced so regardfully ? ' 
 
 ~ The reparation of a denial} Lat. Denegata petitionis iteratio. 
 
 * Iniquum petas, drv.] Ask too much, that you may carry away 
 what is fair. This is from Quintilian, Instit. Orat. iv. 5. 
 
 * A man -were better rise] It would be better for a man to prospei 
 gradually. See p. 105, note 4. 
 
 18 The suitor] Lat, Supplicantis erga se studium.
 
 Of Studies. 197 
 
 conclusion, lose both the suitor and his own former favour. 
 Nothing is thought so easy a request to a great person as 
 his letter ; and yet, if it be not in a good cause, it is so much 
 out of his reputation. There are no worse instruments than 
 these general contrivers of suits ; for they are but a kind of 
 poison and infection to public proceedings. 
 
 L. OF STUDIES* 
 
 Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. 
 Their chief use for delight is in privateness and retiring; 
 for ornament, is in discourje ; and for ability, is in the 
 judgment and disposition' of business. For expert men can 
 execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one ; but 
 the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of 
 affairs, come best from those that are learned. To spend 
 too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for 
 ornament is affectation ; to make judgment wholly by 
 their rules is the humour of a scholar. They perfect 
 nature, and are perfected by experience : for natural abilities 
 are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and 
 studies themselves do give forth directions too much at 
 large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty 
 men contemn studies ; simple men admire them ; 3 and wise 
 men use them: 4 for they teach not their own use ; but that is 
 a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. 
 Read not to contradict and confute ; nor to believe and 
 take for granted ; nor to find talk and discourse ; but to 
 weigh and consider. Some books . are to be tasted, others 
 to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: 
 
 1 Of Studies} This formed the first Fssay in the .original edition ol 
 
 '597- 
 
 - Disposition} Arrangement ; planning. 
 
 * Admire them} Regard them with wonder. 
 4 Use thfni\ Apply them.
 
 JoS Essays. 
 
 that is, some books are to be read only in parts ; others to 
 be read, but not curiously; l and some few to be read wholly, 
 and with diligence and attention. Some books also may 
 be read by deputy, and extracts 2 made of them by others : 
 but that would be 3 only in the less important arguments, 
 and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are like 
 common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh 
 a full man ; conference, a ready man ; and writing, an exact 
 man. 4 And, therefore, if a man write little, he had need 
 Have a great memory ; if he confer little, he had need have 
 a present wit; and if he read little, he had need have 
 much cunning to seem to know that he doth not. His- 
 tories make men wise ; poets, witty ; the mathematics, 
 subtle ; natural philosophy, deep ; moral, grave ; logic and 
 rhetoric, able to contend. Abeunt studio, in mores? Nay, 
 there is no stond 6 or impediment in the wit, but may be 
 wrought out 7 by fit studies : like as diseases of the body 
 may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the 
 stone and reins ; shooting, for the lungs and breast ; gentle 
 walking, for the stomach ; riding, for tiie head; and the like. 
 So, if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathe- 
 matics, for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away 
 never so little, he must begin again ; if his wit be not apt 
 to distinguish or find difference, let him study the School- 
 
 1 Curious/y] With minute attention. 
 
 * Extracts] Abstracts. Lat. compendia. 
 
 * Would lie] Ought to be. See p. 135, note 3. 
 
 4 And writing an exact man] Lat. Scriptio autetn, et notarum coi- 
 lectio, perlecla in ammo impriinit, et allius figit. 
 
 4 Abeunt studia in mores] Ovid, Ileroid. xv. 83. Studies pass into 
 (tend to form) manners or habits. This is also referred to in the Ad- 
 vancement, I. 
 
 * Stond] Obstacle, or resistance. The word has occurred before, in 
 the 40th Essay. 
 
 T Wrought OHt\ Gradually removed. I at Rmendari et edulari.
 
 Of Faction. 199 
 
 men, 1 for they are Cymini sectores; a if he be not apt to 
 beat over matters, 3 and to call up one thing to prove and 
 illustrate another, let him study the lawyer's cases : So 
 every defect of the mind may have a special receipt 
 
 LI. OF FACTION. 
 
 Many have an opinion not wise, that for a Prince to 
 govern his Estate, or for a great person to govern his 
 proceedings, according to the respect of factions, is a 
 principal part of policy; whereas, contrariwise, the chiefest 
 wisdom is either in ordering 4 those things which are 
 general, and wherein men of several factions do neverthe- 
 less agree, or in dealing with correspondence to particular 
 persons, one by one. But I say not that the consideration 
 of factions is to be neglected. Mean men, in their rising, 
 must adhere ; 8 but great men, that have strength in them- 
 selves, were better" to maintain themselves indifferent and 
 neutral. Yet even in beginners, to adhere so moderately, 
 as ' he be a man of the one faction which is most passable * 
 
 1 The Schoolmen} See p. 69, note 7. 
 
 '-' Cymini sectores} Splitters of cummin-seeds : splitters of hairs or 
 straws, as we now say. The name was applied by Dion Cassius to 
 Antoninus Pius, of whom Bacon, in the Advancement, I., says, 'lie 
 was called Cymini sector (a carver or divider of cummin), which i< 
 one of the least seeds ; such a patience he had, and settled spirit, to 
 enter into the least and most exact differences of causes. ' 
 
 1 To beat over matters} To beat about amongst matters ; to ransack 
 them. 
 
 4 Ordering} Regulating. 
 
 4 Must adliere} Must take a side; must attach themselves to some 
 party. 
 
 * IVt re better} Seep. 196, note 9. 
 7 As] That. 
 
 * Which is most passable} Who is least offensive.
 
 2 DO 
 
 with the other, commonly giveth best way. The lowei 
 and weaker faction is the firmer in conjunction, and it is 
 often seen that a few that are stiff do tire out a greater 
 number that are more moderate. When one of the 
 factions is extinguished, the remaining subdivideth ; as the 
 faction between Lucullus and the rest of the nobles of 
 the senate (which they called optimates) held out awhile 
 against the faction of Pompey and Caesar : but when the 
 senate's authority was pulled down, Caesar and Pompey 
 soon after brake. The faction or party of Antonius and 
 Octavianus Caesar, against Brutus and Cassius, held out 
 likewise for a time : but when Brutus and Cassius were 
 overthrown, then soon after Antonius and Octavianus brake 
 and subdivided. These examples are of wars; but the 
 same holdeth in private factions. And therefore those 
 that are seconds in factions do many times, when the 
 faction subdivideth, prove principals : but many times also 
 they prove ciphers and cashiered; for many a man's 
 strength is in opposition, and when that faileth, 1 he groweth 
 out of use. It is commonly seen that men once placed 
 take in with the contrary faction to that by which they 
 enter : thinking, belike, that they have the first sure; and 
 now are ready for a new purchase. The traitor in faction 
 lightly goeth away with it ; 2 for when matters have stuck 
 long in balancing, the winning 3 of some one man casteth 
 them, and he getteth all the thanks. The even carriage 
 
 1 Faileth] Ceases. 
 
 '-' Lightly goeth awayvrith if\ Generally carries it, or prevails ; usually 
 attains his object. Lat. Plerumque rem oblinet. Lightly was often 
 used for commonly. Thus, in Ben Jonson's Discoveries, ' The great 
 thieves of a state are lightly the officers of the crown ; ' and in his 
 Cynthia's fievels, ' He is not lightly within to his mercer ; ' an I in 
 Shaksp. Rich, III. iii. j, * Short summers lightly have a forward 
 spring.' 
 
 1 Tlhe -utiiming] The gaining over.
 
 Uj Ceremonies an! Respects. 201 
 
 between two factions ' proceedeth not always of modera- 
 tion, but of a trueness to a man's self, with end to make 
 use of both. Certainly, in Italy, they hold it a little suspect 
 in Popes, when they have often in their mouth Padre, 
 commune* and take it to be a sign of one that meaneth to 
 refer all to the greatness of his own house. Kings had 
 need beware how they side themselves, and make them- 
 selves as of a faction or party; for leagues within the State 
 are ever pernicious to Monarchies; for they raise an obliga- 
 tion paramount to obligation of Sovereignty, and make the 
 King tanquam unus ex nob is ; 3 as was to be seen in the 
 league of France. 4 When factions are carried too high and 
 too violently, it is a sign of weakness in Princes, and much 
 to the prejudice both of their authority and business. The 
 motions of factions under Kings ought to be like the 
 motions (as the astronomers speak) of the inferior orbs, 
 which may have their proper motions,* but yet still 6 are 
 quietly carried by the higher motion Qiprimum mobile* 
 
 LI I. OF CEREMONIES AND RESPECTS. 
 
 He that is only real had need have exceeding great 
 parts of virtue; as the stone had need to be rich that is set 
 without foil. But if a man mark it well, it is in praise and 
 commendation of men, as it is in gettings and gains. For 
 the proverb is true, that light gains make heavy purser ; 
 
 ' The even carriage, <5rV.] Lat. Indiffereiis ilia inter parks proctssio, 
 neutri inclinando, 
 
 Padre commune] Common father. 
 
 1 TaiK/uam unus ex nobis] As one of us. 
 
 4 As was to be seen, 6rv.] Compare what is said in the I5th Essay, 
 
 P- 55- 
 4 Their proper motions] Their own particular motions. 
 
 Still] Always. 
 
 ' Primum mobile] See p. 56, note I.
 
 2O2 Essays. 
 
 for light gains come thick, whereas great come but now 
 and then. So it is true, that small matters win great com- 
 mendation, because they are continually in use and in 
 note ; ' whereas the occasion of any great virtue cometh but 
 on festivals. Therefore it doth much add to a man's reputa- 
 tion, and is (as Queen Isabella 2 said) like perpetual letters 
 commendatory, to have good fonns. To attain them, it 
 almost sufficeth not to despise them ; for so shall a man 
 observe them in others; and let him trust himself with the 
 rest For if he labour too much to express them, he shall 
 lose their grace, which is, to be natural and unaffected. 
 Some men's behaviour is like a verse, wherein every 
 syllable is measured : how can a man comprehend 3 great 
 matters that breaketh his mind too much to small observa 
 tions? 4 Not to use ceremonies at all is to teach others not 
 to use them again ; and so diminish respect to himself : 
 especially they be not to be omitted to strangers and 
 formal natures : but the dwelling upon them, and exalting 
 them above the moon, s is not only tedious, but doth 
 diminish the faith and credit of him that speaks. And 
 certainly, there is- a kind, of conveying of effectual and 
 imprinting passages amongst, compliments, which is of 
 singular use, if a man can hit upon it. Amongst a man's 
 peers, a man, shall be sure of familiarity; and therefore it is 
 good a little to keep state : 6 amongst a man's inferiors, one 
 shall be sure of reverence; and therefore it is good a little to 
 
 1 In note} In notice or observation. 
 
 2 Isabella} Wife of Ferdinand of Arragon. She died in 1504. 
 
 * Comprehend} Embrace. 
 
 4 Observations} Observances. 
 
 4 Exalting them, &*f. ] So in North's Plutarch (Coriolanus) 
 ' Whose valiantness he commended beyond the moon ; ' and in Spenser, 
 /'. Q. II. iii. 38, 'Endeavouring my dreaded name to raise above the 
 moon.' 
 
 State] Dignity.
 
 Of Ceremonies and Respects. 203 
 
 DC familiar. He that is too much in any thing, so that he 
 giveth another occasion of satiety, maketh himself cheap. 
 To apply one's self 1 to others is good, so it be with 
 demonstration J that a man doth it upon regard 3 and not 
 upon facility. It is a good precept generally in seconding 
 another, yet to add somewhat of one's own: as, 4 if you will 
 grant his opinion, let it be with some distinction ; if you 
 will follow his motion, 5 let it be with condition ; if you 
 allow 6 his counsel, let it be with alleging further reason. 
 Men had need beware how they be too perfect in compli- 
 ments ; for be they never so sufficient othenvise, their 
 enviers will be sure to give them that attribute, to the 
 disadvantage of their greater virtues. It is loss also in 
 business to be too full of respects, or to be too curious 7 in 
 observing times and opportunities. Solomon saith, lie that 
 considercth the wind shall not sow, and he that lookcth to the 
 elands shall not reap.* A wise man will make more oppor- 
 tunities than he finds. Men's behaviour should be like 
 their apparel, not too strait or point device, 9 ' but free for 
 exercise or motion. 
 
 1 To apply one's stff] To accommodate one's self; to make, one's 
 self obsequious. See p. 28, note 2. 
 
 - So it be, &>c. ] Provided it be done so as to indicate. 
 
 Upon regard} Lat. Ex comitaie ft urkanitate. 
 
 As] Lat. Exempli gratid. 
 
 Motion] Proposition. 
 
 Allow\ Express approval of. 
 
 Curious] Minutely attentive. 
 
 He that considercth, <Sjr.] Eccles, xi. 4. 
 
 Point device] Exact. Point-devise is said to hare denoted ori- 
 ginally a kind of lace of a very fine pattern or device. Bell, however, 
 is probably right in the opinion expressed in one of his notes to Chaucer's 
 House of Fame. ' Poynt devys,' he says, ' would seem to be a corruption 
 of the French point de vi t without fault.'
 
 204 Essays. 
 
 LI 1 1. OF PRAISE. 
 
 Praise is the reflection of virtue. But it is as the glass, or 
 body which giveth the reflection. 1 If it be from the com- 
 mon people, it is commonly false and naught, 2 and rather 
 followeth vain persons than virtuous. For the common 
 people understand not many excellent virtues : the lowest 
 virtues draw praise from them ; the middle virtues work 
 in them astonishment or admiration ; 3 but of the highest 
 virtues they have no sense or perceiving at all : but shows 
 and species virtutibus similes* serve best with them. Cer- 
 tainly, fame is like a river, that beareth up things light 
 and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid. 5 But if 
 persons of quality and judgment concur, 6 then it is (as the 
 Scripture saith) Nomen bonum instar unguetiti fragrantis : 7 
 it filleth all round about, and will not easily away ; for the 
 odours of ointments are more durable than those of flowers. 
 There be so many false points of praise that a man may 
 justly hold it a suspect. 8 Some praises proceed merely of 
 Mattery ; and if he be an ordinary flatterer, he will have 
 certain common attributes which may serve every man; if 
 
 1 As tlie glass, &<:.] According to the nature of the glass, &c. 
 
 2 Naught} Worthless. In Prov. xx. 14, we liave ' It is naught, it 
 is naught, saith the buyer." 
 
 J Admiratwii\ Wonder. 
 
 4 Specus virtutibus similes} Appearances resembling virtues. 
 
 4 Fame is like a river, &*.] Compare the Advancement, I., where 
 he says the same of Time: 'Time seemeth to be of the nature of a 
 river or stream, which carrieth down to us that which is light and 
 blown up, and sinketh and drowneth that which is weighty and 
 solid.' 
 
 Cotuur] That is, with the common people. 
 
 ' Nomen bonum, 6^.] A good name is like sweet-srnelling oint- 
 ment. This is derived from Eccles. vii. I. 
 
 A susfA-f] A suspected thing ; in suspicion.
 
 Of Praise. 2O$ 
 
 he be a cunning flatterer, he will follow 1 the arch-flatterer, 
 which is a man's self ; * and wherein a man thinketh best of 
 himself, therein the flatterer will uphold him most; but if 
 he be an impudent flatterer, look, 3 wherein a man is con- 
 scious to himself that he is most defective, and is most out 
 of countenance in himself, that will the flatterer entitle him 
 to perforce, spreta conscientia* Some praises come of good 
 wishes and respects, which is a form due in civility to Kings 
 and great persons, landau do prcecipere ;* when by telling 
 men what they are, they represent to them what they 
 should be. Some men are praised maliciously to their 
 hurt, thereby to stir envy and jealousy towards them ; 
 pessimum gams inimicorum laitdantium ; 6 insomuch as it 
 was a proverb among the Grecians, that he that was 
 praised to his hurt, should hare a push 7 rise upon his nose; 
 as we say, that a blister will rise upon one's tongue that 
 tells a lie. Certainly, moderate praise, used with oppor- 
 tunity, and not vulgar, is that which doth the good. Solo- 
 mon saith, He that praiseth his friend aloud, rising early, 
 it shall be to him no better than a curse* Too much mag- 
 nifying of man or matter doth irritate contradiction, and 
 procure envy and scorn. To praise a man's self cannot be 
 decent, except it be in rare cases : but to praise a man's 
 office or profession, he may do it with good grace, and with 
 a kind of magnanimity. The cardinals of Rome which are 
 
 1 Follow] Humour. - A Mail's self] See p. 39, note 2. 
 
 s Look] An interjectional use of the verb, to excite attention, as in 
 the Prayer Book (Offertoiy Sentences)^ 'Look, what he layeth out, it 
 shall be paid him again.' 
 
 4 Spretd conscientid] In spite of that consciousness. 
 
 5 Laudando prcrcipere] By praising to give instructive suggestion. 
 
 8 Pessimum g&ius, &>c.] This is from Tacitus, Agru. 41, ' Pessimum 
 inimicorum genus, laudantes : ' that worst kind of enemies, those that 
 praise. 
 
 7 A push\ A pimple or pustule. 
 
 He that praiseth, Srv.] Prov. xxvii. 14.
 
 206 Essays. 
 
 theologues, and friars, and schoolmen, have a phrase of 
 notable contempt and scorn towards civil business ; for 
 they call all temporal business of wars, embassages, judi- 
 cature, and other employments, sbirrerie? which is, under- 
 sheriffries ; as if they were but matters for under-sheriffs 
 and catchpoles; though many times those under-sheriffries 
 do more good than their high speculations. St. Paul, when 
 he boasts of himself, he doth oft interlace, / speak like a 
 fool ; 2 but speaking of his calling, he saith, magnificabo 
 apostolatum menm. z 
 
 L1V. OF VAIN-GLORY. 
 
 It was prettily devised of ^Esop, the fly sat upon the 
 axle-tree of the chariot wheel, and said, What a dust do J 
 raise! So are there some vain persons that, whatsoever 
 goeth alone, 4 01 moveth upon greater means, if they 
 have never so little hand in it, they think it is they that 
 carry it. They that are glorious * must needs be factious ; 
 for all bravery 6 stands upon comparisons. They must needs 
 be violent, to make good their own vaunts. Neither can 
 they be secret, and therefore not effectual ; but according 
 to the French proverb, beaucoup de bruit p?u de fruit, 
 much bruit, little fruit. Yet certainly there is use of this 
 quality in civil affairs. Where there is an opinion and 
 fame to be created, either of virtue or greatness, these men 
 are good trumpeters. Again, as Titus Livius noteth ' in 
 the case of Antiochus and the ^tolians, there are some- 
 times great effects of cross lies ; as if a man that negotiates 
 
 1 Sbirreric] Lat. Hispawovoa&bulO) sbirrarias. 
 
 2 / speak like a fool] 2 Cor. xi. 21, 23. 
 
 * Magnificabo, 6-v.] I will magnify my apostleship. Tfoiu. xi. IJ. 
 4 Alone] Of itself ; of its own accord. 
 
 ' Glorious] Boastful. Brcrvery] Bravado. 
 
 * As Titus Livius notet/i] xxxvii. 48.
 
 Of Vain-glory. 207 
 
 between two Princes, to draw them to join in a wai against 
 the third, doth extol the forces of either of them above 
 measure, the one to the other : and sometimes he that 
 deals between man and man raiseth his own credit with 
 both, by pretending greater interest than he hath in either. 
 And in these and the like kinds, it often falls out that 
 somewhat is produced of nothing : for lies are sufficient to 
 breed opinion, 1 and opinion brings on substance. In military 
 commanders and soldiers, vain-glory is an essential point; for 
 as iron sharpens iron, so by glory 2 one courage sharpeneth 
 another. In cases of great enterprise upon charge and 
 adventure, 3 a composition of glorious natures doth put life 
 into business ; and those that are of solid and sober na- 
 tures, have more of the ballast than of the sail. In fame 
 of learning the flight will be slow without some feathers of 
 ostentation. Qui de contemnendfr gloria, libros scribunt, 
 nomen suum inscribunt* Socrates, Aristotle, Galen, were 
 men full of ostentation. Certainly, vain-glory helpeth to 
 perpetuate a man's memory; and virtue was never sr> 
 beholding 5 to human nature, as 6 it received his 7 due at the 
 second hand. 8 Neither had the fame of Cicero, Seneca, 
 Plinius Secundus, borne her age 9 so well, if it had not been 
 joined with some vanity in themselves : like unto varnish, 
 that makes ceilings not only shine but last. But all this 
 while, when .1 speak of vain-glory, I mean not of that pro- 
 perty that Tacitus doth .attribute to Mucianus, Omnium, 
 
 1 Opinion} Reputation. 
 
 * Glory} Vaunting. 
 
 * Upon charge, drv.] Involving cost and risk. 
 
 4 Qui de conteinnendd, &*c.} Cicero, Tusc. Disp. \. 15. Those that 
 write 1 ooks inculcating contempt of glory, inscribe their own names. 
 
 s Beholding Beholden. See p. 37,. note 4. 
 
 * As] That. 
 
 * His} Its. See p. 39, note 5. 
 
 * At the second hand} Through commendation by other*. 
 
 * Her age} The feminine here is allusive to Fame as a goddess.
 
 2OS Essays. 
 
 qua dixerat feceratque, arte quadam ostentator: l for that 
 proceeds not of vanity, but of natural magnanimity and 
 discretion ; and, in some persons, is not only comely but 
 gracious. 2 For excusations, cessions, 3 modesty itself, well 
 governed, are but arts of ostentation. And amongst those 
 arts there is none better than that which Plinius Secundus 
 speaketh of; which is, to be liberal of praise and commen 
 dation to others, in that wherein a man's self hath any per- 
 fection. For saith Pliny, 4 very wittily, In commending 
 another you do yourself right ; for he that you commend 
 is either superior to you in that you commend, or inferior; 
 if he be inferior, if he be to be commended, y^u much more: 
 if he be superior, if he be not to be commended, you much 
 less. 5 Glorious men are the scorn of wise men ; the admi- 
 ration of fools; the idols of parasites; and. the sla,ves of their 
 own vaunts. 
 
 LV. OF HONOUR AND REPUTATION. 
 
 The winning of honour is but the revealing of a man's 
 virtue and worth without disadvantage. For some in 
 their actions do woo and affect 6 honour and reputation; 
 which sort of men are commonly much talked of, but in- 
 wardly little admired. 7 And some, contrariwise, darken 
 their virtue in the show of it; so as 8 they be undervalued in 
 opinion. If a man perform that which hath not been at- 
 
 1 Omnium qua, &*c.] Tacitus, Hist. ii. 80. One who set off with 
 peculiar art whatever he said and did. 
 Gracious] Graceful. 
 Cessions] Concessions. 
 Saith Pliny] Epist. vi. 1 7. 
 
 >0 much less] You are much less to be discommon led. 
 Ajfec(\ Show a liking for. 
 Admired] Wondered at. 
 So cs\ So that
 
 Of Honour and Reputation. 209, 
 
 tempted before, or attempted and given over, or hath 
 been achieved, but not with so good circumstance, 1 he shall 
 purchase more honour than by effecting a matter of greater 
 difficulty or virtue wherein he is but a follower. If a 
 man so temper his actions, as in some one of them he doth 
 content 2 every faction or combination of people, the music 
 will be the fuller. A man is an ill husband 3 of his honour 
 that entereth into any action, the failing wherein may 
 disgrace him more than the carrying of it through can 
 honour him. Honour that is gained and broken upon 
 another 4 hath the quickest reflection ; like diamonds cut 
 with facets; and therefore let a man contend to excel any 
 competitors of his in honour, in outshooting them, if he 
 can, in their own bow. Discreet followers and servants 
 help much to reputation : Onmis fama a domesticis emanat* 
 Envy, which is the canker of honour, is best distinguished 
 by declaring a man's self in his ends rather to seek merit 
 than fame ; and by attributing a man's successes rather to 
 divine Providence and felicity than to his own virtue ot 
 policy. The true marshalling of the degrees of sovereign 
 honour are these : In the first place are conditores im~ 
 fieriorum, founders of States and Commonwealths; such as 
 were Romulus, Cyrus, Caesar, Ottoman, 7 Ismael. 8 In the 
 second place are legislators, lawgivers, which are also 
 called second founders, or perpetui principes, because they 
 govern by their ordinances after they are gone : such were 
 
 1 Circumstance} Concomitants. 
 
 * As in some, &>c.] That in some one of them he may please. 
 J Husband} Economist ; manager. 
 
 4 Broken upon another} Set off in detail against another. 
 
 * Omnis fama, &>c.] Q. Cicero, De Petit. Consul, v. 17. All fame 
 emanates from domestics. 
 
 * Felicit^ Good hap or fortune. See p. 165, note I. 
 
 7 Ottoman} Othman I. the founder of the Ottoman empire, 1298. 
 
 * Ismael] The Sophy, or King of Persia. He has been referred to 
 before, in the 43rd Essay, p. 1 74. 
 
 P
 
 2io Essays. 
 
 Lycurgus, Solon, Justinian, .Edgar, 1 Alphonsus of Castile, 
 the Wise, that made the Siete Partidas? In the third 
 place are liberatores, or salvatores ; such as compound the 
 long miseries of civil wars, or deliver their countries from 
 servitude of strangers or tyrants ; as Augustus Caesar, 
 Vespasianus, ;Aurelianus, Theodoricus, King Henry the 
 Seventh of England, King Henry the Fourth of France. 
 In the fourth place are propagatorcs or propugnatorcs 3 
 imperil, such as in honourable wars enlarge their terri- 
 tories, or make noble defence against invaders. And in 
 the last place are patres patrite, which reign justly, and 
 make the times good wherein they live. Both which last 
 kinds need no examples, they are in such number. Degrees 
 of honour in subjects are: First, participes curarumf those 
 upon whom Princes do discharge the greatest weight of 
 their affairs : their right hands, as we call them. The 
 next are duces belli) great leaders; such as are Princes' 
 lieutenants, and do them notable services in the wars. 
 The third are gratiosij favourites ; such as exceed not this 
 scantling 5 to be solace to the Sovereign, and harmless to 
 the people. And the fourth, negotiis pares ,-' such as have 
 great places under Princes, and execute their places with 
 sufficiency. 7 There is an honour likewise which may be 
 ranked amongst the greatest, which happeneth rarely : 
 that is, of such as sacrifice themselves to death or danger 
 for the good of their country; as was M. Regulus, and the 
 two Decii. ... 
 
 1 Edgar} He became King of England in 959, and distinguished 
 himself as a legislator. 
 
 * TTif SieU Partidas] The Seven Parts; a digest of the laws of Spain 
 made by Alphonso X. of Castile, whose reign began in 1252. 
 
 3 Propagatores or propugnatores\ Extenders or defenders. 
 
 4 Participes curarum] Sharers of cares; See p. 1 08. 
 s Scantling} ' Small measure 
 
 "'ftyotiit'' forts] ' "Men equal to the demands of business. See 
 p. 119, note 3. 
 
 ' X>tfiicit'iicy\ Ability.
 
 Of Judicature. 21 1 
 
 LVI. OF JUDICATURE. 
 
 Judges ought to remember that their office is jus dicere, 
 and not jus dare : to interpret law, and not to make law, or 
 give law ; else will it be like the authority claimed by the 
 church of Rome ; which, under pretext of exposition of 
 Scripture, doth not stick to add and alter, and to pronounce' 
 that which they do not find, and by show of antiquity to 
 introduce novelty. Judges ought to be more learned than 
 witty ; more reverend than plausible ; and more advised ' 
 than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion 
 and proper virtue. Cursed (saith the law) is he that remowth 
 the landmark? The mislayer of a mere stone is to blame : 
 but it is the unjust judge that is the capital remover of land- 
 marks, when he defineth amiss of lands and property. One 
 foul sentence doth more hurt than ma'ny foul examples ; for 
 these do but corrupt the stream, the other corrupteth the 
 fountain. So saith Solomon, Fans turbatus, et vena corrupts, 
 est Justus cadens in causa sua cor am adversaria? The office 
 of judges may have reference unto the parties that sue; unto 
 the advocates that plead ; unto the clerks and ministers of 
 justice underneath them ; and to the Sovereign or State above 
 them. 
 
 First, for the causes, or parties that sue : There be (saitli 
 the Scripture) that turn judgment into wormwood;* anil 
 surely there be also that turn it into vinegar ; for injustice 
 maketh it bitter, and delays make it sour. The principal 
 duty of a judge is, to suppress force and fraud ; whereof 
 force is the more pernicious when it is open, and fraud 
 when it is close and disguised. Add thereto contentious 
 suits, which ought to be spewed out, as the surfeit of courts. 
 
 1 Advised\ Heedful ; wary. 
 
 2 Cursed, &>c.] Deut. xxvii. 17 
 
 * Fans turbatus, &>c.] Prov. xxv. 26. 'A righteous mnn falling 
 down before the wicked is an a troubled fountain and a corrupt spring.' 
 4 There be, &c.\ Amos v. 7. 
 
 r
 
 2i 2 Essays. 
 
 A judge ought to prepare his way to a just sentence, as God 
 useth to prepare his way, by raising valleys and taking down 
 hills ; l so when there appeareth on either side a high hand 
 violent prosecution, cunning advantages taken, combination, 
 power, great counsel, then is the virtue of a judge seen to 
 make inequality equal, that he may plant his judgment as 
 upon an even ground. Quiforiiter emtmgit, elicit sanguinem* 
 and where the wine-press is hard wrought, it yields a harsh 
 wine, that tastes of the grape-stone. Judges must beware 
 of hard constructions, and strained inferences ; for there is 
 no worse torture than the torture of laws. Specially in case 
 of laws penal, they ought to have care that that which was 
 meant for terror 3 be not turned into rigour; and that they 
 bring not upon the people that shower whereof the Scripture 
 speaketh, Pluet super eos laqueos : 4 for penal laws pressed 
 are a shower of snares upon the people. Therefore let 
 penal laws, if they have been sleepers of long, or if they be 
 grown unfit for the present time, be by wise judges confined 
 in the execution : Judicis officium est, ut res, ita tempora 
 rerum, 6^r. 5 In causes of life and death, judges ought (as 
 far as the law pennitteth) in justice to remember mercy; 
 and to cast a severe eye upon the example, but a merciful 
 eye upon the person. 
 
 Secondly, for the advocates and counsel that plead: 
 Patience and gravity of hearing is an essential part of 
 justice, and an over-speaking judge is no well-tuned cymbal. 6 
 It is no grace to a judge first to find that which he might 
 
 1 As God useth to prepare, 6r.] Isaiah xl. 3, 4. 
 
 2 Quifortitir, &f.] He who blows the nose violently brings Forth 
 blood. Prov. xxx. 33. 
 
 * Terror} A means of deterring. See Rom. xiii. 3. 
 
 4 Pluet, &V.] He will rain snares upon them. Ps. xi. 6. 
 
 * Judici3 officium, &"c.\ Ovid, Trist. I. i. 37. It is a judge's duty 
 to consider not orfly the facts of a case, but the times to which they 
 Apply. 
 
 * Weil-tuned cymbal\ Psalter, d. 5
 
 Of Judicature. 2 \ 3 
 
 have heard in due time from the bar ; or to show quickness 
 of conceit 1 in cutting off evidence or counsel too short; or 
 to prevent* information by questions, though pertinent. 
 The parts of a judge in hearing are four : to direct the 
 evidence; to moderate length, repetition, or impertinency of 
 speech; to recapitulate, select, and collate the material 
 points of that which hath been said ; and to give the rule 3 
 or sentence. Whatsoever is above these is too much ; and 
 proceedeth either of glory and willingness 4 to speak, or of 
 impatience to hear, or of shortness of memory, or of want of 
 a stayed and equal attention. It is a strange thing to see 
 that the boldness of advocates should prevail with judges ; 
 whereas they should imitate God, in whose seat they sit, who 
 represseth the presumptuous, and giveth grace to the modest* 
 But it is more strange, that judges should have noted 
 favourites, which cannot but cause multiplication of fees, 
 and suspicion of by-ways. There is due from the judge to 
 the advocate some commendation and gracing, where causes 
 are well handled and fair pleaded ; especially towards the 
 side which obtaineth not ; for that upholds in the client the 
 reputation of his counsel, and beats down in him the conceit" 
 of his cause. There is likewise due to the public a civil 7 
 reprehension of advocates, where there appeareth cunning 
 counsel, gross neglect, slight information, indiscreet pressing, 
 or an over-bold defence. And let not the counsel at the 
 bar chop 8 with the judge, nor wind himself into the handling 
 
 1 Conceit] Conception. 
 
 * Prevent} Anticipate. 
 
 3 The rule] The order. 
 
 4 Willingness] Fond desire. 
 
 4 Who represseth, <Sr*.] James iv. 6 ; I Pet. v. 4. ' God resisteth 
 the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.' 
 
 The conceit] The high notion or conception he had formed. 
 7 Civil] Lat. Moderata. 
 
 9 Chop] Bandy words or petty arguments. Hence the expression 
 to chop logic. To chop originally meant to change or exchange.
 
 2F4 Essays. 
 
 of tlie cause anew, after the judge hath declared his.sentenc? ; 
 but, on the other side, let not the judge meet the cause half 
 way, nor- give occasion to the party to say, his counsel or 
 proofs were not heard. 
 
 Thirdly, for that that concerns clerks and ministers : The 
 place of justice is a hallowed place; and therefore not only 
 the bench, but the foot-pace 1 and precincts, and purprise 2 
 thereof, ought to be preserved without scandal and corruption ; 
 for, certainly, grapes (as the Scripture saith) will not be 
 gathered of thorns or thistles / 3 neither can justice yield her 
 fruit with sweetness amongst the briers and brambles of 
 catching and polling 4 clerks and ministers. The attendance 
 of courts is subject to four bad instruments. First, certain 
 personi; that are sowers of suits : which make the court 
 swell, and the country pine. The second sort is of those 
 that engage courts in quarrels of jurisdiction, and are not 
 truly amid curia? but parasiti curia, in puffing a court up 
 beyond her bounds for their own scraps and advantage. 
 The third sort is of those that may be accounted the left 
 hands of courts ; persons that are full of nimble and sinister 
 tricks and shifts, whereby they pervert the plain and direct 
 courses of courts, and bring justice into oblique lines and 
 labyrinths. And the fourth is the poller and exacter of fees ; 
 which justifies the common resemblance of the courts of 
 justice to the bush, whereunto while the sheep flies for 
 defence in weather, he is sure to lose part of his fleece. On 
 the other side, an ancient clerk, skilful in precedents, wary 
 in proceeding, and understanding in the business of the 
 court, is an excellent finger of a court, and doth many times 
 point the way to the judge himself. 
 
 Fourthly, for that which may concern the Sovereign and 
 
 Foot-face] Raised platform. 
 
 Purprise\ Inclosure. 
 
 Grapes ; drv.] Matt. vii. 16. 
 
 Polling] Fleecing. 
 
 Amid curia] Friends of the court.
 
 Of Judicatnr t. 215 
 
 Estate : Judges ought, above all, to remember the conclusion 
 of the Roman Twelve Tables, Salits fcpuli suprema lex ,' 
 and to know that laws, except they be in order to that end, 
 are but things captious, and oracles not well inspired. 
 Therefore it is a happy thing in a State, when Kings and 
 States do often consult with judges; and again, when judges 
 do often consult with the King and State : the one, when 
 there is matter of law intervenient in business of State; the 
 other, when there is some consideration of State intervenient 
 in matter of law; for many times the things deduced 2 to 
 judgment may be meiun and tuum, when the reason and 
 consequence thereof may trench to point of Estate. 3 I call 
 matter of Estate, not only the parts of Sovereignty, but 
 whatsoever introduceth any great alteration or dangerous 
 precedent; or concerneth manifestly any great portion ot 
 people. And let no man weakly conceive, that just laws 
 and true policy have any antipathy ; for they are like the 
 spirits 4 and sinews, that one moves with the other. Let 
 judges also remember, that Solomon's throne was supported 
 by lions on both sides; 5 let them be lions, but yet lions 
 under the throne : being circumspect, that they do not check 
 or oppose any points of Sovereignty. Let not judges also 
 be so ignorant of their own right as to think there is not 
 left to them, as a principal part of their office, a wise use 
 and application of laws ; for they may remember what the 
 apostle saith of a greater law than theirs : JVbs scimus quia 
 lex bona est, modo quis ea utatur legitime.* 
 
 iV ". ' 
 
 1 Salus Popitli, &*c. ] The weal of the people is the supreme law. 
 Bacon erred in referring this to the Tables compiled by the i)ecemvira ; 
 the sentence is Cicero's, De Leg. iii. 3. 
 
 * Deduced] Brought, or referred. 
 
 * May trench, &>c.] Lat. Ad rat tones Stat&s penetret. 
 4 T/'if spirits] The vital spirits. Ste p. 32, note I. 
 
 4 Solomon's throne, drv.] i Kings x. 19. 
 
 * A'os scir/iMs, <Sr"c.] I Tim. i. 8. ' We know that the law is good if 
 a mar. use it lawfully."
 
 216 Essays. 
 
 LVII. OF ANGER. 
 
 To seek to extinguish anger utterly is but a bravery 1 of 
 the Stoics. We have better oracles : J3e angry, but sin iwt : 
 let not the sun go down upon your anger? Anger must be 
 limited and confined, both in race 3 and in time. We will 
 first speak how the natural inclination and habit, to be angry, 
 may be attempered and calmed ; secondly, how the parti- 
 cular motions of anger may be repressed, or at least refrained 4 
 from doing mischief; thirdly, how to raise anger or appease 
 anger in another. 
 
 For the first : there is no other way but to meditate and 
 ruminate well upon the effects of anger, how it troubles 
 man's life. And the best time to do this is to look back 
 upon anger when the fit is thoroughly over. Seneca saith 
 well that anger is like ruin, which breaks itself upon that it 
 falls? The Scripture exhorteth us to possess our souls in 
 patience* Whosoever is out of patience is out of possession 
 of his soul. Men must not turn bees : animasque in vulncre 
 ponunt. 1 Anger is certainly a kind of baseness ; as it 
 appears well in the weakness of those subjects in whom it 
 reigns, children, women, old folks, sick folks. Only men 
 must beware that they carry their anger rather with scorn 
 than with fear; so that they may seem rather to be above 
 the injury than below it : which is a thing easily done, if a 
 man will give law to himself in it. 
 
 For the second point : the causes and motives of anger 
 are chiefly three. First, to be too sensible of hurt ; for no 
 
 1 J5rat>ay] Bravado. 
 
 * Be angry, <&.] Eph. iv. 26. 
 8 In race\ As to extent. 
 
 * Refrained} Restrained. 
 
 5 That anger, &<:.] Seneca, De Ira, i. i. 
 
 * To possess our souls, <5rY.] Luke xxi. 19. 
 
 7 A iiiniastfue, &c], Virgil, Georg. iv. 238. And lose their lives ia 
 the wound they make.
 
 Of Anger. 217 
 
 man is angry that feels not himself hurt ; and, therefore, 
 tender and delicate persons must needs be oft angry ; they 
 have so many things to trouble them, which more robust 
 natures have little sense of. The next is the apprehension 
 and construction ' of the injury offered, to be in the circum- 
 stances thereof full of contempt. For contempt is that 
 which putteth an edge upon anger, as much or more than 
 the hurt itself. And therefore when men are ingenious in 
 picking out circumstances of contempt, they do kindle 
 their anger much. Lastly, opinion of the touch 8 of a man's 
 reputation doth multiply and sharpen anger. Wherein the 
 remedy is, that a man should have, as Gonsalvo 3 was wont 
 to say, telam honoris crasstorem.* But in all refrainings of 
 anger, it is the best remedy to win time, and to make a 
 man's self believe that the opportunity of his revenge is not 
 yet come, but that he foresees a time for it ; and so to still 
 himself in the meantime, and reserve it. 
 
 To contain anger from mischief, though it take hold of a 
 man, there be two things whereof you must have special 
 caution : the one, of extreme bitterness of words ; especially 
 if they be aculeate and proper ; for communia maledicta* are 
 nothing so much ; and again, that in anger a man reveal no 
 secrets; for that makes him not fit for society. The other, 
 that you do not peremptorily break off in any business in a 
 fit of anger : but howsoever you show bitterness, do not act 
 anything that is not revocable. 
 
 For raising and appeasing anger in another: it is done 
 
 1 The apprehension, &c.] The apprehending and construing. The 
 Latin has Si ynis curiosus et perspicax sit in interpretalione. 
 
 * The touch] The wounding, or sullying. 
 
 * Gonsalvo] Viceroy of Naples. Died in 1515. 
 
 4 Telam honoris crassiorem] A more substantial web of honour. 
 Compare the Advancement, II., ' Gonsalvo said, the honour of a soldier 
 should be e teld crassiore, and not so fine as that everything 
 catch in it and endanger it.' 
 
 * Coiin'tunia makdicta\ Generrl reviling*
 
 21 8 'Essay sS 
 
 chiefly by choosing-of times, when men are frowardest .and 
 worst disposed, to incense them. Again, by gathering (as 
 was touched before) all that you can find out to aggravate 
 the contempt. And the two remedies are by the contraries; 
 The former to take good times, when first to relate to a man 
 an angry business ; for the first impression is much; And 
 the other is to sever, as much as maybe, the construction of 
 the injury from the point of contempt: imputing it to' mis* 
 understanding, fear, passion, or what you will.. 
 
 LVIII. OF VICISSITUDE OF THINGS. 
 
 Solomon saith, There t's no new thing upon the earth.), So 
 that as Plato had an imagination that all knowledge was but 
 remembrance, 2 so Solomon giveth his sentence, that all 
 novelty is but oblivion. Whereby you may see that the 
 river of " Lethe runneth as well above ground as below. 
 There is an abstruse astrologer that saith, if it were -not for 
 two things that are constant (the one is, that the fixed stars 
 ever stand at like distance one from another, and never 
 ,come nearer together nor go further asunder; the other, 
 that the diurnal motion perpetually keepeth time), uo jndi- 
 
 1 There is no new thing, 6fc. ] Eccles. i. 9. 
 
 That all knmvlcdge, &c.~\ This opinion is found in Plato's Menon 
 and Phaedo ; but Bacon probably refers to Cicero's Tusc. Disp. i. 24, 
 where it is said : Man has memory so infinite as to recollect numberless 
 things ; and Plato will have this to be a recollection of a former life 
 For how have children got notions of the many important things sealed 
 up, as it were, in their minds (tvvoicu, common notions], unless the soul, 
 before entering the body, had been well stored with knowledge ? The 
 soul, shut up in the body, could not discover, but must have brought 
 v-jth it, what it knows ; nor does it clearly discover its ideas at its first 
 resort to this unusual and troublesome abode; but after having refreshed 
 and recollected itself, it then by its memory recovers them; and there- 
 fore to learn implies only to recollect. Compare what Bacon says, on 
 the same subject, in his Advancement (Dedication tc the King}.
 
 Of Vicissitude of Things. 2 1 9 
 
 yidual would last one moment Certain it is, that the 
 matter is in a perpetual flux, and never at a stay. The 
 great winding-sheets that bury all things in oblivion are two, 
 deluges and earthquakes. As for conflagrations and great 
 droughts, they do not merely! dispeople and destroy. 
 Phaeton's car went but a day. And the three years' drought 
 in the time of Elias'was but particular, 3 and left people 
 alive. As for the great burnings by lightnings which are 
 often in the West Indies, 4 they are but narrow. But in the 
 other two destructions, by deluge and earthquake, it is 
 further to be noted, that the remnant of people which hap 
 to be reserved are commonly ignorant and mountainous 
 people, that can give no account of the time past; 6 so that 
 the oblivion is all one as if none had been left. If you 
 consider well of the people of the West Indies, it is very 
 probable that they are a newer or a younger people than the 
 people of the old world. And it is much more likely that 
 the destruction that hath heretofore been there was not by 
 earthquakes (as the Egyptian priest told Solon concerning 
 the island of Atlantis, that it was swallowed by an earth- 
 quake), 6 but rather, that it was desolated by a particular 
 deluge. For earthquakes are seldom in those parts. But, 
 on the other side, they have such pouring rivers, as 7 the 
 rivers of Asia and Africa and Europe are but brooks to 
 them. Their Andes likewise, or mountains, are far higher 
 than those with us ; whereby, it seems, that the remnants of 
 generations of men were in such a particular deluge saved. 
 
 1 Merely] Absolutely ; quite. 
 
 The three years 1 drought, iSrv.] Luke iv. 25 ; James v. 15. 
 
 3 Particular] Partial. 
 
 4 In the West Indies} The Latin has Apud Indias Orientales. Bacon 
 means America generally. 
 
 4 The remnant of people, &".] Machiavel, Disc, OH Livy, ii. 5. 
 
 * As the AUgyptian priest, &*c.\ Plato, Tim iii. 24. .Siv p. 152, 
 note 2. ' As} That.
 
 22O Essays. 
 
 As for the observation that Machiavel hath, 1 that the jealousy 
 of sects doth much extinguish the memory of things, 
 traducing Gregory the Great, that he did what in him lay to 
 extinguish all heathen antiquities, 2 I do not find that those 
 zeals do any great effects, nor last long ; as it appeared in 
 the succession of Sabinian, 3 who did revive the former anti- 
 quities. 
 
 The vicissitude or mutations in the superior globe, are 
 no fit matter for this present argument. It may be, Plato's 
 great year, 4 if the world should last so long, would have 
 some effect, not in renewing the state of like individuals 
 (for that is the fume 5 of those that conceive the celestial 
 bodies have more accurate influence upon these things 
 below than indeed they have), but in gross. Comets, out of 
 question, have likewise power and effect over the gross and 
 mass of things: but they are rather gazed upon and waited 
 upon 6 in their journey, than wisely observed in their effects ; 
 specially in their respective effects ; that is, what kind of 
 comet for magnitude, colour, version 7 of the beams, placing 
 in the region of heaven, or lasting, produceth what kind of 
 effects. 
 
 1 The observation, &v.] Disc, on Livy, ii. 5. 
 
 2 Traducing Gregory the Great, &"c.~\ Gregory the Great was said to 
 have commanded the destruction of the Palatine library ; but the evidence 
 of this is very doubtful. Gibbon (Decl. and Fall, ch. 45) says, ' The 
 \\ ritings of Gregory himself reveal his implacable aversion to the monu- 
 ments of classic genius, and he points his severest censure against the 
 profane learning of a bishop,' &c. 
 
 3 Sabinian} He succeeded Pope Gregory in 604. 
 
 4 Plato" 1 * great year] Plato, Tim. iii. 28 ; Cicero, De Nat. Dear. iv. 
 20. The great year denoted that space of time (some make it about 
 13.000, others 26,000 years) in which the whole universe of planets and 
 fixed stars returns to the same positions in the heavens. 
 
 5 Thefume\ The idle vapour, or vain imagination. 
 
 Waited upon~\ Watched or observed. See p. 92, note I. 
 1 Version} Direction.
 
 Of Vicissitude of Things. 22 1 
 
 There is a toy 1 which I have heard, and I would not 
 have it given over, but waited upon a little. They say it is 
 observed in the Low Countries (I know not in what part) 
 that every five and thirty years the same kind and suit* of 
 years and weathers comes about again ; as great frost, great 
 wet, great droughts, warm winters, summers with little heat, 
 and the like : and they call it the Prime. It is a thing I do 
 the rather mention, because, computing backwards, I have 
 found some concurrence. 
 
 But to leave these points of nature, and to come to men : 
 The greatest vicissitude of things amongst men is the vicis- 
 situde of sects and religions. For those orbs rule in men's 
 minds most. The true religion is built upon the rock; the 
 rest are tossed upon the waves of time. To speak therefore 
 of the causes of new sects, and to give some counsel con- 
 cerning them, as far as the weakness of human judgment 
 can give stay to so great revolutions: 
 
 When the religion formerly received is rent by discords, 
 and when the holiness of the professors of religion is decayed 
 and full of scandal, and withal the times be stupid, ignorant, 
 and barbarous, you may doubt 3 the springing up of a new 
 sect, if then also there should arise any extravagant and 
 strange spirit to make himself author thereof. All which 
 points held 4 when Mahomet published his law. If a new 
 sect have not two properties, fear it not; for it will not 
 spread : the one is the supplanting or the opposing of 
 authority established : for nothing is more popular than that ; 
 the other is the giving licence to pleasures and a voluptuous 
 life. For as for speculative heresies (such as were in ancient 
 times the Arians', and now the Arminians'), though they work 
 mightily upon men's wits, yet they do not produce any great 
 
 1 A toy} A trifle ; a light matter. 
 
 * Suit] Sequence. 
 
 1 Doubt] Fear ; apprehend. 
 
 4 Held\ Obtained ; were realised.
 
 222 Essays, 
 
 alterations in States; except it be by the help of civil 
 occasions. There be three manner of plantations of new 
 sects: by the power of signs and miracles; by the eloquence 
 and wisdom of speech and persuasion ; and by the sword. 
 For martyrdoms, I reckon them amongst miracles ; because 
 they seem to exceed the strength of human nature ; and I 
 riiay~do the like of superlative and admirable 1 holiness of life. 
 Surely there is no better way to stop the rising of new sects 
 and schisms than to reform abuses ; to compound the smaller 
 differences; to proceed mildly, and not with sanguinary 
 persecutions; and rather to take off the principal authors, by 
 winning and advancing them, than to enrage them by violence 
 and bitterness. 
 
 The changes and vicissitudes in wars are many, but chiefly 
 in three things : in the seats or stages of the war, in the 
 weapons, and in the manner of the conduct. Wars in ancient 
 time seemed more to move from east to west : for the Persians, 
 Assyrians, Arabians, Tartars (which were the invaders) were 
 all eastern people. It is true, the Gauls were western ; but 
 we read but of two incursions of theirs, the one to Gallo- 
 Graecia, the other to Rome. But east and west have no 
 certain points of heaven ; and no more have the wars, either 
 from the east or west, any certainty of observation. But 
 north and south are fixed : and it hath seldom or never been 
 seen that the far southern people have invaded the northern, 
 but contrariwise. Whereby it is manifest that the northern 
 tract of the world is in nature the more martial region; be it 
 in respect of the stars of that hemisphere, or of the great 
 continents that are upon the north : whereas the south part, 
 for aught that is known, is almost all sea; or (which is most 
 apparent) of the cold of the northern parts, which is that 
 which without aid of discipline doth make the bodies hardest 
 and the courages warmest. 
 
 Upon the breaking and shivering of a great State and 
 
 ~* AJmirallt} ; Wonderful.
 
 Of Vicissitude of Things. -22 "\ 
 
 Empire, you may be sure to have wars. Fo? great Empires, 
 while they stand, do enervate and destroy the forces of the 
 natives which they have subdued, resting upon their own 
 protecting forces: and then, when they fail also, all goes tc 
 ruin, and they become a prey. So was it jn the decay of 
 the Roman Empire; and likewise in the Empire of Almaigne,, 
 after Charles the Great, every bird taking a feather; and, 
 were not unlike to befall to Spain, if it should break. The 
 great accessions and unions of Kingdoms do likewise stir up 
 wars. For when a State grows to an overpower, it is like a 
 great flood that will be sure to overflow ; as it hath been 
 seen in the States of Rome, Turkey, Spain, and others. 
 Look, when the world hath fewest barbarous peoples, but 
 such as commonly will not marry or generate, except they 
 know means to live (as it is almost everywhere at this day 
 except Tartary), there is no danger of inundations of people ; 
 but when there be great shoals of people which go on to 
 populate, without foreseeing means of life and sustentation, 
 it is of necessity that once in an age or two they discharge 
 a portion of their people upon other nations: which the 
 ancient northern people were wont to do by lot, casting 
 lots what part should stay at home, and what should seek 
 *heir fortunes. When a warlike State grows soft and effe; 
 ninate, they may be sure of a war. For .commonly such 
 States are grown rich in the time of their degenerating ; and 
 so the prey inviteth, and their decay in valour encouraget^ 
 i war. . 
 
 As for the weapons, it hardly falleth under rule and qb; 
 servation: yet we see even they have returns and vicissi- 
 tudes. For certain it is, that ordnance was .known in the 
 city of the Oxydraces, in India; 1 and was, that which the 
 Macedonians called thunder and lightning and magic. And 
 it is well known that the use of ordnance hah been in 
 
 1 Ordnance, 6v.] I haye. not been able to find any authority for 
 '.his assertion.
 
 224 Essays. 
 
 China above two thousand years. The conditions of 
 weapons, and their improvement are; first, the fetching 1 
 afar off; for that outruns the danger: as it is seen in 
 ordnance and muskets. Secondly, the strength of the per- 
 cussion, wherein likewise ordnance do exceed all arietations 2 
 and ancient inventions. The third is, the commodious use 
 of them: as that they may serve in all weathers; that the 
 carriage may be light and manageable; and the like. 
 
 For the conduct of the war : At the first, men rested ex- 
 tremely upon number ; they did put the wars likewise upon 
 main force and valour, pointing days for pitched fields, 
 and so trying it out upon an even match; and they were 
 more ignorant in ranging and arraying their battles. 3 After 
 they grew to rest upon number rather competent than 
 vast, they grew to advantages of place, cunning diversions, 
 and the like, and they grew more skilful in the ordering 4 of 
 their battles. 
 
 In the youth of a State arms do flourish ; in the middle 
 age of a State, learning; and then both of them together 
 for a time: in the declining age of a State, mechanical arts 
 and merchandise. Learning hath his 5 infancy, when it is 
 but beginning, and almost childish ; then his youth, when 
 it is luxuriant and juvenile; then his strength of years, when 
 it is solid and reduced: 6 and, lastly, his old age, when it 
 waxeth dry and exhaust. But it is not good to look too 
 long upon these turning wheels of vicissitude lest we become 
 giddy. As for the philology of them, 7 that is but a circle of 
 tales, and therefore not fit for this writing. 
 
 1 Fetching Ranging. 
 
 * Arittations\ Battering with the ram. 
 
 * Battles] Battalions; armies. 
 4 Ordering\ Marshalling. 
 
 * His} Its. See p. 39, note 5. 
 
 * Reduced} Exact. 
 
 f The philology of them} The literature ot then?.
 
 22* 
 
 A FRAGMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 AN ESSAY OF FAME* 
 
 THE poets make Fame a monster: they describe her in 
 part finely and elegantly, and in part gravely and senten- 
 tiously : * they say, look, how many feathers she hath so 
 many eyes she hath underneath, so many tongues, so many 
 voices, she pricks up so many ears.* 
 
 This is a flourish ; 4 there follow excellent parables ; 5 as 
 that she gathereth strength in going ; 6 that she goeth .upon 
 the ground, and yet hideth her head in the clouds; 7 that in 
 
 1 A Fragment, dr^.] This Fragment was first published by Dr. 
 Rawley, in 1657. Fame signifies Rumour. 
 
 2 Sententious!}] Pithily ; in the style of a proverb or maxim. 
 
 TTiey say, 6r.] Compare Virgil, &n. iv. 181 : 
 
 ' Monstrum horrendum, ingens : cui quot sunt corpore plumae, 
 Tot vigiles oculi subter (mirabile dictu), 
 Tot linguae, tot idem ora sonant, tot subrigit aures.' 
 
 In these lines Fame is described ' finely and elegantly,' as Bacon says ; 
 he proceeds to refer to the ' parables ' in which she is described by the 
 same poet ' gravely and sententiously.' 
 4 A,flourisK\ Fanciful rhetoric. 
 
 Parables] Proverbial sentiments. 
 
 Ske gathereth, drv.] ' Viresque acquirit eundo.' sEn. iv. 175. 
 
 T That she goeth, &(.] Ingrediturque solo, et aput inter nubila 
 oouviit' sn. iv. 177. 
 
 Q
 
 226 A Fragment of an Essay of Fame. 
 
 the day-time she sitteth in a watch-tower, and flieth most 
 by night; that she mingleth things done with things not 
 done; and that she is a terror to great cities. 1 But that 
 which passeth all the rest is, they do recount that the 
 Earth, mother of the giants that made war against Jupiter, 
 and were by him destroyed, thereupon in anger brought 
 forth Fame ; 2 for certain it is that rebels, figured bv the 
 giants, and seditious fames, and libels, arc bur brotners and 
 sisters, masculine and feminine. 3 But now if a man can tame 
 this monster, and bring her to feed at the hand and govern 
 her, and with her fly 4 other ravening fowl and kill them, it 
 is somewhat worth : but we are infected with the style of 
 the poets. To speak now in a sad 5 and serious manner, 
 there is not in all the politics a place B less handled, and more 
 worthy to be handled, than this of fame : we will therefore 
 speak of these points : what are false fames ; and what are 
 true fames ; and how they may be best discerned ; 7 how 
 fames may be sown and raised ; how they may be spread 
 and multiplied; and how they may be checked and laid 
 dead; and other things concerning the nature of fame. 
 Fame is of that force as there is scarcely any great action 
 wherein it hath not a great part, especially in the war. 
 
 1 In the day-time, &>c.] This, again, is from the ALn. iv. 184-190' 
 
 *Nocte volat cceli medio, terneque per umbram 
 Stridens, nee dulci declinat lumina sotno ; 
 Luce sedet custos, aut summi culmine tecti, 
 Turribus aut altis, et magnas territat urbes : 
 Tarn ficti pravique tenax quam nuntia veri. 
 HJCC turn multiplici populos sermone replebat 
 Gaudens, et pariter facta atque infecta canebat.' 
 
 - That the Earth, ts*c.~\ See p. 54. 
 
 Masculine and feminine] Compare what is said in p. 54. 
 Fly] Fly at ; pursue and attack. An allusion to falconry. 
 Sad] Sober ; grave. Formerly a common meaning. 
 A plate] A topic or argument. See p. 1 36, note 2. 
 Distinguished.
 
 A Fragment of an Essay of Fame. 227 
 
 Mucianus undid Vitellius by a fa?ne that he scattered, 1 that 
 Vitellius had in purpose to remove the legions of Syria into 
 Germany, and the legions of Germany into Syria; where- 
 upon the legions of Syria were infinitely inflamed. Julius 
 Cassartook Pompey unprovided ; 2 and laid asleep his industry 
 and preparations by a fame that he cunningly gave out, 
 how Caesar's own soldiers loved him not; and being wearied 
 with the wars and laden with the spoils of Gaul, would 
 forsake him as soon as he came into Italy. 3 Livia settled 
 all things for the succession of her son Tiberius, by con- 
 tinual giving out that her husband Augustus was upon 
 recovery and amendment ; 4 and it is a usual thing with the 
 bashaws to conceal the death of the Great Turk from the 
 janizaries and men of war, to save the sacking of Constan 
 tinople and other towns, as their manner is. Themistocles 
 made Xerxes king of Persia post apace out of Graecia, by 
 giving out that the Grecians had a purpose to break his 
 bridge of ships, which he had made athwart Hellespont.* 
 There be a thousand such like examples ; and the more 
 they are the less they need to be repeated, because a man 
 tneeteth with them everywhere: therefore let all wise 
 governors have as great a watch dnd care over fames as they 
 have of the actions and designs themselves. 
 
 The rest of the Essay of Fame was not finished. 
 
 1 A fame that he scattered} A rumour that he spread. Tacitus, 
 Hist. ii. 80. See p. 22. 
 
 * Unprovideit\ At unawares. 
 
 1 By a fame, &>c.~\ Caesar, Bell. Cm. i. 6; Plutarch, Js*. Cos. 
 4 Livia settled, <&v.] Tacitus, Ann. i. 5. 
 
 Themistocles made, drV.] Herodotus, viii. IO8.
 
 22Q 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 EXAMINATION PAPER ON BACON'S ESS A YS 
 
 SET AT THE 
 
 OXFORD LOCAL EXAMINATIONS, 1864. 
 (WITH ANSWERS.) 
 
 I. QUESTIONS. 
 
 1. Define ' Essay.' Has the word changed its meaning since Bacon's 
 time? 
 
 2. Enumerate the ' fruits ' and the ' manifold uses ' of Friendship. 
 
 3. What are your author's vie ws of the causes of Atheism ? Does 
 he appear to have omitted some ? 
 
 4. Where are the following persons mentioned in the Essays: Pytha- 
 goras, Prodicus, Cyrus, Justinian, Apollonius of Tyana, Albert Durer, 
 Cosmo Duke of Florence, Louis XI. ? And how are their names in- 
 troduced ? 
 
 5. Give Bacon's chief directions to Planters. 
 
 6. Give the substance of the Essays on Delays, Innovations, and the 
 Regimen of Health. 
 
 7. ' The causes and motives of seditions are ' .... Go on, if you 
 can, with the proposition. 
 
 8. What is your author's advice to Travellers ? 
 
 9. Tell a lie and find a troth. 
 Abeunt studia in mores. 
 Fortune is like the market. 
 
 The blessing of Judah and Issachar will never 
 When hempe is spun, England's done. 
 Comment on these ; and say where the v occur.
 
 Appendix. 
 
 10. ' Better have no opinion of God at all, than such an opinion u 
 is unworthy of Him.' How does your author make out this? 
 
 11. ' If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the 
 . hilL ' What use does he make of the story referred to ? 
 
 II. ANSWERS. 
 
 1. 'Essay'* is a name denoting a species of composition which 
 attempts to define (if neces ary) some moral, political, or other topic ; to 
 argue upon it methodically, and illustrate it ; and to deduce its proper 
 value or importance. 
 
 The word has changed its meaning considerably since Bacon's time ; 
 as it then denoted merely a few scattered thoughts or suggestions, 
 designed to prompt and aid further reflection. 
 
 2. Of the fruits and the manifold uses of Friendship, Bacon specifies 
 the following: 
 
 i. The ease and discharge of the fulness and swellings of the heart, 
 which passions of all kinds occasion: true friends being participes cura- 
 rum, who double each other's joys, and halve each other's griefs. 
 
 ii. The opening of the understanding through communicating and 
 discoursing with another ; and the preventing, by faithful counsel, a 
 man's being misled by his own self-esteem, prejudice, or passion. 
 
 iii. Aid and bearing a part in all actions and occasions; especially 
 when modesty would restrain a man from pleading his own merits, or 
 when some personal relationship might hinder such freedom of acting 
 as things themselves require. 
 
 3. Bacon views the causes of Atheism to be : 
 
 i. A little philosophy, dealing with second causes scattered, which 
 may dispose a man to rest in them, and so incline his mind to disown 
 the great First Cause. 
 
 ii. A corrupt natural wish that there should be no God to take 
 account of human conduct. 
 
 * The student should notice that it is 'Essay,' not 'an Essay,' of 
 which a definition is required. Let care always be taken to give per- 
 tinent answers. We have answered several of the questions more fully 
 than candidates generally can be expected to do. Very creditable 
 industry and judgment may be shown with less than half the quantity 
 of matter here introduced.
 
 Appendix. ' 231 
 
 iii. The searing of the conscience by long, familiar, and hypocritical 
 handling of holy things, without feeling them, 
 iv. The great diversity of religious sects. 
 v. Scandal of priests. 
 
 vi. Custom of profane scoffing in holy matters, 
 vii. Learned times ; specially with peace and prosperity. 
 Bacon has omitted to notice as causes of Atheism : 
 
 A. The condition of the world, as seeming to indicate that it has 
 no moral governor. 
 
 B. The apparent inconsistencies in the Bible. 
 
 C. An abuse of speculation, going beyond the qualities of material 
 or spiritual existence, and aiming to ascertain what matter itself, or 
 spirit itself, is : an occupation of the mind which can only proceed 
 upon conjecture? and suppositions, and which has sometimes led to 
 atheism. 
 
 4. Pythagoras is mentioned, in the Essay on Friendship, as author of 
 tlie proverb, Cor ne edito. 
 
 Prodicus is mentioned, in the Essay on Seeming Wise, as one who, 
 for the purpose of ridicule, is made by Plato to deliver a speech con- 
 sisting of distinctions from beginning to end. 
 
 Cyrus is mentioned, in the Essay on Hontur and Reputation, as 
 one of those Princes who were distinguished as Conditores imperiorum. 
 
 Justinian, in the same Essay, as one of those Second Founders, or 
 Perpetui Piindpes, who were Lawgivers, and continued after death to 
 govern by their ordinances. 
 
 Apollonhtsqf Tyana is mentioned, in the Essay on Empire, as having 
 been asked by Vespasian, What -was Nero's overthrow ? and as having 
 answered, Nero could touch and tune the harp well ; but, in govern- 
 ment, sometimes he used to wind the fins too high, sometimes to let them 
 t/tmm too low. The same Apollonius is also, referred to, in the Essay 
 on Friendship, as one of those who falsely and feignedly sequestered 
 themselves from society. 
 
 Albert Durer is censured 1 , in the Essay on Beauty, for aiming at geo- 
 metrical proportion in his representation of the human form. 
 
 Cosmo, Duke of Florence, is mentioned, in the Essay on Revenge, 
 with reference to ' a desperate saying ' of his, that wt art enjoined to 
 forgive our enemies, but nowhere enjoined to forgive ur friends. He is 
 also mentioned in the Essay on Youth and Age, as one who was of 
 a reposed nature in youth. 
 
 Louis XL is mentioned, in the Essay on Friendship, ns one who 
 would not communicate his secrets with anyone, and wAaie (loscuts* ui 
 his tormentor.
 
 232 ' Appendix. 
 
 5. To choose the right sort of people to plant with, viz. gardeners, 
 ploughmen, smiths, carpenters, &c., with some apothecaries, surgeons, 
 cooks, and bakers. 
 
 To supply a sufficient quantity of biscuit, meal, flour, &c. , to serve 
 until bread may be had ; and also a good store of salt, and of such 
 animals for food as are least subject to diseases, and multiply fastest. 
 
 To take immediate advantage of all kinds of vegetable food which 
 the country itself yields ready to hand. 
 
 To consider and provide for such vegetable food as grows there 
 speedily, and within the year. 
 
 To regulate the consumption of food by rations. 
 
 To devote the main part of the ground to the production ol a 
 common stock of sustenance. 
 
 To take advantage of such other commodities as the country naturally 
 yields, such as wood, iron, drugs, &c., to help to defray the expense 
 of the plantation ; but not give much attention to mining. 
 
 To entrust the government of the plantation to one person, assisted 
 by a few counsellors, who should be noblemen and gentlemen, rather 
 than merchants. 
 
 To impose r.o custom dues on traffic for a considerable time. 
 
 To add people from time to time, but not to exceed the number that 
 can be conveniently maintained. 
 
 To begin building near the sea or a river, but to continue building 
 upwards from it rather than along it. 
 
 To treat sensibly and humanely the savage people of the country (if 
 any). 
 
 6. i. Of Delays. It is wise to time well the beginnings of things. 
 The ripeness or unripeness of the occasion should be well considered. 
 Danger when slighted sometimes deceives men who could have well 
 withstood it, if they had not delayed beyond the proper time. It is 
 often better to meet danger halfway than to delay till it comes near; for 
 with delay we may become less capable of prevailing. On the other 
 hand, it is unsafe to imagine danger nearer than it is, and to waste 
 one's means in premature attempts ito.avert it ; or to provoke a speedier 
 approach of what threatens, by declaring opposition too soon. This is 
 the other extreme. When delay would be salutary, and when it would 
 be hurtful, should be duly weighed. We should secretly watch for the 
 right time to begin, and act promptly when we have begun. 
 
 ii. Of Intwvatians. Innovations are the births of Time, and at first 
 unshapely. Yet the innovation of the man who first brings honour to 
 his family is generally better than all after attempts of imitation to 
 make the once novel virtue customary and familiar. That which is
 
 Appendix. 233 
 
 Ciistomary, though it may not be good, is at least conformable with 
 other things ; but the introduction o( new things, however useful, is 
 disturbing, and therefore often disliked and resisted. But as Time, 
 the greatest innovator, will not stand still, there may be as great dis- 
 turbance in obstinately continuing an ofd custom, as in making an in* 
 novation. Men should imitate Time, which innovates quietly and by 
 scarcely perceptible degrees ; for this M'ould lighten any partial incon- 
 venience that innovation might cause. Experiments in States should 
 not be attempted, except when there is urgent necessity or manifest 
 utility. And whatever innovation may be adopted, it should be sus- 
 pected, until sufficiently tried. 
 
 iii. Of Reginun of Health. The best guide to preservation of 
 health is a man's own observation of what suits him. Things, how- 
 ever, that appear to do no harm in the vigorous season of youth, may 
 sow noxious seeds that will produce evil fruit in age. Do not suddenly 
 alter any main part of diet, without some conformable change in other 
 things. If any custom in regard to diet, sleep, clothing, &c., be thought 
 injurious, leave it off not abruptly, but gradually, lest the change be 
 found improper for your own particular constitution. Cheerfulness 
 when taking food, or sleep, or exercise, conduces much to long life. 
 Avoid the indulgence of evil and inordinate passions. Cultivate studies 
 that fill the mind with splendid and illustrious objects. In health use 
 physic now and then, not frequently, that in sickness it may be found 
 neither too strange for the body, nor too familiar. Regulation of diet 
 according to seasons is better than physic ; and if proper exercise be 
 taken in health, diet without physic may often be sufficient even in 
 sickness. Celsus showed great sagacity in prescribing an interchange of 
 contraries, such as fasting and full eating, but the less agreeable in less 
 proportion, that nature might be cherished, and yet trained to self- 
 control. 
 
 7. ' The causes and motives of seditions are : innovations hi religion, 
 taxes ; . . . [continue the paragraph in the 1 5th Essay]. 
 
 8. Bacon's advice for the youn^ traveller is : To acquire some know- 
 ledge of the language of the country to be visited ; to have the company 
 of some tutor or grave servant who has been there before; to be provided 
 with a book describing the country ; and to keep a diary. To attend 
 royal, legal, and ecclesiastical courts at some of their times of business; 
 to visit churches, monasteries, colleges, arsenals, fortifications, harbours, 
 and whatever deserves observation or inquiry. Not to stay too longin one 
 town, or in any one part of a town; to associate with good people of the 
 place, not with his countrymen who may be there ; and to shun the 
 company of quarrelsome persons. To obtain letters of introduction to
 
 234 Appendix, 
 
 men of distinction and authority ; and to seek the acquaintance ol 
 secretaries and attaches of ambassadors. Upon returning home, he 
 is to maintain correspondence with the best of his foreign acquaintances ; 
 and to show the fruits of his travel by sensible and modest relation, 
 without affecting foreign dress and manners. 
 
 9. Tell a lie and find a troth, is a Spanish proverb referred to in the 
 Essay on Simulation and Dissimulation, as implying that to simulate 
 is the most effectual means of drawing out men and making them 
 reveal themselves. 
 
 Abeunt studia in mores, is a quotation from Ovid, signifying that 
 particular studies induce particular habits of mind. It occurs in the 
 Essay on Studies, where histories are said to make wise, the poets to 
 make witty, mathematics to make subtle, &c. 
 
 Fortune is like the market, is the beginning of the Essay on Delays. 
 The comparison means, that if we wait or delay a little, chance will 
 sometimes bring about a fall of prices, or a better opportunity, and at 
 other times a rise of prices, or a worse opportunity. 
 
 The blessing of Judah and Issachar -will never meet, is an assertion 
 in the Essay on Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates^ the literal sense 
 being that a people cannot, at the same time, be as the lion's whelp 
 and as the ass between burdens. Bacon applies it to signify that a 
 people oppressed with taxes will never be valiant and martial. 
 
 When hempe is spun, England 's done, is described by Bacon in the 
 Essay on Prophecies, as a trivial prophecy which he heard when he was 
 a child, and which was then generally conceived to import that 
 England should come to ruin after the reigns of Henry, Edward, Mary 
 and Philip, and Elizabeth, as the initials of their names form the word 
 HKMPE. He thanked God, however, that the prediction England's 
 done was verified only in the change of the style King of England to 
 King of Britain. 
 
 10. He makes out this by characterising the having no opinion of 
 God at all as unbelief, and the having an opinion unworthy of Him as 
 lonlumely. (Essay on Superstition. ) 
 
 11. He says that the conduct of Mahomet is paralleled by those bold 
 fellows who, when they have promised great things, and shamefully 
 failed, make light of the matter, and turn it off with some impudent 
 shift. (Essay on Boldness. ) 
 
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