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as first in that instance which is the root of all superstition, namely, that to the nature of the mind of all men it is consonant for the affirmative or active to effect, more than the negative or privative. So that a few times hitting, or presence, countervails oft-times failing, or absence; as was well answered by Diagoras to him that showed him, in Neptune's temple, the great number of pictures of such as had escaped shipwreck, and had paid their vows to Neptune, saying, 'Advise now, you that think it folly to invocate Neptune in tempest.' 'Yea, but,' saith Diagoras, 'where are they painted that are drowned ?'" 130:18. Plato's. See note on page 55, line 20. Atlanticus. The Critias of Plato.

XXXVI. OF AMBITION

(1612. Enlarged, 1625)

Of Bacon's own ambition all his life is a testimony. The student will note his frankly and often expressed desire for advancement, and will feel also the nobility of his motive as expressed in the unpublished Latin preface to his treatise on The Interpretation of Nature: "For myself, my heart is not set upon any of those things which depend upon external accidents. I am not hunting for fame: I have no desire to found a sect, after the fashion of heresiarchs; and to look for any private gain from such an undertaking as this, I count both ridiculous and base. Enough for me the consciousness of welldeserving, and those real and effectual results with which Fortune itself cannot interfere." Further, from Essay XI "Of Great Place," page 34, lines 12 and 13: "But power to do good is the true and lawful end of aspiring." Of all of Bacon's methods of rising it is not perhaps possible or necessary to approve, but it is of prime importance that we recognize the core of his purpose as sound.

130:24. choler. humour. 131:1. adust. Inflamed,

cine.

See note on page 22, line 23.

a technical word of ancient medi

131:3. still. Always; progressively.

131:7. an evil eye. Compare Matt. xx. 15. See also note on Essay IX, page 24, line 17.

131:14. take order to. Devise plans to.

131:21. dispenseth with. Pardons; condones.

131:22. a soldier without ambition. Compare Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, Act III, Sc. 1:

"and ambition

The soldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss,
Than gain which darkens him."

spurs. Compare Shakespeare's Macbeth, Act I, Sc. 7:

"I have no spur

To prick the sides of my intent; but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'er-leaps itself,
And falls on the other."

Compare also Milton's Lycidas, line 703 :

"Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise."

131:25. seeled. Having its eyelids drawn together by means of a fine thread.

131:28. Tiberius. See note on page 5, line 26.

131 29. Macro. Successor of Sejanus as commander of the prætorian guards. Sejanus. Favourite of the emperor Tiberius, who was sentenced to death by the Senate at the emperor's instance, A.D. 31, for conspiracy against the imperial power.

132: 1. resteth. Remains.

132:8. favourites. Compare Bacon's regard for Buckingham, his famous letter of advice to Buckingham on the duties and opportunities of a favourite, and the closeness of their rela

tion. It was indeed "impossible that any other should be overgreat."

132: 16. inure. Habituate; accustom.

132: 18. obnoxious. Liable.

132:21. prove dangerous. Possibly a reference to Essex. See the Introduction, pages xiii-xxi. Compare also lines 21-26. 133:2. dependances. Retinue; following.

133: 7. to do good. Compare Essay XI, page 34, lines 12, 13. 133 14. sensible of. Concerned with; responsive to.

133: 15. bravery. Boastfulness.

133:16. busy. Inquisitive; meddling. Compare Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act III, Sc. 4:

"Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger."

XXXVII. OF MASQUES AND TRIUMPHS

(1625)

The masque was very popular during the reigns of Elizabeth and James, and Bacon shared this interest so heartily that he himself devised and managed several such spectacles. The recognized purpose of the masque was to celebrate some important occasion connected with the lives of royalty or nobility, the actors, for the most part, being themselves royal or noble. The masque was rather, however, a glorified allegory than a significant art product. Ben Jonson and John Fletcher were its early masters. Milton's Comus is the last notable example in English literature.

133:17. toys. Trifles.

183:18. But yet, etc. Bacon the philosopher to Bacon the artist.

133: 20. daubed with cost. Made overspectacular and unreasonably expensive.

133:23. aloft. In a raised gallery at the end of the hall or chamber. broken music. Music produced by instruments related in other ways than according to the idea of a 'consort,' or set of four.

133: 24. ditty. Song. Device. Spectacle.

133: 26. not dancing. That is, not dancing 'in song'; not accompanying one's self with singing or music.

1341. would. Should.

134: 3. dainty. Pretty.

1345. by catches. One after another, at stated intervals. anthem-wise. After the manner of the anthem, or antiphon, alternate voices.

134:6. Turning dances into figure. Making them conform to difficult and varying geometrical devices. The protest is less against the figured dance, it would seem, than against inartistic excesses therein. Compare page 133, lines 19 and 20.

184: 16. the scene. masquers in tableaux.

The raised platform supporting the motions. Dumb show.

184: 19. to desire to see, etc. To exercise the imagination.

134:21. chirpings or pulings. A reference to the extreme youthfulness of some of the boys permitted to appear in such spectacles.

134:24. oes. Plural of 'o'; meaning here brightly coloured 'rounds.' spangs. Spangles.

134:30. anti-masques. Referring to a burlesque prologue setting off the real masque as a foil.

1352. antiques. Antics; ridiculous clownish figures.

135:3. turquets. Possibly, 'little Turks.' statuas. Statues. 135:15. justs and tourneys. Jousts were combats between two individual champions; tournaments, combats between sev eral on each side. barriers. Obstacles or boundaries in the centre of the lists so placed that the encounter could proceed

without bringing the horses together. The name was also

applied to the encounter itself.

135:20. bravery. Display.

XXXVIII. OF NATURE IN MEN

(1612. Enlarged and revised, 1625)

185:23. Nature. Human nature.

135:26. importune. Importunate.

136:9. if the practice, etc. If one requires more of himself by way of preparation than the actual occasion will require. 136:19. "Optimus ille," etc. 'He is the best guardian of the mind who wrenches at once the gnawing chains from his breast, and grieves no longer.' From Ovid's Remedia Amoris, line 293.

137:4. lay. Lie. So occasionally in Elizabethan English. 1376. Æsop's. See note on page 41, line 8.

1377. board's end. Table's end.

137:10. put himself often to it. Frequently and manfully face the temptation.

137: 15. sort with. Are adapted to; harmonize with.

137: 16. "Multum," etc. 'My soul hath long been a sojourner.' See Psalms cxx. 6, frequently quoted by Bacon. Note the autobiographical value of the passage.

137: 17. converse in. Have to do with.

137:18. affect. Like; prefer. Compare Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, Act I, Sc. 1:—

66

"No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en;

In brief, sir, study what you most affect."

187:23. spaces. Intervals.

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