The Project Gutenberg eBook of Bacon’s Essays, by Bacon.

249 “According to classes,” or, as we vulgarly say, “in the lump.” Lord Bacon means that princes are not, as a matter of course, to take counsellors merely on the presumption of talent, from their rank and station; but that, on the contrary, they are to select such as are tried men, and with regard to whom there can be no mistake.

250 “The best counsellors are the dead.”

251 “Are afraid” to open their mouths.

252 “Night-time for counsel.”—ἐν νυκτὶ βουλή. Gaisf. Par. Gr. B. 359.

253 On the accession of James the Sixth of Scotland to the throne of England in 1603.

254 A phrase much in use with the Romans, signifying, “to attend to the business in hand.”

255 A tribunitial or declamatory manner.

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

257 The Sibyl alluded to here is the Cumæan, the most celebrated, who offered the Sibylline Books for sale to Tarquin the Proud.

“At this time, an unknown woman appeared at court, loaded with nine volumes, which she offered to sell, but at a very considerable price. Tarquin refusing to give it, she withdrew and burnt three of the nine. Some time after she returned to court, and demanded the same price for the remaining six. This made her looked upon as a mad woman, and she was driven away with scorn. Nevertheless, having burnt the half of what were left, she came a third time, and demanded for the remaining three the same price which she had asked for the whole nine. The novelty of such a proceeding, made Tarquin curious to have the books examined. They were put, therefore, into the hands of the augurs, who, finding them to be the oracles of the Sybil of Cumæ, declared them to be an invaluable treasure. Upon this the woman was paid the sum she demanded, and she soon after disappeared, having first exhorted the Romans to preserve her books with care.”—Hooke’s Roman History.

258 Bald head. He alludes to the common saying: “Take time by the forelock.”

260 Hom. Il. v. 845.

261 Packing the cards is an admirable illustration of the author’s meaning. It is a cheating exploit, by which knaves, who, perhaps, are inferior players, insure to themselves the certainty of good hands.

262 “Send them both naked among strangers, and then you will see.”

263 This word is used here in its primitive sense of “retail dealers.” It is said to have been derived from a custom of the Flemings, who first settled in this country in the fourteenth century, stopping the passengers as they passed their shops, and saying to them, “Haber das, herr?”—“Will you take this, sir?” The word is now generally used as synonymous with linen-draper.

266 Discussing matters.

267 He refers to the occasion when Nehemiah, on presenting the wine, as cup-bearer to King Artaxerxes, appeared sorrowful, and, on being asked the reason of it, entreated the king to allow Jerusalem to be rebuilt.—Nehemiah ii. 1.

268 This can hardly be called a marriage, as, at the time of the intrigue, Messalina was the wife of Claudius; but she forced Caius Silius, of whom she was deeply enamored, to divorce his own wife, that she herself might enjoy his society. The intrigue was disclosed to Claudius by Narcissus, who was his freedman, and the pander to his infamous vices; on which Silius was put to death. Vide Tac. Ann. xi. 29, seq.

269 To speak in his turn.

270 Be questioned upon.

271 Kept on good terms.

273 “That he did not have various hopes in view, but solely the safety of the emperor.” Tigellinus was the profligate minister of Nero, and Africanus Burrhus was the chief of the Prætorian Guards.—Tac. Ann. xiv. 57.

274 As Nathan did, when he reproved David for his criminality with Bathsheba.—2 Samuel xii.

275 Use indirect stratagems.

276 He alludes to the old Cathedral of St. Paul, in London, which, in the sixteenth century, was a common lounge for idlers.

277 Movements, or springs.

278 Chances, or vicissitudes.

279 Enter deeply into.

280 Faults, or weak points.

281 “The wise man gives heed to his own footsteps; the fool turneth aside to the snare.” No doubt he here alludes to Ecclesiastes xiv. 2, which passage is thus rendered in our version: “The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness.”

283 It must be remembered that Bacon was not a favorer of the Copernican system.

284 “Lovers of themselves without a rival.”—Ad. Qu. Fr. iii. 8.

286 Adapted to each other.

287 Injures or impairs.

288 A thing suspected.

289 He probably alludes to Jeremiah vi. 16: “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”

290 That is, by means of good management.

291 It is supposed that he here alludes to Sir Amyas Paulet, a very able statesman, and the ambassador of Queen Elizabeth to the court of France.

297 “Trifles with great effort.”

298 “With one brow raised to your forehead, the other bent downward to your chin, you answer that cruelty delights you not.”—In Pis. 6.

299 “A foolish man, who fritters away the weight of matters by finespun trifling on words.”—Vide Quint. x. 1.

300 Plat. Protag. i. 337.

301 Find it easier to make difficulties and objections than to originate.

302 One really in insolvent circumstances, though to the world he does not appear so.

303 He here quotes from a passage in the Politica of Aristotle, book i. “He who is unable to mingle in society, or who requires nothing, by reason of sufficing for himself, is no part of the state, so that he is either a wild beast or a divinity.”

304 Epimenides, a poet of Crete (of which Candia is the modern name), is said by Pliny to have fallen into a sleep which lasted 57 years. He was also said to have lived 299 years. Numa pretended that he was instructed in the art of legislation by the divine nymph Egeria, who dwelt in the Arician grove. Empedocles, the Sicilian philosopher, declared himself to be immortal, and to be able to cure all evils. He is said by some to have retired from society that his death might not be known, and to have thrown himself into the crater of Mount Ætna. Apollonius of Tyana, the Pythagorean philosopher, pretended to miraculous powers, and after his death a temple was erected to him at that place. His life is recorded by Philostratus; and some persons, among whom are Hierocles, Dr. More, in his Mystery of Godliness, and recently Strauss, have not hesitated to compare his miracles with those of our Saviour.

305 “A great city, a great desert.”

307 A liquid matter of a pungent smell, extracted from a portion of the body of the beaver.

308 “Partakers of cares.”

309 Plutarch (Vit. Pomp. 19) relates that Pompey said this upon Sylla’s refusal to give him a triumph.

310 Plut. Vit. J. Cæs. 64.

311 Cic. Philip. xiii. 11.

312 “These things, by reason of our friendship, I have not concealed from you.”—Vide Tac. Ann. iv. 40.

314 Such infamous men as Tiberius and Sejanus hardly deserve this commendation.

315 Philip de Comines.

316 Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, the valiant antagonist of Louis XI. of France. De Comines spent his early years at his court, but afterwards passed into the service of Louis XI. This monarch was notorious for his cruelty, treachery, and dissimulation, and had all the bad qualities of his contemporary, Edward IV. of England, without any of his redeeming virtues.

317 Pythagoras went still further than this, as he forbade his disciples to eat flesh of any kind whatever. See the interesting speech which Ovid attributes to him in the fifteenth book of the Metamorphoses. Sir Thomas Browne, in his Pseudoxia (Browne’s Works, Bohn’s Antiq. ed. vol. i. p. 27, et seq.), gives some curious explanations of the doctrines of this philosopher.—Plut. de Educat. Puer. 17.

318 Tapestry. Speaking hypercritically, Lord Bacon commits an anachronism here, as Arras did not manufacture tapestry till the middle ages.

319 Plut. Vit. Themist. 28.

320 Ap. Stob. Serm. v. 120.

322 He alludes to the recommendation which moralists have often given, that a person in anger should go through the alphabet to himself, before he allows himself to speak.

323 In his day, the musket was fixed upon a stand, called the “rest,” much as the gingals or matchlocks are used in the East at the present day.

324 From debts and incumbrances.

325 Plut. Vit. Themist. ad init.

326 “Equal to business.”

327 He alludes to the following passage, St. Matthew xiii. 31: “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.”

328 Virg. Ecl. vii. 51.

329 Vide. A. L. i. vii. 11.

330 He was vanquished by Lucullus, and finally submitted to Pompey.—Plut. Vit. Lucull. 27.

331 He alludes to the prophetic words of Jacob on his death-bed, Gen. xlix. 9, 14, 15: “Judah is a lion’s whelp; ... he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion.... Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.”

332 Sums of money voluntarily contributed by the people for the use of the sovereign.

334 “A land strong in arms and in the richness of the soil.”—Virg. Æn. i. 535.

335 He alludes to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, which is mentioned Daniel iv. 10; “I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: the leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.”

336 “Right of citizenship.”

337 “Right of trading.”

338 “Right of intermarriage.”

339 “Right of inheritance.”

340 “Right of suffrage.”

341 “Right of honors.”

342 Long since the time of Lord Bacon, as soon as these colonies had arrived at a certain state of maturity, they at different periods revolted from the mother country.

343 The laws and ordinances promulgated by the sovereigns of Spain were so called. The term was derived from the Byzantine empire.

346 For a short or transitory period.

348 It was its immense armaments that in a great measure consumed the vitals of Spain.

349 “Pompey’s plan is clearly that of Themistocles; for he believes that whoever is master of the sea will obtain the supreme power.”—Ad Att. x. 8.

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

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

353 Of benefit in your individual case.

354 Any striking change in the constitution.

355 Take medical advice.

356 Incline rather to fully satisfying your hunger.

357 Celsus de Med. i. 1.

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

359 “Suspicion is the passport to faith.”

360 A censure of this nature has been applied by some to Dr. Johnson, and possibly with some reason.

361 To start the subject.

362 Requires to be bridled.

363 He quotes here from Ovid: “Boy, spare the whip, and tightly grasp the reins.”—Met. ii. 127.

364 One who tests or examines.

365 The galliard was a light active dance, much in fashion in the time of Queen Elizabeth.

366 Hits at, or remarks intended to be applied to, particular individuals.

367 A slight or insult.

368 A sarcastic remark.

369 The old term for colonies.

370 He perhaps alludes covertly to the conduct of the Spaniards in extirpating the aboriginal inhabitants of the West India Islands, against which the venerable Las Casas so eloquently but vainly protested.

371 Of course, this censure would not apply to what is primarily and essentially a convict colony; the object of which is to drain the mother country of its impure superfluities.

372 Times have much changed since this was penned, tobacco is now the staple commodity, and the source of “the main business” of Virginia.

374 Marshy; from the French marais, a marsh.

375 Gewgaws, or spangles.

376 He alludes to Ecclesiastes v. 11, the words of which are somewhat varied in our version: “When goods increase, they are increased that eat them; and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?”

377 “The rich man’s wealth is his strong city.”—Proverbs x. 15; xviii. 11.

378 “In his anxiety to increase his fortune, it was evident that not the gratification of avarice was sought, but the means of doing good.”

379 “He who hastens to riches will not be without guilt.” In our version the words are: “He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.”—Proverbs xxviii. 22.

380 Pluto being the king of the infernal regions, or place of departed spirits.

381 Rent-roll, or account taken of income.

382 Wait till prices have risen.

383 “In the sweat of another’s brow.” He alludes to the words of Genesis iii. 19: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.”

384 Planter of sugar-canes.

385 “Wills and childless persons were caught by him, as though with a hunting-net.”—Tacit. Ann. xiii. 42.

386 “Pythoness,” used in the sense of witch. He alludes to the witch of Endor, and the words in Samuel xxviii. 19. He is, however, mistaken in attributing these words to the witch: it was the spirit of Samuel that said, “To-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.”

387 “But the house of Æneas shall reign over every shore, both his children’s children, and those who shall spring from them.”—Æn. iii. 97.

388 “After the lapse of years, ages will come in which Ocean shall relax his chains around the world, and a vast continent shall appear, and Tiphys shall explore new regions, and Thule shall be no longer the utmost verge of earth.”—Sen. Med. ii. 375.

389 He was king of Samos, and was treacherously put to death by Orœtes, the governor of Magnesia, in Asia Minor. His daughter, in consequence of her dream, attempted to dissuade him from visiting Orœtes, but in vain.—Herod. iii. 124.