CHAPTER III.

FRANCIS BACON : A MYSTERY SURROUNDS HIS PRIVATE LIFE AND CHARACTER.
" I prefer to keep state in these matters.'1'' " Be kind to concealed poets,1"
THE more closely we peer into Bacon's history, the more particularly we follow up inquiries about him, — his private life, his habits, his travels, his friends, his will, his death, — the more mysterious a personage does he appear. His public or superficial life seems easy enough to understand, but whenever we endeavour to go beyond this we find ourselves confronted with puzzles and enigmas, and feel that Ben Jonson was justified in saying, in his ode on Bacon's birthday, —
" Thou stand'st as though a mystery thou didst."
This mystery is felt in many ways. We find him writing with locked doors, the subject of his labours not known, his friends offended by his secrecy and reticence. We find collections of his letters, distinctly his, and with nothing in them which could apparently injure the writer, or anyone else, published with names and dates cancelled, and with everything possible done to conceal their aim or their author. We find him writing in ambiguous terms (which only knowledge derived from other sources enables us to interpret), and using feigned names, initials, and pass-words in his private letters. The cipher which he invented when he was eighteen or nineteen years old, he has used and tested, and finds superior to all others, when he is sixty-two. How, when, and wherefore, did he use or require this extensive knowledge and use of ciphers ? In describing the ciphers, he speaks of other concealed means of communica- tion, of shorthand writing, of hieroglyphic pictures and designs. Since he tells us that what he recommends he always endeavours to practise or achieve, we seek for these things in his own books, and find them there.
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 39
He enumerates thirty or forty great deficiences of learning in his time, and shows how he has endeavoured to supply them. We take much pains to master these, to understand them thoroughly, to trace them in his works, and thus armed and well prepared, set forth to mark their deficiency, or compare their use in works by other contemporary authors also. We are almost appalled to meet with them there, sometimes fewer in number, but the same in nature and quality. What is to be thought of this ? That Bacon did not know what he was talking about? or that there was a general conspiracy of the wits of his age to gull the public as to the authorship of these works ? If they were Bacon's works, why did he not acknow- ledge them ? Yet, if they were not his, how could he persist that all the chief flowers of language were uncultivated, when the works in question were overrun by them ?
There are many knotty points connected with this branch of the subject. Why, for instance, did Bacon, notably so kind, so large-hearted, so just in acknowledging merit in others, and in " giving authors their due, as he gave Time his due, which is to discover Truth " — why, we say, did he ignore the existence of nearly every great contemporary author? How came it that this bright man, who so pre-eminently shone in his power of drawing out the best parts of those with whom he conversed, who delighted, when quoting from others, to set an additional sparkle on their words, and to make them appear cleverer or more learned than they really were — how did such a man contrive to avoid all allusion to the mass of great literature of all kinds which was poured out unremittingly during nearly fifty years of his life, and which continued for some years after his death ?
Bacon spoke of parabolic poetry as deficient, and the use of it lost or misunderstood ; and he ignores the Arcadia, the F eerie Queen, and the Shepherd's Calendar.
In 1623 he mourns the degradation of the theatre, and the contempt with which the noble arts of rhetoric and stage playing were treated, ignoring the Shakespeare plays, which had at that time been played upon the stage for a quarter of a century, and of which the first collected edition had just been (almost simultaneously with the publication of the Be Augmentis) published, heralded into the world with a great flourish of
40 FRANCIS BACON
trumpets by Ben Jonson. He equally ignores Ben Jonson, although Every Man in his Humour was acted at the Blackfriar's Theatre in 1598 (two or three years after the first appearance of the Shakespeare plays), and although, too, William Shakspere acted on this occasion.
It is remarkable that it should have ever been, for an instant, credited that Francis Bacon never saw the Shakespeare plays performed, or even that he should not have known all about the plays, and the man who was passing with the public as their author. For thirty years Shakspere lived in London. During those years Bacon was continually assisting, and promoting, and joyfully witnessing the performances of these and other plays, at Gray's Inn and Whitehall, and at the private houses of his friends the Earls of Leicester, Pembroke, Montgomery, and others. Why did he never, in any acknowledged work, allude to Shakespeare or to Ben Jonson, who, as has been shown, was at one time resident in his house ?
Essays were a new form of writing, and the very word " essay," Bacon tells us, was new. One would suppose that in saying this he would allude to the "Essays of Montaigne," published long before Bacon's " Moral Essays." All the more he might be expected to allude to Montaigne, because, at the time of the publication of the first edition of Montaigne's Essays, Francis and Anthony Bacon were living in the South of France, and on very intimate terms with the good mayor, "the kind patron of learned men," as we learn from Anthony Bacon's correspondence. But, although the friendship between these men continued to the end of Montaigne's life, and although the old man made a pilgrimage to Verulam to visit his younger friend, yet Bacon, in his enumeration of deficiences, makes no allusion to him as the author of essays which were in their day most famous, and which ran through a surprising number of editions within a few years.
John Florio is supposed to have translated these French Essays into English. Now, we have documentary evidence that Florio translated " all the works of Bacon " into foreign languages (we suppose French and Italian), and "published them beyond the seas." Bacon, then, must have been intimately acquainted with Florio. Yet he never mentions him. James L gave Florio an annuity of £50 per annum, because he had
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 41
"translated the King's work, and all the works of Viscount St. Albans." So, James, also, was deeply interested in Bacon's proceedings. It might have been supposed that the circumstance of his having pensioned Florio because the latter translated Bacon's works, would have been noted by Bacon's biographers, and that more inquiries would have been made concerning Florio and some remarkable works in English which are attributed to him. But no ; the whole matter seems to have been studiously kept in the background. The documents which record the fact of the translation and subsequent pensioning have been printed by the Historical Manuscripts Commission. But, although the editors and publishers must know of them, their purport lies unheeded, uncommented on. A paragraph inserted in Notes and Queries, in which the inquiry was made as to any book or books of Bacon's known to have been trans- lated by Florio, and published on the continent, has never been answered. Yet, amongst the transcribers, editors and publishers of the " Pembroke Papers " by the Historical Commission, there must have been men who are acquainted with the current history of Bacon, and who must have seen something strange in the fact that James I. granted an annuity to the supposed translator of Montaigne's Essays, on the ground of his being the translator of all Bacon's works.
Then, again, the sixteen folio volumes of Anthony Bacon's correspondence which rest in peace on the shelves of the library at Lambeth Palace — how comes it that these, too, have been so kept in the background that, on tracing a letter of Nicholas Faunt to Anthony Bacon, — the first alluded to by Spedding (and this in a foot-note), we find it to be one of a large and important collection which throws great light upon the position and aims of the Bacons? Two or three references to this voluminous correspondence are all that have been found.
A sense of mystery is again perceptible in the explanations given by Bacon's biographers of his system of philosophy, or " methods," treated of as applying merely to the science which is their ostensible aim. The evident and intentional obscurity has been rightly attributed to two causes. First, he hoped, by his method of teaching by means of parables, similitudes, and analogies, to avoid all occasion of dispute and controversy, things always abhorrent to his nature.
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42 FRANCIS BACON
Next, his doctrine was to be veiled in an abrupt and obscure style, such as, to use his own expression, would " choose its reader " — that is, would remain unread excepting by worthy recipients of its hidden meaning. Obscurity appears in the De Interpretation Naturce Prozmium, where he speaks of his peculiar method as a thing not to be published but to be com- municated orally to certain persons, and the same veil of mystic language is thrown over Valerius Terminus, the Temporis Partus Masculus, and the New Atlantis. The whole of the notes in the Sylva Sylvarum, the Histories of Dense and Rare, of Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt, of Principles and Origins according to the Tables of Cupid and Coelum, even the Thema Cceli, the History of the Winds, the Interpretation of Nature, the History of Life and Death, the New Atlantis, are, we believe, written with a double meaning and for a double purpose, the same ambiguity pervading the collections of letters to and from Anthony Bacon and Francis himself.
Upwards of sixty letters from Anthony Standen to Anthony Bacon previous to the one from which Spedding extracts his first quotation, — and there are other correspondents whose letters will, undoubtedly, at some future date, be held of great value and interest. The drift of these letters must have been understood by the compilers of the printed catalogue of the Tenison manuscripts, and by biographers who have quoted from some of them. What satisfactory reason can be given for the fact that a hint of the existence of this correspondence is here and there given, and letters are published which bear directly upon politics or the passing history of the day, but that the true purport of the collective correspondence is everywhere concealed ? For these letters, taken collectively, have a distinct and harmonious aim and drift. They teach us that Francis Bacon was the recognised head of a secret society bound together to advance learning and uphold religion, and that Anthony Bacon was his brother's propagandist and correspond- ing manager on the continent.
It seems possible that future research will prove Anthony Bacon to have been " a concealed poet," as well as his brother. If this was not the case, then Anthony must have been another of the many masks behind which Francis screened his own personality ; but the former is the more common conjecture.
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 43
Amongst the " Tenison manuscripts " at Lambeth Palace, there is a large sheet covered on three sides with French verses, headed " Au Seigneur Antoine Bacon — Elegie," and signed La Tessee. These verses describe " Bacon " as the flower of Englishmen, the honour of the nine Muses, who, without his aid, wandered sad and confused in the wilderness, without guide, support, or voice. The waiter laments the want of more Mecenases who should- value the favourites of Phoebus, Mercury, and Themis, and " lend a shoulder " to help poets ; in future, he trusts that the number of these will be glorified not less beyond the seas than in these islands, remembering a time "when our swans surpassed those of the Thames" — alluding to the loss of Bousard, Gamier, Aurat, Bayf, and Saluste. Himself, the surviving poet, sees a new Age of Iron after their Age of Gold. He alludes to "Bacon" as "a brilliant star seen in tranquil nights as through a thick veil " ; so a man of honour, virtue, and wit shines amongst these " milords," and so does " Bacon," the " oracle of his isle," one whom to praise is an honour.
Such a man, continues the poet, is the hope and ornament of his country. To him Themis, the Wise (by the messenger Mercury, who expounds her message), entreats heaven, earth, and the infernal regions to forward his steps. To him " devout Piety, the Pillar of the Church, offers her most precious gifts, that he may rank with immortal heroes," for " so rare a spirit, continually bent upon safely steering the helm of the State in the stormiest times, is not unworthy that the State should care for his interests. Baccon [sic], the eye of wisdom, in whom goodness abounds, raises men above themselves and above the world. He retires into himself — a perfect and holy place — his soul wrapped in his reason, and his reason wrapped in God."
Surely, though the poetry is poor, the matter of these verses is sufficietly remarkable for them to have been commented upon by some biographer or antiquarian ? We note, then, as a remarkable fact, that these verses (numbered folio 175, in Vol. XV. 661) are not included in the printed catalogue. Nos. 174 and 176 are duly registered, but 175 is omitted. Could this omission be accidental ?
In the Harleian MSS. is the collection of notes described as the "Promus of Formularies and Elegancies." These papers
44 FRANCIS BACON
consist of fifty sheets, numbered from 83 to 132, and the collec- tion is marked No. 7017. It is omitted in the catalogue* Yet, within the last few years, these MBS. have been frequently seen and studied.
By-and-by there will be occasion to return to these questions ; they involve a great many others which we must not, at present, stop to consider. But the list of inquiries in other directions is still a long one, and should incline those who heartily desire to get at the pith and truth of these matters, to be very humble as to their own knowledge, very cautious about adopting ready- made opinions or assertions, which, when tested, are found incapable of supporting themselves.
What was the cause of Bacon's great poverty at times when he was living very quietly, and at small personal expense ? Why did his elder brother Anthony never remonstrate or disapprove of his unexplained expenditure, or of the straits to which he himself was sometimes put, in order to meet the claims upon Francis? Did the brothers' money go chiefly in publishing? And again we say, what share did Anthony Bacon take in his brother's works ? If, as Dr. Rawley declared, his learning was not so profound, but his wit was as high as Francis's, did he, perhaps, frame the plots of many of the plays which Francis polished and finished? Where did Anthony die? Where is he buried ? The absence of knowledge on this point draws our attention to the number of "great writers" and personal friends of Francis Bacon who died and were buried without notice or epitaph ; a plain slab sometimes marking the grave, but no mention being made of any works of which they were the authors. Yet " monuments of brass and stone " were then, as now, the rule, rather than the exception. On comparing the tombs of Bacon's friends, certain singular resemblances strike the eye, and are peculiar (so we think) to them and to their descendants.
Such coincidences ought, one would think, to be easily explained where such a man is concerned ; but search the records of the time which are, up to the present date, published,
* Rather it was omitted until June, 1890, when a gentleman, who became aware of the omission, requested that the MSS. No. 7017 should "be duly registered in the catalogue.
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 45
and see how far you can enlighten yourselves as to any particu- lars of Bacon's domestic life. It becomes, after long search, im- possible to resist the idea that Bacon had some great purpose to serve by keeping himself always in the background — behind the curtain. Whenever you catch a glimpse of him " he goes away in a cloud."
It likewise seems that the whole of his most dear and loving friends combined to conceal "fiis true personality, to assist him to enact the part of Proteus, and to ensure that when he would appear here, there, and everywhere, he should be able to pass unrecognised. Amongst Anthony's correspondents, Francis is rarely mentioned, but often alluded to as " the Hermit," the character which perhaps he himself undertook in the Gesta Grayorum. Some short poems, especially one with the device of a hermit spurning a globe, seem also to apply to Francis Bacon, and to have been written by him.
When the French ambassador, the Marquis Fiet, visited him during an illness, he said that his lordship had ever been to him like the angels, of whom he had often heard and read, but never seen. " After which visit they contracted an intimate acquaint- ance, and the Marquis did so much revere him, that besides his frequent visits [of which history tells us nothing] they wrote letters under the appellations of father and son." *
With regard to Bacon's life, it is impossible to study it with any degree of care, without observing how often in his bio- graphies we come upon questions or doubts such as these : " Was he the author of Notes on the present state of Christen- dom ?' * j" " Reasons for suspecting him to be author of a 1 Letter of Advice to the Queen.' " if " This alleged authorship of * A Discourse touching the Low Countries, etc' " § " Resemblance between Bacon's style and that of writings imputed to Essex," etc.
We read of his reluctance to devote himself to the practice of a lawyer, and of the difficulty of understanding what else he proposed to himself, or to what course he actually turned in the year 1595-6. ^T "I do not find," says his biographer, " any letter of his that can be assigned to the winter of 1596, nor have
* Rawley's Life of Bacon. f Let. Life, I. 16, 17. $ 16. 43, 56, etc. § lb. 67. || lb. 391. «j[ lb. II. 1.
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I met, among his brother's papers, with anything which indicates what he was about. I presume, however, that he betook him- self to his studies/ ' He then gives a list of a few fragments written at this time. " But there are," he continues, " some other compositions with which (though they do not pass under his name) there is reason to believe he had something to do, and which, considering the possibility that they are entirely his work, and the probability that they have some of his work in them, and their intrinsic value, I have determined to lay before the reader in this chapter.1' * The biographer then enumerates the con- tents of a box of letters and other papers dated from this time, and which were in charge of Dr. Tenison in 1682. Amongst these, one of the most important was " The Earl of Essex's Advice to the Earl of Rutland on his journey," of which three versions seem to exist,! and which Spedding shows to be written so much in Bacon's style as to be indistinguishable from it. " If Essex wrote a letter of grave advice to a young relative going on his travels, it would, no doubt, have a good deal of Bacon in it ; if Bacon drew up a letter for Essex to sign, it would be such a one as Essex might naturally have written. Still, there is a character in language as in handwriting, which it is hardly pos- sible to disguise. Little tricks of thought, like tricks of the hand, — peculiarities of which the writer is unconscious, — are perceptible to . the reader." J Presently a similar question of authorship arises with regard to a" Letter of advice from the Earl of Essex to Foulke Greville ; " § and again the true author seems to be Bacon.
Then we find a " Letter of advice to the Earl of Essex," which, "like several others we shall meet with, has been preserved through two independent channels, and in two different forms ; one in the collection kept by himself, and printed by Eawley in the Resuscitatio, the other in a collection made, tee do not know by whom, and printed very incorrectly in the ' Remains ' (1648), and afterward in the ' Cabala ' (1654)." ||
There is a mystery about Sir Tobie Matthew's collection of
* 16. II. 2.
t One is in the Harleian MSS. (6265, p. 428). Sped. Let. Life, I. 4. t lb. 5. § lb. 21.
|| Spedding, Let. Life, II. 94. This letter is suspected of cipher and should be examined.
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 47
letters to and from Bacon. These letters are, as a rule, not only without a date, but likewise they appear to have been " stripped of all particulars that might serve to fit the occasion " for which they were penned ; sometimes, even, the person to whom they were addressed. One such letter, " Desiring a friend to do him a service," is remarkable, as showing that, although the matter which it concerns was of some importance, and might bring serious consequences to Baton (he says that it will probably " fall and seize on " him), yet it had been put out of his mind by some great " invention " or work of imagination, which at the time wholly engrossed him. What was the particular occasion upon which this letter was written, it is, says Spedding, " prob- ably impossible to guess," but it was as follows:
" Sir : — The report of this act, which I hope may prove the last of this business, will, probably, by the weight it carries, fall on and seize me. And, therefore, not at will, but upon necessity, it will become me to call to mind what passed ; and, my head being then wholly employed upon invention, I may the worse put things upon the account of mine own memory. I shall take physic to-day, upon this change of weather and vantage of leisure ; and I pray you not to allow yourself so much business, but that you may have time to bring me your friendly aid before night," etc.*
Another letter, dateless, but which has been referred to 1605-6, is all written in a tone of mystery and double entente ; there seems to be no good reason why Bacon should plainly mention by name one work which he had accomplished, and carefully omit the name of another, or others, in which it is clear that his friend was interested.
" Sir : — I perceive you have some time when you can be con- tent to think of your friends, from whom, since you have borrowed yourself, you do well, not paying the principal, to send the interest at six months day. The relation which here I send you enclosed carries the truth of that which is public ; and though my little leisure might have required a briefer, yet the matter would have endured and asked a larger.
" I have now at last taught that child to go, at the swadling
* See Sir Tobie Matthew's collection of letters, p. 20, or Spedding, Let. and Life, III. 216.
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whereof you were. My work touching the Advancement of Learning I have put into two books ; whereof the former, which you saw, I count but as a page to the latter,1' etc.*
In another ambiguous letter to Sir Tobie Matthew {circa 1609), Bacon says : " I have sent you some copies of the Advancement which you desired ; and a little work of my recreation, which you desired not. My Instauration I reserve for our conference — it sleeps not. Those works of the alphabet are in my opinion of less use to you where you are now, than at Paris, and there- fore I conceived that you had sent me a hind of tacit countermand of your former request. But, in regard that some friends of yours have still insisted here, I send them to you ; and for my