IV. 270.

tSee Macb. i. 3, 18—29 ; iii. 5, 24—34 ; iv. 1, 48-60.
t Jul. Cses. II. 2, 25—30. All's W. I. 3, 81—85. Macb. ii. 3, 55—60.
§ "A small model of the barren earth." Richard II., III. 2.
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 123
same as are more fully described in the Eosicrucian journal, New Atlantis, and it appears probable that they expressed in the device, as in the Rosicrucian document, a meaning and aim which tended to unite the works of Vulcan (art) with those of Minerva (wisdom or nature).*
Then follows the third counsellor, advising elernizement and fame by buildings and foundations. This speech, is written with the same metaphors and emblems which we find elsewhere in Bacon's acknowledged works and in the documents of the Rosicrucians and Freemasons. Wars, it is agreed, often offer immoderate hopes which issue only in tragedies of calamities and distresses. Philosophies equally disappoint expectation, by turning mystical philosophy into comedies of ridiculous frustration, conceits and curiosities. But the day for a monarch to " win fame and eternize his name " is " in the visible memory of himself in the magnificence of goodly and royal buildings and foundations, and the new institution of orders, ordinances, and societies ; that as your coin be stamped with your own image, so in every part of your state there may be something new, which, by continuance, may make the founder and author remem- bered." | The desire " to cure mortality by fame " " caused men to build the Tower of Babel, which, as it was a sin in the immoderate appetite for fame, so it was punished in kind ; for the diversities of languages have imprisoned fame ever since." He goes on to show that the fame of Alexander, Caesar, Constantine, and Trajan was thought by themselves to rest not so much upon their conquests as in their buildings. "And surely they had reason ; for the fame of great actions is like to a land flood which hath no certain head or spring ; but the memory and fame of buildings and foundations hath, as it were, a fountain in a hill which continually refresheth and feedeth the other waters." J
The fourth counsellor advises absoluteness of state and treasure. His speech will be found paraphrased and more gravely and earnestly traced in Bacon's essays of Empire and of
* See Essay of Erichthonius. Spedding, Works, VI. 736.
fThis passage aptly describes the principle upon which Bacon established his orders and societies. See chapters of the Rosicrucians and Freemasons.
X See Emblems— Hill, Water, etc.
124 FRANCIS BACON
The Greatness of Kingdoms, and in other places which deal with similar subjects.
The fifth counsellor advises the Prince to virtue and a gracious government. If he would " make golden times " he must be " a natural parent to the state." The former speakers have, says this counsellor, handled their own propositions too formally. " My Lords have taught you to refer all things to yourself, your greatness, memory, and advantage, but whereunto shall yourself be referred ? If you will be heavenly, you must have influence. Will you be as a standing pool, that spendeth and choketh his spring within itself, and hath no streams nor current to bless and make fruitful whole tracts of countries whereby it cometh ? . . . Assure yourself of an inward peace, that the storms without do not disturb any of your repairs icithin; . . . visit all the parts of your estate, and let the balm distill everywhere from your sovereign hands, to the medicining of any part that complaineth ; . . . have a care that your intelligence, vohich is the light of your state, do not burn dim; . . . advance men of virtue, not of mercenary minds ; purge out multiplicity of laws ; . . . repeal those that are snaring, and press the execution of those that are wholesome and necessary; . . . think not that the bridle and spur loill make the horse go alone without time and custom ; . . . when you have confirmed the noble and vital parts of your realm of state, proceed to take care of the blood, and flesh, and good habit of the body. Remedy all cankers and causes of consump- tion." * The speaker ends by saying that, if he wished to commend the beauty of some excelling lady, he could best do it by showing her picture ; so it is in commending a virtuous government, though he fears that his " pencil may disgrace it," and therefore leaves the prince to fill in the picture for himself.
He is succeeded by the sixth and last counsellor, who " persuades to pastimes and sports." The speeches of his predecessors were, he thought, "as if a man should come to some young prince, and, immediately after his coronation, be in hand with him to make himself a sumptuous and stately tomb, and, to speak out of my soul, I muse how any of your servants can endure to think of you as of a prince past; . . . their lessons were so cumbersome, as if they would make you a king
Compare Emblems and Metaphors of Bacon.
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 125
in a play, who, when one would think he standeth in great majesty and felicity, he is troubled to say his part. What ! nothing but tasks ; nothing but working days ? No feasting, no music, no dancing, no triumphs, no comedies, no love, no ladies? Let other men's lives be as pilgrimages ; . . . princes' lives are, as progresses, dedicated only to variety and solace."
(Again an echo of the speeches of Theseus and Philostratus in A Midsummer Night's Dream, quoted before.*)
This lively counsellor entreats his prince to leave the work to other people, and to attend only to that which cannot be done by deputy. " Use the advantage of your youth ; ... in a word, sweet sovereign, dismiss your five counsellors, and only take counsel of your five senses."
The prince briefly thanks them all for their good opinions, which being so various, it is difficult to choose between them. " Meantime it should not be amiss to choose the last, and upon more deliberation to determine of the rest ; and what time we spend in long consulting, in the end we gain by prompt and speedy executing." Thereupon he takes a partner, and the dance begins. The rest of the night was spent in this pastime, and the nobles and other auditory, says the narrator, were so delighted with their entertainment, that "thereby Gray's Inn did not only recover their lost credit, but got instead so much honour and applause as either the good reports of our friends that were present or we ourselves could desire."
In the same year, 1595, Lucrece was published, and dedicated, as the poem of Venus and Adonis had been also dedicated in 1593 to Francis Bacon's young friend, Lord Southampton, who is said to have given a large sum of money toward the erection of the " Globe " theatre, which was in this year opened on Bank- side with William Shakspere as its manager ? f
Until Anthony Bacon's return from Italy Francis was very poor, and often in debt, and, although he lived frugally and temperately, he was at one time forced to get help from the
* See Mid. N. Dream, V. 1, and Rich. II., III. 4. L. L. L. IV. 3, 370— 380, etc.
| This gift was held by Shakspereans to be an evidence of Southamp- ton's friendship for Shakspere. Baconians see in it an evidence of the young Earl's desire to assist in the production of the dramatic works of his friend and associate, Francis Bacon.
126 FRANCIS BACON
Jews. Though Anthony was better off and able to help him, Francis could hardly contrive to live as a gentleman and at the same time to publish and carry forward scientific researches as we find him doing. Anthony was performing the part of secretary to the Earl of Essex, a work in wThich his brother shared, Anthony writing his letters and drafting his despatches to secret agents in foreign lands ; Francis aiding him in getting information, and in steering his course through the shifting sands of the political stream. He drew up for Essex that remarkable paper on his conduct at court, which should have been the rule, and would certainly have been the salvation of his life ? * These services, occasional on the part of Francis, daily on the part of Anthony, led them into expenses with they ought to have been repaid. No salary had been fixed for Francis, but Anthony was to have received a thousand pounds a year, none of which was ever paid him.| It was probably on account of the large outstanding debt to the brothers that Essex sued to the Queen for the places of Solicitor-General or Attorney-General for Francis Bacon. It is probable that, had it not been for his interference, Bacon would at this time have been appointed to the former of these offices. But the injudicious and arrogant behaviour of Essex, which was a constant subject of remonstrance from Bacon, now again destroyed Bacon's hopes of obtaining a substantial position and means of livelihood. The Queen would not be driven, nor sus- pected of bestowing offices at the bidding of her fascinating but troublesome kinsman. Bacon was again passed over, and retired much hurt, and feeling disgraced in the eyes of the world, to Twickenham, where, perhaps, he employed himself in writing some of his comedies. For in consequence, perhaps, of this episode, or in part payment of his large debt to the brothers, Essex granted Francis a piece of land worth about £1,800 adjoin- ing the estate of his half-brother, Edward Bacon, at Twickenham. To this year, when Bacon was in retirement at Twickenham, The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream are attributed. In the first of these " the hard Jew " who persecuted Francis Bacon is immortalised in the person of Shylock, whilst
* Hepworth Dixon, Story, p. 53. Ath. Cant. II. 315. Devereux, Lives of the Earls of Essex, I. 277. Sydney Papers, I. 360.
| It is very probable in view of the Rosicrucian rules, which we shall consider further on, that the Bacons would not be paid for this work.
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 127
in Antonio we recognise the generous brother, Anthony Bacon, who sacrificed himself and " taxed his credit w in order to relieve Francis.*
A Midsummer Night's Dream is the first piece in which Bacon, whilst creating his fairies from " the vital spirits of nature, " brings his studies of the winds to his help.| This play, as has been said, bears points of 'strong resemblance to the Device of an Indian Prince, which Bacon had written a few months previously, when the stormy passages between the Queen and Essex had passed away, and when the Earl had apparently applied to him for a device which should be performed on the " Queen's Day."
January 27, 1595, is the latest date on any sheet in Bacon's Promus of Formularies and Elegancies. Judged by the hand- writing, it appears to be the latest sheet, although it is not placed last in the collection of MSS. One entry is suggestive J — "Law at Twickenham for ye merry tales." The merry tales for which Bacon was thus preparing Law, are supposed to be those already named, with The Taming of the Shrew, King John, two parts of Henry IV. and All's Well that Ends Well, soon to appear, and full of abstruse points of law, such as afterwards exercised the mind of Lord Campbell. The play of Richard III. is attributed to 1594 by Dr. Delius, but the list of Bacon's MSS. on the outside leaf of the Conference of Pleasure seems to show that Richard II. and III. were sketched together, though apparently the former was not heard of till the year 1596.
Very little is known for some years of the private proceedings of Bacon. He had no public business of importance, and it is evident that the published records of his work are not by any means adequate. With his tremendous energy and powers, the scanty information concerning him assures us that at this time he was either travelling or most busy upon his secret and unacknowledged works. In 1596-7 he wrote the Colours of Good and Evil, and the Meditationes Sacrce, for which preparations
* Note, Antonio, in Twelfth Night, is another impersonation of the same generous and unselfish character.
t See Of Vital Spirits of Nature.
% Promus, 1165. The Promus is a MS. collection of Bacon's private notes.
128 FKANCIS BACON
are found amongst the Promus notes ; a speech in Parliament against enclosures, and a general statement that he continued his scientific studies, are all that is recorded as to his labours at that time. No doubt, however, that, amongst other matters, he was preparing the first edition of his essays, which were pub- lished in the following year (with a dedication " to Mr. Anthony Bacon, his dear e brother, you that are next myself "). Money troubles still continued, which may be explained in the same manner as before. All his money, and Anthony's as well, was going in the expense of publishing, in getting up plays, and in other enterprises connected with his great schemes.
In a letter of October 15, 1597, written to the Earl of Shrews- bury from Gray's Inn, Francis Bacon requests the loan of a horse and armour for some public show. In another letter to Lord Mount joy, he says that " it is now his manner and rule to keep state in contemplative matters." Clearly much trouble was taken to obscure his history and his private proceedings about this period.
In letters to Sir Tobie Matthew,** with dates and other particu- lars mysteriously obliterated or garbled, Bacon, whilst alluding by name to several of his acknowledged works, which Sir Tobie had been reading and criticising, speaks (without naming them) of his "other works," "works of his recreation." Elsewhere he refers to other works, but does not specify them. They are " deeds without a name," which, in this correspondence, are referred to as the Alphabet, a pass- word, perhaps, for his Trage- dies and Comedies, since, in his private notes, or Promus, there is this entry (before 1594) :
" lisdem e* Uteris efficitur tragozdia et comedia.^
" Tragedies and comedies are made of one alphabet.''''
In 1598 the Queen, who had again quarrelled with Essex, was greatly offended by the play of Richard II., which plainly
* Sir Tobie Matthew, son of the Bishop of Durham, afterwards Arch- bishop of York, was an early friend of Bacon, and one whom he calls his " kind inquisitor," since he was in the habit of sending his works for Matthew's perusal and criticism. A collection of his letters (London, 1660) is extant. These letters are without dates. Tobie Matthew appears to have purposely obliterated or disguised names and particulars. If the " headings were inserted by himself, he had either forgotten the dates or intended to confuse and conceal them." (Spedding, Letters and Life,