CHAPTER III.

bacon's essays applied to the plays.

Suspicion, Malice, Cunning, Etc.

That cuckold lives in bliss
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger ;
But, oh, what damned minutes tells he o'er.
Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves !

("Othello," act iii. sc. 3.)

Iago's villainy is chiefly caused hij disappointed ambition, for the
play opens with his complaints against Othello's promotion of
Cassio over his head : —

Hod. Tliou told'st me thou didst hold him in thy hate.

lago. Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the city,
In j)ersonal suit to make me his lieutenant,
Otf-capp'd to him : and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place :
But he, as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance
Horribly stutfd with epithets of war ;
And, in conclusion,

Konsuits my mediators ; for, " Certes," says he,
" I have already chose my officer."

And what was he ? \

Forsooth, a great arithmetician,
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,
A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife ;
That never set a squadron in the field.
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster ; unless the bookish theoric,
Wherein the toged consuls can propose
As masterly as he : mere prattle, without practice,
Is all liLS soldiership. But he, sir, had the election :
And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof
At Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds
Christian and heathen, must be be-lee'd and calm'd
By debitor and ci'editor : this counter-caster.

SLSFICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC. 43

He, in good time, must his lieutenant be,

And I — God bless the mark ! — his Moorship's ancient.

(Act i. sc. 1.)

Beacon's Essay upon "Ambition:" — ^^ Ambition is like choler ;
which is an humour, that maketh men active, earnest, full of
alacrity and stirring, if it he not stojjjml. But if it be stopped, and
cannot have his way, it becometh adust, and thereby malign and venom-
ous." How exactly this describes lago's checked ambition,
changed into the poison of the serpent, which has crept into
Othello's bosom in order only to sting him to his destruction.

lago. Why, there's no remedy ; 'tis the curse of service,
Preferment goes by letter and affection,
And not by old gradation, where each second
Stood heir to the first. Now, sir, be judge yourself,
"Whether I in any just term am affined
To love the Moor.

Rod. I would not follow him then.

lago. 0, sir, content you ;
I follow him to serve my turn upon him : (Act i. sc. 1.)

Bacon, in the passage quoted, is undoubtedly thinking of the

serpent, and it is well worthy reflection that when all lago's

villainy is disclosed at the end of the play, we find the following

text in harmony with this idea : —

Lod. Where is that Viper?

Bring the villain forth,

Othello. I look down towards his feet ; hut that' s a f able.

(Act V.)

How else are we to understand these words of Othello's except
by reference to the fable of the serpent of Paradise, crawling in
the dust (or " adust " as Bacon writes) at the feet ? Bacon's mind,
as we know by his " Wisdom of the Ancients," was fond of
rationalizing all fables. The way he interprets the Proverbs of
Solomon in the " Advancement " proves this. And we venture to
suggest that the vast amount of scriptural allusion, paraphrase,
and application to be found in the plays called Shakespeare's may
be refound re-echoed in the " Two Books of the Advancement "
and the " De Augmentis." A little book called " Shakespeare and
the Bible " calls attention to one side of the question. The theo-
logical side of Bacon's writings has never really received the

44 SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC.

attention it deserves. Dr Abbot has certainly devoted a chapter
to it in his edition of the Essays. But the extraoi-dinary study
Bacon made of the Bible may be estimated from the fact that in
the 1623 "De Augmentis" there are one hundred and fifty quota-
tions, allusions, or refereiices to ike Old and New Testaments alone/
And in the Essays there are over seventy of such allusions.

For the play of "Othello" the best commentary are Bacon's Essays
on " Suspicion " and " Ambition " : — " 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 keej^ their sus-
picions in smother." How exactly this fits the suspicions of Othello.
And does not Bacon perhaps in this word " smother " point at the
smothering of Desdemona 1 Othello knew little except what he
gathered from lago, whose truth and honesty he ought to have
held in suspense before his wife's. " What would men have ?
Do they think those they employ and deal with are saints ? Do they
not think they will have their own ends, and he 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" ("Suspicion"). If Othello had only obeyed the letter of
these injunctions he Avould have tarried for better evidence, and
questioned the integrity of lago at the same time. " For so far a
man ought to make use of suspicions as to provide, as if 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 nmirishcd, and put into men's heads, by the tales and whisper-
ings of others have stings." This is just the case of Othello, whose
suspicions are put into his head and nourished artificially by the
tales and whisperings of lago. The entire moral of this tragedy
might be comprised in the words — too much suspicion, too little
suspicion. In the play of the " Winter's Tale," the jealousy of
Leontes is grounded likewise upon suspicion, but of the mind
itself, self-created by a suspicious nature. Othello is simple,
credulous, passionate, violent. He neither represses his jealousy
or ^^ guards" (as Bacon suggests in the first lines of his Essay)
against the dangers of giving too easy ear to others. Bacon

SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC. 45

writes : — " They dispose kings to tyranny, husbands to jealousy."
These last words, as is also the final Italian proverh, " Sospdto
licentia fecle," are both pretty direct hints for Othello, whose faith
entirely departs with the first breath of suspicion. Ford, in the
" Merry Wives of Windsor," is another example of suspicion. It
is a fact that suspicious people are often the most credulous and
unsuspecting where they ought to be the opposite, and this is no-
where better illustrated than in Othello, who never suspects the
one being who deserved it until too late. If this Essay does not
apply exactly to the plays of the "Winter's Tale" and "Othello,"
as forming the ^^ interior"* of their action on which the plot
revolves, we are indeed at fault. It is to be remarked the
villainy of lago is likewise the outcome of suspicion.

lago. I hate the Moor,

And it is thotight abroad, that 'twixt my sheets
He's done my office. / knoio not if 't be true,
But I for mere suspicion in that kind,
Will do as if for sui-ety. (Act i. sc. 3.)

Tago's suspicions answer exactly to Bacon's words : " Sus-
picions that the mind of itself gathers are but buzzes. But sus-
picions that are artificialhj nourished and put into men's heads by the
tales and whisperings of others Jiave stings " (" Suspicion "). Here is
exactly the difference between Othello's suspicions and lago's.
The former's are '■^put into his head " on account of the latter 's
(which are " buzzes ") in order to be revenged for the susjDicion of
a wrong. A fine touch is given when lago exclaims : —
By Janus I think no.

For Bacon describes Janus as bifrons — that is, doubled-faced.

The next essay of Bacon's which throws a light upon this art is
that on " Cunning." The wonderful way in which lago insinu-
ates the poison of jealousy into the mind of Othello is reflected
in this Essay, as we shall show. lago, after having aroused
Othello's suspicions as to Cassio's interview with Desdemona,
and his acquaintance with her before Othello's marriage, cautions

* One of Bacon's titles for his Essays is " Intcrioria licrum," or the interior
of things.

46 SUSPICION, MAIICE, CUNNING, ETC.

him against jealousy, which transfers, as it were, the suspicion he

is trying to fasten in Othello's mind from any appearance of

showing what he is really trying to do. lago having kindled the

first sparks of jealousy, turns the " cat in the pan," and strengthens

his own ends by disclaiming and laying to Othello the implied

charge he is hastily jealous : —

Oh beware my lord of Jealousy

It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock

The meat it feeds on. (Act iii. sc. 3.)

Bacon ^vrites : " There is a cunning, which we in England call
the turning of the cat in the pan, which is Avhen that which a man
says to another, he lays it as if another had said to him. And to
say truth it is not easy, when such a matter passed between two,
to make it appear from which of them it first moved and began."
If we study the whole of this scene where lago first begins work-
ing upon Othello's mind, we find this exactly illustrated. This
caution against jealousy uttered by lago, reads as if Othello
and not lago had first started the subject, and places the latter
in the position of a friend endeavouring to disabuse a sus-
picious mind of jealous fancies. The effect argues for honesty
and good faith, and except in minds of great Avorldly experience
and subtlety, produces a contrary result, strengthening the sus-
picions already harboured. To caution others against what we
are trying to insinuate, is a certain rule of cunning often to be
remarked in life.

Because in order to fix suspicions in another's mind, the first
thing necessary is to disarm suspicion against the interestedness
or good faith of our eAddence or motives. If we are suspected,
our insinuations have no Aveight. And so it is with lago. His
art is to appear frank, honest, cautious, not too certain of his OAvn
suspicions, and in thus acting he goes far to undermine Othello's
faith. The play of " Othello " might be briefly expressed as Sus-
picion and disappointed AmUtion, employing Cunning as an instru-
ment of Malice upon others. Nothing is so striking as the ex-
haustive manner in which Bacon's Essays apply both in title and

SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC. 47

in subject matter to the affections or passions of the human mind
as portrayed in the plays falsely attributed to Shakespeare.
Bacon concludes this Essay on " Cunning " thus : " Some build
rather upon the ahuahig of oflwrs, and (as we now say) Putting
tricks upon them, than upon soundness of their own proceedings."
The trick of the handkerchief by which lago convinces Othello of
Desdemona's infidelity pretty closely examples this quotation.
Be it observed the verb Bacon employs, " Abusing " is frequently
introduced in the play —

OthcUo. I am ahus'd, and m.y relief
!Must be to loath her.

lago. As I confess it is my nature's plague
To spy into abuses. (Act iii. sc. 3. )

Aldis "Wright in his Glossary (Essays) describes this word as
meaning "Deception " "Mockery," and no doubt this is very near
what Bacon intends to convey. Bacon writes in his Essay on
"Love": " I know not how, hit martial men are given to love: I
think it is, but as they are given to wine." This is well illustrated
in the person of Cassio, who gets drunk, and whose amorous
relations with Bianca assist to further lago's \allainous conspiracy.
Then wc have Bertram, another "martial man," in "All's Well
that Ends Well," pursuing an intrigue with Diana ; also Falstaffe
and Doll Tear Sheet ; and each of these cases illustrate what
Bacon means when he adds to this remark, "For perils commonly
ask to be paid in pleasures."

Vain-glory.
In his Essay upon "Vain-glory," Bacon says: "In military
commanders and soldiers, vain- glory is an essential jDoint; for as
iron sharpens iron, so by glory one courage sharpeneth another."
In " Troilus and Cressida " we find Ajax set up as champion of
the Greeks against Achilles, on purpose to stimulate and whet
the pride of the latter. Hector's challenge to single combat
is aimed at Achilles :

Ulysses. Tliis challenge that the gallant Hector sends,
However it is spread in general name,
Relates in purpose only to Achilles. (Act i. sc. 3. )

48 SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC.

Ulysses and Nestor plot a device by which the result of the
lottery is to fall upon Ajax, Avith the purpose of physicking the
pride of the insolent Achilles.

No, make a lottery,
And by device let blockish Ajax draw
The sort to fight with Hector : among ourselves,
Give him allowance as the worthier man,
For that will jihysic the great myrmidon
"Who broils in loud applause, and make him fall
His crest that prouder than blue Iris bends.

(Act i. sc. 3.)

In short, the vain-glory of each of these leaders of faction in

the Gra3cian tents is employed to special pm-pose to stir and

rouse the other, particularly Achilles, who sulks in his tent.

Ajax is described : —

Ajax is grown self-willed, and bears his head

In such a rein, in full as proud a place

As broad Achilles, and keeps his tent like him ;

Makes faction feasts, rails on our state of war

Bold as an Oracle, and sets Thersites,

A slave, whose gall coins slanders like a mint.

To match us in comj)arison with dirt. (Act i. sc. 3.)

In these last lines describing Thersites, we find re-echoed
Bacon's definition of envious persons : " A man that hath no
virtue in himself, ever envicth virtue in others. For men's minds
will either feed upon their own good, or iipon other's evil ; and
who wanteth the one will prey upon the other. And who so is
out of hope to attain to another's virtue, will seek to come
at even hand by depressing another's fortune."

The vain-glory of Ajax is thus pictured by Thersites : —

Ther. A wonder !
■ AcMl. What?

Ther. Ajax goes up and down the field, asking for himself.

Achil. How so ?

Ther. He must fight singly to-morrow with Hector, and is so prophetically
proud of an heroical cudgelling that ho raves in saying nothing.

Achil. How can that be ?

Ther. Why, he stalks up and down like a peacock, — a stride and a stand :
ruminates like an hostess that hath no arithmetic but her brain to set down
her reckoning : bites his lip with a politic regard, as Avho should say " There

SUSPICION, MAIICE, CUNNING, ETC. 49

■were wit in this head, an 'twould out ;" and so there is, but it lies as coldly
in him as fire in a flint, which will not show without knocking. The man's
undone for ever ; for if Hector break not his neck i' the combat, he'll break 't
himself in vain-glory. (Act iii. so. 3. )

Boldness.

The characters of Bardolph, Nym, Pistol, and Falstaffe might
be each fairly epitomized m a mixture of boldness, imposture, awl
impudence, which borders closely upon the ridiculous, and excites
our laughter at their swashing words and weak performances.
The first three are Mountebanks unqualified. In Bacon's Essay on
"Boldness" he seems to be evidently writing with just such
characters in his mind's eye. "Surely as there are Mountebanks
for the natural body : so are there Mountebanks for the politic
body. Certainly to men of great judgment Bold piersons are a
sport to hehold ; nay and to the vulgar also. Boldness hath some-
what 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 ; as needs it must ; for in bashful-
ness, the spirits do a little go and come ; but with bold men upon
like occasion, they stand at a stay, like a stale at chess, where it
is no mate, but yet the game cannot stir" ("Boldness"). Can
we not see all this with the visual eye, painted in Falstaffe, who,
checkmated by the Prince and Poins in the recital of his exploits
with the thieves, must have exhibited just such a countenance as
Bacon describes, when discovered in his mountain of falsehoods ?
The Hostess of the " Boar's Head " remarks when Falstaffe plays
the king : —

" 0 the father, how he holds his countenance."

(" 1 King Henry IV.," act ii. sc. 4.)

Bacon opens his Essay upon " Boldness " by comj)aring it to
Action. And this is a most profound observation. For the
essence of boldness in the sense Bacon implies, is the impudence

D

50 SUSPICION, MA lie E, CUNNING, ETC.

of p^iii/ing a role, and assuming a part which, as in the case of
Nym, Bardoli)h, and Pistol is thoroughly theatrical, full of
affectation, and l)elonging to the stage rather than to life. The
l)ravos of a transpontine theatre might be imagined to swagger,
bully, and bluster as these mountebanks really do, and their
repertory of fustian extravagance and bombast is the reproduc-
tion off the stage, of what was once a characteristic of low theatres
and poor actors. They are really stage rascals lightened Avith a
touch of humour, but devoid of Falstaffe's good-fellowship and
ready wit. In Bacon's "Antifhcta Iierum," under "Boldness"
(xxxiii., Book vi., "Advancement of Learning," 1640, p. 316), we
find : — " What action is to an Orator, the same is boldness to a
politic; the first, the second, the third virtue. Impudence is
good for nothing but impostui-e."

Parasites and Sycophants.

Bacon wi'ites : —

" Such were those freiocher philosophers which in the later age
of the Eoman state were usually in the houses of great persons
Avhom not improperly you may call solemn parasites, of Avhich kind
Lucian makes a meriy description of the Philosopher that the
great lady took to ride with her in the coach, and would needs
have him carry her little dog Melitceus, which he doing officiously,
and yet uncomely, the page scoffing said, ' / dovht our philosopher
of a stoic will turn cynic'" (page 24, Book i., "Advancement of
Learning ").

The play of " Timon of Athens " is in great measure taken from
the Greek of Lucian''' (Holme's "Authorship of Shakespeare," p. 57).
Apemantus in that play is the philosopher and stoic, Bacon de-
scribes. And can we not see in the contexts of the words "para-
sites," " trencher-friends " in the passage we noAV quote, Bacon's pen
reflected ?

* " Warlnirton discovered that tlie whole of the first speech of Autolycus
("Winter's Tah; ") is taken from Lucian 's book upon astrology" (Ward's
" History of Dramatic Literature ").

SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC. 51

IHmon. Live loathed and long,
Most smiling, smooth, daU'tiiciJL parasites,
Courteous destroyers, ail'ablc wolves, meek bears,
You fools of fortune, trencher-friends, time's flies,
Cap and knee slaves, vapours, and minute jacks.

("Timon of Athens," act iii. sc. 5.)

But what further strengthens the parallel, Apeniiintus is as
much cynic as stoic: —

AjJcmantus' grace.
Immortal gods, I crave no pelf;
I i)ray for no man but myself :
Grant I may never prove so fond^
To ti'ust man on his oath or bond ;
Or a harlot, for her weeping ;
Or a dog that seems a-sleepiiig ;
Or a keeper witli my freedom ;
Or my friends, if I should need 'em.
Amen. So fall to't :
Rich men sin, and I eat root. (Act i. sc. 2.)

The fine distinction of characters drawn between Timon and
Apemantus is well worthy study. Apemantus is stoic and cynic,
but without being misanthrope. He does not shun mankind,
though he perfectly penetrates the motives of the flatterers, who,
calling themselves Timon 's friends, eat him. It is this knowledge
of character which makes him cynical. It is Timon's ignorance
of the world which upsets his balance with the load of the dis-
covery made too late. Apemantus may be churlish and sour, but
like medicine unpalatable to the taste, his physic, if taken in time,
would have saved Timon. There can be little doubt Apemantus
is introduced as a foil to contrast a stoic and cynic with an epi-
curean. Timon, with his painters, poets, parasites, jewellers,
banquets, and presents, undoubtedly belongs to the latter class of
pleasure-seekers. Directly he finds he has been victimized by his
flattering friends and trencher companions, he falls into the
opposite extreme of misanthropy, and like an overloaded ship
capsizes. He becomes, too late, ten times more cynical than Ape-
mantus, who not only had the wisdom to make use of his knowlede;e
of the world, but would not punish himself on account of it. One
extreme leads to the other extreme. It is to be remarked that no

52 SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC.

one unacquainted with the philosophy of the different schools of
classical philosophical thought, could have drawn this nice dis-
tinction between cynic and epicurean, stoic and misanthrope. The
greater part of the Greek of Lucian from which the play is taken
would not furnish a sciolist with the necessary distinctions.
Plutarch introduces Timon in his lines of Antony and Alcibiades.

Alcihiadcs. I never did thee harm.
Timon. Yes, thou s]iok'st well of me.
Alcibiades. Call'st thou that harm ?
Timon. Men daily find it.

(" Timon af Athens," act iv. sc. 3.)

" Some men Rrep-aised maliciously to their hurt, thereby to stir
envy and jealousy towards them; Pessimum genus inimicoi'um laudan-
tium; in so much as it was a proverb amongst the Grsecians; that
he that was praised to his hurt, should have a push rise upon his
nose" ("Of Praise," 1625).

Aj^eviantus. Heavens ! that I were a Lord.

Timon. What wouldst do then, AiKmantus ?

Apemanttts. E'en as Apcmantus does now, hate a Lord with my heart.

Timon. What, thyself?

Apcmantus. L

( "Timon," act i. sc. 1.)

"Pride if it ascend from, contempt of others to a eontempt of itself,
at last is chang'd into Philosophy" {Antitheta, " Pride," xiv.).

" He that seeks his OAvn praise, withal seeks the profit of
others" {Antitheta, "Vain-Glory," xix.).

This is very nearly the text of the sermon embraced in the
play of " Timon of Athens " : —

A2)em. What a coiFs here T

Serving of becks and jutting-out of bums !
I doubt whether their legs be worth the sums
That are given for 'em. Friendship's full of dregs :
Methmks, false hearts should never have sound legs.
Thus honest foals lay out their wealth on court'sies,

Tim. Now, Apcmantus, if thou wert not sullen, I would be good to thee.

Apem. No, 111 nothing : for if I should be bribed too, there would be none
left to rail upon thee, and then thou wouldst sm tlie faster. Thou givest so
long, Timon, I fear me tliou wilt give away thyself in i)aper shortly : what
need these feasts, pomps, and vain-glories 1

SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC. 53

Tim. Nay, an you begin to rail on society once, I am sworn not to give
regard to you. Farewell ; and come with better music. [Exit.

Apem. So :
Tliou wilt not hear me now ; thou shalt not then :
I'll lock thy heaven from thee.
0, that men's ears should be
To counsel deaf, but not to flattery !

(" Timon," act i. sc. 2.)

" The deformity of flattery is comical, hid the damage tragical "
("Flattery," Antitheta, xxxviii.).

" He that is flexible comes nearest the nature of Gold "
(" Facility," xxix., Ih.).

The contrast between Apcmantus and Timon of Athens is a
very fine study of character. Timon is best summed up in the
words of Apemantus : —
The middle of Humanity thou never knew'st, but the extremity of both ends.

The character of Apemantus is pretty well indicated by Bacon.
" The lighter sort of malignity turneth but to a crossness or
f rowardness, or aptness to oppose, or diflficileness or the like ; but
the deeper sort to envy and mere mischief. Such men in other
calamities are, as it were, in season, and are ever on the loading
part (easque semper aggravant) ; not so good as the dogs that licked
Lazarus' sores, hut like flies that are still huzzing upon anything that is
raw" ("Goodness and Goodness of Nature"),

The hint Bacon gives us in the word '^ dogs'" seems to indicate
the school of cynics to which class Apemantus belongs, visiting
Timon in his misery only to indulge in the pleasui-e of telling
him the truth, and to lick his sores with "I told you so."

2. Away, unpeaceable dog,
Or I'll spurn thee hence.

Ape. I will fly like a dog, the heels of the ass.
1. He's opposite to humanity.

("Timon," act i. se. 1.)

Timon is epicurean, Apemantus stoical and cynical at the same
time.

Happy are they that hear their detractions, and can put them to mending.
(" Much Ado about Nothing," act ii. sc. 3.)

54 SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC.

" For there is no such flatterer as a man's self, and there is no
such remedy against flattery of a man's self as the liberty of a
friend " {" Friendship ").

Apemantus is such a friend to Timon of Athens, but without

effect.

The learned jmte
Ducks to the Golden Fool. All's oblique.

("Timon," act iv. sc. 3.)

Wise men follow fooLs. (Essay of " Superstition.")

I am Misanthropes, and hate mankind.

("Timon," act iv. sc. 3.)

" Misanthropi, that make it their practice to bring men to the
boughs, and yet have never a tree for the purpose in their gardens
as Timon had" (" Goodness and Goodness of Nature").

Compai^e —

I have a tree which gi'ows here in my close.

("Timon," act v. sc. 2.)

Now both Bacon's quotation and Shakespeare's are taken from
Plutaixh —

" My Lords of Athens, I have a little yard in 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 dowoi if any of you be desperate, you may there
in time go hang yourselves" (North's Plutarch, "Antonius," p.
100, 2nd ed., 1595).

Men shut their doors against a setting stcn.

(" Timon," act i. sc. 2.)

" Pompey turned upon again, and in eff"ect bade him be quiet.
For that more men adored the sun rising, than the sun setting "
(Essay on " Friendship," 1625). This is borrowed from Plutarch's
"Pompey" (xiv.). It is well worthy deep attention that this pas-
sage does not occur in the same Essay, edition 1607-12, or edition
1612. Bacon was evidently rewriting the Essays with a view to
the insertion of just those touches in contact with the plays,

SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC 55

which so justify the title he gives to them, "/)e Literiom Rerum," or
the '^ Inferior of Things" (Fide "De Augmentis," Satyra Seria,
Liber vii.). In this same Essay we find another quotation from
Plutarch's lines, touching Calphurnia's dream and Decimus
Brutus, illustrated by us, to be refound in the play of " Julius
Caesar." Every moment we come across Plutarch. For examj^le,
in this Essay : " The parable of Pythagoras is dark ])ut true ; ' Cor
ne edito : eat not the heart.'" This is quoted by Plutarch (" De
Educ. Puer.," xvii.). Again (Essay on "Friendship"): ''It was
well said hy Themistocles to the King of Persia ; that speech was like
cloth of Arras, opened and put abroad, whereby the imagery doth ap-
p)car in figure ; whereas in thoughts they lie but as in jxicks" (1625).
This is repeated by Plutarch, " Themistocles " (xxix. 4).

" Plutarch saith well to that purpose, ' Surely I had rather a
great deal, men should say, there was no such man at all as
Plutarch, than that they should say, that there was one Plutarch
that would eat his children as soon as they were born, as the poets
speak of Saturn " (Essay on "Superstition," 1625, Brit. Museum
copy). Plutarch, " De Super stitione," x., Essay on " Fortune,"
" Ceesarem portas et Fmimiam ejus," " So Sylla chose the name of
Felix, and not of Magnus " (Plutarch, " Csesar," xxxviii. ; Plutarch,
" Sylla," xxxiv.).*

Plutarch is cjuoted five times in this Essay (" Timoleon," xxxv.
1 ; " Sylla," vi. 5).

Usury, Revenge.

That it is against Nature, for money to beget moiiey.

("Usury.")

This idea is repeated in the " Merchant of Venice " : —

Antonio. Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams.
Shylock. I cannot tell, I make it breed as fast.

(Act i. sc. 3.

" As for Mortgaging or Pawning, it will little mend the matter ;
for either men will not take pawns without use; or if they do,

* Bacon is as familiar with Plutarch as Shakespeare, — who took Julius Cresar,
Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra almost entirely from North's Plutarch.

56 SUSPICION, MAIICE, CUNNING, ETC.

they will UhiJc j)^'cchely for the Forfeiture. I rememher a cruel
moneyed man in the country that would say, ' The Devil take this usury,
it keeps us from forfeitures of mortgages and bonds" ("Usury ").
The use of the words " Forfeiture," * " bond," is frequent in the
r" Merchant of Venice" in connection with Shy lock. If any one
seemed qualified to write this play it was Bacon. He had exten-
sive dealings in his life with the Jews in borrowing money, and
Avas once arrested on his return from the Tower, and thrown
into a sponging-house, of Avhich indignity he bitterly complained.
Out of these difficulties arising from debts he was assisted by the
liberality of his brother Anthony, whose name in Italian (Antonio)
appears in this j^lay, acting just such a part towards Bassanio.
Mr Donnelly has already drawn attention to this. Shylock, in-
deed, is one who, in Bacon's words, "will look jyecisely for the For-
feiture," and as a " o'uel moneyed man" is represented in the play
looking rather to his "Forfeiture of mortgage" and his "bond"
in the pound of flesh to be cut from Antonio's body, than to
rejDayment of the capital : —

Shy. My deeds upon my head, I crave the law,
The ])enalty and forfeit of my bo7id.

Portia. Is he not able to discharge the money ?

Bassanio. Yes, here I tender it for him in the Court ;
Yea, twice the sum, if that will not suffice,
I will be bound to pay it ten times o'er.
On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart :
If this will not suffice, it must appear
That malice bears down truth. And I beseech you
Wrest once the law to your authority.
To do a great right, do a little wrong,
And curb this cruel devil of his will.

(" Merchant of Venice," act iv. sc. 1.)

Note how we find in this passage the words "forfeit," "bond,"
"crweZ," as we find them in the passage quoted from "Usury."
The three Essays, " Usury," "Revenge," "Friendship," illustrate in
their titles the "Merchant of Venice," which play idealises

* Bacon writes :— " And tiiat which heightens their fear is that they know
they are in danger to forfeit their flesli, but are not wise of the payment day "
("Of Death").

SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC. 57

" Friendship " and "Revenge," the action of the plot revolving

upon " Usury," inasmuch as the friendship of Antonio for Bas-

sanio causes him to fall into Shylock's power. Bacon writes : —

"Amongst which that of all others is the most frequent, where

the question is of a great deal of good to ensue of a small injustice "

(" Advt.," Book 11., xxi., ii.). Compare the lines already

quoted : —

To do a great right, do a little wrong.

" But then let a man take heed, the Revenge he such, as there is
no laiv to punish : else a man's enemy is still beforehand, and it
is two for one " ("Eevenge ").

How exactly the spirit of these words finds reflection in the

Revenge Shylock seeks upon Antonio in the " Merchant of Venice !"

For the laAv steps in, through the reading of Portia, to punish

Shylock's revenge.

Portia. The law hath yet another hold on you.
It is enacted in the laws of Venice,
If it be proved against an alien,
That by direct or indirect attempts
He seek the life of any citizen,
The party 'gainst tlie which he doth contrive,
Shall seize one-half his goods, the other half
Comes to the prize coti'er of the State.

(" Merchant of Venice," act iv. sc. 1.)

" Certainly in taking Eevenge a man is but even with his
enemies ; but in jMssing it over he is superior : for it is a Prince's
part to pardon " (" Revenge ").

Duke. That thou shalt see the difference of our spirit,
1 2>aTdon thee thy life before Ihou ask it.

("Merchant of Venice," act iv. sc. 1.)

The whole of this Essay upon Revenge breeds the same spirit

of mercy we refind in the play.

The quality of mercy is not strain'd.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath.

(" Merchant of Venice," activ. sc. 1.)

" And Solomon, I am sure, saith. It is the glory of a man to
pass hy an offence " (" Revenge ").

58 SUSPICION, MAIICE, CUNNING, ETC.

It is twice blest,
It blessetli him that gives and him that takes ;
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest, it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.

(Act iv. sc. 1.)

In the Essay on "Usnry" we read: — "That Usurers should
have Orange-tawney Bonnets, because they do Judaize."

It is curious in a note upon this word " orange-tawney "
(Glossary, "Essays," Aldis Wright), to find ourselves brought
(through Mr Knight) into contact with Shakespeare and with
the Venetians.

" Orange-tawney, adj. Of a dark orange colour. In Knight's
' Shakespeare ' (ii. p. 250) it is said, Vecellio, a Venetian,
' expressly informs us that the Jews differed in nothing, as far
as regarded dress, from Venetians of the same j^rofessions, whether
merchants, artisans, &c., with the exception of a yellow bonnet,
which they were compelled to wear by order of the government.'
See also Sir W. Scott's description of Isaac of York in ' Ivanhoe,'
c. 5 : ' He wore a high square yellow cap of a peculiar fashion,
assigned to his nation to distinguish them from Christians '
(E. xli. p. 168)."

Does Bacon introduce this trifle about the coloiu* of the Jew
Usurers' Bonnets to give us a hint for Shylock and Venice I
Orange-tawney was the coloiir assigned to the Jews by law.
And Mr Wright quotes Vecellio to show that the ^^ yellow bonnet"
was compulsory hi Venice.

Etches.

Both in St Matthew's and St Mark's Gospel reference is made
to " the deceitfidness of riches." Bacon repeats this in his Essay
upon " Riches : " " For certainly great riches have sold more men
than they have bought out." We may see this reflected in the
play of " Timon of Athens," and in the parable of the three
Caskets, exemplified in the "Merchant of Venice". In the
parable of the " Pearl of Great Price " we have something akin
to the parable of these caskets. This parable teaches us that

SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC. 59

prior to finding this pearl of great price, men are industriously
engaged in the pursuit of objects whose value is deceptive and
inferior. Like the Princes of Morocco and Arragon they are
seeking "goodly," or as it is expressed in the original "beauti-
ful pearls." Every object which they consider valuable and
which promises to yield them felicity, is eagerly sought after.
Their views, however, are confined Avathin the narrow limits of
this life, and have no reference to the invisible world, or the
heavenly judgment of Portia. For to select that, they must give
and hazard all they have, deny the lust of the flesh and pride of
the eye, and seek that which doth rather threaten than promise
aught. It is significant that the following speech is put into the
mouth of Bassanio, toho makes the right choice of the Caskets. In our
opinion it touches to the heart the entire ethical tendency and
promise of this art when thoroughly revealed.

Bass. So may the outward shows be least themselves.
The world is still deceiv'd with orna7nent.
In Law, what plea so tainted and cornipt
But being season'd with a gracious voice,
Obscures the show of evil ? In Religion,
"VVliat danuied error, but some sober brow
Will bless it, and approve it with a text.
Hiding the gi-ossness with fair ornament ;
There is no vice so simple but assumes
Some marks of virtue on his oicticard iJarts.

("Merchant of Venice," act iii. sc. 2.)

Inasmuch as Bassanio wins Portia with this speech, we may
infer these lines have a profound application to ethics. The
entire action of the play and the after judgment of Portia
revolves upon this right choice of Bassanio, summed up in this
speech, which really is a reflection upon the deceit/ulness of Pdches,
inasmuch as the Princes who chose the Casket of Gold and Silver
were deceived and chose wrongly. Nor can it be allowed this
incident of the Caskets is but a device and no emblem of some-
thing deeper. For that Gold is pointed at as Riches cannot be
mistaken : —

Bassanio. Therefore then thou gaudy gold.
Hard food for Midas, I will noue of thee,

6o SUSPICION, MAIICE, CUNNING, ETC.

Nor none of thee, thou pale and common drudge
'Tween man and man : but thou, tliou meagre lead,
Which rather threat' nest than doth })romise aught,
Thy jmleness moves me more than eloqiience.
And here choose I, joy be the consequence.

(Act iii. sc. 2.)

Portia is undoubtedly an emblem of the right life, that is of the
inward and true or unworldly life. We are not at all siu-e the
author in the following lines was not suggesting the terms upon
which such a life could only be purchased when he "v^a'ote, and
perhaps hinting at such men as Bruno, Campanella, Galileo, Avhose
devotion to truth was paid down upon the rack, at the stake,
or expiated in prison.

Bass. Let me choose ;

For as I am, I live upon the rack.

For. Upon the rack, Bassanio ! then confess
"What treason there is mingled with your love.

Bass. None but that ugly treason of mistrust,
Which makes me fear the enjoying of my love :
There may as well be amity and life
'Tween snow and fire, as treason and my love.

For. Ay, but I fear you speak upon the rack.
Where men enforced do sjicak anything.

(Act iii. sc. 2.)

How all this is re-echoed in Bacon's Essay upon " Riches " !
" Hearken also to Solomon, and beware of hasty gathering of
riches, qui festinat ad Divitias noii erit insons." Again : " Of great
riches there is no real use, except it be in the distribution ; the
rest is but conceit. So saith Solomon. Where there is much there
are many to consume it ; and what hath the owner but the sight
of it with his eyes 1 The personal fruition in any man cannot
reach to feel great riches. There is a custody of them, 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 are set upon
little stones and rarities 1 And what works of ostentation are
undertaken because there might seem to be some use of gi-eat
riches 1 For certainly great riches have sold more men than they
have bought out " (" Riches ').

SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC. 6i

How many will subscribe to this doctrine in the present day ?
Or how many who regard the massing of a vast fortune together
as the one thing needful, refrain condemning Bacon as a visionary ]
These however were the real doctrines of the Rosicruciaus.

Mr Donnelly, quoting the Rev. Charles Wordsworth, writes :
" Take the entire range of English literature, put together our
best authors who have Avritten upon subjects professedly not
religious or theological, and we shall not find, I believe, in all
united, so much evidence of the Bible having been read and used
as Ave have foiuid in Shakespeare alone " (" Great Cryptogram,"
ch. v., p. 436, vol. i.).

James Brown, in his " Bible Truths," writes : " In Bacon's
Essays, the especial favourites of the author, which he so carefully
revised and re-wrote in the ripeness of his age and experience,
and which therefore may be considered the very cream and
essence of his wonderful genius, this characteristic element obtains
a prominence that cannot fail to have struck his most cursory
reader. Out of these fifty- eight short essays I have found, in
twenty-four of them that treat more exclusively of moral subjects,
more than seventy allusions to Scripture" (preface to first edition,
p. 4).

The enormous quantity of parallels and applications from the
Scriptures to be found in the plays has created a special literature
of its own (Wordsworth's, Brown's, Selkirk's, &c.), to illustrate
it. Brown writes, ^^ that one of his (the author of the plays) great
teachers indeed was tJie Bible." Bacon's favoiurite writer, Solomon,
finds endless application in the plays. Solomon is alluded to in
" Love's Labour Lost" (act i, sc. 2, and act iv. sc. 3), the Queen
of Sheba in " King Henry VIH." (act v. sc. 4). Brown illus-
trates the plays by hundreds of quotations from the Old and New
Testaments. Proverbs, the Psalms, Ecclesiastes, the Book of
Wisdom, are especially frequent amonst his citations, and these
were also favourite books with Bacon. It is impossible to quote
them here, for they fill a volume.

62 SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC.

Friendship.

"That a friend is another himself : for that a friend is far more
than himself" (Essay of "Friendship").

" 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 stoppings and suffoca-
tions are the most dangerous in the body ; and it is not much
other'wase in the mind. You may take Sarza to open the liver ;
Steele to open the spleen ; Flower of Sulphur for the lungs ; Cas-
toreum for the brain. But no receij^t openeth the heart but a true
friend, to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspi-
cions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart, to oppress it
in a kind of civil shrift or confession."

How this high value set upon friendship finds its reflection in
the plays over and over again, — Hamlet and Horatio, — Bassanio
and Antonio, — Valentine and Proteus !

Study how Hamlet unhurthcns his heart to Horatio, and how

Bassanio does the same to Antonio : — •

Bassanio. To you, Antonio,

I owe the most in money and in love,
And from your love I have a warrant}',
To unburthen all my 2'>lots and purposes.

(" Merchant of Venice," act i. so. 1.)

Hamlet. Dost thou hear.

Since my dear soul Avas mistress of my choice,
And could of men distinguish, her election
Hath sealed thee for herself. For thou hast been
As one in suffering all, that suffers nothing.

Give me that man
That is not jiassion's slave, and I will wear him
In my heart's core : in my heart of hearts,
As I do thee. ("Hamlet," act iii. sc. 2.)

Parents and Children.
"The illiheraliiy of parents in allowance totuards their children is a
harmful error, makes them base, acquaints them with shifts, makes
them sort ivith mean company, and makes them surfeit more when
they come to plenty " (" Parents and Children ").

SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC. 63

This seems reflected in "As You Like It," where we find Oiiandu
opening the play with these words : —

Orl. As I remember, Adam, it was uiwii this fasliioii, be(iucatlied mc l)y will,
hut jwor a thousand crowns, and, as thou sayest, charged my brother on his
blessing to breed me well, and there begins my sadness. ... He lets me feed
with his hinds, bars me the place of a brother, and as much as in him lies
viines my gentility tvith my education.

The elder brother Oliver enters, and a scene ensues between
the two : —

OIL Let me go, I say.

Orl. I will not, till I please : you shall hear me. My father charged you in
his will to give me good education : you have trained me like a peasant,
obscuring and hiding from me all gentleman-like qualities. The spirit of my
father grows strong in me, and I will no longer endure it : therefore allow me
such exercises as may become a gentleman, or give me the poor allottery my
father left me by testament.

Bacon writes in his Essay on " Envy " : — " Lastly, near kimfolk
and fellows in office, and those that are bred together, are more
apt to envy their equals when they are raised." Again : " Cain's
eiivy was the more vile and malignant towards his brother Abel because
when sacrifice tvas better accepted there was nobody to look on " ("Envy ").
" Whoso is out of Itope to attain another's virtue will seek to come at
even hand by depressing another's fortune" ("Envy"). "There be
times when a man's virtues may be his ruin." Compare this
passage : —

Scene III. Before Oliver's ho^ise.

Enter Orlando and Adam, meeting.

Orl. Who's there ?

Adam. What, my young master? 0 my gentle master !
0 my sweet master ! 0 you memory
Of old Sir Rowland ! why, what make you here ?
AVhy are you virtuous ? why do people love you ?
And wherefore are yovx gentle, strong and valiant ?
Why would you be so fond to overcome
The bonny priser of the humorous duke 1
Your praise is come too swiftly home before you.
Know you not, master, to some kind of men
Their graces serve them but as enemies ?
No more do yours : your virtues, gentle mctstcr.
Arc sanctified, and holy traitors to you.

64 SUSFICIO^^, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC.

0, wliat a world is tliis, when what is comely
Envenoms him that bears it !

Orl. AVhy, what's the matter ?

Adam. 0, unhappy youth !

Come not within these doors ; within this roof
The enemy of all your graces lives ;
Yoxir brother — no, no brother ; yet the son —
Yet not the son, I will not call him son
Of him I was about to call his father —
Hath heard your praises, and this night he means
To burn the lodging where you use to lie
And you within it ; if he fail of that,
He will have other means to cut you off.
I overheard him and his practices. (Act ii. sc. 3.)

"Followers and Friends," "Suiroiis," "Factions."
Bacon's two Essays upon " Followers and Friends " and upon
" Suitors " follow each other in succession, as if some connection
existed between them. The play of " Titus Andronicus " is re-
markable for the divisions and ^^ factions" of the ^^ followers" oi
Saturninus and of Titus Andronicus. The play opens with the
respective claim and appeal of each of the two sons of the late
Emperor of Rome to the throne.

Saturnine. Noble Patricians, Patrons of my riglit,
Defend the justice of my cause with arms,
And countrymen my loving folloivers
Plead my successive title with your swords.
Bassianus. Romans, Friends, Folloicers,
Favourers of my Right. ... (Act i. sc. 1.)

Marcus Andronicus (brother to Titus) enters with a crown, and

cries —

Princes that strive by Factions and by Friends,
Ambitiously for rule and empery ;

Dismiss your Followers, and as Suitors should
Plead your deserts in Y^ace and humbleness.

(Act i. sc. 1.)

We quote this to illustrate the introduction of the expressions
" Followers and Friends," coupled as by Bacon (with ^^ Followers")
in close context with "Suitors." Bacon's Essay upon "Faction"
follows (next to one) the Essay upon "Suitors." Consider how

SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC. 65

largely these matters enter into the historical plays like the one
we cite. For the three chronicle plays of " Henry the Sixth "
largely deal Avith the factions of the Eoses, Yorke and Lan-
caster. " Troilus and Cressida " also present the factions of Ajax
and Achilles and their rival quarrels. So that we may perceive
Bacon had some good reasons in presenting us with the Essays
upon "Faction," "Followers and Friends," "Seditions and
Troubles," "Empire," &c., touching as they do a vast deal of
the action of these plays.

Bacon Avrites in this Essay on "Faction": — "The faction, or
party, of Antonius and Octavianus Caesar, against Brutus and
Cassius, held out likewise for a time : hut when Brutus and
Cassius were overthrown, then soon after Antoniu.s and Octavianus
brake and subdivided." How exactly and faithfully all this is
represented and set forth in the plays of "Julius C2esar"and
" Antony and Cleopatra " ! For example, immediately after
Mark Antony's funeral oration over the body of Csesar, and the
reading of the will, by which Antony sets the people of Rome
into infinite uproar against the murderers, we find Octavius
inti'oduced : —

2 Pie. Go, fetch fire.

3 Pic. Pluck down benches.

4 Pic. Phick down forms.

Enter Servant.

Servant. Su', Octavius is ah'eady come to Rome.
Ant. Where is he ?

Servant. He and Le[)idus are at Cresar's house.
Ant. And thither ^^•ill I straight to visit them.

(Act iii. )

This is at the conclusion of the third act. The next act
opens Avith the introduction of Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus
sitting in council as a faction or triumvirate, and the play ends
with the overthrow of the other faction of Brutus and his death
at Philippi. Bacon writes in his Essay on " Prophecies " : "A
phantasm that appeared to M. Brutus in his tent said to him.
Philippic iter am me videhis ('Thou shalt see me again at Philippi ')."

E

66 SUSPICION, MAIICE, CUNNING, ETC.

This is introduced at the end of the fourth act, "Julius Caesar"

(scene 3) : —

Enter the Ghost of C^sar.

Brutus. How ill this taper burns ! Ha ! who comes here ?
I think it is the weakness of mine eyes
That shapes this monstrous apparition.
It comes upon me. Art thou anything ?
Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil,
That makest my blood cold and my hair to stare ?
Speak to me what thou art.

Ghost. Thy evil spirit, Brutus.

Brit. Why comest thou ?

Ghost. To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi.

Bru. Well ; then I shall see thee again ?

Ghost. Ay, at Philipju.

Bru. Why, I will see thee at Philippi, then.

[Exit Ghost.

If we now turn to the play of " Antony and Cleopatra," we

find Bacon's remarks about the breaking \\^ of the faction

between Antony and Octavias, prominently depicted in the

sixth scene of the third act, where Octavius Csesar is introduced

(with Agrippa and Maecenas), complaining of Antony's conduct

at Alexandria with Cleopatra. The rest of the play is but the

history of the dismemberment of the Triumvirate, and final war

between Csesar and Antony, resulting in the battle of Actium.

In context Avith the passage quoted on "faction" by Bacon, we

read as if a hint for Lepidus : — "And therefore those that are

seconds in factions, do many times, when the faction subdivideth,

prove principals : hut many times also they |:»ro^^e cyphers and

cashiered." This was the fate of Lepidus, and in the play Ave find

Csesar saying of Antony : — •

Lastly he frets,
That Lepidus of the triumvirate should be deposed,
And being that, we detain all his revenue.

(Act iii. sc, 6.)

Lepidus is presented throughout the play as a complete cipher.

Antony, in an interview with Csesar, thus speaks of him : —

Let this fellow
Be nothing of our strife ; if we contend.
Out of our question wipe him.

("Antony and Cleopatra," act ii. sc. 2.)

SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC. 67

Antony again alludes to Lepidus, who has just been despatched
to fetch Caesar's will : —

Ant. This is a slight unmcritahU vian,
Meet to be sent on errands : is it fit
The three-fold world divided, ho should stand,
One of the three to share it ?

Oct. So you thought him.

And took liis voice who should be prickt to die
In our black sentence and proscription.

Ant. Octavius, I have seen more days than you,
And though we lay these honours on this man.
To case ourselves of clivers slniul'rous loads,
He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold
To groan and sweat under the business,
Either led or driven as we point the way.

(Act iv. so. 1.)

" In order to divert Envy from themselves," Bacon writes : — " the
wiser sort of great person, bring in ever upon the stage, somehodij,
iipon wJiom to derive the envij, that would come upon themselves;
sometimes upon ministers and servants ; sometimes upon colleagues
and associates " (" Envy ").

It is true that " slanderous loads " is not exactly envy, but envy
begets slander, and there is generally very little slander where
there is absence of envy. Bacon further explains it : " This
envy being in the Latin word Inindia, goeth in the modern
languages by the name of discontentment, of which Ave shall speak
in handling of sedition. It is a disease in a state, like to
infection."

In Bacon's Essay on "Love": — "You must except neverthe-
less Marcus Antonius, the half partner of the Empire of Eome 3
and Appius Claudius, the Decemvir and Law-giver : whereof the
former was indeed a voluptuous man and inordinate." This is as he
is represented in the play of " Antony and Cleopatra," and as he
is depicted by Plutarch, from whom so much is borrowed.

"And it is not amiss to observe also how small and mean
faculties gotten by education, yet when they fall into great men
or great matters, do work great and important effects : whereof
we see a notable example in Tacitus of two stage players. Per-

68 SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC.

cennius and Yilmlenus, Avho l)y their faculty of playing, put the
Pannonian armies into an extreme tumult and combustion. For
there arising a mutiny amongst them upon the death of Augustus
Caesar, Blaesus the lieutenant had committed some of the mutiners,
which were suddenly rescued ; whereupon Vibulenus got to be heard
speak, which he did in this manner : These poor innocent uretches
appointed to cruel death, you Jmve restored to behold the light : hut ivho
shall restoj-e my brother to me, or life unto my brother, that was sent
hither in message from the legions of Germany, to treat of the common
cause ? And he hath murdered him this last night by some of his fencers
and ruffians, that he hath about him for his executioners upon soldiers.
Answer, Blcesus, what is done with his body ? The mortalest enemies
do not deny burial. Wlien I perform my last duties to the corpse with
kisses, with tears, command me to be slain besides him ; so that these
my fellows, for our good meaning and our true hearts to the legions,
may have leave to bury us. With which speech he put the army into
an infinite fury and uproar : whereas truth was he had no brother,
neither was there any such matter ; but he played it merely as if
he had been upon the stage " (Book 11. xix. 3, " Advancement of
Learning," 1605).

This is another example of how everything connected with the
stage or with the art of acting drew Bacon's attention, and held fast
his mind, so that what he read in Tacitus of these two stage players,
Percennius and Vibulenus, he treasures up in his memory and
cites here. But what is really far more pertinent than this simple
observation of ours, is the extraordinary parallel furnished by
the "speech" of Antony, over the body of Caesar, in "Julius
Caesar," where the arts of the actor are so excellently combined
with the arts of oratory : —

I come to Ijury Ctesar, not to praise him,

I know not, gentlemen, what you intend,

Who else must be let blood, who else is rank :

If I myself there is no hour so fit

As Caesar's death hour ; nor no instrument

Of half that worth, as those your swords ; made rich

SUSPICION, MALICE, CUNNING, ETC. 69

With the most noble blood of all this world.

I do beseech you, if yoii bear me hard,

Now whilst your purple hands do reek and smoke

Fulfil your pleasure. Live a thousand years,

I shall not find myself so apt to die,

No }>lace will please me so, no mean of death,

As here by Cresar, and by you cut off,

The choice and master spirits of this age.

(" Julius Cresar.")

The entire speech of Mark Antony is too long to quote here.
But the end of his oration over Csesar's body has the same result
as the speech of Vibulenus Bacon quotes. Antony sets the
people of Rome into a state of " infinite fury and uproar " by his
skill in the art of acting, for whilst disclaiming any direct charge
against Brutus with the iterated Avords, " For Brutus is an honour-
able man, so are they all ; all honourable men," he so depicts the
virtues of the dead CiBsar, and works upon the feelings of his
audience, that a direct denunciation of the murderers could
hardly have attained its end better. In the play of " Hamlet," we
see the same effect produced by the introduction of the players
and Interlude. The art of dissimulation for ends was never
more exquisitely illustrated. In Bacon's Essays upon "Dissimu-
lation " and " Cunning " may be refound the arts of which
Antony makes use. "For if a man have that penetration of
judgment, as he can discern Avhat things are to be laid ojjcn, and
what to be secreted, and what to be shown at half lights, and to whom
and when (which indeed are arts of state and arts of life, as
Tacitus well calleth them)," &c.

Is it not monstrous that this player here,

But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,

Could force his soul so to his own conceit,

That from her working all his visage warm'd.

Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,

A broken voice, and his whole function suiting

With forms to his conceit ? And all for nothing !

For Hecuba !

What's Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba,

That he should weep for her ?

("Hamlet," act ii. sc. 2.)