CHAPTER V.

bacon's "holy war."

One of the titles by which the Kosicruciaii Fraternity was known
wds the '^ Fallei/ of Peace." * In the 1614 " Fama Fraternitatis"
we read : " Truth is jmiceahle, brief, and always like herself in all
things." Eiigenius Philalethes attaches the following address to
the Eosicrucians to the first chapter of his " Anthroposophia
Theomagica " : — ■" To the Most Illustrious and truly regenerated
brethren R. C, to the peace-loving apostles of the chiu-ch in this
contentious age, salutation from the centre of 2Jeace" (Waite's
edition, "Magical "Writings of Thomas Vaughan," Eugenius
Philalethes). Bacon is fond of several times introducing in his
An-itings the following : — "And as Alexander Borgia was wont to
say of the expedition of the French for Naples, that they came
with chalk in their hands to mark up their lodgings, and not
with weapons to fight ; so I like better that entry of truth which
Cometh peaceably vnfh chalk to mark up those minds which are
capable to lodge and harljovu" it, than that which cometh Avith
pugnacity and contention " (Redargutio). Very curiously this
forms again the thirty-fifth aphorism of the first book of the
" Novum Organum," and this is the number of the plays in the
1623 Folio Catalogue. In a letter to Sir Thomas Bodley he
writes : " If you he not of the lodgings chalked up." The connection

* " There is a somewhat remarkable document in the Latin language pro-
fessing to be the record of a masonic meeting of the period, but discovered
recently in Germany, along with Lodge minutes of the Hague, dated 1637,
;T.id styled 'Lodge of the Valley of Peace.' This dueument is called the
■ Charter of Cologne.' It has been printed in English, and is to be found in
Dr Burne's 'History of the Templars" {The Freemasons' Quarterly (1840),
The Freemasons 3Iagazine (1859), &c.)

382 BACON'S '' HOLY WAR."

of ipmce and war — that is, soldiers who do not actually fight ex-
cept with chalk in their hands— is eminently suggestive of a ;peace-
ahle crusade, or reformation, and as it appears one of the titles of
the Kosicrucians was Militia Crucifera Evangelica. In 1598 there
was a meeting of them at Lunenhurg {vide De Quincey's Essay).
"We have the authority of John Val. Andreas that the society was
formed " out of the ruins of the Knight Tewplars" Like the latter,
they aimed at rebuilding the Temple. " Ascendamus ad numtem
rationahilem et cedificemus domum Sapientia'" (" Summum Bonum,"
Fludd, 1629). If the student Avill read Bacon's " Holy War " with
this in his mind, he will see that Bacon's idea of a crusade carries
out this idea. And he will, I think, easily perceive Bacon does
not seriously propose a real war with sivords, hut rather one with
pens. " For I am of opinion, that except you could bray Christen-
dom in a mortar, and mould it into a new part, there is no possibilit _//
of a Holy War." The possible and the impossible are wonderfully
discussed in this tract. Bacon gives a sort of hint when he says:
" Except they had the gift of Navius that they could, hew stones
with jjen-hiives." Martins — one of the six characters of the dia-
logue— is introduced thus: "But let us, if you think good, give
Martins leave to proceed in his discourse ; for methought he
spake like a Divine in Armour." The reader may perceive by the
title (Holy War) and a number of such hints that, Bacon is
thinking of the Crusades and the Templars. The great motto of
Constantine, who gave the order the red cross, is introduced
thus : " Yet o\u' Lord that said on earth, to the Disciples, lie et
prmlicate, said from Heaven to Constantine, In hoc signo rinces.
What Christian soldier is there that will not be touched with a
Religious emulation, to see an order of Jesus, or of Saint Francis,
or of Saint Augustine do such service, for enlarging the Christian
borders ; and an order of Saint lago, or Saint Michael, or Saint
George, only to robe and feast and perform rites and observances ?"
Mark how all these Orders are introduced in context with Chris-
tian soldiers ! The motto, " In hoc signo vinces," may be refound in
the "Marriage of Christian Rosy Cross," IGIG. This motto went

BACON'S ''HOLY WAR." 383

Avith the sign seen by Constiintine in the heavens, the fiery Cross.
And in Bacon's " New Atlantis," we read : " The morrow after
our three days were passed, there came to ns a new man that we
had not seen before, ch)thed in bhie as the former was, save that
his tnrban was white, uith a small red cross on flic top." * This
"New Atlantis," John Heydon identifies line for line, word for
word, with the ''Land of the Bosicnicians ! " In my opinion Bacon's
" Holy War," written in 1622, and phxed at Paris, is a profound
hint for the Militia EvangeHca Crucifera, or Rosicriicians, whom
we hear of at Paris, next year (1623), at a meeting, the numbers
being curioiisly thirty-six, or the inmiber of the plays in the 1623
Folio. All this, if coincidence < nly, is very curious. Why does
Bacon lay this dialogue at Paris ? The style of the writing is
at the commencement Alchemical — a profound hint worthy note.
" Here be four of you, I think were able to make a good world ;
for you are as differing as the four elements, and yet you are
friends. As for Eupolis, because he is temperate, and Avithout
passion, he may be the fifth Essence. If we five (Follio) make the
Great JForld, you alone may make the Little" (page 1). The
reader perceives the reference here to the Maerocosmos and Micro-
cosmos — the Great and Little Worlds — which was one of the
Eosicrucian tenets (see Fludd's works passim). This tract is full
of Masonic allegory and hints from beginning to end. And here
let us remark, it is not a satire. Bacon writes in the letter to
Lancelot Andrews, Bishop of Winchester, prefixed to it : " But
revolving with myself my writings, as well those I have published
as those which I had in hand, methought they went all into the
City, and none into the Temple ; where because I have found so
great consolation, I desire likewise to make some poor oblation.

* " AVe were all distributed amongst the Lords, but our old Lord and I,
most unworthy were to ride even with the king, each of us bearing a snow-
white ensign ivith a Red Cross " ("Marriage of Christian Rosenkreutz," 1616).

" Having replied that I was a Brother of the Ilcd Itosic Cross, &c. " (Ibid.,
p. 111).

"The Templars were the famous Red Cross Knights whom Spenser has
taken in his Faery Queen to typify perfect holiness or the Church."

384 BACON'S ''HOLY IVAR:'

Therefore I have chosen an argument, mixed of Religious and Civil
considerations, and likewise mixed between Contemplative and
Active. For who can tell whether there may not be an Eowiere
Aliquis? Great matters (especially if they be Eeligious) have
(many times) small beginnings, and the PUitform may dnm on the
Building " (" Dedicatory Epistle ").

The reader may see by the allusion to the Temple and its build-
ing, that Bacon is referring to the House of JFisdom — the Temple
of Solomon! He writes of the Princes of the World: "For
they have made a great path in the seas, unto the ends of the
Avorld ; and set forth ships and forces of Spanish, English, and
Dutch enough to make China tremble. And all this for pearl, or
stone, or spices ; but for the pearl of the Kingdom of Heaven, or
the stones of the heavenly Jerusalem, or the spices of the Spouse's
Garden, not a mart hath been set up." It may be perceived by
this hint of Cuntemjilative and Active arguments what he really
means. Upon page 38 he writes : " I was ever of opinion that
the Philosopher's Stone and an Hoh/ JFar were but the rendez-vous
of cracked brains." By Bacon's saying that he comes " with chalk
in his hands to mark tip lodgings peaceahlp," he shows how adverse
he was to any forcible entiy of Truth, by means of jDugnacity or
contention. It is therefore necessary to examine this tract fipart
from the serious or surface proposition for a new crusade. It
seems to us that in this Advertisement is hidden some society of
a reforming or religious character.

The first striking thing that calls our attention is the marked
way Bacon, in this " Holy War," preserves the true anti-infidel
spirit, in his denouncement of the Ottomans or Tiu-ks, Avhich we
shall show is also a Kosicrucian feature. " But let me recall
myself ; I must acknowledge that within the space of fifty years
(whereof I spake) there have been three nolile and memorable
actions upon the infidels, wherein the Christian hath been the
invader. For where it is upon the defensive, I reckon it a war
of nature, and not of piety. The first was that famous and for-
tunate war by sea, that ended in the Victory of Lepanto ; which

BACON'S '' HOLY WARr 385

hath put a hook into the nostrils of the Ottomans to this day "
(p. 34). This battle, which decided the fate of Europe, was
fought in 1572, the same year as the Massacre of Saint Bartho-
lomew, and it was this year the star or comet appeared in
Cassiopea which has been by some supposed to be the star of
Bethlehem. Bacon again writes of the Turks (in this " Holy
War"): "So that if things be rightly Aveighed, the Eiiipirc of the
Turks may be truly affirmed, to be more barbarous than any of
these. A cruel tyranny, bathed in the blood of their Emj^erors,
upon every succession : a heap of vassals and slaves : no nobles,
no gentlemen : no free-men, no inheritance of land, no stirp or
ancient families : a people that is without natural affection, and
as the Scripture saith, that regardeth not the desires of women :
and without piety or care towards their children : a nation with-
out morality, Avithout letters, arts, or sciences ; that can scarce
measiu-e an acre of laud, or an hour of the day : base and
sluttish in buildings, diets, and the like : and in a word, a very
reproach of human society : and yet this nation hath made the
garden of the world a wilderness ; for that as it is truly said, con-
cerning the Turks : JFhere Ottoman's horse sets his foot, people will
come up verji thin" (p. 37). " I confess that it is my opinion that
a war upon the Turks is more worthy than upon any othei-
gentiles, infidels, or savages, that either have been, or now are,
both in point of religion and in jjoint of honour." Directly we
turn to the Rosicrucian " Confession" of 1615, we find the same
anti-papal a,nd a nti-Mahoinet spirit displayed as by Bacon, "Al-
though we believe ourselves to have sufficiently unfolded to you
in the Fama, the nature of our order, wherein we follow the Avill
of our most excellent father, nor can by any be suspected of
heresy, nor of any attemi:>t against the commonwealth, we hereby
do condemn the East and the JFest (meaning the Pope and Mahomet)
for their blasphemies against our Lord Jesus Christ " (chapter i.,
" Confessio Fraternitatis R C, ad. Eruditos Europse "). Again,
in the "Advertisement " we read : "And as we do secvu'ely call
the Pope Antichrist, which was formerly a capital offence in every

2b

386 BACON'S " HOLY war:'

place, so we know certainly tliat what Ave here keep secret, we
shall ill the future thunder forth Avith uplifted voice, the which,
I'eader, with us desire with all thy heart that it may happen
most speedily." Again : " What think you, therefore, 0 JNIortals,
seeing that Ave sincerely confess Christ, execrate the i^ope," &c.
(chap, xiii., "Confessio," 1615).

Bacon shoAvs throughout his An-itings the most intense anti-
papal spirit. Dr Abbott Avaites : " The Essay on Religion in
1612 is nothing but a protest against the crimes perpetrated in
the name of the Eoman superstition ; and even in the ampler
and graver Essay of 162-0, on the Unity of Religion, Bacon can
suggest no means for procuring Unity, except the damning and
sending to Hell for ever those facts and opinions that tend to the
suppm't of snclh crimes as Hume had enconraged " (Bacon as a
Theologian, p. cxi., "Essays").

Again : " The genuine and intense hatred felt l>y Bacon for
Romanism is aa'cII illustrated by the letter he AATOte to Toby
Matthew on hearing that the latter had been con\'erted to the
Chui'ch of Rome: 'And I entreat you much sometimes to meditate
upon the extreme effects of superstition in this last Powder Treason, fit
to he tabled and p)ictured in the chambers of meditation as another
Hell above ground, and well justifying the censure of the heathen that
superstition is worse than atheism ; by how much it is less evil to have
no opinion of God at all than such as is impious towards His Divine
Majesty and Goodness.' Good Mr Blatthcw receive yourself from these
courses of j^erdition " (Introduction, p. cxii., lb.).

Again : "What Duessa is in the Faery Queen, that is Rome in
Bacon's policy. Wherever in the Essays he Avrites the word •
' superstition,' Ave may take it for granted that he is thinking of
Rome" {lb., cxiii.).

Bacon Avrites in the " Advertisement for a Holy War " : —
" This Pope is decrepit, and the bell goeth for him. Take order,
that Avhen he is dead there be chosen a Pope of fresh years,
))etAveen fifty and threescore ; and see that he take the name of
Urljan, bemuse a Pojjc of that name did Jirst institute the Cruzaday

BACON'S ''HOLY WARr 387

and (as with an holy trumpet) did stir up the voyage for the
Holy Land." This is a reference direct to the Crusades, and
no doubt a key to the entire "Advertisement of a Holy War."
" The Eosicrucians," according to Valentine Andreas, " were
formed out of the ruins of the Knight T&mpkirs hy one faithful
))rother." It seems to us the style Bacon's " Holy War " is
^\Titten in is full of hints, half cabl)alistical and half hermetic,
the general spirit being anti-papal and against the Turks.

There is little doubt the Rosicrucian idea of a General
Eefoimation of Society, was a secret or underground movement to
carry on the work of the Great Eeformation (begun by Luther
and Melancthon), by means of a secret brotherhood or fraternit}^,
in the same way that Free Masonry aims at the purification of
societ}^ by means of a private appeal to all that is best, noblest,
and most unselfish in man, stimulating the interest by a certain
amount of mystery, secrecy, and symbolism. Not only this title
— " Befonnation of the whole Wide World " recalls the Great
Eeformation, but their emblem, a cross surmounted by a rose,
was the heraldic device of Luther* And to strengthen this evi-
dence, we find their secret crusade or Eeformation was also
(like Luther's) anti-papal. Amongst their jjrivileges, powers,
and declarations, Naude enumerates : —

" That by their means the triple crown of Peter will be ground
into the dust.

"That they confess freely and publicly, with no fear of
repression, that the Pope is Anti-Christ.

"That they denounce the blasphemies of East and West,
meaning Mahomet and the Pope, and recognise but two sacra-

* "They bore the Rose and Cross as their badge, not because they were
Brethren of the Concocted and Exalted Dew, not because they had studied
the book called Zohar, not because they were successors and initiates of the
ancient Wisdom-Religion and the sublime hierarchies of Eld, but because
they were a narrow sect of theosophical dissidents, because the monk Martin
Luther was their idol, prophet, and master, because they were rabidly and
extravagantly Protestant, with an ultra-legitimate violence of abusive Pro-
testantism, because, in a single M'ord, the device on the seal of Martin Luther
was a Cross-crowned heart rising from the centre of a Rose " (p. 242, Waite's
"Real History of the Rosicrucians ").

3 8 S BA CON'S ' ' HOL Y WAR. "

ments, with the ceremonies of the early Church, renewed by
their congregation " (Waite's " Real History of the Rosicrucians,"
p. 399).

Germany and England Avere the two countries in Europe
where the Reformation first took hold, and it is not surprising
if the visit of the Rosicrucian Michael Maier to England should
have had results. The Rosicrucians were a protestant, religious
society, thoroughly in harmony with Christian doctrines, Avhich
is further proved hy Robert Fludd's explanation of their emblem,
the Rose mounted on a Cross : —

" In England the pseudonymous author of the ' Summum
Bonum,' who is supposed to be Robert Fludd, gives a piirely
religious explanation of the Rose Cross symbol, asserting it to
mean 'the Cross sprinkled with the rosy blood of Christ.' All
authorities are agreed upon one important point in the character
of Andreas, and that is his predilection in favour of secret
societies as instruments in the reformation of his age and country.
According to Buhle, he had a profound and painful sense of the
gross evils and iimumerable abuses which afflicted the German
fatherland, and which were revealed, not eradicated, by the lurid
fire-brand of Luther's reformation. These abuses he sought to
redress by means of ' secret societies ' " (Waite's " Real History
of the Rosicrucians ").

I have assumed Bacon's mind was bent upon self-sacrifice.
It is certainly a most remarkable thing, both the " Advancement
of Learning," in Two Books (first published 1605), and the more
stately "De Augmentis" of 1623, commence and end with the
idea and allusion of Sacrifice. "There were under the law
(excellent King) both daily sacrifices and free-will offerings "
(opening of First Book, both 1605 and 1623). "But the errors
I claim and challenge to myself as mine OAvn. The good, if any
be, is due Tanqiumi, acleps sacrificii to be incensed to the honour,
first of the divine Majesty, and next of your Majesty, to Avhom
on earth I am most bounden." These arc the actual Avords
concluding the Avork of the " Proficience and Advancement of

BACON'S ''HOLY WAR." 389

Learning," 1605. Now it is very striking that the "De Aug-
mentis " of 1623 (which constitutes an enlargement of the Second
Book of the " Proficience " into eight books) terminates with the
same allusion, though the context is dissimilar. " Notwithstand-
ing, seeing the greatest matters are owing unto their principles,
it is enough to me that I have scnvn inito Posferitij and the imvwrtal
GofJ, whose divine Majesty I huml)ly im})lorc through his son
and our Saviour, that ho would vouchsafe graciously to accept
these and such like sacrifices of hiuiuine vnderstaiuling, seasoned with
religion as with salt, and incensed to his glori/"* (Book IX., the
end, p. 477, 1640 "Advancement"). These final words are
placed in italics. There was evidently some particular associa-
tion in Bacon's mind between the " De Augmentis " and Sacrifice.
For in a letter to Sir Thomas Bodley upon sending this book, he
writes : " My labours I have dedicated to the King ; desirous
if there may be any good in them, it may be as the fat of a
sacrifice." This idea of sacrifice is closely connected with the
simile of sowing seed. In a letter to Dr Playfer, requesting him
to translate the book of the "Advancement of Learning" into
Latin : — " I have this opinion, that if I had sought mine own
commendation, it had been a much fitter course for me, to have
done as gardeners used to do, by taking their seeds and slijjs, and
rearing them first into plants, and so uttering them in pots,
when they are in flower, and in their best state. But for as
much as my end was mei'it of the state of learning and not glory ;
and because my purj)ose Avas to excite other men's wits than
magnify my own ; I was desirous to prevent the uncertainness of
my own life and times by uttering rather seeds than plants : nay,

* "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and
weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him " (Psalm cxxvi. 5, 6).

Who sows in tears shall rea]) in joy,

The Lord doth so ordain ;
So that his seed be pure and good,

His harvest shall be gain.

(Bacon's translation.)

390 BACON'S ''HOLY WAR."

and further (as the proverlj is) by sowing M'ith the basket rather
than with the hand." This passage refers entirely to the
" Advancement of Learning " or " De Augmentis." It is re-
markable to find the Sixth Book treating of Secret Ciphers and
Delivery, opening with again this simile of sowing and harvest.
" For there a book is found entitled Formicarium Artium ;
Ave have indeed accumulated a little heap of small dust, and laid
up many Grains uf Arts and Sciences therein, whereto ants may
creep and there repose a while, and so betake, themselves to new
labours. Nay, the Avisest of the kings sends the slothful, of
what rank or quality soever, unto the ants ; and those Ave define
to be slothful, Avhose only care is to live upon the main stock,
but not to improve it hi/ solving the ground of sciences over again
and reaping a new luirvest* (Book VI., 258, 1640). The impres-
sion this opening passage leaves upon our minds is that this Art
of Tradition or Delivery Bacon thus introduces has something
in common Avith the simile of the ants, seeds, and underground
store Bacon propounds. It seems to us Bacon has presented us
this simile to suggest not only resurrection of his oAvn art, or of
his name, but that it is for us to develop these underground
seeds, to till the garden of his Theatre, and make a proper use
of the hints and directions contained and obscured purposely
in this Avork. The aforesaid passage quoted from his letter
to Dr Playfer is pregnant Avith self-sujipression and not self
"glory," as he Avrites of his style of delivering the "Advance-
ment." And Ave must take the hint he gives us of his "purpose
to excite other men's wits," Avhich is evidently part of the object he
has in vieAv connected Avith this particular Avork — "sowing with
the basket rather them with the hand," — as if to say this Avork Avas
pregnant Avith the sowings for posterity he concludes it Avith.

* Tliis emblem of seed and sowing is typical of the Rosicrucian Frateiuity.
Fludd : "Nos docet Apostolus ad mysterii perfectioneni vel sub Agricolcc vel
Architccli typo pertingere" — either under the image of a hushandman icho
cultivates afield, or of an architect who builds a liouse. Bacon adajited both
types, for in Ins "Advancement of Learning," 1640, he styles himself Archi-
tectura Scientianim.

BACON'S ''HOLY WAR." 391

Upon page 96 (Book II.) he writes in context with the sul)ject
of List Names: "But such swans are rare in our age; and
although many men more mortal in theii- vigilancies and studies
than in their l)odies despise the meiiwri/ of their names as if it were
fume or air, aninm nil magnoi laudis egentes : namely, whose philo-
sophy and severity spring from that root, Non prius landes
contempsimus quavi laudaitda faeere desciriiinis." We cannot doubt
that this is Avrittcn in a})plication to himself. (There arc ninety-
five words upon this i)age in italics ; and the ninety-fifth word
all counted from the top of the page is " Foefs"). In the al)0ve
passage (juoted we find the self-confession of a great mind
despising praise, and again the suggestion of efFacement and
self-sacrifice with regard to a name.* That Bacon held the
ends he proposed to himself, and their results l)efore all things
first and himself as nothing is certain. " Francis Verulam con-
sulted thus, and thus concluded with himself ; the publication
whereof he conceived did concern the present aiid future age."
The conclusion of these motives of Bacon's to his Instauration
of sciences, concludes : " Truly he estimated other ambition what-
soever, inferior to the business he had in hand; for either the
matter in consultation, and thus far prosecuted, is nothing ; or
so much as the conscience of the merit itself ought to give him.
contentment ivithout seeling a recompense from abroad." Belief in
this theory of sacrifice can only be accepted ujoon the grounds
that Bacon was throughout actuated by deep religious feelings

* The Rosicrucian doctrines were closely connected with .s((crifce, Cluist
being their divine pattern, and their jewel a crucifix and rose. Robert Fludd
in his " Sunimuni Bonum " and " Sojihicc cum Morid ccrtamen" explained
the symbols of the Rose and the Cross as meaning ^' tlic Cross sprinkled with
the rosy blood of Christ.'" Again Fludd writes: " Eadeni mens sit in vobis
([uae est in Jesn," i.e., " May the same mind dwell in yon as in Jesus." We
find throughout the Rosicrucian wiitings, and particularly Fludd's, Christ
identified as the Corner Stone of the invisible Temjile of Wisdom: "Con-
cludimus igitur (piod Jesus sit templi humani lapis angularis ; at<[ue ita,
ex mortuis, la])ides vivi facti .sunt homines pii ; id(jue transniutatione reali
ab Adami la])si statu in statum sute innocentire et perfectionis, i.e., a vili
et lejtrosa plumbi conditione in auri purissimi perfectionem " ("Summum
Bonum," p. 37).

392 BACON'S ''HOLY JVAR."

of extraordinaiy charucter. Xol)od}' acquainted with his works
will doul)t that. And as far as is permitted for hnman art to
l)arallel Divine Art, I believe Bacon has approximated creation.
We have the parallel of the six days and the six divisions
of the " Instauration," terminating (in the Distribution Preface)
with a pi aver: "Wherefore if we labour with diligence and
vigilance in thy works, thou ^\\\t make us participants of
thy vision and of thy sabbath."* The inspired character of
Bacon's " Advancement " is a particular feature of its own,
and should be duly remarked. This work contains one hundred
and fift}' (piotations or allusions to Sacred Scripture, and this
is sufficiently curious in itself.

Another important point to register upon this subject, is
Bacon's repeated appeal to* posterity and far off ages. It
c mnot be explained iipon the accepted understanding he refers
to his Inductive System of Philosophy only. For during Bacon's
life-time Galileo, Harvey, Gilbert, and others Avere successfully
applying experiment and induction to Nature, and nobody knew
that better than Bacon. Let those who wonder at this assertion
read the dialogue carried on between Spedding and Ellis in
the preface to the Farasceve. They will find Ellis declaring
the Baconian Philosophy "has yet to come" and that Bacon's
extravagant claims for his peculiar sj^stem cannot be explained
upon any as yet received hypothesis. One of Bacon's promises
were Examples to illustrate his system in })ractice. The second
part of the "Instauration" was to be applied to the fourth,
which Avas to exemplify the method of the mind in the com-
prehension of things upon models, as by a scale or ladder.
IJacon writes in the most confident terms upon these examples
which were apparently never completed, or if completed, withheld.
This foiuth part of the " Instauration " (as likewise the fifth and
sixth) is missing. Yet in some posthumous writings published
at Amsterdam l)y Gruter, 1653, he speaks of two of the parts as

* See Preface, " Iiistauiation " : "And l)y tlio protection and assistance of
the Divine Power have borne np and encouraged oiuselves" (p. 15).

BA CON'S ''HOLY Jl 'A R. " 393

if they existed, und in uoiic of his writings explains or apologises
for their absence. The entire Baconian philosophy' is bound up
witli these missing parts, or second half of the " Instauration."
The fact that there is no sketch, no hint of what these platforms,
tyi)es, and models were to be, or are (beyond what we adduce as
to the paging 35, 36, and the 71 capital words on these pages*)
in his Preface yet confidently alluded to as completed, requires
some explanation and is sufficiently suspicious. I adhere to Delia
Bacon's intuitive theory that the plays belong to this series.

" Our Lord at His solemn manifestation to the Gentiles when
the inquiry of the Greeks who came saying, ' We would see
-lesus,' was answered by the voice from heaven, sjioke of himself as
the Corn (or Seed) of wheat which dying should arise, and bring
forth much fruit." The He1)rew New Testament translating
" corn " by the same word used as " seed " in Genesis iii. 13. I
am convinced the sacrifice implied in Bacon's authorship of the
plays, and his constant comparison of Poetri/ to Seed, and his con-
clusion of the " De Augmentis " with the words, " / have sowen
wito "posterity and the immortal God" have a profounder relation-
ship to the founder of Christianity than we can at present form
any idea of. It is striking that almost the last words in the
Folio, 1623 — the last act of Cymbeline — refer to CJtrist ajid the
CJiurch. For the " Lion's JJlielp " is "the Lion, of the tribe of JudaJi,"
the Messiah (Rev. v. 5). It is noteworthy the Rosicrucians en-
tirely based their doctrines upon the Bible. Their advent upon
the stage of Europe is connected with the star of Bethlehgm, 1572,
and the spirit of their writings is anti-papal. In the description
of the vaidt of Christian Rosy Cross, given in the " Fama Frater-
nitatis," we find this description : " hi the midst, instead of a
tomljstone Avas a round altar covered with a plate of brass, and
thereon this engraven : —

A. C. R. C. Hoc universi compendium iinius mih.i sejndchriim, feci.
Round about the first circle or brim stood —
Jesus mihi omnia."
* III my last work, "Hermes Stella," pages 103, 104. 105.

394 BACON'S ''HOLY WAR!'

All this should be compared with Bacon's extraordinary know-
ledge of Scripture, which is reflected in the plaj^s known as
Shakesj^eare's.

The type of '' AgricoJa'" or husbandmen, which Rol)ert Fludd
ascribed for the Eosicrucian Fraternity, is a strong parallel
pointing to this parable of sclf-saciijice and seed. The Kosi-
crucians evidently took Chrixfs mcrijice in the sense of buried seed
or corn, promising future harvest, and it is striking Bacon joins
hands with them in this i:)oint. I am convinced tJie sacrifice, of
name, with respect to the authorship of the plays known as Shake-
speare's, is closely connected with all this, being part of their
self-renunciative doctrines reflected l)y their head and founder,
Francis Bacon, the King Solomon of their House of AVisdom.

De Quincey writes : "I shall now sum up the results of my
inquiry into the origin and nature of Free-masonry, and shall
then conclude with a brief notice of one or two collateral
questions growing out of popular errors on the main one.

" I. The original Free-masons were a society thtd arose out of
the liosicrucian mania, certainly within the thirteen years from
1633 to 1646, and probably between 1633 and 1640. Their
object was magic in the cabbalistic sense, i.e., the occult tcisdom
transmitted from the beginning of the world, and matured by
Christ ; to communicate this when they had it, to search for it
Avhen they had it not ; and both under an oath of secrecy.

"II. This object of Free-masoiuy was represented under the
form of Solomon's Temple — as a type of the true Church, whose
corner-stone is Christ. This temple is to be built of men, or
living stones ; and the true method and ;ut of building with men
it is the province of nnu/ic to teach. Hence it is that all the
masonic symbols either refer to Solomon's Temple, or are figurative
modes of expressing the ideas and doctrines of magic in the
sense of the Ilosicrucians, and their mystical predecessors in
general."

I consider, if this last conclusion of Dc Quincey's as to Solomon's
Tcmjile is to he accepted as true, then it is certain Bacon's " New

BACON'S ''HOLY WARr 395

Atlantis" is in, connection with Frce-masonr// throtif/h Bosicruciaidshi.
Bacon's calls his " College of the Six Days " Solomonh House, and
Tenison, in his "Baconiana," terms the entire " Instauration "
" Domus Sapientire," or the House of Wisdom.* My theory is
Lord Bacon was the representative Solomon of the Society, and
anyone reflecting upon the repeated introductions by Bacon of
this writer's name and his works, must see that Bacon had a
special object in repeating so often, " 'The glory of God is to con-
ceal a thing, but the glory of the King is to find it out ; ' as if,

* " The London Free-masons also boiiowcd mueli of their jihraseology from
Lord Bacon's Essay, yet fresh in men's minds, in which, adopting the idea of
the ' Honse of AVisdom,' a technical term with the Arab astrologers, he pro-
posed the foundation of a 'Solomon's House,' or a learned community dedi-
cated to exjierimental philosophy and the advancement of science. An
important jioint is the fact that the Rosici'ucians are acknowledged even now
amongst the Free-masons as a degree or class, although disclaimed as the
parent stock, a truth which, if allowed, were utterly incompatible with the
fraternity's claim to immemorial antiquity" ("The Gnostics and their
Remains," King, pp. 178, 179).

" ' Do any of j'ou know that the Ashmolean Masonry is altogether ignored
on the Continent of Eurojie ? ' the Surgeon inquired.

"'Brother Frederick Xicolai has given it a decided contradiction,' the
Skijtper replied. ' He says that the object of the meeting at AVarrington, so
far from being Masonic, was simi)ly for the purpose of carrying out a jihiloso-
phical idea which had been promulgated by Lord Bacon in his "New Atlantis"
of the model of a perfect society, instituted for the secret purpose of inter-
l)retiug nature, and of producing new arts and marvellous inventions for the
benefit of mankind, under the name of Solomon's House, or the College of
the Six Days' AVork, Mliich, in plain language, was intended to be an ideal
society for the study of natural })hilosophy. 2'he persons jyresent at these
viectings are said hy Nicolai to liave been llosierueians, and we know this to
be true of Ashmole himself. He asserts, further, that these men erected, in
their Lodge, two Great Pillars, M'hich they called the Pillars of Hermes, in
front of Solomon's House, and they used a che(|uered pavement, a ladder of
seven staves or lounds, and many other secret symbols'" (" Discrepancies of
Freemasonry," Oliver).

Professor Buhle affirms as the "main thesis" of his concluding chajitei-,
that " Freemasonry is neither more nor less than Rosicrucianisra as modified
by those who transplanted it into England." This is De (^)uincey's opinion
also: "For I affirm, as the main thesis of my concluding labours, ■ihat

FREE-MASONRY IS NEITHER MORE NOR LESS THAN ROSICRUCIANISM AS
MODIFIED BY THOSE WHO TRANSPLANTED IT UNTO ENGLAND" ("Hist.

Critico-LKjuiry," chaji. v., De (^Hiincey).

396 BACON'S ''HOLY WAR."

accoi'ding to the innocent play of chiklieii, the Divine Majesty
took delight AWnV/e 7/is i(wZ-5, to the end to have them found out ;
and as if kings could not obtain a greater honour than to be
God's playfellows in that game."

This is the chief text and key-note of Bacon's mind, — con-
cealment and reserve. It quite falls in with his other observa-
tions. " Let great authws so have their due, as we do not derogate
from Time, which is the Author- of Authors and Parent of Truth " (p.
35, "Advancement," 1640). Or this : ''Another error induced by
the former is, a suspicion and diffidence, that anything sho\dd now to
he found out, which the world should have missed and j^^ssed mxr so
long time" (p. 36, "Advancement," 1640).

Both these passages are upon pages lumibered 35 and 36,
which agree with the thirty-five plays in the 1623 Folio Catalogue,
and if we add " Troilus and Cressida " (omitted from the Catcdogue
expressly, prohahly to give tv:o flay numbers), the thirty-six plays
known as Shakespeare's.