Elizabeth's time, and yet kept good quarter 25 between themselves, and would confer one with another upon the business; and the one of them said, that to be a Secretary in the declination of a monarchy was a ticklish thing, and that he did not affect it: the other straight caught up those words, and discoursed with divers of his friends, that he had no reason to desire to be secretary in the declination of a monarchy. The first man took hold of it, and found means it was told the Queen; who, hearing of a declination of a monarchy, took it so ill, as she would never after hear of the other's suit.

There is a Cunning, which we in England call ' The turning of the cat in the pan ;' 26 which is, when that which a man says to another, he lays it as if another had said it 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.

It is a way that some men have, to glance and dart at others by justifying themselves by negatives; as to say, 'This I do not;' as Tigellinus did towards Burrhus, 'Se non diversas spes, sed incolumitatem Imperatoris simpliciter spectare.

27

Some have in readiness so many tales and stories, as there is nothing they would insinuate but they can wrap it into a tale; which serveth both to keep themselves more in guard, and to make others carry it with more pleasure.

It is a good point of Cunning for a man to shape the answer he would have in his own words and propositions; 28 for it makes the other party stick the less.

It is strange how long some men will lie in wait to speak somewhat they desire to say; and how far about they will fetch,29 and how many other matters they will beat over to come near it: it is a thing of great patience, but yet of much use.

A sudden, bold, and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man, and lay him open. Like to him, that, having changed his name, and walking in Paul's,30 another suddenly came behind him and called

him by his true name, whereat straightways he looked back.

But these small wares and petty points of Cunning are infinite, and it were a good deed to make a list of them; for that nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.

But certainly some there are that know the resorts and falls 31 of business that cannot sink into the main of it; like a house that hath convenient stairs and entries, but never a fair room: therefore you shall see them find out pretty looses 32 in the conclusion, but are noways able to examine or debate matters and yet commonly they take advantage of their inability, and would be thought wits of direction.33 Some build rather upon the abusing of others, and (as we now say) putting tricks upon them,34 than upon soundness of their own proceedings: but Solomon saith, 'Prudens advertit ad gressus suos: stultus divertit ad dolos.'35

NOTES ON ESSAY XXII.

I. 'take'-understand; receive (with the mind, in a certain sense). Cf. to take a thing for granted; to take a word in a certain sense; to take a thing in good part.

This use of the verb in reference to the mind is best seen

in its opposite-mistake.

2. Cunning. This word, now degraded to a bad meaning, was formerly used in a good sense for skill, cleverness. In Bacon's time it had not entirely lost this meaning, as is evident from his thinking it necessary to explain that he uses the word 'for a sinister and crooked wisdom.'

The words crafty and artful have gone through precisely the same degradation of meaning.

Cunning (from Old English cunnan, to know) is connected with can, ken, canny. (Cf. king, and Latin cognosco.) It is used (substantive or adjective) in a good sense in the passages: 'Let my right hand forget her cunning'-Ps. cxxxvii, 5.

'I do present you with a man of mine,

Cunning in music '-SHAKESPeare.

'Send me now, therefore, a man cunning to work in gold and silver' -2 Chron. 11, 7.

3. 'sinister or crooked wisdom.' Sinister really means left handed, awkward (opposite to dexterous=right-handed), and

then inauspicious, disastrous-hence its meaning, which it bears in this passage, of wicked, dishonest, evil.

Crooked, in its moral sense, is the opposite of right, just as physically it is the opposite of straight. The straightforward path of duty is the right way to walk in; when a man departs from this way, and endeavours to obtain his end by improper means, we say he is following crooked courses.

In the next sentence Bacon says that cunning practices are a mark not only of dishonesty but of inability.

4. pack the cards-to arrange the cards fraudulently with the view of securing the game. We still retain the word pack in its bad sense to pack a jury; a pack of thieves; a packed assembly; to pack off (i.e. to send away unceremoniously). 5. canvasses and factions'-successes sought by soliciting individuals and forming parties, not by openly contesting great questions and principles.

6. such men'-those who study and try to win over individual

men.

7. 'alley'-i.e. bowling-alley. He means that there are some bad players who can yet play bowls well on ground to which they are accustomed, but they soon manifest their want of skill when they have to play on strange ground. The word 'aim,' used immediately afterwards, bears out this explanation.

8. Send them both naked among strangers and you will see.' 9. haberdashers'-i.e. small traders, petty retail dealers; now the word is restricted to linendrapers. The derivation of the word is doubtful; it is said to have come from the habit of the Flemings who settled in England in the fourteenth century of standing at their shop-doors and accosting the passers-by with 'Haber das heer?'—'Will you take this, sir?'

Bacon's meaning is, Because these cunning men are like haberdashers, and deal in petty tricks, it will be well for me to expose some of those tricks which they commonly keep in stock. 10. 'wait upon '-watch closely, observe narrowly.

11. Yet this ought to be done so as not to attract notice, but should give place to an affectation of modesty and timidity if the person seems to suspect that he is being watched.

12. 'present dispatch '-pressing importance.

13.

'Counsellor.' He probably is referring to Walsingham, who was both a Privy Councillor and Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth, whom he served with arduous fidelity. He was a man of subtle policy, with agents and spies in almost every court; and it was said of him that 'he outdid the Jesuits in their own bow, and overreached them in their own equivocation.'

14. 'discourse of estate '-conversation upon affairs of state. 15. 'mought'-obsolete form of might.

16. 'moving things'-bringing forward matters.

19. 'lay a bait '-set a trap, offer an enticement: bait is connected with the verb bite. The reference is to Neh. ii, 1. 'tender'—delicate; requiring great care in handling.

20.

Bacon illustrates his meaning by referring to Narcissus, who was a freedman of the Emperor Claudius and a servile panderer to his master's vices. Messalina, the wife of Claudius, formed a wicked attachment with Caius Silius, and compelled him to divorce his wife for her sake. Narcissus cautiously disclosed the matter to the emperor, and Silius was put to death.

21. 'by-matter-something not of material consequence; something beside the real object of the letter.

22.

23

Notice that the sentence here used is ungrammatical, that and he being both nominatives to the verb would, and therefore the latter of them unnecessary.

'like'—likely.

'work upon '-desire to entrap.

24. apposed '-questioned; examined. The examiner, whose business it is to put questions in the Court of Exchequer, is called the apposer.

An instance of the trick which Bacon here exposes is the conduct of Edmund, the bastard son of the Earl of Gloster, in King Lear, I, ii.

25. 'kept good quarter'-kept on good terms.

Essay X.

See note 14,

26. cat in the pan '-i.e. the cate (or cake) in the frying-pan. The allusion is to the dexterity of cooks, who turn pan-cates (pancakes) by tossing. The word cate is connected with cater, caterer (Fr. achater), juncate.

'Though my cates be mean, take them in good part'

-Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors, III, i.

27. 'That he did not have divergent aims, but looked solely to the safety of the emperor.' The quotation is from Tacitus' Annals, xiv, 57.

Burrhus was prefect of the Prætorian Guards, and Tigellinus was an unprincipled minister and flatterer of Nero.

28. As we say, to put leading questions, i.e. questions which suggest their own answers.

29. 'fetch'-go round; 'beat about the bush.'

30.

31.

Paul's'-St Paul's Cathedral, which at this time was a common place for promenade, gossip, and traffic.

' resorts and falls '-devices to be resorted to and risks to be avoided. He means that many cunning men, knowing a few of the common devices and dangers of business, are enabled

at first to command some success, but have no power of general management.

32. 'find out pretty looses '-discharge from their bow at a venture some shafts which seem well aimed.

33.

34.

'Loose' is a name now obselete for discharge. 'In throwing a dart or javelin we force back our arms to make our loose the stronger'-BEN JONSON.

'wits of direction '-clever men able to direct others.
putting tricks upon them'-imposing on them; playing
tricks. So in the Tempest, Stephano says, on first seeing
Caliban, 'Do you put tricks upon's with savages and men of
Ind?'

35. The wise man gives heed to his own footsteps; the fool turns aside to deceit-Prov. xiv, 15; Eccles. xiv, 2.

ANALYSIS OF ESSAY XXII.

I. Cunning is a sinister or crooked wisdom which deserves to be exposed.

II. Exposure of the 'points of cunning,' among which are : 1. Closely watching your hearer's features.

2. Diverting attention from your real object.

3. Trying to carry your business in the confusion of hurry.

4. Crossing a business by downright treachery.

5. Craftily creating appetite for what you wish.

6. Enticing your hearer to ask you a question for your own
ends.

7. Using others to prepare for what you wish to say.
8. Referring vaguely to your wish as a general rumour.
9. Giving prominence to what you wish by making it appear―
(a.) A mere postscript.

(6.) A matter almost forgotten and overlooked; or,

(c.) The disclosure of which seems to result from surprise.

10. Hurting your rival by

(a.) Leading him into some ill-judged remark.

(b.) The cat in the pan' trick, i.e. making it impossible to know which of you originated the mischief.

II. Attacking your rival under the mask of self-defence.

12. Hiding what you really mean in a tale.

13. Putting the answer you wish to have into your rival's mouth.

14. Cautiously approaching what you wish to say.

15. Trying to surprise by suddenness.

III. All these petty tricks, however, do not constitute ability, and

the wise man avoids them.