6

and some to the worse: 'Omnium consensu capax imperii, nisi imperasset,' saith Tacitus of Galba; but of Vespasian he saith: Solus imperantium, Vespasianus mutatus in melius; '37 though the one was meant of sufficiency, the other of manners and affection. It is an assured sign of a worthy and generous spirit, whom honour amends ;38 for honour is, or should be, the place of virtue; and as in nature things move violently to their place, and calmly in their place, so virtue in ambition is violent, in authority settled and calm. All rising to great place is by a winding stair; and if there be factions, it is good to side a man's self 39 whilst he is in the rising, and to balance himself when he is placed. Use the memory of thy predecessor fairly and tenderly; for if thou dost not, it is a debt will sure be paid when thou art gone. If thou have colleagues, respect them; and rather call them when they look not for it, than exclude them when they have reason to look to be called. Be not too sensible 40 or too remembering of thy place in conversation and private answers to suitors; but let it rather be said, 'When he sits in place, he is another man,'

NOTES ON ESSAY XI.

I. 'thrice servants'-servants in three separate respects. The words following exemplify this in their persons they have to serve the sovereign; their actions cannot be free, for their reputation brings all they do under public criticism; and the claims of business engross every moment of their time. 2. 'so as '-so that. A usage common in Shakespeare:

'He finds the testy gentleman so hot

As he will lose his head ere give consent'-Richard III.

'You shall be so received,

As you shall deem yourself lodg'd in my heart'-Love's Labour's Lost 3. 'pains'-toils, labours. Great public men can enjoy no rest, because everything they do imposes the necessity for doing something else; every ascent they reach discloses another ascent beyond.

4. 'indignities'-unworthy means; 'dignities'-positions of

honour.

5. 'When you are no longer what you have been, there is no longer

reason why you should wish to live.' The quotation is from Cicero. Epist. Fam., vii, 3.

6. 'reason'-reasonable. So in Acts vi, 2: 'It is not reason that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables.'

7. 'impatient'-unable to bear with composure; fretful, restless. 8. 'privateness'--private life, the quietude and retirement of which is compared in the next sentence to shade. Public life is lived in a blaze of sunlight (Tennyson, Dedication of Idylls, That fierce light which beats upon a throne'); private life is like the cool grateful shade into which a man may retire and find rest.

9. 'still' always. See note 6, Essay IX.

10.

'fain'-gladly: an adverb generally following the auxiliary would.

'Fain would I woo her; yet indeed I dare not '-SHAKESpeare.

'And in her hand she held a mirror bright,

Wherein her face she often viewed fain '-Spenser's Faerie Queene.

II. by report'-in the estimation of others, not in their own experience; said to be happy, but not really happy.

12. 'puzzle'-embarrassment. Perhaps, like poser (=a question which puzzles), from the verb pose.

13. 'Death lies heavy on him who, too well-known to others, dies a stranger to himself.' Quoted from Seneca, Thyest., ii, 401. 14. 'to can'-used here as a notional verb for to be able.

'I've seen myself, and served against, the French,

And they can well on horseback'-Hamlet.

15. 'is'-the nominative is 'end' (singular); merit and works are in apposition. The number of the copulative verb is determined by that of its nominative; while the nominative in apposition may be singular or plural.

16.

conscience '-consciousness.

17. God's theatre'-God's contemplation of the works He had finished. 'If a man works so as to be able to look back with satisfaction upon his work, as God did, then he has earned a right to participate in God's rest.' A theatre is, according to the derivation of its name (@eάobal, to see or view), a place for shows before spectators. We still speak of going to see a play, and the French call it spectacle. The quotation is taken, but not accurately, from Gen. i, 31. 18. globe of precepts -an embodiment and practical representation of advice; a great deal of advice compressed into a small compass. The same meaning is contained in our common saying that example is better than precept.

19. 'taxing-traducing, charging, accusing. Cf. 'They taxed him with it.' Dryden says: Men's virtues I have commended as freely as I have taxed their crimes.'

20.

21.

'bravery'-ostentation, boastfulness, bravado.
'scandal'-scandalising, traducing, defaming.

22. 'set it down to thyself '-accustom thyself; set it down as a

rule to be followed.

23. 'reduce '-used in its etymological sense for lead back, trace back.

24. 'degenerate '--for degenerated. See note 17, Essay VIII. In the distinction which Bacon makes between the 'best' and the fittest,' he implies that men had deteriorated, so that what was once best, in good times gone by, could not be attained to now, and must be replaced by what is fittest, i.e. the best which a degenerate time will admit of.

25. 'regular'-consistent.

26. 'express thyself well '—clearly explain why you are diverging from your usual rule.

27. 'voice it'-demand it noisily; proclaim it aloud.

28. easy access'-facilities for interviews with thyself.

29. 'interlace not '-do not mix different businesses together, trying to do several things at the same time.

30. to steal it '-to do it by stealth, to perform it secretly. Thus, in the Taming of the Shrew, Lucentio says to his servant :

'Were it not that my fellow schoolmaster
Doth watch Bianca's steps so narrowly

'Twere good, methinks, to steal our marriage.

31. inward-intimate, confidential, secret. 'All my inward friends abhorred me'-Fob xix, 19.

32.

a by-way to close corruption'—a side-path used as a convenient means of secret bribery.

'Constant you are,

But yet a woman; and for secrecy
No lady closer'-SHAKESPEARE.

33. 'facility'-easiness to be persuaded; readiness of compliance; pliancy; but always in a bad sense.

34. idle respects'-foolish motives.

See note II, Essay VII. He means that if a man is swayed by foolish motives, he will never be without (such motives).

35. Prov. xxviii, 21.

36. It is not known from whom this quotation is made. It has been attributed to Pittacus of Mitylene, Solon, Bias, Epaminondas. It has the same meaning as the well-known passage in Shakespeare :

'It is the bright day that brings forth the adder,

And that craves wary walking'-Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar.

37. By the consent of all he was fit for government if he had never ruled.'

"Of all the emperors Vespasian alone was changed for the better

Bacon explains that the former sentence refers to 'sufficiency' (i.e. administrative capacity), the latter to moral improvement. 38. The construction of this sentence is confused and faulty. The meaning is, "The man who is really improved by advancement, shows thereby that he has a worthy and generous spirit.' 'side a man's self'-join himself to a side or party (but desert it as soon as he has attained his object).

39.

40. 'sensible.

remembering '-conscious. . . . obtrusive.

ANALYSIS OF ESSAY XI.

I. Evils of great place:

I. It is a threefold servitude.

2. The rising is laborious, standing slippery-then regress or downfall.

3. Its thraldom is perpetual: men cannot get rid of it.

4. Its happiness consists only in the opinion of others.

5. Its gives increased opportunity for evil as well as for good.

II. Precepts to those in great place :

1. Study examples, both good and evil.

2. Reform modestly.

3. Study the past history of things which have become abused.

4. Act consistently and uniformly.

5. Preserve your own rights (quietly) and those of your inferiors.

6. Accept and seek advice of others. III. Vices of authority and their remedies:

I. Great place brings out a man's virtue or vice. Galba-
Vespasian.

2. A man should take a side in rising.

3. A man should avoid obtruding his public office into his private dealings.

Ir1 is a trivial2 grammar-school text, but yet worthy a wise man's consideration :-Question was asked of Demosthenes, What was the chief part3 of an orator ?4 He answered, Action.5 What next?—Action. What next again?-Action. He said it that knew it best, and had by nature himself no advantage in that he commended. A strange thing, that that part of an orator which is but superficial, and rather the virtue of a player, should be placed so high above those other noble parts of invention, elocution, and the rest; nay, almost alone, as if it were all in all. But the reason is plain :-there is in human nature generally more of the fool than of the wise; and therefore those faculties by which the foolish part of men's minds is taken are most potent.

Wonderful like is the case of Boldness in civil business; what first?—Boldness; what second and third ?— Boldness: and yet Boldness is a child of ignorance and baseness, far inferior to other parts: but, nevertheless, it doth fascinate, and bind hand and foot those that are either shallow in judgment or weak in courage, which are the greatest part;9 yea, and prevaileth with wise men at weak times; therefore we see it hath done wonders in popular States, 10 but with Senates 11 and Princes less; and more, ever upon the first entrance of bold persons into action than soon after; for Boldness is an ill keeper of promise. Surely as there are Mountebanks 12 for the natural body, so are there Mountebanks for the politic body; men that undertake great cures, and perhaps have been lucky in two or three experiments, but want the grounds of science, and therefore cannot hold out; nay, you shall see a bold fellow many times do Mahomet's miracle. Mahomet made the people believe that he would call a hill to him, and from the top of it offer up his prayers for the observers of his law. The people assembled: Mahomet called the hill to come to him again and again; and when the hill stood still, he was never a whit abashed, but said, 'If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet