3.

5.

courtesy or refinement. This sense of the word is still retained in the designation humanities, in Scotland, of what we call polite letters (literæ humaniores). Bacon seems to use the word in this sense, for he says it is 'a little too light' to be equivalent to goodness.

Goodness of Nature' is the disposition or faculty of kindness (i.e. benevolence); goodness is the active and habitual exercise of that faculty (i.e. beneficence).

4. 'busy'-meddlesome; active in what does not concern him. ' vermin'-small mischievous animals. Thus a farmer includes under this name not only rats, mice, and many insects, but rabbits, squirrels, weasels, stoats, etc. Cf. 'Wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and vermin'—Acts X, 12 (Geneva version).

6. admits no excess but error.'

A man cannot possibly be too kind, but he may make serious mistakes in the mode of exercising his kindness-the mistake being one not of excess but of misapplication. Kindness often dictates the infliction of very severe punishment, which it would be an error (what we call 'mistaken kindness') to shrink from. Another 'error' of goodness consists often in the relief which kind and wellmeaning people give to those in want: unquestionably such relief often does harm by extending and perpetuating the condition which it is intended simply to help and improve. So long as lazy tramps and beggars are regarded as having a claim upon the kindness and support of society, merely as such, lazy tramps and beggars will of course continue and multiply under the encouragement which mistaken kindness affords to them. The great reason why modern charity is now so largely diverted from this kind of relief and applied to the relief of the sick, infirm, and disabled, is because in the latter case the exercise of charity does not tend to increase the objects upon which it is expended. If I give indiscriminate assistance to a tramp, I thereby encourage other persons to become tramps; but if I give food and help to a man who has broken his leg, it does not cause other men to break their legs.

It is instructive to observe how consistently the miracles recorded in the New Testament seem to have been regulated by some such consideration as this.

7. 'take unto '—become attached to, acquire a fondness for. 8. Busbechius'-a Latinised form of the name of Augier Ghislain de Busbecq, a celebrated diplomatist (1522-1592). He was sent by the Emperor Ferdinand I as ambassador to the Sultan Solyman II, at Constantinople, where he resided more than seven years. He left an admirable account of the Ottoman empire in a work entitled Legationis Turcice Epistola Quatuor.

9.

'waggishness'—fun, frolicsomeness; always involving, however, a slight notion of mischief.

No one can help remarking-not without astonishment and regret that Bacon has, in this essay on Goodness, not one word to say in condemnation of the cruelty of the 'Christian boy; indeed, the name by which he designates the act palliates it.

Bacon's rendering of the story is as incorrect as his tone with regard to it is unjustifiable. The offender was not a boy, but a Venetian goldsmith, who, when out fowling, caught a bird with a long bill, and which, by way of a joke, he fixed alive over his door, with a stick inserted in the mouth to keep the peak as wide open as possible. The Turks were very properly enraged, and, seizing the man, dragged him before a judge, and he hardly escaped with life.

It is not probable that the protection awarded in Eastern countries to cranes and dogs arises from any feeling of humanity, but because they are useful as devourers of offal. 10. 'confidence '-impudence. For an account of Machiavelli see note 31, Essay I. In this case Bacon seems most unjustly to misrepresent Machiavelli, quoting a passage, the meaning of which seems to be that Christianity has done harm by its excessive inculcation of benevolence, which has exposed Christians to great injuries, without any means of protection.

The reference seems to be to a passage (Discourses, ii, 2), in which Machiavelli is combating this very notion, respecting which he says, 'But that explication of our religion is erroneous, and they who made it were poor and pusillanimous, and more given to their ease than anything that is great. For if the Christian religion allows us to defend and exalt our country, it allows us certainly to love it and honour it, and prepare ourselves so as we may be able to defend it.'

It is the statement Bacon attributes to Machiavelli, which he speaks of a line or two below as a 'scandal,' pointing out a'danger.'

II. their faces or fancies'-anything in their countenances which chances to excite your interest.

12. Esop's cock'-a fable of Phædrus (iii, 12). The meaning is: Let your benevolence take a form suitable to the wants and capacities of the person benefited; just as, says he, God gives the necessities of life ('common benefits') to all alike (Matt. v, 45), but the adornments ('peculiar benefits') only

to a few.

13. Take care not to break the vase in trying to adorn it with a beautiful painting. The meaning is: Take care not to neglect duties that ought to come before benevolence; the rule should be-having provided for the discharge of all legitimate claims, let the remainder be dispensed in charity.

14. 'Malignity'-i.e. as there is a natural benevolence and beneficence, so there is a natural malevolence and maleficence; the term malignity seems to include the two latter.

15.

crossness '-desire of thwarting; 'frowardness'-obstinacy; 'aptness to oppose '-disposition to go against what other persons wish; difficileness'-intractability, the conduct of one who is difficult to deal with. 16. mere mischief' - downright injuriousness. See note 16, Essay II.

17. 'in season'-in their element, contented and happy. Another figure by which we express the same thing is the phrase 'at

home.'

18. loading part'—on the side of aggravating the troubles of

others.

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

20. 'misanthropi' for misanthropists-i.e. haters of mankind, the opposite to philanthropists, or lovers of mankind.

The reference is to Timon of Athens, who lived during the Peloponnesian war. Disappointments, and the faithlessness of friends, soured his nature, and led him to conceive a bitter hatred for all mankind, and he retired into solitude. A story preserved of him by Plutarch (from whom Shakespeare derived the incident, Timon of Athens, Act V, sc. ii), is that on one occasion he addressed an assembly of Athenians thus: My lords of Athens, I have a little garden to 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 know it, so that before the tree be cut down, if any of you be desperate, you may there in time go and hang yourselves.'

Bacon means that these misanthropi' are worse than Timon, for he would have given men a chance of escaping from their miseries by death; but these men delight in tormenting others, and giving them no release—keeping them in perpetual misery, like felons on the eve of execution, but with no intention of putting them out of their misery.

21. errors of human nature'—most unnatural men. It is evident from this and many other passages, that Bacon had a very low estimate of the politics and politicians of his day.

22. 'politics'--politicians.

23. knee timber'-crooked wood, bent as the leg is at the knee. 24. 'citizen of the world'—a cosmopolitan; one whose sympathies are not restricted to his own nation, but who professes alliance to all the human race.

25. 'noble tree '-the myrrh-tree, or some other from which the odorous resin is obtained by incision.

26. 'shot'-injured, vexed, annoyed: 'injuries cannot hurt him, because he forgives and forgets them.'

F

27. trash'-rubbish; the valueless gifts they may offer.

The

word trash is allied with thrash; it was originally applied to the loppings of trees, and is preserved in a similar sense in the sugar plantations of the West Indies, where field-trash denotes the decayed leaves and stems of the canes, and canetrash, their bruised and macerated rind.

28. Rom. ix, 3.

ANALYSIS OF ESSAY XIII.

I. What goodness is: its relation to goodness of nature, humanity, philanthropy, charity.

II. The nature of goodness:

I. It may be mistaken, but cannot be excessive.

2. It is innate in man, and will exercise itself upon animals, if not on men.

III. Cautions as to the proper use of this faculty:

I. Seek the real good of others—not to gratify their whims

or your own.

2. Let your benevolence take a form suitable to the needs of the person you wish to benefit.

3. Do not neglect duties that take precedence of benevolence. IV. The opposite to 'goodness' is malignity:

I. Lighter (obstinacy, crossness, etc.).

2. Deeper (envy and downright malice), exemplified by misanthropists like Timon.

V. The parts and signs of goodness:

1. Courtesy shows a large heart.

2. Compassion shows a noble heart.

3. Forgiveness shows a disposition that cannot be injured. 4. Thankfulness shows a true appreciation of men's worth. 5. Self-sacrifice exhibits a Divine nature.

XIV. OF NOBILITY. (1612, re-writen 1625.) We will speak of Nobility first as a portion of an estate,1 then as a condition of particular persons.

A Monarchy, where there is no Nobility at all, is ever a pure and absolute tyranny, as that of the Turks; for Nobility attempers2 sovereignty, and draws the eyes of the people somewhat aside from the line royal: but for Democracies they need it not; and they are commonly more quiet and less subject to sedition than where there are stirps of nobles; for men's eyes are upon the busi

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ness, and not upon the persons; or if upon the persons, it is for the business' sake, as fittest, and not for flags1 and pedigree.5 We see the Switzers last well, notwithstanding their diversity of religion and of cantons; for utility is their bond, and not respects.6 The United Provinces of the Low Countries in their government excel; for where there is an equality the consultations are more indifferent," and the payments and tributes more cheerful. A great and potent Nobility addeth majesty to a monarch, but diminisheth power, and putteth life and spirit into the people, but presseth their fortune. It is well when nobles are not too great for sovereignty nor for justice; and yet maintained in that height, as the insolency of inferiors may be broken upon them 10 before it come on too fast upon the majesty of kings. A numerous Nobility causeth poverty and inconvenience in a state, for it is a surchargell of expense; and, besides, it being of necessity that many of the Nobility fall in time to be weak in fortune, it maketh a kind of disproportion between honour and means.12

As for Nobility in particular persons, it is a reverend thing to see an ancient castle or building not in decay, or to see a fair timber-tree sound and perfect; how much more to behold an ancient noble family, which hath stood against the waves and weathers 13 of time! for new Nobility is but the act of power, but ancient Nobility is the act of time. Those that are first raised to Nobility are commonly more virtuous, but less innocent,14 than their descendants; for there is rarely any rising but by a commixture of good and evil arts ;1 ;15 but it is reason the memory of their virtues remain 16 to their posterity, and their faults die with themselves. Nobility of birth commonly abateth industry; and he that is not industrious, envieth him that is; besides, noble persons cannot go much higher; and he that standeth at a stay when others rise, can hardly avoid motions of envy. On the other side, Nobility extinguisheth the passive envy 18 from others towards them, because they are in possession of honour. Certainly, kings that have able

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