download PDF version: 47.1MB - Global Grey

VIII
FRANCIS BACON, THE ANECDOTIST
Et quod tentabat
Dicere,
Versus erat.
Ovidii Tristia.
As the psalms afforded us convincing evidence of the
poet in Bacon and of his mastery over poetic form, so
must his " Apophthegmes," published at the same time,
prove him to have been a man of bright humour and
ready wit. And while the former testify to his ability
to write serious rhyme, the latter, as we shall soon see,
will prove him an adept at comic rhyme.
Francis Bacon published his
" Apophthegmes New
and Old," together with his psalms, shortly before
Christmas 16^4, with the year 1625 on the title-page
;
neither had ever heen printed before, and both bore
his name in the title.
Bacon never for a moment thought
it below his
dignity to collect, edit and publish such things as
apophthegmes and anecdotes, for, as we learn from the
first sentence of the preface to the book: " JULIUS
C^SAR did write a Collection of Apophthegms, as
appears in an epistle of Cicero." And, surely,
what
Julius Caesar, his avowed favourite, had done, whose
praises he sings over and over again, that our Francis