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FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES
For his part he had thought of one way, which
office,
was, that they should
help the King to some good
for all his officers were rich.
Bias being asked : How
a man should order his life ?
answered ;
As if a man should live long, or die quickly ?
The answer darts forth like a double flash of lightning
in short rhymes
:
answered ;
As */ (*)
a man should live
long, or die
quick/y.
Mendoza that was vice-roy of Peru, was wont to say ;
That
the government of Peru was the best place that the King of
Spain gave, save that it was somewhat too near Madrid.
The moment the words of the answer are quoted*
and from where in the original they are printed in
italics, the rhyme again sets in :
That the government of Peru
was the best place
that the King of Spain gave
save that it was somewhat too near Madrid.
"
Was the best place" a short echo-rhyme ; the
form in which one line ends on "gave," the next
beginning with the rhyming-word "save,"
what Puttenham calls " Redouble " or " Anadisplosis."
Then we have the droll rhyme " it-Madrid," if not
even the double syllabled rhyme "that-it-Madrid."
is a sort of
* " If" forms a perfect rhyme to live " ;
for the " f " in "if"
had the same sound as the " "
t in " of," followed by a vowel (iv, ov),
just like the original "f" in "gifan" (to give), whence the word
"if" is derived.