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FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES
in
attention. The rhymes
"
prizes-merchandize, is-
Greece " are of a lighter kind, but none the less
permissible in a humorous poem. There is almost a
superabundance of rhyme
in the four final verses. The
meaningless term " of all sorts " so unsuited to Bacon's
style of writing, sounds almost like a printer's error,
the more so, since the ear has been led to expect a
rhyme to the word " merry." Why not substitute
"
hurry," which in those ;days, did not signify haste
alone, but " bustle " (noisy crowd) ? From line to line
we have the repeated rhymes "meet-great," " friendsconfluence"
and " merry-hurry "(?), the whole finishing
up with a perfect volley of rhymes :
Others come
only to look on.
I am one
of them
that come
to look on.
May be the rhymes "come-them-come" sound some
what old-fashioned, but they are none the worse for
that, and as permissible as the perfect rhymes " onone-on."
Nor must we attribute it to accident that
Bacon chose to pour forth such an abundance of
rhyme in this anecdote in which the Philosopher treats
of " Plays " for the stage.
The anecdote in which words are combined to recall
the name of a well-known Play, is treated similarly.
I mean the words " Much Ado."
The Turk made an expedition into Persia, and because of the
strait jaws of the mountains of Armenia, the
which way they should get in.
basha's consulted
Says a natural fool that stood