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n6
FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES
fortunes, and second person to him. But Fabricius answered,
in a scorn, to such a motion ; Sir, that would not be good for
yourself: for if the Epirotes once knew me, they will rather
desire to be governed by me than by you.
At the first glance, these sentences appear almost
void of rhyme. But if we consider the strange
expression, that he should be "second "
person to him
(and every word Bacon utters has its meaning or
double meaning), and interpret
it in its
grammatical
sense, i.e., set Fabricius as the second person to Pyrrhus,
which means let him speak in the second person, i.e.,
" thou," we obtain the following witty answer in rhyme :
Sir, that would not be good
for thee :
for if the Epirotes once knew me,
they will rather desire to be govern 'd by me
than by thee.
Here we have four final
rhymes playfully bandying
the words "me" and "thee." The first line with the
Then there is an inter
internal rhyme " would-good."
change of rhyme between the second and third lines (in
the same part of the verse) through the internal rhyme
"
pir " and "sire." The point darts forth like an
arrow. We may, also, emphasise "be" in the first
and third lines.
One of the jokes is put into the mouth of Sir Walter
Raleigh, but probably it was Bacon who cast the form
of rhyme best suited to it.
Sir Walter Ralegh was wont to say of the ladies of Queen
Elizabeth's privy-chamber and bed-chamber ;
That they were
like witches ;
they could do hurt, but they could do no good.
The anecdote was evidently told in rhyme
;
Jong line sets us thinking :
but the