download PDF version: 47.1MB - Global Grey

176 FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES
And who can blame us if, when reading these
rhymes, we recall the tragic scenes and atrocities of
the dramas ? Even Bacon himself in the same Essay,
" Of Empire," and with the same stroke of the pen,
writes down the word " Tragedies," albeit as a man of
discretion he does not say mean : I the Shakespeare
Tragedies and Histories.
The next Essay, however, that "Of Counsell,"
almost doth something of the kind, for it contains a
rhymed, somewhat plain allusion to the dramas that
had appeared under the name of an " Actor" :
It was truly said, Optimi Consiliarii mortui, Books will
speake plaine, when Counsellors Blanch. Therefore it is good
to be conversant in them ; Specially the Bookes of such, as
Themselves have been Actors upon the Stage.
Here again we have a repetition of what we saw in
the fifth Essay, viz., words of wisdom consisting in a
mixture of English and Latin, and all
rhymed, as
usual ; all, except the last line ! which does not
rhyme :
It was truly said, Opti
Consilarii mortui.
Books will speake plaine, when Counsellors Blanch
Therefore it is good to be
conversant in them ;
Special/y
the Bookes of such, as Themselves have been
Actors upon the Stage ? (? !)
Let us substitute the word "Scene" !
For we may
be sure that is what Bacon meant and nothing else ;
in other words, we have another vexing-rhyme before
us.
And thus, from Essay to Essay, we trace his allu
sions to Occult Arts, to the Stage, to the titles of the