download PDF version: 47.1MB - Global Grey

180 FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES
To wait upon him, with whom you speake, with your eye ;
For there be many Wise Men, that have Secret Hearts, and
Transparent Countenances.
King Claudius was such a man.
Thus, this subtly conceived Essay contains a long
series of instances affording parallel passages to scenes
in the Shakespeare Plays. The chief part of this
Essay is rhymed, as usual :
There is a Cunning, which we in England call, The Turning
of the Cat in the Pan ;
which is, when that which a Man sayes
to another, he laies it, as if Another had said it to him. And
to say Truth, it is not easie, when such a Matter passed between
two, to make it
appeare, from which of them, it first moved and
began.
Phrases such as the above-named " I cannot tell,"
" "
I confess," I
profess," or the bracketed interpolation
" "
filii
(" my sons or the "), phrase " to say Truth," used
indicate that Bacon has some
in
this instance, always
thing of particular importance to tell us, some great con
fession to make, which is to follow. Translated into
rhyme, the passage would run thus : ,
There's a Cunning, which we in England call
The Turning of the Cat in the Pan
which is,
when that, which a Man
sayes
to another, he laies
it,
as if Another had said it to hint.
And to say Truth, it is not easie, when
such a Matter passed between two (Men),
to make it
it
appeare, from which of them,
first mov'd and began.
The last word, " began," rhymes with " Pan-Man "
above. The passage containing the words " sayes-