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84 FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES
Matthew, the man who always examined Bacon's
literary work before it went to print. Is it not again
highly significant that that Essay dedicated to the
friendship of his literary counsellor, should close with
the words :
I have given a Rule, where a Man cannot fitly play his
owne Part :
If he have not a Frend, he may quit the Stage.
"Part" and "Stage," the catch-words in the final
sentence of an Essay on Friendship, dedicated to that
man who gave
it us in writing that Bacon's marvellous
genius was known under the name of another !
The next Essay was not new in 1625. But the
number it bears in the Book places
it in a certain
relationship of thought to the Shakespeare Plays.
is headed, " Of Expence," and is the 28th Essay.
And the 28th drama of the Shakespeare Edition that
was published two years before, treats the same subject
dramatically, for the first acts of Timon of Athens deal
with sumptuousness, love of prodigality, i.e., mad
" Expence."
In the course of our investigations, we have seen that
some of the Essays are connected with certain single
dramas (simulation with " Hamlet " sensual love with
;
" "
Anthony
;
expense with " Timon " boldness with
;
the figure of Falstaff)
; but, on the other hand,
it is natural that certain other Essays should show
relationship to a number of Plays, thus, for instance,
the Essay, "Of Seditions and Troubles," to the
histories ;
the " Essay, Of Cunning," to the intrigues
and strategies, which find their parallels
in various of
the Shakespeare Plays. The short " Essay, Of Sus
picion," is also of the last-named kind, and is one of
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