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FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES 185
the new ones. The errors of suspicion and its con
sequences are most clearly shown in three Plays in
:
The Winter s Tale (cf.
the jealous and cruel King
Leontes), in Hamlet and Othello. In the cases of
Leontes and Othello, their suspicion is groundless,
their action rash, the result of a superficial observation
of facts. Hamlet's suspicions are corroborated.
Although the Essay refers only in a single passage of
import to those three figures, the manner is unmistak
able ;
it then drops two of them, to deal entirely with
the chief figure of the "Moore" (More, more), with
the suspecting, jealous Othello. That suggestive*
important sentence, concerning all three points of view,
runs thus :
Certainly, they (Suspicions) are to be respressed, or,
at the
least, well guarded For they cloud the Minde : ; they leese
Frends ;
and they checke with Businesse, whereby Businesse
cannot goe on, currently, and constantly. They dispose Kings
to Tyranny, Husbands to Jealousie, Wise Men to Irresolution
and Melancholy.
Leontes, the king in The Winter s Tale, becomes a
tyrant, Leontes and Othello become jealous husbands ;
the chief characteristics of suspecting Prince Hamlet
are irresolution and melancholy. These are the three
Shakespeare parallels. Besides all that, however,
that part of the Essay is distinguished by being
profusely rhymed :
Certain/y,
they are to be
repress'd,
or, at the least,
well guarded For they cloude the Minde : ;
they leese Frends and
; they checke with Businesse
whereby Businesse cannot goe on,