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which rhyme : It is generally better
FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES 197
the vital question touching upon Bacon as the author of
the Shakespeare works, as the new Essays of the
year 1625.
The Essay, "Of Negociating," for
at once with the words :
instance, opens
It is generally better to deale by Speech, then by Letter,
to deale by Speech, then by Letter.
But it is recommended, even then, to carry on
business by the mediation of a third person. And
again we are told what sort of men we should choose
as " Instruments," viz. :
Selfe.
Absurd Men for Businesse that doth not well beare out it
The " Essay Of Studies," or, as is added in Latin,
" " de Lectione Librorum ("On the Reading of Books"),
in which
speaks of studies in exactly the same sense,
they are dealt with, and as they appear on the stage,
in the first act of Love's Labours Lost. Studies are
of three kinds, such as serve for pleasure, such as
we carry on for the sake of affectation, and such as
render a man clever. At the same time we are told the
effect of these studies, if carried to excess. And that
is exactly what we see enacted in the Comedy
:
Studies carried to excess for pastime and pleasure
(King and Courtiers) Studies carried to excess
;
for affectation (Armado and his page)
; finally the
perverse study of words, as impersonated by the
schoolmaster and the curate. We have, on a
former occasion, proved how far, even to a sentence,
Essay and Comedy go hand in hand. We would
" "
now merely recall a few short verses, curiously