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FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES 199
One of the next Essays winds up
with a similar
volley of rhymes :
For saith Pliny very Wittily In
; commending Another, you
doe your selfe right; For he that you Commend, is either
Superiour to you, in that you Commend, or Inferiour. If he
be Inferiour, if he be to be Commended, you much more : If he
be Superiour, if he be not to be commended, you much lesse.
All is
rhyme (with Bacon, not with Pliny).
The
only lines that do not rhyme are those with the two
contrasting words at the end: "more" and "less."
"
A choice bit of drollery
is afforded us in the line : If
he be Inferiour, if he be to be ... " and its
part.
Here are the lines translated into verse :
For saith Pliny
very Witti/y ;
In commending Another, you doe your selfe right ;
that you Commend, is either Superiour
to you, in that you Commend, or Inferiour.
If he be Inferiour, if he be to be commended,
you much more.
If he be Supenour, if he be not to be commended,
vou much lesse.
counter
For he
Thus we have seen how closely certain Essays are
related to certain dramas in the thoughts and ideas they
express ; we
have seen how other Essays speak of
certain qualities of character which are at once to be
observed in several of the dramas. We saw how
Bacon would translate Latin prose-quotations in
English rhymed verses, in order to obtain his object
;
we have seen the means he employs to render promi
nent certain passages concealed in his own prose text
by couching them in verse form, whenever he wishes
them to refer to a certain piece or person in the plays,
or to the title of a drama. We have seen him in his