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200 FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES
discourses prove step by step that dramatic poesy is
the most delightful kind of truth ;
that one may resort to
puns and concealed rhymes, in order to express certain
things that it is advisable to preserve the ; secrecy of
one's name
; that, under certain circumstances, one
shall buy a man whom one shall then place upon the
stage that such manner of ;
concealing, of dissimula
tion is, at times, fair and to be recommended. Many
an important fact was revealed in the English rhymed
verses, but not a little was disclosed by the French
and the Latin rhymes. The name of " Shakespeare "
(hurling-dart) was hinted at. Two things were
strenuously avoided ;
the direct mention of the name
of Shakespeare (in fact of English literature alto
gether), and the literal quotation of any passages
from the plays. This man of genius, coming forward
in the Essays as commentator of his own works,
clothed his elucidations in other words than
always
those he chose as the poet, as " Shakespeare." The
poet such, theoretically speaking, is his opinion on
the matter clothes the thoughts of the philosopher in
gorgeous robes the ;
language of the scholar must be
plainer in style, the pictures he draws must be simpler.
And yet,
in spite of all, not only in the thoughts, but in
the wording and manner of expressing himself, Bacon
could not avoid telling us a great deal that carries
the mind back to the plays. We shall now briefly
bring forward a number of comparisons (such as have
already been published repeatedly by others, before us).
The Feare of Death is weake.
2nd Essay.
Cowards dye many times before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Julius Caesar,
ii. 2.