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FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES 203
Others to be Swallowed, and Some Few to be Chewed and
Digested.
5oth Essay.
Chew'd, swallow'd, and digested.
Henry V. t ii, 2.
In the course of our investigations we have
discovered many similar instances of resemblance,
thus in the passage on Ripenesse, on fear of Death
and going in the Dark, on the use of things which
Adversity puts in our way, on catching truth by a lie,
on speed as the chief weapon in executing a thing.
We would recall the Bacon-Shakespearean passage :
"It was, that he was . . . and it was," to which
we could add many other examples, such as the
"
strange phrase that that is : is," contained both in
the Plays and in the Essays the lines " How many
;
Things there are" "how many things are there,"
from the Essay, "Of Friendship," which vividly recall
Hamlet's words " : There are more things
. . .
", etc.
etc.
But now let us proceed from these instances of minor
importance
to the consideration of a few cardinal
points ; nor is it we who have reserved these till the
last, but Bacon himself who placed them at the end
of the Book. We refer to his introducing two of the
most characteristic titles of Comedies in
rhymed Essayverses,
and his reference to the whole Book of Plays,
duly completed by appropriate reference to the name
of the " Instrument."
The 54th Essay, " Of Vaine-Glory," contains a
passage in Latin deriding those desirous, under what
soever circumstances, of having their name printed on
books, even where it is altogether out of place :