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FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES 209
the last thing which Bacon had printed while he was
yet alive. In other words, those two sentences are
the very last thing which Bacon himself published in
printed form ; they are the final words of his literary
Will. On such occasions one is not in the habit of
writing at random anything that comes into one's
mind. The other " Writing," the Book containing the
printed " Circle of Tales," the " Circle of Dramas,"
the "Circle of Plays," to which Bacon's concluding
words have reference, is no other than :
Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, &
Tragedies,
the Folio with the thirty-six dramas which, two years
before, Francis Bacon, assisted by his friend Ben
Jonson, had given to the world and posterity, under
the mask of the Actor's name.
It almost stands to reason that Bacon should have
"curiously rhymed" those words, belonging as they
do to the most important contained in the Book.
Translated into verse, they
would run thus :
But it ts not good,
to looke too long, upon these turning Wheeles
of Vicissitude,
lest we become Giddy.
As for th' Philology
of them, that is but a Circle of Tales.
" It is not good" forms a double rhyme to " Vicissi
tude."
an English ear.
" Wheeles "-" Tales " still forms a rhyme to
The cross-rhymes from one line to
the other are delightful
;
for we might, indeed, treat
the whole passage as a composition of three verses,
the first and third long lines which show exactly the