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22 FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES
more than any other kind. But to ascribe unto it that which is
due ;
for the expressing of affections, passions, corruptions, and
customs, we are beholding to poets more than to the philo
sophers' works ;
and for wit and eloquence not much less than
to orators' harangues. But it is not good to stay too long in the
theatre.
Thus Bacon, the philospher and orator, deliberately
places the poet in many respects above the philosopher
and orator. And when he concludes this glowing
panegyric on the poets, with the words: " But it is not
good to stay too long in the theatre," we are afforded
a discrete but distinct proof as to what thoughts were
uppermost in Bacon's mind, when he spoke of poets,
and what locality
he was thinking of more than any
other, when he assigned so high a rank to poets.
The words " But it is not good," which, as it were, blur
the sense, belong to those phrases, which, according to
a later chapter in the book, he was in the habit of
using, whenever he thought to express something that
appeared of vital importance, but in such manner, that
none but the attentive reader should notice it. It is
a hint, a stylistic note of exclamation, such as he will
learn to notice, who has dived into the depths of
Francis Bacon's style of writing.
As regards morality, Bacon says, philosophers'
works have furnished us, as it were, with a lifeless
statue, whereas it is the historians and poets that
endow that statue with life.
But the poets and writers of histories are the best doctors
of this knowledge ;
where we may find painted forth with great
life, how affections are kindled and incited ;
and how pacified
and refrained ;
and how again contained from act and further
degree ;
how they disclose themselves ;
how they work, how