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FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES 23
they vary, how they gather and fortify, how they are inwrapped
one with another, and how they do fight and encounter one with
another, and other the like particularities : . . . how (I say)
to set affection against affection, and to master one by another ;
even as we use to hunt beast with beast and fly bird with
bird. . . .
("Of the Advancement of Learning," Second
Book.)
And now let us once more return to the Essay, " Of
Truth," where we may read what worth is
poetic truth as compared
with naked truth :
ascribed to
Truth may perhaps come to the price of a Pearle, that
sheweth best by day : But it will not rise, to the price of a
Diamond, or Carbuncle, that sheweth best in varied lights.
mixture of a Lie doth ever adde Pleasure.
A
Thus then, according to Bacon, poetic truth, i.e.,
truth blended with somewhat of the sweet, refreshing
lie of the poet, dreaming the dream revealing know
ledge of the future, surpasses all other knowledge,
especially when it comes forth and shows itself in the
varied lights of the stage, i.e., when it
appears as
dramatic poesy
in the theatre. From another Essay
by Bacon, we learn of the management and manipula
tion of the " varied "
lights on the Court-stage.
Finally, as regards the forms of poesy, Bacon
expresses himself to the effect that the employment of
classic metre (hexameter, pentameter, and odic metre)
is not to be recommended for the English language,
and he advises the use of such forms of verse as suit
the character of the English tongue.