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34 FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES
In his " Apology " (1604) he "
says I
profess not to
;
be a poet." According to the punctuation of those
days, the two sentences should be separated, but the
comma is purposely omitted, thus rendering the sense
ambiguous ; for, if we pause before the word " not,"
the meaning conveyed is : I confess I am not a poet.
If we pause after
" not," the meaning is
reversed, viz.,
I do not confess that I am a poet.
In his book, entitled "The Advancement of Learn
ing" (1605), dedicated to King James,
literally :
Bacon writes
The ancient custom was to dedicate them (the books) only to
private and equal friends, or to intitle the books with their
names.
The words "to intitle the books with their names"
cannot possibly mean "to dedicate," for " the custom
to dedicate them " is mentioned before as another
custom. So that " to intitle with their names " can only
mean that the names of others than the authors were
printed on books. As Francis Bacon himself recom
mends this " custom," is he not likely to have practised
what he preached
?
In the Latin version this important passage runs
thus :
Aut etiam Nomina eiusmodi amicorum Tractatibus suis
imponere,
(or also set the names of such friends to one's own works).
And in one passage in his work entitled " De
Augmentis Scientiarum," i.e., in the enlarged Latin
version of the original English work on " The