Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

126 FRANCIS BACON
" As Essex aspired to distinction in many ways, so Bacon
studied many ways to help him, among the rest hy contributing
to those fanciful pageants or ' devices,' as they were called,
with which it was the fashion of the time to entertain the Queen
on festive occasions. On the anniversary of her coronation in
1595, we happen to know positively (though only hy the concurrence
of two accidents) that certain speeches, unquestionably
written by Bacon, were delivered in a device presented by Essex;
and I strongly suspect that two of the most interesting among
his smaller pieces were drawn up for some similar performance
in the year 1592. I mean those which are entitled " Mr. Bacon
in Praise of Knowledge," and " Mr. Bacon's Discourse in Praise
of his Sovereign." *
" My reason for suspecting they were composed for some
masque, or show, or other fictitious occasion, is partly that the
speech in praise of knowledge professes to have been spoken in a
Conference of Pleasure, and the speech in praise of Elizabeth
appears by the opening sentence to have been preceded by three
others, one of which was in praise of knowledge.
The writer goes on to say that he has little doubt about this
Ms device. " 2
device having been written by Bacon for performance on the
Queen's day, though, unfortunately, no detailed account remains
of the celebration of that day in 1592 ; we only know that it was
" more solemnised than ever, and that through my Lord of Essex
The reporter Nicholas Faimt, " being a strict Puritan,
and having no taste for devices, " adds nb particulars, but
an incidental expression in a letter from Henry Gosnold, a young
lawyer in Gray's Inn, tells us that Francis was at this time
attending the court:
— " Mr. Fr. Bacon is,mau1gre the court, your
kind brother and mine especial friend.
The Praise of Knowledge, which sums up many of Bacon's
most daring philosophical speculations, as to the revival, spread,
1 These were found among the papers submitted to Stephens by Lord Oxford,
and printed by Locker in the supplement to his second collection in 1734. The
MSS. are still to be seen in the British Museum, fair copies in an old hand,
with the titles given above, but no further explanation.
2 Nich. Faunt to A. Bacon, Nov. 20, 1592—Lambeth MSS. 648, 176.