Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 133
felicity, he is troubled to say his part. What! nothing but tasks;
nothing but ivorking days ? No feasting, no music, no dancing,
no triumphs, no comedies, no love, no ladies t. Lei other men's
lives be as pilgrimages; . . . princes 1 lives are, as progresses,
dedicated only to variety and solace."
(Again an echo of the speeches of Theseus and Philostratus
in A Midsummer Nighfs Dream, quoted before. 1 )
This lively counsellor entreats his prince to leave the work to
other people, and to attend only to that which cannot he done
by deputy. " Use the advantage of your youth; . . . in a
word, sweet sovereign, dismiss your five counsellors, and only take
counsel of your five senses."
The prince briefly thanks them all for their good opinions,
which being so various, it is difficult to choose between them.
" Meantime it should not be amiss to choose the last, and upon
more deliberation to determine of the rest; and what time we
spend in long consulting, in the end we gain by prompt and
speedy executing." Thereupon he takes a partner, and the
dance begins. The rest of the night was spent in this pastime,
and the nobles and other auditory, says the narrator, were so
delighted with their entertainment, that " thereby Gray's Inn
did not only recover their lost credit, but got instead so much
honour and applause as either the good reports of our friends
that were present or we ourselves could desire.
In this same year, 1595, Lucrece was published, and dedicated,
as the poem of Venus and Adonis had been also dedicated in
1593, to Francis Bacon's young friend, Lord Southampton, who
is said to have given a large sum of money toward the erection
of the " Globe " theatre, which was in this year opened on
Bankside with William Shakspere as its manager.2
Until Anthony Bacon's return from Italy Francis was
very poor, and often in debt, and, although he lived frugally
1 See Mid. N. Dream, v. 1, and Kich. II. iii. 4. L. L. L. iv. 3, 370-380, etc.
2 This gift was held by Shakspereans to be an evidence of Southampton^
friendship for Shakspere. Baconians see in it an evidence of the young bar! s
desire to assist in the production of the dramatic works of his friend and associate,
Francis Bacon.