Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

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150 FRANCIS BACON
ing that Ben Jonson was one of Bacon's " able pens, "an assistant
in his writings, superior to an ordinary amanuensis. Drummond
of Hawthornden records that Ben Jonson mentioned having
written an " apology 11 for the play of Bartholomew Fair, " in
my Lord St. Aubanie's house," in 1604.
Jonson " hursts into song, " says one biographer, when politics
or events favour Bacon's view, and in 1620 he " celebrates
his birthday, " says another, "in words breathing nothing but
reverence and honour. Since these lines, often alluded to, are
little known, it may be worth while to quote them here:
" Hail, happy genius of this ancient pile !
How conies it all things so about thee smile ?
The fire, the wine, the men ! in tho midst
Thou stand'st as if a mystery thou didst
Pardon, I read it in thy face, the day
For whose returns, and many, all these pray
And so do I. This is the sixtieth year
,
Since Bacon and thy lord was born, and here;
Son to the grave, wise keeper of the seal,
Fame and foundation of the English weal.
What then his father was, that since is he,
"Now with a little more to the degree
England's High Chancellor, tho destin'd heir
In his soft cradle to his father's chair
Whoso even threads the Fates spun round and full
Out of their choicest and their whitest wool.
'Tis a brave cause of joy, let it be known,
For 'twere a narrow gladness, kept thine own.
Give me a deep-bowl'd crown, that I may sing,
In raising him, tho wisdom of my King."
However much or little Bacon may have known of Ben Jonson
" off the stage, " it is certain that Ben Jonson formed a very
accurate estimate of Bacon's abilities as a writer and a poet.
is impossible so to wrest the ordinary aud accepted meaning of
words as to insist that Ben Jonson did not mean what he so
plainly says (and in connection with the poetic writings of
Greece and Rome, as in the eulogy of Shakespeare), namely,
that he "filled up all numbers," or wrote poetry in all styles
and metres. Enumerating the learned and eloquent men of the
It