Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 219
ing to his " prescripts, " Bacon himself, in the quiet of his library
or tower, sometimes in his " full poor cell" in Gray's Inn, was
cogitatiug, note-taking, dreaming, experimenting, composing,
or " inventing."
" Out of 's self-drawing web he gives us note;
The force of his own merit makes his way:
A gift that Heaven gives for him." i
The credibility of such assumptions is increased when we
endeavour to realise how things would stand with ourselves if,
from our earliest childhood, everything that we had lisped had
been noticeable; if our earliest writings had been worthy of
preservation ; if every letter, every word we wrote had been
religiously stored, revised, and by and by published. " I add,
but I never alter; " that seems to have been part of Bacon's
method, and thus edition after edition, each time improved
and augmented, was produced, the same material being utilised
in various ways over and over again.
Bacon was never idle. Recreation with him was not idleness,
but merely a change of occupation. He never plodded upon
books, but read, taking notes, or perhaps marking extracts for
others to write out. Thus he wasted no moment of time, nor
allowed one drop of his freshly distilled knowledge to evaporate
or be lost, but carefully treasured and stored it up in " vases "
or note-books, where he could at any moment draw it out
afresh.
There is good reason for thinking that he largely encouraged
the use of stenography or shorthand writing ; that his friends
sat round him as the disciples of the ancient philosophers sat
round their masters, listening to his words, and often writing
down his utterances, or his entire discourses. The facility with
which he expressed himself, the grace and sweetness of his
language, and the marvellous fulness of his conversation were
perpetual themes of admiration and wonder. "His meals,"
says Dr. Rawley, " were refections of the ear as well as of the
stomach, like the Nodes Attica, or ConviviaDeipus-SopJustarum,
wherein a man might be refreshed in his mind and understandi
Henry VIII. i. 1.