Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

324 FRANCIS BACON
quer others, he studied to conquer himself, with what result we
see. The sweetness and calm beneficence which pervaded his
whole being are the perpetual theme of letters and other authentic
records which remain of him. His great desire, " as much
as lay in him, to live peaceably with all men," made him shrink
from controversy and disputations, prefer self-effacement, misconstruction,
even disgrace, to the risk of endangering the realization
of his visions and schemes for
the happiness of the future
ages.
And truly this " celestial peace " has perpetually hovered
over his work; truly may this work, begun in faith and meekness,
be said to inherit the earth. For where is there a region,
inhabited by civilised man, which is left unpossessed by it?
Founded upon Eternal Truth, that work must be, as Bacon himself
believed, imperishable as Truth itself, and rightly is it figured
by evergreen branches of the olive, sacred to Pallas. 1
Sometimes the mock shields sprout into wreaths of laureland
bay (figuring triumph and victory). These seem to have been
used for books published after the author's death. Other
shields, whether foreign or English, of later date than 1626, have
chains or interlinked SS, representing, perhaps, " not only the
chain of nature and the thread of the fates, which are one and
the same thing, but the famous chain ofHomer, that is, the chain
of natural causes," "a chain which is confederate and linked
together, and which, when the mind of man beholdeth it, must
needs fly to Providence and Deity. " The chains have, as usual,
a double and Masonic meaning. Love, friendship, and true
" brotherhood " are also chains held together by many bands
or links firmly soldered, and difficult to break.
Bacon moves the Queen to friendly relations with France by
showing how their mutual iuterests should form a bond of union
between them, and, by means of her Majesty's friendship, " solder
the link 2 which religion hath broken.
1 Having stumbled across a quaint coincidence which may interest some
readers, we give it for what it may be worth. " Pallas (wisdom) takes her name
from vibrating a lance " In other words shakes a spear, " representing heroic
virtue with wisdom."—(See The Book of God, iii. 98.)
2 Compare :
" They are so linked in friendship."—3 Hen. VI. iv. 3, 116.