Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

326 FRANCIS BACON
Thus we interpret the chains surrounding the shields, foreign
or English, to be seen amongst our drawings. These shields form
links with many paper-marks, assuming the shapes by turns of
mirrors or hearts, or suppressing the escutcheon in favour of
the crown which should surmount it. Or the outline of the
shield is marked only by a wreath, or (in works, we think, not
original, but the product of many translators, editors, etc.) by
the chain, which sometimes includes shells and a pendant — and
which points to the order of the Golden Fleece as its origin.
The heart shields often contain or are surmounted by a cross
something like Luther's seal, or hearts are introduced into
the frame of a mirror-shield, as in the example taken from the
posthumous edition of Bacon's History of Henry VII. What a
parable the old paper-makers have given us here ! No need
for " drawing it into great variety by a witty talent or an inventive
genius, delivering it of plausible meanings which it never
contained." 1 The parabolic meaning stands out plain before
our eyes as we hold that old sheet against the
to stream through.
light for the sun
This shield, modified to the form of a mirror, is " the glass of
the understanding, " the mirror of man's mind, which Bacon
calls the microcosm — the little world reflecting the great world
without. "To hold the mirror up to nature, " was one of his
chief endeavours. He would " show vice its own deformity,
kindly, gravely, or laughingly, "for it is good to mingle jest
with earnest," 2 and " what forbids one to speak truth with a
laughing face?" 3
See the bugle of which we have spoken, the heart reminding
us of the whole-hearted devotion which must be brought to the
work of raising fallen humanity and regaining our paradise lost.
Then the scrolls, are they not to bring to mind the magic wand
of Mercury, once a scroll or book f It was by books that this
regeneration was to be chiefly effected. By the pearls of knowllPref.
to Wisdom of the Ancients.
2 Ess. of Discourse.
3 Horace quoted Promus 1041,