Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 343
ble minds and spirits apt to be kindled ; sparks of affection, of
grace, " liberty, spirit, and edge." i " My heart," be says, in
one of bis prayers, " batb been an unquencbed coal on tbine
altar.
" Have a care," says one of tbe councillors in Bacon's device,
" Tbe Order of tbe Helmet," " tbat tbe ligbt of your state do
not go out, or burn dim or obscure. " Bacon was continually
trying to urge upon tbe sovereign for tbe time being, ber or bis
duties and responsibilities in regard to tbe banding on of tbe
lamp. He received little encouragement from Elizabeth, but by
dint of impressing upon tbe mind of tbe King, not only tbat be
ought to assist learning, but that he was learned, and capable of
doing what be pleased in the fields of literature and science, he
seems to have succeeded in making that dull monarch appear,
and believe himself to be, something like the bright creature
which Bacon so earnestly desires that he should become. There
" are joined in your Majesty the light of nature, the light of learning,
and the light of God's holy spirit (and that) fourth light,
the light of a most wise and well-compounded counsel. " 2
A watch-candle is the emblem of " care and observation. " In
a letter to King James (May 31, 1612) Bacon says "
: My good
old mistress was pleased to call me ber watch -candle, because it
pleased her to say I did continually burn (and yet she suffered
me to waste almost to nothing). " Elsewhere he says :
" There
should be a sort of night-watch set over nature, as showing herself
rather by night than by day. For these may be regarded
as night studies, hy reason of the smallness of the candle and its
continual burning. " 3
Amongst our candlesticks isone (Plate VIII.) from the Observations
on Ccesar's Commentaries of 1609. This volume has on its
title-page a medallion portrait of a young man, sixteen or seventeen
years of age, who bears a striking likeness to
the juvenile
portraits of Francis Bacon. These Observations on " those
most excellent Commentaries that Csesar writ " 4 are published
1 Advt. ii., De Auq. viii. 2, etc. 2 Pacification of the Church. 3 jy v.
Org. ii. 4. * 2 Hen. VI. iv. 7,