Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

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AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 49
land on his journey, " of which three versions seem to exist, 1
and which Spedding shows to be written so much in Bacon's
style as to be undistinguishable from it. " If Essex wrote a
letter of grave advice to a young relative going on his travels, it
would, no doubt, have a good deal of Bacon in it; if Bacon
drew up a letter for Essex to sign, it would be such a one as
Essex might naturally have written. Still, there is a character
in language as in handwriting, which it is hardly possible
to disguise. Little tricks of thought, like tricks of the hand,
peculiarities of which the writer is unconscious,— are perceptible
to the reader. " 2 Presently a similar question of authorship
arises with regard to a " Letter of advice from the Earl of
Essex to Foulke Greville; 3 and again the true author seems to
be Bacon.
Then we find a " Letter of advice to the Earl of Essex, " which,
" like several others we shall meet icith, has been preserved
through two independent channels, and in two different forms;
one in the collection kept by himself, and printed by Rawley in
the Resuscitatio, the other in a collection made, ive do not know
by tvhom, and printed very incorrectly in the 'Remains 1 (1648),
and afterward in the ' Cabala 1 (1654)." 4
There is a mystery about Sir Tobie Matthew's collection of letters
to and from Bacon. These letters are, as a rule, not only
without a date, but likewise they appear to have been " stripped
of all particulars that might serve to fit the occasion" for
which they were penned; sometimes, even, the person to whom
they were addressed. One of these letters, " Desiring a friend
to do him a service," is remarkable, as showing that, although
the matter which it concerns was of some importance, and might
bring serious consequences to Bacon (he says that it will probably
" fall and seize on" him), yet it had been put out of his
mind by some great " invention" or work of imagination,
1 One is in the Harleian MSS. (6265, p. 428). Sped. Let. Life, i. 4.
2 lb. 5.
3 lb. 21.
* Spedding, Let. Life, ii. 94. This letter is suspected of cipher and should be
examined.