Footnotes

[44:1] As clear and as manifest as the nose in a man's face.—Burton: Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sect. 3, memb. 4, subsect. 1.

[44:2] Custom is almost second nature.—Plutarch: Preservation of Health.

[45:1] Familiarity breeds contempt.—Publius Syrus: Maxim 640.

[46:1] What the dickens!—Thomas Heywood: Edward IV. act iii. sc. 1.

[46:2] As ill luck would have it.—Cervantes: Don Quixote, pt. i. bk. i. ch. ii.

[47:1] Act i. Sc. 5, in White, Singer, and Knight.

[47:2] Compare Portia's words in Merchant of Venice, act iv. sc. 1.

[49:1] See Spenser, page [29].

[49:2] "Mariana in the moated grange,"—the motto used by Tennyson for the poem "Mariana."

[49:3] This song occurs in Act v. Sc. 2 of Beaumont and Fletcher's Bloody Brother, with the following additional stanza:—

Hide, O, hide those hills of snow,

Which thy frozen bosom bears,

On whose tops the pinks that grow

Are of those that April wears!

But first set my poor heart free,

Bound in those icy chains by thee.

[50:1] For every why he had a wherefore.—Butler: Hudibras, part i. canto i. line 132.

[51:1] From the crown of his head to the sole of the foot.—Pliny: Natural History, book vii. chap. xvii. Beaumont and Fletcher: The Honest Man's Fortune, act ii. sc. 2. Middleton: A Mad World, etc.

[54:1] For "mirth," White reads shews; Singer, shows.

[56:1] Musical as is Apollo's lute.—Milton: Comus, line 78.

[57:1] Maidens withering on the stalk.—Wordsworth: Personal Talk, stanza 1.

[57:2] "Ever I could read,"—Dyce, Knight, Singer, and White.

[57:3] Act ii. sc. 2 in Singer and Knight.

[58:1] Act ii. sc. 2 in Singer and Knight.

[58:2] See Chapman, page [36].

[58:3] Trew as steele.—Chaucer: Troilus and Cresseide, book v. line 831.

[58:4] Act ii. sc. 2 in Singer and Knight.

[58:5] Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard.—1 Corinthians, ii. 9.

[59:1] I see the beginning of my end.—Massinger: The Virgin Martyr act iii. sc. 3.

[60:1] For the good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do.—Romans vii. 19.

[62:1] See Chaucer, page [5].

[63:1] See Heywood, page [10].

[63:2] I will play the swan and die in music.—Othello, act v. sc. 2.

I am the cygnet to this pale faint swan,

Who chants a doleful hymn to his own death.

King John, act v. sc. 7.

There, swan-like, let me sing and die.—Byron: Don Juan, canto iii. st. 86.

You think that upon the score of fore-knowledge and divining I am infinitely inferior to the swans. When they perceive approaching death they sing more merrily than before, because of the joy they have in going to the God they serve.—Socrates: In Phaedo, 77.

[64:1] It is better to learn late than never.—Publius Syrus: Maxim 864.

[64:2] Incidis in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdim (One falls into Scylla in seeking to avoid Charybdis).—Phillippe Gualtier: Alexandreis, book v. line 301. Circa 1300.

[65:1] "It is not nominated in the bond."—White.

[68:1] The same in The Taming of the Shrew, act iv. sc. 1; in Othello, act iii. sc. 1; in The Merry Wives of Windsor, act i. sc. 4; and in As You Like It, act ii. sc. 7. Rabelais: book v. chap. iv.

[69:1]

The world 's a theatre, the earth a stage,

Which God and Nature do with actors fill.

Thomas Heywood: Apology for Actors. 1612.

A noble farce, wherein kings, republics, and emperors have for so many ages played their parts, and to which the whole vast universe serves for a theatre.—Montaigne: Of the most Excellent Men.

[70:1] See Spenser, page [30].

[71:1] Too much of a good thing.—Cervantes: Don Quixote, part i. book i. chap. vi.

[71:2] "Cud" in Dyce and Staunton.

[72:1] You need not hang up the ivy branch over the wine that will sell.—Publius Syrus: Maxim 968.

[72:2] See Heywood, page [9]. Beaumont and Fletcher: Wit without Money.

[72:3] Married in haste, we may repent at leisure.—Congreve: The Old Bachelor, act v. sc. 1.

[73:1] See Heywood, page [18].

[74:1] How noiseless falls the foot of time!—W. R. Spencer: Lines to Lady A. Hamilton.

[74:2] "Like the sweet south" in Dyce and Singer. This change was made at the suggestion of Pope.

[74:3] See Heywood, page [12].

[76:1] Act iii. Sc. 5 in Dyce.

[77:1] Act iii. sc. 5 in Dyce.

[77:2] Into the jaws of death.—Tennyson: The Charge of the Light Brigade, stanza 3.

In the jaws of death.—Du Bartas: Divine Weekes and Workes, second week, first day, part iv.

[77:3] Act iv. sc. 2 in Dyce, Knight, Singer, Staunton, and White.

[78:1] Act iv. Sc. 3 in Dyce, Knight, Singer, Staunton, and White.

[78:2] Like a wave of the sea.—James i. 6.

[78:3] Act ii. Sc. 2 in Singer, Staunton, and Knight.

[79:1] Act ii. Sc. 2 in White.

[79:2] When fortune flatters, she does it to betray.—Publius Syrus: Maxim 278.

[80:1] Qui s'excuse, s'accuse (He who excuses himself accuses himself).—Gabriel Meurier: Trésor des Sentences. 1530-1601.

[80:2] See page [63, note 2.]

[82:1] It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.—Matt. xix. 24.

[83:1] Thomas Nash: Have with you to Saffron Walden. Dryden: Epilogue to the Duke of Guise.

[85:1] Beaumont and Fletcher: Wit without Money, act iv. sc. 1. Swift: Mary the Cookmaid's Letter.

[87:1] See Heywood, page [19].

[87:2] It show'd discretion the best part of valour.—Beaumont and Fletcher: A King and no King, act ii. sc. 3.

[88:1] Which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?—Luke xiv. 28.

[90:1] Act. iv. Sc. 4 in Dyce, Singer, Staunton, and White.

[90:2] See Heywood, page [20].

Ill blows the wind that profits nobody.—Henry VI. part iii. act ii. sc. 5.

[91:1] Act iii. Sc. 6 in Dyce.

[92:1] With clink of hammers closing rivets up.—Cibber: Richard III. Altered, act v. sc. 3.

[92:2] "In their mouths" in Dyce, Singer, Staunton, and White.

[93:1] All delays are dangerous in war.—Dryden: Tyrannic Love, act i. sc. 1.

[93:2] Have a care o' th' main chance.—Butler: Hudibras, part ii. canto ii.

Be careful still of the main chance.—Dryden: Persius, satire vi.

[93:3] See Raleigh, page [25]; Lyly, page [33].

[94:1] See Marlowe, page [40].

[96:1] For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.—Pope: Essay on Criticism, part iii. line 66.

[96:2] "Stolen forth" in White and Knight.

[97:1] A little too wise, they say, do ne'er live long.—Middleton: The Phœnix, act i. sc. 1.

[97:2] Off with his head! so much for Buckingham!—Cibber: Richard III. (altered), act iv. sc. 3.

[98:1] A weak invention of the enemy.—Cibber: Richard III. (altered), act v. sc. 3.

[98:2] See Spenser, page [27].

[100:1] For men use, if they have an evil tourne, to write it in marble: and whoso doth us a good tourne we write it in duste.—Sir Thomas More: Richard III. and his miserable End.

All your better deeds

Shall be in water writ, but this in marble.

Beaumont and Fletcher: Philaster, act v. sc. 3.

L'injure se grave en métal; et le bienfait s'escrit en l'onde.

(An injury graves itself in metal, but a benefit writes itself in water.)

Jean Bertaut. Circa 1611.

[101:1] Act v. Sc. 2 in Dyce, Singer, Staunton, and White.

[101:2] Act v. Sc. 4 in Dyce, Singer, Staunton, and White.

[101:3] Labour for his pains.—Edward Moore: The Boy and his Rainbow.

Labour for their pains.—Cervantes: Don Quixote, The Author's Preface.

[102:1] Unless degree is preserved, the first place is safe for no one.—Publius Syrus: Maxim 1042.

[103:1]

When flowing cups pass swiftly round

With no allaying Thames.

Richard Lovelace: To Althea from Prison, ii.

[103:2] See Sidney, page [34].

[103:3] Act v. sc. 5 in Singer and Knight.

[104:1] See Heywood, page [18].

[104:2] See Chapman, page [36].

[105:1] My dancing days are done.—Beaumont and Fletcher: The Scornful Lady, act v. sc. 3.

[105:2] Dyce, Knight, and White read, "Her beauty hangs."

[105:3] Act ii. sc. 1 in White.

[105:4] Act ii. sc. 1. in White.

[106:1] Perjuria ridet amantum Jupiter (Jupiter laughs at the perjuries of lovers).—Tibullus: iii. 6, 49.

[106:2] Act ii. sc. 1 in White.

[107:1] True as steel.—Chaucer: Troilus and Creseide, book v. Compare Troilus and Cressida, act iii. sc. 2.

[107:2] Word and a blow.—Dryden: Amphitryon, act i. sc. 1. Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress, part i.

[111:1] "Utmost" in Singer.

[112:1] Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart.—Gray: The Bard, i. 3, line 12.

[113:1] Though last not least.—Spenser: Colin Clout, line 444.

[118:1] See Heywood, page [14].

[119:1] Act. ii. sc. 1 in Dyce, Staunton, and White.

[120:1] Act ii. sc. 1 in Dyce, Staunton, White.

[120:2] Act ii. sc. 1 in Dyce and White; Act ii. sc. 2 in Staunton.

[120:3] Act ii. sc. 2 in Dyce and White; Act ii. sc. 3 in Staunton.

[123:1]

Let the air strike our tune,

Whilst we show reverence to yond peeping moon.

Middleton: The Witch, act. v. sc. 2.

[126:1] Act v. Sc. 7 in Singer and White.

[127:1] "Can walk" in White.

[127:2] "Eastern hill" in Dyce, Singer, Staunton, and White.

[127:3] "One auspicious and one dropping eye" in Dyce, Singer, and Staunton.

[128:1] "Armed at all points" in Singer and White.

[129:1]

And may you better reck the rede,

Than ever did the adviser.

Burns: Epistle to a Young Friend.

[129:2] "Hooks" in Singer.

[131:1] And makes night hideous.—Pope: The Dunciad, book iii. line 166.

[131:2] "To lasting fires" in Singer.

[131:3] "Porcupine" in Singer and Staunton.

[131:4] "Rots itself" in Staunton.

[133:1] A short saying oft contains much wisdom.—Sophocles: Aletes, frag. 99.

[135:1] See Chaucer, page [5].

[136:1] "Who would these fardels" in White.

[138:1] "Protests" in Dyce, Singer, and Staunton.

[141:1] Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases.—Hippocrates: Aphorism i.

[143:1] Thus woe succeeds a woe, as wave a wave.—Herrick: Sorrows Succeed.

Woes cluster; rare are solitary woes;

They love a train, they tread each other's heel.

Young: Night Thoughts, night iii. line 63.

And woe succeeds to woe.—Pope: The Iliad, book xvi. line 139.

[144:1]

And from his ashes may be made

The violet of his native land.

Tennyson: In Memoriam, xviii.

[144:2] A ministering angel thou.—Scott: Marmion, canto vi. st. 30.

[145:1]

But they that are above

Have ends in everything.

Beaumont and Fletcher: The Maid's Tragedy act v. sc. 4.

[147:1] The prince of darkness is a gentleman.—Suckling: The Goblins.

[149:1] Though I be rude in speech.—2 Cor. xi. 6.

[150:1] "These things to hear" in Singer.

[152:1] Though these lines are from an old ballad given in Percy's Reliques, they are much altered by Shakespeare, and it is his version we sing in the nursery.

[153:1]

For he being dead, with him is beauty slain,

And, beauty dead, black chaos comes again.

Venus and Adonis.

[153:2] "Fondly" in Singer and White; "soundly" in Staunton.

[155:1] Cervantes: Don Quixote, part ii. chap. i.

[155:2] "His slow and moving finger" in Knight and Staunton.

[159:1] See Marlowe, page [41].

[159:2] See Lyly, page [32].

[161:1] "Worth" in White.

[[164]]

FRANCIS BACON. 1561-1626.

(Works: Spedding and Ellis).

I hold every man a debtor to his profession; from the which as men of course do seek to receive countenance and profit, so ought they of duty to endeavour themselves by way of amends to be a help and ornament thereunto.

Maxims of the Law. Preface.

Come home to men's business and bosoms.

Dedication to the Essays, Edition 1625.

No pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage-ground of truth.

Of Truth.

Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.

Of Death.

Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.

Of Revenge.

It was a high speech of Seneca (after the manner of the Stoics), that "The good things which belong to prosperity are to be wished, but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired."

Of Adversity.

It is yet a higher speech of his than the other, "It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a god."

Of Adversity.

Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New.

Of Adversity.

Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes.

Of Adversity.

[[165]]

Virtue is like precious odours,—most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed.[165:1]

Of Adversity.

He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.

Of Marriage and Single Life.

Wives are young men's mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men's nurses.[165:2]

Of Marriage and Single Life.

Men in great place are thrice servants,—servants of the sovereign or state, servants of fame, and servants of business.

Of Great Place.

Mahomet made the people believe that he would call a hill to him, and from the top of it offer up his prayers for the observers of his law. The people assembled. Mahomet called the hill to come to him, again and again; and when the hill stood still he was never a whit abashed, but said, "If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill."

Of Boldness.

The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall.[165:3]

Of Goodness.

The remedy is worse than the disease.[165:4]

Of Seditions.

[[166]]

I had rather believe all the fables in the legends and the Talmud and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind.

Of Atheism.

A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.[166:1]

Of Atheism.

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience. He that travelleth into a country before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel.

Of Travel.

Princes are like to heavenly bodies, which cause good or evil times, and which have much veneration but no rest.[166:2]

Of Empire.

In things that a man would not be seen in himself, it is a point of cunning to borrow the name of the world; as to say, "The world says," or "There is a speech abroad."

Of Cunning.

There is a cunning which we in England call "the turning of the cat in the pan;" which is, when that which a man says to another, he lays it as if another had said it to him.

Of Cunning.

It is a good point of cunning for a man to shape the answer he would have in his own words and propositions, for it makes the other party stick the less.

Of Cunning.

It hath been an opinion that the French are wiser than they seem, and the Spaniards seem wiser than they are; but howsoever it be between nations, certainly it is so between man and man.

Of Seeming Wise.

[[167]]

There is a wisdom in this beyond the rules of physic. A man's own observation, what he finds good of and what he finds hurt of, is the best physic to preserve health.

Of Regimen of Health.

Discretion of speech is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words or in good order.

Of Discourse.

Men's thoughts are much according to their inclination,[167:1] their discourse and speeches according to their learning and infused opinions.

Of Custom and Education.

Chiefly the mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands.[167:2]

Of Fortune.

If a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune; for though she is blind, she is not invisible.[167:3]

Of Fortune.

Young men are fitter to invent than to judge, fitter for execution than for counsel, and fitter for new projects than for settled business.

Of Youth and Age.

Virtue is like a rich stone,—best plain set.

Of Beauty.

God Almighty first planted a garden.[167:4]

Of Gardens.

And because the breath of flowers is far sweeter in the air (where it comes and goes, like the warbling of music) than in the hand, therefore nothing is more fit for that delight than to know what be the flowers and plants that do best perfume the air.

Of Gardens.

[[168]]

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

Of Studies.

Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.

Of Studies.

Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtile; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend.

Of Studies.

The greatest vicissitude of things amongst men is the vicissitude of sects and religions.[168:1]

Of Vicissitude of Things.

Books must follow sciences, and not sciences books.

Proposition touching Amendment of Laws.

Knowledge is power.—Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est.[168:2]

Meditationes Sacræ. De Hæresibus.

Whence we see spiders, flies, or ants entombed and preserved forever in amber, a more than royal tomb.[168:3]

Historia Vitæ et Mortis; Sylva Sylvarum, Cent. i. Exper. 100.

When you wander, as you often delight to do, you wander indeed, and give never such satisfaction as the curious time requires. This is not caused by any natural defect, but first for want of election, when you, having a large and fruitful mind, should not so much labour what to speak as to find what to leave unspoken. Rich soils are often to be weeded.

Letter of Expostulation to Coke.

[[169]]

"Antiquitas sæculi juventus mundi." These times are the ancient times, when the world is ancient, and not those which we account ancient ordine retrogrado, by a computation backward from ourselves.[169:1]

Advancement of Learning. Book i. (1605.)

For the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's estate.

Advancement of Learning. Book i.

The sun, which passeth through pollutions and itself remains as pure as before.[169:2]