[275] Use indirect stratagems.
[276] He alludes to the old Cathedral of St. Paul, in London, which, in the sixteenth century, was a common lounge for idlers.
[277] Movements, or springs.
[278] Chances, or vicissitudes.
[279] Enter deeply into.
[280] Faults, or weak points.
[281] “The wise man gives heed to his own footsteps; the fool turneth aside to the snare.” No doubt he here alludes to Ecclesiastes xiv. 2, which passage is thus rendered in our version: “The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness.”
[282] Mischievous.
[283] It must be remembered that Bacon was not a favorer of the Copernican system.
[284] “Lovers of themselves without a rival.”—Ad. Qu. Fr. iii. 8.