Essay XXII. Of Cunning.—
"The old rule, to know a fool from a wise man: 'Mitte ambos nudos ad ignotos, et videbis.'">[ Attributed to "one of the philosophers" in Apophthegms, No. 255. p. 404.
"I knew a counsellor and secretary that never came to Queen Elizabeth of England with bills to sign, but he would always first put her into some discourse of estate, that she might the less mind the bills.">[ King's or queen's bills is a technical expression for a class of documents requiring the royal signature, which is still, or was recently, in use. See Murray's Official Handbook, by Mr. Redgrave, p. 257. Query, To which of Queen Elizabeth's Secretaries of State does Bacon allude? And again, who are meant by the "two who were competitors for the Secretary's place in Queen Elizabeth's time," mentioned lower down?
Essay XXIII. Of Wisdom for a Man's Self.—
"It is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a house somewhat before it fall.">[ Query, How and when did this popular notion (now engrafted upon our political language) originate?
"It is the wisdom of crocodiles, that shed tears when they would devour.">[ This saying seems to be derived from the belief, that the crocodile imitates the cry of children in order to attract their mothers, and then to devour them. See Salgues, Des Erreurs et des Préjugés, tom. ii. p. 406.
Essay XXIV. Of Innovations.—See Antitheta, No. 40. vol. viii. p. 375.
Essay XXV. Of Despatch.—See Antitheta, No. 27. vol. viii. p. 368.
"I knew a wise man, that had it for a by-word, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion, 'Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner.'">[ Mr. Markby says that Sir Amias Paulet is the person alluded to. The saying in Apophthegms, No. 14. p. 414.
"The Spartans and Spaniards have been noted to be of small despatch: 'Mi venga la muerte de Spagna,—Let my death come from Spain, for then it will be sure to be long in coming.'">[ The slow and dilatory character of the Lacedæmonians is noted in Thucyd. i. 70.: "Καὶ μὴν καὶ ἄοκνοι πρὸς ὑμᾶς μελλητάς." And again, i. 84.: "Καὶ τὸ βραδὺ καὶ μέλλον, ὃ μέμφονται μάλιστα ἡμῶν." Livy represents the Rhodians making a similar remark to the Roman senate in 167 B.C.: "Atheniensium populum fama est celerem et supra vires audacem esse ad conandum: Lacedæmoniorum cunctatorem, et vix in ea, quibus fidit, ingredientem," xlv. 23. Bayle, in his Pensées sur les Comètes, § 243., has a passage which illustrates the slowness of the Spaniards:—"D'un côté on prévoyoit, que l'empereur et le roi d'Espagne se serviroient de très grandes forces, pour opprimer la chrétienté: mais on prévoyoit aussi de l'autre, qu'ils ne seroient jamais en état de l'accabler, parceque la lenteur et les longues délibérations qui ont toujours fait leur partage, font perdre trop de bonnes occasions. Vous savez la pensée de Malherbe sur ce sujet: S'il est vrai, dit-il dans quelqu'une de ses lettres, que l'Espagne aspire à la monarchie universelle, je lui conseille de demander à Dieu une surséance de la fin du monde."