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32. Private opinion is more free, but opinion before others is more reverend.

33. Fortune is like a market, where many times if you stay a little the price will fall.

34. Fortune sometimes turneth the handle of the bottle, which is easy to be taken hold of; and after the belly, which is hard to grasp.

35. Generally it is good to commit the beginning of all great actions to Argus with an hundred eyes; and the ends of them to Briareus with an hundred hands; first to watch, and then to speed.

36. There is great difference betwixt a cunning man and a wise man. There be that can pack the cards, who yet cannot play well; they are good in canvasses and factions, and yet otherwise

mean men.

52. Riches are the baggage of virtue; they cannot be spared, nor left behind, but they hinder the march.

53. Great riches have sold more men than ever they have bought out.

54. Riches have wings, and sometimes they fly away of themselves, and sometimes they must be set flying to bring in more.

55. He that defers his charity till he is dead, is, if a man weighs it rightly, rather liberal of another man's than of his own.

56. Ambition is like choler; if it can move, it makes men active; if it be stopped, it becomes adust, and makes men melancholy.

57. To take a soldier without ambition, is to pull off his spurs.

58. Some ambitious men seem as skreens to princes in matters of danger and envy. For no man will take such parts, except he be like the ad-seeled dove, that mounts and mounts, because he cannot see about him.

37. Extreme self-lovers will set a man's house on fire, though it were but to roast their eggs. 38. New things, like strangers, are more mired and less favoured.

39. It were good that men, in their innovations, would follow the example of time itself, which indeed innovateth greatly, but quietly, and by degrees scarce to be perceived.

40. They that reverence too much old time, are but a scorn to the new.

41. The Spaniards and Spartans 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 a coming.

42. You had better take for business a man somewhat absurd, than over-formal.

43. Those who want friends to whom to open their griefs, are cannibals of their own hearts.

44. Number itself importeth not much in armies, where the people are of weak courage; for, as Virgil says, it never troubles a wolf how many the sheep be.

45. Let states that aim at greatness, take heed how their nobility and gentry multiply too fast. In coppice woods, if you leave your stadles too thick, you shall never have clean underwood, but shrubs and bushes.

46. A civil war is like the heat of a fever; but a foreign war is like the heat of exercise, and serveth to keep the body in health.

59. Princes and states should choose such ministers as are more sensible of duty than rising; and should discern a busy nature from a willing mind.

60. A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds; therefore let him seasonably water the one, and destroy the other.

61. If a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see fortune; for though she be blind, she is not invisible.

62. Usury bringeth the treasure of a realm or state into a few hands: for the usurer being at certainties, and others at uncertainties; at the end of the game most of the money will be in the box.

63. Beauty is best in a body that hath rather dignity of presence, than beauty of aspect. The beautiful prove accomplished, but not of great spirit; and study, for the most part, rather behaviour than virtue.

64. The best part of beauty is that which a picture cannot express.

65. He who builds a fair house upon an ill seat, commits himself to prison.

66. If you will work on any man, you must either know his nature and fashion, and so lead him; or his ends, and so persuade him; or his

47. Suspicions among thoughts, are like bats weaknesses and disadvantages, and so awe him; among birds, they ever fly by twilight.

or those that have interest in him, and so govern

48. Base natures, if they find themselves once him. suspected, will never be true.

49. Men ought to find the difference between saltness and bitterness. Certainly he that hath a satirical vein, as he maketh others afraid of his wit, so he had need be afraid of others' memory. 50. Discretion in speech is more than eloquence. 51. Men seem neither well to understand their riches nor their strength; of the former they believe greater things than they should, and of the 'atter much less. And from hence certain fatal pillars have bounded the progress of learning.

67. Costly followers (among whom we may reckon those who are importunate in suits) are not to be liked; lest, while a man maketh his train longer, he maketh his wings shorter.

68. Fame is like a river that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.

69. Seneca saith well, that anger is like rain, which breaks itself upon that which it falls. 70. Excusations, cessions, modesty itself well governed, are but arts of ostentation.

71. High treason is not written in ice, that for grain is seen, which in a fouler stone is never when the body relenteth, the impression should perceived. go away.

73. Hollow church papists are like the roots 72. The best governments are always subject of nettles, which themselves sting not; but yet to be like the fairest crystals, wherein every icicle they bear all the stinging leaves.

SHORT NOTES FOR CIVIL CONVERSATION.

BY SIR FRANCIS BACON.*

To deceive men's expectations generally (which | wanting true judgment; for in all things no man cautel) argueth a staid mind, and unexpected con- can be exquisite. stancy: viz. in matters of fear, anger, sudden joy or grief, and all things which may affect or alter the mind in public or sudden accidents, or suchlike. It is necessary to use a steadfast countenance, not wavering with action, as in moving the head or hand too much, which showeth a fantastical, light, and fickle operation of the spirit, and consequently like mind as gesture: only it is sufficient, with leisure, to use a modest action in either.

To have commonplaces to discourse, and to want variety, is both tedious to the hearers, and shows a shallowness of conceit: therefore it is good to vary, and suit speeches with the present occasions; and to have a moderation in all our speeches, especially in jesting of religion, state, great persons, weighty and important business, poverty, or any thing deserving pity.

A long continued speech, without a good speech of interlocution, showeth slowness: and a good reply, without a good set speech, showeth shallowness and weakness.

In all kinds of speech, either pleasant, grave, severe, or ordinary, it is convenient to speak leisurely, and rather drawingly, than hastily; To use many circumstances, ere you come to because hasty speech confounds the memory, the matter, is wearisome; and to use none at all, and oftentimes, besides unseemliness, drives ais but blunt. man either to a non-plus or unseemly stammering, Bashfulness is a great hinderance to a man, harping upon that which should follow; whereas a slow speech confirmeth the memory, addeth a conceit of wisdom to the hearers, besides a seemliness of speech and countenance. To desire in discourse to hold all arguments, is ridiculous,|

both of uttering his conceit, and understanding
what is propounded unto him; wherefore it is
good to press himself forwards with discretion,
both in speech, and company of the better sort.
"Usus promptos facit."

AN ESSAY ON DEATH.

BY THE LORD CHANCELLOR BACON.t

1. I HAVE often thought upon death, and I find it the least of all evils. All that which is past is as a dream; and he that hopes or depends upon time coming, dreams waking. So much of our life as we have discovered is already dead; and all those hours which we share, even from the breasts of our mother, until we return to our grandmother the earth, are part of our dying days; whereof even this is one, and those that succeed are of the same nature, for we die daily; and as others have given place to us, so we must in the end give way to others.

* From the Remains.

2. Physicians in the name of death include all sorrow, anguish, disease, calamity, or whatsoever can fall in the life of man, either grievous or unwelcome: but these things are familiar unto us, and we suffer them every hour; therefore we die daily, and I am older since I affirmed it.

3. I know many wise men, that fear to die; for the change is bitter, and flesh would refuse to prove it: besides the expectation orings terror, and that exceeds the evil. But I do not believe, that any man fears to be dead, but only

+ Remains.

the stroke of death and such are my hopes, that if Heaven be pleased, and nature renew but my lease for twenty-one years more, without asking longer days, I shall be strong enough to acknowledge without mourning that I was begotten mortal. Virtue walks not in the highway, though she go per alta; this is strength and the blood to virtue, to contemn things that be desired, and to neglect that which is feared.

4. Why should man be in love with his fetters, though of gold? Art thou drowned in security? Then I say thou art perfectly dead. For though thou movest, yet thy soul is buried within thee, and thy good angel either forsakes his guard or sleeps. There is nothing under heaven, saving a true friend, who cannot be counted within the number of moveables, unto which my heart doth lean. And this dear freedom hath begotten me this peace, that I mourn not for that end which must be, nor spend one wish to have one minute added to the incertain date of my years. It was no mean apprehension of Lucian, who says of Menippus, that in his travels through hell he knew not the kings of the earth from other men, but only by their louder cryings and tears: which was fostered in them through the remorseful memory of the good days they had seen, and the fruitful havings which they so unwillingly left behind them: he that was well seated, looked back at his portion, and was loath to forsake his farm; and others either minding marriages, pleasures, profit, or preferment, desired to be excused from death's banquet: they had made an appointment with earth, looking at the blessings, not the hand that enlarged them, forgetting how unclothedly they came hither, or with what naked ornaments they were arrayed.

most part out of this world with their heels forward; in token that he is contrary to life; which being obtained, sends men headlong into this wretched theatre, where being arrived, their first language is that of mourning. Nor in my own thoughts, can I compare men more fitly to any thing, than to the Indian fig-tree, which being ripened to his full height, is said to decline his branches down to the earth; whereof she conceives again, and they become roots in their own stock.

So man having derived his being from the earth, first lives the life of a tree, drawing his nourishment as a plant, and made ripe for death he tends downwards, and is sowed again in his mother the earth, where he perisheth not, but expects a quickening.

7. So we see death exempts not a man from being, but only presents an alteration; yet there are some men, I think, that stand otherwise persuaded. Death finds not a worse friend than an alderman, to whose door I never knew him welcome; but he is an importunate guest, and will not be said nay.

And though they themselves shall affirm, that they are not within, yet the answer will not be taken; and that which heightens their fear is, that they know they are in danger to forfeit their flesh, but are not wise of the payment day: which sickly uncertainty is the occasion that, for the most part they step out of this world unfurnished for their general account, and being all unprovided, desire yet to hold their gravity, preparing their souls to answer in scarlet.

Thus I gather, that death is unagreeable to most citizens, because they commonly die intestate this being a rule, that when their will is made, they think themselves nearer a grave than before; now they out of the wisdom of thousands think to scare destiny from which there is no appeal, by not making a will, or to live longer by protestation of their unwillingness to die. They are for the most part well made in this world, accounting their treasure by legions, as men do devils, their fortune looks toward them, and they are willing to anchor at it, and desire, if it be pos

5. But were we servants of the precept given, and observers of the heathen's rule "memento mori," and not become benighted with this seeming felicity, we should enjoy it as men prepared to lose and not wind up our thoughts upon so perishing a fortune: he that is not slackly strong, as the servants of pleasure, how can he be found unready to quit the veil and false visage of his perfection? The soul having shaken off her flesh, doth then set up for herself, and contemn-sible, to put the evil day far off from them, and to ing things that are under, shows what finger hath enforced her; for the souls of idiots are of the same piece with those of statesmen, but now and then nature is at a fault, and this good guest of ours takes soil in an imperfect body, and so is slackened from showing her wonders; like an excellent musician, which cannot utter himself upon a defective instrument.

6. But see how I am swerved, and lose my course, touching at the soul, that doth least hold action with death, who hath the surest property in this frail act; his style is the end of all flesh, and the beginning of incorruption.

adjourn their ungrateful and killing period.

No, these are not the men which have bespoken death, or whose looks are assured to entertain a thought of him.

8. Death arrives gracious only to such as sit in darkness, or lie heavy burdened with grief and irons; to the poor Christian, that sits bound in the galley; to despairful widows, pensive prisoners, and deposed kings: to them whose fortune runs back, and whose spirits mutiny; unto such death is a redeemer, and the grave a place for retiredness and rest.

These wait upon the shore of death, and wait This ruler of monuments leads men for the unto him to draw near, wishing above all others

to see his star, that they might be led to his place, wooing the remorseless sisters to wind down the watch of their life, and to break them off before the hour.

9. But death is a doleful messenger to a usurer, and fate untimely cuts their thread: for it is never mentioned by him, but when rumours of war and civil tumults put him in mind thereof.

hold grief no evil, but opinion, and a thing indifferent.

But I consent with Cæsar, that the suddenest passage is easiest, and there is nothing more awakens our resolve and readiness to die, than the quieted conscience, strengthened with opinion that we shall be well spoken of upon earth by those that are just and of the family of virtue; the opposite whereof is a fury to man, and makes even life unsweet.

And when many hands are armed, and the peace of a city in disorder, and the foot of the common soldiers sounds an alarm on his stairs, then per- Therefore, what is more heavy than evil fame haps such a one, broken in thoughts of his moneys deserved? Or, likewise, who can see worse days, abroad, and cursing the monuments of coin which than he that yet living doth follow at the funerals are in his house, can be content to think of death; | of his own reputation? and, being hasty of perdition, will perhaps hang himself, lest his throat should be cut; provided that he may do it in his study, surrounded with wealth, to which his eye sends a faint and languishing salute, even upon the turning off; remembering always, that he have time and liberty by writing, to depute himself as his own

heir.

I have laid up many hopes, that I am privileged from that kind of mourning, and could wish the | like peace to all those with whom I wage love.

12. I might say much of the commodities that death can sell a man; but briefly, death is a friend of ours, and he that is not ready to entertain him is not at home. Whilst I am, my ambition is not to foreflow the tide; I have but so to make my

For that is a great peace to his end, and recon- interest of it, as I may account for it; I would ciles him wonderfully upon the point.

10. Herein we all dally with ourselves, and are without proof of necessity. I am not of those that dare promise to pine away myself in vain glory, and I hold such to be but feat boldness, and them that dare commit it to be vain. Yet for my part, I think nature should do me great wrong, if I should be so long in dying as I was in being born.

To speak truth, no man knows the lists of his own patience; nor can divine how able he shall be in his sufferings, till the storm come; the perfectest virtue being tried in action: but I would, out of a care to do the best business well, ever keep a guard, and stand upon keeping faith and a good conscience.

11. And if wishes might find place, I would die together, and not my mind often, and my body once; that is, I would prepare for the messengers of death, sickness and affliction, and not wait long, or be attempted by the violence of pain.

Herein I do not profess myself a Stoic, to

wish nothing but what might better my days, nor desire any greater place than in the front of good opinion. I make not love to the continuance of days, but to the goodness of them; nor wish to die, but refer myself to my hour, which the great Dispenser of all things hath appointed me; yet as I am frail, and suffered for the first fault, were it given me to choose, I should not be earnest to see the evening of my age; that extremity of itself being a disease, and a mere return into infancy; so that if perpetuity of life might be given me, I should think what the Greek poet said, "Such an age is a mortal evil." And since I must needs be dead, I require it may not be done before mine enemies, that I be not stript before I be cold: but before my friends. The night was even now; but that name is lost; it is not now late, but early. Mine eyes begin to discharge their watch, and compound with this fleshly weakness for a time of perpetual rest; and I shall presently be as happy for a few hours, as I had died the first hour I was born.

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