he is delayed with or without cause. In both these stanzas the key of "You," which impersonates Beauty, is necessarily used in substitution for the queen, for the reason, probably, that it was indispensable. By reading the stanzas as if applied to Beauty, the key is perfect, and I was disposed to confine it to that meaning; but its perfect adaptability to the appointment he received, and the sequent meaning it gives to the probable suspension in his writing, foreshadowed in the fiftysixth stanza, as well as the absence daily imposed on him, which he so laments, has confirmed my belief that he intended to address the queen, and also preserve the key, by making the stanza equally applicable to Beauty.

SONNET 59.

If there be nothing new, but that which is
Hath been before, how are our brains beguil❜d,
Which, laboring for invention, bear amiss
The second burthen of a former child!

O, that record could, with a backward look,
Even of five hundred courses of the sun,
Show Me Your image in some antique book,
Since mind at first in character was done!
That I might see what the old world could say
To this composed wonder of your frame;
Whether we're mended, or whether better they,
Or whether revolution be the same.

O, sure I am, the wits of former days

To subjects worse have given admiring praise.

Comparison between the stories upon which his plays are founded and the plays themselves is

made in this stanza. If these plays are not new in their new dress, he has spent his time unprofitably in "laboring for invention" to make them So. Of their comparative merits, he would like to have the opinion of the " old world" (the people who lived five hundred years before his time), when the stories upon which his dramas were founded were written; in the days of Cinthio, Saxo Grammaticus, and other writers, when "mind at first in character was done" (when the first modern attempts at story-telling were made), and hear what their opinion would be "of this composed wonder of your frame" (of the reproduction he has made of their works), whether they are improved or not, or "whether revolution be the same" (whether the world has remained stationary, without advancement). He ventures the assertion that the "wits" (the critics, authors, and readers) of those times had been pleased and satisfied with works less deserving than those he has written.

SONNET 60.

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,

So do our minutes hasten to their end;

Each changing place with that which goes before,

In sequent toil all forwards do contend.

Nativity, once in the main of light,

Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd,
Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight,

And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
And delves the parallels in Beauty's brow,

Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,

And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow;
And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,
Praising Thy worth, despite his cruel hand.

This stanza is a reflex of the advancement of growth and life from infancy to maturity. The minutes are compared to the waves in their approach to the beach, each changing place with the one before it, and all eager in its march to reach the limit of its bounds. "Nativity, once in the main of light" (the infant just born), "crawls to maturity" (feels the time as long until he reaches manhood), "wherewith being crown'd, crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight" (when attained, he meets with worldly troubles which darken the bright path he had marked for himself in early years). "And Time that gave doth now his gift confound" (if he has been favored by education, or wealth, the world is full of obstacles to the success in life he had anticipated). "Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth" (the promises and flatteries which accompanied his youth, and taught him to believe he was destined for great achievements, find no fruition among the disappointments and cares that assail him in his struggle with the world). "And delves the parallels in Beauty's brow" (wrinkles him with sorrow, regret, and anguish). "Feeds on the vanities of nature's truth" (it is wasted in the follies and vices of the world). "And nothing stands but for his scythe

to mow" (hopes are blasted, life is overcast, and no prospect of worldly attainment or promotion before him).

This I conceive to have been written as expressive of Bacon's own disappointment in early life. No young man of that age was favored with better opportunities, and none ever blessed with greater abilities and aptitudes of thought and desire to profit by them. The death of his father, want of fortune, and force of circumstances, which deprived him of congenial studies and occupations, clouded his early manhood, made him a dependent, and changed the whole course of his life. It is quite probable, however, but for these changes, the world never would have been blessed with his immortal dramas.

This stanza is also suggestive of the thoughts contained in the celebrated speech of Jaques in "As You Like It," commencing "All the world's a stage," etc., and may have been written in allusion to that play.

SONNET 61.

Is it Thy will Thy image should keep open
My heavy eyelids to the weary night?

Dost Thou desire My slumbers should be broken,
While shadows like to Thee do mock My sight?

Is it Thy spirit that Thou send'st from Thee

So far from home into My deeds to pry,

To find out shames and idle hours in Me,

The scope and tenor of Thy jealousy?

O, no! Thy Love, though much, is not so great:

It is My Love that keeps Mine eye awake;

Mine own true Love that doth My rest defeat,

To play the watchman ever for Thy sake:

For Thee watch I, whilst Thou dost wake elsewhere,
From Me far off, with others all too near.

He tells in this stanza that Shakespeare, though present to his thoughts, is not the principal motive which impels him to work upon his dramas. "Is it Thy will Thy image should keep open My heavy eyelids to the weary night?" (am I influenced by the thought of Will Shakespeare in the drama I am writing?) "Dost Thou [Truth] desire my slumbers should be broken, while shadows like to Thee [Shakespeare] do mock my sight?" (shall I stop writing, or lose sleep on your account?) "Is it Thy [Shakespeare's] spirit that Thou [Truth] send'st from Thee [Thought] so far from home into My deeds to pry?" (does my night work on the drama require your presence for any purpose?) "To find out shame and idle hours in Me, the scope and tenor of Thy jealousy?" (can you tell whether my writings are ill or well, or whether they should be completed sooner or later?) "O, no! Thy Love, though much, is not so great" (your interest, though valuable, is of another kind, and not equal to any of these services). "It is My Love [my drama] that keeps Mine eye awake, Mine own true Love that doth My rest defeat" (it is my drama, which is "My own true Love," that influences me to work, and also to be watchful of you, Shakespeare). I watch for you when "Thou

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