say, he did temporize, though in secret he thought there was no God. But certainly he is traduced, for his words are noble and divine-Non Deos vulgi negare profanum, sed vulgi opiniones Diis applicare profanum." Plato could have said no

*

more..... They that deny a God destroy man's nobility; for certainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body; and if he be not of kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble .creature. It destroys likewise magnanimity and the raising of human nature. For take an example of a dog, and mark what a generosity and courage he will put on when he finds himself maintained by a man who, to him, is instead of a God, or melior natura; which courage is manifestly such as that creature, without that confidence of a better nature than his own, could never attain. So man, when he resteth and assureth himself upon Divine protection and favour, gathereth a force and faith which human nature in itself could not obtain. Therefore as atheism is in all respects hateful, so in this, that it depriveth human nature of the means to exalt itself above human frailty.

The Seventeenth Essay, also in the collection of 1612, is entitled 'Of Superstition.' Its leading idea is stated in the commencement :

It were better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an opinion as is unworthy of him; for the one is unbelief, the other is contumely; and certainly superstition is the reproach of the Deity. Plutarch saith well to that purpose: Surely,' saith he, I had rather a great deal men should say there was no such man at all as Plutarch, than that they should say that there was one Plutarch that would eat his children as soon as they were born;' as the poets speak of Saturn. And as the contumely is greater towards God, so the danger is greater towards men. Atheism leaves a man to seuse, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, though religion were not; but superstition dismounts all these, and erecteth an absolute monarchy in the minds of men.

Of the Eighteenth, entitled 'Of Travel,' first pubfished in 1625, it may be enough to give the concluding

sentences:—

*It is not profane to deny the deities of the vulgar, but it is profane to apply the opinions of the vulgar to the divinities.

When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind him, but maintain a correspondence by letters with those of his acquaintance which are of most worth. And let his travel appear rather in his discourse than in his apparel or gesture; and in his discourse let him be rather advised in his answers than forward to tell stories. And let it appear that he doth not change his country manners for those of foreign parts, but only prick in some flowers of that he hath learned abroad into the customs of his own country.

The Nineteenth Of Empire,' which is in the collection of 1612, sets out thus:

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It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire and many things to fear, and yet that commonly is the case of kings, who, being at the highest, want matter of desire, which makes their minds more languishing and have many representations of perils and shadows, which make their minds the less clear. And this is one reason also of that effect which the Scripture speaketh of "That the king's heart is inscrutable;' for multitude of jealousies, and lack of some predominant desire that should marshal and put in order all the rest, maketh any man's heart hard to find or sound. Hence it comes likewise that princes many times make themselves desires, and set their hearts upon toys-sometimes upon a building, sometimes upon erecting of an order, sometimes upon the advancing of a person, sometimes upon obtaining excellency in some art or feat of the hand-as Nero for playing on the harp, Domitian for certainty of the hand with the arrow, Commodus for playing at fence, Caracalla for driving chariots, and the like. This seemeth incredible unto those that know not the principleThat the mind of man is more cheered and refreshed by profiting in small things than by standing at a stay in great.' We see also that kings that have been fortunate conquerors in their first years (it being not possible for them to go forward infinitely, but that they must have some check or arrest in their fortunes) turn in their latter years to be superstitious and melancholyy-as did Alexander the Great, Dioclesian, and, in our memory, Charles the Fifth, and others; for he that is used to go forward, and findeth a stop, falleth out of his own favour, and is not the thing he was.

From the Twentieth Essay, 'Of Counsel,' also published in 1612, we extract a small portion at the close::

It is in vain for princes to take counsel concerning matters, if they take no counsel likewise concerning persons; for all matters are as dead images, and the life of the execution of affairs resteth in the good choice of persons.

In choice of committees for ripening business for the council, it is better to choose indifferent persons than to make an indifferency by putting in those that are strong on both sides. I commend, also, standing commissions-as for trade, for treasure, for war, for suits, for some provinces; for where there be divers particular councils, and but one council of estate (as it is in Spain), they are in effect no more than standing commissions, save that they have greater authority. Let such as are to inform councils out of their particular professions (as lawyers, seamen, mintmen, and the like), be first heard before committees, and then, as occasion serves, before the council. And let them not come in multitudes or in a tribunitious manner, for that is to clamour councils, not to inform them. A long table, and a square table, or seats about the walls, seem things of form, but are things of substance; for at a long table, a few at the upper eud in effect sway all the business, but in the other form there is more use of the counsellors' opinions that sit lower. A king, when he presides in council, let him beware how he opens his own inclination too much in that which he propoundeth, for else counsellors will but take the wind of him, and, instead of giving free counsel, will sing him a song of 'Placebo.'*

The Twenty-first, entitled 'Of Delays,' first published in 1625, is very short: it concludes thus :

Generally it is good to commit the beginnings of all great actions to Argus with his hundred eyes, and the ends to Briareus with his hundred hands-first to watch and then to speed. For the helmet of Pluto, which maketh the politic man go invisible, is secrecy in the council, and celerity in the execution; for when things are once come to the execution, there is no secrecy comparable to celerity-like the motion of a bullet in the air, which flieth so swift as it outruns the eye.

The Twenty-second,Of Cunning,' published in 1612, begins as follows:

:

We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. And

* I will make myself agreeable.

certainly there is great difference between a cunning man and a wise man, not only in point of honesty but in point of ability. There be that can pack the cards, and yet cannot play well; so there are some that are good in canvasses and factions that are otherwise weak men. Again, it is one thing to understand persons, and another thing to understand matters; for many are perfect in men's humours that are not greatly capable of the real part of business, which is the constitution of one that hath studied men more than books. Such men are fitter for practice than for counsel, and they are good but in their own alley; turn them to new men and they have lost their aim.

The Twenty-third, also published in 1612, is entitled 'Of Wisdom for a Man's Self,' and is thus wound up:—

Wisdom for a man's self is, in many branches thereof, a depraved thing: it is the wisdom of rats, that will be sure to leave a house somewhat before it fall; it is the wisdom of the fox, that thrusts out the badger who digged and made room for him; it is the wisdom of crocodiles, that shed tears when they would devour. But that which is specially to be noticed, is, that those which (as Cicero says of Pompey) are Sui amantes sine rivali,* are many times unfortunate; and whereas they have all their time sacrificed to themselves, they become in the end themselves sacrifices to the inconstancy of fortune, whose wings they thought by their self-wisdom to have pinioned.

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The Twenty-fourth Essay, entitled 'Of Innovations,' and first published in 1625, we give entire :

As the births of living creatures at first are ill shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time. Yet notwithstanding, as those that first bring honour into their family are commonly more worthy than most that succeed, so the first precedent (if it be good) is seldom attained by imitation. For ill to man's nature, as it stands perverted, hath a natural motion, strongest in continuance; but good, as a forced motion, strongest at first. Surely every medicine is an innovation, and he that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils, for time is the greatest innovator. And if time, of course, alter things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter

* Lovers of themselves without a rival.

them to the better, what shall be the end? It is true, that what is settled by custom, though it be not good, yet at least it is fit. And those things which have long gone together are as it were confederate within themselves, whereas new things piece not so well; but though they help by their utility, yet they trouble by their inconformity. Besides, they are like strangers, more admired and less favoured. All this is true, if time stood still; which contrariwise moveth so round that a froward retention of custom is as turbulent a thing as an innovation, and they that reverence too much old times are but a scorn to the new. It were good, therefore, 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; for otherwise, whatsoever is new is unlooked for, and ever it mends some and pairs other: and he that is holpen. takes it for a fortune, and thanks the time; and he that is hurt, for a wrong, and imputeth it to the author. It is good also not to try experiments in states, except the necessity be urgent, or the utility evident; and well to beware, that it be the reformation that draweth on the change, and not the desire of change that pretendeth the reformation. And lastly, that the novelty, though it be not rejected, yet be held for a suspect; and as the Scripture saith, "That we make a stand upon the ancient way, and then look about us and discover what is the straight and right way, and so to walk in it.'

The following are the first and last paragraphs of the Twenty-fifth, entitled "Of Despatch," which is in the edition of 1612 :

Affected despatch is one of the most dangerous things to business that can be. It is like that which the physicians call predigestion, or hasty digestion, which is sure to fill the body full of crudities and secret seeds of diseases: therefore measure not despatch by the time of sitting, but by the advancement of the business. And as in races it is not the large stride or high lift that makes the speed, so in business the keeping close to the matter and not taking of it too much at once procureth despatch. It is the care of some, only to come off speedily for the time, or to contrive some false periods of business, because they may seem men of despatch. But it is one thing to abbreviate by contracting, another by cutting off; and business so handled at several sittings or meetings goeth commonly backward and forward in an unsteady manner. I knew a wise man

VOL. I.

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