: infused opinions; but their deeds are after as they have been accustomed and therefore, as Machiavel well noteth (though in an ill-favoured instance), there is no trusting to the force of nature, nor to the bravery of words, except it be corroborate by custom.' His instance is, that for the achieving of a desperate conspiracy, a man should not rest upon the fierceness of any man's nature, or his resolute undertakings; but take such a one as hath had his hands formerly in blood. . . In other things the predominancy of custom is everywhere visible, insomuch as a man would wonder to hear men profess, protest, engage, give great words, and then do just as they have done before, as if they were dead images, and engines moved only by the wheels of custom. We see also the reign or tyranny of custom, what it is. The Indians (I mean the sect of their wise men) lay themselves quietly upon a stack of wood, and so sacrifice themselves by fire. Nay, the wives strive to be burned with the corpse of their husbands. The lads of Sparta of ancient time, were won to be scourged upon the altar of Diana without so much as queching.* I remember in the beginning of This is the true word, as we find it in Bacon's own edition of 1625 (the first in which the passage appears), and also in the next edition, of 1632. Mr. Montagu prints "squeaking," which is a modern corruption. By "queching," however, Bacon probably meant uttering a cry of pain, not merely moving or shrinking, as the lexicographers interpret the word. Not only has the Latin version, executed, if not by himself, at least under his own inspection, vix ejulatu aut gemitu ullo emisso; but the passage in Cicero (Tuscul. Disp. II. 13), which Bacon evidently had in his recollection, runs quorum non modo nemo exclamavit umquam, sed ne ingemuit quidem. To quech is considered by the lexicographers as the same word with to quich, which we have in Spenser (F. Q. v. 9.33) "That once he could not move nor quich at all;" and as being the substantive corresponding to the adjective queachy, which is applied by Drayton to fens and sands, and seems to have nearly the meaning of quaggy. It is probably merely another form of the word quick, and may therefore signify properly no more than to give sign of life or feeling. To quake is perhaps another variation, and may have meant originally to indicate quickness, or sensation, by voice as well as by movement. Wake may be another form, and squeak and quack may be others. Dr. Queen Elizabeth's time of England, an Irish rebel condemned, put up a petition to the deputy that he might be hanged in a wyth, and not in a halter, because it had been so used with former rebels. There be monks in Russia, for penance, that will sit a whole night in a vessel of water, till they be engaged with hard ice. . . . . . But if the force of custom, simple and separate, be great, the force of custom copulate, and conjoined, and collegiate, is far greater. For there example teacheth, company comforteth, emulation quickeneth, glory raiseth: so as in such places the force of custom is in its exaltation. Certainly the great multiplication of virtues upon human nature, resteth upon societies well ordained and disciplined for commonwealths and good governments do nourish virtue grown, but do not much mend the seeds. But the misery is, that the most effectual means are now applied to the ends least to be desired. The Fortieth, entitled "Of Fortune," is another of those published in 1612. We will give the greater part of it : The way of fortune is like the milken way in the sky, which is a meeting or knot of a number of small stars: not seen asunder, but giving light together: so are there a number of little, and scarce discerned virtues, or rather faculties and customs that make men fortunate. The Italians note some of them, such as a man would little think: when they speak of one that cannot do amiss, they will throw in into his other conditions that he hath poco di matto. And certainly there be not two more fortunate properties, than to have a little of the fool, and not too much of the honest. Therefore extreme lovers of their country, or masters, were never fortunate, neither can they be. For when a man placeth his thoughts without himself, be goeth not his own way. . . . . . Fortune is to be honoured and respected, and it be but for her daughters, confidence, and reputation: for those two felicity breedeth; the first within a man's Johnson, in his Dictionary, instead of quech, gives queck, as Bacon's word here; quoting the passage in a singularly perverted shape in all respects:-"The lads of Sparta were accustomed to be whipped, without so much as quecking." His interpretation, however, may be just enough:-"To shrink; to show pain; perhaps to complain." 6 self, the latter in others towards him. All wise men to decline the envy of their own virtues, use to ascribe them to Providence and fortune; for so they may the better assume them: and besides, it is greatness in a man to be the care of the higher powers. So Cæsar said to the pilot in the tempest, Cæsarem portas, et fortunam ejus.* So Sylla chose the name of Felix, and not of Magnus. And it hath been noted, that those who ascribe openly too much to their own wisdom and policy end infortunate. It is written, that Timotheus the Athenian, after he had, in the account he gave to the state of his government, often interlaced his speech, and in this fortune had no part,' never prospered in anything he undertook afterwards. Certainly there be, whose fortunes are like Homer's verses, that have a slide and easiness more than the verses of other poets; as Plutarch saith of Timoleon's fortune, in respect of that of Agesilaus, or Epaminondas: and that this should be, no doubt it is much in a man's self. The Forty-first, entitled "Of Usury," first appeared in the edition of 1625. By usury Bacon means simply taking interest for money; and, with all his penetration, he was not before his age in his views upon this and other questions of commerce and political economy, as may be seen both from the present essay, and more fully from his History of Henry the Seventh. He was too sagacious, however, to contend that the taking of interest for money could be altogether dispensed with or put down; and accordingly, after having here pointed out what he calls "the discommodities of usury," he proceeds : On the other side, the commodities of usury are: first, that howsoever usury in some respect hindereth merchandizing, yet in some other it advanceth it: for it is certain, that the greatest part of trade is driven by young merchants, upon borrowing at interest: so as if the usurer either call in, or keep back his money, there will ensue presently a great stand of trade. The second is, that were it not for this easy borrowing upon interest, men's necessities would draw upon them a most sudden undoing, in that they would be forced to sell their means (be it lands or goods) far under foot; and so, whereas * Thou bearest Cæsar, and his fortune too. F usury doth but gnaw upon them, bad markets would swallow them quite up. As for mortgaging or pawning, it will little mend the matter; for either men will not take pawns without use, or if they do, they will look precisely for the forfeiture. I remember a cruel monied man in the country that would say, The devil take this usury, it keeps us from forfeitures of mortgages and bonds.' The third and last is, that it is a vanity to conceive, that there would be ordinary borrowing without profit; and it is impossible to conceive the number of inconveniences that will ensue, if borrowing be cramped: therefore, to speak of the abolishing of usury is idle. All states have ever had it in one kind, or rate or other; so as that opinion must be sent to Utopia. The Forty-second Essay, "Of Youth and Age,” which is one of those published in 1612, must be given nearly in full: : A man that is young in years, may be old in hours, if he have lost no time, but that happeneth rarely. Generally youth is like the first cogitations, not so wise as the second; for there is a youth in thoughts as well as in ages: and yet the invention of young men is more lively than that of old, and imaginations stream into their minds better, and, as it were, more divinely. Natures that have much heat, and great and violent desires and perturbations, are not ripe for action till they have passed the meridian of their years; as it was with Julius Cæsar, and Septimius Severus, of the latter of whom it is said, 'Juventutem egit erroribus, imo furoribus plenam;'* and yet he was the ablest emperor almost of all the list. But reposed natures may do well in youth, as it is seen in Augustus Cæsar, Cosmus, Duke of Florence, Gaston de Fois, and others. On the other side, heat and vivacity in age is an excellent composition for business. Young men are fitter to invent than to judge, fitter for execution than for counsel, and fitter for new projects than for settled business. For the experience of age in things that fall within the compass of it, directeth them, but in new things abuseth them. The errors of young men are the ruin of business; but the errors of aged men amount but to this, that more might have been done or sooner. Young men in the conduct and manage of actions embrace more than they can hold, stir more than they can quiet, fly to the end without consideration of *He spent his youth not merely in errors, but in madness. the means and degrees, pursue some few principles which they have chanced upon absurdly, care not to innovate, which draws unknown inconveniences; use extreme remedies at first, and, that which doubleth all errors, will not acknowledge or retract them, like an unready horse, that will neither stop nor turn. Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a mediocrity of success. Certainly it is good to compound employments of both; for that will be good for the present, because the virtues of either age may correct the defects of both, and good for succession, that young men may be learners, while men in age are actors; and lastly, good for external accidents, because authority followeth old men, and favour and popularity youth. But for the moral part perhaps youth will have the pre-eminence, as age hath for the politic. A certain Rab bin upon the text, 'Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams,' inferreth, that young men are admitted nearer to God than old, because vision is a clearer revelation than a dream. And certainly the more a man drinketh of the world, the more it intoxicateth; and age doth profit rather in the powers of understanding, than in the virtues of the will and affections. . . . ... Of the Forty-third, entitled "Of Beauty," also published in 1612,the following is the most material portion: Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set; and surely virtue is best in a body that is comely, though not of delicate features, and that hath rather dignity of presence, than beauty of aspect. Neither is it almost seen that very beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue, as if nature were rather busy not to err, than in labour to produce excellency; and therefore they prove accomplished, but not of great spirit, and study rather behaviour than virtue. But this holds not always; for Augustus Cæsar, Titus Vespasianus, Philip le Bel of France, Edward the Fourth of England, Alcibiades of Athens, Ismael the Sophi of Persia, were all high and great spirits, and yet the most beautiful men of their times. . .... That is the best part of beauty which a picture cannot express, no nor the first sight of the life. There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion... And here is the most striking part of the Forty-fourth, |