What raging of the sea, shaking of earth, Commotion in the winds!" Troilus and Cressida, i. 3 (1609). 166 APPARITIONS From Bacon "As in infection and contagion from body to body it is most certain that the infection is received by the body passive, but yet is by the strength and good disposition thereof repulsed and wrought out before it is formed into a disease; so much the more in impressions from mind to mind, or from spirit to spirit, the impression taketh, but is encountered and overcome by the mind and spirit, which is passive, before it work any manifest effect." Sylva Sylvarum (162225). This story is told by Plutarch, as follows: "He thought he heard one come unto him and casting his eye towards the door of his tent, he saw a wonderful strange and monstrous shape of a body coming towards him and said never a word. So Brutus boldly asked what he was, a God or a man, and what cause brought him thither. The spirit answered him, 'I am thy evil spirit, Brutus, and thou shalt see me by the City of Philippes.' Brutus being no otherwise afraid replied again unto it—well, then, I shall see thee again.' The spirit presently vanished away." It appears now, as Mr. James very cleverly points out, that Shake-speare's account of this apparition differs in one important particular from Plutarch's; namely, it represents Brutus as at first affected by fear, and then, on recovery from the fear, immediately losing sight of his unwelcome visitor. That is, the ghost, being simply the creature of a disordered imagination, fled as soon as the mind of Brutus resumed its natural courage. This result is in exact accordance with Bacon's definition, as given above. At the time when the drama of 'Macbeth' was written, the crusade against witchcraft had reached its height, the king himself having recently inflicted the most terrible punishments upon a man in Scotland who was condemned for having raised a tempest in the North Sea and thus endangered the king's life. The drama is an admirable example of Bacon's method of combating popular delusions, as laid down in his preface to the Wisdom of the Ancients': "Even now, if any one wish to let new light on any subject into men's minds, and that without offence or harshness, he must still go the same way [as that of the ancient poets] and call in the aid of similitudes." The term similitudines would include such a work as the drama of Macbeth.' 168 QUARRELLING OVER TRIFLES From Shake-speare "Gregory. I will frown as I pass by, and let them take it as they list. Sampson. Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them; which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it. Abraham. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Samp. I do bite my thumb, sir. Abr. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Samp. No, sir; I do not bite my thumb at you, sir; but I bite my thumb, sir. With purple fountains issuing from your veins." Romeo and Juliet, i. 1 (1597). "Thou! why, thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more or a hair less in his beard than thou hast. . . . Thou hast quarrelled with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath awakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun. Didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing his new doublet before Easter? With another, for tying his new shoes with old ribbon?" Ibid., iii. 1. From Bacon "Life is grown too cheap in these times, and every petty scorn or disgrace can have no other reparation [than with the sword]. Nay, so many men's lives are taken away with impunity, that the life of the law is almost taken away.". Charge against Duelling (1613). "Men have almost lost the true notion and understanding of fortitude and valor. A man's life is not to be trifled with; it is to be offered up and sacrificed to honorable services, public merits, good causes, and noble adventures." - Ibid. A MONARCH NOT ACCOUNTABLE TO OTHERS "What subject can give sentence on his king? Shall the figure of God's majesty, His captain, steward, deputy elect, Anointed, crowned, planted many years, Be judg'd by subject and inferior breath?" Richard II., iv. 1 (1597). "Her majesty, being imperial and immediate under God, was not holden to render account of her actions to any." - Proceedings against Essex (1600). On no subject were Bacon and Shake-speare more fully agreed than on the divine prerogatives of a king or queen. 171 WATCHMEN "Watchman. Well, masters, we hear our charge; let us go sit here upon the church-bench till two, and then all to bed. Dogberry. Goodman Verges, sir, speaks a little off the matter, an old man, sir, and his wits are not so blunt as, God help, I would desire they were; but, in faith, honest as the skin between his brows. Verges. Yes, I thank God I am "Question. How long is their office? Answer. The office of constable is annual, except they be removed. Question. Of what rank or order of men are they? Answer. They be men, as it is now used, of inferior, yea, of base condition." The Office of Constable (1608). as honest as any man living that is an old man and no honester than I."— Much Ado, iii. 3 and 4 (1600). In his paper on Constables from which we have quoted, Bacon emphasizes the fact that these officers of the law ought not to be aged men, one of the points upon which Shakespeare lavishes his fun. We seem to find in the play a clear case of instruction by example. Not a frown further. Go, release protractor."-De Augmentis (1622). them, Ariel." Tempest, v. 1 (1623). "Who by repentance is not satis fied, Is not of heaven nor earth." Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv. 1 (1623). Bacon's inculcation of the duty of forgiveness, which is so emphatically reproduced in the Shake-speare Plays, was fully exemplified in his own life. Sir Toby Matthew says of him: "I can truly say that I never saw in him any trace of a vindictive mind, whatever injury was done him, nor ever heard him utter a word to any man's disadvantage which seemed to proceed from personal feeling against the man.” |