R. M. Theobald, to whom we are indebted for this parallelism, remarks that the "annotators of 'Coriolanus' have not yet found out what Shakespeare meant by the common muck of the world.'" We group together several parallelisms under the head of Love. STRONG CHARACTERS NOT GIVEN TO LOVE "Believe not that the dribbling dart of love Can pierce a complete bosom.". 29 "Great spirits and great business do keep out this weak passion."— Ibid. LOVE FATAL TO WORLDLY SUCCESS "It has Made me neglect my studies, lose my time, War with good counsel, set the Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. 1 30 "Whosoever esteemeth too much of amorous affection quitteth both riches and wisdom." — Ibid. "All who, like Paris, prefer beauty, quit, like Paris, wisdom and power."-De Augmentis (1622). LOVE CREEPS BEFORE IT GOES "Love Will creep in service where it cannot go." "Love must creep in service where it cannot go."- Letter to King James. Ibid., iv. 2 (1623). The letter was written in 1610, but not published till long after Bacon's death. The proverb appeared in one of the Shake-speare plays, in print for the first time in 1623. It was Publilius Syrus, a Roman mimographer of the time of Julius Cæsar, who said that "it is scarcely possible for a god to love and be wise." Bacon and the author of the Plays both quote the saying approvingly, but both also change its application (as above) from gods to men. This passage from Bacon's Essay was quoted by Lord Tennyson to prove that Bacon, owing to his peculiar sentiments on love, could not have written the plays of Shakespeare. And yet here is the identical sentiment in 'Troilus and Cressida.' These twenty-eight passages on Love cited above, and many more of the same kind that might be cited, plainly show that the two authors were in exact accord on the subject. This fact, indeed, is not without recognition among intelligent commentators. For example: "In Venus and Adonis,' the goddess, after the death of her favorite, utters a curse upon love which contains in the germ, as it were, the whole development of the subject as Shakespeare has unfolded it in the series of his dramas.". Gervinus. It has been asserted by several writers that Queen Elizabeth withdrew her countenance from Bacon because of her aversion to his sentiments on love, as expressed in his famous essay. The essay was not written till nine years after the Queen's death. From Bacon: 66 38 DIVINATION By natural divination we mean that the mind has of its own essential power some pre-notion of things to come. This appears mostly (1) in sleep; (2) in ecstasies; (3) near death; (4) more rarely, in waking apprehensions; and (5) . . . from the foreknowledge of God and the spirits." De Augmentis (1622). From Shake-speare: 1. In sleep: “King Richard [narrating a dream]. Methought the souls of all that I had murder'd To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard." “Richmond [also narrating a dream]. Methought their souls, whose bodies Richard murder'd, 2. In ecstasy: Richard III., v. 3 (1597). "Queen [to Hamlet, who sees his father's ghost]. This is the very coinage of your brain; This bodiless creation ecstasy is very cunning in." Hamlet, iii. 4 (1604). 3. Near death: "King Henry [to his executioner] Thus I prophesy, that many a thousand, Which now mistrust no parcel of my fear, And many an old man's sigh, and many a widow's, 4. In waking apprehensions: "Macbeth. Lady Macbeth. Methought I heard a voice cry, 'Sleep no more, What do you mean? 5. From foreknowledge of spirits: "King [to Hamlet]. Prepare thyself; 1 Col. H. L. Moore of Lawrence, Kansas, in the Journal of the Bacon Society, i. 187. Colonel Moore is an exceptionally keen and able critic. |