504 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»a S. No 52., Dec. 27. '56. 



tuned Sir Nicholas to save his life on account of 

 the kindred between Hog and Bacon. 



" ' Aye, but,' replied the judge, ' You and I cannot be 

 kindred except you be hanged; for Hog is not Bacon 

 until it be well hanged.' " 



Merry Wives of Windsor : 



" Evans. Hing — Hang — Hog. 

 S. Quickly. Hang Hog — is the Latin for Bacon." 



On Cunning : 



" For there be many men that have secret hearts, but 

 transparent countenances." 



Henry IV. : 



"The cheek 

 Is apter than the tongue to tell an errand." 



Collection of Sentences : 



" He that hath a satirical vein, as he maketh others 

 afraid of his wit, so he had need be afraid of other's me- 

 mories." 



Henry VI.: 



" An insult, when we think it is forgotten. 

 Is written in the book of memory. 

 E'en in the heart, to scourge oar apprehensions." 



Interpretation of Nature : 



" Yet evermore it must be remembered, that the least 

 part of knowledge passed to man by this so large a char- 

 ter from God — must be subject to that use for which God 

 hath granted it, which is the benefit and relief of the state 

 and society of man." 



Measure for Measure, Act I. So. 2. : 



" Nature never lends 

 The smallest scruple of her excellence ; 

 But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines 

 Herself the glorj' of a creditor, 

 Both use and thanks." 



On Adversity : 



"It is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad 

 and solemn errand, than to have a dark and melancholy 

 work upon a lightsome errand." 



Henry IV. : 



" Bright metals on a sullen errand 

 Will show more goodly and attract more eyes 

 Than that which hath no foil to set it off." 



Note the pectiHar use of the words knee and 

 chew. 



I'if^ of Henry VII. : 



" As his victory gave him the knee, so his purposed 

 marriage with the Lady Elizabeth gave him the heart, so 

 that both knee and heart did truly bow before him." 



Ric. II. " Show heaven the humbled heart and not the 

 knee." 



Hamlet. "]Asii crook the pregnant hinges of the knee." 



On Studies : 



" Some books are to be tasted, and some few chewed 

 and digested." 



Julius CcBsar, Act I. : 



" Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this ; 

 Brutus had rather be a villager." 



Trench says " essays " was a new word in Bacon's 

 time, and his use of it quite novel. Bacon thus 

 writes of his Essays: 



" Which I have called Essays. The word is late, though 

 the thing is ancient." 



Mrs. Clarke, in her Concordance, reports the 

 word Essay as occurring twice in Shakspeare, — • 

 which indeed is true of Knijjht's Shakspeare ; but 

 it only occurs once in the Folio of 1623, in rela- 

 tion to Edgar's letter to Edmund, in Lear. Ed- 

 mund says, — 



" I hope, for my brother's justification, he wrote this 

 but as an Essay or task of my nature." 



I have not included the example furnished by 

 your correspondent. The allusion to " perspec- 

 tives " in Richard II. and the simile of Actaeon in 

 Twelfth Night are worthy of remark. 



I send these in the hope that your correspon- 

 dents will add to them. W. H. S. 



Brompton, Middlesex. 



Wa^ Lord Bacon the Author of Shakspeare's 

 Plnys ? — Those who hold the opinion that Lord 

 Bacon was the author, as was suggested in a book 

 reviewed by you some weeks since, may obtain an 

 argument in favour of their views by referring to 

 Selections by Basil Montagu, Pickering, pp. 174, 

 175., where are quoted passages from the Troilus 

 and Cressida of the one and the Tract on Edu' 

 cation of the other, which are, to say the least, 

 very curious from their resemblance and juxta- 

 position. They occur as foot-notes to an extract 

 from Dr. South's Sermons, and are as follows : 



Troilus and Cressida : 



" Paris and Troilus, you have both said well ; 

 And on the cause and question now in hand 

 Have glozed, but superficially ; not much 

 Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought 

 Unfit to hear Moral Philosophy : 

 The reasons you allege do more conduce 

 To the hot passion of distempered blood. 

 Than to make up a free determination 

 'Twixt right and wrong ; " &c. 



Bacon expresses himself thus : 



" Is it not a wise opinion of Aristotle, and worthy to be 

 regarded, that young men are no jit auditors of Moral Phi- 

 losophy, because the boiling heat of their affections is not 

 yet settled nor attempered by time and experience. And . . . 

 doth it not hereof come that those excellent books and 

 discourses of ancient writers ... are of so lit;le effect 

 towards honesty of life, and the reformation of corrupt 

 manners; because they are not to be read and revolved 

 by men mature in years and judgment, but are left and 

 confined only to boys and beginners." 



