420 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"'! S. V. 125., May 22, '58. 



ref)ly, would favour me with tracings of the de- 

 signs of any of the tUrf-noazes he alludes to, I 

 should be most grateful to him for such an act of 

 courtesy. Edwaed TitoLLopE. 



tieasingham, Sleaford. 



BACON S ESSAYS. 



(2°i S. V. 181., &c.) 



The importance of the Latin version of the 

 JEssays appears to have been overlooked boih by 

 ]\1r. Singek and Eibionnach. 



The Latin version, though not made by Bacon 

 himself, was executed by competent persons under 

 his superintendence. In a letter to Tobie Mat- 

 thew without date, but supposed to have been 

 written in 1623, he says his labours were then 

 most set to have some oi" his works, naming the 

 Essays ds one, " made more perfect," and " well 

 translated into Latin by the help of some good 

 peris " which forsook him not, for he was afraid 

 that the modern languages would " at one time or 

 other play the bankrupts with books." (Works, 

 vol. iii. p. 643. ed. 1765.) In the Dedication to 

 Btlckinghatti, of the 1625 edition of the Essays, 

 we find him expressing his hope " that the Latin 

 volume of them, being in the universal language, 

 riilght last as lorig as books last." And from the 

 letter to Father Fulgeritio it appears that the 

 Latin title, Sermones Fideles sive Interiora Rerurh, 

 was chosen by Batort himself. ( Works, vol. v. p. 

 531.) Bacon was by ti6 means indifferent to 

 fame, and it is very evident that he attached grfeat 

 iiiiportahce to a Latin version of his works as the 

 only Uieans whereby they could be known to 

 foreign nations, and that upon which he toainly 

 rested his hopes of their being remembered by 

 posterity. Such being the case there cannot, I 

 think, be any reasonable doUbt that he revised the 

 translation of the Essays, and that we may accept 

 it as an accurate rendering of the, original Eng- 

 lish, and a true reflection of the author's meaning. 

 I am therefore surprised that Mr. Singer should 

 set so little value on it. " The Latin version," he 

 says, " as it day be supposed to have had Bacon's 

 approbation is, of course, to a certain degree, use- 

 ful in confirming the sense in which some passages 

 were understood "(aw^e, pi. 239.). This no doubt 

 would be a judicious estimate of its value, in the 

 absfence of the decisive evidence we have of the 

 author's superintendence and apf)roval. To me it 

 appears to be the primary authority in all bases 

 of obscurity iri the English text. As the matter 

 is iiilportant, perhaps I may be allowed to run 

 over some of the passages in question, and I think 

 it will be seen that a reference to the Latin will 

 generally enable us to discover Bacon's meaning. 



" Such men are fitter for practice than for coun- 

 aeV* (£«<; 22.). Mb. Singes says, "practice here 



means intrigue, confederacy.'^ EiRioNNAca doubts 

 the accuracy of this interpretation, and the Latin 

 seems to confirm his doubt. " Tales magis in 

 pragmaticis adhiberi debent, quara in consiliis ; et 

 non aliter fere usum sui prsebent, quam in viis, 

 quas scBpe contriverurit." The distinction seems to 

 be derived from legal business ; in which it is not 

 uncommon to say that a person has sufficient 

 knowledge to conduct the ordinary operations of 

 practice, but is incompetent to give counsel on 

 difficult questions of law. The word pragmaticis 

 seems to point directly to this distinction. If in- 

 trigue or confederacy had been meant, some other 

 word, such as conjurationibus, would have been 

 used. 



" In beauty, that of favour is more than that of 

 colour ; and that of decent and gracious motion 

 more than that of favour" (Ess. 43.). Mr. 

 Singer says, "favour is general appearance;" 

 EiRioNNACH says it " rather means feature, coun- 

 tenance." The Latin, it must be confessed, does 

 not help us much here ; for the word used is " ve- 

 nustas," and there may of course be as much dif- 

 ference of opinion as to what was really meant by 

 " venustas " as by " favour." As to " venustas," 

 see Cic. Off. i. 36. 



" The Spartans tvere a nice pfeople in point of 

 naturalisation " (JEss. 29.). Mft. Singer says, 

 " My note is, Nice here means carefully cautious. 

 The Shawism which he [Eirionnach] prefers is, 

 ** The Spartans were reserved and difficult in re- 

 ceiving foreigners among them,' &c., which cer- 

 tainly does not express Bacon^S meaning " (ante, p. 

 239.). The Latin, I fear, is directly against Mr. 

 Singer : " Spartani parci fuerunt et difficiles in 

 cooptandis novis civibus." 



" In Evil the best condition is nbt to will ; the 

 second, not to can" (Ess. 11.). The Latin is per- 

 fectly plain : " In nialis eflim, dfltima conditio est, 

 nolle : proxima, noU posse." 



The word " AdiJoutresses,"\rhl(ih. occurs in the 

 nineteenth Essay, and which Eirionnach supposes 

 to mean " Votaresses, fanatic Devotees," is merely 

 the plural of an old form Used in law books of the 

 word adulteress (see Termes de la Ley, tit. Avou- 

 terer, 2 Inst. 433.)> The Latin version has the 

 words " aut in adulterio degunt." 



" Some there are that know the resorts and falls 

 of business, that cannot sink into the main of it 

 .... Therefoi-e you shall see them find out pretty 

 looses in the conclusion" (Ess. 22.). Much of the 

 obscurity cdmplained Of in this passage disappears 

 by teference to the Latin, "lUud pro certo haben- 

 dum, noUnuUoS, negotiorum periodos et pausas, 

 nosse, qiii in ipsOtum viscera, et interiora, pene- 

 trare neqUetint .... Itaque tales videbis in 

 cohclUsionibus deliberatlonum commodos quosdam 

 exitus reperire." 



"They will ever live like rogues . . . . , and 

 then certify over to their country to the discredit 



