i io BACON'S ESSAYS 



as some fowl are, that ever change their abode towards 

 the winter ? ' 



To pass from the seat to the house itself; we will do as 

 Cicero doth in the orator's art ; who writes books De 

 Oratore, and a book he entitles Orator ; whereof the 

 former delivers the precepts of the art, and the latter the 

 perfection. We will therefore describe a princely palace, 

 making a brief model thereof. For it is strange to see, 

 now in Europe, such huge buildings as the Vatican and 

 Escurial and some others be, and yet scarce a very fair 

 room in them. 



First therefore, I say you cannot have a perfect palace, 

 except you have two several sides ; a side for the banquet, 

 as is spoken of in the book of Hester, and a side for the 

 household ; the one for feasts and triumphs, and the other 

 for dwelling. I understand both these sides to be not 

 only returns, but parts of the front ; and to be uniform 

 without, though severally partitioned within ; and to be on 

 both sides of a great and stately tower in the midst of the 

 front, that, as it were, joineth them together on either 

 hand. I would have on the side of the banquet, in front, 

 one only goodly room above stairs, of some forty foot 

 high ; and under it a room for a dressing or preparing 

 place at times of triumphs. On the other side, which is 

 the household side, I wish it divided at the first into a hall 

 and a chapel, (with a partition between ;) both of good 

 state and bigness ; and those not to go all the length, but 

 to have at the further end a winter and a summer parlour, 

 both fair. And under these rooms, a fair and large cellar 

 sunk under ground ; and likewise some privy kitchens, 

 with butteries and pantries, and the like. As for the 

 tower, I would have it two stories, of eighteen foot high a 

 piece, above the two wings ; and a goodly leads upon the 

 top, railed with statua's interposed ; and the same tower 

 to be divided into rooms, as shall be thought fit. The 

 stairs likewise to the upper rooms, let them be upon a 

 fair open newel, and finely railed in with images of wood, 

 cast into a brass colour ; and a very fair landing-place at the 

 top. But this to be, if you do not point any of the lower 



