if they be rather new raised, than grown cunning and fortified in their greatness. It is counted by some a weakness in princes to have favourites; but it is, of all others, the best remedy against ambitious great ones; for when the way of pleasuring and displeasuring lieth by the favourite, it is impossible any other should be over great. Another means to curb them, is to balance them by others as proud as they: but then there must be some middle counsellors, to keep things steady; for without that ballast the ship will roll too much. At the least, a prince may animate and inure 13 some meaner persons to be, as it were, scourges to ambitious men. As for the having of them obnoxious 14 to ruin, if they be of fearful natures, it may do well; but if they be stout and daring, it may precipitate their designs, and prove dangerous. As for the pulling of them down, if the affairs require it, and that it may not be done with safety suddenly, the only way is, the interchange continually of favours and disgraces, whereby they may not know what to expect, and be, as it were, in a wood.15 Of Ambitions, it is less harmful the Ambition to prevail in great things, than that other to appear in everything; for that breeds confusion, and mars business: but yet, it is less danger to have an ambitious man stirring in business, than great in dependencies.16 He that seeketh to be eminent amongst able men, hath a great task; but that is ever good for the public: but he that plots to be the only figure amongst ciphers,17 is the decay of a whole age.

Honour hath three things in it: the vantage ground to do good; the approach to kings and principal persons; and the raising of a man's own fortunes. He that hath the best of these intentions, when he aspireth, is an honest man; and that prince that can discern of these intentions in another that aspireth, is a wise prince. Generally, let princes and states 18 choose such ministers as are more sensible of duty than of rising, and such as love business rather upon conscience than upon bravery; 19 and let them discern a busy nature, from a willing mind.20

NOTES ON ESSAY XXXVI.

I. 'Ambition '. —an eager and generally inordinate desire for preferment, superiority, honour, or power. The word really means a going around, and in its original sense (Latin ambitio, ambire) it denoted the going about of candidates for office in Rome to solicit votes; then it came to mean the desire for office or honour.

2. 'humour'really moisture, especially the moisture or fluids of animal bodies. It was formerly supposed that a man's character and disposition depended on the condition of these fluids, and varied as they varied. Hence we speak of a man being in a good humour or a bad humour. There is a basis of truth in this ancient supposition, for there can be no doubt that the state of the mind is really influenced by the state of the fluids of the body: in ill health people are often peevish and fretful, or depressed, while when the body is healthy the mind is generally cheerful.

One of the most important of the animal fluids, in its influence upon the disposition and temper, is the bile, formerly called choler; hence the adjective choleric means irritable, irascible.

3. 'adust'-dry, burnt, scorched. (Latin aduro, perf. part. adustus.)

'He was a tall thin man of an adust complexion'

See note 17, Essay VIII.

to handle it'-i.e. so to arrange matters.

6. 'still' always. See note 6, Essay IX. 'taken'-employed.

8. 'never'-i.e. no matter in how great a degree. We should now use the positive word, 'be they ever so ambitious.' The use of the negative never in such constructions, though common even with good writers, cannot be explained except by

P

supplying a harsh and cumbersome ellipsis: Be they so ambitious (as) never (were any others before them).'

'Be it never so true which we teach the world to believe'-HOOKER.

Ask me never so much dowry and gift'-Gen. xxxiv, 12.

'Which refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely'-Ps. lviii, 5.

9. 'dispenseth with '—makes up for, condones.

Hence the legal use of the word dispensation for permission, licence, pardon, and of the term dispensing power of the Crown.

'What sin you do to save a brother's life,

Nature dispenses with the deed so far

That it becomes a virtue'-Measure for Measure, III, i.

'Unfeeling fools can with such wrongs dispense'

-Comedy of Errors, II, i.

'We must of force dispense with this decree;
She must lie here on mere necessity'

-Love's Labour's Lost, I, i.

10. Bacon makes the same statement in other essays. 55 and 83.

See pages

II. 'seeled 'having the eyelids sewn up with a thread (Latin cilium= =an eyelash). It is a term derived from falconry. It was a popular belief that a bird whose eyes had been seeled would, not knowing in which direction it could safely fly, mount up higher and higher, until at last it dropped down exhausted.

'Fools climb to fall: fond hopes, like seeled doves, for want of better light, mount till they end their flight by falling '-J. READING.

12. Macro.'

'Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast
Seel up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains?'

-2 Henry IV, III, L

N. Sertorius Macro was a favourite of the Emperor Tiberius. When the Emperor grew tired of Sejanus, and found out his designs upon the succession, Macro was instructed to arrest and execute him, a large donative being previously given to the guards. All his relatives and children suffered the same fate (A.D. 37), and many of his friends were murdered in prison.

13. inure'-accustom, habituate.

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14. obnoxious'-liable. See note 23, Essay XX.

15. In order to make it possible to remove favourites, and even suddenly when necessary, the best way is to be careful not to treat them always with favour, but to vary it occasionally with a little harshness, so that they may themselves be uncertain with regard to the future.

16. great in dependencies'-having many powerful servants and others dependent on him, and ready to take his part.

17. Nothing more than a little superior to surrounding men who are incapable and worthless.

18. 'states'-estates, nobles, great men. See note 42, Essay IX. 19. bravery'-boastfulness.

20. Let them be careful to distinguish between a merely meddlesome man, and one who really desires to do good service.

ANALYSIS OF ESSAY XXXVI.

I. Ambitious men become dangerous when thwarted, and therefore ought not to be employed by princes except 'upon necessity.'

II. What circumstances necessitate their employment:
I. War.

2. Invidious service in which a prince requires to be screened.
3. The displacement of favourites grown over-powerful.

III. How to guard against dangers from them:

I. They are less dangerous when—

(a.) Of mean birth; or

(b.) Of harsh nature; or

(c.) Newly raised.

2. They may be counterbalanced by—

(a.) Favourites.

(b.) Rivals.

3. It is a safe plan to accustom them to uncertainty and perplexity.

4. Meddlesome ambition is less dangerous than powerful ambition.

IV. Princes should be careful to distinguish

I. Honest ambition, whose object is

(a.) Opportunity to do good.

(b.) Familiar intercourse with great persons.

2. From dishonest ambition, which is selfish—'raising a man's own fortunes.'

XXXVII.-OF MASQUES1 AND TRIUMPHS.

(1625.)

THESE things are but toys2 to come amongst such serious observations; but yet, since princes will have such things, it is better they should be graced with elegancy, than daubed with cost.4

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Dancing to song, is a thing of great state and pleasure. I understand it that the song be in quire,5 placed aloft, and accompanied with some broken music and the ditty fitted to the device. Acting in song,7 especially in dialogues, hath an extreme good grace; I say acting, not dancing (for that is a mean and vulgar thing); and the voices of the dialogue would be strong and manly (a base and a tenor; no treble3), and the ditty high and tragical, not nice or dainty. Several quires placed one over against another, and taking the voice by catches anthem-wise, give great pleasure. Turning dances into figure 10 is a childish curiosity; and generally, let it be noted, that those things which I here set down are such as do naturally take the sense, and not respect petty wonderments.11 It is true, the alterations of scenes, so it be quietly and without noise, are things of great beauty and pleasure; for they feed and relieve the eye before it be full of the same object. Let the scenes abound with light, specially coloured and varied; and let the masquers, or any that are to come down from the scene, have some motions upon the scene itself before their coming down;12 for it draws the eye strangely, and makes it with great pleasure to desire to see that it cannot perfectly discern. Let the songs be loud and cheerful, and not chirpings or pulings: let the music likewise be sharp and loud, and well placed. The colours that show best by candlelight, are white, carnation, and a kind of sea-water green; and oes 13 or spangs, as they are of no great cost, so they are of most glory. As for rich embroidery, it is lost, and not discerned. Let the suits of the masquers be graceful, and such as become the person when the vizors are off; not after examples of known attires; Turks, soldiers, mariners, and the like. Let Anti-masques 15 not be long; they have been commonly of fools, satyrs, baboons, wild men, antics, beasts, sprites, witches, Ethiopes, pigmies, turquets, 16 nymphs, rustics, Cupids, statuas moving, and the like. angels, it is not comical enough to put them in Antimasques: and anything that is hideous, as devils, giants,

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As for