3. 'no hold taken -an absolute phrase=no hold having been taken, or when no hold is taken.

4. A danger is really increased by our thinking little of it, because then our preparation for it is inadequate; and similarly a great danger is lessened when we regard it as great and prepare for it accordingly.

5. nothing near-not at all near; literally, near by nothing, 'nothing' being an adverb. Cf. Latin nihilo, nihilo minus,

de nihilo, nihilo aliter.

'And that would set my teeth nothing on edge'

-Shakespeare, 1 Henry IV, III, i.

'I fear nothing (i.e. not at all) what may be said against me'

-Henry VIII, I, ii.

'The influence of reason in producing our passions is nothing near so extensive as is commonly believed '-BURKE.

6. 'it is odds'-i.e. (as we should say) the chances are; it is more likely than not. Odds is difference in favour of one and against another; in the expression odds and ends' it means the remnants, or odd things, that have been produced by making things match evenly.

7. Argus-surnamed Panoptes, the all-seeing; he was a monster with a hundred eyes, appointed by Juno to watch the cow into which the maiden lo had been metamorphosed. The fable is that Juno afterwards transferred the eyes of Argus to the tail of her favourite bird, the peacock.

8. 'Briareus'-a fabulous monster with a hundred hands, who, with his brothers, conquered the Titans when they made war upon the gods.

9. helmet of Pluto.' Pluto, the god of the lower world, is said to have had a helmet which rendered the wearer invisible, and which he sometimes lent to both gods and men. With Bacon's association of this with 'secrecy in council,' compare the common expression of putting one's thinking-cap on.

ANALYSIS OF ESSAY XXI.

I. Delays are

1. Sometimes advantageous.

2. Often hurtful-(three illustrations: Sibylline books-bald head-bottle).

II. The true wisdom is to know the limits of delay, for—

1. To be unprepared for danger is to increase it, while2. Often to make preparation for danger is to suggest it. III. Preparation should be secret, and execution swift, like the motion of a bullet.

XXII.-OF CUNNING. (1612, re-written 1625.) WE take1 Cunning 2 for a sinister, or crooked wisdom; 3 and certainly there is great difference between a cunning man and a wise man, not only in point of honesty, but in point of ability. There be that can pack the cards, and yet cannot play well; so there are some that are good in canvasses and factions,5 that are otherwise weak men. Again, it is one thing to understand persons, and another thing to understand matters; for many are perfect in men's humours that are not greatly capable of the real part of business, which is the constitution of one that hath studied men more than books. Such men are fitter for practice than for counsel, and they are good but in their own alley: 7 turn them to new men, and they have lost their aim; so as the old rule, to know a fool from a wise man, 6 Mitte ambos nudos ad ignotos, et videbis,' doth scarce hold for them; and, because these cunning men are like haberdashers of small wares, it is not amiss to set forth their shop.

9

It is a point of Cunning to wait upon 10 him with whom you speak with your eye, as the Jesuits give it in precept; for there be many wise men that have secret hearts and transparent countenances: yet this would be done with a demure abasing of your eye sometimes,11 as the Jesuits also do use.

Another is, that when you have anything to obtain of present dispatch,12 you entertain and amuse the party with whom you deal with some other discourse, that he be not too much awake to make objections. I knew a Counsellor 13 and Secretary that never came to Queen Elizabeth of England with bills to sign, but he would always first put her into some discourse of estate,11 that she mought 15 the less mind the bills.

16

The like surprise may be made by moving things when the party is in haste, and cannot stay to consider advisedly of that is moved.

If a man would cross 17 a business that he doubts some

other would handsomely and effectually move, let him pretend to wish it well, and move it himself, in such sort as may foil it.

The breaking off in the midst of that one was about to say, as if he took himself up,18 breeds a greater appetite in him with whom you confer, to know more.

And because it works better when anything seemeth to be gotten from you by question than if you offer it of yourself, you may lay a bait 19 for a question by showing another visage and countenance than you are wont; to the end, to give occasion for the party to ask what the matter is of the change, as Nehemiah did, ‘And I had not before that time been sad before the king.'

In things that are tender 20 and unpleasing, it is good to break the ice by some whose words are of less weight, and to reserve the more weighty voice to come in as by chance, so that he may be asked the question upon the other's speech; as Narcissus did, in relating to Claudius the marriage of Messalina and Silius.

In things that a man would not be seen in himself, it is a point of Cunning to borrow the name of the world; as to say, 'The world says,' or 'There is a speech abroad.

I knew one, that when he wrote a letter, he would put that which was most material in the postscript, as if it had been a by-matter.21

I knew another, that when he came to have speech, he would pass over that he intended most; and go forth and come back again, and speak of it as of a thing that he had almost forgot.

Some procure themselves to be surprised at such times as it is like 22 the party that they work upon 23 will suddenly come upon them, and to be found with a letter in their hand, or doing somewhat which they are not accustomed, to the end they may be apposed 24 of those things which of themselves they are desirous to utter.

It is a point of Cunning to let fall those words in a man's own name, which he would have another man learn and use, and thereupon take advantage. I knew two that were competitors for the Secretary's place, in Queen

Elizabeth's time, and yet kept good quarter 25 between themselves, and would confer one with another upon the business; and the one of them said, that to be a Secretary in the declination of a monarchy was a ticklish thing, and that he did not affect it: the other straight caught up those words, and discoursed with divers of his friends, that he had no reason to desire to be secretary in the declination of a monarchy. The first man took hold of it, and found means it was told the Queen; who, hearing of a declination of a monarchy, took it so ill, as she would never after hear of the other's suit.

There is a Cunning, which we in England call 'The turning of the cat in the pan;'26 which is, when that which a man says to another, he lays it as if another had said it to him; and, to say truth, it is not easy, when such a matter passed between two, to make it appear from which of them it first moved and began.

It is a way that some men have, to glance and dart at others by justifying themselves by negatives; as to say, "This I do not;' as Tigellinus did towards Burrhus, 'Se non diversas spes, sed incolumitatem Imperatoris simpliciter spectare.' 27

Some have in readiness so many tales and stories, as there is nothing they would insinuate but they can wrap it into a tale; which serveth both to keep themselves more in guard, and to make others carry it with more pleasure.

It is a good point of Cunning for a man to shape the answer he would have in his own words and propositions ;28 for it makes the other party stick the less.

It is strange how long some men will lie in wait to speak somewhat they desire to say; and how far about they will fetch,29 and how many other matters they will beat over to come near it: it is a thing of great patience, but yet of much use.

A sudden, bold, and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man, and lay him open. Like to him, that, having changed his name, and walking in Paul's,30 another suddenly came behind him and called

him by his true name, whereat straightways he looked back.

But these small wares and petty points of Cunning are infinite, and it were a good deed to make a list of them; for that nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.

But certainly some there are that know the resorts and falls 31 of business that cannot sink into the main of it; like a house that hath convenient stairs and entries, but never a fair room: therefore you shall see them find out pretty looses 32 in the conclusion, but are noways able to examine or debate matters and yet commonly they take advantage of their inability, and would be thought wits of direction.3 33 Some build rather upon the abusing of others, and (as we now say) putting tricks upon them,34 than upon soundness of their own proceedings: but Solomon saith, 'Prudens advertit ad gressus suos: stultus divertit ad dolos.'35

NOTES ON ESSAY XXII.

1. 'take'-understand; receive (with the mind, in a certain sense). Cf. to take a thing for granted; to take a word in a certain sense; to take a thing in good part.

This use of the verb in reference to the mind is best seen in its opposite—mistake.

2. Cunning. This word, now degraded to a bad meaning, was formerly used in a good sense for skill, cleverness.

In Bacon's

time it had not entirely lost this meaning, as is evident from his thinking it necessary to explain that he uses the word 'for a sinister and crooked wisdom.'

The words crafty and artful have gone through precisely the same degradation of meaning.

Cunning (from Old English cunnan, to know) is connected with can, ken, canny. (Cf. king, and Latin cognosco.) It is used (substantive or adjective) in a good sense in the passages: 'Let my right hand forget her cunning'-Ps. cxxxvii, 5.

'I do present you with a man of mine,

Cunning in music'-SHAKESpeare.

'Send me now, therefore, a man cunning to work in gold and silver' -2 Chron. ii, 7.

3. 'sinister or crooked wisdom.' Sinister really means left handed, awkward (opposite to dexterous=right-handed), and