Characters from the Histories & Memoirs of the Seventeenth Century
History
Characters from the Histories & Memoirs of the Seventeenth Century
Great Britain -- Biography; Great Britain -- History -- Stuarts, 1603-1714
Timber: or, Discoveries; Made Vpon Men and Matter. By Ben: Iohnson.
London, Printed M.DC.XLI. (pp. 101-2.)
This character is a remarkable testimony to the impression which
Bacon's restrained eloquence made on his contemporaries. Yet it is
little more than an exercise in free translation. Jonson has pieced
together two passages in the _Controversies_ of Marcus Seneca, and
placed the name of 'Dominus Verulanus' in the margin. The two passages
are these:
'Non est unus, quamvis præcipuus sit, imitandus: quia nunquam par
fit imitator auctori. Hæc natura est rei. Semper citra veritatem est
similitudo.' Lib. I, Præfatio (ed. Paris, 1607, p. 58).
'Oratio eius erat valens cultu, ingentibus plena sententiis. Nemo
minus passus est aliquid in actione sua otiosi esse. Nulla pars erat,
quæ non sua virtute staret. Nihil, in quo auditor sine damno aliud
ageret. Omnia intenta aliquo, petentia. Nemo magis in sua potestate
habuit audientium affectus. Verum est quod de illo dicit Gallio
noster. Cum diceret, rerum potiebatur, adeo omnes imperata faciebant.
Cum ille voluerat, irascebantur. Nemo non illo dicente timebat, ne
desineret.' Epit. Declamat. Lib. III (p. 231).
From the continuation of the first passage Jonson took the words
'insolent Greece' ('insolenti Græciæ') in his verses 'To the memory of
Shakespeare'.
Jonson has left a more vivid picture of Bacon as a speaker in a short
sentence of his Conversations with Drummond of Hawthornden: 'My Lord
Chancelor of England wringeth his speeches from the strings of his
band.'
9.
Reign of King James the First, 1653, pp. 158-60.
Page 36, l. 18. _which the King hinted at_, in the King's Speech to
the Lords, 1621: 'But because the World at this time talks so much of
_Bribes_, I have just cause to fear the whole _Body_ of this _House_
hath _bribed_ him [Prince Charles] to be a good _Instrument_ for you
upon all occasions: He doth so good Offices in all his _Reports_
to me, both for the _House_ in _generall_, and every one of you
in _particular_.' The speech is given in full by Wilson before the
passage on Bacon.
Page 37, l. 25. The passage here omitted is 'The humble Submission and
Supplication of the Lord Chancellour'.
Page 38, l. 10. _a good Passeover_, a good passage back to Spain.
Gondomar was Spanish ambassador.
10.
The Church-History of Britain; From the Birth of Jesus Christ, Untill
the Year M.DC.XLVIII. Endeavoured By Thomas Fuller. London, 1655. (Bk.
x, p. 89.)
11.
Resuscitatio, Or, Bringing into Publick Light Severall Pieces, of
the Works, Civil, Historical, Philosophical, & Theological, Hitherto
Sleeping; Of the Right Honourable Francis Bacon Baron of Verulam,
Viscount Saint Alban. According to the best Corrected Coppies.
Together, With his Lordships Life. By William Rawley, Doctor in
Divinity, His Lordships First, and Last, Chapleine. Afterwards,
Chapleine, to His late Maiesty. London, 1657.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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