"The fortune in being the first in an invention, or in a privilege, doth cause sometimes a wonderful overgrowth in riches, _as it was with the first sugar-man in the Canaries_."] When was the growth of sugar introduced into the Canaries? To what does Bacon allude? It does not appear that sugar is now grown in these islands; at least it is enumerated among their imports, and not among their exports. Essay XXXV. Of Prophecies.-- "Henry VI. of England said of Henry VII., when he was a lad and gave him water, 'This is the lad that shall enjoy the crown for which we strive.'"] Query, Is this speech reported by any earlier writer? "When I was in France I heard from one Dr. Pena, that the queen-mother, who was given to curious arts, caused the king her husband's nativity to be calculated under a false name, and the astrologer gave a judgment that he should be killed in a duel; at which the queen laughed, thinking her husband to be above challenges and duels; but he was slain upon a course at tilt, the splinters of the staff of Montgomery going in at his beaver."] The king here alluded to is Henri II., who was killed at a tournament in 1559; his queen was Catherine de Medici. Bacon's visit to France was in 1576-9 (_Life_, by Montagu, p. xvi.), during the reign of Henri III., when Catherine of Medici was queen-mother. Query, Is this prophecy mentioned in any French writer? "Octogesimus octavus mirabilis annus." Concerning the prophecy which contained this verse, see Bayle, _Dict._, art. _Stofler_, note E: art. _Bruschius_, note E. Essay XXXVII. Of Masques and Triumphs.-- "The colours that show best by candlelight are white, carnation, and a kind of sea-water green; and _oes_, or spangs, as they are of no great cost, so they are of most glory." Mr. Markby says that Montagu and Spiers take the liberty of altering the word _oes_ to _ouches_. Halliwell, in his _Dictionary_, explains _oes_ to mean _eyes_, citing one manuscript example. This would agree tolerably with the sense of the passage before us. _Ouches_ would mean _jewels_. Essay XXXVIII. Of Nature in Men.--See _Antith._, No. 10. vol. viii. p. 459. "Optimus ille _animi_ vindex," &c.] "Ille _fuit_ vindex" in Ovid. {167} "Like as it was with Æsop's damsel, turned from a cat to a woman."] See Babrius, Fab. 32. "Otherwise they may say, 'Multum incola fuit anima mea.'" Whence are these words borrowed? Essay XXXIX. Of Custom and Education.--See _Antith._, No. 10. vol. viii. p. 359. "Only superstition is now so well advanced, that men of the first blood are as firm as butchers by occupation, and votary resolution is made equipollent to custom, even in matter of blood."] This is an allusion to the Gunpowder Plot. "The Indian wives strive to be burnt with the corpse of their husbands."] The practice of suttee is of great antiquity. See Strabo, xv. 1. § 30. 62.; Val. _Max._ ii. 6. 14.