appear in juxtaposition. The latter is quoted in its native state in 2 Hen. IV. v. 4, in conjunction with another Promus proverb :

O God, that right should thus overcome might! Well, of sufferance cometh ease.

The proverb 'Better to bow than break' is not used in the plays in its simple form, but there is a passage in Lear, iii. 6, which contains the sentiment and some of the leading words of the two proverbs in conjunction :—

The mind much sufferance doth o'erskip

When grief hath mates, and bearing fellowship;
How light and portable my pain seems now,

When that which makes me bend makes the king bow.

Lovers of Bacon will not fail to observe how these confirm and illustrate the teaching of that famous passage in the essay of Friendship where it is shown that the mind escapes much suffering when grief is shared in

One thing is most admirable (wherewith I conclude this first fruit of friendship), which is that this communicating of a man's self to his friend works two contrary effects, for it redoubleth joys and cutteth griefs in halves; for there is no man that imparteth his joys to his friend but he joyeth the more, and no man that imparteth his griefs to his friend but he grieveth the less.

This is a sentiment which is frequently and strongly urged in the plays, and there can be no need to bring forward instances of it in this place, as they will occur to most Shakespearian readers.

To return to the proverbs. There is an earlier passage in the plays which seems, though more dimly, to reflect the same combinations of thought and the same recollection of the two proverbs which are placed together in the Promus. In this passage it will be observed that the word bow takes the place of bend in the quotation from Lear:—

England shall repent his folly, see his weakness, and admire our sufferance. Bid him therefore consider of his ransom, which

must proportion the disgrace we have digested, which in weight to reanswer his pettiness would bow under. (Hen. V. iii. 6.)

Again, 'Time trieth troth,' a proverb of Heywood, quoted in the Promus, is not anywhere cited literally in the plays, but its sentiment and its leading idea of the trying or proving true friendship, fidelity, and affection, reappear continually in such phrases as these:

The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, grapple them to thy heart. (Ham. i. 3.)

My best beloved and approved friend. (Tam. Sh. i. 2.)

I think

you think I love you.

I have well approved it, sir. (Oth. ii. 3.)

Not to knit my soul unto an approved wanton. (M. Ado, v.

1.)

The same sentiment, in combination with the figures of trying and knitting, is used in a letter of Bacon to his friend Mr. M. Hicks

Another combination of two of Heywood's proverbs (but which are not together in his collection) seems to occur in As You Like It, v. 4, 'Something is better than nothing,' and 'Own is own,' are both in Heywood, but the former alone is in the Promus.

Neither of them is quoted literally in the plays, but, combined, they seem to have given the hint for Touchstone's introduction of Audrey as his intended wife :

A poor virgin, sir, an ill-favoured thing 1, sir, but mine own; humour of mine, sir, to take that that no man else

A

poor

will.

Other proverbs, derived from the Bible, are quoted gravely, or their principles instilled-as

Pride will have a fall (Promus, 952),

which can be traced from its simple form, through several stages, until its final development in Wolsey's celebrated speech.

1 See Promus, No. 1085.

There are also a few proverbs in Heywood which Bacon has not entered in the Promus, but which are to be found in his private letters or in his speeches, and which are either repeated literally or covertly in the plays. Thus, in a letter to James I., which accompanied the sending a portion of the History of Great Britain, Bacon says: This (History) being but a leaf or two, I pray your pardon if I send it for your recreation, considering that love must creep where it cannot go.' The same pretty sentiment reappears in the Two Gentlemen of Verona (Act iv. scene 2) in this manner :

Thu. How, now, Sir Portius, are you crept before us?
Pro. Ay, gentle Thurio; for you know that love

Will creep in service where it cannot go.

Two proverbs in Heywood's epigrams no doubt suggested this graceful idea :

and

:

He may ill run that cannot go,

Children must learn to creep ere they go.

A little reflection upon these passages brings into view one characteristic of Bacon's manner of applying quotations. He will be found often to catch at some peculiarly expressive word, and, seizing upon it, he deftly twists the sentiment or phrase so as to suit his own requirements, and to produce a bend in the thought, or sometimes an entirely new image.

In the instance above the original proverb clearly means something to this effect: A man must learn to do a thing slowly and with pains before he can do it easily and well'; or, 'More haste less speed.' But Bacon's mental eye is caught by the suggestive words creep and go, and by a rapid turn in the expression he presents us with the new and charming thought, that in cases where love cannot 'go' boldly in and make a show by active and demonstrative service, it may 'creep' in shyly, with little deeds of kindness or courtesy; and Shakespeare does the same.

This is one of the cases in which it may at first be supposed that Bacon borrowed from Shakespeare, because the play in which the proverb occurs is of earlier date than the letter to James I. Yet, since it is authoritatively stated that the play of the Two Gentlemen of Verona was not published until 1623, the fact of Bacon's familiarity with it while it was yet merely a stage play seems to be so remarkable that it serves as a particularly good illustration of the manner in which Bacon and the author of the plays connected together and combined the same ideas, or, as in this case, the same proverbs.

If, as has already been said, the borrowing' theory is admitted as a satisfactory explanation of such coincidences, it must be applied sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, to most of the metaphors and peculiar expressions which are common to both sets of works. Moreover, it is evident (for there are indubitable proofs, not only in these Promus notes, but by a comparison of various parts of Bacon's voluminous writings) that he had, as Mr. Spedding points out, a system of taking notes and of often making slightly inaccurate quotations intentionally, and apparently with the view of bringing out some point which suggested to him a train of thought beyond or different from that which the author intended. If he is found doing this in his notes, and if the same thing is traceable in his acknowledged works, it may fairly be inferred that it was part of his method and of his genius, a characteristic of his style, which is more likely to be noticeable in his lighter writings than elsewhere.

It is of importance, therefore, to press on the reader's attention this view of Bacon's mode of assimilating to himself every thought that fell in his way. Examples of the same kind appear on nearly every page of the Promus, and if we would track the nimble mind of Bacon through the mazes of his notes, it can only be done by realising the versatility and Proteus-like genius which could find

'figures in all things,' which, glancing from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven, could give to airy nothing ' a local habitation and a name,' a genius which

Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself,

Could turn to favour and to prettiness.

The remarks as to the use made by Bacon of the English proverbs apply equally to the French, Spanish, Italian, and Latin proverbs, which are numerous. But the arguments which apply to the English collection cannot hold good with the foreign proverbs. It may be thought likely, or possible, that Shakespeare should have used upwards of 100 of the same English proverbs that Bacon noted, but did not use; and the coincidence may perhaps be accounted for by saying that both authors may equally have availed themselves of Heywood's epigrams, or that the proverbs were common and popular.

Even assuming this to be the case, the same arguments cannot be used with regard to the foreign proverbs, some of which are most peculiar, and unknown to modern ears. There are 200 French, 26 Spanish, and 14 Italian proverbs in the Promus, forming a total of 240.

Of these, traces of about 151 have been found in the plays. Three or four of the Italian and Spanish proverbs are quoted in Bacon's prose writings, but out of the 200 French proverbs, only one has been found which seems to have any reference to the plays. The one exception is No. 1445- Commence à mourir qui abandonne son désir'. and this may perhaps apply as well to certain sentiments in the two essays of 'Death' as to the numerous passages in the plays which echo or paraphrase those sentiments.

The Promus collection of' Choice French Proverbs,' 200 in number, is written in a clear French handwriting, which bears a much more modern appearance than the

It is sometimes difficult to decide whether an allusion is to the English or foreign version of the proverb, as the entries in the Promus are not in all cases word for word, like the version of Heywood, nor like its modern form.