22.

21. Respects = considerations, motives

“ One whom all would have considered fit for rule, if he had not ruled.”

23. “ Alone of all the emperors, Vespasian was changed for the better.” 24. To side

to lean to one side.

1.

OF SEEMING WISE. 2 Tim. iii. 5.

2. Sufficiency = ability, full power. So 2 Cor. iii. 5. “Our sufficiency is of God.”

3. “Trifles with great effort.”

4. Prospectives = perspective glasses. They make things appear different from what they are.

5. As = that, as often in Bacon.

6. “With one brow raised to your forehead, the other bent downward to your chin, you answer that cruelty does not please you."

7. To bear = to gain or win. 8. Impertinent irrelevant. - Curious over-nice. 9. Difference subtle distinction. 10. Blanch = avoid, evade.

“A foolish man who fritters away matters by triling with words." 12. Inward beggar:

= a man secretly insolvent.

II.

OF DISCOURSE.

I.

“ Boy, spare

the
spur,

and hold the reins more lightly.” Ovid.
2. Poser = a close examiner. Fr. poser, to put a question.
3. Galliards =

= a gay, lively dance, much in fashion in Bacon's time. 4. That = what, that which. Frequently so used. Cf. John iii. 11. “We speak that we do know.”

5. Speech of touch speech of particular application, personal hits.
6. Dry blow sarcastic remark.
7. Agreeably = in a manner suited to.

8. Circumstances unimportant particulars. Lat. circum, around, and stare, to stand.

OF RICHES.

1. Impedimenta = baggage, especially of an army.

See notes on “ Of Marriage and Single Life.”

2. Riches. — This noun is really singular, though commonly used in the plural. Fr. richesse.

3. Disturbeth - interferes with. Lat. dis, apart, and turbare, to trouble; from turba, disorder, tumult.

7. Reach

4. Conceit=imagination, fancy. 0. Fr. conceit, past part. of concevoir; Lat. conceptus, from con, together, and capere, to take, hold.

5. Eccles. v. 11. The language of the Authorized Version is somewhat different.

6. Fruition = enjoyment. Coined as if from fruitio. Lat. frui, to enjoy.

= extend. 8. Dole = distribution. A. S. dael, division; it is a doublet of deal. Cf. Ger. theil, part.

9. Donative gift. Lat. donare, to give. 10. Feigned = fictitious.

II. Because in order that. See note 5 on “Of Marriage and Single Life."

12. Prov. xviii. 11. In the Authorized Version, “ The rich man's wealth is his strong city.” Also Prov. x. 15.

13. Proud = giving reason or occasion for pride.

14. Abstract = withdrawn from the concrete; not considering the uses that may be made of wealth. Lat. abs, from, and trahere, to draw. 15. Friarly

like a friar, one of whose vows was poverty.
16. Cicero, the greatest of Roman orators, was born 106 B.C.,

and murdered 43 B.C.

17. Rabirius Posthumus, a Roman knight, was accused by the Senate of having lent large sums of money to the king of Egypt for unlawful purposes. He was defended by Cicero and acquitted.

18. “In his desire to increase his wealth it was evident that he sought, not the gratification of avarice, but the means of doing good.”

19. Prov. xxviii. 20: “ He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent."

20. Plutus the god of riches.
21. Jupiter = the supreme deity of Roman mythology.

22. Pluto the god of shades, or of the infernal regions, brother of Neptune and Jupiter.

23. Upon speed = in or with speed.
24. Audits

rent-roll or account of income. Lat. audire, to hear.
25. Himself = he himself.

26. Expect the prime of market wait for the best markets. So in Heb. x. 13

Expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.”
27. Overcome = come upon, take advantage of.
28. Mainly = greatly.

29. Broke = to transact business through a broker or middle man. Here in the fut. tense with “shall” from the preceding clause understood.

30. Them= those pressed by necessity.

31. Chapmen traders, merchants. A. S. ceap, trade, and mann, man. Cf. Eng. cheap.

32. Naught= naughty, bad.

33. Chopping = bartering, exchanging. Chopping of bargains means speculating

34. Sharings = partnerships. 35. Usury

interest; now illegal or exorbitant interest, charged for the use of money. Lat. usura, from uti, to use.

36. “ In the sweat of another's brow."

37. Scriveners = scribes, persons who draw up contracts, especially in money matters.

38. Value = represented as financially sound. .
39. Turn = convenience, purpose.
40. Sugar-man= planter of the sugar-cane.

41. Canaries = Canary Islands, off the north-west coast of Africa, noted in the early part of the sixteenth century for the production of sugar.

42. Coemption = the purchase of the whole quantity of any commodity. Lat. co, for con, together, and emere, to buy.

43. Of the best rise of the best kind or most lucrative sort. 44. Feeding humours:

indulging caprices or flattering whims. 45. “ Wills and childless parents taken as with a net.” 46. None worse = none are worse. 47. Penny-wise = niggardly when important interests are at cake. 48. Glorious ostentatious. 49. Advancements gifts of money or property.

OF STUDIES.

1. Ability power to accomplish things.
2. Privateness and retiring = privacy and retirement.
3. Disposition arrangement. Lat. dis, apart, and ponere, to place.

4. Plots and marshalling = complicated plans and arranging in due order.

5. To make judgment = to judge.
6. Humour =

14. Bowling = playing at bowls, a game corresponding to ten-pins.

15. Stone and reins = gravel and kidneys. The gravel is a disease produced by small calculous concretions in the kidneys and bladder.

16. Shooting, that is, with bow and arrow.
17. Wandering hard to concentrate on a subject.

18. Schoolmen the scholars of the Middle Ages, who applied the logic of Aristotle to theology.

19. Cymini sectores = splitters of cummin. 20. To beat over = to examine thoroughly.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.

IF Shakespeare had left an autobiography, we should esteem it one of our greatest literary treasures. If some Boswell had dogged his footsteps, noted carefully the incidents of his everyday life, and recorded the sentiments and thoughts that dropped spontaneously from his lips, how eagerly we should read the book to gain a clearer insight into the great master's soul. As it is, we are shut up to very meagre records, to names and dates found in business accounts or legal documents; and the greatest genius of all literature is concealed behind his works almost in the haze of a myth. We are dependent, not upon history, but upon fancy, to fill up the measure of what must have been an interesting, varied, and bountiful life. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon, April

On his father's side, he was of Saxon lineage; on his mother's side, he was of Norman descent; and in his character the qualities of these two races Saxon sturdiness and Norman versatility — were exquisitely harmonized. His father, John Shakespeare, was a glover, wool-dealer, and yeoman, who attained prominence in Stratford as an alderman and bailiff. He was a man of substantial qualities, and for many years lived in

easy circumstances; but afterwards, when his son was passing into early manhood, he suffered a sad decline in fortune. William's mother, Mary Arden, was brought up on a landed estate; and besides inheriting from her the finer qualities of his mind, the future poet probably learned under her influence to appreciate the exceeding beauty of gentle and tender womanhood.

His education was received in the free school of Stratford,

23, 1564.