The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded by Bacon, Delia, 1811-1859

It is a very short paragraph indeed for so long a subject; but, short as it is, it is not less pithy, and it contains reasons why it should not be longer, and why that new torch of science which he is bringing in upon the human affairs generally, cannot be permitted to enter that department of them in his time. 'The first is, that it is a part of knowledge secret and retired in _both_ those respects in which things are deemed secret; for some things are secret because they are hard to know, and _some_ because they are not fit to utter. Again, the wisdom of _antiquity_, the _shadows whereof are in the Poets_, in the description of torments and pains, _next unto the crime of rebellion_, which was the _giants_ offence, doth detest _the crime of futility_, as in Sisyphus and Tantalus. But this was meant of _particulars_. Nevertheless, _even unto the general rules and discourses_ of policy and government, [it extends; for even here] there is due a _reverent_ handling.' And after having briefly indicated the comprehension 'of this science,' and shown that it is the thing he is treating under other heads, he concludes, 'but considering that _I write to a king_ who is a _master_ of it, and is _so well assisted_, I think it decent to pass over _this part_ in silence, as willing to obtain the certificate which one of the ancient philosophers aspired unto; who being silent when others contended to make demonstration of their abilities by speech, desired it might be certified for _his part_ that there was one that knew how to hold his peace.'

And having thus distinctly cleared himself of any suspicion of a disposition to introduce scientific inquiry and innovation into departments not then open to a procedure of that sort, his proposal for an advancement of learning in other quarters was, of course, less liable to criticism. But even that part of the subject to which he limits himself involves, as we shall see, an incidental reference to this, from which he here so modestly retires, and affords no inconsiderable scope for that genius which was by nature so irresistibly impelled, in one way or another, to the criticism and reformation of the larger wholes. He retires from the open assault, but it is only to go deeper into his subject. He is constituting the science of that from which the state proceeds. He is analyzing the state, and searching out in the integral parts of it, that which makes true _states_ impossible. He has found the revolutionary forces in their simple forms, and is content to treat them in these. He is bestowing all his pains upon an art that will develop--on scientific principles, by simply attending to the natural laws, as they obtain in the human kind, royalties, and nobilities, and liege-men of all degrees--an art that will make all kinds of pieces that the structure of the state requires.

CHAPTER III.

THE SCIENCE OF MORALITY.

Section I.--THE EXEMPLAR OF GOOD.