Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-05-02

inform the court of the above thinking such
the conspiracy, but when counseed with my
iather about it he advised me to say nothing
concerning 1T; that there was abundant proof
eHtlnt; that the times were dangerous, &C. &c.
ana have never told the circumstance in print
till now. V.
For THE EVENING STAR.
Ben: JOnson, Bacon, and Shakespeare.
Ben Jonson, in his "Discoveries," speaking OF
the lord chancellor Egerton as "a great and
grave orator." adds, "But his learned and able
though unfortunately successor is he who hath
hiied up all numbers, and performed that in
our tongue, which may be compared or prefer
red either to insolent Greece or naughty Rome. -
The similarity Of expression here to his Ian
guage in the famous eulogy on Shakespeare pre-
fixed to the Folio of 1928 has greatly puzzled
the critics: e. 9.
cor, when thy sockes were on
Leave thee alone for the comp arsOn
" az mat insoient Greece, or haughtie Rome
Sent forth, or since did from their ashes come"
Two things should be noted here. First the
distance in time when these two passages were
written, and, secondly, the difference in place,
as well as the different uses to which they were
applied. We do not certainly know when they
were written. but what we do know is. that the
passage In blank verse appeared in print, for
the first time, on preliminary leaf to the Folio
OF 1923; and the same passage in modified prose
1orm was printed first in the "Discoveres," in
1911. Here is a distance of eighteen years,
though the difference of time when they were
written, may, possibly, be reduced to one-haf
That, allowing. as we may, that Hemin@e and
Condell (Shakespeare's fellows" and publish
ers of the FOlo) solicited Ben Jonson for this
dedication. about the time Of publication that
Is, 1923.
The .Discoveries were the ''last drops of
We're made Subsequently to 1880, the author
twelve years as the difference in
time when the two passages We're written
Now, to place, 1t is to be noted that the "Dis-
cONSfiSS IT
randa. and are so entitled 'as they have flowed
out OF his daily readings There are upwards
has distinct caption or headline in latin.
The heading of that particular discovery" con-
corning lord Bacon, is, Scrtptorun catalog,.s. A
foot note at the bottom of the page gives list
of writer's and speakers ofthat age who were IA
nous for oratory or eloquence. The only poets
mentioned in the list, are Sir Thomas Wyatt,
Henry, earl of Surrey, and Sir Philip Sidney
and 1t is not for poetry they are mentioned, but
for "eloquence." The subject OF Jonson's dis
a. chapter to themselves-and hence the omis-
sion of Shakespeare from the list is nothing
singular, for neither is there any mention made
here OF Spenser, Drayton, Daniel, Chapman,
Marlowe and of all the dramatic poets OF the
age, not one. So that objection is disposed Of
Elsewhere. Jonson devotes a special "discov-
cry to Shakespeare, AS he also devotcs one to
lord Bacon: 1t is in the former that he speaks
thus OF his friend Shakespeare: 'for l loved
the man, and 90 honor his memory, on this side
idolatry, as much as any. He was indeed) hon
est, and of an open and free nature; had an eX-
cellent phantasy, brave notions, and gentle
expressions; wherein he flowed with that facility
that sometimes it was necessary he should be
stopped"
Ben Jonson's testimony to the merits of
Bacon as q speaker, is not less emphatic but
there is no need of quoting him here. But what
did Jonson mean, what could he mean in speak
ing of Bacon as "he who filled up all numbers?''
That certainly looks as though he were speak
ing OLA concealed poet" And using this ex-
preston, too, in connection with another, the
identical expression about "nsolent Greece or
naughty Rome, which he had used before con-
corning Shakespeare. 1t is known that Ben JON
son had habit of turning his prose into poetry;
ala ne, on this occasion, reverse the process,
turning his poetry into prose for the sake of
turning compliment to Francis, of Verulam,
at the same time? That might well be, as Jon
son was then grown old, and in his dotage so to
say. But 1T does not account for his speaking of
Bacon as one who had filled up all numbers. -
Doubtless, if we had the New English Diction-
airy, edited by DIR. Murray, and published as far
as the word number we might obtain the exact
sense and meaning of the word, as here usedby
Websters, Johnsons led. by Latham), the New
Imperial, ETC., assign from half dozen to a
dozen different senses to the word number, or
numbers, of which only one or two Is ever ap-
tons:
Many, more than one; Multitude that may be
counted; Comparative multitude; harmony:
verses, poetry.-Lathan,s johnson.
Under the last definition given here, Pope and
Milton are quoted, thus:
Harmonious numbers. "-1MihOn.
g lisped In numbers, for the numbers came.'
Pope.
There is no reason to believe that 'rare old
Benz used the word in the latter sense, speak
ing of Bacon. 1t is far more likely, and reason
able to suppose that he had in view the number
and variety of works issued by lord Bacon dur
ing his lifetime, and possibly, even a single
great work, his "1nstauratio Magma" or Novum
Organum, which was written in parts, and
finished at different times. Thus the word
plumber might come to mean zone of a num-
bered series of things, as a division of book
published in parts."-New Imperial dictionary.
So we read,
Cya6be
"A book was lately writ. called Tetrachordon
Ana woven close In matter, form and stile;
Inc subject new; 1t walk d the town awhile,
Mutton labout 164O).
There Is still another meaning to the word
number. which may be called the classical
sense Thus Horace uses the phrase nu,nero
solato meaning "free from the restraint of
number or metre" that is, prose- The poet
Gray also, speaking of the irregular measure of
the ode, !" In loose numbers wildly sweet"
Applying 1t to prose, it may be said that there
Is "harmony Of nu mbers'' which makes the
sense. there is, certainly, such a Harmony
Jonson, as we know, was nothing If not CLASH
cal; his "art" was wholly classical, as has often
Deen pointed out But whether, in this particu-
lar, "he who filled up all numbers" refers to
the variety, harmony and rhythm of Bacon's
prose- or as without forcing the interpretation,
l ana inclined to think, 1t refers to the multitude
and nnmeIousness Of the pieces composing the
great and various works of Francis Bacon,
am conndent, from the nature of the context,
ana 1or other reasons, that it does not refer to
poetry OF any kind, and least of all to the dra-
matte works of William Shakespeare.
John SAvAnv