Page:Essays of Francis Bacon 1908 Scott.djvu/72

Rh From the singularly intimate private diary which he called Commentarius Solutus, we know that the essay Of Seeming Wise is a portrait of Sir Henry Hobart, who by securing the appointment of Attorney-General, in 1606, effectually barred Bacon's way to that position for seven years. Bacon bitterly resented being passed over, and jotted now in his notes a series of epigrams on "Hubbard's disadvantages" which seem to have developed into this essay, in which Attorney-General Hobart represents as type the weak man who is made to believe himself wondrous wise. The essay Of Deformity, at the time of its publication, was said to be a portrait to the life of Bacon's cousin, Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, who may be also in mind in the essays Of Envy and Of Cunning. Cecil's stature of scarce five feet was produced by curvature of the spine. He was so small that Elizabeth called him "little man" or "little elf." James I addressed him as "pygmy" or even "little beagle." The fine essay Of Judicature is the substance of a charge to Sir Richard Button, on his being raised to the bench of the Court of Common Pleas, 3d May, 1617. Bacon as Lord Chancellor on delivering him his patent complimented him on possessing the virtues of a judge, essentially those set forth in the essay.

Three of the essays tell us what recreations appealed to Bacon in the intervals of his busy life of statecraft and authorship. The essay Of Masques and Triumphs grew out of a long experience of writing in lighter vein. Between 1588 and 1614 Rh