Page:Essays of Francis Bacon 1908 Scott.djvu/81

Rh draws the eye strangely" is fairly hypnotic in suggestion. Of beautiful and striking antitheses Bacon is full, like "for if a man can be partaker of God's theatre, he shall likewise be partaker of God 's rest." It adds much to the pleasure of reading Bacon's Essays to be sensitive to the fulness and nicety of meaning of the well chosen words used. "Discretion of speech," says Bacon in Of Discourse, "is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal, is more than to speak in good words, or in good order." This principle, in the stylistic code of the Atticists, is the conversational tone, the loqui of Caesar, not the dicere of Cicero. It is vastly more difficult to put elegance and dignity and weight into conversational language, than to write with rhetorical flourishes, to express the thought in fine language merely. It can be accomplished, as Bacon accomplished it, by taking pains always. Dr. Rawley goes on,—"Neither was he given to any light conceits, or descanting upon words, but did ever purposely and industriously avoid them; for he held such things to be but digressions or diversions from the scope intended, and to derogate from the weight and dignity of the style."

The Attic style is particularly hard to write in English, because English is naturally a discursive language. Bacon caught it in the first place from the happy accident of being an Elizabethan. Again, Bacon's mind was a thoroughly logical one. Every new acquisition of its full content fell into its proper place with great distinctness. Lastly, Rh