THE WORLDLY WISDOM OF BACON.
MOST—if, indeed, not all—men of experience in the world and its ways, will tell you, that they never learned anything worth learning from the maxims of that numerous band of writers who have attempted to give prudent advice in matters of ,human conduct. Snell stored-up worldly wisdom, according to the better opinion, is perfectly use- less for any practical purpose. But though no one will ever admit that he has found it possible to get on by a judicious use of maxims, and though most men are quite sincere when they express their belief in the futility of all rules of behaviour, it cannot be doubted that these proverbs and sayings, in which are concentrated the cunning and ex- perience of many thousand years, have a very considerable effect on human action. We hardly think that it would be possible to find a man who bad not at some time in his life found consolation in the apophthegm, "When things are at their worst they begin to mend," and almost Unconsciously most men have, deep down in their minds, a series of rough- and-ready and self-seleoted maxims which they apply to the facts of life. They might be ashamed to admit the fact, but in reality these half-a-dozen old saws are the marks by which they shape their course through life. People wonder why Jones is a little reserved even with his greatest friends; or again, why, when he had got the whip-hand over Smith, who had been so long his enemy, he did not use his advantage. If Jones told the truth, he would mention that he had long been under the influence of the Persian saying,—" Never treat a friend as if he could never become an enemy, or an enemy as if he could never become a friend." Superficially, we may seem much too great and good and intelligent and highly-cultivated to bother about such pedantry as maxims of conduct, but as often as not, a golden treasury of them is not only selected and preserved at the back of our minds, but kept in constant use.
In the matters of public concern Baconewas probably the ablest and mutest inventor and compiler of concentrated pieces of worldly-wisdom who ever lived and wrote. He was essentially "a. politic man,"—a politician, that is, in the Elizabethan sense, one who took pains to understand men's minds and sway them at his will,—a Machiavelli without the wickedness and cruelty. Many of Bacon's comments on the conduct of public affairs are extraordinarily apt and useful. Take, for example, what he says about the physical features of council, and how the nature of the council may be shaped and altered by the fact of a long or a square table. "A long table and a square table, or seats about the walls, seem things of form, but are things of substance; for at a long table a few at the upper end, in effect, sway all the business ; but in the other form there is more use of the counsellors' opinions that sit lower." No one who has sat on a committee can fail to appreciate the practical wisdom of this remark, and we doubt not that at the present day there are plenty of men who, without knowing it, adopt Bacon's distinction and act on it. If they want the Board to be swayed by the chairman, they take care that the essential piece of office-furniture shall be of the long shape. What Bacon says of the King in Council is not less true : "A King, when he presides in council, let him beware how he opens his own inclination too much in that which he propoundeth ; for else councellors will but take the wind of him, and instead of giving free counsel, will sing him a song of 'placebo.'" A chair- man who sits with a committee of men whom for any reason he overshadows should be very careful if he does not want merely to hear the echo of his own voice. Another passage in the essay on "Counsel," from which the above are taken, is full of worldly wisdom. In determining questions of importance, says Bacon, it is useless to take counsel "con- cerning matters if they take no counsel likewise concerning persons." Matters are as "dead images," but the life of the execution of affairs " resteth in the good choice of persons." In plain words, it is no good to agree in the abstract that such and such a thing ought to be done, unless one is prepared to consider who can be entrusted with the doing of it. An admirable piece of worldly wisdom for the use of politicians is contained in Bacon's remarks about the speeches of Princes : "Surely Princes had need, in tender matter and ticklish times, to beware what they say, especially in these short speeches, which fly abroad like darts, and are thought to be shot out of their secret intentions ; for as for large discourses, they are flat things, and not so much noted." All Europe has seen the truth of these shrewd words exemplified in the German Emperor. While he made use of short sharp speeches, Germany trembled whenever there was a military banquet. Some cumbrous epigram about smashing opponents and grinding them to powder, or some dangerous compliment in regard to his allies, was certain to fly abroad like a dart, and was held to have been shot out of the Emperor's secret inten- tions. Now, however, the Kaiser makes large discourses, which are, for the most part, "flat things, and not so much noted." Mr. Gladstone, too, t is clear, has acted throughout his life on Bacon's principle. Be has seen and avoided the danger of short pregnant speeches, and has had recourse to those verbal poultices which act so soothingly on his supporters and give the minimum of offence. Only when Mr. Gladstone has broken his rule of making large flat discourses, has he done himself harm by the spoken or written word. His remark that he was a pure Scotchman and that Englishmen needed discipline, has raised far more antagonism than a dozen volumes of Midlothian addresses. Bacon is always singularly happy when providing rules of conduct for rulers and Princes. The essay on " Empire" is full of sound and sagacious reflec- tions on the essential conditions of sovereignty. All the precepts of Royalty are, he tells us, gathered together in the two remembrances, "Memento quod as homo " and" Memento quad es Dens or vice-Dens." We doubt whether any King —and by a King we mean not a constitutional King, but one who rules as well as reigns—was ever really successful in his office who did not in effect act on these two maxims. The King who is too cynical or too humble to believe him- self set above and apart from other men, and occupying a semi-divine state, will never be able to endure the trials and the loneliness of absolute power. Again, the King who fails to remember that he is a man, will end by making himself ridiculous, and so will detract greatly fromlhis influence. Take the case of Louis XIV. If he had borne in mind the " Memento cfnod es homo," he would have avoided weakening his influence by those acts of overweening vanity which, though they " paid " while all went well, had so damaging an effect when old age and disaster overtook him. The loneliness and the lack of stimulating desires which beset those who hold imperial power, are often overlooked ; yet, in truth, they yield the secret by which the actions of Kings may be best measured. Bacon's analysis is extraordinarily clear-sighted :—" It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire, and many things to fear ; and yet that commonly is the case with Kings, who, being at the highest, want matter of desire, which makes their minds more languishing; and have many representations of perils and shadows, which make their minds the less clear ; and this is one reason also of that effect which the Scripture speaketh of, That the King's heart is inscrutable :' for mul- titude of jealousies, and lack of some predominant desire, that should marshal and put in order all the rest, maketh any man's heart hard to find or sound." Here, says Bacon, is to be found the explanation of the fact that Kings so often seem childish and petty, and set their minds on "toys,"—" some- times upon a building, sometimes upon erecting of an order:" —" This seemeth incredible unto those that know not the principle, that the mind of man is more cheered and refreshed by profiting in small things, than by standing at a stay in great."
Under the head of "Cunning," Bacon in his Essays gives a number of the lower devices of worldly wisdom. Here is a receipt for getting through an unpleasant but necessary piece of business that is used every day by private secretaries and head-clerks :—" Another is, that when you have any thing to obtain of present dispatch, you entertain and amuse the _party with whom you deal with some other discourse, that he be not too much awake to make objections. I knew a coun- sellor and secretary, that never came to Queen Elizabeth of England with bills to sign, but he would always first put her into some discourse of State, that she might the less mind the bills." The essays on " Negotiating " and on "Ceremonies and Re- spects" are perfect mines of astute reflection useful in the conduct of life, and as worthy of note now as in the days of Queen Elizabeth and King James. How often is the question asked in regard to the making of some bargain,—" Will it be best to.do it by personal interview Or by letter P" Bacon dis- cusses very ably what business is best managed by the one and what best by the other. One of his "tips " may be quoted : To deal in person is good when a man's face breedeth regard, as commonly with inferiors." That nice question, the choice of instruments in negotiating, is also well analysed. "Bold men for expostulation, fair-spoken men for persuasion, crafty men for inquiry and observation, forward and absurd men for business that doth not well bear out itself." We should use also, he tells us," such as have been lucky, and have prevailed before in things wherein you have employed them ; for that breeds confidence, and they will strive to maintain their pre- scription." That was the first Rothschild's opinion as well as Bacon's. In the essay on "Ceremonies and Respects " is to be found an excellent statement of the via media between formality and slovenliness. "Not to use ceremonies at all is to teach others not to use them again ; and so diminisheth respect to himself ; especially they are not to be omitted to strangers and formal natures : but the dwelling upon them, and exalting them above the moon, is not only tedious, but doth diminish the faith and credit of him that speaks : and, certainly, there is a kind of conveying of effectual and im- printing passages amongst compliments, which is of singular use, if a man can hit upon it."
As may be seen from the examples we have cited, a useful, or at any rate an entertaining, little volume of worldly wisdom might easily be made up out of Bacon's works. We wish that Mr. Grosa,rt had made such a book instead of his "Thoughts that Breathe and Words that Burn," from Bacon, —the title of the work which he has just added to Mr. Elliot Stock's "Elizabethan Library." Such a title does not fit Bacon's style well, which always has too much of astuteness and deliberateness for that description. As it is, Mr. Grosart's pretty little volume wants coherence and a centre of interest. It is only so many passages from Bacon hurled at the reader's head. No doubt it is in a sense an interesting and readable book,—two hundred pages of Bacon could, of course, be nothing else ; but it is not as interesting as it might have been. Bacon's maxims of conduct would, however, have been exactly suitable for preservation in a dainty miniature volume of the sort Mr. Elliot Stock is issuing.
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