poesy are sung; and "dinner being done," the Tirsan calls out two of his "sons of eminent merit and virtue," and bestows on each "a jewel," which they ever after wear in the front of their turban or hat." This done, "they fall to music and dances and other recreations." So much for the feast, which may be compared a little, below, with "the feast of Lord Timon." 66 Now, turning to the play, the scene is "Athens; and the woods adjoining." For, in this model, we are to emerge from the woods, again, to "the foot of the mountains,” and thence, to ascend toward the height of things in "the commonwealth of Athens"; in which we shall see, also, "how the culture and cure of the mind of man" depend upon "points of nature" and "points of fortune." 1 The first act opens with a scene, in which the poet, the painter, the merchant, the jeweller, and the philosopher, are brought upon the stage together, and the principal topic seems to be our very subject here, namely, "true art." Each one brings an offering of service to the great Lord Timon. the beginning of the dialogue, the ideas and expressions which are used so forcibly call to mind, not only the teachings of Bacon on poesy, nature, and art, but also the manner and diction of the Dedication and Preface to the Folio of 1623, as to raise a strong suspicion, at least, that both were written by the same hand and at about the same time. Compare the sentences as follows: : "Act I. Sc. 1. Athens. A Hall in TIMON's House. But what particular rarety? what strange, Which manifold record not matches? ["Whilst we study to be thankful in our particular." — Ded.] Mer. O, 't is a worthy lord. Jew. Nay, that's most fix'd 1 Adv. of Learn., Bk. II. In Mer. A most incomparable man; breath'd, as it were, To an untirable and continuate goodness: .... ["To the most noble and incomparable paire of brethren, . . . . . and our singular good lords." Ded. "A king of incomparable clemency, and whose heart is inscrutable for wisdom and goodness." - Submission.] Paint. You are rapt, sir, in some work, some dedication To the great lord." ["And while we name them trifles, we have deprived ourselves of the defence of our dedication."— Ded.] From whence 't is nourished: The fire i' the flint Shews not, till it be struck; our gentle flame Each bound it chafes. What have you there? ["Country hands reach forth milke, creame, fruits, as what they have; and many Nations (we have heard) that had not gummes and incense, obtained their request with a leavened cake." - Ded. Lucian's Timon reads: "I come to bring you a new song of the lately-taught dithyrambics." 1 "There were under the Law (excellent King) both daily sacrifices and free-will offerings." - Ded. of the Adv.] Paint. A picture, sir. And when comes your book forth? Poet. Upon the heels of my presentment, sir. Let's see your piece. ["It hath been the highest of our care, who are the Presenters, to make the present worthy of your Highnesses by the perfection." - Ded. "In like manner there belongeth to kings from their servants both tribute of duty and presents of affection.". Ded. of the Adv.] Paint. 'Tis a good piece. Poet. So 'tis; this comes off well, and excellent. Poet. Admirable! How this grace Speaks his own standing; what a mental power This eye shoots forth; how big imagination Moves in this lip; to the dumbness of the gesture One might interpret. [If he were a good "interpreter of nature”: and “if it be true that the principal part of beauty is in decent motion." — Essay.] 1 Luciani Opera (Tauchnitz, Lipsia, 1858,) I. 30. [-"(for I must ascribe your commendation to affection, being above my merit,) as I must do contrary to that that painters do; for they desire to make the picture to the life, and I must endeavour to make the life to the picture." Letter, 1619. -"as if art were some different thing from nature, and artificial from natural."- Adv. "But because there be so many good painters, both for hand and colours, it needeth but encouragement and instructions to give life unto it.". Letter to Chan. "Who, as he was a happie imitator of nature, was a most gentle expresser of it." - Ded.] Tim. Good morrow to thee, gentle Apemantus!" There are some indications in this play that the " gentle Apemantus," under the covert garb of a "churlish philosopher," was rather intended to speak, under cover, for the "gentle Shakespeare" himself. "What Shakespeare's thoughts on God, Nature, and Art, would have been," says Carlyle, "especially had he lived to number fourscore years, were curious to know." Most certainly so; but, in the course of this play, assuredly, something may be gathered, by close inspection, as to what were the ideas. of the author on some points in art and philosophy; and they seem to have a remarkable agreement, in respect of some particulars of idea and expression, with -Bacon's notions on the subject, as may be seen in this passage from the Essay of Beauty (1612): "In beauty, that of favour is more than that of colour; and that of decent and gracious motion more than that of favour. That is the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot express; nor the first sight of life. There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. A man cannot tell whether Apelles or Albert Durer were the more trifler; whereof the one would make a personage by geometrical proportions; the other, by taking the best parts out of divers faces to make one excellent. Such personages, I think, would please nobody but the painter that made them. Not but I think a painter may make a better face than ever was; but he must do it by a kind of felicity (as a musician that maketh an excellent air in music), and not by rule. A man shall see faces, that if you examine them part by part, you shall find never a good; and yet altogether do well. If it be true that the principal part of beauty is in decent motion, certainly it is no marvel though persons in years seem many times more amiable." Understanding that Apemantus contemplated the universe, as it is herein supposed that Bacon himself did, as the actual thought of a Creative Thinker, and as essentially and to the very bottom Artist-Mind work, and that the highest beauty is in life and motion, there may be discovered in this scene a profound opinion of the true nature of the highest art: "Tim. How likest thou this picture, Apemantus? Apem. The best, for the innocence. Tim. Wrought he not well, that painted it? Apem. He wrought better that made the painter ; Act I. Sc. 1. This remark, apparently so very cynical, and perhaps intended so to appear on the surface, may find a deeper interpretation by the light of another very cynical philosopher: "Do you think those who make senseless and motionless statues are more to be wondered at than those who make active and intelligent living animals? No, by Jupiter; since these are made, not by chance, but by intellect." Other poets followed the "customary fashion" and men's opinions: he followed the order of divine providence, the truth of nature, that true art which is always capable of advancing, and his own opinions: 1 Xen. Mem. Socratis, Lib. I. c. 4. "Apem. Yes, he is worthy of thee, and to pay thee for thy labor: he that loves to be flattered is worthy o' the flatterer. Heavens, that I were a lord!" Here, too, is his opinion of the mere man of traffic: "Apem. Traffic confound thee, if the gods do not! Mer. If traffic do it, the gods do it. Apem. Traffic's thy god, and thy god confound thee!" This merchant may remind us of the merchant Jew in the New Atlantis, with this difference, that, here, it is the man whose god is traffic, but there, it is "the good Jew." The play continues thus: "Tim. How dost thou like this jewel, Apemantus? Apem. Not so well as plain dealing, which will not cost a man a doit. Tim. What dost thou think 't is worth? Apem. Not worth my thinking." Act I. Sc. 1. Timon has not yet emerged from those mines and caves, where gold and jewels are the chief treasure. Apemantus would seem to have reached the uppermost elevations of nature and those "tops of mountains," where the serenity of his contemplations was not to be disturbed by any consideration of such low things. And here, again, we have this philosopher's judgment on ostentatious piety and prayer: "Apem. Immortal gods, I crave no pelf; I pray for no man but myself." To some, this might appear to be in the highest degree impious, as Timon thought another saying of the churlish philosopher to be "a lascivious apprehension"; to which Apemantus replies: "So thou apprehend'st it. Take it for thy labour." Or, by possibility, it might put them in mind of another more modern philosopher, likewise suspected of being somewhat cynical, who seems to have apprehended many things differently from the common way; for, being of the same opinion, doubtless, that this author was, when he made the Duke in the disguise of "power divine" say, "there is so great a fever on goodness, that the dissolution of it must |