Friar Bacon

“ Then Bacon charged him, he should never pay the Devil a farthing of his debt, whatever shape he came in, or artifice he used to wheedle him out of it, and then he could have no power over him. The gentleman on this, living a temperate frugal life, grew very rich, and leaving no children at his death bequeathed his estate to Brazen-Nose-College, because Friar Bacon, a member of it, had delivered him from so great a danger of body and soul. ”

“ WHEN Friar Bacon flourished at Oxford, a young gentleman, by his prodigality, having run out his estate, and involved himself in debt, grew exceeding pensive and melancholy, purposing to make himself away, in order to put an end to his miseries, and the scorns that were daily put upon him by his former companions, being also utterly cast off by his friends ”

“ The king, at this sight, demanded why he staid so long? and how he came in that condition? O plague, said he, take Friar Bacon, and all his devils! they have led me a fine dance, to the endangering of my neck.—— But is the dog here! I’ll be revenged on him! Then he laid his hand on his sword, but Bacon waving his wand, charmed it into his scabbard, (so he could not draw it out) saying, I fear not your anger; ’tis best for you to be quiet, lest a worse thing befal you: Then he told the king how he gave him the lye, when he told him he would be there before him. ”

“ At this he smiled, being well mounted, saying, scholars and travellers might lye by authority. Well, said Friar Bacon, to convince you, I will not only be there before you, ride as fast as you can, but I will there shew you the cook-maid you lay with last, though she is now busy dressing the dinner at Sir William Belton’s, an hundred miles distance from this place. Well, said the gentleman of the bed-chamber, I doubt not but one will be as true as t’other; so mounting rode laughing away, and thinking to be at the king’s quarters in a short space, he spurred his horse valiantly ”

“ The references in our early literature to Friar Bacon, as one who had had familiarity with spirits and been a master in magic arts, are so numerous as to show that the belief in these stories was wide-spread, and that the real character of the learned Friar was quite given over to oblivion. But time slowly brings about its revenges ”

“ Thus the greate worke of these learned fryers was overthrown, to their great griefes, by this simple fellow.’
The historian goes on to relate many instances of Friar Bacon’s thaumaturgical powers. He captures a town which the king had besieged for three months without success. He puts to shame a German conjuror named Vandermast, and he performs wonders in love affairs; but at length a fatal result to one of his magical exploits induces him to break to pieces his wonderful glass and doff his conjurer’s robe. ”

“ Then the King said, Worthy Bacon, having heard much of your fame, the cause of my sending was to be a spectator of the fine curiosities of your art. The Friar excused himself at first, but the King pressing it, and promising on his word that no harm would come to him, he bid every one keep silence, and then waving his magic wand, there presently ensued the most melodious music they bad ever heard, which continued very ravishing half an hour. Then waving his wand, another kind of music was heard ”

“ Ever and anon the friar took up the little time-keeper, and shook it gently, as if to hasten the passage of the slow hours, and often, amid his watching and study, his head sank lower and lower towards the table, as if tired nature would assert her rights, and steep him in the swee oblivion of sleep, against his own powerful will. ”

“ Yet didactic elements appear in Friar Bacon's strangely unmotivated repentance, and in the interpolated scene of a lawyer, a merchant and a divine in James IV. In Greene's dramas many of the types and figures from a bygone stage are mingled with the newer creations of his invention. The vices of the interludes spring up incongruously in the midst of the characters of a later drama. In Friar Bacon the Vice is again carried off to hell on the back of the Devil, just as had been done years before in simpler plays ”

“ Among the things which render Friar Bacon commendable we must first reckon his imprisonment, and then the noble boldness with which he declared that all the books of Aristotle were fit only to be burned and that at a time when the learned respected Aristotle much more than the Jansenists respect St. Augustine. Has Roger Bacon, however, done anything better than the Poetics, the Rhetoric, and the Logic of Aristotle? ”

“ Here tempers Friar Bacon many toys,
And holds this place his consistory-court,
Wherein the devils plead homage to his words.
Within this glass prospective thou shalt see
This day what's done in merry Fressingfield
'Twixt lovely Peggy and the Lincoln Earl.
P. Edw. Friar, thou glad'st me: now shall Edward try
How Lacy meaneth to his sovereign lord.
Bacon. Stand there and look directly in the glass.
Enter Margaret and Friar Bungay. [197]
What sees my lord? ”

“ As it was plaid by her Maiesties seruants,’ 1594, 4to (Devonshire House) , reprinted in 1599, 1630, 1655, was founded on the prose tract (of which no early edition is known) , ‘The Famous History of Friar Bacon.’ Greene may have chosen this subject from the popularity of Marlowe's ‘Faustus.’ Lord Strange's men gave a performance of' Friar Bacon' 19 Feb. 1591-2 (Henslowe, Diary, ed. Collier, p. 20) ”

“ Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, which doubtless suggested the composition of Greene’s comedy, reveals the mighty tragic genius of its author; but Greene resolved on an altogether distinct treatment of a cognate theme. Interweaving with the popular tale of Friar Bacon and his wondrous doings a charming idyl (so far as we know, of his own invention) , the story of Prince Edward’s love for the Fair Maid of Fressingfield, he produced a comedy brimful of amusing action and genial fun. Friar Bacon remains a dramatic picture of English Elizabethan life with which The Merry Wives alone can vie ”

“ His discoveries will seem almost incredible to a modern student of science and of education who has known nothing before of the progress of science made {322} by this wonderful man, or who has known only vaguely that Friar Bacon was a great original thinker in science, in spite of the fact that his life-history is bounded by the thirteenth century. ”

“ At one period of his life, Master Peter applied his ingenuity to the solution of a problem in practical optics, involving the construction of a burning-mirror of large dimensions somewhat after the manner of Archimedes; but though he spent three years on the enterprise and a correspondingly large sum of money, we are not told by Friar Bacon, who mentions the fact, what measure of success was achieved. Bacon, however, avails himself of the occasion to insinuate a possible cause of failure, for he says that nothing is difficult of accomplishment to his friend unless it be for want of means. ”

“ Then called Friar Bacon his man Miles, and told him that it was not unknown to him what pains Friar Bungey and himself had taken for three weeks space only to make and to hear the Brazen Head speak, which if they did not, then had they lost all their labor, and all England had a great loss thereby. Therefore he entreated Miles that he would watch whilst that they slept and call them if the head spake. 'Fear not (good master) , I will harken and attend, upon the head and if it do chance to speak, I will call you ”

“ Meanwhile, despite what was said of “the nullity of magic” in this treatise on the secret works of nature, [2259] Friar [Pg 680] Bacon had become in popular tradition a nigromancer, conjurer, and magician. As such he was presented about 1592 in Robert Greene’s play, the “Honourable History of Frier Bacon and Frier Bungay,” with magic wand, perspective glass, and speaking brazen head, and in the prose “Famous Historie of Fryer Bacon” which appeared about the same time. ”

“ In speaking, very temperate, modest and wise. A man, for his singular beauty, surpassing the children of men."
The representation of this sacred person which is in the Bodleian Library, somewhat resembles that of the print of this medal, when compared together.
Friar Bacon's Brazen Head.
The most famous of all the brazen heads was that of Roger Bacon, a monk of the thirteenth century. According to the legend, he spent seven years in constructing the head, and he expected to be told by it how he could make a wall of brass around the island of Great Britain. ”

“ It said, Time is. Oh, villain! says Bacon, hadst thou called me then, all England had been walled with brass, to my immortal fame. Then, continued Miles, about half an hour after, it said, Time was. Oh, wretch ! how my anger burns against thee; had you but called me then, it might have done what I desired. Then, said he, it said, Time is past, and so fell down with the horrible noise that waked you, and made me, I'm sure, befoul my breeches; and since here's so much to do about time, I think it's time for me to retire and clean myself. Well, villain! ”

“ Roger of Wendover relates that Friar Robert Bacon preached before the King at Oxford in 1233, and fearlessly rebuked him for listening to evil counsellors, especially Peter des Roches. Matthew Paris gives the story with the following addition:
‘a clerk of the court of a pleasant wit, namely, Roger Bacun, ventured to make this joke: “My lord King, what is most harmful to men crossing a strait, or what makes them most afraid?” The King replied, “Those men know who occupy their business in great waters.” ”

“ Many resemblances in the words and in the spirit of the philosophy of the two Bacons have been pointed out, and it has even been supposed that the later of these two great philosophers borrowed his famous doctrine of "Idols" from the classification of the four chief hindrances to knowledge by his predecessor. But the supposition wants foundation, and there is no reason to suppose that Lord Bacon was acquainted with the works of the Friar. The Rev. ”

“ Alberich fled, still crying curses on the gold.
When Wotan and Loge first returned to earth with the imp, it had been twilight, but now, just before night, the light grew stronger, and when the mist that had hung lightly over all cleared away, Fricka, Donner, and Froh could be seen hurrying to the tryst.
"Thou hast brought Freïa's ransom," Fricka cried, joyously, looking at the great golden heap. "Already, she must be near, because see! Do we not all grow younger?" ”

“ He fell upon hard times, first the courtier of a princess whose thirst of praise and requisition of humility was unbounded, then the courtier and servant of a king who all but believed himself to be a god. The most marvellous fact of Bacon’s character is, that he who knew men so well, and whose insight into their feelings and motives was so clear, should have been so blind as to remain totally ignorant, as is apparent from all his letters and writings, of that youthful spirit of freedom which in the subsequent reign sprung into such vigorous manhood. ”

“ Donner and Froh held him back.
"Touch her not—to touch her would mean death!" they cried. Wotan stood thoughtfully, looking at the spot where Erda had been, till presently, with a quick movement, he threw the ring upon the Rheingold.
"Freïa!" he cried, "give us back our youth and life, and thou, Giants, take thy treasure." As Freïa sprung toward her sister Fricka to embrace her, the Giants fell to quarrelling over the gold.
"Here, thou! give me my share," Fafner roared, as Fasolt was trying to possess himself of all the hoard. Thus they fought while the Gods looked on. ”

“ Ere nine of the clock Fryer Bacon had burnt the State-house of the Town, with other houses only by his Mathematical Glasses, which made the whole Town in an uproar, for none did know how it came: whilst that they were quenching of the same, Fryer Bacon did wave his flag: upon which signal given, the King set upon the Town, and took it with little or no resistance. Thus through the Art of this learned [Pg 49] man the King got this strong Town, which he could not do with all his men without Fryer Bacon's help. ”

“ He was at her side instantly.
“Take my arm—and pardon me!” he said with an irresistible grace. “It is only my fear for your comfort, you know, Miss Gould. I cannot bear that you should be at the mercy of every drunken fellow that wishes to impose on you!”
As she crossed the hall that separated her territory from his, her fine, full figure erect, her dark head high in the air, a whimsical regret came over him that they were not younger and more foolish.
“I should certainly marry her to reform her,” he said to the birch log that spluttered on his inimitable colonial fire-dogs. ”

“ But I had not thought—I had hoped for peace. I had counted on rest."
"Rest?" the Countess echoed her, "and why should you look for that, my guest? What, in all the worlds of God, rests? You are a strange people, beyond the Dunes.... But you are not dead. No dead come here."
She took her by the hand, the boy clinging to the other, and walked with her to the great fire. Here they sat down to tapestry work, green and blue and russet weavings, and the woman folded her hands in her lap and watched them moodily. ”

“ He has been picturing himself as he was when a young man. He turns to his glass and sees himself beated and chopt with tanned antiquity; forty summers have passed over his brow. [48]
Francis Bacon at forty years of age, or thereabouts, unmarried, childless, sits down to his table, Hilliard's portrait before him, with pen in hand, full of self-love, full of admiration for that beautiful youth on whose counterfeit presentment he is gazing. His intellectual triumphs pass in review before him, most of them known only to himself and that youth—his companion through life. ”