Page:Essays of Francis Bacon 1908 Scott.djvu/284

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174
BACON'S ESSAYS

wise prince. Generally, let princes and states choose such ministers as are more sensible of duty than of rising; and such as love business rather upon conscience than upon bravery;[1] and let them discern a busy nature from a willing mind.




XXXVII. Of Masques[2] and Triumphs[3].

These things are but toys, to come amongst such serious observations.[4] But yet, since princes will have such things, it is better they should be graced with elegancy than daubed with cost. Dancing to song, is a thing of great state and pleasure. I understand it, that the song be inquire, placed aloft, and accompanied with some broken music;[5]

  1. Bravery. Ostentation; display.
  2. Masque. A form of dramatic entertainment popular at Court and among the nobility of England during the Elizabethan age; originally consisting of dancing and acting in dumb show, the performers being masked and dressed in character, but afterwards including dialogue (usually in verse), and song. Milton wrote, Comus. A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634. Before John, Earl of Bridgewater, then President of Wales.
  3. Triumph. A public festivity or display; a stately procession or pageant. Beaumont and Fletcher's Four Plays in One consists of four Triumphs—of Honor, of Love, of Death, and of Time.
  4. Francis Bacon was concerned as author, or "chief contriver," or "chief encourager" of six Elizabethan masques. Two were for entertainments given to Queen Elizabeth by the Earl of Essex; three were Gray's Inn masques; and he was "chief contriver" of Beaumont's masque The Marriage of the Thames and the Rhine, written for the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth, and presented February 20, 1613.
  5. Broken music. Music arranged for different instruments, 'part' or concerted music. "And so likewise in that music which we call broken music, or consort music, some consorts of instruments are sweeter than others (a thing not sufficiently yet observed): as the Irish harp and base viol agree well; the recorder and stringed music