XLIV. Of Deformity.[1]
Deformed persons are commonly even with nature, for as nature hath done ill by them, so do they by nature; being for the most part (as the Scripture saith) void of natural affection;[2] and so they have their revenge of nature. Certainly there is a consent[3] between the body and the mind; and where nature erreth in the one, she ventureth in the other. Ubi peccat in uno, periclitatur in altero. But because there is in man an election touching the frame of his mind, and a necessity in the frame of his body, the stars of natural inclination are sometimes obscured by the sun of discipline and virtue. Therefore it is good to consider of deformity, not as a sign, which is more deceivable;[4] but as a cause, which seldom faileth of the effect. Whosoever hath any thing fixed in his person that doth induce contempt, hath also a perpetual spur in himself to rescue and deliver himself from scorn.
- ↑ Nicholas Chamberlain wrote to Sir Dudley Carleton, December 17, 1612, "Sir Francis Bacon hath set out new Essays, where in a chapter of Deformity, the world takes notice that he paints out his little cousin [Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury] to the life." Court and Times of James I. I. 214. ed. 1848.
- ↑ "Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful." Romans i. 31.
- ↑ Consent. Agreement. "For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent." Zephaniah iii. 9.
- ↑ Deceivable. Deceptive, passive form with active sense.
"There 's something in 't
That is deceivable."
Shakspere. Twelfth Night. iv. 3.
