We will now closely examine and discuss that
Shakespeare-Commentary in the Essays with the aid

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158 FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES

of the one under consideration : ** Of Simulation and
Dissimulation."

There are, says Bacon, three degrees "of this
Hiding, and Vailing of a Mans Selfe." The first is
simple, *' Closenesse, Reservation, and Secrecy " ; the
second, " Dissimulation," when a person gives words
and signs, not to be that, which, in reality, he is ; the
third, " Simulation," is when a person pretends to be
that, which, in reality, he is not The second degree
is that of negative, the third, that of positive
dissemblance. Closeness is accordingly called a direct
virtue in the Essay, as opposed to vain loquacity.
Everybody will trust and place confidence in a discreet
man, but no prudent heart will confide in a tattler.
As to the second grade, dissimulation, the rhymed
verselet tells us all about that It is the natural result
of closeness, as by stubborn silence alone one would
betray one's self. Bacon represents the third grade
as something loathsome, and, therefore, rather to be
avoided : "A Power to faighe, if there be no
Remerfj/," are the concluding words of the Essay, and
which, again, are made to rhyme.
