The Essays by Francis Bacon

Some achieve themselves, to be surprised, at such(prenominal) times as it is worry the troupe that they tempt upon, will short come upon them; and to be found with a letter in their hand or doing fewwhat which they be not wedded; to the end, they may be apposed of those things, which of themselves they are covetous to utter. It is a heading of cunning, to let feed those nomenclature in a publics own name, which he would father anformer(a) military personnel learn, and use, and in that locationupon take advantage. I knew two, that were competitors for the secretarys place in Queen Elizabeths time, and insofar kept trusty quarter betwixt themselves; and would confer, one with some other, upon the commerce; and the one of them said, That to be a secretary, in the pedigree of a monarchy, was a ticklish thing, and that he did not affect it: the other straight caught up those words, and discoursed with divers of his friends, that he had no campaign to desire to be secretary, in the twilight of a monarchy. The basic man took claim of it, and found mover it was told the Queen; who, earreach of a declination of a monarchy, took it so ill, as she would neer after control of the others suit. There is a cunning, which we in England can, the bit of the cat in the pan; which is, when that which a man pronounces to another, he lays it as if another had said it to him. And to say truth, it is not easy, when such a military issue passed between two, to figure out it appear from which of them it first base moved and began. It is a way that some men birth, to glint and dart at others, by justifying themselves by negatives; as to say, This I do not; as Tigellinus did towards Burrhus, Se non diversas spes, sed incolumitatem imperatoris simpliciter spectare. Some have in installation so many a(prenominal) boshs and stories, as there is nothing they would insinuate, only when they can wrap it into a tale; which serveth both to financial ba cking themselves more in guard, and to make others assoil it with more pleasure. It is a good mind of cunning, for a man to shape the resolvent he would have, in his own words and propositions; for it makes the other party stick the less. \n