or two characteristic anecdotes of this extraordinary man. He was once watching some fishermen from his garden at York House, when it occurred to him to offer them a certain sum for the results of their draught, but which they refused, considering it insufficient. On drawing up their net they found that it only contained two or three small fish. Lord Bacon told them they had better have accepted his offer. The men replied that they had hoped for better success. "Hope," said his lordship, "is a good breakfast, but a bad supper." According to Aubrey, none of his servants dared to appear before him except in boots of Spanish leather; he could always detect common leather, which was extremely offensive to his nerves. When the Bishop of London cut down some fine trees at the episcopal palace at Fulham, Bacon told him that he was a good expounder of dark places. When some person hinted to him that it was time to look about him, "Sir," was his reply, "I do not look about me; I look above me." King James, says Howell, once asked his opinion of a French ambassador who had recently arrived. Bacon replied that he thought him a tall, well-looking man. "But what do you think of his head-piece?" asked the king. "Sir," said Bacon, "tall men are like houses of four or five stories, wherein, commonly, the uppermost room is worst furnished." I do not know whether this was the same French ambassador who told Lord Bacon, |