192 ONE THOUSAND FAMOUS THINGS

Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Bacon Think of Death

1v we seek a reason in the boundless ambition in mortal man we may
add to that which hath been already said, that the kings and
princes of the world have always laid before them the actions, but not
the ends, of those great ones which preceded them,

They are always transported with the glory of the one, but they
never mind the misery of the other till they find the experience in
themselves. They neglect the advice of God while they enjoy life
but follow the counsel of Death upon his first approach. Death,
which hateth and destroyeth man, is believed; God, which hath
made him and loves him, is always deferred.

I have considered, saith Solomon, all the works that are under the
sun, and behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit; but who believe
it till Death tells it us ? It is Death alone that can suddenly make
man to know himself. He tells the proud and insolent that they are
but Abjects, and humbles them at the instant; makes them cry,
complain, and repent, yea, even to hate their forepassed happiness.
He takes the account of the rich and proves him a beggar. He holds
a glass before the eyes of the most beautiful, and makes them see
therein their deformity.

O eloquent, just, and mighty Death, whom none could advise,
thou hast persuaded ; what none hath dared, thou hast done j and
whom all the world hath flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world
and despised. Thou hast drawn together all the far-stretched great-
ness, all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it aD
over with these two narrow words, Hicjacet.

From Raleigh's History of the World

MEN fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and, as that
natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.
Certainly the contemplation of Death as the wages of shi and
passage to another world is holy and religious, but the fear of it as a
tribute due unto Nature is weak. It is as natural to die as to be born.

Above all, believe it, the sweetest canticle is Nunc dimittis when
a man hath obtained worthy ends and expectations. Death hath
this also, that it openeth the gate to good fame and extinguisheth envy,

Sir Francis Bacon

i

The Song of a Wife
SERVE for a day, for a week, for a year,
For lifetime, for ever, while man dwelleth here.
Thomas Tusser*s Sixteenth
Century Book of Housewifery