[Page from Promus]

    "Francis Bacon kept a private memorandum book which he called a 'Promus of Formularies and Elegancies' in which from time to time he jotted down any words, similies, phrases, proverbs or colloquialisms which he thought might come in usefully in connection with his literary work, gathering them together so as to be able to draw upon them as occasion should require. The word 'Promus' means storehouse, and Bacon's Promus  contains nearly 2,000 entries in various languages such as English, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish and French.
 "The Promus  which was in Bacon's own handwriting, fortunately was preserved and is now in the British Museum. No one, of course, knows the date when he commenced to make this collection; it may have been written during the years 1594 to 1596, -- Folio 85 being dated Dec. 5, 1594, and Folio 114 being dated 27 Jan. 1595. The Promus  was a private note book and was unknown to the public for a period of more than 200 years after it was written.
 "Now it is a significant fact that Bacon in the works published under his own name makes very little use of the notes he had jotted down in the Promus . What was the object of making this collection of phrases, etc.? The answer is that they were used in his dramatic works published by Bacon in the name of 'William Shakespeare.' A great number of these entries are reproduced in the 'Shakespeare' plays. The Stratfordians try to get over this fact by contending that these expressions were in common use at the time, but Bacon would not be such a fool as to waste his time by making a note of anything that was commonly current. The words and expressions in the Promus  occur so frequently in the 'Shakespeare' plays that it is quite clear that the author of the Plays had seen and made use of the Promus  and Will Shakspere could not have seen Francis Bacon's private note book.
 "The most important evidence in the Promus  is the word ALBADA, Spanish for good dawning  (Folio 112). This expression 'good dawning ' only appears once  in English print, namely, in the play of King Lear  where we find 'Good dawning to thee friend,' Act 2, Scene 2. This word ALBADA is in the Promus  1594-96 and King Lear  was not published until 1608. If Will Shakspere had not seen the Promus , and as he could not read Spanish, it would mean that some friend had found this word ALBADA, meaning good dawning  -- and told Shakspere about it, and that Shakspere then put the word into King Lear , which sounds highly improbable. A part of one of the folios in the Promus  is devoted by Bacon to the subject of salutations such as good morrow, good soir, good matin, bon jour, good day. From this it would appear that Bacon wished to introduce these salutations into English speech. These notes were made in the Promus  in 1596 and it is a remarkable co-incidence that in the following year 1597 the play of Romeo and Juliet  was published containing some of these salutations, and they afterwards  appeared in other 'Shakespeare' plays -- good morrow being used 115 times; good day, 15 times; and good soir (even), 12 times. These words are found in the 'Shakespeare' Plays and nowhere else " (@ Johnson 156-7).

Promus"To drive out a nail with a nail."
Coriolanus
Act 4, Sc. 7 (1623)
"One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail."
"one nail by strength drives out another."
Promus"A Fool's bolt is soon shot."
Henry V
Act 3, Sc. 7 (1623)
"A Fool's bolt is soon shot."
Promus"Good wine needs no bush."
As You Like It
Epilogue (1623)
"Good wine needs no bush."
Promus"To slay with a leaden sword."
Love's Labour's Lost
Act 5, Sc. 2 (1598)
"Wounds like a leaden sword."
Promus"Suum cuique ." (To every man his own.)
Titus Andronicus
Act 1, Sc. 2 (1600)
"Suum cuique  is our Roman Justice."
Promus"He who loans to a friend loses double."
Hamlet
Act 1, Sc. 3 (1604)
"Loan oft loses both itself and friend."
Promus"Things done cannot be undone."
Macbeth
Act 5, Sc. 1 (1623)
"What's done cannot be undone."
Promus"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak."
Hamlet
Act 1, Sc. 3 (1604)
"Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice."
Promus"To fight with a shadow."
Merchant of Venice
Act 1, Sc. 2 (1600)
"He will fence with his own shadow."
Promus"Diluculo surgere saluberrimum est ."
Twelfth Night
Act 2, Sc. 3 (1623)
"Diluculo surgere , thou knowest."
Promus"To stumble at the threshold."
3 Henry VI
Act 4, Sc. 7 (1623)
"Many men that stumble at the threshold."
Promus"Thought is free."
The Tempest
Act 3, Sc. 2 (1623)
"Thought is free."
Twelfth Night
Act 1, Sc. 3 (1623)
"Thought is free."
Promus"En mangeant l'appetit vient ." (Appetite comes by eating)
Hamlet
Act 1, Sc. 2 (1604)
"As if increase of appetite had grown by what he feeds on."
Promus"Better coming to the ending of a feast
than to the beginning of a fray."
1 Henry IV
Act 4, Sc. 2 (1598)
"The latter end of a fray and the beginning of a feast."
Promus"He stumbles who makes too much haste."
Romeo and Juliet
Act 2, Sc. 3 (1599)
"They stumble that run fast."
Promus"Anyone can manage a boat in calm weather."
Coriolanus
Act 4, Sc. 1 (1623)
"When the sea was calm,
all boats alike show'd mastership in floating."
Promus"Happy man, happy dole."
Merry Wives of Windsor
Act 3, Sc. 4 (1623)
"Happy man be his dole."
1 Henry IV
Act 2, Sc. 2 (1598)
"Happy man be his dole."
The Taming of the Shrew
Act 1, Sc. 1 (1623)
"Happy man be his dole."
The Winter's Tale
Act 1, Sc. 2 (1623)
"Happy man be his dole."
Promus"An ill wind that bloweth no man to good."
2 Henry IV
Act 5, Sc. 3 (1600)
"The ill wind which blows no man to good."
Promus"Seldom cometh the better."
Richard III
Act 2, Sc. 3 (1597)
"Seldom cometh the better."
Promus"A thorn is gentle when it is young."
3 Henry VI
Act 5, Sc. 5 (1623)
"What! can so young a thorn begin to prick."
Promus"He who has not patience has nothing."
Othello
Act 2, Sc. 3 (1622)
"How poor are they that have not patience."
Promus"Haile of Perle."
Anthony and Cleopatra
Act 2, Sc. 5 (1623)
"And hail rich pearles on thee."
Promus"All is well that ends well."
All's Well That Ends Well
Title (1623)
"All's Well That Ends Well ."
Promus"Albada ." (Good Dawning)
King Lear
Act 2, Sc. 2 (1623)
"Good Dawning to thee friend."

no no no!

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