Note 82 — THE COMMON KNOWLEDGE OF SHAKESPEARE AND BACON

Unfortunately, however, Bacon’s instances are far from satisfactory. “We see,” he says, “that in living creatures, that come of putrefaction, there is much transmutation of one into another; as caterpillars turn into flies, etc. And it should seem probable, that whatsoever creature, having life, is generated without seed, that creature will change out of one species into another.” And so forth.