The Author revealed in the Sonnets.
Bacon also reveals much of himself in the play "As you like it," which
of course means "Wisdom from the mouth of a fool." In that play, besides
giving us much valuable information concerning his "mask" William
Shakespeare, he also tells us why it was necessary for him to write
under a pseudonym.
Speaking in the character of Jaques, who is the alter ego of
Touchstone, he says,
Act ii, Scene 7.
"O that I were a foole,
I am ambitious for a motley coat.
_Duke_. Thou shalt haue one.
_Jag_. It is my onely suite,
Prouided that you weed your better judgements
Of all opinion that growes ranke in them,
That I am wise. I must haue liberty
Wiithall, as large a Charter as the winde,
To blow on whom I please, for so fooles haue:
And they that are most gauled with my folly,
They most must laugh....
Inuest me in my motley: Giue me leaue
To speake my minde, and I will through and through
Cleanse the foule bodie of th' infected world
If they will patiently receiue my medicine."
He also gives us most valuable information in Sonnet 81.
Or I shall liue your Epitaph to make,
Or you suruiue when I in earth am rotten,
From hence your memory death cannot take,
Although in me each part will be forgotten,
Your name from hence immortall life shall haue,
Though I (once gone) to all the world must dye,
The Earth can yeeld me but a common graue,
When you intombed in men's eyes shall lye,
Your monument shall be my gentle verse,
Which eyes not yet created shall ore read,
And toungs to be, your being shall rehearse,
When all the breathers of this world are dead,
You still shall liue (such vertue hath my Pen)
Where breath most breaths euen in the mouths of men.
Stratfordians tell us that the above is written in reference to a poet
whom Shakespeare "evidently" regarded as a rival. But it is difficult to
imagine how sensible men can satisfy their reason with such an
explanation. Is it possible to conceive that a poet should write
_against a rival_
"Your name from hence immortall life shall haue
Though I (once gone) to all the world must dye"
or should say _against_ a _rival_,
"The Earth can yeeld me but a common graue
While you intombed in men's eyes shall lye."
or should have declared "_against_ a _rival_,"
"Your monument shall be my gentle verse"
No! This sonnet is evidently written in reference to the writer's mask
or pseudonym which would continue to have immortal life (even though he
himself might be forgotten) as he says
"Although in me each part will be forgotten."
It is sometimes said that Shakespeare (meaning the Stratford actor) did
not know the value of his immortal works. Is that true of the writer of
this sonnet who says
"my gentle verse
Which eyes not yet created shall ore read"
No! The writer knew his verses were immortal and would immortalize the
pseudonym attached to them
"When all the breathers of this world are dead."
Perhaps the reader will better understand Sonnet 81 if I insert the
words necessary to fully explain it.
Or shall I [Bacon] live your Epitaph to make,
Or you [Shakespeare] survive when I in Earth am rotten,
From hence your memory death cannot take,
Although in me each part will be forgotten.
Your name [Shakespeare] from hence immortal life shall have,
Though I [Bacon] once gone to all the world must die,
The earth can yield me but a common grave,
When you entombed in men's eyes shall lie,
Your monument shall be my [not your] gentle verse,
Which eyes not yet created shall ore read,
And tongues to be your being [which as an author
was not] shall rehearse,
When all the breathers of this world are dead,
You [Shakespeare] still shall live, such vertue
hath my pen [not your own pen, for you never wrote a line]
Where breathe most breaths even in the mouths of men.
This Sonnet was probably written considerably earlier than 1609, but at
that date Bacon's name had not been attached to any work of great
literary importance.
After the writer had learned the true meaning of Sonnet 81, his eyes
were opened to the inward meaning of other Sonnets, and he perceived
that Sonnet No. 76 repeated the same tale.
"Why write I still all one, euer the same,
And keep inuention in a noted weed,
That euery word doth almost sel my name,
Shewing their birth and where they did proceed?"
(Sel may mean spell or tell or possibly betray.)
Especially note that "Invention" is the same word that is used by Bacon
in his letter to Sir Tobie Matthew of 1609 (same date as the Sonnets),
and also especially remark the phrase "in a noted weed," which means in
a "pseudonym," and compare it with the words of Bacon's prayer, "I have
(though in a 'despised weed') procured the good of all men."
[Resuscitatio, 1671.] Was not the pseudonym of the Actor Shakespeare a
very "despised weed" in those days?
Let us look also at Sonnet No. 78.
"So oft have I enuoked thee for my Muse,
And found such faire assistance in my verse,
As every _alien_ pen hath got my use,
And under thee their poesy disperse."
Here again we should understand how to read this Sonnet as under:--
"So oft have I enuoked thee [Shakespeare] for my Muse,
And found such faire assistance in my verse,
As every _alien_ pen hath got my use,
And under thee [Shakespeare] their poesy disperse."
"Shakespeare" is frequently charged with being careless of his works and
indifferent to the piracy of his name; but we see by this Sonnet, No.
78, that the real author was not indifferent to the false use of his
pseudonym, though it was, of course, impossible for him to take any
effectual action if he desired to preserve his incognito, his mask, his
pseudonym.