BURGHLEY AND BACON.
There was published in 1732 "The Life of the Great Statesman William
Cecil, Lord Burghley." The preface signed by Arthur Collins states:--
The work I have for several years engaged in, of treating of those
families that have been Barons of this Kingdom, necessarily induced
me to apply to our Nobility for such helps, as might illustrate the
memory of their ancestors. And several Noblemen having favour'd me
with the perusal of their family evidences, and being recommended
to the Right Honourable the present Earl of Exeter, his Lordship
out of just regard to the memory of his great Ancestor, was pleased
to order the manuscript Life of the Lord Burghley to be
communicated to me.
Which being very old and decayed and only legible to such who are
versed in ancient writings it was with great satisfaction that I
copied it literatim. And that it may not be lost to the world, I
now offer it to the view of the publick. It fully appears to be
wrote in the reign of Queen Elizabeth soon after his Lordship's
death, by one who was intimate with him, and an eye witness of his
actions for the last twenty-five years. It needs no comment to set
it off; that truth and sincerity which shines through the whole,
will, I don't doubt have the same weight with the Readers as it had
with me and that they will be of opinion it's too valuable to be
buried in oblivion.
This "Life of Lord Burghley" is referred to by Nares and other of his
biographers as having been written by "a domestic." It contains about
16,000 words and is the most authentic account extant of the great
statesman's life. The narrative is full, but the observations on the
character and habits of Burghley are by far the most important feature.
The method of treatment of the subject is after Bacon's style; the Life
abounds with phrases and with tricks of diction, which enable it to be
identified as his. The concluding sentences could only have been written
with Bacon's pen:--
And so leaving his soule with God, his fame to the world, and the
truth to all charitable mynds, I leave the sensure to all judicious
Christians, who truly practising what they professe, will better
approve, and more indifferentlie interpret it, than envie or malice
can disprove it. The best sort will ever doe right, the worst can
but imagine mischief and doe wrong; yet this is a comfort, the more
his virtues are troden downe, the more will theire brightnes
appeare. Virtus vulnerata virescit.
In 1592 the "Responsio ad edictum Reginae Angliae" of the Jesuit Parsons
had appeared, attacking the Queen and her advisers (especially
Burghley), to whom were attributed all the evils of England and the
disturbances of Christendom. The reply to this was entrusted to Francis
Bacon, who responded with a pamphlet entitled "Certain observations upon
a libel published this present year, 1592." It was first printed by Dr.
Rawley in the "Resuscitatio" in 1657. At the time it was written it was
circulated largely in manuscript, for at least eight copies, somewhat
varying from each other, have been preserved.[37] It is quite possible
that it was printed at the time, but that no copy has survived.
Throughout the whole work there are continual references to Burghley.
Chapter VI. is entirely devoted to his defence and is headed "Certain
true general notes upon the actions of the Lord Burghley." Either "The
Life" and the "Observations on a Libel" are by the same writer or the
author of the former borrowed the latter very freely.
It is to be regretted that the original manuscript of the "Life" cannot
now be found. In 1732 it was at Burghley House. Application has been
made to the present Marquis of Exeter for permission to inspect it, but
his Lordship's librarian has no knowledge of its existence. If it could
be examined it is probable that if the text was not in Bacon's
handwriting some notes or alterations might be recognised as his. The
writer says he was an eye witness of Burghley's life and actions
twenty-five years together--that would be from 1573 to 1598, which would
well accord with the present contention. If Bacon was the author it
throws considerable light on his relations with Burghley and establishes
the fact that they were of the most cordial and affectionate character.
It is reported that Bacon said that in the time of the Burghleys--father
and son--clever or able men were repressed, and mainly upon this has
been based the impression that Burghley opposed Francis Bacon's
progress.
Burghley's biographer refers to this report. He writes: "He was careful
and desirous to furder and advaunce men of quality and desart to be
Councellors and officers to her Majesty wherein he placed manie and
laboured to bring in more ... yet would envy with her slaunders report
he hindered men from rising; but howe true it is wise men maie judge,
for it was the Queene to take whom she pleased and not in a subject to
preferree whom he listed."
It will eventually be proved that such a report conveys an incorrect
view. In the letter of 1591,[38] addressed to Burghley, Bacon
says:--"Besides I do not find in myself so much self-love, but that the
greater parts of my thoughts are to deserve well (if I were able) of my
friends and namely of your Lordship; who being the Atlas of this
Commonwealth, the honour of my house, and the second founder of my poor
estate, I am tied by all duties, both of a good patriot, and of an
unworthy kinsman, and of an obliged servant, to employ whatsoever I am
to do your service," and later in the letter he employs the phrase,
"And if your Lordship will not carry me on," and then threatens to sell
the inheritance that he has, purchase some quick revenue that may be
executed by another, and become some sorry bookmaker or a pioneer in
that mine of truth which Anaxagoras said lay so deep.
Again, in a letter to Burghley, dated 31st March, 1594, he
says:--"Lastly, that howsoever this matter may go, yet I may enjoy your
lordship's good favour and help as I have done in regard to my private
estate, which as I have not altogether neglected so I have but
negligently attended and which hath been bettered only by yourself (the
Queen except) and not by any other in matter of importance." Further on
he says: "Thus again desiring the continuance of your Lordship's
goodness as I have hitherto found it on my part sought also to deserve,
I commend," etc.
It is very easy, with little information as to Bacon's actions and
little knowledge of the period, to form a definite opinion as to the
relations of Bacon and Burghley. The more information as to the one and
knowledge of the other one gets, the more difficult does it become to
arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. Here was the son of Elizabeth's
great Lord Keeper, the nephew of her trusted minister, himself from his
boyhood a _persona grata_ with the Queen, of brilliant parts and great
wisdom--if he had been a mere place-hunter his desires could have been
satisfied over and over again. There was some condition of circumstance,
of which nothing has hitherto been known, which prevented him from
obtaining the object of his desires. That he had a definite object, and
had mapped out a course by which he hoped to achieve it, is evident from
his letters[39] already quoted. It is equally clear that the course he
sought to pursue entailed his abandoning the law as a profession. Either
he would only have such place as he desired, and on his own terms, or
he was known to be following some course which, although not distasteful
to his close friends, caused him to be held in suspicion, if not
distrust, by the courtiers with whom Elizabeth was surrounded. Every
additional fact that comes to light seems to point to the truth being
that through his life Burghley was Francis Bacon's staunch friend and
supporter. Upon Sir Nicholas Bacon's death Burghley appears with Bodley
to have been maintaining Bacon in his travels abroad. Upon his return to
England Burghley gave him financial support in his great project. In
1591 there was a crisis--someone had been spending money for the past
twelve years freely in making English literature. That cannot be
gainsaid. Burghley appears to have pulled up and remonstrated; hence
Bacon's letter containing the threat before referred to. It is
significant that it was immediately after this letter was written that
Bacon's association with Essex commenced. Bacon would take him and
Southampton into his confidence and seek their help. Essex was just the
man to respond with enthusiasm. Francis introduced Anthony to him. The
services of the brothers were placed at his disposal, and he undertook
to manage the Queen. The office of Attorney-General for Francis would
meet the case. "It was dangerous in a factious age to have my Lord Essex
his favour," says the biographer before quoted.[40]
That Burghley was favourable to his appointment as Attorney-General two
letters written by Francis to Lord Keeper Puckering in 1594 testify. In
the first Bacon writes: "I pray your Lordship to call to remembrance my
Lord Treasurer's kind course, who affirmed directly all the rest to be
unfit. And because _vis unita fortior_ I beg your Lordship to take a
time with the Queen when my Lord Treasurer is present."
In a second letter he writes: "I thought good to remember your good
Lordship and to request you as I touched in my last that if my Lord
Treasurer be absent your Lordship would forbear to fall into my business
with her Majesty lest it mought receive some foil before the time when
it should be resolutely dealt in."
Only Burghley was found to support Essex's advocacy, and on the whole
this was not to be wondered at. Such an appointment, to say the least,
would have been an experiment. Possibly Essex was the stumbling-block,
but it may be that the real objection on the part of the Queen and her
advisers was that Bacon was known to be so amorous of certain learned
arts, so much given over to invention, that the consensus of opinion was
that he was thereby unfitted to hold an important office of the State.
Or it may be that he was discredited by his suspected or known
association with certain printers. There was some reason of which no
explanation can now be traced.
It has been suggested that in 1591 there was a crisis in Bacon's life.
That is evident from the letter to Burghley written in that year. John
Harrington's translation of "Orlando Furioso" was published about this
time. The manuscript, which is in a perfect condition, is in the British
Museum, and has been marked in Bacon's handwriting throughout. The
pagination and the printer's signature are placed at the commencement of
the stanzas to be printed on each page, and there are instructions to
the printer at the end which are not in his hand.
There are good grounds for attributing the notes at the end of each
chapter to Bacon.
It is very improbable that Sir John Harrington had the classical
knowledge which the writer of these notes must have possessed. There is
a letter written by him to Sir Amias Pawlett, dated January, 1606-7. He
is relating an interview with King James, and says: "Then he (the king)
enquyrede muche of lernynge and showede me his owne in such sorte as
made me remember my examiner at Cambridge aforetyme. He soughte muche to
knowe my advances in philosophie and utterede profounde sentences of
Aristotle and such lyke wryters, whiche I had never reade and which some
are bolde enoughe to saye others do not understand." It would be
difficult to mention any classical author with whose works the writer of
these notes was not familiar, or to believe that "Epigrams both Pleasant
and Serious" (1615) came from the pen of that writer.
At the end of the thirty-seventh chapter the following note occurs: "It
was because she (Porcia) wrote some verses in manner of an Epitaph upon
her husband after his decease: In which kind, that honourable Ladie
(widow of the late Lord John Russell) deserveth no lesse commendation,
having done as much for two husbands. And whereas my author maketh so
great bost only of one learned woman in Italie, I may compare (besides
one above all comparison that I have noted in the twentith booke) three
or foure in England out of one family, and namely the sisters of that
learned Ladie, as witness that verse written by the meanest of the foure
to the Ladie Burlie which I doubt if Cambridge or Oxford can mend."
The four Si mihi quem cupio cures Mildreda She wrote to
daughters of remitti Lady Burlie
Sir Anthonie Tu bona, tu melior, tu mihi sola to send a
Cooke-- soror; kinsman of
Ladie Burlie, Sin mali cessando retines, & trans hers into
Ladie Russell, mare mittis, Cornwall,
Lady Bacon, Tu mala, tu peior, tu mihi nulla where she
Mistress soror. dwelt, and to
Killygrew. Is si Cornubiam, tibi pax sit & stop his going
omnia laeta, beyond sea.
Sin mare Ceciliae nuncio bella.
Vale.[41]
The writer of the Latin verse was _not_ Ladie Russell, and it was
written _to_ Ladie Burlie, so she must either be Ladie Bacon or Mistress
Killigrew. It is not an improbable theory that Ladie Bacon was writing
to her sister Mildred, who had, through her husband, power either to
send Francis to Cornwall or permit him to be sent away over the seas.
There is a copy of Machiavelli's "History of Florence," 1595, with
Bacon's notes in the margins.[42]
At the end is a memorandum giving the dates when the book was read "in
Cornwall at," and then follow two words, the second of which is "Lake,"
but the first is undecipherable.
Is it possible that Lady Anne Bacon had a house in Cornwall which
Francis Bacon, inheriting after her death, was in the habit of visiting
for retirement? But this is conjecture.
The following point is of interest. In the "Life of Burghley" (1598) it
is said that: "Bookes weare so pleasing to him, as when he gott libertie
to goe unto his house to take ayre, if he found a book worth the
openinge, he wold rather loose his ridinge than his readinge; and yet
ryding in his garden walks upon his litle moile was his greatest
Disport: But so soone as he came in he fell to his readinge againe or
els to dispatchinge busines."
Rawley, in his "Life of Bacon" (1657), attributes an exactly similar
habit to the philosopher, and almost in identical phrase: "For he would
ever interlace a moderate relaxation of his mind with his studies as
walking, or taking the air abroad in his coach or some other befitting
recreation; and yet he would lose no time, inasmuch as upon his first
and immediate return he would fall to reading again, and so suffer no
moment of time to slip from him without some present improvement."
It is difficult to approach any phase of the life of Bacon without being
confronted with what appears to be evidence of careful preparation to
obscure the facts. This observation does not result from imagination or
prejudice; Bacon's movements are always enshrouded in mystery.
Investigation and research will, however, eventually establish as a fact
that there was a closer connection between Burghley and Bacon than
historians have recognised, and that they had a strong attachment for
each other.
FOOTNOTES:
[37] Harl. MSS., 537, pp. 26 and 71; additional MSS., 4,263, p. 144;
Harl. MSS., 6,401; Harl. MSS., 6,854, p. 203; Cambridge Univ. Lib., Mm.
V. 5; Cotton MSS., Tit., Chap. VII., p. 50 b; Harl. MSS., 859, p. 40;
Cotton MSS., Jul., F. VI., p. 158.
[38] See page 72.
[39] See pages 70, 72.
[40] See Appendix.
[41] If you, O Mildred, will take care to send back to me him whom
I desire,
You will be my good, my more than good, my only sister;
But if, unfortunately, by doing nothing you keep him back and
send him across the sea,
You will be bad, more than bad, nay no sister at all of mine.
If he comes to Cornwall, peace and all joys be with you,
But if he goes by sea to Sicily I declare war. Farewell.
[42] One note on this book contains an interesting historical fact
hitherto unknown. On page 279 the text states: "Among the Conspirators
was Nicholo Fedini whom they employed as Chauncellor, he persuaded with
a hope more certaine, revealed to Piero, all the practice argreed by his
enemies, and delivered him a note of all their names." Bacon has made
the following note in the margin: "Ex (_i.e._, Essex) did the like in
England which he burnt at Shirfr Smiths house in fenchurch Street."
CHAPTER XVI.
THE 1623 FOLIO EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS.
Sir Sydney Lee has written[43]:--"As a specimen of typography, the First
Folio is not to be commended. There are a great many contemporary folios
of larger bulk far more neatly and correctly printed. It looks as though
Jaggard's printing office was undermanned. The misprints are numerous,
and are especially conspicuous in the pagination." In the same year was
published "The Theater of Honour and Knighthood," translated from the
French of Andreu Favine. William Jaggard was the printer. It is a large
folio volume containing about 1,200 pages, and is referred to as being
issued by Jaggard as an example of the printer's art to maintain his
reputation, which had suffered from the apparently careless manner in
which the Shakespeare Folio was turned out. Both books contain the same
emblematic head-pieces and tail-pieces. There are, however, some
considerable mispaginations in "The Theater of Honour." Mispaginations
were not infrequent in Elizabethan and Jacobean literature, but it is
quite possible that they were not unintentional. The most glaring
instance is to be found in the first Edition of "The Two Bookes of
Francis Bacon--Of the Proficience and Advancement in Learning, Divine
and Humane," published by Henrie Tomes (1605). Each leaf (not page) is
numbered. The 45 leaves of the first book are correctly numbered. In the
second book there is no number on leaf 6. Leaf 9 is numbered 6, the
right figure being printed upside down; 30 is numbered 33; from 31 to
70 the numbering is correct, and then the leaves are numbered as
follows:--70, 70, 71, 70, 72, 74, 73, 74, 75, 69, 77, 78, 79, 80, 77,
74, 74, 69, 69, 82, 87, 79, 89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 99, 97, 99, 94, 100,
99, 102, 103, 103, 93, 106, and on correctly until the last page, 118,
except that 115 is numbered 105.
It is impossible to attribute this mispagination to the printer's
carelessness. This was the first work published bearing Bacon's name,
excepting the trifle of essays published in 1597. There does not appear
to have been any hurry in its production. It is quite a small volume,
and yet the foregoing remarkable mispaginations occur. There must be
some purpose in this which has yet to be found out.
The 1623 Shakespeare Folio will be found to be one of the most perfect
examples of the printer's art extant, because no work has been produced
under such difficult conditions for the printer. There are few mistakes
in pagination or spelling which are not intentional. The work is a
masterpiece of enigma and cryptic design. The lines "To the Reader"
opposite to the title-page are a table or code of numbers. The same
lines and the lettering on the title-page form another table. The
ingenuity displayed in this manipulation of words and numbers to create
analogies is almost beyond the comprehension of the human mind. The
mispaginations are all intentional and have cryptic meanings. The acme
of wit is the substitution of 993 for 399 on the last page of the
tragedies; a hundred has been omitted in "Hamlet," 257 following 156,
and other errors made in order to obtain this result on the last page.
The manner in which the printer's signatures have been arranged with the
pages is equally wonderful. The name William Shakespeare must have been
created without reference to him of Stratford, who possibly bore or had
assigned to him a somewhat similar name. A great superstructure is built
up on the exact spelling of the words William Shakespeare. The year
1623 was specially selected for the issue of the complete volume of the
plays, because of the marvellous relations which the numbers composing
it bear to the names William Shakespeare and Francis Bacon, to the year
1560, in which the birth of Bacon is registered, and to 1564 and 1616,
the reputed dates of the birth and death of the Stratford man. Nor do
the wonders end here. The use of numerical analogies has been carried
into the construction of the English language. All this, and much more,
will be made manifest when the work of Mr. E. V. Tanner comes to be
investigated and appreciated. He has made the greatest literary
discovery of all time. The wonder is how it has been possible for anyone
to pierce the veil and reveal the secrets of the volume. The value of
the Shakespeare Folio 1623 will be enhanced. It will stand alone as the
greatest monument of the achievements of the human intellect.
To any literary critic who should honour this book by noticing it,
it is probable the foregoing statements may seem extravagant and
untrustworthy. To such the request is now made that before making any
comment he will inspect the proof of the foregoing statements which are
in the writer's possession. The dramas of Shakespeare are, by universal
consent, placed at the head of all literature. The invitation is now
put forth in explicit terms, and facilities are offered for the
investigation of the truth, or otherwise, of every statement made in
the foregoing paragraph.
FOOTNOTES:
[43] "A Life of Shakespeare," 1589, 2nd Edition, p. 308.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE AUTHORIZED VERSION OF THE BIBLE, 1611.
Is it not strange that there is no mention of any connection of Francis
Bacon with this work? There was a conference held at Hampton Court
Palace before King James on January, 1603, between the Episcopalians and
Puritans. John Rainoldes urged the necessity of providing for his people
a uniform translation of the Bible. Rainoldes was the leader of the
Puritans, a person of prodigious reading and doctrine, and the very
treasury of erudition. Dr. Hall, Bishop of Norwich, reports that "he
alone was a well furnished library, full of all faculties, of all
studies, of all learning--the memory and reading of that man were near a
miracle." The King approved the suggestion and commissioned for that
purpose fifty-four of the most learned men in the universities and other
places. There was a "careful selection of revisers made by some unknown
but very competent authority." The translators were divided into six
bands of nine each, and the work of translation was apportioned out to
them. A set of rules was drawn up for their guidance, which has happily
come down to modern times--almost the only record that remains of this
great undertaking. These concise rules have a homogeneity, breadth and
vigour which point to Bacon as their author. Each reviser was to
translate the whole of the original allocated to his company; then they
were to compare their translations together, and, as soon as a company
had completed its part, it was to communicate the result to the other
companies, that nothing might pass without the general consent. If any
company, upon the review of the translation so sent, differed on any
point, they were to note their objection and state their reasons for
disagreement. If the differences could not be adjusted, there was a
committee of arbitration which met weekly, consisting of a
representative from each company, to whom the matter in dispute was
referred. If any point was found to be very obscure, letters were to be
addressed, by authority, to learned persons throughout the land inviting
their judgment. The work was commenced in 1604. Rainoldes belonged to
the company to whom Isaiah and the prophets were assigned. He died in
1607, before the work was completed. During his illness his colleagues
met in his bedroom so that they might retain the benefit of his
learning. Only forty-seven out of the fifty-four names are known. When
the companies had completed their work, one complete copy was made at
Oxford, one at Cambridge, and one at Westminster. Those were sent to
London. Then two members were selected from each company to form a
committee to review and polish the whole. The members met daily at
Stationers' Hall and occupied nine months in their task. Then a final
revision was entrusted to Dr. Thomas Bilson and Dr. Miles Smith, and in
1609 their labours were completed and the result was handed to the King.
Many of the translators have left specimens of their writing in
theological treatises, sermons, and other works. A careful perusal of
all these available justifies the assertion that amongst the whole body
there was not one man who was so great a literary stylist as to be able
to write certain portions of the Authorised Version, which stamp it as
one of the two greatest examples of the English language. Naturally the
interest centres on Dr. Thomas Bilson and Dr. Miles Smith, to whom the
final revision was entrusted. There are some nine or ten theological
works by the former and two sermons by the latter. Unless the theory of
a special divine inspiration for the occasion be admitted, it is clear
that neither Bilson nor Miles Smith could have given the final touches
to the Bible. And now a curious statement has come down to us. In 1609
the translators handed their work to the King, and in 1610 he returned
it to them completed. James was incapable of writing anything to which
the term beautiful could be applied. What had happened to the
translators' work whilst it was left in his hands?
James had an officer of state at that time of whom a contemporary
biographer wrote that "he had the contrivance of all King James his
Designs, until the match with Spain." It will eventually be proved that
the whole scheme of the Authorised Version of the Bible was Francis
Bacon's. He was an ardent student not only of the Bible, but of the
early manuscripts. St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and writers of theological
works, were studied by him with industry. He has left his annotations in
many copies of the Bible and in scores of theological works. The
translation must have been a work in which he took the deepest interest
and which he would follow from stage to stage. When the last stage came
there was only one writer of the period who was capable of turning the
phrases with that matchless style which is the great charm of the
Shakespeare plays. Whoever that stylist was, it was to him that James
handed over the manuscripts which he received from the translators. That
man then made havoc of much of the translation, but he produced a result
which, on its literary merits, is without an equal.
Thirty years ago another revision took place, but, notwithstanding the
advantages which the revisers of 1880 had over their predecessors of
1611, their version has failed to displace the older version, which is
too precious to the hearts of the people for them to abandon it.
Although not one of the translators has left any literary work which
would justify the belief that he was capable of writing the more
beautiful portions of the Bible, fortunately Bacon has left an example
which would rather add lustre to than decrease the high standard of the
Bible if it were incorporated in it. As to the truth of this statement
the reader must judge from the following prayer, which was written after
his fall, and which was described by Addison as resembling the devotion
of an angel rather than a man:--
_Remember, O Lord, how Thy servant hath walked before Thee;
remember what I have first sought, and what been principal in mine
intentions. I have loved Thy assemblies; I have mourned for the
divisions of Thy Church; I have delighted in the brightness of Thy
sanctuary._
_This vine, which Thy right hand hath planted in this nation, I
have ever prayed unto Thee that it might have the first and the
latter rain, and that it might stretch her branches to the seas and
to the floods._
_The state and bread of the poor and oppressed have been precious
in mine eyes. I have hated all cruelty and hardness of heart. I
have, though in a despised weed, procured the good of all men._
_If any have been mine enemies, I thought not of them, neither hath
the sun almost set upon my displeasure; but I have been as a dove,
free from superfluity of maliciousness._
_Thy creatures have been my books, but Thy scriptures much more. I
have sought Thee in the courts, fields, and gardens, but I have
found Thee in Thy temples._
_Thousand have been my sins and ten thousand my transgressions, but
Thy sanctifications have remained with me, and my heart, through
Thy grace, hath been an unquenched coal upon Thine altar._
_O Lord, my strength, I have since my youth met with Thee in all my
ways, by Thy fatherly compassions, by Thy comfortable
chastisements, and by Thy most visible providence. As Thy favours
have increased upon me, so have Thy corrections, so that Thou hast
been ever near me, O Lord; and ever, as Thy worldly blessings were
exalted, so secret darts from Thee have pierced me, and when I have
ascended before men, I have descended in humiliation before Thee._
_And now, when I thought most of peace and honour, Thy hand is
heavy upon me, and hath humbled me according to Thy former
lovingkindness, keeping me still in Thy fatherly school, not as a
bastard but as a child. Just are Thy judgments upon me for my sins,
which are more in number than the sands of the sea, but have no
proportion to Thy mercies; for what are the sands of the sea to the
sea? Earth, heavens, and all these are nothing to Thy mercies._
_Besides my innumerable sins, I confess before Thee that I am
debtor to Thee for the gracious talent of Thy gifts and graces,
which I have neither put into a napkin, nor put it (as I ought) to
exchangers, where it might have made most profit, but misspent it
in things for which I was least fit so that I may truly say my soul
hath been a stranger in the course of my pilgrimage._
_Be merciful unto me, O Lord, for my Saviour's sake, and receive me
into Thy bosom or guide me in Thy ways._
There is another feature about the first editions of the Authorised
Version which arrests attention. In 1611 the first folio edition was
published. The design with archers, dogs and rabbits which is to be
found over the address "To the Christian Reader" which introduces the
genealogies is also to be found in the folio edition of Shakespeare over
the dedication to the most noble and Incomparable paire of Brethren,
over the Catalogue and elsewhere. Except that the mark of query which is
on the head of the right hand pillar in the design in the Bible is
missing in the Shakespeare folio, and the arrow which the archer on the
right hand side is shooting contains a message in the design used in
the Bible and is without one in the Shakespeare folio.
In the 1612 quarto edition of the Authorised Version on the title-page
of the Genealogies are two designs; that at the head of the page is
printed from the identical block which was used on the title-page of the
first edition of "Venus and Adonis," 1593, and the first edition of
"Lucrece," 1594. At the bottom is the design with the light A and dark
A, which is over the dedication to Sir William Cecil in the "Arte of
English Poesie," 1589. An octavo edition, which is now very rare, was
also published in 1612. On the title-page of the Genealogies will be
found the design with the light A and dark A which is used on several of
the Shakespeare quartos and elsewhere. (Figure XXI.)
The selection of these designs was not made by chance. They were
deliberately chosen to create similitudes between certain books, and
mark their connection with each other.
The revised translation of the Bible was undertaken as a national work.
It was carried out under the personal supervision of the King, but every
record of the proceedings has disappeared. The British Museum does not
contain a manuscript connected with the proceedings of the translators.
In the Record Office have been preserved the original documents
referring to important proceedings of that period. The parliamentary,
judicial, and municipal records are, on the whole, in a complete
condition, but ask for any records connected with the Authorised Version
of the Bible and the reply is: "We have none." And yet it is reasonable
to suppose that manuscripts and documents of such importance would be
preserved. Where are they to be found?
CHAPTER XVIII.
HOW BACON MARKED BOOKS WITH THE PUBLICATION OF WHICH HE WAS CONNECTED.
At a very early period in the history of printing, the custom was
introduced of placing on title-pages, at the heads and ends of the
chapters, emblematical designs. In English printed books these are
seldom to be found until the latter half of the 16th century.
An investigation of the books of the period reveals the fact that the
same blocks were used by different printers. Articles have been written
on the migration of printer's blocks, but, so far, no explanation has
been offered as to any object other than decoration for which these
blocks were used.
Among other designs in use between 1576 and 1640 are a number of
variants of a device in which a light A and a dark A form the most
conspicuous points. Camden, in his "Remaines Concerning Britaine," 1614,
commences a chapter on "Impresses," at the head of which the device is
found, thus:--"An Imprese (as the Italians call it) is a device in
picture with his Motto, or Word, borne by noble and learned personages,
to notifie some particular conceit of their owne: as Emblemes (that we
may omitte other differences) doe propound some general instructions to
all." Then follow a number of examples, and amongst them this:--
"Variete and vicissitude of humane things he seemed to shew which
parted his shield, Per Pale, Argent & Sables and counter-changeably
writte in the Argent, Ater and in the Sables Albus."
But even if the light A and dark A are used in the design of the
head-piece to represent Albus and Ater it does not afford any
satisfactory explanation as to why they are so used.
In MDCXVI. was published "Les Emblemes Moraulx et Militaires du Sieur
Jacob De Bruck Angermundt Nouvellement mis en Lumiere A Strasbourg, Par
Jacob de Heyden Graveur."
In Emblem No. 18, now reproduced, the light A and the dark A will be
found in the branch of the tree which the man is about to cut off.
(Figure VI.)[44]
Another Emblem does not contain the light A and dark A, but the bark of
the trunk and branches of the tree on the design exhibit a strong
contrast between the dark and light, which feature is represented in
most of the title-pages of books in which the device is found. (Figure
VII.)
Mr. Charles T. Jacob, Chiswick Press, London, who is the author of
"Books and Printing" (London, 1902), and several works on typography,
referring to an article on the migration of woodblocks, said:--
It is a well-known fact to Bibliographers that the same blocks were
sometimes used by different printers in two places quite far apart,
and at various intervals during the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. That the same blocks were employed is apparent from a
comparison of technical defects of impressions taken at different
places, and at two periods. There was no method of duplication in
existence until stereotyping was first invented in 1725; even then
the details were somewhat crude, and the process being new, it met
with much opposition and was practically not adopted until the
early part of the nineteenth century. Electrotyping, which is the
ideal method of reproducing woodblocks, was not introduced until
1836 or thereabouts. Of course, it was quite possible to re-engrave
the same design, but absolute fidelity could not be relied on by
these means, even if executed by the same hand.
The earliest date which appears on a book in which the head-piece,
containing the device of the light A and dark A is found, is 1563. The
book is "De Furtivis Literarum Notis Vulgo. De Ziferis," Ioan. Baptista
Porta Neapolitano Authore. Cum Privilegio Neapoli, apud Ioa. Mariam
Scotum. MDLXIII. (Figure VIII.)
It is only used once--over the dedication Ioanni Soto Philippi Regis.
There is no other head-piece in the book. John Baptist Porta was, with
the exception of Trithemius, whom he quotes, the first writer on
cyphers. At the time at which he wrote cypher-writing was studied in
every Court in Europe. It is significant that this emblematic device is
used in the earliest period in which head-pieces were adopted, in a book
which is descriptive and is in fact a text-book of the art of
concealment. This has, however, now been proved to be a falsely dated
book.
The first edition of this work was published in Naples in 1563 by Ioa.
Marius Scotus, but this does not contain the A A design. In 1591 the
book was published in London by John Wolfe; this reprint was dedicated
to Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. After the edition had been
printed off, the title-page was altered to correspond with the 1563
Naples publication. The dedication was taken out, and a reprint of the
original dedication was substituted, and over this was placed the A A
head-piece; then an edition was struck off, and, until to-day, it has
been sold and re-sold as the first edition of Baptista Porta's work. It
is difficult to offer any explanation as to why this fraud was
committed.
The first occasion upon which this device was used appears to be in a
book so rare that no copy of it can be found, either in the British
Museum or the Bodleian Library. Unfortunately, in the copy belonging to
the writer, the title-page and the two first pages are missing. The work
is called "Hebraicum Alphabethum Jo. Bovlaese." It is a Hebrew Grammar,
with proof-sheets added. It is interleaved with sheets of English-made
paper, containing Bacon's handwriting. Bound up with it is another
Hebrew Grammar, similarly interleaved, called "Sive compendium,
quintacunque Ratione fieri potuit amplessimum, Totius linguae," published
in Paris in 1566. The book ends with the sentence: "Ex collegio
Montis--Acuti 20 Decembris 1576"; then follow two pages in Hebrew, with
the Latin translation over it, headed "Decem Praecepta decalogi Exod."
Over this is the design containing the light A and the dark A, and the
squirrel and rabbits. (Figure IX.) One thing is certain, that the copy
now referred to was in the possession of Bacon, and that the interleaved
sheets of paper contain his handwriting, in which have been added page
by page the equivalents of the Hebrew in Greek, Chaldaeic, Syriac and
Arabic.
In 1577 Christophor Plantin published an edition of Andrea Alciat's
"Emblemata." On page 104 is Emblem No. 45, "In dies meliora." This has
been re-designed for the 1577 edition. It contains at the back the
pillars of Hercules, with a scroll around bearing the motto: "Plus
oltre." These pillars stand on some arches, immediately in front of
which is a mound or pyramid, two sides of which are seen. On one is to
be found the light A and on the other the dark A. The design was
appropriated by Whitney, and appears on page 53 in the 1586 edition of
his Emblems. From this time forth, A A devices are to be found in
numbers of books published in England, and on some published on the
Continent. Amongst the former are the first editions of "Venus and
Adonis," "Lucrece," the "Sonnets," the quarto editions of Shakespeare's
plays, the folio edition (1623) of his works, and the first quarto and
octavo editions (1612) of the Authorised Version of the Bible.
There are fourteen distinct designs, in all of which, varying widely in
other respects, the light A and the dark A constitute the outstanding
figure. The use of the two letters so shaded must have had a special
significance. In nearly every case it will be observed that the letter A
is so drawn as to make the letter C on the inside. Was its significance
of general knowledge amongst printers and readers, or was it an
earmarking device used by one person, or by a Society?
A possible interpretation of the use of the light and dark shading, is
that the book in which it is used contains more than is revealed; that
is to say, the overt and the concealed.
A copy of "AEsopiphrygis vita et fabellae cum latina interpretatione"
exists, date 1517. The book is annotated by Bacon. On one side is the
Greek text and on the opposite page the Latin translation. On pages 102
and 103 are two initial letters printed from blocks of the letter A.
These are coloured so that the one on the left hand side is a light A,
and that on the opposite page a dark A.
There are other designs which are used apparently as part of a scheme.
The identical block (Figure X.) which was used at the top of the title
page of "Venus and Adonis" (1593) and "Lucrece" (1594) did service on
the title page of the Genealogies in the quarto edition of the
Authorised Version of the Bible, 1612. This design was, so far as can be
traced, only used twice in the intervening nineteen years--on "An
Apologie of the Earl of Essex to Master Anthony Bacon," penned by
himself in 1598, and printed by Richard Bradocke in 1603, and in 1607,
on the "World of Wonders," printed by Richard Field. It was of this book
that Caldecott, the bibliophile and Shakespearean scholar, wrote: "The
phraseology of Shakespeare is better illustrated in this work than in
any other book existing." The design which is found on the title page of
the "Sonnets of Shakespeare," 1609, is found also in the first edition
of Napier's "Mirifici Logarithmorum," 1611, but printed from a
different block. The design with archers shooting at the base of the
central figure is to be found in a large number of the folio editions of
the period. Amongst these are the Authorised Version of the Bible, 1611,
the "Novum Organum," 1620, and the 1623 edition of Shakespeare's works.
There are other designs which are usually found accompanying the light A
and dark A and the other devices before referred to.
These designs were first brought into use from 1576 and practically
cease to appear about 1626. Afterwards they are seldom seen except in
books bearing Bacon's name, and eventually they lapse. The last use of
an A A device is over the life of the author in the second volume of an
edition of Bacon's Essays edited by Dr. William Willymott, published by
Henry Parson in 1720. After an interval of about 60 years a new design
is made, which is not one of those employed by Bacon.
By means of these devices a certain number of books may be identified as
forming a class by themselves.
There is another feature connected with them which is of special
interest. One man appears to have contributed to all the books thus
marked--either the dedication, the preface,[45] or the lines "To the
Reader"; in some cases all three. It may be urged in opposition to this
view that in those days there was a form in which dedications and
prefaces were written, and that this was more or less followed by many
writers, but this contention will not stand investigation. There are
tricks of phrasing and other peculiarities which enable certain literary
productions to be identified as the work of one man. Some of the finest
Elizabethan literature is to be found in the prefaces and dedications
in these books.
The theory now put forth is that Francis Bacon was directing the
production of a great quantity of the Elizabethan literature, and in
every book in the production of which he was interested, he caused to be
inserted one of these devices. He kept the blocks in his own custody; he
sent them out to a printer when a book was approved by him for printing.
On the completion of the work, the printer returned the blocks to Bacon
so that they could be sent elsewhere by him as occasion required.
The most elaborate of the AA designs is Figure XII., and the writer has
only found it in one volume. It is "Le Historie della Citta Di
Fiorenza," by M. Jacopo, published in Lyons by Theobald Ancelin in 1582.
"Exact was his correspondence abroad and at home, constant his Letters,
frequent his Visits, great his obligations," states the contemporary
biographer, speaking of Francis Bacon. It is difficult to arrive at the
exact meaning of these words. There is little correspondence with those
abroad remaining, no record of visits, no particulars of the great
obligations into which he entered. In the dedication of the 1631 edition
of the "Histoire Naturelle" to Monseigneur de Chasteauneuf, the author
speaking of Bacon writes:--"Le Chancelier, qu'on a fait venir tant de
fois en France, n'a point encore quitte l'Angleterre avec tant de
passion de nous decouvrir ses merveilles que depuis qu'il a sceu le rang
dont on avoit reconnu vos vertus."
These frequent visits to France are unrecorded elsewhere, but here is
definite testimony that they were made.
There are good grounds for believing that Bacon was throughout his life,
until their deaths, in constant communication with Christophor Plantin
(1514-1589), Aldus Manutius, Henry Stephen (1528-1598), and also with
Robert Stephens the third (1563-1640). All these men were not only
printers, but brilliant scholars and writers. If search be made, it is
quite possible that correspondence or other evidence of their friendship
may come to light. Be that as it may, there were undoubtedly a number of
books published on the continent between 1576 and 1630 which in the
sparta upon them bear testimony to Bacon's association with their
publication.
The following are instances of where the several designs which are
reproduced may be found. They however occur in many other volumes.
Figure IX.--"The Arte of English Poesie," 1589.
" XIII.--"Orlando Furioso," 1607.
" XIV.--Spencer's "Fairie Queen."
" XV.--"Florentine History translation," 1595, and 1636 edition
of Barclay's "Argenis."
" XI.--"Sonnets."
" XVI.--Simon Pateriche's translation of "Discourse against
Machiavel."
" XVII.--Lodge's translation of "Seneca," 1614.
" XVIII.--Shakespeare Folio, 1623.
" XIX.--"Daemonologie," 1603.
" XX.--Alciat's "Emblems," published in Paris, 1584.
FOOTNOTES:
[44] Plates Nos. VI. to XXI. will be found after the Appendix.
[45] In the "Advancement of Learning" Bacon says that Demosthenes
went so far in regard to the great force that the entrance
and access into a cause had to make a good impression that he
kept in readiness a stock of prefaces.
CHAPTER XIX.
BACON AND EMBLEMATA.
In "Shakespeare and the Emblem Writers" the Rev. Henry Green endeavours
to show the similarities of thought and expression between the great
poet and the authors of Emblemata, but the line of enquiry which he
there opened does not appear to have been followed by subsequent
writers. To-day the Emblemata literature is a _terra incognita_ except
to a very few students, and yet it is full of interest, romance, and
mystery. Emblem literature may be said to have had its origin with
Andrea Alciat, the celebrated Italian jurisconsult, who was famous for
his great knowledge and power of mind. In 1522 he published at Milan an
"Emblematum Libellus," or Little Book of Emblems. Green says: "It
established, if it did not introduce, a new style of emblem literature,
the classical in the place of the simply grotesque and humorous, or of
the heraldic and mythic." The first edition now known to exist was
published at Augsburg in 1531, a small octavo containing eighty-eight
pages with ninety-seven emblems, and as many woodcuts. It was from time
to time augmented, and passed through many editions. For some years the
Emblemata appears to have been produced chiefly by Italians, with a few
Frenchmen. Until the last half of the sixteenth century the output of
books of this character was not large. Thenceforth for the next hundred
years the creation of emblems became a popular form of literary
exercise. The Italians continued to be prolific, but Dutch, French, and
German scholars were but little behind them. There were a few Englishmen
and Spaniards who also practised the art.
In 1905 was published a book called "Letters from the Dead to the Dead,"
by Oliver Lector. In it attention is drawn to the remarkable features of
some of the books on emblems printed during Bacon's life, and to the
evidence that he was in some manner connected with the publication of
many of these volumes. The author claims this to be especially the case
with the "Emblemata Moralia et Bellica," 1615, of Jacob de Bruck, of
Angermundt, and the "Emblemata Ethic Politica" of J. Bornitius.
The emblem pictures for the most part appear to be picture puzzles. In
the "Critique upon the Mythology of the Ancients" Bacon says:--
"It may pass for a farther indication of a concealed and secret
meaning, that some of these fables are so absurd and idle in their
narration as to proclaim and shew an allegory afar off. A fable
that carries probability with it may be supposed invented for
pleasure, or in imitation of history; but, those that would never
be conceived or related in this way, must surely have a different
use."
If this line of reasoning be applied to the illustrations in the emblem
books, it is clear that they conceal some hidden meaning, for they are
apparently unintelligible, and the accompanying letterpress does not
afford any illumination.
Jean Baudoin was the translator of Bacon's "Essaies" into the French
language (1626). Baudoin published in 1638-9 "Recueil D'Emblemes divers
avec des Discours Moraux, Philos. et Polit." In the preface he says:
"Le grand chancelier Bacon m'ayant fait naitre l'envie de travailler
a ces emblemes ... m'en a fourni les principaux que j'ai tires de
l'explication ingenieuse qu'il a donnee de quelques fables et de ses
autres ouvrages." Here is definite evidence of Bacon's association with
a book of emblems.
The first volume of Emblemata in which traces of Bacon's hand are to
be found is the 1577 edition of Alciat's "Emblems," published by the
Plantin Press, with notes by Claude Mignault. It is in this edition, in
Emblem No. 45, "In dies meliora," that for the first time the light A
and the dark A is to be found. In previous editions this device is
absent. For this volume a new design has been engraved in which it
appears.
In the emblem books written in Italian Bacon does not appear to have
been concerned, unless an exception be made of Ripa's "Iconologia," a
copy of which contains his handwriting and initials. In some way he had
control of a large number of those written in Latin, and bearing names
of Dutch, French, and some Italian authors, and also of several written
in Dutch and of the English writers. The field is a very wide one, and
only a few of the principal examples can be mentioned.
The most important work is the "Emblemata Moralia et Bellica" of Jacob a
Bruck, of Angermundt, 1615. "Argentorati per Jacobum ab Heyden." With
many of the designs in this volume Oliver Lector has dealt fully in
"Letters from the Dead to the Dead,"[46] before referred to. There is
another volume bearing the name of Jacob a Bruck, published in 1598.
Only one copy of this book is known to be in existence, and that is in
the Royal Library of St. Petersburg.
The "Emblemata Ethico Politica of Jacobus Bornitius, 1659, Moguntiae," is
remarkable because many of the engravings contain portraits of Bacon,
namely, in Sylloge Prima, Plates Nos. vii., xxiii., xliv., xlv., xlvix.;
and in Sylloge II., Plates ix. and xxxvi. Oliver Lector says: "I have
not met with an earlier edition of Bornitius than 1659. My conjecture,
however, is that the manuscript came into the hands of Gruter with other
of Bacon's published by him in the year 1653."
There are two productions of Janus Jacobus Boissardus in which Bacon's
hand may be recognised--"Emblemes Latines avec l'Interpretation
Francoise du I. Pierre Ioly Messin. Metis, 1588," and "Emblematum liber.
Ipsa Emblemata ab Auctore delineata: a Theodoro de Bry sculpta et nunc
recens in lucem edita," 1593, Frankfort. Two editions of the latter were
printed in the same year. The title-pages are identical, and the same
plates have been used throughout, but the letterpress is in Latin in the
one, and in French in the other. In both, the dedications are addressed
in French to Madame de Clervent, Baronne de Coppet, etc. The dedication
of the former bears the name Jan Jacques Boissard at the head, and
addresses the lady as "que come estes addonnee a la speculation des
choses qui appartiennent a l'instruction de l'ame." The dedication of
the latter is signed Ioly, who explains that he has translated the
verses into French, so that they may be of more service to the
dedicatee.
Otho Van Veen enjoys the distinction of having had Rubens for a
disciple. A considerable number of emblem books emanated from him. In
1608 were published at Antwerp two editions of his "Amorum Emblemata."
In one copy the verses are in Latin, German, and French, and in the
other in Latin, English, and Italian. There are commendatory verses in
the latter, two of which are by Daniel Heinsius and R. V., who was
Robert Verstegen, the author of "A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence
in Antiquities." The dedication is "To the most honourable and worthie
brothers William Earle of Pembroke, and Phillip Earle of Montgomerie,
patrons of learning and chevalrie," who are "the most noble and
incomparable paire of brethren" to whom the 1623 Shakespeare Folio was
dedicated. In this volume Bacon has left his marks.
"Emblemata door Zacharias Heyns," published in Rotterdam in 1625,
comprises four books bound together. The inscriptions over the plates
are in Latin. The letterpress, which is in Dutch and French, apparently
bears very little reference to the illustrations.
Johannis de Brunes I.C. Emblemata of Sinne-Werck, Amsterdam, 1624, is
written in Dutch. Emblem VIII. contains an indication that the number
1623 is a key.
The "Silenus Alcibiades sive Proteus" was published at Middleburgh in
1618. There is no author's name on the title-page, but the Voor-reden,
written in Dutch, is signed J. Cats. Attached to two of the preliminary
complimentary verses are the names of Daniel Heyns and Josuah Sylvester,
the translator of "Du Bartas." The verses are in Latin, Dutch, and
French. Immediately following the title-page is a preface in Latin,
signed by Majores de Baptis. Over this is the familiar emblem containing
the archers, rabbits, and dogs, with the note of query on the right-hand
side, and the message on the arrow. This volume is one of the most
remarkable of the emblem books. The Latin preface is autobiographical.
If the writer can be identified as the author of "Venus and Adonis," it
becomes one of the most important contributions to his biography.
In 1616, the year of Shakespeare's death, was published at Amsterdam a
book bearing on its title-page the inscription: "Cornelii Giselberti
Plempii Amsterodamum Monogrammon." It contains fifty illustrations, with
Latin verses attached. Emblem I. is reproduced (Fig. V.) On reference to
it, it will be seen that Fortune stands on a globe, and with one hand is
pushing off from the pinnacle of fame a man dressed as a player with a
feather in his hat; with the other hand she is raising up a man who is
wearing the Bacon hat, but whose face is hidden. The prophecy expressed
by the emblem is now being fulfilled. It will be seen that the initial
letters of each word in the sentence of the letterpress--Obscaenumque
nimis crepuit, Fortuna Batavis appellanda--yield F. Bacon. Bacon's
portrait is found in several of the illustrations in this book. Other
emblem writers whose works bear traces of Bacon's co-operation are
G. Rollenhagen, J. Camerius, J. Typotius, D. Hensius.
[Illustration: _Fig. V._
_En Fortuna: manu quos rupem ducit in altam,
Praecipites abigit: carnificina Dea est.
Firma globo imponi voluerunt fata caducam,
Ipsa quoque ut posset risus, & esse iocus.
Olim unctos Saly qui praesiliere per utres,
Ridebant caderet si qua puella male.
O quam saepe sales, plausumque merente ruina,
Erubuit vitium fors inhonest a suum!
Obscaenumque nimis crepuit, Fortuna Batavis
Appellanda; sono, quo sua curta vocant.
Quoque sono veteres olim sua furta Latini:
Vt nec, Homere, mali nomen odoris ames._
C. PLEMPII.
EMBLEMATA
EMBL. I.]
There yet remain to be mentioned two English emblem writers. A "Choice
of Emblems" by Geffrey Whitney was published in 1586 by Francis
Raphelengius in the house of Christopher Plantin at Leyden. The
dedication is to Robert Earle of Leicester. There are only from fifteen
to twenty original designs out of 166 illustrations. The remainder are
taken from other emblem writers, chiefly from Alciat, Sambucus, Paradin,
and Hadrian Junius. On page 53 is the design headed "In dies meliora"
found in the 1577 edition of Alciat, but the letterpress, which is in
English, is quite different from the Latin verse attached to it in the
Alciat.
The "Minerva Britanna" of Henry Peacham was published in 1612. The
emblem on the title-page[47] represents the great secret of Francis
Bacon's life, and on page .33 is an emblem in which the name Shakespeare
is represented. The volume is full of devices which will amply repay a
careful study.
Apart from any connection which Bacon may have had with this remarkable
class of books, they are of great interest to the student of the
Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. They contain pictorial representations
full of information as to the habits and customs of the people. With the
exception of Whitney's "Choice of Emblems," a facsimile reprint of which
was published in 1866, edited by the Rev. Henry Green, no reprint of any
of these curious books has been issued. As the original editions of many
of them are very rare, and of none of them plentiful, their study is a
matter of difficulty, and few students find their way to this
fascinating field of research. How close Bacon's connection was with the
writers of these books, or with their publishers, it is difficult to
say, but there is considerable evidence that in some way he was able to
introduce into every one of the books here enumerated, and many others,
some plates illustrative of his inductive philosophy.
FOOTNOTES:
[46] Bernard Quaritch, 1905.
[47] See page 105.
CHAPTER XX.
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS.
"Shakespeare's Sonnets never before Imprinted," have afforded
commentators material for many volumes filled with theories which to the
ordinary critical mind appear to have no foundation in fact. Chapters
have been written to prove that Mr. W. H., the only begetter of the
Sonnets, was Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, and chapters have
been written to prove that he was no such person, but that William
Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, was the man intended to be designated.
Theories have been elaborated to identify the individuals represented by
the Rival Poet and the dark Lady. Not one of these theories is supported
by the vestige of a shred of testimony that would stand investigation.
There has not come down any evidence that Shakspur, of Stratford, knew
either the Earl of Southampton, the Earl of Pembroke or Marie Fitton.
The truth is that Mr. W. H. was _Shakespeare_, who _was_ the only
begetter of the Sonnets, and the proof of this statement will in due
time be forthcoming. It may be well to try and read some of the Sonnets
as they stand and endeavour to realise what is the obvious meaning of
the printed words.
The key to the Sonnets will be found in No. 62. The language in which it
is written is explicit and capable of being understood by any ordinary
intellect.
"Sinne of selfe-love possesseth al mine eie
And all my soule, and al my every part;
And for this sinne there is no remedie,
It is so grounded inward in my heart.
Me thinkes no face so gratious is as mine,
No shape so true, no truth of such account,
And for my selfe mine owne worth do define,
As I all other in all worth's surmount
But when my glasse shewes me my selfe indeed
Beated and chopt with tand antiquitie,
Mine own selfe love quite contrary I read
Selfe, so selfe loving were iniquity.
Tis thee (my-selfe) that for myself I praise
Painting my age with beauty of thy daies."
The writer here states definitely that he is dominated by the sin of
self-love; it possesseth his eye, his soul, and every part of him. There
can be found no remedy for it; it is so grounded in his heart. No face
is so gracious as is his, no shape so true, no truth of such account. He
defines his worth as surmounting that of all others. This is the frank
expression of a man who not only believed that he was, but knew that he
was superior to all his contemporaries, not only in intellectual power,
but in personal appearance. Then comes an arrest in the thought, and he
realises that time has been at work. He has been picturing himself as he
was when a young man. He turns to his glass and sees himself beated and
chopt with tanned antiquity; forty summers have passed over his
brow.[48]
Francis Bacon at forty years of age, or thereabouts, unmarried,
childless, sits down to his table, Hilliard's portrait before him, with
pen in hand, full of self-love, full of admiration for that beautiful
youth on whose counterfeit presentment he is gazing. His intellectual
triumphs pass in review before him, most of them known only to himself
and that youth--his companion through life. That was the Francis Bacon
who controlled him in all his comings and goings--his ideal whom he
worshipped. If he could have a son like that boy! His pen begins to move
on the paper--
"From fairest creatures we desire increase
That thereby beauty's rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decrease
His tender heire might bear his memory."
The pen stops and the writer's eye wanders to the miniature:--
"But _thou_[49] contracted to thine own bright eyes."
And so the Sonnets flow on, without effort, without the need of
reference to authorities, for the great, fixed and methodical memory
needs none.
How natural are the allusions--
"Thou art thy mother's glasse and she in thee
Calls backe the lovely Aprill of her prime."
* * * * *
"Be as thy presence is, gracious and kind,
Or to thyselfe at least kind hearted prove.
Make thee another self, for love of me
That beauty may still live in thine or thee."
* * * * *
"Let those whom nature hath not made for store,
Harsh, featureless and rude, barrenly perish;
Look, whom she best indow'd she gave the more;
Which bountious guift thou shouldst in bounty cherrish;
She carv'd thee for her seale, and ment therby
Thou shouldst print more, not let that coppy die."
* * * * *
"O that you were yourselfe, but love you are
No longer yours, then you yourselfe here live,
Against this cunning end you should prepare,
And your sweet semblance to some other give
. . . .
Who lets so faire a house fall to decay
. . . .
O none but unthrifts, deare my love you know
You had a Father, let your Son say so."
* * * * *
"But wherefore do not you a mightier waie
Make warre uppon this bloodie tirant Time?
And fortifie your selfe in your decay
With meanes more blessed, then my barren rime?
Now stand you on the top of happie houres
And many maiden gardens, yet onset,
With virtuous wish would beare you living flowers
Much liker than your painted counterfeit:
* * * * *
Who will beleeve my verses in time to come
If it were fil'd with your most high deserts?
Though yet heaven knows, it is but as a tombe
_Which hides your life_, and shewes not halfe your parts:
If I could write the beauty of your eyes
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say this Poet lies,
Such heavenly touches nere toucht earthly faces.
So should my papers (yellowed with their age)
Be scorn'd, like old men of lesse truth than tongue,
And your true rights be termd a Poets rage
And stretched miter of an Antique song.
But were some childe of yours alive that time,
You should live twise, in it and in my rime."
* * * * *
"Yet doe thy worst, ould Time, dispight thy wrong
My love shall in my verse ever live young."
He realises that he no longer answers Ophelia's description:
"The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's eye, tongue, sword:
The expectancy and rose of the fair state
The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
The observed of all observers....
That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth."
But he cannot forget what he has been, he cannot realise that he is no
longer the brilliant youth whose miniature he has before him, with the
words inscribed around, "Si tabula daretur digna animum mallem"--If
materials could be found worthy to paint his mind ("O could he but have
drawn his wit") and then with a burst of poetic enthusiasm he
exclaims:--
"Tis thee (myselfe) that for myselfe I praise,
Painting my age with beauty of thy daies."
This is the common experience of a man as he advances in life. So long
as he does not see his reflection in a glass, if he tries to visualize
himself, he sees the youth or young man. Only in his most pessimistic
moments does he realise his age.
There is no longer any difficulty in understanding Shakespeare's
Sonnets. They were addressed by "Shakespeare," the poet, to the
marvellous youth who was known under the name of Francis Bacon, and they
were written, with Hilliard's portrait placed on his table before him.
In that age (please God it may be the present age), which is known only
to God and to the fates when the finishing touch shall be given to
Bacon's fame,[50] it will be found that the period of his life from
twelve to thirty-five years of age surpassed all others, not only in
brilliant intellectual achievements, but for the enduring wealth with
which he endowed his countrymen. And yet it was part of his scheme of
life that his connection with the great renaissance in English
literature should lie hidden until posterity should recognise that work
as the fruit of his brain:--"Mente Videbor"--"by the mind I shall be
seen."
How lacking all his modern biographers have been in perception!
Every difficulty in those which are termed the procreation Sonnets
disappears with the application of this key. Only by it can Sonnet 22 be
made intelligible:--
"My glass shall not persuade me I am old,
As long as youth and thou are of one date;
But when in thee time's furrow I behold,
Then look, I death my days would expirate
For all that beauty that doth cover thee
Is but the steady raiment of my heart.
Which in my breast doth live, as thine in me.
How can I then be older than thou art?
O, therefore, love, be of thyself so wary
As I, not for myself, but for thee will;
Bearing thy heart, which I will keep so chary
As tender nurse her babe from faring ill.
Presume not on thy heart when mine is slain;
Thou gavest me thine, not to give back again."
But nearly every Sonnet might be quoted in support of this view.
Especially is it of value in bringing an intelligent and allowable
explanation to Sonnets 40, 41, and 42, which now no longer have an
unsavoury flavour.
Sonnet No. 59 is most noteworthy, because it implies a belief in
re-incarnation. Shakespeare expresses his longing to know what the
ancients would have said of his marvellous intellect. If he could find
his picture in some antique book over 500 years old, see an image of
himself as he then was, and learn what men thought of him!
"If their bee nothing new, but that which is
Hath beene before, how are our braines begulld,
Which laboring for invention, beare amisse
The second burthen of a former child?
Oh that record could with a back-ward looke,
Even of five hundredth courses of the Sunne,
Show me your image in some antique booke,
Since minde at first in carrecter was done,
That I might see what the old world could say
To this composed wonder of your frame;
Whether we are mended, or where better they,
Or whether revolution be the same.
Oh sure I am, the wits of former daies,
To subjects worse have given admiring praise."
There is the same idea in Sonnet 71, which suggests that in some future
re-incarnation Bacon might read Shakespeare's praises of him.
Conjectures as to who was the rival poet may be dispensed with. The
following rendering of Sonnet No. 80 makes this perfectly clear:--
"O how I (_the poet_) faint when I of you (_F.B._) do write,
Knowing a better spirit (_that of the philosopher_) doth use your name
And in the praise thereof spends all his might
To make me tongue tied, speaking of your fame!
(_Shakespeare never refers to Bacon or vice-versa_)
But since your (_F.B.'s_) worth wide as the ocean is,
The humble as the proudest sail doth bear,
My saucy bark (_that of the poet_) inferior far to his (_that of the
philosopher_),
On your broad main doth wilfully appear.
Your shallowest help will hold me (_the poet_) up afloat
Whilst he (_the philosopher_) upon your soundless deep doth ride."
It is impossible to do justice to this subject in the space here
available. By the aid of this key every line becomes intelligible. The
charm and beauty of the Sonnets are increased tenfold. Every unpleasant
association of them is removed. No longer need Browning say, "If so the
less Shakespeare he."
These are not "Shakespeare's sug'rd[51] Sonnets amongst his private
friends" to which Meres makes reference. They are to be found elsewhere.
If there had been an intelligent study of Elizabethan literature from
original sources the authorship of the Sonnets would have been revealed
long ago. It was a habit of Bacon to speak of himself as some one apart
from the speaker. The opening sentence of _Filum Labyrinthi, Sivo Forma
Inquisitiones_ is an example. _Ad Filios_--"Francis Bacon thought in
this manner." Prefixed to the preface to Gilbert Wats' interpretation of
the "Advancement of Learning" is a chapter commencing, "Francis Lo
Verulam consulted thus: and thus concluded with himselfe. The
publication whereof he conceived did concern the present and future
age."
Nothing that has been written is more perfectly Baconian in style and
temperament than are the Sonnets. They breathe out his hopes, his
aspirations, his ideals, his fears, in every line. He knew he was not
for his time. He knew future generations only would render him the fame
to which his incomparable powers entitled him. He knew how far he
towered above his contemporaries, aye, and his predecessors, in
intellectual power. His hopes were fixed on that day in the distant
future--to-day--when for the first time the meshes which he wove, behind
which his life's work is obscured, are beginning to be unravelled.
The most sanguine Baconian, in his most enthusiastic moments, must fail
adequately to appreciate the achievements of Francis Bacon and the
obligations under which he has placed posterity. But Bacon knew--and he
alone knew--their full value. It was fitting that the greatest poet
which the world had produced should in matchless verse do honour to the
world's greatest intellect. It was a pretty conceit. Only a master mind
would dare to make the attempt. The result has afforded another example
of how his great wit, in being concealed, was revealed.
FOOTNOTES:
[48] Sonnet No. 2.
[49] _'Tis thee myselfe_, Sonnet 62.
[50] See Rawley's Introduction to "Manes Verulamiana."
[51] The expression "sugr'd Sonnets" refers to verses which were written
with coloured ink to which sugar had been added. When dry the writing
shone brightly.
CHAPTER XXI.
BACON'S LIBRARY.
In the "Advancement of Learning" Bacon refers to the annotations of
books as being deficient. There was living at the end of the sixteenth
and beginning of the seventeenth century a scholar through whose hands
at least several thousand books passed. He appears to have made a
practice of annotating in the margins every book he read. The chief
purpose, however, of the notes, apparently, was to aid the memory, for
in some books nearly every name occurring in the text is carried into
the margin without comment. The notes are also accompanied by scrolls,
marks, and brackets, which support the contention that they are the work
of one man. The annotation of books was not a common practice then, nor
has it been since. If a reader takes up a hundred books in a second-hand
book shop he will probably not find more than one containing manuscript
notes, and not one in five hundred in which the annotations have been
systematically carried through. There does not appear to have been any
other scholar living at that time, with the exception of this one, who
was persistently making marginal notes on the books he read.
Spedding writes: "What became of his (Bacon's) books, which were left to
Sir John Constable and must have contained traces of his reading, we do
not know; but very few appear to have survived."