Bacon is Shake Speare

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"An Epitaph on the admirable Dramaticke Poet,
W. Shakespeare.
What neede my Shakespeare for his honour'd bones,
The labour of an Age in piled stones
Or that his hallow'd Reliques should be hid
Under a starrey-pointed Pyramid?
Deare sonne of Memory, great Heire of Fame,
What needst thou such dull witnesse of thy Name?
Thou in our wonder and astonishment
Hast built thy selfe a lasting Monument:
For whil'st, to th' shame of slow-endevouring Art
Thy easie numbers flow, and that each part,
Hath from the leaves of thy unvalued Booke,
Those Delphicke Lines with deepe impression tooke
Then thou our fancy of her selfe bereaving,
Dost make us Marble with too much conceiving,
And so Sepulcher'd, in such pompe dost lie
That Kings for such a Tombe would wish to die."

We have pointed out in Chapter 10 and in Chapter 11 how clearly in
"Loues Labour's lost," on page 136 of the folio of 1623, Bacon reveals
the fact that he is the Author of the Plays, and we have shewn how the
title pages of certain books support this revelation, beginning with the
title page of the first folio of 1623 with its striking revelation given
to us in the supposititious portrait which really consists of "a mask
supported on two left arms."

We may, however, perhaps here mention that instructions are specially
given to all who can understand, in the little book which is said to be
a continuation of Bacon's "Nova Atlantis," and to be by R. H., Esquire,
[whom no one has hitherto succeeded in identifying].

[Illustration: Plate XXXIV Facsimile Title Page.]

On Plate 34, Page 149, we give a facsimile of its Title Page which
describes the book and states that it was printed in 1660.

In this book a number of very extraordinary inventions are mentioned
such as submarine boats to blow up ships and harbours, and telegraphy by
means of magnetic needles, but the portion to which we now wish to
allude is that which refers to a "solid kind of Heraldry." This will be
found on pp. 23-4, and reads as follows:

"We have a solid kind of Heraldry, not made specious with ostentative
pydecoats and titular Atcheivements, which in Europe puzzel the tongue
as well as memory to blazon, and any Fool may buy and wear for his
money. Here in each province is a Register to record the memorable Acts,
extraordinary qualities and worthy endowments of mind of the most
eminent Patricians. Where for the Escutcheon of Pretence each noble
person bears the Hieroglyphic of that vertue he is famous for. E.G. If
eminent for Courage, the Lion; If for Innocence, the White Lamb; If for
Chastity, a Turtle; If for Charity, the Sun in his full glory; If for
Temperance, a slender Virgin, girt, having a bridle in her mouth; If for
Justice, she holds a Sword in the right, and a Scales in the left hand;
If for Prudence, she holds a Lamp; If for meek Simplicity, a Dove in her
right hand; If for a discerning Judgment, an Eagle; If for Humility, she
is in Sable, the head inclining and the knees bowing; If for Innocence,
she holds a Lilie; If for Glory or Victory, a Garland of Baies; If for
Wisdom, she holds a Salt; If he excels in Physic, an Urinal; If in
Music, a Lute; If in Poetry, a Scrowle; If in Geometry, an Astrolabe; If
in Arithmetic, a Table of Cyphers; If in Grammar, an Alphabetical Table;
If in Mathematics, a Book; If in Dialectica she holds a Serpent in
either hand; and so of the rest; the Pretence being ever paralel to his
particular Excellency. And this is sent him cut in brass, and in
colours, as he best phansies for the Field; only the Hieroglyphic is
alwayes proper."

These references to a solid kind of Heraldry refer to the title pages
and frontispieces of books which may be characterised broadly as
Baconian books, and examples of every one of them can be found in books
extending from the Elizabethan period almost up to the present date.

We place Plate 35, Page 153, before the reader, which is a photo
enlargement of the title page of Bacon's "History of Henry VII.,"
printed in Holland, 1642, the first Latin edition (in 12mo).

Here is seen the Virgin holding the Salt, shewing the Wisdom of the
Author. In her right hand, which holds the Salt, she holds also two
other objects which seem difficult to describe. They represent "a bridle
without a bit," in order to tell us the purpose of the Plate is to
unmuzzle Bacon, and to reveal to us his authorship of the plays known as
Shakespeare's.

But in order to prove that the objects represent a bridle without a bit,
we must refer to two emblem books of very different dates and
authorship.

First we refer our readers to Plate 36, Page 156, which is a photo
enlargement of the figure of Nemesis in the first (February 1531)
edition of Alciati's Emblems. The picture shews us a hideous figure
holding in her left hand a bridle with a tremendous bit to destroy false
reputations, _improba verba_.

We next put before our readers the photo reproduction of the figure of
Nemesis, which will be found on page 484, of Baudoin's Emblems, 1638.
Baudoin had previously brought out in French a translation of Bacon's
"Essays," which was published at Paris in 1621. In the preface to his
book of Emblems he tells us that he was induced to undertake the task by
BACON (printed in capital letters), and by Alciat (printed in ordinary
type). In this book of Emblems, Baudoin, on page 484, placed his figure
of Nemesis opposite to Bacon's name. If the reader carefully examines
Plate 37 he will perceive that it is no longer a grinning hideous
figure, but is a figure of FAME, and carries a bridle in which there is
found to be no sign of any kind of bit, because the purpose of the
Emblem is to shew that Nemesis will unmuzzle and glorify Bacon.

In order to make the meaning of Baudoin's Emblem still more emphatically
explicit a special Rosicrucian Edition of the same date, 1638, was
printed, in which Baudoin's Nemesis is printed "upside down"; we do not
mean bound upside down, but printed upside down, for there is the
printing of the previous page at the back of the engraving. We have
already alluded on page 113 to the frequent practice of the upside down
printing of ornaments and engravings when a revelation concerning
Bacon's connection with Shakespeare is afforded to us.

[Illustration: Plate XXXV. Facsimile Title Page]

[Illustration: Plate XXXVI. "Nemesis," from Alcaiti's Emblems, 1531]

[Illustration: Plate XXXVII. Page 484 from Baudoin's Emblems 1638]

The writer possesses an ordinary copy of Baudoin's Emblems, 1638, and
also a copy of the edition with the Nemesis printed upside down which
appears opposite Bacon's name. The copy so specially printed is bound
with Rosicrucian emblems outside.

The reader, by comparing Baudoin's Nemesis, Plate 37, and the Title Page
of Henry VII., Plate 35, will at once perceive that the objects in the
right hand of the Virgin holding the salt box are correctly described as
representing a "bridle without a bit," and he will know that a
revelation concerning Bacon and Shakespeare is going to be given to him.
Now we will tell him the whole story. On the right of the picture, Plate
35 (the reader's left) we see a knight in full armour, and also a
philosopher who is, as the roses on his shoes tell us, a Rosicrucian
philosopher. On the left on a lower level is the same philosopher,
evidently Bacon, but without the roses on his shoes. He is holding the
shaft of a spear with which he seems to stop the wheel. By his side
stands what appears to be a Knight or Esquire, but the man's sword is
girt on the wrong side, he wears a lace collar and lace trimming to his
breeches, and he wears actor's boots (see Plate 28, Page 118, and Plate
132, Page 127).

We are therefore forced to conclude that he is an Actor. And, lo, he
wears but ONE SPUR. He is therefore a Shake-spur Actor (on Plate 27,
Page 115, is shewn a Shake-spur on horseback). This same Actor is also
shaking the spear which is held by the philosopher. He is therefore also
a Shake-spear Actor. And now we can read the symbols on the wheel which
is over his head: the "mirror up to nature," "the rod for the back of
fools," the "basin to hold your guilty blood" ("Titus Andronicus," v. 2),
and "the fool's bawble." On the other side of the spear: the spade the
symbol of the workman, the cap the symbol of the gentleman, the crown
the symbol of the peer, the royal crown, and lastly the Imperial crown.
Bacon says Henry VII. wore an Imperial crown. Quite easily now we can
read the whole story.

The "History of Henry VII.," though in this picture displayed on a stage
curtain, is set forth by Bacon in prose while the rest of the Histories
of England are given to the world by Bacon by means of his pseudonym the
Shake-spear Actor at the Globe to which that figure is pointing.

Plain as the plate appears to the instructed eye it seems hitherto to
have failed to reveal to the _un_instructed its clear meaning that

BACON IS SHAKE-SPEARE.

CHAPTER XIV.

Postscriptum.

Most fortunately before going to press we were able to see at the Record
Office, Chancery Lane, London, the revealing documents recently
discovered by Dr. Wallace and described by him in an article published
in the March number of _Harper's Monthly Magazine_, under the title of
"New Shakespeare Discoveries." The documents found by Dr. Wallace are
extremely valuable and important. They tell us a few real facts about
the Householder of Stratford-upon-Avon, and they effectually once and
for all dispose of the idea that the Stratford man was the Poet and
Dramatist,--the greatest genius of all the ages.

In the first place they prove beyond the possibility of cavil or question
that "Shakespeare, of Stratford-upon-Avon, Gentleman," was totally
unable to write even so much as any portion of his own name. It is true
that the Answers to the Interrogatories which are given by "William
Shakespeare, of Stratford-upon-Avon, Gentleman," are marked at the
bottom "Wilm Shaxpr," but this is written by the lawyer or law clerk, in
fact "dashed in" by the ready pen of an extremely rapid writer. A full
size photographic facsimile of this "so-called" signature, with a
portion of the document above it, is given in Plate 38, Page 164, and on
the opposite page, in Plate 39, is shewn also in full size facsimile the
real signature of Daniell Nicholas with a portion of the document, which
he signed, above it.

In order that the reader may be able more easily to read the law writing
we give on page 167, in modern type, the portion of the document
photographed above the name Wilm Shaxp'r, and on the same page a modern
type transcript of the document above the signature of Daniell Nicholas.

Any expert in handwriting will at once perceive that "Wilm Shaxp'r" is
written by the same hand that wrote the lower portion of Shakespeare's
Answers to Interrogatories, and by the same hand that wrote the other
set of Answers to Interrogatories which are signed very neatly by
"Daniell Nicholas."

The words "Daughter Marye" occur in the portion photographed of both
documents, and are evidently written by the same law writer, and can be
seen in Plate 38, Page 164, just above the "Wilm Shaxp'r," and in Plate
39, Page 165, upon the fifth line from the top. The name of
"Shakespeare" also occurs several times in the "Answers to
Interrogatories." One instance occurs in Plate 39, Page 165, eight lines
above the name of Daniell Nicholas, and if the reader compares it with
the "Wilm Shaxp'r" on Plate 38, Page 164, it will be at once seen that
both writings are by the same hand.

[Illustration: Plate XXXVIII Full Size Facsimile of part of
"Shakespeare's Answers to the Interrogatories," Discovered by Dr.
Wallace in the British Records Office.]

[Illustration: Plate XXXIX. Full Size Facsimile of part of Daniell
Nicholas' "Answers to the Interrogatories," Discovered by Dr. Wallace in
British Record Office.]

portion
What c'tayne he
. . . . . .
. plt twoe hundered pounds
decease. But sayth that
his house. And they had amo
about their marriadge w'ch
nized. And more he can
ponnt saythe he can saye
of the same Interro for
cessaries of houshould stuffe
his daughter Marye
WILM SHAXPR

TYPE FACSIMILE OF PLATE XXXVIII.

* * * * *

Interr this depnnt sayth
that the deft did beare
ted him well when he
by him the said Shakespeare
his daughter Marye
that purpose sent him
swade the plt to the
solempnised uppon pmise of
nnt. And more he can
this deponnt sayth
is deponnt to goe wth
DANIELL NICHOLAS.

TYPE FACSIMILE OF PLATE XXXIX.

Answers to Interrogatories are required to be signed by the deponents.
In the case of "Johane Johnsone," who could not write her name, the
depositions are signed with a very neat cross which was her mark. In the
case of "William Shakespeare, of Stratford-upon-Avon, Gentleman," who
was also unable to write his name, they are signed with a dot which
might quite easily be mistaken for an accidental blot. Our readers will
see this mark, which is not a blot but a purposely made mark, just under
"Wilm Shaxp'r."

Dr. Wallace reads the "so-called" signature as Willm Shaks, but the
Christian name is written quite clearly Wilm. And we should have
supposed that any one possessing even the smallest acquaintance with the
law writing of the period must have known that the scroll which looks
like a flourish at the end of the surname is not and cannot be an "s,"
but is most certainly without any possibility of question a "p," and
that the dash through the "p" is the usual and accepted abbreviation for
words ending in "per," or "peare," etc.[12]

Then how ought we, nay how arewe, compelled to read the so-called
signature? The capital S is quite clear, so also is the "h," then the
next mass of strokes all go to make up simply the letter "a." Then we
come to the blotted letter,

[Illustration: Plate XL. FACSIMILES OF LAW CLERKS' WRITING OF THE NAME
"SHAKESPEARE," FROM HALLIWELL-PHILLIPPS' "OUTLINES OF THE LIFE OF
SHAKESPEARE," VOL. 2, 1889.]

this is not and cannot be "kes" or "ks" because in the law writing of
the period every letter "s" (excepting "s" at the end of a word) was
written as a very long letter. This may readily be seen in the word
Shakespeare which occurs in Plate 39 on the eighth line above the
signature of Daniell Nicholas. What then is this blotted letter if it is
not kes or ks? The answer is quite plain, it is an "X," and a careful
examination under a very strong magnifying glass will satisfy the
student that it is without possibility of question correctly described
as an "X."[13] Yes, the lawclerk marked the Stratford Gentleman's
"Answers to Interrogatories" with the name "Wilm Shaxp'r." Does there
exist a Stratfordian who will contend that William Shakespeare, of
Stratford-upon-Avon, Gentleman, if he had been able to write any portion
of his name would have marked his depositions Wilm Shaxp'r? Does there
exist any man who will venture to contend that the great Dramatist, the
author of the Immortal plays, would or could have so signed his name? We
trow not; indeed, such an abbreviation would be impossible in a legal
document in a Court of Law where depositions are required to be signed
in full.

With reference to the other so-called Shakespeare's signatures we must
refer the reader to our Chapter III. which was penned before these "New
Shakespeare Discoveries" were announced. And it is perhaps desirable to
say that the dot in the "W" which appears in two of those "so-called"
signatures of Shakespeare, and also in the one just discovered, is part
of the regular method of writing a "W" in the law writing of the period.
In the Purchase Deed of the property in Blackfriars, of March 10th
1612-13, mentioned on page 38, there are in the first six lines of the
Deed seven "W's," in each of which appears a dot. And in the Mortgage
Deed of March 11th 1612-13, there are seven "W's" in the first five
lines, in each of which appears a similar dot. The above-mentioned two
Deeds are in the handwriting of different law clerks.

It may not be out of place here again to call our readers' attention to
the fact that law documents are required to be signed "in full," and
that if the very rapid and ready writer who wrote "Wilm Shaxp'r" were
indeed the Gentleman of Stratford it would have been quite easy for such
a good penman to have written his name in full; this the law writer has
not done because he did not desire to forge a signature to the document,
but desired only to indicate by an abbreviation that the dot or spot
below was the mark of William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon.

Thus the question, whether William Shakespeare, of
Stratford-upon-Avon, Gentleman, could or could not write his name is
for ever settled in the negative, and there is no doubt, there can be
no doubt, upon this matter.

Dr. Wallace declares "I have had no theory to defend and no hypothesis
to propose." But as a matter of fact his whole article falsely assumes
that "William Shakespeare, of Stratford-upon-Avon, Gentleman," who is
referred to in the documents, is no other than the great Dramatist who
wrote the Immortal plays. And the writer can only express his unbounded
wonder and astonishment that even so ardent a Stratfordian as Dr.
Wallace, after studying the various documents which he discovered,
should have ventured to say:

"Shakespeare was the third witness examined.
Although, forsooth, the matter of his statements
is of no high literary quality and the manner is
lacking in imagination and style, as the Rev.
Joseph Green in 1747 complained of the will, we
feel none the less as we hear him talk that we
have for the first time met Shakespeare in the
flesh and that the acquaintance is good."

As a matter of fact none of the words of any of the deponents are their
own words, but they are the words of the lawyers who drew the Answers to
the Interrogatories. The present writer, when a pupil in the chambers of
a distinguished lawyer who afterwards became a Lord Justice, saw any
number of Interrogatories and Answers to Interrogatories, and even
assisted in their preparation. The last thing that any one of the pupils
thought of, was in what manner the client would desire to express his
own views. They drew the most plausible Answers they could imagine,
taking care that their words were sufficiently near to the actual facts
for the client to be able to swear to them.

The so-called signature "Wilm Shaxp'r," is written by the lawyer or law
clerk who wrote the lower part of Shakespeare's depositions, and this
same clerk also wrote the depositions above the name of another witness
who really _signs_ his own name, viz., "Daniell Nicholas." The only mark
William Shakespeare put to the document was the blot above which the
abbreviated name "Wilm Shaxp'r" was written by the lawyer or law clerk.

The documents shew that Shakespeare of Stratford occasionally "lay" in
the house in Silver Street, and Ben Jonson's words in "The Staple of
News" (Third Intermeane; Act iii.), to which Dr. Wallace refers viz.,
that "Siluer-Streete" was "a good seat for a Vsurer" are very
informing, because as we have before pointed out the Stratford man was
a cruel usurer.

Dr. Wallace's contention that Mountjoy, the wig-maker, of the corner
house in Silver Street where Shakespeare, of Stratford-upon-Avon,
Gentleman, occasionally slept, was the original of the name of the
Herald in Henry V.[14] really surpasses, in want of knowledge of History,
anything that the writer has ever previously encountered, and he is
afraid that it really is a measure of the value of Dr. Wallace's other
inferences connecting the illiterate Stratford Rustic with the great
Dramatist who "took all knowledge for his province."

Dr. Wallace's "New Shakespeare Discoveries" are really extremely
valuable and informing, and very greatly assist the statements which the
writer has made in the previous chapters, viz., that the Stratford
Householder was a mean Rustic who was totally unable to read or to
write, and was not even an actor of repute, but was a mere hanger-on at
the Theatre. Indeed, the more these important documents are examined the
clearer it will be perceived that, as Dr. Wallace points out, they shew
us that the real William Shakespeare, of Stratford-upon-Avon, gentleman,
was not the "Aristocrat," whom Tolstoi declares the author of the plays
to have been, but was in fact a man who resided [occasionally when he
happened to revisit London] "in a hardworking family," a man who was
familiar with hairdressers and their apprentices, a man who mixed as an
equal among tradesmen in a humble position of life, who referred to him
as "One Shakespeare." These documents prove that "One Shakespeare" was
not and could not have been the "poet and dramatist." In a word these
documents strongly confirm the fact that

BACON IS SHAKESPEARE.

[Illustration: Plate XLI. Facsimile of the Dedication of Powell's
"Attourney's Academy," 1630]

CHAPTER XV.

Appendix.

The facsimile shewn in Plate 41, Page 176, is from "The Attourney's
Academy," 1630. The reader will perceive that the ornamental heading is
printed upside down. In the ordinary copies it is not so printed, but
only in special copies such as that possessed by the writer; the object
of the upside-down printing being, as we have already pointed out in
previous pages, to reveal, to those deemed worthy of receiving it, some
secret concerning Bacon.

In the present work, while we have used our utmost endeavour to place
in the vacant frame, the true portrait of him who was the wonder and
mystery of his own age and indeed of all ages, we have never failed to
remember the instructions given to us in "King Lear":--

"Have more than thou showest,
Speak less than thou knowest."

Our object has been to supply exact and positive information and to
confirm it by proofs so accurate and so certain as to compel belief and
render any effective criticism an impossibility.

It may however not be without advantage to those who are becoming
convinced against their will, if we place before them a few of the
utterances of men of the greatest distinction who, without being
furnished with the information which we have been able to afford to our
readers, were possessed of sufficient intelligence and common sense to
perceive the truth respecting the real authorship of the Plays.

LORD PALMERSTON, b. 1784, d. 1865.

Viscount Palmerston, the great British statesman, used to say that he
rejoiced to have lived to see three things--the re-integration of Italy,
the unveiling of the mystery of China and Japan, and the explosion of
the Shakespearian illusions.--_From the Diary of the Right Hon.
Mount-Stewart E. Grant_.

LORD HOUGHTON, b. 1809, d. 1885.

Lord Houghton (better known as a statesman under the name of Richard
Monckton Milnes) reported the words of Lord Palmerston, and he also told
Dr. Appleton Morgan that he himself no longer considered Shakespeare,
the actor, as the author of the Plays.

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, b. 1772, d. 1834.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the eminent British critic and poet, although
he assumed that Shakespeare was the author of the Plays, rejected the
facts of his life and character, and says: "Ask your own hearts, ask
your own common sense, to conceive the possibility of the author of the
Plays being the anomalous, the wild, the irregular genius of our daily
criticism. What! are we to have miracles in sport? Does God choose
idiots by whom to convey divine truths to man?"

JOHN BRIGHT, b. 1811, d. 1889.

John Bright, the eminent British statesman, declared: "Any man that
believes that William Shakespeare of Stratford wrote Hamlet or Lear is a
fool." In its issue of March 27th 1889, the _Rochdale Observer_ reported
John Bright as scornfully angry with deluded people who believe that
Shakespeare wrote Othello.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON, b. 1803, d. 1882.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great American philosopher and poet, says: "As
long as the question is of talent and mental power, the world of men
has not his equal to show.... The Egyptian verdict of the Shakespeare
Societies comes to mind that he was a jovial actor and manager. I
cannot marry this fact to his verse."--_Emerson's Works. London, 1883.
Vol. 4, p. 420_.

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER, b. 1807, d. 1892.

John Greenleaf Whittier, the American poet, declared: "Whether Bacon
wrote the wonderful plays or not, I am quite sure the man Shakspere
neither did nor could."

DR. W. H. FURNESS, b. 1802, d. 1891.

Dr. W. H. Furness, the eminent American scholar, who was the father of
the Editor of the Variorum Edition of Shakespeare's Works, wrote to
Nathaniel Holmes in a letter dated Oct. 29th 1866: "I am one of the many
who have never been able to bring the life of William Shakespeare and
the plays of Shakespeare within planetary space of each other. Are there
any two things in the world more incongruous? Had the plays come down to
us anonymously, had the labor of discovering the author been imposed
upon after generations, I think we could have found no one of that day
but F. Bacon to whom to assign the crown. In this case it would have
been resting now on his head by almost common consent."

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