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 41 
 
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 l'illli|!ii;ii';lui!!'! 
 
 PR 
 
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 To the Rcadrr. 
 
 Th.' rcurc, thac tliou here \ 
 |i ■'.,. • iirccndc Shakrij c 
 
 \A ii' iiiuiicGraurrluviailii 
 \ r.. s luirc* toouc-Joiuir 
 
 mbraircjslicli.u: 
 
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 L.;;t, lintc he cannot, Rcajr., ., 
 
 Notonhis Picture '•■( ■ . 
 
 "•I'.WK.IIAM 
 
 SHAKESPEARES 
 
 ' I'Mt-.Dil s, 
 
 11^ A(; !,!)!• s 
 
 Photograph showing the Title-Page and the page opposite of the 
 Folio of 1623. 
 
 Plate I.
 
 MR. WIUUIAM ARGOMB: 
 The 
 
 KEY 
 
 To 
 
 SHAKESPEARE 
 
 BY 
 
 The Anatomy of The Fig-ure 
 
 On the Title-Page of the FoHo of 1623 of the 
 
 Shakespeare Plays 
 
 WITH 
 
 Notes to Love's Labour Lost, and with Key and Notes to the 
 
 Sonnets, found in Two Old Volumes at the 
 
 Court of Navarre 
 
 Take this Key, give enlargement to the 
 
 swaine, bring him festinately hither: I 
 
 must employ him in a letter to my love. 
 
 L. L. L. III. 1. 5. Folio of 1628. 
 
 BY 
 TH. T. NAAE, B. S., M. D. 
 
 The Times Press, Graettinger, Iowa 
 1915
 
 Copyright, 1915 by 
 TH. T. NAAE, B. S., M. D. 
 
 All rights reserved 
 

 
 To The IMemory 
 
 of 
 
 THE AUTHOR MASTER 
 
 Plate II.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Prologue 5 
 
 To the Reader 7 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 A Visit to the Court of Navarre 9 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 The Anatomy and Meaning of The Figure on the Title- 
 page of the Folio of 1623 15 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 Notes to Love's Labour Lost 23 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 Key and Notes to the Sonnets 52 
 
 Chapter V. 
 
 Conclusion 93 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 'Greasy Jone' 96 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 
 Epilogue 99 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Facsimile of Title-page of Folio of 1623— Plate L 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Dedication — Plate II 2 
 
 The Introductory Poem — Plate III 4 
 
 Title-page of Folio— Plate IV 5 
 
 Meaning of the Introductory Poem — Plate V 14 
 
 Meaning of The Figure — Plate VI 15 
 
 The Master Schoolmaster — Plate VII 23 
 
 Facsimile of title-page De Augmentis — PlateVIII 43 
 
 The Mask removed— Plate Vll.-a 65 
 
 Facsimile of page 9 of Folio — Plate IX 103 
 
 The Mask (reduced 1/2)— Plate X 108 
 
 The Monogram (reduced 1/2)— Plate XI 109
 
 The Key To Shakespeare 
 
 To the Rcaclcn 
 
 This Fj^urc, that thou here iccftpur, 
 
 ji was lor i>cndc Shakcfpeare cur; 
 VVhtTcin the Graucr had a llnfe 
 
 with Nature, toout-doothcliTc : 
 0,couid he but haucdra vvnc his \vk 
 
 Ai well in brafle, ashe hath hit 
 Hijrface , the Print would thenfurpallc 
 
 .f\lL chat \'^'as euer writ in braile. 
 Butj lince he cannot, Reader, lookc 
 Notonhis Pifturc, but his Book'e. 
 
 B. 1 
 
 Photo-Facsimile of the Intvoductoi-y Poem on the page 
 opposite the title-page of the Folio of UVZ:] (reduced V2). 
 
 Plate III.
 
 The Key To Shakespeare 
 
 SHAKESPEARES 
 
 COMEDIES, 
 HISTORIES, <Sc ' 
 TRAGEDIES. 
 
 PuLIiiiicd according to the TrucQri^inalJ Copies. 
 
 ^ '^1 
 
 Pnntcdby I&ac lasgard, and Ed, Blount. 1 6z 5. 
 
 Photo-Facsimile of the title-page of the Folio of 1623 of the 
 Shakespeare Plays (reduced V2). 
 
 Plate IV.
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 WSTVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 SANTA BARBARA 
 
 PROLOGUE 
 
 The Key that is herewith handed to you for all 
 the nations, will give you the same keen delight, en- 
 joyment, and satisfaction that it has given me, if you will 
 but use it ; it will unlock to you those treasures which other- 
 wise cannot be gotten at nor be seen ; it is The Key which 
 the Owner of the treasury himself has made, and which 
 he used to gain access to his treasures. When he departed 
 he left his Key at the door of his treasure-house for us to 
 use to gain a like access; therefore, take it and use it the 
 way he tells you. He used it, and when he took his leave 
 and left his treasures behind he locked them up and put 
 them under truest bars with this Key. Those who try to 
 enter his treasure-house without the use of his Key are, like 
 "the suspicious head of theft," thieves and robbers and will 
 suffer a like fate. 
 
 It is strange that no one for a long time has seen 
 The Key hanging there by the door. The reason is, perhaps, 
 that he hung it behind a picture (which is so often done), 
 that of a Figure head, partly hiding it from common view 
 so that the visible parts do not look like a Key. He hid 
 The Key in this way that only the worthy might see it and 
 so use it. 
 
 Look, therefore, behind the picture and find The 
 Key. When you see it I know you will take it and use it 
 without delay to open the door to his Manor-house and to 
 enter therein to see and enjoy the hidden and rare treasures 
 that there await you. 
 
 William Argone.
 
 To The Reader 
 
 Some oracle 
 Must i-ectify oui' knowledge. — The Tempest, V. I. 224. 
 
 This little volume is the outcome of a discovery. This 
 discovery is, perhaps, the most unique in the world of liter- 
 ature. It gives at once the complete and unbounded satis- 
 faction of knowing with absolute certainty who is the author 
 of the works known to us as the Shakespeare Plays and 
 Poems. It is not an attempt to lii'ove this authorship, for to 
 do so is entirely superfluous and unnecessary. The author 
 himself has eminently well taken care to do this. No 
 author ever did, no author ever could take greater pains to 
 identify his name with his poetry than did he. 
 
 I have only set down what I have seen, and which all 
 will see, when it is pointed out to them. It is a study of 'his 
 bias,' The Figure, which 'leaves and makes his book thine 
 eyes.' 
 
 The great author has taken every precaution that 
 his name may live with his Muse, as he himself says: 
 
 "How careful was I when I took my way, 
 
 Each trifle under truest bars to thrust, 
 
 That to my use it might unused stay 
 
 From hands of falsehood in sure wards of trust." 
 
 (Sonnet XLVIII.) 
 
 No poet ever devised surer means for perpetuating 
 his name in and with his poetry. He has truly cut his name 
 in 'Delphic lines,' and can well afford to say: 
 
 I scorn to change my state with kings. — Sonnet XXIX. 
 
 September, 1915. 
 
 Th. T. Naae.
 
 "So am I as the rich, whose blessed key 
 Can bring him to his sweet up-locked-treasure, 
 The which he will not every hour survey, 
 For blunting the fine point of seldom pleasure. 
 Therefore are feasts so solemn and so rare, 
 Since, seldom coming, in the long year set, 
 Like stones of worth they thinly placed are 
 Or captain jewels in the carcanet. 
 So is the time that keeps you as my chest. 
 Or as the wardrobe which the robe doth hide, 
 To make some special instant special blest. 
 By new unfolding his imprisoned pride. 
 
 Blessed are you, whose worthiness gives scope, 
 Being had, to triumph, being lack'd, to hope." 
 
 — Sonnet LII.
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A VISIT TO THE COURT OF NAVARRE 
 
 Navarre shall be the wonder of the world; 
 Our court shall be a little Academe. 
 
 L. L. L. I. 1. 12. 
 
 During one of my recent excursions I had the good 
 fortune of seeing Old Navarre. While it is a place well 
 known to history and literature, yet of the many that pass 
 by here but few or none ever seem to think it worth while to 
 stop to see the Old Court inside. I was determined to find 
 out what I could about this place, and happening to go this 
 way, I thought I might as well take it in. 
 
 The place which was once the scene of the ancient 
 court in all its splendors is in a fair state of preservation, 
 and well worth while seeing. It is situated in a secluded spot 
 on a level, elevated tract of land, hemmed in on all sides by 
 high cliffs and mountains. Having to my satifsaction looked 
 the place well over on the outside, I prevailed upon the keep- 
 er to show me through the interior. 
 
 Being shown through many rooms, halls, and corri- 
 dors, such as are generally found in medieval structures of 
 this kind, I came at last into a room which seemed to have 
 been very seldom opened. I was curious to know what this 
 particular room had been used for, as it was wholly different 
 from anything I had ever seen before. Upon inquiry I soon 
 perceived that it was the one which the king and his court- 
 iers had been using for a lecture room where learned dis- 
 courses on occult arts, letters and sciences used to be given. 
 The walls were decorated with paintings of famous authors 
 and other savants. Ponderous tomes yellow with age and 
 showing signs of hard usage lay about, and evidently had
 
 10 
 
 not been opened for centuries. It seemed to have been a 
 veritable Rosicrucian room. 
 
 As I looked these old volumes over I was particularly 
 impressed with one large book, which showed great wear 
 from much use, yet was in a good state of preservation. 
 The title-page seemed to be the one most fingered, showing 
 many finger marks, especially on and around the picture, or 
 figure printed upon it. Upon further examination I was 
 surprised to find that the book was, — 
 
 MR. WILLIAM 
 
 SHAKESPEARES 
 
 COMEDIES, 
 HISTORIES & 
 TRAGEDIES. 
 
 The picture, or figure, on the title-page appeared to 
 me as like one I had seen hanging on the wall of the room. 
 To make sure that the two were alike I walked up to the 
 painting on the wall several times, comparing the two, and I 
 became convinced that the figure in the book must have been 
 engraved from this particular figure, or from one like it, for 
 the two were identical. I examined this painted figure min- 
 utely, having excited my curiousity by its very peculiar 
 dress and general appearance. It seemed to represent a sort 
 of a knight in armor in a fantastical coat or tunic, somewhat 
 resembling a coat of mail. The body of the coat was dark 
 green with a shaded band across the chest on each side while 
 the inkle or tape used for trimming was made of red and 
 white. On very close examination I discovered that the head 
 of the figure was removable and could be raised up in front, 
 like a lid hinged at the top. 
 
 Looking at this intently and wondering why this 
 was so, I discovered something like a letter sticking out 
 from under the head, and by raising it the letter came plain- 
 ly into view. I was curious to know what this writing could
 
 n 
 
 be, and carefully taking hold of it I pulled the letter out and 
 found that the writing- was quite plain, and seemed to have 
 remained untouched and unopened for generations. 
 
 The letter was addressed to the King of Navarre, 
 and there I could read as follows : 
 
 I thought it good and meet to explain certain things 
 to you that are hidden from the common view, in order, that 
 you may the better understand, and therefore the more 
 fully comprehend and enjoy his book and this Figure. He 
 hath taken great pains to deliver this Painting and his 
 Book safely into your hands by his trusting Lords Biron 
 and Dumain; and he doth hope that you will be in per- 
 fect health when these presents are delivered into your 
 hands for safe keeping for the good of all nations. 
 
 Now, as to the manner, meaning and form of this 
 Figure, the explanation is this : 
 
 As to form : It is in part that of a knight with the 
 face of a youth, with a cuckold's horn, or a sheep's horn, or 
 that of a deer, or of a goat, (whose skin is the actor's sym- 
 bol) for an ear mostly hid under the hair of the left side; 
 for a knight must have a horn to tute, as custom is, in set- 
 ting forth for combat to win his Love. He is a boy yet, like 
 Cupid, to win the author for his Love, his Lady Muse. 
 
 As for the manner : His hair is long like unto that of 
 an old man, and the head is partly bald. The head, like a 
 helmet, can be raised or lifted up, as you see, exposing his 
 vulnerable part, the collar, which, like a Judas, will betray 
 him, and as Maccabaeus, will conquer him some day. The 
 arm is cut short into a peak and is cone-like ; the apparent 
 right arm and chest is but the back-part of the left arm and 
 chest,* being a quasi-person. 
 
 Now, the anatomy and the meaning of the Figure 
 is this : Removing the head you see the letter B in the collar,! 
 it lying flat-wise, as it were, and backward; underneath 
 
 *See foot-note pp. 16 and 17. 
 tSee Plate VI.
 
 12 
 
 this is the letter A, the second letter of his name ; then F to 
 
 left and R to right in quick succession you see before you 
 
 on the breast ; 
 
 Then from R to consonant C by name, 
 
 Of R a part 
 
 Then O around the shoulder, and N from F 
 
 And Co-line L 
 
 Seen on left arm in front. 
 
 The mote and beam 
 
 From F to L on Figure's right 
 
 Do make the N before unseen. 
 
 And so his name complete, 
 
 FR. BACON. 
 
 This is the theme set forth 
 
 On leaf the first in Poem short 
 
 With B I. as bi to show wherein it doth proceed. 
 
 As 'by' to noun, his name. 
 
 In Figure seen, 
 
 Stamped on his Book complete. 
 
 Like Caesar's image on his coin. 
 
 And that his name may be the faster bound 
 
 To this his volume he hath wound it round 
 
 With a golden chain, his sonnets; 
 
 And so found outside of his book, 
 
 Girding it, his Muse, like the Zodiac the heavens. 
 
 Morever, scattered through it here and there. 
 
 In some lines more, some less, his name lies buried. 
 
 If question asked 
 
 Why so strange a union is performed, 
 
 "Mere necessity" 
 
 His answer is, 
 
 A fountain of supply to him 't has been 
 
 Of mirths and jests and merriments 
 
 And of dark sayings. 
 
 A mirror up to Nature true 
 
 And without which there could have been 
 
 No Love's Labour Lost, nor others of its kin
 
 13 
 
 So he doth commend this vokime 
 And its prototype, the Figure-Print 
 To your raost safe keeping-. 
 
 Prom Be Augmentis Place, this XXIXth day of April 1623. 
 Your Lordship's most humble Servant, 
 
 William Argone. 
 
 The letter closed with a Postscript which I have 
 placed as a suitable Prologue of this book. See ante. 
 
 Carefully did I restore the letter to where I found it, 
 and as I did so, by raising the head of the Figure, the letter 
 B came plainly into view ; and letting the head down over it 
 as before one would have to look intently at The Figure to 
 perceive the author's cunning device. 
 
 For a time a peculiar sensation came over me, as if 
 I had had a revelation, as if I were the only one in the world 
 it had ever been given to see. But could it be true ; could it be 
 true that what we have been taught to know as a work by a 
 man 'Shakespeare' is written by Francis Bacon? Was it 
 true that this painting I had just seen was the identical 
 same one as that Print on the title-page of the Old Folio I 
 saw lying there? That it was and is the same there could 
 be not a particle of doubt. Every line of the painted picture 
 hanging on the wall was identical with that in the book. 
 
 I walked out of the room in wonderment and surprise, 
 my mind agitated with the great discovery. Could it be that 
 it was given me to see this and no one else ? It must be so 
 for otherwise we should have heard of it before now. Ran- 
 sack hterature as we may, there is nothing to show that 
 this great light has ever been seen before for close to three 
 hundred years. 
 
 I felt,— 
 
 "As an imperfect actor on the stage 
 
 Who with his fear is put besides his part; 
 
 Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage, 
 
 Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart," 
 that I had a message to the world, one that I must bring. 
 
 It occurred to me that since Love's Labour Lost was
 
 14 
 
 mentioned in the letter it might be interesting to look up the 
 Play in the Great FoHo I had seen, to see if, perchance, there 
 might be anything interesting in it, any notes or explanatory 
 remarks. Accordingly, the next day I hurried to the place 
 where I again gained ready admittance. With eager antic- 
 ipation I opened the Folio and found to my great surprise 
 and delight, not only marginal notes and marks, but in some 
 instances even parallel readings of explanations on every 
 page of the Great Play. At first I experienced some dif- 
 ficulty in making out what was written. But becoming 
 more and more used to reading them I made out most of 
 them quite clearly. After some search a copy of the quarto 
 containing the Sonnets was also found. It showed evidence 
 of much use, similar to the Folio, and was well marked up 
 with notes and explanatory remarks in and among the Son- 
 nets. Every day for some time I made visits to the Court, 
 which for me surely had become 'a little Academe,' until I 
 had written all I could make out from the Play and the Son- 
 net. Carefully did I note all, and the following Chapters are 
 the results. I have tried to arrange the matter in an orderly 
 manner so that all may be easily referred to by the reader of 
 the play.
 
 The Key To Shakespeare 
 
 To the Rcaden 
 
 This Figure, that thou here iccl'tpuL, 
 
 h was lor gcndc Shakefpcare cur,- 
 VVhcrcm the Graucr had a ilnfe 
 
 with Nature, to out-doo the life : 
 OjCOuid he but hauedra wnc his wit 
 
 As well in brafle, as he hath hit 
 His face , the Print vvou Id thenfurpanc 
 
 All tliat x'T'as euer writ in brafle. 
 But, iince he cannot, Reader, lookc 
 
 iSfocon hiS Pidure, but hisBooke. 
 
 B.I. 
 
 The Meaning of the Poem 
 
 A humorous sigh. L. L. L. IV. 1. 196 
 And I the fool. L. L. L. ill. 1. 191(i. 
 
 Plate V.
 
 The Key To Shakespeare 
 
 The Meaning of the Figure 
 
 Climb o'er the house to unlock the gate. L. L. L. I. 1. 3. Folio 1623. 
 
 The Figure as seen at the Court of Navari-e. 
 
 The suspicious head of theft. L. L. L. IV. 3. 336. 
 
 By raising the head Bacon's letter is seen. See pp 11-13. 
 
 This is the tune of our catch played by the picture of Nobody. 
 
 —The Tempest, III. 2. 136. 
 
 Plate VI.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE ANATOMY AND MEANING OF THE FIGURE 
 on the Title-page of Folio of 1623. 
 
 Study his bias leaves and 
 
 makes his book thine eyes. 
 
 L. L. L. IV. 3 .113. 
 
 Since my visit to the Court of Navarre I have pro- 
 cured a facsimile copy of the Great Folio of 1623 of the 
 Shakespeare Plays. I have examined it closely both as to 
 the picture on the title-page and the work itself, and found 
 that it is identical with the one I saw at the Old Court. 
 
 It is now my pleasing task to point out and demon- 
 strate the anatomy and meaning of this picture as told us 
 in the preceeding chapter, from the notes in the Old Folio. 
 
 The author of the Plays has not left us in the dark 
 concerning the meaning of this picture, which he calls a 
 'Figure,' the term we shall hereafter use. Indeed, he has 
 taken extreme pains to insure to us the fullest and most 
 complete understanding of what This Figure, this most im- 
 portant part of his Great Book, stands for. 
 
 This explanatory evidence we find in three parts of 
 his works. 
 
 1. In the Introductory Poem opposite The Figure. 
 
 2. In the Plays themselves. 
 
 3. In the Sonnets. 
 
 These will be referred to as we go along. 
 As already told us, the letter B, the first part 
 of his name, is the collar of The Figure, partly covered 
 by the head. This is so plain that after it is pointed out to 
 us, and once seen, we wonder we did not see this before. It 
 is the shaded portion on the top of the collar and lies back-
 
 16 
 
 ward. See facsimile pi. IV and VI. This shade is the visible 
 parts of B ; the middle bar is seen in front under the chin ; it 
 appears as a flap with a notch on each side, and it should 
 be noted that the notches do not pass through the colla)'. 
 It shows that the B is laid, as it were, on top of the collar, 
 and is made to appear as a collar. Removing the head of 
 the Figure the whole letter comes plainly into view (pi. VI). 
 The very shape of the collar, its square front and sharp corn- 
 ers, should make us suspicious of its meaning. On top of the 
 collar are painted several spear-points, and the whole figure 
 bristles with defiant challenge to find it out. It is very sug- 
 gestive of the name, 'Shake-speare.' In Love's Labour Lost,. 
 V. 2. 600 ff . the collar with the rest of the body is called a 
 Judas, a traitor ; for having seen this letter B you will look 
 for the other letters of his name, and the more easily find 
 them. As we shall see in Chapter III there are many other 
 references to this letter. 
 
 The next letter we would naturally look for is A, the 
 second of Bacon's name. It is found lying under B. Bearing 
 in mind that the apparent right arm and chest of The Figure 
 is but the back part of the left arm and chest we find A as 
 follows: The inkle, or tape, extending from the apparent 
 right shoulder to the neck is one of the long bars, or legs, of 
 A, and from this near the top of it is seen half of the cross- 
 bar. Thus we have half of A, and knowing that this is the 
 back part of the Figure's left the other half is readily under- 
 stood. A can also be made up as seen in front of The Figure, 
 the inkle running up from the left shoulder being the other 
 leg ; but this is not the author's intention, as this inkle is in 
 reality the same as that seen passing up from the apparent 
 right shoulder. 
 
 That A lies under B is corrobrated in L. L. L. V. 2. 584 
 in the play or pun on the name Alexander, changed into 
 Alisander*, which pronounced slowly gives the meaning in- 
 
 *It is probable that the word Alisander and, indeed, the conception of 
 the whole Figure came to Bacon from a poem entitled: "Alisaunder of
 
 17 
 
 tended — A-lies-imder, 'Alisander, — alas you see how 'tis, — 
 a little 'o'r parted.' Here he tells you exactly that A 'lies 
 under/ and is overparted, divided into two parts, as we really 
 see only half of A, the other half being on the other half 
 back-part of The Figure that could not be drawn. The same 
 idea is also shown to us in the pun on Aquitaine, L. L. L. 
 Chapter 1. 148: A-quit-A-in, i. e., A quit, yet A is in The 
 Figure: 'Aquitaine, so gelded (i. e., cut) as it is.' As a 
 matter of fact A is cut exactly in two. A is also *o'r 
 parted' by B. 
 
 Further corroboration is found in L. L. L. V. 1. 150 ff 
 where he speaks of BA 'spelled backward:' 
 
 Moth. What is a b spelt backward with a horn on his 
 head? 
 
 Hoi. B A puericia with a horn added. Puericia is for 
 the Latin pueritia, purposely spelt with c to fool the unitiat- 
 ed of its too plain meaning. The appearance of the face of 
 The Figure in the Folio of 1623 is that of a youth : witness 
 the few small hair for a beard ; hence, 'pueritia,' youth. The 
 'horn added' is a horn for blowing, hid under the hair of the 
 left side of The Figure, the hair on this account being made 
 to bulge out, and the tip of the horn shows a sort of ear, — 
 a very ingenious contrivance. The Figure as the Cupid 
 to his Muse carries the same idea of youth. Instead of 
 bow he has a horn. Besides, the B can be regarded as the 
 bow and the spear points as the arrows' points. So he has 
 both bow and horn. The horn is a symbol of music. 
 
 Having found B A we naturally look eagerly for the 
 other letters of his name, if they can possibly be there. The 
 remaining ones are CON. As you look carefully over The 
 Figure to discover more letters you discern a shaded band 
 
 Macedoine," which reads: — 
 
 A brem brasen borde brings he soone 
 
 Imped in ivory, too inkle the truthe 
 
 With good silver and golde gailich attired." 
 
 Early English Text Society 1. 615. See Article "inkle," Century 
 
 Dictionary.
 
 18 
 
 extending outward to the shouldei's on each side. These 
 shaded bands are plainly visible and are seen even in reduc- 
 ed facsimiles. The upper border of each extends outward 
 from the level of the middle of the sixth button from the 
 top and extends in breadth to the level of the middle of the 
 eighth button. The band on The Figure's left (reader's 
 right) is exactly six-twelfths inch wide in the Folio, the 
 other on the Figure's right is a trifle wider, being seven- 
 twelfths inch. These shaded bands form, the one on The 
 Figure's left (reader's right) the middle bar of the letter 
 R, and the one on The Figure's right the middle bar of F. 
 See Plates IV. and VI. The other parts of R are made up 
 from the inkle next the row of buttons in front ; then a short 
 bar extending upwards to the right under the collar, thence 
 to the left shoulder, then a semi-circular sweep in front of 
 the same, forming a complete R, of commanding proportions 
 and graceful outline. Similarly, F is seen on what appears 
 as the Figure's right side (reader's left.) The upright bar, 
 its leg, is the inkle passing up the shoulder to its top ; from 
 here it extends to the neck of The Figure, forming the top 
 bar of F ; the middle bar is the shaded band discribed above. 
 Thus we have FR which is the abreviation of Francis used 
 by Bacon. This is the abbreviation of his name used also on 
 the title-page of his book De Augmentis Scientiarum. 
 
 In Love's Labour Lost IV. 3. 23 he gives a hint of 
 these bars when he says : 'thou hast thumped him with thy 
 bird-bolt under the left pap. In faith, secrets.' [There is 
 no right 'pap' in The Figure, (the right side being the back- 
 part of the left side.) ] 
 
 CON remain now to make up the name Bacon. They 
 are found on the (left) shoulder, and arm (being but one 
 arm and shoulder complete, front and back.) In L. L. L. 
 IV. 3. 89 he hints at this: 'Her shoulder is with child' (con. 
 concept.) The inkle forming the semi-circular sweep of R 
 around the sholder forms the letter C. The armlet or wide 
 band passing around the entire arm next to the shoulder 
 forms the letter 0. N is formed in the following manner:
 
 19 
 
 Kemembering that what appears as the Figure's right 
 arm and right breast is the back-part of the left arm and 
 breast*, then the long vertical bar of F, its leg, is one of the 
 vertical bars of N ; from the lower end, or foot, of this bar 
 a light streak like a beam of light, narrower at the lower 
 end, is seen passing upward and forward (forward, because 
 on the back-part of the left arm) over the arm; being on 
 the back-part of the left arm (in The Figure appearing as 
 a right arm) we must look for the continuation of the hght 
 streak in front of the (left) arm seen on the left side of the 
 Figure (the reader's right) where, indeed, it is seen plainly, 
 even in reduced facsimiles, continued until it meets with the 
 inkle, the longitudinal border, running lengthwise in front 
 of the arm, and there it ends, as it should. This fact is a 
 proof positive that what appears as The Figure's right side 
 is but the back part of its left. This light streak forms the 
 middle or connecting bar of N, and the longitudinal bar pass- 
 ing in front lengthwise of the arm is the other vertical bar 
 of N. The name FR. BACON is complete to our entire sat- 
 isfaction. The picture which the author himself in the In- 
 troductory Poem calls a 'Figure' is seen to be nothing but 
 a figure. Bacon's Great Monogram. 
 
 Intimation of CON, the last part of Bacon's name, is 
 found in several places of L. L. L. Thus in III. 1. 2. the word 
 *Concolinel is con co-line L; here the whole syllable 'con' is 
 given, and calls L the co-line , form of L on the front side of 
 the left arm, and is the 'co-line,' the completing line of N. 
 
 This he calls the 'Key,' for so it truly is ; it is the key 
 to his complete name, and thus makes of The Figure a per- 
 fect monogram : 
 
 Take this Key, give enlargement to the swaine, bring 
 him f estinately hither : I must employ him in a letter to my 
 
 *It is interesting to note here that two English sartorial trade journ- 
 als, "Tailor and Cutter," and "Gentlemen's Tailor Magazine," have 
 recently discussed this feature of The Figure without grasping the 
 meaning of The Figure as a whole, asserting that the right side of it 
 is the back part of the left. See "Shakespeare Myth," page 6.
 
 23 
 
 Love. III. 1. 5. The 'swaine' is The Figure, his 'Love' is his 
 Muse. 
 
 This cutting- of N into two parts, as it were, is play- 
 fully referred to in Act V. 2. 57 ff. as a 'sore.' But more about 
 this in the next chapter. 
 
 The Introductory Poem 
 
 See Plates III and V 
 
 You will now understand the true meaning of the In- 
 troductory Poem printed on the fly-leaf opposite The Figure 
 on the title-page of the Folio of 1623. As you read this poem- 
 you can hear many a chuckle and laugh all through it. It is 
 a jest, a 'humorous sigh,' L. L. L. III. 1. 176, or play on 'This 
 Figure,' which is thus shown up to be his Great Signature 
 to 'his book,' the Immortal Plays. 
 
 It is interesting to see what the meaning is of these 
 verses. He tells us : — 
 
 "The Graver had a strife 
 With Nature to outdo the life." 
 meaning that the picture is not to represent a real person, 
 but to put out, to hide the Author's life as author. Outdo 
 means to put out, to extinguish. 
 
 'Wit' in the fifth and 'Print' in the seventh hne both 
 mean 'face,' the head, as is shown by 'was ever writ.' 'Was 
 — writ' rivets our attention because the w's are each print- 
 ed with two v's. They are put there to give us a hint, that 
 something is actually 'writ' in the Figure. 'Hit' has play- 
 fully a two-fold meaning: hit, and hidden. 
 
 'Brass' has a double meaning. 
 
 First. The custom of using brass in funeral monu- 
 ments. It was usually of rectangular shape, and often of 
 large size, incased with an effigy, coat of arms, inscriptions, 
 etc. But specifically it refers to The Figure. As before 
 noted the w's in 'was ever writ' are made up each of two v's 
 to show that some meaning not at first apparent is to be dis- 
 cerned. By omitting the adverb 'ever' you get the catagor-
 
 ^ 
 
 jcal statement, the hint, that something is ah^eady writ- 
 
 :ten in The Figure, 'was ^writ,' and this somethiTig is> 
 
 ■as we have seen, his own name. If his *wit,' i.e., his face, 
 •could have been drawn as well as he has hid it,' it would 
 then surpass (i. e., overtop his name-) 'All that was ( )writ 
 in brass,' i.e., in The Figure. 
 
 Sscond. "Brass," as used in machinery; as such it 
 means a bearing or collar, supporting a gudgcoTi*. In this 
 sense the author calls the collar, on which the letter B 'is 
 writ,' the ^brass,' supporting the gudgeon head of The 
 Figure. Gudgeon is a bait; an allurement; something used 
 to deceive ar entrap a person ; a cheat ; a lie.f How true it 
 comes, Vhen to truth translated and for true things 
 deemed !' (Sonnet 96.) 
 
 The Introductory Poem is apparently signed by one. 
 B.I., until now taken to mean Ben Johnso:\J I say apparent- 
 ly, for this is only a fool — signature, to 'fool' the unwary> 
 the unitiated, unsuspecting of its true m e a n i n g, 
 — 'and I the fool,' L. L. L. III. 1. 196,— as well as the true 
 meaning of the Poem itself, and is no signature whatever. 
 It is simply the common Middle English form of the prepo- 
 sition by, from the Anglo-Saxon be, in composition with 
 nouns bi,§ and is here made to appear as the initials of a 
 name by the use of points and capitals. It is placed as a 
 catch-word to the next page. The noun following the prep- 
 osition bi is here Bacon's name in the Monogram on the title- 
 page, and must be read together, thus : 
 
 This Figure that thou here seest put, 
 
 It was for gentle Shakespeare cut. 
 
 Wherein the Graver had a strife 
 
 With Nature to out-doo the life. 
 
 O, could he but have drawn his wit 
 As well in brass as he hath hit 
 
 * Century Dictionary, Art. brass. 
 tCentury Dictionary, Art. gudgeon. 
 tSee "The Shakespeare Myth," page 7. 
 §See Century Dictionary, Art, bi.
 
 22 
 
 His face; the Print would then surpass 
 
 All that Was ever Writ in brass. 
 But since he cannot, Reader, do not look 
 On his Picture, but his Book 
 
 by FR. BACON. 
 Here, then, we see that Bacon has his name printed 
 on the title-page of his book, like any other author would 
 do. What has been taken to be a portrait of one 'Shake- 
 speare' is seen to be nothing more nor less than the name of 
 the Great Author in the form of a Monogram with a mask 
 on. 
 
 Verily, we have seen 'where light in darkness liesi* 
 
 L. L. L., I. 1. 78.
 
 To the Rcicltr. 
 
 7 ;,.-I imirr,thj(thoi:hc 
 Ijwj^lor jrnilc shj 
 
 VV herein ihcGrj>,' . 
 wiiiiNiuirc, to. 
 
 O.. ,1 nv.-liuilui.: 
 
 Ai well in brailc . , 
 i ' ■'■■..c ihcl'riniv 
 
 SH AKl SPEARF.S 
 
 ■ ' 'Ml niis, 
 'ii> I or, I i.s, i- 
 
 1 HAGl.lMhS. 
 
 The 'Master Schoolmaster' and 'Master Parson' a 'Quasi-Person'. 
 
 And if one should be pierced, which is the one ? 
 
 Marry, Master Schoolmaster, he that is like'st to a hogshead. 
 
 L. L. L. IV. 2. 84-87. 
 
 Plate VII.
 
 CHAPTER HI 
 
 Is^OTES TO LOVE'S LABOUR LOST 
 
 How careful was L when I took my way, 
 Each trifle under truest bars to thrust, 
 That to my use it might unused stay 
 From hands of falsehood, in sure wards of trust. 
 
 Sonnet XLVIIL 
 
 Bacon has taken every precaution to have his name 
 known and handed down to posterity in connection with his 
 Great Plays, in fact, it is so built into and interwoven in his 
 poetry that his name is inseparable from it. His name is 
 part and parcel of Love's Labour Lost, the very foundation 
 of the whole play. 
 
 Love's Labour Lost is based entirely on The Figure 
 in order to explain the meaning of it, protraying the relation 
 he assumed toward his own Muse, as typefied by 'This 
 Figure.' The very name of the play is an intimation that 
 it may reveal something special regarding his works. He 
 was wont to call his poetical compositions a "Labor of Love," 
 and hence the name of this play. His 'Love's Labour' was 
 'Lost' to him through the voluntary relation he assumed 
 toward his Muse by means of his nom de plume 'Shake- 
 speare' behind which he securely hid himself. He was 
 anxious that only in time to come, in the future, he should 
 be known as the author of the Plays. 
 
 To make sure that we understand The Figure to be 
 his name and signature to his Great Book it was necessary 
 to write this play. Otherwise The Figure might, perhaps, 
 never have been understood to mean this and nothing else. 
 Even as it is, in the light of this play, it has still never been 
 understood before, for a lapse of time of close to three hun-
 
 2^ ' ■ 
 
 dred years, until as we see this letter calls our special at- 
 tention to it, and explains it to us. 
 
 The Elizabethan era was noted for its pun or verbal 
 quibble. It prevaded all classes, high and low alike. Macauly 
 says of it : 
 
 "The Puritans hated puns. The Bishops were notor- 
 iously addicted to them. Tlie Lords temporal can-fed them- 
 to the verg-e of license. Majesty itself must have its quib- 
 ble. "Ye be burly, my Lord of Burleigh," said Queen Eliza- 
 beth, " but ye shall make less stir in our realm" than my 
 Lord of Leiscester." The gi'avest wisdom and the highest 
 breeding lent their sanction to the practice. Lord Baconi 
 playfully declared himself a descendent of "Og^, the King of 
 Bashan." 
 
 Little wonder that we find echoes of this in his Shaken 
 speare. No finer examples of wit can be found anywhere- 
 than in "Love's Labour Lost," — it is pure wit throughout. 
 Bacon is seen to be the master of pans, the very King of 
 Je&ters. 
 
 In this play every proper name is chosen because of 
 one or more playful meaning's that can be brought out of it, 
 either through the spelling or the sound, or both, and some- 
 times in the meaning' of the name itself. 
 
 The following" notes are those which I was able to 
 copy from the Old Folio already mentioned. These are not 
 all the notes that are seen there ; some minor ones are omit- 
 ted because of lack of time in copying them, as well as be- 
 cause some were more or less illegible. I have here set them 
 forth in order with references. 
 
 The scene of the play is laid at Navarre (Nowhere.) 
 The King is Bacon himself, the King of Muse. 
 
 Biron is the B. L, the fool-signature of the In- 
 troductory Poem, as its author. 
 Duniain (do main) is Bacon as the author or 
 doer of the whole part of his poetical works, 
 i. e., the Plays. 
 Longaville, in the Folio 1623 also Longavill,
 
 25 
 
 both spellings being used, long-a-will, i. e., long 
 to be known as Will. Shakespeare, is Bacon, as 
 author of the Sonnets. 
 
 These three are Lords attending on the 
 King. 
 
 The Princess of France (Francis) is Bacon's Muse, 
 his Plays, wooed by the King. 
 
 Rosaline (sub-)rosa-line, is the Introductory 
 Poem or Line to his Book, hiding or covering 
 up his name, with the capitals B. L as fool- 
 signature, and is wooed by Biron. 
 Katharine (meaning pure, clear, as emblem- 
 atical of his poetry) is the Great Plays proper, 
 wooed by Dumain. 
 
 Maria (meaning grief, sorrow) is the Sonnets, 
 wooed by Longavill. In the Sonnets Bacon ex- 
 presses his grief or sorrow over his lost Love, 
 his Muse. 
 
 These three are Ladies attending on the 
 Princess. 
 
 Boyet (boy-yet), i.e., of youthful looks, is 
 'Will Shakespeare.' Keep in mind the answer 
 of Holof ernes in Act V. 1. 52: 'pueritia with a 
 horn added.' Notice small hair on lips of The 
 Figure, the Cupid to his Muse. 
 Mercade, from Mercury, as the God of dark- 
 ness, the tutelary deity of the thieves and 
 tricksters is 'Shakespeare' his nom de plume, 
 under which he marketed his Plays. 
 
 These two are Lords attending on the 
 Princess. 
 
 Armado of Spain (span, short) is the front 
 side of the left arm of the Figure, being only a 
 stump, a span. 
 
 Moth (pronounced mote; see note on this by 
 Gollancz; from mote and beam, IV. 3. 161 to 
 162, in allusion to the beam of light or white
 
 26 
 
 streak as the middle or connecting bar of the 
 N passing over the apparent right arm) is the 
 apparent right arm of The Figure. Being the 
 back-part of the left arm he is called page to 
 Armado. 
 
 Costard, originally meaning a 'ribbed' apple, 
 is the head of The Figure. 
 Jaquenetta (Jack-queen-etta) [Jack, the Jok- 
 er] represents The Figure as a whole, as a 
 Joker. 
 
 Nathaniel is Ben Jonson. Nathaniel means 
 'gift of God,' and Jon in 'Jonson' is from the 
 Greek Johannes meaning 'the Lord graciously 
 gave.' He was one of the few chosen ones, and 
 the chief one, of those initiated into Bacon's 
 Mysteries and Secrets of his authorship of 
 these plays and of his nom de plume; as such 
 he could write the Prologue 'vilely penn'd' in 
 the Folio. His 'parishoners' were those others 
 so informed. 
 
 Holof ernes (whole- of -errness,) the teacher, 
 represents the body of The Figure minus the 
 head, hence FR. BACON. It is the whole of 
 error, but at the same time the teacher, the 
 informer, containing and teaching the name 
 'Fr. Bacon,' and that he, therefore, is the auth- 
 or of the Book. This character is taken from 
 Rabelais's 'Gargantua and Pantagruel.' It is 
 also spelled Holophernes. It should be noted 
 that of the two spellings Bacon chose the form- 
 er as best suited to his purpose. Holofernes 
 teaches Gargantua to say the alphabet back- 
 ward in 5 years and 3 months. 
 Dull, a constable, represents all those that are 
 not informed of Bacon's secret authorship, 
 and all that are unable to the present day to 
 understand or to see this; all that have been
 
 27 
 
 or are yet misled by the Introductory Poem 
 and The Figure in spite of all the hints and 
 allusions in this Play. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE I. 
 
 1. The opening speech of the King is very fine 
 
 and in harmony with the purpose of the play. He 
 speaks of the endurance of fame — a fit opening to 
 this play. 'Brazen tombs' reminds us of the expres- 
 sion 'was ever writ in brass,' and of the first lines of 
 Sonnet 65 : 
 
 "Since brass, nor stone nor earth nor boundless sea, 
 But sad mortality o'er — sways their power," etc. 
 
 8. "Brave Conquerors" because they war 
 
 against their desire for fame. This is significant. 
 
 12. What is revealed in this play is truly the 
 
 'wonder of the world'; it is a little Academe to all 
 that 'have wits to read.' See Ben Jonson's Preface 
 to the Folio. 
 
 16. He speaks of 'three years' term' 'to keep 
 
 those statutes,' the secrets of his authorship. That 
 he thought a long time would elapse before it would 
 be seen, is certain, both from the name Longavill 
 and from numerous other intimations in this play 
 as well as in the Sonnets ; he may well have thought 
 of three hundred years. 
 
 24. It is interesting to note that Longaville read- 
 
 ily gives his assent to the statutes. 
 
 26. "Dainty bits," i. e., witty sayings, "make 
 
 rich the ribs" with laughter, "but bankrupt quite 
 the wits." Wit is well nigh exhausted in this play. 
 
 28. Unlike Longaville, Dumain is less inclined to 
 
 subscribe his name to those statutes of secrecy; 
 which is what we should respect from him as author 
 of the Plays. He is inclined to let this be known,to 
 "love, to wealth, to pump and with all these living
 
 28 
 
 in philosophy," in his Plays. 
 
 37. The following- speeches of Biron and of the 
 
 King are fine. When Biron speaks of "woman" and 
 of "ladies", it is, of course, in personification of their 
 Muse as their "loves." The same meaning is found 
 in the Sonnets, where Bacon apostrophizes his Muse, 
 the Plays, as "his love," " his lady," etc. The same 
 is seen when Birorl uses the expression "some 
 
 63. Mistress fine." 
 
 108. "So you, to study now it is too late, 
 
 109. Climb o'er the house to unlock the little gate," in the 
 Folio of 1623 which is that authorized by the author 
 it reads: 
 
 "That were to climb o'er the house to un- 
 lock the gate." 
 This is a hint to find the letter B in the collar by 
 climbing over the house, the head of The Figure, 
 by raising it or removing it, when you "unlock the 
 gate," the first letter of his name. The head of 
 The Figure is truly a "house," covering up or hous- 
 ing his name, and the B is truly the "gate" to his 
 whole name and so to his hidden authorship. 
 
 138. Here the poet uses the name Aquitaine with 
 
 a purpose. It is chosen for the reason that it gives 
 the meaning intended, to give a hint at the next 
 letter A of his name and how to find it. A-quit-a-ine, 
 i. e., A quit (yet) A (is) in (The Figure,) and means 
 that the A is in two parts, only half of the letter 
 is seen, both parts being understood to be on back- 
 part of The Figure. (See plate VI.) That this is 
 the meaning intended is fully confirmed in Act II. 1 
 149: "Acquitaine, so gelded as it is," i. e., it is cut 
 exactly in two. In Act V. 2. 589 it is called "a 
 little o'er-parted." 
 
 The father of the Princess of France, is 
 Bacon as father of the Muse of Francis (Bacon.) 
 
 163. In the King's speech he brings in Armado,
 
 29 
 
 i. e., the arm of The Fig-ure, "a child of fancy," 
 *'a man of complements" (CON, the complement of 
 
 166. *'Bacon" elsewliere called 'a mint of phrases'), 
 "whom right and wrong (side of arm) have chose 
 as umpire of their mutiny'" to make up CON. 
 
 178. Biron calls Armado a man of "fire new" 
 
 words. 
 
 189. In line 189 Dull calls Armado an *'Arrie." 
 
 What can be a plainer hint at the meaning of the 
 teiTn? 
 
 191. In hue 191 Costard says: "The contempts 
 
 thereof are as touching me," meaning of course, the 
 contents. But this is a hint, an intimation, wliat 
 we shall think of Costard, the head of The Figure, 
 that we shall have "contempt"for it, disraga.'d it, 
 consider it as not belonging there, that it is to be 
 removed. In Sonnet 67 it is called "false painting." 
 
 207. Costard says he "was seen with her 
 
 (Jaquenetta) in the manor house, sitting with her 
 upon the form." The Folio containing The Figure, 
 is the "manor house," Bacon being the "Master 
 Parson" (page 38) "the form" is the body of The 
 Figure, Bacon's Monogram, "following her into the 
 park," i. e., the field covered by his Plays. 
 
 221. Most of what the King reads can be under- 
 
 stood by a little reflection. 
 
 342. "Obscene and most preposterous event" hints 
 
 at Costard, the head, being put there to cover up 
 the meaning of The Figure. 
 
 246. "Curious-knotted garden," alludes to this 
 
 247. Play. Costard is called "that low-spirited swain," 
 "that base minnow of thy mirth," i. e., of 
 Bacon's mirth: "that unlettered small knowing 
 
 252. soul," "that shallow vasal which, as I re- 
 member, knight Costard." The rest of the letter as 
 the King reads it is also very suggestive and in- 
 teresting.
 
 m 
 
 To be taken with Janquenetta Costard! 
 
 31S. calls "the sour cup of prosperity." So long as the; 
 
 head (Costard) is tal^en with The Figure it means. 
 
 prosperity for "Shakespeai*e" (Costard,) Bacon's^ 
 
 nom de plume, but is "sour cup'* for Bacon. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE IL 
 
 f. The conversation of Armado and Moth fs also^ 
 
 informing and apt. The expressions "tender 
 Juvenal," "tough senor," "eel," "crossed," have all' 
 special meaning as allusions. In line 
 
 55, 55 Moth speaks of "three studied," this hints- 
 
 at the three letters CON on the arm ; and, further, 
 he speaks of study "three years in two words."' 
 These two words are, of course, "Francis 
 
 S7. Bacon." In line 57 The Figure is called the 
 
 "dancing horse;" a similar expression is used in 
 
 Act III. 1. 36, where it is called the "hobby-horse." 
 
 Throughout their conversation there are 
 
 "rich bits" — allusions, which the reader will find 
 
 100. pleasure in perusing. Thus Moth in line 100 : "My 
 father's wit and my mother's tongue assist me:" 
 "father" is Bacon; "mother" the Muse. 
 
 The little song following is also full of mean- 
 ing for the reader. 
 
 114. The ballad of King Caphetua and the Beggar- 
 
 maid may be found in Percy's Reliques. He was a 
 legendary African King who wooed and married 
 Penelophon, a beggar-maid. 
 
 164. What Costard says is significant. The mean- 
 
 ing is, of course, that when the false head is dis- 
 covered, which is desolation, we shall all see Bacon 
 in The Figure. 
 
 The speech of Armado concluding the scene 
 should also be carefully studied ; it is full of playful 
 allusions. Near the end of it "Sonnet" is mentioned 
 for the first time. This refers to Bacon's Sonnets,
 
 the subject of which is his Love, his Muse, the Plays, 
 and therefore the Sonnets stand for *'wh6le voHimes 
 in folio;" all the Plays gathered into the Great Fo.io. 
 
 ACT n. SCENE I 
 
 1. "BoyBt's speech is interesting. He tails, tr. ha 
 
 should, the King of Na" arre "the sole irhenio^' of 
 
 <6. all perfections," "matchless Navarre," all referring 
 
 •8. to Bacon as the matchless author. 
 
 The reply of the Princess to Boyet, that ^he 
 
 14. ^'needs not the painted flourish of your praise," is 
 becoming and apropriate in its allucions. 
 
 39. In the conversation l^etv/cen the Princess and 
 
 lier Ladies it should be noted that Maria feov/s 
 Longavill, Katharine knows and praises Dtimain, and 
 Rosahne Biron, — 
 
 79 "every one her own hath garnished." This is proof 
 of the meaning of these names as explained pre- 
 viously. The same is shown up in Act V. 2. 827 ff., 
 where each is wooed by her appropriate Lord. 
 
 4L Perigord was an ancient countship of Fra'".ce. 
 
 It is here changed to Perigort, and chosen for its 
 resemblance to peri-girt, i. e., girt about or around, 
 in allusion to himself as author, his name being well 
 hedged about. 
 
 Jacques (English Jack) Falcon bridge is also 
 appropriately chosen for The Figure. His heir is 
 
 205. Rosahne (IL 1. 205.) Note what is said of 
 Longavill. 
 
 Duke of Alencon (all-in-song, i. e., Bacon's 
 Plays, his Muse) is Bacon, the author. Alencon was 
 a former countship and duchy of France. The name 
 is chosen because of its meaning seen in its pro- 
 nunciation. Bacon is truly the Duke of "All-in- 
 Song." Katharine is, of course, the heir to Alencon 
 (line 196.) 
 
 98. "Will," i. e., "Will Shakespeare."
 
 '^ 
 
 In the conversation of Rosaline and Biron we 
 should note that when Rosaline says: "Not till it 
 
 121. leaves the rider in the mire," the allusion is to the- 
 nom de plume "Shakespeare" as to the rider, Cos- 
 tard, the head. The dull ones, the "fools" wiio do* 
 not understand the allusion "should ask" for that 
 day when they can see it; the rider will then be 
 thrown "in the mire," the mask of his Muse will fall- 
 from "the face it covers." (See plate IX,) His Muse 
 will then get "many lovers," and. Biron (the B. I.) 
 will be gone, as there will be only one — Bacon. 
 
 136. Aquitaine, see notes upon. The meaning of 
 
 138. the word as there set forth is fully confirmed here 
 in the King's speech, as in line 139: "that one-half 
 
 139. which is unsatisfied," as well as where the ex- 
 pression "gelded" is used. 
 
 180. The remaining parts of scene I beginning 
 
 with line 180 are particularly infomiing. In the 
 conversation of Biron ond Rosaline Biron says: 
 
 187. "Would that do it good?" whereupon Rosaline 
 
 188. answers: "My physic says 'ay'." This adverb 'ay' 
 is pronounced like the long sound of I. Formerly it 
 was also written at ey, but at its first appearance in 
 the Elizabethan period it was invariably printed I, 
 often associated in puns with the pronoun I*. Keep- 
 ing in mind that Rosaline is the Introductory Poem 
 and Biron the fool-signature B. I. the meaning of 
 their conversation becomes quite clear. Her 
 answer will then read "My physic says T," the I 
 in B. I. 
 
 189. Biron: "Will you prick't with your eye?" 
 
 190. Ros : No point, mith my knife." This would seem 
 to mean Biron. But as a matter of fact this is a 
 catagorical statement that there is to be "no point" 
 in B. I. and hence would be only BI, or bi.f Note 
 
 *Century Dictionary, art. ay, adverb. 
 fSee page 21.
 
 that there is no comma after "no" in "no point," as 
 there would be if the meaning were to call Biron a 
 point. "Knife" alludes to the scraping out of the 
 points with the knife. The rest of the conversation 
 is plain. 
 
 195. For the meaning of Alencon and Katharine 
 
 see ante pp. 25. 31. The remainder of the conversa- 
 tion is full of allusions, jests, and puns. Thus in 
 
 212. line 212 : "To her will,sir, or so," intimation to "Will" 
 (Shakespeare) is given; the meaning of the next 
 two lines is then plain. 
 
 224. In the reply of Marie, line 224, "My lips are 
 
 no common, though several they be" is an allusion 
 to the Sonnets, which she represents, which are 
 "several" in number; and are here called "lips" of 
 Maria who is the Sonnets. 
 
 No special difficulties are encountered in the 
 remaining parts of Act II. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE I. 
 
 This Act is especially interesting and in- 
 structive and important. 
 J.. Armado. Warble, child; make passionate my sense 
 
 of hearing. 
 2. Moth. Concolinel. 
 
 At first look, this last word "concolinel" 
 seems to be a word without any sense or meaning. 
 But it is full of sense and most important to guide 
 and confirm us in understanding the meaning of The 
 Figure. By dividing the word into its compotent 
 parts, thus: con-co-line-1, the meaning becomes at 
 once apparent. 
 
 Con Co-line L; i. e„ Con is the last syllable 
 of the name Bacon which he wishes to suggest and 
 to us to make out in The Figure. It is found on the 
 shoulder and arm as set forth in Chapter II. The 
 N passes over and across the arm as a light streak,
 
 34 
 
 appearing in two parts, the last part as an L on the 
 
 right arm. This part he calls the Co-line, being of 
 
 the shape of an L. This is the "key" spoken of in 
 
 2. the next two lines: "Take this Key, give enlarge- 
 
 4. ment to the swain, bring him festinately hither, 
 
 5. I must employ him in a letter to my Love." (Both 
 "Key" and "Love" are capitalized in theFoho.) By 
 "Swain" is meant The Figure to which the "Key" 
 will give enlargement, i. e., by understanding the 
 meaning of The Figure it becomes of the greatest 
 importance and interest. This is truly the Key to 
 Bacon's "Shakespeare," his "Love" the Great Plays, 
 his Eternal Muse. 
 
 64. 66. In lines 64 and 66 the arm is called a cannon 
 
 37. from its conical shape ; in line 37 spoken of as "cleav- 
 ing the pin" — the arm appears as a cloven pin, being 
 in two parts. 
 
 125. In line 125 Costard is made to say: Marry 
 me to one Frances;" "Frances" is but a slight var- 
 iation of Francis — Francis Bacon. 
 
 126. In the next line Arm says he will set Costard at 
 Liberty. Costard being the head of The Figure the 
 intimation is seen to be to set it free from The 
 Figure, i. e., to remove it, whereby the letter B 
 comes squarely into view. This is the letter re- 
 
 134. f erred to in line 134, called "significant;" and so it 
 truly is. 
 
 141. In line 141 Costard asks : "What is the price 
 of this inkle?" referring directly to the inkle, or 
 tape, employed as the trimming of the coat of The 
 Figure. We can imagine even to see him point his 
 finger at the inkle as he asks the question ; and that 
 is the implied meaning here This inkle used to be 
 either of a single color or of several in stripes. You 
 will understand the meaning of "renumeration" in 
 the next line. 
 
 142. By understanding that the inkle of the coat 
 of The Figure forms the letters (all but B and parts
 
 35 
 
 of 0) of the name Bacon we get the "remuneration," 
 a world of light is opened up to us, we understand 
 the whole situation, which in itself is a very great 
 remuneration. 
 
 Keeping in mind that B. I. is Biron, we see 
 
 176. how Biron has been "a very beadle to a humorous 
 sigh," that is, a guard to the Introductory Poem to 
 prevent its meaning from being understood. 
 
 177. For he has stood as "a night-watch con- 
 stable" between The Poem and The Figure to watch 
 that The Figure may not be readily understood. He 
 
 179. has been "a domineering pedant over the boy," The 
 190. Figure. Now read what he says of this "boy" in 
 
 lines 179 and 190. 
 182. Tn line 182 he is called "Dan Cupid." The Figure, 
 like Cupid, stands between Bacon and his Love 
 (his Muse) with his fire-brands, the "fire new 
 words,"* FR. Bacon, to win him and her for each 
 other. The same idea is expressed in some of the 
 Sonnets. 
 192. See Sonnets 108 and 126, In line 192 he calls The 
 Poem, — 
 
 "A woman, that is like a German clock, 
 Still a-repairing, ever out of frame. 
 And never going aright, being a watch 
 But being watch'd that it may still go right." 
 How well the description fits the parts The 
 Poem is performing! 
 
 199. In the expression" two pitch-balls stuck in 
 her face for eyes" he alludes to the two points 
 in B. I. 
 
 200. In the next line "Ay, and, by heaven, one that 
 will do the deed" the meaning intimated is that one 
 of those "pitch-balls," i. e., one of the points, the one 
 between B and I will when erased or removed "do 
 the deed" of showing up the meaning of B I as bi, 
 
 *Act I. 1. 179.
 
 36 
 
 and thus the true meaning- of The Poem as joined 
 by this preposition to The Figure. 
 207. Biron's speech closes by saying: "Some men 
 
 must love my lady and some Joan." "Jaon" is "Jone" 
 in the Folio, and is the feminine of Jon, and means 
 the Poem by Ben Jonson, the prologue "vilely 
 penn'd" which appears in the preliminary pages of 
 the Folio. (See pp. 50 and 51.) 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE I. 
 
 There should be but little difficulty in under- 
 standing the allusions of this and the next scene. 
 Thus the "deer" means Costard, the head of The 
 Figure; in line 10, sc. 2. 122 "hind," all in allusion 
 to the horn he has hid under the hair of the left side 
 
 113. of the head. Hence, also, the allusions to 
 
 114. "horns" in lines 113 and 114 and 117. Similarly 
 117. "pricket," a buck in his second year (probably so 
 
 called from his horns,) in Sc. 2. 12, and elsewhere. 
 
 116. Lines 116 to 120 are interesting: 
 
 116. "Boyet. And who is your deer? 
 
 ■'.17. Ros. If we choose by horns, yourself come notnear," 
 meaning that he is the deer, and therefore it would 
 be unsafe for him. Remembering that Boyet is 
 "Shakespeare," as "Will" as shown in The Figure 
 "with a horn added," (Act. V. 1. 52) the reply is 
 particularly fitting and is another proof positive 
 that "Boyet" means "Will Shake-speare," as pre- 
 viously exhibited, (page 25.) 
 
 119. "Maria. You still wrangle with her 
 
 Boyet, and she strikes at the brow," i. e., 
 Boyet's head, the head of The Figure. 
 
 120. "Boyet. But she herself (The Introductory Poem) 
 is his lover," i. e,, of B. I. All this has a playful 
 allusion to remove the head of The Figure to disclose 
 
 133. the letter B. In like manner is seen what the author 
 
 134. is striving at in lines 133 and 134.
 
 37 
 
 138. "Cleaving- the pin" hints at the split arm. 
 The same is hinted at in Act V. 2. 655, where it is 
 said to be "cloven ;" hence Armado cries out. 
 "peace," Keep this fact secret ! 
 
 139. Line 139 : "You talk greasily," i. e., you talk 
 too plainly about the cloven arm ; the secret might 
 "shp" from you. Sse 'greasy Joan," Act V. II. SoO 
 for a similar meaning. 
 
 141. In line 141 Costard is called "my good owl," 
 
 by Boyet, which is quite appropriate; for if there 
 is no head to The Figure there would be no Boyet. 
 In the closing song of the play he is called "the 
 staring owl," appropriately singing: "Tu-whit, tu- 
 who" which means: Married "to what?" 
 
 Married "to who ?" The ans- 
 wer is obvious: Bacon is married to his nom de 
 plume, "Will Shakespeare." 
 
 146. Line 146: "Armado of the one side," a^.d 
 
 line 149: " his page o' th' other side" should be 
 noted as intimating proof of the fact that Armado 
 and Moth represent the arms (arm, fore and back) 
 of The Figure." Mote" (Moth) and "beam" are 
 mentioned in IV. 3. 161-2. 
 
 SCENE II. 
 
 The contents of this scene are particularly in- 
 forming. As it is supposed that the reader, by this 
 time, will quite well see the numerous allucions, in 
 nearly every line, without being pointed out to him, 
 only the more important parts will be considered. 
 
 Thus, "deer" is mentioned in several places 
 of the scene, and "pricket," a buck in the second 
 year, having horns. From the horn in the hair of 
 The Figure the idea is carried to that of the "deer," 
 which the princess goes out to shoot. 
 
 Then there is a quibble on "haud credo" (I 
 believe not,) which Dull in his ignorance takes to
 
 3K ■ 
 
 12. mean "head credo." This is repeated by Dull iru 
 
 19. line 19, whereupon Holoiernes answers: "Twice sod 
 (said) simplicity, his Coctus"" (head of The* Figure.) 
 The inference by allusion is: Do not believe the* 
 head, or litarally : "I do not believe the head,'* i. e.,, 
 of The Fig-ure ; it is deceiving. 
 
 58. In lines 58 to 63 there is a playful stanza 
 
 on the divided letter N of The Figure. See ante, p.. 
 23. Here is the fullest corroboration of the mean- 
 ing of the beam of light as the middle bar of the 
 letter N. The fact that N is cut in two in The 
 Figure is refeiTed to as a "sore." Playfully he 
 says: One "sore" with an L (the pai't of N shown, 
 on the left arm of The Figure is like an L; (see pL 
 IV and VI) makes fifty sores (L-50,) and "an 
 
 63. hundred" sores "by adding but one more L"-100.)* 
 Holofernes who represents the entire Figuve' 
 
 67. minus the head says of himself that he is full of 
 "forms," and "figures," alluding, of course, to the 
 letters of Bacon's name found on him. This ex- 
 plains the question in Act V. 1. 49: "Are you not 
 lettered?" 
 
 The second part of the scene opens with the 
 entrance of Jaquenetta and Costard. She salutes 
 
 82. Holofemes as "Master Parson,, in the Folio it is 
 Master Person, and in line 91 Master Parson, which 
 is a true epithet, but which he turns into "quasi-per- 
 son." By allusion this means that he has only the 
 appearance of a person, being fictitious, not real. 
 
 85. Then he asks: "An if one should be pierced, which 
 is the one?" 
 
 86. Costard replies: "Marry, Master school- 
 
 87. master, he that is likest to a hogshead." The head 
 of The Figure is called "hogshead," because the 
 body is Bacon, and "bacon" is hog.f And it is 
 
 *The fact that "sorrel" is a deer three years old and "sore" one of four 
 years, should not confuse us. The second L is the F in The Figure. 
 tSee Sonnet L,
 
 B^ 
 
 particularly appropriate that Costard, who is the 
 head of The Figure, should answer the question. "It 
 should be pierced," looked through, to see B which 
 it hides. This intimation is referred to as treason 
 in scene 3. 189. It should be noted that it is always 
 
 S2. Costard that brings the letter; line 92. Sc. 3. 190 
 and 198. 
 
 109. Note well the Sonnet which Nathani^^l rer.ds 
 
 as giving i>articularly interesting information. 
 Here as elsewhere in his Sonnets Bacon spea'.s of 
 his Muse as his "Love," his "Beauty." In aport 'O- 
 phizing her the effect is particuarly pleasing. In 
 
 111. hne three of this Sonnet he says: "To thee (i. e., liis 
 Love, his Immortal Flays, his Muse) I will faithful 
 prove," i. e., he will take care that he will be known 
 as her author, that he will ahvays belong to her: 
 
 112. "Those thoughts to me were oaks, to thee like osiers 
 bow'd." 
 
 113. "Study his bias leaves, and makes his hook 
 thine eyes." "Bias," early English biass, or byas 
 (as in Folio,) means: An oblique or diagoral line, 
 a seam obhque to the texture, and refers here to 
 the oblique lines or seams of the Coat of The Figure. 
 Hence, by extension, "bias" means The Figure itself. 
 He exhorts us to study it; if we will do so it will 
 leave and make "his book," i. e., the book of his 
 Plays, the Folio of 1623, our eyes as well as of his 
 Muse; his book will then truly be our eyes to uiider- 
 stand both his authorship and so the book itself. 
 Without understanding his Figure we never can 
 understand his Book — ^The two are woven together. 
 
 115. "If knowledge be the mark, to know thee shall suffice; 
 
 116. Well learned is that tongue that well can thee command. 
 
 117. AH ignorant that soul that sees thee without wonder." 
 How truly this is said of his Muse! 
 
 119. "Thy eye Jove's lightning bears, thy voice 
 
 his dreadful thunder ;" that is, the free and powerful 
 expression of his Muse under cover of his nom de
 
 40 
 
 plume is "his dreadful thunder," and her "eye" the" 
 wit and hints to disclose his authorship "which not 
 120. to anger bent, is music and sweet fire." 
 12L "Celestial as thou art;" his Muse is celestiaL 
 
 123. "You find not the apostrophes ;" the apostro- 
 
 phes to his Muse are now clearly seen in nine of the 
 fourteen lines of this beautiful and remarkable 
 Sonnet. 
 12G. "Ovidius Naso was the man : and why indeed, 
 
 N'aso, but for smelling* out the odoriferous flowers 
 of fancy, the Jerks of invention?" Publius Ovidius 
 Naso was a Roman poet of the Augustine Age. One 
 of his best known poems is "Ars Amatoria" ("Art 
 of Love".) "Flowers of fancy, jerks of invention," 
 refer to Bacon's name in the form of a fanciful 
 figure. 
 12y. Note the allusion of the expression "tired 
 
 horse his rider" in line 129, and the hint in the 
 words : "was this directed to you ?" in the next line. 
 Another interesting bit of conversation is the 
 talk of Holof ernes beginning: "I do dine today, etc." 
 The meaning of the expression: "to gratify the 
 table with a grace" is that Ben Jonson (who is 
 Nathaniel) was to write a poetical preface to his 
 Book of Plays. This "grace" or preface is found 
 in the Folio of 1623. This same poem is called 
 "Joan" (in the Folio it is "Jone") in Act III. 1. 207. 
 
 SCENE III. 
 
 The opening speech of Biron contains many 
 allusions, which the reader will have no trouble in 
 understanding, as similar ones have already been 
 seen. 
 14. Speaking of Sonnets Biron says that: "she 
 
 (i. e., Bacon's Muse) hath one o' my sonnets 
 already." In this proof is seen that Bacon had
 
 41 
 
 before this concieved the idea of writing a series of 
 Sonnets to his Muse as part of the genera^ scheme 
 of secret authorship, his Sonnets otherwi re being- 
 impossible. It is seen that by the time this play is 
 written he must have already composed the greater 
 number of his Sonnets. He gives three of them in 
 
 26. this play: one by the King, lines 26 and 42, also re- 
 
 42. markable for its sixteen instead of fourteen lines. 
 The one referred to by Biron, "she hath ore of my 
 Sonnets already," is the one read by Nathaniel, 
 
 60. Sc. II. 109-122. The third is by Longaville in this 
 
 73. scene, lines 60-73. 
 
 "Thou hast thumped him with thy bird-bolt 
 
 21. under the left pap" is a hint to call attention to the 
 shaded middle bar of the letter R and with it, by 
 suggestion, that of F as seen in The Figure. "Bird- 
 bolt" was a blunt-pointed arrow, formerly used for 
 shooting birds. It was intended to stun without 
 piercing. 
 
 26. The Sonnet the King reads is wonderfully 
 
 sweet, and full of meaning to the initiated. Bacon, 
 as King of Muse, apostrophizes the Princess, his 
 Muse, It is for his "lost" Muse that he sheds 
 
 29, tears, the "dew that on my cheeks down flows." 
 
 32. Her "face through tears (i. e., Sonnets) of mine 
 give light." 
 
 33. "Thou shinest in every tear that I do weep: 
 
 34. No drop but is a coach doth carry thee ; 
 
 35. So ridest thou triumphing in my woe." 
 
 54. In line 54 Longaville is likened to "Tyburn 
 
 that hangs up simplicity." Tyburn in old London 
 was a tributary of the Thames. There "Tyburn 
 Tree" was the public gallows tree until 1783. Longa- 
 ville (as Shake-speare, the nom de plume) "hangs 
 up," i. e., conceals Bacon's authorship. 
 57. In line 57 his Sonnets are called "these 
 
 59. numbers," and in lines 59 "his (i. e., Cupid's) slop." 
 64. "A woman I foreswore," i. e., his Muse;
 
 42 
 
 65. but as the Goddess Muse he did not forswear her. 
 83. In hues 83 . ff. Bacon calls his Muse : "O 
 
 85. most divine Kate," "the wonder in a mortal eye," 
 
 86. "she is no corporal." 
 
 89. "Her shoulder is with child" (1. 89) alludes 
 to CON (CON-cept) of Bacon's name found on the 
 
 90. shoulder and arm of The Figure. It is "fair as 
 day," i. e., it gives day-light on Bacon's authorship, 
 when this part of The Figure is seen. 
 
 Longavill is taken to task (1. 133 ff.) for not 
 loving Maria: 
 
 133. "You do not love Maria; Longaville 
 
 134. Did never Sonnet for her sake compile, 
 136. His loving bosom to keep down his heart." 
 
 This is natural, for Longaville is exposed by Maria. 
 
 161. "Mote" and "beam" is an allusion to the mote 
 
 and beam of The Figure, 
 
 "All about the breast" alludes to the letters 
 on The Figure; hence, the exclamation: "A caudle, 
 ho!" 
 
 230. In line 230 the King compares the Princess 
 
 to a "gracious moon, 
 
 "She (Rosaline) an attending star"; the com- 
 parison holds good. The Goddess Muse is the sun. 
 
 233. "0, but for my love, day would turn into 
 
 night!" which is true; but for the Introductory 
 Poem we would be more or less at a loss to under- 
 stand The Figure. 
 
 In line 247 the King says to Biron: "Thy 
 love (i. e., Rosaline) is black as ebony," in allusion 
 to the dark and mysterious meaning of the Poem 
 regarding The Figure which the Poem (Rosaline) 
 describes. The entire conversation alludes, in a 
 general way, to his Muse as "dark," because written 
 under cover of another name. 
 
 278. Longavill: "Look, here is thy love: 
 
 my foot and her face see."
 
 The Key To Shakespeare 
 
 Ltgd. BATAVORVM 
 
 Apud iTrancifcum Moiaxditm, 
 
 £X Adrianum "Wijngaerde. Mna jf^^» 
 
 Photo-Facsimile of title-page of Bacon's I)e Augmentis, 1645. 
 Look, here is thy love; my foot and her face see. L. L. L. IV. 8. 278 
 
 See page 43. 
 
 Plate VIII.
 
 43 
 
 To understand this passage I must refer you 
 to the title-pag-e of Bacon's De Augmentis (pi. VIII). 
 Ihis book, hke other books by Bacon, has crypto- 
 graphic picture on its title-page. Under the left 
 arm of Bacon, who is in a sitting posture, is seen, 
 up-side down, with a corronet, the head of a lady 
 outlined against his arm, with the face looking up 
 toward that of Bacon, This represents his "Love," 
 Bacon's Muse, His Plays, mutilated and bloody, 
 separated from the body, the dress of which hangs 
 down in front over Bacon's garment and made to 
 appear as part of it. This is the reason the tragedian, 
 or actor, being held up by Bacon's hand, loolis so 
 downcast, sorrowful, and woebegone, as he beholds 
 the frightful spectacle of her mulitated body be- 
 neath him. From the thumb of Bacon's left hand 
 is seen the hilt of a small sword hanging. On 
 this hilt is seen the two letters F B in script mono- 
 gram. This is symbolical of Bacon's pen, which has 
 slain his Muse. Here, then, we get the understand- 
 ing of this passage. Longaville, the tragedian, 
 dressed in goat-skin, looking down, says: "Look, 
 here is thy love: 
 
 My foot and her face see." 
 Bacon is seen pointing to Act IV. L. L. L. in the 
 Folio, the very Act in which this passage occurs. 
 Longavill's foot shows as gory streaks of blood on 
 her neck, the head being severed from it. 
 
 Likewise is seen a dark bust in outline in 
 
 front of the actor's body with the head against it. 
 
 This is symbolical of the "dark" aspects of the lady 
 
 247. of Biron: "thy love is black as ebony," and of the 
 
 Mistresses of the King, of Longaville, and of Du- 
 
 270. main: "Your mistresses dare never come in rain for 
 
 271. fear their colours should be wash'd away." 
 
 In lines 335 and 336 he says that, — 
 "A lover's ear will hear the lowest sound
 
 41 
 
 When the suspicious head of theft is stopp'd," 
 meaning that when the head of The Figure is re- 
 moved Bacon's name is revealed, and the smallest 
 allusions are then readily seen. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE I. 
 
 Though this act is long it should not now pre- 
 sent any difficulties in the way of understanding the 
 allusions with which it abounds. The most im- 
 portant ones will be pointed out. 
 
 The first is found in line 31 where Holof ernes, 
 after he and Nathaniel have been conversing about 
 Armado and alluding to The Figure, says: 
 
 31. "Borne boon, for boon prescian, a little scratched, 'twill serve." 
 
 I have given the same spelling as that of the 
 Folio. There seems to be little or no meaning con- 
 veyed in this sentence, but, as a matter of fact, it 
 is one of p^i'ime importance. 
 
 "Bome boon, for boon prescian" is: nom de 
 plume, for good Priscian, that is, for the good 
 teacher Holofernes, or in other words, for Bacon. 
 It confirms what we already know, namely, that 
 "Shake-speare," or "Mr. William Shakespeare," is 
 only Bacon's nom de plume, or pen-name. (Priscian 
 Caesariensis was a celebrated Latin Grammarian 
 teacher, who flourished about A. D. 500.) They re- 
 fer in their conversation to this nom de plume as 
 "a most singular and choice epithet." Remembering 
 that Holofernes, The Fgure minus the head, spells 
 BACON, it follows that the nom de plume is for 
 Bacon the good teacher. 
 
 Some modern critics have made this sentence 
 read bon bon, fort bon Priscian, showing them up 
 truly as the Constable Dull, "while truth the while 
 doth falsely blind the eyesight of his look." In 
 others it is worked into the following monstrosity:
 
 45 
 
 "Bone? — bone for bene: Priscian a little scratch'd, 
 'twill sei-ve." See Gallancz's edition of Shakespeare 
 and that by Knight.* 
 
 The next of importance as to allusions is the 
 conversation of Moth and Costard, lines 40 to 44 : 
 
 40. "Moth. They have been hi a great feast of 
 
 lungimges and stolen the scraps. 
 
 42. Ct)stard. 0, they have lived on the alms-^ 
 
 basket of words. I wonder they master (i. e., Ai" n^ 
 
 44. ado, the ann") hath not eaten thee for a word." This 
 is a hint at the forming of the word or syllable CON. 
 
 49 In line 49 Armado asks Holof ernes: "Are 
 
 you not lettered ?" Holof ernes is "lettered" all over. 
 
 50. "Moth. What is a c spelled backward, with 
 
 50. the horn on his head," 
 
 Holof ernes: B A, puericia with a horn added." 
 Note that there is no comma after puericia in the 
 Folio of 1623, nor in the quarto of 1498, nor can 
 there be if the meaning of the sentence is to be 
 carried out as intended. Holofernes is the pedant 
 in Rabelais's "Gargantua and Pantagruel," who 
 taught Gargantua to say the alphabet backward 
 in 5 years 3 months. Holofernes is also written 
 Holophernes, but Bacon chose the former as best 
 suited to his purpose. "Puericia" is pueritia, youth. 
 As before noted, the face of The Figure is that of a 
 youth ; witness the small growth of hair on the lips. 
 
 *It is interesting to know what Bacon himself says of these supposed 
 errors in Sonnet 96. Apostrophizing his Muse, the Plays, he says: 
 'Some say thy fault is youth, some wantoness; 
 Some say thy grace is youth and gentle sport; 
 Both grace and faults are loved of more or less; 
 Thou makest faults graces that to thee resort. 
 As on the finger of a throned queen 
 The basest jewel will be well esteem'd, 
 So are those errors that in thee are seen 
 To thruths translated and for true things deem'd.' 
 See also Sonnets 35 and 36.
 
 j^ 
 
 The "horn" is the one hid under the long hair, and. 
 the tip of it is made to have the grotesque appear- 
 ance of an eai\ 
 
 By inserting a comma after the word 
 "puericia" the intended meaning is entirely de- 
 stroyed, and serves to show how important it is ta 
 leave everything as we find it in the Folio. When 
 a comma is used after the word it is Moth that is 
 called "youth," wheras the express allusion is tO' 
 the youthful look of the face of The Figure. 
 
 I he word "puericia" is, of course, pun^osely 
 spelled with a "c" to mislead the unwary. "Errors" 
 of this kind were thought to be due to defective 
 education of the author. See Sonnet 96. 
 
 B A are "spelt backward," i. e., lying in that 
 position on The Figure. 
 
 The horn is in immitation of a knight's horn, 
 
 which he used to blow in setting forth on his horse 
 
 to combat for his lady. Bacon is pictured on the 
 
 title-page of his cryptographic book as blowing a 
 
 horn as he is sallying forth on his charger to battle 
 
 for his Love.* 
 
 55. In lines 55 to 60 he calls our attention to the 
 
 60. consonant C and the rest of his name: "Quis, quis, 
 
 thou consonant." Playfully he called the five letters 
 
 of his name "the five vowels." This comes in handy 
 
 for the concluding parts which he calls "ou ;" the u 
 
 is, of course, the n inverted. 
 
 . 65. In line 65 the intimation is quite direct: 
 
 "What is The Figure? What is The Figure?" Here 
 
 he asks outright what The Figure is. Nothing could 
 
 be plainer. From here onward to the end of the 
 
 scene interesting conversation is taking place which 
 
 the reader will be able to understand in its true 
 
 112. light. Thus, Armado in line 112 speaks of "my poor 
 
 *See Bacon is Shakespeare.
 
 shoulder" which the King; (Bacon) will be pleased 
 to lean upon (to spell out his name in full). 
 
 SCENE II. 
 
 Tliere is nothiro- difficult in scene II. and all 
 is exceedingly interesting. In hne 38 it is blrn'ly 
 
 ^8. said that ''he hath drawn my picture in his letter." 
 meaning that the head of The Figure is drawn in 
 the letter B. Further in line 42 the letter E is 
 named outright where it says, that it is — 
 
 ^2. "Fair as a text B in a copy-book." In line 
 
 44 B is called— 
 
 44. *'My red dominical, my goMon K-^tter." The 
 letter is called attention to by the hint in line 45 — 
 
 45. "0 that your face were not so full of O's!" 
 In hne 50 where it says — 
 
 50. "Some thousand verses of a faithful lover" 
 
 the reference is to the Sonnets which are all to his 
 Muse, the Plays proper, the verses are sent to her 
 by the faithful lover Bacon. But they are — 
 
 52. "Vilely compiled, profound simplicity." The 
 intimation is somewhat similar in line 53 where the 
 
 53. Sonnets are called "pearls." 
 
 From here on to line 242 there are many 
 interesting allusions, which we will let the reader 
 242. find out for himself. In lines 242 to 254 the con- 
 254. versation of Longaville with Katharine is highly 
 amusing and suggestive., It illustrates the relation 
 of Bacon and of his nom de plume. Will Shakespeare, 
 here Longavill, to his Muse. 
 
 Note that Katherine says that "Longavill was 
 for my service born;" Katrarine (i. e., the 
 Plays) have long been known by the name of "Will 
 Shakespeare" and has thus had his service. 
 
 Note in line 315 to 334 what Biron says of 
 Boyet, i. e., Shake-speare. 
 
 Note that the King, Biron, Dumain and Long-
 
 ig 
 
 433. aville confess that they were disguised (1. 433.) 
 445. Rosaline is called "precious eyesight" (1. 445.) The- 
 Introductory Poem should be a. "precious, eyesight" 
 to all of us. But someliow it had gi'own dim until, 
 the present day, when it had become absolutely 
 dark. That it was a "precious eyesight" to see' 
 Bacon's authorship of the Plays up to 1664 when the 
 Third Folio was edited, and even as late as 1709' 
 when the Fifth was published, there is every 
 evidence.* 
 
 There are many interesting things in Biron's 
 459. speech, lines 459 to 481, numerous allusions. 
 481. which the reader will readily understand. 
 550. The speech of Costard as Pompey should be 
 
 562. carefully noted (550-562.) So also Sir Nathaniel's 
 as Alexander. By a pun on the word Alexander is 
 chajiged to Alisander, and this by slowly pronounc- 
 ing it gives the play on the word and the meaning : 
 A-lies-u.nder, that is, A lies under B in The Fig:ure 
 as already shown in chapter II. page 17. That this 
 is the meaning implied is readily seen from Costard's 
 
 576. speech (576 to 590) : "You will be scraped out of 
 
 577. the painted cloth for this," referring to A; and 
 588. "Alisandei', — alas, you see how 'tis, a little o'erpart- 
 
 ed." A is, as we have seen, parted in The Figure. 
 
 The next interesting presentation is that by 
 Holofemes who plays the role of Judas, as traitor. 
 As previously seen Holofernes, the schoolmaster, is 
 The Figure minus the head, hence the body of 
 Figure which spells FR. Bacon, and therefore. 
 Bacon is the schoolmaster. It is because of these 
 letters, that Holofernes calls himself Judas, the 
 traitor, since they disclose Bacon's name and with 
 it his authorship. This is also clearly seen in the 
 ensuing conversation, line 604ff : Holofernes assert- 
 604. ing that he is Judas Biron asks, 1. 604: "How art 
 
 *See The Shakespeare Myth, page 24.
 
 ^ 49 
 
 612. thou proved Judas ?" and, 1. 612 : "Because thou hast 
 no face." Pointing to the head Holof ernes asks: 
 
 613. "What is this?" Whereupon tliey ceverally call the 
 head of The Figure, — 
 
 614. "A cittern-head. 
 
 615. "The head of a bodkin. 
 
 616. "A Death's face in a ring. 
 
 617. "The face of an old Roman coin, scarce seen. 
 
 618. "The pommel of Caesar's falchion. 
 
 619. "The carved-bone face on a flask. 
 
 620. "Saint George's half-cheek in a brooch. 
 
 621. "Ay, and in a brooch of lead. 
 
 622. "Ay, and worn in the cap of a tooth-drawer. 
 
 623. And now forward, for we have put thee in counte- 
 nance." 
 
 "Ring" and "Brooch" mean the letter B, the 
 collar of The Figure. 
 
 "Brooch of lead" has a play on the word 
 "lead;" here "lead" is the verb lead, because B, the 
 "brooch," is the letter leading to all the rest in The 
 Figure. 
 
 The letter A being like a pair of forceps, is 
 called a "tooth-drawer" (1. 622) for pulling or draw- 
 ing teeth. The letter B (the "brooch") is "worn in 
 the cap," i, e., (by pun) gap of the tooth-drav/er, 
 being just in the top, or mouth, or gap, of A, the 
 forceps. This is an amusing as well as an apt com- 
 parison. It is put "in countenance," all made very 
 plain. The concluding parts of their conversation is 
 interesting in its allusions. 
 
 The conversation of Armado as Hector con- 
 643. tains numerous hints. Thus : "His leg is too big for 
 Hector's," alluding to the thick arm of The Figure. 
 655. In line 655 is a hint at the arm as being "cloven," 
 i. e., divided into halves. "That flower — that mint 
 ("mint of phrases," the CON, I. 1. 166) that Colum- 
 bine" all refer to the winding of the letters CON 
 over the Arm and Shoulder. "Mint" is chosen for
 
 50 
 
 its double meaning by way of pun, both as a plant 
 and as a coin, CO(i)N. 
 682. "The child brags in her belly," — the name 
 
 FR. BACON grown so as to be seen by the last part 
 CON on Armado ("by" Armado) ; hence, Pompey 
 (Costard, the head of The Figure becomes of no 
 import) " is dead." 
 
 728. The next is the entrance of Mercade. 
 
 729. It is fitting that he is the one to announce the 
 
 730. death of the King of France, the father of the 
 Princess. Bacon, the father, died for her sake, a 
 literary death, that she might live. This gave him 
 a free hand, and was a fruitful source of imagery. 
 As he himself says in Sonnet 78, of his nom de plume 
 "thou art all my art." To obtain these ends, to pro- 
 duce these powerful plays, it was necessary to have 
 recourse to this art of hiding his identity behind a 
 "painted cloth." 
 
 798. Very fine and tender is the Princess' reply 
 
 822. to her suitor. Note further how each woos his 
 
 proper lady, that each is put on trial and made to 
 
 wait a "twelve month," and that they are to "visit 
 
 the speechless sick," his Plays. 
 
 Note Maria's reply to Longavill, that she will 
 change her "black gown for a faithful friend." 
 "Black gown," grief expressed in the Sonnets 
 (Maria.) Note Maria's answer: "The liker for you." 
 She does not promise to marry him, but a "faithful 
 friend." "The speechless sick" is his "sick" Muse 
 because apparently deserted by the author. 
 
 The play ends with a song. Here the expres- 
 sion "married men" alludes to Bacon as married to 
 "Mr. William Shakespeare," his nom de plume. The 
 owl sings: "Tu-whit, tu-who," i. e., married "to 
 what, to who?" 
 
 The expression: "While greasy Joan (in the 
 Folio 'Jone') doth keel the pot" has a definite im-
 
 51 
 
 plied meaning, "Joan" is the feminine of Jon, and 
 means the Poem by Ben Jonson as a preface in the 
 Folio of 1623, a "prologue vilely penn'd. In the Foho 
 it is vildely pen'd (Act V. 2. 305). See page 40. 
 This Poem is part of Bacon's scheme to conceal his 
 name from the unitiated, hence "greasy." It is 
 also mentioned in the last line of Act III: "Some 
 men must love my lady (i. e., Bacon's Muse) and 
 some Joan.". It is called "greasy Jaon," because 
 it is deceiving, slippery in its moaning: the whole 
 Poem is, of course, written as a jest. "Greasily" 
 has a similar meaning in Act IV. 2. 139. 
 nearly three hundred years. 
 
 "Spring" and "Winter" are emblems of 
 Bacon's assumed relation to his Muse by means of 
 his nom de plume. "Winter" is the period of descent 
 when he is absent from his Muse as her unknown 
 author (Sonnet 97) ; it is "maintained by the owl," 
 "my good owl" Costard, (IV. 1. 141) the head of 
 The Figure. When the head is removed it is 
 "Spring" because we then see everything clearly. 
 The "Spring" is maintained by the cuckoo, the 
 harbinger of Bacon's summer when his authorship 
 lights up, his "winter" is gone, and "The Tempest" 
 is over. 
 
 "The words of Mercury," as the God of dark- 
 ness the tutilary deity of thieves and tricksters, 
 here represented by the owl Costard, the head that 
 conceals the meaning of The Figure, "are harsh aft- 
 er the songs of Apollo" the leader of the Muses, god 
 of music and poetry. He is here represented by the 
 cuckoo, which lays its eggs in another bird's nest, 
 whose songs are an omen of evil that the married 
 men will be parted : "You that way, we this way."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 KEY AND NOTES TO THE SONNETS 
 
 The 
 KEY 
 
 to the 
 SONNETS 
 
 is, 
 
 That Francis Bacon wrote his Poetiy the Plays under 
 cover of the assumed name "Mr, WilHam Shakespeare," his 
 nom de phime: 
 
 And that 
 
 In his Sonnets his Plays are personified and 
 apostrophized as his Love, his Muse, that is "lost" to him 
 because of this assumed name. 
 
 The wildest conjectures have been made regarding" 
 the meaning of the Sonnets. (See for ex, Gallancz's intro- 
 duction to the Sonnets.) They never have been understood, 
 and indeed they never can be without knowing the great 
 central fact of Bacon's authorship and the relation he as- 
 sumed toward his own Muse. 
 
 TO . THE . ONLIE . BEGETTER . OF 
 
 THESE . INSUING . SONNETS 
 
 MR, W. H. ALL , HAPPINESSE 
 
 AND , THAT , ETERNITE 
 
 PROMISED , BY 
 
 OUR . EVER-LIVING . POET 
 
 WISHETH 
 
 THE , WELL-WISHING 
 
 ADVENTURER . IN 
 
 SETTING 
 
 FORTH. 
 
 T.T.
 
 J I . J H i l l I | _ J 
 
 franc V:3a£ont 
 
 J>% Vertjxamio 
 
 fISTORIA REGNI 
 
 HEISTRICI SEPTIMi /I 
 
 ^PUS VER£ POXITlCUAlI? 
 
 4 
 
 / 
 
 
 l-x^x 
 
 Title-page of Bacon's History of King Henry VH, 1642. Emblematic. 
 His Muse supported on the stage at the Globe theatre; salt box and bit- 
 less bridle, wisdom and fame, over Bacon's head; the wheel, the burden 
 of his Plays, with hand mirror, rod for fools' back, basin for guilty 
 blood, fool's rattle, spade for graves, knight's hat, crowns for 
 jjrinces, queens, and kings; Bacon's magic wand, his pen, in touch with 
 the Globe through the actor; the sea, The Tempest; the curtain is 
 seen above the stage. 
 
 Plate VIII. a.
 
 53 
 
 These lines at the head of the Sonnets appearing as 
 dedicatory verses have, hke the Introductory Poem on the 
 fly-leaf opposite The Figure in the Folio, caused endless 
 speculation as to their meaning. Like the Introductory 
 Poem in the Folio, they have an apparent signature 
 T. T. It is said that one Thomas Thorpe published the 
 quarto in which the Sonnets first appeared, and it is sup- 
 posed that the apparent initials are his signature. From 
 what you have seen in regard to B. I. of the Poem in the 
 Folio, you are quite ready to suppose that T, T. also have 
 quite another meaning, that they stand for no name what- 
 ever. 
 
 From the study of the Folio of the Plays we have 
 seen that puns, jests and little tricks are resorted to and 
 common. So here. The words are transposed and separat- 
 ed by means of points, or dots, to confuse and mislead the 
 unsuspecting and the unitiated. (See Gallancz's edition) . 
 The two T's evidently spell "tu tes," or tutes, in the 
 modern way toot, the verb; toot was in early Modern 
 English spelled tout, tote, and tute : to blow a horn, or other 
 wind instrument. 
 
 Rearranging the words and filling in the initials we 
 get the meaning intended by the author, thus : 
 
 "In setting forth Mr. Will's horn tutes: To the only 
 begetter of these insuing Sonnets the well-wishing advent- 
 urer wisheth all happiness and that eternity promised by 
 our ever-living poet." 
 
 In his Cryptographic book (see Bacon is Shakespeare) 
 Bacon is pictured as sitting on a horse blowing the horn as 
 he is setting forth to win his "Love." The horn is in al- 
 lusion to that seen hid in The Figure, which is the Mar- 
 Will. The meaning of the Dedicatory Lines is clear. 
 
 The Sonnets are crystally clear and pure in thought 
 throughout. 
 
 They are the finest examples of purely abstract thought, the 
 sweetest and most pleasing, the grandest and the most 
 beautiful ever known to language. The subject matter 
 is his "Love," his "lost" Muse.
 
 Two modes of personification is used. A lower de- 
 gree of personification with apostrophe, using- the pronoun 
 "you." 
 
 Second, The highest degree of personification with 
 apostrophe by using the pronoun "thou." 
 
 NOTES TO THE SONNETS 
 
 (As found in the Old Quarto.) 
 
 SONNET I. 
 
 Apostrophe to himself 
 7.-8. "Making a famine wliere abundance lies" by 
 
 disowning his Muse, thereby — 
 
 "Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel."' 
 9. Line 9 shows that his Muse must have been exceed- 
 ingly popular at the time. 
 
 SONNET II. 
 Apostrophe to himself 
 
 4. "Tattered weed," tattered clothes, dress; 
 "weed" is used in many places of the Plays in this 
 sense; it was a common expression in those days. 
 So in Sonnet 76, line 6. See Dictionary. 
 
 SONNET III. 
 Apostrophe to himself 
 4. "Some mother," the Goddess Muse. 
 
 SONNET IV. 
 
 Apostrophe to himself 
 
 5. "Thou," "niggard," the author, "For having 
 9. traffic with thyself alone," not allowing him- 
 self to be known as the author. 
 
 SONNET V. 
 No apostrophe ; general considerations 
 2. "The lovely gaze," i. e., his Muse. 
 
 SONNET VI. 
 
 Apostrophe to himself 
 1. "Then let not winter's ragged hand deface
 
 55 
 
 2, In thee thy summer." For the figurative 
 
 meaning- of "winter" and "summer" see chapter 
 III. page 51. 
 
 SONNET VII. 
 Apostrophe to himself 
 
 1. "'The gracious hght," the sun. 
 
 13. **So thou, thyself outgoing in thy noon," i. e., 
 the author at the height of his poetic career. 
 
 14. "Unlook'd on diest," i. e., by remaining in the 
 dark, and not become the known author. 
 
 14. "Unless thou get a son." Here is a play on the 
 word "son,"' meaning here Sonnet. This is clear 
 from line 14 in Sonnet XIII where "son" means liis 
 Sonnets collectively. 
 
 SONNET VIII. 
 Apostrophe to himself 
 S. "Why lovest thou that which thou receivest 
 
 not gladly ?" referring to his nom de plume. 
 
 SONNET IX. 
 Apostrophe to himself 
 
 2. "'Single life," not wedded to his Muse. 
 
 SONNET X. 
 Apostrophe to himself 
 7. "Seeking that beauteous roof to ruinate," 
 
 meaning the title-page of his book. 
 
 SONNET XI. 
 
 Apostrophe to himself 
 
 1. "As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou 
 
 2. growest, in one of thine," i. e., the assumed name, 
 Will Shakespeare. As fast as he is forgotten as the 
 author he grows in the name of Shakespeare. 
 
 SONNET XII. 
 Apostrophe to himself 
 14. **Save breed," literary offspring, or other- 
 
 wise.
 
 56 
 
 SONNET XIII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 1. "0, that you were yourself," i. e., known by 
 
 Bacon's name. 
 
 13. "Dear my love, you know 
 
 14. you had a father, let your son say so," 
 "father'ofhis Muse, Bacon. "Let your son (i.e., 
 sonnet) say so," let the Sonnets explain this. The 
 Sonnets do tell who is the father of his Muse, the 
 Plays. 
 
 SONNET XIV. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 6-14. The last six lines of the Sonnet refer to the 
 
 knowledge to be found in his Muse concerning- his 
 authorship. "Thine eyes," those parts that give 
 particular information, such as his monogram 
 Figure and the contrivances to explain the same. 
 
 SONNET XV. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 13. "In war with Time" he strives to fortify 
 
 14. himself against literary decay. 
 
 SONNET XVI. 
 
 Apostrophe to himself 
 
 8. "Painted counterfit," The Figure. 
 
 SONNET XVII. 
 Apostrophe to himself 
 1-14. He gives reasons why he does not write 
 
 openly. But his verse is "as a tomb" which hides 
 his life as author. 
 
 SONNET XVIII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 9. " But thy eternal summer shall not fade 
 
 10. Nor loose possession of that fair thou owest." 
 His Muse will live forever and his name, "that fair 
 thou owest" (ownest,) will not, and can not, be lost 
 from his poetry. Owe, to possess, have, own. Now 
 obsolete.
 
 57 
 
 SONNET XIX. 
 Apostrophe to Time 
 
 9. "0, carve not with the hours my love's fair 
 
 10. brow, Nor draw no lines there with thine 
 antique pen." He implores Time to leave his Muse 
 untouched by age that it may live forever bright. 
 
 11. "Him in thy course untainted do allow," that 
 he himself, Bacon, be allowed to be known forever 
 as its author. 
 
 SONNET XX. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 2. "The Master-mistress of my passion," i. e., 
 
 his Muse; it is here compared to a woman. The 
 term is similarly used in L. L. L. in several places. 
 
 SONNET XXI 
 
 No Apostrophe. General 
 
 12. "Those gold candles fix'd in heaven's air," 
 the sun and the moon. 
 
 SONNET XXII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 6. "Seemly raiment of my heart," his thoughts 
 
 expressed in his Muse. 
 
 SONNET XXIII. 
 No Apostrophe. General 
 9. He implores us to let "his books" be "the 
 
 11. eloquence" to show him up to us "for recompense," 
 to be the recognized author, — 
 
 13. "0, learn to read what silent love hath writ: 
 
 14. To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit." 
 
 SONNET XXIV. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 4. The "perspective" of his Muse shows the 
 
 "true immage" of the author. 
 
 "Mine eyes (i. e., his mind's eye) have drawn 
 thy shape, and thine (the "perspective" of 
 his Muse) for me
 
 58 
 
 Are windows to my breast where-through 
 
 the sun 
 
 Dehg-hts to peep, to gaze therein on thee." 
 When we see his name in the perspective of his 
 Muse the sun goes up for us, and lights up his 
 "breast," his authorship, for us "to gaze therein at 
 thee," i, e., his Muse. His Muse becomes quite a 
 different thing when we see it in this hght. This 
 is bealtifully expressed. 
 
 SONNET XXV. 
 No Apostrophe. General 
 Speaking of the mutability of things he 
 praises himself lucky that he is not wedded to any- 
 thing changeable: 
 
 13. "Then happy I, that love and am beloved 
 
 14. Where I may not remove, nor be removed." 
 Having his name woven into his Muse he can "not 
 remove, nor be removed" from it. "Love and am 
 beloved," figurative expression of his authorship- 
 
 SONNET XXVI. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 14. "Till then not show my head, where thou 
 
 mayst prove me," till some "star" points to him as 
 the author. 
 
 SONNET XXVn. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse, lines 6 — 14. 
 14. "For thee and for myself no quiet find," ex- 
 
 pression of his ardent desire to have his Muse 
 known as his. 
 
 SONNET XXVni. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 13. "But day doth daily draw my sorrows longer 
 
 14. And night doth nightly make grief's strength 
 seem stronger." As time passed, his authorship 
 grew more and more dim. For the last two hun- 
 dred years it had become entirely obscured.
 
 59 
 
 SONNET XXIX. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 This is in some respects Uke Sonnet 25. After 
 recounting the fickleness of fortune he derived solace 
 and comfort from the knowledge that his fame 
 would rest secure with his Muse: 
 
 13. "For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth 
 
 brings 
 
 14. That then I scorn to change my state with 
 
 kings." 
 Bacon suffered many disappointments and reverses 
 of fortune. 
 
 SONNET XXX. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse lines 13 — 14. 
 
 This Sonnet is similar in thought to the pre- 
 ceeding one. 
 
 SONNET XXXI. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 I. His Muse was "endeared with all hearts." 
 In his Plays reign his friends, the characters, of 
 his dramas: 
 
 8. "And there reigns love and all love's loving 
 
 parts 
 
 4. And all those friends which I thought 
 
 buried." 
 "Interest of the dead," i. e., the interest he took in 
 his characters as he delineated them in his plays 
 
 5. may well have stolen "many a holy and obsequious 
 tear" from his eye. They are the 
 
 10. "Lovers gone, 
 
 II. Who all their parts of me to thee did give." 
 
 SONNET XXXII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 He speaks of his Muse as out-living him, and 
 entreats her to treasure up his "rude lines" "for 
 14. his love" and not "for their style."
 
 60 
 
 SONNET XXXIII. 
 No Apostrophe 
 At first his poetry was known to be by him, 
 but he soon adopted his nom de plume, "the region 
 cloud:" 
 
 9. "Even so my sun one early morn did shine 
 
 10. With all triumphent splendor on my brow; 
 
 11. But out, alack! he was but one hour mine; 
 
 12. The region cloud hath mask'd him from me 
 
 now." 
 
 SONNET XXXIV. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse as the sun 
 
 9. "Thy shame," i. e., to be known by the false 
 
 name Shakespeare. 
 
 SONNET XXXV. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Authorizing thy trespass with compare, 
 i. e., adopting his assumed name. 
 14. "That sweet thief which sourly robs from 
 
 me," his nom de plume Shakespeare. "The sensual 
 fault," seen on the Folio title-page. "Thy adverse 
 party is thy advocate," i. e.. Bacon himself. 
 
 SONNET XXXVI. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 A plain Sonnet in which he sets forth his 
 relation assumed toward her: 
 
 9. "I may not evermore acknowledge thee 
 
 10. Lest my bewailed guilt (i. e., his assumed 
 name) should do thee shame." Compare the last 
 two lines with those of Sonnet 96. 
 
 SONNET XXXVII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 3. "So I, made lame by fortune's dearest spite," 
 
 i. e., lame by his nom de plume, "fortune's dearest 
 spite." A pretty connet!
 
 El 
 
 SONNET XXXVIII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 Tlie first sonnet in which he expressly men- 
 tions his Muse as inspiring his verse : 
 2. "That pour'st into my verse 
 
 Thine own sweet argument, too excellent 
 
 For every vulgar paper to rehearse." 
 He wishes his Muse to be 
 
 "The tenth Muse, ten times more in worth 
 Than those old nine which rhymers invocate." 
 The nine were: 
 
 Clio, the Muse of heroic exploits, or of hist- 
 ory; Euterpe, of Dionysiac music and the double 
 flute; Thalia, of gaity, pastoral life, and comedy; 
 Melpomene, of song and harmony, and of tragedy; 
 Terpsichore, of choral dance and song; Erato, of 
 erotic poetry and the lyre; Polmnia or Polyhym- 
 nia, of the inspired and stately hymn; Urania, of 
 astronomical and other celestial phenomena; and 
 Caliope, the chief of the Muses of poetic inspiration, 
 of eloquence, and of heroic or epic poetry. (Cen. 
 Die, Art. Muse.) 
 
 "He that calls on thee," i. e., he that reads 
 his Muse, the Immortal Plays, — 
 
 "Let him bring forth 
 
 Eternal numbers to outlive long date." 
 
 SONNET XXXIX 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 This sonnet is noteworthy because here he 
 
 gives a reason why he is "separated" from his Muse, 
 
 by means of his nom de plume. By assuming this 
 
 relation to his Muse he was enabled to praise it: — 
 
 5. "Even for this let us divided live 
 
 6. And our dear love loose name of simple one, 
 
 7. That by this separation I may give 
 
 8. That due to thee which thou deservest alone." 
 Compare 1. 4 with Son. 62 1. 13.
 
 62 
 
 SONNET XL. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 9. "I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief," i. e., 
 
 the robbery of his nom de pkime. 
 
 SONNET XLI. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Except the last two lines which is an apostroi)he to* 
 his Tiom de plume, Shakespeare. This abrupt 
 change from one apostrophe to anoiiier is one of 
 the many ways used to confuse the meairirig that 
 his identity may not shine through too plainly. 
 12. "Where thou art forced to break a twofold 
 
 ti*uth," i. e., where his Muse is forced to divulge a 
 twofold truth: 
 IS. "Hers (i. e., her truth, that of his Muse,, 
 
 being like one shaking a speare) by thy 
 beauty (i. e., the fitness of the name Shake- 
 speare) tempting her to thee, 
 14. Thine (i. e., the truth that the name Shake- 
 
 speare fits his Muse) by thy beauty being 
 false to me." 
 
 SONNET XLII. 
 Apostrophe to his nom de plume Shake-speare. 
 
 In lines 8, 10 and 13 he calls it his "friend." 
 
 "My friend and I are one" 1. 13. 
 
 1. "That thou hast her" (1. 1.) i. e., that the 
 
 name Shake-speare has his Muse, that his Muse goes 
 
 by that name. 
 
 SONNET XLIII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 1. "When I most wink," i. e., when he gives the 
 
 plainest hints at his name as in L. L. L. and else- 
 where ; these are the "things unrespected," they are 
 "Darkly bright are bright in dark directed."
 
 B3 
 
 SONNET XLTV. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 A fine sonnet, addressing his Muse as being 
 distant from him. 
 
 SONNET XLV. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 "The other two, hght air and purging fire:" 
 The first two, earth and water, are named in Son- 
 net 44, line 11. Fire, water, earth, and air were the 
 four things falsy regarded by the ancients as the 
 ■constituents of which all things are composed. He 
 compares his thought to "light air," and his desire 
 to "purging fire;" his body is, — 
 
 ■"So much of earth and water WTOught." 
 
 SONNET XLVI. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 5. 'TVIy heart doth plead that thou in him dost 
 
 lie," i. e., in Shake-speare, the nom de plume. 
 7. "But the defendant doth that plead deny 
 
 8. And says in him (i. e., in Bacon) thy fair 
 
 appearance lies." 
 
 SONNET XLVII. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 10. "Thyself away art present still with me," his 
 
 Muse considered as absent from him through 
 his nom de plume. 
 
 SONNET XLVIII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 *'How careful was I, when I took my way, 
 Each trifle under truest bars to thrust, 
 That to my use it might unused stay 
 From hands of falsehood, in sure wards of 
 
 trust." 
 Here he accurately describes how, when he decided 
 to conceal his authorship under the name Shake- 
 speare, he took every precaution that his name
 
 64 
 
 might be covered up and yet remain secure as part 
 of his very Muse. This is novv'here more clearly seen 
 than in Love's Labour Lost and in his name on the 
 Great title-page of his Muse. In the next line he 
 calls these trifles "my jewels." 
 
 SONNET XLIX. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 In the first eight lines he contemplates the 
 time, — 
 
 1. "If ever that time come," 
 when his Muse shall be known only as 
 "Shakespeare's." 
 
 9. "Against that time I do ensconse me here," 
 
 against such an vent he has ensconced himself well 
 in his Muse. 
 
 SONNET L. 
 Apostrophe to Himself, lines 4 and 8. 
 
 2. "My weary travel's end," i. e., being ultimate- 
 ly known author of his Muse. 
 
 4. "Thus far the miles are measured from thy 
 friend," i. e., from his Muse. 
 
 5. "The beast that bears me (i. e., hog in allusion 
 t to his name Bacon, in The Figure,) tired with my 
 
 woe 
 
 6. Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me 
 
 7. As if by some instinct the wretch did know 
 
 8. His rider loved not speed, being made from 
 thee," i. e., being made from Bacon. Hence 
 
 "groan" in lines 11 and 13. Compare sonnet 
 with L. L. L. IV. 2. 86. 
 
 SONNET LI. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 An interesting and amusing sonnet. In al- 
 lusion to his name he pictures himself as speeding 
 2. away from his Muse on his "dull bearer," the hog. 
 Uutil he is discovered there is no need of 
 haste, —
 
 Srf- 
 
 'V..,- i i^urc.ihacchou ha 
 
 WhrrcinihcGMu'.r h^ 
 wiih Nature, toojc .; 
 
 0,i.u.i;.! hcl>utl«ucdtj .■ 
 AiWcllu>bnlli;,l<I. 
 
 Hi-hcc , iheftuitwoi.. 
 .\.l,cluiwiscu<-rvv 
 ■. t.;iiKeliCJjnf»oi, Ri . 
 Noi on hj Piilturc. ! „i 
 
 SHAKESPEARtS 
 
 BACON RETURNED 
 
 The mask of the Figure removed, 'the suspicious head of theft is 
 stopp'd (L. L. L. IV. 3. 33G) exposing BACON, (hog) 'the beast that 
 bears me' (Sonnet L. 5). 
 
 "Till I return of posting is no need. 
 
 O what excuse will my poor beast then find. 
 
 When swift extremity can seem but slow ? 
 
 Then should I spur, though mounted on the wind. 
 
 In winged speed no motion shall I know." — Sonnet LI. 4-8. 
 
 Plate VII. a.
 
 65 
 
 4. "Till I return, of posting is no need." But 
 
 when he is seen as the author of his Muse, then the 
 fastest speed is slow, — 
 7. "Then should I spur, though mounted on the 
 
 wind." 
 
 He will run to meet her, — 
 14. "Towards thee I'll run, and give him leave 
 
 to go." 
 
 SONNET LII. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 2. He compares his Muse to an "up-locked 
 treasure" (1. 2.), — 
 
 3. "The which he will not every hour survey." 
 Time keeps his Muse, — 
 
 9. "So is the time, that keeps you as my chest" 
 
 in order, — 
 
 11. "To make some special instant special blest 
 
 12. By new unfolding his imprison'd pride," i. e., 
 his authorship. 
 
 SONNET LHI. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 A stirring sonnet praising his Muse, compar- 
 ing her excellence with different known objects of 
 beauty. But her heart is constant for Bacon : 
 
 "But you like none, none you, for constant 
 
 heart." 
 
 SONNET LIV 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Having compared his Muse to Roses he says 
 of her: 
 
 13. "And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth, 
 
 14. When that shall fade my verse distill your 
 truth," 
 
 that is, when his Muse gets old, in the course of 
 time, his authorship will be finally established and 
 fully understood.
 
 66 
 
 SONNET LV. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 2. "This powerful rhyme" (1. 2.) i. e,, these 
 sonnets. His Muse — 
 
 3. "Shall shine more bright in these contents 
 Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish 
 time." 
 
 And, — 
 
 10. "Shall pace forth ; your praise shall still 
 
 find room 
 
 11. Even in the eyes of all posterity 
 
 12. That wear this world out to the ending- 
 
 doom." 
 
 The opening parts of this sonnet, like those of 
 
 sonnet 65 remind us of the opening parts of L. L. L. 
 
 SONNET LVI. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 "This sad interim" (1. 9.) i. e., from the time 
 his Muse became known by the name Shakespeare 
 until he is seen to be the true author. This interim 
 is called "winter," 1. 13. and elsewhere. 
 
 SONNET LVII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 He compares himself to a slave that does her 
 biddings. 
 
 SONNET LVHI. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Much hke the preceding. 
 
 SONNET LIX. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 "Composed wonder," his Plays, his Musp. He 
 expresses a wish that he could look forward, — 
 6. "Five hundred courses of the sun," 
 
 in order, — 
 9. "That I might see what the old world could 
 
 say
 
 67_ 
 
 10. To this composed wonder of your frame." 
 
 SONNET LX. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Describing the mutabihty of thirigs he as- 
 serts his verse, these sonnets, shall endure to praise 
 his Muse: 
 
 13. 'And yet to times in hope my verse shall t-tand 
 
 14. Praising thy worth despite his cruel hand." 
 
 SONNET LXI. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 12. Describing himself as her watchman, line 12. 
 
 SONNET LXII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 13. "Tis thee, myself, that for myself I praise." 
 
 SONNET LXIII. 
 
 No Apostrophe 
 
 3. "When hours have drained his (i. e., Bacon's) 
 blood and fill'd his brow 
 
 4. With lines and wrinkles," 
 then, — 
 
 9. "For such a time do I now fortify" 
 
 in order that, — 
 
 13. "His (i. e., Bacon's) beauty shall in these 
 black lines be seen, 
 
 14. And they shall live, and he in them still 
 
 green." 
 
 SONNET LXIV. 
 No Apostrophe 
 He considered how Time changes everything ; 
 this, — 
 
 11. "Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate, 
 
 12. That Time will come and take my love away," 
 i. e., his Muse; that the Plays may be lost to him. 
 
 SONNET LXV. 
 No Apostrophe 
 A general consideration of the ruinous effects
 
 68 
 
 of Time. Therefore how can his Muse, Time's best 
 jewel, be preserved? 
 
 9. "Where, alack, 
 
 10. Shall Time's best jewel from Time's chest lie 
 
 hid?" 
 But perhaps, — 
 
 "This miracle have might 
 That in black ink my love may still shine 
 
 bright." 
 This Sonnet also like Sonnet 55 reminds us of the 
 opening lines in Love's Labour Lost. 
 
 SONNET LXVL 
 
 No Apostrophe 
 An interesting sonnet in which he recounts 
 the relation sustained to his Muse by means of his 
 nom de plume, "Shakespeare" which is, — 
 
 3. "Needy nothing trimmed in jollity. 
 And so is, — 
 
 4. "Purest faith unhappily forsworn 
 
 5. And gilded honour shamefully misplaced, 
 
 6. And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted, 
 
 7. And right perfection wrongfully disgraced, 
 7. And strength by limping sway disabled, 
 
 9. And art made tongue-tied by authority, 
 
 10. And folly doctor-like controlling skill 
 
 11. And simple truth miscall'd simplicity, 
 
 12. And captive good attending captain ill." 
 
 SONNET LXVIL 
 
 No Apostrophe 
 A sonnet to his nom de plume, "Shakespeare." 
 The Figure is, — 
 5. "False painting imitate his cheek," i. e., 
 
 Shakespeare's. 
 
 SONNET LXVIIL 
 
 No Apostrophe 
 1. Shakespeare's cheek is, — 
 
 "The map of days outworn."
 
 ^ 69 
 
 Being a "Mirror up to Nature," he calls his Muse 
 "Nature." 
 
 13. "And him as for a map doth Nature store 
 
 14. To show false Art what beauty was of yore." 
 See Hamlet, Act III. 2. 22: Nature. 
 
 SONNET LXIX. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 He describes her as perfect. 
 
 1. "Those parts of thee that the world's eye doth 
 
 view 
 
 2. Want nothing that the thought of hearts can 
 
 mend." 
 But the same tongues that praise his Muse con- 
 found it, "in guess," by thinking it Shake-speare's — 
 
 10. "And that, in guess, they measure by thy 
 
 deeds," i. e., Shake-speare, because, — 
 
 8. "By seeing farther than the eye hath shown," 
 
 by not understanding the Introductory Poem and 
 The Figure, Bacon's name, which is seen so plainly 
 on the Title-page and in Love's Labour Lost of 
 his Book. 
 
 SONNET LXX. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 1. "That thou art blamed shall not be thy de- 
 
 fect," i. e., what appear as faults are so only when 
 his Muse is not understood: for, — 
 
 5. "Slander doth but approve 
 
 6. Thy worth the greater, being woo'd of time," 
 being understood in time to come. If his Muse were 
 not suspected to be of Shake-speare, — 
 
 13. "If some suspect of ill mask'd not thy show 
 
 14. Then thou alone kingdoms of hearts shouldst 
 
 owe." 
 
 SONNET LXXI. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 He entreats her not to mourn long for him 
 when he is dead, —
 
 70 
 
 13, "Lest the wise world should look into your 
 
 moan 
 
 14. And mock you with me after I am gone."' 
 "To look into her moan," to begin to see in her his. 
 marks of authorship. 
 
 SONNET LXXII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Still entreating her to leave him forgotten 
 when he is dead, — 
 
 9. "Lest 3,T)ur true love may seem false in this 
 
 10. That you for love speak well of me untrue,'* 
 "untrue" because he left his Muse to the name 
 "Shakespeare." 
 
 SONNET LXXIIL 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 He compares his old age with the autumn of 
 the year, the twilight of day, and to smouldering and 
 dying fire. A beautiful sonnet. 
 
 SONNET LXXIV. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 He entreats her to be contented though he be 
 dead; for these Sonnets are her's: 
 
 5. "When thou reviewest this, thou dost review 
 
 6. The very part was consecrate to thee." 
 And, — 
 
 8. "My spirit is thine, the better part of me." 
 
 SONNET LXXV. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 He expresses his appreciation of her: 
 
 1. "So are you to my thoughts so fond to life 
 
 2. Or as sweet-season'd showers are to the 
 
 ground." 
 
 SONNET LXXVL 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 5. "Why write I still all one, ever the same, 
 
 6. And keep invention in a noted weed,"
 
 71 
 
 The noted "weed," i. e., dress, is his nom de plume 
 ''Shakespeare:" it was a well-known name already. 
 
 7. "That every word doth almost tell* my name, 
 
 5. Showing their birth and where they did pro- 
 
 ceed?" 
 Here he has express reference to the Introductory 
 Poem in the Folio in which "every word doth almost 
 sell" his name, — 
 
 8. "Showing their birth and where they did pro- 
 ceed ?" that is they proceed iDy the preposition BI, by, 
 as leader to his name on the next page of the title- 
 page, and thereby "showing their birth^' alno show- 
 ing who wrote them. 
 
 SONNET LXXVII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 The Sonnets are "thy glass," L. L. L. W. 
 3. 40 : my tears (sonnets) for glas.ses, they show her 
 beauties. The titie-page of the Great Folio is "thy 
 7. dial," which shows the "shady stealth." The son- 
 nets truly show the wrinkles of Bacon's name and 
 
 6. authorship and these "mouthed graves will give thee 
 memory " of himself. The "vacant leaves" are shown 
 in the Folio by the purposed mispagination, making 
 leaves appear lost or "vacant," and are called "waste 
 blanks," 1. 10. which plan is also to reveal his 
 namet, — 
 
 10. "Commit to these waste blanks, and thou 
 shalt find 
 
 11. Those children nursed delivered from my 
 
 brain," 
 And this, — 
 14. "Shall profit thee and much enrich thy 
 
 book ;" to know that Bacon is the author im- 
 
 *This word is spelled 'sel' in the original quarto purposely te confuse 
 the uninitiated. 
 
 tSee Bacon is Shakespeare, also The Shakespeare Myth, p. 18 ff for 
 pagination of the Folio of 1623.
 
 72 
 
 measurably enriches his book. 
 
 SONNET LXXVIII. 
 
 Apostrophe to his nom de plume 
 The name "ShaKe-spare" has inspired all his 
 poetry : 
 10. "Whose influence is thine and born of thee."" 
 
 2. Since he had "found such fair assistance" from its 
 use others had beg-un to use it for their productions. 
 But not knowing^ the deepsignificance of the scheme 
 of the name as used by Bacon, therefore, — 
 
 "In others' works thou dust but mend the 
 
 style:" 
 but to Bacon it is the source of his poesy, — 
 13. "Thou art all my art." cf. Son. CXXVII. 
 
 SONNET LXXIX. 
 Apostrophe, in the first four lines, to his nom 
 de plume: the last ten to his Muse. This sonnet is 
 chiefly remarkable for telling us how the poet 
 originated the word, "Shake-speare." 
 
 9. "He stole that word 
 
 10. From thy behavior;" that is, he invented the 
 name from her behavior, the meaning, of his Muse. 
 She shakes the spear in challenge to find her out, 
 to understand her. 
 
 SONNET LXXX. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 He speaks of his nom de plume Shake-speare 
 as one who, — 
 
 3. "Spends all his might 
 
 4. To make me tongue-tied," i. e., to conceal 
 his own name, his authorship. 
 
 SONNET LXXXI. . 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 His Muse will live, though he be forgotten. 
 13. "You still shall live — such virtue hath my 
 
 pen."
 
 73 
 
 SONNET LXXXII. 
 Apostrophe, the first four lines to his nom 
 de plume, the last fourteen to his Muse. 
 His Muse is, — 
 5. "As fair in knowledge as in hue," i. e., ap- 
 
 pearance, therefore, — 
 
 11. Thou truly fair wert truly sympathized 
 
 12. In true plain words by thy true-telling 
 
 friend." 
 Bacon is her true-telling friend in these 
 sonnets. 
 
 SONNET LXXXIII. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 His Muse exceeds the praise of a modern 
 poet; therefore, keeping his name from common 
 view, — 
 
 9. "This silence for my sin you did impute 
 
 10. Which shall be most my glory being dumb." 
 To have given his pseudo-name to his Muse 
 
 he calls his "sin," and, — 
 
 13. "There lives in one of your fair eyes 
 
 14. Than both your poets can in praise devise," 
 "both your poets," i. e., Bacon and Bacon as Shake- 
 speare. 
 
 SONNET LXXXIV. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 She is unequalled; there is none like her, — 
 
 3. "In whose confine immured is the store 
 
 4. Which should example where your equal 
 grew," meaning that his name is "immured" in his 
 poetry, showing the authorship. 
 
 SONNET LXXXV. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 1. "Tongue-tied Muse;" because of his nom de 
 
 plume. 
 
 SONNET LXXXVI. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 He was not afraid that the actor, Shaxper
 
 74 
 
 could usurp his Muse, — 
 
 12. "I was not sick of anj^ fear from thence," 
 but when the actor began to adopt the spelHng of 
 the name Shake-speare, the nom de phime of Bacon's 
 Muse: 
 
 13. "But when your (i. e., his Muse's) counte- 
 nance fill'd up his hue 
 
 14. Then lack'd I matter; that enfeebled mine." 
 
 SONNET LXXXVII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Having adopted the name, Shakespeare, as 
 his nom de plume and his Muse being henceforth 
 known by that name, he bids her farewell. 
 
 SONNET LXXXVIII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 By his remaining unknown his Muse will win 
 much glory: 
 
 8. "That thou in losing mo rhall win much 
 
 glory." 
 
 SONNET LXXXTX. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 He will disavow his own Muse : 
 13. "For thee against myself I'll vow debate." 
 
 SONNET XC. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 He speaks of her as leaving him — through 
 his nom de plume: 
 
 9. "If thou wilt leave me, do not leave me last, 
 
 10. When other petty griefs have done their spite 
 
 11. But in the outset come, so shall I taste 
 
 12. At first the very worst of fortune's might, 
 
 13. And other strains of woe, which now 
 
 seem woe. 
 Compared with loss of thee will not 
 
 seem so."
 
 75 
 
 SONNET XCI. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 The love of his Muse is better to him than 
 all others of world's pleasure; that is, to be her 
 author is greater to him than anything else: 
 12. "And having thee, of all men's pride I boast." 
 
 SONNET XCII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 But she can not leave him, — 
 2. "For term of life thou art assured mine." 
 
 When she tries to steal away from him, then his 
 marks, his title, are revealed: 
 
 10. "Since that my life on thy revolt doth lie, 
 
 11. 0, what a happy title do I find!" 
 
 SONNET XCIII. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Bacon will ever live in her looks, his name 
 never be effaced from his Muse, — 
 
 5. "For there can live no hatred in thine eye 
 
 6. Therefore in that I cannot know thy change." 
 This Sonnet portrays her dual relation to the author, 
 as Bacon and as "Shakespeare." 
 
 SONNET XCIV. 
 
 No Apostrophe 
 He considers his relation to his Muse like 
 those, — 
 
 1. "That have power to hurt and will do none, 
 
 2. That do not do the thing they most do show." 
 
 SONNET XCV. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 His nom de plume "Shake-speare" is, — 
 
 1. "The shame 
 
 2. Which, like a canker in the fragrant rose, 
 
 3. Doth spot the beauty of thy budding name." 
 
 SONNET XCVI. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse
 
 76 
 
 A most important and remarkable Sonnet, 
 in which he speaks of the apparent errors of his 
 Muse, and explains that they are placed there 
 purposely: and to those that understand them, — 
 
 4. "Thou makest faults graces," 
 and, — 
 
 5. "As on the finger of a throned queen 
 
 6. The basest jewel will be well esteem'd; 
 
 7. So are those errors that in thee are seen 
 
 8. To truths translated and for true things 
 
 deem'd." 
 It is very interesting to note here what the people 
 thought of these errors at the time: some thought 
 they were due to unripe scholarship, to "youth," 
 others thought they were put there on purpose, due 
 to "wantonness." Nowhere is this more apparent 
 or better illustrated than in Love's Labour's Lost. 
 See Act V. 1, pp. 44-45. 
 
 The last two lines of this Sonnet are the 
 same as those in Sonnet XXXVL 
 
 SONNET XCVIL 
 Apostrophe to his Muse. 
 He compares his "absence" from his Muse to 
 "winter" : 
 
 1. "How like winter hath my absence been from thee." 
 
 2. This is a common simile with the author. 
 
 SONNET XCVHL 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 His Muse is like, — 
 6. "Different flowers in order and in hue." 
 
 She is their pattern: 
 
 9. "Nor did I wonder at the lily's white, 
 
 10. Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose; 
 
 11. They were but sweet, but figures of delight, 
 
 12. Drawn after you, you pattern of aii those."
 
 77 
 
 SOMNET XCIX. 
 Apostrophes to the violet, syiiiholical of liis 
 nom de phime, and to his Muse. Hence, — 
 
 1. "Sweet thief, whence dids't thou steal thy 
 sweet that smells 
 
 2. If not from my love's breath?" 
 Of roses: 
 
 7. "The roses fearfulb^ on thorns did stand 
 
 8. One blushing shame, another white despair," 
 emblematic of Bacon and his Muse: 
 
 9. "A third, nor red, nor white, had stol'n of 
 both," emblematic of the actor ShaxiDer who allov/ed 
 himself to become identified with Bacon's nom de 
 plume, Shape-speare, 
 
 10. "And to his robbery had annex'd thy breath ; 
 
 11. But, for his thief t, in pride of all his growth 
 
 12. A vengful canker eat him up to death." 
 
 SONNET C. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Invoking the return of his Muse he requests 
 her to survey his "love's " his Muse's "sweet face," 
 and to, — 
 
 13. "Give my love fame faster than Time wastes 
 
 Hfe." 
 
 SONNET CI. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 The use of his nom de plume "Shake-speare" 
 for his Muse he calls, — 
 2. "Neglect of truth in beauty dyed." 
 
 Will Muse remain dumb though he, (Bacon) needs 
 no praise: 
 9. "Because he needs no praise, wilt thou be 
 
 dumb?" 
 It lies with Muse, — 
 
 11. "To make him much outlive a gilded tomb, 
 
 12. And to be praised of ages yet to be."
 
 78 
 
 SONNET CII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 He speaks of their mutual love, which is "not 
 less" though he uses an assumed name, — 
 2 "I love not less, though less the show appear." 
 
 And like Philomel, — 
 
 13. "I sometime hold my tongue 
 
 14. Because I would not dull you (i. e., his Muse) 
 
 wdth my song." 
 
 SONNET cm. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 His verses tell of the gifts and graces of his 
 Muse : 
 
 11. "For to no other pass my verses tend 
 
 12. Than of your graces and your gifts to tell." 
 
 SONNET CIV. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 His Muse is never old to him: 
 1. "To me, fair friend, you never can be old." 
 
 But the coming ages should know that, — 
 14. "Ere you were born was beauty's summer 
 
 dead, that is, dead to him and so to others, through 
 his assumed name. 
 
 SONNET CV. 
 No Apostrophe 
 Of his Muse, — 
 9. "'Fair, kind, and true' is all my argument." 
 
 SONNET CVI. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 All their praises of former times, — 
 
 9. "Are but prophicies 
 
 10. Of this our time, all you prefiguring." 
 
 SONNET CVH. 
 Apostrophe to himself 
 His Muse is, because hidden under a pseudo- 
 nym, —
 
 79 
 
 4. "Supposed as forfeit to a confined doom." 
 
 Through his assumed name she subscribes "death" 
 to him, literary death : 
 
 10. "My love looks fresh, and death to me sub- 
 scribes," yet in spite of "Shake-speare," — 
 
 11. "Since, spite of him, I'll live in this poor 
 rhyme," while the great multitude does not under- 
 stand that "Shake-speare" is a nom de plume, — 
 
 12. "While he insults over dull and speechless 
 
 tribes." 
 Bacon shall find his monument in this rhyme, — 
 
 13. "And thou in this shalt find thy monument 
 
 14. When tyrants' crests and tombs of brass are 
 
 spent." 
 
 SONNET CVm. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 Everything- has been said, — 
 
 4. "That may express my love or thy dear 
 
 merit." 
 Anything- new to reg-ister in her praise? 
 
 5. "Nothing, sweet boy," i. e., Cupid as Shake- 
 speare, the name of his Muse, as seen from line 
 eight, — 
 
 8. "Even as when first I hallow'd thy fair 
 
 name," here also referred to as Cupid' The Figure 
 on the title-page of the Folio, "for gentle Shake- 
 speare cut." He is the "sweet boy" with "his love- 
 kindling fire," "his heart-inflaming brand," his 
 "fire new words," shooting his shafts, his spears 
 seen in his collar, hence "shake-speare," to win 
 Bacon for his love, his Muse. 
 
 SONNET CIX. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Though "absent" under the assumed name 
 he is not false to his Muse, and will return again, — 
 
 5. "If I have ranged, 
 
 6. Like him that travels I return again,"
 
 80 
 
 he will in time be known by his proper name. 
 
 SONNET ex. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 He acknowledges that he has wandered "here 
 and there" from her, and, — 
 
 5. "Looked on truth 
 
 6. Askance and strangely," imputing the 
 authorship to "Shake-speare." 
 
 SONNET CXI. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Her pity, her love for him as her author, is 
 enough to cure him of public manners bred by 
 public means: 
 
 13. "Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye 
 
 14. Even that your pity is enough to cure me." 
 
 SONNET CXn. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 There were so many things, "love and pity," 
 in his Muse that pointed to him as her author that 
 he became more or less suspected of this fact (vul- 
 gar scandal') : 
 
 1. "Your love and pity doth the impression fill 
 
 2. Which vulgar scandall stamp'd upon my 
 brow." Cf. Son. 131, 14. "slander:" and Son. 140, 
 12, "mad slanderers." 
 
 SONNET CXni. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 His mind is all taken up with his Muse: 
 
 9. "For if it see the rudest gentlest sight, 
 
 10. The most sweet favor or deformed'st creat- 
 
 ure, 
 
 11. The mountain or the sea, the day or night, 
 
 12. The crow or dove, it shapes them to your 
 
 feature."
 
 81 
 
 SONNET CXIV. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 His mind is flatter'd with his Muse: 
 
 1. "Or, whether doth my mind, being crowned 
 
 with you, 
 
 2. Drink up the monarch's plague, this 
 
 flattery?" 
 
 SONNET CXV. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Fearing time's tyranny that he might never 
 be seen the author of his Muse he "loves" her best 
 now: 
 
 9, "Alas, why, fearing of time's tyranny, 
 
 10. When I was certain o'er incertainty, 
 
 12. Crowning the present, doubting of the rest?" 
 
 SONNET CXVI. 
 
 No Apostrophe 
 He asserts the constancy of love. 
 
 SONNET CXVn. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Let her accuse him of having "hoisted sail" 
 (through his nom de plume) "to all the winds:" 
 
 7. "That I have hoisted sail to all the winds 
 
 8. Which should transport me farthest from 
 
 your sight." 
 
 SONNET CXVHI. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Like as, — 
 4. "We sicken to shun sickness when we purge." 
 
 So he by assuming his nom de plume: 
 
 6. "To bitter sauces did I frame my feeding 
 
 7. And, sick of welfare, found a kind of meetness 
 
 8. To be diseased ere that there was true need- 
 
 ing."
 
 S2 
 
 sonn:et cxix. 
 
 No Apostrophe 
 His Muse is made better by his assumed 
 name, the "evil •/' 
 
 9. "0 benefit of ill! now I find true 
 
 10. That better is by evil still made better,'* 
 and, — 
 
 13. "So I return rebuked to my content 
 
 14, And gain by ill thrice more than I have spent."" 
 
 SOKNET CXX. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 1. She was "once unkind" to him due to his 
 
 3. "transgression," the adoption of his assumed name i 
 
 5. "For if you were by my unkindness shaken 
 
 6. As I by yours, you've pass'd a hell of time." 
 9. His "descent" he calls "our night of woe," 1. 9. 
 
 SONNET CXXI. 
 No Apostrophe 
 He compares, in a general way, what appears 
 to be with what is actual. 
 
 SONNET CXXH. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 He calls his several plays the "tables," the 
 "gift" of his Muse,— 
 
 1. "'Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain 
 
 2. Full character'd with lasting memory." 
 They will outlive those of others : 
 
 3. "Which shall above that idle rank remain 
 
 4. Bej^ond all date, even to eternity." 
 
 He trusts "those tables" with his name to retain it 
 for him ; the ordinary way "that poor retention" is 
 too uncertain: 
 
 9. "That poor retention could not so much hold 
 
 10. Nor need I tallies thy dear love to score: 
 
 11. Therefore to give them from me was I bold, 
 
 12. To trust those tables that receive thee more."
 
 83 
 
 SONNET CXXIII. 
 
 Apostrophe to Time 
 He defies Time and its records that he will 
 not change, that his Muse will outlast Time: 
 9. "Thy registers and thee I both defy." 
 
 SONNET CXXIV. 
 
 No Apostrophe 
 His Muse v/as builded far from accident: 
 5. ■"No it was builded far from accident." 
 
 SONNET CXXV. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Without openly proclaiming his authorsbip he 
 is satisfied to remain submissive to his Muse: 
 
 9. "Let me be obsequious in thy heart, 
 
 10. And take thou my oblation, poor but free." 
 
 SONNET CXXVI. 
 Apostrophe to Cupid, The Figure 
 The Figure has it in its power to determine the time 
 when Bacon's name shall be seen in it, and so win 
 him for his Muse: 
 
 1. "0 thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power 
 
 2. Dost hold Time's fickle glass, his sickle, hour; 
 
 3. Who hast by waning grown, and therein 
 
 show'st, 
 
 4. Thy lover's withering as thy sweet self 
 
 grow'st." 
 Nature, i. e., his Plays*, his Muse, keeps Cupid, 
 "Shakespeare," The Figure, — 
 
 7. "To this purpose, that her skill 
 
 8. May time disgrace and wretched minutes kill." 
 He is the "minion of her pleasure," and, — 
 
 11. "Her audit, though delay'd, answer'd must 
 
 be, 
 
 12. And her quietus is to render thee," i. e., to 
 
 *See "Mirror up nature," Hamlet, III. 2. 20.
 
 84 
 
 give up the secret of The Fiugure, viz., Bacon's 
 name. The vacant lines 13 and 14 are indicated by 
 two set of parentheses in the quarto. This is done 
 to indicate a place for the answer to the last line. 
 Here ends the first series of Sonnets. 
 
 SONNET CXXVII. 
 
 No Apostrophe 
 Another remarkable Sonnet, that gives us 
 much information. It refers to the theft of the name 
 "Shakespeare" by the printers' and publishers' af- 
 fixing it to a great variety of writings that were not 
 Bacon's : 
 
 6. "Fairing the foul with art's false borrow'd 
 
 face." 
 The name Shakespeare was his art's false 
 face, which they borrowed. Hence, — 
 
 7. "Sweet beauty (i. e., his Muse) hath no 
 name, no holy hour, 
 
 8. But is profaned, if not lives in disgrace," 
 from bad company. Therefore, — 
 
 3. "Now is black beauty's successive heir, 
 
 4. And beauty slandered with a bastard shame ;" 
 And, — 
 
 9. "Therefore my mistress' brows are raven 
 
 black 
 
 10. Her eyes so suited that they mourners seem 
 
 11. At such who, not born fair, no beauty lack, 
 
 12. Slandering creation with a false esteem." 
 Cf. Son. LXXVHI. 
 
 SONNET CXXVHI 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 The wood-cut of The Figure upon which, — 
 
 1. "Thou my music, music play'st," 
 he calls, — 
 
 2. "That blessed wood whose motion sounds 
 
 3. With thy sweet fingers."
 
 85 
 
 He onviss the letters of The Figure, "those dancing 
 chips," "those jacks," — 
 
 5. "That nimble leap 
 
 6. To Idss the tender inward of thy hand." 
 
 SONNET CXXIX. 
 No Apostrophe 
 General consideration of, — 
 
 I. *'The expense of spirit in a waste of shame," 
 suggested by his assumed relation toward his Muse. 
 
 SONNET CXXX. 
 
 No Apostrophe 
 He avers that he never saw the Goddess Muse 
 go, but his Muse, being in himself, and committed to 
 paper, "treads on the ground:" 
 
 II. "I grant I never saw a goddess go; — 
 
 12. My mistress when she walks treads on the 
 
 ground." 
 The goddess Muse is "belied" by comparing her with 
 earthly muse; so is his Muse behed by affixing her 
 name "Shakespeare" to poetry not his: 
 
 13. "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as fair 
 
 14. And as she belied with false compare." 
 
 In allusion to the ancient custom of winding the 
 ridge, or top, of the helmet with wires* he says: 
 4. "If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her 
 
 head." 
 A helmet suggests the mask of The Figure, the 
 mask of his Muse. 
 
 SONNET CXXXI. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 12. For "black" cf . Sonnets 127 ; 132, 13 ; 147, 14. 
 
 14. For "slander" cf. Son. 112. 2. "vulgar scan- 
 
 *0'er the roof of the helmet high, a ridge wound with wires kept 
 ward o'er the head,' — Beowulf, XV. 41. See Harvard Classics, Vol. 49 
 for illustrations.
 
 86 
 
 dal;" Sonnet 140, 12. "mad slanderers." 
 
 SONNET CXXXII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 Her "eyes" are pitying him because of his 
 secret authorship, his "pain:" 
 
 1. "Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me 
 
 2. Knowing thy heart torments me with disdain 
 
 3. Have put on black and loving mourners be, 
 
 4. Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain." 
 
 SONNET CXXXIH. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Her heart makes his heart to "g^^oan," giving 
 a wound to his "friend," "Shakespeare," his nom de 
 plume, and to himself: 
 
 1. "Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to 
 
 groan 
 
 2. For that deep wound it gives my friend and 
 
 me." 
 
 SONNET CXXXIV. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 A very remarkable sonnet, very plain in its 
 statements of his relation to "Will Shakespeare," 
 "that other mine," his pseudonym, and to his Muse: 
 
 1. "So now I have confess'd that he is thine, 
 
 2. And I myself am mortgaged to thy will." 
 And, — 
 
 7. "He leam'd but surety-like to write for me 
 
 8. Under that bond that him as fast doth bind." 
 
 SONNET CXXXV. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Another remarkably plain sonnet, speaking 
 openly of "Will Shakespeare." Playing with the 
 name "Will" he closes by saying that we shall, — 
 14. "Think all but one, and me in that one "Will."
 
 87 
 
 SONNET CXXXVI. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 One similar to the last preceding one. Bacon 
 claims openly that his name is Will, that is "Will 
 Shakespeare," — 
 
 13. "Make but my name thy love, and love that 
 
 still, 
 
 14. And then thou lovest me, for my name is 
 
 "Will." 
 He could not come nearer telling the secret, 
 and keeping it too. 
 
 SONNET CXXXVII. 
 Apostrophe to Love 
 Love has made his eyes blind, so that they 
 see only his Muse as his, and do not notice The 
 Figure, made to decieve, — 
 
 1. "Thou blind fool. Love, what doest thou to 
 
 mine eyes 
 
 2. That they behold and see not what they see ?" 
 Beauty lies in his Muse, — 
 
 3. "They know what beauty is, see where it lies 
 
 4. Yet what the best is take the v/orst to be." 
 The judgement of his heart, that he is the author of 
 his Muse, "is tied" to the "hooks" as formed in the 
 letter B, "the bay," of The Figure, "where all men 
 ride," i. e., which all men see: 
 
 5. "If eyes corrupt by over-partial looks 
 
 6. Be anchor'd in the bay where all men ride, 
 
 7. Why of eyes' falsehood hast thou forged 
 
 hooks 
 
 8. Whereto the judgement of my heart is tied ?" 
 The visible parts of B, eyes' falsehood, resemble two 
 hooks ; the rest of the letter is not seen, therefore, — 
 
 7. "Of eyes' falsehood hast thou forged hooks." 
 
 The Figure is "a several plot," — 
 
 9. "Why should my heart think that a several 
 
 plot
 
 10. Which my heart knows the wide world's com- 
 
 mon place V 
 This sonnet, like so many others, apparently void of 
 sense becomes beautiful and clear when, — 
 
 "To truth translated and for true things 
 
 deem'd/' 
 
 SONNET CXXXVIII. 
 
 No Apostrophe 
 His "love" is made of truth, though she "lies" 
 in the name, his pseudonym : 
 
 1. "When my love swears that she is made of 
 
 truth 
 
 2. I do believe her, though I know she lies." 
 cf. Sonnet I of The Passionate Pilgiim. The two 
 are almost identical. 
 
 SONNET CXXXIX. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 The apparent disowning of her author is her 
 unkindness, — 
 
 1. "The wrong 
 
 2. That thy unkindness lays upon my heart." 
 
 SONNET CXL. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 The author, because of his assumed name, is 
 "tongue-tied:" 
 
 1, "Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press 
 
 2. My tongue-tied patience with too much dis- 
 
 dain." 
 
 "Mad slanderers." cf. Sonnets 112, 2, "vulgar scan- 
 dal;" 131, 14, "slander." 
 
 SONNET CXLI. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 He speaks of the errors noted in her ; cf . Son- 
 net 96.
 
 89 
 
 SONNET CXLII 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Because of his "sin," his assumed name, his 
 nom de plume, the "dear virtue" of his Muse is 
 "hate,"— 
 
 1. "Love is my sin and thy dear virtue hate 
 
 2. Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving." 
 
 SONNET CXLIII 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 An interesting and mirth-provoking sonnet. 
 
 He likens his Muse to a mother setting down her 
 
 babe (Bacon) to chase a feathered creature, his nom 
 
 de plume "Shakespeare:" 
 
 9. "So runn'st thou after that which flies from 
 
 thee 
 
 10. Whilst I thy babe chase thee afar behind." 
 
 SONNET CXLIV. 
 
 No Apostrophe 
 He has two loves, his Muse and the Shake- 
 speare Figure, both giving Bacon's name, — 
 
 1. "Two loves I have of comfort and despair, 
 
 2. Which like two spirits do suggest me still." 
 The Figure is a "man right fair," his Muse is "a 
 woman color'd ill," because of his pheudonym: 
 
 3. "The better angel is a man right fair 
 
 4. The worser spirit a woman color'd ill." 
 They are both from him, — 
 
 11, "Being both from me, both to each friend." 
 
 SONNET CXLV. 
 
 No Apostrophe 
 Bacon languishes for the sake of his Muse 
 because she bears another name ; her lips, — 
 
 2. "Breathed forth the sound that said T hate' 
 
 3. To me that languish'd for her sake." 
 She hates that other name but not Bacon, — 
 
 13. " T hate' from hate away she threw,
 
 90 
 
 14. And saved my life, saying 'not you' ." 
 
 SONNET CXLVI. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 He addresses her as "poor soul,"^ — 
 
 1. "Poor soul, the center of my sinful earth."" 
 She is fooled by the outward show of the Shake- 
 speare name, therefore suffers dearth within, — 
 
 2. "Fooled by these rebel powers that thee array 
 
 3. Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth 
 
 4. Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?" 
 
 SONNET CXLVIL 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 She is represented as longing, — 
 
 2. "For that which longer nurseth the disease," 
 falsely parading under an assumed name, "the ill," — 
 
 3. "Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,"" 
 the Shakespeare name. Because of this his Muse 
 is,— 
 
 14. "Black as hell and dark as night." 
 
 cf. Sonnets 127, 131, 132. 
 
 SONNET CXLVIII. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Love, his Muse 
 
 Because of the name given her his eyes do not 
 see aright: 
 
 1. '0 me, what eyes hath Love put in my head, 
 
 2. Which have no correspondence with true 
 sight," kept blind with tears, — 
 
 13. "0 cunning Love ! with tears thou keep'st me 
 
 blind, 
 
 14. Lest eyes well-seeing thy foul faults should 
 
 find." 
 
 SONNET CXLIX. 
 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Against himself he partakes with her: 
 
 1. "Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not, 
 
 2. When I against myself with thee partake?"
 
 91 
 
 He is all tyrant of himself for her sake : 
 
 3. 'T)o I not think on thee, when I forgot 
 
 4. Am of myself, all tyrant, for thy sake?" 
 The assumed name, her defect, he worships, — 
 
 11. "All my best doth worship thy defect, 
 
 12. Commanded by the motion of thine eyes?" 
 
 SONNET CL. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 
 1. Whence has she the might to make him 
 
 3. (Bacon) "give the lie," the name "Shakespeare," 
 6. "the very refuse — of thy deeds," "thy worst," — 
 
 4. And swear that brightness doth not grace the 
 
 day?" 
 This "unworthiness" increased his love, — 
 
 13. "Thy unworthiness raised love in me 
 
 14. More worthy I to be beloved of thee." 
 
 The skill, intricacy, and meaning of his pseudoym, 
 his nom de plume, are so great, — 
 8. "That, in my mind, thy worst all best ex- 
 
 ceeds." 
 SONNET CLI. 
 Apostrophe to Love (in the first 6 lines) and 
 to his Muse, lines 9 to 12. 
 3. The Figure, "gentle cheater," is personified as 
 
 Love, — 
 
 2. "Too young to know what conscience is;" 
 therefore he persists in urging the "amiss," the 
 name, "Shakespeare," — 
 
 3. "Then, gentle cheater, urge not my amiss, 
 Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self 
 
 prove." 
 Betraying Bacon's name Love, The Figure, points 
 out his Muse, — 
 10. "As his triumphant prize." 
 
 SONNET CLII. 
 Apostrophe to his Muse 
 Through his nom de plume "Shakespeare" he
 
 92 
 
 is forsworn to her ; but she is twice forsworn — both 
 to Bacon and to "Shakespeare," to which she is,— 
 4. "Vowing new hate after new love bearing:." 
 
 To those that cannot see this he "gave eyes to bhnd- 
 ness" both in his Plays and in his Sonnets, — 
 
 12. "Or made them swear against the thing they 
 
 see." 
 Never was there a truer prophecy! They have 
 sworn against the thing they ought to have seen for 
 three hundred years, to the present day. The In- 
 troductory Poem they have taken to be signed by 
 Ben Jonson ! and The Figure, Bacon's name in mono- 
 gram form, masked with a head, becoming of dra- 
 matic Muse, has been taken to be the authentic 
 portrait of one "Shakespeare!" Nothing could be 
 more grotesque, truly worthy of "Constable Dull!" 
 
 SONNET CLIII. 
 
 No Apostrophe. A Sonnet to the Love-God 
 Cupid. 
 
 Bacon, sick, sad and distempered, because 
 alienated from his Muse, coming to the "seething 
 bath,"— 
 
 13. "Found no cure; the bath for my help lies 
 
 14. Where Cupid got new fire — my mistress' 
 
 eyes," 
 the "eyes" of his Muse where you read his name. 
 
 SONNET CLIV. 
 No Apostrophe 
 Another Sonnet to the Love-God, "the 
 general of hot desire," fit emblematic expressions 
 closing the Love-Song to his Muse.
 
 1 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 From the preceding Chapters it is seen that 
 Bacon's plan to keep his authorship secret and yet 
 to estabhsh it absolutely is as follows : 
 
 1. An Introductory Poem with a fool-signature 
 B. I. on the page of the fly-leaf opposite to 
 The Figure of the title-page as a playful in- 
 troduction to his name. 
 
 2. His Name in Monogram in the form of a 
 "Figure" with a head masking the letter B, 
 the first letter of his name, on the Title-page. 
 
 3. A Prologue, "vilely penn'd," (in the Folio 
 "viidely pen'd"), the "greasy Jone," by Ben 
 Jonson. 
 
 4. A Play, the Love's Labour's Lost, to bring 
 out, explain, and establish the meaning of 
 The Figure, his Signature to his Book of 
 Plays. 
 
 5. A series of Sonnets, I'envoy, to his Muse, 
 elucidating and corroborating his author- 
 ship, — 
 
 "An epilogue or discourse to make plaine 
 Some obscure precedence that hath before 
 been saine." 
 
 (L. L. L. III. 1-82. Folio 1623.) 
 It is seen that all this was most carefully planned 
 from the beginning. 
 
 "It was builded far from accident." (son. 126.) Ben 
 Jonson's prologue is referred to in L. L. L. V. 2. 305, as a 
 "prologue vilely penn'd," and is called "Jone," in the Folio of
 
 94 
 
 1623, the feminine form of Jon, in the last hne of Act III. 1,. 
 and in Act V. 2, 930 and 939 as "greasy Jone." It has most 
 effectually "greased" the way in helping to conceal Bacon's 
 authorship. 
 
 It follows also that The Figure had been drawn or 
 painted, or at least accurately conceived, together with its 
 Introductory Poem, before Love's Labor's Lost was written. 
 Some of his Sonnets were also written before this play, as 
 they are there referred to, and three Sonnets appear in the 
 play itself. 
 
 But The Figure had to be hid from the public view 
 while the play was first made known and acted, which made 
 of it a perfect comedy instead of a farce. It was thus im- 
 possible to see the true relation, meaning, and intent of the 
 play. When at last all was printed in the Folio the meaning 
 and the true connection between The Figure and the play 
 was unknown to the public, and it seemed to be perfectly 
 safe to publish the book. 
 
 The author was now of advanced age, being 62 years 
 old when the Folio was published in 1623. He might not 
 have many more years to live in, and it was desirable to have 
 the book published while he lived, so that he could supervise 
 the collection and publication of his Plays, and thus make it 
 authorative and authentic. It is therefore literally true 
 when it states on the Title-page that the plays are "publish- 
 ed according to the true original copies." While it is made 
 to appear as if the manuscripts v/ere picked up here and 
 there, and thrown together in a hurried way, a necessary 
 part of the scheme, to make believe that the author was 
 dead, it is now seen tooe a thing most carefully planned 
 from beginning to end. Bom at York House, London, Jan- 
 uary 22, 1561, Bacon died at Highgate, April 9, 1626, less 
 than three years after the publication of his Folio. 
 
 It is seen furthermore the name "Shakespeare" is of 
 Bacon's own invention, suggested to him by the name of the 
 actor Shaxsper, who came to London about ten years before 
 Love's Labour's Lost was first published in 1698. With the
 
 ?^ 
 
 coiiimon people, who thought it referred to the actor, a con- 
 L 111:^1011 arose, and it seems that he adopted the spelhng of 
 Bacon's nom de pkime sUgli^tly different, viz., Shakspere. 
 
 The advantages obtained from this system were very 
 great, indeed indespensible to his Muse. Therefore, in 
 Love's Labour Lost he calls it "mere necessity." 
 
 First, he could write securely. It was fraught with 
 come danger to be an author in those days.* 
 
 Sscond, he could make himself aeriel, an airy spirit> 
 like Muse herself an airy nothing, yet something, sending 
 forth his strains of poetry coming from whence no one but 
 his own trusted ones really knew. Therefore, as a poet he 
 calls himself "Ariel, an airy spirit" in The Tempest, the 
 play mirrowing what takes place when he is restored as au- 
 thor to his kingdom, his Plays. Miranda, his daughter, is 
 his wonderful, admirable Muse; as f.uthor he is Prospero, 
 prospering at last. 
 
 Third, his Muse would have been an absolute impos- 
 sibility but for this assumed relationship. It forms the 
 ground work of many of his Plays. Like a red chord it runs 
 through all of his poetry, and is its true test. "Thou art all 
 my art." Sec Son. 78. 
 
 What then becomes of the actor "Shaxper," or 
 "Shakspere?" He is only the actor, removed to Stratford- 
 on-avon, and nothing else. We have not a line, nor even a 
 word of poetry from his pen. 
 
 The wonderful Folio of 1623, it is seen, is the only au- 
 thorative and authentic publication of Bacon's Plays, be- 
 cause he was yet living and for years had planned and mm- 
 uteiy supervised in secret how the work was to be done. 
 Plays not found therein are either not his, or w^ere not con- 
 sidered by nmi worthy to be included in the collection. 
 
 *See The Shakespeare Myth p. 15.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 'GREASY JONE' 
 
 Ben Jonson's Poem, the 'Prologue vilely penn'd,' in the Folio of 1623. 
 
 To the memory of my beloved, The Author, 
 
 Mr. William Shakespeare: 
 
 And what he hath left us. 
 
 To draw no envy (Shakespeare) on thy name, 
 
 Am I thus ample to thy Booke, and Fame: 
 While I confesse thy writings to be such, 
 
 As neither Man, nor Muse, can praise too much. 
 'Tis true, and all men's suffrage. But these wayes 
 
 Were not the paths I meant unto thy praise: 
 For seeliest Ignorance on these may light, 
 
 Which, when it sounds at best, but echo's right ; 
 Or blinde Affection, which doth ne're advance 
 
 The truth, but gropes, and urgeth all by chance ; 
 Or crafty Malice, might pretend this praise, 
 
 And thinke to ruine, where it seem'd to raise. 
 These are as some infamous Baud, or whore 
 
 Should praise a Matron. What could hurt her more ? 
 But thou art proof against them, and indeed 
 
 Above th'ill fortune of them, or the need. 
 I, therefore will begin. Soule of the Age! 
 
 The applause ! delight ! the wonder of our stage ! 
 My Shakespeare, rise; I will not lodge thee by 
 
 Chaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lye 
 A little further, to make thee a roome: 
 
 Thou art a Moniment, without a tombe, 
 Ar>d art alive still, while thy Booke doth live, 
 
 And we have wits to read, and praise to give.
 
 97 
 
 That I not mixe thee so, my braine excuses; 
 
 I meane with great, but disproportion'd Muses: 
 For, if I thought my judgement were of yeeres, 
 
 I should commit thee surely with thy peeres. 
 And tell, how farre thou didstst our Lily out-shine, 
 
 Or sporting Kid, or Marlowes mighty line. 
 And though thou hadst small Latine, and lesse Greeke 
 
 From thence to honour thcc, I would not seeke 
 For names ; but call forth thund'ring iSiIschilus, 
 
 Euripides, and Sophocles to us. 
 Paccuvius, Accius, him of Cordova dead, 
 
 To life againc, to heare thy Buskin tread, 
 And shake a Stage: Or, when thy Sockes were on, 
 
 Leave thee alone, for the Comparison 
 Of all, that insolent Greece, or haughtie Rome 
 
 Sent forth, or since did from the their ashes come. 
 Triumph, my Britaine, thou hast one to showo. 
 
 To whom all Scenes of Europe homage owe. 
 He was not of an age, but for all time! 
 
 And all the Muses still were in their prime, 
 When like Apollo he came forth to warme 
 
 Our eares, or like a Mercury to charme! 
 Nature her selfe was proud of his designs. 
 
 And joy'd to weare the dressing of his lines! 
 Which were so richly spun, and woven so fit. 
 
 As, since, she will vouchsafe no other Wit. 
 The merry Greeke, tart Aristophanes, 
 
 Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please, 
 But antiquated, and deserted lye 
 
 As they v/ere not of Nature's family. 
 Yet must I not give Nature all: Thy Art, 
 
 My gentle Shakespeare, must enjoy a part. 
 For though the Poets matter, Nature be, 
 
 His Art doth give the fashion. And, that he. 
 Who casts to write a living line, must sweat, 
 
 (Such as thine are) and strike the second heat 
 Upon the Muses anvil: turne the same.
 
 98 
 
 (And himscli wuh it) that he tb. inkes to frame; 
 Or '"or the lawreli, he may gaine a scorne 
 
 For a good Poet's made, as well as borne. 
 And such wert thou. Looke how the fathers face; 
 
 lives in his issue, even so, the race 
 or Shakespeares mindc, and manners brightly shines 
 
 In h^s well torned, and true filed lines: 
 In each of whirh, ho seems to shake a Lance, 
 
 As brandish'^ at the eyes of Ignorance. 
 Sweet Swan of Avon' what a sight it were 
 
 To see thee in our waters yet appeare, 
 And make those flights upon the banks of Thames, 
 
 That so did takp Eliza, and our James! 
 But stay, I see thee in the Hemisphere 
 
 Advanc'd, and mado a Constellation there! 
 Shine forth, thou Starre of Poets, and with rage. 
 
 Or influence, chide, or cheere the drooping Stage; 
 Which, since they flight fro' lience, hath mourn'd like night, 
 
 And despaires day, but for thy Volumes light, 
 
 BEN: JONSOK
 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 EPILOGUE 
 
 ' Do not infest your mind with beating on 
 
 The strangeness of this business. 
 
 The Tempest, V. 1. 246. 
 
 1. THE FOLIO 
 
 The Folio of 1623 contains the thirty-six Plays as 
 they are known to us. Many that had before been published 
 wore re-written and altered in this final edition in the Folio. 
 They are divided into three parts, viz., Comedies, Histories, 
 and Tragedies. Each part begins with page 1, and so are 
 separately paged. The size of the Folio is 13 Vs in. x 57/o in. 
 and contains in all 908 pages, forming a most impressive 
 looking volume. It is supposed that about 600 copies were 
 printed; and of these about 160 copies, or about one-third, 
 have survived to the present day. 
 
 The Preliminary Pages. 
 The first nine leaves or eighteen pages of the Folio 
 contain prehminary matter; they are not paged. They are, 
 of course, as is easily seen, all arranged and written by 
 Bacon except the Poem by Ben Jonson. They are made 
 up with a purpose to deceive the uninformed and unsuspect- 
 ing as to the author of the Plays, borrowing and affixing 
 the apparent names of different persons or their apparent 
 initials. 
 
 Page 1 
 is the first side of the fly-leaf and is blank. 
 
 Page 2 
 the second page of the fly-leaf, contains the Introductory 
 Poem "To the Reader" opposite the Title-page.
 
 100 
 
 Page 3 
 
 is the Title-pag-e with Bacon's Monogram The Figure. 
 
 Page 4 
 is blank. 
 
 Pages 5 and 6 
 contain "The Epistle Dedicatory," which is a jest, a hem 
 with frenzy (It. condelerio) — "in fine frenzy rolling" — and 
 therefore signed with the suitable names "Heminge" and 
 "Condell." It reads as follows (spelling as in the original) : 
 
 To the most noble and incomparable paire of breth- 
 ren. William, Earle of Pembroke, etc. Lord Chamberlain 
 to the Kings most Excellent Maiesty. 
 
 And Philip, Earle of Montgomery, etc. Gentleman of hie 
 Maiesties Bedchamber. Both Knights of the most Noble 
 Order of the Garter, and our singular good Lords. 
 Right Honorable, 
 
 Whilst we studie to be thankful in our particular, 
 for the many favours we have received from your L. L. we 
 are falne upon the ill fortune, to mingle two the most diverse 
 things that can bee, feare, and raslinecse; rashnesse in the 
 enterprise and feare of the successe. For, when we valew^ 
 the places your H. H. sustaine, we cannot but know their 
 dignity greater, then to descend to the reading of these 
 trifles: and, while we name them trifles, we have depriv'd 
 ourselves of the defence of our Dedication. But since your 
 L. L. have been pleas'd to think these trifles some- 
 thing, heeretofore; and have prosequuted both them, and 
 their Author living,with so much favour: we hope, that 
 (they out-living him, and he not having the fate, common 
 with some to be exequutor to his owne writings) you will use 
 the like indulgence toward them, you have done unto their 
 parent. There is a great difference, whether any Booke 
 choose his Patrones, or finde them: This hath done both. 
 For, so much were your L. L. likings of the severall parts, 
 when they were acted, as before they were published, the 
 Volume ask'd to be yours. We have but collected them, and 
 done an office to the dead, to procure his Orphanes, Guard-
 
 101 
 
 aans ; without ambition either of self e-profit, or fame : onely 
 to keepe the memory of so worthy a Friend, & Fellow 
 alive, as was our Shakespeare, by humble offer of his playes, 
 to your most noble patronage. Wherein, as we have justly 
 observed, no man to come neere your L. L. but with a kind 
 of religious addresse; it hath been the height of our care, 
 v/ho are the Presenters, to make the present worthy of your 
 H. H. by the perfection. But, there we must also crave our 
 abilities to be considered, my Lords. We cannot go beyond 
 our owne powers. Country hands reach foorth milke, 
 creame, f ruites, or what they have : and many Nations (we 
 have heard) that had not gummes and incense, obtained 
 their requests with a leavened Cake. It was no fault to 
 approach their Gods, by what meanes they could: And the 
 most, though meanest, of things are made more precious, 
 when they are dedicated to Temples. In that name there- 
 fore, we most humbly consecrate to your H. H. these re- 
 maines of your servant Shakespeare ; that what delight is 
 in them, may be ever your L. L. the reputation his, & the 
 faults ours, if any be commited, by a payre so carefull to 
 shew their gratitude both to the living, and the dead, as is 
 Your Lordshippes most bounden, 
 
 John Heminge. 
 
 Henry Condell. 
 
 Page? 
 contains the address : "To the great Variety of Readers," 
 which runs as follows: 
 To the great Variety of Readers. 
 
 From the most able, to him that can but spell ; There 
 you are number'd. We had rather you were weigh'd. 
 Especially, when the fate of all Bookes depends upon your 
 capacities : and not of your heads alone, but of your purses. 
 Well ! It is now publique, & you wi 1 stand for your 
 privileges wee know : to read, and censure. Do so, but buy 
 it first. That doth best commend a Booke, the Stationer 
 saies. Then, how odde soever your braines be, or your 
 wisedomes, make your licence the same, and spare not.
 
 102 . 
 
 Judge your sixe-pen'orth, your shillings worth, your five 
 shillings worth at a time, or higher, so you rise to the just 
 rates, and welcome. But, what ever you do. Buy. Censure 
 will not drive a trade, or make the Jacke go. And though 
 you be a Majistrate of wit, and sit on the Stage at Black- 
 Friers, or the Cock-pit, to arraigne Playes dailie, know, 
 these Playes have had their triall alreadie, and stood out all 
 Appeales, and do now come forth quitted rather by a 
 Decree of Court, then any purchas'd Letters of commenda- 
 tion. 
 
 It had bene a thing, we confesse, worthie to have 
 
 bene wished, that the Author himselfe had hv'd to have set 
 forth, and overseen his owne writings ; But since it hath bin 
 ordain'd otherwise, and he by death departed from that 
 right, we pray you do not envie his Friends, the office of 
 their care, and paine, to have collected & publish'd chem; 
 and so to have publish'd them, as v^here (before) you v/ere 
 abus'd with diverse stolne, and surreptitious copies, maimed 
 r,nd deformed by the frauds and stealthes of iniurious im- 
 postors, that expos'd them: even those, are now offer'd 
 to your view cur'd and perfect of their iimbes; and all the 
 rest, absolute in their numbers, as he conceived them. Who, 
 as he was a happie imitator of Nature, was a most gentle 
 expresser of it. His mind and hand went together: And 
 what he thought, he uttered with that easinesse, that wee 
 have scarce received from him a blot in his papers. But 
 it is not our province, who onely gather his works, and give 
 them you, to praise him. It is yours that reade him. And 
 there we hope, to your divers capacities, you will find enough, 
 both to draw, and hold you : for his wit can no more lie hid, 
 then it could be lost. Reade him, therefore; and againe, 
 and againe: And if then you doe not like him, surely you 
 are in some manifest danger, not to understand him. And 
 so we leave you to other of his Friends, whom if you need, 
 can bee your guides: if you needethem not, you can leade 
 your selves, and others. And such Readers we wish him. 
 
 John Heminge. 
 
 Henrie Condell
 
 The Key To Shakespeare 
 
 TO THE MEMORIE 
 
 of thedcccafcd Authour Maiftcr 
 
 . AV. Shakes I' EARS. 
 
 • .f-v '^■,-1 --h .!■ j-i i,,o!,, lelhiPCK^iuf 
 
 \The woi! : ■ '■■ 
 
 AndT'^- -It': 
 
 licreVi .:::•,,■ ^ .. ., ,^^ 
 
 WhcnBr.4,.„.:.S:., '■"'■'■ 
 
 I > ell) to ml Anfy. when i 
 Sl'.:l!hjtl-ipl).:e's ne1t>,th:'r 
 That u not Shake-fjicarcs- , cu'i , /j*,* ,, ,„ hDe, U 
 Here fhall reHi:ir,rcdecii:c ll.crfo,,, tl) llr/e. 
 K'jr Finytor CMf^riii':^ .hCy-., T'J afo/.i;./^ 
 Of his, thy tfit-jf.W'ht Booki- jhJIoncc iiLje. 
 Kor jh.il! Ic'rc beleeue, or tInnKe thee .-iej-i 
 frixiii'!- "nf: -j'iidloui I'jiih CKt Si.iy lijuej 
 
 On:!! Jh:.t.^a\ 
 
 Then •:. :.:hth) l:i;i ^.v.' ,( ; ^//iw' Ki :iun>//uA' 
 
 Ttl! thtje, till any oj il) I'^dkinesn/} 
 
 Skill with more lire, mm cu' •—-.., i]^ 
 
 Sf/i^e^w Shake fpcai .c./jc, 
 
 h.nr.^ln'dwithl.r.Tlrc. . . ^ 
 
 .hi'htch,oitt-lr.ie 
 ^tfto'-.eifratt. 
 
 L.D.-c 
 
 To themcniorie Qf}A.lKShaf^'Jpeare. 
 
 yrSJ EEwc>uired{ShJK.Q-if'iasc)that thwaentftfofoone 
 
 From the WvrUs-Stitxe,tothe Graua-Tyring-roome. 
 Wee thiuiht thet detd, but this thy friiitfJ ^orth, 
 Tets thy Spectators ^hat thiu TKntji bui forth 
 To enter l^ith applaiife. Ah Aclan Art, 
 (^Mdfe,jndliM,toaHea/ecoiidparc. 
 That's hut miEkH of Mort^tie; 
 Th»,» %t-*axrt>ut to* TUuditt. 
 
 I* H* 
 
 Plate IX.
 
 103 
 
 PagsS 
 is blank. 
 
 Page 9 
 is another interesting page, if we understand it. It 
 contains two short Poems : see plate IX. These poems are 
 thrusts, or "digs," at his Muse, his Love: and therefore 
 bsar the appropriate signatures "L. Digges," I. M.," which 
 means : Love's Digs I am ; or read with the monogram head- 
 piece it is : "Francis Bacon, To the Menory of the deceased 
 Author Maister W. Shakespeare, Love's Digs I am. This 
 page contains a head-piece which is easily seen to be "Fran- 
 cis Bacon" in monogram foi-m. This head-piece appears 
 twelve times through the book, being at the head of eleven of 
 the Plays including that of Love's Labour Lost. A key is 
 seen inserted through the link or 0. Of this head-piece 
 Sir Sidney Lee writes in his Introduction to the Oxford- 
 Facsimile that "it cannot be matched in Jagcrard'n bool^r^ or 
 indeed elsewhere," "and m^y have been newly cut for the 
 volume," — ^The reason is apparent ; beinof Bacon's Monogram 
 it is, of course, specially made for the book. 
 
 The other head-pieces used in the Folio are common 
 to many books of the time. 
 
 Page 10 
 is blank. 
 
 Page 11 
 
 is a secondary title-page, v/ith "the nam.es of the principal 
 actors in all these plays," and reads : "The Works of Will- 
 iam Shakespeare, containing all his Comedies, Histories, and 
 Tragedies : Truly set forth, according to their first original." 
 The Names of the Principall Actors 
 in all these Plays. 
 William Shakespeare 
 Richard Burbadge 
 John Hemmings. 
 Augustine Phillips. 
 William Kempt. 
 Thomas Poope.
 
 104 
 
 George Biyan, 
 Henry CondelL 
 William Slye. 
 Richard Cowly. 
 John Lowine. 
 Samuell Crosse. 
 Alexander Cooke. 
 Samuel Gilburne. 
 Robert Armin. 
 William Ostler. 
 Nathan Field. 
 John Underwood. 
 Nicholas Tooley. 
 William Ecclestone. 
 Joseph Taylor. 
 Robert Benfield. 
 Robert Gaughe. 
 Richard Robinson, 
 John Shancke. 
 John Rice." 
 
 Page 12 
 is blank. 
 
 Pages 13 and 14 
 contain the prologue by Ben Johnson ; see Chapter VI. 
 
 Page 15 
 contains a Sonnet signed with the suitable name "Hugh 
 Holland" (Hue, hold on). "Hue and cry" in law: the pur- 
 suit of an offender with loud outcries or clamor to give an 
 alarm. See "Hue and cry," Century Dictionary. The jesting 
 character of it is, of course, seen throughout. It is as 
 follows : 
 "Upon the Lines and Life of the Famous Scenicke Poet, 
 
 Master William Shakespeare. 
 Those hands, which you so clapt, go now, and wring 
 You Britaines brave; for done are Shakespeares days: 
 His days are done, that made the dainty Plays, 
 Which made the Globe of Heav'n and earth to ring.
 
 105 
 
 Dry'de is that veine, dry'd is the Thespian Spring, 
 Turn'd all to tears, and Phoebus clouds his rays: 
 That corp's, that coffin now besticke those bays, 
 VV'hich crown'd him Poet first, then Poets Kmg. 
 If Tragedies might any Prologue have. 
 All those he made, would scarse make one to this: 
 Where Fame, now that he gone is to the grave 
 (Deaths publique tyring-house) the Nuncius is. 
 
 For though his line of life went soone about. 
 The hfe yet of his lines shall never out. 
 
 Hugh Holland." 
 
 Page 16 
 is blank. 
 
 Page 17 
 contains : 
 
 A CATALOGUE 
 of the several Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies contained 
 in this Volume. 
 
 Comedies 
 
 The Tempest. 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona. 
 
 The Merry Wives of Windsor. 
 
 Measure for Measure. 
 
 The Comedy of Errors. 
 
 Much Adoo About Nothing. 
 
 Loves Labour Lost. 
 
 Midsommer Nights Dream. 
 
 The Merchant of Venice. 
 
 As You Like It. 
 
 The Taming of the Shrew 
 
 All is Well That Ends Well 
 
 Twelfe-Night, or What You Will. 
 
 The Winters Tale. 
 
 Histories 
 
 The Life and Death of King John. 
 
 The Life & death of Richard the second. 
 
 The First part of King Henry the fourth.
 
 106 
 
 The Second part of K. Henry the fourth. 
 
 The Life of King Henry the Fift. 
 
 The First part of King Henry the Sixt. 
 
 The Second part of King Hen. the Sixt. 
 
 The Third part of King Henry the Sixt. 
 
 The Life & Death of Richard the Third. 
 
 The Life of King Henry, the Eight. 
 Tragedies 
 
 The Tragedy of Coriolanus. 
 
 Romeo and Juliet. 
 
 Timon of Athens. 
 
 The Life and death of Julius Caesar. 
 
 The Tragedy of Macbeth. 
 
 The Tragedy of Hamlet. 
 
 King Lear. 
 
 Othello, the Moore of Venice. 
 
 Anthony and Cleopater. 
 
 Cymbeline, King of Britaine. 
 
 The Tragedy of Tioylus and Cressida does not ap- 
 pear in the Catalogue, but is placed at the head of the 
 Tragedies immediately after the Histories and is not paged 
 except two pages, the third and fourth marked, 79, 80. This 
 play has recently been shown by Mrs. Hinton Stewart to 
 be a satire upon the Court og Kink James I, who was then 
 ruling England. This, perhaps, explains its absence from 
 the Catalogue, and why it is unpaged, viz,, to make it less 
 conspicuous. 
 
 Page 18 
 is blank. 
 
 The Booke is made up in such a way as to give it the 
 appearance of being published after the Author's death in 
 order to carry out the plan of secret authorship. 
 
 2. THE TEMPEST 
 
 The history of the Storm, the Bacon-Shakespeare 
 controvercy, of which Bacon gives us a prophetic vision in 
 The Tempest appropriately placed as the first in the Folio, 
 is highly interesting. It began about the middle of the
 
 107 
 
 nineteeiith century when Joseph C. Hart (United States 
 Consul at Santa Cruz) in his book "Romance of Yachting" 
 pabhshed 1848 began to question the Shakespearean author- 
 ship. Since then the storm has increased in violence until 
 now all aboard with the usurper have suffered shipwreck 
 and calm is restored =^ ana Bacon's authorship is fully 
 estabhshed and as Prospero he has regained his rightful 
 Dukedom. More than 500 volumes have appeared on either 
 tiide of the question. Two of the most \aluabie are by Sir 
 Edwin Durning-Lawrence, The Shakespeare Myth, and 
 Bacon is Shakespeare, 1910. 
 
 John Greenleaf Whittier said : "Whether Bacon wrote 
 the wonderful plays or not, I am quite sure the man Shak- 
 spere neither did nor could." 
 
 Emerson was of the same opinion. 
 
 Mark Twain in one of his late books "Is Shakespeare 
 dead" treats with scathing scorn and ridicule those who be- 
 lieve that the actor Shakspere wrote the Plays. 
 
 Eminent men like Lord Palmerston (d. 1865), Joh :. 
 Bright (d. 1889), Coleridge (d. 1834) were similarly fully 
 convinced. 
 
 This speaks well for their wonderful insight and in- 
 telligence. 
 
 3. THE FIGURE 
 
 This is tne tune of our catch, 
 
 played by the picture of Nobody. 
 
 The Tempest, III. 2. 136. 
 
 *The following characters can be easily recognized: Alonso (alone so), 
 Bacon, King of Muse; Prospero, Bacon, prospering at last. Antonio, 
 Shakespeare; Ferninand, the Sonnets; Stephano (crown), the head of 
 The Figure; Caliban, i. e., canibal, "Shakespeare," as seen in The 
 Figure; Sycorax (Phyche in ^"ags). Bacon's Muse in rags, in "noted 
 weed" (Sonnet 76). Trinculo, i. e., tri in vinculo ("Shakespeare," 
 Bacon, and his Muse) The Figure; Arie' (aeriel). Bacon's poetic spirit 
 or power to create. Miranda (mirabile, admirable, wonderful) Bacon's 
 admirable, wonder Muse, The Plays; Naples, no place; Milan, my land, 
 his Dukedom, his Immortal Muse; Island, his descent, his banishment 
 from his Muse.
 
 108 ..___„_______™_™___, , 
 
 Bacon's Monogram, The Figure, symbolizes his Muse, 
 and is, no doubt the most ingenious ever invented. Drawn 
 so perfect, and with a head on, or mask, to cover up the 
 initial B of his name so as to simulate a human being it has 
 passed for well nigh three hundred years for the portrait of 
 a man, due in a large measure, no doubt, to the fool-lines 
 and fool-signature of the Introductory Poem on the fly-leaf 
 and opposite the 'picture.' Together with the contents of 
 the preliminary pages it has served its purpose well. It is 
 a thing unmatched in literature, prefiguring the genius of 
 the author displayed in all his Plays. 
 
 You never can get tired of looking at that "picture of 
 Nobody" novv' that you know what it is ; and the more you 
 study it and know about it the more you wonder, and the 
 more precious it oecomes to you. It is the sine qua non, the 
 most important part, of his Book, and is truly the Key to 
 his Muse, as without it, it can never be understood in its 
 entirety. It truly ''makes his book thine eyes," and "the 
 people fall a-hooting" when its meaning is seen. L. L. L. IV. 
 2. 61. 
 
 It is of interest to observe that the preposition B I 
 (bi, by) is placed like a catch-word just opposite the B in 
 the Collar of The Figure. As in all old books catch-words 
 are used throughout the Folio, 
 
 Perhaps the most impressive part of The Figure is 
 the letter B used as a collar. Its squareness in front, with 
 sharp corners, and its peculiar appearance makes it most 
 conspicuous ana curious throughout. The F and R come 
 next in evidence, bold of outline and of royal sweep, the mid- 
 dle bars made obscure yet perfectly clear in outline when 
 once seen in the original. 
 
 Equally curious and in evidence is the letter N with. 
 its Co-line L on the left arm in front. C is also natural and 
 plain as well as the full in the fashion of a collar or band 
 around the arm next to the shoulder. The letter A is partly 
 hidden under the collar B, yet is perfectly plain. It is 
 "gelded," cut, "the other half which is unsatisfied" being
 
 The Key To Shakespeare 
 
 The Mask (reduced V2). 
 
 Plate X.
 
 The Key To Shakespeare 
 
 The perfect monogram (reduced V2). 
 
 PR BAGOrS 
 
 Plate XL
 
 109 
 
 on the back of the right side, which, of course, does not 
 appear in The Figure, and so only half of the letter A is 
 seen. With upper part of R, the A, is seen in front. 
 
 As to the head, the mask, masking his name. Bacon 
 declares it to be "the picture of Nobody." 
 
 The fact that The Figure is double left-handed is, 
 perhaps, the most ingenious part of the device, and has a 
 meaning. It means that the name "Shakespeare" is his 
 left hand his servant used as his pseudonym, his pen-name 
 or nom de plume. 
 
 It is mirth-provoking to abserve what ridiculous 
 suppositions it leads to when we do not see "where light in 
 darkness Hes." Witness the following by Sir Sidney Lee in 
 his Introduction to the Oxford Facsimile of the Folio of 
 1623, page 22: 
 
 "The only pictorial embellishment of the volume is the 
 engraved portrait of Shakespeare (7 7-16in. x 6 3-16 in.), 
 which is printed on the title-page. The engraver Martin 
 Droeshout belonged to a Flemish family of painters and 
 engravers long settled in London, where he was bom in 
 1601. The engraving was, therefore, produced when the 
 artist had only completed his twenty-second year, and may 
 be regarded as the effort of an apprentice. It followed a 
 painting, possibly the "Flower" portrait of Shakespeare now 
 in the Memorial Gallery at Stratf ord-on-Avon. That picture 
 is believed to have been painted in Shakespeare's life time, 
 in 1609, by a Flemish artist, who has been conjecturally 
 identified with the engraver's uncle, also named Martin 
 Droeshout. In the verses on the page facing the title of 
 the volume Ben Jonson congratulates "the graver" on having 
 satisfactorily "hit" the poet's "face." But impressions that 
 are usually met with are too coarsely printed to give the 
 likeness verisimilitude. Defects in the original design, the 
 disproportion between the dimensions of the head and the 
 half-length of the body, cannot be laid to the engraver's 
 charge. Nor is Droeshout's ability to be fairly judged from 
 the ordinary condition of his engraving."
 
 110 
 
 Likewise, in the same Introduction, page 23, in quot- 
 ing the Notes by Mr. Horace Hart, the Controller of the 
 Oxford University Press, on the Typography of the First 
 Folio, about the two V's for W in the Intrduoctory Poem, he 
 says: 
 
 "The large roman, used in the page opposite the 
 portrait, is cast on the Dutch body called Kleine Kanon, 
 equal to 24 Didot points. No English typebody which I am 
 able to measure fits it; and the face is Dutch. But the 
 absence of the letter w from the fount (the printer has had 
 to make it up with two V's) needs explanation. I hesitate 
 to suggest that this type may have come from Holland to 
 England by way of France." 
 
 Howe utterly misled they are and ignorant of the 
 
 true intent and meaning! 
 
 Verily, it sounds like a child's prattle. 
 
 Surely, — 
 
 'Dainty bits, 
 
 Make rich the ribs, but bankrupt quite the wits." 
 It is a curious and a remarkable fact that "This 
 Figure" has been taken to be a portrait of a man "Shake- 
 speare," and that the meaning of The Figure has not been 
 understood before by those who have had access to the first 
 Folio of 1623. Like a High Priest, a Master Parson, has 
 Bacon stood before us for generations without being seen or 
 understood in "This Figure," his veritable Sphinx. 
 
 Now my charmes are all ore-throwne, 
 
 And what strength I have's my owne. 
 
 Which is most faint. Now 'tis true 
 
 I must be here confinde by you, 
 
 Or sent to Naples, Let me not 
 
 Since I have my Dukedome got, 
 
 And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell 
 
 In this bare Island, by your Spell, 
 
 But release me from my bands . 
 
 With the helpe of your good hands: 
 
 Gentle breath of yours, my Sailes 
 
 Must fill, or else my project failes. 
 
 Which was to please: Now I want
 
 Ill 
 
 Spirits to enforce. Art to inchant, 
 And my ending is despaire, 
 Unless I be reliev'd by praier 
 Which pierces so, that it assaults 
 Mercy it selfe, and frees all faults. 
 As you from crimes would pardon'd be, 
 Let your Indulgence set me free. 
 
 The Tempest. 
 Epilogue, spoken by Prosper©.
 
 HE 
 
 'vnv -oriT' 
 
 "»k. 
 
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