In the Shakespeare plays, many of them have a locale in France or Italy. There is no record of William Shakespeare’s travels except to London or Stratford.However, when he was young, Francis Bacon spent two years in France as an attache of the English ambassador. The British historians made no mention of his journeys elswhere but a Frenchman, Pierre Amboise, mentioned his travels into Italy and Spain.
Amboise wrote an introduction to the first French edition of Bacon’s Sylva Sylvarum (1631) In this edition, but not in the original, there is also a mention of Bacon’s visit to Scotland of which there is no other record.
In his "Discourse on the life of Mr. Francis Bacon, Chancellor of England," he states:
"By this I mean that he spent some years of his youth in travel so as to polish his mind and shape his judgment through intercourse with all kinds of foreigners. France, Italy and Spain, being the most civilized countriesof the world, were the countries to which his thirst for knowledge carried him...And as he saw himself destined one day to hold in his hands the helm of the Kingdom (le timon de Royaume) he observed judiciously the laws of the countries through which he passed and noted the different forms of government, with their advantages or defects, together with all the other matters which might help to make a man able for the government of men."
This accounts for the extraordinary couleur locale and the inexplicable knowledge of unpublished, numerous and accurate local details found in Shakespeare’s Italian plays.
At left is a copy of little known engraving of Francis Bacon done by "Malaquet and Dambrun," according to a handwritten note beside it..
However the print is signed "Stialaigher, C. B". I had this photographed recently by the Folger. It was tipped onto a flyleaf preceding the title-page of his Sylva Sylvarum, the only known copy to be dated 1626. The first edition was dated 1627, and so this is thought to be his own proof copy. At right is a 1616 Van Somer portrait for comparison.I like the artifacts surrounding him: the Globe (nudge, nudge), the mortar and pestle, the retort, the tobacco can, the pen and inkpot, and the chessman, which appears to be a king. A king without a crown, I might add, giving comfort to believers in the royal birth theory.
The shadowy winged dragon, obvious in the original but dim here, is pictured over his head. It is most curious. Here is an enlargement:
The dragon, according to my encyclopedia, was the symbol of sovereignty among the Celtic conquerors of England, and it appeared on the battle standards of the English Kings as late as the 16th Century. Another reference (Cirot, A Dictionary of Symbols) says: "In the middle ages in the western world dragons make their appearance with the throat and legs of an eagle, the body of a huge serpent, the wings of a bat and with a tail culminating in an arrow twisted back upon itself. This, according to Count Pierre Vincenti Piobb, signifies the fusion and confusion of the respective potentialities of the component parts; the eagle standing for its celestial potential, the serpent for its secret and subterranean characteristic, the wings for intellectual elevation, and the tail (because the form is that of the zodiacal sign for Leo) for submission to reason."
And, of course, his famous slouch hat. These articles remind me of the symbolism of the "emblem books" which were popular in his day. And I especially like his face. This was a scholar---not a bumpkin that fell off a load of cabbages on a London street!
The article above Bacon's head that looks like a bowling ball is a curiosity. In his time, and later, game was ordinarily hung in an openwork bag to age. I think this is a goose. It may refer in some way, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, to the Elizabethan "Royal Game of Goose" which was played on a board with 63 squares. Mere speculation?
According to Arthur Edward Waite, The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, the brotherhood was restricted to sixty-three members, and the Imperator at the head.
Now, anyone that might believe that Bacon was the last direct descendant of Owen Tudor and a legitimate son of Queen Elizabeth I must be Politically Incorrect. So I deny any credence in the Royal Birth doctrine. And Coke, Bacon's constant enemy, must have been wrong when he called him in public, "the Queen's bastard."
Here's a program to decipher "Bote-swaine," or other examples of Bacon's ciphertext:
Hit here for the file SKIP10.ZIP and download it with SAVE AS.Or would you like to read Bacon's "New Atlantis," his vision of a world of science to come. Hit here
