The Mystery of Francis Bacon Part 8

There was, however, another source of revenue open to the author of a book. Henry Peacham, in "The Truth of our Time," says:--

"But then you may say, the Dedication will bee worth a great matter, either in present reward of money, or preferment by your Patrones Letter, or other means. And for this purpose you prefixe a learned and as Panegyricall Epistle as can," etc.

It is beyond question that an author usually obtained a considerable contribution towards the cost of the production of a book from the person to whom the dedication was addressed. A number of books published during the period from 1576 to 1598 are dedicated to the Queen, to the Earl of Leicester, and to Lord Burghley. One can only offer a suggestion on this point which may or may not be correct. If Francis Bacon was concerned in the issue of these translations and other works, and Burghley was a.s.sisting him financially, it is probable that Burghley would procure grants from the Queen in respect of books which were dedicated to her, and would provide funds towards the cost of such books as were dedicated to himself. "The Arte of English Poesie" was written with the intention that it should be dedicated to the Queen, but there was a change in the plans, and Burghley's name was subst.i.tuted. When Bacon, in 1591, is threatening to become "a sorry bookmaker," he describes Burghley as the second founder of his poor estate, and uses the expression, "If your Lords.h.i.+p will not carry me on," which can only mean that as to the matter which is the subject of the letter, Burghley had not merely been a.s.sisting but carrying him. The evidence which exists is strong enough to warrant putting forward this theory as to the frequency of the names of the Queen and Burghley on the dedications.

The Earl of Leicester desired to have the reputation of being a patron of the arts, and was willing to pay for advertis.e.m.e.nt. He was the Chancellor of Oxford University, and evidently recognised the value of printing, for in 1585 he erected, at his own expense, a new printing press for the use of the University. If he paid at all for dedications he would pay liberally. But, of course, the Queen, Burghley, and Leicester were accessible to others besides Bacon, and the argument goes no further than that towards the production of certain books upon which their names appear the patrons provided part of the cost. The recognition of this fact, however, does not detract from the importance of the expressions used by Bacon in his letter to Burghley.

There is abundant testimony to the fact that it was the custom, during the Elizabethan age, for an author to suppress his own name, and on the t.i.tle-page[32] subst.i.tute either the initials or name of some other person. The t.i.tle-pages of this period are as unreliable as are the names or initials affixed to the dedications and epistles "To the Reader."

In 1624 was published "The Historie of the Life and Death of Mary Stuart Queene of Scotland." The dedication is signed Wil Stranguage. In 1636 it was reprinted, the same dedication being signed W. Vdall. There are numerous similar instances.

FOOTNOTES:

[31] "John Dee," by Charlotte Fell Smith, 1909. Constable and Co., Ltd.

[32] See page 31.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE CLUE TO THE MYSTERY OF BACON'S LIFE.

The theory now put forward is based upon the a.s.sumption that Francis Bacon at a very early age adopted the conception that he would devote his life to the construction of an adequate language and literature for his country and that he would do this remaining invisible. If he was the author of "The Anatomie of the Mind," 1576, and of "Beautiful Blossoms,"

1577, he must have adopted this plan of obscurity as early as his sixteenth year. It is possible, however, that it may be shown that at a date still earlier he had decided upon this course. This, however, is beyond doubt--that if Francis Bacon was a.s.sociated in any way with the literature of England from 1570 to 1605, with the exception of the small volume of essays published in 1597, he most carefully concealed his connection with it.

"Therefore, set it down," he says in the essay Of Simulation and Dissimulation, "that a habit of secrecy is both politic and moral," and in _Examples of the Ant.i.theta_,[33] "Dissimulation is a compendious wisdome." Here again is the same idea: "Beside in all wise humane Government, they that sit at the helme, doe more happily bring their purposes about, and insinuate more easily things fit for the people by pretexts, and oblique courses; than by ... downright dealing. Nay (which perchance may seem very strange) in things meerely naturall, you may sooner deceive nature than force her; so improper and selfeimpeaching are open direct proceedings; whereas on the other side, an oblique and an insinuating way, gently glides along, and compa.s.seth the intended effect."[34]

It is noteworthy that Bacon had a quaint conceit of the Divine Being which he was never tired of repeating. In the preface to the "Advancement of Learning" (1640), the following pa.s.sage occurs:--

"_For of the knowledges which contemplate the works of Nature, the holy Philosopher hath said expressly_; that the glory of G.o.d is to conceal a thing, but the glory of the King is to find it out: _as if the Divine Nature, according to the innocent and sweet play of children, which hide themselves to the end they may be found; took delight to hide his works, to the end they might be found out; and of his indulgence and goodness to mankind, had chosen the Soule of man to be his Play-fellow in this game_."

Again on page 45 of the work itself he says:--

"For so he (King Solomon) saith expressly, _The Glory of G.o.d is to conceale a thing, but the Glory of a King is to find it out_. As if according to that innocent and affectionate play of children, the Divine Majesty took delight to hide his works, to the end to have them found out, and as if _Kings_ could not obtain a greater Honour, then to be G.o.d's play-fellowes in that game, especially considering the great command they have of wits and means, whereby the investigation of all things may be perfected."

Another phase of the same idea is to be found on page 136.

In the author's preface to the "Novum Organum" the following pa.s.sage occurs:--

"Whereas of the sciences which regard nature the Holy Philosopher declares that 'it is the glory of G.o.d to conceal a thing, but it is the glory of the King to find it out.' Even as though the Divine Nature took pleasure in the innocent and kindly sport of children playing at hide and seek, and vouched-safe of his kindness and goodness to admit the human spirit for his play fellow in that game."

In almost identical words Bacon suggests the same conception in "In Valerius Terminus" and in "Filum Labyrinthi."

In the Epistle Dedicatorie of "The French Academie" and elsewhere the author is insisting on the same idea that "He (G.o.d) cannot be seene of any mortal creature but is notwithstanding known by his works."

The close connection of Francis Bacon with the works (now seldom studied) of the Emblem writers is vouched for by J. Baudoin.

Oliver Lector in "Letters from the Dead to the Dead" has given examples of his a.s.sociation with the Dutch and French emblem writers. Three Englishmen appear to have indulged in this fascinating pursuit--George Whitney (1589), Henry Peacham (1612), and George Withers (1634). From the Baconian point of view Peacham's "Minerva Britannia" is by far the most interesting. The Emblem on page 34 is addressed "To the most judicious and learned, SIR FRANCIS BACON Knight." On the opposite leaf, paged thus, 33,[35] the design represents a hand holding a spear as in the act of shaking it. But it is the frontispiece which bears specially on the present contention. The design is now reproduced (Fig. IV). A curtain is drawn to hide a figure, the hand only of which is protruding.

It has just written the words "MENTE VIDEBOR"--"By the mind I shall be seen." Around the scroll are the words "Vivitur ingenio cetera mortis erunt"--one lives in one's genius, other things shall be (or pa.s.s away) in death.

That emblem represents the secret of Francis Bacon's life. At a very early age, probably before he was twelve, he had conceived the idea that he would imitate G.o.d, that he would hide his works in order that they might be found out--that he would be seen only by his mind and that his image should be concealed. There was no haphazard work about it. It was not simply that having written poems or plays, and desiring not to be known as the author on publis.h.i.+ng them, he put someone else's name on the t.i.tle-page. There was first the conception of the idea, and then the carefully-elaborated scheme for carrying it out.

There are numerous allusions in Elizabethan and early Jacobean literature to someone who was active in literary matters but preferred to remain unrecognised. Amongst these there are some which directly refer to Francis Bacon, others which occur in books or under circ.u.mstances which suggest a.s.sociation with him. It is not contended that they amount to direct testimony, but the c.u.mulative force of this evidence must not be ignored. In some of the emblem books of the period these allusions are frequent.

Then there is John Owen's epigram appearing in his "Epigrammatum,"

published in 1612.

AD. D.B.

"Si bene qui latuit, bene vixit, tu bene vivis: Ingeniumque tuum grande latendo patet."

"Thou livest well if one well hid well lives, And thy great genius in being concealed is revealed."

D. is elsewhere used by Owen as the initial of Dominus. The suggestion that Ad. D.B. represents Ad Dominum Baconum is therefore reasonable.

Thomas Powell published in 1630 the "Attourney's Academy." The book is dedicated "To True n.o.bility and Tryde learning beholden To no Mountaine for Eminence, nor supportment for Height, Francis, Lord Verulam and Viscount St. Albanes." Then follow these lines:--

"O Give me leave to pull the Curtaine by That clouds thy Worth in such obscurity.

Good Seneca, stay but a while thy bleeding, T' accept what I received at thy Reading: Here I present it in a solemne strayne, And thus I pluckt the Curtayne backe again."

In the "Mirrour of State and Eloquence," published in 1656, the frontispiece is a very bad copy of Marshall's portrait of Bacon prefixed to the 1640 Gilbert Wat's "Advancement of Learning." Under it are these lines:--

"Grace, Honour, virtue, Learning, witt, Are all within this Porture knitt And left to time that it may tell, What worth within this Peere did dwell."

The frontispiece previously referred to of "Truth brought to Light and discovered by Time, or a discourse and Historicall narration of the first XIIII. yeares of King James Reign," published in 1651, is full of cryptic meaning and in one section of it there is a representation of a coffin out of which is growing

"A spreading Tree Full fraught with various Fruits most fresh and fair To make succeeding Times most rich and rare."

The fruits are books and ma.n.u.scripts. The volume contains speeches of Bacon and copies of official doc.u.ments signed by him.

The books of the emblem writers are still more remarkable. "Jacobi Bornitii Emblemata Ethico Politica," 1659, contains at least a dozen plates in which Bacon is represented. A suggestive emblem is No. 1 of Cornelii Giselberti Plempii Amsterodarnum Monogrammon, bearing date 1616, the year of Shakespeare's death. It is now reproduced (Fig. V.).

It will be observed that the initial letters of each word in the sentence--_Obscaenumque nimis crepuit Fortuna Batavis appellanda_--yield F. Bacon. There are in other designs figures which are evidently intended to represent Bacon. Emblem x.x.xVI. shows the inside of a printer's shop and two men at work in the foreground blacking and fixing the type. Behind is a workman setting type, and standing beside him, apparently directing, or at any rate observing him, is a man with the well-known Bacon hat on.

The contention may be stated thus:--Francis Bacon possessed, to quote Macaulay, "the most exquisitely constructed intellect that has ever been bestowed on any of the children of men." Hallam described him as "the wisest, greatest of mankind," and affirmed that he might be compared to Aristotle, Thucydides, Tacitus, Philippe de Comines, Machiavelli, Davila, Hume, "all of these together," and confirming this view Addison said that "he possessed at once all those extraordinary talents which were divided amongst the greatest authors of antiquity." At twelve years of age in industry he surpa.s.sed the capacity, and, in his mind, the range of his contemporaries, and had acquired a thorough command of the cla.s.sical and modern languages. "He, after he had survaied all the Records of Antiquity, after the volumes of men, betook himself to the volume of the world and conquered whatever books possest." Having, whilst still a youth, taken all knowledge to be his province, he had read, marked, and absorbed the contents of nearly every book that had been printed. How that boy read! Points of importance he underlined and noted in the margin. Every subject he mastered--mathematics, geometry, music, poetry, painting, astronomy, astrology, cla.s.sical drama and poetry, philosophy, history, theology, architecture.

Then--or perhaps before--came this marvellous conception, "Like G.o.d I will be seen by my works, although my image shall never be visible--_Mente videbor_. By the mind I shall be seen." So equipped, and with such a scheme, he commenced and successfully carried through that colossal enterprise in which he sought the good of all men, though in a despised weed. "This," he said, "whether it be curiosity or vainglory, or (if one takes it favourably) philanthropia, is so fixed in my mind as it cannot be removed."

Translations of the cla.s.sics, of histories, and other works were made.

In those he no doubt had a.s.sistance by the commandment of more wits than his own, which is a thing he greatly affected. Books came from his pen--poetry and prose--at a rate which, when the truth is revealed, will literally "stagger humanity." Books were written by others under his direction. He saw them through the press, and he did more. He had his own wood blocks of devices, some, at any rate, of which were his own design, and every book produced under his direction, whether written by him or not, was marked by the use of one or more of these wood blocks.

The favourite device was the light A and the dark A. Probably the first book published in England which was marked with this device was _De Rep.

Anglorum Instauranda libri decem, Auth.o.r.e Thoma Chalonero Equite, Anglo_. This was printed by Thomas Vautrollerius,[36] and bears date 1579.

Vautrollier, and afterwards Richard Field, printed many of the books in the issue of which Bacon was concerned from 1579 onwards. Henry Bynneman, and afterwards his a.s.signees Ralph Newbery and Henry Denham and George Bishop, who was a.s.sociated with Denham, were also printing books issued under his auspices, and later Adam Islip, George Eld and James Haviland came in for a liberal share of his patronage.