REPLY TO SIR HENRY IRVING.

THE PRINCETON ADDRESS.

In an address at Princeton on the Shakespeare-Bacon controversy, Sir Henry Irving did me the honor of mention, although in rather a disparaging way, as “constructing a wonderful cipher out of the higgledy-piggledy lettering” of the First Folio and other Elizabethan books in which irregular lettering is found.

As comparatively few will recognize from the terms Sir Henry used, the actual meaning of this characterization of the peculiar printing, I beg leave to say that he refers to the two or more forms of Italic letters the printers of that day employed in the same text of many books, and that I have discovered that their use in a large number was for the purpose of embodying the biliteral cipher invented by Bacon. Much of this work has been deciphered and published as theBi-literal Cypher of Francis Bacon, and no doubt the recent discussion of this book in England,—and the echoes, on this side, of the controversy,—was the suggestion, at least, of the theme of the Princeton address.

Sir Henry points out that by “this wondrous cipher Bacon is alleged to have written in addition to Shakespeare and Greene, the works of Ben Jonson and Marlowe, Spenser’sFaerie Queeneand Burton’sAnatomy of Melancholy,” but says “its chief business is to stagger us with the revelation that Bacon was the 'legitimate son of Queen Elizabeth.’”

It is not my purpose at this time to discourse upon the discoveries I have made, which, among a great deal else equally important, most certainly reveal all that Sir Henry mentions—except that Bacon lays no claim to the greater part of Ben Jonson’s works—but I wish to throw additional light upon certain passages in the address that are presented as facts irreconcilable with the cipher disclosures. These “facts” are supposed to show that it is not in the realm of possibility that Bacon could have written the plays.

In the opening sentences, Sir Henry refers to some words of his own used as a fitting conclusion to a treatise on theBacon-Shakespeare Questionby Judge Allen of Boston. I quote: “When the Baconians can show that Ben Jonson was either a fool or a knave, or that the whole world of players and playwrights at that time was in a conspiracy to palm off on the ages the most astounding cheat in history, they will be worthy of serious attention.”

If Sir Henry Irving to-day appeared in a new play, and at the same time claimed that it was the work of his hand, it would not, probably, require “a conspiracy of the whole world of players and playwrights to palm it off” on the present age to say nothing of the future.

The writers who refer so confidently to Ben Jonson’s praise of Shakespeare, do not observe that he says:

——“heseemesto shake a Lance,As brandisht at the eyes of Ignorance.”

——“heseemesto shake a Lance,

As brandisht at the eyes of Ignorance.”

They are blind, also, to the significance of the lines:

“From thence to Honour thee, I would not seekeFor names; but call forth thund’ring Æschilus,Euripides, and Sophocles to us,Paccuvius, Accius, him of Cordova dead,To life againe, to heare thyBuskintread,And shake a Stage: Or, when thySockeswere on,Leave thee alone for the comparisonOf all, that insolent Greece, or haughtie RomeSent forth, or since did from their ashes come.”

“From thence to Honour thee, I would not seeke

For names; but call forth thund’ring Æschilus,

Euripides, and Sophocles to us,

Paccuvius, Accius, him of Cordova dead,

To life againe, to heare thyBuskintread,

And shake a Stage: Or, when thySockeswere on,

Leave thee alone for the comparison

Of all, that insolent Greece, or haughtie Rome

Sent forth, or since did from their ashes come.”

The 'buskin’ signified tragedy, 'socks’ comedy, and it was as an actor, not as an author, that Jonson would compare Shakespeare with both ancient and modern Greece and Rome. His name was in the list of actors of some of Jonson’s plays, as well as of “Shakespeare’s.” Beeston says, “he did act exceedingly well,” and we are indebted to Mr. Sidney Lee’sShakespeare in Oral Traditionfor a revival of “the exciting discovery some actors made” of Shakespeare’s brother Gilbert whose memory “only enabled him to recall his brother’s performance of Adam in his(?) comedy ofAs you like it.”

It is true that Shakespeare was lauded for the literary work supposed to be his, yet in the article just cited we observe also that “Shakespeare’s extraordinary rapidity of composition was an especially frequent topic of contemporary debate.” There were men even then who realized that these things were not possible to their Shakespeare.

In theAdvancement of Learningwe read; “He is the greater and deeper pollitique, that can make other men the Instruments of his will and endes, and yet never acquaint them with his purpose: So that they shall doe it, and yet not know what they doe, then hee that imparteth his meaning to those he employeth.” B. 2., 1st p. 33.

This would suggest that Bacon did not impart his purposes to his “masques.” Ignorant of the fact that Shakespeare’s name was being employed as was his own, Greene exclaimed, “An upstart crow beautified withourfeathers!” The similarity of expression was apparent to him, as to students of the present day, and the charge of plagiarism was very natural.

Sir Henry points out that although Bacon “was the legitimate son of Queen Elizabeth, his unnatural mother showed not the smallest desire to advance his interests.” But what shall be said of Sir Nicholas Bacon’s failure to make provision for Francis? The cipher history makes that point quite clear. He made provision for his own sons, and in a certain sense Elizabeth provided for hers, although she did not give them public recognition nor show the elder any marked favor.

Sir Henry asks: “What did Bacon know about the stage?” What did he not know about the stage? A few random quotations will best answer these questions:

“In the playsof this philosophicaltheatreyou may observe the same thing which is foundin the theatreof the poets, that stories inventedfor the stage, are more compact and elegant, and more as one would wish them to be, than true stories out of history.”Nov. Or., p. 90.

“Representative[poetry] is as avisiblehistory, and isan image of actionsas if they were present, as history is of actions in nature as they are (that is) past.”Adv. of L., p. 204.

“In whose time also began that great alteration in the state ecclesiastical,an actionwhich seldomcometh upon the stage.”Adv. of L., p. 193.

“As if he were conscient to himself that he hadplayed his part well upon the stage.”Adv. of L., p. 362.

“But it is not good to stay too longin the theatre.”Adv. of L., p. 206.

“But men must know, thatin this theatreof man’s life it is reserved only for God and the angels to be lookers on.”De Aug., p. 198.

“As it is used in someComedies of Errors, wherein the mistress and the maid change habits.Adv. of L., p. 315,De Aug., p. 199.

“What more unseemly than to be alwaysplaying a part?”Adv. of L., p. 349.

“And then what is more uncomely than to bring the mannersof the stageinto the business of life?”De Aug., p. 235.

“Besides it is unseemly for judicial proceedings to borrow anythingfrom the stage.”De Aug., p. 340.

“But the best provision and material for this treatise is to be gained from the wiser sort of historians, not only from the commemorations which they commonly add on recording the deaths of illustrious persons, but much more from the entire body of history as often as such a personenters upon the stage; for a character so worked into the narrative gives a better idea of the man, than any formal criticism and review can.”De Aug., p. 217.

“This was one of the longestplaysof that kind that hath been in memory.”History of Henry the Seventh, p. 304.

“Therefore now like theend of a play, a great number cameupon the stageat once.”History of Henry the Seventh, p. 287.

“But from his first appearanceupon the stage.”H. VII., p. 291.

“He had contrived with himself a vast andtragical plot.”H. VII., p. 302.

“As to the stage, love is ever matter ofcomediesand now and then oftragedies.”Essays, p. 95.

The stage and stage plays were constantly in Bacon’s mind. The point is not well taken that Bacon could not have written the plays from lack of familiarity with the stage, from lack of the old plays that were the basis of some, from the impossibility of altering the plays extant, or of collaborating with other writers in the historical dramas. Bacon had access to all sorts and conditions of men, to all varieties of literature, but the proofs of collaboration are entirely wanting.

Again, Sir Henry states: “His [Shakespeare’s] knowledge of law was supposed to be wonderful by Lord Campbell but does not commend itself to Judge Allen.”

This is the opinion of one man opposed to that of another. Warner, in speaking of the chorus in Act i., Sc. ii.,H. V., says: “It reads like the result of a lawyer’s struggle to embalm his brief in blank verse.”

A little further on in Sir Henry’s speech we find an allusion to 'Shakespeare’s careless notions about law, geography, and historical accuracy.’

When the great German Schlegel wrote, “I undertake to prove that Shakespeare’s anachronisms are for the most part committed purposely and after great consideration,” the truism was more far-reaching than he knew. The double purpose that many lines and often whole passages serve, was the real cause of the anachronisms, and want of historical accuracy. InRichard the Secondthe pathetic scene of the queen’s interview with the dethroned Richard as he is being led to the Tower, is “both historically inaccurate and psychologically impossible. The king and queen did not meet again at all after their parting when Richard set out for Ireland, and Queen Isabel was a child.”—Warner’s Hist.Nearly the entire scene is a part of the hidden cipher drama,The White Rose of Britain, and is the parting of the pretended Richard, Duke of York,—Warbeck, named by the Duchess of Burgundy the White Rose,—from his faithful wife, Katharine, to whom the title was afterward given.

“Qu.This way the King will come: this is the wayTo Julius Cæsar’s ill-erected Tower:To whose flint bosome, my condemned LordIs doom’d a Prisoner, by prowd——Here let us rest, if this rebellious earthHave any resting for her true King’s Queene.ENTER RICHARD AND GUARD.But soft, but see, or rather do not seeMy fair Rose wither: yet look up; behold,That you in pittie may dissolve to dew,And wash him fresh again in true-love Teares.Ah thou, the Modell where old Troy did stand,Thou Mappe of Honor, thou King Richard’s Tombe,And not King Richard: thou most beauteous Inne,Why should hard-favor’d Griefe be lodged in thee,When Triumph is become an ale-house guest?Rich.Joyne not with griefe faire Woman, do not so,To make my end too sudden: learne good Soule,To thinke our former State a happie Dreame,From which awak’d, the truth of what we are,Shewes us but this. I am sworne Brother (Sweet)To grim Necessitie; and hee and IWill keepe a League till Death,” etc.—R. II., Act. v., Sc. i.

“Qu.This way the King will come: this is the way

To Julius Cæsar’s ill-erected Tower:

To whose flint bosome, my condemned Lord

Is doom’d a Prisoner, by prowd——

Here let us rest, if this rebellious earth

Have any resting for her true King’s Queene.

ENTER RICHARD AND GUARD.

But soft, but see, or rather do not see

My fair Rose wither: yet look up; behold,

That you in pittie may dissolve to dew,

And wash him fresh again in true-love Teares.

Ah thou, the Modell where old Troy did stand,

Thou Mappe of Honor, thou King Richard’s Tombe,

And not King Richard: thou most beauteous Inne,

Why should hard-favor’d Griefe be lodged in thee,

When Triumph is become an ale-house guest?

Rich.Joyne not with griefe faire Woman, do not so,

To make my end too sudden: learne good Soule,

To thinke our former State a happie Dreame,

From which awak’d, the truth of what we are,

Shewes us but this. I am sworne Brother (Sweet)

To grim Necessitie; and hee and I

Will keepe a League till Death,” etc.—R. II., Act. v., Sc. i.

Again inHenry the Sixth, see all the conversation regarding the marriage of Edward the Fourth: A note on the play says “nothing is historically certain concerning the episode except that Edwardmarriedthe Lady Elizabeth Grey.” It is a part of another cipher drama, theTragedy of Anne Boleyn, where some were bold enough to challenge the right of the marriage of Henry the Eighth with the beautiful Anne Boleyn:

“Lady.My lords, before it pleas’d his MajestieTo rayse my State to Title of a Queene,Doe me but right, and you must all confesse,That I was not ignoble of Descent,And meaner than myselfe have had like fortune.But as this Title honors me and mine,So your dislikes, to whom I would be pleasing,Doth cloud my joyes with danger, and with sorrow.King.My Love, forbeare to fawne upon their frownes:What danger, or what sorrow can befall thee,So long as —— is thy constant friend,And their true Soveraigne, whom they must obey?Nay, whom they shall obey, and love thee too,Unlesse they seeke for hatred at my hands:Which if they doe, yet will I keep thee safe,And they shall feele the vengeance of my wrath.”H. VI., Act iv., Sc. i.

“Lady.My lords, before it pleas’d his Majestie

To rayse my State to Title of a Queene,

Doe me but right, and you must all confesse,

That I was not ignoble of Descent,

And meaner than myselfe have had like fortune.

But as this Title honors me and mine,

So your dislikes, to whom I would be pleasing,

Doth cloud my joyes with danger, and with sorrow.

King.My Love, forbeare to fawne upon their frownes:

What danger, or what sorrow can befall thee,

So long as —— is thy constant friend,

And their true Soveraigne, whom they must obey?

Nay, whom they shall obey, and love thee too,

Unlesse they seeke for hatred at my hands:

Which if they doe, yet will I keep thee safe,

And they shall feele the vengeance of my wrath.”

H. VI., Act iv., Sc. i.

Critics trace the marked anti-papal spirit ofKing Johnto 'Henry the Eighth’s revolt from the Roman obedience,’ and these passages are indeed a part of Henry’s speech, in theTragedy of Anne Boleyn:

——“What earthie name to InterrogatoriesCan tast the free breath of a sacred King?But as we, under heaven are supreame head,So under him that great supremacyWhere we doe reigne, we will alone upholdWithout th’ assistance of a mortall hand:For he that holds his Kingdome, holds the law.”

——“What earthie name to Interrogatories

Can tast the free breath of a sacred King?

But as we, under heaven are supreame head,

So under him that great supremacy

Where we doe reigne, we will alone uphold

Without th’ assistance of a mortall hand:

For he that holds his Kingdome, holds the law.”

And again:

“Yet I alone, alone doe me opposeAgainst the Pope, and count his friends my foes.”K. J., Act iii., Sc. i.

“Yet I alone, alone doe me opposeAgainst the Pope, and count his friends my foes.”

“Yet I alone, alone doe me oppose

Against the Pope, and count his friends my foes.”

K. J., Act iii., Sc. i.

The following lines are a part of the cipher poem, theSpanish Armada:

——“So by a roaring Tempest on the flood,A whole Armado of convicted saileIs scattered and dis-joyn’d from fellowship.”K. J., Act iii., Sc. iii.

——“So by a roaring Tempest on the flood,A whole Armado of convicted saileIs scattered and dis-joyn’d from fellowship.”

——“So by a roaring Tempest on the flood,

A whole Armado of convicted saile

Is scattered and dis-joyn’d from fellowship.”

K. J., Act iii., Sc. iii.

A part of Cranmer’s prophetic speech at Elizabeth’s christening has reference to Francis himself:

“So shall she leave her Blessednesse to One(When Heaven shall call her from this clowd of darknes)Who, from the sacred Ashes of her HonourShall Star-like rise, as great in fame as she was,And so stand fix’d.”—H. VIII., Act v., Sc. iv.

“So shall she leave her Blessednesse to One

(When Heaven shall call her from this clowd of darknes)

Who, from the sacred Ashes of her Honour

Shall Star-like rise, as great in fame as she was,

And so stand fix’d.”—H. VIII., Act v., Sc. iv.

The mention of quoting Marlowe sometimes with acknowledgment—sometimes omitting the acknowledgment—shows that Sir Henry does not concede that the plays of Marlowe were from the same pen as the plays of Shakespeare, but he admits that 'Marlowe was Shakespeare’s model in several ways,’ and in making this admission he reveals a recognition of similarity that he can in no way account for until he accepts the very natural 'cause of this effect’ made known in the cipher.

Next we find: “Shakespeare had an immeasurable receptivity of all that concerned human character.”

This is, of course, an inference drawn from the plays. It is well known to all close students of that marvelous literature that its author discerned every type of human character, understood the influence of environment upon men and women, and had a wide and deep knowledge of the spirit of the times, in different ages and in many countries. We do not differ in opinion there, but Sir Henry speaks of the author by his pseudonym, I by the name his foster father gave him.

Tennyson is quoted to show Bacon’s opinion of love: “The philosopher who in his essay on 'Love’ described it as a 'weak passion’ fit only for stage comedies, and deplored and despised its influence over the world’s noted men, could never have written 'Romeo and Juliet’.”

In theAdvancement of Learning, Bacon says: “Love teacheth a man to carry himself ... to prize and govern himself ... onely Love doth exalt the mind and neverthelesse at the same instant doth settle and compose it.” The play ofRomeo and Julietwas the story of the love of Bacon’s youth and early manhood, and the score of years between the time of writing the play and publishing the essay had filled his life with other things, yet those who have read the cipher story know that an inner chamber of his heart enshrined a memory of Marguerite.

I quote again from the address: “Still more noteworthy is the absence of any plausible excuse for Bacon’s fond preservation of his worthless rhymes and his neglect of the masterpieces that went by Shakespeare’s name. He gave the most minute directions for the publication of his literary remains.His secretary, Dr. Rawley, was entrusted with this responsibility and faithfully discharged it.”

Bacon’s MSS. were given to two literary executors, not to Rawley alone, and a part was taken to Holland. Rawley continued the publication of Bacon’s works after 1626, publishing all those that were left in his care. Without these, a large number of the interior works would have been incomplete and the work in the word-cipher interrupted.

Sir Henry’s assertion, “nothing could be easier than to make an equally impressive cipher which would show that Darwin wrote Tennyson,” etc., needs no refutation. Bacon does not say that it was exceedingly difficult to “make” the biliteral cipher.

Again we find: “It would be more to the purpose if the Baconians would tell us why on earth Bacon could not let the world know in his lifetime that he had written Shakespeare.”

The principal reason was because the history of his life was largely given in those plays, not alone in the biliteral, but in the word-cipher, and the revelation of that in the lifetime of Queen Elizabeth would have cost his own life. He hoped against hope to the very day of the queen’s death, that she would relent and proclaim him heir to the throne. But he states that the witnesses were then dead, and the papers that would authenticate his claims destroyed. What could he do? Simply what he did.

In the peroration we find: “I fear that the desire to drag down Shakespeare from his pedestal, and to treat the testimony of his personal friends as that of lying rogues is due to that antipathy to the actor’s calling which has its eccentric manifestations even to this day.”

This cannot in any way refer to my book, for the very nature of this work eliminates personal thoughts and wishes or preconceived ideas. It is as mechanical as the reading of hieroglyphics, as naming perfectly well-known objects, as discriminating the clicks of the telegraph. And as far as Bacon was concerned he desired only his right.

It is by its great men in every age of the world that the actor’s calling is dignified, but the genius of the man of the stage is not necessarily the genius of the man who wrote the greatest plays that time through all the centuries has produced.

Elizabeth Wells Gallup.

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