KNOWLEDGE OF FRENCH AND OTHER LANGUAGES
Aristocracy. The author of the
"Shakespeare" plays was an aristocrat,
and never speaks of the common people but in terms of
contempt. He
calls them the fool multitude, tag rag people, sweaty
rabblement, and
common herd. Will Shaksper came from the common people;
on his
retirement he became a tradesman. Is it, therefore, likely
that a tradesman
wrote the following line: "Let me have no lying, it becomes
none but
tradesman"--"The Winters Tale," Act 4, Scene 4
Is it a coincidence that Francis Bacon, who was an aristocrat,
also had a very poor opinion of the common people, and
was the
champion of the King's prerogative against popular rights?
Speaking of the common people he says: "of the highest
virtues
they have no sense or perceiving at all," and he advised
all men,
when applauded by the multitude, to examine themselves
to see what
fault or blunder they may have committed.
*
Epilepsy. "Shakespeare" believed
that Epilepsy was caused by foul breath
entering the cells of the brain, as witness the scene
in "Julius Caesar," Caesar falls
down in the market place, foams at the mouth and is speechless;
a result
attributed by "Shakespeare" to the foul breath of the
multitude of people
surrounding him. This belief is, of course, quite erroneous.
Is it a coincidence that Francis Bacon in his Natural
History states that epilepsy
is caused by "gross vapours rising and entering the cells
of the brain," and
that "Shakespeare" and Bacon both hold the same erroneous
opinion with regard
to the cause of this disease?
*
Knowledge of French And Other
Language. In the play, "Love's Labour's Lost,"
the author puns twice in the French language--once when
he use the
word "capon" in the double sense of a fowl and a love
letter, and again when
he uses the word "paint" in the double sense of the tip
of a sword and a
strong French negative. If follows that the author must
have had not only a
knowledge of the French language, but was also a fluent
French scholar. This
play also contains many sentences in Latin, Spanish and
Italian.
It must be remembered that Francis Bacon spent nearly
three years in France
in his youth after leaving Cambridge.
*
Phillip Henslowe. The chief proprietor
and manager of theatres in
the time of "Shakespeare" was Philip Henslowe. He kept
a diary in which he
entered the names of all the dramatic poets with whom
he had dealings,
together with the titles of the plays sold to him and
the amounts paid for them.
This diary is still in existence, and covers almost the
exact period (1591- 1609)
during which the "Shakespeare" plays being first produced.
In this diary
Henslowe names twenty-seven well known playwrights, but
the name Shaksper or
Shakespeare does not appear among them.
In this diary are certain plays that have no author's
names assigned to
them, including the plays "King Lear," "Henry V," "HenryVI,"
"Richard III," "The
Taming of the Shrew," and "Titus Andronicus." The diary
extends over a
period of eighteen years and bears a record not only
of the dramas played
in the theatres under Henslowe's management, but also
the amounts of money
advanced by him from time to time to the authors, and
yet we find that the name
of Shaksper never once occurs in it from beginning
to end.
Sir Sidney Lee says
that Shaksper wrote the plays for profit, and yet Henslowe
never paid him
anything for the "Shakespeare" plays mentioned above.
This was because
the real "Shakespeare" did not write the plays for
the stage only, but
for the benefit of mankind.
Is it a coincidence that Henslowe's diary, which shows
extensive dealings with London dramatists, never mentions Shaksper or Shakespeare
by name?
*
Passports. In the play "Love's
Labour's Lost" there are two characters named
Berowne and Dumane. Is it a coincidence that the passport
of Anthony Bacon,
dated 27th of September, 1586 (now in the British Museum),
is signed by
Marshall Biron, and the passport for Peter Brown, messenger
to Anthony Bacon,
dated 26th July, 1586 (also in the British Museum) is
signed by Dumayne. Why
should Will Shaksper of Stratford choose as the names
of two characters in this play
the names of the two men who signed these passports?
*
Vocabulary. It is said that a
common farm labourer uses 500 words, and
educated business man 3,000, the average novelist 5,000
and great scholars
and public men 7,000. "Shakespeare" in his poems and
plays uses 21,000, the largest vocabulary ever possessed by any member
of the human race.
With the exception of "Shakespeare's" Francis Bacon's
vocabulary was the greatest
ever known, and Dr. Samuel Johnson, the great lexicographer,
said that
"a Dictionary of the English language might be compiled from Bacon's works alone."
