is the twenty-third word from the top of page 26, in extraordinary letterpress, and the "Tragedy of Richard III.” is the twenty-third play in order in the Folio. This word "Tragedy" is the 267th, 268th, 269th, or 270th word, all counted down from the top of the page, according as we count hyphenated words ("marriage-bed," "bachelor-king," "issue-male") as single or double words. Upon page 53, "Merry Wives of Windsor," these numbers give "For Bacon, I warrant." Upon page 36 of this "History of King Henry the Seventh" there are fifty-two or fiftythree words in italics ("Fore-fight" hyphenated), according as we count the hyphenated word singly or double. This was Shakespeare's age, 1616, when he died. 52 years old, and in his 53rd year. 36 plays in the 1623 Folio. "A Tragedy" are the 225th and 224th words all counted up the page. Upon page 53, "Merry Wives of Windsor," the 225th, 224th words (up and down) are :— This "pronoun," or name standing in place of another name, is identified in the accusative case with the word Bacon. Hang hog is Latin for Bacon, I warrant you. Upon page 23, Bacon's "History of King Henry the Seventh," we read :-"But yet doubting that there would be too near looking and too much Perspective into his disguise, if he should show it here in England, he thought good (after the manner of scenes in Stage-Plays and Masks) to show it afar off." The words Stage-Plays are the 84th and 85th words down from the top of this page 23. Now the time of action comprehending the play of "King Richard III." is from A.D. 1471 to 1485, and if there had been a play of King Richard VII. it would have commenced from the last date. The numbers of these words are as follows, and we give the corresponding figures from page 53, "Merry Wives of Windsor": And if we The pronoun stands in the place of a proper name. add the paging 23 to 83 and 84 ("In Stage"), we get 106 and 107, which are the numbers of the columns of page 53, "Merry Wives of Windsor," from which we take our figures. Elizabeth, Queen to King Edward IV. Fuller says of this lady:-" She got more greatness than joy, height than happiness, by her marriage, for she lived to see the death of her husband, murder of her two sons, and restraint of herself and rest of her children." This agrees with her foreboding language in the play : Small joy have I in being England's queen. Miss Strickland says of her: "There never was a woman who contrived to make more personal enemies." After Richard's usurpation she was styled by him, "Dame Elizabeth Grey, late calling herself Queen of England." She retired to the Monastery of Bermondsey, where she died in the reign of her son-in-law, much neglected by him, June 8, 1492. In only one instance has the compiler met with the time of Elizabeth Woodvile's death, and then it was merely stated to have occurred the Friday before Whitsuntide. As Easter Day in 1492 fell on the 22nd of April, the exact date of her decease was the 8th of June. Her will, dated April 10, 1492, exhibits a touching picture of her maternal affection and her poverty, having nothing but her blessing to bequeath to her children, for "I have no worldly goods" is her mournful confession. She was buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor, where on a flat stone, at the foot of her royal husband's tomb, is inscribed · King Edward and his Queen Elizabeth Widvile. Southey's lines would form an appropriate epitaph : Thou, Elizabeth, art here, Thou! to whom all griefs were known, Who wert placed upon the bier, In happier hour than on a throne. This is the Queen Bacon refers to as the Queen Dowager. We find her in the play urging the Marquis of Dorset to fly to Richmond, and this agrees with Bacon's words, "And in her withdrawing chamber had the fortunate conspiracy for the King against Richard the Third been hatched" (p. 21, "History of King Henry VII."). Compare Queen. O Dorset, speak not to me, get thee gone, ("Richard III.," act i. sc. 3.) "The Marquis of Dorset was Thomas Grey, eldest son of Elizabeth's first marriage. After the death of King Edward, Dorset, attainted by Richard the Third, escaped to the Earl of Richmond, and assisted in raising him to the throne" ("Notes on the Characters of Shakespeare's Plays," p. 224, by G. R. French, 1868). The reader may see how exactly acquainted Bacon is with the details of the reign of King Richard the Third as they are presented by the supposed Shakespeare. CHAPTER II. AMBITION, ENVY, AND DEFORMITY. "He seems to have written the Essays with the pen of Shakespeare.' ALEXANDER SMITH. PROFESSOR FOWLER writes: "In vol. i. p. 5 De Maistre makes what appears to me to be a very true criticism on Bacon-Rarement il résiste à l'envie d'être poète '" (p. 137, Introduction, "Nov. Org."). RICHARD III. LET those who would trace Bacon's mind in the characters of the plays, carefully read his Essay on "Deformity," and then study the character of Richard III. as depicted in his self-examining speech (at the opening of the play), and notice how exactly what Bacon remarks upon the compensations of Nature are illustrated in this one portrait. "Deformed persons are commonly even with nature, for as nature hath done ill by them, so do they by nature, being for the most part (as the Scripture sayeth) void of natural affection, and so they have their revenge of nature; certainly there be a consent between the body and the mind, and where nature erreth in the one, she ventureth in the other. Whosoever hath anything fixed in his person that doth induce contempt, hath also a perpetual spur in himself to rescue and deliver himself from scorn. Therefore all Deformed persons are extreme bold. First, as in their own defence as being exposed to scorn, but in process of time, by a general habit. So that in a great wit Deformity is an advantage to rising. Still the ground is they will, if they be of spirit, seek to free themselves from scorn; which must be, either by virtue or malice" ("Deformity," 1625). Richard. I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion, Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, And that so lamely and unfashionable, To entertain these fair well-spoken days, Let the reader next read the Essay on 'Boldness," which Bacon has already declared is an attribute of deformed persons. And let us call to mind Richard III., as Duke of Gloucester, making love to Lady Anne over the coffin of her husband, killed by him. "Wonderful like is the case of boldness, in civil business; what first? Boldness; what second and third? Boldness. And yet Boldness is a child of ignorance, and baseness, far inferior to other parts. But nevertheless it doth fascinate, and bind hand and foot, those that are either shallow in judgment, or weak in courage, which are the greatest part; yea, and prevaileth with wise men at weak times. Therefore we see it hath done wonders in popular states, but with senates and princes less. And more even upon the first entrance of Bold Persons into Action than soon after; for Boldness is an ill keeper of promise" ("Boldness"). We have already found Bacon writing upon Deformity: "Certainly there is a consent between the body and the mind." Richard III. says: Then since the heavens have shaped my body so, Let Hell make crooked my mind to answer it. In Bacon's "Natural History" he writes: "It is an usual observation, that if the body of one murdered be brought before the murderer, the wounds will bleed afresh" (Century x., Exp. 958). An illustration of this is given in the play of "King Richard the Third," in the celebrated second scene of the first act, where Richard (as Duke of Gloucester) stops the "corse" of King |