negative the existence of any such small consistent and reliable distinctions as asserted by Mrs. Gallup. There are many other difficulties in the way of accepting the cipher as real. The cipher is said to be taken from forty-four different books, published at various dates from 1590 to 1635, printed probably by twenty or more different printers. The differences in type are said to be in part so minute as to be recognisable only after long study and with the aid of a magnifier. Were all the printers supplied with magnifiers? It has been suggested, in order to dispense with magnifiers, that possibly the types were marked with two marks, and the manuscripts marked under each letter, to enable the printers to work. Apart from the labour, and the difficulty of getting the printers to work this system accurately, how could secrecy be preserved? Every printer and printer's man would know these forty-four books contained cipher secrets, and in 1623 the key was published to all the world in the De Augmentis. Is it likely also that Bacon would commit State secrets to a cipher which could only be discovered with a magnifier, and whose distinctions are so minute, and therefore uncertain, as to be capable of being read in any number of different ways? That the cipher flatly contradicts Bacon's authentic statements is not denied. If it is a question of credibility between Francis Bacon and Mrs. Gallup the Bacon Society should prefer Francis Bacon. GEORGE COX BOMPAS. THE Τ HE complete trilogy of the Parnassus plays has now been before the world nearly thirty years, and we are no nearer to a conclusion as to their origin and purpose; yet they are crowded with hints and suggestions applicable to the various problems connected with the Elizabethan drama, and especially to Shakespeare. Shakespeare, indeed, is almost constantly in evidence in the second and third of these plays. The authorship of plays, the fortunes of scholars, their ideals contrasted with their realities, their social position compared with that of actors, the special merits of a great number of contemporary poets,-these are the chief topics of most of the acts and scenes; and in all these particulars William Shakespeare the poet, and the poems attributed to him, are either directly or indirectly dwelt upon. Scholars find that the road to Parnassus is the road to beggary and contempt. The prizes due to learning are given to Ignorance and Stupidity. Actors are "leaden spouts, that nought do vent but that which they receive." These "painted asses" are seated in "chairs of dignity," while the unsuccessful scholar is reduced to menial occupations. I do not think it will be easy to find any head for whom these various caps are better fitted than that of William Shakspere. Surely this is his very portrait. Studioso, the Cambridge scholar, speaks : "Fair fell good Orpheus, that would rather be King of a molehill than a Keysar's slave: Better it is 'mongst fiddlers to be chief, Than at a player's trencher beg relief. But is't not strange these mimic apes should prize The Return from Parnassus. Anon. Temple Dramatists. (J. M. Dent and Co., Is. 6d.) Vile world that lifts them up to high degree And pages to attend their masterships: With mouthing words that better wits have framed -3 Par., V. i. These plays show high poetic merit; they are full of inexhaustible wit and character painting; they abound in classic allusions and even quotations. The poet was evidently quite familiar with French; there is a good deal of law jargon in his writing-in fact we find all the leading characteristics of the Shakespearean drama, while resemblances and parallels in thought and phrase turn up not only in every page, but many times in most pages. In the first hundred lines of the first play there are no less than thirty passages which recall about fifty parallel passages in Shakespeare, and in complex fashion these give their support to the Baconian theory; for we have Ist. Almost positive proof that Bacon wrote a good deal of the poetry. 2nd. Equally positive proof that "Shakespeare" did. 3rd. Equally positive proof that both were occupied with the same passages. We can only find room for typical instances of all these. The most striking is the following. Bacon in his Advancement thus writes: "Herein the invention of one of the late poets is proper, and doth well enrich the ancient fiction. For he feigneth that at the end of the thread or web of every man's life there was a little medal containing the person's name, and that Time waited upon the shears, and as soon as the thread was cut, caught the medals and carried them to the river of Lethe; and about the banks there were many birds flying up and down, that would get the medals and carry them in their beak a little while, and then let them fall into the river. Only there were a few swans, which, if they got a name, would carry it to a temple where it was consecrate." -Works IV. 307. The same "invention " appears in the third Parnassus play, IV. 3: "Fond world that ne'er thinks on that aged man, That Ariosto's old swift-paced man, Whose name is Time, who ever lins to run, Loaden with bundles of decayed names, The which in Lethe's lake he doth entomb, Save only those which swan-like scholars take Curiously enough the Clarendon Editor, as well as Mr. Ellis, naming Ariosto as the "late poet," says that Mr. Singer was the first to point out the source of this reference! being unaware that the name Ariosto was already given in the old play. The fact that Bacon and the Parnassus poet both hit upon the same obscure passage is not a little remarkable. Almost equally striking is the definition of a scholar given by the Page in the same play (II. 6): “Nay, maister, let me define a mere scholar. I heard a Courtier once define a mere scholar to be animal scabiosum-that is, a living creature that is troubled with the itch." In Bacon's Advancement (Works III. 426) the same definition is quoted: "Socrates saying that the Sophist's felicity was the felicity of one that had the itch, who did nothing but itch and scratch." The three groups of writings all meet in the following curious passage. Bacon's chapter, in the History of Life and Death, on the Inteneration of bodies that have been dried (V. 230), says: "Leather boots grown hard and stiff with age are softened by being greased with tallow before the fire," etc. Leonatus, servant to Consiliodorus, recounting the merits of his father, says: "Oh! he was a wise man! he could give such fine rules concerning the liquoring of boots for the holding out of water" (2 Par., I. 1). The same accomplishment is referred to in I Henry, IV. II. i.: "What! the commonwealth their boots ? Will she hold out water in foul way? She will, she will; justice hath liquored her." And Falstaff (Merry Wives, iv. 5): "They would melt me out of my fat drop by drop, and liquor fishermen's boots with me." The poet, who contrasts the anticipations of scholars with their actual experiences, uses the same language as Bacon: "The two ways of Contemplation are not unlike the two ways of action already spoken of by the ancients; the one plain and smooth in the beginning and in the end impassable; the other rough and troublesome in the entrance, but after a while fair and even."-Works III. 293. In The Conference of Pleasure he says of love: "It is not like the virtues which by a steep and cragged way conduct us to a plain, and are hard taskmasters at first, and after give an honourable hire." In the Parnassus play Philomusus speaks of tracing "This rough, this harsh, this craggy way That leadeth unto fair Parnassus hill." Studioso also is journeying, he says, "through this craggy isle, this harsh, rough way." The same description of the craggy way is repeated in three other passages. Bacon's very remarkable ideas about hope, as a useless and enfeebling sentiment, appear frequently in Shakespeare. With some contempt Hotspur's sanguine temper is described : N |