The times., 1898-06-26
MYSTERY OF BACON'S DEATH.
Did He Die to the World I'm 1926 and
Live on-fn Exile Fourteen Years:

funeral or Of his place of burial Nor
nave We scarce any knowledge Of his
last illness save the following portion
OF letter without date. which he die
tated to the Earl of Arundel and Sur
rey:
My Very Good Lord-I was likely to have had
the fortune OF Caius Plinfus. the elder, who lost
his lie by trying an experiment about the burn
ing Of the mountain Vesuvius. For | was also de-
sirous TO try an experiment two, touching the
conservation and induration Of bodies AS for the
experiment itself, 1t succeeded excellently well;
but in the journey lbetween London and High
gate) | was taken with such fit OF casting (Son'-
IIing), | knew not whether IL were the stone,
some surfeit, cold, or indeed touch OF them
all three But when came to your lordships house
| was not able to go back, and therefore was
forced to take up my lodging here, where your
housekeeper is very careful and diligent about
me; which | assure myself your lordship will not
only pardon towards him, but think the better
OF him for IL. For indeed your lordship's house
was happy To me; and | kiss your noble hand
for the welcome which am sure you give me
to il. etc.
/ know how unfit il is for TO write TO your
lordship with any other hand than mine own; but
in troth my fingers dis1ointed with TINS
fit Of sickness that cannot steadily hold pen.
This letter. says the latest and best
biographer of Lord Bacon, was ''evi-
he was debating 1t from his death
bed, and it is pity that the editor
(Rawley) did not think fit to print the
whole" And Mr.. SPEEDING adds:
The story goes on TO say that the housekeeper,
in his anxiety TO entertain him handsomely, had
put him in the best bed which, having been long
unused, in the absence of the family. was damp,
in spite Of the warming pan. This brought on an
attack of what would be called bronchitis.
which lasted some days, and ended tas that com
plant so often does with people OF all ages) In
sudden suhocation.
He died the 9th of April 1926, In the early
morning of Easter Sunday.
Mr.. SPEEDING further tells US that
Bacon's executors refused or delayed
to undertake the office. and that after
fifteen months letters of administration
were granted to two of his creditors.
Bacons debts amounted to &22.31 and
his assets to little more than $1,000.
The greater part of his manuscripts
were entrusted to DR.. Rawley, by
whom they were edited.
Did Lord Bacon actually die on the
9th Of April, 1926? / have before me
quarto of more than a hundred pages.
published in London in 1868. Price to
subscribers, one guinea" eneitled II
Illustrations of Jack Cade'S Rebellion
From Researches in the Guildhal Rec
oris, Together with Some Newly found
Letters of Lord Bacon, etc" There are
nine Of these letters dating from 1911 TO
1926. all addressed to the lord mayor.
The last one is a recommendation of Mr..
Richard Gippes for recorder OF London,
and it concludes as follows:
Gray's lime. this 10th November. 1925:
Your Lo'p's very loving friends, Fr Bacon, NY
lelVertOn-an others.
When this book first came into my
possession eighteen years ago. PEN
ciled an Interrogation on the margin of
this lettr, dated seven months after
| Bacon's death. supposing there was
mistake in the year. / now do not think
so. Evidence has been recently brought
TO light that Racon's life was proiong-
ed in voluntary exile some fourteen
years after his alleged death.
Mrs. Constance NJ. Pott, author of
| .'Bacons Promus." has found evidence
that Bacon continued TO write after
| 1926 / venture TO quote from her let
ter TO me dated February IS. 1893.
have not yet satisfied myself about this but
incline 10 the belief that Francis Bacon lived as
| reeluse in Germany, where quantity OF his
4 books published IN Latn- mad ue
lightfiil afternoon with the late Earl OF Neruiam
| at ,:ohanlury He very aged and much
| crippled, but he insisted upon hobbhng about on
| two sticks and showing most interesting
| things q knew much more about them than he
| didD He not literary man. but very dear
old gentleman. and il seemed quite a new idea to
| him that anyone should want TO know where
| Bacon was buried. He said all be knew was that
| lac was not buried in the vaults under the Church
Of St Michael's, for that he and Others had made
| a thorough examination OF all the cOfins before
| the crvpt was bricked up by order of the board
| of works. He said he would ascertain further
| particulars from old stonemason and an old
| clergyman who had been concerned IN the re-
| pairs and alterations OF the church | had sort
! Of dim idea that Bacon's body might have been
| crematcd OF embamed and placed within the
| monument, which | feel pretty sure contains
| something perhaps records parchment coated
| with the Of watch candies Bacon de
scrbes the records Of Soon to have been preserved
| for OnO years However. after writing several
! letters Lord Yerulam suddenly sent short note
| to say that he too old to enter into contro-
| versy. We had had none, and ! suppose him to
| have been hndered by the clergyman and masons
| both Freemasons.
| Then, finding that three equally respectable
1 authorities give three different accounts Of
the place and manner of his death, and that there
is no published records of his funeral, Of any
person who attended his deathbed. | to the
further opinion that in 1926 he died 10 the world,
and went into voluntary exile and quiet in order
| to concentrate all his remaining energies upon
1 the revision and publication of his books. and
the consolidation of his Brotherhood his Sc
| cret Society, who were to carry on his work.
/
fectly well known, and / hope before long to get
| TO the bottom of this subject.
| Dr. William RawIey, Bacons private
| secretary and chaplain, published a
| short memoir of his master in 1867. Two
| years ago DR.. George Cantor. professor
| IF mathematics in the University of
Halle Wittenburg, brought to light a
| collection of Bacon's posthumous works
| left by DR.. Rawiey, among which are
| some thirty elegies in Latin Ito the in
| comparable Francis of Veruiam." Sew
/ eral of these elegies concede to Bacon
| poetic talent of the highest order. and
some of them speak of him as an oc-
| togenarian. The first Of the series of
| elegies. DR.. Cantor says. was written
| by a young friend of Ben Jonson. In
it Bacon is designated not only as the
| creator of the Elizabethan period, but,
| indeed, as the Shakespeare. for OUR
| mus, in the seventeenth distich, de-
notes in English Spear-Swinger' or
Shaker" / quote seventeen and eight
| cen:
He taught them 10 grow. the shaft of ouiri-
| For his teaching the Helicon MUSES. their growth
| unending aeons ne'er lessen his glory.
The keynote of the whole elegy says
| DIR. Cantor is this: NO other poet
| could be compared to Francis of Yer
ulam. Not alone the greatest, he was
| the only great poet OF his age. He
| taught others; he taught the MUSES.
themselves.
Many of these elegies are translated
and published in the quarterly Ba-
coniana, from July, 1896 to July, 1897
| A scholarly Freemason of the thirty
/ third degree, who has a choice library.
| tells me that long ago he read some