The Washington herald., 1910-01-10
Bacon or Shakespeare?

About october 10 Boston, New York.
and Washington papers had an item as to
the possible discovery OF manuscripts
and books that had been the property OF
Francis Bacon, and had been concealed
for nearly 900 years In a cave or subter-
rauean passage. The New York Times
OF January l, 1910. In a further item upon
the subject, says that. although the cave
and other subterranean passages as de-
scribed in a cipher found in Bacon's
works have been found, the manuscripts
have as yet not been discovered. 1t is
very probable that they have been discov-
cred by searching parties and removed.
The VIII Of Viscount Saint AIban QJ6l-
1868 FTancis Bacon) has been removed
from the place where 1t should be kept,
where other wills Of that period are pre-
served and open to inspection Of the pub
lie. and cannot be found.
In the early part Of the last century
the sexton Of ST. AichaeIs Church, near
Saint Adams. on entering the church one
morning found Bacon's monument lying
on the tile pavement Of this church in
a broken condition. Suspicious circum-
stances pointed TO the belief that some
one had been searching for something,
and had taken the midnight hours for
the search. The manner in which Bacon's
letters and manuscripts have been mutt
lated and suppressed Is recorded in Ba-
coniana for the last fifteen years. Many
Instances are given IN the Hon. Ignatus
Donnelly's last work, THE Cipher in the
Plays and on the Tombstone Os99). A
remarkable instance Of the way that
Bacon's manuscripts have disappeared is
shown in the case of the celebrated
Northumberland Manuscripts"
These manuscripts were brought 10
light in 1867. about 200 years after the
death Of Viscount Saint klbans. IN 1861 OF
1863, Fortunately, there was an index
page OF the titles and contents OF certain
manuscripts that have been IN the coIlec-
ton, most OF which were weIl-known
compositions OF Bacon. The index page
was covered with various inscriptions,
including shorthand characters, the names
Francis Bacon" and William Shakes
peare" written several times). a tribute
to Bacons foster brother, Anthony
crece," and several short sentences. The
index page was so thoroughly scrawled
over theT the person who removed the
Shakespeare plays of Rychard We sec
ond" and "Rychard We third" that were
IN this package OF manuscripts. evident
Ily failed TO notice that they were record
ed on that index page. II thus happens
that the only record OF the manuscript
Of a Shakespeare play is found In that
Northumberland manuscript, the property
and writings Of Francis Bacon in the
years 1858.
II the readers OF The Washington Her
aid wish TO know more about this
Northumberland manuscript" they can
find a description in "Baconiana" of 1904
and New Shakespeareana" of l906-07.
Both these magazines are on file In the
Library OF Congress. There ara grave
errors and misstatements in these maya
zine articles. The handwriting Of the
index page is attributed TO John Davies,
writing teacher. This statement was
'lnvented"' by an Englishman, a "vio-
lent Shagsperite," without the slightest
authority for It.
He, pretending to believe that the igno-
rant peasant, ''willm Shagsper'' C56S-1616),
Of Stratford Cwhose parents We're iliterate,
who brought up his daughters in such
/ ignorance that they could not write their
names nor read handwriting), was the
author Of the plays, knew that 1t was a
death knell to his false ideas If he ad-
mitted that the scribbling was the writing
OF Francis Bacon, so he issued a book
Of Il few pages. describing these manu-
scripts in order TO forestaH the complete
Photographic reproduction Of several
scores Of pages that Longmans, OF Lon
don. issued In 1904, which is in the Library
of Congress, and is one Of the most in
teresting and valuable books of modern
times
Prominent literary students in England
and America aver that much Of the scrib-
bling on the index page OF that manu-
script is in the handwriting OF Francis
Bacon. The writer has made an enlarged
photo-reproduction Of portion of this
index page, and can show phrase written
on that page that no man living at that