“Thus then, to show my judgment to be such As can discern of colors black and white, As als to free my mind from envy’s touch, That never gives to any man his right: I here pronounce this workmanship is such As that no pen can set it forth too much. [37] “And thus I hang a garland at the door; Not for to show the goodness of the ware; But such hath been the custom heretofore, And customs very hardly broken are; And when your taste shall tell you this is true, Then look you give your host his utmost due.” In No. viii of “The Passionate Pilgrim” the writer says: “Dowland to thee is dear, whose heavenly touch Upon the lute doth ravish human sense; Spenser to me, whose deep conceit is such As, passing all conceit, needs no defense.” Is not this praise of Spenser a substantial repetition of the sentiments expressed by “Ignoto”? Again, in Shakspere’s Sonnet lxxx we read: “O how I faint when I of you do write, Knowing a better spirit doth use your name, And in the praise thereof spends all his might, To make me tongue−tied, speaking of your fame!” Spenser praises Essex in one of the Sonnets prefixed to his “Faery Queen,” which antedates the Sonnets of Shakspere. Once more. In No. xviii of “The Passionate Pilgrim” we read: “Poor Corydon must live alone, Other help for him I see that there is none.” Compare this with the following lines from Spenser’s “Colin Clout,” dedicated to Sir Walter Raleigh, December 27, 1591, and published in 1595: “And there is Corydon, though meanly waged, Yet ablest wit of most I know this day.” Was not Bacon the ablest wit of that time? Was [38] he not a concealed poet? Was he not “Corydon”? Was he not “Ignoto”? But what evidence is there that Raleigh used that signature? The “Faery Queen” was publicly dedicated to him, and in the Sonnet addressed to him as one of Spenser’s patrons, a forthcoming poem by Raleigh is announced thus: “Yet, till that thou thy poem wilt make known, Let thy fair Cynthia’s praises be thus rudely shown.” That poem was known to Spenser, who in the Dedication said he had fashioned his Queen “according to your [Raleigh’s] own excellent conceit of Cynthia,” i. e., Queen Elizabeth. Furthermore, Raleigh contributed two Sonnets in praise of Spenser’s “Faery Queen;” these he subscribed with his own initials. Did he at the same time write another encomium and sign it “Ignoto”?