But it happens that the four ditties are all credited to “Ignoto” in the Table of Contents, prepared by the _other editor_, so that in the edition of 1614 “Ignoto” has twenty pieces, besides the one assigned to Marlowe. With all this confusion what are we to believe in regard to “Ignoto”? Was he sometimes Raleigh, sometimes Barnfield, sometimes Dyer, sometimes Greville, and sometimes Shakspere, or some one else? Or was he a single person who “loved better to be a poet than to be counted so” and who affected to hoodwink the above-named Greville by writing to him in 1596: “For poets I can commend none, being resolved to be ever a stranger to them”? And here let us note a bit of internal evidence that Bacon wrote the little poem in praise of the “Faery Queen” signed “Ignoto.” One couplet of it is as follows: “For when men know the goodness of the wine, ’Tis needless for the host to have a sign.” No. 517 of Bacon’s “Promus of Formularies and Elegancies” is this: “Good wine needs no bush.” The word “bush” as applied to wine is thus defined by Webster: “branch of ivy (as sacred to Bacchus) hung out at vintners’ doors, or as a tavern sign; hence a tavern sign, or the tavern itself.” “‘If it be true that good wine needs no bush, ’tis true that a good play needs no epilogue.’” Shak.[As You Like It.] We leave the reader to put this and that together argument or comment is superfluous. [43] AS THE CONCEALED POET IGNOTO And now what shall we say in regard to Marlowe’s ostensible authorship of a popular song, which was attributed to Shakspere in 1599? Is it not presumable that “Ignoto,” who wrote the “Nymph’s Reply,” and followed it with “Another of the same nature made since” in imitation of the song subscribed “Chr. Marlowe”—is it not probable that “Ignoto” ascribed his own original song to Marlowe? Marlowe was buried June 1, 1593. In the same year Shakspere’s name first appeared in print as an author. And now among the startling revelations hitherto hidden in the Folio of 1623, but made known through Bacon’s cipher discovered by the Hon. Ignatius Donnelly, is this sentence: “Ever since Marlowe was killed Shakspere has been my mask.” Another Poem by Bacon in 1590. The 33d anniversary of Elizabeth’s coronation was celebrated November 17, 1590. Sir Henry Lea, the Queen’s champion and master of the armory, who had conducted the exercises from the beginning, appeared for the last time, and, after the customary performances, resigned his office to the Earl of Cumberland, whereupon the celebrated vocalist, Mr. Hales, a servant of her Majesty, pronounced and sung the following verses, personating the aged man-at-arms: