Transcribed from the 1912 Longmans, Green and Co. edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org [Picture: Shakespeare’s Monument at Stratford-on-Avon (1616–1623?)] SHAKESPEARE BACON AND THE GREAT UNKNOWN * * * * * BY ANDREW LANG * * * * * WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS * * * * * LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 39, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA 1912 All rights reserved * * * * * TO HORACE HOWARD FURNESS IN MEMORY OF AN OLD PROMISE * * * * * PREFACE IT is with some hesitation that I give my husband’s last book to the world. It was in type when he died, but he had no time to correct even the first proofs, and doubtless he would have made many changes, if not in his views at least in his expression of them. Mr. Bartram has verified the quotations and dates with infinite care, and for this he has my warmest thanks. For the rest I can but ask those who differ from the author to remember the circumstances in which the work has been published. L. B. L. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION xiii I. THE BACONIAN AND ANTI-WILLIAN POSITIONS 1 II. THE “SILENCE” ABOUT SHAKESPEARE 25 III. THAT IMPOSSIBLE HE—THE SCHOOLING OF SHAKESPEARE 41 IV. MR. COLLINS ON SHAKESPEARE’S LEARNING 65 V. SHAKESPEARE, GENIUS, AND SOCIETY 83 VI. THE COURTLY PLAYS: “LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST” 119 VII. CONTEMPORARY RECOGNITION OF WILL AS AUTHOR 133 VIII. “THE SILENCE OF PHILIP HENSLOWE” 153 IX. THE LATER LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE—HIS MONUMENT AND 167 PORTRAITS X. “THE TRADITIONAL SHAKSPERE” 193 XI. THE FIRST FOLIO 205 XII. BEN JONSON AND SHAKESPEARE 235 XIII. THE PREOCCUPATIONS OF BACON 271 APPENDIX I.—“TROILUS AND CRESSIDA” 293 APPENDIX II.—CHETTLE’S SUPPOSED ALLUSION TO WILL 302 SHAKSPERE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS