It is impossible to do justice to this subject in the space here available. By the aid of this key every line becomes intelligible. The charm and beauty of the Sonnets are increased tenfold. Every unpleasant association of them is removed. No longer need Browning say, "If so the less Shakespeare he." These are not "Shakespeare's sug'rd[51] Sonnets amongst his private friends" to which Meres makes reference. They are to be found elsewhere. If there had been an intelligent study of Elizabethan literature from original sources the authorship of the Sonnets would have been revealed long ago. It was a habit of Bacon to speak of himself as some one apart from the speaker. The opening sentence of _Filum Labyrinthi, Sivo Forma Inquisitiones_ is an example. _Ad Filios_--"Francis Bacon thought in this manner." Prefixed to the preface to Gilbert Wats' interpretation of the "Advancement of Learning" is a chapter commencing, "Francis Lo Verulam consulted thus: and thus concluded with himselfe. The publication whereof he conceived did concern the present and future age." Nothing that has been written is more perfectly Baconian in style and temperament than are the Sonnets. They breathe out his hopes, his aspirations, his ideals, his fears, in every line. He knew he was not for his time. He knew future generations only would render him the fame to which his incomparable powers entitled him. He knew how far he towered above his contemporaries, aye, and his predecessors, in intellectual power. His hopes were fixed on that day in the distant future--to-day--when for the first time the meshes which he wove, behind which his life's work is obscured, are beginning to be unravelled. The most sanguine Baconian, in his most enthusiastic moments, must fail adequately to appreciate the achievements of Francis Bacon and the obligations under which he has placed posterity. But Bacon knew--and he alone knew--their full value. It was fitting that the greatest poet which the world had produced should in matchless verse do honour to the world's greatest intellect. It was a pretty conceit. Only a master mind would dare to make the attempt. The result has afforded another example of how his great wit, in being concealed, was revealed. FOOTNOTES: [48] Sonnet No. 2. [49] _'Tis thee myselfe_, Sonnet 62. [50] See Rawley's Introduction to "Manes Verulamiana." [51] The expression "sugr'd Sonnets" refers to verses which were written with coloured ink to which sugar had been added. When dry the writing shone brightly. CHAPTER XXI. BACON'S LIBRARY.