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eee nner cere ee ey rer ee Elizabethan England was anything but a free society. As in "Now for my plan of publication; it is this. Those parts of the continental Europe at the time, the authority of the monarchies work which have it for their object to find out...such minds as and the Church was undisputed. Sovereigns held the power of life are prepared and disposed for the argument, and to purge or death over their subjects. Authorities encouraged informers— the floor of men's understandings, I wish to be published to spies—to hand in heretics and political radicals, who were then the world and circulate from mouth to mouth; the rest I tortured into confessions before being executed. England was in would have passed from hand to hand with selection and the midst of a theological split between Catholicism and judgment...a sound foresight, which tells me that the formula Protestantism. Its coming Renaissance was but a flicker in the itself of interpretation, and the discoveries made by the same, minds of a tiny, learned elite. will thrive better if committed to the charge of some fit and Amidst this unstable background, Elizabeth I came to the selected minds, and kept private.’ throne in 1558. By the time Charles I succeeded to the throne in 1625, the English language had been transformed and English commerce and trade led the world. America was being colonised, and foundations had been laid for a revolution in political thought and science. As W. T. Smedley, a biogra- pher of Francis Bacon, stated: From 1576 to 1623...the English language was made...the finest examples of its capacities which today exist. But the knowl - edge and wisdom pos - sessed by the classical writers, the histories of the principal nations of the world, practically every - thing that was worth knowing in the literature of other countries, were for the first time made available in the English tongue... BACON'S CIPHERS AND PEN-NAMES So, Francis Bacon kept much of his works ‘hidden' from the public by using both ciphers and pen-names. Many historians make reference to the abovementioned passage and conclude that Bacon never finished his publishing plan. But there is much evidence to indicate he used pen-names to conceal his literary output. A clue to the greatest of his pen-names is given by Anthony Bacon, Francis’ fos- ter-brother. In a sonnet Anthony wrote in 1595-96, he stated that Francis Bacon's muse was the goddess Pallas Athena—the shaker of the spear of knowledge at the ser- pent of ignorance writhing at her feet. The sonnet read: Therefore Bacon, if it chances that my Muse praises someone It is not because she is eloquent or learned, Although your Pallas has taught me better (how to speak); It is because my Lute sings the saintly glory Or in these artless lines (naive) his image is imprinted Or that thy Virtue bright shines in my shade? But this remarkable English 7 Renaissance was not a sponta- neous happening—not much in history ever is. It was the deliberate design of a small group, led by Sir Francis Bacon. Bacon called his plan "The Great Instauration" for the "worldwide reformation of the arts and sciences". This plan was the result of a vision he received in his youth—a vision of a world transformed by science and reason. During his youth, Bacon had stayed for three years with the Even one of Bacon's titles, Lord Verulam, translates as French court where he mixed with a group of philosophers, "the — "Spearshaker". Pléiade", labouring to bring about a revolution in thought in Bacon's use of pen-names and the ciphers within his writings France. Inspired by their efforts to reform the French language _ have been extensively written about for over a century. Ciphers and set learning at the pinnacle of human endeavour, he applied a _run through all of Bacon's works, regardless of pen-name, from similar program in England but on a grander scale. the Shepheards Calendar, published in 1579, to the First Folio, Bacon was a visionary in every sense of the word. His writings published in 1623. It is more commonly thought that Edmund covered every conceivable area of human endeavour from science —_ Spenser was the author, but he could not have been as he was only to romance, from politics to the use of ciphers; but his method of 11 years old when Shepheards Calendar was first published. The dissemination was unusual, though not unusual for the times in first editions of that work were published anonymously. Indeed, which he lived. Bacon partially revealed his method in his works, most people of any importance at the time wrote in cipher in order 54 ¢ NEXUS Novum Organum and The Advancement of Learning: Now for my plan of publication; it is this. Those parts of the work which have it for their object to find out...such minds as are prepared and disposed for the argument, and to purge the floor of men's understandings, I wish to be published to the world and circulate from mouth to mouth; the rest I would have passed from hand to hand with selection and judgment...a sound foresight, which tells me that the formula itself of interpretation, and the discoveries made by the same, will thrive better if committed to the charge of some fit and selected minds, and kept private.’ Even one of Bacon's titles, Lord Verulam, translates as "Spearshaker". Bacon's use of pen-names and the ciphers within his writings have been extensively written about for over a century.’ Ciphers run through all of Bacon's works, regardless of pen-name, from the Shepheards Calendar, published in 1579, to the First Folio, published in 1623. It is more commonly thought that Edmund Spenser was the author, but he could not have been as he was only 11 years old when Shepheards Calendar was first published. The first editions of that work were published anonymously. Indeed, most people of any importance at the time wrote in cipher in order JUNE - JULY 1997 FRANCIS BACON: MASTER OF THE PROSE | |