I’ll see it done.
What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won.
And, worst of all:
It is concluded:—Banquo, thy soul’s flight,
If it find Heaven, must find it out to-night.
The whole play is riddled with such additions, not to speak of several incidents of an altogether barbarous and outrageous character, and of certain other interpolations of coarse buffoonery, inserted in the most serious parts of the play to raise a laugh among the more ignorant portions of the rabble. Of course I cannot now withdraw them from the stage without risking the discovery of their authorship. Mr. Shakespeare is at liberty to produce and perform in any of the plays written by me which are now in his possession, provided that they appear under his name, and that the authorship is attributed to him.
Your obedient servant,
Bacon.
BATH, 1663
Letter from a Frenchman to a Friend in Paris
Bath, August 20, 1663.