Fig. V.
En Fortuna: manu quos rupem ducit in altam,
Præcipites abigit: carnificina Dea est.
Firma globo imponi voluerunt fata caducam,
Ipsa quoquè ut posset risus, & esse iocus.
Olim unctos Salÿ qui præsilière per utres,
Ridebant caderet si qua puella malè.
O quàm sæpe sales, plausumque merente ruinâ,
Erubuit vitium fors inhonest a suum!
Obscænùmque nimis crepuit, Fortuna Batavis
Appellanda; sono, quo sua curta vocant.
Quoque sono veteres olim sua furta Latini:
Vt nec, Homere, mali nomen odoris ames.
There yet remain to be mentioned two English emblem writers. A "Choice of Emblems" by Geffrey Whitney was published in 1586 by Francis Raphelengius in the house of Christopher Plantin at Leyden. The dedication is to Robert Earle of Leicester. There are only from fifteen to twenty original designs out of 166 illustrations. The remainder are taken from other emblem writers, chiefly from Alciat, Sambucus, Paradin, and Hadrian Junius. On page 53 is the design headed "In dies meliora" found in the 1577 edition of Alciat, but the letterpress, which is in English, is quite different from the Latin verse attached to it in the Alciat.
The "Minerva Britanna" of Henry Peacham was published in 1612. The emblem on the title-page[47] represents the great secret of Francis Bacon's life, and on page ·33 is an emblem in which the name Shakespeare is represented. The volume is full of devices which will amply repay a careful study.
Apart from any connection which Bacon may have had with this remarkable class of books, they are of great interest to the student of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. They contain pictorial representations full of information as to the habits and customs of the people. With the exception of Whitney's "Choice of Emblems," a facsimile reprint of which was published in 1866, edited by the Rev. Henry Green, no reprint of any of these curious books has been issued. As the original editions of many of them are very rare, and of none of them plentiful, their study is a matter of difficulty, and few students find their way to this fascinating field of research. How close Bacon's connection was with the writers of these books, or with their publishers, it is difficult to say, but there is considerable evidence that in some way he was able to introduce into every one of the books here enumerated, and many others, some plates illustrative of his inductive philosophy.
Chapter XX.
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS.
"Shakespeare's Sonnets never before Imprinted," have afforded commentators material for many volumes filled with theories which to the ordinary critical mind appear to have no foundation in fact. Chapters have been written to prove that Mr. W. H., the only begetter of the Sonnets, was Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, and chapters have been written to prove that he was no such person, but that William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, was the man intended to be designated. Theories have been elaborated to identify the individuals represented by the Rival Poet and the dark Lady. Not one of these theories is supported by the vestige of a shred of testimony that would stand investigation. There has not come down any evidence that Shakspur, of Stratford, knew either the Earl of Southampton, the Earl of Pembroke or Marie Fitton. The truth is that Mr. W. H. was Shakespeare, who was the only begetter of the Sonnets, and the proof of this statement will in due time be forthcoming. It may be well to try and read some of the Sonnets as they stand and endeavour to realise what is the obvious meaning of the printed words.