Preface

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BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

Demy 8vc», doth extra, 7s. 6d.

Bacon, Sbakespeare, anb tbe
IRosicrucians,

"A most remarkable book. Like its predecessor, 'A New Study of
Shakespeare,' one cannot open it without learning something. . . . But all
the same the book is a curiosity, and no Shakespeare-Bacok libraut
SHOULD BE WITHOUT IT." — Shakspcaviancf ( Ncw Ycji-k).

"A noteworthy attempt has been made to fix the disputed authorship
of the Shakespearian, and likewise of other writings, upon a set of literary
eccentricities who existed in Shakespeare's time under the name of ' Rosi-
crucians,' after one Christian Rosenkreuz, a German noble of the fifteenth
century. The fame of this curious literary ' sect ' has just been revived by
Mr AV. F. C. Wigston. He endeavours to show that there existed in
Shakespeare's day a learned college of men who wrote in secret, among
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and that these together concocted the plays." — Westminster Mevieiv.

"If Mr Donnelly's ' great cryptogram ' should turn out to be a real dis-
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Opinion of Mr James Hughan, author of many Masonic books, and re-
puted to be the highest Masonic authority in England : — "I have carefully
read your able article in the journal of the Bacon Society with gi'eat interest
and mxich apjireciation. Prima facie, the case is made out, it appears to
me, but beyond that I cannot go at present ; but the evidence is so remark-
able, as well as curious, that no one of a thoughtful mind could possibly
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PROBABLY IS, THE KEY to the modcm Rituals of Free-masonry. Your
Noble Volume on Bacon, Shakespeare, and the Rosicrucians does much to
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especially with regard to the sonnets, but which is for the first time brought
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first amongst the pioneers in this newly opened mine of truth." — The Bacon
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" It is further admittedly curious, and we readily give Mr Wigston the
benefit of the fact, that among the ' misleaders ' whom the Confessio advises
its disciples to have nothing to do with, ' one of the greatest ' is stated to be
a 'stage player, a man with sufficient ingenuity for imposition.'" — Light.
" The volume contains much that is most interesting." — Glasgow Herald,

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H Bcw Stu^\> of Sbahcspeave.

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the inner meaning of the greatest poet of modern times which have appeared.
The books on Shakesj)eare, and his writings, would of themselves make a
resj>ectal)le library, numerically considered. Most of them, however, are
sui>erlicial and of small value, and many are absolutely worthless. The book
under consideration, published anonymouslj' in 1884', seems not to have re-
ceived the careful attention which it undoubtedly merits. It is evidently
the production of a scholar and thinker who has given the Shakespearean
writings a critical and exhaustive examination." — The Platonist.

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1f3erniC6 Stella;

OR,

1l-lotc6 an^ 3ottiiu35 upon the Bacon Cipbcr.

"I read your book with the highest interest and pleasure, from the first
l>age to the last. / think you Juive proved your case, and broicght forward
some curious and novel facts. There is, I think, no doubt that there is a cipher
in the prose uvrks of Lord Bacon, as you su^/gest." — Letter from Honourable
Ic-.NATir.s Donnelly, Author of " Great Cryjdogram," etc., 12th July 1890.

" Mr Wigstou ajiologises for the style of this book on the ground that it is
' only a collection of rough notes hurried into print by circumstances connected
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future Shakespeare, who is the thii'f, may hereafter get the credit of a work
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KKCJAN PALL, TKENCH, TEUBNER & CO.,
57 ANU 59 LUDGATE HILL, LONDON.

FRANCIS BACON,

POET, PROPHET, PHILOSOPHER.

PBixrEu Br

TlliNIlULL AND SPEAK*.
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Qj.'ocr^ fre^ccj'o'cc^ ? 'off^.is: ^iejp: ^o'e^ck^^

MAX: aTM'^i'{ps^ 0/A^}/.r /^^CmO: OdZiW: C.^f.'¥a:43:q^JlM
PP SfVG : c I -J I DC vxvi .

FEANCIS BACON

POET, PROPHET. PHILOSOPHER

VERSUS

PHANTOM CAPTAIN SHAKESPEARE

THE ROSICRUCIAN MASK

W. F. C. WIG ST ON

AUTHOR OF '■ A NEW STUDY OP SHAKESPEAKE," " BACON, SHAKESPEARE, AXD THE
ROSICKUCIANS," "HERMES STELLA."

" Orpheus himself was torn to pieces by the women in theh' fury, an'l his limbs scattered about the
fields: at whose death, HELICON (river sacred to the Muses), in grief and indignation, buried his
waters under the earth to reappear elsewhere." (Bacon's " Wisdom of the Ancients," Orpheus.)

LONDON

KEG AN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Lt?

1891

(^3
\

PR

V

^bt3 Mork is ^e^icate^

vy

IGNATIUS DONNELLY

IN TOKEN-

OF RESPECT AND ADMIRATION

BY

THE AUTHOR.

190144

PREFACE.

It may interest those who are ah-eady converts to the Baconian
theory of the authorship of the Plays, to learn that Mr Donnelly
has made further discoveries. He writes under date 12th July
1890: "I am still at work, in all leisure moments, upon the
Cipher, and am working out the complete and perfect story,
and hope to publish something before long that will end the
controversy."

ERRATA.

Page 20, line 15, read 52 for 25.

Page 157, line 8, read Vcnoiio for Vcnatis.

Page 160, line 9, read Saneluuiiatlioii for Saiicuinatliou.

CONTENTS.

PAGK

Introduction . ...... xv

Preliminary Remarks — Lithograph Facsimile Copy of pages
52, 53, "CoNFESSio Fbaternitatis, or Confession of the Laud-
able Order of the Rosy Cross," published at Frankfort, 1617,
showing how a Stage Player is held up to contempt as an
impostor — Michael Maier publishes three works immediately
after his return from a visit to England in 1616 — In his "Ex-
amination and Exposure of Drones and False Alchymists," he
re-echoes the " Confessio," and identifies Poetry with Alchymy,
giving hints for the Rosicrucians themselves — His Sei-io Comic
Dialogue, "I/imis Serius," written also with regard to his
stay in England — Contains the story of the " Waking Man's
Dream," repeated in the Induction of the "Taming of the
Shrew," by the incident of the substitution of Christopher Sly
in the place of a Lord — Bacon's Fragment upon Fame — Para-
phrase from Virgil — His Fable of Perseus twice repeated — The
Perseus myth a Rosicrucian myth centre.