TIME FOR TRUTH

Minding the Shakespeare Gap

2004

"Those who aspire not to guess and divine, but to discover and know, who propose not to devise mimic and fabulous worlds of their own, but to examine and dissect the nature of this very world itself, must go to facts themselves for everything. As time which is the author of authors, be not deprived of his due, which is further and further to discover truth."-Francis Bacon In"Instruments of darkness tell us truths." Macbeth, Act I Scene III  ____________  The established viewpoint about William Shakespeare has from the beginning lacked critical evidence for his authorship. What has been handed down throughout history is the perpetuation of a belief system. Francis Bacon knew all about the mentality of such human contrivances when he described it as an aspect of The Four Idols. Bacon's recipe on what was needed in overcoming these idols (or the Vedantic equivalent , maya) in order for a cultural advancement of learning to take place can certainly be applied to the charade called the Shakespeare authorship controversy. The notion that William Shagsper (one of the 5 different spellings of his name) wrote the Plays and Sonnets has been a long standing rumour or belief but held as historic fact. It needs to be recognised for what it is : accepted theory. The case for the Stratford man has never been adequately proven. His legacy is haunted by the truth that he failed to educate his family and he is without any writings of any kind including the Shakespeare works. He is relegated to the discount shelf as a poor candidate. On the other hand, he had a valuable and necessary role to play for Francis Bacon as a front; an invisible disguise of protection like the helmet of Athena. It is solely in Francis Bacon's own hand that we have any record of the Shakespeare writings written prior to all Shakespeare performances and quarto publications. Often word for word, identical phrases are found in Bacon's private notebook : Promus of Formularies and Elegancies, qualifying him as a much worthier candidate as the Bard. It has been pure cultural bamboozlement that popularity and tradition of belief have held sway over evidence and truth until this time. After four centuries, isn't it time we pulled the plug on the Shakespeare authorship's life-support system manipulated by the press, and the professors of the academic publishing industry who retain their cynicism like it was tenure, and can only wish to keep the debate to a minimum? The intolerable alternative is to remain imprisoned by their lack of facts, an interim fabrication that was intended only to satisfy the immediate economic needs of the Stratford Birthplace Trust in England. That's what it's been all about, Alfie. Let's hear from Francis Carr who has been observing the shenanigans of the Shakespeare industry for over 40 years : "What can Shakespeare spokesmen do? They are tied to two conflicting principles. They have to repeat the teaching of the last hundred years, that the possibly uneducated actor of Stratford wrote the famous plays; and they are professionally committed to the dictates of truth and  honesty. In no other branch of academic education is a faculty confronted by this frightening dilemma. The Shakespeareans cannot  honestly deny that many people reject their doctrine. If they do admit openly, and give truthfully the reasons  for this disbelief, they add impetus to the revolt.  They cannot  continue the hollow semi-fictional fable. They cannot break free from the dreary treadmill to which they are tied. Not once has Professor Stanley Wells or Jonathan Bate  or Duncan Jones openly defended the old belief or honestly admitted that the case for Shaksper is weak. All they have done is repeat the same old gap-ridden story- and then retreat to their boring caves of Stratford, where heresy is treated as blasphemy. " However there are many well respected judges, lawyers, writers, and journalists that have enlightened us as to the how and why Francis Bacon had to write under a self-imposed pen-name. A passionate vigil has been in existence for many generations by all those who have known that something is rotten in Stratford on Avon. The results are beginning to show. There has been a steady decline over the last five years of potential tourists to Stratford. Ground Zero of the Shakespeare industry (which includes the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C), are just not cutting it anymore by acting like they know yet ignoring the tough questions. So in desperation more orthodox biographers ("experts") of Shakespeare are brought in to publish more $uperfluou$ books. After all these years you would think they'd realise what we have known all along : All the kings horses and all the kings men still can't get a humpty-dumpty bio on Shakespeare right. Oh What A Tangled Up Web They Weave The "experts" are not on the same page. Their conflicting nearsighted perspectives negate each other and have become inadvertently a show of great comedy similar to the story of the 8 blind men and the elephant. Additionally, to maintain THE focus on Willy Shagsper as the author, new public broadcast specials have to be arranged, based on the latest dissenting Stratfordian author (the new form of Anti-Stratfordianism) with fresh angles of his possible Catholicism to titillate and yet still obfuscate. The attempt to salvage the great Shakespeare mystery from falling into the hands of the growing number of doubters will continue to fail. Why? The cat's been long out of the bag. The public is already aware of the lack of evidence. How can the Stratfordians furnish evidence that never existed in the first place? Mark Twain knew it and laughed about it in his final book, "Is Shakespeare Dead?" It's All Good Now with the accessibility of the internet and other sources, new students from around the world are minding the Shakespeare gap, questioning authority, while enjoying the learning process more than ever before. This is confirmed by the enthusiastic email received via www.sirbacon.org --Lawrence Gerald An Appeal for Justice Roderick Eagle, author of Shakespeare: New Views for Old, states : ".......it is earnestly to be hoped that the unworthy imputations against the honour of Francis Bacon may now cease. This appeal is made to school-teachers, that they will not imbue the young mind with false ideas, which are so hard to eradicate later in life : to University professors, that they will lend the weight of their authority in opposing these slanders; to historians and writers of every description, that in speaking of Bacon they may do this with judgment and fairness; to journalists whose power for good or evil gives them such tremendous responsibility, that they may exercise this power less irresponsibly than some of have done; to all, in fact, who by the spoken or written word can disseminate ideas, that they may not be misled into injuring the good name of one of England's greatest servants. Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Alban, is one of the most glorious figures in the modern world. Yet even the splendour of his intellectual achievements is often admitted in a half-hearted manner, because of the undeserved calumny which still clings to his reputation. It is more difficult to be liberal in our appreciation of a man's mental equipment if we are vaguely conscious that his character is open to reproach. Remove that reproach, and our interest is at once quickened. At present the public has little conception of the real extent of Francis Bacon's work, and the gratitude which is due to him for countless benefits which we now enjoy. His outer life is known, but the full story of his inner life has not yet been told. When all is revealed, the world will stand amazed at his stupendous achievements in face of dangers and difficulties little understood by us in these days. His power of self-effacement, in order that he might carry out in secret that which could not be done openly, is a tribute at once to his genius and to his moral worth. Francis Bacon has not yet come into his own, but the day is not far distant when his name will be on every lip, and the immensity of his work for humanity will at long last be fully recognised." ***  Your Thoughts and Comments are Welcomed More on Bacon's 4 Idols More on the Duplicity of the Stratford Birthplace Trust   Th"That when the searching eye of heaven is hid Behinde the globe that lightes the lower worlde."