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FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES 45
to the world as " Shakespeare," for that is how the
name is spelt on the printed title-pages
was not
" Shakespeare," but " Shakspere," or " Shack-
really
spere." He bore a similar but not the same name.
Without attributing too much importance to this
fact, let us examine the relationship in which the
actor stood to the works of William Shakespeare.
Whatever the numerous works dealing with the
personality of the actor, more especially the latest
work by Mr. Sidney Lee, may have brought to light as
positive facts regarding his life and literary work it is
very little, little more than nothing. Those that pretend
to know sufficient about the personality of the actor
in his assumed capacity as a poet, deceive themselves,
and others, in saying We so. know the Shakespeare
works and some facts about their publication but as
;
to the actor and his relationship to the works, these
have foiled all efforts of research ;
the investigators
all
together have brought next to nothing to light ; the
mystery baffles the cunning.
Diligent research has, in the first place, proved
doubt that the father of the actor could not
beyond
write (he made a cross in place of his name), that
the mother could not write (she signed her name
with a cross), that the daughter Judith
could not
write (she signed her name with a wriggling attempt
at a flourish scarcely resembling the initial letter of
her name).
We also know for a fact that the five preserved
signatures of the actor all present more or less the
form "Shakspere" or " "
Shackspere Shake
(not
speare), and that nothing more, not one other line
written by his hand, has been preserved. The five