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FRANCIS BACON'S CRYPTIC RHYMES 73
really the editor of the Folio. He had requested the
two former colleagues of the actor " William Shakspere,"
to lend their names to the joke, though neither
of those worthies had written one word of the dedicatory
epistle to the earls (imitated from the Latin preface to
Plinius' Natural History), nor of the humorous preface
Wording and sentiment of that preface
breathe the spirit that pervades the Shakespeare Plays
themselves, and emanated either from the same mind
to the reader.
that conceived the plays, or from the pen
of his
friend, that ingenious and humorous poet, Ben Jonson.
And so far, all editors have overlooked the fact
that part of said preface also consists of "concealed"
rhymes, which, in keeping with the whole tone and
character of the preface, are humorous verses in
burlesque rhyme.
These are the opening words :
From the most able, to him that can but spell
: There you
are number'd. We had rather you were weighd. Especially,
when the fate of all Bookes depends upon your capacities
: and
not of your heads alone, but of your purses. Well !
(From the Folio Edition of 1623.)
Can any one read those lines without perceiving that
they are purposely couched in a tone of derision ?
But no one has hitherto taken the trouble to notice
how the words " number'd " " "
and weighd o are
abbreviated. No one has pointed out that the added
" "
Well ! to be spoken in a " parlando " tone, with
point of exclamation, rhymes with " spell in other
;
words, the readers have all of them overlooked the fact
that we have before us a set of verses couched in merry
rhyme, somewhat concealed by the word " able,"
opening the rhyme, with its old-fashioned burlesque
"
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