Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

364 FRANCIS BACON
9. The system of paper-marks still exists, though under modified
conditions. Books are now printed too cheaply to admit of
the old use of " water-marked " paper. Where, however, these
marks are absent, we find a series of other marks, less beautiful,
and far less conspicuous, hut equally significant and curious,
and which, in due season, we hope to explain by the aid of
photography and the microscope.
On the other hand, " deficiencies " iu this department of
knowledge are unhappily numerous. Let it therefore be inquired
:
1. Which were the very earliest paper-mills in England ? To
whom did they belong? What were the water-marks on the
paper produced there?
2. Which was the first printed book for which the paper was
made in England?
3. From what foreign mills did our English printers import
paper?
4. At what date did the papers with the hand and the pot receive
the distinctive additions which, for want of a better name,
we have termed Baconian ?
5. In what books may we see the very latest examples of the
candlesticks, the grapes, and the pot in the paper?
6. When and why was the use of paper-marks in printed
books discontinued? Was the discontinuance simultaneous
and universal? Was there truly a discontinuance of the system
of secret marks, or, rather, did a change or modification take
place, in order to adapt these secret marks to the exigencies of
modern requirements in printing and book-making?
7. When Sir Nicholas Bacon, in his youth, resided for three or
four years in Holland, did he visit and study the manufactories
of paper? Does any record show him mixed up in any business
relations with paper manufacturers?
begins the name, A, of which the right side forms part of the sloping letter N
an upright with cross-piece, T; the same upright, connected half way down
with a curved stroke, H ; at the end of the curved stroke, a small but distinct
0, followed by an N, sloping greatly to the left, and from which proceeds, to
the right, a smaller Y— ANTHONY. In the H and its curved line there is an
irregularity suggestive of a monogram of R C. But these are only suggestions;
other eyes and imaginations may interpret them differently.