Francis Bacon S Hidden Hand In Shakespeare S The Merchant Of Venice

Contemporaries of English polymath Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626) eulogized him as “a muse more choice than the nine muses” who “showered the age with frequent volumes” and “filled the world with works”; “the very nerve of genius, the marrow of persuasion, the golden stream of eloquence, the precious gem of hidden literature.” Orthodox scholars credit Bacon with a substantial body of anonymous writing; more controversially, everything from Shakespeare to Don Quixote to The Anatomy of Melancholy has been ascribed to him. Here we explore parallel lines of thought and expression between Bacon’s acknowledged works and others of the period; whether these correspondences are sufficient to indicate common authorship or merely mutual influences, they constitute a cross section of a uniquely fruitful period in world literature.

Be calm good wind, blow not a word away for this is a meticulous account of Sir Francis Bacon's lifetime, written as journal entries, and with his style: I have no more made my book, than my book has made me: 'tis a book consubstantial with the author, of a peculiar design, a member of my life, and whose business is not designed for others, as that of all other books.

This book explores the words, forms, and styles Shakespeare used to interact with the verbal marketplace of early modern England.