Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was a great British lawyer, philosopher, politician and writer; became Lord Chancellor in 1621, but was disgraced for taking bribes. Life and politics in England of his time were similar to our current experiences in Nigeria. The allegation of bribe-taking, spear-headed by his political enemies, as Lord Chancellor, was such a wound on his soul that he died a few years after his disgrace.
It is strongly suspected in some articulate quarters that the works (plays and poems) generally attributed to William Shakespeare, actually originated from Francis Bacon. Shakespeare himself (1564-1616), as a stage manager, served as a medium of informing, educating and entertaining the public with Bacon’s scripts which portrayed historical facts about the British elite and ruling class. Soon, the messages which the Shakespearean plays, from The Tempest to Pericles, Prince of Tyre, conveyed, were suspected to be given away by “an insider, a 5th columnist”.
The allegation of bribe-taking and subsequent disgrace of Lord Bacon were the price he had to pay for giving out the exclusive secrets of a closed and classified society. In the play titled The Winter’s Tale, there is an example of how “we are mock’d with art”, whereby plays and drama serve as means of exposing human hypocrisies and follies. A few people knew that Shakespeare did not write the scripts of his plays and sought to know who crafted them.
Only a few people knew that there was some understanding between Francis Bacon and William Shakespeare to keep the source of the scripts of the plays and poems secret. In The Golden Treasury of the best songs and Lyrical Poems in the English language, selected and arranged by Francis Turner Palgrave, any reader can find the lamentation of Lord Bacon titled Life (item 57, page 38).
In what looks likes a lamentation, Lord Bacon says: “The world’s a bubble, and the life of man less than a span: Who then to frail mortality shall trust, but limns on water or but writes in dust … Courts are but only superficial schools to dandle fools: The rural parts are turrid into a den of savage men: And where’s a city from foul vice so free. But may be term’d the worst of all of the three?”
Similarly, in Poem No. 49, Book 1, page 30, titled The Triumph of Death, attributed to W. Shakespeare, the following excerpts reveal that Bacon wanted to remain anonymous: “No longer mourn for me when I am dead… Nay, if you read this line, remember not the hand that wrote it; Do not as much as my poor name rehearse.. Lest the wise world should look into your moan. And mock you with me after I am gone”.
The travails and sad end of Lord Bacon brought about by envy and political shenanigans were portrayed by William Wordsworth (1770-1850) in his Poem: London MDcCCII. Wordsworth painted a sad picture of life in England of those bye-gone days, saying: “O Friend, I know not which way I must look for comfort, being as I am, opprest to think that now our life is only drest for show… The wealthiest man among us is the best: No grandeur now in Nature or in book delight us. Rapine, avarice, expense, this is idolatry; and these we adore; plain living and high thinking are no more…”
Anybody well acquainted with the social history of England during the period of Francis Bacon and William Shakespeare would know that life then was different from what it is now. For example, there were slum dwellers housed in “dreadful warrens of old rotten buildings, or newly erected hovels which clustered about the outskirts of new towns”. Common sports and amusements were horse-racing, cock-fighting, wrestling and other rough and dangerous games.
Streets of London were abominable and ill-maintained, while justice delivery was not different from what we have in Nigeria currently. The Justices of the Peace, on whom the working of the law depended, were hardly better than the rogues they took bribes from. Child labour was common, with pathetic cases of the “chimney-sweep”, where under-aged children were exposed to hazardous labours and under-paid. Sanitary conditions were deplorable, with overcrowding, resulting in 3-4 persons sleeping in the same bed; water was usually drawn from surface wells.
With the Church of England and the Whig party dominant, there were Dissenters and numerous bodies who repudiated the Anglican Church. The result was that occupation of public offices was based on patronage and preferment. Doctrines preached by the churches were not taken very seriously and the level of corruption was such that examination malpractices were common, including getting a degree without writing and examination.
A Tribute to the memory of Francis Bacon is based on his elevation of anonymity as a means of hiding away greatness. His unassuming greatness lay in his writings and philosophy which, because of the myopic mindset and perception of his contemporaries, demanded that he chose anonymity. For the information of those who are unaware of the truth, the works attributed to William Shakespeare are work representing Lord Bacon’s philosophy, which, for some anonymous group, is a secular religion.
Because of the attitude of religious leaders of his time, Francis Bacon passed his philosophy and teachings in the form of plays and poems, hard for obtuse minds to grasp or understand. In a situation where great religious leaders could declare to their adherents that “there is nothing like reincarnation”, those who know the truth may express it in a play or anonymity. Styles of expression of controversial ideas include the use of satire, idiom and other technics which obtuse minds would throw aside as meaningless.
May serious-minded Nigerians take keener interest in studying the works attributed to Shakespeare and appreciate how obtuse humanity is mocked with art.
Dr Amirize is a retired lecturer from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.