Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Second-Seeing Shakespeare: “Stay Passenger, why goest thou by so fast?”
Second-Seeing Shakespeare: “Stay Passenger, why goest thou by so fast?”
Second-Seeing Shakespeare: “Stay Passenger, why goest thou by so fast?”
Ebook220 pages2 hours

Second-Seeing Shakespeare: “Stay Passenger, why goest thou by so fast?”

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

()

Read preview

About this ebook

In this Sherlockian investigation, historian Peter Dawkins uncovers clues hiding in plain sight which show that the prima facie evidence suggesting that William Shakspeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the Shakespeare works is not what it seems. Instead, it is a double-truth showing a very different authorship, and the involvement of a philanthropic secret society dedicated to the enlightenment and good of all humanity.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherBookBaby
Release dateApr 6, 2020
ISBN9781098304195
Second-Seeing Shakespeare: “Stay Passenger, why goest thou by so fast?”

Read more from Peter Dawkins

Related to Second-Seeing Shakespeare

Related ebooks

European History For You

View More

Related articles

Related categories

Reviews for Second-Seeing Shakespeare

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings

0 ratings0 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

    Book preview

    Second-Seeing Shakespeare - Peter Dawkins

    English edition published 2020 by The Francis Bacon Research Trust (FBRT)

    UK Registered Charitable Trust #280616 www.fbrt.org.uk www.francisbaconresearchtrust.org.uk

    eBook ISBN: 978-1-09830-419-5

    Copyright ©Peter Dawkins, 2020

    The moral right of the author has been asserted.

    This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including these words being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

    About the Book

    Second-Seeing Shakespeare is a Sherlockian investigation uncovering clues in plain sight that show that the prima facie evidence suggesting that William Shakspeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the Shakespeare works is other than what it seems, and is in fact a double-truth which shows a very different authorship of the Shakespeare works and the involvement of a philanthropic secret society dedicated to the universal enlightenment and good of all humanity. The clues provide a treasure trail uncovering an esoteric wisdom as well as various secrets and historical truths.

    * Second-seeing refers to (1) insightfulness, (2) seeing things a second time, (3) seeing the hidden meaning or truth beneath the outer form or appearance, (4) seeing the double-truth.

    About the Author

    Peter Dawkins, MA (Cantab), Dip.Arch.

    Peter Dawkins is a philosopher, historian, author, lecturer, teacher and leader of workshops, seminars and special events in many countries of the world. His specialist interest is in the Western wisdom traditions and mysteries, symbolism, mythology, sacred architecture and landscape, and the English Renaissance. He is a recognised authority on the history and wisdom of the 16th/17th century Rosicrucians and Shakespeare.

    Peter is the founder-principal of the Francis Bacon Research Trust (FBRT), which specialises in research and education concerning Bacon, Shakespeare, the Rosicrucians and other philosophers and artists of the European Renaissance.

    Peter has given Wisdom of Shakespeare lectures, seminars, weekend events and summer schools since the mid-1980s, including at the Shakespeare Globe Theatre in London with the actor Sir Mark Rylance, the first artistic director of the Globe, and Mystery of Shakespeare events in Italy and Sicily with Mark Rylance and/or Julia Cleave. In 2008 he received an award for distinguished scholarship in Shakespeare authorship studies from Concordia University, Portland, Oregon, USA.

    Peter’s publications include: -

    The Shakespeare Enigma

    The Wisdom of Shakespeare in ‘As You Like It’

    The Wisdom of Shakespeare in ‘Julius Caesar’

    The Wisdom of Shakespeare in ‘The Tempest’

    The Wisdom of Shakespeare in ‘The Merchant of Venice’

    The Wisdom of Shakespeare in ‘Twelfth Night’

    Building Paradise

    Herald of the New Age

    Core Truths

    Peter’s web site: www.peterdawkins.com

    FBRT website: www.fbrt.org.uk

    Contents

    Prima Facie Evidence Regarding Shakespeare

    Second-Seeing the Shakespeare Monument

    Second-Seeing the Shakespeare Folio

    The Shakespeare Twins

    Shakespeare, Gatekeeper to the Mysteries

    The Author Shakespeare

    Revealing Tributes

    The Shakespeare Mysteries

    The Two Shakespeares

    The Shakespeare Circle

    In Summary

    Illustrations

    Figure 1: Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon

    Figure 2: The Shakespeare Monument, Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon

    Figure 3: Engraving of the Shakespeare Monument made by Wenceslaus Hollar from sketch by Sir William Dugdale, published in Dugdale’s Antiquities of Warwickshire (1656).

    Figure 4: Engraving of the Shakespeare Monument made by George Vertue in 1723 and published in Alexander Pope’s The Works of Shakespear (1725).

    Figure 6: Shakespeare First Folio portrait poem and title page

    Figure 7: Shakespeare First Folio title page portrait

    Figure 8: Cobbe Portrait and Shakespeare Folio Portrait

    Figure 9: Title page, The Constitutions of the Free-Masons (1723)

    Figure 10: Shakespeare First Folio, Dedicatory page 1

    Figure 11: Shakespeare First Folio portrait poem and title page

    Figure 12: Shakespeare First Folio, 2nd title page

    Figure 13: Shakespeare First Folio, 1st and 2nd title pages

    Figure 14: Shakespeare Monument, Gemini putti

    Figure 15: Gemini-Bride-Peacocks headpiece on title page of Venus & Adonis (1593) and Lucrece (1594) (original uncoloured; coloured by author)

    Figure 16: Gemini-Bride-Coneys headpiece on title page of Shake-speares Sonnets (1609) (original uncoloured; coloured by author)

    Figure 17: Gemini-Wheatsheaf-AA headpiece on Hugh Holland’s sonnet page, Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (1623) (original uncoloured; coloured by author)

    Figure 18: Castor and Pollux (the Gemini), Spear-shakers. Vincenzo Cartari, Le Imagini de gli Dei de gli Antichi (1581), p.174.

    Figure 19: AA-flower-snails headpiece on the dedication page of Venus & Adonis (1593/4) (original uncoloured; coloured by author)

    Figure 20: AA-vase-birds headpiece on page 1 of Shake-speares Sonnets (1609)(original uncoloured; coloured by author)

    Figure 21: AA-Gemini-wheatsheaf headpiece to Hugh Holland’s sonnet page of Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (1623) (original uncoloured; coloured by author)

    Figure 22: Frontispiece to The Book of Constitutions of the Free-Masons (1723)

    Figure 23: Title page & Dedication page to Shake-speares Sonnets (1609)

    Figure 24: The Shakespeare Monument Inscription: Royal Arch Signatures.

    Figure 25: The Ten Commandments

    Figure 26: Portrait miniature of Francis Bacon in his 18th year, painted by Nicholas Hilliard in Paris in 1578. The Latin inscription around the oval edge of the portrait reads: Si tabula daretur digna animum mallem [It would be preferable if a worthy painting could present his mind.].

    Figure 27: ‘Dionysus-Archer’ headpiece (originals uncoloured; coloured by author)

    Figure 28: Frontispiece, La Sagesse Mysterieuse des Anciens (Paris, 1641) – French edition of Francis Bacon’s The Wisdom of the Ancients.

    Figure 29: Bride-Gemini-Spearshakers headpiece, Manes Verulamiani (1626)(original uncoloured; coloured by author)

    Figure 31: Title page, Historia Regni Henrici Septimi (1642) – Latin version of Francis Bacon’s History of the Reign of Henry VII.

    Figure 31: Memorial statue of Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban, in St Michael’s Church, St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. Erected by Sir Thomas Meautys, c.1630.

    Figure 32: Frontispiece, Francis Bacon’s De Sapientia Veterum, German translation (1654)

    Figure 33: Frontispiece, Francis Bacon, De Augmentis Scientiarum (1645)

    Figure 1: Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon

    Prima Facie Evidence Regarding Shakespeare

    We are told that William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon was the author of the Shakespeare poems, sonnets and plays. Although there is nothing in the historical records of his actual life to either indicate or confirm this, nevertheless we are assured that this is so because his name is printed (a) as a signature to the dedication on two of the three poems attributed to him, Venus and Adonis and Lucrece, (b) as part of the title of Shake-speares Sonnets, (c) on the title page of many of the quarto editions of the plays, (d) as part of the title of the 1623 First Folio of Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, and (e) as the name of the author addressed as such in the Shakespeare Folio’s preface.

    Indeed, in the Shakespeare Folio’s prefacing pages, Shakespeare is spoken of as a worthy friend and fellow in the dedication by two players in the King’s Men acting company, his name heads the list of principal actors in the plays, and eulogies to the author William Shakespeare refer to him as the Sweet Swan of Avon and having a Stratford moniment. This monument exists and is located in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon (a market town in Warwickshire, England), where it can be visited by anyone who wants to see it.

    All this, then, is taken as prima facie evidence that the author of the Shakespeare works was a specific historical person called William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon, whose body, when he died, was interred in the town’s Holy Trinity Church.

    The Latin expression, prima facie, meaning at first sight, is used to describe something which, based on the first impression, appears to be true and is accepted as correct until proven otherwise. Most people never have a chance to actually see and examine the original 1623 Folio of Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, let alone the 1609 Shake-speares Sonnets or the 1593/1594 poems, Venus and Adonis and Lucrece, so they have to rely on modern edited versions and what they are told. However, they can go to visit the Shakespeare Monument in Stratford-upon-Avon, to see for themselves.

    But what do we see? This is an important question, because the monument itself asks us—or rather challenges us—to SEE, and to see things that we might not see at first sight.

    Second-Seeing the Shakespeare Monument

    The Stratford Monument

    The eulogic poem, Upon the Lines and Life of the Famous Scenicke Poet, Master William Shakespeare, by Leonard Diggs, included in the prefatory pages of the 1623 Shakespeare First Folio, refers to the Stratford Moniment commemorating Shake-speare: -

    Shake-speare, at length thy pious fellowes give

    The world thy Workes, by which, out-live

    Thy Tombe, thy name must when that stone is rent,

    And Time dissolves thy Stratford Moniment,

    Here we alive shall view thee still.

    This Moniment to which Digges refers is to be found in Holy Trinity Church, located on the banks of the River Avon in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. The monument is placed high up on the chancel’s north wall, in a prominently visible position.

    Figure 2: The Shakespeare Monument, Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon

    At first sight the monument appears to be a typical Renaissance classical-style marble stone memorial, with a bust of Shakespeare placed in an archway that has a pillar on each side of it, an entablature above it that supports a marble box displaying the Shakespeare coat of arms, and a plinth below it bearing an inscription. Sitting on the entablature above each pillar and on either side of the heraldic box is a naked boy (putto), such that the two putti appear to act as heraldic supporters. The bust depicts Shakespeare holding a quill pen in his right hand, whilst his left hand rests on a sheet of paper that is laid on a cushion. A skull on top of the heraldic box crowns the whole monument.

    The monument overlooks a small, strangely-inscribed and unnamed stone slab set into the broad chancel step that is said to mark the grave of Will Shakspeare gent, this being his name and rank as recorded in the Stratford Parish Register of burials in Holy Trinity Church. It was probably this rank of gentleman,¹ plus being, as a named member of the King’s Company of actors, a groom extraordinary of the [King’s] Chamber, as well as a wealthy householder of Stratford-upon-Avon and lay-rector of Holy Trinity Church from 1605 until his death on 23 April 1616, which accounts for this privileged burial position. The bodies of his wife Anne (née Hathaway, d. 1623), his eldest daughter Susanna Hall (d. 1649), her husband, John Hall (d. 1635), and Thomas Nash (d. 1647), first husband of Will Shakspeare’s grand-daughter Elizabeth Hall, were later interred adjacent to his grave.

    The Shakespeare Monument was erected sometime after the death of Will Shakspeare (23 April 1616) and before the printing of the Shakespeare Folio (c. February 1622 – November 1623). No-one seems to know who erected the monument or who paid for it, and there is no evidence that Shakespeare’s family had anything to do with it. The sculptor, according to Sir William Dugdale’s Diary of 1653, was one Gerard Johnson, which would have been Gerald Janssen the younger, as his father, the funerary monument sculptor Gheerart Janssen, died in 1611. The coat of arms displayed on the monument was first granted to William’s father, John Shakspere, in 1596, which William inherited on his father’s death in 1601.

    The monument was restored in the mid-18th century, having fallen into a poor state of repair. Between 1746 and 1748 sufficient funds were collected and early in 1749 it was substantially repaired and beautified by Heath the carver, under the auspices of the Rev. Kenrick, vicar of Holy Trinity Church, and the Rev. Joseph Greene, master of Stratford-upon-Avon’s grammar school, who was a scholar and an antiquarian. It required that the bust be taken down for repairs, which was done, and a plaster-cast of the head was made. John Hall, a limner from Bristol, carried out the repainting of the monument, having painted a picture in colour on pasteboard of the monument before the renovations began (according to a note on the back of the picture).²

    In a letter dated 27 September 1749 to the Rev. John Sympson, the Rev. Greene noted that care was taken, as nearly as could be, not to add to or diminish what the work consisted of, and appear’d to have been when first erected: And really, except changing the substance of the Architraves from alabaster to Marble; nothing has been chang’d, nothing alter’d, except supplying with original material, (sav’d for that purpose,) whatsoever was by accident broken off; reviving the Old Colouring, and renewing the Gilding that was lost.³ He refers to

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1