Eric Roberts

Indeed, this would be a tragedy for researchers around the world. https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2023/03/internet-archive-faces-uphill-battle-in-lawsuit-over-its-free-digital-library/ https://blog.archive.org/2022/10/17/the-cdl-lawsuit-and-the-future-of-libraries/

"sic sedebat" - so he sat

XXIII. To the Passer-By Looking on the Tomb of the Right Honourable Lord Francis, Lord Verulam Think you, foolish traveller, that the leader of the choir of the Muses and of Phoebus is interred in the cold marble? Away, you are deceived. The Verulamian star now glitters in ruddy Olympus: The boar, great James shines resplendent in your constellation. [-- Anonymous]

"Apollo dispelled the clouds that hid you."..? Beautiful choice of quote, A.P.

Hi A. Phoenix. "There is no mention of his funeral in any contemporary works..." This is a very remarkable fact. You would think that Gray's Inn or the King's Court would have recorded the event. Bizarre!

In the Autumn of 1616, Baron De La Warr and his wife Cecilia Shirley West, introduced John Rolfe and his wife, Pocahontas, into English society. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_West,_3rd_Baron_De_La_Warr

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LTS6-DZ8/lady-cecily-shirley-1581-1662

God! What a quotation! The mind of Bacon observing the mind of Bacon...

Hi A.Phoenix. I wonder who was Lady Delaware?

Great archival photos, Marvin. Is there any early footage?

Most impressive, Light-of-Truth! What, then, is your interpretation of the window's message? That the entire house is a "secret book" waiting to be unclasped?

https://horridhackney.com/f/the-destruction-of-15th-century-brooke-house-in-clapton-1954?blogcategory=Upper+Clapton+History

"Whose turn is it to change the nappy?" 🙂

Dudley and the Queen are like Lord and Lady MacBeth, plotting and executing the death of an innocent person in order to advance their greedy desires.

Never read a more detailed account of poor Amy's murderous demise. Great illustrative painting!

Wow! When you put ALL the facts into context like this the period comes alive - the intensely real drama that culminated in Francis Bacon's birth.

Hi A. Phoenix. Riveting story. Elizabethan history has never been told like this before!

If you have a JSTOR account this book looks interesting judging by the first page... https://www.jstor.org/stable/29779806 Francis Bacon and the Jews: Who was the Jew in the "New Atlantis"? LEWIS S. FEUER Jewish Historical Studies Vol. 29 (1982-1986), pp. 1-25 (25 pages) Published By: Jewish Historical Society of England

The ruff was a popular fashion for most of the Elizabethan and Jacobean period. It appears merely as a small cambric, holland, lawn, or lace frill at the neck in illustrations prior to 1570. After that time, particularly as a consequence of the introduction of starch into England in 1564, the ruff expanded greatly. The starch held the ruff in a particular shape and kept it from bending.9 In Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist (1610), Subtle describes a man wearing a large ruff: “He looks in that deep ruff like a head in a platter”. James Laver notes that the ruff, growing sometimes to a quarter of a yard in radius, was an article of clothing worn exclusively by gentlemen since it emphasized the fact that its wearer did not need to work. The enormous ruffs that became more common towards the end of Elizabeth’s reign may lead one to wonder how the wearer managed to eat. And yet, this article of clothing is so common in the portraits of nobles and gentry in the era that we must understand it to be common apparel of widely accepted taste. Instead of wearing a ruff (or even in addition to it), Englishmen sometimes wore collars, called bands. One could wear a falling band which folded down from the neck or a standing band that would stand out from the neck with the aid of starch. Matching ruffs or bands are often seen on sleeves in paintings from the period. By the 1630s, the band had largely replaced the ruff in English clothing. (page 17) From a dissertation by Robert I. Lublin: COSTUMING THE SHAKESPEAREAN STAGE: VISUAL CODES OF REPRESENTATION IN EARLY MODERN THEATRE AND CULTURE https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=osu1060614385&disposition=inline Regarding the Droeshout portrait, the type of collar depicted is properly referred to as a standing band or "neck whisk". See: The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs Vol. 29, No. 162 (Sep., 1916) pages 245-250: https://archive.org/details/burlingtonmagazi29londuoft/page/248/mode/2up?view=theater Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset, Isaac Oliver 1616 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O77708/richard-sackville-3rd-earl-of-portrait-miniature-oliver-isaac/ On balance, it would seem that the standing band, demi-lune collar was a more practical, less restrictive Jacobean development of the Elizabethan ruff. As Peethagoras has indicated, it was adopted as part of military dress code as can be seen in this illustration: https://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/view/search?q=Call_Number%3D"ART+Vol.+c91"+LIMIT%3AFOLGERCM1~6~6&pgs=250&res=2&cic=FOLGERCM1~6~6&sort=MPSORTORDER1%2CCall_Number%2CCD_Title%2CImprint However, it looks as though it originated in courtly circles and was then adapted by the military, perhaps as a nod to the fashion of the period, not the other way around. So the collar in the Droeshout "Shakespeare" portrait does not necessarily have any hidden meaning or military associations. But perhaps Peethagoras has more research on the subject?

Hi Kate I, too, am intrigued by Peethagoras's observation about the "warrior's collar"/ruff in the Droeshout portrait. First, though, I decided to respond to your question about the link between John Davies and Francis Bacon - and down I went into yet another rabbit hole... As you probably know (and as I'm just beginning to find out) there were two contemporaries of Francis Bacon by the name of John Davies - Sir John Davies (1569-1626) and John Davies of Hereford (1565-1618). Both were poets and it seems that they both knew that Francis Bacon was also a poet. "be kind to concealed poets" - this revealing line is from a letter written by Bacon to Sir John Davies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Davies_(poet,_born_1569) https://briefpoems.wordpress.com/tag/sir-john-davies/ https://www.luminarium.org/renlit/astraea2.htm (Not one of Sir John's best efforts, dedicated to QEI) https://www.luminarium.org/renlit/daviebio.htm (A brief sketch of the life of Sir John Davies) https://www.bridgemanimages.com/en-US/english-school/an-artist-illustration-from-a-work-for-none-but-angels-and-men-by-sir-john-davies-1653-litho/lithograph/asset/2660824 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The Scourge of Folly" written by John Davies of Hereford, has been discussed by Peter Dawkins: https://www.fbrt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Royal-Knight-Sir-Francis-Bacon.pdf It's easy to see how Penn Leary could have been confused by two major poets named "John Davies" who were both in the orbit of Sir Francis Bacon at the same time: https://sirbacon.org/johndavies.htm

Hi A. Phoenix. This is such a remarkable quote! Without your erudition I'd be stumbling in the dark. Thank you!!!

Digges became a gentleman of the privy chamber in 1618.[3] He was named ambassador to Muscovy in 1618–1619 and Special Ambassador to Holland in 1620. He was re-elected MP for Tewkesbury in 1621, 1624, 1625, and 1626.[4] In the latter parliament, he was active in the impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham during the crisis of 1626 that followed the aborted expedition to Cádiz,[6] when Digges and Archbishop Abbot co-operated to co-ordinate the attacks in the Houses of Lords and Commons. Digges was for a time imprisoned in the Fleet Prison by order of the King, but was released on apologizing to the King, an act that John Eliot was unwilling to perform. In 1628, Digges was elected MP for Kentand sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_Digges

Three years later (1629) Charles I had Sir John Eliot imprisoned in the Tower for forcing a resolution against the King through Parliament: John Eliot was a defender of freedom of speech for the house of commons. During the Parliament of 1629 Eliot presented three resolutions condemning Charles I's illegal taxation and religious policies. Charles ordered Parliament to adjourn, but Eliot had the speaker of the House of Commons, Sir John Finch, held down in his chair by Denzil Holles and Benjamin Valentine until the resolutions were read out. As a consequence Eliot and others were arrested & imprisoned in the Tower of London. Sir John Eliot, 1592 –1632. English statesman. London Pictures, published 1890 Inscription: Sir John Eliot - Painted a few days before his death in the Tower A.D. 1632

Never trust a man wearing white tights and silver shoes...