Kate Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 (edited) I think this is one for AP to look into, and he may already know all about this, but on this never-ending chain of synchronicities, when alerted to a phrase by Sir Amyas Paulet in another thread that reminded me of a line in The Tempest, I started digging. It seems that the famous words, which also appear on the Shakespeare Monument in Westminster Abbey, from The Tempest may have been ‘lifted’ from a play The Tragedie of Darius by The Earl of Stirling, William Alexander. Is this common knowledge? I sought out the play on Archive.org only to discover it is in a collection of plays, and this copy contains a lengthy handwritten note at the front, saying more or less - from my reading of it - that many of the Shakespearean works bear remarkable resemblance. This seems like quite a find - but I may be wrong. As I say, maybe it’s common knowledge. The headpiece is the same as the one on the Shakespeare Sonnets cover too, with back to back conies. Take a look! Here’s the link https://archive.org/details/monarchicketrage00stir/page/n3/mode/1up?view=theater The handwritten note is 8 pages long. Edited January 20 by Kate 1 2 The Secret Work of an Age ebook Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light-of-Truth Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Alexander-1st-Earl-of-Stirling William Alexander, 1st earl of Stirling, also called (1608/09–1630) Sir William Alexander, (born c. 1576, Menstrie, Clackmannan, Scot.—died Feb. 12, 1640, London, Eng.), Scottish courtier, statesman, and poet who founded and colonized the region of Nova Scotia in Canada. 3 T A A A A A A A A A A A T 157 www.Light-of-Truth.com 287 <-- 1 8 8 1 1 O 1 1 8 8 1 --> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light-of-Truth Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 1 hour ago, Kate said: I sought out the play on Archive.org only to discover it is in a collection of plays, and this copy contains a lengthy handwritten note at the front, saying more or less - from my reading of it - that many of the Shakespearean works bear remarkable resemblance. The handwritten pages are interesting, some good points brought up. I had to zoom in to read them. 🙂 T A A A A A A A A A A A T 157 www.Light-of-Truth.com 287 <-- 1 8 8 1 1 O 1 1 8 8 1 --> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light-of-Truth Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Raises some questions. For instance instance: Did Shakespeare borrow words and ideas from William Alexander? Or did Bacon write as William Alexander? Curious that Ed Blount was involved with some books that may have been written by Bacon under other names. See what Mather Walker says in his book. PLUS ULTRA - Francis Bacon's Secret Design in his "Shakespeare" First Folio - pages 62-63 https://sirbacon.org/archives/PLUS ULTRA - w4 w ToC.pdf Ed Blount In addition to having connections with Francis Bacon, Ed Blount was a member of Bacon’s Secret Society-The Freemasons. Edward Blount (b. c.1565-d.after 1632) served a ten-year apprentice with London publisher William Ponsonby before he became freeman of the Stationers’ Company in 1588. During the period of his apprenticeship Ponsonby published a number of important books most notably Philip Sidney’s Arcadia in 1590, and the masked works Bacon wrote under the name Edmund Spenser. Books 1-3 of The Faerie Queene were published in 1590, the same year as Sidney’s Arcadia. It was the custom in those days to place young aristocrats in some great household and Francis Bacon was placed at a very early age in the household of his uncle, Lord Burghley. He was reared in this household and schooled by the same tutor who taught Robert Cecil. This household was a gathering place for young aristocrats. Philip Sidney was often here. Bacon became acquainted with him at an early age, and was close to the Sidney family thereafter. Both Bacon and Ben Jonson made frequent visits to Wilton House, the family estate of the Sidneys, a noted gathering place for the literati. The family was in on Bacon’s secret. A letter written by Mary Sidney, Philip Sidney’s sister in 1603 said, “We have the man Shakespeare with us.”After publishing books 1-3 of The Faerie Queene in 1590 Ponsonby thereafter issued the remainder of the Spenser works (with the exception of the Shepheards Calender, which was published by Hugh Singleton in 1579). Christopher Marlowe was apparently another of Bacon’s masks, and Marlowe’s Hero and Leander in 1598 contained a dedication by Blount in which he spoke of his close friendship with the late poet. In 1603 Blount published Florio’s translation of Montaigne’s Essays (another of Bacon’s masked works). In 1612 Blount published the Thomas Shelton translation of Don Quixote, the first English version, and yet another of Bacon’s masked works. The printing of the First Folio involved very intricate and detailed acrostics that required exacting type setting, type setting beyond the ability of ordinary printers such as Isaac Jaggard. Insider Ed Blount was put on site to supervise the printing of the book. The words in the colophon of the First Folio, “Printed at the Charges of W. Jaggard, Ed. Blount, I Smithweeke, and W. Aspley,” raise questions about the funding issue. Since William Jaggard was plagued by bad debts and lawsuits he was probably not able to provide funding. This also casts doubt on the remainder of the funding supposedly provided by Ed. Blount, I Smithweeke, and W. Aspley. It is probably no coincidence that just at the point in 1623, when Bacon was able to have his De Augmentis printed the funding became available to print the First Folio also. 3 T A A A A A A A A A A A T 157 www.Light-of-Truth.com 287 <-- 1 8 8 1 1 O 1 1 8 8 1 --> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Phoenix Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Hi Kate, Great find - the handwritten note is very intriguing and points to a connection between Alexander's tragedies with some of the Bacon-Shakespeare plays which is not very well known. It is clear from reading the entry on William Alexander in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-23) that he and FB moved in the same literary and political circles but I found no mention of any personal or professional connection between the two of them. I also had a quick look in the standard sources: Spedding's seven volumes The Letters and Life of Francis Bacon, Jardine and Stewart's The Troubled Life of FB, Gibson's Francis Bacon A Bibliography and the Index to Baconiana and can find no reference to William Alexander, first Earl of Stirling and moroever I also checked Gillespie's, Shakespeare's Sources and found no entry for Alexander. This all seems very curious. Peter Dawkin's mentions Alexander in an article entitled 'The Oak Island Mystery' in which he states that Alexander was a Freemason: see link https://www.fbrt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/The_Mystery_of_Oak_Island_Pt-2_The_Navigators.pdf You are clearly onto something, Kate. Brilliant work. 3 1 https://aphoenix1.academia.edu/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrY7wzlXnZiT1Urwx7jP6fQ/videos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light-of-Truth Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 According to Mather Walker on page 472 of the book I posted above, the play was first performed in 1599. Although Julius Caesar first appeared in print in the 1623 First Folio it was first staged in 1599. In his impressive book, SHAKESPEARE’S MYSTERY PLAY The Opening of the Globe Theatre 1599 Steve Sohmer puts forth persuasive evidence that it was the first play performed at the opening of the Globe Theater on June 12, 1599. Since the June 12 date was the date by the Julian calendar still in use in England at the time, the date according to the Gregorian calendar now in use was June 21. Therefore the date fell on the beginning of the Summer Solstice, the three-day period called midsummer by the Elizabethans. So did William Alexander borrow from Shakespeare? Ed Blount would know any connections. 😉 2 T A A A A A A A A A A A T 157 www.Light-of-Truth.com 287 <-- 1 8 8 1 1 O 1 1 8 8 1 --> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light-of-Truth Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Kate, you are on a wave of synchronicity! Sir William Alexander brings us back under Star Charts and Nova Scotia. It appears he is the one who named the place Nova Scotia. https://sirbacon.org/mckaig.htm taken from https://sirbacon.org/archives/baconiana/1985_Baconiana_No. 185.pdf 3 T A A A A A A A A A A A T 157 www.Light-of-Truth.com 287 <-- 1 8 8 1 1 O 1 1 8 8 1 --> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light-of-Truth Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Alexander and Bacon appeared to be in the same circles, perhaps at least with mutual friends. https://sirbacon.org/archives/baconiana/1986_Baconiana_No.186.pdf 3 1 T A A A A A A A A A A A T 157 www.Light-of-Truth.com 287 <-- 1 8 8 1 1 O 1 1 8 8 1 --> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light-of-Truth Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 https://sirbacon.org/archives/baconiana/1986_Baconiana_No.186.pdf From page 63 of same article: All the men we have listed in this review were friends or acquaintances of Bacon, besides others mentioned in Sir Roy Strong’s most interesting and informative book. Since all were recruited by Prince Henry to help in the cultural Renaissance, we may very reasonably conclude that Henry was in effect the magnet used by Bacon in furtherance of his own secret society activities. We detail these collaborators in the attached chart. The attached chart, page 65 2 1 T A A A A A A A A A A A T 157 www.Light-of-Truth.com 287 <-- 1 8 8 1 1 O 1 1 8 8 1 --> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Posted January 20 Author Share Posted January 20 (edited) Okay, I'm such a nerd that I just spent the time between posting that and now, dictating the 8 pages of handwritten words into Word! It was not easy to read so this will make it clearer for others. So it is fascinating but notice the sections I bolded and this: On all these grounds it appears more probable that Shakespeare was indebted to Lord Stirling than that Lord Stirling learned from Shakespeare. The underlining in this PDF is a copy of what is underlined in the original. The dictation picked it up as Sterling but it is Stirling, so I've reuploaded it with a cleaner version and corrected a few other errors. Translation2.pdf Edited January 20 by Kate Sterling to Stirling 1 2 The Secret Work of an Age ebook Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light-of-Truth Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 2 minutes ago, Kate said: Okay I'm such a nerd that I just spent the time between posting that and now, dictating the 8 pages of handwritten words into Word! It is not easy to read so this will make it clearer for others. So it is fascinating. It is all interesting but notice the sections I bolded and this: On all these grounds it appears more probable that Shakespeare was indebted to Lord Sterling than that Lord Sterling learned from Shakespeare. The underlining in this PDF is a copy of what is underlined in the original Translation.pdf 246.43 kB · 0 downloads I was hoping someone would do that! LOL 3 T A A A A A A A A A A A T 157 www.Light-of-Truth.com 287 <-- 1 8 8 1 1 O 1 1 8 8 1 --> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Phoenix Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Hi Kate, I have found the briefest of mentions of William Alexander and his plays in Bullough's standard seven volume work in his introductions to Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra and also in the Oxford edition of Julius Caesar: see attachments: 2 1 https://aphoenix1.academia.edu/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrY7wzlXnZiT1Urwx7jP6fQ/videos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Phoenix Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 The Shakespeeare play Julius Caesar is believed to have been written in 1599 and a performance of it was mentioned by Thomas Platter in his diary in September 1599. 3 https://aphoenix1.academia.edu/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrY7wzlXnZiT1Urwx7jP6fQ/videos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light-of-Truth Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 I'm heading out shortly. But stumbled on this book where both Bacon and Alexander are mentioned several times. Its not regarding literature but about Freemasonry. Restoring The Temple Of Vision - Cabalistic Freemasonry And Stuart Culture - by Marsha Keith https://archive.org/details/restoring-the-temple-of-vision-cabalistic-freemasonry-and-stuart-culture-by-marsha-keith-schuchard/mode/2up 2 T A A A A A A A A A A A T 157 www.Light-of-Truth.com 287 <-- 1 8 8 1 1 O 1 1 8 8 1 --> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Posted January 20 Author Share Posted January 20 2 hours ago, Light-of-Truth said: Kate, you are on a wave of synchronicity! Sir William Alexander brings us back under Star Charts and Nova Scotia. It appears he is the one who named the place Nova Scotia. https://sirbacon.org/mckaig.htm taken from https://sirbacon.org/archives/baconiana/1985_Baconiana_No. 185.pdf I am on a wave of synchronicities again, Rob, because even before you posted this I had been looking at this from in-the-sky.org this morning which shows the North and South Ecliptic poles (NEP/SEP) in a way that we don’t normally think of them. You then wrote a post mentioning them. 2 The Secret Work of an Age ebook Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light-of-Truth Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 4 hours ago, Kate said: I am on a wave of synchronicities again I'll say... LOL I had to drive around today, sit in waiting rooms, answer business texts and emails on my phone, etc. But your synchronicity in multiple threads kept my wild geese mind occupied in the boring hours. 😉 Lot going on as we are almost at 461/452 years after our genius was born. I'll look up into the heavens at midnight and see the same basic arrangement with some lat adjustment. The longitude doesn't matter right, if at the same time in our zone (give or take a few degrees). Moon, planets, comets, novas, that will not be the same, but the stars will be pretty much in the same place. And here we are talking about all that and not because it's Bacon's birthday coming up! Fun. 2 T A A A A A A A A A A A T 157 www.Light-of-Truth.com 287 <-- 1 8 8 1 1 O 1 1 8 8 1 --> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 So I decided to do some research into our guy, William Alexander, Earl of Stirling and I came across this book: The First Nova Scotian. It was a available to borrow online so I skip read the whole thing and also used the search function , trying Bacon, Verulam and St Albans. Surprisingly the only return I got was these two, neither of which mention them having a link, which I thought strange. Anyway she specifically says that in her research she’s found a Rosicrucian/ Masonic connection. Above and below are two instances. but this book is also where I saw the reference to Oak island and a picture of the star fort in Annapolis and about WA being resident in London and part of ‘the King’s Court’ . This got me thinking about how it would be impossible for W. Alexander and FB not to have known each other as colonisers - and pretty well. So I put some search terms into Google, something basic like William Alexander + Francis Bacon and blow me down, the first result I got was this brilliant article which just happened to be on a site about Oak Island. I’m not a great fan of the whole Oak Island theory myself but you don’t have to be to get benefit from this article: The Plymouth Connection https://www.oakislandgold.com/the-plymouth-connection.html It confirms it would be impossible for the two of them not to be closely associated (and it even made me wonder if FB hot-footed it to Nova Scotia rather than the heavenly realms in 1626!). I think with The Tragedie of Darius (printed 1603 but likely written before) and The Tempest, plus the sonnets headpiece in Monarchicke Tragedies, we’ve/I’ve uncovered an important link, one that seems to again suggest help or multiple authors of the plays.l and brings WA as a noted poet and Rosicrucian/Mason firmly into the picture. 4 The Secret Work of an Age ebook Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light-of-Truth Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 OK, why does this feel so familiar? It's been on the B'Hive before? "It is established that Alexander has been involved in mining projects in his native Scotland, and that his first such enterprise began in 1607 in Menstrie, and that by 1611 he had also been granted a license by King James I to refine 'silver with quicksilver [mercury] water and salt for twentie ane yeirs.'" Maybe in a discussion about Mathematical Magick? Can't put my finger on it, yet is seems fresh enough to be in the past year. 3 T A A A A A A A A A A A T 157 www.Light-of-Truth.com 287 <-- 1 8 8 1 1 O 1 1 8 8 1 --> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyalCraftiness Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 (edited) William Alexander had next to zero interest in colonization. That's a major point I would stress. Alexander and his son were out to make a buck with the fur trade and they lost their shirts in NS, leaving many dead along the way. The scheme in Acadia only started in 1625, and it was very poorly backed, so too late to have any overlap with Bacon. They had horrible relations with the natives which caused them to try and find allies with some traitorous French factions. By 1632 they were ordered out, because the French had regained Acadia in a treaty, and the Alexanders were broke. William Alexander died in abject poverty in 1644. He had been caught up in the schemes of selling Baronies that made King James a lot of money. What grants Alexander had received were said to be in return for having worked to edit the King James Bible. There is no one whose contribution to the settling of NS that has been more overblown and exaggerated than William Alexander's. Be very careful which books you go to when you get your information. If they are at all Oak island related I suggest looking somewhere else. There's a reason not much is said or found about Alexander in NS. He did well to have kept himself alive for the short time he was there. There are people who will tell you the Scots were a great early colonizing force. It's a matter of Scottish pride that some think these things. I say this as the grandson of a Scottish immigrant to Nova Scotia. The Scots were very minor players--a footnote really. Nova Scotia, the name, seems to suggest otherwise. A great and noble scheme : the tragic story of the expulsion of the French Acadians from their American Homeland : Faragher, John Mack, 1945- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Do a search for William Alexander to find him mentioned. it starts around page 39. BTW, this is one of the better books written on the early story of NS. It's written by a respected American historian as opposed to anyone peddling Scottish theories going back to Sinclair and/or to Alexander. I give it my highest recommendation. Edited January 22 by RoyalCraftiness 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 (edited) 4 hours ago, RoyalCraftiness said: William Alexander had next to zero interest in colonization. The scheme in Acadia only started in 1625, and it was very poorly backed, so too late to have any overlap with Bacon. Thanks for your input but it seems you may not have read the attached article in the link? By August 5, 1621, William Alexander was accepted as the new owner/adventurer of Nova Scotia, by King James. I also wonder if you are perhaps underestimating my critical thinking skills. I purposefully put distance between the article and the fact it was from an Oak Island site, I also looked into the guy who was writing this and watched a video of his to get a feel for him. He surprised me. He’s definitely got a dodgy taste in book cover design but seems to be an obsessive researcher. Of course, in other research I’ve come across many of the things you say above, but I think there’s a definite connection with Bacon and ‘the Great Work’ he was undertaking. This was something else I read and links him to colonisation way before 1625. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/alexander_william_1577_1640_1E.html and this was something else I screenshotted on Friday, confirming the date of the charter 1621 Edited January 22 by Kate 4 The Secret Work of an Age ebook Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 (edited) The synchronicities keep on happening. I posted this further up the thread And this on another Today someone followed me on a Twitter, so I had a quick scroll down his feed and he’d tweeted about a video (not his) posted only yesterday on YouTube about Starforts. I watched the video but the guy who made it is a bit of a rambler, so it took ages to watch even at fast speed, but anyway he’s getting all his info from this site: http://starforts.com I think this site should be credited more than him, so take a look. It’s fascinating. These things are all over the world and from very different eras. The thing I can’t fathom is that many are not symmetrical or based on known shapes. Others are clearly recognisable as stars and some have pentagons within. Edited January 22 by Kate 2 1 The Secret Work of an Age ebook Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allisnum2er Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 https://archive.org/details/monarchicketrage00stir/page/n15/mode/2up Interestingly, with the letter "a" of "afterwards Earl of Shirling" the First letters give us a beautiful anagram : BACON Could it be a clue ? Prince William Bacon ? 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allisnum2er Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 On 1/22/2023 at 11:36 PM, Kate said: The synchronicities keep on happening. I posted this further up the thread And this on another Today someone followed me on a Twitter, so I had a quick scroll down his feed and he’d tweeted about a video (not his) posted only yesterday on YouTube about Starforts. I watched the video but the guy who made it is a bit of a rambler, so it took ages to watch even at fast speed, but anyway he’s getting all his info from this site: http://starforts.com I think this site should be credited more than him, so take a look. It’s fascinating. These things are all over the world and from very different eras. The thing I can’t fathom is that many are not symmetrical or based on known shapes. Others are clearly recognisable as stars and some have pentagons within. Hi Kate, fascinating indeed ! 🙂 Did you notice the Star-shaped fort appearing at the bottom of a Map Eric shared with us very recently in another topic ? 😊 This is the Castle of Good Hope. https://pennds.org/singletonmap/files/original/9a58f45a04cb866a1429ca3b5990dc0e.jpg https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_de_Bonne-Espérance#/media/Fichier:Kasteel_de_Goede_Hoop_circa_1680.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_of_Good_Hope 2 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Roberts Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 1 hour ago, Allisnum2er said: Hi Kate, fascinating indeed ! 🙂 Did you notice the Star-shaped fort appearing at the bottom of a Map Eric shared with us very recently in another topic ? 😊 This is the Castle of Good Hope. https://pennds.org/singletonmap/files/original/9a58f45a04cb866a1429ca3b5990dc0e.jpg https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_de_Bonne-Espérance#/media/Fichier:Kasteel_de_Goede_Hoop_circa_1680.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_of_Good_Hope Thank you allisnum2er, how observant you are! Interesting place, the Fort of Good Hope. Brief history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_de_Goede_Hoop#cite_note-8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_of_Good_Hope https://theculturetrip.com/africa/south-africa/articles/a-brief-history-of-the-castle-of-good-hope-cape-town/ The early history of the Lodge "De Goede Hoop", 1772-1781 by Osborn Hambrook Bate, 1852-1919 https://archive.org/details/cu31924030323871/mode/2up Freemasonry in South Africa Prior to 1863 https://archive.md/20160305060622/https://philotecton.org/analects/freemasonry-in-south-africa-prior-to-1863 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light-of-Truth Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 On 1/25/2023 at 7:26 PM, Eric Roberts said: Thank you allisnum2er, how observant you are! Interesting place, the Fort of Good Hope... Here is a fascinating playground from 1609: Amphitheatrvm sapientiae aeternae : solius verae, christiano-kabalisticvm, divino-magicvm, nec non physico-chymicvm, tertrivnvm, catholicon https://archive.org/details/amphitheatrvmsap00khun/page/n17/mode/2up?view=theater I wish I could read the words! 🙂 1 3 T A A A A A A A A A A A T 157 www.Light-of-Truth.com 287 <-- 1 8 8 1 1 O 1 1 8 8 1 --> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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