Something rings a bell in the Droeshout portrait.

[RoyalCraftiness]

Next stop on the Shakespearean engravings examination is the Droeshout portrait. Ridiculed by many as amateurish and stiff, what I will suggest to you is that this was intentional. We are being given a portrait of a geometrically interpreted Shakespeare which, above all is being fit into rigid composition constraints. 

First impressions for me was to note the fact that the top of the head touches the top of the rectangle. That's an immediate cue you are potentially dealing with circles fit in circles. Upon verification we can see that, in fact, Shakespeare's head is neatly fit in a circle centered upon the main bisector of the image which coincides with the corner of the eye. I show that in the image to the left below. The bottom of that circle can then be used to draw a circle which intercepts the top point. The larger circle has the property of going through the Os in London.

Whenever you see a suggestion of a circle within a circle that has two points coinciding at the top and bottom/center you can immediately think of a star which is circumpolar and sitting at latitude near 45 degrees. The circle within the circle represents the daily path of the star in the celestial vault seen above you. In this case the corner of the eye would represent Polaris (which you might catch in the corner of your eye if you look North at night and see what isn't moving). The bottom of the circle (chin) is the Zenith position of such a circumpolar star. It's setting point is true N. When one checks the list of navigable stars which behaves like this, one finds that he is dealing with Deneb in Cygnus, the star atop the Northern Cross asterism.

I've gone ahead and colored in red the clever use of the composition to conceal the RC suggestion which is sitting in space mirrored by the row of buttons. RC, as you will have noted if you read my posts, is wise to think of as the Rose (compass Rose) and the Cross (Cygnus where the Northern Cross is located). 

The rest of the composition is not to be sneezed at either. Notice the line formed from the hem next to the button row which goes up and captures the point at the corner of the eye (center image below).

This line is projected all the way to the top, through the T and the letters DIE (lol). The relationship of the line is next considered to the Most obvious two points in the entire engraving, the tips of the collar. Joined, they produce a line which can be seen to also be a parallel to the line between the points in the eyes (should be clear to see).  When I first saw this it rang a bell, so to speak, as I recognized the suggestion from the cover illustration of Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark". The arrangement evokes a titled mast... Anyway, visuals aside, the points of the collar can also be treated as points in alignments  which I show in blue and yellow. There's one that I drew through the O in original to mimic the scheme through the Os in London. That sends a line through the ear (did you hear that?).  From the other collar point we can join to the intersection with the upper parallel and see that we have captured the tip of the V in Shakespeare's lips.  A line going from the  mouth to the  ear is a cleaver pun. From my mouth to your ears you would have to listen to me going about this if you were here.

And here we are rubbed with the fact that we have a 40, 60, 80 triangle in a presentation that is involving Shakespeare's senses. Anything else goin on? Why yes, Kepler's pointer (3 Nova alignments) is given by the line in yellow. It goes through the intercept point and then beyond to capture that period after Copies. Is there anything else to say about this in geometric terms? I'm afraid so. The center of the rectangle framing the image (find intercept point of the main diagonals) is the suggestion of the geometric center of that triangle.

That we find the Northern (Summer) triangle made up of Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila in such prominence suggests to me that the entire composition of the image was defined by armature lines which come out of it. 

The suggestion is constant with Bacon: navigate with the Cross. This was not just meant for mariners and colonizers. It was meant for men in their lives. When we read New Atlantis we understand that Bacon's Utopia allegory is one where all men have freedom, and will self regulate. There will be a taxing law, but it will be applied upon your death. Remember death when you live is always what we encounter. The idea is that you will not escape judgment. The 42 assessors of the dead will proverbially deal with you. If not them it might be "The Old Judge". The great constant in the stories of the world's religions, let's call it an archetype to involve Plato, is that scores get settled. There is a universal sense that we ought to be good to be true to our nature. Walk the straight path and you will be entitled to a great treasure hidden securely in a vault above.

Edited January 21 by RoyalCraftiness

[peethagoras]

Regarding the domed head touching the line: see John Dee's last page of his Monas Hierolyphica, and also note the date of that publication: 1564 --- the same date as birth of WS.

[Light-of-Truth]

36 minutes ago, RoyalCraftiness said:

The suggestion is constant with Bacon: navigate with the Cross. This was not just meant for mariners and colonizers. It was meant for men in their lives.

Alan Greene cannot hold a candle to you! LOL

 

[Light-of-Truth]

7 minutes ago, peethagoras said:

Regarding the domed head touching the line: see John Dee's last page of his Monas Hieroglyphic, and also note the date of that publication: 1564 --- the same date as birth of WS.

Dee in 1564 may have left one of the first solid example of using ciphers for a signature.

MONAS is 58 Simple cipher, the same as JOHN DEE.

MONAS HIEROGLYPHICA is 188 Simple cipher, the Kaye cipher of JOHN DEE.

This is a lesson from Dr. Dee. 🙂

 

 

[peethagoras]

Further to Dee's circle touching the line:

notice how he made that L stand out: it is to be counted with all the initials thus:  I T L I V ; in simple numerical terms the result is 68:  so too is A SECRET.

 

 

[peethagoras]

Just now, Light-of-Truth said:

Dee in 1564 may have left one of the first solid example of using ciphers for a signature.

MONAS is 58 Simple cipher, the same as JOHN DEE.

MONAS HIEROGLYPHICA is 188 Simple cipher, the Kaye cipher of JOHN DEE.

This is a lesson from Dr. Dee. 🙂

But have you seen Iohn Dee's FOOT?

 

Just now, Light-of-Truth said:

 

 

[peethagoras]

But have you seen Iohn Dee's FOOT ?

[Light-of-Truth]

1 minute ago, peethagoras said:

But have you seen Iohn Dee's FOOT ?

Can't say I have...

[RoyalCraftiness]

Regarding the Bell-man. This sorta suggests the idea of "the bell that rings for thee" when your time is up doesn't it? I'm not certain what Carroll's intentions were, but I suspect the bell-man may be modeled after this fellow. This would make sense because of the Vitruvian man parallel we can apply to he geometric Shakespeare who  is also built to show proportions. When you look at the cover isn't there a also a suggestion of the blue line with the rope? 

I'd love to know if Haliburton and Carroll ever met or wrote to each other. The fact that Carroll used Haliburton's earlier coined expressions in "Alice Adventures in Wonderland" (i.e. mad as a hatter) suggests some familiarity between the two. Haliburton did emigrate to England in the 1850s, and he became a prominent Tory. I believe Carroll was a Tory too, but I am not certain. The fact the Burtons were the builders and high profile members of the Athenaeum club in London where all the who's who of English literature hung out might be the link. There seems to have been some appreciation of what was in Shakespeare.

 

Edited January 21 by RoyalCraftiness

[Light-of-Truth]

I loved reading Thoreau before I learned of Bacon. Was he in that club?

 

[RoyalCraftiness]

9 minutes ago, Light-of-Truth said:

I loved reading Thoreau before I learned of Bacon. Was he in that club?

 

The list of all past members is out there. It was was mostly London based.

[Light-of-Truth]

Thoreau is a distraction. I don't think he was a club kind of guy. 😉

[RoyalCraftiness]

56 minutes ago, Light-of-Truth said:

Thoreau is a distraction. I don't think he was a club kind of guy. 😉

He'd feel ay home here. It's not Walden, but not far off.

[peethagoras]

16 hours ago, Light-of-Truth said:

Can't say I have...

With care you should see it on the sonnets title page, above the hyphen.

 

[Light-of-Truth]

7 minutes ago, peethagoras said:

With care you should see it on the sonnets title page, above the hyphen.

 

I see the three fish, the two dolphins and two back-to-back cronies...

Do share. 🙂

 

[RoyalCraftiness]

Here's an overlay of that part of the celestial vault over the Droeshout portrait.