Secret Shakespearean seals

244 Pages·2016·26 MB·English

SECRET
SHAKESPEAREAN SEALS
REVELATIONS OF ROSICRUCIAN ARCANA
DISCOVERIES IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS, SONNETS, AND WORKS,
PRINTED CIRCA 1586-1740, OF " SECRETI SIGILLI," CONCEALED
AUTHOR'S MARKS AND SIGNS
BY
FRATRES ROSE^ CRUCIS
ILLUSTRATED BY PHOTO-FACSIMILES
NOTTINGHAM
H. JENKINS, 7, ST. JAMES'S STREET
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A ROSICRUCIAN PORTRAIT.
Frontispiece,
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PRINTEDBYBILLINGANDSONS,LTD.,
GUILDFORD,ENGLAND
TO
THE GREAT VARIETY OF READERS
'From the most able to him that can but spell, there ye are numbered."
Shakespeare Folio, 1623.

PREFACE
Primarily
this book is addressed to Arithmeticians, yet its claims are
open to the test of all who can do the simplest sums in addition and
subtraction.
They take you to the threshold of further discovery of interesting but
astutely hidden arcana only to be disclosed by close and careful research,
—
collection of facts and correct deductions in a word, by inductive
methods.
Fratres Rose^ Crucis.
—
Note. While this book has been in preparation we have found other
curious things, and some mistakes. These matters are dealt with in an
—
appendix of supplementary notes and errata F. R. C.
vu

SECRET SHAKESPEAREAN SEALS
Chapter I
THE GREAT SEAL
"
The term seal" here used does not refer to the instrument, but to a mark
seal or signature itself. The practice of identification of documents by
an individual seajl or mark, whether open or private, dates back to the
earliest days of civilization.
Present-day manufacturers have their marks and numbers, bankers
their secret flaws and marks of identification whereby to assure their bank-
notes and cheques and defeat extensive forgery.
In the early stages of printing it was natural that writers of works printed
anonymously should contrive methods of type arrangement by which, if
thought worth while, their authorship could be identified and proved.
Thiey would assuijie that when doubts arose their books would be searched
for sigilli secreti as the first and most natural efiort of investigation.
Strange though it be, there is no evidence of any such examination having
takten place.
Yet, for instance, the Shakespeare Folio and Quarto plays, and Shake-
speare's Sonnets, are sealed with the Great Seal in many places, though mostly
at the beginnings and ends.
Mr. Tanner was the first to call attention to the fact that the verse to
the reader opposite the Droeshout portrait in the Shakespeare Folio contains,
including the heading and the initials at foot, and counting correctly the
four letters in v v a s and the five letters in v v r i t (8th line) a total of 287.
He first called attention to the fact that the total figure equivalent of
the old long word elaborated by the writer of Love's Labour Lost, on page 136
of the Folio, was also 287; but there the matter seems to have dropped.
1
2 SECRET SHAKESPEAEEAN SEALS
except that another investigator pointed out correctly that the long word
"
referred to is the 151st word in roman type on page 136 (counting alms-
"
basket as the two words it should be). There is, possibly, a correct rule
of count in the case of words improperly joined by a hyphen.
The significance of the 287 count is apparent:
1. From its prominence on the first page of the Foho.
"
2. From the total in figure equivalent of Honorificabihtudinitatibus."
3. From its position as the 151st roman word on page 136.
4. The special type in which this page of Love's Labour Lost is printed
in the 1684 Folio.
Guided by these torches, we made a more careful examination of
the Folio, with the result of finding this strange sigil absolutely waving in
important positions.
Epistle Dedicatorie contains :
First page words . . . . . . . . . . 157
Second page words . . . . . . . . . . 287
"
To the Great Variety of Readers," 2nd part:
Words in roman type . . . . . . . . 279
Italic words of large size . . . . . . . . 8
287
Ben Jonson's verses, 1st part:
Italic words . . . . . . . . . . 289
Deduct the two letters in the turnover word of . . 2
287
Note.—These two letters are in larger type than in the following page.
Hugh Holland's verses contain :
Roman letters . . . . . . . . . . 422
Roman words in brackets . . . , . . . . 3
425
Deduct roman letters in heading . . . . 65
Deduct italic letters in verse . . . . 73 138
287
REVELATIONS OF ROSICRUCIAN ARCANA
L. Digges and J. M.'s verses together contain:
Italic words . . 220
Roman letters . . 67
287
Names of Actors ":
Italic letters . . 332
Deduct roman letters . . 45
287
The sigil 287 is repeated:
On first page of the Comedies. On last page of same.
On first page of the Histories. On last page of same.
On first page of Troylus and Cressida (the play interposed between the
Histories and Tragedies). On last page of same.
On first page of the Tragedies. On last page of same.
The Tempest, page 1 (first page of Comedies) :
The second column has total roman words 287
Winter's Tale, page 303 (last page of Comedies) :
Roman words in the two columns 362
Less italic words on the page 74
" "
And one large roman word Finis . . 1 75
287
Other counts :
1. Deduct from page number 303
The Names of the Actors, other than supers, who took
part in the play 16
287
Hermione, after a long silence in marble, says in the
" "
left-hand column, Tell me," which means Count
"
me (just as they count M.P.'s in the House of
Commons) .
A count of the letters in her Speech gives roman letters . . 234
Deduct' tetters in the italic word and roman words in
brackets 15
219
Add italic words in Names of the Actors 68
287