Francis Bacons Initials Displayed Prominently in his Works
The initials FB, for Francis Bacon, may be found in rather too many prominent positions in the works to be accounted for by "mere co-incidence".
1. The first letters of the first (Fr) and third lines (B) of the first sonnet, Sonnet 1, of the “Shake-speare” Sonnets (1609), (the second line being indented), as follows:
From fairest creatures we
desire increase,
That thereby beauties Rose night
never die,
But as the riper should
by time decease
2. The first letters of the first (Fr) and second lines (B) of The Rape of Lucrece (1592), the next three lines also giving his profession at the time, LAW:
From the besieged Ardea
all in post,
Borne by the trustless
wings of false desire,
Lust-breathed Tarquin
leaves the Roman host,
And to Collatium bears
the lightless fire
Which, in pale embers
hid, lurks to aspire
3. The first letters of the first (B) and last (Fr) words in the first play (The Tempest) in the First Folio (1623).
First line: Master: Boteswaine
Last line: Prospero Let your indulgence set me free.
4. The first letters of the last two words of the last two lines of The Tempest
As your crimes would pardon’d be
Let your indulgence set me free
5. The first letter (B)of the first word (Bote-swaine) of the first line of the first play (The Tempest)in the First Folio, and the first letters (Fr) of the last word (frownes) of the first line of the last play, Cymbeline.
First line of The Tempest:
Master: Boteswaine
First Line of Cymbeline:
First Gentleman: You do not meet
a man but frownes
6. The Threnos at the end of the Shakespeare poem "The Phoenix and the Turtle: first and last lines commence with B and F respectively, as follows:
Beauty, truth and rarity.
...
For these dead birds sigh a prayer
7. Mather Walker shows in his essay, Was Francis Bacon a Masked Musician? http://www.sirbacon.org/mmusic.htm, that John Dowland was a mask for Francis Bacon. That would explain why the list of Dowlands songs as given in the book, The Third and Last Booke of Songs or Aires, (1603) shows Bacon’s initials, on the first and third line, the second being indented as in the example of the first Sonnet, shown above:
1. Farewell
too faire
2. Time Stands Still
3. Behold
a wonder here
8. The poem Omphale, or The Inconstant Shepeardesse, appears in a book titled Nature’s Embassy or The Wildeman’s Measures, printed in London for Richard Whittaker in 1621. It contains Bacons AA and Athena Headpiece printing marks, and is the preface at very least is written in openly Baconian style. If Francis Bacon was also the author of Omphale, then it’s first line would be not only a play on his initials F and B, but also on the meaning of the name Francis, which is “free”, and by which the first line of the poem would both proclaim his name and assert his identity:
In bondage free, in freedom bound, I am