“Francis Bacon’s Hidden Hand in Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’: A Study of Law, Rhetoric, and Authorship–a splendid and well researched book by Christina G. Waldman, J.D., an American lawyer. Available from Amazon.” –Peter Dawkins, Francis Bacon Research Trust.
“The case for Francis Bacon’s authorship of Shakespeare’s works is undergoing a resurgence, having been eclipsed in recent years by other contenders. This is remiss, as there is plenty to discuss concerning Bacon’s possible hidden literary endeavours, especially in connection with that great legal satire, The Merchant of Venice, as Christina Waldman shows.” —Jerry V. Glover, review of Francis Bacon’s Hidden Hand, The Fortean Times, no. 378, April 2019, p. 65.
“….A thoroughly impressive work of iconoclastic scholarship, Francis Bacon’s Hidden Hand in Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’: A Study of Law, Rhetoric, and Authorship is a ‘must read’ contribution to the every growing library of Shakespearian scholarship. As thoughtful and thought-provoking as it is meticulously researched and documented, Francis Bacon’s Hidden Hand in Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’: A Study of Law, Rhetoric, and Authorship is unreservedly recommended for personal, community, college, and university library Shakespearean Studies collections and supplemental studies reading lists.”–Julie’s Page, Reviewer’s Bookwatch, Midwest Book Review, vol. 19, no. 6 (June, 2019).
The book which inspired Francis Bacon’s Hidden Hand is Mark Edwin Andrews, Law versus Equity in ‘The Merchant of Venice,’ a Legalization of Act IV, Scene 1 (Boulder: University of Colorado, 1965). In a 1937 letter to Andrews, U. S. Supreme Court Justice Harlan F. Stone praised it: “Often, in listening to The Merchant of Venice, it has occurred to me that Shakespeare knew the essentials of the contemporary conflict between law and equity. But until I read your manuscript I had never realized how completely the play harmonized with recognized court procedure of the time. . . .You have done an admirable piece of work. . . . ” (ix, as quoted by J. K. Emery, editor). This book has intrigued me ever since I happened across it in my college library around 1980. It convinced me that, whoever Shakespeare was, he had to have been a lawyer to have written the trial scene in The Merchant of Venice. In 2015, I finally sat down to write a short review of Andrews’ book for http://www.sirbacon.org/, a wonderful website for doing research on Francis Bacon. That “short review” grew to book length, just as Andrews’ original two-week research project for a summer Shakespearae course turned into a book-length manuscript. As good as it was, it sat in storage for thirty years until a librarian rediscovered it, realized its merit, and arranged for its publication.
Andrews made two main points; briefly: one, that Shakespeare displayed significant legal knowledge, and two, that the play itself actually influenced the legal system. Although plainly stating he was a “Stratfordian” not a “Baconian,” Andrews could not help but observe that Francis Bacon played a real life role much the same as that played by Bellario in Merchant in a real-life court case, Glanvill v. Courtney (1616) in which Bacon advised King James. Thus, Andrews named Bacon as the amicus curiae in his own dramatization of Act IV, Scene 1.
So, who or what does Bellario represent? The literal meaning of this Italian name might be “beautiful song.” Perhaps, he represents a spirit of fairness and mercy which we might call equity. Bellario is the old Italian legal expert whom the Duke summons to advise him in the case. However, he is too old and sick to come to court, so he recommends Portia to appear in court in his stead. He provides her with his “notes” (short for “annotations”?) and the appropriate courtroom garb.
In my book, I explored Andrews’ second thesis: was Francis Bacon Bellario, or akin to Bellario? Researching this book felt like being on a treasure hunt, with each clue opening doors to the next. One of the things this play is about is the relationship between adornment and substrate, like a spice seasoning a dish by becoming a part of it, which is perhaps the way Shakespeare meant that mercy seasons justice or rhetorical flourishes strengthen an argument. One must get beyond superficial appearances to see all the levels of meaning that a superlative artist has put into a creation.
My main sources included Daniel R. Coquillette, Francis Bacon (Stanford University Press, 1992), “the first modern book to describe Francis Bacon’s jurisprudence,” and several of his articles on the influence of Roman (civilian or canon) law on Bacon and his contemporary English “common lawyers.” Richard Helmholz’s articles on the history of canon law introduced me to the twelfth century Italian jurists. The great Italian dottore Irnerius led a renaissance in legal education in twelfth-century Bologna, after a more complete text of the Code of Justinian was discovered, after four centuries. The Italian canon law professor Andrea Padovani tells the story of Irnerius’s life and accomplishments in “Irnerius (ca 1055 to ca 1125)” in Law and the Christian Tradition In Italy, edited by Orazio Condorelli and Raphael Domingo (Routledge, 2020). His new book is L’insegnamento del diritto a Bologna nell’eta di Dante (“The Teaching of Law in Bologna in the Age of Dante.” Bologna: Societa Editrice Il Mulino, 2021). Who would have thought that tracing names in The Merchant of Venice would have led me to the twelfth century Italian jurists! I feel like I can just picture them though, sometimes.
There is always something new to learn, in analyzing the names of people and places in the play. For example, Bellagio is a region in Lombardy, in Italy. Does “Bellario” hint at a famous jurist from Lombardy? “Bellario” is uncannily like the acrostic “FBLAWAO,” found in the opening lines of The Rape of Lucrece, as Mather Walker discusses in his 2000 essay, “The Symbolic AA, Secrets of the Shakespeare First Folio, “http://www.sirbacon.org/mff.htm#fblaw. (In those same lines, William Stone Booth found an acrostic of the name “Bacon.” See William Stone Booth, Subtle Shining Secrecies Writ in the Margents of Books (Boston: Walter H. Baker Co., 1925), p. 55)). Venice is famous for its bells, another apt association. Also, a bell is in the shape of a helmet, which suggests “Wilhelm” or “William,” as in the name “William Shakespeare”–so Peter Dawkins has observed in his new book, Second-Seeing Shakespeare: ‘Stay Passenger, why goest thou by so fast? (See “helm,” near Figs. 17 and 28. Francis Bacon Research Trust, April 2020, Kindle). I believe the names in this play are particularly revealing. Does Bellario suggest Bellarmine?
In the past, some “orthodox” Shakespeare scholars made light of Andrews’ impressive accomplishment in writing his book on Merchant. B. J. and Mary Sokol actually accused their fellow scholar of “showing off” (see “Shakespeare and the English Equity Jurisdiction, The Merchant of Venice and the Two Texts of King Lear,” The Review of English Studies, New Series, vol. 50, no. 200 (1999). Harvard law professor John P. Dawson dismissed Andrews’ book as a “youthful escapade. . . .Though no new light is cast on Shakespeare, it must have been fun at the time” (Shakespeare Quarterly 18, no. 1, Winter, 1967, pages 89–90, https://doi.org/10.2307/2868078). Justice Harlan Stone would not have concurred!
Why this unjustified downplay of Andrews’ significant contribution to scholarship? Is it because he suggested Bacon’s name in association with Shakespeare? Andrews spent his whole summer “turning o’er” old law books in the Guggenheim Library, much as Bellario and “Balthazar,” a.k.a. Portia, had done; so Bellario tells the Duke (Andrews, foreword, xv; letter to Mersky, 85; Merchant, act IV, scene 1, line 156 (1864 Globe ed., https://opensourceshakespeare.org/). Scholars used to argue over whether Shakespeare actually knew any law, but that point has long been conceded: the plays are full of law (See, e.g., preamble to Andrew Zurcher, Shakespeare and Law (London: Methuen Drama, 2010; O. Hood Phillips, Shakespeare and the Lawyers (London: Routledge, first pub. 1972, reprinted 2005). Among those who have written on the matter, however. I believe I am the first to look at Merchant in light of Bacon, the civil law, and Bellario. For pointing the way, I thank Mark Edwin Andrews and his book, Law versus Equity in ‘The Merchant of Venice. One never seems to be able to exhaust what can be said about any Shakespeare play, though. It is my sense that this play still holds many secrets.
You can read the preface and first chapter of Francis Bacon’s Hidden Hand at SirBacon.org (Sir Francis Bacon’s New Advancement of Learning), May 1, 2021, http://sirbacon.org/francis-bacons-hidden-hand.html (with thanks to Rob Fowler, and thanks to Lawrence Gerald for the tee-shirt!). SirBacon.org published my first version of this material, “Bacon is Bellario With Just Deserts For All!” on July 28, 2016 (81 pages).
Christina G. Waldman, slightly revised 3/17/24
Francis Bacon’s Hidden Hand may be purchased from Algora Publishers, https://www.algora.com/545/book/details.html, as well as from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, R. Kobo, and others. Consider purchasing from your local independent bookstore.
Dear Christina, of course, F. Bacon was an outstanding person. I read his `New Organon`, some treatises on history, as well as books about him, for example, Daphne du Maurier’s “Francis Bacon. His Rise and Fall” (all translated into Russian). But at the center of my interest is the Earl of Rutland, about whom much less is known, and he remains a mysterious person. I assume that the poetic fabric of Shakespeare’s plays (not the ideas) is Rutland’s doing.
Previously, his candidacy for the role of Shakespeare was defended by many authors, such as the Belgian Demblon, the American Bostelman, the Englishman Sykes. And now, apart from a few Russian-speaking researchers who were inspired by Gililov’s book, I don’t see anyone. Maybe you know such people?
I think I was able to contribute to Ben Jonson studies. So, in his comedy “Epicene” I guessed prototypes of almost all the characters. There Ben made fun of Rutland and Bacon (La Foole and Daw). All this is set out in my book –once again I will give you a link to it: http://www.w-shakespeare.ru/library/shekspir-lica-i-maski.html
I’ll probably have to translate it into English somehow.
Dear Lev, if your book does get translated into English, please let us know. There is evidence of the contributions of a number of writers. Added 12-28-2020: I hear Russian Professor Marina Litvinova in a July 9, 2012 interview on Prime Time Russia saying she changed her mind from believing Rutland was Shakespeare to becoming convinced it was Francis Bacon who wrote the histories, at least. 6:08 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NskROy6hO7o (note: I see on 7-21-22 that the video is no longer available in U.S.).
Dear Christina, I received your post about Ruth Ginsburg yesterday and found your response to my comment — thank you. I`d like to clarify: Ilya Gililov developed the view of the authorship of the Earl of Rutland and his wife, and Marina Litvinova — Rutland and F. Bacon. It is her version that seems to me the most promising: it eliminates the disadvantages of Bacon (Bacon’s lack of great poetic talent) and of Rutland (too young to create historical plays).
I personally became interested in this problem after reading Gililov’s book (1997). I try to develop the Gililov-Litvinova approach. As a result of my research, I published a book (only in Russian) “Shakespeare: Faces and Masks” (2018, 228 p.). Available on paper and online http://www.w-shakespeare.ru/library/shekspir-lica-i-maski.html
As Litvinova showed (and I was able to confirm), the keys to many riddles should be found in the plays of Ben Jonson. He knew all the secrets and liked to use personal satire — to show on the stage his acquaintances. Litvinova argued that the main object of his satire was the Earl of Rutland. And I add: and F. Bacon. Some of the articles in my book are devoted to the analysis of several of Jonson’s plays. I also paid a lot of attention to the existing plaster mask, the picture “Chess Players”, etc.
By the way, do you know the hypothesis that “Don Quixote” was written by the same people who were behind the pseudonym “Shakespeare”? – see the book of the Briton Francis Carr `Who Wrote Don Quixote?` (2004).
Dear Lev, thank you for writing. I went to your website and read the parts that were in English. Regretably, I do not read Russian so cannot read your paper you have published there. I also see that Routledge has published vol. 18 of The Shakespeare International Yearbook with a special section on “Soviet Shakespeare,” edited by Tom Bishop and Alexa Alice Joubin (June 15, 2020). The abstracts are in English, so I presume the articles are as well. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003048763.
“What is Truth, asked jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer.”–Francis Bacon. Francis Bacon was a poet, though. If readers have not read the 19th century German Edwin Bormann’s book, Francis Bacon’s Cryptic Rhymes, engagingly translated by Harry Brett, I heartily encourage them to do so. . As to Francis Carr’s book, Who Wrote Don Quixote?, readers will find the first chapter at the website, Francis Bacon’s New Advancement of Learning, http://www.SirBacon.org .
I have read Gililov’s book. He had come to the United States to study at the Folger Library. Though his book focused on the Rutlands, he did say he suspected that Bacon played a role as editor of a circle of writers. Such a vast literary project as the works called Shakespeare required a super-mind, the mind of the multi-faceted humanitarian genius Francis Bacon. True, there are many fascinating literary mysteries involved. The Earl of Rutland could be considered a young protege of Bacon’s.
I am grateful that the study for my book led me to read the writings of Francis Bacon in more depth. As has been said by Jonson, Rawley and others, as cited by Nieves Matthews in her book, Francis Bacon: The History of a Character Assassination (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996), those who knew well him loved him. And so I hope that everyone who is looking into the authorship question will read the writings of Francis Bacon. I hope that my book will help them do that. Readers can find the standard Longmans edition of James Spedding, Robert Leslie Ellis and Douglas Denon Heath,The Works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban, and Lord High Chancellor of England, 14 vols (1857-74), as well as earlier editions such as Basil Montagu’s, which includes works Spedding left out, at the HathiTrust.org website. Many thanks for sharing your information, Lev. Eventually, we hope, all the true facts will come together one day to make up the complete picture.
I would like to add that the Russian scientist Professor Marina Litvinova wrote the book “Shakespeare’s justification”, published in 2008 in Moscow (600 pages). Unfortunately, the book is not translated into English. Its concept: Shakespeare = Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland + Francis Bacon, tutor of this Earl.
Dear Lev, thank you for writing. I have read Russian scholar Prof. Ilya Gililov’s book, in translation: The Shakespeare Game: The Mystery of the Great Phoenix (New York: Algora Publishing, 2002). Like Litvinova, Gililov proposed that the Earl of Rutland, Roger Manners (1576 – 1612), and his wife Elizabeth wrote works attributed to “Shakespeare,” as part of a “Shakespeare Circle.” Gililov wrote that he suspected that Francis Bacon served as master editor to this group (On the “Shakespeare Circle,” see Francis Bacon Research Trust, https://www.fbrt.org.uk/pages/essays/The_Shakespeare_Circle.pdf and Peter Dawkins’ paper, “The Shakespeare Circle,” read at the Globe Theatre Authorship Conference, July 2005, http://www.sirbacon.org/shakespearecircle.htm. Other proponents of Rutland as a “Shakespeare” author have included German literary critic Karl Bleibtrau (1907) and Russian exile P.S. Porohovshikov (1940)(See https://www.historicmysteries.com/william-shakespeare-authorship/). For those interested, Francis Bacon’s letter, “Advice to the Earl of Rutland on his Travels” is in James Spedding, ed., Works of Francis Bacon (London: Longmans, 1857-1874), vol. IX, pp. 6-15, HathiTrust, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044105219521.