To THEM it cannot
lie; THEY know whether they patronised the actor or not; whether they
believed, or not, that the plays were their "servant's." How is Mr.
Greenwood to overcome this certain testimony of the Actors, to the
identity of their late "Fellow" the player, with the author; and to
the patronage which the Earls bestowed on him and his compositions?
Mr. Greenwood says nothing except that we may reasonably suppose Ben
to have written the dedication which the players signed. {111a}
Whether or not the two Earls had a personal knowledge of Shakespeare,
the dedication does not say in so many words. They had seen his
plays and had "favoured" both him and them, with so much favour, had
"used indulgence" to the author. That is not nearly explicit enough
for the precise Baconians. But the Earls knew whether what was said
were true or false. I am not sure whether the Baconians regard them
as having been duped as to the authorship, or as fellow-conspirators
with Ben in the great Baconian joke and mystery--that "William
Shakespeare" the author is not the actor whose Stratford friend,
Collyns, has his name written in legal documents as "William
Shakespeare."
Anyone, however, may prefer to believe that, while William Shakspere
was acting in a company (1592-3), Bacon, or who you please, wrote
Venus and Adonis, and, signing "W. Shakspeare," dedicated it to his
young friend, the Earl, promising to add "some graver labour," a
promise fulfilled in Lucrece.
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