But, at that date, playwrights
could not well be called "bookmakers," for the owners of the plays
did their best to keep them from appearing as printed books. If
Bacon by "bookmaker" meant "playwright," he put a modest value on his
poetical work!
Meanwhile (1591-2), Bacon attached himself to the young, beautiful,
and famous Essex, on the way to be a Favourite, and gave him much
excellent advice, as he always did, and, as always, his advice was
not taken. It is not a novel suggestion, that Essex is the young man
to whom Bacon is so passionately attached in the Sonnets
traditionally attributed to Shakespeare. "I applied myself to him"
(that is, to Essex), says Bacon, "in a manner which, I think,
happeneth rarely among men." The poet of the Sonnets applies himself
to the Beloved Youth, in a manner which (luckily) "happeneth rarely
among men."
It is difficult to fit the Sonnets into Bacon's life. But, if you
pursue the context of what Bacon says concerning Essex, you find that
he does not speak OPENLY of a tenderly passionate attachment to that
young man; not more than THIS, "I did nothing but advise and ruminate
with myself, to the best of my understanding, propositions and
memorials of anything that might concern his Lordship's honour,
fortune, or service." {279a} As Bacon did nothing but these things
(1591-2), he had no great leisure for writing poetry and plays.
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