Bacon, Shakespeare and the Rosicrucians Book

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE TEX PEST ; OR, One Of Bacon's Anticipations. " What impossible matter will he make easy next ?" ?Tempest. It will be generally granted that in the play of The Tempest we have a magical, superhuman presentation of the Poet, as Creator, who, as it were, opens the heavens of his art, and discloses himself upon his enchanted island, whence his soul and spirit, from the calm and security of his retreat, watches the tempest which he has himself raised. It is a sort of invisible place or Hades, as well as a Heaven, for though we see it plainly enough with the letter of the text, we are not sufficiently initiated as yet into this art to behold it with the mind's eye as epopts or seers. We are puzzled?dreadfully perplexed as to the bearing of this island, and rightly, for if we could only locate it, we might find Prospero also. Before, therefore, we can thoroughly enjoy the full signification of the masque or vision, and enter into the spirit of the show, we must be initiated. Prospero has always been associated with the Poet-Creator himself, and seeing that the play stands first in the Folio Edition of 1623, it is not unreasonable to suppose that it is a presentation of the Artist in relation to his own art. As such we propose to study it. Whatever matured views the author had when he laid down his pen and broke his rod, should be found here, for it is the last of the plays?the last which stand first in the folio, which is a significant fact. After completing our work, we write our preface or introduction, and place it in front, or at the commencement of our book. Even so it may be fairly supposed that there is a like relationship obtainingbetween Tlw Tempest, as introductory or summary, in relationship to the entire cycle of this marvellous art. The pictu...Read More