What do you think of this piece on Shakespeare and King James?

Question

There is no better English written this side of Shakespeare than that in the King James Translation."-Charlton Heston 1992]

The 1611 King James Bible is ornamented with Bacon's symbols and in my own special copy of the record edition, also dated 1611, these symbols are Rosicrucianly marked to call the attention of the initiated to them and to tell them that the 1611 Bible is without possibility of doubt, one of Bacon's books.....When Bacon was born, English as a literary language did not exist, but once he died he had succeeded in making the English language the noblest vehicle of thought ever possessed by mankind. This he accomplished merely by his Bible and his Shakespeare." --Edwin D. Lawrence author of Bacon is Shakespeare and The Shakespeare Myth from a lecture October 9, 1912

...The Bible which all of us read and admire from a literary point of view because of it's peculiar and beautiful English was written in that form by Bacon who invented and perfected that style of English expression. The first editions of this Bible were printed under the same guidance and in the same manner as were the Shakespeare plays, and the ornaments for the various pages were drawn in pen and ink and on wood by artists engaged by Bacon who worked under his supervision. Everyone of the ornaments concealed some Rosicrucian emblem and occasionally a Masonic emblem or some initials that would reveal Bacon's name or the name of the Rosicrucians. Such ornaments were put not only in the Christian Bible that Bacon had rewritten but in the Shakespeare plays, and in some of Bacon's own books, and a few other books that were typically Rosicrucinan in spirit.-- Dr. H. Spencer Lewis Imperator of the Rosicrucian Order during the 1920-30's, from the Rosicrucian Digest, April 1930

The first edition of the King James Bible, which was edited by Francis Bacon and prepared under Masonic supervision, bears more Mason's marks than the Cathedral of Strasburg. -Manly P. Hall, from a lecture Rosicrucian and Masonic Origins 1929

Bacon edited the Authorised Version of the Bible printed in 1611. Dr. Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, one of the chief translators, was Bacon's close friend. The MSS are missing. That Bacon revised the manuscripts before publication is certain. Neither Bilston nor Miles, to whom the MSS were entrusted for final revision, could have given the world such a literary masterpiece. We have their writings. They are mediocre, barren of style, lacking the creative touch.- Alfred Dodd, Francis Bacon's Life-Story 1986


Title page of the 1611 King James Bible.


Francis Bacon and the James 1st Bible
By A. E. Loosley

In the correspondence columns of Baconiana of January 1948, there appeared a letter on the above subject from Earle Cornwall. In it he says:
Here of late I have been reading a bound volume or two of the Baconian booklets, two years earlier Baconiana Magazine, and the Life of Alice Barnham and Thos. Meautys, all from curiosity concerning Bacon's life. He was surely a fascinating character. I have as yet no "Life" of Bacon.

Somewhere I have seen one of those short references to his connection with the translation and publication of King James' Holy Bible, 1611 -- at least the statement that he had some connection with this great work. Yet in my recent search I cannot find any reference whatever to Bacon and the Bible: if he was connected with it he should have credit.

I own a set of Enyclopaedia Americana (1941 latest ed.) which is the counterpart of the Britannica in size and number of volumes. Under "Bacon" I find a generous four-page article by Frederick N. Robinson, Prof. of English, Harvard University; a mention of Bacon's full literary activities, but not a word on Holy Bible. Then under "Holy Bible" dozens of pages by Wm. Berry Smith and under "King James' Version" a record of the 47 translators, "including three or four ancient and grave divines," who worked seven years on the project; again no word of Bacon.

May I, in reply to the inquiry, contribute a little light on the subject? Some years ago, I forget how many, I came to the conclusion that Francis Bacon was mainly, if not entirely, responsible for a threefold undertaking, (1st) the Shakespearian Plays; (2nd) the creation in its present form of Freemasonry, and (3rd) the translation of the Holy Bible into its present well-known Authorised Version. The three were undoubtedly intermingled. All three had very largely the same foundation, the training Bacon received from his foster-mother, Lady Ann Bacon, who was very devoted in her religious beliefs and practise. The young Francis would unquestionably be largely influenced by Lady Ann's guidance.

Bacon evidently knew his Bible very well, and it is my belief that the whole scheme of the Authorised Version was his. He was an ardent student, not only of the Bible but of the early manuscripts. St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and writers of the theological works, were

Answer 1

I think it could do with being much shorter.

Answer 2

Francis Bacon would hardly have translated the Bible, he was barely even a Christian according to the (admittedly ludicrous) standards of the time. The joke at the beginning of his essay 'On Truth' would have got a commoner burned at the stake.



Francis Bacon could not have written Shakespeare. Shakespeare is full of jokes, and very good ones. Bacon has the same skill with humour as George W. Bush.



The King James Version is spectacularly badly written - as well as being comically inaccurate. It was effectively illegal to use any other translation for over two centuries, but even so English speaking Christians sought out other translations in a mistaken hope that a good translation could breathe some kind of life into Hebrew Scripture. The King James Bible was compulsory reading for most English speakers for over three hundred years; Shakespeare was never compulsory for anybody. Everybody knows 'O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?', and the story that goes with it. Even when someone can remember a quote from the KJV they can't put it with the story it comes from.



He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers.

Answer 3

As Tom Burnam, author of "The Dictionary of Misinformation" et al. noted, nobody familiar with Bacon's stiff, turgid prose style would ever imagine that he was capable of the style of writing for which Shakespeare was famed, and the same would go for any claim concerning the King James Bible.



Opening with a quote from any actor, let alone Charlton Heston, is bad.



If you want to learn how the King James came to be read "God's Secretaries" by Adam Nicolson.

Answer 4

Shakespeare did no longer like Protestantism, substitute right into a spiritual catholc and alter into area of the "Lord Chamberlin's adult adult males", i do no longer think of it particularly is the king. i think of he connotated his disdain for religious reform (out with catholic, in with protestant) in "A Mid-summer season nighttime's Dream", asserting "straying from authentic faith" or something like that that Demetrius pronounced....

Answer 5

Shakespeare and King James Version have nothing in common.

Answer 6

You know that bit about "not finding any reference whatever..."



I wonder why he couldn't find any?











And the prose of the King James is a poor imitation of Shakespeare's. A very, very poor imitation.

Answer 7

your question is too long and, if the part i managed to wade through is an indication, excruatingly boring my dear.



one question has occurred to me though, would the muslim folk ever warm to anyone called bacon?

Answer 8

I think... I'm to lazy to read it...



Some advice... People are lazy as soon as they see that wall of text there going to say "Screw that!" and go to another question.