In "Shakespeare and the Emblem Writers" the Rev. Henry Green endeavours to show the similarities of thought and expression between the great poet and the authors of Emblemata, but the line of enquiry which he there opened does not appear to have been followed by subsequent writers. To-day the Emblemata literature is a terra incognita except to a very few students, and yet it is full of interest, romance, and mystery. Emblem literature may be said to have had its origin with Andrea Alciat, the celebrated Italian jurisconsult, who was famous for his great knowledge and power of mind. In 1522 he published at Milan an "Emblematum Libellus," or Little Book of Emblems. Green says: "It established, if it did not introduce, a new style of emblem literature, the classical in the place of the simply grotesque and humorous, or of the heraldic and mythic." The first edition now known to exist was published at Augsburg in 1531, a small octavo containing eighty-eight pages with ninety-seven emblems, and as many woodcuts. It was from time to time augmented, and passed through many editions. For some years the Emblemata appears to have been produced chiefly by Italians, with a few Frenchmen. Until the last half of the sixteenth century the output of books of this character was not large. Thenceforth for the next hundred years the creation of emblems became a popular form of literary exercise. The Italians continued to be prolific, but Dutch, French, and German scholars were but little behind them. There were a few Englishmen and Spaniards who also practised the art.

In 1905 was published a book called "Letters from the Dead to the Dead," by Oliver Lector. In it attention is drawn to the remarkable features of some of the books on emblems printed during Bacon's life, and to the evidence that he was in some manner connected with the publication of many of these volumes. The author claims this to be especially the case with the "Emblemata Moralia et Bellica," 1615, of Jacob de Bruck, of Angermundt, and the "Emblemata Ethic Politica" of J. Bornitius.

The emblem pictures for the most part appear to be picture puzzles. In the "Critique upon the Mythology of the Ancients" Bacon says:—

If this line of reasoning be applied to the illustrations in the emblem books, it is clear that they conceal some hidden meaning, for they are apparently unintelligible, and the accompanying letterpress does not afford any illumination.

Jean Baudoin was the translator of Bacon's "Essaies" into the French language (1626). Baudoin published in 1638-9 "Recueil D'EmblÈmes divers avec des Discours Moraux, Philos. et Polit." In the preface he says: "Le grand chancelier Bacon m'ayant fait naÎtre l'envie de travailler À ces emblÈmes ... m'en a fourni les principaux que j'ai tirÉs de l'explication ingÉnieuse qu'il a donnÉe de quelques fables et de ses autres ouvrages." Here is definite evidence of Bacon's association with a book of emblems.

The first volume of Emblemata in which traces of Bacon's hand are to be found is the 1577 edition of Alciat's "Emblems," published by the Plantin Press, with notes by Claude Mignault. It is in this edition, in Emblem No. 45, "In dies meliora," that for the first time the light A and the dark A is to be found. In previous editions this device is absent. For this volume a new design has been engraved in which it appears.

In the emblem books written in Italian Bacon does not appear to have been concerned, unless an exception be made of Ripa's "Iconologia," a copy of which contains his handwriting and initials. In some way he had control of a large number of those written in Latin, and bearing names of Dutch, French, and some Italian authors, and also of several written in Dutch and of the English writers. The field is a very wide one, and only a few of the principal examples can be mentioned.

The most important work is the "Emblemata Moralia et Bellica" of Jacob À Bruck, of Angermundt, 1615. "Argentorati per Jacobum ab Heyden." With many of the designs in this volume Oliver Lector has dealt fully in "Letters from the Dead to the Dead,"[46] before referred to. There is another volume bearing the name of Jacob À Bruck, published in 1598. Only one copy of this book is known to be in existence, and that is in the Royal Library of St. Petersburg.

The "Emblemata Ethico Politica of Jacobus Bornitius, 1659, MoguntiÆ," is remarkable because many of the engravings contain portraits of Bacon, namely, in Sylloge Prima, Plates Nos. vii., xxiii., xliv., xlv., xlvix.; and in Sylloge II., Plates ix. and xxxvi. Oliver Lector says: "I have not met with an earlier edition of Bornitius than 1659. My conjecture, however, is that the manuscript came into the hands of Gruter with other of Bacon's published by him in the year 1653."

There are two productions of Janus Jacobus Boissardus in which Bacon's hand may be recognised—"EmblÈmes Latines avec l'InterprÉtation FranÇoise du I. Pierre Ioly Messin. Metis, 1588," and "Emblematum liber. Ipsa Emblemata ab Auctore delineata: a Theodoro de Bry sculpta et nunc recens in lucem edita," 1593, Frankfort. Two editions of the latter were printed in the same year. The title-pages are identical, and the same plates have been used throughout, but the letterpress is in Latin in the one, and in French in the other. In both, the dedications are addressed in French to Madame de Clervent, Baronne de Coppet, etc. The dedication of the former bears the name Jan Jacques Boissard at the head, and addresses the lady as "que come estes addonnÉe À la speculation des choses qui appartiennent À l'instruction de l'Âme." The dedication of the latter is signed Ioly, who explains that he has translated the verses into French, so that they may be of more service to the dedicatee.

Otho Van Veen enjoys the distinction of having had Rubens for a disciple. A considerable number of emblem books emanated from him. In 1608 were published at Antwerp two editions of his "Amorum Emblemata." In one copy the verses are in Latin, German, and French, and in the other in Latin, English, and Italian. There are commendatory verses in the latter, two of which are by Daniel Heinsius and R. V., who was Robert Verstegen, the author of "A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities." The dedication is "To the most honourable and worthie brothers William Earle of Pembroke, and Phillip Earle of Montgomerie, patrons of learning and chevalrie," who are "the most noble and incomparable paire of brethren" to whom the 1623 Shakespeare Folio was dedicated. In this volume Bacon has left his marks.

"Emblemata door Zacharias Heyns," published in Rotterdam in 1625, comprises four books bound together. The inscriptions over the plates are in Latin. The letterpress, which is in Dutch and French, apparently bears very little reference to the illustrations.

Johannis de Brunes I.C. Emblemata of Sinne-Werck, Amsterdam, 1624, is written in Dutch. Emblem VIII. contains an indication that the number 1623 is a key.

The "Silenus Alcibiades sive Proteus" was published at Middleburgh in 1618. There is no author's name on the title-page, but the Voor-reden, written in Dutch, is signed J. Cats. Attached to two of the preliminary complimentary verses are the names of Daniel Heyns and Josuah Sylvester, the translator of "Du Bartas." The verses are in Latin, Dutch, and French. Immediately following the title-page is a preface in Latin, signed by Majores de Baptis. Over this is the familiar emblem containing the archers, rabbits, and dogs, with the note of query on the right-hand side, and the message on the arrow. This volume is one of the most remarkable of the emblem books. The Latin preface is autobiographical. If the writer can be identified as the author of "Venus and Adonis," it becomes one of the most important contributions to his biography.

In 1616, the year of Shakespeare's death, was published at Amsterdam a book bearing on its title-page the inscription: "Cornelii Giselberti Plempii Amsterodamum Monogrammon." It contains fifty illustrations, with Latin verses attached. Emblem I. is reproduced (Fig. V.) On reference to it, it will be seen that Fortune stands on a globe, and with one hand is pushing off from the pinnacle of fame a man dressed as a player with a feather in his hat; with the other hand she is raising up a man who is wearing the Bacon hat, but whose face is hidden. The prophecy expressed by the emblem is now being fulfilled. It will be seen that the initial letters of each word in the sentence of the letterpress—ObscÆnÙmque nimis crepuit, Fortuna Batavis appellanda—yield F. Bacon. Bacon's portrait is found in several of the illustrations in this book. Other emblem writers whose works bear traces of Bacon's co-operation are G. Rollenhagen, J. Camerius, J. Typotius, D. Hensius.

There yet remain to be mentioned two English emblem writers. A "Choice of Emblems" by Geffrey Whitney was published in 1586 by Francis Raphelengius in the house of Christopher Plantin at Leyden. The dedication is to Robert Earle of Leicester. There are only from fifteen to twenty original designs out of 166 illustrations. The remainder are taken from other emblem writers, chiefly from Alciat, Sambucus, Paradin, and Hadrian Junius. On page 53 is the design headed "In dies meliora" found in the 1577 edition of Alciat, but the letterpress, which is in English, is quite different from the Latin verse attached to it in the Alciat.

The "Minerva Britanna" of Henry Peacham was published in 1612. The emblem on the title-page[47] represents the great secret of Francis Bacon's life, and on page ·33 is an emblem in which the name Shakespeare is represented. The volume is full of devices which will amply repay a careful study.

Apart from any connection which Bacon may have had with this remarkable class of books, they are of great interest to the student of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. They contain pictorial representations full of information as to the habits and customs of the people. With the exception of Whitney's "Choice of Emblems," a facsimile reprint of which was published in 1866, edited by the Rev. Henry Green, no reprint of any of these curious books has been issued. As the original editions of many of them are very rare, and of none of them plentiful, their study is a matter of difficulty, and few students find their way to this fascinating field of research. How close Bacon's connection was with the writers of these books, or with their publishers, it is difficult to say, but there is considerable evidence that in some way he was able to introduce into every one of the books here enumerated, and many others, some plates illustrative of his inductive philosophy.