Bacon's Signature Ciphers in Shakespeare -12- Bacon-Tobie-4

-12-

Or it can be read “BANITTO”. This seeming word is again directly across from the “Two alike” phrase (beginning a few lines higher). It stands out because of this relationship and just because it looks like a word. Upon further inspection it is very close to the Italian word ‘Bandito” which can translate to ‘Banished’.  The weak spot here would be the missing letter ‘d’. However, there are several points of argument that supports the supposition that it can convey the meaning of ‘Bandito’. 1) the sounding is nearly the same; 2) Shakespeare used a very similar spelling of the word as “Bandetto” in The Second Part of Henry VI on page 138 (25^th line) of the First Folio and this is known to come from Italian ‘bandito’ which derived from earlier roots of bannire or old French ‘banir’ and we know Bacon was familiar with old French (and Italian) since some Law works were in that language.  http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=banish  3) the similar sounds seem perfectly acceptable to the Friedmans who wrote: “since the Folio does not (and could not without arousing suspicion) contain the name of the author’s distinguished contemporaries, it would be reasonable to expect some such phonetic approximation. We do not therefore question certain strikingly odd spellings.” [p. 44]; 4) the scene’s context of ‘Banito’ is about Prospero discussing his own ‘banishment’ from Milan;  5) the idea of being banished fits perfectly BOTH Francis Bacon and his alter ego friend Tobie Matthew.  Bacon, after his impeachment for taking bribes in office was convicted and banished from London, the law courts, and Parliament.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bacon_francis.shtml

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=wiafH_ThH1sC&lpg=PA3&ots=9MVgFlyV0j&dq=%22francis%20bacon%22%20banished%20from%20london&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q=%22francis%20bacon%22%20banished%20from%20london&f=false

 

Tobie Matthew was banished twice during the reign of King James I for declining to take the Oath of Allegiance. The first time in 1607-8. About these events Matthew used the term ‘banished’, but didn’t want to think of it as such: “Some nine years since, I was not banished, but absented only, with this clause, that I was not to returne, till his (Majestie’s) pleasure were first knowne.” The second time was a little after he returned to England in 1617 and is again referred to with the word ‘banished’. In December of 1618 the Rev. Thomas Larkin, in a letter to Sir Thomas Pickering, says "Toby Matthew was yesterday, now a second time, banished the land,..”