ABBEY SECRETS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 127, 25 November 1938, Page 18

ABBEY SECRETS

OPENING OF TOMBS

THE GRAVE OF SPENSER

BACONIANS' HOPE

(By Air Mail, from "The Post's" London Representative.) LONDON, October 27. The proposal to open and explore the grave of Edmund Spenser in the Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey, in an attempt to discover whether Francis Bacon was William Shakespeare, has stirred the tempers of both Baconians and Shakespeareans. The initiative has come from the Bacon Society, and it is understood that Mr. B. G. Theobold, president of the Bacon Society, will be among those present when the grave is explored. There are Shakespearean scholars who feel that the proposal borders on sacrilege. They, suggest that if the grave is to be opened there should be a thoroughly scientific investigation, under the supervision of the British Museums or the Public Record Office, and with the assistance of palaeographers skilled in the treatment and preservation of such crumbling fragments as might be found. Neither the Shakespeareans nor the Baconians are very hopeful about any discovery being made in the grave. There seems to be no authority but that of Camden for the statements that "the poets of the time" did attend the funeral and throw elegies into Spenser's grave, and even this writer makes no mention of Shakespeare. Spenser, moreover, was buried not in a vault but in a grave, so that it is doubtful whether documents can have survived in the soil for nearly three and a half centuries. STRATFORD WOULD SUFFER. It has been pointed out thoughtfully by a writer in the "Evening News" that if success crowns the latest effort of the Bacon Society, then millions of books in nearly every language on earth will be out of date, hundreds of monuments throughout the world worse than worthless, and many people at Stratford-on-Avon may find themselves "on the dole." "If the Abbey search succeeds, then all Stratford's, stock-in-trade would be reduced to scrap-metal value overnight —unless, of course, the souvenirs still found a sale at reduced prices as mementos of the greatest fraud ever perpetuated in the history of the world. The annual Stratford festival of honouring Shakespeare's birthday each April would inevitably disappear from the calendar. There would be no gathering of the ambassadors of all the nations, and "The Immortal Memory," suddenly become mortal, would no longer be toasted there by distinguished guests at the public luncheon. "Shakespeare's birthplace in Henley Street would no longer attract its 70,000 visitors a year, and Anne Hathaway's cottage (with the thousands of pictures of it all over the world) would relapse into obscurity. As for tlie millions of copies of the plays in every civilised language—the title page of each would be out of date. "The cheapest remedy would be to buy a gummed slip bearing the words, 'By Francis Bacon,' and to affix this over the discredited name on the title page. Making the printed slips might provide an enterprising Stratford firm with an opportunity of recouping losses on the souvenirs. Otherwise, their only hope for the future would be to migrate to St. Albans! WHAT THE SEARCHERS SEEK. These eventualities, however, are not considered likely. What the searchers will seek in the grave will be the elegies, and, among them, one over the signature of Shakespeare. Assuming that there is a contribution in the name of Shakespeare, steps will be taken to compare the writing with that of Bacon. If there is nothing in the tomb but the bones of Spenser, nothing, of course, will be proved. If there is a document with the signature of Francis Bacon, still nothing will be proved. But if there is a scroll in the handwriting of Bacon and signed "Shakespeare," the fat will be in the fire. "To those who love the plays and sonnets for their own sake and are not particular about the identity of the writer ,there should be no difficulty in switching over from Shakespeare to Bacon," Louis Golding wrote in the "Evening Standard." "But those who make a god of Shakespeare —and I know some who will buy 'genuine' prints of him, knowing them to be fictitious—will take it very hard. Moreover, we may become the laughingstock of the world. -Americans at least will feel that they have had a raw deal, and Germans, who believe the British Empire to be decadent, will see in it further evidence of that belief." ANOTHER ABBEY QUEST. While attention is being directed to Spenser's grave, it is also reported by the "Daily Mail" that arrangements are now in hand for opening—after 700 years—the grave of Princess Catherine —five-year-old favourite daughter of Henry 111, rebuilder of the Abbey— who, according to fame, was "dumb and fit for nothing, but possessing great beauty." Hers was one of the first burials at Henry's new church, where four of his children, all dying young, were interred in one tomb. This was not only the first Royal burial in the Abbey, but surely the most tragic of all. "While the Queen fell seriously ill from grief, King Henry sought to console himself by the erection of a costly tomb, made of marble and rich glass mosaic elaborately coloured and gilt," said the "Daily Mail." "For centuries the tomb has had its glory overlooked —partly because it is halfburied in the wall of the South Ambulatory, and two little images which once adorned it (one believed to have been made of silver to represent St. Catherine by William of Gloucester, the King's goldsmith) have long ago disappeared. "Reopening of the tomb in the interests of history has been pressed on the Abbey authorities, who, in recent years, for the same reason, consented to the exhumation of the two Princes of the Tower in 1933,- and of the two grandchildren of Edward I, Mary Bohun, and Humphrey Bohun, early this year. Princess Catherine's tomb is believed to be the most perfect specimen of mo"saic architecture of the thirteenth century to be found in this country. "Because of its archaeological interest a scheme has been evolved to enable the tomb to be moved without damage to its exquisite setting. What more do the antiquarians hope to discover by the investigation of the tomb? They hope to find proof that the tomb contains the remains of several other children, including Richard and John, sons of Henry 111, and John Henry Alfonso and Eleanor, children of Edward I. They also believe that another mystery will be solved —that of the golden cup containing the heart of Henry Fitz-Richard, who was murdered in the cathedral at Viterbo by the sons of Simon de Montfort. The tomb, it is thought, may yield up" this relic."