The Essex Rebellion in 1699 was not an isolated event by a disgruntled courier. In what amounted to no more than a boisterous demonstration it was the last futile effort by Robert Devereux to pressure his mother the queen into declaring him Prince of Wales. Elizabeth was petrified of being controlled by a man and especially a Tudor and had placated Robert as long as she could. Roberts desperation was somewhat due to his bipolar like temperament but also because his older brother Francis Bacon had abdicated any interest in the throne because he knew it was impossible to reduce the power Robert Cecil had with the queen. Robert was able to turn Elizabeth against her sons (by Robert Dudley) by playing on her PTSD like fears. The "Matter of Devereux" is a Shakespeare play written within the plays written by Francis Bacon. It is a story more tragic that the play because the events actually happened. "The Matter of Devereux" is a continuation of "Murder of the Queen" and the second in a serious five blockbuster autobiographical sketches.
In cipher Bacon wrote that he expected his cipher story to be criticized and labeled a fraud. That has happened in many quarters but he could not have predicted that 300 years would have to elapse before the ciphers were discovered. Now, three hundred and ninety-three years later we have all the information we need through the internet to realize that the Shakespeare hoax has kept hidden from us the wonderful lessons Bacon spent his life writing about. At the age of fourteen he declared all knowledge to be his providence. He also desired to spread his knowledge in as many forms as he could but inheriting the throne from his mother was the one avenue that turned out to be so near and yet so far away. Unfortunately, most textbooks have yet to give in to the simple fact that Shakespeare was Bacon's pen name. This institutional ignorance is tragic because we all have been denied opportunity to learn from Bacon's life, though publicly seeming routine, teemed with high drama, intrigue, insight, hope and matching disappointment. The life he lead was shaped by the stark contrasts which is an elemental feature in all great biographies but none so stark and raw as Bacons. His life was the heroic ideal pitted against the cruelty of the times, a super intellect living amid preferred ignorance, a survivor of the royalty wars in which one half murders the other half, a visionary with clear goals about improving the lives of all people while struggling to improve his own life, and the massive outrage any one would feel who owns the ready potential to be powerful but helpless against mortal restraint.
"What Is That?" is the ninth book of photunes which are photographs I have taken either seriously or for fun in which I see an oddity or contradiction to the appearance and attach a comment. These fifty two photos turned cartoons are funny, kind of funny or convey a truism. The subject is mostly birds but are also people on the beach, signs and anything that catches my eye. Like all the photune books the title does not tell you what the subject of these photunes are but merely reflect certain conversational themes I have been pondering of late. The only ongoing theme or purpose of these photunes books is to serve as a vehicle for the reader to help me clean out the odd notions from my brain which I have collected for a lifetime. The reader does that simply by reading the book for which I am grateful.
