Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/239

Rh A "starre-ypointed pyramid" means, must mean, and can only mean, a pyramid with a star upon its point (its apex), just as a ball-pointed pen means a pen with a ball upon its point, a diamond-pointed drill means a drill with a diamond upon its point; and such instances might be multiplied indefinitely. Now a pyramid with a star upon its apex is a "Beacon" (pronounced Bacon—"Bacon, great Beacon of the state"—just as at that period "tea" was pronounced tay, "sea" was pronounced say, &c.).

Milton then proceeds to say:—

This is evidently intended to tell us that people ought to have wit enough to perceive that Bacon was the name of the all-wise, all-learned author of the plays, without it being necessary to put the dull witness of a Beacon (Bacon) upon those marvellous works.

But the term "starre-ypointed pyramid" was considered too plain and too revealing by those to whom was entrusted the preservation of Bacon's secrets. Accordingly in the 1632 folio, in which Milton's Epitaph first appeared, we find the ridiculous, ungrammatical word "starre-ypointing," which is also found in all editions of Milton's poems, and is printed correctly only in the few cancel leaves which were issued to certain selected persons. Thus was the "booby-trap" prepared into which have tumbled headlong all the learned editors of the Shakespeare plays, and all the learned editors of Milton's poems, and all the learned English grammarians. Why had not any of these learned men sense enough to perceive that "starre-ypointing" could not have been an accidental blunder, but must have been purposefully prepared as a trap for their undoing?

In quite a number of the books of the period to which the name of Bacon has not yet been attached there will be found engravings representing a pyramid or a beacon, to reveal to the initiated the name of the real author.

(11 S. vii. 428, 495; viii. 37, 53, 151).—I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. James Bird, Deputy Clerk of the London County Council, for some further information regarding the house in which Thackeray spent a portion of his schooldays.

"The Council's rate-books for 1824 give the name of the person rated in respect of Nos. 10, 11, and 12, Wilderness Row, as 'Revd. Edmd. Penny': this is confirmed by the rate-books for 1827, the name in the latter year being given as 'Revd. Henry Edmd. Penny.'

"It might be added, in order to complete the tale so far as Penny's tenancy of the property is concerned, that the rate-books for 1819 and 1821 contain the following entries:—No. 10, James Ariell, No. 11, John Richards, and No. 12, Ann Dearie; while the book for 1829 gives the name 'Revd. James Boone' in respect of the three houses.

"According to Horwood's Map of 1819, the numbers of the three houses in Wilderness Row immediately to the east of Cross Street (the former name of Berry Street) were 12, 11, 10. This is confirmed by the Council's records relating to the renumbering of the road in 1864, when these numbers were altered to 15, 14, and 13. In 1878 the road was incorporated with Clerkenwell Road, and the three houses became Nos. 30, 28, and 26, Clerkenwell Road.

"Again, according to Horwood's Map, No. 27, Wilderness Row was separated by only one house from the east side of a covered way leading out of the Row, a little to the east of St. John Street. Although the numbers in the rate -books run as high as 37, no number is given to this house on Horwood's Map. It would naturally be known as 28, as the house on the other (i.e. east) side of 27 was 26, and the other houses in the Row were numbered consecutively. The numbers 26, 27, and 28 are not given on the renumbering plan of 1864, but the numbers 30, 31, and 32 were then assigned to the property. In 1878 these became 60, 62, and 64, Clerkenwell Road."

From this valuable contribution to London topography, which is due to the research of the officials of the London County Council, it is evident, I think, that the writer in The Greyfriar, who was my authority for the statements contained in my previous communication (ante, p. 151), was in error in stating that "Penny's House" included Nos. 30, 28, and 26, Wilderness Row. He seems to have wrongly assumed that the numbering of the houses in Thackeray's day was identical with that at the time he wrote his paper in 1892. While disclaiming any responsibility on the part of the County Council for the identification, Mr. Bird is right, in my opinion, in saying that "there seems, prima facie, to be justification for