Mrs. Pott was the first to print the "Promus," which, with translations
and references, she published in 1883. In her great work, which really
may be described as monumental, Mrs. Pott points out, by means of some
thousands of quotations, how great a use appears to have been made of
the "Promus" notes, both in the acknowledged works of Bacon and in the
plays which are known as Shakespeare's.
Mrs. Pott's reading of the manuscript was extremely good, considering
the great difficulty experienced in deciphering the writing. But I
thought it advisable when preparing a reprint to secure the services of
the late Mr. F. B. Bickley, of the British Museum, to carefully revise
the whole of Bacon's "Promus." This task he completed and I received
twenty-four proofs, which I caused to be bound with a title page in
1898. There were no other copies, the whole of the type having
unfortunately been broken up. The proof has again been carefully
collated with the original manuscript and corrected by Mr. F. A.
Herbert, of the British Museum, and I have now reprinted it here, as I
am satisfied that the more Bacon's Promus--the Storehouse--is examined,
the more it will be recognised how large a portion of the material
collected therein has been made use of in the Immortal Plays, and I
therefore now issue the Promus with the present essay as an additional
proof of the identity of Bacon and Shakespeare.
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