O second Arthur, bred in brittish brayne Well hath myne host: him self a prophet prou'd for sure when first he sang thow camst again Cassandra-like his threatning few men mou'd     Th'effect expounds that Oracle so dark     Forshewed this Brittish Bards surpassing Wark Strang was thy birth in dede & Giant-lyke much payns thy mother bidd with pacienc myld One noosed the an other made thy cheke And yet no doubt thow art but one mans child.     But who so wash'd thy face in printers inke     Speck on the rest. I know well what I think Resigne thy buskins Sophocles the great Tread morter now wth thy disarmed shanks For this mans brayne hath had a happier sweat Wherof the world doth con him ample thanks     Blush Seneca to see thy feathers loose     Pluck't from a swan & sticked on a goose. And yw suete gentilmen of Grayan name Well was a solace to her highnes meant And all that passed from yw deseru's good fame Your mend'ments good, your acting excellent     But when your Spyks of Poesie be ripe     Dance haruest home after a better pipe.

As recently as 1983 [the above] poem was discovered which almost certainly refers to the performance of The Misfortunes of Arthur. It was found in a collection of letters and documents of Anthony Bacon [British Library MS. Add. 4152, f.394.]. The text of the poem is remarkable for the insight it affords us into the play....

Francis Bacon appears to have been instrumental to the inception of the play. His known involvement in theatrical presentations, especially masques, and his association with The Misfortunes of Arthur make it likely that he was privy to, if not responsible for, the earliest proposals for an Arthur masque to be presented before the Queen. That this was to be an Arthur which had been "bred in brittish brayne" indicates that the proposal was to write a masque based on the British chronicle tradition of Arthur rather than on the French romance tradition.

[@ Corrigan 201-4]

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