“THE CONTRACT”: “A Croune of Bayes” (Edward de Vere, Edward Dyer, Thomas Nashe, Christopher Marlowe)

Fig. 1

   In terms of giving credit where credit is due — an issue of enormous importance to Edward de Vere, at some point he had begin.  He had to begin in the sense of encrypting the name of those who helped him as well as those who “gave” them their names in exchange for (in consideration for) this favor that granted him the opportunity to publish anonymously.  Even though de Vere had several pen names, three are given credit in “A Croune of Bayes shall that man weare”.  The poem is not only a masterly example of encryption, but represents a legal document as well.  A contract.  When I was in law school for a time,and in a course called Contracts, I can never forget the inevitable series of questions, always asked in the same order, when we were learning what a “contract” was and poured over case histories:  “Is there an offer?  Is there an acceptance?  Is there consideration?”  There was no contract unless all three were met.  In the case of the three arrays below, there must have been an offer, an acceptance and consideration in order for Vere to have protection for using as pen names the property (their “good name(s)” they were renting out for something of value in return: 

Fig. 2:     “Ink name” is as good a synonym for “pen name” as I have yet come across.  

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

   What is especially striking about all three arrays is the presence of the word “help(e)”:  “Help” in the sense of help with his writing, help in the sense of help in working with encryptions as a prelude to a more lengthy use of coding, and help in the sense of being able to use their names as pen names in order to facilitate his anonymity in print.  The word “consideration” in respect to Vere’s use of a word synonymous with consideration is to “rent”.  The word itself  denotes a legal arrangement, a contract where “consideration” (payment of some form, either in terms of money so as to be able to pay their rent,   i.e.,dwellings, food, and so forth — or/and of providing protection and opportunity for them in their own personal and public lives) as an influential and powerful man.

XII. XXVI. MMXIII