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Calculus of Probabilities
Now and then there is a signature that, to one working in the period, has the stamp of inevitability either from the rarity of the combination or the familiarity of the attributes:
| 1623 | 23352 | W. Q. | Walter Quin |
| 1632 | 24809 | W. Sq. | William Squire |
| 1601 | 19343 | I. D. of Hereford | John Davies |
| 1620 | 24017 | Ph. H., Coventry | Philemon Holland |
In practice the solution of initials more often involves an appraisal of from two to twenty rival candidates in the light of probabilities and detectable links. The results range from certainty to complete frustration. Thus we can confidently identify the "worthy Prelate, Doctor N[icholas] F[elton]" (1618-3950), since he was the only contemporary bishop with the initials. But when we turn to the Countess of D., patroness of an unrecorded 1639 work of piety by Thomas Riley in the Folger Library, we find nine possibles and no clear links, although we may intuitively favor that religious Countess of Denbigh who later helped Richard Crashaw.
Illustrations cannot be tabulated, since each requires comment. Thus only Nathaniel Holmes fits the formula "N. H., S. T. D., Oxon." of the editor of a Hebrew grammar (1638-21816), and since he was known as a Hebrew scholar, we confidently add the book to his works. The learned knight K. D. who donated to the Bodleian must be Sir Kenelm Digby (1635-12613). W. R. Mag. Art. C. C. C. (1613-21069) must be Bacon's later editor, William Rawley. A search shows that for the verses before Overbury's Wife (1616-18911) by P. B. medij Temp. we have two candidates, of whom Sir Peter Ball is weak since he was not admitted until February, 1616. Accordingly we settle on Peter Bevis, who has verses before other books in 1612 and 1615, and we attribute to him likewise similar verses to Robert Anton (1616-686). Difficulty may result from misleading clues. M. Ed. F., rector of Kelso, ([1592]-25695) is untraceable in Scotland because he is Edward Franklin of Kelshall, Herts. We sniff a scent when the verses of F. L. in Hawkins' Horace (1625-13800) show the appendage Eq. Aur. in the 1631 edition. But alas, no one of these initials was dubbed between 1625 and 1631, and the elusive versifier must be sought among men knighted before 1623.
Richard Brathwait had a penchant for dedicating to initials; one example may be instructive. A section of his Essaies (1620-3566) is addressed to Sir I. B. de L., J. P., and his eldest son H. B. Since some fifty Englishmen with these initials had been knighted in the previous thirty years, we must shift our approach to Brathwait's lasting loyalty to his home county, Westmoreland. With the search thus narrowed, we soon find Sir James Bellingham of Levens and his son Henry (later I Bart.). Having solved the problem, we wonder why Brathwait scholars did not trouble to. Why? One obvious reason is that such research involves much drudgery. One must seek through lists of knights, registers of universities and inns of court, and heraldic visitations —always with the wry realization that not one of them can be relied on to be complete. Brathwait's countryman S[ir] W. C. kt.
The situation is complicated by instances in which results of a search are negative. Thus no known knight fits the signature Sir E. K. (1591-21057), and presumably he is a fiction. A signature as circumstantial as A. B. Baccha. Di. Auloe [sic] Glo. Oxon. (1597-1311) corresponds to no traceable man, and accordingly one looks with suspicion on the other Oxford signatures puffing this textbook by Peter Bales.
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