" Mil ^nivmii^ ^ib»g BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Henrg W. Sage 1891 Cornell University Library PR 2944.D68 The cipher in the piays and on the tombs 3 1924 013 153 428 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92401 31 53428 THE CIPHER In the Plays, and on the Tombstone; BY Ignatius Donnelly. Author of "Atlantis," "Ragnarok," "The Great Cryptogram,' "Cy€SAR's Column," " The Golden Bottle," Etc. "Good Freud for Jesus SA.KE forbcarc To diGG T-E Dust Enclo-Ased HE.Rc. T Blese be T-E Man Y spares T-Es Stones T And curst be He Y inoves my Bones." " Everything is subtile till it be conceived." Bacon's fromus. "Shakespeare's life is 'a fine mystery. I tremble every day lest something should turn up." Charles Dickens. MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. THE VERULAM PUBLISHING COMPANY 1899. Copyright, 1899, • by IGNATIUS DONNELLY. TO MY DEAR WIFE, , MARION, THIS BOOK IS MOST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. PREFACE. I almost feel as if I should apologize for presenting this book to the public. There are figures enough in it to "make mad the guilty ■ and appal the free." I fear I shall have to say, to the average reader, as Worcester said to Hotspur : "You apprehend a world of figures here, But not the form of what you should attend." To many this work will appear as tempting as a table of logarithms; and they will refuse to pursue the riddle farther than the opening pages. They will say to them- selves : — it is a herring, — full of bones. I know how delightful it is to read a fascinating novel — to float in a golden gondola, down the stream of delicious romance, over the ripples of incident, amid the roseate hues of poetry ; and to ask one to turn from this to 753+ 167+29= "the," etc., is a-sking a great deal. And yet through this thorny and stony path, with its brambles and thistles, we advance into a new world, — more glorious than all the novels ever written. The key may be old and rusty and complex; but if it opens Aladdin's treasure cavern, from whose spoils one can purchase all the delights of the world, who will com- plain if he has to soil his fingers by inserting that key in the lock? The stores of history, biography, poetry and philoso- phy, buried by Francis Bacon in the thousand pages of the Shakespeare Folio, of 1623, are, today, the greatest treasure in the world, more precious than all the jewels of Aladdin. And so I 1)eg the reader to patiently advance through the thistles and the cockle-burrs, and help us settle the great, and long-enduring controversy, as to whether the immortal plays were written by the play-actor of Strat- ford, or by the greatest intellect that ever appeared on this theater of human action — the transcendent Francis Bacon. I. D. CONTENTS, BOOK ONE. The Cipher on the Tombstone. Chapter. Page. , I. Mr. Black's Article, 9 II. Was There sdch a Bi-literal Inscription ? 12 III. Was the Original Stone Contemporary with Shakspere's Death ? , 15 IV. What Was the Inscription ? 18 V. Is There a Cipher in the Inscription ? 24 VI. Francis Bacon's Cipher, 32 VII. Some Pecdliarities of Bacon's Cipher, 38 VIII. The Frame-Work of the Cipher, - 46 IX. The Word "Shake," - 48 X. The Word " Speare," 53 XI. The Word "Pl AYES," 56 XII. The Words "The" and "And," - 59 XIII. The Words "Robert Greisne," - 62- XIV. The Words "Christopher Marlowe," 66 XV. The Word "Bacon," 74 XVI. The Word "Francis," 78 XVII. The Word "Wrote," 81 XVIII, Some Considerations, - 84 BOOK TWO. The Cipher in the Sonnets. XIX. The Sonnets, - 93 XX. A Hidden Deposit, 115 BOOK THREE. The Phoenix and the Turtle. Chapter. Page. XXI. The Phcenix and the Turtle, 125 BOOK FOUR. , • The Cipher in the Shakespeare Plays. XXII. The Root Numbers, 139 XXIII. The Movement "dFjaiE Ciphe^; 150 XXIV. Marlowe's Death^" . 155 XXV. The Bacon-Shakspere Controversey 300 Years Ago, - 174 XXVI. Why Bacon Denied the Authorship of the Plays, 194 XXVII. The Stqry of Shakspere, 246 XXVIII. "Francis Bacon, Sir Nicholas Bacon's Son," 287 BOOK FIVE. The Present Custodians of the Cipher. XXIX. The Rosicrucian Society, 333 XXX. Is Rosicrucianism Still alive ? 343 XXXI. Shakspere's Grave, 361 XXXII. The Church of St. Michael, at St. Albans, 367 THE END. BOOK ONE. THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. CHAPTER I. Mr. Black's Article. In the North American Revieiv, for October, 1887, there appeared an article, from the pen of Mr. Hugh Black, of Kincardine, Ontario, entitled "Bacon's Claim and Shakespeare's 'Aye'," or "Fra Ba Wrt Ear Ay." In this article Mr. Black quoted from Knight's Edition of Shakespeare's Works, the following epitaph from the tomb-stone over Shakespeare's grave : "Good Frend for Jesus SAKE forbeare To diGG T-E Dust Enclo-Ased HE.Re. T Blese be T-E Man Y spares T-Es Stones And curst be He Y moves my Bones." It occurred to Mr. Black that there might be some rela- tion or connection between the strange mixture of large and small letters, in this inscription, and the bi-literal cipher alphabet, invented by Francis Bacon, Lord Veru- 1am, in his youth, in Paris; and set forth in his work, De Augmentis. That cipher-alphabet, as its name, bi- literal, implies, depends upon the commingling of two sets 10 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. of different letters, whether these be "Roman and Italic," or simply "two other common alphabets," distinguished by a difference in the size of the letters or their shape. A strict application of the Baconian bi-literal cipher to the above inscription, over Shakespeare's grave, by plac- ing a letter a under the small letters, and a letter b under the large letters, as directed in the De Augmentis, brought out, as Mr. Black showed, the following symbols of the . bi-literal alphabet : baaab aaaaa aabaa aabbb baaaa aaaab aaaaa babba aabaa aabaa abbba baaaa aabab baaba aaaaa babab aaaaa baaaa aaaaa babaa aaaaa baaaa Mr. Black says : "Two things will be noticed that give evidence of de- sign ; first, there are no letters left over ; second, the com- binations are all significant, that is, they all stand for let- ters in Bacon's bi-literal alphabet, although the number of possible combinations is thirty-two, and the number used in the alphabet only twenty-four. Referring to the alphabet, the twenty-two groups are found to stand for the following twenty-two letters: SAEH R ;e P BA YE RETA RAWAR" XA •Mr. Black proceeded to call attention to the fact that the letters above a line which he drew, as given, spelled Shaxpere and from the other letters he constructed the THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 11 fragments of words, which gave title to his article, "Fra Ba wrt ear ay," which form, he says, suggestive parts of the sentence : "Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare's Plays." To the public mind, however, while the results ob- tained were curious, they did not prove satisfactory. Shakespeare was never known to write his name Shax- pere. His own signatures give the spelling as Shakspere, which doubtless had the sound of Shaxpere, as is shown by contemporary documents. Moreover it was evident that if Bacon had inserted a claim of authorship, in cipher, in the inscription on Shakspere's tomb-stone, he would not have been content to put it forth in such an enigmati- cal form as, "Fra Ba wrt ear ay." Having penetrated through the cipher, the expert would naturally expect to find, and would be entitled to find, a coherent and com- plete sentence; and Mr. Black having failed to elaborate such a sentence, his discovery was discredited ; and he did not even receive the credit to which he was justly entitled, as the first man, in the space of two hundred and seventy- one years, who had perceived a relationship between Ba- con's cipher and the inscription on Shakspere's tomb- stone at Stratford. 12 THE CIPHER OX THE TOMBSTONE. CHAPTER II. Was there such a hi-literal inscription? When the article, written by Mr. Black, appeared in The North American Reviezv, it was at once met by the objection, that in the inscription upon the stone, which now rests over Shakspere's grave, there was no such commingling of large and small letters, as stated in Mr. Black's paper; and hence there was no cipher in it. This is true. The inscription on the present grave- stone is as follows : "GOOD FREND FOR JESVS SAKE FORBEARE, TO DIGG THE DVST ENCLOASED HEARE ! E T BLESE BE Y MAN Y SPARES THES STONES, T AND CVRST BE HE Y MOVES MY BONES." There is, of course, no possibility of applying Lord Bacon's bi-literal cipher to this stone, for all the letters are of the same size and character; and the bi-literal cipher, as its name indicates, depends upon a mixture of two different kinds of letters. But these critics did not seem to know that the stone THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 13 now over the grave is not the stone placed there at the time of Shakspere's Heath. This is clearly established by that high authority, J. O. Halliwell-Phillips, in his "Outlines of the Life of Shakes- peare," p. 173. He says : "The honors of repose, which have thus far been con- ceded to the poet's remains, have not been extended' to the tomb-stone. The latter had, by the middle of the last century, sunk below the level of the floor, and, about fifty years ago, had become so much decayed as to suggest a vandalic order for its removal, and in its stead, to place a nezu slab, one which marks certainly the locality of Shake- speare's grave, and continues the record of the farewell lines, but indicates nothing more. The original mem- orial has wandered from its allotted station no one can tell whither, — a sacrifice to the insane worship of pro- saic neatness, that mischievous demon whose votaries have practically destroyed so many of the priceless relics of ancient England and her gifted sons." It being established, therefore, that the present stone is not the one originally placed over the grave, the question arises,- — did the latter contain such a mixture of small and large letters, as is represented in Mr. Black's article? There can be no doubt upon that point. In Edmond Malone's edition of "The Plays and Poems of William Shakspere,'' published after his death, in 1821, the author says (Vol. ii, p. 506) : "On his grave stone, underneath-, is the following in- scription, expressed, as Mr. Steevens observes, in an un- couth mixture of small and capital letters." This is conclusive as to the bi-literal character of the original inscription. We not only have the statement 14 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. of Mr. 'Steevens that the inscription contains "an uncouth mixture of small and capital letters," but we have the fact further confirmed by the observation of Mr. Malone. And I need scarcely add that no commentators of Shakes- peare, of their period, stood higher in pubHc esteem, for pains-taking accuracy than Malone and Steevens. THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 15 CHAPTER III. Was the Original Stone Contemporary With Shakspere's Death? There is no reason to doubt that the original grave- stone, with the bi-literal inscription, dated back to the time of Shakspere's death and burial. Charles Knight, in his Biography of Shakspere, page 542, quotes the testimony of a witness who writes forty years after Shakspere's death, showing that the stone, with its inscription, was in existence at that time. He says: "In a plate to Dugdale's "Antiquities of Warwickshire," first published in 1656, we have a representation of Shaks- pere's tomb, with the following: 'Neare the wall where this monument is erected lyeth a plain free-stone, under- neath which his body is buried, with this epitaph, 'Good frend,' " etc. Knight also quotes the testimony of a gentleman named Dowdall, who writes from Warwickshire in 1693. After describing the monument, on the side of the church, erected to the memory of Shakspere, and giving the in- scription upon th? face of it, I4ri Powdall says : 16 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. "Near the wall where this monument is erected lies the plain free-stone, underneath which his body is buried, with this epitaph, made by himself a little before his death." He then gives the epitaph, and subsequently adds : ' "Not one for fear of the curse above-said dare touch his grave-stone, though his wife and daughters did earn- estly desire to be laid in the same grave with him." Mrs. Shakspere died in 1623, seven years after the death of her husband. It thus apppears, according to the tradition received by Mr. Dowdall, on his visit to Strat- ford, that not only was it believed that Shakspere him- self wrote the epitaph; but that the inscribed stone was in existence seven years after his death, and that the curse was sufficient to prevent Mrs. Shakespere from be- ing buried in the same grave with her husband. It must be remembered that when "Dugdale's Antiqui- ties of Warzvickshire" was published, in 1656, Shaks- pere's daughter, Susanna, had been dead but seven years ; and his second daughter, Judith, was still living. And when Dowdall repeated the tradition, that Shakspere had written the verses on the grave-stone, Shakspere's grand- daughter, Elizabeth Barnard, had been dead only twenty- three years. Indeed, it has never been doubted that the grave-stone dated back to the time of Shakspere's burial; and the fact that Shakspere wrote the epitaph inscribed upon it has never been questioned until late years; Dowdall states that the authority for his statements was the clerk of the church ; he says : "The clarke that shew'd me this church is above 80 years old." THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 17 He must have been, therefore, three years old when Shakspere died : and the information he gave Dowdall was consequently rather the testimony of a contemporary than the repetition of a vague tradition. Halliwell-Phillips, (page 172, of The Outlines), after quoting the words of the inscription, ("Good Friend," etc.), refers to them as "lines which a well supported tradition assigns' to the pen of Shakspere himself." 18 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMnSTONE. CHAI'TER IV. What Was the Inscription? Having, as I trust, established that there was a grave- stone anterior to the present one; that it dated back to the time of Shakspere's burial; that the inscription upon it was believed to have been written by Shakspere himself; and that it was bi-literal in its character, and "an uncouth mixture of large and small letters;" let us next ascertain what was the precise form of the inscription, for upon that the cipher, if there is one, must depend. And here again we are fortunate enough to have the testimony of those reliable antiquarians, and commenta- tors on Shakspere, Edmond Malone and George Steev- ens. Both having agreed, as they tell us, that the inscrip- tion contained an "uncouth mixture of large and small letters," it followed, as a matter of course, that their at- tention, being thus attracted to that fact, they would give the details of that admixture with reasonable ac- curacy. And that they had every opportunity to exam- ine the original stone, long before it was removed, there can be no doubt. George Steevens was born at Stepney, May loth, 1736, — one hundred and twenty years after THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 19 Shakspere's death — and Edmond Malone was born at Dublin five years later. Steevens published part of the Shakspere plays in 1766, and died in 1800. Malone began his study of the plays in 1778; published his Supplement to Johnson and Steevens' edition of Shakespeare in 1780; and died in 1812. I quote their version of the bi-literal inscription from editions published prior to the removal of the original stone. Malone gives it, in the edition of 1821, already referred to, (v-ol. II, p. 506), as follows: "Good Frend for lesus SAKE forbeare To digg T-E Dust EncloAsed HE.Re. Blese be T-E Man Y spares T-Es Stones T And curst be He Y moves my bones." Mr. Steevens, in the edition, in nine volumes, pub- Hshed in 181 1, by J. Nichols and Son, (the first edition of the same work was in 1773,) in volume i, p. xix, gives precisely the same arrangement of the words as to the large and small letters : — the only diflference is that he spells the second word "Friend," instead of "Frend." There is no doubt that on the original stone it was "Frend." One would more naturally err by spelling a word correctly where it was spelled incorrectly, than he would fall into the opposite error, of misspelling a word already properly spelled. We turn to Charles Knight's Biography of Shakspere, (he so spells the name,: — copying it from the poet's sig- 20 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. natures), and we find the inscription (page 542), given as follows : "Good Frend for Jesus SAKE forbea'e To diGG T-E Dust Enclo-Ased HERe T Blese be T-E Alan Y spares T-Es Stones T And curst be He Y moves my bones." Knight was born in 1791, and his Biography of Shaks- pere was first published in 1842, shortly after the original grave-stone had been removed; but as he had been en- gaged for many years in collecting materials for that work, there is no doubt that his version of the inscription was copied, by himself directly from the original stone. It will be observed that he gives the word "friend" in the same form that Malone did, — "Frend." It will be seen hereafter that this spelling is necessary to the cipher- sentence. He differs, however, in some particulars, from both Steevens and Malone. In the first place, they give the word "digg" in the second line as composed of capitals of two sizes, thus "diGG:" while Knight prints it in letters of the same size throughout, thus : — "digg." In the version of Ma- lone and Steevens there are in the inscription letters of three different sizes : ( 1 ) the body of the text repre- sents one size; (2) the two letters "GG," in "digg," a second size; (3) while the initial letters of words like "Jesus," "EncloAsed," etc., and the words "SAKE" and the first three letters of "HERe," and the compound fUE CIPHBR on the TOMBSfONE. 21 T symbols "T-E" and "Y/' appear in still larger-sized letters. Knight failed to perceive that the letters "GG" in "digg," were larger than the letters composing the body of the inscription ; but as they were not as large as the "T-E's," etc., he set them down as belonging to the same size as the bulk of the inscription. He, of course, had no suspicion that there was such a thing as a cipher in the inscription : — if he had he would have noticed the fact that while the two "GG's" were smaller than the largest letters, they were larger than the smallest. But I think the reader will agree with me that Malone and Steevens could not have given these two "GG's" as larger than the body of the text, if they had not been so. To do this they would have had to invent something; while Knight simply overlooked something. To invent implies design, a purpose ; — none of these copyists of the inscription suspected a cipher; — therefore they had no reason to misrepresent it. But to fail to see or note a difference between three sizes of letters is perfectly com- patible with intentional accuracy. And the reader will find that this distinction, this rendering of the two GG's, in "digg," as larger letters, is necessary to the working out of the cipher. And it was probably because Mr. Black followed Knight, instead of the older copyists, that he failed to elaborate the cipher sentence contained in the inscription. But there is another particular wherein Knight's copy differs from that of Malone or Steevens. All three agree that the last word of the second line stood upon the origi- nal grave-stone thus : 22 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. "H E Re." But Kniglit inserts a period between "H E" and "Re," thus: "HE. Re."; and lie also places another period after the "Re," so that the word stands : "H E. Re." The presence of a period in the middle of a word must have seemed to Steevens and Malone so extraordinary, so outre, so unheard-of, that they concluded it was a defect in the stone, or an accident caused by the ignorance of the stone-mason, and therefore did not copy it. They recognized "the uncouth mixture of large and small let- ters," but they could not believe that the writer of any inscription could purposely divide the word here into "he" and "re," separated by a period. But we shall see here- after that the .insertion of this period was not only an intentional part of the original inscription, but that it was necessary to the working out of the cryptic message contained in it. It will be observed that the stone-mason of Stratford, when he carved the inscription on the present grave- stone, did not adhere to the original, either in the form or the arrangement of the letters. He, however, spelled friend in the first line "FREND," thereby confirming the version of Steevens and Malone in that particular. And when he came to the word "H E. Re." he either ob- served the period, or noticed a widening or separation between the letters E and R, and supposing that some- thing was missing, he inserted an A in the place of the THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 23 period, and carved the word thus, "HE ARE." He also changed the form of the compound letter T — E, stand- ing for "the" into T — IE; and when he came to "T — E E Man," in the third line, he altered it into "Y MAN." He also punctuated it differently from the original, the first pimctuation being an important matter to the work- ing out of the cipher, as will be seen hereafter. In Steev- ens' and Malone's copies there are no punctuation marks, and in Knight's none but a period at the end of tlje sec- ond line, and another at the end of the fourth line, besides that mysterious period in the middle of the word "HE.Re." Knight also dififers from Malone in omitting the dash between "o" and "A" in "encloased;" which Malone gives, as I have shown, thus : "Enclo — Ased." We shall see hereafter that that dash is an important detail. 24 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. CHAPTER V. Is There a Cipher in the Inscription? Having Remonstrated (i) that there was a bi-literal inscription on the original grave-stone; (2) that it dated back to the time of Shakspere's burial; (3) that tradi- tion ascribed it to Shakspere himself ; and having shown (4) what the inscription actually was ; we come now to another inquiry: (5) are there any evidences that the original bi-literial epitaph contained a cipher? It is, in itself, a singular inscription. It does not con- tain the poet's name, or any reference to him. Knight says, {Biography, p. 542) : "It is very remarkable, we think, that this plain free- stone does not bear the name of Shakspere — has nothing to establish the fact that the stone originally belonged to the grave. We apprehend that during the period that elapsed between his death and the setting-up of the monument, a stone was temporarily placed over the grave ; and that the warning not to touch the bones wa.« the stone-mason's invention, to secure their reverence till a fitting monument should be prepared, if the stone were not ready in his yard to serve for any other grave." It would, however, appear reasonable to suppose that, if any considerable interval of time elapsed between THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 25 Shakspere's burial and the erection of his monument, any stone placed over his grave, to identify it, would, at least, have contained his name. A grave-stone without a name would be a very insufficient means to identify the mortal remains of any one. No stone of a similar character, contemporaneous with or anterior to the time of Shakspere, has ever been found. Halliwell-Phillips refers to one mentioned in Stowe's Survey of London, with the same verses, dated eighty- four years after Shakspere's death, to wit, in 1700 (see . Outlines, page 306) ; and he called upon the curious in such matters to make inquiry and ascertain and report to him whether any stone, with the same inscription, prior to, or contemporary with Shakspere, had been found. No such information, so far as I am informed, was ever forthcoming ; and this is a sufficient answer to Knight's - suggestion that the stone-mason had the stone ready for any grave. Neither is it probable that any village stone-mason composed the lines of the epitaph, for although it falls far below the genius of the author of Hamlet or Lear, it is nevertheless complete, as a metrical composition, in rhythm and rhyme, and it expresses what it has to say tersely and strongly. Any one who has examined the ancient epitaphs in English country church-yards will not be ready to accept the theory that the stone- mason of Stratford was the author of these lines. Neither is any such belief consonant with the traditions of Stratford, that the lines were written by Shakspere himself; and that he wrote them for his tombstone, be- cause he feared that his bones might be taken up, at some future time, and thrown into the dreadful charnal house, 26 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. of which he had a great horror. And if the curse had been the work of the stone-mason, would its terrors have pre- vented the wife and daughters of Shakspere from be- ing buried in the same grave with him? Now let us consider whether the inscription, as it stood on the original grave-stone, gave any evidences of con- taining a cipher. In the first place, I do not think any other such extra- ordinary combination of large and small capitals can be found anywhere else in the world. Take those two words, in the first hne : "Jesus SAKE." If this had been reversed, — if it had been : "JESUS sake," we could suppose that the stone-cutter intended to ex- press, in this way, his reverence for the sacred name of our Lord. But why should he carve the name of the Saviour in small letters and the unimportant word "sake" in large letters? Surely the emphasis is on "Jesus," not on "sake." Then observe that word "Enclo— Ased." Can any one explain why a large capital letter should be thrust into the middle of such a word? Is there any parallel for it in the world? And why insert not only the large letter A in the THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 27 midst of the word "encloased/' but ,also divide the word into two parts by placing a dash before the A ? Take also the next word: — "HE.Re." If the sculptor had made it all large capitals, like the word "SAKE," we might have supposed he had a fancy for such freaks. But why drop from three large letters to a small one? And why, above all, insert a period in the middle of the word? The mere presence of large and small letters would not, of itself, indicate the presence of Lord Bacon's bi-littral cipher. Something more is needed . The larger letters must be near enough together to constitute, with the smaller ones, the necessary groups of five letters each, significant of the letters of the bi-literal alphabet: For instance, let us take the English inscription upon the monument to Shakspere, which stands against the wall of the church, and near the grave-stone. I copy the first three lines : "Stay, passenger, why goest thou by so fast. Read, if thou canst whom envious death hath plast Within this monument, Shakspeare, with whom," etc. If now we place under these letters the a's and b's, as directed by Lord Bacon, — the a's under the small let- ters, and the ^'s under the large ones, — the first line will give us : baaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaaaa aaa 28 THE CIPHER On the TOMBSTONE. If we turn to the bi-literal alphabet this will be found to signify : R A A A A A The second line gives us : RAAAAAAA The third line : R A A C A A A Of course it is impossible to apply the bi-literal cipher to an inscription which in three lines gives us but three letters of the alphabet, — R A and C. No sentence can be spelled out of such limited elements. But when we turn from the monument to the inscrip- tion on the grave-stone, we obtain very different results. Let us take the first line : "Good Frend for Jesus SAKE forbeare To diGG," etc. Now if we divide these letters into groups of five each and place a b under each large letter and an a under each small letter, as Lord Bacon directs, in the De Aug- mentis, we have this result : Good Frend for Jesus SAKE forbeare baaa baaaa aaa baaaa bbbb aaaaaaaa To diGG ba aabb Now let the reader turn to Lord Bacon's bi-literal cipher, and he will find that every one of these groups of five represents a letter of his alphabet : THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 29 baaab is S. aaaaa is A. aabaa is E. aabbb is H. baaaa is R. aaaab is B. And that there is design in the arrangement of these large and small letters will be evident when we consider what would have been the result if the stone-cutter, to show his religious feeling, had placed the name of Jesus in large capitals. The line would then have stood : Good Frend for JESUS SAKE forbeare baaa baaaa aaa bbbbb bbbb aaaa We turn to I.ord Bacon's bi-literal alphabet, and we find that, as before, the first group gives us S, and the second A ; but the third group — aabbb — gives us the let- ter H, while the fourth group is, — bbbbb; and there is no such symbol in Lord Bacon's alphabet — it stands for nothing ! Again: Suppose that the word "friend" had been spelled correctly, according to the usage of that day, in- stead of incorrectly, as we have it in the original inscrip- tion ; and suppose there was not that "uncouth mixture of small and capital letters" in that first line, and that the arrangement of the text was the same as in the in- scription on the monument, then the line would have stood : Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare. And this, divided into groups of five each, would give us : 30 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. Good friend for Jesus sake for beare baaa aaaaaa aaa baaaa aaaa aaa aaaaa And these, according to Bacon's alphabet, would be R A C AAA And the result would be that the line, instead of giv- ing us as before, in six groups, or thirty letters, six dif- ferent letters of the bi-literal alphabet, ( S, A, E, H, R, B ) wonld only give us three : R, A, C. The second line, correctly carved, would have given us another R and four A's. In fact, the whole inscription, but for the "uncouth mixture of small and capital letters," would yield us alto- gether three R's, two C's and seventeen A's. I need not say that it would be impossible to construct any cipher sentence from these materials. If now we find that the "uncouth mixture of small and capital letters'' was not only necessary to the forma- tion of a cipher, but that any addition to the number of the capital letters would have, produced combinations of letters for which there is no equivalent in Lord Bacon's bi-literal alphabet, may we not reasonably conclude that this "uncouth mixture" has a method in i-t; that it evi- dences design, and that it was put there to contain Lord Bacon's cipher alphabet? If we find the timbers of a building cut and mortised lying upon the ground, and if one shows us a plan or draft by which they are to be put together; and each piece of the frame has upon it the very tenons necessary to construct the building, in accordance with the design, no one can fail to see that there was some necessary con- THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 31 nection between the architect who drew that plan and the carpenter who prepared those timbers. And in the same way, when we find that the precise arrangement of large and small letters, found on Shakspere's grave-stone, is necessary to the working out of Lord Bacon's bi-literal cipher ; and that any change in the arrangement of those letters would destroy the possibility of applying the cipher to them, then we must conclude that there is a relation- ship, or connection, between the grave-stone in the Strat- ford church and the bi-literal cipher given in Bacon's De Augmentis. 32 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. CHAPTER VI. Francis Bacon's Cipher. Presuming that the reader is satisfied that the bi-literal inscription on the grave-stone dates back to the time of Shakspere's burial; that it is unique; and that its characteristics are so vmusual and extraordinary as to render it exceedingly probable that there is a cipher in it, of the kind described in Bacon's "De Augnientis," we will proceed to consider, in more detail, what is the na- ture of Bacon's cipher. In the Sixth Book of the "De Augnientis" Bacon, after discussing Poetry, in which he describes it as "a luxuri- ant plant, that comes of the lust of the earth, without any formal seed ; wherefore it spreads everywhere and is scattered far and wide," he proceeds, suggestively, to speak of Ciphers. He says: (Vol. IX, p. 115, edition of Ploughton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1882.) "As for Writing, it is performed either by the com- mon alphabet (which is used by everybody) or by a secret and private one, agreed upon by particular per- sons, which they call ciphers. * * * THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTOMfi. 38 "Let us proceed then to Ciphers. Of these there are many kinds; simple ciphers; ciphers mixed with non- significant characters; ciphers containing two different letters in one character; wheel ciphers; key ciphers; word ciphers ; and the like. But the virtues required of them are three: that they be easy and not laborious to write i that they be safe, and impossible to be deciphered ; and lastly that they be, if possible, such as not to raise suspicion. For if letters fall into the hands of those who have power either over the writers or over thore to whom they are addressed, although the cipher itself may be safe and impossible to decipher, yet the matter comes imder examination and question; unless the cipher be such as either to raise no suspicion or to elude inquiry. Now for this elusion of inquiry, there is a new and use- ful contrivance for it, which, as I have it by me, why should I not set it down among the desiderata, instead of propounding the thing itself." Observe how cunningly Bacon tries to give a reason for introducing, into a philosophical Work, an essay on ciphers, and for presenting a particular kind of cipher. He "has it by him;" — yes, — in the old church at Strat- ford, over a certain famous grave. It is a "useful con- trivance," that has "eluded inquiry" for nigh onto three hundred years ! "It is this: Let a man have two alphabets, one of true letters, the other of non-significants; and let him infold in them two letters at once ; one carrying the se- cret, the other such a letter as the writer would have been 34 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. likely to send, and yet without anything dangerous. Then if any one be strictly examined as to the cipher, let him offer the alphabet of non-significants for the true letters, and the alphabet of true letters for non-signifi- cants. Then the examiner will fall upon the exterior letter; which finding probable, he will not suspect any- thing of another letter within." That is to say, finding the "Good Friend for Jesus sake," etc., on the tomb-stone, he will not look for a cipher declaration within it. "But for avoiding suspicion altogether, I will add an- other contrivance, which I devised myself when I was at Paris in my early youth, and which I still think worthy preservation." How many excuses have we for presenting the bi-literal cipher ! "For it has the perfection of a cipher, which is to make anything signify anything; subject however to this con- dition, that the infolding writing shall contain at least five times as many letters as the writing infolded : no other condition or restriction is required. The way to do it is this : First, let all the letters of the alphabet be re- solved into transpositions of two letters only. For the transposition of two letters through five places will yield thirty-two differences: much more twenty- four, which is the niimber of letters in our alphabet. Here is an ex- ample of such an alphabet. THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 35 Example of an Alphabet in two letters. A B CD E F aaaaa aaaab aaaba aaabb aabaa aabab G H I 'K L M aabba aabbb abaaa abaab ababa ababb NO P Q R S abbaa abbab abbba abbbb baaaa baaab TV W X Y Z baaba baabb babaa babab babba babbb "Nor is it a slight thing which is thus, by the way, effected. For hence we see how thoughts may be com- municated at any distance of place by means of any ob- jects perceptible either to the eye or ear, provided only that those objects are capable of two differences, as by bells, trumpets, torches, gunshots and the like." This is really the principle of the present telegraphic alphabet, which is a combination of dots and dashes. "But to proceed with our business : when you prepare to write, you must reduce the interior epistle to this bi- literal alphabet. Let the interior epistle be. Fly. ■ Example of Reduction. FLY aabab ababa babba "Have by you, at the same time, another alphabet in two forms; I mean one in which each of the letters of the common alphabet, both capital and small, is exhib- ited in two different forms; — any forms that you find convenient. 36 fTHE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. Example of an Alphabet in two Forms. a b a b a b a b a t) a b A A a a B B b b C a c c D D d d E E e e F F t T G G ff ^ H H h h I I 1 I K K k k L L 1 I M M m m N J< n n O o F F P V Q Q q q l< B r r S S s s T T t t U U V u V V W W w w X z z X z X Y r V y "Then take your interior epistle, reduced to the bi- literal shape, and adapt to it, letter by letter, your ex- terior epistle, in the bi-form character; and then write it out. Let the exterior epistle be : Do not go till I come. Ex itnple oi Adaptation. FLY aa bab. ab aba.b a bba. Do not go till J come. The reader will note the extreme subtlety of all this. The differences in the letters of the two fonts of type are so minute as to be almost microscopical. Mr. Black, in his North American article, quotes, I pre- sume, from a different edition of the "De Augmentis." "Let there be also at hand two other common alpha- bets, as for example, Roman and Italic. All the letters of the Roman are read or deciphered, by translating them into the 'letter A only. And all the letters of the THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 37 Italic alphabet are to be read by translating them into the letter B only. Now adjust or fit any external double faced writing, letter by letter, to the internal writing, first made bi-literate ; and afterwards write it down for the letter or epistle to be sent/' It would be worth while inquiring why two editions of the De Augmentis should differ in this important par- ticular. For it will be seen that a combination of Ro- man and Italic letters, in the external sentence, approxi- mates much more closely to the "uncouth mixture of large and small letters," found in the grave-stone inscrip- tion, than a commingling of two fonts of type, between which there are only minute dififerences. But to show that the Bacon cipher can be used equally well with large and small letters, we have only to apply it to the example given, in the "De Augmentis." Take the same sentence: "Do not go till I come," and print it like the grave-stone inscription, in large and small let- ters, and place an a under the small letters and a b under thq large letters, and we have this result : do NoT gO til I cOMe aa bab ab aba b abba FLY Of course this would be, in any printed text, a much more "uncouth mixture" than it would be upon a rude stone, in a country church; where the fault could be naturally laid at the door of an illiterate stone-mason. But nevertheless it is evident that the Bacon cipher, in the "De Augmentis," is practically the same which we have reason to believe exists on the Shakespeare grave- 5ton?, 38 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. CHAPTER VII. Some Peculiarities of Bacon's Cipher. There are reasons which lead us to think that the par- ticular bi-literal Alphabet of the "De Augmentis" was not made anterior to the construction of the epitaph on the Stratford grave-stone, but that the epitaph on the grave-stone determined the peculiarities and limitations of the cipher. Bacon speaks in the "De Augiiicntis" of forming his cipher by the use of "two alphabets, as for example Ro- man and Italic." He would seem to be avoiding a too direct reference to the tomb-stone by not referring to a bi-literal alphabet which depended upon the difference in the si::;e of the letters. And yet the example he gives us, which I have just quoted, is not one resting on Ro- man and Italic letters. Indeed a cipher consisting of such a mixture of Roman and Italic letters would betray itself at once. We may italicise zvords, when we desire to em- phasize them, or make them conspicuous; but Italic let- ters mixed with Roman would present so curious a spec- tacle that it would cry out to all observers : — "There is a cipher here !" Imagine, for instance, the inscription on Shakespeare's monument printed in this fashion: "Stzy PasscngtT, why goe^t thou by so fasiV THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 39 Therefore the cipher in the "De Augmentis" consist- ing of Roman and Italic letters, was never meant for any practical purpose, for it would not ehide inquiry but pro- voke it. At the same time, the cipher alphabet given, consisting of two fonts of type, between which there are minute dif-' ferences, would be valueless for purposes of written cor- respondence, where no type is used. And yet Bacon speaks as if the contrivance was designed for written correspondence ; for he says, "If letters fall into the hands of those who have power either over the writers or over those to whom they are addressed," etc. No one ever heard of men carrying on a treasonable correspondence in type; and then instructing the printers to take two fonts of type and mix them in a given order. This would be to proclaim their own treason on the housetop. In- deed so difficult would it be to print in this way, from two different fonts of type, at the same time, that we are told that both those tables in the "De Augmentis," which we have inserted above, showing the commingling of dif- ferent kinds of letters, were actually carved, for the first edition of that work, and not set up in type at all! What then did that extraordinarily subtle man mean by giving to the world a cipher, for written correspond- ence, which could not be used, with the-aid of type, with- out revealing to the compositors the fact that there was some secret behind it ? Surely all these excuses for pre- senting his bi-literal cipher, and all his explanations, and his carved tables, must have had an object; and just as surely that object could not be to furnish posterity a means of communicating in cipher. For who, after that book was published, and in the hands of thousands of 40 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. readers, would dare to adopt Bacon's bi-literal cipher, for correspondence that might cost him his head ? But if this bi-literal cipher was not to be used by the cunning conspirators of King James time, might it not refer backwards to some cipher-writing, already in exist- ence, in an obscure church, far away from London, over the grave of a half-forgotten play-actor? There is another point to be considered : If the cipher was to depend on minute differences in two fonts of type, so minute as to be scarcely recogniza- ble by the naked eye, then it would make no difference whether you used font A as often as you used font B, or whether you used one just as often as the other. But if the bi-literal alphabet was constructed to meet the exi- gencies of an inscription, like that on the grave-stone, made up of large and small letters, then, as the body of an inscription or writing, of any kind, consists necessar- ily, principally of the smaller letters, the symbol which represents the smaller letters must be very much more abundant than the symbol which represents the larger letters. That is to say, — if a is to be placed under the small letters, and b under the larger, then, as there are more small letters in that grave-stone inscription than large ones, the as must predominate in the symbols which makes up the bi-literal alphabet. Now when we come to examine "the bi-literal alpha- bet," in the De Augmentis, we find that provision has been made for precisely this state of things ; the letter a greatly preponderates over the letter b; and we will find that in the grave-stone inscription the letter a represents the more numerous small letters, and the letter b the cap- itals, which do not occur 50 often, Ther? ar? in Paeon'? THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 41 "bi-literal alphabet" fifteen of the alphabetic symbols in which the a's preponderate over the b's; and only nine in which the b's preponderate over the a's. There are six- teen of the alphabetic signs that commence with a, and only eight that commence with b. If the "bi-literal cipher" did not contemplate some in- scription already written in small letters and capitals, but was written, as it purports to be, simply with a view to the use of Roman and Italic letters, or letters from two different fonts of type, why would this difference exist? There was nothing in that case to prevent Bacon com- mencing as many of his alphabetic symbols with b as with a. But if the reader will take the grave-stone inscription and divide — we will say — the first line, into groups of five letters- each, but instead of placing an a under each small letter, and a b under each large letter, reverse the process ; and put a b under the small letters and an a under the cap- itals, he will have the following results : Good Frend for Jesus SAKE forbeare abbb ^bbbb bbb abl)bb aa^a bbbbbbbbb To diGG. ab bbaa. We have here six groups, or combinations of a's and b's, but four out of the six are not found in "the bi-literal alphabet," to-wit : — bbbbb, bbabb, bbaaa, and bbbba. In fact the only groups which are found in the Baconian al- phabet are the first, abbba, (P) and the fifth ,~abbbb (Q). There is not a single one of the letters of the bi-literal alphabet whi?h begins with double h—{bb), although 42 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. many of them commence with double a, (aa), and four with aaa. But if, on the contrary, we. put the o's under the small letters, and the b's under the larger letters, then we have six groups of letters, every one of which is equivalent to a letter in the Baconian bi-literal alphabet! It is to my mind conclusive, therefore, that the cipher given in the De Angnientis was constructed with a view to that inscription on Shakespeare's grave-stone. If not, why would it correspond with it only in its pres- ent shape? If we find two pieces of machinery, in two different places, wide apart, if you please, which, when put to- gether dovetail into each other's parts, and together pro- duce practical results, are we not forced to conclude that they were made by the same workman and were intended to be united? But I go farther: — I am satisfied, as I have said, that that particular bi-literal alphabet, given in the De Aug- mentis, was not arranged prior to the construction of the grave-stone inscription; but that the grave-stone inscrip- tion was Urst in order of time, and the alphabet adapted to its necessities. The stone was put in place in 1616; the cipher was not pubHshed until 1623. Let me give some of my reasons. If the reader will look at that bi-literal alphabet he will find certain symbols that can be read from left to right, or from right to left, and still produce the same letter. Here we have: — aaaaa — A. This, of course, is the same read from either end. "A" is a letter that is very often used in the construction of the words, — "Shakes- peare," "Plays," "Francis," "Bacon,"— etc. THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 43 Then we turn to the letter E, which we know is the letter used most in our language. The bi-literal symbol for E is aabaa. This the reader will perceive produces the same result read from either end. Here too is the letter L ; — the symbol is, — ababa. This hkewise can be read either way. It is found in "plays," etc. Then here is the letter P; — the symbol is, — abbba. Either way it represents P. It is found in "Shakespeare" and "Plays." Here too is the letter S. Its sign is baaab. It can be read either way. It is found in "Shakespeare" twice ; and in "play.?" and "Francij" once each. Now does it not seen^ a little surprising that these sym- bols have been cunningly constructed so as to perform double duty? And we will see hereafter that they do perform double duty; and that they are used forwards and backwards, in the working out of the cipher in the inscription on the Shakespeare grave-stone. But this is not all. Besides these symbols which are capable of being read either way, and either way repre- senting the same letters, we have a number of others, in this marvelous alphabet, which do double duty by repre- senting one letter read from left to right and another let- ter read from right to left. There is, — aaaab ; from left to right it is B ; but turn it around, — read it from right to- left, — and it becomes baaaa, which is the symbol for R. Then there is the group, — aabab. From left to right it represents F; turn it around and it becomes, — babaa, — which is the symbol for W. 44 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. Then there is, — aabba. From left to right this is G; but reversed it becomes, — abbaa, — the sign of N. Then there is, — abaaa; — from left to right this is I; from right to left it becomes aaaba, which stands for C. Then there is abaab ; from left to right it represents K ; reversed it is, — baaba, and signifies T. Then there is, — abbab ; from left to right it is O ; from right to left it is, — ^babba, — or Y. Here then are five groups which yield the same letters read either from left to right, or from right to left; and six other groups that represent altogether twelve dif- ferent letters, as we change the direction in which we read them from left to right or from right to left. This gives us altogether seventeen, letters out of twenty-four ; for in the Baconian bi-literal ^phabet the same signs represent I and J, and V and U. The reader will begin to think that there is more in that De Augmeniis alphabet than appeared on the surface of it. Instead of simple signs, to be read always from left to right, as he had supposed, he finds that seventeen of them can be read from right to left as well. And he will find hereafter that it is upon this capacity to do double duty, — this double-back-action quality, — that the cipher in the grave-stone inscription depends. But some one will say, that Bacon was driven to these two-headed forms by the paucity of his materials, con- fined, as he was, to the combinations of a and b. This is a mistake. There were a number of other groupings, of those letters, w^hich he neglected. For instance he could have used:— bbaaa, bbaba, bbaab, bbabb, bbbab, bbbaa, bbbba, and bbbbb. This would have avoided eight out of th? eleven combinations that ^re susceptible of being rej^d THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 45 from either end. But to use such a quantity of b's while it would have made no difference, if the cipher depended on two different fonts of type of the same class, wherein the differences were minute; yet if the cipher was to be based on "a mixture of small letters and capitals," the presence of such a great number of capitals would pro- duce a result as "uncouth," upon every line of the in- scription, as those words "SAKE" and "HERe." and "Enclo-Ased." Now then,, if Bacon avoided such a re- sult, by not using groups of letters commencing with bb or bhb, because he knew it would make an "uncouth" predominance of capitals, that was certain to attract at- tention and arouse suspicion; was it not because he had in his mind's eye, a certain grave-stone away off in Strat- ford, where already the "uncouthness" of "SAKE" and "HE.Re" and "Enclo-Ased" had been 'driven as far as he could safely go? 46 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. CHAPTER VIII. The Frame-Work of the Cipher. Is there a scheme, a plan, in the construction of the quartrain on the tomb-stone? There is, — and a very perfect and regular one. It will be observed that there are no points of punctu- ation on the first line or the last line. But on the second and third lines there are six. There are two dashes on the second line and two on the third line, and a period in the midst of the word "HE.Re," at the end of the second line, and another period at the end of the line. These six points of punc- tuation are points of departure, from which the cipher moves. Three of the dashes are cunningly concealed, as hy- phens, to unite the compound words "T-E," (the), on the second line; "T-E," (the), on the third line and "T-Es," (these), on the same line. But the fourth dash is not so covered up; but is boldly injected into the middle of the word "enclo-Ased." And this word, instead of being spelled as it is now, and as it was in the First Folio of the Plays of 1623, is given in this extraordinary form : — "Enclo-Ased." THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 47 If the reader will turn to the play of Henry V., IV, 8, he will find in this line "with charity enclosed in clay," the word spelled, in the First Folio, as here given. The same method of spelling the word is iised in — "We by Anthony are all enclosed," (Jul. Cses., V, 3) ; and "Titin- ius is enclosed around about," ibid. There was no excuse, therefore, in the custom of the period, for splitting this word, on the tomb-stone, into two parts, and heading the last fragment with a capital A. But we shall see the necessity for this course as we pro- ceed. To make the frame-work of the cipher plainer, we will repeat the inscription with the das^ies made more con- spicuous. "Good Frend for Jesus SAKE forbeare To diGG T— E Dust Enclo— Ased HE.Re. T Blese be T E Man Y spares T . . Es Stones T And curst be He Y inoves my Bones." The lines may be thus represented : It will be found as we proceed that these four dashes are the boundary posts of the cipher; supplemented by the periods in the jniddle and at the end of the word — "HE.Re." 48 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. CHAPTER IX. The Word "SHAKE." Mr. Black, as we have shown, found that if the letters constituting the first line were divided into groups of five letters each, as proposed in Bacon's De Augmentis, and a b placed under the capital letters and an a under the other letters, we would have this result: "Good Frend for Jesus SAKE forbeare" baaa baaaa aaa baaaa b b b b aaaaaaaa If now wc apply to these symbols the Baconian alpha- bet, we have these results : baaab aaaaa aabaa aabbb baaaa S A E H R This last combination, baaaa, stands for R, if read from left to right, or B if read from right to left. It then becomes aaaab. The first thing that occurred to me, based on my cipher studies in the Plays, where the words move alternately up and down the columns, was, that it was not likely that the cipher would go straight ahead along the line. This would be too simple a scheme for the subtlety of the great THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 49 cryptographer — the most penetrating and ingenious in- J tellect that ever lived. It seemed to me that if S was the first letter of the inner sentence, A would be the third letter, and E the fifth letter. What letters could come between S, A and E and make ; a word? And then it came to me that they might possibly be ; H and K ; and that would give us : ShAkE. If there is a cipher on Shakspere's tomb-stone, as seemed certain, and that cipher is precisely the one in- vented by Francis Bacon, when a youth in Paris, then it follows that it must have been put there by Bacon, or some of his friends, to tell some hidden story. The dead man, Shakspere, was not likely to have prepared, before he died, a cipher for his own grave-stone, and framed it according to the formula of the philosopher o-f Verulam. If Shak«pere was Shakespeare he would have had no se- cret to reveal in a cipher. All that would have been need- ed on his grave-stone — so far as he was concerned, — was his own name; and that, — strange to say, — did not ap- pear upon it ! Now, if Francis Bacon, or any one for him, desired to put a secret writing over the corpse of Shakspere, it must have been something about the man Shakspere, or his alleged plays. And hence the cipher story would very naturally contain the word "Shakspere" or "Shake- speare;" for the former spelling seemed to have rep- resented the man of Stratford, and the latter form his 50 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. nom de plume, or the body of writings which were at- tributed to him. But where do we get the letters H and K which, with S A E, will make up the first syllable, SHAKE? It is clear there is no K on the first line; and while there is an H, it is not in a position to be inserted be- tween S and A. We must look elsewhere. There is that pillar-mark, that boundary stone, on the second line, formed by the dash between ihe T and the E. "To diGG T— E Dust Enclo— Ased HE.Re". Is this "our butt and very sea-mark?" Do we turn back from that point? Is this the complement of the first subdivision of the first line? Let us see : . Take that combination of letters : "To diGG T — ." If we place under each capital letter a b, as directed by Bacon, beginning at the dash, we have this result : diGGT aabbb And this is Bacon's letter H ! This gives us, with the first letter of the first line and the second letter of the second line, the letters : SHA The question comes, where is the K, which, with the third letter of the first line, will make : SHAKE As A, the third letter of the word. Shake, came from the first line, and began where the first letter S termi- THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 51 nated, it follows that the letter K should come from the second line, and should begin where the first letter from the dash, (H,) terminated. But the letter H : "diGG T — ," moving away from the dash mark, left but two letters, "To," before it reached the beginning of the second line; and to obtain the other three letters, necessary to make up the group of five, which constitutes a cipher letter, we must go elsewhere. And where is it more natural to go than to that same first line, with which we have been interlock- ing, to obtain the letters S, H and A? But as the movement is away from the dash, then the "To" is to be read in ari inverse order, and that will give us a b. We go to the beginning of the first line, and take the first three letters thereof, still progressing backward, as we did with "To," and we have "oo G." Place an a under the small letters and b under the large letter G, and we have a a b. Add the first two letters to this, and we have / ab aab, which is Bacon's sign for K! Insert this between the A and the E, on the first line, and we have : SHAKE. Thus : "Good F" — baaab= S "diGG T— "— aabbb= H "rend f" — aaaaa== A "To Goo" — abaab= K "or Jes" aabaa= E 52 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. But it may be said that this is the result of chance; that these letters just happened to come in this order. There are those who, to use Bacon's expression, are ready to believe that if the letters of the alphabet are promiscuously scattered over the ground, they may ac- cidentally form themselves into the words of the Iliad ! I hope that no such defective intelligences will be among the readers of this book. There is "the law of chances," or "the doctrine of probabilities". Suppose we are trying to prove that the word SHAKE is to be found in this grave-stone inscription. As there are twenty-six letters in the alphabet there is only one chance out of twenty-six that the letter S should be the first letter. And there 7tt& 26 times 26, or 676 chances against one, that the next letter will be H. And there are 26 times 676, or 17,576 chances against one that the next letter will be A. And there are 26 times 17,576, or 456,976 chances against one, that the next letter will be K. And there are 26 times 456,976, or eleven million, eight hundred and eighty-one, four hundred and seventy- six chances against one that the next letter will be the letter E ! Those Vvho are curious about such matters, and have plenty of stationery and leisure, can figure out the prob- abilities that all the cipher words, set forth in this book came about, in due and regular order, by chance. THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 53 CHAPTER X. The Word "SPEARE." Having found the word SHAKE, the next word to be elaborated is SPEARE. Having exhausted the signs departing backward from the first dash in "diGG T — " on the second line, we now turn to the second dash on the same line, found in the midst of the word "Encio — Ased," followed by the word "H E. Re." If we will consider the letters between that dash and the last letter, or period, at the end of the second line, we will have this formula: "—Ased H E. Re." The first five letters here are "—Ased H." Place a b under the capital's at the beginning and end, (A and H) and we have : — ^b a a a b. Turn to Bacon's alphabet, and we find that this is the symbol for S : — the first letter of "Speare." Leaving the first part of the above group, and resort- ing, as before, to the end of it, the end of the sentence, and we have : "d H E. Re." 54 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. Place an a under the smaller letters, and a b under the capitals, and we have: a b b b a; and this, in Bacon's alphabet, is P ; — the second letter of "Speare." In the word SHAKE we found that the first line in- terlocked with that part of the second line marked by the dash. The same thing takes place here. To get the word SHAKE we advanced along the first line to "or Jesus." Place a b under the capital J, of Jesus, and an a under each of the other letters, and we have: a a b a a, — which is the equivalent of E. But a a b a a is E from either end; hence, having used it for the last letter of SHAKE does not forbid ovir using it as the third letter of Speare. We go now to the end of the first line and move through beare. None of these are capitals, they repre- sent a a a a a, which is A, — the fourth letter of speare. We return to the second line and start from the period in the middle of "H E. Re." Moving out through the "Re," (ba), and thence going to the end of the first line, we have "are" — and the equivalent of these is baaaa, which is R. And if we start from where the P left oflf — "d H E. Re," we come next to "lo— Ase" which is o a & a a or E, which concludes the word speare. We have now worked out the entire word SHAKE- SPEARE. The cipher on the tombstone. 55 We undertook' to calculate how many chances there are against one, by "the law of probabilities," for all these letters to come out, in regular order, by accident; but we got into the quadrillions and gave it up. It is practically impossible. But it may be said that the movement of the cipher which gave us SHAKE was not precisely the same as that which gave us SPEARE. In the former case the letters came alternately from the first and second line; in the latter they came alternately in groups of two from the first and second lines. But there is no point of departure in the first line — no dash, no period; while the letters SP of SPEARE are bounded on the one side by the dash in "Enclo — Ased" and on the other side by the period at the end of "HE.Re." They move be- tween two pillars, as it were. Moreover, it was necessary that a cipher writing, which was to withstand the scrutiny of three hundred years, should not be too plain. 56 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. CHAPTER XI. The Word "PLAYES." The words THE and AND, which we will hereafter work out will exhaust the possibilities of the first line of the inscription with the fragment between the dash in "Enclo — Ased" and the end of the second line; and use every one of the symbols within those limits. We come now to the word Playes. It is a marvelous piece of work, growing mainly out of that minute frag- ment, ".Re," at the end of the second line, with a period before it and another after it, interlocking with that fragment of the third line, which is found beyond the fourth dash, viz. between "T — Hs:" — in T "Y spares T— Es Stones." We commence at the final e of "HE.Re" and move backward, which gives us: "d HE.Re," and placing an a under both the d and the terminal e, and b's under HER, we have abbba, which in Bacon's cipher alphabet, is the equivalent of P. We found this THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 57 P used in the word SPEARE; but it is so constructed that it can be used moving in either direction, and makes P from either end. We find it employed here as the first letter of the word PLAYES. We next commence at the dash on the third line in "T — E," as we did in previous instances. But there is this difference to be observed between the dash in "Enclo — Ased" and the dash in "T — E," on the third line. The word "Ehclo — Ased" is perfect in itself, indeed more than perfect, for it has more letters in it than are necessary. But in T — E the dash is not only a punctuation mark, or pillar of division, but it is a symbol of elision, and represents the omitted h, in "The;" which is to be taken as a small letter because it is not capitalized. If this letter, h, is inserted, the sign "T — E" becomes "ThE". Therefore if we begin at the dash and go forward we will have " — hEs St" (ones) ; and placing a b un- der the capitals and an a under the small letters, as usual, we have ababa; — which, in Bacon's cipher, means L, — the second letter of the word PLAYES. If now we turn to the end of the subdivision between the dash, just referred to, and the end of line third, and begin at the end of the line, we have the letters : "Stones." Count off five letters; we have "tones" — there are no capitals here, and it is therefore aaaaa, the equivalent of A, the third letter of PLAYES. Returning to that period, between H E and Re, near the end of the second line, and we have "Re," which stands for "b a" in the cipher, moving forward ; then return to the period again, and we have the letters "d H E." Place a letter b under the capitals, H and E, 58 The cipher on the Tombstone. and an a under the d, (the last letter of Encio— Ased), and we have bba. Add these to the b a, already ob- tained, and we have babba, which is the Baconian equiv- alent of Y. > If now we take up the symbol where the last letter left oflf, "d HE.Re," and moving toward the beginning of the line, we find the next symbol "lo-Ase," which repre- sents a a b a a, the equivalent of the cipher letter E. It is not necessary to say that in that day the word "plays" was spelled "playes." See Hugh Holland's in- troductory verses to the 1623 Folio : "His days are done that made the dainty Playes." And Heminge and Condell, in their dedication to the First Folio, speak of "the humble offer of his playes to your most noble patronage." We turn now to the same dash, on the second line, in the middle of the word "Enclo — Ased (HE.Re") ; and starting from the dash and going towards the end of the line, we have "Ased H," which is baaab, the cipher letter S. We used this for the first letter of the word "Speare;" but as it signifies S from either end, we can use it again. We have now the words : THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYES. But even this is not the end of this wonderful piece of work. THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 59 CHAPTER XII. The Words "THE" and "AN D." We have found that the first fifteen letters of the in- scription on the tomb-stone were resolvable into the cipher letters S A E ; and that these, with the first two derived from the ten letters starting from the dash T — E on the second line, made the word SHAKE. We also noticed that the five letters after those which made the E, represented the cipher letter H. Thus : , Good F]rend f|or Jes|us SAK|E forb|eare baaa b|aaaa a|aa baa|aa bbb|b aaaa| S A E H R or B Now we cannoti- tell why the cryptographer stopped when he reached thte third letter on the first line, E ; un- less it was that the number of cipher letters, (three), de- rivable from the first line was controlled by the fact that only two letters (H and K) were derivable from that part of the second line anterior to the dash in "T — E," moving backward, as the other moved forward. But it is sufficient that, being master of his own work, he did so. But there stands the fouith cipher letter on the first line, H. 60 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. As S A E made S H A K E, by the interjection of the two letters H and K from the second line, between them, it follows that H, which here stands alone, is probably preceded and followed by two other letters, which con- stitute with it a word or part of a word. When we worked out the letter K which followed the first S, on the first line, we obtained it by taking the first two letters of the second line, "To," and using tljem in reversed order, making "a b," and filling out the three letters that are lacking to make the group of five, from the first line : "Goo ;" also in reversed order, which made "a a b." Now let us reverse this process and take the first three letters of the second line, "To d," which are equal, moving in the reversed order, to "b a a," and complete the group of five by taking the two first letters of the first line "Go," which are equal to "ba." Adding these to the baa, and we have b a a b a, which is the cipher sign for T. And note how cunningly this thing is contrived: the ab aab is the symbol for K, while ba aba, which is the K sign reversed, is T. And thus the same letters give us the K of SHAKE and the T of THE. Because when we place the T before that fourth sign on the first line we have T H ; and when we take up the work where we left off, to get the T, that is with "Go," we find that the next five letters of the text are "od Fre" (Good Frend), which stands for aabaa, and that is the equivalent of E, and that gives us T H E ; and that placed before the words we have just worked out gives us : THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYES. THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 61 We have been hitherto working upon the first line ifom the left to the right. Let us reverse the process and begin at the end of the line and go towards the be- ginning. We then have Good Frend for Je sus SA KE for baa baaa aaaba aaa bb bb aaa RorB C or I D D bearej a a aaa A If we take the two last letters and insert an N between them we have the word AND. This N ought to come from the second line, and, as we seem to have exhausted all possible combinations preceding the dash, on that line, (in the combination "T — E,") let us try it from the other side of the dash. We have already found, in the case of the cipher let- ter L in PLAYES, that the dash is not only a mark of punctuation, but a mark of elision as well; and repre- sents the absent letter h. Let us apply the same rule to "T — E . Dust," on the second line, t^hat we did to "T — Es Stones" on the third Hne. The result is, we will have " — h E Dust" ; this gives us abb a a, which is the cipher letter for N; and this, with the A and D at the end of the first line, gives us the word AND. Then it follows that reference is made in this cipher inscription not only to "the Shakespeare Plays," but to something else. What is it? 62 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. CHAPTER XIII. "Robert Greene." We have just found that the first five letters of the cipher inscription, to the right of the dash, in "T — E," on the second line, inserting an h in the "T — E," were "— hE Dus" and that placing a b under the capitals and an a under the other letters gave us "abba a" which is the cipher letter N, and was used to make the word AND. But if we reverse this, we have "a a b b a," and if we turn to the Bacon alphabet, we find this stands for G. So that the symbol which is N, read from left to right, is G read from right to left. There is a fragment of the text running from the dash in "T — E," on the second line, to the dash in the middle of the word "Enclo — Ased" on the same line ; and those five letters, which precede the last named dash, "En- clo — ," give us the symbol "b a a a a/' which is the cipher letter R. THE CIPHER ON THE TOMb'sTONE. o dIGG T(h)E Du St Enc|lo-Ase dHEK a aabb babba aabaa aabaa abbba D YorO E E P If we will now commence at tlie end of the second ' line, and divide the text into groups of five letters each, we will have: T b In these two E's we have the third and fourth letters of the word GREENE. And returning again to the dash in "T— E," on the second line, we have : — h E Dus which is equivalent to abbaa, which is the symbol for N; which gives us GREEN. And as aabaa is E from either end, we take again the E which gave us the fourth cipher letter of GREEN, and reading it in reverse order we have the full name of GREENE. No suggestion has ever been made, before this dis- covery, that Francis Bacon had anything to do with the plays which go by the name of Robert Greene. Greene was born at Ipswich, in 1560; one year before Francis Bacon saw the light in London. Both were students at the University of Cambridge, and probably at the same time. Bacon left there in 1575, and Greene took his degree in 1578; when he was entered there we do not know. Bacon traveled in Europe from about 1576 until the death of his father in 1579. In 1578 Greene was also traveling abroad. ■ Greene returned, ruined by the dissipations he had learned upon the continent ; and thereafter earned a precarious living by his pen, around the play-houses, 64 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. writing novels and plays. He died in great poverty and degradation in 1592, the very year in which, on March 3, appeared, according to Halliwell Phillipps, the first "Shakespeare play;" and one year before Christopher Marlowe passed away, slain in a drunken brawl. Shaks- pere and Greene are connected by the fact that the "Winter's Tale" of the former is simply an amplified, poetical copy of Greene's prose novel, "Pandosta;" the identity descending even to the minutest details. The geographical blunder, so often referred to, in "The Winter's Tale," of giving Bohemia a sea-coast, is taken from "Pandosta." It is somewhat remarkable that a dramatist, like Shaks- pere, should make a play out of a novel, written by an- other man, his contemporary, so popular that it had passed through fourteen editions during the life of its author. We could not imagine Rudyard Kipling re-writ- ing and enlarging "She." But if the writings of both Greene and Shakspere emanated from the brain of a third party, that party would feel free to work over his own material as often as he pleased. Among Greene's writings were "The History of Or- lando Furioso," which has been described as "a stepping stone to Lear and Hamlet;" and "Alphonsus — King of Arragon," which is very much in the style of Marlowe. There was also "The History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay;" which the Encyclopaedia Britannica refers to as "a comedy brimful of amusing action and genial fun, and at the same time containing a domestic love story of unsurpassed freshness and brightness." The intellectual activity of Francis Bacon began at an early age. At sixteen he was speculating on the laws THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 65 of the imagination; and yet when the first Shakespeare play appeared in 1592, he was thirty-one years of age. What was he doing during the intervening fifteen years ? I have shown in the "Great Cryptogram," p. 939, that he had, prior to 1592, produced a whole body of writ- ings, as extensive as the Shakespeare plays themselves. The cipher on the tomb-stone tells us that we are to add to the catalogue there given the writings of Robert Greene. 66 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. CHAPTER XIV. "Christopher Marlowe." We have seen how that curious Httle fragment of the text; on the second Hne, beginning with a period and ending with a period, thus : "Enclo— Ased HE.Re.", plays an important part, altogether out of proportion to its brevity. And we must expect that the cunning in- tellect which designed it would utilize it backward and forward, from left to right, and from right to left, — and in all possible shapes and methods. We have already seen the important part which ".Re." performed in the production of the word PLAYES; but we have not yet reached the limit of its possibilities. Suppose we begin at the period, at the front of that baby fragment of a cipher ".Re.", and put, as usual, a h under the "R" and an a under the terminal "e", and move backward toward the beginning of the line, the second line; then we have "ab." Where are the other three letters necessary to make a cipher letter? Having begun at the last period, let us start again from the THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 67 period at the beginning of "Re" and again put a b under the two capital letters "HE.", and an a under the "d" which is the last letter of the word "Enclo — Ased ;" and we have the formula "a b a bb," which is the cipher symbol for the letter M. And this, we will find, is the first letter of the name Marlowe, to whom Ben Jonson refers, when he says in the introductory verses to the First FoHo (1623), "And tell how farre thou -didst our Lily outshine. Or sporting Kid, or Marlowe's mighty line." We saw how the cipher moved in other instances, from the first to the second, and from the second to the third line. Having commenced with the period between "H E" and "Re," it is the same, for the purposes of the Cipher, as if we had begun at the beginning of the second line, or at the dash in the word "Enclo — Ased." Hence we go to the end of the third line, where we find the word "Stones"; and as there are no capitals in the first five" letters, "tones," we place an a under each letter, and we have "a a a a a," which is the cipher letter A. And this is the second letter of the word MARLOWE.. We come back to the end of the second line again. We began with the period in the middle of "HE.Re." What is the boundary which limits that fragment at the left end? It is the dash in the middle of the word "Enclo — Ased." Starting from that dash and moving towards the beginning of the line,' we have the letters : "Enclo." 68 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. place a b under the capital E and an a under th? other four letters, and we have "b aaaa," which is the symbol for R, the third letter of the word MARLOWE. We come again to the same symbol which gave us the L in PLAYES, which in the cipher is ababa, and which is so constructed that it gives us the same letter from front to rear and from rear to front. It is found in the third line. Let us explain: The A for the second letter of Marlowe came, we saw, from the last five letters of "Stones," at the end of the third line. The boundary stone of that fragment is the dash in the word "T — Es," on the same line. If we will take the words "T — Es Stones," and, as we did before, place an a for the suppressed letter h between T — E; and then, as usual, put as under the smaller let- ters, and b's under the capitals, we shall have — a b a b a ; — which is L; the fourth letter of "Marlowe." We return again to the end of the second line, to that same "baby fragment," ".Re.", which is equivalent to the cipher signs "b a." We used it to obtain the first two letters of the cipher letter M, and part of the letter P in PLAYES, but now we reverse it and com- mence at the end of the line, and we have "a b," which brings us to the period in the middle of the word "HE.Re'' ; and, therefore, taking the three letters pre- ceding that period, we have "dHE." ; place an a under the d and two b's under "the H E and we have abb add to this the a b already obtained and we have the THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 69 combination abbab, which is the cipher symbol for O, the fifth letter of the word MARLOWE. And see how cunningly this is contrived : abbba is P, read from either end ; babba is Y, and abbab is O ; and all of them are deducible from that combination "dHE.Re." ; but part of them depend for their existence upon that period in the middle of the "HE.Re." For if the last letter e had been like the rest, a capital letter, and the word had been "HERE," these various cipher letters would not have been possible. We return once more from the second to the third line, and here we note the meaning of the fact that while the dash in "T — E," in the second line, is disconnected from either the T or the E, and does not touch either, the two dashes on the third line extend in a wedge-like or cuneiform figure from the T to the E, thus : "T — ^E" and "T — Es." This I interpret to mean that the suppressed h, be- tween the t and the e, may either be represented by an a, as we have done to obtain the letter L; or that the wedge-like band of union can be understood to tie the T and the E together to the exclusion of the h. In a complicated cipher like this the smallest details have their meaning, and must be taken into consideration. In the first part of King Henry Fourth, Act i, Sc. 3, there will be found on page 52, of the First Folio (His- tories), about the middle of the page, a very long dash, at the end of a speech of Hotspurre. I thought at first it was an accident; but I afterwards discovered that it was necessary to the cipher narrative; and took the place of a subdivision of the text by stage directions, 70 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. of which there are nOne on that page. In the same way in Second Henry IV, Act i, So. 3rd of the First Folio, page "j^, Column i, there are two instances where the text is broken into by one-half of a bracket mark, while there is no corresponding or supplemental bracket mark to accompany it. The Chief Justice says : (you," "Well, heaven mend him, I pray let me speak with As it is thus printed in the Folio, the "you" being carried to the line above, the bracket mark appears to be very natural, But my studies show tha* it is part of the mechanism of the cipher. A little further along, on the same column and page, we have a clearer instance of the same kind. Falstaff says: "Very well (my Lord) very well : rather an't please you) it is the disease of not Listning, the malady of not Marking, that I am troubled withall." Here we would naturally conclude that, by an error of the compositor, the bracket mark between "rather" and "an't" had been dropped, and that the Hne read: "Very well (my Lord) very well: rather (an't please you) it is the disease," etc. But I shall demonstrate hereafter that these appar- ent errors are a necessary part of the cipher, and that this half bracket mark is as necessary a point of de- ■ parture as the beginning or end of a page or column. In such a work as we are engaged upon there are no typographical blunders ; and nothing is so minute that THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 71 it should not be taken into account. Everything is in- tended and everything has a meaning. If, then, we again turn to the third line and begin at the E in "T — Es" and go forward, we will have "Es Sto," and placing a h under the large letters and an a under the small ones, we have hdbaa, which constitutes the cipher symbol W;— the sixth letter of MARLOWE. We return again to the second line and commence where the combination "dHE.Re." left ofif, which gave us M, P, etc., and we find that the preceding letters are "lo — Ase" (Enclo — ^Ased HE.Re."), and placing a h under the capital letter A and a's under the others, we have "di.2iha2^," which is the cipher letter E; and the last or seventh letter of MARLOWE. I need not say to students of the Bacon-Shakespeare question that it has long been believed by many of them that Christopher Marlowe was an early mask of Francis Bacon. There are many reasons for this. Christopher Marlowe, or Marlin, as the name was often written, was born in Canterbury, two months be- fore Shakspere saw the light in Stratford. He, like Bacon and Greene, was a student at Cambridge. He was a drunken, licentious, depraved creature, and was "stabbed to death by a bawdy serving man rival of his, in his lewd love," June i, 1593, when he was in hiding for blasphemy, in his 29th year! And yet, with such a record, the Encyclopaedia Britannica says : "He is the greatest discoverer, the most daring and inspired pioneer, in all our poetic literature. Before him there was neither genuine blank verse, nor a genuine tragedy in our language. After his arrival the way was 72 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. prepared, the paths were made straight for Shake- speare." Marlowe was slain June i, 1593, and the first Shake- speare Play, Henry VI., appeared March 3, 1592; and yet there are high authorities who claim that part or all of Henry VI. was written by Marlowe! Swinburne finds that the opening lines of the second part of Henry VI. are aiit Christophnrus Marlowe aut diabolus. The Encyclopaedia Britannica thinks the "Contention between the two famous Houses of York and Lancaster," usu- ally attributed to Shakespeare, was written by Marlowe ; and Halliwell Phillipps finds striking coincidences be- tween Marlowe's Edward II. and the Contention; and a line from the Jew of Malta, of Marlowe, reappears in the Third Part of Henry VI., attributed to Shakespeare. Marlowe says in his Doctor Faustus, speaking of Helen of Troy : "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships. And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?" While Shakespeare ( ?) says in Troilus and Cressida, (11, 2), speaking also of the same Helen of Troy: "She is a pearl, Whose price hath launched above a thousand ships, And turned crownded kings to merchants." The Encyclopaedia Britannica says of Marlowe's Doc- tor Faustus : "Few masterpieces of any age, in any language, can stand beside this tragic poem, for the qualities of terror and splendor, for intensity of purpose and sublimity of note," THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 73 Hazlitt pronounces one scene in Marlowe's Edward II. certainly superior to a parallel scene in Shakespeare's Richard II. There has been but one so-called "Shakespeare" in the five or ten thousand years of the recorded history of the human race; and yet we are asked to believe that two of them were born in England, in 1564, within two months of each other; and but for the knife of "a bawdy servingman" Marlowe would have developed as mighty a genius as that of Shakspere ! Is it not more reasonable to suppose, as stated on the tomb-stone, that both were but masks of the greatest intellect that ever dwelt on the planet — Francis Bacon ? 74 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. CHAPTER XV. "Bacon." We have now got the words : THE GREENE, MARLOWE and SHAKESPEARE PLAYES ; clearly expressed, in the very cipher of Francis Bacon, as set forth in his great work, the De Augmentis, on the grave-stone of the play-actor of Stratford, William Shakspere. But what about them? What is the statement which that curious inscription was put there to declare to the world, when the world was ready to interpret it? Let us go a little farther. We repeat the last two lines of the inscription: T "Blese be T — E Man Y spares T — Es Stones T And curst be He Y moves my Bones." As we saw SHAKE and other words resulting from the application of the Bacon cipher, alternately to the first and second lines of the inscription, let us see what the third and fourth lines will yield us, confining our- THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 75 selves to that portion of the fourth Hne after the com- T pound sign Y, and beginning at the end of the 3d line. Suppose we draw a line between the Y and T on the I ""^ fourth line, thus Y|, and make that a starting point — like the dashes and periods, already considered. We then have to the right of the line, "T move," and if we place a b under the T and an a under each of the other letters, we have "baaaa," which, proceeding from left to right, is the cipher letter R; but proceeding from right to left it is the cipher letter B : — the first letter of the word BACON. We will learn hereafter some- thing about the alternate manner in which these signs are to be read. As the letter B came from the beginning of the frag- ment to the right of the dividing line between the sign T "Y", on the fourth line, the next letter, which is A, should come from the end of the third line. We turn to the end of the third line and there we have it: — "S|tones." Place an a under each of these five letters, "tones," — and we have "aaaaa," the cipher symbol for A, already used once; but which is A, read from either end. We return to the fourth line. We saw that B, the first letter of Bacon, came from "T move." The next letters are "s my Bo|nes." Place an a under the small letters "s m y and 0," and a b under the capital letter B, and we have : aaaba. 76 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. We turn to the alphabet, in the De Augmentis, and we find this stands for the letter C, the third letter of the word "Bacon.' Now we found we obtained the second letter of Bacon, a, from the letters "tones," the conclusion of the word "Stones." Let us proceed towards the left again. What are the next five letters of the inscription ? They are : "s T— Es S" in the sentence : T "Y spares T — Es Stones" Place a b under the large letters and an a under the others, and the five letters "s T — Es S" will give us abbab, which constitutes the cipher letter O, the fovirth letter of the word BACON. The last letter having been found on the third line, the next must be found on the fourth line. But as we had exhausted all the combinations of five letters each when we reached "BO," and there are but three letters left "nes" and ive are at the end of the inscription, and can carry it no farther; we are constrained to move to the left, away from the end, and so we take the third group of letters from the end, which is "e Y mo." This becomes "abbaa," which is the symbol for N, the last letter of BACON. Here the letters B A C O face each other in complete and perfect alternation, of lin? with line; and the last THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 77 letter N is only thrown out of the regular order of suc- cession because we have so nearly reached the end of the inscription, that we can go no farther in that direction. The word BACON is found, like a signature, in the lower right hand corner of the inscription on Shakespere's tomb-stone! ; ,. 78 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. CHAPTER XVI. "Francis." Having found "BACON" in the right-hand lower cor- ner, let us see what is in the lower left hand corner of the inscription. T We again begin at that sign "Y." on the fourth line. We again draw a line between the two capitals, thus : Y| The first five letters to the left of that dividing line are : "be He Y". Place b's under the capitals and a's under the other letters and we have aahab — which is the sympol of F, — the first letter of the word "Francis." As this was found on the fourth line and at the end of the subdivision, we turn to the beginning of the third- line ; and we find "Blese." Place a b under the capital B and a's under the other letters, and we have baaaa — which is the symbol for R, the second letter of "Francis." THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 79 We return to the fourth Hne and continue, to the left, from where we left off, when we obtained F, to wit : "be He Y ;" tjie preceding letters are "curst." There are no capitals here, and we place an a under each letter and we have aaaaa, which stands for A ; the third letter of "Fran- cis." As F came from the 4th line, beginning at the divid- T ing line between Y and T, in "Y," and R from the be- ginning of the 3d line, and A commences on the 4th line where the F left off, we should expect N to begin where R left off, that is on the 3d line. R came from the word "Blese." The next letters after "Blese" are "be T — E." The wedge-shaped hyphen shows that the dash in "T — E" can be treated as a mark of elision, or as an evidence that the letters are solidly united; hence we have aabb. We need one more letter to make the five necessary to constitute a cipher letter. We have ex- hausted that part of the third line which precedes the sign "T — E." We go again, therefore, to the fourth line, and take the letter preceiding where the A, ("curst") left off, which is the letter d, the last letter of the word "And." This is not a capital letter and so we add an- other a to the aabb already obtained, and we have aabba, which, read ffom the right to the left, becomes abbaa, the symbol for N, — the fourth letter of "Francis." We have now exhausted all of that part of the fourth T line preceding the sign Y, except the two letters "An" at the beginning of the line. We put these down as "ba." We need three more letters. We go to the end of the first subdivision of the 3d line "Blese" and take the 80 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. last letters "ese" ; put an a under each of these, and place them before the "ba," just obtained, and we have aaaba, which is the cipher C, — the fifth letter of the word "Francis." There being nothing left for us on the fourth line, and nothing in that subdivision on the third line, except the letters "Bl" of "Blese," we set them down, in reverse order, thus "ab"; and then return upon the line and take the letters "les" of "Blese," and, as they are all small let- ters we put an a under each and add them to the ab, al- ready obtained, and we have abaaa, which is the cipher sign for I, the sixth letter of "Francis." Having exhausted the capabilities of that left-hand corner of the 3d and 4th line, we ascend to the second line, and take the first five letters, which are : "To diGG." We place a b under T and G and an a under the other letters, and we have — "baaab;" which is the cipher sym- bol for S,— the last letter of FRANCIS. We had not before used this S. And so we find that the third and fourth lines produce the words : — FRANCIS BACON; "Francis" from the left-hand corner and "Bacon" from the right-hand corner. THE CU'HEK ON TUB TOMBSTONE, 81 CHAPTER XVII. "Wrote." If the reader will observe closely he will note that on the third and fourth lines, about the middle of each line, T there is the sign Y, which is the sign of "that" This can be either regarded as a compound letter, and mark of division ; or it can be reduced to its elements and treated as "That." We shall see that it is used in both ways : We commence with it on the fourth line as a compound T sign, "Y;" and, — as we did before, — we draw a hne be- tween the Y and T, thus : Y\_ Now let us begin on the left of that division line and we have "be He Y." We place a b under the capitals and an a under the other letters, and we have: "aabab;" which, read in the reversed order is "babaa." These let« e 82 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. ters gave us the F which is the first letter of Francis ; for "aabab" is F and "babaa" is W. Now let us take the five letters to the right of that di- viding line and we have |T_ Yl move; and placing a b under the T and an a under the other letters and we have "baaaa," which is the cipher symbol for R, — which gave us, reversed, also the B of Bacon. T Now let us treat the "Y" as a compound sign, and take two letters to the left of the Y, and two letters to the T right of it, and we have "He Ym ;" which is equivalent to "babba" which, read in the reversed order, gives us "abbab," which is the cipher letter O. . T Let us now resolve the sign Y into its elements and we have "ThaTm," which is the equivalent of "baaba," and that is the cipher letter T. We took two letters preceding Y and two letters suc- ceeding it and obtained the letter O. Let us now take the two letters preceding T and the two letters succeed- ing it, and we have "haTmo ;" which becomes aabaa — the cipher letter E. We thus have : — WROTE. T And all of it evolved out of that symbol "Y," in the middle of the fourth line ! THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 83 We have therefore worked out of the four lines of the inscription the words: FRANCIS BACON WROTE THE GREENE, MAR- LOWE AND SHAKESPEARE PLAYES. There is a rule governing the interpretation of the cipher combinations as to whether they shall be read from front to rear or from reai* to front ; but it is diffi- cult to follow it because so many of the signs are the same read from either end. The rule seems to be that those which count from the beginnings of the subdivi- sions of the inscription, alternate with each other; and those from the ends of the subdivisions also alternate with each other; and thus there is a double but distinct alternation. The cipher in the Plays is constructed upon a somewhat similar plan. 84 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. CHAPTER XVIII. Some Considerations. We do not think any person, however sceptical or crit- ical he may be, will deny that Francis Bacon's cipher was used in the inscription, which at, or soon after the time of Shakespere's death, was carved upon a stone and placed over his mortal remains. This alone is a most important and pregnant fact. It must be remembered that on the surface of things there did not appear to have been the slightest connec- tion, during their lives, between the philosopher and statesman of Saint Albans and the play-actor of Strat- ford. There are no prose writings that are attributed to Shakspere. In all the world there is no scrap of manu- script belonging to him, — except four rude signatures, — three of which are attached to his will. And yet the British Museum contains probably tons of manuscripts of that era, including letters of Francis Bacon, and his "Promus," or scrap book of suggestions and quotations, and even the book of memoranda of his legal and other engagements. It is needless to say that, so far as we know, Shakspere never alluded, in writing, to Francis Bacon, or to any one else among his contemporaries. It THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 85 is also clear that the voluminous compositions of Bacon do not mention the name of Shakspere ; and although they contain innumerable quotations from the poets, ancient and modern, nothing was taken from those plays which are now and must always continue to be the wonder of the world. Shakspere's grave was more than sixty miles distant from St. Albans, in the midst of a filthy little, straw- thatched town of fifteen hvmdred inhabitants; and sur- rounded by roads that were almost impassable to the few wheeled vehicles in existence at that time. And yet we find here a stone which unquestionably contains a cipher invented by Francis Bacon in his youth, in Paris ; which is subsequently published iti one of his philosor phical works. Apart from the statement, made by the secret writ- ing of the inscription, which we have been considering, the mere fact that Francis Bacon's cipher is found on Shakspere's tomb-stone, proves that there was some hidden and mysterious connection between the two men, which did not appear on the surface of their lives. It will be impossible to find any other inscription, of that age, which contains such an "uncouth mixture" of large and small letters: a mixture, too, which violates reason and all the proprieties ; as when the name of "Je- sus" is given in small letters, and the next word "Sake" is presented in capitals. It was not the custom of that age, as I have shown, to spell "enclosed" "encloased"; and it certainly never was the custom of that or any other age to divide it in the middle by a hyphen and give the next letter as a capital! Illiteracy on the part of a carver of tomb-stones, might make the size of the 86 THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTON)?. letters irregular, but it certainly would not intersperse dashes and periods in the middle of words where they were not needed ; and laboriously carve them into a stone. There is no parallel for that word "HE.Re." But there could be a great mixture of large and small letters which, when divided, as the cipher rule requires, into groups of five letters each, would not give a single one of the cipher letters, as set forth in the De Augmen- tis. For instance, not one of those letters -begins with two or three b's, or capital letters; and yet in any acci- dental jumble of large and small letters it could not but happen that there would be some groups, of five letters, which would begin with two or three capitals. For in- stance if the letters "SAKE f" was one of the groups of five, it would give us "bbbba" which would not be the equivalent of any of the cipher letters. Not only does the inscription, when divided into groups of five, give us the Baconian cipher alphabet, but it gives us every letter of it ! And there is no waste ma- terial left over! And it will be observed that in working out the sen- tence: "Francis Bacon wrote the Greene, Marlowe and Shakespeare Playes," we have made no leaps from one part of the inscription to another. There are no jumps, for instance, from the first line to the fourth, or from , the fourth to the first. The cipher words are in contin- uous groups. The upper left-hand corner gives us THE and SHAKE ; the upper right-hand corner gives us SPEARE and AND. The middle subdivision of the second line gives us GREENE ; and it is a curious fact that only on this second line are two E's found standing together, just THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 87 as they stand together in the word "Greene." The word PLAYES comes from the end of the second Hne, starting from that subdivision formed by the two periods at the end and in the middle of the word "HE.Re.", and bend- ing back, or overflowing, upon the end of the third line. And from the same points of departure, and going over the same ground, and using the same letters, (they being some of those capable of being used from right to left or from left to right,) we have the word MARLOWE. This seems to have exhausted the upper two lines from the starting points we have used; and we come to the third and fourth lines. These are simpler and plainer in construction. There is nothing like the "Enclo-Ased" or the "HE.Re." in them ; and there being therefore few- er starting points there is less of the cipher. We find therefore that the lower left-hand corner contains the word FRANCIS; while the lower right-hand corner T contains the word Bx\CON; and a single sign "(Y)" cov- ers, very curiously, the word WROTE. It may be asked whether these words are all that are contained under the cover of the inscription on the tomb- stone? We do not think they are. An alteration of a point of departure might produce an entirely new set of cipher symbols. We seem to perceive evidences of much more than we have worked out : — including a claim to the authorship of a great Spanish work, which has hith- erto not been in anywise associated with the name of Francis Bacon. Neither should we be surprised if there were anagrams, depending upon arithmetical relationships, between the letters themselves, and not based on a bi-literal cipher. 88 THR CIPHER OK THE TOMBSTONE. In this way we account for the fact that the first word of the third line of the inscription is "Blese" instead of "Blest." There can be no accidental errors in such a rare and curious piece of work as this is ; and the substi- tution therefore of an e for a f has a meaning and a pur- pose ; just as the spelling of "Frend" for "Friend" in the first line was necessary for the working out of the bi-lit- eral cipher. Mr. Isaac Hull Piatt, of Lakewood, New Jersey, has recently published an interesting essay, entitled: — "Are the Shakespeare Plays signed by Francis Bacon?" He attempts to show that that remarkable word, which ap- pears in Love's Labor Lost, (IV.I) : — "honorificabilitud- initatitus," is an enlargement or modification of the word "Honorificabilitudino," which occurs in the Northum- berland manuscript, in connection with the words "Fran- cis Bacon" and "William Shakespeare;" and he claims that the latter form contains the anagram : — ''Initia hi Itidi Fr. Bacono" : — "these plays {are) in the inception, Francis Bacon's." And in this connection he calls atten- tion to the following passage in the same Act and scene of "Love's Labour's Lost" : — "Moth. Peace 1 the peal begins. Arm. Monsieur, are you lettered ? Moth. Yes, yes, he teaches boys the horn book. What is a & spelt backward, with the horn on his head? Hoi. Ba, pueritia, with a horn added." Mr. Piatt thinks he finds in this "ba with a horn," ba cornu, which, he says, will pass for a pun on the word "Bacon." THE CIPHER ON THE TOMBSTONE. 89 It was an age of ciphers and anagrams. All the for- eign correspondence of states was carried on in the for- mer, and even astronomers did not disdain to use the lat- ter. Galileo, it will be remembered, put forth some of his wonderful telescopic discoveries in anagrams, (to fore- stall those who might attempt to steal his honors,) until he was ready to make full announcement of them, in their proved details. BOOK TWO. THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. 93 CHAPTER XIX. The Sonnets. The cipher being real it follows, it seems to me, as a matter of course, that a deposit exists somewhere in the world, in which are hidden the original manuscripts of the plays, and the other works of Bacon ; with the internal cipher narrative in each fairly written out; and a vast mass of other matters, throwing light upon the inner history of the reigns of King Henry VIH., King Edward, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and King James I. In Bacon's Natural History, (Cent. VIII, sec. 771) we read : "I remember Livy doth relate, that there were found at a time two coffins of lead in a tomb ; whereof the one con- tained the body of King Numa, it being some four hun- dred years after his death; and the other, his books of sacred rites and ceremonies, and the discipline of the pontiffs; and that in the coffin that had the body, there, was nothing at all to be seen, but a little light cinders around the sides, but in the coffin that had the books, they were found as fresh as if they had been but newly written, being written on parchment, and covered over with watch-candles of wax, three or four-fold." There is little in Bacon's writings which has not col- lateral meanings; and I therefore take this to be a hint 94 THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. as to the means whereby the original books and manu- scripts are to be preserved until that day has arrived when they could be safely published; and be safe from that "malignity of sects" which he so much dreaded, and of which his own age afforded such terrible examples. It seems to me that when the deposit is discovered, the priceless documents will be found imbedded in bees' wax like Numa's parchments, and as fresh and fair as the day they were deposited. There are a multitude of hints in the Plays and Son- nets of Shakespeare all pointing to a time when a revela- tion shall be made and justice done to the great poet and philosopher. The Sonnets have long been a source of perplexity to the critics. They are full of mysteries. Several books and pamphlets have been written recently to show that many of them are addressed to his own genius — his inner spirit — his poetical gift — his muse. "One of these men is genius to the other." (Cora. Ers. V. L.) It is my belief they are full of a "word cipher," and that in them reference is made to his own name "Bacon" and the name of "Shakespeare." We have (Sonnet CXXXVII.) "If eyes, corrupt by over-partial looks. Be anchored in the bay where all men ride." This gives us the first syllable of "Bacon." The last syllable is found in Sonnet CVII : "Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul Of the wide world, dreaming on things to come, Can yet the lease of my true love control." THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. 95 The a in "can" had, at that time, and even yet in Eng- land, the broad EngHsh sound of o in "con." In Sonnet CXXXV we have : "Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy will, And will to boot, and will in overplus ; More than enough am I that vext thee still. To thy sweet will making addition thus. Wilt thou, whose will is large and spacious. Not once vouchsafe to hide my zvill in thine? Shall will in others seem right gracious, And in my will no fair acceptance shine ? The sea, all water, yet receives rain still, And in abundance addeth to his store ; And thou being rich in will, add to thy will One will of mine to make thy large will more. Let no unkind, no fair beseechers kill; Think all but one, and me in that one "Will." The next Sonnet, (CXXXVI,) is as follows: "If thy soul check tljee that I come so near, Swear to thy blind soul that I was thy Will, And will, thy soul knows is admitted there ; Thus far for love, my love-suit, sweet, fulfill. Will will fulfill the treasure of thy love. Ay, fill it full vi^ith wills, and my will one. In things of great receipt with ease we prove ; Among a number one is reckoned none. Then in the number let me pass untold, ' Though in thy store's account I one must be. For nothing hold me, so it please thee hold That nothing me, a something sweet to thee ; Make but my name thy love that still And then thou lovest me — for my name is Will," 96 THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. This recurrence of the word Will reminds me of the scene in Act IV, sc. i of the "Merry Wives of Windsor," as it appears in the First FoHo, (Comedies, p. 53) : "Evans. Come hither, William; hold up your head; come. Mist. Page. Come on, Sirha ; hold up your head ; an- swere your Master, be not afraid. Ev. William, how many Numbers in Nownes? William. Two. Dame Quickley. Truely, I thought there had bin one Number more, because they say od's-Nownes. Ev. Peace, your tatlings. What is (Faire) Wil- liam? Will. Pulcher. Quick. Powlcats.? There are fairer things than Powlcats, sure. E7/. You are a very simplicity o' man; I pray you peace. W'hat is (Lapis) William? Will. A stone. Ev. And what is a stone (William?) Will. A Peeble. Ev. No; it is Lapis; I pray you remember in your praine. Will. Lapis. Eca. That is a good William; what is he (William) that does lend articles? Will. Articles are borrowed of the Pronoune; and be thus declined. Singulariter nominativo hic,.hac, hoc. Eva. Nominativo hig, hag, hog; pray you marke: genitivo huius. Well ; what is youf /iccusatiyg-casG? Will. Accusative hinc. THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. 97 Eva. I pray you have your remembrance (childe) Accusativo king, hang, hog. Quickly. Hang-hog, is latten for Bacon I warrant you. Eva. Leave your prables (o' man) What is the Focative case (WilHam) ?" The play-writer used his bracketings and hyphenat- ings as recklessly as the periods and dashes are employed on the Shakspere tomb-stone. And so on to the end of the scene. This is on page 53, and on page 56 we have the word "shakes" : "and shakes a chain, In a most hideous and dreadful manner." And on page 54 we have "peere" — "crying peere-ont, peere-out;" and thus we have "William Shakespeere," on three pages of the First Folio. And on the same page (53) where all these "Williams" appear, we have the word "Bacon " and on page 51 the word France occurs, which, with the word is gives us France-is Bacon. And on page 53 of the Comedies, in the First Folio, we find the word "Bacon" ; and on page 53 of the Histories^ in same, we again find the word "Bacon;'' and in each case "Bacon" stands on the page at the number produced by multiplying the number of the page by the number of the italicized words on the first column of the page, in the one case less the bracketed words and in the other case counting the double words like "High-ho," as one word each! And in the same way that, near this repetition of the word "William," in the Merry Wives, we found the 'jS t*he cipher in the sonnets. words shakes and peere, so in the sonnets where Will oc- curs so often, we have the words Shake and spheres, thus : "And each, though enemies of cither's reign, Do in consent shake hands to torture me." Sonnet XXVIII. "How have mine eyes out of their spheres been fitted, In the distraction of this madding fever." Sonnet XVIX. And again: "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May." Sonnet XVIII. "Then should I spur, though mounted on the wind." Sonnet LI. "I'hat time of year thou mays't in me behold When yellow leaves, or few or none do hang Upon those boughs that shake against the cold. Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang." Sonnet LXXIII. When we turn to the "Lover's Complaint" which was published with the Sonnets, in both the 1609 and the 1640 editions, we find these lines : "Sometimes her levelled eyes their carriage ride. As they did battery to the spheres intend." I would suggest that the sceptical take some of the poems of the present age and see in how many of them they can find the words shake and spheres and shake and spur. THE CIPHER IN THE SOKNETS. 99 There were 21,000 words in the Shakespeare vocabu- lary, and all words do not occur in all writings! And there are some in the Dictionary that are not used in cur- rent literature probably once in a century ! I found the word Jack employed in the Plays to repre- sent the first syllable of the play-actor's name, which, as the signatures to his will show was not Shakespeare, but Shak-spere; and the same thing occurs in the Sonnets : "Do I envy those jacks, that nimble leap To kiss the tender inward of thy hand." ' Sonnet CXXVIII. The word occurs twice in this sonnet. "The bloody spur cannot provoke him on That sometimes anger thrusts into his hide." Sonnet L. I think I even find the name of Bacon's home. Saint Albans, in the Sonnets, cunningly disguised as "Saint All-bonds ;" thus : "Tempteth my better angel from my side. And would corrupt my saint to be a devil. Sonnet CXLIV. "Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st so long To speak of that which gives thee all thy might ?" Sonnet C. "The charter of thy worth gives thee releasing; My bonds in thee are all determinate." Sonnet LXXXVII. 100 THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. In fact we can even obtain glimpses of what the cipher story in the Sonnets refers to. If the reader will turn to Sonnet CXXXIII and CXXXIV, he will find that al- though there is in the text no reference to imprisonment for debt, (which Bacon underwent two or three times), yet we have in the short space of these two continuous sonnets, the following words' — confessed, — bond, — en- grossed, — mortgage, ■ — statute, — covetous, — usur- er, — bind, — surety, — three-fold-forfeit, — sue a friend — came debtor for my sake, — my friend — he pays the whole — prison, — steel — ward — guard, — gaol, — bail, — etc. It is certainly astonishing to find such a concatenation of significant words in two poems, of twenty-eight lines in all! When Francis Bacon was imprisoned for debt, by a Jew, the play of "Shylock" appeared the same year ; and Bacon was released by his brother Anthony going "surety" for him; and he was in the habit of lovingly alluding to Anthony as his "comforte," and in one of the two sonnets where most of these words are found (XXXIV.) we find these words: "Myself I'll forfeit, so that other mine Thou wilt restore, to be my comfort still." And here I would note a curiovis fact confirmatory of the theory that there is a cipher in the Sonnets. The Shakespeare, Plays were, many of them, first put forth in small quarto editions, with the cipher in them; but inasmuch as the cipher depended upon the pagination of a contemplated Folio, which was not published until after the death of Shakspere and .Queen Elizabeth and THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. 101 Cecil, it would have been impossible for the most acute decipherer, at t)ie instance of Bacon's enemies, to have worked out the inner story and brought his head to the block. In the same way we find that when the Sonnets were first published in 1609 they were in such an order that no amount of arithmetical work could have obtained a clue to the cipher rule. There appeared in 1599 a poem called "The Passionate Pilgrim," "by W. Shakespeare," containing a large num- ber of Sonnets; and in 1640 a new edition of the Sonnets was put forth, printed by Cotes, the printer of the 2nd Folio of the Plays, of which we shall learn more here- after, in which the whole arrangement of the Sonnets, in the first edition, was departed from, and eighteen of the Sonnets of the "Passionate Pilgrim" were interspersed among the originals in a very quaint and curious fash- ion, without coherence or apparent meaning. These, without doubt, dove-tailed into the others, so as to furnish the words which could not have been safely put forth in 1609. For instance I noticed, in reading the first edition, in Sonnet LIII these lines : "Describe Adonis and the counterfeit Is poorly imitated after you." Here — I said to myself — is a reference to the poem of "Venus and Adonis," "the first heir," it is alleged, of Shakspere's "invention. ' But I searched the 1609 edi- tion in vain for the word "Venus." When, however, I turned to the edition of 1640, there I found the IX Sonnet of the "Passionate Pilgrim," embedded with two others. 102 THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. between the 42d and 44th sonnets of the 1609 edition; and in it: "Venus with Adonis sitting by her, Under a myrtle shade began to woo him." I thought I also saw references, in the Sonnets, of the 1609 edition, to the fact that some deposit, like that of King Numa had been made, or was intended to be made, of papers, covered with the "wax of watch-candles," (the candles which were placed around the bier of the dead). We found in Sonnet LXI : "For thee watch I, whilst thou dost wake elsewhere From me far off, with others all too near." Here the rhythm is violated to get the word in, in a certain order. In Sonnet XXI we have : "And then, believe me, my love is as fair As any mother's child, though not as bright As those gold candles fixed in heaven's air." All this seems to be a struggle ; the thoughts and words being forced to get in the word "candles." But I searched in vain, until I turned to the edition of 1640, and there I found, in that which had been originally the 5th Sonnet of the "Passionate Pilgrim," these words : "Fair is my love, but not as fair as fickle ; Mild as a dove, but neither lyue nor trusty ; Brighter than glass, and yet, as glass is, brittle ; Softer than wax, and yet, as iron, rusty." Here we have "wax," (of) "watch candles." THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. 103 And we also find scattered among the Sonnets these lines : "If thou survive my well-contented day. When that churl. Death, my bones with dust shall cover." Sonnet XXXII. This gives us : Cover them with the wax of watch candles. "But things removed that hidden in thee lie ! Thou art the grave where buried love doth lie." Sonnet XXXI. "The age to come would say this poet lies, Such heavenly touches ne'er touched earthly faces So should my papers, yellowed with their age, Be scorned, like old men, of less truth than tongue." Sonnet XVII. "So is the time that keeps you, as my chest. Or as the wardrobe which the robe doth hide." Sonnet LII. "Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea. But sad mortality o'ersways their power, * * * O, how shall summer's honey-breath hold out Against the wreckful siege of battering days, When rocks impregnable are not so stout Nor gates of steel so strong but time decays ? O fearful meditation ! where, alack ! Shall Time's best jewel from Time's chest lie hid? Sonnet LXV. 104 THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. "My name be buried inhere my body is." Sonnet LXXII. "Why write I still all one, ever the same, And, keep invention in a noted weed, That every word doth almost tell my name, Showing their birth, and where they did proceed ?" Sonnet LXXVI. And note again those lines: (Sonnet LXXVI.) "Why write I still all one, ever the same, And keep invention in a noted weed;" and compare them with the language of Bacon's prayer, written at the time of his downfall : "The state and bread of the poor and oppressed have been precious in mine eyes ; I have hated all cruelty and hardness of heart; I have, though in a despised weed, procured the good of all men." In Sonnet XXXII we have : "Compare them with the bettering of the time." And again in Sonnet LXXXII : "Some fresher stamp of the time-bettering days." And Bacon says in his letter to King James, Oct. 19, 1620: "This work (the Novum Organum) is for the better- ing of men's bread and ivine." THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. 105 There is a very curious word : — "misprision." It is a law term. The lawyers speak of "misprision of trea- son" ; "misprision of felony." It means "a neglect or light account of treason, by not revealing it when one has a bare knowledge of it." It is a singular word to find in a sonnet — and especially in a sonnet written by. a play- actor, and not a lawyer. Yet here it is, dragged in, "neck and heels," in awkward fashion, and with it the word "treason." "Thyself thou gavest, thy own worth then not knowing. Or me, to whom thou gavest it, else mistaking; So thy great gift, upon misprision growing. Come home again, on better judgment making." Sonnet LXXXVII. If any one can make any sense of this it is more than I can do. But here is the complement of it : "Love is too young to know what conscience is ; Yet who knows not, conscience is born of love? Then gentle cheater, urge not my amiss, Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self prove. For thou betraying me, I do betray My nobler part to my gross body's treason." Sonnet CLI. Here we have the significant words : — guilty, mispris- ion, gross; treason, prove, betray, betraying, body's. And here, too, are other significant words : 106 THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. "Anon permit the basest clouds to ride With ugly rack on his celestial face." Sonnet XXXIII. The rack was an instrument of torture. And then we have : "Thine eyes I love and they, as pitying me, Knowing thy heart torments me with disdain." Sonnet CXXXII. Here the necessities of the cipher over-came the pro- prieties even of grammar. The word should be torment. And we find also the name of "Spencer" and "Dow- land" introduced in these seemingly impersonal love son- nets. They are imported into the 1640 edition from the "Passionate Pilgrim," Sonnet VI : "If music and sweet poetry agree, As they must needs, the sister and the brother, Then must the love be great 'twixt thee and me, Because thou lovest the one and I the other. Dowland to thee is dear, whose heavenly touch Upon the lute doth ravish human sense; Spencer to me, whose deep conceit is such. As, passing all conceit, needs no defence." We argued a little while ago that the cipher story re- ferred to Bacon's imprisonment for debt and his rescue by his brother, Anthony, who paid the claim. But in the 1609 edition the word "brother" did not appear. We sought for it in vain. It was a difficult word to introduce into a sonnet. But see how cunningly it is brought into THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. 107 the one just quoted, which became the twenty-sixth in the edition of 1640. His mother and father are alluded to in two or three of the sonnets. Queen Elizabeth is, I think, repeatedly referred to in the cipher stoty. The words : "her grace, graces, queen, monarch, reign, tyrant, tyrannous, etc., are scattered all over the sonnets. The enemies of good Queen Bess charged that Henry Vni.'s divorce from Queen Katharine was illegal, and hence that he was never married to Anne Boleyn; and consequently Elizabeth was denounced by her enemies as a bastard. And hence we find that word bastard recur- ing repeatedly, in these sonnets ; written by one who had been kept poor and powerless as long as she lived. "Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn, When beauty lived and died as flowers do now. Before these bastard signs of fair were born." Sonnet LXVHI. "If my dear love were but the child of state It might for fortune's, &a.y tore? be unfathered." Sonnet CXXIV. "And now is black beauty's successive heir. And beauty slandered with a bastard shame." Sonnet CXXVII. It was charged by Elizabeth's enemies that she did not marry because she was incapable of having an heir. And the word which expressed that condition repeatedly oc- curs in the Sonnets : 108 THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. "And barren rage of death's eternal cold." Sonnet XIII. "Why is my verse so barren of new pride?" Sonnet LXXVI. "With means more blessed than my barren rhyme." Sonnet XVI. We find the poet, despite these self-depreciatory words, just quoted, elsewhere declaring: "And tongues to be your being shall rehearse, When all the breathers of this world are dead : So shalt thou live, such power has my pen. Where breath most breathes, — even in the mouths of men." Sonnet LXXXI. This surely could not have been a "barren rhyme ;" and so the word "barren" was, we take it, forced into the text. We find Bacon's poverty alluded to as well as his im- prisonment for debt : "Alack ! what poverty my Muse brings forth 1" Sonnet CIII. * And his Essays are spoken of in the inner story as well as the Venus and Adonis. "And vast essays proved thee my best of love." Sonnet CX. Bacon claims elsewhere that "essays" were but newly invented in that age, and Montaigne is called "the fa- ther" of them. THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. 109 And with the help of the sonnets, imported into the 1640 edition from the "Passionate Pilgrim," we have an- other use of the word Bacon : "Ah, that I had my lady at this bay To kiss and clip me till I ran away." P. P. IX. "Thy looks with nie thy heart in other place : For there can live no hatred in thine eye." Sonnet XCIII. The world has been unable to account for the fact that the successful actor of Stratford, who had "bought a Lordship in the country," and applied for a coat of arms to make his father "a gentleman," should, seven years before his death, publish, or permit without protest, the publication of a book of Sonnets, with his name on the title-leaf, in which he lays bare his shameful amours with some woman who had "Robbed others' beds' revenues of their rents." Sonnet CXIII. and who was "the wide world's common place," — with even worse suggestions. But if these Sonnets were nev- er written by Shakspere — perhaps never seen by him — the case is different. Then the real author when the move- ment of the cipher piled a lot of words in a group, in a small space, could fashion around them a poem, which was not autobiographical, except so far as the cipher story, within it, forced it to be such. We saw an exam- ple of this in the two sonnets where his imprisonment for debt is referred to. 110 THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. Bacon, after the downfall of Essex, was charged with ingratitude and treachery, and the partisans of the Earl threatened his life. He wrote to the Queen in 1599: "My life has been threatened, and my name libeled, which I count an honor." He also wrote to Lord Howard : "For my part I have deserved better than to have my name objected to envy, or my life to a ruffian's violence." And this trouble seems to be alluded to in Sonnet LXXIV: "So then thou hast but lost the dregs of life. The prey of worms, my body being dead; The coward conquest of a wretch's knife." And in Sonnet XXXVI. we have Bacon's lamentation that his great plays are divorced from himself, and that he cannot claim them, at least in that generation : "Let me confess that rve two must be twain. Although our undivided loves are one. So shall those blots that do with me remain. Without thy help, by me be borne alone. In our two loves there is but one respect. Though in our lives a separable spite. Which, though it alter not love's sole effect. Yet doth it steal sweet hours from love's delight. / may not evermore acknowledge thee, Lest my bewailed guilt should do thee shame; Nor thou with public kindness honor me. Unless thou take that honor from thy name ; But do not so ; I love thee in such sort. As thou being mine, mine is thy good report." THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. Ill It seems to me this is all very plain. Bacon speaks elsewhere of other writings, which would do more credit to his name than his acknowledged works. In this Son- net he says, in effect, that he would be glad to acknowl- edge his poetic productions but it must not be, — they "must be twain." The blots upon his record, at that time when he "did not care whether pod called him or her majesty;" that long period when he was without money or lucrative position and was borrowing small sums of one pound at a time, from his brother Anthony ; and was thrown into prison occasionally by the usurers; these shames, with his Essex troubles, ought not to attach to the plays and poems. Neither could h^ acknowledge their authorship without confessing that he had shared with Shakspere the vile profits of the play-house, derived from ruffians, pimps and 'prentices ; and such an acknowl- edgement meant social ostracism and death. He could nevermore acknowledge the works pf his poetical geniui, because his "bewailed guilt," in these particulars "would do them shame ;" and would rob them of their honor : — "Unless thou take that honor from thy name." That is from the name and honor of the plays. And the coming together of a group of words, describ- ing this dark period in the great poet's career, is given in Sonnet XXIX, thus : "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, I all alone bezveep my outcast state. And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself and curse my fate. Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, 112 THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. Featured like him, like him with friends possessed ; Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope. With what I most enjoy contented least ; Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising. Haply I think on thee, — and then my state, (Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth), sings hymns at heaven's gate. For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings, That then I scorn to change my state with kings." I interpret this to mean that in his gloomy hours of despondency and disappointment, over his failure to rise in the state, he took joy and consolation in the greatness of the works he had accomplished for posterity. He had "Laid great bases for eternity." Sonnet CXXV. And Bacon says, (Touching a Holy War) : "I resolved to spend my time wholly in writing, and to put forth that poor talent, or half talent, or what it is, that God hath given me, not, as heretofore, to particular exchanges, but to banks or mounts of perpetuity, which will not break." This is the same thought that is in the Sonnet : "Laid great bases for eternity." There is no evidence that the man Shakspere "laid great bases for eternity," or built up "banks or mounts of perpetuity." He took no steps to secure the publica- tion of his alleged plays, and one half of them had not been printed at the time his will was drawn. And al- THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. 113 though his sister's posterity continued in possession of some of his Stratford property down to the beginning of this century, no copy of any of the Folios or the Quartos of the plays, bearing his name, has ever been traced home to his family or even to his village. The poet says, Sonnet CXIX : "What potions have I drunk of Siren tears Distilled from limbecs foul as hell within, Applying fears to hopes and hopes to fears. Still losing when I saw myself to win." There was nothing in Shakspere's career to which these words could be applied. He had ri-sen from the place of horse-holder and call-boy to wealth and dignity; and was lending money and selling malt to his heart's con- , tent. When had he lost "when he hoped to win ?" And again: "Tired with all these, for restful death I cry, — As to behold desert a beggar born. And needy nothing trimmed with jollity. And purest faith unhappily forsworn, And gilded honor shamefully misplaced, And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted, And right perfection wrongfully disgraced. And strength by limping sway disabled. And art made tongue-tied by authority, And folly (doctor-Hke) controlling skill, And captive good attending Captain ill; Tired of all these, from these would I be gone, Save that to die I leave my love alone." il4 THE CIPHER IN TtlE SONNETS. All these are the lamentations of a great man, — a pub- lic man. He grieves "to behold desert a beggar born." Bacon was himself born with a very limited fortune. In the case of his cousin Cecil, the hunchback original, as I believe, of the character in the play of Richard HI, he saw "gilded honor shamefully misplaced." In the Queen he saw "maiden virtue rudely strumpeted ;" and "strength by limping sway (Cecil) disabled;" and art and philos- ophy "made tongue-tied" by the despotism of a rude and bigoted age. These are the lamentations of a statesman — a man of enlarged views and great purposes. These considera- tions would scarcely have grieved the sensitive soul of the man of Stratford who, in 1604, five years before these Sonnets were published, sued Philip Rogers for two shil- lings for money loaned him ; and prosecuted one Horneby, as Richard Grant White says, "for the sake of imprison- ing him and depriving him both of the power of paying his debt, and supporting himself and family. * * * We open our mouths for food and we break our teeth against these stones." There is much more that might be said upon this sub- ject but I think I have established a strong probability that the Sonnets contain a Cipher narrative, which like the inscription on the tomb-stone, asserts the authorship of these poems by Francis Bacon. THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. 115 CHAPTER XX. A Hidden Deposit'. All these considerations are intended to lead up to the expression of my conviction that there is, somewhere in England, buried probably in the earth, or in a vault of masonry, a great iron or brass coffer or coffers, like that at "God's Gift College," London, which held the private papers of Alleyn, the actor, — (Shakspere's contempor- ary), and in which are contained, covered with "the wax of watch-candles," a vast mass of books and papers, many of them "yellowed with their age." Included among these is probably an explanation of the several ciphers, invented by Bacon, and inserted by him in various works, many of- which now "go about in the names of others ;" and probably also the private pa- pers of his father. Sir Nicholas Bacon, and his grandfa- ther, Sir Anthony Cooke, giving the secret history of the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth ; and also many important documents of his own time, which will settle some of the great historical questions relating to that period. With these may be also found Bacon's great library, which has mysteriously disappeared. It seems to me self-evident that, when Francis Bacon had spent so many years of his life, laboriously inter- 116 THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. weaving cipher narratives in the Shakespeare Plays, Son- nets, etc., (to say nothing of other works which are now, by many, attributed to him), he would not have left the discovery of it all to the remote chance of some person or persons, hundreds of years thereafter, happening upon a few clue-words, which would lead up to a revelation of what he had so cunningly concealed. The inner story must have been in his view equally important with the outer vehicle, in which it was contained; and this being the case he must have taken as much pains to preserve the one as the other. We are told that the printing of that great volume,— the First Folio — cost a sum equivalent to five thousand dollars today ; and one has only to notice the punctuation to see the precision with which the work was prepared. But not satisfied with putting forth the First Folio, in 1623, some individual or society, nine years thereafter, printed the second Folio, of 1632 ; and in 1664, forty-one years after 1623, the Third Folio: — each of these being as large and expensive as the First. And it is evident that these three publications, which must have cost a small fortune to print, were sent forth to preserve the cipher; — because, in each one of the three, each page is a duplicate of the same page in the 1623 Folio; beginning and ending with the same zvords; and repeating even the same apparent errors of pagination, spelling, bracketing and hyphenation of the text! Between the date of the First Folio and that of the Third a^hole world of history had transpired. James the First had died and Charles the First, his son, had ascended the English throne; he had grossly misgovern- ed the kingdom ; he had suppressed the parliament for THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. 117 ekven years; the Long Parliament was then called; and a great Civil War soon followed; the king was deposed and lost his head, — (no great loss to him or the world) — Cromwell became Protector of the realm ; he ruled from 1631 until his death in 1658; Charles II. came to the throne in 1660; the profligate cavaliers succeeded the honest but fanatical Puritans ; the stage-plays which had been driven out by the religious enthusiasts, amid a whirl- wind of opprobrium, came back triumphantly and more debauched and disreputable than ever. And yet, through all these vast changes, some association, — for such a work could hardly have been entrusted to an individual life : — (as the man who was forty in 1623 would have been eighty-one in 1664) ; some association, I say, must have continued in existence for forty-one years, (thirty-eight years after Bacon's death) ; the members of which not only knew that there was a cipher in the Shakespeare Plays, whose perpetuation depended upon the reproduc- tion of the pagination and even the apparent typograph- ical errors of the First Folio, but they must also have been possessed of the means to pay twice for the print- ing of such a large volume, for there was not in that day an extensive reading population to justify such an out- lay. If, therefore, all these pains and this cost were incurred to preserve the frame-work of the cipher, is it probable that nothing waS done to secure the future revelation of the cipher narrative itself, without which the frame-work was comparatively valueless? Who could have foreseen, in the midst of the scrambHngs and contentions of cruel and murderous castes and creeds, in 1623 and 1664, that this great peaceful, critical age was to follow, which 118 THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. would appreciate the Plays at something like their true value; and scan them with microscopic observation, until they stumbled upon the evidences which led up to the thought that there was a cipher hidden in their text? The existence of the cipher presupposes therefore the existence of a hidden deposit; and proves that some steps must have been taken to provide for its revelation after the lapse of a given number of years or centuries ; and that the same society to which this was entrusted also published the Folios of 1632 and 1664; and possibly may also have secured the printing of those curious photo- lithographic fac-similes of the First Folio, which have appeared in our own day! And we find many hints of this, future revelation in the Sonnets and the Plays. In Sonnet LV we find the following : "Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme." Observe the marvellous self-assertion of superiority and immortality in this utterance! Could the man who wrote it have disposed in his will of a "silver-gilt bowl," and finger rings and old clothes, and a "second best bed," and made no allusion to those plays which were to en- dure, as he believed, if he was the author, to the end of time? Could he have quietly gone to the grave, with all his wealth, (for his income is said to have been equal to $20,000 a year today), and have taken no steps to secure their publication ; for one-half of them, it is well known, were not printed when he died, or for seven years there- after? THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. 119 The Sonnet continues : "But you shall shine more bright in these contents Than unswept stone besmeared by sluttish time." Here the "you," as we take it, refers to his muse, — his genius, — his inner self. "When wasteful wars shall statues overturn, And broils root out the work of masonry. Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn The living record of your memory. 'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room Even in the eyes of all posterity, That wear this world out to the ending doom. So till the Judgment that yourself arise, You live in this, and dwell in lover's eyes." If this means anything it means that the writer's work is immortal; and when wars, (which had been common in England for many centuries), shall "overturn statues" and "root out the work of masonry," the "living record" of the poefs genius should survive, and, against death, "you," the "better part of me," shall "pace forth," liber- ated from the "enmity" which had pursued him during his life time, and sought to consign him to oblivion; and thenceforth his genius should live, even to the judgment day, when the author himself should rise to be judged with the rest of mankind. And what was this "living record of his memory?" Not the Sonnets; for, noble as some of them are, the claim of immortality could scarcely be founded upon them alone. Not the Plays, for they were not a "living 120 THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. record," there is nothing "recorded" in them, unless it be within the hidden cipher story. What then is meant? Does it not mean that when statues were overthrown by- war, and masonry "rooted out," there would be found the tremendous record of his life and work, and the his- tory of his time; and thereupon his wonderful genius would be recognized; it would "pace forth" — it would take a new life ; — it would step out before the wonder and admiration of the world; — and remain forever; — concentrating upon itself the attention of mankind, till the "ending doom?" If it does not mean this, what does it mean? Would it not have been, "An expense of spirit in a waste of shame," to attribute all these extravagant promises of immortal- ity, to some woman whose very name even is not given? And how could the overthrowing of statues, and the rooting out of masonry, by civil wars, release the "mem- ory'' of some female,— some lady-love ?" And what could be the "record" — the "living record" of such a person? And why should the destruction of statues and masonry give "room," for the "praise" of such an unnamed per- son, and why should mankind continue to praise her "to the ending doom?" As he says in another Sonnet, (LXXXI) : "Your monument shall be my gentle verse. Which eyes not yet created shall o'er-read ; And tongues to be, your being shall rehearse, When all the breathers of this world are dead ; You still shall live, (such virtue hath my pen), Where breath most breathes, — even in the mouths of men." THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. 121 If this great poet really believed that all men, — for all time to come, — for a thousand years, — for ten thousand years, — would devote their surplus energies to the "praise" of the physical charms of some poor piece of flesh and blood, long ago dust, why, in Heaven's name, did he not tell us who she was ? How can we praise for- ever that which is as intangible and temporary as a breath of summer air? And is there anything that mankind is likely to "praise," to the consummation of all things, ex- cept the loftiest and vastest manifestations of the human mind and spirit? And if "wasteful wars," or any other causes, do "overturn statues" and "root out the work of masonry," and reveal to the world that Francis Bacon was the greatest intellect of all time; that by a splendid self-abnegation he has allowed his honors to rest for cen- turies upon the heads of others, not only of his own na- tion, but even of other countries, ("To him all scenes of Europe homage owe,") and that the Shakespeare Plays, magnificent beyond all the works of man, are a "cheveril glove," and when turn- ed inside out prove that poetry and history are wedded in immortal marriage, then will not the genius of Francis Bacon "pace forth," "'gainst death and all oblivious en- mity," and take possession of the world and hold it as long as the earth endures ? He was one of those men, "Who have ta'en the giant world by the throat. And thrown it, and made it swear to maintain Their name and fame, at peril of its life." 122 THE CIPHER IN THE SONNETS. The poet says: " To see this age! A sentence is but a cheveril glove to a good wit : how quickly the wrong side may be turn- ed outward!" (Twelfth Night, 3. i.) And a play, with a history inside of it, is indeed a "cheveril glove," and when the cipher rule is known it can be quickly turned inside out. And this brings us to another point in our argument. BOOK THREE. THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE. THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE. 125 CHAPTER XXI. "The Phoenix and the Turtle." Let the reader bear in mind what I have just said, about' "poetry and history wedded in immortal marriage," and then read the following" verses, which, under the title, — "The Phoenix and, the Turtle," appeared in 1601, among the additional poems of Chester's "Love's Mar- tyr," with "Wm. Shakespeare's" name appended to them. There has never been any question that tljey were written by the author of the "Shakespeare Plays ;" they are pub- lished in all the complete editions of his works. "THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE. Let the bird of loudest lay, ' On the sole Arabian tree, Herald sad and trumpet be, To whose sound chaste wings obey. But thou, shrieking harbinger. Foul precurser of the fiend. Augur of the fever's end, To this troop come thou not near. 126 THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE. From this session interdict Every fowl of tyrant wing, Save the eagle, f eather'd king : Keep the obsequy so strict. Let the priest, in surplice white. That defunctive music can. Be the death-divining swan. Lest the requiem lack his right. And thou, treble-dated crow, That thy sable gender mak'st With the breath thou giv'st and tak'st, 'Mongst our mourners shalt thou go. Here the anthem doth commence: Love and constancy is dead; Phoenix and the turtle fled In a mutual flame from hence. So they lov'd, as love in twain Had the essence but in one; Two distincts, division none; Number there in love was slain. Hearts remote, yet not asunder; Distance, and no space was seen 'Twixt the turtle and his queen: But in them it were a wonder. So between them love did shine. That the turtle saw his right Flaming in the phoenix' sight: Either was the other's mine. THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE. 127 Property was thus appall'd, That the self was not the same ; Single nature's double name, Neither two nor one was call'd. Reason in itself confounded, Saw division grow together ; To themselves yet either neither, Simple were so well compounded. That it cried, how true a twain Seemeth this concordant one ! Love hath reason, reason none. If what parts can so remain. Whereupon it made this threne To the phoenix and the dove, Co-supremes and stars of love, As chorus to their tragic scene. THRENOS. Beauty, truth, and rarity, Grace in all simplicity. Here inclos'd in cinders lie. Death is now the phoenix' nest ; And the turtle's loyal breast To eternity doth rest. Leaving no posterity : 'Twas not their infirmity. It was married chastity. 128 THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE. Truth may seem, but cannot be; Beauty brag, but 'tis not she ; Truth and beauty buried be. To this urn let those repair That are either true or fair ; Por these dead birds sigh a prayer." These verses are in some respects exquisitely beautiful ; but no one has ever yet attempted to explain what they mean. There is a mystery in them and around them ; and we can see no reason why any mystery should surround the writings of the successful play-actor and money-lend- er. His life was a plain and simple progress from poverty and obscurity to wealth and honor. At the first blush one would say that these verses re- late to some deceased married couple, and are intended to be inscribed upon their tomb ; but there are many consid- erations which forbid such conclusion. If the woman is supposed to represent, in the poem, as she usually does, the turtle-dove, the graceful, fem- inine emblem of tender conjugal affection, why should the husband stand for the phoenix ? What is the phoenix? We turn to the Cyclopaedia and read : "Phoenix, — a mythical bird, living in Arabia, resem- bling an eagle, with wings partly red and partly golden. On arriving at the age of 500 years it built a funeral pile of wood and aromatic gums, and, lighting it by the fan- ning of its wings, was consumed to ashes, out of which arose a new phoenix. The fathers of the church em- ployed the myth to illustrate the resurrection ; and several THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE. 129 of the Roman emperors used it on coins to typify their own apotheosis, or the return of the golden age under their rule." (Amer. Cycle. Vol. XIII, p. 457.) If the "turtle" is the wife,, why should . this particular husband be a phoenix? But it appears, from the text, — strange to say, — that it was the husband who was the dov6 and the wife the phoenix ! And therefore the phoenix is to rise again from her ashes while the dove will not. "Death is now the phoenix' nest ; And the turtle's loyal breast To eternity doth rest." The "phoenix" made his nest of woods and gums, and when he died, by fire, a new phoenix was born. When was the new phcenix to rise, which is referred to in this poem ? Death was his "nest," and from Death there was to -be a resurrection ! What does it all mean ? "So they loved, as love in twain Had the essence been in one ; Two distincts, division none : Number there in love was slain." It would be difficult to apply this language to a mortal man and his wife. "That, it cried, how true a twain Seemeth this concordant one ! Love hath reason, reason none; If what parts can so remain." 130 THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE. "Property was thus appalled, That the self was not the same ; Single nature's double name Neither two nor one was called." "Leaving no posterity: — 'Twas not their infirmity It was married chastity." There is something more here than an epitaph over hu- man beings. If the "phoenix" represents the Christian resurrection, why should the husband, the dove, not rise, as well as the wife? And of what human couple could it be said that they were called neither two nor one ? What is there to which these words could be apphed? Suppose there is a cipher in the Shakespeare Plays, then the internal story and the external dramas are so wo- ven together, oul of the same materials, that we may say there are "two distincts, diinsion none." We may say: "Hearts remote, yet not asunder ; Distance and no space ivas seen 'Twixt the turtle and his queen ; But in them it were a wonder." In other words there is a wide difference between the purpose of the internal story and the meaning of the exter- nal play — there was "distance and no space was seen." "Reason in itself confounded. Saw division grow together; To themselves yet either — neither. Simple were so well compounded." THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE. 131 Surely that is so when an external comedy may contain an internal tragedy; or an external tragedy be the cover for an internal comedy; or when the dramatic events of King John's reign may shelter a narration of the court secrets of Queen Elizabeth's time. "Either was the other's mine;" for the play was made up of the cipher and the cipher was made up of the play; and both were a "concordant one." And how fitly can these words be spoken of the great dramas ? "Beauty, truth, and rarity, Grace in all simplicity, Here enclosed in cinders lie. Death is now the phoenix' nest ; And the turtle's loyal breast To eternity doth rest. Truth may seem, but cannot be ; ' Beauty brag but tis not she; Truth and beauty buried be." The external dramas are beauty; the internal narra- tives are truth; they live together "well compounded," as a "concordant one; two distincts (with) division none." The histories of the time may seem to record the historical events of the time, but the real facts are buried in cinders, in the grave of the poet and philoso- pher; not to be made known until the "phoenix" rises, and the cipher is revealed. 132 THE PHOEMIX AND THE TURTLE. "Love and constancy are dead, Phoenix and the turtle fled, In a mutual flame from hence." But one of these is a phoenix; and it will rise from the "mutual flames" of death ; if it does not the Arabian myth is in vain; it has no place here. The "phoenix" implies a resurrection? What is it? The turtle-dove, with its cooing voice, and its love for the human race, (for in a "despised weed" he had "sought the good of all men"), must take its chances of mortality; but the time will come when the internal his- tory, the "truth," as contradistinguished from the "beauty," will rise like a phoenix from its ashes — its "cinders" — and on red and golden wings soar, eagle- like, above the world. And when will this resurrection be? Even of this we seem to have a hint: "And thou, treble-dated crow, That thy sable-gender mak'st. With the breath thou giv'st and takest, 'Mongst our mourners shalt thou go." Has any one attempted to explain all this? What is the "treble-dated crow?" And what is the sable- gender" which the crow makes? And what nonsense is this for the Stratford money-lender to. write, between his sellings of malt and bringings of actions in as- sumpsit ? We take it that the crow is the unknown future ; the dark years to come, — the blackness of obscurity; that make their own sable-gender, with the breath they give and take. The crow was believed, in Bacon's time, to THE PHOENIX AND THE TUKTLE. 1 83 live one hundred years. The "treble-dated crow" may therefore signify the dark and uncertain future of three hundred years, which are to pass before the "phocenix" shall rise from its ashes, and the Truth be revealed to live forever. What more natural than that this "Threne" — this "funeral song," — should be accompanied by an anxious- looking-forward, by the poet, into the centuries that are to come; and what more natural than to paint that future as "the crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air" — that "vexes the dove" — as the emblem of darkness. Bacon died on the eve of the great religious and political revolution which soon after swept over all the British Islands. He had put this observation into the mouth of Hamlet (V. i) : "By the Lord, Horatio, this three years I have taken note of it; the age is grown so picked, that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe." The future was not plain to him. Smithfield still smoked with the fires that devoured the bodies of her- etics. Would the world grow worse or better? Would it, as Bacon said, "make a bankrupt of books," and wipe out the English tongue? Who could "look into the seeds of time and say which grain would grow and which would not?" And each century would' make its own sable gender, different from all others, out of its own events, — its own deeds, — its own developments : — "the breath thou giv'st and takest." But would the "fever" end? Would the fever of in- tolerance and persecution and fanaticism and cruelty and ignorance pass away? Who could tell? 134 THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE. And into the dark mouth of this tomb of uncertainty he consigned his treasure, — his "Beauty, truth and rarity And grace in all simplicity." And note how all this connects with Sonnet LXV, already quoted: "Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea. But sad mortality o'ersways their power, How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, \\^hose action is no stronger than a flower? O, how shall summer's sunny breath hold out Against the wreckful siege of battering days. When rocks impregnable are not so stout. Nor gates of steel so strong, but time decays? O fearful meditation ! Where alack ! Shall Time's best jervel from Time's chest he hid." Having created, by tremendous labor, a vast secret, which could not reach its object without a future revela- tion, a phoeni.x-like resurrection, the soul of the poet was troubled, looking into the unknown ages, as to whether or not they would devour the trust committed to them, or hold it up in glory before the world. These thoughts form the undercurrent of the Sonnets : "When I have seen such interchange of state. Or state itself confounded to decay; Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate That Time will come and steal my love azvay. This thought is as a death, which cannot choose But weep to have that which it fears to lose." Sonnet LXIV. THE rliOENIX AND THE TURT1.E. 135 "My name be buried where my body is"- — ■ What is his "name?" Not his mere cognomen, but his whole vast reputation — his deeds — his Hfe. A barbaric age might, in the coming centuries, toss his jewels to the swine; or, when his genius at last "paced forth" from the demolished masonry, it might step into a world glorious with peace and culture and the blessed lights of God's tremendous purposes. And if this be not the true interpretation of this strange poem, who will supply us with its meaning? It must have a meaning. And yet none is apparent upon its surface. What did the Stratford man mean, (if he wrote it,) by putting forth such a mystery, with no key in his life, or his life's deeds, for its unravelment? What was his "phoenix" and "turtle"? How could the "overturning of statues" and "the root- ing out of masonry" affect him ? fx TheFirftfPartofKjn^ Henry the Fourth. ^o ^^tight.'DmgUlfyiA. , .pjIfliouldhaueaVieauyinifleofihelC'i' nOT'iyoutOtace? 'Tflwnemiichinlouewhh Vanity. ; focfuccoucfeai. DcithhaihnotCUHflterofHiDnretaclay, So/n)wofhitO»clawcsihotfha(inin, Ann>. l&uechosartanochucouDterfeit: And y« in@£bibc>u bcar^(l chcEKlie a Kmgi But mine I amSw^hou aic.wfaoerethoube, ABdthiuIvjgiui*. 7i»f//4/,ttfiCfo<^ •■ ilif ''if*'" ft'»'gh«« i '^Ii:Al^ Siay.andbi^h awhile. Thou haft ted|{pAl thy loA opinion, fgf) ADdftiew'dtnSamalirafoaieiendeiafmylib In ihii (aire t^ethoahall blight to meei Tm. OheauA, they did Kigo much inhnyi ThateiietraidIheatkDcdca]/ov^th. ' ir» nere To, I night baue lei alod? TheinfuliinphajdorDoj/Moilayaii,^ :4 06 Which wouM haue bene u fpeedy in your end, As all the povToinlisPatiooa ui tl^ aoild. And laud thi Tieacbetoua labour rfyowSonne. . K. Make vp to 04>«'fi* '<> Sir>l*iaSi Cuftf.I^li \ Hot. lfImifliItenot,iboua«ff»Tr ««»«"»». ' Pri; TfaM^TiVft at )fl would dauymy name. 1 stA ' Utt, MySajne'fi HxrmTtreitj^ rrin.yviij flien I Cat Yttj Taliant rebel of that name. ofWasi^andiblnftnotTirg', To (hare wiihne lafloty any more < ^Kingdomefot it was too fmall a bound ; ^ now tvvppacesof the vild) EarchI Istoome enaSgWjThis Eatih that beirei the deai!,< Beates notumejofloufraGciuteniaD. , Jf thou wei'tfenBDle of curtelie, ^ J^uld not make fo gceat a Ihew ofZeale. 3m 3U 4#M> Adieu,and takcthy'praifc-withl^ Thy ignomy fieepe with tbee in' But riot Kmetnbtedinthy EpiMph. What? Old Acqu3ima|]ge? Comd not all this flcQi ', Ketpcinalictle UfefPgorelscKejfueweUjr r could haue better fpaPd a bcctermfo. , ''^ So loa tmi. I am the Piinceof \jU|et, lolgty any mote » ^ Tna Suneakecpe iKftthtii motion In?^ Sphot, «i Joteaaone Engbradbitaokea doubleieignea fBeryPirn.andthe Prince of Walec. A Hit. Noi Oiillu tf«rr> foi the houre is cook To eld (heWMf n; and wooUjoheauen, TWttaiiielirkffl|ci»wa£.now ai greicaaiBTBtf. iir*!. He maft It gtSfcete 1 part from ihee,- Aad aU diebadding Hofi^Why CrcS, lIectop,tOBBke»GarlaMfffinyhe»d,- Hit. I tmvo longct brooH thy Vanities- f»{W. 4* EmirFtllitSe. Je *' m. Wen faid /M.to it Hit. Nay T<» 0»1I Hade m Boyeaplay hteie,! can tell you. ^ E*urT>i'!l'! hcpgkiiriiirilfiifi,»lHfJjinm MtflmmtiUiid.T^rmcittilhtbFlrag. Bn Oh«M^hbuhaftrob"doieofinyy««hr I better biooke thelifflfc ofbtiy^ life, That'aaftprou^itleithouhjflwMgfofoie, They vtound my ibogjni woif^en flie fword ray fleOi: Butthoughi"sihe(laucofUre,«aXiboill( fees me.Tberefore rirtt,wKh a new wounSWj our thieh comeyou along nie. 7Vife/Hoi^«rf}s»*«ii«& Frit. ComeBtoiher liU^ btauely hal) ihauflelht dr Maiden fvrord^e '^ /' " IJui. BMfoft,whpha[^nehee(f? DidyoanoreellmeTbis^manwas dead? - 1^ frill. 1 did. Haw hiniSead, "^ Stwhleffe. and bleeding on the ground: Ate thou aliue? OMit famafie diat playei vponrour eye-fighl I IpHriice^SsiWewupeciniR onteyei Without our carca. Tijw at^j^y what thou feem'ft. *f cntMe ; 1 aip not a double man : /^O iao *S» 3ao ?f^ TJ. Ho^thai*fcntiSie;Iamnotadoiiblenian:b« ifiLbc n^k; F<^#,thcn am) a lacki: (ySryout nnec will do meiny Konfi|rifo: >> j4t<>et AI kiDtheneitrtrcirhinircire. IlookiCobeeitltftEarlc t/co ^Se uurcyoQ. ly.Pmy I LiU'd my felie, an) few thee itti, 'flthon?J.ord,Eotd,howthewotlditgin« - ^^ lTPe' • grauntyou I was downji^and cut ofBteatH; S*" and IFwas he, but w; rofe both at a|wiSant,anq3«r,\*ho but onely I j^^ Makefearfull Mu(teri,and prepac'd befencej "'hU'ft ihc biggeyeace; fwolne with fom^itbcr griefes, 'iu|ghc with childe, by the flerne Tyrant^ Warre, lnafuchmatter>i^«i»0aj'jsa Pipe Blowne by Suunifca, Icloimes, Conie£lureis And of fo ralie, and h pUine a Rppt Th n the bliMt Monfter, with viiicouiusd hetdi» The Hill difcordant, waucring MuliiMjAcf Can play vpon it. But what ncedelT^s My weU.knowneB%)dy cqeAiiathonnze Among my houlhold ? \1^y is AMnwvr hecre? Iruaijefore King Hama^xStaxj, 7oc 7S0 «» '^ HatI Qncndi ExuwiihthcRebcli blood. BuiwhdiiKiiiel TpTpfl^e ro[[ueat6rft?My Office is TO noylj ibroad, that Hffrj {JUtamcliti fell Vridsr mc Wrath of Nople Hetffmmr Swotd; ,^nd thitihc King, beforcihe ©oBjia RaM? Sioop'^^is Annointcd head, as low as death. This haue I runoiii'd through the peafant-Towncft 8«wecoe the Royall Fieldl^Shrewsburie, Aed this Womie-cat»-Hoft of ragged Stone, WJtcrc HmfwTtj Fawr, old Norihumbetlap^ Lyej crafty ficlic. Th? Pod cs come tyring or^ i\ft4not a man of them brings other newea ^ TkS thav Jiaue learn d orMe. ■ Froln SmKHrtJ ol'Mc. -FroinJfiMwiw/Tonguef, The} brinft rmoo[h*Comfonii.faire, worfe then True. h^ wrongs. 2 6r^ Exit. ScenaSecmda. SiitirLtrd:Sariilfo,4mtthtPnnr, LXk/. WholieepM the Gate beere hot > Where is the EaSe? Tor. WhatOiiUirayyaiuie^ .Bur. TeUtheutheEarle]^ That the LotOW'jS doihaiKail bim hms. Ter. His Lf fflOjlp ii walk"d forth into iheOMird, Pleafe it youfHffiiM, knocke bn«Mbe« ! ""'' botli the Blmli Kill dby t&hand of Dmgii^ Yong Prince /«*•, And Weflmerland, andStalEM.fled the Field. And Hmi^onmiath't Bravfflt (the HuIkeSit Urn) Is prifoner JO your Sonne. 0,fuch.aDay, ^o foughcTo foUow'd, and Co fairefy woooe) Came not, till n&>, to dignifie tbtTiaws Since Ctfm Foi^nei. Ntr. HowisSSdeilii'df Saw youthe Fielditame you ftom Shrewibon ? , £.J3p^pake with one (my L,)that came Mtliciicr, A Gentleman vffll bredjud of good name, Tbatfieelyrender'dmetWenewesfortrue. /o Aftr. HeetecomeimySeruantrrmr/.whomllcilt OnTuefdaylaa, toliflenaRcrNewet. ?/ir A • ^fyiirTnuurti X.2«'oMynrd,Iouer-tadhiniontheway, And heisftBiifli-d^ithnocetialniies, . . More rhenflk (haply)may retaile from Be. NorXiovf Tmntri, wbac.good lidingftoaieifiSytiL. .^ Tn. So /C 'SC 200 iffr Tr«, My Lotd,5tt/»i» WBjfw/Sium'dme backe V; III! iovfuL I ydingsi «nd (being better hort'd) QiU-rodrae. After birr^cimefpufring head /OO JT}efecondTarUfI{inz HenrytheFmrth. 75_ /W jtCenilemao (almoin fore-rpeni with /peed) gfe TbaiAopp'dby me, to breath hb bloodied hotfe. iciskilihewayioChcfler'.Aiidorhini ^ Sidileniandu^ac Ncwes fromShrewiburj: So |flcioldme,iKnRebeUionhad;j)Iucl[e, ft od that yong Hfrj Tenia Spwrajy • cold. With (hat he gaue his able Hac(eiheliead, And beting forwarda (Iroottehii^leheelei AgiinlU^ p/nEiDg (ides otbUpoozc lade VpcothfRoll^lhnd^inil^^inBra, He reem'd in [unning.to deooure the way. Staying no longer qucflian. ^ NM>- Ha?Againej Said^ong Htmirirgtiimm vm cold t (Of ^-£pam,$f urK?3 'bat RebeUion, Hadnuiilllucke? ifSir' My lord sTIe tell you what, If my tfoag Lord youc Sonne,hincnot the day, yffia^m Honor, for j^ken peine lie glue (ny Barony. NeuttalkeoflC. /t /Ver.Why Oiould iheCentleniaaihattadejw7nu0'r Ciue 'hen inch inftancei of Loflei' nL/Sar. Who,he? He'nasCaiMhieldiogFcllowiihacIiadftalne TheHotfeHtade-oD i wd iiugaiylit'e Spcakeatiaucntiuc. l,ooke,He[ext>iiio motcNcwei. ^ /J3 Ntr. Yei, tVii onnitrnw, like to uide-leaTe, Forbteb chcNatmvf a Tngicke Voutnie t Solowes ihe^aand, nhen the impeiiom Flood HathTeriawitanVfiiipaiion. ^ ^0rr«%fflaQ thou come from Shrewibury ^1 Mat. llm froDr^hrewibuiy (niy Noble Lpulj Wh«( haieluU deitK put on hia vglieft Maikdv* Tofrightourpaity. gTo ^ Hirib. Hovdoihin; Sonne,ind Br^ei? TltojtJtembl'l^ iind the itliiieneire in tbyCbeekc ti aput tljea tKy Tongue,co tell thy Enud, Eiieiirach}maAlfoiaiiK,fo (piriileflc, Sodull,fi)acadWookc,fawo»'(Meunr, [>rew Fri'm COTiaintiiD'tln deadVnight,{)$ Ahd would l)>ue toldhlm,HlUt hiiT{f^ w^s bmn'd. But Priam found the FitLCwhchit Tji^ue ; AgdJ, my PrrnVr death, ere thou report A it. TmCf hou ivould'ft Tay t'iem Sonne did ihui,ani) thui : YJ^rother, thuj . Sofougni the Noble Drnglm, Stijp^ing my gnedy eare^wiih their bold deeds. Bujjn the end (totlop mijKtEare indeed) 8 90 TIMu!ia(l a Sigh, to blovr away this Praife, Eading vwn Brorher, SoD[w,and all are dead. MvrAOmgUi'n buing,«t^70ur Brother,yet; But fot my ^>sdt yoni Sonnet Ifmb, wjyhcisdead. ^j« ^e what a rndy iDngue Sulpition 1^ t ^^ i^oc Hethat but fearea the thingihewouljnot know. Hath by InQuift,kooy1edge from others Eyes, Thaitthit M^ardibijhanc'd. Yet fpeake(M«'»>) TeU thou tnyEatlei^Uidnation Lies, AndlwlUtakelc.a(^M|tDifgiace. t^ Ai)d nuke thee rich, for doing me fuch wrong. 'Mar, You ire too great| to be (b; mejgainfald : 2o« ISc lot) Your Spirit lijoo true, your Feares too ccrtaine. frih. Ypfor all this.fay not that Parctcs dead. 1 rtrangVCorfdfion in thine Eye : (hak'll^ h«d, and hold'ft it FearejOrSioue, To fpeake « ffntt.nifte be naine,faj fo : ThcTongu^ffendsii^ii^ai reports his death : And he doth linne that dojn ^j{ye the dead Not he, which fayes the dead u not aiiue ; YtLthfe fitft bringer of vnwelcomc Newes mid butaloofjij^ Office: and his Tongue, Sounds euet af^ as a fullen Bell Rememh^d, knelling a departing Ftiend. ^.tS^rl cannot ^inke(my Lordjyoui foti is dead, Mn. I Sh foriy^D^ouId force you to beleeuc ThatfWbich 1 wouUr^eaueu, I had not ieenc. But thefe mine eyelflaw him in bloody ftaie, Rend'ting faint qu|j|ance,[wearied,andout-bieaih'd) To Htmii Mnm(iiib,vi\tok fl^^'t wrath bate downe The neuer-daunreu Ptrdt to t^eaith, Fro^whence(with lifejhe nAiei mote Ipning rp. In f^; his death ( iffhole fpitit lent a fire, Euen to the dullcK Peasant in his Campe) ^^ Being bruited oncctooke lire and heate tway Fronuheliell lempej i Courage in his TroS^ei. For ftSm bit Mcidg was his Party Reel'd ; 'Whicnonce,inhin abated, all (be reli Tum'd on ihemfeUes, like dull Jngheauy lead i And u)ucft,ayme to hit. Now biode my Brqwei wth iTDn.and appiotf h The ragged'H houte,that Timeand Spight dSj bilng TofiownevQgDth*enr8g'dNorthumberlandC Let Heauen knuEuth : now let not Naturei hand iKeepe the w ildcFIU% confin'd : Let Order dye, And let the world nvlohgvt be a (lagej^ To feede Contention IfljJlngVmgArfT But let one fpirii of the Virft-bomc cSihi SOr g Reign e i ^e >«« J»« ?<■« 2S0 Zoa i^fC t/00 7^1 The fecondTm of Kjn^ Henry the Fourth. ij^ne in all bofomes, (hat each heart betne fee ^1 blnody Cfuiiies, the rude Scene '.nay cnH» nfl dafkncffc be che biiricr ofthc dead. 3^5 (Hnnor. L.Ritr Sweet Earlc.diuorcc not wifetUMivkoiii your Mnr. The liucsof.ill your louingCompbces Le«nMJ? your heatcK, the which if you giu^Ve To ftorniyPafTion.niutjLrertotcc decay* You cafl th euent of Wwre(niy Noble Lord) Apd fumtn'd ihe accompt ot Chance,beroreyou laid Leivs aaJcehead :ltwasyourpij;rurmize, Th!tt in tne d^eot blowct.your Son might drop. You knew VVuJk'd o're pcrili, on an edge M ore likcljrtb ujl in, then to get-b're : You wereaduird his flem was rapeable 90 Of Wounds, indScart» ; and that his forwad^plric Would lift him, where moft trade of dan^Rrm|'d« Yet did you.fay go forth : ind none of th«^ * (Thougli (Irongly apprehended) could reftrtine ^e ftiffe-botne AAion : What huh then befalne? Or what hy Ivf^i* ^^Id encerptizc bring forcb« Mbre then tHK Being,uhich was like to be? L»Bitr. We alUha^xcaiigaged 10 this loiTe, Knew that we ventut'd A fufh duiecroui Seas, That if we wrought out life,vraB tS to one 1 And yet we ventut'd for the gatne ptopas'd, fo Choak'd therefped of likely perill feat'd, And (ince y^ are o're-f«.veoture againe. ' Cometwe will all put f^i; B3dy,an{l Gawk, 44^r.'Tis more then nme : And (my moA ^bUl Lord) I heare for certaine, and do fprake the trath : The|entle ATclH>ifljop of Yorkqj^»p With well app(natedPowres:h^a man ^ -Who wiiha double Surety bindesnii Foll^cri. |Kiv Lord (yout Sonne)had onely but theCof^es, < ut fhadowi^And the (bewes of men to fight. (^fr that fame 0?6ftl(Rebellion) did diuide^^ rhe aflion of tfifeir bodiei, from their foul^ And they idfight with queafincflTe, conftram'd As men drmRe Pocioj^; that their Weapons only Seem'don^rriHe:butforthei^SpiritsandSoutes, This w^rd (Rebellidnjit lud n^e them vpi As Fi(h are in a Pond. EutnowtheBifhop Turnes Infurre£lion caKeIlglon« SupposMfincerc,andflSlyinhi«ThMjehtf: He's fallaw*d botn witn Body,and wTch Mindc : ,d doth enlarge his Rifing, with tlwUood ■faire King Rt^^d, fcrap'd from Pomfret flones, ^eriues from heaiflniis Quarrcll.and his Caufc i Tels them,hcdotK^e(&de a bleeding Land, : Gitingforlife,vndergreatifH/to»fiwo4f, AJnTmorcjandJcjTe.dofl'ickcto follow him. /^Kf'tnh. IJ^Wof this before. But to fpeake truth, This prereaiSre^ft ^^^ w'P'*^ '^ ^^^ ^"S minde. G-* in witii mejind council cucry maii The flpteft vAv far fafcty, ajl reuenge : ^<* Get pofl5,and.Lettcr!,8ndfiiakc Friends with fp«d, Ncuct fo few.nor neuer yet m ore need, ^^ygpg^ g**'' Scena Tertia. \^^ 4 so Entir fdlttfflMfd ?'''. f.i/.Sirtj.S'° Riant.what hici ihc l)oa,ro iry water? J».ff He ^il fir.tbc ivattrit Idfe wijagooii healthy v»lcrr:!iui fofthc party that ow d ii,he iiSghi bane rroie f,fl. MenofaluTOstakciptidetogirdai mte: m '^ ^ Ji^*— raine nf thii fnnliOi cnmitnunfted Qay-man, is ne>t ahijut loinuentanychingthatt'ends toUii£(ucr, tnnre thenl her LiiMr.but mie.'^lf the Prince put thee into my S«- uice for any other reafon, then to fci mee rttF, why »he^ hauejiioiurlgement. Thou horfon Mandra^ theu an fittePto be wntnc in my cap, then ^f^nut at my heeles. I was nebet mann d wjth an Amu till n7w : but I will fctie you neycher in Gold, noj^iltKr. hut (iNilcle appsrell.and fend you backe againe tSynu>Mafter, for a Icwcll. The /«»n«ff(t'hcPrinceyo(?^a(ler) vuh'ffc Chmlpiovyet fledg'd, J wUl fooner hw a beard {;r;iw in theP^lme n^ my hand j|1»n he Ihall get one on his cheeke : yet he vrijl not {^k^fay,hiB FacAs a Face-Royall. Hcaucn nay finiflnf wKfti he will, Ilisnoi ahaijwmiffe^t : henjiy ,]ieepc!ltftilUtiFace-Ro]|^l, for^ubei^aU n:uec carnelttHnce out of itt aoayet he will be crowinj;, m if he had «n man euer fincrbis Father was a Batcbelloor: He may Reqie bis owne Grace, but he is almoft out di mincl canalTurehim. What faid M.Doffi^/r^, warn th« Satten for my fliort Cloalc*,and Slop' f ^ /^. He faiolir.jEpu fliould procure him better Aflii' rance,tlun?eare a Gentleman in hand, and then fland rpon Scfffi The ^ifon fmooth-pates doc now wearenothlilgbut'Ueh (hoes aixl bunches ofKeyes at their girdles : and if\man Is\hiiugh with them inh*. neft Taking-vp, tljeprney mufl ftMiii had lis liefe ihnwoyldf ut Rats-bane in my miuth» ?s oiki ^o&^^tVL witn Security. 1 look'd hec niiiild hau: fent metwoaira twenty yau^ of Satten (as I am true Knight) Ad he fends rw Swnriry. Welljie may fleep in Security, for he hath tne hprnei*f Abundance : aniithc ItghcneireofhisVSfifem^s tbtoughit, andyetcann^t he fee.th jugh he huie hi wwne Lanih<}rne lu light hjm. Wherc-i34ri>ift^'» Pag, He's gone into StaithfieU tw buy yoiit worfbip ahorfe. ^^ 1^ Ftd. I bought him )n PauIeSianU hee'l Ftiv^ee a hirfe AJn SmithBel^ If I cbuld |et mee a wife in tne Stewes, ] wercMann'd,Hors*«l,an^Wiu'J. ^^^ ^ Tag. Sir, heereciimes che N^Lleman that Citmntitied the prince for ftrikinghitr.,an^c 2riir^ff^. F*i. Wait dofe^I^ull n4 »hc heating of any thing gUi Co plucke him by th^lbow,! m.-\& If'eake with hiu, Ser. Sirm^ Jc FW. Wliat fa yong knaiie and begPIs thqrc r^vtuHU there not imploymcnt.^orh not the K.Iack^tCects? Vo not the Rebels wan: SoldiersPThough it be a thame to be Thefic. f//. It hathit origi^l from much greefe; front ftiidy andperiud^atidHofuebtaine. 1 hauercad thecaufe of hliefFeAria GaU»^^\$ a kinde of desfcnelTe^ Im^., I(hbike|^.are falne iDioihediieafe : Fotyeru hnrenotwAUltByRiyou. „ FtL V«ryVeII(my Lord )very«eIL rather i^ijjeare fou) iiisthedifcafeofiiotLiflnlng, uc roalaoy of not Markiag^hat 1 am troubled withaU.- ^ Inft, ftViunifli you by the heelci. wodd amend the KicDtion«^ur eace^fi: I care not if Lbe ^Or Phyfician Fml. Iamispoore-ai/tfj,my Lord;SB^(^foPaiicnt: font Lordfhip may rojpifler the Potjpjg^nmptifonroent to me JD refpc£E qf Pouvtic : but how pbopItS bee your PailcBc.to folio w^ttt pnicriptio^ tne luSp ma^ make fome drtm of • fcmpIe^orAdecdc^fcrupIeic fclfc. iffl, I feoc for you (when there were matten agvoft fou loi yotu lUV) CO come ^£8v withme. t Ftl. AiIwaii'L.cnaduilcdDymvJfaciedCouncel.in I ibeiawei of this Lsad-feruice^ I ditfflfifcome. aj /m/7. Wel,the truth ii(lir /6i&w)you fme in gfgijnfi^y F<«/.Hc ttnt bucklet tnm in my bclt,C3not liireKlfffe, /l wilTboi: the truth is, I am onely ^ mcfTVaod vnderAanding: and lie thai wdTca'piF^ forathoufandMiikeiJo ' ■ :%FmI. I wouldic^TMC otherwife 1 1 would my Meases ■Uc greater, and my wiRe (leruierer. ^hfi. YoHbauemined chejuwbiiiLlPnnce. a^ FaIm The yong Prince hath moled mee, lam^^Fel- ow viitMie great belly,and he oiy Dogge. ^ S^ Q '^^ uLdl J m lock to gill ancw-heal d woundiyour nki (nwc'at Shrewsbury, hath a little gildedouei f g(2 GligBf ezplditoA Gadt-hill. You may thaoke the A '^TT K him. F(^rhe boxcut Ideate that tbe Fhncc g^ucMPUf he gaue hwa i rude Prince,:ind you tooke rtlike a ^^ blfi Locd'Thauechecki hlm^rit,?'-.d they^gEgl^UTt*-' pemsj Marry not in afltex and facL=.cIoa:bj out unev SiikcaoAoldSacke, .^ A. /f^.Wel.heauen fend the£{mtta better comoanion. HL Heauen fend the Companion a better Pri nc^ : 1 cinnocrid my handfc^him^ '^ lufi^ WcHjjy JSa£ bath feuet'd you dnd t'tince Btr- ry^l hn:cyr\]x^epfi^amth hoti/abm of LannAer, r gainftcheAKhDmiop.SBchcEail&cfNonhtm)berlaDd Fid. YesJ ihankeydwptetiy^BScswtt folic : but tookeyoupray.^all you that kkffeifiy Ladie Peace, ai hotne^thA our AlffiU? ioyn not in a hoi^ay: fox iflXaltf but two Qiirts ouf^ith me>and j^a?e^fi& to fwcac ex. triocdinarily : if it bee a^ot^ay^u btanaifh any thing but my.Bottle* tmi^td Tl^U^np^ fp'^' nhite agaioe : There it not a datfu^rous^Bun canpeept out his head, but I am (l)tu(l lajSl ic.V^ltjlfVnnet lafi euer. . /«y?.Weli>etiobeft,ipioiicft,ajulhcaueiiblefleyout Expedition. A ^^ Fal. Wtll your Loulfliip IfiA^ nee 2 thoufaod pound, CO furnifli TTieibrth t A ^f. Nofineny, noripenyiyou iretooioipoicient tora&Fcrdus. F«reyouweIl. ComniettdBiccto my Co^iHSdcfflaLUOfl- ' ifO • Fat. If I do,fillop me with a Three-man-Bcctttt A can no more (eparaic Age and CouetoldncOcgibenbi part yong limbes and leccheiy : bu^thc GowigiUes JO Co iSQ ft50 300 S^O 40d 450 00 s^ H IL^'Vi''-^^- BOOK FOUR. THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. THE CIPHEK IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 139 CHAPTER XXII. The Root Numbers. An arithmetical word-cipher is one in which the same number recurs again and again; and the words thus brought out constitute the inner or cipher story. The simplest form would be where every tenth word of the external composition, be it poem, drama, or prose work, constitutes a coherent story. This could not occur by chance. To prove this, let anyone take a copy of any book, or a column of a news- paper, and count the words, setting down every tenth word. It is very rarely indeed that any two of these words, in their order, will agree in grammar, sense and rhetoric. It will be extraordinary indeed if three of them so cohere ; while it seems to me, it will be absolutely impossible that four will. It is stated, as a rule, for instance, that there are ten chances against one that the tenth word of a particular writing will be the word "our;" and ten times ten chances, (or lOo) against one, that the twentieth word will be, by chance, "father;" and one hundred times one hundred (or 10,000) chances against one that the thir- tieth word will be "who ;" and a thousand ' times one thousand (or 1,000,000) chances against one that the fortieth word will be the word "art;" and so on, until 140 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. we reach numbers for which we have no representatives in our language, before we come to the end of the "Lord's Prayer." But even this does not seem to be sufficient to express the impossibility of sense coming out of nonsense, by accident. There are 21,000 words in the Shakespeare vocabu- lary. There is therefore but one chance out of 21,000 that a given number will produce the one word desired, out of all these 21,000; and but one chance out of 21,000 times 21,000, or 25,000,000, that the second word would be the one needed; and when we reach the third stage, there will be but one chance out of six hundred and eighty quadrillions that the third word is the one re- quired ! Therefore, when we find in the following pages, coherent phrases, like "the old jade," (as applied to Queen EHzabeth) or "Will Shakst Spur," or "John Shakst Spur," "the fish-pond," or "in silken apparel," held together by a self-evident rule, and derived prima- rily from one number, the reader will remember that there is only one chance out of six hundred and eighty quadrillions that the combination could come about by accident. But when whole sentences of hundreds of words are derived in the same way, it is an insult to the human intelligence to pretend that the text was not prearranged and adjusted to produce such results. Coherences, by an arithmetical number, constitute then, the diflference between a "cipher" and a "cento." The first proves a rule; the second proves only ingenuity. What is the primal number from which is derived the cipher story given in these pages ; and how is it obtained ? The primal root-number is 836. THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. ' 141 If the reader will turn to the fac-simile hereto at- tached, of a page in the Folio of 1623, page 74 of the Histories, on which the Play of "The Second Part of Henry the Fourth," begins, and examine carefully the first column of that page, he will find twelve words in italics, like "Rumor," "Harries," "Hotspurre," etc.; and ten words in brackets, to wit: — "Making the wind my post-horse," and "Under the smile of safety." But one of these is a double word — "post-horse." If we count "post" and "horse" as separate words, we then have eleven words in brackets. Here we have three numbers that are used as multi- pliers, to wit: 12, ID, and 11. Scene One begins on this page 74, and runs through page 75 and terminates on page 76. We then have three numbers to be multiplied, viz. : 74, 75 and 76. The ten, (of the bracketed words), is the multplier of page 74, and gives the primal root num- ber 740; the number of italic words, 12, is the multi- plier of page 75, and gives us the primal root number 900; while the eleven bracketed words, counting "post- horse" as two words, are the multiplier of page 76, and give us the primal root number : 836. The tremendous nature of the cipher will dawn upon the reader when we call his attention to the fact that each of these primary numbers tells a long, continuous story, of thousands -of words, extending through all the first and second parts of the play of Henry the Fourth, traveling over the same ground, using the same words, inter-locking with each other, and interfered with by 142 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. similar ciphers, wherever an act or scene begins; and extending, right and left, from the common center of page 74, through the whole of these two plays, from page 46 to page 100 of the Folio. When the reader perceives what a multitudinous story is derived from the number 836, he has only to remem- ber that as much more grows out of each of the num- bers 740 and 900, to realize that not only almost every word of these two plays mtist be used in the cipher story ; but that, in many instances, they are used over and over again ! The mind stands appalled before such a stu- pendous work. It seems impossible; and yet there are the figures to demonstrate its reality. When fully re- vealed, the world will be lost in astonishment. It was while looking forward to this revelation that Bacon said : "And death being dead there's no more dying more." And: "Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme; But you shall shine more bright in these contents Than unswept stone, besmeared by sluttish time. When wasteful wars shall statues overturn, And broils root out the work of masonry. Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire shall burn The living record of your memory. 'Gainst death and all oblivious enmity Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room, Even to the end of all posterity. That wears this world out to the ending doom." Sonnet 55. THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 143 It would have been a' sublime egotism that could have made such an assertion upon the strength of mere poetry, some of which is forced, constrained and commonplace; but the revelation of this marvelous interweaving of two narratives, the external and internal, will fully justify it. If proof is needed that the primal root numbers are obtained by multiplying the number of the page on which an act or scene begins, by the number of italics or bracketed words on the first column of the same, we give the following illustrations : Act Second, Scene First of the play of First Henry Fourth begins on page 53 of the "Histories." Examine the fac-simile of that page, given herewith, and it will be seen that there are seven italic words on the first col- umn of page 53 ; multiply 53 by 7 and we have the num- ber 371. Count each spoken word of the play from the top of column one, page 53, and it will be found that the 371st word is "Bacon." On the first column of the next page, 54, there are twelve italic words. Multiply 54 by 12, and we have 648. Count again from the top of column one of the same page 53, and we have, as the 648th word, "Nicho- las," — the name of Francis Bacon's father. Some time ago I published in the North American Review an article, in which I showed that the words "Francis Bacon, Sir Nicholas Bacon's son," were, each of them, the 371st word, counting from six out of a dozen points of departure, on three pages of the Folio, (such as the beginning or end of pages, acts and scenes, and the divisions of the text caused by the stage direc- tions;) and that each of them, from similar points of departure, on the same three pages, were the 648th word ! 144 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. I requested the publisher to submit my manuscript to some Shakespearean scholar, and have him ascertain whether or not my countings were correct. The reply was that they were entirely accurate; but the writer, Prof. Wm. J. Rolfe, did not believe it had been so pre- arranged because it would have been impossible to so print the text ! As if the printers would not set up the tj^pe in any form they were paid for! As if it was not the printers' rule "to follow copy, if you had to follow it out of the window." And as if it was not folly to argue that such a thing was impossible, when it was conceded that the facts really existed! And that the counts demonstrated it! When we turn to page 53 of the "Comedies," we again find the word "BACON." There are fifteen italic words on the first column of the page; if we multiply 53 by 15 we have the resulting number, 795 ; and if we start to count from the top of the first column of that page, as we did in the previous instance, and count all the hy- phenated words as two words each, and count in the bracketed words on the second column of page 53, the 795th word is "BACON." If we turn to page 67 of the "Histories," we find six italic words on the first column; let us multiply 67 by 6 and we have 402. Count the words from the top of the said first column, and the 402d word is "SAINT," the first word of "SAINT ALBANS," the name of Bacon's home. If the reader will observe closely he will see that the first sub-division of column one, of page dj, contains 72 words. The deducting of 72 from 402, (the root- number), gives us a remainder of 330; which becomes THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 145 also a cipher number. Turn to the top of the next page, 68, and' the first sub-division contains i6 words ; carry this through that part of scene three on the second col- umn of page 67, containing 222 words, and we have 92 left, and if we carry this up the first column of page 67, it brings us to the word "ALBANS," which is the 403d word, while the 402nd was, as we have seen, the word "SAINT." Here we have the compound "SAINT ALBANS." In the following instances we have a very striking proof of the truth of my statement, that the primal root numbers are produced by multiplying the page on which a scene begins by the number of italic or bracketed words on the first column of the same. I have shown that the root number on which the ex- amples of my work, given herein, is based is 836. It was by accident that my investigations followed out this number. I have also shown that there are 12 italic words on the first column of page 74, and that 12 was used as a multiplier of the number of the second page of the scene ; and that 75 x 12 gives us goo. As I showed in the "Great Cryptogram," if we take that number, 836, and begin at the top of page 74 to count the spoken words, counting the hyphenated com- pounds like "peasant-towns," or "smooth-comforts-false" as one word each, and not as two or three words each, we shall find' that the 836th word is the 304th word, on column one, of page 75, which is the word "found/' in the sentence, "But Priam found the fire ere he his tongue." If again we count from the first word of the next page, 75, in the same way, we shall find that the 836th 10 146 THE Cipher In THii sHa&espEare pLays. word is the 389th word on the second column of page 75, which is the word "out." This gives us the combination "found out." But here is the most remarkable part of the matter, and the most striking proof of that adjustment of the text on which the internal cipher narrative depends. If we now take that other cipher number, 900, and count again from the top of column one, of page 74, as we did with 836, but not now omitting the words in brackets, and counting in each word in the double words, we find that the 900th word is the same 304th word upon cohtinn one of page 75, to wit — the word "found." And if we start once more from the top of column one, of the next page, 75, and counting in the same way as in the last instance, we shall find that the 900th word is the same word "out" the 389th word on the second column of page 75. Thus we have : 836 from 1-74 — "found." 836 from 1-75 — "out." 900 from 1-74 — "found." 900 from 1-75 — "out." In other words, exactly enough bracketed and double words were interjected into the text to make the 836th word the 900th word, in both instances. This implies the most careful adjustment of the text and the most precise proof-reading, which could not have been per- formed by William Shakespere, who had been peacefully sleeping for seven years in the Stratford church. THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 147 And it will be observed that to adjust the text so that there would be enough bracketed and hyphenated words to make up the difference between 836 and 900, we find such extraordinary hyphenations as the following: On page 74, near the bottom, we have these lines : "From Rumours tongues, They bring smooth-comforts-false, worse than True- wrongs.'' Just above it we have: "this worm-eaten-hole of ragged stone." In what other book can you find "smooth-comforts- false" united by hyphens into one word? What does it mean? And what are "true- wrongs ?" And how can there be a "worm-eaten-hole" of "stone ?" And a "ragged stone" at that! The bracketings are as extraordinary and unreason- able as the hyphenations. Near the top of the second column of the 75th page we have this line : "I cannot think (my Lord) your son is dead." A parenthesis is a sentence within a sentence; but there is no reason in the world to place "my Lord" in brackets, except the fact that if the writer had not done so the words "found" and "out" could not have been used for the 836th count and the 900th count. On the two columns of page 75 there are 54 words in brackets and 14 hyphenated words. On the preceding page there are 32 words in brackets and 10 hyphenated 148 THE CIPHER IN THE SKAKESPEARE PLAYS. words ; and in no case, apart from the needs of the cipher, was there any necessity for any of these 86 bracketings and 24 hyphenations. And they are the more remarkable because in the two preceding pages, 72 and 73, in an- other play, 1st. Henry IV, there are but three bracketed words, instead of 86, and 5 hyphenated words, instead of 14. It does not seem to me possible that a reasonable mind can reach any other conclusion than that there has been a careful arithmetical adjustment of the text of this play. To make it possible to use the words "found" and "out" in the 836th count and also in the 900th count, the interjection of 64 bracketed and hyphenated words was necessary; and here we find the text strained in an abnormal manner to bring in those 64 additional words. The mind that could believe all this to be accident would deny the existence of design in the frame of the universe. 505 and 533. A great part of the cipher story given in "The Great Cryptogram" came from the subordinate numbers, 505 and 523. How are these obtained from the primal root- number 836? The number 836 tells a long, continuous story, as modified by the modifiers on page 74. I will give here- after some examples of the narrative growing out of 836. But the cipher is like a tree : — it branches out. There is first the trunk; then the branches; then the twigs; then the leaves. I have stated that the alternate addition and subtrac- tion of 284, — the number of words on the first column of page 74 — was used to tell a part of the cipher story. THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 149 But after a time it branches again. The number ob- tained by adding 284 to 836 is dropped and the narrative goes out on the number obtained by deducting 284 from 836. This is 836-284=552. Then it branches again. From 552 is deducted the modifier 29, obtained from the last subdivision of column two, of page 74. This gives us 552-29^523. And this tells a considerable story. But if the reader will turn again to the first column of page 74, from which we obtained the 284, he will find that there are on it eleven words in brackets and seven hyphenated words, making 18 in all. Now deduct 18 from 523, and we have, — 523-18=505. In other words, we have climbed up the tree of the cipher and crawled out on one of the branches, and in the following pages we will study the relations between the twigs and the leaves of that particular part of the tree. We will produce in the following pages, an inner cipher narrative, in which every word is the 505th word; and another in which every word is the 523d word; and while studying this part of the foliage of the cipher, we shall catch glimpses of the stupendous nature of the whole tree. I have no doubt the cipher extends to every one of the "so-called Shakespeare Plays. Nothing like it has ever been produced in the history of the human mind. It is history and philosophy set forth by the greatest intellect that ever dwelt on this earth of ours. 150 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. CHAPTER XXIII. The Movement of the Cipher. Having established, as I hope, conchisively, that the primal root-numbers, all through the huge Folio of 1623, depend upon the paging of that volume ; and are obtained by multiplying the number of the page upon which a play, or an act, or a scene begins, by the number of italicised or bracketed words found on the first column of the page in question, I pass to the consideration of the rule which governs the movement of this primal number so obtained. It is evident that 836, or 900, or 371, or any other sim- ilar fundamental figtire, could yield by itself but a few words. There could not be more than a dozen words to a page that would be the 836th word from the points of departure afforded by the page. Therefore to present a long story something more was needed. I. This is obtained by the rule that the cipher numbers are carried alternately up and down the columns. This rule is inflexible. Whenever we obtain one word of the cipher narrative by carrying the cipher number DOWN a colnuin, zve obtain, (as shown in the case of the words "Saint Albans") ; the next zvord by carrying it UP the same, or an adjacent column. This I did not know when I published "The Great THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 151 Cryptogram;" and consequently my workmanship was fragmentary and imperfect. I obtained parts of a story, without a rationale. I have devoted all my leisure time, during the last 'eleven j^ears, to working out the rule gov- erning the formation of the cipher narrative, and I claim now to demonstrate, in this work, a perfect cipher, with the reason for every movement. 2. There is another rule which governs the cipher : When a cipher number plays around a certain fragment of the text, the number which represents the number of Words in that fragment is alternately added to or sub- tracted from the said cipher number. We shall see hereafter that the number of words on the first column of page 74, where the cipher begins, is 284, and that number, 284, is alternately added to and subtracted from the cipher number, whatever it may be. The second column of page 74 contains 248 words and we shall find that whole sentences come out by a similar alternate addition and subtraction of 248. If the reader will look at the fac-simile of page 75, he will find that the first division of that page, is caused by the stage direction "Enter Morton," and ends with the word "news," which is the 193d word from the top. And he will see hereafter that the root-number, plus 193, al- ternates with the root-number minus 193, through a long story. In all these cases the minus numbers go down the column, while the plus numbers go up the column ; unless the movement is reversed and then all the minus numbers go up the column and all the plus numbers go dozvn the column. The cipher therefore is a game of contradiction or al- ternations. Whatever is added is ^Iso subtracted, 152 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. Moreover, whenever the cipher leaves the column on which it starts, and overflows, (as it were), into the next columns, it moz'cs alternately to the right and left, as well as alternately 'up and down; unless one of the adjoining columns is too thickly packed with cipher words, and in that case the cipher story is carried to the right or left of the central column. 3. But there is more than this. The second column of page 74, as I showed in' "The Great Cryptogram," gives what I called "the modifiers;" which, subordinate to the movements up and down and right and left, perform a very important part in the work- ing out of the cipher narrative. There are, for instance, on the second column of page 74, 248 words, divided by two stage directions, to-wit: ■ "Enter Northumberland," and "Enter Travers." The first subdivision, above the words : — "Enter North- umberland," ends with the word "answer," and contains 50 words. The third fragment below the words : "Enter Travers," contains 30 words, while the middle fragment, beginning with the word "Heere," and ending with the word "Newes," contains 168 words. But here we have a curious fact : In counting the number of words in that first frag- ment, as afifecting the position of some succeeding or pre- ceding word, we find it to be 50 ; and the word carried through it will therefore be the cipher number, less 50. Hence, if we desired to us§ this fragment of 50 as a "modifier," it would land us at the same spot as in the former instance, and there would be no distinction be- tween the first fragment as a "modifier," and the same fragment merely counted through. THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 153 Hence to constitute a diflference, necessary to the work, the cryptographer, when he uses the fragment as a "mod- ifier," counts not all the words in the fragment, which would be 50, bttt the number of luords above the last zvord, which is 49. In the same way the third or last fragment, as a "mod- ifier," is not 30, but the number of words between the first word and including the last ivord, zvhich is 167, (218-51=167). Thus again we shall see, that while that first fragment, of page 75, containing 193 words, is alternately added and subtracted ; thus 505-1-193 alternating with 505 — 193, yet having established the root-numbers 698 (505+193= .698), and 312 (505-193=312), if we proceed beyond this, and desire to use the first fragment again, as a "mod- ifier," we call it 192 instead of 193, to-wit: the number of words abo7Je the last word of the fragment. And if we de.sjre to use, in the same way, the second fragment, on the same page, which contains 254 words, take the num- ber of- words below the first word of the paragraph, and this gives us, not 254, but 253. But in addition to all these matters, which complicate the working out of the cipher, we have the alternations of the "modifiers," on the second column of page 74. If the story revolves around the middle fragment we have plus 167 and uiinus 167. Then there are 50 words above the first word of the middle fragment, and we have plus 50 and minus 50 ; as contradistinguished from the first fragment standing alone, where, as I have shown, the modifier is 49; just as 193 becomes 192, and 254, 253. In the same way, from the end of the middle fragment 154 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PI-AYS. to the bottom of the page, there are 30 words, as contra- distinguished from the third fragment, standing alone, when it is but 29. Then there are 218 words from the top of the'column (2,74) to the last word of the second subdivision; and from the top of the second subdivision to the end of the column there are 197 words. There is no doubt that Bacon believed that he had cre- ated a cipher, which, to use his own words, "excluded the decipherer." When he put forth these plays in quarto form, paged from page i to page 20 or 30, it was impossible for his enemies, even in that age of ciphers and deciphering, to detect and reveal the inner narrative depending upon a prospective folio volume, existing then, probably, in man- uscript sheets, in some secret coffer, or buried in the earth, at Saint Albans, or elsewhere, in which the same play be- gan, not with page one, but with page 46 or 74, or 300. THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 155 CHAPTER XXIV. Marlowe's Death. Let us take that root-number ^o^, and alternately add to it and subtract from it the number 248 ; being the num- ber of words on the second column of page 74 ; — the page of the modifiers ; — the first page of the play of "The Sec- ond Part of Henry Fourth." We then have : 505+248=753, and 505-^248=257. Here then are two numbers, which are carried alter- nately up and down the columns, and modified by the ad- dition or subtraction of the modifiers on page 74. We will carry 753 up the columns, and 257 down the columns. There are, on column one, of page 75, 447 words. Now carry 753 through that column, — which is equivalent to deducting 447 from 753 ; this leaves a remainder of 306 ; which, being modified by deducting 50, leaves 256; and this carried again up the same column, (one of page 75), brings us to the I92d word, the word "More," in the sen- tence: "Looke here comes more news." This has been obtained by using the number obtained 156 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. by adding 248 to 505. Let us now take the alternate num- ber, obtained by deducting 248 from 505. This gives us 257- We deduct 50 from 753 to get the word "More." Let us add 50 to 257 and we have 307 ; then add the modifier, 167, to this and we have 474. Now carry this down the preceding column, containing 248 words, and we have 474 — 2481=226 ; and the 226th word, on the next preced- ing column, (i, 74), is the word "low." This gives us the combination "More=low," which is the cipher ex- pression of the sound of the word "Marlowe," the name of the supposed poet, Christopher Marlowe, who imme- diately preceded the appearance of Shakespere as a dra- matic writer. Their works, as I have already shown, overlap each other, so that the critics have disputed as to whether plays like "The Contention between the Houses of York and Lancaster" and parts of "Henry VL," were written by Marlowe or Shakespere. Here it will be observed that "More" is obtained by go- ing up 1 . 75 and doubling on itself — minus 50 — and going up the same column again ; and "low" is obtained by start- ing from the top of i, 75 and going backward and down, — plus 50 — and plus 167. It may be urged that "Marlowe" and "More-low" are not the same ; but it must be remembered that we are dip- ping into the middle of a long, continuous narrative, run- ning through the thousand pages of the Folio; and we will find that it is the fashion of the cryptograhper ta give occasionally the sound of the exact name, and then give words that approximate that sound, where a repetition is necessary. Thus in the "Tempest," the "Two Gentlemen THD CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 157 of Verona/' "Measure for Measure," "Midsummer Night's Dream," "The MercThant of Venice," and a great many other plays, we have the words "mar" and "low," giving the exact name of "Marlow." In other cases it is disguised as "marle-o," "more-low," etc. And in the In- duction to the "Taming of the Shrew" we have the word "Christopher" and the word "low" and close at hand, (on two consecutive pages), the word "more;" while towards the end of the play is found the word "mar," giving the whole name, — "Christopher Mar-low." In the same way, we have in "Richard II." the words "Shake" and "Speare." Also the same words in ist Hen- ry IV., 1st Henry VI., and 2nd Henry VI.; but we have the combination of "Shake-spur," "Shake-spare," "Jack- spur," "Shak'st-spur," etc., a score of times in the plays. Too many repititions of "Shake" and "Speare" would have aroused suspicion at once. Having now established the words "More-low" what follows ? We obtained the word "low" by adding the modifier 167 to the root number 257 plus 50, equal 474, (257+167 =424-1-50=474), and carrying it forward and down. Now let us deduct 167 from the other root number, 753, thus : 753 — 447=306 — 50^256, and we have 256 — 167 =89; and 89 carried up the same column, (i, 75), brings us to the 359th word— "ending." Or we can reach the same result by adding 167 to 192 (the word "More"), thus: ig2+i6'/^259=='^^'"i'^^S-" But as 50 alternates with 167 we next deduct 50 from 257 and we have the number 207. Look at the 207th word on Col. I, p. 75, and we find it is the word "tragic" — "foretells the nature of a tragic volume." 158 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. But as the deducting of 50 from the root number 257, gave us the 207th word "tragic/' let us add 50 to 257, and we have 307, which is the word "ere." This gives us "ere the tragic ending" of "More-low." What was the tragic ending of "More-low?" We have already shown that he was killed in a drunken brawl; — "stabbed to death by a bawdy servingman rival of his in his lewd love." (Sir WiUiam Vaughan, "Golden Grote, 1600.") Marlowe's biographers tell us he was an intemperate and licentious creature, who was about to be arrested for blasphemy, when, he fled to Deptford, where he was slain. Marlowe was killed June i, 1593; and Halliwell Phil- lipps says the date of the first appearance of a Shake- speare play was March 3d, 1592, — the play of Henry VI. ; that is "ere the tragic ending of More-low." But there are critics who claim that that play was written by Mar- lowe. The truth is the two sets of writings overlap and intermingle because the two men were both masks of the same mighty intellect, Francis Bacon. To get the word "ending'' we deducted from the root- number, 753, the modifier 167; let us now add 167. We then have 753+167=920. If we commence at the bot- tom of Col. I, p. 74, and carry it through page 74, con- taining 532 words, we have 388 left: (920 — 532=388), which carried up the same column i, of page 75, brings us to the 60th word "Spur," part of the name "Shakst- spur,") and deducting thfe modifier 29 from it we reach the 89th word,— "Y/j^." (6ch-29=89). This is the "//i^" which precedes the word "tragic :" — "ere the tragic end- ing of Morelow." The word "of" is derived from 257-1-50, and carried THIi CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 159 down the second column of p. 74, containing 248 words, thus : 257+50=307—248=59 ; which carried forward to the next column, (i, 74), and down that column, brings us to the 59th word "of." Now let us re-state this. 505 505 — 248 down +248 up 257 753 d. 257+50=307 207—1, 75 ere up 753+167 — 920—29 — 891 89— 1> 75 the d. 257—501=207 207—1, 75 tragic up 753—167=586—50= = 536— 447=89, up 1.75 359—1, 75 ending d. 257+50—307—248— =59 59—1, 74 of up 753 50=703 447- =256 192— I, 75 More d. 257+5o=:307+i67=474— 248=226— I, 74 low. Here the modifiers are 50 and 167. "Ere" is 257 plus 50 ; "tragic" is 257 minus 50 ; "of" is 257 plus 50. "The" is 753 plus 167, minus 29 ; "ending" is 753 minus 167, minus 50 ; "More" is 753 minus 50, and "low" is 257 plus 50, plus 167. Observe also that the words are alternately carried up and down the columns ; and that every word is the 505th word plus 248, or 505 minus 248 ! I have shown that the word "More" of "More-low" was obtained by deducting 50 from 753, leaving 703 ; and car- rying this through i, 75, containing 447 words, leaving 256, which again taken up the same i, 75, brought us to the i92d word, "More." But instead of carrying 753 minus 50, minus 447, let 160 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. US add 50 to 753^803, and add 447 to 803 ; add this in- stead of deducting it, and it gives us 1250 (803+447= 1250). Now commence at the top of Col. i, p. "jd, and carry it through that page, p. 76, containing 1102 words, which is equivalent to deducting 1102 from 1250; this leaves a remainder of 148, which carried up the next col- umn (i, "^j^ brings us to the 430th word, which is "/." This came from 753, and we turn now to the alternate number, 257; — we added the modifier 167 to get "low"; let us now deduct 167, which leaves 90; to get this we add that other modifier 29, (90+29=119) ; which brings us down the column to the 119th word on column one, of page 75, the word "had." We recur now to the alternate number, 753, to which we add the modifier 197, which gives us 950; (753+197 =950) ; carrying 950 through i, 75, (447 words), leaves us 503, and this carried backward through p. 74, brings us, going up column one of p. 74, to the 30th. word "com- menced." Thus : 753+197= 950—447=503—248=255 ; 284 — 255^29+1=30 : "commenced." Again take the number 257 ; add the modifier 50, which gives us 307. The last time, to get the word "had" we de- ducted 167 and added 29; now we reverse this and add 167 and deduct 29, and we have: — 307+167=474 — 29= 445 ; and this carried down column i of page 75, brings us to the 445th word, which is "to." We recur to 753, and, adding the modifier 167, we have 920, which gave us, minus 29, the word "the" ("ere the tragic ending," etc. ) We deduct 50 and we have 870, de- duct 50 again, and we have 820. Commence on Col. i . p. 74, and carry it through that page, containing 532 words and we have a remainder of 288; deduct 29, as we did THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 161 with the word "the,'' and we have 259, which carried up the first cokimn of page 75, brings us to the word "look," the 189th word : thus, — 753+167=^920-100^820-532 =288 — 29=259 ; 447 — 259=ri88-i-i^^i89 : "look." When I published "The Great Cryptogram" I was rid- iculed for explaining that if you have a column of say ten numbers, the 5th word down that column is 5 ; but the fifth word up that column is not 5 but 6. Hence if I would indicate the 5th word up a column I had to state it thus : — 10-5=5-1-1=6. But while some mocked me for explain- ing so plain a little thing as that ; others cried out : "Why see, — when the number will not come out on the right word, he says 'add one'." Which illustrates that human nature is sometimes the meanest and crookedest little thing to be found in all of God's universe of suns and planets. We have now got : — "Ere the tragic ending of more-low I had commenced to look." "Look" came from 753. The' next word therefore is from 257. We deducted 100 from 920 to obtain the word "look;" let us add 100 to 257 and we have 357. To get the word "I," ( "I had commenced," ) we added 447 to 753 ; the number of words on the first column of p. 75. Let us now add 508, the number of words, exclusive of the clue word, "reigne," on the second column of the same page. 75, to 357, and we have 865. We added 167 to 753 to get the last word "look." Let us deduct 167 from 865, and we have left 698. Carry this through the first subdivision of col. I. p. 76, containing 448 words, and we have left 250, and the 250th word on the next column, 2,76, is the word "aho'Ht ■,■^"(0 look about," 162 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. It will be observed as we proceed that while the root- numbers, as 753 or 257, remain the same, the immediate ahernations are not produced by the same number. Thus we have 753+197= =950 commenced to 753+167= =920 look about 753+197= =950 among my 753+167= =920 friends of 753+197= =950 the Curtain Observe how 950 alternates with 920 ! Remember that every one of those numbers is carried up the columns, and derived from 753 ; and alternates with other numbers, de- rived from 257, going down the columns. Can it be possible that all this is the result of accident? If it is then we may conclude that it is an accident that the temperature of this globe has, during millions of years, never fallen low enough to destroy all life by cold ; and never risen high enough to burn it all up with heat. If cunning and multiform adjustments prove the presence of God'.s supervising intelligence in the universe, then these manifold, arithmetical adjustments prove the ex- istence of a cipher in the so-called Shakespeare plays. Bacon said : — "I would rather believe all the fables in the Talmud and the Koran than to think that this univer- sal frame is without a mind !" THE CIPHER IX THE SHAKESPEARE PI.AYS. 163 And I will add : — that I would rather believe all the fables in the Talmud and the Koran, than to think that these subtle adjustments of the text, and hundreds of oth- ers that I shall show hereafter, came about without any previous arithmetical arrangement.. We return to 753+197^950. From this we deduct 167. To get the alternate word "look," we added 167. The modifier 167 deducted from 950 leaves 783. Add 50, mak- ing 833 ; carry this through the ist col. of page 75, (447 words), and we have 386 left. Carry this backwai'd through col. i page 74 up the cohmm, and it brings us to the word "among," the 147th word on i, 74. Thus : 753+ 197=950,-167=783+50=833—447 =386—248=138 ; 284 — 138=146+1=147 — "among." Again we take 257. The last time we added 50 twice. Now we deduct 50 and have 207, which gave us "tragic." We add 218 (the subdivision from top of 2, 74 to the end of the 2d subdivision) ; and we have 425, (475 we shall see will give us "shakst" of "Shakst-spur.") ; we deduct 248 (2, 74) and this leaves us 177, and this, less 29, gives us 148, and the 148th word on col. 1, 74 is "my." And incidentally, not as part of the sentence we are working out, but to show the innumerable adjustments of this text, we give the following, already alluded to : down 257+218=475 — ^447=28th word 2, 75 "Shakst" up 7.53+167=920—532 (p. 74)=388; 388th word up I, 75^60: "Spurre" Here it will be observed that 753 alternates with 257. And 753+167=920, starting from the ist col. of p. 74, and carried forward and upward, brings us to the word "spurre;" while the alternate number, 257, plus 218 car- ried down the. column i, p. 75 and the overplus, 28, car- 164 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. ried down the next column, gives us the word "Shak'st." The number 167 is the number of words in the middle subdivision of 2,74; and 218 is the number of the last word of that subdivision. It may be objected to that "Shak'st," "Spurre" is not "Shake-speare." But the man of Stratford did not sign his name to his will, "Shakespeare," but "Shakspere ;" and the words "Shak'st," "spurre," probably give the name as it was pronounced at that time. It is not "shak-est" but "shak'st." In contemporaneous documents the name is spelled "Shaksper." (Knight's Biography, p. 118). In the records of the Town Council of Stratford, during the supposed poet's life-time, the termination of his name is spelled "sper," not "speare," 38 times out of a total of 196. But we return to our work, and we recur to 753, add 167, which gives us again 920. From the last 920 we de- duct 29. We repeat this step; 920 — 29=891. We carry this backward through page 74, containing 532 words, and we have 359 left ; still going backward we carry 359 through the 2d col. of page 73, 237 words, which leaves us 122 ; which carried up the 1st col. of p. 73 brings us to the 48th word "friends." The number 259 gave us "look;'' the number 359 gives the 48th word, — "friends." We come again to the root-number 257. The last time we used it, we added the modifier, 218, thus obtained: — the 2i8th word is "Never," on the 2d column of page 74; it is the end of the middle subdivision of 2, 74. The 219th word "My" begins the third subdivision of that column, and below it there are 29 words : and this modifier 29 we have used several times already. Now as we added 218 fHE CIPHER IN The SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 165 the last time we used 257, let us deduct from it 29; this leaves us 228 ; as we have been carrying several numbers through 447 (p. I, 75) let us add 447, and we have 675, (228+447=675). Now carry this through the 2d col. of p. 75, containing 509 words, and we have left 166, and this carried down the same i, 75, brings us to the word "of." The last time we used 753, to obtain the word "friends," — we added 167, making 920. Now we add 197 and we have 950. The last word "among" we obtained by going backward, this time we go forward. To get "among" we deducted 167 ; let us now add it. Then we have 950+167 =1117. Going forward we carry it through the second column of page 75, containing 509 words. This leaves 608. Carry this forward through the next column, (i, 76) containing 498 words, and we have no left. Carry this forward and upward, for all the 753 words go up the col- umns, and we find that the iiQth word is the 49Sth word on the 2d col. of page 76, "the :" "He that was in ques- tion for the robbery." We come again to 257 ; we add 29 ; the last time we de- ducted that modifier; but adding it, we have 257+29= 286; and the 286th word on col. i of p. 75 is the word "Curtain" the name of the famous play-house, built about 1575, and in use as a theatre until 1623. Many of the sO- called '"Shakespeare plays" were acted at the "Curtain" during the life of the supposed author. Is it not remarkable that this word "Curtain" should ap- pear just where it is wanted, while it has no connection with anything in the play? It is brought in thus : 166 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. "Even- such a man, so faint, so spiritless, So dull, so dead in looke, so woe-be-gone, Drew Priam's Ciirtaine in the dead of night. And would have told him Halfe his Troy was burned. But Priam found the Fire ere he his Tongue." This is the only time the word "Curtain" occurs in this play. It is, however, referred to in twelve other plays, showing that much of the Cipher story referred to the doings at that famous play-house. In the passage above quoted more than half the words are used in the internal cipher narrative, as we shall show. No wonder Bacon said of himself, that he had "a nimble mind." It was the most ingenious and subtle intellect that ever dwelt on this earth. The "found" in "found the fire" is the same "found" which we showed went with "out," (389th word 2, 75), to furnish that expression "found out," set forth by us heretofore. The word "crc" — "ere he his tongue," is the ere of "ere the tragic death of More-low." Other cipher words in that paragraph will appear as we go on. We recur again to 753. We add 167 and this gives us 920. Carry this through 447 and we have 473 left; carry this up 2, 75 and it brings us to the 37th word on the column, the word "to;" — thus 753-|-i67=:920 — ^447= 473— S09~473=36+i=37=="rO." We turn to 257 again. We deduct from it 50, leaving 207. To this we add the number of words in the second column of page 75, 509, and we have 207+509:^716; de- duct 100 and we have 616. Carry this backward through the first column of page 74, containing 284 words, and we have 616 — 284=332. Carry this backward again THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 167 through p. 73, and down i, 73, and it brings us to the word "find," the 95th word, 1,73. Thus: 332 — 237=95. After a while we shall find th^ words — "Bishop of I'Vorcester" — coming out of the root number 753, carried up the cohtmns i, 76 and 2, 75, and "Bishop" is the 332d word on i, 76; and we have just seen that 332 is derived from 257. The number 332 was obtained by adding 257 — 50:^207 to 509=716, deduct 100=616; and carry this through I, 74 (284 words) and we have 332, "BISHOP." Then if we take 257+50=307 and again add 509 and we have 816 left. Carry this again through i, 74 (284), and then through 2, 74 (248 words) and deduct 29 and we have 255 left, and the 255th word is "WORCES- TER." But if we reverse the movement we have 753 — i67=r 586+29=615 — 498=117; and 117 carried up i, 76 brings us to the 332d word, "BISHOP." But instead of deducting 167 from 753 let us add it : we then have 920. Carry this again through i, 76, (498 words), and we have 422 left; deduct 167 from 422 and we have 255 left; and carry this up 2, 75, and it brings lis to the same word "WORCESTER." It is a curious fact that this word "WORCESTER" is the 255th word down the column, (2, 75), and the 25Sth word up the column. Can any one believe that all these infinite adjustments of the text are the result of accident. Sir John Whitgift, one of Bacon's tutors at Cambridge, was the Bishop of Worcester who married Shakspere to Anne Hathaway or Whatley or whatever her name might have been, Novembef 28, 1582. The bond to let them wed without three callings of the bans is still of 168 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAVS, record ; and in it Shakespere's name is given as "William Shagspere." The first child of this hurried union was born six months after the marriage. There is no record of the marriage of Shagspere and Ann Hathaway, but there is a record of the marriage of William Shagspere to Ann Whatley. Some may think that the addition or subtraction of loo is forced and artificial; as there is no modifier of loo; but if we have 257 — 50=207; and 257+50^307, the differ- ence between the 207 and the 307 is 100. The words are thus thrown far apart and the difficulty of detecting the cipher is thereby increased. Let us restate these last figures : Down 257 — 50=207 — 100^ 107+509=616 — 284 — 332 332, I, j6=Bishop. Down 257+50=307+509 ^816 — 284^532 — 248== 284 — 29^255, 2, 'j^=Worcester. And again : Up 753—167=586+29= 615— 498=117; 448— 117 =331-2=332, I, 76=Bishop. Up 753+167=920—498= 422—167=255 ; 509— 25s =254+1=255, 2, 7S=^^''orcestcr. In the first instance "Bishop" and "Worcester" come from 257 minus 50 and 257 plus 50, down the column; in the other case the words "Bishop" and "Worcester" are derived from 753 minus 167 and 753 plus 167, up the column. In each instance plus alternates with minus. Who can doubt that these results could only have been secured by the most minute and accurate adjustments of the text, so that the same words could be used, in differ- ent parts of the narrative, up and down the same col- umns ? THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 169 We recur to 753. Again we deduct 197 ; leaving 556 ; add to this again 167, and we have 723. Carry this again through I, 75, which is equivalent to deducting 447, the number of words on the column, which leaves 276 ; carry this up the same i, 75, and it brings us to the I72d word, "some." Returning to 257, let us deduct 100, and we have left 157; add to this the modifier 218; and we have 375; de- duct the modifier 192, the number of words above the end of the first subdivision of column one of page 75, and we have 183 left; and the 183d word on the preceding col- umn 2, 74 is the word "one." We shall fmd as we proceed that this modifier, 192, and its co-relative 253, the number of words bdow the first w'ord of the second subdivision of the same column one, of page 75, play an important part in the cipher. We recur to 753 and add 167 and 197 and 50. The last word, derived from 753 (some), was obtained by de- ducting 197. Now we add 167 plus 197 plus 50, and we have 1 167. We carry this through page 74, (532 words), and we have 635 left; we carry this through page 73, (406 words), and we have 229 left; we carry this up 2, 72, and it brings us to the 360th word— -"wAo." When the count runs through two contiguous pages the "clew-word," which unites them, is not counted, as it is simply a repetition ; but where a i^oot number is car- ried to a page as a point of departure, then the "clew- word" is used. The next word is derived from 257 and goes down the column. We add 447, the number of words on column one, page 75, and we have 704. Carry this forward through the 2d column of page 75, containing 509 words, 170 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. and we have left 195 ; deduct 50, and we have 145 ; and the 145th word on column two of page 76 is "will." ' We return to 753, and deduct 197, plus 167, plus 50, which gives us yy^ J to get the word "ivho" we added, to 753, 1674197+50, making 1167. If we start with that 773 and carry it through the second subdivision of col- umn I, of page 75, containing 254 words, we have 519 left; and this taken through the second column of page 75, containing 509 words, leaves us 10; which taken up the same column, (2, 75), brings us to the word "act." The next word comes from 257. Add 100 and we have 357; add 167 and we have 524; add 50 and we have 574; add 29 and we have 603 ; carry this through i, 75 and we have left 156, (603 — 447=156) and the 156th word, car- ried down I, 75, is "the." The next word is "part." It comes from 753, and goes up the column. "Act" was derived from 753 minus 197 plus 167. We reverse this. Instead of deducting 197 we add it to 703 ; this gives us 950 ; and adding 167 we have 1067 ; add to this 447 and we have 1514. We deduct 248 and we have left 1266. We carry this back through p. 74, (532 words), and we have left 734; we carry this through page 73, (406 words), and we have left 328; we take this up the next column, (2, 72), and it brings us to the 261st word "part." We return to 257. The last word, derived from this root-number, was "the." It was obtained by adding 150, (3 50s), to 257+167+29. We now add again 150 to 257, but deduct 167 instead of adding it, and we have the word numbered 240 on column one of page 74, to-wit: of. Thus: 257f 100=357, 357+50=407—167=240= "of." THl^ CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 171 The next word comes from 753; the last word from this root — "part,"- — was derived by adding 167; and the 753d word before that, the word "act" came from 753 minus 197 plus 167. We again deduct 197 from 753, and we have 556 left. We deduct 29 and we have 527 left. We carr}' this through i, 75 (447 words), and we have 80 left; carry this up 2, 75 and it brings us to the word "a," the 430th word on 2, 75. We recur to 257 again. The last word "of" was the 240th word on i, 74. Let us try the 240th word on i, 75, and we find it is "mask." We add to 753 the, modifier 50, and we have 803 ; carry this through 447, and we have 356 left. Take this up i, 75 and it brings us to the 92d word "and." We obtained the word "mask," from 257, by carrying 240 down I, 75, containing 447 words. Let us now add 447 to 257 and we have 704. Carry this forward to i, 76, and take it through the first subdivision of that column, and we have 704 less 448='2s6; and the 256th word is "cloak." Take the number 753 and carry it through i, 75, (447), and then carry it up the same i, 75, and it brings us to the I42d word "for." We return to 257 and add 197, and we have 454 : — car- ry this through i, 75, (447) and we have 7 left; and the 7th word on I, 75 is "me." Let us restate this : down 257+50=307 up 753+167=11:920 — 29:^891 down 257—50=207 up 753—^67=586—50 down 257+50=307 307. 1.75 ere 89, 1.75 the 207, 1.75 tragic 359. 1,75 ending 59. 1,74 of' 172 THE CIPHER IN THfi SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. up 753—50—703—447= ~ 192, 1.75 More down 257+50=307+167= 226, 1,74 low up 753+50=803+447— 430, 1,77 I down 257+29—167 119, 1,75 had up 753+197 30, 1.74 commenced down 257+50+167—29 445. 1.75 to up 753+167—100 189, 1,75 look down 257+100+508—167 250, 2,76 about up 753+197 167+50— 147. 1.74 among down 257—50+218— 148, 1,74 my up 753+167—29 48, 1.73 friends down 257—29+447 116, 1,75 of up 753+197+167 495. 2,76 the down 257+29—286 286, 1,75 Curtain up 753+167+197 50= 462, 2,72 to down 257+50 — 207+509 95. 1.73 find up 753—197+167—447 172, 1,75 some down 257 — 100+218 — 192= = 183, 2,74 one up 753+167+197+50= 360, 2,72 who down 257+447.1-704 509=195 —50= 145. 2,76 will up 753—197+167+50 500, 2,75 act down 257+100=357+167:1= =524 - 447^29+50= 156, 1,75 the up 753+167+197+44-7 261, 2,72 part down 2574100+50=407—: [67 240, 1,74 of up 753 197 556—29—527 —447: —80; 509 — 8a— 430, 2,75 a down 257+100—357+50 , 407- - 167=240 240, i,75 mask up 753+50=803—447= =356 J 447 356— 91+1 = , 92, J, 75 and THE CIPHER IN THE SHaKESPEARE PLAYS, 173 down 257+447=704 — 448= 256 256, 2, 76 cloak ^ip 753— 447=306; 447— 306=141+1 142, 1,75 for down 257+197=454; 454—447 =7 . 7. i>7S mc Here again it will be observed that all these words are derived from the root-number 505 ; which I have shown is a modification of the primal root-number 836; which was obtained by multiplying 76, the number of the third page on which scene one, of act one of the play of 2d Henry IV. occurs, by the number eleven, the number of words in brackets on the first column of page 74, being the page on which the play of 2d Henry IV. begins. We alternately add and deduct 248, (the number of words on the 2d column of the same page, 74) and this gives us 505+248=753; and 505 — ^248=257. And in the foregoing sentences, all the 753 words go up the col- umns, and all the 257 words go down the columns; and it will be perceived that the movement is regularly alter- nated. And it will also be observed that the modifiers used are all found on the second column of page 74, to-wit : 50, 167, 197, 29 and 218. But the proofs are cumulative. We are only at the threshold ; and as we go on we hope all doubts will be dissipated, as to the existence of a cipher in the so-called Shakespeare Plays, and as to the fact that those plays were written by Francis Bacon. 174 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEAKE PLAYS. CHAPTER XXV. The Bactiii-Shakspcrc Coiilroz'crsy 300 Years Ago. W'e come now to the proofs that more than three hun- dred years ago the argument began that Francis Bacon was the real author of the plays which had been put forth in the name of William Shakspere. Let the reader turn to page 74, and he will find the same root numbers, already given, 753 and 257, clasping it, from above and below, like the inter-locking fingers of two hands, the finger tips resting on the words of the story. We have already seen something of this, when 753 ad- vanced up column one, page 75, and brought us to "More" and 257+50+167 carried through p. 74, gave us the word "lozv"'- — making the word "More-lozv," — the cipher form of "MarloTV." We have seen that 753 carried through 447, left a re- mainder of 306, and that this carried up i, 75 minus 50, gave us "Hlore," the first part of "More-lozv." Now let us carry that 306 backward and upward. We pass through the 2d column of 74, which is equivalent to de- ducting 248, (the number of words in 2, 74), and this leaves a remainder of 58 — (753 — 447=306 — 248=58), THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 175 — and this, carried up the next preceding cokimn (i, 74) brings us to the 227th word, "as." If now we take that same number, 306, and instead of carrying it backward, into page 74, carry it forward, into the 2d cohimn of page 75, and count upwards, it brings us to the word "as," — the 204th word on the column. The intervening number which goes down the column is 257; and 257 carried down the 2d col. of p. 75, from which wc have just obtained the second "as" brings us to the word "soon;" — and we have the phrase "as soon as." This is very clear. The number 753 — -447=306, car- ried forward and upward, gives us the word as and 306 carried backward and upward gives us again the word "as;" while the alternate number, going down the col- umn brings us to "soon." Thus : up 505+248=753—447=306; 306—248=58; 284—58= 226+1= 227, I, 74 as down 505—248=257 257, 2,75 soon up 505+248=753-447=306; 509 — 306=203+1= 204, 2,75 as Surely all this could not be the result of accident! Let us return to 257 and deduct 219, — that is, begin at the first word of the 3d subdivision of 2, 74, the 219th word; and 219 taken from 257 leaves 38; and the 38th word on the same column is the word "it." Again take 753, add 50=803 ; deduct 447=356 ; carry this up I, 75, and it brings us to the 92d word; add 167 and we reach the 259th word, on i, 75, which is "is." Up to this point we have been treating the first column of page 75 as a continuous and unbroken whole, and con- 176 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. taining 447 words ; and hence we have deducted 447 from 753, leaving the remainder 306, which carried up the col- umns gave us "More," "ending," "as," "as," "the," etc. But the first column of 75 is not an unbroken whole. It is separated into two parts by the stage-direction — "Enter Morton ;" and the upper part contains 193 words and the lower part 254 words. If it was reasonable to carry the cipher number through the whole column, it is also rea- sonable to carry it through these fragments of the col- umn. The last word was "as," obtained by carrying 753 up the column; therefore the next word must come from 257 and go doivn the column. If we add the modifier, 5o,_to 257, we have 307, and if we add the same again, we have 357, which being carried through the first subdivision of 193 leaves 164, (357 — 193 =164), which carried down the 2d column of p. ,75 brings us to the word "bruited" — excluding the words in brack- ets, as in all the preceding instances. Let us now recur to the alternate number 753, modify- ing it by deducting from it 167, just as we will hereafter add it, and we have the remainder 586. As the last word was carried through the upper subdivision of col. i, 9. 75, which was equivalent to deducting 193 ; let us now add 193 to 586, and we have 779 ; carry this through i, 75, and there is left 332. Carry this 332 backward through the second column of p. 74, which is equivalent to deducting 248 from 332. The remainder is 84; and this taken up the next column (t, 74) brings us to the 201st word "abroad." Thus we have "bruited abroad ;" the one be- ing minus 193, the other plus 193. The ne.xt word mu?t eQme from 257 and go down the THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 177 column, and now comes in a modifier, already used sev- eral times, 29, derived from the last subdivision of col. two, of page 74; there being 29 words between the first word of that last subdivision and the bottom of the page. Add 29 to 207, (the number that gave us the word "tragic,") and we have 236, and the 236th word, on col. I, p. 75, is "put." The number 236 gives us "put," the number 286 gave us "Curtaine." The next word is "a." It comes from 753 and goes up the column. The last 753 was less 167; we now add 167, and we have 920. To get the word "abroad," we carried 753 — 167 through the ist subdivision of col. i, of p. 75. We carry 753+167 through the second subdivision of the same; — 920 — 254^666; deduct 447, (i, 75), and we have left 219; we add 29=248, and 248 carried up i, 75 brings us to the 200th word "a." We return now to 257 and carry it forward and down, through 2, 74, which contains 248 words ; 248 from 257 leaves 9 ; and the 9th word on the next column, forward, (i, 74), is "stop." This gives us "put a stop." Iflii'ow we take 753 — 100=653 — ^447==2o6; and carry 206 up 2, 74, it brings us to the 43d word "at." Thus, — 753 — 1'30=653 — ^447=206 ; 248 — 206=42+ 1=43 =:"af." . Then take 257if 100, (the last word was 753 — 100) ;^ 357; and from this deduct the modifier 192, and we have 165 left; and the 165th word on 2, 75 is "once." "Rumours" is 256 up p. 74, while "at" is 206 up the same. This "once" is joined in the text to the word "bruit- ed :" — "being bruited once," etc. We recur to 753. The last word "a" came out of 12 178 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 753_{_i67=92o. This then comes from 753 — 167=586. This 586 we carried through the 2d. subdivision of I, 75, (254) ; this 586 we take through the first subdivision of i< 75 (193) ; 586—193=393; and 393+29=372; and this carried up 2, 75 brings us to the 138th word "to." Thus, 753—50=703—167=536—193=343+29=372 ; 509—372 =137+1=138='^^." The next word goes dozvn the column, and comes from 257. We found that the word "loiv" of "More-lozv" was obtained by adding the modifier 50 to 257, which gave us 307; and this plus 167 made 474, which carried through col. 2, page 74, (248 words), brought us to the 226th word "low." If we now deduct 50 from 257, instead of adding it, we have 207; and this plus 167 gives us 374, and this carried, in the same way, through 2, 74, (248), brings us to the 126th word "uncounted." "Low" is 226, "uncounted" is 126: — just 100 difference between them ; caused by the alternate addition and subtraction of that 50, to and from 257. We recur to 753 again. Again we deduct 50, leaving 703 ; again we carry it through i, 75, (447), and we have 256 left. Carry this through 2, 48, (248 words), just as we did to get "uncounted," and we have left 8; carry this up I, 74, (we got "uncounted" by going down i, 74) ; and it brings us to the 277th word, — "rumours." And thus we have "as soon as bruited abroad put a stop to uncounted rumours." The word "stop" is the 9th word on i, 74; add 50, and the 59th word is "of" ("ere the tragic death of More- low.") Add another 50 and it brings us to io9=".yHr- inises." So "uncounted," the 126th word, is 100 less than "low," the 226th word; and "surmises," the 109th THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 179 word, is 100 more than "stop" the 9th word; and "ru- mours," the 277th word is 50 more than 227, the word "as," in — "as soon as." Surely all these extraordinary arithmetical adjust- ments cannot be the result of accident ! To believe that will require a greater stretch of credulity than to admit the existence of a cipher in the text of this play. And observe, as I said before, how the two hands, the 257 hand and the 753 hand, reach down and up, and the fingers interlock, around that block, towit : page 74 ! To get "lozv," we added 167 to 257 plus 50; to get "uncounted" we added 167 to 257 minus 50. Now let us take that word "rumours," the 277th word, and add 167 to it, ascending the column; and we have 277 — 167=110; and the iioth word on the same column, is "jealousies." Thus : 753—50=703+167=870—447=423—248=175 ; and if we carry 175 up i, 74, it brings us to the iioth word: "jealousies" ; thus, 284 — 175^109+1=100: — "jealousies." Recurring to 257 and deducting 50 and also 29, we have 178 left; add 192 to this and we have 370, and the 370th word on i, 75 is "and." Again we return to 753. The last time we added 167 ; now we subtract it, 753 — 167=586. Add to this 29, and we have 615; again deduct 167, and we have 448; add to this 29 and we have 477 ; and 477 carried through 2, 74 (248) and up the preceding column (i, 74) brings us to the 56th word — "reports." Hence we have : — as soon as bruited abroad put a stop at once to uncounted rumors, surmises, jealousies and re- ports. This is surely an extraordinary concatenation of sig- 180 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. nificant words, tied together by kindred numbers, and going alternately up and down the columns, and each of them the 836th and the 505th word. Let us restate all this : up 753—447=306; 306— 248=58; 284—58= 226+1^227 down 257 up 753—447=306; 509— 306=203+1^ down 257 — 219=38 up 753—447=306+50 = 356; 447—356=91+ 1=92+167=259— down 257+50+50=357- 193=164 up 753—167=586+193 =779—447=332— 248=84 ; 284 — 84= 200+1^ down 257 — 50=207+29= 236 up 753+167=920—254 =666 — 447=219+ 29=248; 447 — 248= 199+1= down 257 — 248=9 up 753—100=653—447 =206; 248 — 206=42 1+1= down 257+100=357 — 192 =165 227, 1,74 as 257. 2, 75 soon 204, 2,75 as 38. 2, 74 it 259> i>7S is 164, 2, 75 bruii 201, 1,74 236, 1,75 abroad put 200, 1,75 a g, 1,74 stop 43, 2,74 at 165, 2,75 once THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 181 up 753—167=586—50 =536—193=343+ 29=372; 509—372= 137+1=138 down 257 — 50=207+167 =374 — 248=126 up 753—50=703-447 =256; 256—248=8; 284 — 8^276+1= down 257+100=357 — 248 =109 up 753—50=703—447 =256; 256— 248=8 f 167=175; 284—175 =io9fi= down 257 — 50=207 — 29= 178+192=370 up 753—167=586+29= 615 — 167=448+29 =477—248=229 ; 284 — ^229^85+1== 138, 2,75 to 126, 1, 74 uncounted 277, 1, 74 rumours 109, 1, 74 surmises no, 1,74 jealousies' 370, 1,75 and 86, I, 74 reports. It will be observed that all these words are derived from 753 and 257; that they all go alternately up and down the columns; that they are all found on pages 74 and 75 ; that the modifiers, added or subtracted, are 50, 167, 218, and 29; and the modifiers growing out of page 75, — 192 and 253 ; or, where the count simply passes over the subdivisions, 193 and 254. The word "it" is derived from 257 less 219, leaving 38 words. The 219th word on 2, 74 is the first word of the third subdivision; 218 is the last word of the sec- ond subdivision of 2, 74. 182 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. The words "bruited abroad" are derived from 257 minus 193 ; and 753 plus 193. The modifier 167 is accompanied by the modifier 50; the last represents the first subdivision of 2,74; the other the second subdivision. Hence "uncounted." comes from 257 — 50+167; while "riunours" is derived from 753 — 50, and ''jealousies'' is from 753 — 50f 167. Thus : 257—50+167= "uncounted' 753—50+167= "jealousies" 753 50= "rumours" 257 50 — 207+ 29— "put" 257= "stop" 2^7+100 — "surmises" 753—50= "More" 257+50+167 "loiv" Will any one believe that all these significant words came into the text by chance? If so "the age of miracles" has not yet passed. Will any one believe that these significant words came into the text by chance? If so "the age of miracles'' has not yet passed. I hope that my readers have so far followed my direc- tions, pencil in hand, and have counted every word for themselves. If they have they can hereafter save much labor of this sort by using the numberings on the fac- similes. If, for instance, they want to find the 352d word on a column, they have only to take the third hun- dred mark on the margin; that gives them the 300th word ; then take the next 50 mark, which is indicated by the figure 50, over the word ; then take the second word beyond the 50 mark, and they have the 3S2d word. THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 183 In going up a column, instead of counting every word, they can deduct the number in hand from the total of words on the column, as shown in the fac-similes, and add one, for the reasons already given. In this way they can move along quite rapidly. .A little experiment- ing will satisfy them that the countings given on the fac- similes are correct. The reader will have observed that in the results al- ready given, we note the intrusion of the numbr 192. Thus "once" came by deducting 192 from 357 ; and the last "and" was obtained by adding 192 to 207-29. We have exhausted the results growing out of the first column of page 75, as modified by the modifiers on column two of page 74, and we come to the modifiers on page 75 ; towit — the number of words (192) above the 193d word, the end word of the first subdivision of the page; and 253, the number of words between the first word of the second subdivision of page 75 and the bottom of the column. If there is a cipher -here, we shall find 192 alternating with 253 ; the first applied to the words going up the columhs, growing out of 753 ; and the other applied to the words going down the columns, growing out of 257. It will be easier to follow these modifications than those produced by the 2d col. of page 74, because the latter has three subdivisions, while the first column of page 75 has btit two. Thus : 753+192=945. 753—192=561- 257+253=510*. 257—253=4- Let us take that root-number, 561, (753 — 192=561), 184 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. and deduct from it 167, and we have left ^94; add 50 and we have 444; carry this up the second column of page 75, containing 509 words, and it brings us to the 66th. word, which is — "which." Thus: 561 — 167=394+50=444; 509—444^=65+1=66 — "which." We shall see hereafter that the movement of these num- bers is reversed, the 753 words going down the columns and the 253 words going up the columns ; and hence the 394th word on column 2 of page 72 is the significant word "playes." We turn now to 257. Let us deduct 253 and we have 4 left; add 167 and we have 171; subtract 100, and we have 71 left ; add 29 and this gives us 100 ; and going for- ward down the next column 2,75, we find the looth word is the word "I." We recur to 753. The last time, to get the word "which," wc deducted 192. Let us now add it, and wp have 945. The last time we added 50; therefore, this time we deduct from 945 the modifier 29. This leaves us 916. Let us begin at the bottom of the first subdiv- ision of column one of page 75 ; which is equivalent to deducting 193 from 916. We then have left 723; go backward and carry this through page 73, containing 406 words, and we have a remainder of 317; take this up the preceding column (2 of 72) and it brings us to the 272d word — "have." 'Thus: 753+192=945 — 29=916 — 193 =723— 406=317 ; 588 — 3i7=27i+i=:272="Aoi/^." Turning to 257 we again deduct 100 and have 157 left; add the rpodifier 253, (ist col. of 1,75) ; (the last time we subtracted it,) and we have 410; deduct 29, (the last time we added it) ; and it leaves us 381 ; carry this 381 back- ward, (the last time we went forward), through the 2d THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEAKE PLAYS. 185 col. of p. 74, 237 words, and we have 144 left; and the 144th word on the preceding column (1,73) is the word —"been." We come back to 753. The last word "have", was ob- tained by adding 192. Now we subtract it, and have 561. We deducted 100 from 257 in the last example : — now we add 50 and 50, and we have 661. The last 753d word went backward and upward ; now we go forward and up- ward. We carry it through the 2d col. of page 75, containing 509 words, and we have 152 left. Still carry- ing this forward into the next column ( i of 76) and going up it we reach the 297th word, which is — "constrained." We recur to 257 ; and again deduct 253, leaving us 4 ; add 167, as we did to get "/," and we have again 171 ; add 447 and we have 618; carry this forward; (to get "been" we went backward,) through 1,76, (448 words), and it brings us to the 170th word, on 2,76, the word "to." The last 753d word was minus 192 ; now we add 192 ; and again we have 945. We added 50 to get the word, — "constrained" now we subtract its alternative, 29, leaving 916 — (50 is from the top of col. 2, p. 74, and 29 from the bottom of it, and 167 is between.) We went forward to ■get "constrained;" now we go backward, carrying it through p. 74, containing 532 words ; this leaves 384. We add 50 and we have 434. We carry this through page 73, containing 406 words, and we have 28 left ; take this up the preceding columh, and it brings us to the 561st word, which is "deny." Here again, when the movement is reversed and 561 is carried down the column, it brings us to the 561st word 2,72 : — "deny." Here we have the significant words "deny," "playes." 186 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. We recur to 257. The last time but one that we used it — to get "been," — we added 253 and deducted 29. Now we again add 253, but we deduct 50, the alternate of 29, which we deducted, and we have 460. To this we add 448, found on column one of page 76 and we have 908. Carry this backward through page 74, containing 532 words, and we have left 376 ; carry this through the preceding column, 2 of 73, containing 237 words, and we have 139 left; carry this down the preceding column, (1,73), and it brings us to the 139th word, "many." We return to 753. The last time we added 192 ; now we subtract it, and we have 561 ; we carry this through 1,75, containing 447 words, and we have 114 left; deduct 29; carry this up 2,74 and it brings us to the 164th word, which is "times." And so we have, speaking of "the luicoimted rumors, surmises, jealousies and reports," the words "which I have been constrained to deny many times." And we shall see presently why he denied these rumors and reports ; and consequently why the nineteenth century is perplexed over the "Bacon-Shakespeare Controversy." We beg the sceptic to devote his energies to that group of nine words — "which I have been constrained to deny many times." Observe the unusual word "constrained." "Constrained" to do what? To "deny" the uncounted rumors and reports, which were, as we shall see, to the effect that he, Francis Bacon, had written the so-called Shakespere Plays. Observe that all the 753 numbers reach the words of the story by adding or subtracting 192 — the upper modifier of column I of page 75 — and going up the columns ; while all the 257 words are reached by adding or subtract- THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 187 iiig 253, the lower modifier of the same column and page, and going down the columns. And observe also that the words move alternately back- zvard and forward. And observe also that the only modifiers used are 50 and 162 and 2g. And yet this mechanism tells a most significant fact — that Francis Bacon was at the time the subject of un- counted rumors, surmises, etc., to the effect that he was the real author of the Plays ; and that he was constrained to deny the truth' of those rumors and reports. I might pause here and end this book, and justly claim that I had proved my case ; for no sane man will pretend that such coherences of numbers, words, facts and rhetoric could occur in any text by accident. If there had been, at the time these plays were written, numerous newspapers, published in London, with an army of active and zealous reporters, all these "uncounted ru- mors, surmises, jealousies and reports" would have found their way into print; and there would have been long ago no mystery about the authorship of the great dramas. But it was an utterly uncritical age; just emerging out of bar- barism; with not more than a million people speaking a tongue which would today be called "English." What- ever civizilation the country had was reflected from France; and t"rench culture was but a reminiscence of ancient Roman development, derived from Greece, and remotely from Egypt. The first play-house ever built in London — the "Blackfriars" — was erected in 1576, sixteen years after the birth of Francis Bacon! We shall see hereafter that the intellectual activity of Bacon began at a very early age. It is probable that at 188 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. sixteen he founded the Rosicrucian society. Did he at that age help the building of the first English theatre? But let us recur to our work. The cryptographer was "constrained to deny many times, the uncounted rumors, surmises, jealousies and reports." The reader will have noticed the important part which the modifier 167 has already played in the cipher story. That story tells how the cryptographer was constrained to deny uncounted rumors, etc. About what ? The word "deny" is the 561st word on column two of page 72. Let us carry the number, which gave us "deny," 167 words further up the column. This is done by deducting 167 from 561; 561 — 167:^394; and the 394th word on that column, as I have shown, (2,72) is : — "playes." "Or is it fantasy that playes upon our eye-sight." Hence he was constrained to deny something about some "playes." This is the only time the word "playes" occurs in this play, "First Part of Henry IV." ; although it is often dis- guised under the word "please," which was then pro- nounced as the Irish peasant of today gives it — as if it was spelled "plays." This word "playes," (the 394th word, 2,72) is often used in the cipher story, and the text is most cunningly adjusted to make it cohere by different countings. Thus we have it as above, growing out of 753+192 ( 1,75) ; thus : 753f 192=945— 29=916+50=966+167=1133. If now we carry this 11 33 through pages 74 and 73 and up 2,72, it brings us to "playes." Thus 1133 — 532= 601—406=195 ; 588— 195=393+1 =394="/>/ay second "ivritten" frpm the 147 words below that last word. The difference between 456 and 147 is 309 ; add 50 and we have 359 ; deduct 167 and we have 192, which is the exact number added to get the second "written ! !" Clearly, before Francis Bacon put pen to paper to write these plays, he had mapped out the cipher story ; and had his pages blocked ofif in little squares, each square num- bered according to its place from the top or the bottom of the page. He next adjusted the length of his columns, 192 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. and their subdivisions, to enable him to use significant words Hke "written," "pkyes," "shakst," "spur," etc., over and over again. And, when all this was in place, he pro- ceeded to write out the plays; using his miraculous in- genuity to bring the right words in the proper positions. For instance, the word "written" is thus brought in : "Do you set down your name in the scrowle of youth, that are written down old with all the characters of age." We shall see hereafter how this word "characters" re- fers to "the striking and original characters" in the plays. Observe how 753+50+167=970 ; while 753 — 192=561 +509 — 100=970 ! As 257 plus 253, carried down 2,72, gave us the word "these;" we turn to 257 minus 253 — 4 ; add 447 to 4 and it gives us 451 ; and this, plus 29, is 480; and this carried forward and down, as the other was carried backward and down, brings us to the 480th word, on 1,76, which is "have." This "have" has been derived from the modifier 253, on col. I, p. 75, thus : 257—253=4+447=451+29=480. But the word "these" was also obtained without using the 253 ; thus: 257+218=475 — 4o6=6^(2,ys) "these." Now let us see if this same word "have" {"have written these playes") comes out without subtracting 253. We added 218 to 257 to make 475 ; let us now deduct it and we have 257 — 2i8=:39; add this to (2,75) 508, and we have 547; add 100 and it gives us 647 ; deduct 167 and we have 480, and the 480th word is that same word "have." (1,76). Thus we percieve what infinite adjustments arc in this text, when the words "have written these playes" come out of 753 and 257 plus and minus 192, and plus and THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 193 minus 253 ; and also come out of 753 and 257, without any connection with 192 and 253 ! -'^s 753 — 192=561 gave us "zvritten;" turn to 753+192 =945, and .carry it backward, as "zvritten" was obtained by going forward. We add 50, (we deducted 50 twice to get "written") and deduct 29+167, and we have 1033 ; carry this through pages 74 and 73 and up 2,72, and it brings us to the 494th word, ("playes" was the 394th word), which is "I.'' And so we have, in regular order, that Bacon was "con- strained to deny the uncounted rumors, surmises, jealous- ies and reports" that "I have written these playes." But the vastness of the cipher story oppresses me. I had meant to give only a few examples, to show that 505+ 248:^753, alternating with 505 — 248^257, produced part of the internal narrative; and then go on to show that 505+284 and 505 — 284; and 505+167 and 505 — 167, etc., also carried a large part of the story; but the 753-and- 257-cipher grows under my hand to boundless pro- portions. 194 THE ClPHEK IK THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. CHAPTER XXVl. Why Bacon Denied the Authorship of the Plays. It has been often asked : Why, — if Bacon wrote these great plays, — did he not claim them ? In answering this question I am constrained to abridge my work, and hereafter give only fragments of the cipher. Let us take 257 again, and, instead of adding the modi- fier 253 to it, deduct 253. This leaves 4; add 532, the number of words on page 74, and we have 536, deduct the modifier 50 and we have 486 ; carry this through page 73 (406 words,) and we have 80 left; add 167 and it gives us 247 ; add 29 and we have 276, which on the next column (2,72), is the word "/." We recur to 753 ; deduct 192, and we have 561 ; add col. 2, p. 75 (509 words), and we have 1070; deduct 100 and this gives us 970, (the same 970 which twice gave us "■written") ; add 167 and we have 1137; again add 167 and we have 1304, which, minus 29, leaves 1275. We saw, in obtaining the word "ivrittcn," that there were 147 words below the stage direction on the 2d column of page 76. Deduct 147 from 1275 and we have 1128 left; carry this forward and up through 1,77 (577 words), and vv'e have 551 left, and the 551st word, up the next col- r'-'^. THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 195 umn (2,77), is the 6ist word — "zvould." (6ii — 551=60+1=61). Or, let us put it in another form : We found that the word "written" was the 228th word on 2,77. Deduct 167 from 228 and we have 61 — "would." Which means that the number which gave us "written," when 167 is added to it, brings us to the word "would." • The last 257th word ("/"), was obtained by deducting 253 from 257 and adding 532 (p. 74) to the remainder. We now add 253 to 257, making 510, and again add 532, and we have 1042. To get "/■" we went backward, from the 2d col. of page 73 ; let us now go forward from the 2d col. of page 76. It is one page backward from 1,75 to 73 ; and one page intervenes between 1,75 and 2,76. Deduct 29 from 1042; and we have 1013; deduct 50 and we have 963. Start from the top of 2,76 and go through that column, 604 words, and we have 359 left; and the 359th word, down the next column (1,77), is "rather." The'la-st 753 word was minus 192; this time it will be plus 192, which gives us 945. Deduct 29 and we have 916. Again deduct 532 (p. 74), and we have 384 left; add 50 and it gives us 434. This is the number which gave us "deny." Now we add 248 (2,74) to it, and we have 682. Carry this through page 73 (406 words), and we have 276 left; add 100 and we have 376; carry this up 2,72 and it brings us to the 213th word, which is "die." (588—376=212+1=213.) This gives us : "I would rather die." We recur to 257 and again deduct 253, which leaves us 4; add to this the 2d col. of p. 75, which contains 509 196 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. words, and we have 513. The last 257 word went for- ward; this goes backward. The last word "rather" be- gan at 2,76; this begins at 2,74. Deduct 406 (p. 73) and we have 107 left; carry this backward to the preceding column ; and the 107th word on it (2,72) is "A." The last 753 word "die" was plus 192. The next is minus 192. Take 192 from 753 and we again have 561. Add 532 (p. 74), as we did to get the words "/" and " rather y and we have 1093 (561+532^1093) ; add the modifier 147 on 2,76, (the same 147 we used to obtain "•written^) and we have 1240, (1093+147=1240) ; carry this through 2,76 (604) and 1,77 (577) and we have 59 left, which taken up 2,77, brings us to the 553d word, 2,77, which is "thousand." Again we add 253 to 257 and have 510. We have just used 147, the number of words on column two of page 76, below the ist subdivision, ending with the word "wived." Above that word there are 456 words. Add 456 to 510 and we have 967; add 167 and we have 1134; carry this through page 72, which contains 1083 words, and we have 51 left, and the 51st word, carried down the preceding column (2,71), is "deaths." And this gives us: "/ zvoiild rather die a thousand deaths." "Death" is a common word in the plays; but "deaths" is quite rare. It occurs but four other times in ist Henry IV., and only once in 2d Henry IV. The last 753 word, going up the columns, was from 753 minus 192. The next therefore will be from 753 plus 192=3945. From the last 945 we deducted 29=916. Now we add it, making 974. We deduct 1,76 (448) and we have 526 left; and carrying it up the next column (2,76) it brings us to the 79th word, — "then." THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 197 "Then" was used in that clay for "than." See 21st line, 1,76, — (Folio 1623) : "More theit that being which was like to be." (Is there any sense to this? Does it grow out of the necessities of the cipher?) We return to 257. The last time we added 253 to it; now we deduct it and we have 4 left. Add to this 955, the number of words on page 75, less the clew-word, and it gives us 959. We have just been adding 532, page 74, to 4; now we add page 75. Carry this through 1,76, (498 words), and there is left 461 ; 'and the'46ist word on the preceding column (2,75), is "bring." We recur to 753 minus 192=561+167=728+50 =778. Carry this through 2,75 (509), and we have 269 left; add 50 and carry this up the next column (498) and it brings us to the i8oth word "such." Again we add 253 to 257 and we have 510. Add to this the same 1,76 (498), and we have 1008; deduct 167 and we have 841. Carry this through page 74, (532 words), and we have 309 left; carry this through 2,73 (237 words), and we have 72 left; and the 72d word, on the next column (1,73), is "great." We return to 753. This time we add 192 and we have 945 ; add 29 and we have 974. Carry this through 1,76 (448), and we have 526 left; the word "then" or "than" came from this same 526 ; then it was carried for- ward, and up 2,76; now it is carried backward through 2,75 (509 words), and 17 is the remainder; and this, still moving backward, and carried up 1,75 brings us to the 431st word, which is; "disgrace." And so we have "/ would rather die a thousand deaths than bring such great disgrace." 198 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. The next word conies from 257 minus 253, towit: 4. We again add 532, making 536; but go forward instead of backward, plus 50, through 1,75 (447 words), leaving 139 plus 29, making t68; and the i68th word on 2,75 is "and." The last 753 word was plus 192. Let us now deduct 192 from 753 and we have 561 left; add 100 and we have 661; add 532 and it gives us 1193, minus 29, it is 1164, minus 253 (2d subdiv. i,7S) it is 911. Carry this through 406 (page 73), and we have a remainder of 505; carry this up from the bottom of 2,72, from the 588th word, and it brings us to the 84th word, 2,72, which is "ig- noniniy," — in the text spelled "ignomy." And so we have "bring such great disgrace and ignom- iny." And note that "ignomy" is the 505th word from the bottom of 2,72 ; and 505 is a root-number. Show- ing that '"ignomy" is used more than once. We return to 257 and add 253 again, giving us 510 ; add 100 and we have 610+50^660: — carry this through ist subdiv. of 1,76 (448 words), and we have 212 left; and the 2i2th word on the next preceding colum, (2,75), is "upon." Now take 753 and add 192, and we have 945 ; deduct 29, (we added it last time), and we have 916; carry it through page 74 (532 words), and we have 384 left; carry this up through the second column of page 73 (237 words), and it leaves 1^17, and this taken up 1,73 brings us to the 23d word, on 1,73, which is "the." We return to 257 and deduct 253 and we have 4 left. Add 447 to 4, and we have 451 ; carry this through page 73 (406 words), and we have 45 left; and the 45th word, on the preceding column (2,72), is — "great." THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 199 We come back to 753 and deduct 192 and again we have 561; we add 447 and we have 1008; add 100 and we have iio8f5o=:ii58; carry this through 2,76 (604 words), and we have 554 left; carry this up the next succeeding cohimn, 1,77 (577 words), and it brings us to the 24th word, on the cohimn, which is the word : "name." Take 257 and add 253 ; it makes 510; add 509, and we have 1019. Commence at top of 2,76, and go down the column (604 words), and we have 415 left; deduct 167 and we have 248 ; add 50 and 29 and we have 327 (1,77), and that is the word "of." We recur to 753i+i92::=945 ; deduct 167 and we have 778 ; deduct 50 and we have 728 ; deduct 29 and we have 699. Carry this through 2,75 (509 words), and we have 190 left; take this up 2,75 and it brings us to the 320th word — "my." Take 257 and deduct 253 and we have 4 left ; add 508 (2,75), and we have 512; add 100 and we have 612; de- duct 29 and it gives us 583; carry this through page 74 (532 words), and it leaves a remainder of 51 ; and the 51st word on the next column (2,73), is: — "noble." Deduct 192 from 753 and we have 561 ; add 100 and we have 661 ; add 167 and it gives us 828 ; carry this through 1,76 (448 words), and we have left 380; carry this for- ward and upward, through the next column (2,76), and it brings us to the 225th word, which is "father." Add to 257 253, and we have 510; add to this 448, and it gives us 958 ; deduct 50 and we have 908 ; deduct 447 and we have 461, and the 461st word an 1,76, is "sir." As father came from 753 minus 192 ; we now take 753 plus 192, and we have 945 ; deduct again 29 and it gives 200 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 916. We added 100 to 561, to get "father f we add 100 again to 916, which gives 1016; add the modifier, 193 (1,75), and we have 1209, plus 50 equals 1259, (we de- ducted its alternate, 253, to get ignominy.") Carry this 1259 through page 73 (406 words), and we have 853 left; carry this through 2,72 (588 words), and we have 265 left. Carry this up 1,72 and it brings us to the 230th word, which is "Nicholas." And observe another cunning adjustment : 505+248= 753 and plus 100, it is 853 ; and 853 carried through 2,72 and up 1,72 brings us to the same word: "Nicholas." Thus 753, plus 192, and 753 without the modifier 192, come to the same point in the text : ■ the word "Nich- olas"- — the name of Francis Bacon's father ! And if we take 257, and, (without adding 253 to it,) deduct 50, leaving 207 ; add 447 to it, making 654 ; carry it through the first subdivision of 1,75, containing 193 words, and we have 461 left; and the 461st word (1,76), is the same word "Sir," which we obtained by adding 253 and deducting 447 from it, — not adding 447 to it! Consider this in connection with "have written these "plays" given heretofore, and ask }'ourself if it is all acci- dent. Reflect upon the coming together, through the same numbers, of such significant words as "rather," "die," "thcitsand," "deaths," "bring," "ignominy," "upon," "great," "name," "father," "Sir," "Nicholas." Why does "Nicholas" come in just where it is needed, like "Curtain," "Bishop," "Worcester," etc., etc. If there is not an arithmetical cipher here, then this is the most extraordinary text ever seen in the whole history of liter- ature; and the sceptic will be tempted to declare: — "the very devil is in it." THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 201 And who was "Sir Nicholas Gawsey," referred to in the play ? Was there such a person ? Was not the name invented to bring in "Nicholas," just where it was want- ed? But here we have "I zvould rather die a thousand deaths than bring such great disgrace and ignominy upon the great name of my noble father, Sir Nicholas." And all this found on six succeeding pages (except one word), of the Folio of 1623, derived from 836 and 505, by alternately adding and subtracting 248; and alternately carried right and left, and alternately taken up and down the columns; the plus 248 going always up the columns and the minus 248 being always carried down the 'col- umns ! The only modifiers used being 50, 167 and 29. "Sir" of "Sir Nicholas," was derived from 257-1-253. The alternate word comes from 257 — 253=4. Add to 4 page yT, (406), and we have 410, +100^510. Add 167 and we have 6777+50=727. Carry this through 2,72 (588 words), and we have 139 left. Carry this down the next preceding column and the 139th word is — "and." The last 753 word, "Nicholas" came from 753 plus 192 ; we use now the alternate: 753 — 192=561. To get "Nicholas" we added 193; we now deduct it from 561, leaving 368; we deduct 100 (we added 50 to get "Nich- olas") leaving 268; we carry this up 1,76 (498), and it brings us to the 231st word ; carry it 29 words farther up the column and it reaches the 202d word, which is "the." The last 257 word was minus 253 ; we now add 253 and we have 510. Add 50 and we have 560; add 167 and it gives us 727. Note how 257+253=510, and 257 — 253= 4+406=410+100=510. Carry this 727 through page 74 202 i'HE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. (532 words), and the remainder is 195 ; and the 195th word on 2,74 is — "name." We recur to 753+192=945. The last time we used 945, (to get "Nicholas") we deducted 29; now we add it, and have 974. We deduct 100, leaving 874. We add 167, which gives us 1041 ; minus 50 it is 991 ; carry this through 2,76 (604 words,) and we have 387 left; carry this up the succeeding column (1,77), and it brings us to the 191st word : — "of." The last 257 word was plus 253 ; we now deduct it and have 4 left. To 4 we add 532, making 536 ; plus 167 it is 703; minus 50 it is 653. Carry this through page 73 (406 words), and it leaves 247; and the 247th word on 2,72 is "be." As I have already shown, "Be" in that age was pronounced like Ba or Bay. (See F. G. Fleay's "Shakespeare Manual," page 66.) This time we deduct 192 from 753 and we have 561 ; deduct 50, and it leaves 511 ; add 457 (2,76) and it gives us 968; deduct 29 and we have 939; carry this through I, 77 (S77 words), and we have a remainder of 362 ; carry this up 2, y6, and it brings us to the 24.3d word — "can." Fleay (ibid) tells us that a, in Bacon's time, had the sound of a in "father." The EngHshman, of today, gives it the sound of "0." We recur to 257+253=510. We deduct 50 and it gives us 460. The last time we added 50 to 510=560, to get "name." We deduct 248 (2, 74), which leaves 212; mi- nus 167 it gives us 45 ; and the 45th word on i, 76, is "zvhich." The last 753 word "can" was obtained by deducting 192 from 753=561. We now add it and have 945. We add 29 and it gives us 974 ; we add 50 and we have 1024 ; de- THF CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 203 duct 167 and it leaves 857; carry this through page 73 (406 words), and we have 451, and this taken up 2,72, from 589, brings us to the 139th word — "hath." We recur to 257 minus 253 and have 4 left; add 447 and we have 451, add 167=618; carry this through 2,73 (237 words), and we have 144 left; and the 144th word on the preceding column is "beene." Again we deduct 192 from 953 and we have 561 left; add 100 and we have 661 ; carry this through page 74 (532 words), and it leaves 129; take this up the preced- ing column (2, 73) and it brings us to the 109th word — "honorable." We recur to 253+257=510; add to this 509 (2, 75), and we have 10:9+29=1048; carry this again through page 74 (532 words), and it leaves 516; carry this through page 73 (406 words), and it leaves no; deduct 50 and we have 60, and the 60th word on 2, 72, is the word "in." We come back to 753+192^945 ; deduct 29 and we have 916 ; less 50 it is 866 ; we add the first subdivision of I) 75) 193 words and we have io59f 100=1159. Carry this through p. 73 (406), and we have left 753; which is the original number. The text is thus arranged so that 753 might be used in the story, without or with 192. Carry ' 753 through 2, 72 (588 words), and we have 165, left; carry this up i, 72 (494), and it brings us to the 330th word, which is "arms." We now take 257 and deduct 253, which, leaves 4; add to this as heretofore, 532, and we have 536; carry this through I, 75 (447 words), and we have 89 left; and the 89th word on 2, 75, is — "ever." We recur to 753 — I92=:56i ; we add 50 which gives 204 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. US 6x1 ; we add 448 to this and we have 1059; carry this through 2, 75 (509 words), and it leaves 550; carry this through the next column (448) and we have a remainder of, 102 ; and this taken up the next column (2, 76), brings us to the 503d word, which is — "since." We add 253 to 257 and we have 510; add 509, — and again we have 1019+50^1069. Carry this through i, y/ (577 words), and we have left 492; deduct 167 and we have 325, and the 325th word on the same column is — "the." We come now to 753+192=945 ; deduct 100, it leaves us 845 ; again deduct 100 and we have 745 ; deduct 167 and we have 578; carry this through 2, 75 (509), and the remainder is 69; and this carried up 2, 75 brings us to the 441st word — "conquest." We are told that Sir Nicholas Bacon was "descended from an ancient and honorable family in Suffolk." As there were but 423 years between the death of William the Conqueror, and the birth of Sir Nicholas, in 15 10, the pedigree of the family could have readily been preserved, from the days of the "Conquest." And so ^ we have : "/ ivould rather die a thousand deaths 'than bring such great disgrace and ignomy upon the great name of my noble father, Sir Nicholas, and the name of Bacon, which hath been honorable in arms ever since the Conquest." Nearly all honors in those rude times were derived from the profession of arms. And then Bacon proceeds to refer to his father's great services to King Henry : We abbreviate. 753 — 192^561+50^6111+532^=1143 . — 447=696 — 509=187 ; carry this up i, 76 from 498 and THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 205 It brings us to 312+50=362, and the 3620! word on i, 76 is "King." 257—253=4+532=536+50 =586—447=139, and the 139th word, 2, 75, is "Henry." 753+192=945+509=1454— 50=1404+29=1433- Carr> this through p. 73 (406 words), and 2, 72=588 words .(total of 994 words), deduct this from 1433 and we have 439 left; carry this up 1,72 (494 words), and it brings us to the 56th word, i, 72, which is "King." 510+509=1019+447=1466 — 11,02 (p. 76) =364 — 167 =197 (I, 77)=' V-" The word "King" came from 753+192=945. We now deduct 192 from 753 and we have 561 ; add 604 (2, 76), and we have 1165+29=1194. Carry this through p. 36 (406 words), and we have 788 left; carry this up 2, 72 588 words and we have 200 left; carry this up i, 72 (494 words), and it brings us to the 295th word, which is "England." And here I would call attention to the fact that if we add the modifier 50 to 56, the word "King," (1,72) we have 106, and the io6th word on 1,72 is the word "threatens." Who threatens ? Let us take 510 (257+253), deduct 50 and we have 460; add 167, and we have 627; add to this 509 (2,75) and we have 1136; carry this through p. 74 (532), and we have 604 left ; take this through the preceding page, 73, (406) and we have 198 left and the 198th word, (2,72), is "Hermagant." This is the pet name by which Bacon designates Queen Elizabeth. To get "threatens" we used 753+192^45+509 +50. The alternate worc^ therefore comes from 753 — 192 206 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. =56i+509^io70fib(>=i 170+1671=1337 +50=1387+29= 1416. If we carry this through 457 (ist sec. 2,76) and through 1,77, (577 words) we have 382 left; and this carried up 2,76 brings us to the 230th word (2,77) which is— "old." And so we have : — "the old termagant threatens." "Threatens" came from 753+192^=945. The alternate number is 561. This plus 498, (1,76), gives us 1059; and this carried through the next column, (603), leaves 456 and this taken up 1,77, brings us to the I22d word, the word : — "hang." Let us take again 945 and again add 509=1454, which starting from 2,73 brought us to the word "threatens." But instead of starting from 2,73 let us begin at 2,74. Carry 1454 through page 74 (532 words) and we have 922 left; carry this, through page 73, (406 words), and we have 516 left. To get "threatens" we deducted 100 from 1454; we repeat this, and we have 416 left. We carry this up 2,72, and it brings us to the 174th word, which is : — "imbozvell." We now have 257 — 253:^4+509=513+167=680. Take this to 2,76 and carry it through that column (604) and we have 76 left ; add 29 and it brings us to the 105th word, 1,77, which is "me." And so we have the "old termagant, threatens to hang and imbowell me." We come to 561 and add 509, and we have 1070; de- •duct 100 and we have 970. Carry this through 1,76 (498) and we have 472 left. Take this through the ist section of 2,76, (456) and we have 16 left; carry this up from the bottom of the ist col. of page ^'^, (S77), and it brings us to the 562d word, — "at." THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 207 We recur to 510, deduct 100 and we have 410; add the modifier 254, (1,75), and we have 664; deduct 29 and we have 635 ; carry, this through 1,75 (447) and there are 188 left; and the i88th word (2,75) is "once." The next number is 945. We add 508 (2,75) and we have 1453. We carry this through page 76, contain- ing 1 102 words, and the remainder is 351 ; and tliis taken up the succeeding cokimn (1,77). brings us to the 227th word—"*"/." We return to 257 — 253^4; to this we add p. 74 (532 words), and we have 536; deduct 167, and we have 369 left; deduct 50 and we have 319; and the 319th word on 1,75 is "it." We come to 561, add 50, making 611, minus 29, gives us 582 ; carry this up 2,76 (604 words) and we reach the 23d word : — "is." We return to 510; deduct 167=343; deduct 100=243; add 1,75 (447) and we have 690; deduct 29 and we have 661. Carry this through page 74 (532 words), and we have 129 left; and the 129th word on 2,73 is "sho-Lim." We recur to 945 ; again add 508, making 1453. Carry this to 1,77; carry it through page yy (1188 words), and it leaves 265, and this plus 29=294; carry this through the 1st section of 1,78 (162) and we have 132; and this carried up the next column (2,78), brings us to the 331st word -.— 'that." We come back to 4 (257—253=4) ; add 167=171+50 =221 ; and the 221st word, 2,74, is "I." We return to 561 ; add 508=1069 ; deduct 167 and we have 902 left. Take this through page 1,76 (448 words), and we have 454 left. Carry this through 2,74 208 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. (248 words), and we have 206 left; carry this up the preceding column (1,74), and it brings us to the 79th word : — "prepared." We come again to 510, and add 167 and we have 677; deduct 29 and we have 648. Again carry this through 1,76 (448 words), and we have 200 left; and the 200th word on 2,74 is — "these." We again take 945, but instead of adding 508 we deduct it and have 437 left; we add 167 and have 604. Carry this through section i of 2,76 (456 words), and we have 148 left; deduct 29 and we have 119; and 119 taken up col. 2,76 brings us to the 486th word, which is "please,'' pronounced by Englishmen at that time as "plays;" even as the Irish peasant renders it to-day. We again deduct 253 from 257 and have 4 left, and the 4th word on 1,74 is — "for." We recur to 561 and carry it through page y2) (4^6 words), and we have 155 left, add 50 and it gives 205; carry this up 2,72, and it brings us to the 384th word, — "the." The next word comes from 5 lOf 509=1019 — 50=969 — 29=940. Carry this through 1,75, (447 words), and we have 493 left, and the 493d word, on the next column {2,7s), h— "stage." The next word comes from 945. Add 100 and we have 1045; add 508 and we have 1553. Carry this through pages 74 and 73, minus 29, and it brings us to the 3d word on 2,72, to-wit: — "for." We recur to 257- — 253=4. Again we add 532^536; we add 167 and have 703; carry this through 1,72, (588 words), and we have 115 left; and the 115th word down the preceding column (1,72) is: — "pay." THE CIPMEK IX THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 209 The next word comes from 561 less 509, it is 52 ; and this taken up 2,75 brings us to the 458th word : — "and." We return to 510; again add 167 and we have 677. Carry this through 1,75 (447 words), and the remainder is 230; and the 230th word on the preceding column (2,74) is — "furnished." The next word is from 945. Add 50 and we have 995. Carry this through 1,76 (448 words), and we have 547 left: add 167 and we have 714. Carry this through 1,75, (447 words), and we have 267 left. Carry this backward still, through 2,74, (248 words), and we have 19 left; and this carried up the preceding column, gives us the 266th word : — "them." We come to 4 again; add 447 and we have 451, plus 167=618. Carry this through page 73 (406 words), and the remainder is 212; and the 2i2tli word, on the preced- ing column, is — "to." We recur to 561 again ; again we add 509 to it^io7o, minus 29 we have 1041 ; add 167 and we have 1208. Car- ry this through 2,76 (603 words), and we have 605 left; take this through the next column, (577, 1,77) and we have 28 left; and 28 carried up the next column (2,77), brings us to the s84th word, — "Fillop," which is the cryptographer's disguise for "Philip." The word is dragged in. Falstaff says, — "If I do, fillop me with a three-man-Beetle." A strange kind of a fillop! We come to 510 again. We add 100, making 610; we add 447, making 1057 — 29^1028. We carry this through 2,76 (604) and we have left 424; and the 424th word, on 2,75, is — "hence" Again 945. Minus 509 gives us 436; deduct too and we have 336; deduct 29 and we have 307. Carry this 210 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAVS. through 2,74 (248 words), and we have 59 left; carry this up the next preceding cohimn, and we reach the 226th word (1,74), which is — "lozv." And so we perceive that the columns were so arranged that "low" made the last syllable of "More-low," going down the column, and the last syllable of "Hence-low," going up the column! Philip Henslowe was the manager of the theatres at which most of the Shakespeare Plays were first produced. He also acted as negotiator between actors and play- writers. His "Diary" is still preserved at Dulwich col- lege. In it we find this memorandum : "14 December 1602, for a prologue and epil. for the play of Bacon, for the corte, 5s." Did this mean that Henslowe paid five shiUings to some one for a prologue and epilogue to a play written by Bacon, and exhibited before the Court that day? Re- member' this was Henslowe's private memorandum book, which he never expected would see the light. (Collier's Dram. Poetry, Vol. 3, p. 229). And, again, we find that the text is so arranged as to bring in the words "Philip Hence-low" once more. We saw them come out at the call of the modifiers 753 and 257 plus and minus 192 and plus and minus 253. We will now see that the numbers 753 and 257, (without 192 or 253), bring out the same words. Take the upper section of 1,76, 456 and add it to 753 and it gives us 1209. Carry 1209 through 2,76, (604 words), and we have 605 left; take this through the next column, 1,77, (577 words), and we have 28 left; carry this up the next column 2,77, and it brings us to the word —"■niiop:' THE CII'HER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 211 Now take 257 and add 167 and we have 424, and the 424th word, on 2,75, is "Hence." Now take 753 and deduct 446 (1,75) for just as 193 became 192 ; 254, 253 ; 457, 456, etc., we shall see that 447 becomes sometimes 446; 753 — 446^307; carry this throu.gh 2,74 (248 words), and we have 59 left, and the 59th word tip 1,74 is the 226th word, — "low." Nay, more, — 257+167=424+50=474; and this carried through 2,74 (248), leaves 226, which taken down the preceding column, 1,74, brings us to the same 226th word, "low," the last syllable of "More-low." So that page 74 is arranged in such shape that the same 226th word, "low," comes from 257 going down the column and from 753 going w/> the column. And 257+167 yields 42/] — "Hence" and 257+167+50^474, gives us "low," the two syllables of Henslow's name! A single word more or less on the page would have thrown all these counts out! And here we see that the word "fillop," as the repre- sentative of the word "Philip," was not an ingenious de- vice of mine, but that it is attached to "Hence-low," through two distinct countings. It is also used for "Phihp the second," the cruel Spanish king. "Second" is foimd 2nd. H. IV. 2,3. "(Second to none) unseconded by you." Lack of space, (if I would not make this book too bu]ky), prevents me from giving further extracts from this part of the cipher story; but it seems to me that I have presented enough to show every candid mind that there is a cipher in this play. The reader must bear in mind the distinction between a column used as a modifier or simply passed over. Thus 212 THE CIPHER 1\ THE SHAKESPEARE PtAYS. 509 Ijeconies 508, and 604, 603. Sometimes where we use 50, we should really use 49. For instance, between the 449th word on 1,76 and the bottom of the column there are 49, not 50 words. But think of this sentence : "The old teinagant threat- ens to hang and einbo7ccll nie, if it is shozvn that I pre- pared these plays for the stage for pay; and furnished them to Philip Hcnce-lmc:" ' .\nd the cipher goes on to say that I (Bacon) was sus- pected of takilig a share of the pence and silver paid at the gate of the Curtain. But how remarkable are the words thus brought out: — "old," "tcnnagant.' "threatens," "hang," " iniboivell," "shown," "prepared," "plays," "stage," "pay," "fur- nished," "'Philif'," "Hence-lozi!" The character of Falstaff first bore the name of "Sir John Old-Castle," who had been a martyr of the reformed faith ; and the indignation of Queen Elizabeth compelled the author to change the name of that character to Fal- staff; and, in the Prologue to Henry V., we find the poet saying, — "For Old-Castle dyed a martyr, and this is not the man." .Vnd we are told, in this cipher story, that if it is proved that Bacon wrote the pla>s, he shall be "burned alive." Ta!75 "upon" 2,75 "the" 2,74' 'Contention" 1,74 "betzveen" 2,76 2,74 "Yorke" "and" THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 221 =309; 447— 309=1 38f I =139. clown 725 — 167=558 — 4461=112 — 50=62, np 586—50=536—167=369—193 =--176; 248— 1 76=72 f I =73. clown 725+50=775+50=825 + 1 67=992 — 508=484 — 248 =236; up 920 — 50^870+167^1037; — 5o8==529; — 44.8^81; 604- 8i=523.+i=524, down 725— 167=558— 447=rri II, up 586+50=636+29=665—532 =133; 237—133=104+1 ^105, 2,73 "Lancaster." Here again the only modifiers, up and down, are 50, 167 and 29 ; and yet these, with 727 and 753, as root num- bers, bring out this statement. Then take the alternatives, of the same numbers, not immediately but leaping one. Thus the first down word "one" is derived from 725 — 167^558; and "zvas' the al- ternate, (leaping one,) is from 725 — 167=558; and so is "-ihc," and so is "and." And "zvliilst" and "engaged" and "between" are from 725+50=775. And note how 586 and 920 alternate regularly. See how "Contention" (586) goes backward to 2,74, and "Yorke" (920), goes forward to 2,76; and "Lancaster" (586), goes backward to 2,73 ! Backward, forward, backward ! To make this plainer, let us tabulate it in columns : 222 down up down up down up down up down up down up down up rHE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 586 558 775 "One" "day" "whilst" 586 920 558 775 "was" "busily" "engaged" 586 920 —29 558 775 "upon". "the" "contention" "between" 586 920 558 "Yorke" "and" "Lancaster" Here are more miracles of accident! But surely all this cannot be so, "because the printers could not follow copy, and set it up as directed!" Of course they could not! Every "Shakespearean scholar," who has spent his life trying to prove that the play-actor of Stratford was the greatest and most learned genius that ever lived, will brush these figures aside with a wet sponge and a hysterical laugh ! So many myths are fading away, imder the electric light of civilization, that this one, almost the last of the breed, must be preserved at all hazards. I showed, on page 144, ante, where the root-numbers 505 and 523 came from. Take the primal number, 836 (76 times 11=836). Carry it through 1,74, (284 words), and we have 552 left; deduct 29 and we have THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 223 523; deduct 18, for the 18 bracketed and hyphenated words on that 1,74, and we have 505. (523 — 18=:505). Now to prove that this coming togetlier of "Contention between Yorke and Lancaster" is not accidental, I shall show tliat the same words come out from 523, as well as 505 ; the word "between" being obtained by going up column I, 74, and not, as in the last instance, by going down the column. \ Thus : down 523— 167— 3s6f5o— 406+509 =9iS,+29=944 -448 =496, 2,75' 'Contention" up 523+253 776f29— 805 +448—1253 956 (p. 75)— 297 — 248 — 49; and 284 — 49 — 235+1—236 2,74 "between" down 523+167 — 690 — ^448—242 — 1,76 "Yorke" up 523+253_4+447_45i 284 =1:167; 248 — 167=81+1 — 82+29-^111 2,74 "and" down 523 — 167 — 356 — 29 — 327 2,75 "Lancaster" Observe that "Contention" occurs only twice in this play of 2d. Henry IV. The 505 count brought out the word "Contention" the 73d word on 2,74; and the 523 count brought out the other "Contention," the 496th word on 2,75 ; 505 gave us "Yorke" the 524th word on 2,76 ; and 523 brought us to "Yorke" the 242d word on 1,76; 505 produced "Lancaster," the 105th word on 2,73; and 523 gave us "Lancaster" the 327th word on 2,75. There is only one "between" in the text; and so 505 brings it out going down the column, and 523 brings it out going up the column! 224 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. And observe how, in this 523 example, 523 minus 167 produces "Contention^" while 523 plus 167 brings us to "Vorke/' and 523 minus 167 gives us "Lancaster." ( — 1-1 ). The central point of departure here is 448, (1,76) "Contention" is 2,75, "Yorke" is 1,76, and "Lan- caster" is 2,75. "Bet7veen" is 523+2531+448; and "and" is 523 — 523=4f447. "Betzvccn" is carried backward from 2,75 to 1,74; and "and" is carried forward from 1,74 to 2,74. These words, "Contention hetzveen- Yorke and Lan- caster" probably came out a dozen times by different countings. For instance if we take 171, ("engaged") 1,76, and deduct 29, and we have 142, add 100 and we have 2/1^2^=." Yorke." Take 257+100=357; carry it through 1,74, (284), and we have 73 left, and the 73d word on the next column is — "Contention." Then take the same 257+100=357, which gave us "Contention," and add 447 to it, and we have 804; deduct 29 and we have 775. Carry this through 448, (ist. section 1,76), and we have left 327 and the 327th word on 2,75 is "Lancas- ter." We take 753 — 167^586, add 197 and we have 783 ; carry this through p. 74, (532 words), and we have 251 ; carry this through 2,73, (237 words), and we have 14 left, and this carried up the preceding column, brings us to the is6th word, which is "bctzvixt." The counting could not be made to reach "hetzveen," and so, on the next page we have "betzvi.vt." Here we have "Contention," "Yorke" and "Lancaster," obtained by going dozvn the column. We have just seen them coming out by the same cipher-numbers, going up the columns. More accident ! And here I would remark, that the word "Contention" THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 225 is a rare word in the Plays. It occurs but nine times in all the 1623 Folio, to wit: In ist Part Henry IV. (the one time already referred to) ; in the 2d Henry IV. (the two times just given) ; in Henry V. once ; in 3 Henry VI. once, in Cymbeline once ; in Othello, once, and in Troilus and Cressida twice : — six plays out of thirty-six. It is not found at all in the Comedies or the Roman Plays. If it was peppered all over the Plays, it might by accident match with "Yorke" and "Lancaster." In Henry V. "Contention," (V. I.), is accompanied by "Yorke" (IV. 8) ; while "Lancaster" is thrown forward into the next play, in the Folio, 1st Henry VI. (2,5). In 3 Henry VI. "Contention" is found in Act i, sc. 2, "Lancaster" in the same act and scene; and "Yorke" in Act. i sc. i. In "Cymbeline," "C)thello" and "Troilus and Cressida," the play is probably alluded to simply as "the Contention." And to show how these words are woven together, take 184 "busily" 2,73; deduct 50 and we have 134, which gave us "day;" then deduct 29 from 134 and we have 105, and the 105th word on 2,73 is "Lancaster." And thus we found that somebody was "busily engaged" upon some play which had the word "Lancaster" as part of its name. "The Second Part of Henry the Sixth" appeared first in 1594, under the title "The First Part of the Contention betwixt the two Famous Houses of Yorke and Lancas- ter." One scene is laid at St. Albans, Bacon's home. The words, "St. Albans" appear about twenty-three times in the so-called Shakespeare Plays, and Stratford-on-Avon not once, although "Stony-Stratford," in Bucks, is re- ferred to in Richard III. The whole name of this play: "The first part of the Contention betwixt the two Famous Houses of Yorke and 15 226 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. Lancaster," occurs in the first scene of ist Henry IV., and the last scene of the preceding play, Richard II. The ci- pher runs from one play into the other ; and thus makes detection more difficult. We have seen the cipher we have worked out, in this book, in the same way carried through the end of ist Henry IV., and the beginning of 2d Henry IV. Thus "Two" is in the ist scene of i. H. IV.; "Famous' in the last scene of Richard II. ; "houses," (disguised in "leaping-houses,") in scene 2 of i H. IV. "Contention" is from ist sc. i H. IV. ; "Yorke" is in the last scene of R. II. ; "betwixt" is in i H. IV. I. I. and "Lancaster" from R. II. 5.5. Let us return to that 184th word "busily," on 2,73. Carry the count 167 words further up that column, which is done by deducting 167 from 184 and we have 17, and the 17th word is "Worcester." Is there something here about the "Bishop of Worcester ?'' Lef us see : This is equivalent to : 753— .S32=22i ; 237—221=16+1 =17, 2,73 "Worcester." Let us now take 753 and deduct 167 and we have 586, which gave us "busily." Add 29 to 586 and it gives us 615. Carry 615 through 1,76 (498 words), and we have 117 left. Take this up from the end of the 1st section 1,76, (448), and it brings us to the 332d word, which is —"Bishop." And so we have : 586+291=615—498=1 17 ; 448— 117 =331+1=332 1,76 "Bishop" 920 — 532=388 — 167=221 ; 237—221 =16+1=17 2,73 "Worcester." THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 227 Or, it it be objected that this wofd, — "Worcester," — reahy comes from 753: — thus 753+167=920 and 920 — 167=753; and 753 — 532 (p. 74), leaves 221; and 221 taken up 2,73 brings us to the 17th word : — "Worcester;" then let us take 753+167^920, and deduct 50, which gives us 870, and deduct 29 and we have 841 ; and this carried through p. 74 (532 words), leaves 309, and this carried through 2,73 (237 words), leaves 72 ; and 72 car- ried up the preceding column (1.73), brings us to the 98th word "IVorcester." This is the third "Worcester;" and every one of these "Worccstcrs" matches with that word "Bishop." The first "Worcester" is the 255th word on 2,75, and this is reached thus : 753—498 (t,76) =255 ; 509—255=254+1 ==255^-. "Worcester." And "Bishop" is also the 753d word, minus 167, which gives us 586. Thus 586 plus 29 makes 615 ; and 615 car- ried through 1,76 (498 words), leaves 117; arid 117 taken up the column brings us to "Bishop." Could "Bishop" be the 753d word, and the three "Wor- ccstcrs" also be, each of them, the 753d word, without the most carefid manipulation of the text ? And then, as we have shown, ( page 182 ante), could each of these same words — "Bishop" and "Worcester" — come out, by acci- dent, as the 257th word; 257 being 505 — 248; and 753 being 505+248? vVccident never produced such results since the' earth began to roll around in its orbit. We found that while 586 (753 — 167=586), gave us, up the column, "busily" 257+50f447 — 29 gave us 725 +50:=:775, (which has just brought out the one-half of a 228 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. long sentence) ; and 775 carried through 2,76 (604 words) furnished a remainder of iyi=" engaged." Xow, let us add that magical modifier, 167 to 171, and we have 338; and the 338th word on that column is "sincere;' while 167 deducted from 171 leaves 4, which is "bosoms," while 4f5o^54, and the 54th word is "decay." These words are part of a high eulogism of Sir John Whitgift, originally the Bishop of Worcester, a sincere and holy man, who had remained true in the midst of the decay of religion. We recur again to that word "busily;" it is the 184th word on 2,73. Let us add the modifier 29 to 184, and we have 213; and the 213th word, on the same column, is the word "ineetmg." This came out of y},^. thus: 753 minus 167=586 — 29 =557—532^25 ; 237—25 =2 1 2+1=213 ="ineeting." Xow let us go one column forward from 1.75, just as we went to one column behind 1,75, to get "meeting;" and we add 1(17 to 753=r_-920 ; thus 920 — 29, (we just deducted 29 from 586), and we have 891 ; carry this through 2.75 (508 words), and we have 383 left; and 383 carried up the next column, from the end of the ist section (488), brings us to the 66th word, which is "chance." "Meeting by chance.'' \Vhere is the "byT' We recur to the same 725, which we have used for some time past. Add 50 and we have 775; deduct 167, and we have 608 left. Carry this through the same 448 and we have 160 left, and the i6oth word on 1.75 is"by." Let us put this together: "P 753—167=586—29=557; 557—532=25; 237—25= 2i2.+i=;:2i3 3,73 -meeting" THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 229 clown 725+50=775 — 167=608 — 448=160 up 7S3+i67=:920— 29=891 ; 891—508=383 ; 448-383 =65+1=66 down 725+50=775—406=369— 284=85-5(^=35 up 753—167=586+29=615— 498=117; 448—117=331+ 1=332 down 725+50^775 — 167=608 — 448=i6p — 50=110+29 • =139 up 753+167=920—29^891— 50=841—532=309—237 =.72; 169—72^97+1 =98 i>75 1,76 2,74 1,76 1,76 'by" 'chance'' 'the" "Bishop" "of" 1,73 "Worcester" And here come in the words,, already given, "one day whilst I ivas busily engaged upon the Contention between Yorke and Lancaster." Take that same 725 add 100=^825 ; carry it through page 74 (532 words), and we have 293 left; carry this through 2, yi, (237 words), and we have 56 left, and the 56th word on i, 73 is "as." The next word comes from 586. Carry it through p. 74 (532) and we have 54 left. This is the same 54 which taken up 2, 73 gave us "busily." Carried up i, 74 it gives us : "/." We return to 725 ; deduct 167 and we have 558 — deduct 50 and we have 508; deduct 29 and we have 479; carry this through i, 75 (447) and we have 32, and the 32d word (2, 74) is "walked." 230 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. We come now to 920 again ; 920fioo=i020+i67=:ii87 — 29=ii'58,; carry this through 2, 75 (508), and we have 650 left. Take this through page "jj, (406 words) we have 244 left; carry this up 2, 72 (588), and it brings us to the 345th word : "along." We return to 725, but instead of deducting 167, we add the alternate 50 ; and we have 775 ; carry this also through page 74 (532) and we have 243 left; take this through 2,73 (237), and we have 6 left, and the 6th word (1,73) is: "on." We turn again to 586; deduct 167^41 9f 29=448; carry this up 2.75 (509) and we reach the 62d word: "the." We recur to 725 and we deduct 167, as we did to get "walked" and again we have 558; add 100 and we have 658; take this through i, 75 as a modifier (446) and we have 212, and the 212th word is "Strond." The "Strond" was the river front on the Thames, and the great pleasure walk and meeting place of that day. Let us tabulate this : down 725+50fSo— 82s— 532— "as" up 586 532 54_ (tj)} down 725—167—558—50—508— 29=479—447—32 "walked" up 920+100 — 1020+167+50 +50 — 1187—29 — 1 158 "along" down 725+50—775 532 243— 237=6 "on" up 586 — 167=—^ i9f29 "the" down 725-167=558+50+50=658 446 ■?!I2 "Strond." THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 231 ' Observe these words (naturally connected) : "walked" and "Strond." Each comes from 725. In each 167 is deducted from 725 and we have 558. But the divergeiice comes here — to get "walked" we subtract 50 from 558, and deduct 29. To get "Strond" we add 50 to 558^608, and then add another 50, instead of deducting 29 ; and 29, we have seen, is the alternative of 50. And then we have : 586 — 29:^557 — 447=110; and no carried up 1,75 brings us to the 338th word : "stopping." Then take 725 — 167=558+100=658 — 509=149; and the 149th word, 2, 75, is : "to" ; The last up-word was 753 — 167=586, carried through 1, 75 and again up i, 75. Now we have 753+167=920 Carry this through i, 76, instead of i, 75, and up the pre- ceding column and we reach the 38th word on 2, 75, to- wit : "speak." We return to 725 and add 50=775+50=825 — 167 =658 — 291=629; 629 — ^447:^182, and the i82d word on 2, 74 is : "ivith." We return to 586; add 100 and we have 686; deduct 167 and we have 519; carry this through ist section 1,76 (448), and we have 71 left; carry this up 2, 76 (604), and we reach the 534th word (2, 76), which is "him." And so we have "stopping to speak with him." And then we have : "His Lordship commenced to tell me." Thus ; down 725 — ^447=278 2,75 "His" up 586—50=536+29=565— 448^117; 604 (2,76)— 117=488 2,76 "Lordship" 232 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. down 725— 447=278— 248=30 1,74 "commenced" up 920 — 100^820 — ^448=372 ; 509— 372=137+1=138 2,75 "to" down 725 — 167^558+100=658 — 532=126 1,75 "^^^^" up 586+100=686 — 167=519 — 509=10; 447—10=437+1 =438 1,75 "^^" To tell him all about the death of More-low, as he had derived it from the Knight-Marshal of the Court, the Earl of Shrewsbury : 920 — 448=472; 498 — 472=26+1 =27 1,76 "Earl" 586+29=6 1 5 — 248=367 — 248= 1 119; 284 — 119=165+1^166 i,y^ "Shrewsbury" Here the word "commenced" (30, i, 74)^ is used going down the column. A little while ago (p. 156 ante) it was obtained going xip the column (753if 197=950). And the same number, 117, (586 — 50=536f 29=565 — 448=1 17), which, going up 1,76, gave us "Bishop," going up the next column gives us "Lordship." A bishop is addressed as "your Lordship." And 117 taken up 2, 75, from 508, brings us to the i92d word "keepers," and this describes "the keepers" of the "deer close" with whom Shakspere and his followers had their fight; but it also refers to the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and his "order" (483, 2, 75), issued for the arrest of Shakspere. And here we have the word "deer;" 753f 197=95° — 406 =444; 588—444=144+1=145,2, 72=^'decre." The cipher story unrolls in such immense proportions that I find myself forced to abbreviate. But I cannot THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 233 refrain, before I finish this chapter, from giving one or two remarkable fragments. Here is one: down 257.-1-509 — 766 — 100 — 666 — 50—616— 532__84 2,73 "the" up 753+508 1261—447 814 —532 ^82 248 34;, 284 — 34_25o+i_25i i>74 "old" down 257+509 — 766 — 100 — 666 — 100—566—509—57+29—86 1,75 "jade" up 753+508— 1261—448—813 — 604 — •309; 577 — 7:09 — 368 +1=369 1,77 "listening" down 257+509 — 766+100 — 866 — 509-357 1,76 "with" up 753+508— 1261—447— 814 —197— 617— 509— 108; 447 108-339+1—340 1,75 "greedy" down 257+100 — 357+532 889 508-381 2,75 "impatient" up 753+508— 1261—447— 814 — 532=282; 284 — 282=2+ 1—3 1,74 "ears" down 257+'509 — 766—604=162+ 29: — 191 1,77 "to" up 753+508— 1261—448— 813 — 6o4=:209+2i8=427; 577 —427=150+1=151 1,77 "my" down 257+509—766—532-234 1.75 "hateful" up 753+508—1261—447-814 532 282 237 45; 169 -45=124+1=125 "kinsman's" 234 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. down 257 — 100=157+509=666 197=469 — 447=22 2,75 "strange" up 753if5o8=i26i+i67=i428 —448=980—29=95 1—532 =419; 419—406=13; 589 —13=577 2,72 "tale" The "hateful kinsman" was Bacon's cousin, Robert Cecil, always his malignant enemy; who held him down as long as he lived. He is telling the Queen ("the old jade") that Bacon is the real author of the Shakespeare Plays, and that the purpose is to create rebellion against her, and bring in the Scottish king. Observe here that all the significant up-moving words — "old," '''listening" "greedy," "ears," "my," "kinsman's," "tale," — come from that root number 753, (which has al- ready told such a long story) +508 (2^ 75), the number of words above the clew word "reign;" while the alter- nate number 257 is added to or subtracted from the same 2, 75, counting in the clew-word, and producing "the" "jade," "with," "impatient," "to," "hateful" and "strange." And here is a reference to his "hateful kinsman :" up 753 447 3o6f5o— 356— 248 108+29 137; 284— 137=147+1=148 1,74 "my" down 257+50— 307f 192— 499+197 —696—532—164 2,73 "cousin" up 753+167—920—29—891— 448 443 ; 509—443—66+ 1=67 2,75 "says" down 257+50=307— 254_53 1,75 "ill" THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 235 The e in Cecil had the sound of a. Note how "cousin" comes from 3071+192 ; and "ill" from 307 — 254. Here the point of departure is the 193d word on i, 75; there are 192 words above it and 254 b.elow it. Surely here are miracles heaped on miracles, if all this is accidental. And here is another 1261 :' 1261+50=1311 minus 167=1144—577 (i, Tj) =567, and 567 carried up the next column, 2, "jy, brings us to the 45th word "burnt." Now if we take the same numbers that gave us the word "strange," the 22d word (2, 75), and add 50 to 22, we have 72, and the 72d word, on 2, 75, is "alive." And so we have "burnt alive." And this is the doom the Queen declares against Bacon if it proves that Cecil's strange tale is true. And in con- nection with this we have the words, which we have al- ready given : "for insulting the Christian religion." And here we have another fragment. Speaking of Marlow, Bacon says : up 753—447=306; 448—306= 142+1=143 down 257 — 167=90 up 753+167=920—448=472— 50=422+29=451 ; 604—451 =153+1=154 down 257+167=424+29=453 up 753—167=586—447=139; 248 — 139=109+1=1 10 down 257f 167=424— 50=374 up 753+167=920+50=970— 447=523—248=275 ; 284— 1,76 "th^' 2,74 "news" 2,76 '"of 2,75 "the" 2,74 "death" 2,76 "of 1,74 "the" 1,75 "young" 2,75 "wretch" 2,75 "More" 236 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAVS. 275=9+1=10 down 257+50=307+197=504— 447=57 up 753—167=586—447=139; 509—139=370+1=371 down 257 — 218=39+167=206 — 592=225+1=226 up 753+167=920—167=753— 446^307—248=59; 284— 59 — 225+1^226 1,74 "low" Here we have again the name "More-low," but instead of going lip I, 75 to get "more" we go down 2, 75; and instead of going down i, 74 to get "low," we go up i, 74. All this required most careful pre-arrangement. The news of the death of Marlowe was a "joyful quit- tance" to Bacon : 257- -50 r207 197 10 1,75 joyful 753- 50=703 50=653+167— 820—447=373; 509—373 =136+1=137 2,75 "quittance" 257- -50—207+197=404—50— 354 1,75 "to" 753- 50=703+167—870— 447_ 423 ; 447—423=24+1=25 1,75 "me" Bacon was in a state of continual fright and perturba- tion of mind, lest the drunken Marlow should betray his secret : down 257+218=475+167=642 — 508=134 2,75 "state" up 753+508^1261-532=729 —498=231 ; 604—231=373 +1=374 2,76 "of" THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 237 down 257 — 218 — 39 1.74 "continual" up 753 100—653— 447_2o6; 447 206 ■^^ T+T ^42 h75 "fright" down 257+2i8=475+5o=:525— 509=16 1,76 "and" "P 753+508 1261+50^:1311 447=864—604=260; 577— 260 — 317+1 — 318 1.77' 'perturbation" down 257 — 218 — 39+50 — 89+167 =256+29=285 2,75 "of" up 753— 100— 653+447— 1 100 450 — 1 150— 604 — 546—448 . —98 ; 448—98—350+1— 351 1,76 "mind" And incidentally, let us touch upon another very strik- ing example of the Cipher, and to it I would especially call the attention of the incredulous. ^Ve saw that 753 — 50=703 ; and that this carried through 1,75 (447) left 256, and that this carried again up 1,75, brought us to 192, the word "More," of "More- low." Now let us deduct 192, the modifier on 1,75, from 192; and as 256 went up the column we deduct 192 by adding it to 192; then we have 192+192^384, — and this gives us the word "see." Deduct 100 from 384 and we have 284, and the 284th word is "drew." As we used 192 to get "drew" we must use its co-rela- tive (253), to get the next word: 1253+257=510 — 167 =343 ; and the 343d word is — "their." The sentence is, — "they drezv their zveapons." "Their" came from 257+253=510. "They" must come from 257 — 253=4. And here we have it : — 4+167= 17 [+448=619. Deduct 100 and we have 519. Carry this 238 THE CIPHER m THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. backward through 2, 74 (248 words), and we have 271 left ; and the 271st word on i, 74 is "they." "Drew their — what? "Drew" came from 753 — 192=561+50=611 — 447= 164; 447 — i64=283+i^284,=the word "drew." This being fropi 753 minus 192, the next word must be from 753+192=945. Deduct 167 and we have 778. Carry this to the 2d col. of p. 76, 604 words, and deduct 604, and we have 174 left, deduct 29 and we have 145 left: carry this up from the 448th word i, 76, (end 1st section) and it brings us to the 304th' word, which is: — "weapons." And so we have "dreiv their zveapons." The next word comes from 257 — 253:^4 ; let us add to this 447 and we have 451, and the 451st word, on the next column, is "and." Now add 50 to 284 ("drew"), and we have 334, and the 334th word on the same column is the word "fought." We again take 257+253=510 — 100=410; carry this through 2, 74, {24S) and we have 162 left, and the i62d word on the preceding column (i, 74) is: — "a." Tt is now the turn of 753 plus 192, and we have again 945; add 167 and it makes 11 12 (the last time we de- ducted 167 to get "weapov.s") ; deduct 100 (we added 50 to get "drew"), and we have 1012. Carry this through P- 74 (532), and we have 480 left; carry this through p. 73 (406), and we have 74 left; and this taken up 2, 72 (588), bring^ us to the 515th word "long." We turn to 4 (257— 253r=4) ; 4+167=171+448=619; carry this through p. 74 (532), and we have a remainder of 87; and this carried to the next column backward (2, 73) is "and." We recur to 561 ; add 447 and we have 1008; deduct THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 239 100 and we have 908 ; deduct 29 and we have 879 ; carry this through 2, 75 (509), and the remainder is 370. Take this through 2, 74 (248), and we have 122 left; carry this up the preceding cohimn (i, 74), and it brings us to the 163d word, which is : — "bloody." The number 510 comes next; add 248 and we have 758 — deduct 29 and we have 729. Carry this through page 74 (532) and we have 197 left; andthe 197th word (2,73) is -.—"fight." The next number, going up the column, is 945 (753+ 192). We deduct 50 and have 895 left. We carry this through 2, 76 (604), just as we did to get the word "zveapons ;" and we have 291 left; and the 291st word up column I, 76 (the same column on which we found "weapons"), is: — "more." We take 510 next; add 50=560 — 29=531+167^698, — ^^47=r.25i, and the 251st word on 2,75 is "then" or "than." We recur to 561 ; add 447=1008 (the same number which gave us "bloody") ; deduct 604 (2, 76), and we have 404, and this carried up i, 76 brings us to the 95th word "an." We recur to 4; add 509=5 I3f 509=1022 — 100=922. Carry this through page yji (406 words), leaves 516 and the 516th word down the next column (2, 72), is "hour." And so we have : — "they dreiv their zveapons and fought a long and bloody fight more than an hour." And "long" is the 515th word on 2,72, and "hour" is the 516th word on the same, the two words coming together in this sen- tence, in Falstaflf's lying declaration about having killed Hotspur : — 240 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. "But we rose at an instant and fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock !" And so from page 75, comes 753+i92.f 167, and sweep- ing over pages 74 and 73, it goes up 2, 72, and brings us to the word "long." And the co-relative of 192, 253, deducted from 257 leaves 4; and this with 509 added, =513+509, sweeping over page 73, descends on that word "hour," which suc- ceeds the word "long." And these disjoined parts of a cipher sentence — "fought a long hour;' descend into a sentence of the text, which .gives us: — "fought a long how!" Surely, if this is accident, it is the most marvelous and miraculous accident the world has ever seen. See how 284 is "drerv;" and 50 words below is 334, which is "fought ;" and 384 is "see," — which is part of a sentence "till they could no longer see." And these words are derived from 753 minus 192^561 ; and if we take 753 plus 192 we have 945 ; and deduct 167 and carry the remainder through 2, 76, and this carried backward through I, 76 gives us "'^ccapons." We have seen that 447 ( i , 75 ) plays an important part in the cipher. "Drew" came from 561+50^611, minus 447; "fought" comes from 561 less 447; and "and" is from 4 plus 447. Now instead of deducting 447 let us add it. Then 561+4471^1008; (the same number gave us "bloody" and "an") ; and this carried through pages 74 and 73, leaves 70 (1008 — 532^476 — 406=70), and 70 carried up the next preceding column brings us to the 519th word {2, 72), which is "clock." We saw that in the sentence in the text, where Falstaff is doing his tremendous falsifying, he says : — "We rose THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PEAYS. 241 both at an instant, and fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock." And here we have "clock!" "Clock" is the 519th word on 2, 72; obtained by adding 447 to 561=1008. Now let us take the alternate of 561, 945, add 100 to it and we have 1045 ; deduct 2, 74 (248) and we have 797; carry it through 2, 75 (509) and we have 288; and this carried up i, 75 brings us to the i6oth word "by." The intervening word "the" comes from 510; add i®o and we have 610; carry this through 2, 75 (509), and we have loi ; dnd this carried down the pre- ceding column (1,75), brings us to the Word "the." And so we have : "by the clock." Let us tabulate this : down 4f 167+448 — 619 — TOO — (I, 74) "they" 519— 248--r=27I, up 561+50— 6x1—447— .164; 447 — 1 64^--283-:-ir=284, (I, 75) "drew" down 510—167=34.5, (1,75) "their" up 945— i67=778^--6o4=i74 —29=14-:;; 448 -i45--_30j +1=304, (I, 76)' 'weapons" down 4+447 — 451, (2, 75) "and" up 561—447=114; 447—114=^ 333+i=334> (1,75) "fought" down 510 — 100 — /] 10 — 248 — 162, (I, 74) "a" up 945+167— 1 1 12— 532— 580 — 1003T-480 — 406 — 74; 588 —74=514+1=515, (2, 72) "long" down 4+167 — 171+448-^619 — 532 87, (2, 73) "and" 242 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. up 561+447=^1008 — 100=908 —29z=:879— 509=370 — 248=122; 284 — 122^162 +1=163, (I, 74) "bloody" down 510+248=758 — 29=729 — 532=197, (2, 73) "nghf And then he proceeds to describe the fight in detail. It continued : up 945—50=895—604=291 ; 448—291=157+1=158, (i, 76) "more" down 510+50=560—29=531+ 167=698—447=251, (2, 75) "than" up 561+447=1008 — 604=404; 498—404=94+1^5, (i, 76) "an" down 4+509^513-1 509= 1022— 100^922 — 406=516, (2, 72) "hour" up 945+100=1045—248=797 • — 509=288 ; 447 — 288= 159+1=160, (I, 75) "by" down, 5 lOf 100=610 — 509=101, (i, 75) "the" up 561+447=1008—532=476 —406=70; 588—70=518+1 1=519, (2, 72) "clock" And then we are told that Marlow "drooping and faint from loss of blood was struck in the eye, by the point of the szvord, and did drop breathless and bleeding to the earth." T have it all worked out, but have not room for it here. 836. But I have stated that the primal root-number, of all THI': CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 24.3 the cipher story, growing out of the ist and 2d parts of King Henry IV'., commencing on Col. i of page 74, was 836; originating from the multipHcation of page 76 (the last page on which we find "Scena Secunda" of the Folio) by 11, the number of words in brackets on i, 74 (counting the word "post-horse" as two words), thus 76x11=836. And it may be objected that I have not yet shown that any cipher story comes out of that number, 836. So to satisfy such criticism, in advance, I append the following fragment, before closing this chapter: down 836—50=786+29^815 —193=622—577=45, ■ up 836+50=886—448=438 ; 509—438=71+1=72, down 836+448=1284 — 193= 1091 — 603 — /188, up 836—50=786—448=338; 509—338=171+1=172, down 836 — ^448^388, up 836+50=886—604=282 ; 604 — 282=322+1=323 down 836+448=1284+193= 1477-29=1448—509= 939—498=441, up 836—50=786+29=815 —509=306; 447—306= 141+1=142, ■ down 836+448=1284+100= 1384 — 197=1 187 — ^406 =781—589=192, up 836—50=786—448=338; (2,77) "burnt" (2,75) "alive" {^,77) "in" (2„75) "the" (2,75) "are" (2,76) "of" (2,76) "Smithiield" (1,75) "for" {-^,72) "insulting" 244 THE CIPHER IX THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYB. 577—338=239+1—240 —167—73 50=23, (1,77) "the" clown 836—448 — 388—237 — 151 (1,73) "Christian" up 836+29—865—193—672 —509=163; 498—163= 335+1=336, (1,76) "religion." Here we have proof, not only that the primal root- number is 836; but that the text is so arranged as to bring out the words "insulting the Christian religion" by this primal root-number, 836, as well as by the deriva- tions from 836, to-wit: 753 plus and minus 192, and 257 plus and minus 253. And the word "Christian" came from. 753—192 up 1,73, and from 257-253=4 down 1,73; and "religion" came from 753 — 192=561 up i, 76, and from 257+253=510 down the column. And here we find the word "Christian" derived from 836 down the column, and "religion" from 836 up the column. Note too, how, in the example just given, 836 minus 448, carried down the preceding column (2, 75) gives us "Hre" and 836 plus 448, carried down the succeeding column gives us "Smith-field '' {"fire of Sniithfield"). And observe how 836 plus 50, carried through 448, and up 2, 75, brings us to the word "alive;" while 836 minus 50 gives us the word "burnt." And note how 836 plus 448 brings us to the word "insulting" and 836 minus 448 gives us the word "religion.'' "Sniithfield," it is well known, was the place in London where heretics were burned alive. I showed in opening the discussion of the cipher in the Plays (p. 142 ante) that 836 — 532=304='7oMMd (i, 75); and 836— 447=389=''oj/r (2, 75); and this THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 245 "found-out" is part of a sentence, that "if the old jade found me out I should he burned alive in the Hre of Smithfield, for insulting the Christian religion." A very sufficient reason for postponing the acknowl- edgment of the authorship of the Plays. 246 THE CIPHER IN THE SKAKESPEARE PLAYS. CHAPTER XXVII. THE STORY OF SIIAKSPERE. The cipher narrative^ \\hich I have worked out in tke foregoing pages, was derived from 505 minus 248=257; and 505 plus 248=753 — the figures 248 being the num- ber of words on column 2 of page 74. The next subdivision following, after 248, is 193, which is found in the upper half of column one of page 75 (see fac-simile p. y^), above the stage direction: "Enter Mor- ton." It has entered into the work already given ; and especially the modifier, 192, being the number of words above the last word of that first subdivision ; and^ its co- relative, 253, the number of Avords below the first word of the lower subdivision of i, 75. Now, passing away from plus and minus 248, let us try plus and minus 193. Thus: 505 plus 193^698; and 505 minus 193=312. And these numbers : 312 and 698, in their turn, tell a long piece of the cipher story; and are used alternately up and down the columns; that is to say, not only does 698 go up the columns when 312 goes down; but 312 goes up the columns when 698 goes down! We saw that 50 alternated with 167 and 29 with 50. THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 247 If we add 50 to 312 we have 362; and if we carry this up I, 75 (447), it brings us to the 86th word, "jade." Now take the alternate number 698; carry it through I, 75 (447), .and we have 251 left, and the 251st word on I, 74, is "old " so this gives us "old jade" (Queen Eliza- beth). Again carry 362 through 2, 74 (248), and we have 114 left; deduct 29 and we have 85 ; take this us i, 74, and it brings us to the 200th word — "noise." But we saw that 251 (i, 74) was "old;" deduct "50" and we have 201, which is "abroad." And so we have "old jade" and "noise abroad." But let tis reverse this; and instead of sending 698 down the column and 362 up ; send 362 down and 698 up. Then we have 505 — 193=312, add 50 and we have 362, and the 362d word, on i, 75, is "soime." Now let us take 698 and commence at the top of 2, 74, and carry it through that column (248) and we have 450 left; take this through i, 75 (447), and we have 3 left; carry this up 2,75, counting in the clew-word, and it brings us to the 507th word (2, 75), which is "£rst- borne." Join this to "son" and we have "first-borne Sonne." Who was "the first-borne sonne?" Take 362 and again commence to count from the top of 2, 74, and carry it through that column (248 words), and we have 114 left; and the ir4th word on the next column (i, 75) is "spurre." This is obtained by going doivn the column. The al- ternate number is 698. It goes up the column. Let us deduct the modifier 167 and we have 531 left. We began at the beginning of ' icena secunda" to get "Spurre." 248 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. Now let US begin at the beginning of the next scene, "Scena Tertia," which starts with the 449th word, i, 76. Between 449 and the bottom of the cohimn (498 words) there are 49 words. Deduct 49 from 531, apd we have 482 left. "Spurre" moved forward ; the next word moves backward. Carry 482 up the preceding column, 2, 75, and it brings us to the 28th word, 2, 75, which is "shak'st." And so we have "Shak'st-Spurre." And he was the "first born son" of John Shakspere. There were two daughters before him, "Jone" and "Margaret," but he was the first-born son. And is it not remarkable that we find "shak'st" and "Spnrre" coming alternately up and down the columns, from 505 plus 193 and 505 minus 193, and moving al- ternately forward and backward from the beginning of two diflFerent scenes? And if we take that number, 482, up 2, 76, instead of 2, 75 (which gave us "Shak'st"), it brings us to the 123d word — "vile." And if we take 362 and add 456, already used else- where (the number of words above the last word of the first section of 2, 76) we have 818; carry this through I, 75 (447), and the remainder is 371 and the 371st word on 2, 75, is "ziretch." And so we have "vile wretch." And if we deduct 50 from 698 we have 648; carry it through 2, 75 (509), and the remainder is 139; and 139 carried up 2, 75, brings us to that same word "wretch." Thus 698—50=648—509=139; 509—139=370+1=371 ="wretch." Everywhere this text reveals the same marvellous arithmetical adjustments. Here we have the same num- ber, 482, carried up two contiguous columns, 2, 75, and THE CIPHER In the SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 249 2, 76, producing "shak'st" and "vile;" and the word "ivretch" coming from 362 doivn the column; and from 698 up the column. But who is this "vile zvretch" "Shak'st" "Spurre" the "iirst-borne" "son" of? Now take 698 and add 248 (to get the word "iirst-born" we deducted 248) and we have 946. Carry this through 447 and we have 499 left; carry through 2, 74 (248), and we have 251 left (which down the column gave us "old), and carry this up i, 74, and it brings us to the 34th word "of." Take 362, add 50^412+284=696; carry this through I, 76 (448), and we have 248 left; and the 248th word (2, 76) is "Master." Take 698 — 167=531+29=560 — 447=113; carry this up 2, 74, and it brings us to the 136th word — "John." Take again 312; carry it through 284 and we have 28 left, and the 28th word (2, 76) is "Shak'st." Take 69S+167 (the last was minus 16^)^865 — 28= 836; — 448=^388, and this taken up i, 75, gives us (i, 75) the 60th word "Spurre." Take 698 and deduct 100 and we have 598; carry this through I, 75 (447), and we have 151 left; carry this up I, 76, and it brings us to the 297th word— "half." Take 312 again, add 50=362—29=333+50=383= (1,75) "dead." Recur to 698 ; deduct 193 and we have 505 — 50=455 ; carry this up 2,75, and it brings us to the 55th word — "and." Take 312 again +5o=362f5o=:4i2+254 (i, 75)=666. Carry this through 1, 74, and 2, 73, and we have 145 left; and the 145th word, on i, 73, is alive." 250 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. We saw that .362 — 248=1 i4:="Spurre." Now deduct 29 from 114, and we have 85, and the 85th word i, 75, is "poor." (The next word, 86, is "jade" — see how these cohimns are packed thick with cipher words!) We saw that 167 deducted from 698 left 531, and 531 less 49 gave us 482, which gave vts "Shak'st" and "vile." We shall see that 167 is added to 698 and gives us 865. Now let us take 531 and carry it through i, 75 (447), and we have a remainder of 84; and this carried up the next column (2, 75) brings us to the word "sickly;" (531 — 447=84; 509—84=425+1=426, 2, 7S=" sickly.") The next word comes from 312. Take the modifier 20, :ind deduct it from 312 and we have 283, and the 2S3d word, I, 75, is "zvoe-hegone;" j,i2-\-<^o=" Sonne ;'' 312 — 29 ^^^^•■^-^'■woe-he-gone." We return to 698; add 100 and we have 798, carry this through page 74 (532 words), and we have 266 left; take this, still backward, through 2, 73 (237 words), and we have 29 left"; carry this up i, 73, and it brings us to the 141st word, "creahire." And so we have "poor, sickly, woe-be-gone creature," and "Shak'st-spurre" was his "first-borne sonne." Is it not extraordinary, if accident alone brought to- gether a series of words that cohere as well as "poor, sickly woe-begone creature," not scattered over all crea- tion, but moving alternately up and down the columns, I, 74, I, 75, and 2, 75? We take again 362, which 'gave us "sonne," and add to it page 74 (532 words), and we have 894; deduct 29 and we have 865; carry this through 2, 75 (508 words), and we have 357 left, and this carried forward to i, yy, wc find the 357th word is "very." TI^D CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 251 We take 698 again and add 193 (i, 75) and we have 891— deduct 29 and we have 862. Carry this through page 73 (406) and we have 456 left; and this taken up 2, 72, from 588, brings us to the 133d word — "much." We return to 362 and again add 532, which gave us "very," but instead of going forward with 894, to 2, 75, we go backward tp 2, 73, and carry it through page 73 (406 M-ords), and we have 488 left, and the 488th word on 2, 72, is "given." We recur to 698+193^891, which gave us "much," but we add 167 instead of 29, and we have 1058; we go , again to 2, 75, deduct 509 and we have 549; add 29, and carry this through the ist section, i, 76 (448), and we have 130 left, and the 130th word, 2, y6, is "to." Again we take 362, add 447 and we have 869; carry this orer 2, 75 (509), and we have 300 left and the 300th word on (i, 76) the next column is "drink." And so we have the statement that Shak'st-spurre is the Urst-horn sonne of a poor, sickly, woe-hegone creature, much given to drink. Or, to show how complex is the nature of this work, let us see if the addition and subtraction of 248 will not bring out "Shak'st Spur" in another way. Take 698 and deduct 248 and we have 450; add to this the modifier, 508 (2, 75"), and we have 958; deduct 29 and we have 929. Carry this through i, 75 (447), and we have 482 ; and this carried up 2, 75, brings us to the 28th word, the same "Shak'st." We obtained "Spurre" by deducting 248 from 362, leav- ing 1 1 '\ — "Spurre." But let Qs add 248 to 362, and we have 610+50=660. Take the modifier 446 (i, 75) through this and we have 114 left, and 114 is again "Spurre." 252 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. These words "Shak'st" "Spurre" come out probably twenty times by dififerent countings. For instance, take 505, deduct 29, and we have 476; deduct 448 and we have 2^=" Shak'st." Then take 505 again and add 50=555 ; deduct 167 and we have 388; and 388 carried up i, 75 (447), brings us to the 60th word— -"Spurre." Here we see, as usual, 29 alternating with 167 and 50. Or take 505 — 248=257; add 218=475; carry this through I, 75 (447), and the remainder is 28, and 28 is "Shak'st." Or deduct 284 (i, 74) from 505, and we have 221 left; carry this through 193 (i, 75) and the remainder is 28 ="Shak'st." Or deduct 30 from 312 and we have 282; carry this through 254 (i, 75) and there are 28 left, and «8 is "Shak'st." Or take 698 (505+193) ; deduct 167=531—197=334; and 334 taken up 1, 75, brings us to the 114th word, "Spurre," the same word already obtained several times going down the column. And so we see how many times the man of Stratford is referred to in the internal nar- rative. Take 946 (698-1-248) deduct 100 and we have left 846; carry this through page 74 (532 words), and. we have 314 left ; deduct 50 and we have 264 ; carry this up i, 75 (447) , and it brings us to the 184th word — "my." Take 362 ; deduct 248=1 14 ; add 532=646+50=696 ; carry this through page 74 (532), and we have 164 left; and the 164th word on the preceding column, 2, 73, is — "cousin." "My" came from 698 plus 248; let us now deduci; it THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 253 and we have 450 (which gave us "Urst-borne") ; add 509 (2, 75) and we have 959; add 50 and we have 1009; deduct 29 and we have 980; carry this through p. 74 (532 words) and we have 448 left; carry this through page yi) (4.06 words), and the remainder is 42; and this taken up the next cohmm (2, 72) brings us to the 547th word which is "gave." "Cousin " came from 362 minus 248 ; let us now add 248 to 362 and we have 610, add 50 and we have 660. As "cousin" and "gave" were obtained by going backward, let us go forward to the bottom of i, 76, and carry 660 through 2, 76 (603 words), and the remainder is 57, and the 57th word on the same column (2, 76) is — "her." We recur now to 946 (698+248) and carry this through the same column 2, 76 (603 words), and we have left 343. Carry this up the next succeeding cblumn (i, '^y, — 577) and it brings us to the 235th word, which is "majesty."' And so we have : "my cousin gave her majesty." This word "her" is a rare word, and here is an im- portant one„ for there are numerous references in the cipher story to the Queen as "her Grace," "her Majesty" "her Highness," etc. And the length of the columns is so adjusted as to bring in the word "her" time and again from all directions. Thus vfre have just seen it derived from 362+248=610+ 50=660 — 603=57, and 57 is "her." (And we have just found 660 producing "cpusin." ) But 362 is obtained by deducting 193 from 505+50. Let us take 505 alone, carry it, through the ist section i, 76 (4*48 words), and there are 57 left, and- 57 is "her." Thus we see the 57th word, "her," reached from 2, 76, going down the same column, by way of 505 — 193+50 ; and also 254 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. from 505 — 448=57, from i, 76, going forward and down the succeeding column. But let us again recur to 946 ; add 50=996 ; deduct 448 (ist section 1, 76) and we have 548; and 548 carried up that same column (2, 76) brings us again to "her." (Thus: 698+248=946+50=996 — 448^548; 604 — 548 =S6+i=57="/i^r.") So that up and down the column, and forward and backward, the same word "her" comes ' out. We have just seen that 946 through 2, 76, produced "majesty/' "her majesty." But the "her" from 505 — ^448 =57 does not connect with that word "majesty" but with "grace," a term commonly applied to royalty. See fac- similie of page 72, 15th line, col. i, where the Prince of Wales says to his father. King Henry the Fourth : "Cheerly my Lord ; how fares your grace." ^ , , We obtained "her" by carrying 505 through 448 and going doivn the next column. Let us add 167 to 505 and we. have 672. Carry this again through 448 and we have 224 left; and 224 carried up from 457 (end 1st section of 2, 76) brings us to "grace." Thu-s 505+167^672 — 448 =224; 457—224=233+1=234, {2,' 76)— 'grace." And so we have "her grace." This example alone ought to end all controversy as to there being a cipher in the Plays. See how "her" is connected with "inajesty" in one instance and with "grace" in the other! In each case' "her" goes down the column ; and "grace" and "majesty" go up the columns ; "grace" up 2, 76, from 457 ; "majesty" up i, y^, from the end of the column. THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 255 But it may be said — why did not 224 (derived from 505+167) go up from the bottom of col. 2/76, instead of from the bottom of the upper section of 2, 76. Well here you have it : 604 — 224=380+1=381, and the 381st word is "■well." And 167 alternates with 50 ; and so we deduct 50 from 505 and we have 455 ; and the 455th word on the same column of 2, 76, is "horsed." And so we have "ivell-horsed," which means "well- mounted." "Well-horsed" what. We saw that 505+167=672. Add 100 and we have 772. Carry it through the modifier on 2, 75 (508), and we have 264 left; carry this up 2, 75 (509), and it brings us to the 246th word, which is "soldiers." Again take 672, add 50^722 ; add 29 and we have 751 ; add 29 again and' we have 780. Carry this through 448 (i, 76) and we have 332 left; and 332 taken up 2, 75, brings us to the 178th word, which is "troops." (509 — 332 =iyy+i=iy?c=" troops.") And so we have : "well horsed troops of soldiers." The number 505, less 448, gave us "her" and "grace." If we carry it to i, 75,. the ist section there is 193, just as 448 is the ist section of i, 76. Now 505 less 193 is 312 and the 312th jvord on 2, 75, is "sent" And 312 car- ried up I, 76, from 498, brings us to the 187th wprd "out." And so we have "Her grace" "sent out," "well horsed" "troops of soldiers." "Her grace" was "furious;" 312 is "sent;" 50 less than 312 is 262, and 262 (2, 75) is "furious." Add 167 to 312 {sent"), and we have 479; and 479 (2, 75) is "wilde." And 505+193=698 ; and plus 167 it is 865 and plus 50 it is 915. Now carry 915 through i, 75 (447), and we 256 THE CIPHER IN' THE SHAlCIiSPEARE PLAYS. have 468 left; take this through 2, 74 (248), and we have 220 left, and the 220th word is "rage;" and so we have: "Her grace is furious, wild with rage, and hath sent out well'horscd troops of soldiers." Now take 698 again ; add 50 and \\c have 748 ; add our old modifier, 192, and we have 940. Carry this through 1, 75 (447), and we have 493; carry this through 2, 74 (248), and we have 245 left; take this up i, 74, and it brings us to the 40th word, "ride.'' Now we recur to 312; add 50, and we have 362; add 284 and we have 646; carry this through 448 (i, 76), and we have 198 left, and the 198th word on 2, 75, is "like." "Ride" came from 698+50+192. Now let us take 312 and deduct 192 and we have 120 left; add 603 (2, 76) and we have 723. Carry 723 through i, 75 (447), and 2, 74 (248), and we have 28 left; afid this carried up I, 74, brings us to "posts." And so we have "her grace" hath "sent out" "well horsed troops of soldiers" to "ride like posts." But we need not pursue this farther. They are told to ride like posts through the land, and find the whorson monster Shak'st spurre, and bring him in alive or dead. We return to the unfinished sentence from which we branched ofif, to show how "her" (57, 2, 76) came from both r, 76, and 2, 76. We had worked out the words : "My cousin gave her majesty," from 312 and 698 (505 — 193=312; and 505+193=698). What is next? What did "my cousin" give "her majesty?" "Her" was obtained from 362+248^610 — 603^57. The alternate number is 362 — 248=114. Add 498 (i, 76) to 1 14, and we have 612 ; add 100 and we have 712+167= THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 257 879+29=908. Bring this to page 74 and carry it through 532, and we have 376; take this through 2, 73 (237), and we have 139 left, and the 139th word, on i, 73, is "many." "Majesty" came from 946 (698+248) we now deduct 248 from 698 and we have 450, (which gave us "first- borne" etc.) ; deduct 167 from 450 and we have 283 ; and 283 taken up i, 75, brings us to the 165th word, "in- stances." And so we have : "my cousin gave her majesty many instances." The last word down the column was derived from 362 — 248; now we add them and have 610. To this we add 447 and it gives us 1057; deduct 100 and we have 957; carry this through 2, 76 (604 words), and it brings us to 353 on I, yy„ which is "to." "Instances" came from 698 minus 248. We no\'. take 698+248=946. Add 167 and we have 11 13. Carry th.is through 447 and we have 666 left; add 29 and we have 695. Carry this through page 73 (406 words) and we have 289; and this taken up 2, 72 (from 588), brings us to the 300th word, "prove." We come now to 362— 248:^1 14 ; add 532 (p. 74) and we have 646 (this gave us +50 — "cousin") carry this through page 73 (406 words) and we have 240; deduct 167 and we have 73 — ^^0=22,= ' that." The last up- word "prove" was from 946 ( 698 f 248) ; we take the alternate 698 — 248=450. Add to this 508 (2, 75) and we have 958; deduct 29 and we have 929. Carry this through i, 75 (447), and we have 482 left, and this taken up 2, 75, brings us, as before, to the 28th word : "Shak'st." Here 482 is produced by a new counting. We return to 362f248=6io; carry this through, 2, 74 (248), and we have 362 left; deduct 248 from this and 17 258 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. we have 1 14 left, and the 1 14th word on i, 75, is "Spurre." We return to 946 and deduct the modifier 603 (2^ 76) and we have 343 left; deduct 100 and we have 243 left; carry this up 2, 75 (509), and it brings us to the 267th word "had." We now take 362 — 248=114; add 284 (i, 74) and we have 398; carry this through 2, 74 (248), and we have 150; and the 150th word on the next column (i, 75) is "never." We return to 450; add 532=:982 — 5o==932+29=96i. Carry this to bottom of 2, y6, and take it through i, yy (577 words), and we have 384 left; and this taken up 2, yy, brings us to the 228th word, "zvritten." V/e return to 362f248=6io ; add 447^1057 ; deduct 50 and we have 1007. Carry this through page 74 (532 words) and we have 475 left; and this carried through page 73 (406 words) leaves 69, and the 69th word (2, 72) is, "these." We take 946; add 167^1113+50^1163 — 29=1134. Carry this through pages 74 and 73 (532 and 406) and we have 196 left, and this taken up from the bottom of 2, 72 (589 words'', brings us to the 394th word, "playes." Here are more miracles of accident! Look at these words : "zuritten these playes." Turn back to page 186 and see how these same words — the very same — 228 (2,yy)^="zvritten;" 69 (2,72)^ "these," and 394 (2, y2)=' playes" — came out from 505-1- 248 and 505 — 248 ; and then turn to page 187 and observe how these same words came from 505+248 plus and minus 192 and 505 — 248+253, the alternate of 192; and then, consider that these very same words have been jnst worked out from 505 plus and minus 193 (312 and 698). THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 259 And remember that in the first instance the word "written" is obtained by starting from the last word of section one of col. 2 of p. y6. Thus : 7S3+SOt.=So3-m67= 970+447=1417 — 457:^961. And here, in the last ej:- ample, we have 450+532=982 — 50^932+29^^961 ; and so by these different countings we reach 961 three diiier- ent times. And in like manner 753 — 192=561+509, etc., less 147 (lower section 2, 76) brings us again to 961. Why? Be- cause 961 carried through i, yy (577), leaves 384, and 384 carried up 2, yj, brings us to "written;" 961 — 577^. 384; 611 — 384=227+T:^=228^"'wn'«^n." And in like manner "playes" in each case, starts from the end of page 74, 532, runs through page 73 and is carried up 2, y2, and it is brought to that point by three different connting.f! T will not insult the intelligence of the reader by asking him if all this came about by accident! The length of those subdivisions of 2, 76, and the length of columns one and two of page yy had to be prearranged to make the word "written" possible by two of these countings, and if there had been a single word more or less on i, yy, or in the subdivisions of 2, 76, the other examples would not have been possible. And look at this whole sentence : "My cousin gave her majesty many instances to prove that Shak'st-spurre had never zvritten these playes." And so you see the Bacon-Shakespere controversy was in full blast three hundred years ago. These words go alternately up and down the columns. They are the result of alternately subtracting 193 from 505 (=312), or adding 193 to 505 (=698) ; and alternately adding 248 to or deducting it from 698; or alternately 260 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. adding 248 to or subtracting it from 312. And note the absolute correctness with which this complex problem is worked out! And remember that the mechanism and system by which 505,, plus and minus 193, tells its story, is precisely the same as the mechanism and system by which 505 plus and minus 248 told the long story I have given in the foregoing pages. And I have material enough collected to make four or five such books as this ; and the same system and mechan- ism runs through it all — out to the very extremities. And here let me give another example, where the play of "the Contention bctzvccit Yorke and Lancastef is again referred to. I showed (on page 215 ante) these words coming out of 753 (505+248^753) plus and minus 167; and 257 (505 — 248=1:257) plus and minus 447; and also derived from that other root number, 523, plus and minus 167; and 523 plus and minus 448. And here, in this marvellous text, we find that play again referred to, in the internal story, and coming out of 312 and 698 (505 plus 193, and minus 193) plus and minus 197! Thus : The root number 505 — 193^312 — 167=145 — 29^116 (2, 75) "that." The next number 698 (505.fi93=698) goes up the col- umn: 698— 50=648— I97^45i+i93=:644fi93 again = 837. And this 837 carried through i, 75 (447), leaves 390; still carried backward through 2, 74 (248), it leaves 142 ; and 142 taken up i, 74 (284), brings us to the 143d word, which is "ivcU-knoivn." We recur to 362 and add 248 and we have 610 ; add 248 again and we have 858, deduct 29 and we have 829 ; carry THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 261 this through i, 75 (447), and we have 382 left; carry this through 2, 74 (248 words), and we have 134 left, and the 134th word, I, 74, is "play." And so we have : "that well-known play." The last up-word {"well-knoivn") came from 698 minus 56=648. This one comes from 698 plus 50=748. To get "well-known" we deducted 197, now we add it: 748 +197=945—50=895. Carry this through i, 75 (447), and it leaves 448; carry this up 2, 75 (509), and it brings us to the 62d word, "the." Take now 362+248=610; add 248 again and we have 858. Deduct 50 and we have 808 ; add 197 and we have 1005; carry this through 2, 75 (509), and we have 496 left and the 496th word on the same column is "Conten- tion." And remember that 362.1-532:^894+50=944 ; and that this carried through 448 (ist section, i, 76) leaves 496; and this going backward brings us to the same 496 (2, 75) "Contention" which we have just reached through 509 going forzvard! Queer accident this that reaches 496 — "Contention" — from 362+532 (p. 74) backward through i, 76; and from 362+248, one of the 'columns of 532, p. 74, through 2, 75 (the next column to i, 76), forward! We can scarcely touch a point of this text that does not bristle with the most careful arithmetical adjustments ! But to proceed : The next word is to go up the column, and comes from 698. Add to 698 50 and we have again 748. To get the last up*word "the" we added 197; now we deduct it: 748—197=551+193=744. Carry this through i, 75 (447), and we have 297 left; take this through 2, 74 (248), and we have 49 left; and carry this up the next 262 THE CIPHER IX THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. column (i, 74) and it brings us to the 236th word, "be- tiveen." We recur to 362 and deduct 248 instead of adding it, and the remained is 114. Add the modifier 446and we have 560 ; add 197^757 — 29^728 — 29 again =699. Carry this through 532 and we have 167 left ; and the 167th word on the next column (2, 73) is "Yorke." We return to 698; again deduct 50^648+197:^845; carry this through i, 75 (447), and we have 398 left; carry this up 2, y6 (604), and it brings us to the 207th word, "and." We return to 362. The last time we deducted 248 ; now we add it, and we have 610; add 197 and we have 807+29 ^836. Carry this through 2, 75 (509), and we have 327 left; and the 327th word (2, 75) is "Lancaster." And here is another evidence of adjustment. This 836 is the primal root-number, obtained by multiplying 76, (page 76) by 11, the number of bracketed words on i, 74, counting "post-horse' as two words. And so, after long wandering the columns are so jdjusted as to give us 836, so we could again get the word "Lancaster," part of the name of the play, attributed by the critics to both Shaks- pere and Marlow, but whose real author was Francis Bacon. And so we have : "that well-known play, the Conten- tion between Yorke and Lancaster." And these words not only all come from 362 and 698; but every one of the 698 words is phis or minus 197, in regular order. "Con- tention" comesirom 262 plus 248 ■,"yorke" iTom262 minus 248; and "Lancaster" from 362 plus 248; plus, minus, plus! It would be extraordinary to find those words "Con- THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 263 tention," "between," "Yorke," and "Lancaster" on three pages of this play, or any other play, but to see them cohering by the same numbers, and by two or three other sets of numbers, settles the question of the existence of a cipher herein. I desire now to briefly show how the cipher ramifies into the minutest branches ; and how every line of the text is full of cipher. Take the root number 523 ; add to it the modifier 218, and we have 741. Now take the same root number, 523, and deduct 218, instead of adding it — we then have 305. On col. 2, 76, the upper section has 456 words above the last word. Add 456 to 305 and we have 761. And these two numbers, 741 and 761, tell a long story — 741 going up the columns and 761 going down them ; and both of them carried through 448, the upper section of i, 76. After- wards the movement is reversed, and 741 goes down the columns and 761 goes up. Take 741 and carry it through 448 and it leaves 293. Take 293 up from the bottom of that same 448 and it lands us on the 156th word, which is "bring." (448 — 293=i.i 55+1=1 56="Z'nM^.-" ) And here we see how the text is twisted and enforced to obtain the cipher words needed. The fine of the play is: "Or what hath this bold enterprise bring forth." It should be "brought forth;" but the cipher required the word "bring," and there it is. Now as 293 up I, y6, took us to "bring," let us see what 293 will yield us if carried up the next sue- 264 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. ceeding column, 2, ^6 (604 words). Here we have it; 604 — 293^311+1=312, and the 312th word, 2, "j^, is "horson." But if we take that alternate number 761-, and carry it down through 448, it leaves 313 and the 313th word on that same column, 2, 76, is "smooth-pates." The line reads : "The horson smooth-pates do now wear nothing." Thus we see that the text has been so adjusted that 761 down, minus 448, produces 2,^2,=" smooth-pates" and 741 minus ,•^48, up the column, leads us to the adjoining 312th word "horson." And we have "bring the horson smooth-pates." A. shameful disease, lately introduced by the sailors of Columbus, from America, through Spain and France, had produced in England a great amount of baldness, which was characteristic of the more degraded classes, like actors; and hence Shakspere and his companions — ^by law accounted "vagabonds" — are here referred to as "horson smooth-pates." But as 293 carried up columns i and 2 of 76 brought us "bring" and "horson" let us take it up the preceding column, 2, 75, and we have 509 — 293=216+1=217= "speed." Let us then take 761, add 100=861 ; deduct 197= 664; carry this through 448 and we have 216 left, and the 2i6th word (2, 75) is "greatest." And so we have "greatest speed." Let us take 741 again and add 50, and we have 791 ; deduct 29 and we have 762 ; carry it through 448 and the remainder is 314, and this carried up from the bottom of THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 265 448 brings us to the i3Sth word (i,'76), which is "go." The next word comes from 761. Add 447 to 761 and we have 1208, +50=11258; carry this through page 75 (956 words), and we have 302 left; carry this through 2, 74 (248),, still going backwards, and we have 54 left, and the 54th word on i, 74, is "zvith." Take 741, add 447 and we have 1188; add 197 and we have I285i-f50f49.-=ri384; carry this through 2, 76 (604), and I, yy (577), =^1181; deduct 1181 from 138/I — 203 and this taken up 2, yy, brings us to the 409th word, "the." And this gives us, "go with the greatest speed." And here, let it be observed, that if we add 197 to 135 (the word "go") we have 332, and the 332d word on I, yG, is "Bishop." Thus: 741 — 197=544+50=594 — 29=565, and this carried through 448 leaves 117, and 117, carried up 448, brings us to ^^2="Bishop." Now take 741 again, but instead of adding 50 deduct it, and we have 691 ; (the last time we deducted 197) ; add 197, and we have 888; deduct 29 (the last time we ■ added 50), and we have 859; carry this through 2, 76 (604), and we have 255, and this, taken up 2, 75, brings us to the 255th word : "Worcester." And so you perceive that the words "Bishop" and "Worcester" come out by an entirely, new method. And it is the "Bishop of Worcester," Sir John Whitgift, that advised the bringing in of Shakspere, and the "horson smooth-pates" — the actors of his company. We have seen what an important part the modifier 197 plays in this part of the cipher story. We do not find 167 used here. Let us take that number which gave us "speed," "bring" and "horson," to-wit., 293 (741 — ^448=293), 266 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEAKE PLAYS. and deduct from it 197 and we have 96 left. Carry this up from the bottom of col. i, 76 (498 words), and it brings us to the 403d word, "before." Or this can be obtained by adding 50 to 156=206; and adding 197 and it gives us 403 : "before." Now add 447 to 741 and we have 1188; deduct 29 and we have 11 59; carry this through i, 76 (448), and 2, 76 (604), and we have 107 left, and the 107th word ^ip I. 77 i577)> is the 471st word, "Counsel." And so we have, "go zvith the greatest speed and bring the hor- son smooth-pates before the Counsel. (Council.) And here we have the "Bishop" again; for the Bishop of Worcester played an important part in all these trans- actions. . Take 761+448=1209-1-50^1259. Carry this through page 75 (956 words), and we have 303 left, add 29 and we have ■^^2="Bishop.' This came from the begin- ning of I, 75, carried forward; now let us take the same root number, 761, add 100 and we have 861 ; carry this to I, yy; take it through i, yy {^yy words), and we have 284 left; deduct 29 and we have 255, and the 255th word on 2, 75, is "Worcester." And here we have "Bishop" and "Worcester" coming out, by another new method, going down the columns; while a minute ago we saw the same words obtained by going up the columns. Surely there is either a cipher in this text or his Satanic majesty is stirred all through it! But what about the Bishop of Worcester? We saw 293, which produced "bring," "horson," "speed," etc., minus 197 gave us "before," which is 403; let lis add 50 and we have 453, which (i, 76) is "saies." THE CIPHER :n THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 267 "The Bishop of Worcester says." "Worcester" went down the column, while "sales" went up -the column. Take 741— 197=544+448==992— 248=744— 509= 23s; and this carried up i, 75 (447), brings us to the 213th word — "zvhen." And this links on to "horson "smooth-pates — "when (you bring) the horson-smooth- pates." "Smooth pates" came from 761 — ^448^313:^ "smooth-pates." The next word "see." Add to 741, 197 and we have 938. Carry this through 448 and we have 490 left; and this talcen up the preceding column, 2, 75, brings us to the 20th word — "see'." Now take 761 — ^448=313, and add 197=510; carry this through ist section, i, 74 (448), and we have 62 left, and the 62d word (2,76) is — "the." We saw that 293 (741 — 448=293) carried up through 448 (t, 76) brought us to the 156th word, "bring." Now deduct 50 from 293=243, and this adds 50 to 156=2061, and 206 is "peril." {"When the horson smooth-pates see the peril.") Compare 741+197 — /\/i,9i="see," and 741 — 448=293 ; 498 — 2g^="peril." We take 761, carry it through 2, 76 (604 words), and we have 57 left. On 2, 76, it gave us "her," but on i, yy, it is "in." To gtt "see" we added 197 to 741=938; now we deduct it and have 544, the same number that brought us "when" {"zvhen they iee the peril") ; we deduct 100 and have 444; this taken up 2, 75 (509), brings us to the 66th word, "which." Carried up i, 75, it gives us the 4th word ".John" — "Sir John the Bishop of Worcester." Now take 861, add 197=1058; add the modifier 446 (i, 75) and we have 1454, plus 29=1483. Carry this 268 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PI.AYS. through page 75 (956 words) and through 2, 74 (248 woids), and the remainder is 279, and the 279th word (i, 74) is "they." Now revert to 741 — 448=293 ; deduct 29 and we have 264; carr}' this up 2, 76 (from 604), and it brings us to the 341st word — "iiiitst.'' Turn again to 761 — 448=313; add 29 (we have just deducted it) and we have 342, and the 342d word on 2, 76, is "stand." Here again, as in the case with "horson smooth-patcs" and "greatest speed" the movements up and down the particular columns bring out words that stand together in the text. Here we have "must stand" derived from 293 — 29 and 313+29. And so we have : "ivhen the horson suiooth-pates see the peril in zvhich they must stand." Every word here is derived from 523+ or — 218; modi- fied by + or — T97 ; or 4- or — 29 ; and developed out of that block of words, i, 76, 448 words! And Sir John goes on to tell the Queen that after a time, "rather than stand imprisonment any longer" — "the horson smooth-pates'' will "make a confession." Thus; 741+447=1188; carry' this through 448 and 604 (2, 76), and we have 130 left, and this taken up i, yj, brings us to the 442d word, "make." Tliis is 741+447. Now let us deduct 447 from 741 and we have 294 left +193=487; and this carried up 2, 75 (509), brings us to the 23d word, "Confession." And: 741 — 448=3293 — 192=101 — 29=72; carry 72 up 2, 75, and it brings us to the 533d word, "fell." Now take 761 ; which comes from 305+456=761. Let us take 305— 5o=:255+i97^452— 29=423 ; and the 423d word, 1, 76, is "every." THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEAEE PLAYS. 269 We recur to 741, add .100 and we have 841 ; add 448 and we have 12S9; carry this through 604 and we have 685 left; take this through i, •]•] (577), and we have 108 left ; and this carried up 2, JJ, brings us to the 504th word, which is "thing." And so we have growing, every word, out of 448, by 523 plus and minus 218, the following story: "The Bishop of Worcester says : 'Go zuith the greatest speed and bring the horson smooth-pates before the Council; and when they see the peril in zvhich they must sland they zvill make a confession and tell everything.' " And there is further talk about standing longer ini- prisonmcnt; and their fears of losing their ears. And what is it all about? Certain treasonable plays have been put forth in the name of "William Shakes- peare," which Cecil and the Archbishop, formerly Bishop of Worcester,, assure the Queen were written with intent to breed an insurrection, by bringing on the stage a scene where the Parliament deposes a king, and he is after- wards murdered in prison. "Richard the Second," said Queen Elizabeth, "know you not that / am Richard the Second. * * '■' This tragedy was played forty times in open streets and houses." The play of Richard the Second was written to ac- custom the public mind to the idea of the dethronement of the Lord's annointed sovereign. But why should the author and actors stand in such peril, and be afflicted with imprisonment, or the loss of their ears, to say nothing of being burned alive? Was it a deadly crime to write or act a historical play? Let us see. And here we have another development of the cipher. 270 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. We have seen that 523+218 told a long story. But 218 (the number of words above the last section of 2, 74) and 29 (the number of words below it) go together — 505+29=534 and 505+218=723. Take 723; add 167^890; add 448^1338. Carry this through p. 75 (956 words), and we have 382 Idft; carry this through i, 74 (248 words), and we have 134 left; and the 134th word on i, 74, is "play." We obtained "play" by adding 448 to 723. Let us now deduct it: 723—448=275; and the 275th word (2, 75) is "King." The alternate of 723 (505+218=723) is 534 (505+29= 534) . Carry 534 through 448 and we have' 86 left ; and 86 taken up i, 76 (448), brings us to the 363d word, which is "Richard." Here we deducted 448 from 534; let us now add 448 to 534, and we have 982 ; carry this through the next column (604) and the remainder is 378; carry this up i> 77 (S77)> 3-n<^l '-t brings us to the 200th word, "of." But let us go back a little, and take 534, and again add 448, and we have 982; add 197 and we have 1179+167^ 1346. Carry this also through p. 75 (956 words), and through 2, 74 (248 words), and we have 142 left, and this taken up i, 74, brings us to the 143d word, "well- •known." (We will soon see "well-knoivn" reached going down the column.) And so we have the significant words, "'well-known play of King Richard," coming alternately from the con- nected numbers of 505+218 and 505+29. A few inoments ago we saw 'well-known" coming from 698 (505+193), and "play'' derived from 362 (505 —^93+50)- Here the reference was to "the well-known THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PI-AYS. 271 play of the Contention between Yorke and Lancaster." Here, the columns and fragments of columns are so ar- ranged as to bring out, "zvcll known play of King Richard." We saw that "Richard" was the 363d word (i, 76), derived from 534 (505+29) ; let us deduct 50 and we have 313, add 29 and we have 342 (i, y6)="his." Now take again 505+218^723, add 167=890; carry this through 448 (i, 76), and the remainder is 442; and the 442d word on the preceding column, 2, 75, is "aim." We come again to 534+448=982 — 100=882; carry this up 2, yy (611 words), and we have 271 left and this taken up i, yy, brings us to the 307th word, "is." We recur to 723, add 167^890 — 509^381 — 192=189 (2, 75)=^"in." Again, we take 534 — 448=86+167+29=282. Carry this up the preceding column (2, 75) and we have 508 — 282:=227+I=228=:"^/lM." We recur to 723 and add 167=^890+100=990+192^ 1182; carry this through page 75 (956 words), and ^ve have 226 left, and the 226th word on 2, 74, is "way." We turn to 534, and this time we add 448=^82 — 509r.= 473, and this carried up 2, 75, brings us to the 37th word, •7.9." We take 723 again; add 448==! 171 ; carry it through page 75 (956 words), and we have 215 left; add again 218 and we have 433, and the 433d word (i, 75)^ is "make." And so we have, "his aim, in this well-known play of King Richard, is to make a bloody insurrection." Again take 534, deduct 448=86+197=1283 ; carry this up from bottom of ist section 2, 76 (457), and it brings us to the 175th word (2, 76)=="a!," 272 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. We recur to 505+218=723+167=890+448=1338+29 ^1367. Carry this through page 75 (956 words), and we have 411 left ; and this carried through 2, 74 (248 words), leaves 163, and the 163d word on i, 74, is "bloodie." We saw that 534 — 448=86 and 86 taken up i, 76 brought us to the 363d word "Richard;" now carry the count 29 words further up that column and it brings us to the 334th word, "insurrection." And we find Queen EHzabeth saying, "know you not that / am Richard the Second ; this tragedy was played forty times in ojjcn streets and houses." We perceive therefore that this part of the cipher story relates largely to the plots of the Essex faction to secure possession of the government and place James of Scotland, the next heir, on the throne. These words "King Richard," referring to the play of "Richard the Second," are used over and over again in the internal narrative. Take, for instance, the cipher numbers which told so much of the story given in these pages, to-wit : 505 — 24S =257 and 505.+248=753. Add 100 to 753 and we have 853 ; deduct 192 and we have 661 ; add 29 and we have 690 ; carry this through 2, 76 (604), and we have a remainder of 86; and this taken up i, 76, brings us again to that 363d word, "Richard." Now take 257 (the alternate of 753), add 50 and we have 307, and the 307th word on 2, 75, is "King" — "King Richard." And the same numbers bring out the words : "usurpa- tion scene." This was the famous scene which represent- ed the deposition of King Richard the Second; which THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 273 the author did not dare to publish until after the Queen's death (1608). Part of the ofifence which brought the head of Essex to the block consisted in having hired this play of Richard the Second to be acted the night before the outbreak. (See "The Great Cryptogram," page 619.) And the Queen made Bacon prosecute Essex on that especial charge, and Bacon objected, because he tells us, "it would be said I was giving in evidence mine own tales!" And we have "busily engaged" given heretofore; and 753—447=306—50=256—29=227 ; 447—227=220+1 =221 (i, y^)=^"usurpation." And 257+100=357+167=524—509=15 (i, 76)= "scene." This is connected with the second "busily engaged." "He was busily engaged on the usurpation scene in King Richard." Or take 505— i93=3i2+5o=362="ifm^." And then take 505+29=534 ; 534—448=86 ; 448— 86 ^362+i=363="i?tVftarrf." And so we have the words : "King Richard" coming to- gether (362, I 76 and 363, I, 76) in the text just as they come together in the cipher narrative ! And here we have it again, from the root numbers, we are now working with — 741 and 761. 741—604=137; 498—137=361+1=362 (i, 76)= "Kin^' 761—448=313+5(^=363 (i> 76)=''^ic^o^'« " Again the cipher words come together in the text, (362, I, 76, 363. i> 7(>-) And here we have it again, plus and minus 192 : X8 274 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 257 192=65+100^165+167= 332+50=382—248 (2, 74)=i34 (I. 74)= "P^^y" 257— 1921=65+100=165+197= 362 (1,76)= "^i'^r 753—248=505+253=758+29= 789—509=278 — 192=86; 448 — 86=362+1=363= "Richard." This last 278 carried up i, 76, brings us to 171 (i, 76) ="engaged." And 257+i92+i67=6i6+ioo=:7i6 — 532 =184 (2, 7T,)^"husily." And 192 added to 171 {engaged) makes 363='%'^^- ard." The arithmetical relationships of these words are simply marvellous. Take for instance the words "Sir Jahn" referring to the "Bishop of Worcester." 741—448=293 — 50^243 — 167=76 ; 604 — 76^528+1 =529 (2, y6)="Sir." 761—448=313+50=363+167=530 (2, y6)=:"John." Or see how it comes out another way: 74T minus 50=691 — 167=524 — 448=76 {up) ; 604 . --76=528+1=529 (2, y6)=:"Sir." 761+50.^811+167=978 — 448=530 {down) (2, 76)= "John." See how the words come together, 529 "Sir," and 530 "John." And the last name of the Archbishop, "Sir John Whit- p-i*"*-." is also rerieatedlv sriven in this text. T remember that when I published "The Great Crypto- PTam" in Entrland I fell into an error as to Sir John's last name ; T mixed him up with his successor at Wor- cester, Sir John Babbin^on ; and Mr. George Stronach, of the Vdvocate's Library, of Edinburgh, Scotland, in my defence, pointed out, in a newspaper article, the fact THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 275 that, on page TJ of the Folio, the words '"Wit" and "Gifts" and "Sir" and "John" appeared; and he said that they probably covered references to Sir John Whit- gift," at one time Bishop of Worcester. And he was right. For sure enough here it is : I stated that when a couple of cipher numbers told part of the story, going up and down the columns, they would, when reversed, tell another portion of the same tale. I showed how 312 (505^193^312) down the col- umn, and 698 (505+193^698) vip the same, gave us part of the cipher narrative; and that then 312 up and 69S dozvn the columns gave us more of it. We have been working out a story with 741 up and 761 dozvn. Now let us reverse it; and send 741 down the columns and 761 up. Carry 741 through i, yy (^77 words), and we have 164 left (741 — 577=164) and the 164th word on the next column (2, yy) is "gifts." This is part of the sentence, "Sir John Witgift's advice." Now "wif comes between "John" and "gifts." John must, therefore, also come from 741. I spoke heretofore of the cunning methods employed by Bacon to establish points of departure for the cipher; and referred to the fact that he had inserted, on page 1,77, at the 280th word, an unnecessary bracket mark. Now from that 280th word down to the bottom of the column there are 297 words. Deduct 297 from 741 and we have 444 left, and the 444th word on the next column is "John." Now let us take that 280th word and deduct it from 76 r — 280=481+50=531; add 197 and we have 728; 276 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. carry this through i, yj (577), and we have 151 left, and this carried up 2, TJ, brings us to the 461st word — "wit." Take now 761 again; again add 50, making 811; de- duct 29 and we have 782; carry this through the ist section of 2, 76 (457),, and we have 325 left, and this taken up 2, '^'j, brings us to the 287th word, "Sir." Take 761 again ; add 49 ( i, 76) and we have 8iof5o= 860; add to this the 2d section on 2, 76, 145, and we have 1005 ; carry this through 2, "jj (611 words), and we have 394 left; and this carried up i, yy ( 577), brings us to the 184th word, "advice' And so we have, "Sir Jolui IVit- gifl's advice." up 761+50=811 — 29 minus 457= "Sir" down 741 — 297^444= ' "John" up 761+50:^811 — 280+197= "Wit" down 741 — 577:^164^ "gift's" up 761+49=810+50^860+145= 1005—611=394; 577—394= 183+1=184, "advice" It would be strange enough to find in the text (if all this is accident), close to the oft-repeated words — "Bishop of JJ'orcester" — the words "Sir John Wit gifts;" but it is stranger still to find the words "John" "IVit" "gifts" all on the second column of page JJ; and "Sir" on the preceding column, i„ j"]. And stranger still to find "gifts" derived from i, yy (577 words), and "John" and "wit" coming from the 280th word, the first break on that page, t, yy, where the bracket mark is placed. "John" from 297, the number of words below the 280th word, and "ivit" from the 280th word itself! While THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 277 "Sir" comes from 761 minus the upper section of 2, 76, to-wit — ^457: and "advice" comes from 761, plus tlie lower section of 2, yy. viz. — 145 ! Here is certainly a string of miracles ! But the name of "Sir John Whitgift" is used, like other significant words, more than once in the cipher story. Here we have it again : down 523+167=690+167=857 — 448=409+49 (I, 76)=458, (2, 76) "Sir" up ,523—448=75 ; 75 up 604= 529+1=530, (2, 76) "John" down 523+167=690+167=857 — • 448=409+49=458+29= 487-448=39, (2, 76) "Wit" up 523+448=971+192=1163+ 29^1 192 — 167^1025- — 577=448; 611—448=163+ 1=164, (2, 77) "gifts" down 523+167^690 — 50=640 — 456. (2, 76) =184, ( 1, 77) "advice" And it refers to him as "the present archbishop :" down 523+167=690+167^857 — 448=409, (1.76) "present" JP 523+448=971—253=718— 509=209 ; 448— 209=1239+1 =240, (1,76) "archbishop" Observe the regularity of all this : 523+167=690, produces "Sir" "Wit" and "advice;" 523 minus 448 278 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. gives us "John;" and 523+448 gives us "archbishop" and "gifts." In the last example "gifts" was obtained by go- ing doivn the column ; here it is reached by going up the column; "advice" in the last example went up the col- umn; here it goes doivn the column. Think of the in- finite and subtle adjustments necessary for all this ! But here is even a more striking proof of the exist- ence of the cipher. There are — on this page 76 — four fragments. The first on I, 76, contains 448 words. We have seen how many v/ords are derived from this. The second section of i, 76, contains 50 words, or 49 below the 1st word of the subdivision. The first section of 2, 76, contains 457 words, and gives us 456 as a modifier, above the last word of the sub- division. The second section of 2, 76, contains, below the ist word of the section — 145 words. Now let us take those modifiers, 456 and 145, from the same column, and see how they work, alternately, added to and subtracted from 523. down 523—145=378, ( i„ 76) up 523+456=979—577 (r, 77) =402; 604 — 402=202+1= "he" 203, (2,76) "never" down 523+145 — 668—448 — 220, (2,76) "writ" up 523—456=67+50=1 1 7f 50 =167; 604—167=438, (2, 76) "a" down 523—145—378+448—826 509=317, (1.76) "ivord" THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 279 up 523+456=979+448=1427— 577=S5o+i67:=ioi7— 604 =413; 448—413=35+1 = 36, (1,76) "of" down 523+145^=668+50^718+448 =1 166— 5o9::r=657— 448= 209, (2, 76) "it" Examine this carefully — 523 minus 145 gives us "he;" 523 plus 145 gives us "writ;" 523 minus 145 gives us hand, 523 plus 456 gives us "never;" and 523 minus 448 hand 523 plus 456 gives us "never;" and 523 minus 448 gives us "a," while 523 plus 456 gave us "of." And the resulting words, "he never ivrit a word of it," go to the heart of the controversy that was raging about the court, as to the authorship of the famous plays. And here is another striking example of another branch of the cipher. Speaking of Shakspere the Bishop says : down 505+192=697+49=746+167 =913—448=465, (2,75) "the" up 505-253=252^67=419; 604 — ^419^185+1=186+ 145=331, (2> 76) "man" down 505+192=697+49=746+167 =913 ; 913— 604=309, (1,77) "hath" up 505—253=252+167=419; 604-419=185+1^186, (2, 76) "not" down 505+192=697+49=746+167 +913—509=404, (1,75) "knowledge" up 505—253=252+167=419; 457—419=38+1=39, (2, 76) "wit" 280 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. down 505+192=697— 253=444, (1,76) "nor" up 505—253=252+167=419 ; 448 — ^419^29+1=30, (i>76) "wisdom" down 505f 192=697 — 49=648 — 498=150, (1,76) "or' up S05+253=7S8fSo=8o8+ioo =90^+167=1075+197= 1272— 1 188 (p, 77) =84; 469(1,78)— 84=385+1= 386, (I. 78) "imagination" down 5o5if 192=697 — ^49=648 — 50=598+253=85 1—509= 342, (2,75) "enough" up 505—253=252+167=419; 509—419=90+1=91+29=: 120, (2,75) "to" down 5oSif 192^697+49=746 — 167=579—498=81, (2,76) "have" up 505— 253=252f 167=419 ; +532=95 1—50=901—509 =392+29=421 ; 509—421 =88+1=89, (2,75) "ever" down 505+192=697 — 29=668 — 448=220, (2, 76) "writ" up 505-253=252+167=^19+ 167=586; 586—29=557+ 448=1005—956 (p. 75) = 49 ; 248— 49^199+1=200,, (2,74) "these" down 5oS.f 192=697+49=746 — 1 00=646+2 5 3^899+448=: 1347—956=391—248= 143. (1.74) "zvell-knoivn" THE CirHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 281 up 505—253=252+167=419 —50=369— 192=177; 448 —177=448—177=271 + 1 =272, ' (1.76) "shows" Here it will be observed that every down-word is from 505+192 ; and every up-word is from 505 — 253 ; the numbers 192 and 253 being the upper and lower modi- fiers on column i of p. 75. And 505 — 253^252+167= 419, and 419 carried up the columns brings us to the connected words — "man" — "not" — "zvit" — "wisdom" — "to"— "ever"— "these"— "shows." "Shows" in that day meant plays. Bacon speaks of "triumphs, masks, feasts and such shoe's." Let the reader run his eye down the first column of the foregoing table, and then ask himself whether such significant words as : "the man hath not knoivledge, wit nor wisdom, or imagination enough to have ever writ these well-knozvn shows," could have come out by acci- dent, on four contiguous pages of the Folio, each word from 505+192 or 505 — 253, alternately going up and down the columns ? It is a physical impossibility. Then think of the coherence of the words themselves — "knowledge," "zvit," "zvisdom," "imagination" "enough," "writ," "these," "zvell-known," and "shozvs." And these words are not to be found everywhere, so that any ledgerdemain can bring them out. "Knowledge" is found but one other time in all this play (2 H. IV.) ; "'zvisdom" but one other time ; "writ" but one other time; "imagination" only this once (and but thirty times in all the plays) ; "well-knozvn" appears only this once; and "shows" is found but two other times in this play. 282 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. And yet here they all are in a bunch, on four pages, re- sponding to the call of 505+192 and 505 — 253 ! A moment ago we obtained the word "well-known" by going up the column; now we get it going down the same column ! The Bishop is requested to read the plays and give his opinion upon them. He pronounces them "extraordinari- ly able." Take 761, deduct 100 and we have 661 ; add 280 (that 1st section i, 'jy, just referred to), and we have 941; carry this through 448, and the remainder, on 2,77, is 493, which is ''extraordinarily." Take 741 and deduct 145 (the 2nd section 2, 76), and we have 596; carry this up 2, 76 (604), and it brings us to the 9th word — "able" — "extraordinarily able." And here is another proof of the complex arrangements of the cipher — add 100 to 596, just given, and we have 696; deduct 577 (i, 77)^119, and 119 carried up column 2, yj, brings us to that same word "extraordinarily." And 761 carried through i, yy (577)=i84; and this — 29= 155; and this carried from the end of 1st section 2, y6, 146, leaves 9, and 9 (2, 76) is the same word "able." And so we have "extraordinarily" and "able" both down and up the columns ! We saw that 471 carried through 604 left 137, and 137 carried up i, 76 (498), brought us to 362, (King) of "King Richard." Now take the same 137 up 2, 76 (604), and it brings us to the 468th word "striking." Take 761-1-50=811+50=861 — 604=257 (1,77) "and" Take 741+100=841+29=870 — 603^ 267; 577 — 267:^310+1 — 311 "original" Now take 761+50=811 ; carry this through i, yj (557), THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 283 and the remainder is 234, and the 234th word on the next column (2, j'j') is "characters." And so we have "strik- ing and original characters." Take again 761, add 50 and we have 811; carry this through I, 75 (447), and we have 364 left; deduct 29 and we have 335; which (2, 75) is "full." Now take 714 again. Carry it through 2, 76 (604), and again we have 137 left; add 167 and we have 304; carry this up from the bottom of ist section 2, 76 (457), and it brings us to the 154th word "of." Take 761 again; add 50 and we have 811 ; carry this through 1st section of 2, 76 (456), and we have 355 left, and the 3S5th word is "very." Then come in the words "striking and original char- acters." And we have: "fiill of very original and strik- ing characters." Surely an extraordinary collection of words, if there is no cipher h-ere! Together with the words "extraordinarily" and "able" and "plays." 761+253=1014—603^1 1+50 =361 ( 1, 77) (please) "plays." And 411 — 100=311, again= "original" And the Archbishop says, "I must confess these plays are extraordinarily able, and full of very original and striking characters." And here, naming the characters, we find, close at hand, by the same root numbers, 741 and 761, 741—604=137; 498—137= 361+1=362 (1, 76) "King' 761+50—811—448 363 (I> 76) "Richard' See how closely this runs from the two adjoining 284 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. columns! From 741 through 2, 76 (604), up i, 76, comes "King;" from 761 through and down i, 76 (448), comes "Richard." And 50 words above "striking" (468, 2, 76) is the word "Bardolf" — surely an original character. And here we have a reference to another of the so- called Shakespeare Plays — growing out of the same num- bers, 741 and 761, which have just given us : "/ must confess these plays are extraordinarily able and full of very original and striking characters," and "King Richard" etc. Take 741, deduct 1 97=544 f5o=594; deduct 448^ 146; and 146 carried up 2, 75 (509), brings us to the 364th word, "Measure." Take the alternate number 761, deduct 50 and we have 711 ; carry it through 2, 75 (509), and we have 202; add 29 and we have 231, and the 231st word, i, 76, is "for." Take'again 741. We deducted 197 to- get the first "Measure;'' let us now add it and we have 838. We de- ducted 448 to get the first "Measure ;" let us now add it, and we have 1286. Carry this through 2, 76 (603), and we have 683 left; add 50 and we have 733. Take 279 (the number of words above the bracket word, 280) and we have 454 left ; deduct 29 and we have 425 ; and carry this up 2, yy, and it brings us to the 187th word, which is 'Measure." And so we have "Measure for Measure." Here it will be noted each word "Measure" comes from 741 and goes up the columns. The first is minus 197, the second plus 197. The first is minus 448, the other is plus 448. The first goes backward and up through the first column preceeding i, 76; and the other goes forward and up through the first column succeeding i, yS, and de- THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKKSPEARE PLAYS. 285 parts from the same number, 280, which gave us "John" and "ivit." If it is accident brings the words "Measure for Measure" here, how comes it that they cohere so closely with the same root numbers? I showed on page 541 of the "Great Cryptogram" that wherever the word "Meas- ure" is found anywhere in the Plays, another "Measure" is invariably found near at hand, in some cases, as here, in the same act, and in adjoining scenes. And it is referred to here more than once: 523 — 145 — 192 brings us dozvn 2, 75, to 364, "Measure;" and 532fi45 .f 192 through 2d section 2, 76, and i, yy, brings us down 2, yy, to iSy=!' Measure." Here is will be observed there is an exact reversal — minus 145 becomes plus 145 ; minus 192 becomes plus 192. And here too is the whole story of "Doctor Hayward," . who wrote a history of King Henry IV„ and dedicated it to the Earl of FIssex. The Earl claimed tb be a member of the royal family, and had high aspirations. The suspicious and enraged Queen called Hayward before her, knocked him down, and "sprung" upon his "stoma:ch" with her "full weight," until he fainted ; and then she imprisoned him and threatened to put him to the torture. Bacon tells part of the story in his acknowledged works — his "Apothegms." ■ And here we have the Doctor referred to : up 5o5+i93==698— 145 (2, 76) =553—509=44; 698—44= 454+1=455, (1,76) "Doctor" down 505—193=312+192=554— 447=107, (1,75) "Ha- 286 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. Up 505+193=698+29=727— 508=219; 498 2 19=279 f I =280, (1,76) "word" And here we have it, in reversed order: down 50s— 50=455, (1,76) "Doctor" up 505—193=312+29=341 ; 447 — 34i=io6fi=io7, (1,75) "Ha" down 505—50=455—1671=288+ 29=317, (i>76) "word" And here we have the whole story of Shakspere's wild life in his youth; his killing of the deer; and the break- ing up of Sir Thomas Lucy's fish pond; and the fight that followed with the game-keepers, and Shakspere's flight to London. In fact I have great heaps of notes worked out, enough to make a book as large as ''The Great Cryptogram," with its thousand pages. But if the instances I have given will not convert the incredulous, they would not believe though one came from the grave. And so I pass on to the last chapter of the Cipher- story. I THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 287 CHAPTER XXVIII. "Francis Bacon, Sir Nicholas Bacon's Son." When the thought first came to me that Francis Bacon — being a great constructor of subtle and abstruse ciphers — might have placed one in the Shakespeare Plays, by which he would at some future time reclaim his marvel- lous works, I said to myself: "In that event he would, in all probability, give his own name as the real author-, and also name Shakspere to deny his authorship. And as he wrote these plays in his youth, before he had held any high office in the state, he would naturally identify him- self by referring to his illustrious ' father, Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, under Elizabeth, for twenty years." And so I said to myself, I must find out if anywhere in the text of the Plays the words: "Francis Bacon, Sir Nicholas Bacon's Son," occur, in that or any other order. And after diligent search I found all these words close together, on three pages of the Folio of 1623,. in Act 2, of 1st Henry IV. And let us stop for a moment to consider the improba- bility of this group of words being found, accidentally— in small space — in the Shakespeare Plays, or anywhere else. Four of these words, out of the six, are not ordinary 288 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. words of speech, but the names of persons. Why should they occur in this play, supposed to have been written by William Shakspere, who, on the surface of things, did not appear to have had the slightest connection with the Lord Keeper or his distinguished son ? In the "Great Cryptogram," and in my lectures in Eng- land and in this country, I challenged the advocates of Shakspere's authorship to point out those words on three, or thirty, or a hundred pages of any other book, prior or subsequent to Shakspere's time, in which direct refer- ence was not had to Francis Bacon and his father. That challenge has never Ijeen answered. Mrs. C. Stopes, of London, in her book, "The Bacon-Shakespeare Question Anszvered," has attempted to meet it by citing "Gammer Gurton's Needle" (1575), where the theft of a "slip of bacon" is referred to ; and three other instances where the same word "bacon" is employed. But this is no response to my challenge. And it is nothing extra- ordinary to find the word "bacon" used — it will be found every day in the market reports of all the daily newspapers in the United States. But in Gammer Gur- ton's Needle, and the three other instances given, there is no "Francis" or "Nicholas" or "Bacon's" — there is noth- ing out of which you can construct the sentence, "Francis Bacon, Sir Nicholas Bacon's son," or any similar state- ment. It is the coming together of all these words — these unusual given names— in close proximity— that constitutes the marvel, and proves the Cipher— especially, when, as I show in "The Great Cryptogram," they were forced into the text in most imnatural fashion. As, when we find the word "Francis," for instance, dragged in by changing the old proyerbial expression, "Tom^ Dick and Harry," fl Thefirfi TartofH^ri^Hemy tbeFeurtk f a Sroi would lauc hiiSouIeiinc (hallnot.' * J you mercy, gfe fame Noble SVoites IlelEcepe them, by ibb Hand. - Ww. Yotiftarcaway, , And lead no care yocd my purpofct. Thofe Prifoneriyou flnll kecpe. Hot. N8y,JwilI;tlftt'iflai: Hefaid, hewouldnotranrome/l/0nMwr}> Forbad my torfgUe to fpeakeot'J/or/fmrr, ^ut 1 will findc hira when he lyes aflcifpfr, And in his eate, lie holla Mortimer, NSy, He haui a Stailirtgfl^Il be taugin to fpcake Nothing but JM^rrimfr, and giueithim, To kecpe his anger (lillinmoirafl. U^ir. HearerouCoulia:i^rd, Hot, All fludies hecce I ToleAiftly defie, Swghow to gall and pinch this^ai^uv^jroei^t Aodthat fame Sword and Buckler Prmceof WalfF Bunl^tliil^gkehit Father loueshimnot. And wbuh Iwouldhii e ghdjfae met with fomcmifchancr^ - -poyjpn'd himwitbajiotofAlc, ffer. Farewell Kinfutaa: He uj^eto you \Vhenyonawbettetcempet-dio»tcnd. A^tfr.^ Way ^^c s Wafpe^tongu'd 6c impatient foole Art thou, tcTbceakeioto (h^ Womans mood. Tying thine eaieio no tongue buc^^ne owne T /fflt.Why look you, I am whipr ac f jgurg'd witbndif Netled^and (lung with Pifmire5,wn^tuneare OftbisvilePoIiiiclifr^N/r/tff^w^. A In Sjfh/irM time : WnALde'ye rill the place ^ A plague rpon'c, ic isiflGIoufterniire : . ^TwatjWhetethemadApDukebia Vndekept, yjflisVadcYoike,wlierel{iTflbow'dmyknee Vntonis King of &j^es, this BuBmihtol^: VVhcnyou and he nme backe from' RMenfpurgHt AV, AtBirkleyCaflle* 5-0 Wt. You fay true : Why whai a caudie dcale of cjylefTe, 7n^fawning Grey hound then did orQ^ei me, Z.uokr when his infant Fortunbcamc toagci An^gentle Htvry Virejt and kinde Ccmia : O^Vja Diuellt^e fuch Couzeners, God forgiue me, GooaVnclelenyoui^e/forlhaucdooer fy»r, NayiiTyouhauenotjCDo'tagaiBCi Wee'l ftay your lclQlrft^ Hot. Ihauedoitfinfboth. fVer. 7^n once more ra your Scottifli Prifoocra, Deliuer tnem vp w'lhouubeir raufome flraighi. And make the DomgUt iojune yourOBclg.meane For powTMin Scotland ; which for dittac RtfoM ^JAThichl Oiall fend you niineni^eadlfftt will eafily begranted you, my Lord. Y^ Sonne in Scwand being chui imp 1 f^ ihall fecreily into the bofome creep* ^f that fame noble PrelatCi well bclou'd^' '^heArchbiftup. , H». Of Y3Ace,U'cirot? fFar. Ttae,%lu^eareshard^ Hii Btocheri deatRw ^ifnt, the lord Stmfn 1 rpeakenot this in £nim«ion» fc As what I thinke might », but what I know Is ruminaced.plouul.and fet dnwne, A And onely ftayei hut to behild the face Of [hat occafion th^t niall ^eicon. ,/r«r..rimelliu^ A. Vpon my life, it wmoo wond'rous well. S^f Nor. "BeforetH^game's a-foor, thou ftilllrfft flip, \ H§t. Why.iicannoichoofebuibeaNobleftlot,'*. A And. ^C I CO i^o 2co XSC SCO Ssv ^C^tf# Caufih,farewell( No rmther go in tmt, Thciu by Ut^ fiis" ditCtft your cAurfe Whrlhimciiiipe, which v(4iJ^F^<)^'i'*'y> He Oeale^o GltMwer and !», Mortimn^ ^^c VWicrc you^and Dffi^/4/,»nffour powjei at onec, Ai I wUI radiion tt,foalt happily iDCcte, ^ To b'fi^ie our fattimct in our owne fti ong arfflcij Whi^now \yehoId at much vncertiinty. ^q AVt Fitewell good Bcother. vc l)i>il ihr^e> I trufl. Ifot. Viicle.adieu : O let thehourci be (hjwt.'So TiH fieldsjind blowei,and grones.appUud ou? fport.».vrf Ailus SccunJus, ScenaTrimal Emttr 4 Cfft/tr Wf A 4 tiuttnu m hit hmU, ^.Car. Hetgn^ho,an'tbenoifoutebytheday,IIcbe ^ug'd. Chtrles^me is ouer the new Chimney, and yet oOVhotrenotpackt. WhatOftlet? Ofi, Anon. anon. 4^ i.C th i oui they tide vp Browne on C^nm.'lvIiai.lIuCommanwealth theii Bootesj WiU [he hold out vntc^foule way i u^ Gttd. Shewll^fliHvilUIunicehathjjguot'dlier. We fteaJe as in a CaAlccockfiite : we haueuic receii ofFem* fccde.wewalkeiQUifiblei ja A. C^mm. Nay, I thif^rather^vwarcmotebeholding totheNighc,then.totMf^feed,foiyoat miking in- uifible- A 2^ C»d. Giaemethyhand. rthou (hjiU haue 1 (bate in our purpolc^ ^Mlnpatrueman. ^ ChMt, Nay, ratbei let met baue ic, » yon uc ^ falfe Theefe. ^ A C«Jt, GocToo I ^ow ill common name to all (nen. Bid the Onier bring t(u GHakng out bftbe ftable. Fate- wel\,7e muddy KoauC* H^^ Exeutt, I ^*A Scm ^ /fft /it> 2.00 iSt 3C6 5S0 tfao tfii fHftHrntcJ'cjiHr/adPm. Piimi. Cme Oielter,lheltcr. I hauc nmoued Fuljlafi [Horfe,sndK^slike»guitnlVcIact. Pm. SftSaVlofe. * 7 Aiy ycare,8r ycc rairrbewiicht nith^i^l^gaei company'. ifihrRarcallhafuenorgittu ' meinMicvicat9niakeffifeioaet)im^lebcbangd;Ucoul^^ , flotbeclRsIfiiue di^nke Medicines. f^ ?ria. You foure fliall froat iheni ifl the narro^ane^ NtA andl^will walk? lower; if tlterfeapc ftoof yout ^nk ^unter,chen they light u^vs. ^^ 'Peta, fiuthowmanyDeofihemf Gad, Someeighcort^. FaL Will they no: ftp VI? Print What.n Cgward Sir hhn Paunch Pal. Indeed^ ^A'of/#£tt«f{7i(iM/yourGrandful)ef} but yet no CowisaiHM. Prin: Wetfl Ifeane ihatto^ the proofi^l Pom, Sirra lackct^ty borfc Aands behinde the he^lg^ whrn thon nced'ft hini^thne thou fbaltfinde hinL Faic ilWi nrike himiif I fhouldbe hang'd. , w^reateouE difguirci t AVell,and ftandfa(l ' Fis/. Nowcai Prin. Ned, Pain, Hecr^ji^d by: Stand clofe. Pal, NowmyMsOei'Syhappy manbehisdolCj'&ylt eu^manton^tbulincire /2.3 Snttr- TtAueuers. SO Tra. Come Netghbdh the boy fball laadeout Hoi fa dowiicihtf hill :Wee'i walkca'foot awbiLe^aiid'eare QUI Thtenes, Stay^ Tr*. lefubleflevs,^'^) iuId^A Pat. Stiilie down vvjth them, cue tJ^viJlainithroati; Hal^*^ a whorfon CaccrpiUirs :i?acot}-red KnauCs, thry bate fi robftfoote further.' And 'iwacnotg^^oot^HcedeasRk dHMkriMturncTrue-ibah^and uHc^c thelcUogues, I tmihevetieQ Varlet thai cuct cnev^d. with a[ Tooth. Eight yards of vneUen ground, ii [fiVu^^Sc ten milck afboi with me : and the ftony^heartcdvinames I'ftovve it vtfUenough. A plague vpon^when The^s c j^f&t be rnie one to another. ^^^ Thyviaifiii.'^ /\ }l«tbrue ere/j oyoiich ; iipurne with ihcm.flceee chem, ^ SC ICO VDliew:iptaguftU|ohtYponyoiJ>il^GiuemyHorfeyoii inj^ HorfOnd be hang'd^ * •— dowqejJaythlBeEUrf Rogues : giue me' rfiii. Peace ye ^gmteC] dole CO the gtound,and Kfi i u c^ bcazcibc ifierd ol TratirUerc. 5 AT. HMe^uany tcsuers Co lift nevpigSn bemg^ douc ? lie rfoc beare mine owne fle(h fo far afoot sgsin, foj an tbe'come in thy Etchers Exchequer. What t plague me»te yeco eblc me ihui ^ ^^ l4o<^ fSTO ^ ?W«,Thou'ly*fi.thou are not colc«yhou art vncoitedj fWt tpretheegoodTrincc'//<(, "Omc are vndonq^both we and ours (or ciicr— . FitL ^^Qfi gorbrllied knaue9,3Teyou vndoiK t f4o ye Fat CHl^E^I would yourAurewerebeere. On Ba- cons.on.^^atyeluiaue£?Yongmenn\un !me, yotfare Grand luTe^,areye. VVec'liureyeifaith. x/d-'2->^ , Prince mdPoinii. Pr/V,~TheThecuer hau&bound the Truc-mco l Novb could thou and t rob tbeTnec^,aiid go nier ily to Loni don.itwouldbe arg^cntlbT a Wtekc, Laughter for t .Monethjand a good tell for ^er, ^ojntu Stan'd cIofe^E heare tbcm rommtisg.' F4rX:jineniyMancii,lci:>sniare,>ndibetiiDMn | befoEe«|a)^a4dthe Prince and Poyncsbee not two aN rand Co^Ss, there's no equity Ritring. There's no aW vatoaiirfthuPo^nesithaninawildcDutkt. - JPrw. Vouftnoney • P«i1..Villaitie», — ^9^ t/tt thg low form Olwer. Away good VeJ, Piiljl^ fweiteito deatbt^m nSrds the lease earth as he VMlfcei aloDgiacit pot (oHaughing;! Otouid pitty him, /•WiHowiheKogue-oar'ii, Sximtii -iir.-/- - '^-iiM'--^^ =_ ■>52i tea' "4* 2i» 3co^ ScteHaTertia. to tKtffialfastfitiitfnii&tg(it,anf:J:^ \ -tt. too /6D loa ■7.SV ite He coijld be contented dieloaehebeirtsoutboulfc Hi kisovne Birne better then lie lou« oilr houfes tei me fee lomo motcTh^^'fi-JM »»^tfe H-ufo:I(Jyvutoyou ag^iiic, yoJjrea (hallow cowjtdly Hindj jndyoil iyc.. What a.Iicke- braicJcUthis! I pto'te(l,i>J[ pTot Is ai good a plot i« cucr *" Kd Miur Ftieiid truewd conHant : A good Piotie, gooi/f ii^!,lJ':on. By this hand.if 1 were now lythisRafalLIcMldbraine him with hit Ladies iff. bcougbBCueanoWk cropare.iaicnot. Seir. uU'myilSM, So .„ IJ,t. rtatKoaneflijllbemyTiirone. WelLLw^ baifce him Btaight, tjf tM««,bid BuUr lead liinilar^ into the Parke. Lk. But heat jjpu."nytord. ethiiind Miirtimcr,mi Lord of rortf.and Ofm <^i»*? )i there not beftdcs, the Ditiglii I Haue 1 Mt all tncir let- llti.tomeetemeinArmcsby thaciiith Jrfthe nftt Mo- neib? and ate they not (omc oJdilS fet (Mwaid already.' What a Pagan Ralihlliyjii ncibi and ate tlicy not (omc ottjijffi fet foVwaid already! Pagan Ralihll utjiis ? ArinilidcH." Ha, you ftiall lee now ">»VX Onceiity jf Fc^ and Cold heirt.-wiUhc to the Kiiigi^d lay opciiSlI our proceedings. D,I could^ diuide'iiw fclfc, and go to buftets, for lioumg fucKa ^J tCikinia Milk with fo honoutabfc an A6^. Hang hu let tiira tell the King we ate prcpatcd. I wjll feitomiMs lanighr. ii^i^—i -v^— 2- *i . Buterhutaiy, 30 How now Kaie.I null lealK ^(oi^within thefe two hours. f.4. O my gooa LordfJ^hy are you thus alone / Fot what offence haucj tim fortnight bin A^nilh'd woman from rfty/ftrriCfbed ? ullme(fwcer Lord) what is't that takes from thee Illy llomack e,pl»tiire,and^by gnldcn fleepe ? //!■» i\te SVo Why-doftihoub^ihine'|yesviint\theeanh? And ftart fo often whco r hM fitjll alfuie? ■ Why haft thou loAihe firlh blood in ^f cheelct 1 And gtuen my Treafuies and ray tights of thee, * ^ indcUrft.iilclanrholly/ >y tlicchaueifratchi. And tieaid thee muHn^talen/F Iron VVarrciL SpeakcteatmcsofmanagetotKyhoundingSKS, Coeoutage to the field.'.' And thou had talk'd^ ^alliet,and Reiirei; rrenclics,TentSi QflPalizadoes.Frontiert.Pacapets^ QrBafiliskes,.ofCanon,Cutuetin,'%0 OTPfifonets canfonac, and of Souldius (latne,^ ^wlallthcctlrrentofahcaddyjight.^^ Xm loiut within thee hath becne fo at^Varre, Anatfj^lu^fo bellirr'd theein.thy ll?epe, That b»sot fwgite hath flood vpon thy Brow, Like bubbles In a Istc-diflutbcdStreamc ; ^f, And in thy face orange motions baue appeat!^. Suchaswefeewhcnmcn reflraine their breath On fame great.fo'daine ha(h- Ovibai potrcntsare rhefe? Some huuiebufinclTe harh n^y Lord in hand, AlfUl rauft know ic/^tfchelliueame nor, //^r.rWbat ho ; Is GitliMmi with the Packer gone i Sin HcismyLdrtl.^^oureagone. . Jo J/»f. What fav'fttliou my Lady? , Ln. Wbaysltcarliesyouaway? //«. Wl!y,myhotfe(myLoue;myhot(5,„ La- Ou^oumad-hcaded4gei. > WejijMlbathiiief fuch a dealc of Spleene, as y ouKttaftvWithi Kl footti lie knowyoaibufincfTe i/^KJ, thm Will. I-feate my Btoi ihet.'WomnMrdothHirteabadlhisTirlei and harhfent for you to line his enterDMK- Butif you go Hit. Sofarreafoot7LniaIlbe.weaty,IiQM!j, til Come.comcyoUPiraquito, anfwn mAjJigeCtI} Tnto this quettion thati IhalUskC, IuilK^tfLk.bnabe thy little finger /far^.if thou wiltnotfelWHlfiJij. H". Awa^j'Xay youttifi^^lDue.IKWlh«iioc« T cirenot for thee Karc: this ft nRWOlU .„ '\ TppQywithMaramets.andtofitc.withliMi We muft hauc bloodle Nafel.aiid crack'd (SovntS^ And pvTe them currant too. .Gods mc,myhofie. Wha^av'a inau jCficlDhn vcold'ft thoiihauc vitibiaci X/ji.-Doye^Touemc? Do yciiot indeed?, Well, donotfKh. For lince you louemcnoCi ' I will not lone my felfc. Do yoti not loue tDC-? Nay.telflnelfthoiirpEjtftinieft.orno. Hit, Came, wilt thou fee metidci! And when I am a hotfcBlcke. 1 WiUfweatej^ I loue thee infinitely. Sue hea^ you J&m, 1 mull noibaue you hcncetotth,quclUQnmc, WhethenTgo : nor tcafon whercabouri WheiKaTtauft. I muH; iffil to conclude, -^ This Eoening muft I leaufthee,gent/eK4Te. Iknow you wife.but yet no'furthei wife ^ TlienHnnrPfroerwife. CodRantvooate, BU^ec a w^an : andfor fecrecie,r , NoLadycloKt.'.FocIwillbeleeur "'• Tnmi wilcnoc vitet what thol^'ll not know, Ailfiti firtewijpl rruft thee,gentkK«e„ 'id. How'fiSatrc ? ,0 Por.Not anlnch fuither. .BotharSe yoit K«V, Whiih«L go, ihithet Ihall you go too : ^ef day wnl I fet fotf g> ro mortow you* \VilItbi^ontenty'fiuirdr*3 - . Z<. It mnftof force. 3lrS) "i- S. I< ICO £xt»»t Scena QuartaK Ritfr Priirnaitdfyiinti, frm. W° Fimt, WherflfjfthentHaff? trill. WithihrceorfMreLogeeirheaifcyniongft}, or foutefeore.Hoglhcads.'^^ hauc founded the vttic bafe Biing of humility . Sirta.T am^worn tfroiherCo a lealh of Drawers and can call thegibi theirn»9les,as TaiH.B'ttfi mAFrmcii. They,take itjtteadv vpontheit.confideivce,' ) that though I bf but Kffite of Wales, yel lam the King 100 nt 2oo ifo- 'oo of Gurtji^eitellingm^atly I am no pioud lack liic f < /?.ffi,but aCotlnthian J lad of mettle.-a goffdboyi ai when X%(n King ot HngUrn 1 fliall commanaal toe go< „ , , Laddci in Eafl-chcapc. iheyc«ITdtinkingdfeepe|.d ^«,Haih:S>ir(crbroud>cththiDyuu[wnciui£i.ibcijj THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 289 into "Tom, Dick and Francis;" and the travelers are called "Bacons" by Falstaff as he robs them; and St. Nicholas is deprived of his real characteristics and made the patron saint of thieves, which he was not — so as to get the word Nicholas into the text twice. And when to all these ejctraordinary facts we add the proofs, here given, that these unusual words hold a direct arithmetical relation to the three pages on which they occur, and to the framing of the play into scenes and fragments of scenes, caused by the stage directions, we present an array of proofs that there is a cipher in this play, which cannot be controverted even by the wildest or most devout wor- shippers of the fetish of Stratford. If the reader will number the words from the top of col. I, p. 53 downward, he will find that the 371st word is the word "Bacon." The word "Bacon" occurs byt four times in all the Shakespeare Plays, and in three of these instances it is found on the two consecutive pages, 53 and 54, to which I have referred. To make the word "Bacon" the 371st word on that column, eight different adjustments of the text were required. The two words "In faith" had to be printed as one word (the igtn on the column) ; the word "he" had to be left out of the sentence, "Poor fellow, (he) never joyed," etc. Take these eight self-evident manuipulation of the text into consideration and there is, by "the doctrine of probabiHties," not one chance out of billions that the word Bacon would by accident, corres- pond precisely with the number of the page (53) multi- plied by the number of italic words (7) on the first column of that page. Now take again that cipher number 371, and instead of commencing to count at the top of col. i, page 53, let us 19 290 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. begin at the top of the first column of the next page, 54. At the top of that page there is a subdivision contain- ing 17 words. Let us count through this subdivision, and we have 354 words left (371 — 17=354) ; now carry this to the beginning of the next scene {Scaciia Tertia of the Folio) , at the end of same page, and carry it through the 24 words of the fragment beginning that scene, on that column, and then forward to the next column, not to the top of the column, but to the top of the fragment of the same caused by the stage direction "Enter his Lady ;" count down to the bottom of the column and advance up the next column and the number^ 354 brings us to the word "Francis," the 447th word on column two of page 55. This gives us the two words "Francis Bacon," each is the 371st word, alternately going up and down the column — "Francis" being counted up the column, and "Bacon" being counted down the column. "Bacon" comes from the beginning of scene one of Act II, and "Francis" from the beginning of scene three of Act II; and each is the 371st word. Consider these figures : 371- -189 (up) ^182 255— ( 54- -2) I 371- -269 (down) =102 447— (5 5- -2) Francis 371- -189 (up) =182 371— ( 53- -I) Bacon 371- —269 (down) =102 337— ( 54- -I) Son 371- -189 (up) =182 298- ( 53- -2) of 371- -269 (down) ^102 45— (54- -2) Sir 371- -189 (up) =182 2I4— (53- -2) Nicholas 371- —269 (down) =102 159— (54- -2) Bacon But for the rest of the article showing how the words Francis — Bacon — Sir — Nicholas — Bacon's — son all come THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 291 out ill response to the numbers 371 and 648, I refer the curious reader to the pages of the December, 1890, num- br of the North- American Reviezv. It is not necessary to repeat them here. I have shown that if we take that root number, 371, and count down col. i, of page 53, it brings us to the word "Bacon." But the first column of the next page, 54, has twelve italic words on it, just as the first column of page 53 has seven italic words. And just as 53x7 gives us the root-number, 371 ; so 54x12 gives us another root- number, 648 Now if we count down i, 53, and it gives us, as the 371st word, "Bacon," let us keep oi;i counting, until we have counted 648 words, and the 648th word is the 189th word, 2, 53, which is "Nicholas." This is certainly remarkable; 371 gives us "Bacon," and 648, counting in precisely the same way, gives us the first name of Francis Bacon's father^ — "Nicholas." In the particular cipher derived from page 74, given in the foregoing pages, we took no account of the bracketed and hyphenated words — omitting to count the bracketed words and counting the hyphenated words as one each. In the cipher derived from, page 75 multiplied by 12 (the number of italic words on col. i, p. 74) ^=900, the bracket- ed and hyphenated words are used, as we showed on page 141 ante. And in the cipher we are now engaged on there are, as a rule, few hyphenated words and still fewer bracketed words, but they are all used. We find that 648 words from the top of column one, page 53, gave us "Nicholas." Let us proceed to the top of the next page, 54; carry 648 through column one (455 words), and we have 193 left; but there are five hyphen- ated words on that column, i, 54; deduct 5 and we have 292 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. i88 left; carry this up the next column (2,54) from the 384th, or bottom word, and it brings us to the 197th word, but as we have passed over the 222d word, (2, 54) ; "true-men," if we count these as two words, then the 188th word brings us to the 198th word,, which is "Ba- cons." And so we have "Nicholas" (down) "Bacons" (up). "Nicholas" from the top of i, 53, and "Bacons" from the top of 1,54!! "Bacons" is a forced and unnatural word. Falstaf' might reasonably have called the travelers "pigs," or "hogs;" but he would scarcely have designated them by the name of a piece of smoked meat! Now as the word "Nicholas" came from i, 53, and went down the column, the next word "son" must also start from page 53, and go down the column. There is a break on i, 54, caused by the stage direction: "They whistle," at the 235th word. Deduct 235 from 648 and we have 413 left. Carry this to 2, 53, and deduct the first fragment there 76, and we have 337 left; and the 337th word, on 1,54, is "sonne." And so we have "Nicholas Bacon's sonne." Let us now take 648 — 52 (i, 53) ^596; carry this through 2, 54, above the ist word of beginning of scene three (2, 54), =359 words +3 hyphenated words, =362; 596 — 362=^234; and 234 carried up 2, 53, brings us to the 246th word : — "Sir." And so we have: up 648—53, .end scene 2, (2, 54) =246, (2,53) "Sir" down 648— 459, 1,53 beg. sc. i, Act 2, =189, (2, 53) "Nicholas" THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 293 up 648—455, 1,54 beg. sc. 2, Act 2, (2, 54) "Bacon's" down 648—235=413—76 (2, 53) =337. (i>54) "some." If on the other hand we again take 648, and carry it through cokimn one of page 55, containing, +5 hyphenat- ed words, 585 words. Deduct this from 648 and we have 63 left. Carry this down from the beginning of scene four (2, 55), counting, in one hyphenated word, "logger- heads," as two words, and the 63d word is : — "Francis." Take again 648; add to it the fragment of 17 words at the top of I, 54, and we have 667; carry this through col. 2, of p. 53 (479 words), and we have 188 left; carry this "/" I' 53 (458) and it brings us to the 371st word "Bacon." This is the same word "Bacon" we ireached by going down the column. And so it responds to 371 going down the column, and to 64S going up the column. And so "we have down 648, I, 55, "Francis" up 648+17, 2, 54, "Bacon" Observe the similarity of this cipher with that growing out of page 74. In each the words move alternately up and down the columns. In each the fragments of the text are alternately added to and subtracted from the root- number. Thus 371 is modified by adding to it the number of words, 52, found in the first subdivision of scene one of act two, page 53 of "Histories." That is to say between the word "Heigh-ho" (190th word) 1,53, which begins that scene, to the break caused by the stage direction, 294 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. "Enter another carrier," there are just 52 words ; and here I would call the reader's attention to the fact that there is no necessity for that stage direction, except that which arises froin the exigencies of the cipher. The two carriers could just as well have entered together, in the beginning of the scene. In fact, the first carrier has to converse with an "ostler," of whose entry there is no rec- ord, and who disappears from the scene after the appear- ance of the second carrier. Rut if we take that root number, 371, and deduct and add that number, 52, we have two root, numbers which alternately move up and down the next column. Thus : 371—52= 319. 371+52= 423. The reader will observe the ingenuity of the cipher so constructed — the consecutive words of the cipher story, are not only separated by the fact that one goes up and the other down the column, but they are further divided by the difference between 52+52 or 104 (423 — 319= T04). But lest even this should not be safeguard enough, the cryptogramist does not make 319 and 423 move al- ternately up and down the column, with the two con- secutive words standing as 319 and 423, counting from top and bottom, but he still farther conceals his work by making the numbers start from different breaks in the column, caused by the stage directions. Let me give an example : Suppose the cipher story to have exhausted the possi- bilities of column one of page 53, and to have passed for- ward to the next column, column two of page 52. THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 295 Let US take again those two numbers, 371 — 52=319 and 371+52=423 and apply them to that column (2, 52). If we count down the spoken words of the column, we will find that the 319th word is the word "deliver." Now take the alternate number, 423, and commence to count from and including that word "Heigh-ho," the first word of scene one, Act 2, p. 53 (190), and counting upwards, and then going up the preceding column (2, 52), and we find that the 423d word is the word "unto." But there are on that page three hyphenated words, so placed that we have to pass over two of them to reach the words "deliver unto." I counted them, ( "waspe-tongued" and "grey- hound") in going down the column, to reach the word "deliver," and "a-foot" and "grey-hound," going up the column to reach "unto," as one word each ; but suppose we count them as two words each, then the 319th word is the word "Scottish" and the 423a word is the word "king." Thus we have two sequences — "deliver unto" and "Scottish king." By the law of probabilities there is only one chance out of twenty billions that these four words should each be the 371st word, and cohere so ex- actly as they do. I said above, that to obtain the 423d words, going up ' the column, to wit : "unto" and "king," we should com- mence to count from the 190th word, "Heigh-ho," of column one, page 53. . I did this to make the statement of the rule simpler. The fact is that 190 is used as a modi- fier, and as I have shown, is not only deducted from but added to the root-number. Deducted from 423 it gave us 233, and added to 423 it gives us 613 (423+190=613) ; while the same modifier, 190, added to the alternate num- ber gives us 319+190=509; and subtracted from it gives 296 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. US : 129. Bearing these figures in mind, let us experi- ment a little farther. The root-number, 371 minus 52, the first paragraph of scene one, leaves us 319. Go down that first column of page 53 and the 319th word (counting "Heigh-ho" as one word) is the word "king." Take now the -alternate num- ber, 423 (371+52^=423), and deduct the modifier, 190, and we have 233 left ; now as the last word went down the col- umn, let us carry this up the same column, and, counting the six hyphenated words separately, as one word each, it brings the word "the" — "the king." But as we obtained 319 by deducting the 52 from 371, let us deduct it once more ; and we have 267 left, (371 — 52 =319 — 52=267). We have used the modifier, 190, the number of words from the top of scene two (col. i, p. 53), inclusive, upwards to top of column ; but from the end of scene one, on same column, downwards, to the bottom of the column, there are 269 words, plus four hyphenated words, or 273 in all. We will find these alternate num- bers, 190 and 269 (+/] — 273) play a very important part in working out this part of the Cipher story. Let us now add 269 to 267 (just as to obtain the last word we deduct- ed 190 from 423) and we have 536 (319-52^267-1-269= 536) ; now we carry this number through the same col- umn one, of page 53, containing 458 words, the hyphenat- ed words being counted as one word each and we have, as a remainder, 78 (536-458=78) ; as the last word, "the," was obtained by going up the column, we must car- ry this word down the same column, and we do so and find that the 78th word is the word "see." And so by a coherent rule, growing out of and applied strictly to the THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 297 same column (i of 53) we have the words "see the king," thus : down 371 — 52=319 — 52=267 +269=536—458=78 (I, 53) "see" up 371+52=423—190=233 ; 458— 233=225— 6+3h= 229 (I, 53) "the" down 371—52=319 (i, 53) "kmg" Observe how strictly the rule works. The first para- graph, 52 words, is alternately deducted from and added to the root-number 371 ; the count moves alternately up and down the column and the first word "see" is obtained by counting dozvnzvards from the end of scene one, and the next word "the" is obtained by counting upwards from the beginning of scene two, and the third word "king" is obtained by counting dowmvards from the top of the column ! But it will be noted that when we carried 233 (423 — 190=233) up column one, we counted in all the six hyphenated words as one word each. If we had not done this the 233d word up the column would have been the word "fezv." "Few" what ? Let us see : We obtained "fezn" by deducting 190 from 423 and going up the column. We must get the next word by adding the alternate number, 269, to the alternate of 423, that is 319 (37T plus 52=423; 371 minus 52^319, and going down the column). We have 3 I9f 269=588. Now let us begin at the top of the next preceding column (2 of 52) and we find there is on that column 461 words, plus 3 hyphenated \vords, or 464 in all, and carrying 298 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 588 through that column we have 124 left (588—464;^ 124), and the 124th word is "days"="few days." When we carried 319 down column one of page 53, we came, I showed to the word "king," counting the com- pound word "Heigh-ho" as one word ; but if we counted that as two words the 319th word is the word "a." And so we have again "a fciv days," thus : down 371 — 52=319 — I hyphen- ated word=3 1 8 (1,53) "a" up 371,1-52=423—190=233; 458—233=225-1-1=226 ^(1,53) "few" down 371 — 52=3 i9f 269=588 —464, Col. I, 52=124 (i, 53) "days" When we obtained the word "sec" {"see the king"), "see" the 78th word, it will be remembered that we first deducted 52 from 319 (319 — 52^267) ; and then added 269 to the remainder (2671-269=536), and carried it through column one p. 53, and the remainder 78, gave us the word "see." But it may be asked, why was not the 269 added to the 319 before we deducted the 52? Let us try that. If we add 269 to 319 we have 588 — the same number which, as we have just seen when carried through cohimn 2 of page 52 gave us the word "days." Let us carry it through the column we have been working on, I of 53, containing 458 words ; 458 from 588 leaves 130, and this carried down the same column gives us the word "he," the abbreviated form of the word "lord," — "Glendower and loe Mortimer;" it is printed "he" be- and because as "he" it becomes, in another part of the and because as "he" it becomes, in another part of the THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 299 cipher story, the last syllable of the name of Marlow (More-loe). What does the word "lord" have to do with this sentence we are working out? Remember it grew out of 371 minus 52, and it went down the column — the next word must grow out of 371 plus 52 and must go up the column. We saw that "see" was obtained by deducting 52 from 319; let us now add 52 to 423, the alternate number; we have 475. If we turn to the next column, 2 of 53 (for we cannot keep forever on the same column — we soon exhaust its possibilities), we will see that it is divided into two parts by the stage direction, "Enter Chamber- laine." From the end of the first fragment to the bot- tom of the column there are 403 words, not counting in the bracketed words and counting the double words as one word each ; now deduct 403 from 475 and we have 72 left; carry 72 up the same column, one of p. 53, and it brings us to the word "my" — "my lord.'' And so we have : down 371 52—319 52—267 +269—536—458 78 (I, 53) "see" up 37n-52_423+52_475 403 72 ; 458—72 386+ 1—387 (i> 53) "my" down 371—52 — 319+269 — 588 —458—130 (i> 53) "lord" up 371+52—423 190—233 ; 458—233=225+1^226 +3h=229 "the" down 371 52 319 (I. 53) "king" 300 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. We see this form of expression in 2d Henry VI. V. I, "happiness to my lord the king;" and in Titus Audron., II, 4. "where is my lord, the king?" Let us take the same 423 and again add 190 and we have 613 ; now commence at the bottom of the next column and carry count upwards, counting the ten hy- phenated or double words as two words each, and go up to the preceding column and the 613th word is the word "ivill," the 336th word of column one, page 53. And here I would call attention to the minute ac- curacy of the work. The reader will note that the last word of col. I, 53, is "gelding," the "gel" being at the bot- tom of col. I, and the "ding" at the top of the next col- umn. Now neither "gel" nor "ding" is a word, and hence neither is counted where the contents of either column act as a modifier, thus there are 458 words, (less the hyphens,) on col. i, p. 53, and 479 on col. 2, p. 53. But when the count progresses from one column to the other then the "gel" is united to the "ding" and becomes a word :- "gelding." The word "Nicholas" is the 189th word on 2, 53, and there are 458 words on i, 53, and these made 647, but as we have proceeded through col. i, and down col. 2, we have necessarily joined "gel" and "ding."' together, and that makes one word, gelding, and thus "Nicholas" becomes the 648th word. And in the same way I would note that the clue-word is only counted as one of the words of a column where it is one of the spoken words of the text, not where it is a stage direction or the name of one of the characters. Thus "and" at the bottom of 2, 52, is counted, but "Exeunt" and "scena" at the close of 2, 53, are not counted. It is upon these delicate dis- THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 301 criminations, only discovered by great labor, that the cor- rect working of the cipher depends. Now let us return to 319, which we found gave us "king" on the first: column of 53 and "deliver" and "Scottish" on the preceding column (2, 52). We have been modifying the count by adding and subtracting 190 and 269, the numbers above and below the break in the text, between acts one and two, i, 53. But there are other modifiers. If the reader will look at the same col- umn (one of page 53), he will find that it is made up of three subdivisions— the first extends fpom ,the top of the column to the words "Actus Secundus Scena Prima;" the second extends from that point to the stage direction : "Enter Gads-hill;" and the third from that point to the bottom of the column. Between the first word of the last subdivision and the close of the column there are just twenty words. Now this number, 20, becomes a third modifier, just as I showed in the preceding pages— the several subdivisions of col. 2, p. 74 were used— the 29 there being the equivalent of the 20 here. If we deduct 20 from 319 we have 299 left; carry this down the preceding column and it brings us to the word "you." Now let us go up a step farther. We saw that 319+ 269=588 carried through 2, 52, and down i, 52, gave us the worA"days." Now let us take the alternate number, 423; add the alternate modifier, 190 (423+190=613), and carry it through the same 2, 52, and up i, 52, countig the double words on 2, 52, as oneVord each, but counting the double words on i, 52, as two each, and the 613th word is the word "more." And here we come, to a modifier which will appear 302 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. all through this part of the cipher work. There are 52 words between "Plcigh-ho" and the end of the subdivi- sion. But if we divide the hyphenated word into two words, "Heigh ho," then between the first word "heigh" and tlie end of the subdivision there are 53 words. And consequently we shall find that we have not only 371+ 52-=423, but37i+53==424; and we also have 371-52= 319, and 371-53=318. We saw that 37n-52=:423-i9o=233, and that this car- ried up col. 1, p. 53, gave us "few" and "the." Let us now take 371+53=42^, and deduct 190, and we have 234 left, and this caried up the same column, in the same way, gives us "a" and "in." Let us put these results together and we have : — +up37 1+53=424— 190=234 ; 458—234=224+1=225 ; 225+3h.=228 (i, 53) "in" —down 371 minus S3=3i8 (i, 53) "a" +up 37i,f 52=423— i9o==233 ; 458—233=225+1=226 ; 226+3h.=229 (I, 53) "few" — down 371 — 52=319+269= 588—464=124 (I, 52) "days" +up 371+52=423+190=613 —461 (2, 52) =152; 472 — i52=320fi+5h.=326 (i, 52) "more- —down 371—52=319—20=299 (2, 52) "you" +up 37i,f52=423+i9o=6i3 —480, (2, 53)=i33— ioh.=i23; 458—123=335 +1=336 (1, 53) "wiir THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 303 —down 371—52=319—52=267 +269=536—458=78; 78+20=98 (I, 53) "he" +up 37i+53=424f 52=476; 476 — 403 (2 section 2, 53) =73 ; 458—73=385+1=386 ( I, 53) "in" —down 371-52=319—52= 267—52=215+269=484 ; 484—458=26—20=6 (i, 53) "Scotland" +up 371+52=424—269(1, 53) =153; 479— 1 53=327+1 h. =328 (2, 53) "and" —down 371—52=319—52= 267+269=536—458=78 (I, 53) "see" +up 371+52=423+52=475 —403=72:458—72=387 (1,53) "my" — down 371 — 52=319+269^ 588—458=130 (I, 53) "lord" +up • 371+52=423—190= 233 ; 458—233=225+1= 226+3h.=229 (1.53) "the" —down 371— 52=319 (i>53) "king;' The reader may ask: — "What is all this about? Who is this Scottish king?" In answer we refer to the historical events of the time. This play of 1st Henry IV. was first printed in 1598. In that year Elizabeth was sixty-five years old, and had reigned forty years. Her early death was naturally anticipated by both the great factions of the state : — the followers of Essex and Cecil (she died four years thereafter). Bacon belonged to the Essex party, notwith- yo4 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. Standing the fact that Cecil, Lord Burleigh, was his un- cle, and Robert Cecil was his cousin ; but it is well known that these men, who possessed the ear of the Queen, and stood at the head of the government, systematically de- pressed, belittled and antagonized Francis Bacon. Two years after the date of the publication of this play, containing this cipher story, Essex entered upon teasonable practices which culminated in an attempt to excite a rebellion and sieze upon and possibly murder the Queen. He expiated his crime under the headsman's axe. But behind all these conspiracies, was the great question : — which side would James of Scotland support when he came to the English throne? And both sides were busy sending messengers and letters to Scotland to ingratiate themselves with the future dispenser of place and power. As long as Elizabeth lived the Cecil faction was all-powerful, but the long-headed Burleigh was taking steps for the day of change, and he did so quite effectually ; for when James came to the English crown, his son, then made Earl of Salisbury, continued to hold almost absolute power till the end of his life. But, at the date of the cipher story, Essex and the Bacons were hard at work striving to supplant the Cecils in the confidence of King James, and establish them- selves as his guides and councilors. We read (see "Spedding Letters and Life of Bacon," Vol. II, p. i68), that in 1599 Lord Montjoy was sent as a messenger from Essex to the king of Scotland: "In the summer of 1599, he (Essex) had dispatched a messenger secretly to Scotland, with some communication on. the forbidden object of the succession. The terms THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 305 arc not known, but the general purport was to satisfy the King that Essex would support his claim to succeed to the crown upon Elizabeth's death; and to suggest some course of proceeding which might lead to an acknowledg- ment of that claim during her life." Sir Charles Danvers said, in his confession, at the time of his trial for treason, as one of Essex' abettors in his rebellion : "He" (Lord Montjoy) "entered into it the rather at that time to serve my Lord of Essex, who by loss of hef Majesty, was like to run a dangerous fortune, unless he took a course to strengthen himself by that means." Spedding says: "The answer to these questions must surely be, that the negotiation was undertaken not only in the interest of Essex, but in concert with him; and that the object was to arrange some joint action, between the King of Scots and the English army in Ireland, for the purpose of com- pelling the Queen to assent to a formel declaration of his right to succeed her on the throne of England." > And we further find (ibid, p. 343) that in the examin- ation of Henry Cufife, who suffered death for treason with Essex, being then a prisoner, he testified (March 2d, 1600) in relation to the correspondence between Es- sex and the Scottish king: "He confesseth that Norton, the bookseller, carried the Earl of Essex' letter to the Scottish king, which Norton received at the hands of the Lord Willoughby at Bar- wick, and that one part of the letter was to persuade the cotning up of the Earl of Mar to London, by the first 30 306 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAVS. of Februar)'. And that the Earl of Essex had, under his own hand, written instructions to the Earl of Mar, which the Earl of Essex burnt. "And this examinate was acquainted that the King of Scots should return his answer in disguised words of three books, which the king did accordingly. And that was it which the Earl carried about him in a black purse. He hath often heard that Anthony Bacon {conveyed divers letters from the Earl to the King of Scots) was an agent betzveen the Earl and the King of Scotland and was so accounted." We read in a foot note by Spedding, that the words in brackets "conveyed divers letters from the Earl to the King of Scots," were first written in Cuff e's, confession and then stricken out! It would seem as if some power- ful agency was at work to save Francis Bacon and his brother Anthony from prosecution, for these old offences then three years past. And right here, in the play, on the very pages I am working upon, we find references to that cipher in a book or books, probably consisting of the marking of certain words held together by an arithmetical system, under- stood alike by Essex and the King. We find these passages : "Peace cousin, say no more. And now / will unclaspe a secret book, And to your quick conceyving discontents, I'll read you matter, deep and dangerous. As full of peril and adventurous spirit, As to o'erwalk a current roaring loud On the unstedfast footing of a Speare." THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 307 "He apprehends a world of figures here. But not the Jorm of what he should attend." That word "Speare" is the last syllable of the name of the play-actor — here described as that fat gorbellied knave, Jack-speare." 53x7=371= 172— (52— i) "thaf 53^7=37 i= 2^- (54— I) "fat" 53x7=371= 181— (54— 2) "gorbellied" 53x7=371= 135— (54— I) "rascal" 53x7=37 1= 477— (55—2) "Jack-" 53x7=371= 292— (52— I ) "Speare" But we have given enough to show, that there were treasonable or suspicious communications passing be- tween the Essex party, to which Bacon belonged, in 1597, and King James of Scotland; and as the ist part of Henry IV., in which this portion of the Cipher narrative appears, was published in 1598, it is probable that the description given in the cipher, of "his brother" going to Scotland is one of those very expeditions to which Cuflfe referred in his confession. When the whole cipher narrative is worked out we shall learn why Francis and Anthony Bacon were not sent to the block with Essex ; and why it was that Essex, who, in the presence of death, was ready to sacrifice all his former friends and co-conspirators, did not attack Francis Bacon or his brother. I can imagine the Cecils, father and son, sparing their relatives, for the honor of the family, but doing it under such circumstances of humiliation as to render life a bitter and terribly dis- 308 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. graceful thing. It may be that we have the reflex of their mental condition in Tinion of Athens and The Anatomy of Melancholy. "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, I all alone beweep ni)' outcast state, And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries. And look upon myself and curse my fate." —Sonnet XXIX. "What potions have I drunk of Siren tears, Distilled from limbecs foul as hell within ; Applying fears to hopes and hopes to fears, Still losing when I saw myself to win." — Sonnet CXIX. I have deemed these words of explanation necessary before proceeding farther with this part of the Cipher story. We have seen that the same numbers which produced the foregoing sentence : "in a fczv days more you will see my lord the King,'' also produced on the preceding column the words "deliver unto" and "Scottish king.' Let us see what it was that was to be delivered unto the Scottish king. We take first the alternate root-number, 319 (371 — 52 =319). We saw that we obtained the word "you" in the foregoing sentence, by deducting from 319 the modi- fier 20, leaving 299, and that the 299th word on the preceding column was the word "yon." If the reader will turn to the succeeding column (2,53), the 299th word is "these." This is obtained by going dozvn the column. Let us take the alternate root-number 423 (371+52=423), and • THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 309 carry it through the first subdivision of that same second column of p. 53, which contains 76 words, and up the preceding column, counting the double words as one word each, and we find that it brings us to the word "letters" — "these letters." 371 — 52=319 — 20=299, down (2, 53) "these" 371+52=423—76=347 ; 458—347 r=iii+i=ii2 (Ij53) "letters" How are the sentences connected together? Let us see. Remember the messenger is going upon a perilous journey to Scotland, in an age before stage-coaches or railroad cars. We have seen that the alternating numbers, 319 and 423, told the story at this place, and that they were modified and the resulting words scattered far apart, so as to bewilder any one who attempted to work out the cipher, by adding and deducting certain modifiers, especi- ally 190, 269 (269+4=^273), 20, 76 (76+2=78), 403, etc. Let us proceed. ' The number 319 so far has always gone down the columns; its alternate, 423, up the columns — 319 minus 269 leaves 50; the 50th word on col. 2, p. 52, is "and;" or deducting 4 more for the double words in 269 (189 end of Act i to bottom of col. i, 53), we have left 46, which, on 2, 52, is "when." Let us take the alternate, 423, and deduct the same mo- difier, 269, from it; we have left 154; or deducting the 4 extra hyphenated words in 269, 150; let us carry this number, 150, up that same column (2, 52), and it brings us to the word "then." And so we have, alternating "and then when." 310 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. We reach now another modifier. We have seen that we have used the modifiers on the ist and 2d columns of page S3; we proceed forward to the next column, ist of 54. At the top of this column there is a break in the text caused by the stage direction, "Enter Falstaff." The first word of the next subdivision is "Poines ;" it is the 1 8th word. We will see now that 18 becomes with 20, 269, 190, etc., one of the modifiers of the Cipher ; we add and subtract it as we did the others. We saw that 423 — 190^233 carried up the 2d column of p. 52 yielded "unto" and "king;" if we deduct 18 from 233 we have 215 left and this taken up the same column gives us the word "you/' the 247th word on the column. We recur to the number 319; deducting one from 371 for the compound word "heigh-ho," as already ex- plained, leaves us 318; add to this the modifier 190 and we have 508; if we carry this through column 2 of page 52, counting the double words as two words each, we have left 47, thus: 371 — 53^318+190 — 464 (461+3 hy) =47; and 47 carried down the same column yields the word "Und." We return to 423. We deduct 269 and have 154 left; we modify this by deducting 20; and we have 134 left; we carry this up the same column (2, 52), and it brings us to the word "the." Then come the words "Scottish king" already given; and the words "deliver unto." Let us recur to the alternate number 319; add 190^ 509 ; carry it through col. 2, p. 52, as before, counting the double words as two words each, and we have 45 left (371— 52=3i9fi90==509— 464=45), and the 45th word is "him." THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 311 Let us take 424; carry it through the ist and 2d sub- divisions of I, 54, 235 words, plus 3 double words=238, and we have left 186; take this to the end of scene 2d (2, 54) and carry it up from 359 and it brings us to the word "both." down 371—52=319—269=50, (2, 52) up 371+53=423—269=312, (2, 52) down 371 — 52^319 — 269 — 4 h.= 46, (2, 52) up 371+52=423—190—18= 247. down 371 — 52=319 — I h.^3i8+ 190=508—464=44, up 371+52=423—269—20^ 328, down 371—52=319—2 h.=3i7, up 371+52=423—190+2 h.= 231, up 2, 52= down 371— 52^319, up 371+52=423—190=229, down 371—52=319+190=509, 45 up 371+53=424. down 371 — 52=319^20=299, up 371+52=423—76=347; 458 —347=112, (1,53) "and" "then" 'when" (2, 52) you (2,52) "find" (2,52) "the" (2, 52) "Scottish" (2,52) "king" (2, 52) "deliver" (2, 52) "unto" (2,52) "him" (2, 54) "both" (2,53) "these" 'letters.' And here is a reference to "York Place," in London, where PVancis Bacon was born. He describes how that "fawning grey-hound," his cousin, Robert Cecil, and that "subtle devil," his uncle Burleigh, flattered him at York Place, during his father's life-time: "Why, what a candy deal of courtesy This fawning grey-hound then did proffer me." 312 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. Take 371, deduct 52=319; deduct 97 (the last modi- fier, I, 53, 20+77, 2, 53) and we have 222, and 222, 2, 52, is "Yorke." , Take 371, add 52^423; from 242, (2d. sec. i, 53), to 76, (2, 53) there are 293 words; add 293 to 423 and we have 716; carry this through i, 53, 458 words; and we have 258 left; and 258 carried up 2, 52, the same which gave us "Yorke" brings us to the 204th word, "Place." And 371 plus 53=14.24 — 189=235, and this carried up 2, 52 gives us, "my;" and 371 minus 53^318, and this, less the same 97, (which gave us "Yorke,") brings us to the 22 1st word, "uncle" — "my uncle" — Burleigh. And 371 — 269^102 (i, 53) =:"cousin." And he describes him as "a most villainous fellow, zvho would he glad to see the whole house of Sir Nicholas Bacon hanged by the neck, by the common hangman." 371+189=560—269=291 ; 479 (2, 53) —291=188+1=189= "Nicholas" 2,71 — 189=182; i82f 189=371 (i, 53) ' "Bacon" Let us turn to another example of the cipher. All students of the Shakespeare Plays will remember that the name of "Sir John Oldcastle" was mixed up, strangely enougb, with that of Sir John Falstafife. The real Sir John Oldcastle of history was Lord Cobham, "one of the most strenuous supporters of the reformation of Wickliffe." His descendants, the Cobhams of Elizabeth's time, were enemies of Francis Bacon. In the old play, "The Famous Victories of Henry V.," we find the char- acter of Sir John Oldcastle; and there was an old play, printed in 1600, which bore the name of "Sir John Old- castle." It has been argued that the descendants of Lord THD CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 313 Cobham complained to Queen Elizabeth of the insult thrown upon their distinguished ancestor, by represent- ing him as a gross, fat rogue, a liar, a coward and a thief ; and that the Queen compelled the change of the name of the character from Sir John Oldcastle to Sir John Fal- staff. This is confirmed by the fact already alluded to, that the author of the epilogue to the second part of Henry VI., seemed obliged to make an excuse or apology, and does so in these words : "For anything I know, Fal- staff shall die of a sweat, unless already he is killed with your hard opinions ; for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man." If now we find the name "Sir John Oldcastle" coming out of the text, by regular rule, where nothing of the sort appears on the surface, even the most incredulous may fairly conclude that there is a cipher in this play. Now I have shown that a part of the Cipher narrative was produced by the alternations of 52 from the first subdivision of Act 2d, scene ist,» added to or subtracted from the root-number, 371 (53x7^371; 371 — 52=319; 371+52=423), and carried alternately up and down the same column. If we take 371 — 52=319, and carry it to the top of the second subdivision of column 2, p. 53, the 77th word ("what"), we find that it brings us to the 396th word (319+77:^396), which is "Castle."- I state it thus to make it plainer to the reader, but the same result is obtained if we simply say we will modify 319 by adding 77 (3^9+77^.396); ju.st as we modified it by adding 269, T90, etc. Let us now take the alternate number 423 (371+52== 423), adding in x for the extra word in the 52, making it 314. THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. in all 4:34; ^iid count upwards from the end of scene 3, Act I, on column i, p. 53, and we find 189 words, which taken from 424 leaves 235 ; and this carried up the next column (2, 53), the same on which we found the word "Castle," brings us to the word "old," the 245th word on the column ; which together gives us "Old-castle." Now then we take 319, the alternate number again, and modify it, as we did in previous instances, by deduct- ing again 52 (371 — 52^319 — 52=267), and again de- duct 20, the last subdivision of col. i, p. 53, and we have the 247th word "John" (371 — 52=319 — 52=267 — 20= 247)- Let us return to the alternate number 423 ; and again begin at the same spot, the 189th word, end of sc. 3, Act I, col. I, 53, go upwards and then up the next column, just as we did to obtain the word "old," and we find that the remainder, 234 (371+52=423, minus 189^=234) brings us to the word "Sir" — ^making altogether: "Sir John Oldcastle," thus : +up 371+52=^23—189=234, up 2, 40, 2, 53 (2, 53) "Sir" —down 371—52^319—52=267 —20=247, (2, 53) "John" +up 371+52=423+1 h. (52) =424-189=235, up 2, 45 (2, 53) "old" —down 371—52=319+77=396, (2, 53) "castle" Observe the exquisite cunning of this work — the words' Sir — John — old all come together in a bunch, but arrang- ed in a dififerent order, as "old — sir — John," being the 245th, 246th and 247th words. Can any one in the pres- THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 315 ence of such ati' example doubt the reality of the cipher? But we go on; We saw that 319+77 gave us the 396th word "castle.'" But we failed to count in the 23 bracketed and hypheti- ated words on that column, over which we passed to reach' the 396th word. If we count in these words then the 396th word is the 373d word (396-^23=373) which is "their." But we saw that the word "old" of "Oldcastle" was ob- tained by counting 235 words up that column (2, 53) (424 — 189=235) ; let us now carry that same number, 235, up the preceding column (i, 53), and it brings us to the word "put." "Put their" — what? Now take that -same number 371 — 52=423, deduct 189 and we 'have 234 left, which yielded us "Sir " now carry it through the words in the first subdivision of the next column (i, 54), seven- teen in number, and we have 217 left; carry this up the next column (2, 54), from the end of the scene, and we reach the word "legs." "Put the'vr legs" — where ? If we take that same modified root-number, 396 (319+ 77=396), which gave us "castle" and "their" and which we shall see, as we proceed, will give us many other words, and carry it to that same column of page 54, by going up, which we obtained "legs" and carry it through' that column, counting the double words as two words each, and we will find that the 396th word is the tenth word on the next column (i, 55), the word "in." The student will observe that the clue-word "He," at the bot- tom of 2, 54, is repeated at the top of the next column. In such a case, as I have already explained, we count it but once. Let us now take the alternate number, 234, which pro- •^16 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYg. duced "Sir," and plus the one extra hyphenated word in the 52, gave us "old," "put," "legs," and carry it up that same second column of page 54, counting the two hyphen- ated words as two words each, and the 234th word is the iS3d word on the column, "the." We rfeturn now to 396 (319+77=396), but we deduct the modifier 18 (top i, 54), and we have 378 left (the 378th word is "out") ; but to reach that 378th word we pass over nine compound or double words; if we count these two words each, then the 378th word on the column, is the 369th word (378 — 9=369)^ "boots" — "put their legs in the hoots." What are the "boots?" We turn to Webster's Dic- tionary, and, under the word "boot," we read : "2. An instrument made of iron, formerly used to torture criminals, particularly in Scotland." And then follows this quotation : "So he was put to the torture, which in Scotland they call the boots; for they put a pair of iron boots close on the legs, and drive wedges between them and the leg." This method of torture was very common in Europe at that time — it was sometimes called "the Spanish boot;" it was used in France and in England. In extreme cases the leg and foot were reduced to a jelly. The use of this mode of torture was not abolished in England until the reign of Queen Anne. We have just seen that 319, (371 — 52=319), ^^77, (2, 53), =396; and 396 minus the modifier 18, (top T, 54) gave us 378; and the 378th word (2, 53) is "out." Now take the alternate number, 423, (37iif52=423), THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PI.AYS. 317 and carry it up from the bottom of 2, 53, and it brings us to the 57th word, which is "zvarrants" : — "a warrant out." The word "a" ("a warrant out"), is derived from 371 — 52=319; carried down from the end of the first section, 2, 53, {77), ^:2>g6=" castle." Deduct 269, (the lower section i, 53) from 396 and we have 127 left, and the 127th word, (2, 53), is "a." And so we have "a warrant out." Who is the warrant for? We recur to 3 19+77^396=" Ca^^/^." Deduct 189, (i, 53), and we have 207 left; deduct 77, (2, 53), and we have 130 left, and the 130th word, i, 53, is "loe," or "Lord." We reached the word "ivarrant," (57-2, 53), by carry- ing 423 up 2, 53. But if we count in the twelve words in brackets and the ten hyphenated words, as two words each, then the 423d word is the 79th word : "Chamber- laiife." We recur to 319+77=396. We deducted 189, (the first section i, 53), from 396 to get "Lord." Let us now deduct 243, (the first word of the 3d section i, 53, if that I hyphenated word "Heigh-ho"), from 396, and we have 152 left; and the I52d word, on that same column, (2, 53) is "Company." And so we learn there is "a warrant out" for "the Lord Chamberlaine Company," to which Shakspere be- longed; (see HaUiwell Phillipp's "Outhnes," page 76), and that the Queen proposed to "put their legs in the boots, and make them speak." -And 'all this is in connec- tion with the play of "Sir John Old-Castle." .A.nd if we add 235, (ist section i, 54), to 57, {"war- 318 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. rant") it brings us to 292 "foot-land-rakers ;" and the alternate 319, minus 18, (i, 54), gives us 301, — "mus- tachio-purple-hued-maltivorms." And the actors are fur- ther described, in the words of the text : "Such as will strike sooner than speake; and speak sooner than drink, and drink sooner than pray j * * * they prey continually on the commonwealth, * * * picking of purses," etc. But let us go a step farther. We saw that 396 which produced "Castle," of "Old- castle," was obtained by taking the secondary root-num- ber 319, and adding yy to it (3t9f77=396) ; and 319 was obtained by deducting 52 from 371. Now let us employ again the modifier 20, by deducting it from 396; this leaves us 376, or if we count in the 9 extra hyphen- ated words in the column, the 376th word will be the 367th word "her.'' We take now the other secondary alternate root num- ber, 423, and add i to it for that extra word in "heigh-ho," making 424; deduct from it 189, for the number of words in the first subdivision of col. i, p. 53, and we have the number 235, which carried up col. 2, of p. 53, gave us "old" part of the word "Old-castle." Let us modify this by deducting the modifier 17, already used to obtain the word "legs," and we have 218 left, which carried up that same column (2, p. 53), counting in all the words, bracketed and hyphenated, brings us to the word "grace" — "her grace" — the Queen. If we take 371 and deduct, not 52 but 53, for the extra word of "heigh-ho," we have 318 left; add yy as before, THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE P^AYS. 319 to this and we have 395 ; deduct the modifier 20, and we have 375, and the 375th word is "will." Now let us put these results together : —down 371—52=319+77=396— 20=376— 9 h.=:367, (2,53) "her" ■+up • 371+53=423+1=424— 189=235—17=218+ b. & h.=276, (2, 53) "grace" —down 371-53=318+77=395- 20=375, (2, 53) "zvill" +up 371+52=423+1=424— 189=235, up 224= (1,53) "P^^" —down 371—52=319+77=396, minus 23 b. & h.=:373, (i, 53) "their" +up 371+52=423—189=234 —17=217=143 (2, 54) "legs" —down 371— 53=318+77+2 h. & b.=397, minus 384f3 h. =10, ^1,55) "»«" +up 371+52=423—189=234; 384 (2, 54) —234+2 h.= 153, (2,54) "if^e" —down 371— 52=3i9f77=396— 18=378-^ h.=369, (2,53) "boots" We saw that 235 carried up the first column of page 53, brought us to "put" but if we deduct 20 it will bring us to the 234th word "and." If now we take 396 and deduct the modifier 17, we have 379 left; but if we count in all the bracketed words on the column, 13 in number, it brings us to the 366th word "make" — "and make." We saw that 217 (423 — 189=234 — 17=217), carried up from the end of seen? second, brought us to the word 320 THE CIPHER IN THE SKAKESPEARE PLAYS. "legs;" but if we begin 25 words lower down, from the bottom of the column, (384), the 217th word up the col- umn, counting in the one hyphenated extra word, is the word "them"— tht 169th word. We saw that to get the word "John" ("Sir John Old- caslle") we deducted from 319 the modifiers 52 and 20; let us apply the same treatment to' 396 (319+77=396), and we have 396 — 52^344 — 20=324, and the 324th word is "speak." And so we have : "her grace will put their legs in the boots and make them speak." +up 371+52=423+1=424— 189=235 — 20^215 up =234 (1,53) "and" —down 371—52=319+77=396— 17=379—13 b.=366, (2, 53) "make" '+up 371+52=423—189=234 — 17=217, =169 (2,54) "them" —down 371— 52=3 I9f 77=396— 52=344—20=324, (2, 53) "speak" Let us now turn to column two of page 54 (the page next to that which wc have just been studying) and see what an application of the same rules will bring forth. The 371st word on that column is "contented." We will find this also refers to Shakspere's company of actors, "the Lord Chamberlain Company," and is part of a graphic description of the wandering band of vagrants, highwaymen and pickpockets as they traveled through the rural districts of England, in the sixteenth century, sleeping beneath the hedges and acting in the barns. There is at the top of that 23d column, p. 54, a sub- division ending with the word "business," containing 123 words. Now just as we saw 189 or 190 added and THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 32l subtracted alternately we will find 123 at the top of this column and 24 (between "But," the first word of the last subdivision on the column, and the end of the column), and the other modifiers on the column, added and sub- tracted, as the story progresses. For instance, if we take 371 and deduct from it 123, the number of words in the first subdivision, we have 248 left; if we carry this upward from the end of the scene on that column (scene 2d, Act II) it brings us to the word "happy." So we have the collocation "happy, con- tented" one going up the column, the other going down the column. But as I have shown there is a fragment of 24 words at the end of the column. Let us deduct 24 from 371 and we have 347 left. The 347th word down the same column is "along" or counting the three compound words _as two words each, the word "as;" while 371 carried up the same column brings us to the 14th word, "walk," or counting in the three compound words as two words each, to the 17th word "they." Observe the strik- ing fact that 371- — 24, and 371 alone, carried up and down the same column, give us the words"oj — they — walk — along." But we deducted 123 from 371 to obtain "happy," going up the column. Let us now add 123 to 371 and go down the column: 371+123=494; carry it through that column (just as we did with col. i, p. 53) and we have no left (371+123=^94— 384=110), now carry that down from the end of the first section of 123 words, and it brings us to the 233d word, "merrily." Now let us carry that number 371 down the previous column (i of 54) and it brings us to the word "sung;" and if we again take 371- and deduct that last sub- 21 322 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PI.AYS. division 24 we have 347 left (which produced as along), add to 347 123 — 470 ; carry this again through that 2d column of page 54 and we have 86 left, or, counting the three compound words as two words each, 83 ; carry this 83 up the preceding column, which gave us "sung," and we get the word "filthy;" but to make the word "sung" the 371st word we had to count the five compound words we passed over in the count as one word each; if we count them as two words each then the 371st word on the column is the word "ballads. " Observe that there are just as many extra hyphenated words on that column as the difference between 371, "sung," and 366, "ballads;" and that we have, alternately going up and down the column, the collocation "sung filthy ballads;" and all this in connection with "happy, contented" men, who "mer- rily walk along." Is anybody shallow enough to think all this could be the result of chance, and that there is no cipher in the 'play? We saw that 347 (371 — 24^=347) gave us "as" and "along" and "filthy;" now suppose we modify 347 by deducting 17, the first subdivision on page 54, as 24 is the last, and we have left 330 (371 — 24 — 347 — 17^330) ; now carry this up the ist col. of page 55 (the next page), and it brings us to the word "set." And so we have : up 371—123 (top col. )= 248, np from end sc.= ^ "happy" down 371 %^ "contented" up 371—24 (bot. col.)= 347—17=330, up next THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 323 We find the word "set^' used in the sense of a collec- tion, in Taming of the Shrerv, II, i : "Take you the lute and you the set of books." And also in Richard II, III, 3 : "I'll give my jewels for a set of beads." If we return to the number, 347, which gave us "as," "along," "ftlthy," etc., and modify it by deducting the last subdivision of the scene (col. 2, p. 54), which contains 60 words, we have 287 left (371 — 24=347 — 60=287) and the 287th word is "more" — which goes with "happy" — '-'more happy " and this, as we saw, goes with "con- tented" and "set" — a more happy, contented, set — of what? Here we have it. We saw that the same 347+123 amounted to 470, and that this carried through 384 left 86, and that this, count- ing in the three double words as two words each, gave us' the word "Mthy." Now let us carry that 86 up the column on which it originated, the same column which gave us "walk," "along," "as," "happy," "contented," etc., etc., and we find it brings to the 299th word "villains." Now let us modify 371 by deducting the modifier, used repeatedly before, 17, and we have 354 left; carry this up the last column, and it brings us to the 31st word "of." And so we have a "more happy, contented set of villains." We have obtained some of our words by deducting 123; the second subdivision ends at the 216th word and contains two double words, making 218 in all. Let us deduct 218 from 371, and we have 153 left; carry this up 324 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. from the end of the scene (col. 2, p. 54), and it gives us the word "you^ the 207th word. We saw that the 371st word was "contented" but if we count the three double words we pass over as two words each, we find the 371st word is the 368th word on the column, which is "could." We saw that 347 (371 — 24^=347) plus 123^^70 — 384, gave us 86, which carried through column 2 of p. 54, pro- duced "-filihy" "zillains," etc. Let us now carry that re- mainder 86, less the three hyphenated words, up from the end of the scene, on that same column (2 of 54) and it brings us to the word "not" — the 277th word. Now we have been counting 123 and 216, or from the ends of the first and second subdivisions of col. 2, p. 54, upivards, let us now count downwards from 123 to the bottom of the column, counting the double words as two words each, and we find we pass over 264 words. Deduct 264 from 347 and we have 83 left; count down the same column and the 83d word is "find." The number 248 which gave us "happy," was thus ob- tained: 371 — 123 (top col. 2, 54) ^248; if we deduct 24 from 2481^224; if we carry this up from the end of the scene on col. 2, p. 54, and count the two double words as two words each, and it brings us to the 138th word, "a;" while the same number, carried up from the end of the column, brings us to the i6ist word, "they." And so we have : "a more happy, contented set of villains yon could not find, as they merrily walk along and sung filthy ballads." Those last three words alone should settle the existence of a cipher in the play. 53x7=371 ; and the 371st word (i, 54) is "sung," but THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 325 if you count in the hyphenated words as two words each, it is "ballads" — "sung ballads;" while the same 371 carried through the upper and lower fragments of the next column and brought up col. i, 54, brings us to "aithy;" and so we have it that this merry crew of vaga- bonds "swig -filthy ballads." We find this form of expression in Pericles, IV. Gower, (see Third Folio, 1664) : "Or when to the lute She sung, and made the night-bird mute." But I must not go farther with these examples, or I shall make this book as bulky as "The Great Cryptogram." The question is often asked me : "Does the cipher ex- tend through all the Shakespeare Plays?" I think it does ; and the following table goes to show that it does ; and that "Shakspere is discussed or referred to in every one of the plays :" 326 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. V ' CI V (U lU y a C C C S a u ij (U tu 4) o u o ^ 4J -M -M •4-1 -M -p +J y o o O d U U y CI ni BJ ts cS cS C3 CS cS cS (U V u ^ lU COfOeO r-l CO i-l t> i-l ►- ■ kJ r- 1 >^" tH I— I ""^ ri '" i-H i"' K^' ^ 1— I r- 1 K^' kJ ,|~J > > > rH tH -H rH r-l > P^ tH r-l P* ^ S CS . "U - CO Q, CO CO 3-sqaSaist8»'*5cs'Si^cScsB»S5aa>«!5S to^S^c?'Q,c?«^to^eo^co'^co c?^ c? co^ co^ ^ «^ «^ co^ iH lOT}t-*C0rHC0M COCO INCOCO COrH "hhI— IHhIJ IJ hH*^ h-(h-l »t< J< .J:) ^ .Jjj •*«!>;« -is! -is) .iJ3 >q -sq -cj »S5 «c; <«! -S! >J5 ,cj rf? >«! •S3 «S5 CO cocococotocoeo coco cocoto coco 2 CO y THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. 327 V ^ a; ^ l; a; qj a n s c s s a U U U U U U O IB in in VI rn xn en cd rt o3 c3 . rt rt • .^ • • • c^ +J 4J -(J +J "T^ -P +1 4J bfi 4J" ^ ^j" -i-> y yoyo « y uaooyy CO cowCocS ™ w ci'ScScSctfcS § § i I a s s H;2.a g a s CO COCOCOcC CO CO cO~csicScSco t» GOWWtfj EC xn tn ^ xn m xn in r-l t}( 05 T-l T-l ■* tH CJ t> tH CC CO (N IM CO O (N ■ rH ':^>:^>>'u - ;^ >■ >^-^::\^ tH (U rH *^ spurs, sphere, speare, sphere. c B o a, f^ aT "S - iT Ji" ST qj- so- ^ . fc . . . ^- - Si SBcsSScSSg B-Si B B « B,*J • «^ ^ w' S^ ^ w" ^X> xi" !>>>>• b ti -K -fl > f> f SB a a WrH (M CviMWrHCSJCOW WWHHOHOh 328 THE CIPHER IN THE SHAKESPEARE PLAYS. (U ^ y Si 1j t* ctf oi Jj -M O O CJ a CJ u CJ CJ CS tS Bi •a CS c3 cS C8 (U QJ •S 41 o lO->i'THMfO-i-lt-t> tH !-• t^' 1-1 iH kJ rH 1-1 tH" r-T t-T ,^" r-<" kJ" iH tH~ i-T iH~ 03 - 03 »3l-is)aacscsa>c!B 03 eo^w'os «^to'«'co^!o^»^co^^to^c2^S^^t^^ of ofiH (N irf c^ -H K" r-l tH .id >iij »i»i .isj »i«! J»J J»J ,Ji^ .1< .JjJ .Js! O3O3t003C003 03030303 03 C3 a, o »— « a a 1) U i:j .i