DECIPHERED SECRET STORY FROM
EDMUND SPENSER:
PAGE
Complaints, 1591 1
Colin Clout, 1595 3
Faerie Queene, 1596 4
Faerie Queene, second part 7
SHAKESPEARE QUARTO:
Richard Second, 1598 10
GEORGE PEELE:
David and Bethsabe, 1599 11
SHAKESPEARE QUARTOS:
Midsommer Night’s Dream, 1600 12
Midsommer Night’s Dream, Fisher Ed. 13
Much Ado About Nothing, 1600 14
Sir John Oldcastle and Merchant of Venice, Roberts Ed.,
1600 15
Richard, Duke of York, 1600 18
FRANCIS BACON:
Treasons of Essex, 1601 20
SHAKESPEARE QUARTO:
London Prodigal, 1605 23
FRANCIS BACON:
Advancement of Learning, 1605 25
SHAKESPEARE QUARTOS:
King Lear, 1608 33
King Henry The Fifth, 1608 34
Pericles, 1609 35
Hamlet, 1611 36
Titus Andronicus, 1611 38
EDMUND SPENSER:
Shepheards Calender, 1611 40
Faerie Queene, 1613 43
BEN JONSON:
Plays in Folio, 1616 49
SHAKESPEARE QUARTOS:
Richard The Second, 1615 72
Merry Wives of Windsor, 1619 73
Contention of York and Lancaster, 1619 74
Pericles, 1619 77
Yorkshire Tragedy, 1619 78
Romeo and Juliet, no date 79
ROBERT GREENE:
A Quip For an Upstart Courtier, 1620 80
FRANCIS BACON:
Novum Organum, 1620 81
The Parasceve 133
Henry The Seventh, 1622 136
CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE:
Edward The Second, 1622 151
FRANCIS BACON:
Historia Vitæ & Mortis, 1623 153
SHAKESPEARE PLAYS:
First Folio, 1623 165
ROBERT BURTON:
Anatomy of Melancholy, 1628 218
“Argument of the Iliad” 220
FRANCIS BACON:
De Augmentis Scientiarum, 1624 310
“Argument of the Odysses” 313
New Atlantis, 1635 334
Sylva Sylvarum, 1635, Rawley’s Preface 339
Natural History 341
William Rawley’s Note 368
PERSONAL.
TO THE READER:
The discovery of the existence of the Bi-literal Cipher of Francis
Bacon, found embodied in his works, and the deciphering of what it
tells, has been a work arduous, exhausting and prolonged. It is
not ended, but the results of the work so far brought forth, are
submitted for study and discussion, and open a new and large field of
investigation and research, which cannot fail to interest all students
of the earlier literature that has come down to us as a mirror of the
past, and in many respects has been adopted as models for the present.
Seeking for things hidden, the mysterious, elusive and unexpected, has
a fascination for many minds, as it has for my own, and this often
prompts to greater effort than more manifest and material things
would command. To this may be attributed, perhaps, the triumph over
difficulties which have seemed to me, at times, insurmountable, the
solution of problems, and the following of ways tortuous and obscure,
which have been necessary to bring out, as they appear in the following
pages, the hidden messages which Francis Bacon so securely buried in
his writings, that three hundred years of reading and close study have
not until now uncovered them.
This Bi-literal Cipher is found in the Italic letters that appear in
such unusual and unexplained prodigality in the original editions of
Bacon’s works. Students of these old editions have been impressed with
the extraordinary number of words and passages, often non-important,
printed in Italics, where no known rule of construction would require
their use. There has been no reasonable explanation of this until now
it is found that they were so used for the purposes of this Cipher.
These letters are seen to be in two forms--two fonts of type--with
marked differences. In the Capitals these are easily discerned, but the
distinguishing features in the small letters, from age of the books,
blots and poor printing, have been more difficult to classify, and
close examination and study have been required to separate and sketch
out the variations, and educate the eye to distinguish them.
How I found the Cipher, its difficulties, methods of working, and
outline of what the several books contain, will more fully appear in
the explanatory introduction.
In assisting Dr. Owen in the preparation of the later books of “Sir
Francis Bacon’s Cipher Story,” recently published, and in the study
of the great Word-Cipher discovered by him, in which is incorporated
Bacon’s more extensive, more complete and important writings, I became
convinced that the very full explanation found in De Augmentis, of the
bi-literal method of cipher-writing, was something more than a mere
treatise on the subject. I applied the rules given to the peculiarly
Italicised words and “letters in two forms,” as they appear in the
photographic Fac-simile of the original 1623, Folio edition, of the
Shakespeare Plays. The disclosures, as they appear in this volume, were
as great a surprise to me, as they will be to my readers. Original
editions of Bacon’s known works were then procured, as well as those
of other authors named in these, and claimed by Bacon as his own. The
story deciphered from these will appear under the several headings.
From the disclosures found in all these, it is evident that Bacon
expected this Bi-literal Cipher would be the first to be discovered,
and that it would lead to the discovery of his principal, or
Word-Cipher, which it fully explains, and to which is intrusted the
larger subjects he desired to have preserved. This order has been
reversed, in fact, and the earlier discovery of the Word-Cipher, by Dr.
Owen, becomes a more remarkable achievement, being entirely evolved
without the aids which Bacon had prepared in this, for its elucidation.
The proofs are overwhelming and irresistible that Bacon was the author
of the delightful lines attributed to Spenser,--the fantastic conceits
of Peele and Greene,--the historical romances of Marlowe,--the immortal
plays and poems put forth in Shakespeare’s name, as well as the Anatomy
of Melancholy of Burton.
The removal of these masques, behind which Bacon concealed himself, may
change the names of some of our idols. It is, however, the matter and
not the name that appeals to our intelligence.
The plays of Shakespeare lose nothing of their dramatic power or
wondrous beauty, nor deserve the less admiration of the scholar and
critic, because inconsistencies are removed in the knowledge that they
came from the brain of the greatest student and writer of that age, and
were not a “flash of genius” descended upon one of peasant birth, less
noble history, and of no preparatory literary attainments.
The Shepherds’ Calendar is not less sweetly poetical, because Francis
Bacon appropriated the name of Spenser, several years after his death,
under which to put forth the musical measures, that had, up to that
time, only appeared as the production of some Muse without a name;
nor will Faerie Queene lose ought of its rythmic beauty or romantic
interest from change of name upon the title page.
The supposed writings of Peele, Greene and Marlowe are not the less
worthy, because really written by one greater than either.
The remarkable similarity in the dramatic writings attributed to
Greene, Peele, Marlowe and Shakespeare has attracted much attention,
and the biographers of each have claimed that both style and
subject-matter have been imitated, if not appropriated, by the others.
The practical explanation lies in the fact that one hand wrote them
all.
I fully appreciate what it means to bring forth new truth from
unexpected and unknown fields, if not in accord with accented theories
and long held beliefs. “For what a man had rather were true, he
more readily believes,”--is one of Bacon’s truisms that finds many
illustrations.
I appreciate what it means to ask strong minds to change long standing
literary convictions, and of such I venture to ask the withholding of
judgment until study shall have made the new matter familiar, with the
assurance meanwhile, upon my part, of the absolute veracity of the work
which is here presented. Any one possessing the original books, who has
sufficient patience and a keen eye for form, can work out and verify
the Cipher from the illustrations given. Nothing is left to choice,
chance, or the imagination. The statements which are disclosed are such
as could not be foreseen, nor imagined, nor created, nor can there
be found reasonable excuse for the hidden writings, except for the
purposes narrated, which could only exist concerning, and be described
by, Francis Bacon.
I would beg that the readers of this book will bring to the
consideration of the work minds free from prejudice, judging of it with
the same intelligence and impartiality they would themselves desire, if
the presentation were their own. Otherwise the work will, indeed, have
been a thankless task.
To doubt the ultimate acceptance of the truths brought to light would
be to distrust that destiny in which Bacon had such an abiding faith
for his justification, and which, in fact, after three centuries,
has lifted the veil, and brought us to estimate the character and
accomplishments, trials and sorrows of that great genius, with a
feeling of nearness and personal sympathy, far greater than has been
possible from the partial knowledge which we have heretofore enjoyed.
ELIZABETH WELLS GALLUP.
Detroit, March 1st, 1899.
PUBLISHERS’ NOTE.
THIRD EDITION.
The publication of the second edition of the _Bi-literal Cypher of
Francis Bacon_, which embraced the period of his Cipher writing between
1590 and the end of his career, emphasized the importance of finding
the earlier writings--preceding 1590. The old books necessary to the
research could not be procured in America, and during the summer of
1900 Mrs. Gallup and her assistant, Miss Kate E. Wells, visited England
to carry on the work in that treasure house of early literature,
the British Museum. The investigations yielded rich returns, for in
Shepheard’s Calender of 1579 was found the commencement of what proved
to be an important part of Bacon’s life work.
Following Shepheard’s Calender, the works between 1579 and 1590, so far
deciphered, are:
Araygnement of Paris, 1584; Mirrour of Modestie, 1584.
Planetomachia, 1585.
Treatise of Melancholy, 1586. Two editions of this were issued the same
year, with differing Italics. The first ends with an incomplete cipher
word which is completed in the second for the continued narration, thus
making evident which was first published, unless they were published at
the same time.
Euphues, 1587; Morando, 1587. These two also join together, with an
incomplete word at the end of the first finding its completion in the
commencement of the Cipher in the second.
Perimedes the Blacke-smith, 1588; Pandosto, 1588. These two also join
together.
Spanish Masquerado, 1589. Two editions of this work bear date the same
year, but have different Italicising. In one edition the Cipher Story
is complete, closing with the signature: “Fr., Prince.” In the other
the story is not complete, the book ending with an incomplete cipher
word, the remainder of which will be found in some work of a near date
which has not yet been indicated.
Several months were spent in following, through these old books, the
thread of the concealed story until it joined the work which had
already been published. Overstrained eye-sight, from the close study
of the different forms of Italic letters, and consequent exhaustion
on the part of Mrs. Gallup, compelled a cessation of the work before
all that would have been desirable to know concerning that early
period was deciphered; and while these are not all the works in which
Cipher will be found, between the years 1579 and 1590, they are
sufficient unmistakably to connect the earlier writings with those
of later date which had already been deciphered--as published in the
_Bi-literal Cypher_--so that we now know the Cipher writings were being
continuously infolded in Bacon’s works, for a period of about forty-six
years, from the first to the last of his literary productions,
including some matter he had prepared, which was published by Rawley
subsequent to 1626.
These few pages of deciphered matter, now added to that published in
the Second Edition, have a unique distinction in the costliness of
their production, but they are of inestimable value, historically, as
well as from a literary point of view, in demonstrating with certainty
the scope and completeness of the Cipher plan which has so long hidden
the secrets of a most eventful period.
[Illustration:
FRANCISCI
BARONIS
DE VERVLAMIO,
VICE-COMITIS
SANCTI ALBANI.
_DE DIGNITATE ET AVGMENTIS
SCIENTIARVM._
LIBRI IX.
_AD REGEM SVVM_
Iuxta Exemplar Londini Impressum.
PARISIIS,
Typis PETRI METTAYER, Typographi Rygij
M. DC. XXIV.
]
_Of the Advancement of Learning._
(London, 1605.)
CYPHARS
For _CYPHARS_; they are commonly in Letters or Alphabets, but
may bee in Wordes. _T_he kindes of _CYPHARS_, (besides the
_SIMPLE CYPHARS_ with Changes, and intermixtures of _NVLLES_,
and _NONSIGNIFICANTS_) are many, according to the Nature or
Rule of the infoulding: _WHEELE-CYPHARS_, _KAY-CYPHARS_,
_DOVBLES_, &c. But the vertues of them, whereby they are to be
preferred, are three; that they be not laborious to write and reade;
that they bee impossible to discypher; and in some cases, that they bee
without suspition. The highest Degree whereof, is to write _OMNIA PER
OMNIA_; which is vndoubtedly possible, with a proportion Quintuple
at most, of the writing infoulding, to the writing infoulded, and
no other restrainte whatsoeuer. This Arte of _Cypheringe_, hath for
Relatiue, an Art of _Discypheringe_; by supposition vnprofitable; but,
as things are, of great vse. For suppose that _Cyphars_ were well
mannaged, there bee Multitudes of them which exclude the _Discypherer_.
But in regarde of the rawnesse and vnskilfulnesse of the handes,
through which they passe, the greatest Matters, are many times carryed
in the weakest _Cyphars_.
DE AUGMENTIS SCIENTIARUM
(Translation, Gilbert Wats, 1640.)
_Wherefore let us come to_ _CYPHARS_. Their kinds are many, as
_Cyphars simple_; _Cyphars intermixt with Nulloes_, or non-significant
Characters; _Cyphars of double Letters under one Character_;
_Wheele-Cyphars_; _Kay-Cyphars_; _Cyphars of Words_; _Others_. But the
virtues of them whereby they are to be preferr’d are Three; _That they
be ready, and not laborious to write_; _That they be sure, and lie not
open to Deciphering_; _And lastly, if it be possible, that they be
managed without suspition_.
But that jealousies may be taken away, we will annexe an other
invention, which, in truth, we devised in our youth, when we were at
_Paris_: and is a thing that yet seemeth to us not worthy to be lost.
It containeth the _highest degree of Cypher_, which is to signifie
_omnia per omnia_, yet so as the _writing infolding_, may beare a
quintuple proportion to the _writing infolded_; no other condition or
restriction whatsoever is required. It shall be performed thus: First
let all the _Letters_ of the _Alphabet_, by transposition, be resolved
into two _Letters_ onely; for the transposition of two _Letters_ by
five placings will be sufficient for 32. Differences, much more for
24, which is the number of the _Alphabet_. The example of such an
_Alphabet_ is on this wise.
_An Example of a Bi-literarie Alphabet._
A B C D E F
Aaaaa aaaab aaaba. aaabb. aabaa. aabab.
G H I K L M
aabba aabbb abaaa. abaab. ababa. ababb.
N O P Q R S
abbaa. abbab. abbba. abbbb. baaaa. baaab.
T V W X Y Z
baaba. baabb. babaa. babab. babba. babbb.
Neither is it a small matter these _Cypher-Characters_ have, and may
performe: For by this _Art_ a way is opened, whereby a man may expresse
and signifie the intentions of his minde, at any distance of place,
by objects which may be presented to the eye, and accommodated to
the eare: provided those objects be capable of a twofold difference
onely; as by Bells, by Trumpets, by Lights and Torches, by the report
of Muskets, and any instruments of like nature. But to pursue our
enterprise, when you addresse your selfe to write, resolve your
inward-infolded Letter into this _Bi-literarie Alphabet_. Say the
_interiour Letter_ be
_Fuge._
_Example of Solution._
F V G E
aabab. baabb. aabba. aabaa.
Together with this, you must have ready at hand a _Bi-formed Alphabet_,
which may represent all the _Letters_ of the _Common Alphabet_, as well
Capitall Letters as the Smaller Characters in a double forme, as may
fit every mans occasion.
_An Example of a Bi-formed Alphabet._
{ a b a b a b a b a b a b
{_A_ ~A~ _a_ ~a~ _B_ ~B~ _b_ ~b~ _C_ ~C~ _c_ ~c~
{ a b a b a b a b a b a b
{_D_ ~D~ _d_ ~d~ _E_ ~E~ _e_ ~e~ _F_ ~F~ _f_ ~f~
{ a b a b a b a b a b a b
{_G_ ~G~ _g_ ~g~ _H_ ~H~ _h_ ~h~ _I_ ~I~ _i_ ~i~
{a b a b a b a b a b a b
{_K_ ~K~ _k_ ~k~ _L_ ~L~ _l_ ~l~ _M_ ~M~ _m_ ~m~
{ a b a b a b a b a b a b
{_N_ ~N~ _n_ ~n~ _O_ ~O~ _o_ ~o~ _P_ ~P~ _p_ ~p~
{a b a b a b a b a b a b
{_Q_ ~Q~ _q_ ~q~ _R_ ~R~ _r_ ~r~ _S_ ~S~ _s_ ~s~
{ a b a b a b a b a b a b a b
{_T_ ~T~ _t_ ~t~ _V_ ~V~ _v_ ~v~ _u_ ~u~ _W_ ~W~ _w_ ~w~
{a b a b a b a b a b a b
{_X_ ~X~ _x_ ~x~ _Y_ ~Y~ _y_ ~y~ _Z_ ~Z~ _z_ ~z~
Now to the interiour letter, which is Biliterate, you shall fit a
biformed exteriour letter, which shall answer the other, letter for
letter, and afterwards set it downe. Let the exteriour example be,
_Manere te volo, donec venero._
_An Example of Accommodation._
_F_ _V_ _G_ _E_
_aa b a b.b aa bb. aa bb a.aa b aa._
_Ma_~n~_e_~re~ _te_ ~vo~_lo_ ~do~_nec_ ~v~_enero_
We have annext likewise a more ample example of the cypher of writing
_omnia per omnia_: An interiour letter, which to expresse, we have made
choice of a Spartan letter sent once in a _Scytale_ or round cypher’d
staffe.
_Spartan Dispatch._
_All is lost. Mindarus is killed. The soldiers want food. We
can neither get hence nor stay longer here._
An exteriour letter, taken out of the first Epistle of _Cicero_,
wherein a Spartan Letter is involved.
_Cicero’s First Epistle._
(Note)—This Translation from Spedding, Ellis & Heath Ed.
(REPRODUCTION)
_In all|d_~u~_t_~y~ _o|r_ ~r~_a_~t~_h|e_~r~ _pie_|~t~_y_
aa aaa|a b a b a|a b a b a|a b aaa | b a
_A_ | _L_ | _L_ | _I_ | _S_
_to_~w~|_a_~r~_d_~s~_y|o_~u, I~ _s_~a|t~_isf_~y~|
aa b | a b a b a|a b b a b|b aaa b |
| _L_ | _O_ | _S_ |
~e~_ve_~r~_y|b_~o~_d_~y e~|_x_~c~_ept| m_~ys~_el|f. My_~se~|_lf I_
b aa b a|a b a b b | a b aaa| a bb aa|a aa bb | aa a
_T_ | _M_ | _I_ | _N_ | _D_ | _A_
_ne_|~v~_er sa_|~t~_is_~fy.| F~_or s_~o~ |_g_~r~_eat_| ~a~_re_
aa | b aa aa | b aa bb | b aa a b | a b aaa | b aa
| _R_ | _U_ | _S_ | _I_ | _S_
_t_~h~|_e ~s~_er_~v~|_i_~c~_es w|h_~i~_c_~h~ _y|o_~u~ _h_~a~_v|e_
a b | a b aa b | a b aa a|a b a b a|a b a b a|a
| _K_ | _I_ | _L_ | _L_ |
_r_~e~_nd|ere_~d m|e,~ _th_~a~_t_| _se_~ein~|_g y_~o~_u d|_~i~_d_
a b aa|aaa b b|b _aa b a | aa bbb | a a b a a| b a
_E_ | _D_ | _T_ | _H_ | _E_ |
_no_~t~ |_r_~es~_t_ ~i~_|n_ ~y~_o_~u~_r_ |_end_~ea~ |_v_~o~_urs| on_
aa b | a bb a b |a b a b a | aaa bb | a b aaa| aa
_S_ | _O_ | _L_ | _D_ | _I_ |
~m~_y b_|~e~_half_| ~t~_ill_ ~t|h~_e_ ~t~_hi|ng was_| _d_~on~_e, I_|
b a a | b aaaa | b aaa b|b a b aa|aa aaa | a bb a a |
_E_ | _R_ | _S_ | _W_ | _A_ | _N_ |
~f~_ee_~l~ _a|s_ _i_~f~ _l_~i~|_f_~e h~_a_~d~ |_l_~os~_t_ ~a~|_ll_
b aa b a|a a b a b | a b b a b | a bb a b | aa
_T_ | _F_ | _O_ | _O_ |
_i_~ts| s~_w_~e~_et|ne_~s~_s, b|eca_~u~_s|e I can|n_~ot~ _do| a_~s~
a bb| b a b aa|aa b a a|aaa b a|a a aaa|a bb aa| a b
_D_ | _W_ | _E_ | _C_ | _A_ | _N_ |
~m~_uc|h i_~n~ _th|i_~s~ _cau_|~s~_e o_~f~ _y|ou_~rs~. ~T~|_he_
b aa|a a b aa|a b aaa | b a a b a|aa bb b | aa
_N_ | _E_ | _I_ | _T_ | _H_ |
~o~_cc_|~a~_sion|s a_~re~ _t|he_~s~_e:_ _A_|~m~_mo_~n~_i|us,_ ~the~ |
b aa | b aaaa|a a bb a|aa b a a | b aa b a|aa bbb |
_E_ | _R_ | _G_ | _E_ | _T_ | _H_ |
_ki_~n~_g’s| a_~mb~_as|sad_~o~_r,| op_~e~_nl|y_ ~be~_si|e_~ge~_s_
aa b a a| a bb aa|aaa b a | aa b aa|a bb aa|a bb a
_E_ | _N_ | _C_ | _E_ | _N_ | _O_
~u|s~ _with_| ~m~_one_~y.| T~_he_ b~_u|sines_|~s~ _i_~s~
b|b aaaa | b aaa b | b aa b a|aaaaa | b a b
| _R_ | _S_ | _T_ | _A_ | _Y_
~c~_a|r_~r~_i_~e~_d| o_~n t~_h_~r~|_o_~ug~_h t|he_ ~sa~_m|e_
b a|a b a b a| a b b a b | a bb a a|aa bb a|a
| _L_ | _O_ | _N_ | _G_ |
_c_~r~_ed_|~i~_tors_| _wh_~o we~|_re_ ~e~_mp_|~l~_oyed |in_ ~i~_t_
a b aa | b aaaa | _aa b bb | aa b aa | b aaaa |aa b a
_E_ | _R_ | _H_ | _E_ | _R_ | _E_
_w|hen you were here &c._
a|aaa aaa aaaa
|
(REPRODUCTION.)
_Epistle._
_In all d_~u~_t_~y~ _or_ ~r~_a_~t~_he_~r~ _pie_~t~_y_
_to_~w~_a_~r~_d_~s~_yo_~u, I~ _s_~at~_isf_~y e~_ve_~r~_y_
_b_~o~_d_~y e~_x_~c~_ept m_~ys~_elf. My_~se~_lf I ne_~v~_er_
_sa_~t~_is_~fy. F~_or s_~o~ _g_~r~_eat_ ~a~_re_ _t_~h~_e_
~s~_er_~v~_i_~c~_es wh_~i~_c_~h~ _yo_~u~ _h_~a~_ve_
_r_~e~_ndere_~d me,~ _th_~a~_t_ _se_~ein~_g y_~o~_u d_~i~_d_
_no_~t~ _r_~es~_t_ ~i~_n_ ~y~_o_~u~_r_ _end_~ea~_v_~o~_urs on_
~m~_y b_~e~_half_ ~t~_ill_ ~th~_e_ ~t~_hing was_ _d_~on~_e_,
_I_ ~f~_ee_~l~ _as_ _i_~f~ _l_~i~_f_~e h~_a_~d~ _l_~os~_t_
~a~_ll_ _i_~ts s~_w_~e~_etne_~s~_s, beca_~u~_se I cann_~ot~
_do a_~s~ ~m~_uch i_~n~ _thi_~s~ _cau_~s~_e o_~f~ _you_~rs~.
~T~_he ~o~_cc_~a~_sions a_~re~ _the_~s~_e:_ _A_~m~_mo_~n~_ius,_
~the~ _ki_~n~_g’s a_~mb~_assad_~o~_r, op_~e~_nl|y_
~be~_sie_~ge~_s_ ~us~ _with_ ~m~_one_~y. T~_he_ b~_usines_~s~
_i_~s~ ~c~_ar_~r~_i_~e~_d o_~n t~_h_~r~_o_~ug~_h the_ ~sa~_me_
_c_~r~_ed_~i~_tors_ _wh_~o we~_re_ ~e~_mp_~l~_oyed in_ ~i~_t_
_when you were here &c._
_Cipher infolded._
_All is lost. Mindarus is killed. The soldiers want food. We
can neither get hence nor stay longer here._
* * * * *
_The knowledge of Cyphering_, hath drawne on with it a knowledge
relative unto it, which is the knowledge of _Discyphering_, or of
Discreting _Cyphers_, though a man were utterly ignorant of the
_Alphabet_ of the _Cypher_, and the Capitulations of secrecy past
between the Parties. _Certainly_ it is an Art which requires great
paines and a good witt and is [as the other was] consecrate to the
Counsels of Princes: yet notwithstanding by diligent prevision it may
be made unprofitable, though, as things are, it be of great use. For if
good and faithfull _Cyphers_ were invented & practised, many of them
would delude and forestall all the Cunning of the _Decypherer_, which
yet are very apt and easie to be read or written: but the rawnesse and
unskilfulnesse of Secretaries, and Clarks in the Courts of Princes, is
such, that many times the greatest matters are committed to futile and
weake Cyphers.
THE
TRAGEDY OF
ANNE BOLEYN.
A DRAMA IN CIPHER
FOUND IN THE WORKS OF
SIR FRANCIS BACON.
DECIPHERED BY
ELIZABETH WELLS GALLUP.
DETROIT, MICHIGAN, U. S. A.:
HOWARD PUBLISHING COMPANY.
LONDON:
GAY & BIRD,
22 BEDFORD ST. STRAND.
PREFACE.
The Cipher discoveries in some of the literature of the Elizabethan
period, as set forth in _Francis Bacon’s Biliteral Cypher_--a book
recently published in America and England--are most strange and
important. To those not familiar with them, a few words are requisite
for an understanding of the methods of the production of this Cipher
play--_The Tragedy of Anne Boleyn_.
Two principal Ciphers have been found to exist in the works of Bacon.
The first, the Bi-literal, by the use of Italic letters in different
forms, concealed the rules and directions for writing out a second of
greater scope--a so-called Word Cipher, in which key words indicate
sections of similar matter, that, brought together in a new sequence,
tell a different story. Both were invented by Bacon in his youth. The
primary, or Bi-literal Cypher, is fully explained in _De Augmentis
Scientiarum_, but it is only recently that it has been found to exist
in the Italic printing of a number of the books of the Elizabethan
era--books ascribed to different authors but now proved to have been
written by Bacon.
On pages following are extracts from the _Bi-literal Cypher_, as
published, relating in the words of the inventor himself the manner of
using the Key-Word Cipher for the segregation and reconstruction of
the hidden narratives, infolded in the pages as originally printed,
with which we are familiar. These directions are fragmentary, scattered
through many of the books deciphered, and are many times repeated in
varying forms of expression.
The more important only are here gathered, which, with the “Argument”
and the keys, now given, of this tragedy, will outline the plan of
this work. It may be interesting to know that the use of the key words
is progressive, and that a small number only are used at one time: the
first six or seven writing the prologue, a few of the next the opening
scenes of the play, and so on through the entire work, some being
dropped as others are taken up successively until all have been used.
An appendix gives the book and page from which the lines are taken that
have been brought together as the “great architect or master-builder
directed.”
In the reconstruction, especially when prose is changed to verse, the
order of the words is slightly changed to meet the requirements of
“rythmic measure in the Iambic.” The great author used large parts of
many scenes in two distinct plays--open and concealed--now and then
with the same _dramatis personae_, again with others clearly indicated
as belonging, historically, to these particular scenes. This fact may
jostle our ideas somewhat, as we find new speakers using the familiar
lines, but there is an added interest, when the transposition gives
the accuracy of history to the beauty of dramatic expression. This
_seems_ the reverse of the natural order, but it is seeming only, for
the literary world became acquainted with the rewritten plays three
centuries before the hidden originals came to light.
In the banquet scene of this tragedy, the first part is almost
identical with that of _Henry Eighth_, although--when “like joins
like,” something from Macbeth, from Hamlet, from Romeo and Juliet,
etc., etc., is added--while other diversions of that festival night are
not given openly in any of the works. The handkerchief scenes of the
imagined tragedy of Othello belong to this real, but concealed, tragedy
of Anne Boleyn, and the accusations against the Queen of Sicilia are a
part of the charge against this martyred Queen; the reply, a part of
the pathetic but brave response she made. The second part was never
before in any published drama.
It would seem that Bacon learned from Cicero the method of preparing
matter which could with slight variations be adapted to more than one
purpose. We find this in the _Advancement of Learning_ (1605, p. 52).
“And Cicero himselfe, being broken unto it by great experience,
delivereth it plainely; That whatsoever a man shall have occasion
to speake of, (if he will take the paines) he may have it in effect
premediate, and handled in these. So that when hee cometh to a
particular, he shall have nothing to doe, but to put too Names and
times, and places; and such other Circumstances of Individuals.”
A little further on (p. 56), is an instance where an inquiry about
the tablets in Neptune’s Temple is ascribed to Diagoras, while in the
_Apothegms_ this same question is put in the mouth of Bion. And, in the
First Folio of the Shakespeare Plays, a very marked example occurs in
_Romeo and Juliet_.
Romeo speaking, says:
“The gray ey’d morne smiles on the frowning night,
Checkring the Easterne Clouds with streakes of light,
And darknesse fleckel’d like a drunkard reeles,
From forth dayes pathway, made by Titans wheeles.”
Then almost immediately after, the Friar gives the same lines, with
very slight but distinctive changes:
“The gray ey’d morne smiles on the frowning night,
Checkring the Easterne Cloudes with streaks of light,
And fleckled darknesse like a drunkard reeles,
From forth daies path, and Titans burning wheeles.”
The modern editors cut out one _quatrain_ as a supposed mistake, the
decipherer discovers by the keys and joining-words that each has a
place--the first in one work, and the second in another.
As the tragical events of this period in the history of the ill-fated
queen, now known to be Bacon’s ancestress, have little by little
unfolded in the deciphering, there has been a deepening sense of the
pathos of the story. Like dissolving views the scenes appear, and fade,
and _this_ mightiness meets misery so soon that we feel the shock.
There is the gentle Anne’s appearance at the banquet, “when King Henry
for the first time cometh truely under the spell of her beautie”--his
infatuation--his determination that nothing should stand in the way of
making her his wife--the divorce from Katherine--the coronation--the
disapproval of the people, not of Anne but of the King--the insulting
song at the coronation festivities--the birth of Elizabeth, Bacon’s
mother, and the King’s disappointment that the princess was not a
prince. Later there is the King’s fickleness, which prompted the false
charges against his wife--the mockery of the trial--the true nobleness
of the victim--the injustice of her condemnation--the pathetic message
to the King, as she was led to the scaffold--the cruelty of her
execution.
It is no wonder that Bacon felt this deeply, nor that “every act and
scene is a tender sacrifice, and an incense to her sweet memory.”
ELIZABETH WELLS GALLUP.
Detroit, November, 1901.
ARGUMENT .OF THE PLAY.
As may bee well knowne unto you, th’ questio’ of Elizabeth, her
legitimacie, made her a Protestant, for the Pope had not recognis’d th’
union, tho’ it were royale, which her sire made with fayre Anne Boleyn.
Still we may see that despite some restraining feare, it suited her to
dallie with the question, to make a faint shew of settling the mater as
her owne co’sie’ce dictated, if we take th’ decisions of facts; but the
will of th’ remorse-tost king left no doubt in men’s minds concerning
th’ former marriage, in fact, as th’ crowne was giv’n first to Mary,
his daughter of that marriage, before commi’g to Elizabeth.
In th’ storie of my most infortunate grandmother, the sweet ladie
who saw not th’ headsman’s axe when shee went forth proudly to her
coronation, you shall read of a sadnesse that touches me neere, partlie
because of neerenesse in bloud, partlie from a firme beliefe and trust
in her innocencie. Therefore every act and scene of this play of which
I speake, is a tende’ sacrifice, and an incense to her sweete memorie.
It is a plea to the generations to come for a just judgement upon her
life, whilst also giving the world one of the noblest o’ my plays,
hidden in Cy’hre in many other works.
A short argument, and likewise th’ keies, are giv’n to ayde th’
decypherer when it is to be work’d out as I wish. This doth tell th’
story with sufficient clearnes to guide you to our hidden storie.
This opeth at th’ palace, when King Henry for the first time cometh
truely under the spell of her beautie,--then in th’ highest perfection
of dainty grace, fresh, unspoiled,--and the charme of youthlie manners.
It is thought this was that inquisition which brought out feares
regarding th’ marriage contracted with Katharine of Arragon, so that
none greatly wond’red whe’ prolonged consultation of the secret voyce
in his soule assur’d the questioner noe good could ever come from the
union. Acti’g upon this conviction he doth confer money and titles upon
his last choise to quiet objections on score of unmeetnes.
But tho’ an irksome thing, truth shall be told. Tho’ it be ofttimes
a task,--if selfe-imposed, not by any meanes th’ lesse, but more
wearisome, since the work hath noe voyce of approvall or praise,--I
intend its completion. For many simple causes th’ historie of a man’s
life cometh from acts that we see through stayned glasse darkelie, and
of th’ other sexe, a man doth perceyve lesse, if possible, but th’
picture that I shall heere give is limn’d most carefully. However m’
pen hath greatly digress’d, and to returne.
Despite this mark of royall favour, a grave matter like the divorcement
of a royall spouse to wed a maide, suited not with fayre Anne’s notions
of justice, and with a sweete grace she made answere when the King sued
for favour:--“I am not high in birth as would befit a Queene, but I am
too good to become your mistresse.” So there was no waye to compasse
his desires save to wring a decree out o’ th’ Pope and wed th’ maide,
not a jot regarding her answer unlesse to bee the more eager to have
his waye.
Th’ love Lord Percy shew’d my lady, although so frankly return’d, kept
the wish turning, turning as a restless mill. Soone he resolv’d on
proof of his owne spirit, doe th’ Pope how he might, and securing a
civill decree, privately wedded th’ too youthfull Anne, and hid her for
space of severall daies untill th’ skies could somewhat cleare; but
when th’ earlie sumer came, in hope that there might soone bee borne to
them an heyre of th’ desir’d kinde, order’d willinglie her coronation
sparing noe coste to make it outvie anie other.
And when she was borne along, surrounded by soft white tissew, shielded
by a canopie of white, whilst she is wafted onwards, you would say an
added charme were to paint the lillie, or give the rose perfume.
This was onely th’ beginning of a triumph, bright as briefe,--in a
short space ’twas ore. Henry chose to consider th’ infant princesse in
the light of great anger of a just God brought upon him for his sinnes,
but bearing this with his daring spirit, he compelleth the Actes of
Supremacy and Succession, which placed him at the head of the Church
of England, in th’ one case, and made his heires by Queene Anne th’
successours to th’ throne. Untill that time, onely male heyres had
succeeded to th’ roiall power and the act occasioned much surprise
amongst our nobilitie.
But Henry rested not the’. The lovelinesse of Anne and her natural
opennesse of manner, so potent to winne th’ weake heart o’ th’ King,
awaken’d suspition and much cruell jealousie when hee saw th’ gay
courtiers yielding to th’ spell of gracefull gentility,--heighten’d by
usage forrayn, as also at th’ English Court. But if truth be said, th’
fancy had taken him to pay lovi’g court unto the faire Jane Seymour,
who was more beautifull, and quite young,--but also most ordinary as
doth regard personall manner, and th’ qualitie that made th’ Queene so
pleasing,--Lady Jane permitting marks of gracious favour t’ be freelie
offered.
And the Queene, unfortunately for her secret hope, surpris’d them in
a tender scene. Sodaine griefe orewhelming her so viole’tlie, she
swound before them, and a little space thereafter the infant sonne so
constantly desir’d, borne untimely, disappointed once more this selfish
monarch. This threw him into great fury, so that he was cruellie harsh
where [he] should give comfort and support, throwing so much blame
upon the gentle Queene, that her heart dyed within her not long after
soe sadde ending of a mother, her hopes.
Under pretexte of beleeving gentle Queene Anne to be guilty of
unfaithfullnesse, Henry had her convey’d to London Tower, and subjected
her to such ignominy as one can barelie beleeve, ev’n basely laying to
her charge the gravest sins, and summoning a jury of peeres delivered
the Queene for tryal and sentence. His act doth blacken pitch. Ev’n her
father, sitting amidst the peeres before whom shee was tried, exciteth
not so much astonishment since hee was forc’d thereto.
Henry’s will was done, but hardly could hee restraine the impatience
that sent him forth from his pallace at th’ hour of her execution to
an eminence neare by, in order to catche th’ detonation (ation) of th’
field peece whose hollow tone tolde the moment at which th’ cruell axe
fell, and see the blacke flag, that signall which floated wide to tell
the world she breath’d no more.
Th’ hast with which hee then went forward with his marriage, proclaym’d
the reall rigor or frigidity of his hart. It is by all men accompted
strange, this subtile power by which soe many of the peeres could be
forc’d to passe sentence upon this lady, when proofes of guilt were
nowhere to bee produced. In justice to a memorie dear to myselfe, I
must aver that it is far from cleare yet, upon what charge shee was
found worthie of death. It must of neede have beene some quiddet of th’
lawe, that chang’d some harmlesse words into anything one had in minde,
for in noe other waye could speech of hers be made wrongfull. Having
fayl’d to prove her untrue, nought could bring about such a resulte,
had this not (have) beene accomplish’d.
Thus was her good fame made a reproache, and time hath not given backe
that priceles treasure. If my plaie shal shew this most clearly, I
shall be co’tente. And as for my roiall grandsire, whatever honour hath
beene lost by such a course, is re-gain’d by his descendants from the
union, through this lovi’g justification of Anne Bulle’, his murther’d
Queene.
Before I go further with instructions, I make bold to say that th’
benefits we who now live in our free England reape [are] from her faith
and unfayling devotion to th’ advancement, that she herselfe promoting,
beheld well undertaken. It was her most earnest beliefe in this
remarkable and widelie spread effecte on th’ true prosperitie of the
realme, and not a love o’ dignity or power,--if the evidence of workes
be taken,--that co’strain’d her to take upon her th’ responsibility of
roialtie. And I am fullie perswaded in mine owne minde that had shee
lived to carry out all th’ work, her honours, no doubt, had outvied
those of her world-wide famed and honour’d daughter who continu’d that
which had beene so well commenc’d.
I am aware many artes waned in the raignes of Edward and bloodie Mary,
also that their recovery must have requir’d patient attention and the
expenditure of money my mother had no desire so to imploy, having many
other things at that time by which th’ coffers were drayn’d subtly; but
that it must require farre greater perseverance in order to begin so
noble work, devising th’ plannes and ayding in their execution, cannot
be impugn’d. Many times these things do not shewe lightness or th’
vanitie which some have laid to her charge.
However th’ play doth reveale this better, farre, then I wish t’ give
it in this Cypher, therefore I begge that it shall bee written out and
kept as a perpetual monument of my wrong’d, but innocent ancestresse.
My keies mentio’d in the beginning of this most helpfull work, will
follow in this place:--
The King Henry Sevent, Kath’rine th’ Infanta, Prince Arthur,
Catholicke Spaine, Prince of Wales, King Henry th’ Eight, Rome,
nu’cio, Pope, Protestant, Anne Bullen, prelate, Wolsey, divorce,
fury, excommunication, France, Francis First, marriage, ceremony,
brother, pageant, barge, Richmond, Greenwich, Tower, procession,
cloth, tissue, panoply, canopy, cloth o’ gold, litter, bearing-staves,
pageant, streets, coronation, crowne of Edward, purple robe, roiall
ermine, mace, th’ sword, wand, esses, French, Spanish ambassadours,
advance-guards, mayor, dutchesse, Duke Suffolke, Norfolke, Marquesse
Dorset, Bishop London, same Winchester, th’ Knights of th’ Garter, Lord
Chancellour, judges, Surrey, Earle, quirrestres, lords, ladies, _et
al._, Westminster, Rochford, Wiltshire, manors, castles, land, valew,
titles, Marchionesse of Pembrooke, ports, countesses, roiall scepter,
stile, power, title, pompe, realme, artes, advancement, liberty,
treasure, warre, treaty, study, benefit, trade, priest, monastery,
restitution, acts, supremacy, succession, Elizabeth, daughter, sonne,
heyres, unfaithfulnesse, treason, Norris, Weston, subtile triumph,
hate, losse, evill, jealousie, love, beautie, Tower, tryall, proofe,
sentry, sentence, executed, burning, choyce, the axe, block, uncover’d
face, report, black-flag, freedom, marriage-vow, Edward.
As hath most frequentlie bin said these will write th’ play, but th’
foregoing abridgeme’t, or argument, wil ayde you. In good hope of
saving th’ same from olde Father Time’s ravages, heere have I hidden
this Cypher play. To you I entruste th’ taske I, myselfe, shall never
see complete, it is probable, but soe firme is my conviction that it
must before long put up its leaves like th’ plant in th’ sunne, that I
rest contente awaiting that time.
CONCERNING THE
BI-LITERAL CYPHER
_PROS AND CONS
OF THE CONTROVERSY_
THE BI-LITERAL CYPHER OF FRANCIS BACON.
ARTICLES FROM MAGAZINES AND OTHER SOURCES.
In the following pages will be found the statement of its discovery
in the Works of Bacon, and discussions by the public Press. Inquries,
objections and answers from so many different points of view would
seem to cover every phase of the matter. Unreasoning prejudice is,
of course, beyond reply. To those of open mind this exposition of
the discovery will be most interesting. Its importance cannot be
overestimated. A new literature, buried these three hundred years, as
interesting as it is surprising, has been unearthed. Its authenticity
is placed beyond question.
BI-LITERAL CYPHER OF FRANCIS BACON.
BACONIANA.
To thousands who tread unthinkingly the earth’s fair surface, the
mineral constitution of the globe, or the history of its formation, is
as a sealed book. The geologist, however, pointing out the parallel
lines in a rock will tell us they indicate the glacial period. From a
piece of coal he will describe the forests and plant life which formed
the coal measures of the carboniferous era. He finds where volcanic
action reveals strata from unknown depths, and reads their history like
a printed page.
In architecture, the ages stamped, each its own, peculiarities upon
column and temple, and the student of that science will declare the
date of the ruins which accident or excavation have brought to view.
We see a tapering obelisk inscribed with hieroglyphics, and say this is
Egyptian. The eye educated to discriminate will study the writings upon
the stone that has been preserved from remote ages, and will say, this
is the hieroglyphic proper; this ideographic; this the phonetic, or of
this or that peculiar character, this is the Egyptian Hieratic; this
the Phœnecian; these the Cuniform characters of the ancient Persian or
Assyrian inscriptions, and few will challenge the correctness of the
decipherings.
The _savant_ will tell us that the environment, the nationality and
personality are unmistakably impressed upon the literature of every
country, mark the times and character of its people and the stage
of its progress. Year by year, decade by decade, age by age, time
passed and wrought its changes until that period was reached in which
the English people of the present day are interested because of the
discussion which it has aroused--the latter part of the XVIth and
beginning of the XVIIth Centuries. Knighthood had passed its flower
but the English Court still loved the tales of Knightly deeds and
found delight in the fancies of the Shepheard’s Calender and Faerie
Queene. Legitimate drama began to develop, replacing masques and
mysteries. History was written and its lessons emphasized by dramatic
representations. Essays brought the truth “home to men’s bosoms and
business,” and experimental science made clear that “there are more
things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy.”
This was the age when Francis Bacon lived and wrote, and fantasy, and
essay, and drama began to appear, at first anonymously, and then under
names of men as authors, whose lives, habits and capabilities presented
the most incongruous contrasts to the works produced. They were days of
peril and secret intrigue, when the words from the lips of the Courtier
were often farthest removed from the thought of the brain, and when all
secret communications were committed to cipher.
Of all the weighty secrets of that time, none save the Queen of England
herself bore any more momentous than that prolific author. So momentous
were they that few traces of their import found place upon the public
records in connected or intelligible form, and were supposed to have
died with those most intimately connected with them.
Bacon placed in his De Augmentis Scientiarum the key to a simple but
most useful Cipher, of his own invention, and we now find that through
its instrumentality the secrets so jealously guarded in his life time,
were committed to his works, and waited only the hand and vision of a
decipherer to be revealed to the ages which should follow.
Because the writer of this article has for seven years worked upon the
Ciphers of Bacon, not as a _dilettante_, but as one who realized the
importance and vastness of the undertaking, urged on by the fascination
of a great discovery and a growing interest in the developments of
it, the statements made concerning the “Bi-literal Cypher of Francis
Bacon” are not “uninspired guesses,” nor mere conjecture, but such as
come from knowledge gained by the hardest work and closest application,
until the eye has been trained to that degree of discrimination by
which, like that of the geologist, it is able to make hidden things
plain.
In pursuit of the same objects as other students of things Baconian, my
own investigations have been in quite a different field from theirs,
and have met with most successful, as well as most surprising results,
not less surprising to myself, than they will be to my readers. I
have been glad to submit the results of my years of study for the
edification of those interested in the same subject, for they supply
missing links in the literature of that era and explain much, if not
all, that has been mysterious and difficult of explanation.
The last two numbers of Baconiana have presented varied comments upon
the published results of my investigations. Naturally opinions differ,
according to the point of view. Although the things discovered and
brought to light are those which have been so diligently sought for,
and believed to exist by the deepest students, yet the wider field
unexpectedly disclosed and the marvelousness of it all, prompt to
incredulity.
The objections urged against a belief in the cipher disclosures appear
in a variety of forms. The astounding revelations are beyond the
dreams of the most ardent believers that Bacon’s sphere of action and
achievements were far greater than had been acknowledged, and some
have gone so far as to think the recent publication of the “Bi-literal
Cypher” must have been a romantic creation of my own, the words made
to fit the differing forms of the Italic letters in the old books, and
written out in imitation of the forms of thought and manner of speech
of the old English language, enriched by the vocabulary of the great
Francis. To suggest such a thing, with all that it implies, would bring
its own refutation.
It is true that the Cipher Story does not in all respects accord,
or stop with what has been supposed to be the “facts of history.”
Authorities do not agree as to what the “facts” were, nor is it
believed that all have found place on the records, and historians have
filled gaps with deductions and conjectures, some of which have been
most extravagant and impossible. Especially does this appear to be true
in the light of the cipher disclosures, and whatever of variation there
may be will furnish a profitable field for the investigators, and there
is little reason to doubt their ultimate harmony. Cyphers would not be
used to hide known facts, and could be useful only in recording those
that had been suppressed.
Some have given expression to the thought that the Cipher Story shows
a most unpleasant phase of character in Bacon, and a lack of that
princely spirit which should have actuated the son of Elizabeth,
entitled to the throne, in not trying to possess himself of royal
power at any cost. Essex, of a more martial spirit, essayed to seize
it, when Francis refused to make open claim to being Prince, in the
face of the denials of the Queen,--and Essex was beheaded for the
attempt. The murder of two princes of the blood royal by Richard Third;
the imprisonment and execution of another, by Henry Seventh; the
juggling with all rights by Henry Eighth, were not remote,--quite near
enough to chill the blood of the peace-loving student and deter him
from making himself sufficiently obnoxious to invite a similar fate.
Later, his own account, in the Cipher, of the reasons for not striving
to establish himself upon the throne appear quite adequate,--the
succession established by law, and quite satisfactory to the
people,--“our witnesses dead, our certificates destroyed,” etc., (pages
33, 38, 47, 201, and other references). He submitted to the inevitable
as did Prince Napoleon, and as others have done in our own time,--for
“what will not a man yield up for his life.”
Whether or not Bacon has “told the truth” in the Cipher, is not in the
province of the decipherer to discuss. A decipherer can only disclose
what is infolded. As to “slandering the Queen” in the statements which
the Cipher records,--if so, Bacon would not be alone, for the old MSS,
and as reliable and recent an authority as the National Dictionary of
Biography admit the motherhood of Elizabeth, though they do not give
the names of the offspring. This is supplied by the Cipher, written by
the one person most likely to know. If the Cipher exists, and we _know_
that it does, there must be some more reasonable theory for its being
written into so many published books for more than fifty years, than
for the purpose of slander or falsification. The peril of its discovery
in the early days of its infolding would be enhanced by its being a
slander, and the head would have “stood tickle on the shoulders” of
anyone guilty of so causeless a crime.
Francis would have been more “lunatic” for risking such matter in
cipher if not true, than “coward” for not daring openly to proclaim the
truth which was being so carefully suppressed.
Many inquiries have reached me, asking “how is the Cipher worked,” and
expressing disappointment that the inquirer had been unable to grasp
the system or its application. It would be difficult to teach Greek or
Sanscrit, in a few written lines, or to learn it by a few hours study.
It is equally so with the Cipher. Deciphering the Bi-literal Cipher, as
it appears in Bacon’s works, will be impossible to those who are not
possessed of an eyesight of the keenest, and perfect accuracy of vision
in distinguishing minute differences in form, lines, angles and curves
in the printed letters. Other things absolutely essential are unlimited
time and patience, persistency, and aptitude, love for overcoming
puzzling difficulties and, I sometimes think, _inspiration_. As not
every one can be a poet, an artist, an astronomer, or adept in other
branches requiring special aptitude, so, and for the same reasons, not
every one will be able to master the intricacies of the Cipher, for in
many ways it is most intricate and puzzling,--not in the system itself,
but in its use in the books. “It must not be made too plain lest it be
discovered too quickly nor hid too deep, lest it never see the light of
day,” is the substance of the inventor’s thought many times repeated in
the work.
The system has been recognized, and used, since the day that De
Augmentis was published, and has had its place in every translation
and publication since, but the ages have waited to learn that it was
embedded in the original books themselves from the date of his earliest
writings (1579 as now known) and infolded his secret personal history.
To disbelieve the Cipher because not “every one” can decipher it, would
be as great a mistake as it would be to say that the translations of
the character writings and hieroglyphics of older times, which have
been deciphered, were without foundation or significance, because we
could not ourselves master them in a few hours of inefficient trial. I
would repeat, Ciphers are used to hide things, not to make them plain.
The different editions of the same work form each a separate study and
tell a different Cipher Story. The two editions of De Augmentis form an
illustration. The first, or “London” edition, was issued, according to
Spedding, in October, 1623. The next, or “Paris” edition, was issued
in 1624. They differ in the Italic printing, and some errors in the
second do not occur in the first. The 1624 edition has been deciphered;
and the hidden story appears in the “Bi-literal Cypher” (page 310).
The 1623 edition has not, as yet, been deciphered. It seems to be a
rare edition. I found a copy in the British Museum, one in the Bodleian
library at Oxford, two in Cambridge, and one in the choice collection
of old books in the library of Sir Edwin Durning Lawrence.
In the course of my work, Marlowe’s Edward Second had been deciphered
before De Augmentis was taken up. At the end of Edward Second occurs
this “veiled” statement, referring to De Augmentis (page 152 Bi-literal
Cypher). “... the story it contains (our twelft king’s nativity since
our sovereign, whose tragedy we relate in this way) shall now know
the day....” Had Francis succeeded to the throne, he would have been
the twelfth king (omitting the queens) after Edward Second, hence the
inference that De Augmentis would contain much of his personal history.
My disappointment was great when instead of this the hidden matter was
found to be the Argument of the Odyssey, something not anticipated,
or wanted, and would never have been the result of my own choice or
imagination. At the close of the deciphered work in Burton’s Anatomy,
in which the Argument of the Iliad was most unexpectedly found--another
great disappointment--is this “veiled” statement: (page 309) “... while
a Latin work--De Augmentis--will give aid upon the other (meaning
the Odyssey). As in this work (meaning the Iliad) favorite parts are
enlarged (in blank verse) yet as it lendeth ayde ...,” etc.,--i. e.,
sets a pattern for the writing out of the Odyssey in the Word Cipher.
This explained the 1624 edition, and the inference is that the 1623
edition will disclose the personal history referred to on page 152.
In the 1624 edition there are some errors in the illustration of the
cipher methods and in the Cicero Epistle which do not occur in the 1623
edition. The Latin words midway on page 282, “qui pauci sunt” in the
1623 edition, are “qui parati sunt” in the 1624, page 309,--an error
referred to on page 10 of the Introduction of the “Bi-literal Cypher”
as wrong termination, there being too many letters for the group, and
one letter must be omitted. Other variations show errors in making up
the forms on pages 307 and 308 in the 1624 edition, whether purposely
for confusion or otherwise, it is impossible to tell. The line on page
307,
“_Exemplum Alphabeti Biformis_,”
should be placed above the Bi-formed Alphabet on page 308, while
“_Exemplum Accommodationis_”
should be placed above the example of the adaptation just preceding.
The repetition of twelve letters of the bi-formed alphabet could hardly
be called a printer’s error, as they are of another form, unlike those
on the preceding page, and may be taken as an example of the statement
that “any two forms will do.” In these illustrations the letters seem
to be drawn with a pen and are a mixture of script and peculiar forms,
and unlike any in the regular fonts of type used in the printed matter.
No part of the Cipher Story is embodied in the script or pen letters
on these pages. Whether or not the changing of the lines was done
purposely, the grouping of the Italic letters from the regular fonts is
consecutive as _the printed lines stand_, the wrong make-up causing no
break in the connected narration. There are many “veiled” statements
throughout the “Bi-literal Cypher,” such as are noted in Edward Second
and in Burton. To the decipherer they have a meaning, indicating what
to look for and where to find that which is necessary for correct
and completed work, as well as to guard against errors and incorrect
translation.
My researches among the old books in the British Museum the past
season have borne rich fruit, for there were found the earlier cipher
writings. Shepheard’s Calendar, which appeared anonymously in 1579,
contains the first, and discloses the signification of the mysterious
initials “E. K.” and the identity of this person with the author of
the work. The Cipher narrative begins thus: “E. K. will be found to
be nothing less than the letters signifying the future Sovereign,
or _England’s King_.... In event of death of Her Ma., who bore in
honorable wedlock, Robert, now known as sonne to Walter Devereaux,
as well as him who now speaketh to the unknown aidant decypherer ...
we, the eldest borne should by Divine right of a law of God, and made
binding on man, inherit scepter and throne.... We devised two Cyphers,
now used for the first time, for this said history, as safe, clear and
undecipherable, whilst containing the keys in each which open the most
important.... Till a decypherer find a prepared or readily discovered
alphabet, it seemeth to us almost impossible, save by Divine gift
and heavenly instinct, that he should be able to read what is thus
revealed.”
Following Shepheard’s Calender, the works between 1579 and 1590, so far
deciphered (but as yet unpublished) are:
Arraignement of Paris, 1584.
Mirrour of Modestie, 1584.
Planetomachia, 1585.
Treatise of Melancholy, 1586. Two editions of this were issued the same
year, with differing Italics. The first ends with an incomplete cipher
word which is completed in the second for the continued narration, thus
making evident which was first published, unless they were published at
the same time.
Euphues, 1587; Morando, 1587. These two also join together, with an
incomplete word at the end of the first finding its completion in the
commencement of the Cipher in the second.
Perimedes the Blacke-smith, 1588; Pandosto, 1588. These two also join
together.
Spanish Masquerado, 1589. Two editions of this work bear date the same
year, but have different Italicising. In one edition the Cipher Story
is complete, closing with the signature: “Fr. Prince.” In the other the
story is not complete, the book ending with an incomplete cipher word,
the remainder of which will be found in some work of near that date
which has not yet been indicated and deciphered.
These, while not all the works in which Cipher will be found between
the years 1579 and 1590, unmistakably connect the earlier writings with
those of later date than 1590 which have been deciphered--as published
in the “Bi-literal Cypher”--so that we now know that the Cipher
writings were being continuously infolded in Bacon’s works, from the
first to the last of his literary productions.
ELIZABETH WELLS GALLUP.
THE BI-LITERAL CYPHER OF SIR FRANCIS BACON.
_A NEW LIGHT ON A FEW OLD BOOKS._
BY ELIZABETH WELLS GALLUP.
[_Mrs. Gallup professes to find in certain of Bacon’s works,
the first folio of Shakespeare, and other books of the period,
two distinctive founts of italic type employed. All the letters
of one fount stand for the letter_ a _in the cipher, those of
the other for_ b. _Hence it is possible to translate, as it
were, any given line of type into a series of_ abbba, abaab,
baaba, abaaa. _and so on, according to the type employed,
and thereby, to spell out words and sentences in accordance
with the principles laid down by Bacon himself in his account
of the so-called “Bi-literal” cypher in his “De Augmentis
Scientiarium.” In a further article which she is now preparing
Mrs. Gallup will deal with a number of the individual writers
who have taken part in the Bacon-Shakespeare controversy during
the last few weeks, whose criticisms_, we _learn by cablegram,
and only now before her. This preliminary paper will enable our
readers to acquaint themselves with the nature of Mrs. Gallup’s
laborious investigations._--ED. P. M. M.].
PALL MALL MAGAZINE, MARCH, 1902.
It is a pleasure to respond to the cabled invitation from the PALL MALL
MAGAZINE to write an article upon the “Bacon-Shakespeare Controversy,”
although I have really never been concerned with it, except
incidentally. I did not find myself a Baconian until the discovery
of the Bacon ciphers answered the questions in such a final way that
controversy should end.
I think my best plan will be to give a clear, authoritative, and
somewhat popular exposition of my book, _The Bi-literal Cypher of Sir
Francis Bacon_, which was recently very kindly and appreciatively
reviewed by Mr. Mallock in the _Nineteenth Century and After_. I had
not the pleasure of knowing Mr. Mallock, and his article was wholly a
surprise.
In giving to the world the results of my researches, I have felt, as
have my publishers, that my work should be left without attempt upon
our part to influence or mould opinion in any way other than by setting
forth what I have found.
Some one has said, “any man’s opinion is the measure of his knowledge.”
If his knowledge is ample his judgment should be true, and I am well
aware there has been little opportunity for men of letters or the
reading public to know about this new phase of the old subject.
The book itself is much wider in its range, and much more far-reaching
in its literary and historical consequences, than the mere settlement
of the Bacon-Shakespeare question. It concerns not only the authorship
of much of the best literature of the Elizabethan period, but the
regularity of successions to the throne of England; and it transfers
the “controversy” from the realm of literary opinion and criticism
to the determination of the question whether I have correctly and
truthfully transcribed a cipher.
That this will at once meet with universal acceptance is not expected.
On the face of things it seems improbable--almost as improbable to
the world as the revolution of the earth about the sun was to Lord
Bacon, who declared it could in nowise be accepted. “Galileo built his
theory ... supposing the earth revolved.... But this he devised upon an
assumption that cannot be allowed--_viz. that the earth moves_.” (_Nov.
Org._)
Two limited editions of the book were published, mostly for private
circulation, while my researches were going on, but with little effort
to obtain public audience, awaiting the time, now arrived, when I could
present the first of the cipher writings from early editions of works
in the British Museum.
The interest it has excited has been considerable, varying in its
expression from more or less good-natured doubts as to my sanity and
veracity, from those who are satisfied with first impressions; to the
careful examination by such writers as Mr. Mallock and some others who
have regarded it as worthy of serious consideration.
For myself, I have been satisfied to wait for the verdict. It will be
that I have at great cost put before the public a most detailed and
elaborate hoax--or worse; or that Francis Bacon was a cipher writer and
the most extraordinary personage in literature the world has yet known.
Assuming for the moment the cipher as a fact, what are the claims made
in it for himself? Briefly, but startlingly stated, they are: That he
was the author of the works attributed to Edmund Spenser, and those of
Greene, Peele, Marlowe, and Shakespeare, a portion of those published
by Ben Jonson, also the _Anatomy of Melancholy_ known as Burton’s,
besides the works to which Bacon’s name is attached; that these,
instead of being in fact the outpourings of literary inspiration, are
literary mosaics, the repository of other literature--much of it then
dangerous to Bacon to expose--made consecutive by transposition, and
gaining in literary interest by the new relations. The bi-literal
cipher gives the rules by which the constituent parts of these mosaics
are to be reassembled in their original form by the “word-cipher,” so
called, a second system permeating the same works and hiding a larger
and more varied literature than the first. It is also asserted that
Bacon was the true heir to the throne of England, through a secret
marriage between the Earl of Leicester and Elizabeth, which took
place prior to her accession, while both were confined in the Tower
of London; that for obvious reasons of state the marriage could not
be announced before the coronation, and that the Queen afterwards
refused to acknowledge it publicly; that the unfortunate Essex was in
fact his younger brother, and the otherwise inexplicable rebellion
was undertaken by Essex to compel from the Queen recognition of his
descent, with expectation of the throne if denied to, or not claimed
by, Francis.
The personal matter, scattered in the bi-literal cipher through the
numerous volumes, is repeated in different forms many times--evidently
in the hope that the claims asserted to the throne and the events of
his life would be detected and deciphered, from some, if not from all
his works, at some future time.
The book itself contains about 385 pages of deciphered matter,
written in the old English of the Elizabethan period, and relating to
men and things, literary and historical, then existing. It affords
the most ample and serious materials for what may be called “the
higher criticism”; and such criticism is very cordially invited, for
reasons more important than anything concerning my own abilities or
personality. The most sceptical will admit industry, and some sort of
capability, in producing a work of the kind. It is due to the public
that in a presentation of this kind I should offer a _prima-facie_ case.
The question most nearly related to the Bacon-Shakespeare controversy,
from a literary standpoint, is: Was Bacon’s imagination, fancy and
ability, equal to the production of such poetic and dramatic literature
as is embraced in the Shakespeare plays and other works named?
The dicta obtainable from mere comparisons of style are scarcely
final. Individual judgments, in this field, are far from conclusive
or satisfactory. There is as much difference in style between the
laboured, interminable sentences of Bacon’s philosophical works and the
polished sentences of the Essays as there is between the Essays and the
epigrams of the Plays.
Bacon has been somewhat out of fashion of late. His philosophy, once
strong and new, has been developed into the daily practice of these
forceful and effective times, and is now interesting principally to the
curious. His life,--reduced by Pope to the inconclusive epigram, “the
wisest, brightest, and meanest of mankind,”--ending in his disgrace,
does not now attract the average reader, while the compactness of
the Essays deters many from a second reading. It is well, therefore,
to refresh our minds concerning the man, and the estimation in which
he was held before the present-day rush for new things had become so
absorbing.
Briefly, the well-considered opinions of those best fitted to judge
are, that his abilities were transcendent in every field. Lord Macaulay
tells us that Bacon’s mind was “the most exquisitely constructed
intellect that has ever been bestowed upon any of the children of men”;
Pope, that “Lord Bacon was the greatest genius that England, or perhaps
any other country, ever produced”; Sir Alexander Grant, that “it is as
an inspired seer, the prose-poet of modern science, that I reverence
Bacon”; Alexander Smith, that “he seems to have written his Essays
with the pen of Shakespeare.” Mackintosh calls his literature “the
utmost splendour of imagery.” Addison says, that “he possessed at once
all those extraordinary talents which were divided among the greatest
authors of antiquity ... one does not know which to admire most in
his writings, the strength of reason, force of style, or brightness
of imagination.” Mr. Welch assures us: “Lord Bacon was a poet. His
language has a sweet and majestic rhythm which satisfies the sense,
no less than the superhuman wisdom of his philosophy satisfies the
intellect.” While H. A. Taine, a Frenchman, recognising throughout the
differences of language the force of the poetic thought, gives us this
in his _English Literature_:--
“In this band of scholars, dreamers, and inquirers, appears
the most comprehensive, sensible, originative of the minds of
the age--Francis Bacon, a great and luminous intellect, one
of the finest of this poetic progeny.... There is nothing in
English prose superior to his diction.... His thought is in the
manner of artists and poets, and he speaks after the manner of
prophets and seers.... Shakespeare and the seers do not contain
more vigorous or expressive condensations of thought, more
resembling inspiration.... His process is that of the creators:
it is inspiration, not reasoning.”
Again, Lord Macaulay tells us: “No man ever had an imagination at once
so strong and so thoroughly subjugated. In truth, much of Bacon’s life
was spent in a visionary world, amidst things as strange as any that
are described in the Arabian tales.”--“A man so rare in knowledge of so
many several kinds, endued with the facility and felicity of expressing
it all in so elegant, significant, so abundant, and yet so choice and
ravishing array of words, of metaphors and allusions, as perhaps the
world has not seen since it was a world,” said Sir Tobie Mathew.
The German Schlegel, in his _History of Literature_, calls him
“this mighty genius,” and adds, “Stimulated by his capacious
and stirring intellect ... intellectual culture, nay, the
social organisation of modern Europe generally, assumed a new
shape and complexion.” While again from Lord Macaulay we quote
this: “With great minuteness of observation he had an amplitude
of comprehension such as has never yet been vouchsafed to any
human being.”
In the _Encyclopoedia Britannica_ we read: “The thoughts are weighty,
and, even when not original, have acquired a peculiar and unique tone
or cast by passing through the crucible of Bacon’s mind. A sentence
from the Essays can rarely be mistaken for the production of any other
writer. The short, pithy sayings,
Jewels five words long
That on the stretched forefinger of all Time
Sparkle for ever,
have become popular mottoes and household words. The style is quaint,
original, abounding in allusions and witticisms, and rich, even to
gorgeousness, with piled-up analogies and metaphors.”
In the presence of these acknowledged masters in literary judgment, I
may well be silent. These quotations might be extended indefinitely.
Anything I could add of my own would be repetition. In the face of
these well-considered opinions, the flippant adverse judgment of
newspaper critics, in the Bacon-Shakespeare controversy, thrown off
in the hurry of daily issues, may for the present be disregarded.
The writers of such articles have never read Bacon well, if at
all,--perhaps not Shakespeare thoroughly.
My work in the past eight years of constant study of the subject
has led me, of necessity, through every line and word that Bacon
wrote, both acknowledged and concealed, so far as the latter has been
developed. The work I have done upon the word-cipher in reassembling
his literature from the mosaic to its original form has given me a
critical knowledge at least, and a basis perhaps possessed by few for
forming, to the extent of my abilities, a critical judgment; but I
would merely add, that he was, assuredly, master in many fields of
which even they who knew him best were unaware.
Granting him these literary powers, was he at the same time a cipher
writer? and did he particularly affect this bi-literal method of cipher
writing?
For the first I refer, for brevity’s sake, to the article on
cryptograms in the _Encyclopoedia Britannica_; and for the second to
the original Latin _De Augmentis Scientiarum_ (editions of 1623 and
1624), and its very excellent translation by Messrs. Spedding, Ellis,
and Heath, where the bi-literal cipher precisely as I have used it is
described and illustrated by Bacon in full, with the statement that
he invented it while at the Court of France. This was between his
sixteenth and eighteenth years. His first reference to it was in 1605.
Its first publication was in 1623, after he had used it continuously
forty-four years, confiding to it his wrongs and woes, and intending,
in thus explaining and giving the key, that at some near or distant day
his sorrows and his claims should be known by its decipherment.
The cipher, described by Bacon in _De Augmentis Scientiarum_,
is simplicity itself, being in principle mere combinations and
alternations of any two unlike things, and in practice as used by him
consisting of alternations of letters from two slightly different
founts of Italic type, arranged in groups of five. This affords
thirty-two possible combinations, being eight in excess of the
twenty-four letters of the alphabet he used. The free use of these
Italics is a notable feature in all his literature, and has been the
cause of much speculation. Sometimes the differences between the
letters of the two founts are bold and marked, often delicate and very
difficult for the novice to distinguish, but possible of determination
by the practised eye. The differences, especially in the capitals used
in the 1623 Folio of the Shakespeare Plays, are apparent to the dullest
vision, and photographic copies of it are in nearly every public and
many private libraries, and so accessible to all.
In making up his alphabet the two founts are called by him the
'_a_ fount’ and the '_b_ fount,’ and the several groups of five,
representing each letter of the alphabet he used in the cipher, are as
follows: _aaaaa, a_; _aaaab, b_; _aaaba, c_; etc., etc.
After the full exposition of this cipher by Mr. Mallock, a repetition
here would seem superfluous, and I will only take space to say that the
detailed explanation is to be found in _De Augmentis Scientiarum_ in
every edition of Bacon’s complete works.
One of the interesting incidents of the use of this bi-literal method
is, that it did not at all require taking the printer into the writer’s
confidence. A peculiar mark under the letter would indicate the fount
from which the letter was to be taken. The printer may have thought
Bacon insane, or what not, but the marking gave him no clue to the
cipher.
Perhaps I cannot better illustrate the scope of the researches that
have brought out such strange and unexpected disclosures than by giving
the bibliography of my work. This will have an attraction for many,
who will sympathise with me in the pleasure I have known in working in
these rare and costly old books.
The deciphering has been from the following original editions in my
possession:
The Advancement of Learning 1605
The Shepheards’ Calender 1611
The Faerie Queene 1613
Novum Organum 1620
Parasceve 1620
The History of Henry VII. 1622
Edward Second 1622
The Anatomy of Melancholy 1628*
The New Atlantis 1635*
Sylva Sylvarum 1635*
and also a beautifully bound full folio facsimile of the 1623 edition
of the Shakespeare plays, bearing the name of Coleridge on the title
page.
*These three bear dates after Bacon’s death, and were
undoubtedly completed by Dr. Rawley, his secretary, whose
explanation regarding them is found on pages 339-340 of the
Bi-literal Cypher.
In the Boston Library I obtained:
Richard Second 1598
David and Bethsabe 1599
Midsummer Night’s Dream 1600
Much Ado About Nothing 1600
Sir John Oldcastle 1600
Merchant of Venice 1600
Richard, Duke of York 1600
Treasons of Essex 1601
King Lear 1608
Henry Fifth 1608
Pericles 1609
Hamlet 1611
Titus Andronicus 1611
Richard Second 1615
Merry Wives of Windsor 1619
Whole Contention of York, etc. 1619
Pericles 1619
Yorkshire Tragedy 1619
Romeo and Juliet (without date)
From the choice library of John Dane, M.D., Boston:
The Treasons of Essex 1601
Vitae et Mortis 1623
From the library of Marshall C. Lefferts, of New York, I had:
Ben Jonson’s Plays, Folio 1616
A Quip for an Upstart Courtier 1620
From the Lenox Library, New York:
Midsummer Night’s Dream 1600
Sir John Oldcastle 1600
London Prodigal 1605
Pericles 1619
Yorkshire Tragedy 1619
The Whole Contention, etc. 1619
Shakespeare, first folio 1623
and from Mrs. Pott, of London, England:
Ben Jonson’s Plays 1616
De Augmentis Scientiarum 1624
During the five months spent at the British Museum:
The Shepheards’ Calender 1579
Araygnement of Paris 1584
Mirrour of Modestie 1584
Planetomachia 1585
A Treatise of Melancholy 1586
A Treatise of Mel. (2nd. Ed.) 1586
Euphues 1587
Morando 1587
Perimedes 1588
Spanish Masquerado 1589
Pandosto 1588
Spanish Masq. (2nd Ed.) 1589
In the library of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence I was able to decipher,
from the _Treatise of Melancholy_, some pages that were missing from
the copy at the British Museum.
I wish here to express my deep obligation to the management of the
British Museum, and to those numerous friends I was so fortunate as
to make while in London, for their uniform kindness to me--a stranger
among them--and for the facilities which they, to the extent of their
power, never failed to afford me in my work.
Every Italic letter in all the books named has been examined,
studied, classified, and set down “in groups of five” and the results
transcribed. Each book deciphered has its own peculiarities and forms
of type, and must be made a separate study.
The 1623 Folio has the largest variety of letters and irregularities;
but the most difficult work was Bacon’s _History of Henry the
Seventh_, the mysteries of which it took me the greater part of three
months of almost constant study to master. The reason came to light as
the work progressed, and will appear from the reading of the first page
of the deciphered matter, with its explanations of “sudden shifts” to
puzzle would-be decipherers.
In the deciphering of the different works mentioned, surprise followed
surprise as the hidden messages were disclosed, and disappointment as
well was not infrequently encountered. Some of the disclosures are of
a nature repugnant, in many respects, to my very soul, as they were to
all my preconceived convictions, and they would never have seen the
light, except as a correct transcription of what the cipher revealed.
As a decipherer I had no choice, and I am in no way responsible for the
disclosures, except as to the correctness of the transcription.
Bacon, throughout the Bi-literal Cypher, makes frequent mention of his
translations of Homer, which he considered one of his “great works
and worthy of preservation,” and which had been scattered through the
mosaic of his other writings. One of the strongest of his expressed
desires was that it should be gathered and reconstructed in its
original form.
Perhaps the greatest surprise that came to me in all my work relates
to what was found in the _Anatomy of Melancholy_. Several other of the
works had been finished before this book was taken up. After a few
pages had been deciphered, relating to points in Bacon’s history, to
my great disappointment the cipher suddenly changed the subject of its
disclosures to this:
“As hath been said, much of th’ materiall of th’ Iliad may be found
here, as well as Homer his second wondrous storie, telling of Odysseus
his worthy adventures. Th’ first nam’d is of greater worth, beautie and
interesse, alone, in my estimation, than all my other work together,
for it is th’ crowning triumph of Homer’s pen; and he outstrips all th’
others in th’ race, as though his wits had beene Atalanta’s heeles.
Next we see Virgill, and close behind them, striving to attaine unto
th’ hights which they mounted, do I presse on to th’ lofty goale. In
th’ plays lately publisht, I have approacht my modell closelie, and yet
it doth ever seem beyond my attainment.
“Here are the diverse bookes, their arguments and sundry examples of
th’ lines, in our bi-literal cipher.”
These “arguments,” or outlines, are intended as a framework about
which, with the aid of the keys given, the fuller deciphering from the
printed lines is to take form through the methods of the Word-Cipher.
The presence of lines, identical--or nearly so--with those of Homer,
have been noted by close students in all the works now named as
belonging to Bacon, and it has needed but to bring the lines together
from their scattered positions, transpose names and arrange the parts
in proper sequence, to form the connected narrative.
I can best illustrate this--and it will be of interest to those fond of
the classics--by adding a few of the lines from some of my unfinished
and unpublished work, before I had discovered the bi-literal cipher in
the typography of the books I was using. I will say regarding this part
of my incomplete work, that a very considerable portion of the material
for the first four books of the fuller translation of the _Iliad_ had
been collected and arranged in sequence by the word-cipher before the
work was laid aside, four years ago, on account of the discovery of
the bi-literal, the development of which, it became at once apparent,
was of first importance. These directions regarding it occur in the
Bi-literal Cypher:
“Keepe lines, though somewhat be added to Homer; in fact, it might be
more truly Homeric to consider it a poeme of the times, rather than a
historie of true events.” (p. 168.) “... In all places, be heedfull
of the meaning, but do not consider the order of the words in the
sentences. I should join my examples and rules together, you will say.
So I will. In the 'Faerie Queene,’ booke one, canto two, second and
third lines of the seventh stanzo, thus speaking of Aurora, write:
“Wearie of aged Tithones saffron bed,
Had spreade, through dewy ayre her purple robe.
“Or in the eleventh canto, booke two, five-and-thirtieth stanzo,
arrange the matter thus, to relate in verse the great attacke at the
ships, at that pointe of time at which the great Trojan took up a
weighty missile, the gods giving strength to the hero’s arme: it begins
in the sixth verse:
“There lay thereby an huge greate stone, which stood
Upon one end, and had not many a day
Removed beene--a signe of sundrie wayes--
This Hector snatch’d and with exceeding sway.” (p. 169.)
Illustrative of the argument, the incident in Book I., where the priest
Chryses “was evilly dismissed by Agamemnon,” the bi-literal epitome
reads:
“And th’ Priest, in silence, walk’d along th’ shore of the resounding
sea. After awhile with many a prayer and teare th’ old man cried aloud
unto Apollo, and his voice was heard.”
In the fuller translation by means of the word-cipher, the lines
collected from the different books result in the following rendering of
the passage:
“The wretched man, at his imperious speech,
Was all abashed, and there he sudden stay’d,
While in his eyes stood tears of bitterness.
The resounding of the sea upon the shore
Beats with an echo to the unseen grief
That swells with silence in the tortur’d soul.
Apart upon his knees that aged sire
Pray’d much unto Latona’s lordly son:
“Hear, hear, O hear, god of the silver bow!
Who’rt wont Chrysa and Cilla to protect,
And reignest in this island Tenedos,
If ever I did honour thee aright,
Thy graceful temple aiding to adorn,
Or if, moreover, I at any time
Have burn’d to thee fat thighs of bulls and goats,
Do one thing for me that I shall entreat--
O Phœbus, with thy shafts avenge these tears.”
A little farther on, after Achilles had “summon’d a councill” and
charged Calchas to declare the cause of the pestilence, Bacon’s
lines--that he warns the decipherer to retain, “though somewhat be
added to Homer”--gives the altercation thus:
To whom Atrides did this answer frame:
“Full true thou speak’st and like thyself, yet, though
Thou speakest truth, methinks thou speak’st not well.
It is because no one should sway but he
He’s angry with the gods that any man
Goeth before him; he would be above the clouds,
His fortune’s master and the king of men,
And here is none, methinks, disposed to yield:
For though the gods do chance him to appoint
To be a warriour and command a camp,
Inserting courage in his noble heart,
Do they give right to utter insults here?”
There interrupting him, noble Achilles
Answer’d the king in few words: “Ay forsooth!
I should be thought a coward, Agamemnon,
A man of no estimation in the world,
If what you will I humbly yield unto,
And when you say, 'Do this,’ it is perform’d.
I, for my part--let others as they list,--
I will not thus be fac’d and overpeer’d.
Do not think so, you shall not find it so:
Some other seek that may with patience strive
With thee, Atrides; thou shalt rule no more
O’er me.”
The transalation by George Chapman, Book I., page 20, line 11, reads:
“All this, good father,” said the king, “is comely and good right;
But this man breaks all such bounds; he affects, past all men, height;
All would in his power hold, all make his subjects, give to all
His hot will for their temperate law: all which he never shall
Persuade at my hands. If the gods have given him the great style
Of ablest soldier, made they that his license to revile
Men with vile language?” Thetis’ son prevented him, and said:
“Fearful and vile I might be thought, if the exactions laid
By all means on me I should bear. Others command to this,
Thou shalt not me; or if thou dost, far my free spirit is
From serving thy command.”
The translation by William Cullen Bryant, book 1, page 13, line 22,
reads:
To him the sovereign Agamemnon said:
“The things which thou hast uttered, aged chief,
Are fitly spoken; but this man would stand
Above all others; he aspires to be
The master, over all to domineer,
And to direct in all things; yet, I think
There may be one who will not suffer this,
For if by favor of the immortal gods,
He was made brave, have they for such a cause
Given him the liberty of insolent speech?”
Hereat the great Achilles, breaking in,
Answered: “Yea, well might I deserve the name
Of coward and of wretch, should I submit
In all things to do thy bidding. Such commands
Lay thou on others, not on me; nor think
I shall obey thee longer.”
The translation by William Sotheby, M. R. S. L., book 1, page 16, line
21, runs as follows:
“Wise is thy counsel”--Atreus’ son reply’d--
“Well thy persuasive voice might Grecia guide,
But this--this man must stretch o’er all his sway,
All must observe his will, his beck obey,
All hang on him--such, such o’erweening pride,
Rage as he may, by me shall be defy’d.
The gods, who to his arm its prowess gave,
Loose they his scornful tongue at will to rave?”
Him interrupting, fierce Pelides said:
“Be on my willing brow dishonor laid,
If I--whate’er thy wish--whate’er thy will,
Imperious tyrant!--thy command fulfil.
O’er others rule; by others be obeyed;
No more Achilles deigns the Atridae aid.”
The Earl of Derby’s translation, book 1, page 16, line 12, reads:
To whom the monarch, Agamemnon, thus:
“Oh, father, full of wisdom are thy words;
But this proud chief o’er all would domineer;
O’er all he seeks to rule, o’er all to reign,
To all dictate, which I will not bear,
Grant that the gods have giv’n him warlike might;
Gave they unbridled license to his tongue?”
To whom Achilles, interrupting thus:
“Coward and slave I might indeed be deemed,
Could I submit to make thy word my law;
To others thy commands; seek not to me
To dicate, for I follow thee no more.”
It is true that the presence of the bi-literal cipher in any work
does not prove authorship, being merely a matter of typography which
can be incorporated in any printed page, as it was in fact in Ben
Jonson’s writings, for Bacon’s purposes. But when it is worked out,
and its chief purpose is found to be to teach the word-cipher, and
that the latter produces practicable results such as given above, the
confirmation of both ciphers is unmistakable. On the other hand, the
word-cipher is a complete demonstration of the fact that the author of
the interior work was the author of the exterior.
I am not infrequently asked, and it is a very natural question, why
should Bacon put translations of the Iliad and Odyssey in his works,
when neither required secrecy? I quote a sentence from the _Bi-literal
Cypher_ (p. 341), deciphered from _Natural History_:
“Finding that one important story within manie others produc’d a most
ordinarie play, poem, history, essay, law-maxime, or other kind,
class, or description of work, I tried th’ experiment of placing my
tra’slations of Homer and Virgil within my other Cypher. When one work
has been so incorporated into others, these are then in like manner
treated, separated into parts and widely scatter’d into my numerous
books.”
In this connection I will add another extract from _Advancement of
Learning_ (original edition, 1605, p. 52):
“And Cicero himselfe, being broken unto it by great experience,
delivereth it plainely: That whatsoever a man shall have occasion to
speake of (if hee will take the paines), he may have it in effect
premeditate, and handled in these. So that when hee commeth to a
particular, he shall have nothing to doe, but to put too Names, and
times, and places; and such other Circumstances of Individuals.”
In other words, Bacon first constructed, then reconstructed from the
first writing, such portions as would fit the “names and times and
places, and such other Circumstances of Individuals,” about which he
wished to build a new structure of history, drama, or essay. The first
literary mosaic, containing dangerous matter, as well as much that
was not, was transposed--the relative position of its component parts
changed--to form the one we have known. The decipherer’s work is to
restore the fragments to their original form.
As intimated at the beginning, the value of anything I could say upon
the Bacon-Shakespeare controversy resolves itself into a question of
fact--Have I found a cipher, and has it been corectly applied?
I repeat, the question is out of the realm of literary comparisons
altogether. Literary probabilities or improbabilities have no longer
any bearing, and their discussion has become purely agitations of
the air: the sole question is--What are the facts? These cannot be
determined by slight or imperfect examinations, preconceived ideas,
abstract contemplation, or vigour of denunciation.
During a somewhat lengthy literary life, I have come to perceive the
sharp distinction between convictions on any subject and the possession
of knowledge. I know it is no light thing to say to those who love the
literature ascribed to Shakespeare, “You have worshiped a true divinity
at the wrong shrine,” and the iconoclast should come with knowledge
before he assails a faith.
The limits of this article will not permit me to do more in the way of
illustration; but I beg to assure the English public that I speak from
knowledge obtained at a cost of time, money, and injury to eye-sight
and health greater than I should care to mention.
I am satisfied that my work will not be disregarded; but instead, given
a respectful, kindly and intelligent examination in Great Britain, the
home of Shakespeare and Bacon.
I say nothing at this time of the validity of all the claims Bacon has
made; but if they are accepted there will presently be accorded to one
of the line of English kings the royal title of “the greatest literary
genius of all time.”
BOOK REVIEWS
BACON-SHAKESPEARE.
Mrs. Elizabeth Wells Gallup Throws New Light Upon the Mystifying
Question--The Bi-Literal Cipher.
_Detroit Free Press._
It is always difficult to make headway against a well-established
tradition. Hence argument going to prove that Shakespeare did not
write the dramas that have come down to us in his name, is discredited
largely because we have so long accepted his authorship as a matter
of fact. But the literature of the anti-Shakespeareans is increasing,
and the time is past when a contemptuous ejaculation or a shrug of
the shoulders can dispose of the evidence they have so carefully and
patiently constructed. In truth, the opponents of Shakespeare have been
met so often by this sort of rebuttal that they are becoming stronger
and more numerous every year.
That Shakespeare’s plays were not written by the William Shaksper of
Stratford, was probably first suggested by the discrepancy between
the plays and what we know of the man. That Francis Bacon, the great
scholar, profound thinker and literary genius of the Elizabethan era
might be their author was first suggested by similarity of philosophy
and sentiment, and parallelisms of thought and expression.
That Bacon’s was the greatest mind of his age is incontrovertible.
Pope calls him “the greatest genius that England, or perhaps any other
country, ever produced.” Lord Macaulay says: “Bacon’s mind was the most
exquisitely constructed intellect that has ever been bestowed upon any
of the children of men;” while Edmund Burke is even more eulogistic:
“Who is there that, hearing the name of Bacon, does not instantly
recognize everything; of genius, the most profound; of literature, the
most extensive; of discovery, the most penetrating; of observation of
human life, the most distinguishing and refined.”
If we can accept Mrs. Elizabeth Wells Gallup’s new book, “The
Bi-Literal Cipher of Francis Bacon,” as a genuine discovery and
the story it tells for what it purports to be--Bacon’s own--the
Bacon-Shakespeare controversy is forever at rest. There can be
no further doubt that Bacon wrote not only the plays ascribed to
Shakespeare, but also the works appearing under the names of Spenser
and Peele, Greene and Marlowe, and Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy. Mrs.
Gallup’s discovery of a cipher running through them all explains the
remarkable similarities that have perplexed critics by demonstrating
beyond a shadow of doubt--if we accept it at all--that Bacon’s genius
originated them all.
Some inquiries naturally suggest themselves. The first and most
natural question is, Was Bacon a writer of ciphers? The business
of statesmanship required skill in ciphers in his day, and little
important court and diplomatic business was carried on except under
such cover. Bacon’s earliest public experience was with Sir Amyas
Paulet for three years in the court of France, and his was one of the
brightest intellects of his time.
The next question is, Did he possess the cipher here used? This must
be answered in the affirmative, for it is found fully explained and
its uses pointed out in his Latin work, “De Augmentis,” the original
of which, published in 1624, has been submitted to the writer for
examination. It is found also translated in full in the standard
Spedding, Ellis & Heath edition of Bacon’s works, found in every
library.
A third question is, What is the nature and method of the cipher? We
cannot do better than quote directly from Bacon’s “Advancement of
Learning,” copied from this volume:
“For by this art a way is opened whereby a man may express and signify
the intentions of his mind at any distance of place, by objects which
may be presented to the eye and accommodated to the ear, provided
those objects be capable of a two-fold difference only--as by bells,
by trumpets, by lights and torches, by the reports of muskets, and any
instruments of a like nature.
“But to pursue our enterprise, when you address yourself to write
resolve your inward infolded letter into this Bi-literarie alphabet,
* * * together with this you must have a bi-formed alphabet, as well
capital letters as the smaller characters, in a double form, as fits
every man’s occasion.”
Bacon calls this the “omnia per omnia,” the all in all cipher, and
speaks of it as an invention of his own made while at the Court of
France, when he was but 16 or 18 years of age.
This cipher and its obvious adaptations, it is stated, is the basis
of nearly every alphabetical cipher code in present general use--the
alternating dot and dash of the Morse telegraph code, the long and
short exposure of light in the heliographic telegraph and the “wig-wag”
signals of flags or lights in the armies and navies of the world.
As used by Bacon, two slightly differing fonts of Italic type were
employed, one font representing the letter a, the other the letter b.
These were alternated in groups of five in his literature, each group
of five letters representing one letter of the alphabet in the secret
work. The full alphabet and several illustrations of the working of
the cipher in the original works are given; in fact, every possible
aid to the student and investigator who wishes to verify for himself
the existence of the cipher and the mode of its deciphering is freely
offered in the introduction, prefaces and fac-similes in Mrs. Gallup’s
work.
Assuming that the cipher is Bacon’s and that it has been accurately
transcribed, the story told the world in it is beyond the dreams of
romance; it is simply astounding.
The cipher story asserts that Bacon was the grandson of Henry VIII.,
the son of Queen Elizabeth and rightful heir to the throne of England.
That while imprisoned in the Tower of London, where Lord Leicester was
also confined, Elizabeth, before becoming queen, was secretly married
to Leicester. The issue of the marriage was two sons, the so-called
Francis Bacon--whose life was, there is little reason to doubt,
preserved through the womanly pity and compassion of Mistress Anne
Bacon--and Robert Devereaux, afterward Earl of Essex. The political
exigencies of the time did not admit the public acknowledgment of the
marriage. Francis was raised as the son of Nicholas and Anne Bacon, and
Elizabeth crowned as the Virgin Queen. It pleased her to continue the
deceit and Francis remained ignorant of his descent until about sixteen
years of age, when Elizabeth, in one of her historic rages, revealed
the truth to him and banished him to France.
Thenceforward Bacon’s life was one long disappointed hope, which found
expression in the secrecy of the cipher. This he interwove in every
original edition of his works, hoping, and intending, that in the long
future the cipher would be read, and he be justified in the opinion of
mankind. If his cipher was discovered too soon, his life would pay the
forfeit, if never, his labor would be in vain. In 1623, when 62 years
of age and near his death, he published the key to the cipher in “De
Augmentis” in the hope that it would lead to the unraveling. If this
volume is correct, it took 300 years of time and a bright American
woman to separate the web and woof.
If this story seems incredible, the literary claim is still more
so. The literary and philosophical works of Bacon are sufficiently
wonderful, without more. All reviewers and biographers regard him
as possessing one of the most wonderful intellects in the world’s
history. These opinions were based upon his known works. We are now
asked to believe that not only these, but the works ascribed to
Shakespeare, Spenser, Marlowe, Greene, Peele, Burton, and part of Ben
Jonson’s were written by him, and that in each and every one of them
this bi-literal cipher was placed, to the end that his rights and
claims, wrongs and sufferings could become known, at some time, to the
world.
Not the least of these marvels is that the “Anatomy of Melancholy” of
Robert Burton is found to have been published under the name of T.
Bright, when Burton was 10 years of age. A later edition is now found
to contain, in the bi-literal cipher, the Argument of the Iliad, with
portions freely translated into blank verse, differing in form from any
translation heretofore made and remarkable for elegance of style and
diction. Take for example a passage describing the outbreak between the
Greeks and Trojans, incited by Minerva by the order of Jove, at the
solicitation of Juno:
“As in the ocean wide,
A driving wind from the northwest comes forth
With force resistless, and the swelling waves
Succeed so fast that scarce an eye may see
Where one in pain doth bring another forth,
Till, on the rockie shore resounding loud
They spit forth foam white as the mountain snows,
And break themselves upon the o’er-jutting rocks--
Thus mightily, the Grecian phalanxes
Incessantly mov’d onward to th’ battaile.
It might not then be said that anie man
Possessed power of human speech or thought,
So silentlie did they their leaders follow
In reverentiall awe. Each chief commanded
The troops that came with him--each led his owne--
Glitt’ring in arms, bright shining as the sunne,
While in well ordered phalanxes they mov’d.
“The Trojan hosts were like unto a flock
Close in a penne folded at fall of night,
That bleating looked th’ waye their young ones went
And filled th’ avre with dire confusion--
Such was the noyse among the Trojan hosts.
No two gave utterance to the same crye,
So various were the nations and the countries
From whence they came. * * *
“Like wintry mountain torrent roaring loud
That frightes th’ shepheard in th’ deepe ravine
Mixing the floods tumultuously that poure
From forth an hundred gushing springs at once,
Thus did the deaf’ning battaile din arise,
When meeting in one place with direful force
In tumult and alarums th’ armies joyned.
Then might of warriour met an equall might;
Shields clasht on shields, the brazen spear on spear
While dying groans mixt with the battaile cry
In awesome sound; and steedes were fetlock deepe
In blood, fast flowing as the armies met.”